his, and they both knew it. That was all that mattered for now. All that he could give her. For now.
11
So many firsts, Marie thought, as she stepped into the limousine at the airport. Her first Christmas away from home, her first ride in a limousine, and her first flight. They’d flown directly from New Orleans to New York on a private jet, also a first. She still had a first, then, for the future. A commercial flight would have taken too long, Matteo had told her, so she still had something to look forward to, eventually.
She tried not to gape out of the window at the sights as they drove away from the airport and into the city. Matteo had an apartment… somewhere. She had no idea what was what in this huge city. New Orleans sprawled along with narrow streets and traffic lights on the side of the road, rather than hanging overhead as they did here.
There was more noise here, more people, more everything. It was almost… frightening. Matteo had warned her: this was a noisy place that was always in motion. At the time, she hadn’t thought anyplace could be noisier than Baton Rouge or New Orleans, but she’d never been to New York. Well, now she had, and it was a little more than overwhelming.
He took her hand as they pulled up to a brick apartment building and a doorman stepped out to open their doors. Yeah, it was that kind of place. She took a deep breath before she stepped out of the car and waited for Matteo to join her. He came around the car while the doorman took out their bags and stacked them on a trolley.
“You alright?” he asked and placed his left palm against the small of her back.
That touch grounded her, brought her back from the edge of panic she’d been headed towards. She smiled at him with reassurance and nodded. “I’m good.”
“Good. Follow me, Mrs. Mazza.” His voice was low as he spoke, amused. He walked her into the building and to an elevator. A punch of a finger and the very top button lit up.
All that way up, she thought with a glance at him. His face was impassive as if he had no thoughts in his head at all. She knew he must be worried that she might embarrass him in some way, but she was trying very hard to take all of this in her stride. She’d known luxury existed, known the there were people in this world that had no worries about money. She didn’t believe, not for one minute, that she’d ever get to have such a moment of such peace.
As the bell dinged and he ushered her out of the elevator, Marie looked around. She had on a pair of black leggings, a long black sweater that came down to her knees, and a pair of leather boots that came up to those same knees; the labels inside each one a suitable label for a place with so much opulence.
It was tastefully done in glass, white objects, and furniture of white leather. Earth tones warmed it up with a brown throw pillow here, a tan one there, a rusty red cover, and a few copper vases on each side of the television screen that was bigger than any TV she’d ever seen. And this was just the living room.
“In here is the bedroom, there’s another one at the end of the hall down there. The bathroom is in the middle and the kitchen is off to the left at the end of the hall.” He took his black wool coat off and hung it on a peg, along with the stone-gray scarf he’d worn.
She followed his lead and took off her own black coat and hung it up on another peg that lined the wall. She took a deep breath and looked around. The wall of windows drew her and she sat down on the white leather divan that sat before the glass wall invitingly. The city was in the distance, a sprawling wonder of steel, glass, and bricks. A month ago, she’d sat in her own kitchen, a kitchen that was out of date and destined to be sold.
Now, here she was, in New York, in a luxury apartment, as the rain began to fall out of the gray sky that had plagued them since they’d landed. It looked cold, lonely, maybe even unkind. It was a city that didn’t care