Greater Than Rubies, a Novella inspired by the Jewel Trilogy (7 page)

Robin poked her head into the office and saw a huge oak desk with just a black blotter on top of it. A wooden filing cabinet sat behind the desk. A dark brown leather couch sat in the center of the room, and floor to ceiling bookshelves lined every wall. The single room was easily bigger than Robin’s entire apartment.

Betty gestured down the hall. “I’ll show you Derrick’s room now. I’ve had painters here since Tony called me at ten this morning. I’m so thankful we were able to get someone in with absolutely no notice on a Thursday afternoon.”

She took Robin and Maxine back into the hall to another room. This one had an open door. As soon as they got close to the door, the smell of fresh interior latex paint immediately wafted out. Robin could see through the open doorway beyond the sitting room. Plastic drop cloths covered the carpet and two men in coveralls rolled navy colored paint onto the trimmed walls with professional precision.

“Do you have furniture coming?” Maxine asked.

Betty answered. “Yes. At four today. I have a black leather couch coming for this room, and an oak desk and bookshelf. The bedroom is going to be white and with navy trim. I would have dearly loved to have done a wash but there really isn’t time.”

“That sounds great,” Maxine said. “What are these walls going to be below the chair rail?”

“I’m thinking gray, with nautical paintings above and a matching gray mat inside oak frames.”

Maxine nodded. “I can supply the artwork if you can get it framed and matted.”

“She absolutely can,” Robin said. Maxine’s artistic eye that helped her excel in the advertising industry had also developed her into a stellar painter in her own right. “Wait until you see her work.”

Betty raised an eyebrow. “Indeed. Tony had mentioned the same but I didn’t want to presume. In fact, he wants me to commission you first for any of his contracts.”

The three women discussed furniture, colors, and what needed to be bought until Robin’s cell phone rang. She saw Tony’s number and answered with a smile. “Hi, you.”

“Hello,
cara
. I saw your new car in the garage and wanted to let you know we are on our way up.”

Robin felt so excited at meeting Derrick she decided not to chide him about the car any more today. “I’ll see you in a second.” She walked through the apartment, so inspired to see the love that Tony had put into these rooms. She stepped down into the living room and crossed over to greet the elevator just as it arrived.

A young man hesitated before he stepped off, eyeing her with cautious curiosity. He wore dirty jeans and a black leather jacket with a hole in the elbow. His face was chapped red beneath scruffy, unshaven cheeks. He had black hair that was almost curly, brown eyes the color of dark caramel and pale olive skin. He looked wafer thin, nearly gaunt with sallow cheeks, as if he hadn’t had many good meals in the last several weeks. Robin immediately fell in love with him. She held both of her hands out. “You must be Derrick,” she said with a smile. “I’m Robin. It’s so nice to meet you.

He stared at her hands before taking them. She squeezed his chapped and calloused fingers and released him just as Maxine came into the room, laughing. “This is my sister, Maxine,” she said.

Maxine raised a hand in a greeting. “Hello, Derrick. It’s wonderful to meet you.” She fastened her jacket. “Are you ready?”

Derrick shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “Ready for what?”

Maxine pulled her car keys out of her pocket and jingled them. “Shopping! Tony tells me you need new clothes. And, I’m just sure I need new shoes. You know the old saying about two birds?”

Robin said, “Maxi and I were just here supervising the decorator for your bedroom. Hopefully, we covered everything.” She turned to Tony who followed Derrick out of the elevator. He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a thin wallet. He handed a black credit card to Maxine and said, “I assume you will make it up to me in paintings very soon?”

Maxine looked at the credit card and asked, “Seriously?”

Tony answered, “If you are concerned or have any issues, call my cell. I have already spoken to the bank so you should have no problems anywhere you go.”

He put a hand on Derrick’s elbow. With a straight face, he said, “Derrick, you are about to go shopping for clothes, shoes, other apparel, and accessories in the company of a beautiful, smart, and talented woman who has just been given a credit limit that approaches infinity. Consider this a rare opportunity – and take advantage of it – but carry everything she hands you. For the next few hours, you are basically a pack mule.”

At Derrick’s puzzled look, Maxine released a joyful laugh. “Let’s go. I can’t wait to get to know more about you.”

Robin looked at her watch. “I have to run, too. I have some paperwork to do then I have to meet Craig. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

He took her hand and kissed the knuckles. “Count on it, my love.”

OBIN
sat at the small, shabby, round table in her worn kitchen. She could reach and open the refrigerator with one hand, and reach and touch the wall opposite the refrigerator with the other. A Formica covered breakfast bar separated the kitchen from the ‘living room,’ a space squeezed tight with a couch, a chair, and an old television. Down a narrow hallway were two small bedrooms, one hers and one shared by Maxine and Sarah, and a bathroom that was barely big enough for the shower stall and toilet.

She had worked two jobs for years to provide a home and an education for her sisters. She’d vowed to herself that she would do it, without help from anyone, even them, and give them the opportunity to have the kind of life that their addiction-driven mother never offered them. She would give them careers that would allow them to live independently from ever needing anything provided to them by anyone else.

Thinking back, she pulled a tin of mints out from under a stack of mail and popped one in her mouth, sucking on it as she thought of the woman who had given birth to her. Their mother had been driven by her addictions – mastered by them really, enslaved to them – and never seemed to care one way or the other what that meant to her three daughters. Robin had cared for her younger sisters as well as possible, protecting them, doing her best to handle daily needs. But their lives had been the stuff of nightmares filled with hunger, fear, pain, and desperation.

The murder of their mother and her last boyfriend had released the girls from one nightmare, only to introduce the older two to another. From the time she could walk, it felt like Robin had scraped and scratched for survival and she so desperately wanted to make sure her sisters had a solid base to break the cycle.

It felt strange, now, to think that she no longer worked alone. There was a time when she wouldn’t accept help from Tony, out of stubborn pride. Then she learned that he expressed love by doing and giving, and had gradually started to accept that.

The idea that Tony would soon be her partner in life gave her a bit of pause. Especially now that planning for the wedding was suddenly upon her, she honestly didn’t know what she was doing. Who was she to think she could marry a man who had to whittle the invitation list to his wedding down from over fifteen hundred people and considered doing so a hardship? Whether Tony knew it or acknowledged it or not, he was entirely ten levels above her league.

The door opened and Maxine breezed into the apartment. “That boy is going to break some hearts now that I’ve had my way with him,” she said, shedding her coat. She threw it over the back of the couch and set her purse on the counter. “He has a natural sense of style, too. Once I explained to him the process, he took right to it. I even took him by my salon. Instead of balking at being at a women’s salon, he sat there in his new clothes and just charmed Francine.”

“I really like him. I can see why Tony was so drawn to him. Something about him – “

Maxine raised an eyebrow. “Okay. What’s wrong?”

Robin’s stared for a moment at Maxine before laughing and shaking her head. “Goodness, Maxi. I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“What, Robin? What happened?”

“Nothing –” She looked at her phone again. “It’s just that a homemaking magazine just called me for an interview. That makes three magazines and four newspapers since Monday.”

“So give the interviews.” Maxine set a shopping bag full of shoes on the floor by the couch. “I think it’s awesome. Oh! Do them at Hank’s Place! Get that name recognition out there.”

“I don’t know how to give an interview. I’ve never given an interview in my life.”

“Then call Tony. I’m sure he has some PR department to handle this kind of thing. He is very careful with his public image.”

“Maxi.” Her breath came out in a sigh. She slowly stood from the table. “What am I doing? I feel like I’m playing a game and any minute now someone is going to unmask me and everyone will know how I am absolutely the wrong woman to be marrying that man.”

Maxine came toward her and put her hands on her shoulders. “Listen to me. You will never find anyone who loves you as much as that man does. You have a jewel in him. You are blessed. Don’t foolishly toss it aside because you can’t see beyond his material possessions.”

“Can anyone see past his material possessions?” She looked at her watch. “I have to run. I’m meeting Craig at the restaurant.”

“Hey,” Maxine said as Robin started to dash down the hallway. “Be careful with that.”

Robin smiled and dismissively waved her hand. “It’s fine.”

HEF
Casey stood behind the big stainless steel island next to a nervous assistant who deftly cut carrots into julienne strips. He looked up as Robin walked into the room. He gave her the grimace that passed for his smile, making his uneven teeth flash startling white against his ebony face. “Hiya.”

Robin smiled back, “Hiya yourself.” She stepped aside and encouraged Craig Bartlett to step forward.

Casey looked with curiosity at Robin’s guest, but continued their ritual greeting with, “All right, then.”

“Casey, I’d like you to meet my father, Craig Bartlett.” Robin still felt strange saying that. Craig’s feet shuffled and he nervously nodded at Casey, but he did not speak. He stood well over six feet tall, with dirty blond hair and pale blue eyes. His plaid shirt stretched tight over a broad chest and large stomach.