impression he wanted me to leave.
“I hated the things,” he finally said. “Seemed silly to waste so much time carin’ for something that would draw blood if you weren’t careful,” he continued. “My Cassandra, she was the one who treated them like her children. She believed plants had souls, if you can believe it.”
“Cassandra?” I asked softly.
“Love of my life,” Cliff said simply. “Knew I’d marry that girl as soon as I laid eyes on her.”
Cliff’s voice was soft but there was a sadness to it. And since I’d never heard or read anything about someone named Cassandra in his life, my gut was telling me whatever I was about to hear wouldn’t be anything good. But the mere fact that Cliff was bringing up his past gave me pause. The man didn’t share anything with anyone.
He just didn’t.
He’d learned long ago that doing so would just leave him vulnerable. He’d been the subject of tabloid gossip for lesser things and countless people had tried to use personal information about him to get at his fortune, whether through legal or illicit means.
Much like the asshole who’d been threatening to hurt Cliff by coming after me. My thoughts immediately jumped to Nikolai. The pang of longing that went through me nearly had me doubling over in agony.
“Who is she?” I managed to ask, though I couldn’t help but think about what had been going through my mind when I’d laid eyes on Nikolai. No, I hadn’t known I would marry him, but I’d known he’d be my ruin. I’d been both right and wrong about that.
“Was, my boy,” Cliff said. “My Cassie was called back home by the good Lord before she reached her nineteenth birthday.”
“Cliff,” I murmured but I kept myself from tacking an apology on the end. It wouldn’t serve any purpose.
“See that rose right there,” Cliff said as he pointed at a solitary table where a single rosebush sat in a ray of light pouring through the glass window.
“Yeah,” I said.
“All the roses you see in here came from that one flower. Cassie gave it to me. Said it would bring me luck as I was startin’ my business. I told her it wasn’t seemly for a man to be carrying a rosebush around New York City.”
“What did she say?” I asked.
Cliff chuckled. “Said life was too damn short to worry about what other people thought. So I kept that damn thing on my lap the entire bus ride from Wishing Springs, West Virginia to the city. Accidentally left it behind in Philadelphia when I switched buses. Had to go back for it.”
I found myself smiling along with Cliff, but it was short-lived because he quickly fell silent and stared at the rosebush he was working on. “She was right. It did bring me luck.”
“What happened to her?” I found myself asking, even though I could tell it hurt him to talk about her.
“She kept askin’ when I was comin’ back for her. Back in those days a man had to prove he could take care of his girl. Her papa hadn’t ever thought I’d do anything but cause trouble so I knew when I went back home to ask for her hand, I had to prove him wrong.” Cliff began working with the soil for the flower again.
“Did you?”
Cliff shook his head. “Waited too long. Thought it was more important to prove myself than to start my life with my Cassie. She kept tellin’ me life was too damn short to wait.” Cliff gave a sad laugh. “She loved that sayin’… too damn short. Used it all the time even though it drove her mama crazy cause she didn’t like Cass cussin’.”
I found myself smiling again. “Too damn short,” I said softly. That was when it hit me. “Too damn short,” I whispered. “T.D.S.” I looked at Cliff in surprise. “That’s what it stands for.”
Cliff nodded. “Everyone expected me to live my life workin’ the mines like my daddy and my grandaddy before him, but not Cass. She knew I could do anything I wanted. And I wanted money. Lots of it. Thought it would be enough. Then Cassie was gone and I tried to hang on to her in any way I could. Didn’t work, of course. Neither did pretending I was moving on by playing into some image of someone I wasn’t.”
I thought about all the women Cliff had been rumored to have dated. Yeah, there had been plenty of pictures of him with some