duty, then he could usually be found at the NCO club with his fellow brothers-in-arms. After his dad’s retirement from the service, the only thing that had changed about the latter was the name of the establishment and the fact that his new cronies weren’t necessarily military. Every time Rick had moved the family to a new embassy, the first thing he’d done was locate a local watering hole where he could go knock back a few and socialize.
“Leave the boy alone, Maria,” Rick said. “He’s right, this will be the perfect fit for me.” He turned to Wolf, all enthusiasm and charm. “Let me dig out my photos while your mom puts on the coffee, cub, and I’ll show you what we’re getting. Rothenburg is a fantastic town, and the Donisl is the prettiest little establishment you’ve ever seen.”
“I’d like to see those, Dad,” Wolf said. “But first we need to discuss Niklaus.”
“Yeah, sure,” Rick agreed. But he headed for the door with a brisk stride. “I’ll just leave you to talk that over with your mother.” And he walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.
Wolf swallowed the bitterness that surged up his throat as he strode into the living room. “Well, that’s typical,” he said with what he considered admirable mildness.
His mother, who had located his coffeemaker and was busy scooping grounds into the basket, gave him a level look. “It is well past time, Wolfgang Richard, for you to—how do the Americans put it?—cut your father some slack.”
“Why?” he demanded. “Has he ever stuck around for the tough discussions? No,” he answered without awaiting her input. “He goes out and he has fun. Hell, even at work, he turned it into one big party, instead of applying himself to—” He cut himself off.
Too late, as it turned out, for Maria’s eyes narrowed and she pointed an autocratic finger at one of the stools bellied-up to the breakfast bar.
Wolf sat.
She stood across the counter from him. “I am tired of you looking down your nose at your father because he wasn’t some big, important executive. We’re both sorry that you felt such pain over being on the wrong side of the social divisions that run rampant in so many of the embassies. But there is no shame in hard work, and that’s what your father put into being a supply clerk. He was good at it, and God bless him if he had fun with it at the same time.”
“Yeah, God bless him.” Wolf swallowed the snort he felt crowding his throat. “He had fun. But what about you, Mom? Where were you in all this? Besides left behind all the time to be the disciplinarian and taskmaster.”
“Has it never occurred to you, Wolfgang, that a woman doesn’t stay with a man for thirty-eight years without knowing what she’s getting into? I liked being in charge. It’s my nature to be the disciplinarian and taskmaster.”
“But when do you get to have a good time?”
“What makes you think I don’t? More important, when do you ever have fun?” Her eyes held a deep sadness as she gazed at him. “You have beautiful suits and an important career. But you’re thirty-four years old and you have no wife, no kinders. You don’t even have a pet. This course you’ve set for yourself doesn’t seem to be making you particularly happy.”
He leaned forward. “But I will be, Mom. I’ve got a plan, and I’m getting close to accomplishing it. It’s just a matter of putting everything together. When that’s done, then I’ll be happy.”
“Aw, Liebling. Happiness isn’t a goal for the future. It’s what should be sustaining you while you’re working toward your objectives. You’re half American, for the good Lord’s sake. The pursuit of happiness is one of your inalienable rights.”
She was wrong. Happiness was what he’d be rewarded with down the road for all the hard work he was putting in now. It was what he’d attain once he got everything right.
But Maria was his mother, and one didn’t tell one’s mother that she was wrong. Instead, thinking about his nephew and the insane idea she had come up with for the teen’s care, he changed the subject.
“You do know that this plan of yours to have Niklaus stay with me is impossible, don’t you?” he demanded gently. All right, perhaps that equated to telling her she was wrong. Still, the idea was crazy, a crippled jet fore-ordained to crash and burn. “I work nights, Mom—long nights. Nik’s not going to be any better off in Sin City with no one to supervise him.”
“He’ll be much better off having the influence of a stable man in his life, even if the situation isn’t ideal. Katarina can’t continue shuttling him aside whenever she has a new man or some other enthusiasm-of-the-moment in her life, only to come swooping back to interrupt the new routine he’s managed to make for himself once she remembers again that she is a mother. And I have no doubt that our offer for the biergarten in Rothenburg will be accepted. That means dragging him to Germany, Wolf. He’s headed for trouble already and I’m scared to death another move—this time to a foreign country—will be the final nudge to push him right into the thick of it. We have to head that off before it’s too late.”
“How is he headed for trouble?”
“By—how do you say it?—suspending out with some undesirable young people.”
He had to think that through for a moment. “Hanging out, you mean?”
“Yes, that is the expression. Niklaus is a good boy, but how much longer will he remain one without a strong man to help guide his life? He needs you, Wolfgang. He desperately needs a home that doesn’t get uprooted every nine or ten months.” Reaching across the table, she laid her manicure-free, work-worn hand over his and looked beseechingly into his eyes. “Please.”
Aw, hell. His mother had provided him with the only security he’d ever known, and she had never before asked a thing from him in return. “Fine,” he agreed less than graciously. “But I’m probably not going to be in Las Vegas much longer myself, so his routine is still going to be shot to kingdom come.”
“But you’ve been in this job for two years,” Maria said, her forehead furrowing. “And you just bought this beautiful condominium. That seems pretty settled to me.”
“I’ve been in Security and Surveillance at the Avventurato for almost three years, but I’ve moved up the ladder as far as I can go there because my boss isn’t planning on retiring any time soon. And although I’ve freelanced at a couple other casinos who like my work, I don’t plan on spending the rest of my life in this town. As for the condo, I’m subletting from a guy who took a job in the Middle East. I was unhappy with my old place and this unit had sat empty for so long that he was happy to sign a contract saying I could give a month’s notice at any time. Which I plan to do just as soon as my dream job comes through. So I don’t see where this move will be doing Niklaus any favors.”
Not that he wouldn’t take the kid with him when he went, of course, but he felt no need to verbalize the fact since his mother knew him well enough to understand that that was a given without having to be told. Still, it would be yet one more case of Niklaus having to pull up stakes and move in a long succession of them. Wolf knew only too well what that was like.
He gave Maria a sober look across the table and shook his head. “I’ll do it, Mom, and I’ll try my damnedest to do a good job. But if I were you, I wouldn’t look for Niklaus to be thanking us any time soon.”
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT , Niklaus thought furiously,
