Only when he had left home and gone to university had Daniil considered that his parents may have lied and simply not mailed them. Of course, by then Roman had long since left the orphanage—to where, no one had been able to tell him.
Daniil actually felt as if a part of him was missing. A vital part—his identity.
He had been back to Russia on several occasions but had always drawn a blank. He was going again, for another attempt at finding out what had happened to his twin, after the anniversary.
He knew how much he missed his twin, and surely it must be the same for Roman. Daniil knew he would spend the rest of his life searching for him.
Yes, he had decided that he would go to the anniversary party and make the speech, just for the chance to get to the truth, but as he went to make the call his intercom buzzed and he heard his receptionist’s resigned voice.
‘There’s a Ms Tennent in Reception, asking to see you. It’s been explained to her that she doesn’t have an appointment. She insists that we ask for ten minutes of your time.’
Daniil let out a slight curse.
Of course Libby was here.
No doubt Lindsey was sending in the big guns again.
Well, Libby could hardly be called a big gun.
‘She can have five minutes.’
‘Oh.’
Cindy was clearly expecting him to offer his usual refusal, and possibly he should have, but he had been waiting for a week for her to make contact and ask that he reconsider about the anniversary celebration.
There was, Daniil believed, always a hidden agenda and so far he had never been proved wrong.
‘Cindy, you can go to lunch once she is here. Tell Libby that she can come straight through.’
He leaned back in his chair and waited.
It was almost a relief that her true colours would now reveal themselves because he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head.
The business plan had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, and by that evening he had regretted it.
He had arrived home from work and as promised his back had felt as if he’d been run over by a bus.
It had felt the same for the next two days but on the third...
Yes, he had remembered fondly.
Extremely fondly, in fact, because he had had his first weekend in in very long time.
‘Whoops!’ Libby said as she burst into his office in a blaze of colour. ‘I nearly knocked.’
Daniil sat there.
She was wearing a bright red wraparound dress that looked rather like a very tight T-shirt, bright red lipstick and her smile was wide.
She also had her huge leather bag over her shoulder.
‘Guess where I’ve been?’ Libby said.
‘I have no idea.’
She made a great show of going into her bag, opening her purse and taking out a pale pink business card, and then she came around the desk and handed it to him.
Libby Tennent School of Dance
Beneath that was a photo of two lower legs in the same blush pink and the dancer was en pointe.
‘Do you like it?’ she asked. ‘It took me hours, no, days, to sign off on it.’
He had never seen anyone so delighted with a business card. Daniil could fill a room with all the cards that had been handed to him over the years.
‘You can keep it if you like,’ she said, as he went to hand it back. ‘I’ve got hundreds.’
As soon as she’d gone he would do his usual and toss it in the bin and for now he gave a polite nod, but the examination of the business card hadn’t finished yet because she was standing over him, peering at it.
‘It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?’ she sighed, and then Daniil looked a little closer and, yes, it actually was because...
‘That’s you.’
There was a certain disquiet in Daniil that he could recognise her from the knees down!
‘It is! Well, it’s me two years ago. Are you going to guess where I’ve been?’
‘No,’ he said, because he didn’t partake in games.
‘Then, I’ll tell you—I’ve just picked up the keys to the studio.’ She beamed. ‘And the mirrors are coming this afternoon. I’ve had a poster printed for my information evening... I’m just so happy and excited that I wanted to come and say thank you for all your help.’
Daniil stared as again she went into her bag.
‘Here.’ She pulled out a present, beautifully wrapped and tied with a pale pink satin bow, and there was a card addressed to him.
‘What’s this?’
‘Well, if you open it you’ll find out.’