Free 79 Park Avenue by Harold Robbins

of her and the children."
    Marja was crying. "But, Mama! We were getting along. The two of us. We don't need nobody." She wiped at her eyes with her hands. "Nobody can take Papa's place."
    Katti's voice was still gentle. "Nobody will, my child. It's just that Uncle Peter wants to be good to us. He loves us and wants to take care of us."
    Marja turned to him savagely. "I don't believe it!" she screamed. "He's a funny, dirty, little black man, not like Papa at all!!'
    Katti's voice grew stem. "Marja," she snapped, "you mustn't talk like that to your new father."
    "He's not my father!" Marja shouted. "And he never will be!" She turned and ran into her room just off thekitchen and slammed the door.
    They stared at each other helplessly after she left. Silently Peter sat down at the table. She's wild, he was thinking. Henry had been right when he said Marja had a temper.

    She would need some handling. He would take care of her after they were married. A few red marks on that pretty little behind and she would be all right.
    Katti came around the table and put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Peter," she said. "She's all upset. Just yesterday she started bleeding. You know how young girls are at that time.''

    Chapter 7
    THE DULL gray light of morning, filtered through the tiny courtyard, crept through the window as Katti opened the door. She stood a moment in the doorway looking at her daughter.
    She wondered at the sight of Marja sleeping. Awake, she was almost a woman; now she was like a child. Her features were relaxed and soft, her breath so gentle it barely moved the light cover across her chest. This was the Marja she knew, her quiet, lovely litde baby.
    She moved into the room and turned to the crib. Quickly she touched the baby. A miracle. He was still dry. He made a small sound at her touch. She turned quickly to look at her daughter.
    Marja's eyes were open. She was looking at her mother, all the sleep gone from her eyes. "Momin', Mama."
    Katti didn't answer. She remembered how she had worried yesterday when Marja didn't come home from school.

    Peter had said that she had gone swimming. She hadn't come home until almost eleven o'clock.
    Marja sat up in bed, the cover falling to her waist, revealing her nude body. She yawned and stretched, the flesh of her breasts tartlingly white against the red flush where the sun had burned her.
    "Marja! Cover yourself!" Katti exclaimed in a shocked voice. "How many times have I told you you must not go to sleep without your pajamas? It's not nice."
    "But, Mama, it was so hot." Marja reached for the pajama top and Nlipped into it as she spoke. "Besides, nobody's going to see me."
    "I don't care!" Katti insisted. "It's not decent to sleep like that. Only animals do it."
    Marja kicked back the covers and got out of bed, the pajama top falling to her thighs. She walked over to her mother and kissed her cheek. "Don't be mad. Mama," she said.
    In spite of herself, Katti smiled. She pushed her daughter away. "Don't try to make up to me," she said. "I know aU your tricks."
    Marja smiled back at her mother. "I went swimming yesterday," she said quickly, anticipating her mother's next question. "See my sunburn?"
    "I saw," Katti answered dryly. "How could I miss?"
    "FraQcie's friend has a place in Coney Island," Marja explained. "It's a house in Sea Gate."
    Katti was impressed. "Sea Gate?" she breathed. "That's very expensive. Her family must be very rich."
    "They are," Marja said. She didn't correct her mother's assumption that Francie's friend was a girl. 'They live on Park Avenue."
    The baby began to cry suddenly. Katti bent over the crib

    and picked him up. The baby stopped crying and gurgled at her. *'Still, you should have come home to tell me," Katti said over the baby's head to Marja. "I was worried about you."
    "There wasn't time, Mama," Marja answered. "We went right after school."
    "But you didn't come home until after ten thirty," Katti said, placing the baby on Marja's