“Of course.”
As a teen, it had never occurred to Marie how programs the APCF provided were financed. Only that they were able to help with the extra services people might not be able to afford. Orphaned children sometimes had mental health issues such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Others had learning disabilities or physical conditions. And, maybe most important, once they reached adulthood there was often no place for them to turn for transitional help into higher education or the workforce. The APCF did as much as it could for as many as it could.
Once she started working for the organization, Marie understood that any money it spent on its programs came from outside donations. She glanced up from her powwow with Felice and thanked the air surrounding her that this agency existed and that she was brought into it by one of her few schoolteachers who cared. A quick wince reminded her of some who didn’t.
“I need to return a call.” Felice looked up from her phone to Marie. “Why don’t you continue to match up your notes and see how much information you have?”
“Okay.”
“Zander has all of the data for the gala on his own computer. He’s very specific about what he wants. He’ll go over that with you. We’re lucky to have him chairing the event this year, so let’s make every effort to facilitate his plans.”
“Who’s Zander?” Marie realized that Felice hadn’t answered when she’d asked the first time.
“Felice!” a shrill voice called out from the main office space.
“Let me go deal with that—” Felice stood up “—and let’s touch base at the end of the day. After Zander comes.”
As the director charged out the door, Marie asked yet again, this time to the back of her jacket, “Who is Zander?”
* * *
What a difference a year made.
Zander de Nellay surveyed the sweeping view of the Cannes shoreline through the floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors of his posh penthouse. The palm-tree-lined promenade of La Croisette followed the crescent-shaped curve of the sparkling Gulf of Napoule and its white-sand beaches. It was a sight to behold, indeed.
Little, if nothing, of the vista appeared any different from how it had last spring. Although then, as he had in years past, Zander had stayed in an elegant suite at one of the grand dame hotels on the promenade. And had partied every night with Hollywood film producers and the glamorati who flocked to Cannes from all over the world.
This season, he’d instead be ensconced in a penthouse apartment that kept the town’s constant revelry at arm’s length.
Gliding one of the doors open, he stepped out onto the terrace. The sun was bright but the air was crisp, a combination he’d always enjoyed. Cannes in late spring was a marvelous place to be.
Fortunately, to Zander’s precise specifications, the rental agent was able to find him a suitable penthouse with a terrace that was walled-in cement rather than the typical iron balcony railing, which he wouldn’t have trusted was safe enough for eighteen-month-old Abella, even though he knew she would never be outside on her own. But securely enclosed, Zander could create a little play area out here for her so that she could get plenty of the fresh sea air. He’d just need a patio umbrella or other covering to shelter her from the strength of the sun.
He shook his head to himself. A year ago Zander was an unattached bachelor, much to his mother’s chagrin, with thoughts only of what suited him. He rotated his life between time spent in his native Charlegin, his apartment in Paris’s tony Sixth Arrondissement and his travels throughout the world on behalf of his charitable endeavors.
Now his mind was on baby-safe balconies.
Stepping back into the penthouse’s sitting room, he watched the deliveries arriving. Movers carried in the petal-pink upholstered rocking chair he’d had sent from his apartment in Paris. Rather than buying one here in Cannes, he wanted the exact chair that Abella had become comfortable with. Truth be told, he was accustomed to it, too. He loved quietly sitting in that chair with her.
Yes, one of the most eligible playboys in Europe now found himself preferring to rock baby Abella in his arms than cavorting with the high society he’d always been surrounded by. And Zander was keenly aware of the realness exchanged between them in those moments.
Heading toward the master bedroom suite, he saw Iris, a compact woman in her sixties who had been Abella’s nanny since the day she was born. “Is she asleep?”
“She’s just starting to rouse.”
There went that funny tap in the center of Zander’s chest. It was a sensation that had arrived around a year ago. The mere thought of seeing Abella pulled at his heart. Her cherubic pink cheeks and that cute way she stretched her back after a nap as if she’d been farming in the fields all day.
“The wardrobe is here,” one of his assistants announced as Zander entered the master suite. “I believe you wanted to go over it.”
Zander didn’t really envision himself as fussy when it came to clothes. But with all the charitable organizations he endorsed and all of the fund-raising benefits and balls he attended, his wardrobe had to be appropriate. He’d come to Cannes for the spring social season and would be attending a dozen formal events and countless others that called for business attire. Even the black slacks and black shirt he wore at the moment were bespoke from the finest tailor in London.
“Create a file for me of what I’m wearing from head to toe for each event so that I don’t have to think about it on that given day,” he instructed the assistant. With Abella’s care always on his mind, it was more important than ever that he simplify everything else. Plus, while in Cannes he planned to devote himself to chairing the APCF gala and making it the event of the season, and he needed as much time as possible to do so.
In fact, he’d be leaving the penthouse soon to go to the APCF office to meet with the event manager there. The agency’s director, Felice, had informed him that the previous manager had suddenly left. Zander hoped his replacement would be up to the task of creating the kind of spectacular evening he had in mind.
If there was one thing Zander knew about, it was raising money. He made a great deal of public appearances to support good works all over the world. He gave his time and his notability freely, making it his life’s work in fact. Now it was payback time. He expected many of his wealthy friends and acquaintances to donate generously to the APCF gala.
“I’ll wear the white-jacketed tux for the Clean Water for Africa fund-raiser,” he began. Most of the tuxedos were all black. One had traditional notch lapels, another a thin shawl collar that gave it a retro look. “This one for the cocktail reception with the film festival judges.”
Another was made of velvet, a fabric that was considered very chic right now although Zander wasn’t convinced it suited him. He didn’t assign that one to an evening. There was the two-button he’d wear with a black shirt. Then the charcoal with the double-breasted jacket, the navy with the black lapels that he quite liked, the all-navy one and the peak-lapel gunmetal gray.
“White shirt with everything but the two-button.”
Finally, he inspected the unusual tuxedo for the Mexican-themed gala that his stylist had ordered. With heavy black embroidery atop the shinier black fabric of the jacket’s lapels, it was a unique piece that would fit well with the evening.
After rattling off instructions for everything from cuff links to socks, Zander turned to the second closet. There were a dozen suits with coordinating shirts, ties and shoes. Casual clothes suitable for boating or country drives. Golf and tennis wear. Beach attire. Everything was in order.
Except his mind. Thoughts of the constant socializing and the superficial women who gravitated toward him, who cared only about what they could get from