Ah, here we go. We were down to the specifics of this arrangement. Pnina knew me well enough to know that my word was as good as my blood. I said what I meant and meant what I said.
“I agree.”
“She goes to Paris after this ruse is over. She has had a standing offer with the ballet there since she was a young girl, as well as a few others.”
I opened and closed my hands. “Where she goes is up to her.”
“As long as she goes,” Pnina said. “I know my daughter. If she is committed, she will see it through. I know she is infatuated with the thought of you. She has asked Eunice questions—almost eagerly. I found your picture in her room. I am her mother and also a woman. I know these things.
“Dance is something she does because she can. It comes natural to her, as natural as breathing. I will not allow her to commit to you fully and give up all that she has worked for. Scarlett is destined to reach the stars. Men such as yourself take the light for themselves.”
Yeah, they do. I had claimed her that night in the snow. She was mine. End of story. This woman was smart to be wary of me. I never doubted that about her.
She continued. “You will set her free when it is time. Or I will have no choice but to keep her abroad now. She has already lost so much focus. I cannot allow her to lose anymore.”
She took another drink of coffee, set it down, and then smoothed out her dress.
“However, I do believe giving her an incentive will work. Giving her some normalcy as you pointed out.”
Of course. There was more to this then she let on. When Scarlett turned eighteen, she had the power to crush Pnina’s dreams by not dancing at all. Pnina could hold their wealth over her, but that’s about all.
At this point, I wasn’t so sure that Scarlett wouldn’t rather live on the street and work at the local diner.
Neither of us wanted that for her. Nor would I ever allow her to live on the street or work at the diner. However, I understood Pnina’s unspoken thoughts all too clearly. When I entered Scarlett’s life, if I encouraged her, she would dance.
Call it premonition, but we had both surrendered to each other that night out in the snow. She could move me just as well as I could move her.
I was well aware that she was mine in all regards. I had no doubt that she didn’t recognize the same loss of power in me. There was no escape for either of us. All it took was one night and for our eyes to connect. Those emerald eyes haunted me even when I was with other women.
Pnina went no further, waiting to hear the words from my mouth—you have my word.
I looked her in the eye. “I also have conditions.”
Her eyebrow lifted at that.
I held a finger up. “I’ll enter her life when she’s eighteen. You’ll allow me to give her the opportunities that were available to your other children. Meaning, she gets to do normal things with me.”
“When she’s eighteen. When’s she legal.”
I nodded. Less chance of this woman sending her off if she was of age. I had to give her as little wiggle room as possible.
I waited for her to agree this time.
“You have my word.”
I lifted another finger. She narrowed her eyes. “Once she’s decided where to go. France. Italy. New York. Wherever.” I waved a hand. “You hire someone to follow her around—all that she does and sees comes back to me. I want to know who she’s with down to what she eats for lunch. After her first performance as a principal dancer, I come back into her life. At that point, she’ll be established in that world.”
Pnina shifted in her seat but she didn’t get comfortable. “Brando, you have to give her a chance to live her life. You have to give her a chance to experience what it means to be on her own without you. She is young. If she is not allowed to have other experiences apart from you—because make no mistake, you are a man who becomes the experience—you might find yourself living with regret one day. Your mother, for instance, was fifteen as well when she fell in love with