Who Wants to Marry A Billionaire?(22)
Nina continued, “3/4 of the children in the slums never receive all their vaccinations, and the public taps which are their only access to water, often dry up in the summer. There’s almost no maternal health care, and half of all infants are underweight.”
“Okay, okay Nina, I get it.” Daniel’s voice sounded angry. “You care, I don’t. Therefore I’m a gigantic and malicious capitalistic ass.” He crossed his arms and turned away from her.
She handed the driver a slip of paper with an address written on it. He shifted gears, and made a U-turn.
A short distance away was a neat brick school, with healthy-looking children in uniforms playing in the yard. Down the block were rows of public latrines, and in between was a Women’s Health Center. Daniel got out of the rickshaw, and the school kids ran to the fence as soon as they saw foreigners. “Hello! How are you? What is your name?” They practiced their English with giggles and overly enunciated words. Daniel couldn’t help but smile. He kneeled down, “I’m Daniel, what’s your name?” The kids giggled some more and got shy, until one bold little boy announced, “My name is Pradeep!” before promptly dissolving into laughter. A teacher saw them and came over, “I hope the kids aren’t bothering you.”
“Oh no, not at all, and their English is great when they can stop laughing long enough to speak!” He smiled at the teacher and stuck out his hand, “I’m Daniel, Daniel DeVere.”
The teacher looked like she wanted to faint as she shook his hand, “Mr. DeVere! You should have told us you were coming, we would have arranged a proper welcome and program!” A look of bewilderment came over Daniel’s face and then he turned to Nina. She looked at him craftily. “All this?” She gestured up and down the street. “DeVere Foundation. And it’s getting ready to double in size.”
Daniel nodded as he looked up and down the street and then back at the kids, quietly murmuring, “Maybe triple.”
On the way back to Boston, Nina and Daniel didn’t talk much about the whirlwind trip. Nina tried to get used to the giant rock on her hand, and Daniel often seemed lost in thought. But they had arrived at some kind of détente, and Nina thought maybe now she could get through the charade and maybe, she and Daniel could be friends and allies on the other side. But they still had to get through the engagement party before they even started brokering Panama.
Chapter Sixteen
“Mom!” The shocked look on Nina’s face was enough to make Kennedy turn. Kennedy was on her knees, with a mouthful of pins, marking where the hem on Rita’s dress needed to be adjusted. She nearly swallowed the pins before getting them out of her mouth and blurting, “You can’t wear that!”
Nina sat heavily on her beat-up old sofa, shaking her head, but saying nothing. Vicki furrowed her brow, puzzled, as she pulled at the top of her dress, adjusting it. “Why not?”
Taking one look at the strapless, gold lamé tube dress and clear Lucite platform shoes, Rita put a hand on her hip and said matter of factly, “Because, Mom, you look like a hooker.”
Vicki scrunched her mouth up, and looked ready to cry, “Really?”
Nina got up from the sofa and took her mother’s hand. “You’re beautiful Mom, tall and slender, just like when you modeled—but these people have different ideas about things. That outfit might have been great in Rio in the 80s, but it’s not going to fly with the DeVeres.”
“We’ve got all day tomorrow before the party, plenty of time to shop.” Kennedy added helpfully.
“I—I don’t have to go Nina. Rita and Reuben can be your family. I don’t want to embarrass you.” Vicki was still trying to absorb the whole idea of Nina marrying some billionaire. It had been a long time since her days in the fast lane.
The fake engagement was starting to wear on Nina, because of everyone around her who didn’t know that it wasn’t real. She didn’t know what was worse, making her Mom feel like she was inferior to the DeVeres, or confessing that it was all a sham. But the one thing Nina was certain about was that she couldn’t let her Mom believe that she didn’t want her around for the most important event of her life.
“Don’t be silly. Of course you have to be there.” She gave Vicki a squeeze and teased, “Someone has to push Reuben around in his wheelchair.”
Vicki wiped at the tear trying to form in her eye and joked back, “No way, he has two good arms.”
Kennedy finished pinning Rita’s hem and went and grabbed her tape measure. “Let’s get some measurements, Vicki. You’ve got the figure to pull off something really elegant.”
Looking down at her rather flat chest, Vicki laughed, “I have no idea where Nina and Rita got their boobs.”
Rita shimmied out of her dress carefully, mindful of the pins. It was a gorgeous Valentino, silk Mikado dress in a pearly gold color. It was sleeveless and the neckline was scooped just enough to tastefully reveal a hint of cleavage. Braided trim in the same silk outlined the neckline and accented the waist. And while the top was fitted, it had a flared, A-line skirt. It was timeless, feminine, and appropriate to her youthfulness. Kennedy had paired it with a pair of Prada t-strap, high-heeled sandals in silver with little golden studs. Rita sighed dreamily as she carefully hung the dress back on its hanger, “I really, really, love this dress.”