Refracted Crystal: Diamonds and Desire (33 page)

She nodded. “I know. But I want Daniel to give it up. If it wasn’t for the fact that you’d come after us if we have nothing, I’d ask him to give it
all
up. He’ll still have enough to fire lawyers at you to kingdom come if you change your mind, and the information I have will be my... additional insurance.”

At this, Felix shrugged. “So be it,” he said at last. “There’s just one more thing, though. Why on earth does Daniel Stone want Chiado?”

Kris picked up her briefcase and stood up, brushing down her skirt before standing up. She could not resist a little smile at the question.

“He doesn’t,” she replied at last. “It’s for me.”

Kris stood on the dock of the Port of Lisbon, staring out at the ship that was beginning to set sail into the Tagus
river
and thence out to the Atlantic. In her arms, she cradled Sofia, bringing the head of the
year-old child
towards her mouth, breathing in the scent of her daughter as it mingled with the tang of the river and the industrial smells of the docks around her.

Spring was nearly
upon them now, though the Portuguese sun still shone more brightly than on most English summer days
so that
Kris
was more than comfortable in
a blue cotton dress that ruffled slightly in the soft breeze. Ignorant of the ship and men all around her, focussing only on her mother, Sofia burbled happily to herself
and raised
a sweet, pudgy hand to Kris’s hair which hung loose and long about her shoulders. As she grasped it, the young
child
pulled it towards her gums with a joyful exclamation and began to suck on it avidly, causing Kris to smile.

So many things had happened in the year and a half since they had left London, but Sofia was by far the most important, for both Kris and Daniel. Negotiations with Felix Coltraine and Maximilian Roth had taken longer than she had desired, partly because the old man had insisted upon taking over proceedings from his feckless son. Another reason was that Daniel, sensing blood, had engaged ruthlessly with his onetime mentor as well as his former partner with Stone Enterprises. Kris had carefully avoided giving him too much knowledge of the information that she had, but he did not need to be told that Maximilian and Felix were far too eager to give him more of what he wanted to shut him up. Kris had almost felt sorry for Felix the last time she had seen him. Almost.

Chiado had been more of a surprise to him, though he accepted the responsibility and even began to thrive on it. Sometimes, when he would spend
more time with Guilherme Escada
, she had the sensation that he had regressed to a boy
presented with an adult equivalent of a train set. Not that she resented him his work: for most of the time he remained with her in Lisbon, rarely travelling far afield, and Daniel without business would not have been Daniel.
She had not returned to London since (though Daniel had been unable to avoid the city completely). Even for Sofia’s christening, Daniel had brought Anne and Andrew across to Portugal to be godparents: he himself had wanted Elaine Christiansen to fulfil that role, but while she had attended the ceremony she mockingly informed him that being his surrogate mother in whatever capacity was more than enough. Kris had even been surprised to see Daniel’s Uncle Irvine and his wife at the ceremony, though the Glaswegian had confided in her that he always “knew the lad amounted to more than a regional salesman.”

As for herself, while the birth of Sofia had tired her a little, the more time she spent with her husband the greater her energies. While she was not yet painting as voraciously as she had been for her first exhibition, nonetheless she sketched, drew and created almost daily, losing herself in her own work that was as important to her as Daniel’s to him.

Towards the west, the red steel frame of the Ponte 25 de Abril cast a shadow across the bow of the ship, a large vessel that was now beginning its maiden voyage, the deck as yet containing only a few multicoloured containers but which would return with many more. As her attention was distracted by the motion of the ship, Kris saw once again its name: Braganza. Her smile deepened.

“Senhora Avelar!” Kris turned around, Sofia still chewing on a lock of her hair, to see Guilherme Escada coming towards her. She nodded to him as the stocky manager of Chiado came closer.

“You should join us,” he said, his grin broad and open, his eyes shining with pleasure. “After all, this is your day as much as anyone’s.”

“It’s fine, really,” she replied in Portuguese. “I was a little concerned about getting in the way with Sofia, and I have as good a view as anyone from here.”

At this, Guilherme turned his own attention back to the container ship. His face was full of satisfaction of a job well done.

“She’s a good ship, and a very welcome addition,” he remarked. “Senhor Logan has done us proud.”

It had taken Guilherme a little while to acclimatise to Daniel’s reversion to his birth name—indeed, it had taken everyone by surprise other than Kris and Elaine Christiansen.
Kris
, more than anyone, was glad at the decision. Daniel Stone had guarded his privacy fiercely but, even so, smatterings of his life had been cast across the media, shining as though through a glass darkly. As far as the world was concerned, Daniel Logan was a nonentity. For Kris, he and Sofia were everything.

Guilherme glanced back towards Kris somewhat shyly. “I had thought we were going to name her the Avelar,” he remarked. Kris shook her head at this.

“Daniel wants that for another boat—a new yacht.”

“Ah, of course. I see why you would approve of that. You want a ship to be as beautiful as you if it is to carry your name.”

This made Kris laugh. “You are a charmer, Guilherme. Thank heavens I’m a married woman, or you’d quite sweep me off my feet.”

Guilherme raised an eyebrow at this and his smile widened somewhat cheekily. “The honour would be all mine.”

“Anyway,” Kris added quickly, teasing him away from his flirtation for all the pleasure it gave her, “to be honest I think the yacht is
another of
Daniel’s toy
s
rather than mine.
He has become obsessed with boats and ships in all their forms. In any case,
I don’t think I trust Sofia as a sailor just yet.” She squeezed her daughter playfully in her arms and Sofia giggled at the attention.

Nodding indulgently, Guilherme returned his gaze to the vessel which was now passing beneath the red bridge, slowly manoeuvring into the centre of the river.

“But she is a beauty,” he sighed to himself. “And the Braganza is a fine name. Your choice, Senhor Logan tells me.”

Kris nodded but added no more. The significance of the name was a private joke between her and Daniel.

Her own pleasure was increased a few moments later when Daniel himself came towards them, moving away from the docks where knots of people still gathered together to watch the ship as it sailed away. He was dressed simply and casually, in dark trousers and a light shirt, sleeves rolled up at the waist and open at the neck. He towered over most of the other Portuguese and was instantly recognisable wherever he went—a fact that had made him something of a
minor
local celebrity, much to his chagrin.

As he walked steadily towards the trio, his face was serious but vibrant. As so often, he was thoughtful but the truth was that Kris had almost never seen him so alive before they had moved permanently to Lisbon. He would often talk to her in the evening of the cares of the day, the work that he was involved in dragging Chiado into the twenty-first century, but the anxiety and worries of his final days at Stone Enterprises had almost entirely faded away.

“This is real,” he had told her once. “Before... before I was caught up in abstractions.”

“And was I an abstraction?” she had asked him.

He had shaken his head and looked at her and their daughter a little sadly. “No. You were the reminder of
everything
I was in danger of losing.” He had paused after this and frowned slightly. “Mind you, things would be a damn sight easier if I had all the resources of Stone Enterprises at my fingertips still. I could turn this place around in the twinkling of an eye.”

“You’re still a rich man—a very rich man, Daniel Logan.”

And with this, he had kissed both her and his daughter softly on their brows.

These thoughts passed through Kris’s memory as she watched Daniel come closer. His hair, slightly greying at the sides but still thick and dark on his head, was now matched by a neat beard. He had not returned to the rough hermit she had first encountered at Comrie, but nor did he wish to remind himself of the too-suave founder of Stone Enterprises. Kris adored the look, as well as the fact that the hardness of body that he had rediscovered in the San Francisco jail had never departed. For her own part, shedding the weight that she had gained in the final weeks of Sofia’s pregnancy had proved more difficult, particularly as Daniel had if anything become even more fruity with her.

“I like something to grab hold of,” he had growled at her more than once, followed by play that proved motherhood had done nothing to reduce her appeal to him.

At the memory of this, Kris felt herself suddenly become moist and hot and she burst out laughing, her cheeks flushing red as Daniel came to a halt before them.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, smiling back at her now and extending one hand towards Sofia. The young girl took hold of his finger and greedily pulled it towards her mouth, replacing her mother’s hair with her father’s digit.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” she replied.
“It’s just a good day.”

Daniel looked towards Guilherme. “You’ve done well, Guilherme,” he said in Portuguese. “You and everyone else. Our first new ship.”

“And may there be plenty more!” Guilherme replied, raising his hand in an imaginary toast.
“And speaking of everyone else, I should check that they are going about their duties.”

“Yes indeed,” Daniel agreed. As the manager moved away, however, he grumbled slightly in English: “But you and your crew better pull your fingers out.”

“I thought you said they’d done well!” Kris said, frowning slightly and looking up at him.

Daniel laughed. “Yes, yes, they have. I guess I just want more—my nature, I suppose.”

“Well,” Kris told him, one eyebrow arched. “Don’t push them too hard. I’m the one who should benefit from the infamous Logan discipline, remember.”

“Mmm.” Extracting his finger from Sofia’s mouth, he slid his arm around Kris’s waist and squeezed her buttocks. “I do keep forgetting that. In my opinion, we should be exercising ourselves to the utmost to provide another sibling for Sofia here. Or two. Or three.”

“I await your instructions, Mister Logan,” Kris replied delightedly, then gave a mock frown. “Though it’s a bit disconcerting that you keep wanting to get me pregnant. I didn’t really think you had a thing for fat women.”

“Not fat,” Daniel replied in a low voice as he bent down to kiss her behind her ear. “Glowing. Oh, Christ,” he said, glancing downwards at his trousers and the bulge that was appearing there. “We better stop this, not in front of the child.”

“Don’t you worry,” Kris told him. “The nurse will be looking after her for the rest of today. We can get on with our practice for as long as you want. Until then, however,” she said, handing Sofia to her husband, “you can take care of your daughter.”

Daniel’s face lit up as he took Sofia in his hands, which were so large but also so gentle as he cradled her
softly
, his arms crooked slightly so that he could lift her to his face. His daughter’s almost constant happiness never ceased to amaze him: “You know,” he had once said to Kris as the two of them lay in bed, the young girl resting between them, playing with their hands as they dandled them above her, “I think we may be able to actually do this without screwing up.”

“Don’t count on it,” Kris had told him, kissing him on cheek then letting her head fall to his chest. “‘They fuck you up, your mom and dad’, as they say. But at least let’s give her a better start than we
had
.”

Carefully shifting Sofia into his shoulder, Daniel placed his other arm around Kris and turned to get a clearer view of the ship as it began to recede towards the horizon.

“Have you heard back from Melinda Bartok?” he asked after a while. “About the exhibition?”

“Yes,” Kris replied. “I think I have enough work ready for an exhibition in the
autumn—
well, I
will
have enough
drawings
,
though I need to start painting more
.” He glanced at her as she said this, but she continued: “By the w
ay, I forgot to say:
your Portuguese is coming along really well. Barely any trace of an accent anymore.”

“And thank you for being so patronizing,” Daniel smirked. Then his face became more serious as he watched the departing ship. “I’m a quick learner when I put my mind to it, and it’s going to be useful in the Brazilian market.”