“Like I said, even Haskin wouldn’t make any predictions.” Sharon stood up to stretch her legs. “By the way, has anyone seen him this morning?”
“He’s been in the conference room with his assistant most of the time,” Jenny answered. “He talked with us when we first got here. He said the jury so far has only asked for the police record of when the threats were reported. He thinks that’s a good sign. He’s guessing that if they come back in before noon it’ll mean rejection of insanity and probably a verdict of murder in the first or second degree.”
As the women continued talking, the conference room door opened. John Haskin emerged and started down the hall toward them. His slim, straight figure, with its stately, deliberate gait, exuded confidence. He spoke softly and precisely. “The jury is coming in.”
The women stood. Jenny looked him straight in the eye and took a deep breath. “This is it.” John Haskin smiled slightly and nodded. He took her arm and escorted her toward the courtroom. Kasey and Sharon silently made the journey with them. They dealt privately with their anxiety and their hope.
Once again, they settled into their usual seats in the all-too-familiar courtroom. The actual trial had taken the better part of two weeks. One day had been lost to a sick juror, another to an unexpected scheduling problem for the judge. Kasey and Sharon had alternated days whenever possible to avoid losing too much work time. Poor Troy had had a rough two weeks, and Kasey promised to make it up to him.
The room began to fill quickly. People came in from all over the building, wherever they’d been waiting. Both Donna’s and Evonne’s families were present, as well as a number of friends and neighbors. They stood as the judge and jury filed into the room, then took their respective seats.
Judge Bradley addressed the jury. “I understand we have a decision in this matter. Is that so, Mr. Foreman?”
“It is, your Honor.”
It was all happening so quickly now. After months of anguish and anticipation, it was about to be over in a matter of seconds.
Judge Bradley asked the question he’d asked hundreds of times. “What say you?”
All eyes were riveted on the foreman as he spoke. “In the matter of Crawford versus the People, we find the defendant guilty on two counts of murder in the first degree.”
Jenny grabbed her sister and hugged her hard, tears spilling down her cheeks. John Haskin tipped his head back and finally smiled as the Judge asked, “So say you all?”
“Yes,” was the unanimous response.
Sharon squeezed Kasey’s hand. “Yes,” she repeated emphatically. “Yes.”
Kasey watched the old man, waiting for a reaction as the jury was polled. His face never changed. He stared stoically at each one as each juror individually confirmed the decision. What kind of a mind can allow such a horrendous act? she wondered. How can something so innocent as love for another generate such hatred? She still couldn’t comprehend it. Her mind tried to override her emotions, to accept justice as a satisfactory closure. Life in prison for a sixtyseven-year-old man. What does that mean? Five years, eight years? Is that suffering enough to pay for two precious lives and all they touched?
Handcuffs were placed on the old man’s wrists. As they walked him past Kasey and Sharon, he looked directly into their eyes, one after the other. From an arm’s distance away, he snarled, “Too bad you weren’t there.”
There was no description for the feeling in the pit of Kasey’s stomach. She took Sharon’s arm. “I’ll be at the phone,” she said, hoping to dilute the poison of his words. “I promised Connie I’d call when it was over.”
Epilogue
“You know, even though we have a shitload of stuff to do, I’m glad you made us do this,” smiled Kasey. She reached over and took Connie’s hand as the car merged onto the highway.
With their second anniversary only days away, Connie had arranged a special weekend for the two of them at the cabin. Everything else was on hold. She and Kasey were going to be completely, and wonderfully, unavailable.
“Life was becoming much too routine, you have to admit. Daily duties, things we feel we have to do, have kept us from spending some quality time alone. Really, I guess I’m feeling a little selfish.”
“Whatever your reasons, I’m glad we’re going.”
They filled the next three hours with talking and singing and teasing, things they hadn’t done enough of for a long time. Connie realized, looking at Kasey’s face as they turned in to the drive, how long it had been since she had seen that beautiful carefree smile. She had first seen it right here, that first weekend; it was the smile that said I don’t have anything else to think about, except enjoying this and you. What a beautiful smile, and it was coming right at her. Kasey wrapped her arms around her, hugging her and turning her at the same time. “I need this.”
“I almost forgot how much I do too.”
“C’mon, let’s hurry and unload so we can watch the sunset.”
The lake, bathed in scarlet and dressed in early fall, shared its freshness with the silhouetted figures on the hill. Kasey and Connie spoke in brief interludes as if wanting not to interrupt the grand show before them. Then, as darkness nudged away the day and softened the hues, Connie spoke with a radiance of her own. Her arms wrapped around Kasey, she said softly, “I want to always be with you.” The silhouettes changed to profiles, their edges beginning to blend into the night. Again she spoke. “Will you marry me?”
The soft scarlet space separating their lips disappeared, fusing their forms into one softened outline. Moments later, their separating figures barely visible against a quickly darkening sky, Connie asked, “Was that a yes?”
“You’re serious.” Kasey’s smile was barely distinguishable. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”
“Not unless you’re a better impersonator than Randy.”
Kasey ran her fingers gently through the dark shiny hair and said nothing. She looked down for a moment, and then she removed her mother’s diamond from her hand and slipped it on Connie’s finger.
“Oh, Kasey,” Connie whispered.
The look in Kasey’s eyes was very serious now, and her smile was gone. The words were softly spoken. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
About the Author
MARIANNE K. MARTIN is one of the top selling lesbian romance authors in the country and her books have gained a wide international readership. Her highly successful novels include the Lambda Literary Award finalists Under the Witness Tree, Mirrors, and For Now, For Always.
She taught for many years in the Michigan public school system. An athlete since childhood, she has been a successful basketball and softball coach at the high school and amateur levels, and field hockey coach at the collegiate level.
She spent a great deal of time working with her father to design and build her own home. That experience, wrapped around bruises, splinters, and a powerful sense of achievement, taught her more about herself than she ever would have guessed.
Marianne K. Martin is also one of the founding partners at Bywater Books. Her duties at Bywater include acquisitions, managing the Bywater Prize for Fiction, and working with Bywater’s new writers.
For more information about Marianne K. Martin, Bywater Books, or the annual Bywater Prize for Fiction, please visit our website.
www.bywaterbooks.com
Copyright © 1998, 2011 by Marianne K. Martin
Bywater Books, Inc.
PO Box 3671
Ann Arbor MI 48106-3671
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without the express written permission of Bywater Books.
Love in the Balance was published in the
United States of America by Bywater Books in 2010.
eISBN : 978-1-932-85999-7
Love in the Balance was first published by The Naiad Press, Inc. in
1998 and was subsequently published by Bella Books in 2001.
This novel is a work of fiction. Although parts of the plot were inspired by
actual events, all characters and events described by the author are fictitious.
No resemblance to real persons, dead or alive, is intended.
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