“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 young actress or model on his arm in his early years, but his admission made me wonder if any of those relationships had stuck.
“You never met someone else?” I asked.
“Met plenty of folks. None of those women could hold a candle to my Cassie, though. I’m not sayin’ I was a saint…” Cliff shrugged his shoulders. “Only so many times a man can wake up in a strange bed and forget the name of the person lyin’ beside him. Gave all that up a long time ago.”
“What happened to Cassandra, Cliff?”
“She got tired of waitin’ for me to come back for her so she decided to go to me. She always was a spirited one. She stole her daddy’s car. Weather was bad that night as she was comin’ down off the mountain. Car went over the edge. Cassie was pinned but her older sister who’d gotten in the car to try and stop her from leavin’ managed to crawl out and find help. Cassie was gone by the time they got to her.”
“I’m sorry, Cliff,” I said softly because I didn’t know what else to say.
“Too damn short,” he murmured in response. His eyes lifted and pinned me. “You hear me, son?”
I nodded. It didn’t surprise me in the least that he knew about Nikolai. I hadn’t told him why I was hiding out at his estate but the men who’d come and gotten me had witnessed everything and had undoubtedly told Cliff.
“It’s not the same thing,” I said when Cliff continued to study me.
Cliff finally dropped his eyes. “Well, nothing for you to worry about anyway,” he said. “I called Smithfield this morning. That Russian fellow’s been fired.”
“What?” I said in disbelief as I stepped forward. “Why?”
Cliff shrugged. “Didn’t ask. I pulled the contract. That Falkov guy was all talk anyway. Those new security measures he recommended—”
“Were amazing,” I interrupted. “Everyone felt safer and he made me realize…”
“What?” Cliff asked, his mouth pulling into a frown. “What did he make you realize?”
“Nothing,” I said as I became aware I was treading in waters I had no interest being in. “Never mind.”