by Donna Hill
Visions was being totally restructured and was under new management. Where did that leave Reese? Maxwell wondered.
Since her article on Maxwell had appeared, she’d been inundated with calls and letters from every newspaper and magazine across the country to do major features on the elusive elite. But her major concentration at the moment was her current project. She was commissioned by the Washington Post to do an exposé on the U.S. military and their involvement with chemical warfare testing. Her focus was the “code of honor” among the U.S. government forces, which compelled its members to perform and engage in heinous acts for the sake of a “code.” As painful as it was to write, it was her way of paying homage to her parents, in the vague hope that their deaths would not have been in vain, while exposing the inner workings of a frightening system. There was already talk of a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, but those accolades did not faze her. Her work had been a catalyst for so many things: the recovering of her memory, the uncovering of more than three decades of lies and betrayals, and the forging of a new and growing friendship with Victoria, whose help was immeasurable. And mostly it had been the starting point for the beginning of what could have been the one great love of her life. Instead, it was the albatross that had finally destroyed it. All of her genuine intentions to present to the world, a wonderful, complex human being, were obliterated by one simple sentence. Ironically, one that she did not write and that was only put there to turn the tables on her. She was expendable. What prize could ever compensate for all of that?
So, she continued to work, to accept assignments. In her work, she found the mindless solidity that helped to camouflage the deep despair of her loneliness.
She hadn’t heard another word from Maxwell since that last fateful phone call, but she’d kept up with the trial of his father and Frank Murphy as it all became part of the saga that she was drawing out for all the world to see. But even as hurt and as devastated as she had been by Maxwell’s unfounded accusations, she could not keep him far from her thoughts. The emptiness still pervaded her spirit. Her heart still ached during the long, lonely nights. And each morning when she arose, she wondered just how much longer the unbearable pain would last.
She uncurled her long, gray-sweatpant-clad legs and slid off the couch. Heading in the direction of her small lemon-yellow kitchen to fix a light snack, she was stopped midway by the ringing of her doorbell.
Sucking her teeth, she went to the door and checked the peephole. She groaned aloud when she saw the Federal Express agent. “Another assignment.”
“Just a moment.” She opened the door and signed for the package.
Closing the door behind her she flipped the thick envelope over to see who the sender was. She couldn’t have been more surprised if it had come from the president himself. But absolute astonishment took hold when she opened the package and viewed the contents. In it, was a letter from Sukihara along with the transfer of fifteen percent of M.K. Enterprises stock from her to Reese. There was another sealed envelope addressed to Max, which according to the letter written to Reese, should be given to him when Reese thought the time was right. “When the time was right,” she said in a soft faraway voice. “When will that ever be?”
Chapter 37
It had taken much longer than he’d wanted to settle his business and get operations up and running in Tokyo. Mioshi had assembled a top-notch team to open the site and Maxwell was confident that within the year the joint venture between his company and Mioshi’s would show a solid profit.
Since R.J.’s termination, Maxwell had promoted Glen Hargrove to his position to run the L.A. offices. Everyone was thrilled for Glen and he couldn’t have been happier over his promotion or his move to the sunny West Coast.
As hard as it was for him to deal with, he’d accepted the fact that his mother would never be a real part of his life. And with that understanding, although it hurt him, he had discovered something more important. He’d struggled hard, but he had begun to reestablish a relationship with his father and promised to stand by him through his ordeal. His mother, Claudia, he finally realized was the real backbone of the family. What she’d endured for the love of his father and family gave him a whole new level of respect and admiration and yes love for this woman who raised him. Through her, he forged a different outlook on what family really was. Family was made up of those people who loved you. His natural mother would always be family, because he knew that she did love him as best as she could, and with that knowledge came a sense of peace. He also realized that who you were could never be dictated by the color of your skin, the slant of your eyes, the texture of your hair, or the shape of your nose. Who you were was the person you made yourself to be, the decisions you made, the road you took. And with that knowledge he knew that his restless search for his identity had finally ended and that what he’d been looking for had been inside of him all along. And it was time that he put the rest of the pieces of his life in place.
It was impossible to control the erratic beat of his heart as he pulled up in front of the address that Carmen had given him. For several breathless moments he sat staring at the neat little town house. What if everything he’d hoped for crashed down around him? It had taken him this long to be right with himself so that he would be right for her with no doubts, no reservations. But what if he’d taken too long? What if she’d moved on with her life and no longer wanted him in it? Could he blame her if she did after the atrocious way he’d treated her? He didn’t know how he would stand it if she turned him away. Then cool, calculated logic set in. He’d never find out sitting in his car.
Stepping out in a single fluid motion, Maxwell approached the house, his bronze-colored maxi-length raw silk trenchcoat fanning out around his matching suit.
Reese had just stepped out of the shower, when off in the distance she heard the tingle of her front doorbell. She pulled her pale peach terry cloth robe from off the hook behind the bathroom door and tied it loosely around her damp body, which was beginning to show the early budding signs of life. The bell rang again. She puffed her cheeks and blew an exasperated breath. She was going to strangle Lynnette. She’d told her less than twenty minutes ago she wouldn’t be ready for another hour. Her appointment wasn’t until two and it was barely ten thirty. She knew Lynn just wanted to pop by early so that she could regale her with more stories about her incredible Dr. Adam Moore.
Since Lynn’s release from the hospital, they’d become a real hot item, and Lynn never grew weary of telling Reese just how wonderful he was. Although she was thrilled that her sister-friend had finally found true love, a part of her was jealous of her joy. It continually reinforced how desperately she missed Maxwell and how empty the rest of her life would be without him to share in their creation.
The bell rang again. “Just a minute!” She snatched a towel from the rack, briskly rubbed her soaking wet hair, then draped the towel around her shoulders. Padding barefoot, she dashed down the short hallway to the front door. On tiptoe she peered through the peephole and her stomach did a dizzying somersault. She turned away from the door, pressing her back to it for support while she covered her mouth to stifle the gasp that rushed from her throat.
Panic, fear and exhilaration swirled like a tornado within her. Max. My God it’s Max. She was trembling so hard and her heart was beating so fast she had to pull on some secret source of strength just to get the locks open.
They faced each other for the first time in nearly three months, but time and space seemed to slip away, passing through and around them like morning mist, as their eyes and their spirits crossed the barriers they’d erected and met in the place that only true lovers dare to go, deep in the heart.
How could she have ever anticipated the sheer magnitude of the joy she felt at seeing him again? His familiar scent, so earthy and erotic enveloped her, seeped into her pores, stole her breath. Her dazzling amber eyes snaked across his face, remembering the fine scar across his eyebrow that he worried when deep in thought. She tr
aced the outline of the body she’d never forget, then back up to settle on his eyes that still glowed with a savage inner fire. Instantaneously, she felt the unmistakable hot yearning begin its steady pulse as if it had been only yesterday and not nearly three months ago.
Maxwell felt his throat tighten as he fought to find the words to express his elation at seeing her again. His heart filled, his pulse pounded relentlessly in his temple. She was more beautiful than his imagination could have ever conjured. The same haunting allure of her eyes, the satin smoothness of her chocolate-brown skin, the way her pulse fluttered with excitement at the base of her throat, still held the magic to make him humble and weak with need in her presence. What was even more captivating was that she seemed to radiate with an inner glow that was almost surreal in its beauty.
Cautiously, he reached out, needing to make physical contact with her, know that she was finally real and no longer the floating image of his dreams. The tip of his finger brushed her cheek and he saw her shudder as her lids slid shut then slowly opened to look up at him. Her eyes shimmered and he saw the convulsive motion of her throat working up and down. His hand cupped her cheek and hers captured his—holding it tight.
He thought his heart would explode. “I…have a story I need to be told,” he began, his voice low and threatening to break. “It’s about a man who found a wonderful woman and he wasn’t wise enough to listen to his heart, who needs to tell her how sorry he is for the hurt he’s caused her. It’s about a man who’s tired of facing the world alone. It’s about someone who had one of the greatest opportunities in his life—a woman who was willing to risk herself for him—who battled her own demons and was still willing to fight his…” He pressed his lips together fighting back a sob. His nostrils flared as he sucked in air, when he felt the hot trickle of Reese’s tears run across his hand. “It’s about a man who finally understands who he is and wants to spend the rest of his life sharing himself with that wonderful woman. It’s about me, Reese, the man who never got the chance to say I love you…I love you…I love you.”
In two short steps she was in his arms and felt for the first time in far too long that the world had finally settled beneath her feet. His arms locked around her and he buried his face against her wet hair, murmuring her name over and over again. She was home again. She was whole again. She heard his heart pound against her ear, in perfect rhythm with her own, and she knew nothing could ever be more right than this moment. She cried in earnest now, letting the tears wash away the bitterness, the pain, the loneliness so that there would only be room for the overwhelming love that she so desperately needed to give to him.
She angled her head back and cupped his face in her hands, staring deep into his magnificent coal-black eyes. Her full lips curved upward in that old seductive smile that he knew all too well. “I think I just may have some stories that need to be told as well,” she murmured in that sultry voice that drove him crazy. Her eyes sparkled as she tugged him by the knot of his color-splashed tie. “Why don’t we step inside and discuss it at length?” She grinned wickedly, and Maxwell threw his head back and laughed in joyous relief.
Before she knew what happened, he’d picked her up, stepped across the threshold, and kicked the door shut. His heated gaze scorched her face. “When you play with fire Ms. Delaware, you’re liable to get burned,” he taunted, instinctively finding his way to her bedroom.
Reese emitted a deep throaty laugh, remembering the first time he’d thrown down that gauntlet. “So, let the games begin.” Without another word she gave the belt of her robe one good pull and the warm cotton garment fell open. She stretched her arms to him in welcome and he found his way back home.
Lynnette arrived about an hour later and rang the bell for a full ten minutes before she gave up and went to meet Adam for a late lunch. Maxwell and Reese didn’t hear a thing except what their hearts and bodies sang to each other.
Epilogue
One Year Later
“Are you sure it’s all right for the baby to fly?” Maxwell asked his wife for the millionth time.
Reese turned in her seat, pursed her lips, and narrowed her eyes. “I swear, if you ask me that question one more time, I’m gonna knock you right upside the head with Mikel’s bottle.”
Maxwell had to laugh, because the reality was, she would do it, right in front of all of these passengers. He settled back in his seat, keeping a cautious eye on his beautiful son. Every time he looked at him he still could not believe the pure awesomeness of his existence. He’d made a solemn vow to both Mikel and to Reese, as he stood in the delivery room and watched her bring him into the world, that with every breath he took he would always keep them in the forefront of his life, the choice that he made would always be his family first and foremost. If he made enough money to last him a lifetime, none of that could be more precious than his wife and son.
Reese took a sidelong peek at her handsome husband. The decision to make the trip to Tokyo had been a hard one for Max. She knew that. But she’d convinced him that the time to begin anew was with their son. She watched him now as he read again the letter from his mother, which Reese had decided to show him the day they’d brought Mikel home from the hospital.
My dear Mioki,
I am sure I will never be able to make up to your for the loss of our relationship. But I want to begin in some small way to mend the rift between us. I want you to know that I went to Murayama and told him the whole story. At first he turned me away as I expected, but he returned to me and told me that all of the years that we had been together I had brought him nothing but joy. He has asked me to marry him and I have accepted. I feel truly blessed, my son. I will start a new life very soon and I have you to thank—you and Reese. I have sent her something that I hope the both of you will use and pass down to children I hope you will one day have together. I was the one who bought the last fifteen percent of stock. But, of course, I do not need it. I have turned it over to Reese. She is a wise woman, my son. Do not let your pride turn her away. I hope that one day we will see each other again. Life is much too short to go through it carrying grudges and old hurts from the past. I hope that you will find a place in your heart for forgiveness and perhaps one day we shall see each other again. I love you, my son, Mioki.
Maxwell folded the letter and returned it to his breast pocket. He turned and looked at his wife who smiled knowingly. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. They were on a journey together, to heal broken hearts, join two cultures, share love, and begin a new legacy that would begin with their son Mikel.
A new beginning…
INTIMATE BETRAYAL
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8900-4
First published by Kensington Publishing Corp in 1997
Copyright © 2011 by Donna Hill
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