Chapter 333: Patty XXXVII—New Year’s Eve

Only finger food trays circulated through the party, light champagne, punch, and children ran underfoot. There would be no large countdown to New Years, no festivities lasting into the early morning. That, at least Patrick could be grateful for; he had had his fill of parties and gatherings to last for some time now and the collection of people at hand now, would be here for only a few hours. The house only served as a general meeting point for everyone, they could socialize a little, let children and nannies scurry a little, before drifting off to other New Year’s plans, dinners, and parties.

Patrick felt sleepy, his eyes stung. He felt drained. The nose of the party, people talking, laughing loudly, children crying, hammered in his brain. He drank a little champagne to calm his nerves but he held off. He and Michele had reservations for late dining downtown and she wouldn’t appreciate him prematurely tipsy. As for the children, Michele didn’t want to ask Cecile to watch them and separate her from whatever plans she and Danny might have, but he figured they would be safe enough alone for a few hours with the security system on.

In the kitchen, as he gathered napkins up, his eyes went to the refrigerator and the crayon drawings stuck to it. One of them, a shattered blast of colors caught his eyes, the name scrawled in big letters on the bottom, Alicia. He felt his throat tighten. The surgery would buy her two more years, half a million dollars for two years of life, the worth of a little girl worse off than previously expected. He wondered if by that time the doctor’s would have discovered a new more expensive surgery to buy her more time by then. He wondered if they already knew exactly what they needed to do, they just wanted more money to do it.

He hadn’t told Jana that much. Jana, as her habit, had made a fast bond with the little girl and even tried learning a few Spanish words from her, tried to teach her some French. Children clung together so naturally. It irritated Patrick that nothing more could be done for the little girl, and what Jana would look back on knowing her as.

He wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. He knew that much.

Patrick rejoined the party, giving the napkins to Coco Lacroix. Most everyone seemed to be trickling into the parlor, following Jana who danced like a harlequin, ordering everyone to come hear the songs she could play on the piano. Inwardly, Patrick grimaced, listening to his daughter peck away at the keys, could be tedious, as terrible a thought that was. But Jana came through with a lively tune, sprinkled with various key slips but fast enough to be entertaining and recognizable enough for people to applaud honestly when she finished. It seemed Elena had earned the money he paid her for those lessons.

“Thank you!” Jana breathed, “Thank you, now it’s Elena’s turn!” Jana held out her arms dramatically to Elena, reveling in her own generosity of spotlight. Patrick new how Jana cherished her spotlight, to share it was indeed a mark of great respect from the child.

“Oh God!” Elena huffed, batting her hand in the air and rolling her eyes, but with a smile that glowed. “You don’t want to hear me. I haven’t practiced all day.” Ah yes, and another one who obviously cherished the spotlight.

“Aw come on,” Joe Sakic said good naturedly, “I’ve only heard you the one time, play something, come on impress me.”

A few other goads of encouragement were all Elena needed. She smoothed her hands over her sleek black hair, turned to Jonathan and smiled, and then sat herself primly on the piano bench, her slim body straight as a board. Without introduction or warning, Elena lifted her hands high and crashed them onto the keys, her fingers flying in an impossibly fast tune. The murmur swelled through the audience like an ocean wave and people shook their heads in disbelief at the girl’s talent. Patrick felt his chest tighten, not with want but with an emotion somewhat similar to it. He recognized the girl’s talent, and he understood what it felt like to be lost in it. He felt his cheeks warm and redden goosebumps on his flesh.

“She will be famous one day, I bet.”

Patrick smiled, he recognized that serious voice. For her to address him first… well that was nice. He looked at Cecile. “You think?”
“It’s almost obvious,” Cecile replied in French, not looking at him, the tip of her pretty nose moving somewhat when she spoke. Patrick thought of a rabbit’s nose, poking out of a burrow, checking to see if it’s safe. “She’s so pretty and talented, and driven. Goodness, I spoke with her earlier today and the girl has more ambition than a politician. I’d almost say she was older than she is.”

“Her eyes smolder with destiny, is that it?” Patrick said, not sarcastically but with a jaunty tone.

Cecile looked at him an amused frown on her face, one eye almost closed over the little stitches scarring underneath. He could see the pink flesh there, yes, the girl would be scarred. It remained to be seen whether to scar would add or detract from her beauty. Patrick rather liked it; it brought attention to those kitty cat eyes. “You’re being silly, Mr. Roy. Are you teasing me?”

“Perhaps,” Patrick smiled. He did feel warmer inside looking at her. No escape from the fact that Jana breathed innocently because of this young woman. Yes, he did look at her differently. Educate rather than destroy…. Breathe life into her…. A new destiny for this one…

Cecile half smiled. “Stay that way.”

“Stay what way?”

“Silly.”

Patrick raised his eyebrows. “You like it?”

“It suits you.”

Patrick lowered his eyelids and grinned, yes he felt content now. “If you like it than I will do my best to please you, it’s all that matters now.”

Cecile blinked, he saw her hesitate. “What?”

“I will do whatever I can to make you happy.”

Cecile’s nose tightened, her lips tightened, the whole of her body tightened. Patrick wondered how that would feel in his arms. “Oh, so you’re still on that? I had hoped that you were over that by now.”

“Really?” Patrick refused to grin this time.

“I wouldn’t have approached you if I thought otherwise.”

“Or you approached me to find out if I was? How curious were you?”

A roll of the eyes, a reddening of the cheeks, trademarks of the girl’s temper. Oh she had a considerable one; Patrick could see it seething under her skin. “Don’t start on that really. It’s embarrassing for both of us.”

“Love is always embarrassing,” Patrick whispered.

Cecile’s eyes widened, he wondered if that pained the cut on her face, “Don’t!” She hissed. “Don’t say that here!” She glanced around as if certain that the whole room had heard.

“No one is listening to us, and they cannot speak French otherwise, don’t be afraid.”

“Well it isn’t as if you really mean it,” Cecile crossed her arms. “I don’t know what game you’re playing but you should just stop it, because I’m on to you. You’re not getting anywhere with me.”

“Not even after everything I’ve done to impress you? Doesn’t that mean something; the lengths a man would go to look good in a girl’s eyes? You have to be touched by that on some level. Every girl loves to be thought of that way.”

Cecile shook her head. “If you’re referring to that sick little girl, yes it did impress me, you know that already. And in fact I came over here to tell you how nice that is to let Jana befriend her, I saw the drawings on the fridge. And they impressed me in a very important way.”

I love your little mind, I really do, Patrick thought. How can a girl be so intelligent and so pure at the same time, there has to be some deviousness in there. “And what way was that?”

“That I am not the reason you spent half a million dollars on a stranger, your daughter is.” Cecile looked so sure of herself, so mature and Patrick felt a chill up his spine, “You spent that money to impress upon her what a good deed can be, to expose her to reality and generosity, and you spent it out of a good impulse in your heart. I bet when you made that initial transaction I did not appear anywhere in your thoughts at all. And why you persist in trying to make me believe that is beyond me. I am not worth half a million dollars. Maybe if you had spent some thousands of dollars, or something considerably less I would have believed you when you told me that the whole thing was a sham, and I know you would not use your own daughter to perpetuate a sham. You keep trying to force feed it to me, this illusion that you’re completely evil and devoid of good and it just can’t be true.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted to believe?” Patrick needled, again he wanted to grin but he suppressed it. “I thought you saw me as some evil wolf, a threat to your righteousness, I thought it made you comfortable to believe I was evil, so I’ve followed suit to your expectations.” Patrick wanted to laugh. It had worked. He could see her eyes, clear and trusting. He had made himself, with exaggerating his faults to her to such a melodramatic, extreme extent, seem more innocent, to her. She couldn’t possibly believe him to be so frightening anymore if he continued to say it so to her face. Wouldn’t Michele love to hear this one? “But now it seems you would like me to be, silly.”

“I don’t want to believe anything,” Cecile said. “I just want you to stop this silly charade. Just stop this act, please.”

Patrick smiled now. “So you don’t think I’m a complete monster? You actually, can I hope that you actually believe there’s some good in me? Do you realize how I’ve been dying to hear just a hint of that from your mouth?”

Cecile swallowed, her eyes misted just lightly. “Please, stop that. You can’t love me at all, what about your wife?”

“I can love her too, why not?”

“Because you can’t love more than one person!” Cecile whispered. Her glance darted nervously, but the room was still enthralled with Elena’s performance.

“Of course I can!” Patrick whispered. “That is the least intelligent thing you have ever said. You know there are so many forms of love. Why can’t I love the mother of my children, and yet still worship the most pure, brave angel I have ever had the pleasure of knowing?”

Her eyes closed and her cheeks blushed. Patrick grinned and then let the smile fade. Yes something had hit a mark there. What girl doesn’t love being elevated over another woman? “I am not an angel.”

“Yes you are,” Patrick said kindly. “You are. And now I have the life of my daughter as proof of that. Your brave actions, your readiness to give your own life for someone not even your blood has only strengthened and confirmed what I feel for you.”

Cecile opened her eyes and he saw it, a flash. Pain, a wounded deer, a distraught child, had similar eyes to that. Helplessness. She showed it to him, for one split second she was without a word to say, she didn’t dispute him. Instead Cecile turned away from him and weaved her way through bodies until she found Danny’s side, leaning her cheek into his shoulder.

With a flourish of her bony arms, Elena hopped up from the piano bench and bowed to the audience only to be enveloped in a hug from Jana. Everyone applauded soundly and Patrick grinned, clapping his hands and shouting words of congratulations on a job well done.

Yes a good performance indeed.