Chapter 6

"She did what?" Caroline asked as she stepped off the ladder where she had been hanging a portrait for their showing in five days.

Tophyr nodded and slid off her stool, wincing slightly as her sensitive feet hit the floor. "Dani Stark has invited you to her parents' thirtieth anniversary party."

"That whole family hates me. Why would they ask me to their party?"

"I guess because Dani wants to make nice with her brother. Out of the three younger Stark men, Damian is the most relaxed, followed by Derek then Dayton. Dayton holds a grudge longer than the other two and as long as you apologize to Derek, he's usually fine. I don't know Damian that well to say anything about him."

"And Dani?"

Tophyr shrugged. "Dani was in college when Derek and I got married. She's a year younger than us so that puts her at twenty-two, almost twenty-three. From what I've heard, Damian used to be close to his sister, but when he left at eighteen, their relationship went down the drain."

"No wonder everyone's so mad at me."

"Derek's over it. He knows you'll never do anything to endanger the baby so he's fine with you working here and I don't care what your past is."

"But I was with your brother and lied about the reasons."

She was kind of shocked when her boss shrugged. "You've apologized and as far as I'm concerned, Alex couldn't give two cents about you now that he's married Kat. Now it's your turn to find a happy ending and I'll help anyway I can."

Caroline looked at her boss. Tophyr Hurst Stark was the city's most honest art dealers and freelance journalists around. She may be young but she was very influential. Every art teacher on the Upper East Side and in Brooklyn was amazed by her skill and influence on their students. The arts programs in those schools had increased not only because she had donated to help them but because she was also involved in those programs.

Looking down at the younger woman's distended belly, she was certain the newest addition would be as artistic as his or her parents.

"Enough about your family. How are you doing today?"

Tophyr looked at her employee and shrugged. "Ok, I guess. I've been having some lower back pain since this morning and my feet are swollen. Then again they're always swollen."

Caroline frowned. "Shouldn't you call the doctor if your lower back hurts?"

"I've been told it's normal. My mom and sister said they had lower back pain in their seventh and eighth months."

"When's your baby due?"

"End of January, beginning of February. Why?"

Caroline smiled. "I want to throw you a baby shower."

Tophyr smiled in return. "My sisters have already beaten you to the punch. There's a baby shower scheduled for December 30. I told them no but they don't listen. Plus Derek says I have to go so…" She shrugged.

Without anything else to talk about, Caroline went back to work.

***

Damian sighed, stretching his long limbs from their cramped position. Taking pictures in the subway was hard to do, especially when he had to sit still for long periods of time.

He had been there for five hours and still hadn't seen what he was actually looking for. Men and women running to and from work, students taking the subway to and from class, and single mothers with their children were all normal. He needed something even more prominent.

He leaned back against the wall and tipped his baseball cap further down his face, obscuring it from view. He would just have to wait a little bit longer. Luckily he had enough space on his card to snap that picture when it came.

Caroline came to the forefront of his mind as soon as he was still. Dayton was still mad at him for bringing her up. He understood his family's reticence about welcoming her back into their inner circle because what had happened, but that was a year ago and in the last few weeks, he had no recollection of her attempting to get his money. In fact, she had gotten angry and shoved him out of her apartment when he had brought it up.

Gnawing on his lip, he began coming up with ways to see her again without his family knowing. That wasn't going to be too hard considering he now worked with her to get his art out to the public. She was the one handling it but he wasn't certain she would want to see him. She definitely wouldn't let him in her house. He would need to get her to his condo but how?

He was nearly asleep when his phone rang rather loudly. He fumbled with it until he could answer it.

"Hello?" he groused.

"Hey, just called with a heads up," Derek said on the other end.

"What's that?"

"Dayton just sent out the invitations to Elizabeth and Daniel's anniversary party. Caroline's name was on one. I don't know what he's planning but I didn't want you to cause a scene if she shows up and he does something to her."

Damian sat up and pushed the hat back so he could see. "He better not do anything."

"I can't vouch for him but you know I won't do anything. Although Dani is a completely different story."

"What do you mean?"

"We both know your sister hates Caroline for what she did to Dayton. I don't know if she hates her because you're going after her or if she's just a disagreeable person."

He rubbed his face. "Dani doesn't like her at all, never really has. What she did to Dayton just cemented that feeling. We've already had a fight about it once."

Derek sighed on the other end. Damian knew his cousin hated when his family fought. This whole situation was very delicate. Everyone thought Damian was simply a playboy and he was; or he had been. No one knew what had happened in Africa to make him change his mind about his actions.

"I don't know what you want to do about it, but I can only run interference for you. If they rile Tophyr anymore, I can't promise anything. She's temperamental right now."

Damian laughed. "I don't want your wife mad at me."

"It won't be you she's mad at and I know it won't be me. She may be small but she's a fighter when she needs to be. I don't ever like getting on her bad side." There was a loud honk on the other end. "Look. I got to go. I'm picking up the last of the paintings for the Christmas showing. I just thought I'd give you a heads up before you walked into the lion's den."

"Thanks, bro. It's much appreciated." He hit the end button and stared at the train as it pulled into the station.

Just as he was getting ready to disassemble his little cubby, a woman stepped off the train and looked around. She looked regal but in her eyes there was something that said she was anything but. It looked as if she was like everyone else but she had a high end job.

Before he could stop himself, he lifted the camera and started snapping pictures. She looked his way then shied away. There was no way to get her name now as she made her way up the stairs and he wasn't going to leave his stuff behind just so he could get her name. When he printed it, she was going to be known as the unknown woman on the subway.

Finally he packed up his stuff and headed up the stairs so he could go home, all the while planning a way to get Caroline to meet him at his house.