Sparkles (16 page)

When Jan turned from the fireplace, he saw that Stephen had slipped back into bed. “Come here. Let me hold you,” Stephen said. “How could I not love a man like you!”

Meanwhile The Plot Thickens

THE SNOW
that had marooned Jan and Stephen had the same effect on the denizens of Camac Street. With nowhere to go until the snow boys who shoveled neighborhood sidewalks for extra money arrived, Kat Manlove had made her way to Larry Sinclair’s townhouse. She sat in Larry’s kitchen, sipping a cup of newly brewed espresso.

Larry sat opposite Kat smiling at her.

Kat put her cup down and let out a deep sigh.

“Come on, Kat, it can’t be as bad as all that.”

“Give me a break, Larry, you’re queer. How can you possibly know what a woman like me goes through? The yearning, the need… it’s almost unbearable! I love him!”

“It’s true, Kat, I’m not young. I’m fat, and in the gay world there is little room for a man like me—certainly where romance is concerned. But don’t mistake what’s outside for what’s inside… and as far as sex goes, I may not be able to turn back the hands of time, but I can still wind the clock!”

At this Kat laughed. “All right, Larry, you win. But you’re not me. I love him, or didn’t you hear me the first time? I’m serious. I’ve got to let him know he has a choice. A real woman who can satisfy him, or… I can’t even say her name. She makes me sick. Besides, I know as much about opera as she does!”

Larry took all this in and then said dryly, “You want to fuck him, Kat.”

“Is that so bad?” Kat said, as if that alone was cause enough to bust up Daniel and Charlotte’s committed relationship.

“Kat, you love lust, and you hate to lose. Why not find someone else to screw the life out of?” Larry tilted his head. “Maybe I can help you.”

Kat leaned forward. “Stephen Roman?” she said. Her eyes gleamed like a newly born nova.

Larry shook his head. “Not your type.”

“Whaddya mean, not my type? He’s sooo….” A light went on in Kat’s head. “Oh no! Not him too!”

Larry chose his words carefully. “Accurate rumor has it that he’s interested in someone else.”

Kat frowned. The conversation wasn’t going exactly as she had hoped. “I should go before the snow gets too deep. You’ll keep your promise?”

“I won’t forget,” Larry assured her.

Getting to Know You

BRIGHT STARS
burned holes through the black predawn sky. Jan snuggled against Stephen’s chest. The fire died to a few cinders, and the room had become chilly. Outside, the falling snow was reduced to a few scattered flakes, and the wind that had wiped the windowpanes clean earlier died away.

“Jan? Are you awake?”

Jan smiled. “I’m awake. I don’t want to fall asleep.” Jan scooted up and kissed Stephen softly. “I’m afraid if I do, I’ll find that all this will have been a dream.”

“It is real, isn’t it? I mean we are…?”

“Yep. We’re whatever we want to be.”

“Jan, you can tell me to mind my own business if you want… I mean, you know about
my
background, but I don’t know much about yours, except of course that you’re a lawyer, and a….”

Jan stirred. Old feelings, some hurtful, some beautiful, welled up in his heart. He shifted so he could look Stephen in the eye. “I’ll give you the basics. Then we can fill in the details as we go along, okay?”

“I’m all ears.”

Jan thought awhile, then he began, “I was raised in a rough working-class neighborhood. My father worked in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, painting ships. With three girls and two boys to feed, he barely made enough to cover expenses. I was just twelve when he committed suicide. Suddenly I was the man of the house. Imagine, I wasn’t anywhere near being a man, and there I was, with people telling me I had to take care of my mother. My father’s best friend from school days was a teaching priest at Saint Dominick’s Academy. He took pity on us and managed to get my sisters and me into school there. Then when I was eighteen, I met Tim Morris. He held the same office I do now in Mundus. We became lovers. He was a lot older than I was. Then one day one of Tim’s associates, who had met my mother, asked Tim if he could date her. Tim didn’t see a problem. Well, there was a problem. First he didn’t ask how I felt about it, and second, there was a hit out on this man. The hit man was clumsy. He missed his mark and killed my mother instead. You see what I meant earlier about there being danger?”

Stephen looked serious but said nothing. Jan continued, “I blamed Tim. Later I met a woman at Saint Joe’s College. I persuaded myself that I loved her, and we got married. Not long after we married, we began arguing…. We fought every day for the next three years. We were divorced. By the time I finally admitted to myself that I’d left Tim to get back at him, it was too late…. Tim had died. I inherited his law firm and the North American Mundus Master’s chair.”

Stephen squeezed Jan’s hand. “My God, Jan, that’s awful. How did you survive it?”

“Two people got me through it. A few years after I came back to find Tim gone, I met Michael.”

Jan hung his head and shuddered with the memory of Michael’s last word.
Nice
.

“You okay?” Stephen said.

Jan nodded away his sadness. “Yeah… I’m good…. Really, I am.”

Stephen hugged Jan closer.

Jan continued, “Michael and I were together for just over twelve years when a son I didn’t know about suddenly showed up. His name is Colin. Now
there’s
a story for a rainy night!”

“You had problems with him?”

“Oh, you could say that. Just when I thought things might work out between us, he ran away. He ended up in Iceland, of all places.”

“Hey, I’m a Danish prince! Those are my people.”

“Stephen, Iceland’s a republic. You royals never seem to get the message,” Jan mocked.

“Well, don’t tell Aunt Margot. Poor woman still thinks it’s 1940 and she is their queen. So you were telling me about Michael.”

Jan blinked away a telltale tear at the mention of Michael’s name. “Ah yes, Michael. The long and the short of it is, he developed an early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. For five years I watched Michael fade before my eyes. Eventually, he couldn’t recognize me…. Stephen, you can’t imagine what that’s like until you go through it yourself. He was still relatively young and there he was playing with dolls like a small child. I couldn’t believe it was happening. Michael died just over a year ago—but I had years to prepare for it. You’d think all that time would have made it easier, but it didn’t.” Jan sucked in a deep breath.

“You love him still. I can hear it in your voice,” Stephen said.

“Guilty… but you don’t have to worry about his ghost coming between us. He became one long before he died, and I’ve had enough specters to last a lifetime.”

“What about your son?”

“Colin is married to his high school sweetheart. He lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in Montana. He seems happy, and that makes me happy for him.” Jan turned, wiping an unwanted tear before facing Stephen. “So, as you see, I’m quite alone.”

“How old is he?”

“Oh, let’s see, Colin’s coming up on twenty-five.”

“Twenty-five? Say, how old are you?”

“Let’s just say I’m over forty. You can count the candles on my birthday cake, if you really want to know. Oh, and spare me the ‘you don’t look your age’ line. I know that already.”

Stephen sat up and stared out the window at the lightening sky. “Wow, I never thought I’d be in bed with a much older man—and by the way, Jan, you’re not alone… I’m here.”

Jan laughed. “Older man? Come here and I’ll show you what an old man can do.”

A Buoyant Heart

JAN HAD
returned home. Just gone a short hour and Stephen missed him. Feelings born of fire and hope, feelings he’d never experienced before meeting Jan Phillips, were suddenly threatened, and yet there was so much to know about this Jan Phillips. Stephen curled up in front of the fire and sipped on a weak gin and tonic. He smiled, remembering the startled look on Jan’s face when he opened the door at Larry Sinclair’s party.
You’ve come a long way from there.
Stephen checked the clock and dialed a private number in Denmark.

“
Hallo?
”

“Hello, Aunt Margot. It’s Stephen.”

“Stephen! You naughty boy! What have you been doing with yourself that you don’t call your auntie?”

“Aunt Margot, are you sitting down?”

“
Ja
, so what is so important I should be sitting?”

“I’m in love, Aunt Margot! I can’t keep it in. For the first time in my life, I’m really in love. I had to tell someone, and you’ve always wished me the best in life, so I—”

“Oh, Stephen, I’m so glad for you. This
is
a man you’re talking about, isn’t it?”

“Yes, his name is Jan, and he’s a lawyer. In fact he owns his own firm. I met him at a party here in Philadelphia. He’s slender and blond, like cousin Hans, you know who I mean, Aunt Brigitte’s son.”

“My dear, all Brigitte’s boys are blond!” she said, laughing. “But, what is this man of yours like?”

“Oh, he’s so nice, and smart, and he has a calmness about him. Umm, Aunt Margot, I believe he may be a Templar.”

“A real one, or a pretend one? You can’t be too careful.”

“Oh no, Aunt Margot, he’s genuine. There’s nothing fake about him. I saw the
Non nobis
motto on a plaque in his office. I wish you could meet him.”

“Well, dear, the next time you come to Copenhagen you must bring him along. Maybe I’ll give him a medal for being kind to you.”

“I’m not sure Americans can accept medals. I’ll have to ask.”

“Nonsense! I’m the queen. I’ll make him an honorary subject. What good is my crown if I can’t do something for my favorite nephew?”

Stephen laughed. “Aunt Margot, you’re amazing. How have you been? I saw that you commissioned another ship. It was on the international TV station over here.”

“Yes,” said the queen. “A mine sweeper. Can you believe it, that these days we need such a vessel? I’m an old woman and I’ve seen so much, but it seems to me the more the world changes, the more it stays the same.”

“Aunt Margot, have you heard about Armande Bonnet?”

“Claude sent me a letter. Poor man is beside himself with grief. I wish there was something I could do for him… for you too, dear. I know you were close to Armande.”

Heartache stabbed in his chest as Stephen stifled a sob. “He was the best, Aunt Margot. I miss him terribly. It was Jan who told me about Armande.”

“Jan?” said the queen. “Stephen, is his last name Phillips?”

“Why yes it is? Have you heard of him?”

“My dear boy, the man you love is a Mundus Master—one of the most influential people in the world! Much more so than your old auntie.”

“You’ve met Jan?”

“Yes, he was in Europe a few years ago. He came to Denmark on holiday. We met at the seaside. I must say he fills his bathing suit quite nicely.”

“Aunt Margot! You are naughty!”

The old woman giggled like a teenager. “I remember what it was like to… well you know what I mean.”

“Seriously, Aunt Margot, you mustn’t mention this to anyone. Jan was very insistent on this. I shouldn’t have said any of this. It’s just that I’ve never met anyone like him!”

“So, you know about Mundus, then?”

“Only very little. What can you tell me about it?”

“Let me see now…. Mundus is everywhere—rich, poor, famous, not famous. Sometimes they move the world. I know that sounds grandiose, but they make things happen when the people who are supposed to make things happen can’t. They seem to be able to work miracles.”

“Aunt Margot, Jan said Mundus isn’t a secret society, but it sounds spooky to me.”

“Not so much secret as they… what is the expression? Ah, they fly below the radar. They avoid public scrutiny.”

“Jan did say that I should never mention Mundus and his name in the same breath.”

“Quite right. The Mundus people I know are very careful about that…. So, my little nephew is in love. I’m very happy for you!”

Stephen heard her yawn.

“Aunt Margot, I should hang up now. You take care. I’ll call again soon… promise. Oh, and
tusind tak,
Aunt Margot,
tusind tak.
”

“You don’t have to thank me, dear. Just be happy, and I’ll be happy too.”

“
Farvel
, Aunt Margot.”

“
Farvel
, dear boy.
Farvel
.”

A New Jersey Marsh

THE AFTERNOON
sun pushed temperatures high enough to begin a rapid snowmelt. Daria guided her newly bought cabin cruiser from the river into the creek that ran through the tall reeds near the hunting lodge. The river was calm, and Daria was proud that she hadn’t let her stomach get the better of her. As she slowed the big boat, Adel slung the dock fenders over the side and made ready to cast a belay line to Naji standing on the dock.

“How did it go?” Naji asked as he wove the line around the dock cleat.

“Very well,” Daria replied. “Now all we have to do is load the inflatables and explosives on board.”

Later that evening

DARIA BENT
over the dining room table. The men had just finished their evening prayers. She smoothed out the marine chart showing the US coastline—from their position on the Delaware River just north of the Salem nuclear power plant, to the Shoreham facility on Long Island. Inlets and marinas were clearly marked, as well as shoals and sandbars. Adel and Sinan were seated at the table. Firouz and Naji stood nearby.

“I want you all to pay close attention,” Daria said as she traced her finger along the water route the team would take. “Naji will place the first bomb here at the Salem station.”

Sinan and Adel shot one another furtive glances.