Maja Nord
She was busy going through the brochures she had gathered, the day before. Poring over them, bespectacled and lost in thought, with a black ski cap perched on her head, she did not see Handsome James had entered to join her on the wide patio until he sat down across from her. The fresh smell of the citrus soap or was it cologne, she associated with him, made her look up sharply. Once again, her heart plummeted and then began to pound so loudly, she was sure he could hear her. Why did the man look so delectable at eight in the morning?
No one had the right to look so casually handsome. So …so…delectable.
Maja herself was draped in her old grey sweats and a long john that had seen better days a lifetime ago, something that made her look like an astronaut, as her daughter had informed her kindly. She pulled in her tummy, wishing that she had not indulged herself so well on Proserpina Delano’s delicious food the night before. Maja was ashamed of her pear-shaped body but nothing could stop her from eating; she was not a fantastic cook but she loved food.
But Schwartz smiled easily as he sipped from a large mug of steaming hot coffee.
‘Any luck in finding a place to stay in?’ he asked, sympathetically glancing across at her as he pulled out his phones.
She shook her head mournfully. She had been sitting cross-legged on the low seat in the patio and she gave him a tight smile when she found him staring at her.
It must be my clothes. Or do I have food on my chin? she thought in horror.
Grimacing, she stretched out her legs as quickly as she could. The faded grey pants she was wearing made her feel even smaller and more insignificant than ever. And round.
‘I hope I brushed my hair,’ she thought miserably and remembered that her flaming red curls were in an untidy bun on her head.
Schwartz was looking at her in some interest, a quickening interest. He was close enough to see that she had a smattering of freckles on her nose that stood out vividly when she was agitated or upset.
He smiled.
She was so unlike Aiyana with her analytical, organised approach to life.
Muddled, human. Real.
This woman was like a prickly hedgehog, he thought as she scowled at him now, her mouth a small pout.
‘Never seen freckles before, Scotsman?’ she snapped and wanted to bite off her tongue as he grinned languidly.
‘Actually, I have.’ he smiled amiably and she knew what was coming, as his eyes danced over her full breasts, twinkling in amusement.
Damn and blast! she thought, colouring furiously. ‘ but…’ and he gave a guffaw as she coloured.
The man must have seen enough women to know that she was also one of those who had a dusting of freckles across her breasts. Tommas had been derisive and made fun of her and she felt that a sophisticated man about town like Handsome James would also be equally dismissive.
Maja jumped to her feet and left.
As she stomped off, her large trousers flapping about her legs, she could hear his mild amused laughter and she gnashed her teeth.
Turning around to glare at him, she saw his jump up with a shout.
“What?’ she began and never completed the sentence. The damned dog or puppy, or whatever it was, bounded out from nowhere and she screamed as she tripped over it and fell down on the grass, which had just been watered.
*
Spluttering she sat up and heard him chuckle again as he walked over and helped her to her feet. The seat of her pants was also, to her horror, soaking wet.
Furious, she glared at him and then, looking down at herself, her T-shirt stained with mud and wetly clinging to her chest and a rather plump stomach, as he grinned.
“Ah, damn,’ she swore crossly.
He laughed, holding her at arm’s length.
He looked so good, his white teeth in the tanned face, the green eyes crinkling, the blonde hair.
She stopped as she saw that he was looking at her, again with a gleam on his face.
“I …need to…’ she stuttered and walked towards the house. Camille, the Amazon of a woman, was standing on the patio, wildly gesticulating as she scolded the large dog that had been responsible for Maja’s undignified fall.
“So sorry!’ cried the woman, as Maja approached, “but Boney has a habit of running away on his bath day.’ And with that, she scooped up the old dog and carried him inside, still scolding him.
Maja walked into the room, and her heart sank as she saw Maddy and Tara on the large bed, playing.
“Mom, what have you done to yourself?” squealed Maddy as Tara covered her mouth with her hands to hide her giggles.
‘I felt like swimming, you mind?’ snapped Maja, and entered the bath, whistling to hide her annoyance.
‘In WINTER?’ screeched her daughter behind her before dissolving in a fit of laughter.
The girls stared at the bathroom door which slammed with a resounding thump, for a few moments, then Tara dissolved in peals of laughter.
‘You Mom is out of this world!’ she gasped as Maddy rolled her eyes and joined her and the girls chortled loudly.
From the other side of the bathroom door, Maja heard them and yelled, as she tore off her old, wet and smelly clothes, ‘I can hear you!’
*
Schwartz sat in the weak and wintry sun. He was smiling slightly as he thought of the woman who had just made an undignified exit. There was something about her, those flame-coloured masses of curls, the flashing blue eyes. It held him captivated though she was everything he was not; slothful, as was evident from her way of dressing, loaded with baggage, as was again, clear from her children, as dysfunctional as they came.
Lucien Delano had known straight off, with one look, that the youth was a user, as had Schwartz. But a little spark of kindness had made him bring the family over to stay , temporarily, of course, at Delano’s place.
A little digging into the background of Magnus Nord , had led to their discovering that he was on marijuana, not anything more harmful, but his dealer was connected to a low life called Terrence ‘Trix’ Hall, a man who had loose associations with the gangs affiliated to Dusak Rudenko…
*
Schwartz shifted as he sipped the tea which Camille had placed before him, smiling brilliantly at her to thank her.
He had seen how Proserpina brought up her children and had been unabashedly admiring of the way she had gently but firmly, moulded them into human beings who cared. It would have been so easy for the kids to run amok with all the money and their Pappa’s power at their disposal. But every one of them, from the eldest to the youngest, each of them was well brought up and well-mannered too.
James Schwartz had watched them grow, from tiny tots and some of them, little new-borns who he had held in his arms, had watched them mature into adults too.
He thought of them; astute and polite Piers, impulsive but loving Ria who tended to go about with her heart on her sleeve, Claude who was brash to a fault but at the scowl on his father’s face, he would become subdued and diffident.
Then there was Paddy, poor chap, thought Schwartz. The autistic child Proserpina had lovingly taken under her wing despite the fact that his aunt had been the epitome of evil. James Schwartz’s knuckles turned wet; he had actually had a thing for the girl.
But Paddy was shy and quiet to a fault; he loved Proserpina dearly and was part of the family although the Don had taken his time to accept him. But that was Lucien Delano for you. Tough as nails and very slow to love. It had taken years for him to admit that he loved Proserpina and could not live without her.
The way he kept her pregnant , almost continuously, was evidence of the man’s lust and desire for his much younger, beautiful wife.
*
. As for the youngest, the triplets; the boys were like bats out of hell, running and shouting but they were not badly behaved, simply boisterous but at a flick of their mother’s brow, they would calm down. And little Tara, the dreamer, he smiled fondly. The little girl, who showed all the signs of becoming a talented young pianist, was still to bloom into her true self but Schwartz had an uncanny feel that she would emerge as the strongest of the family. it was a gut feeling and he grinned to himself again as he drank his tea and waited for the Boss to join him.
He was becoming like an old woman, Aiyana would have said, depending on his gut feelings. As he thought of his erstwhile girlfriend, he sighed. He had invited her to attend the inauguration of Lucien Delano’s new Clubs, the one in the suburbs, overlooking the lake and the other, the kinkier one, within easy reach of the city, both of which would continue to cater to the decadent pleasures of the flesh.
He sighed and rubbed his face. Sometimes, all he wished for was to be away from all this; to be living a simple life, spending time with his family, reading a book on a leather chair at night before going to bed. The sad truth was that his only family was the humongous, extended and loving family of his best friend and mentor, the Mafia Don, Lucien Delano. And he knew he continued to love Proserpina Delano,