When Smiles Fade (43 page)

“I’ll see ya when I see ya!” Brianna yelled from the elevator.

“Yeah, take care of yourself and call me!” Emma shouted back.

As Emma shut the door, tears began to run down her cheeks. Even though the two girls hadn’t seen each other in a long time, they still shared a special bond, reinforced by their shared memories of Gracie. Emma knew she would miss her friend and wondered if she could convince Salvatore to visit Brianna and her boyfriend in Germany someday. He’d never denied her anything, and she would ask him when the time was right.

For now, she thought, it was time to consider what she should do next with her own life. Sure, living this life was wonderful, but she needed something that was all her own. Something she could do to earn a living. She missed having her own money. Salvatore always made sure she had plenty of cash in her wallet, but she had no right to it. Emma liked the feeling of holding cash she herself had earned.

Just two weeks after Brianna left for Germany, Emma was in the kitchen making pork sauce from a recipe she had picked up from the boys. Salvatore stood by, watching her.

“You need to add more salt to the sauce. You have to be generous with the salt. It makes the flavor pop,” he told her, creeping up behind her and putting an arm gently around her waist.

She poured more salt into the palm of her hand as he nuzzled her.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said, plunging his face into her thick, soft hair and taking a long breath, as if he were taking a drink of her. “You smell delicious,” he murmured, licking her earlobe gently.

“Thanks, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m cooking,” Emma teased.

Salvatore turned down the flame on the stove and led her into their bedroom. She kissed him passionately once the door was closed and locked so that Izzy couldn’t burst in on them. Slowly Emma removed his clothes. When he stood before her, fully naked, she couldn’t control her urge to have him. He tore at her clothing, and soon they were entangled between the sheets on the bed. The sex between them was indescribably intense and dripped with passion.

Emma would tease him with her mouth. Kissing him on the neck and working her way down his body. She would glide her tongue slowly over his erect penis, waiting to give him exactly what he wanted, until she knew that his desire for her was piqued. Salvatore would feel as if he was standing on the edge of a cliff with a parachute, waiting, anticipating with excitement the explosive pleasure she gave him. Only then would she give him the satisfaction he so desired and fully take him into her mouth until he came.

In turn, Salvatore’s gentle hands and mouth made Emma’s body ache for more of him. She was like a drug addict who needed her next hit of cocaine, she found him so addicting. He would kiss her everywhere; there wasn’t an inch of her body that his tongue didn’t know. She felt blissful when he was inside of her, moving in a slow, steady rhythm, stopping at perfectly timed intervals to run his tongue between her legs until her excitement swelled beyond her ability to control it and she exploded with the pleasurable sensation that only an orgasm can bring.

When they had finished, they lay in the bed, holding each other.

Finally Salvatore spoke. “Now, about that surprise…”

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” she said, rolling onto her side to look at him.

“We’re taking a little trip,” he said mysteriously.

“A trip, huh? And where are we going?” Her voice was full of anticipation.

“I’m taking you to Saint Thomas for a long weekend,” Salvatore told her, feeling like a knight in shining armor. “My family owns a condo on the beach. It’s a wonderful place and I know you’ll love it. I’ve arranged for us to go next weekend.”

Emma was thrilled. She had never been anywhere exotic. Hell, she thought to herself, the farthest she’d ever been was that shit-hole Kensington!

“What about Izzy?” she asked. “We’re taking her with us, right?” she asked, a little nervous to leave her behind.

“Yes, of course Izzy is coming. Macie will come with us too. She can keep an eye on her so that we can have some time alone.”

Emma hugged him and jumped out of bed, her naked body so beautiful and perfect that Salvatore wanted to pull her back and make love to her again.

She noticed how he was looking at her and said in a bantering tone, “Hey, knock it off! We have to go tell Izzy. She’s going to be so excited.”

They found Isabella sitting at the small desk in her room, drawing. She looked up at them as they entered.

“Look what I did! I drew a princess, and see?” she said, pointing to the tiny picture. “My princess has wings and a halo!”

“Oh, so you drew an angel princess! Is that supposed to be you?” Emma asked.

“Of course it’s me! It looks exactly like me, doesn’t it, Salvatore?” She looked to him for confirmation.

“Yes, Iz, it looks just like you. Our little angel!” he said affectionately.

As Izzy leapt from her chair and hugged Salvatore, Emma experienced a moment of terror. He had referred to her niece as “our little angel.” That scared her. She didn’t want Izzy building up false hopes of any kind. Things had been perfect between the three of them so far, but Emma was concerned that the child would become too comfortable with what might turn out to be a temporary phase of their lives. Emma was fine with the way things were, but hearing him murmur words to her niece that offered a promise of a future together gave her reason to pause.

Ever on the alert, Salvatore had noticed instantly that something he’d said had disturbed Emma. He took her hand in his own. “Do you want to tell Izzy about the surprise or do you want me to tell her?” he asked, hoping to bring back that happy moment they had just shared while discussing the trip.

“Oh yeah,” Emma said. “I’ll tell her. I have great news, Iz,” she now announced, turning to her niece. “Salvatore’s bought us a surprise. He’s going to take us to Saint Thomas for a vacation.”

“What’s Saint Thomas?” Izzy asked, clearly unenthusiastic.

Salvatore bent down on one knee so that his face was level with Izzy’s. “We’re going to the beach, sweetheart.”

“YAY!” she screamed and ran to her bookshelf. She pulled out a book and flung it at Salvatore. “Like the beach in this book?” she asked, beside herself with excitement. “
Curious George Goes To The Beach
, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Just like Curious George,” he said enthusiastically, trying to feed her excitement.

Izzy turned her attention to her aunt. “I don’t have a bathing suit,” she complained suddenly.

“I don’t either,” Emma told her with a shrug. “I guess we’ll both have to go to the store and buy one before we go.”

Izzy started bubbling over with excited chatter about all the things they were going to do at the beach. She told Salvatore that he would have to help her build a castle in the sand and informed him that she didn’t know how to swim. So he would have to hold onto her when she was in the water. Her mind raced with thoughts of how much fun they would all have together. She was an imaginative child and a receptive one, and the fact that Macie had spent a great deal of time reading to her over the months had stimulated her creativity further.

That night, as Emma and Salvatore lay in bed, she thanked him for everything he was doing for them. She told herself this man owed them nothing. He was kind and generous with both of them. The trip was just one more way to make her love this lifestyle. His comment to Izzy earlier had given her something to think about. As she drifted off to sleep that night, she wondered for the first time if she would, someday, marry him.

A week later, their plane landed at the airport in Saint Thomas. He had flown them first class, of course, and Izzy hadn’t wanted to leave the plane because of all the attention she’d received from the flight crew. After Salvatore picked up his rental car, he drove them down to Redhook on the east end of the island. As they pulled into a gated community called Cowpet Bay West, Emma took in the beauty of the place and caught glimpses of the ocean between the buildings as Salvatore drove down to his condo.

The condo turned out to be as tastefully decorated as his apartment in the city, with explosions of Caribbean color on the walls that gave it the feel of a resort straight out of
Luxury Travel
magazine, the latest issue of which Salvatore had bought for her to look at once he’d shared his plans about the trip.

After they settled in, Salvatore accompanied Emma and Izzy down to the beach while Macie decided to stay at the condo. Isabella immediately ran off with her bucket and shovel to play in the sand, while he and Emma settled themselves at the bar on the beach. As day faded into night, they enjoyed the feel of the warm, silky breeze against their skin. From the moment they arrived, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Emma felt that people here were more relaxed. Strangers talked to each other with ease, eager to share their contentment at being on the island. The wonder of finding herself in so special a place cast a rosy glow on everything and everyone, making them all appear perfect.

After dinner that night, Emma and Salvatore took a stroll on the beach. The waves from the ocean, sun-warmed all day, lapped over the tops of their bare feet. He pulled her to him and kissed her gently. Then they found a private spot on the beach and sat together.

“This is the way we live, Em,” he murmured. “You could be a part of this life with me forever, if that’s what you wanted.”

Emma didn’t quite understand what he meant. Was he asking her to marry him?

“I don’t know what that means,” she confessed. “We’re together now and I don’t have any plans on leaving.”

“Well, that’s all I meant,” Salvatore whispered softly. “I want you to stay. I promise you will always be taken care of and have the best things money can buy.”

Emma was surprised at the depth of her disappointment that he hadn’t asked her to marry him. First, marriage wasn’t something she’d ever wanted, not after seeing what had happened between her own parents. Why, then, had she nurtured such expectations in the first place? Since when had she gotten so soft, so vulnerable? Second, what had possessed her to even imagine he would want to marry someone like her? Salvatore was, after all, a powerful man who belonged to one of Philadelphia’s first families. Why would he ever marry some nonentity from Norristown? What had made her harbor such absurd notions? Had she had too much to drink?

Emma sat next to him in silence, wondering why she was being so emotionally needy, when she had taught herself to harden her heart against such meaningless things. Salvatore leaned over and kissed her. Slowly they undressed each other and made love on the beach. The whisper of the surf was background music as the waves rolled up the sand and crashed gently just short of where they lay.

The next morning, Salvatore drove Emma, Izzy, and Macie over to Megan’s Bay on the other side of the island. With a beach that ran a mile long, it was a beautiful place. Izzy played with Salvatore in the water and they built the sandcastle he’d promised her.

Macie studied Emma secretly trying to understand what it was about her, aside from her obvious beauty that made her so appealing to Salvatore. After their day of shopping, Macie had come to like her more, finding her almost intoxicating. But Salvatore was a strong and powerful man. What was it, she wondered, that made him so infatuated with Emma?

After much thought, she decided it was Emma’s confidence that had lured him to her. She was so sure of herself, she didn’t seem to care about the opinions others might have of her. She said what she wanted to say when she wanted to say it. Salvatore seemed, in fact, to adore this quality of hers. It wasn’t a quality Macie had ever been allowed to nurture or develop in her life.

Over the long weekend, she was coming to understand that Emma was, without doubt, a woman of substance. She wasn’t well-educated or well-read. She didn’t use big, complicated words when she spoke. In fact, some of the things she said might have embarrassed men other than Salvatore. Her remarks, for instance, about everything being so expensive or when she openly admitted to the waiter in a fancy restaurant that it was her first time eating lobster might have turned off many. Most men who belonged to Salvatore’s circle would have regarded Emma as white trash and dismissed her as nothing more than some cheap piece of ass. But now, spending so much time with her, Macie could see where Emma’s attraction lay. For all that she lacked in experience and social graces she made up for in charm and confidence. There was, in fact, something close to intimidating in Emma, if you got to know her well: the fact that she feared nothing. She reminded Macie of a female version of Salvatore.

On their last evening on the island, Salvatore took Emma out to dinner at the Old Stone Farmhouse. She admired how the stone steps descended into an open-air courtyard where small tables were set with expensive white linens. Along the main building’s stone walls, tucked away under arched alcoves built of stone, were plush sofas, where people sat eating and drinking heavily.

Salvatore led her to the front entrance of the farmhouse and they were ushered to a table that sat underneath an open window. The ambiance of the old but immaculately maintained building and the warm breeze wafting through the open windows made Emma feel as if she’d stepped into an altered reality, another universe altogether. The staff people bustled around them as if they were royalty, the most special individuals on earth. The manager invited them to the kitchen to meet the chef, and as they walked through the farmhouse and into the lower level of the building, the tantalizing aromas of food greeted them. Salvatore stopped Emma on their way down to the kitchen so that they could sign their names on the wall in the long hallway, a tradition both the restaurant owner and his patrons found enchanting.