Sparring Partners

by Leigh Morgan

  He'd done billion dollar deals on a hell of a lot less. Certainly with fewer words, and less effort at convincing.

  Reed rolled her shoulders back, lifted her chin, and narrowed her eyes. "That's a pretty tall order for someone who trusts no one but Henry."

  "I trust you, Reed. I made that decision before I asked you to marry me. I didn't love you yet, but I trusted you."

  "And now?"

  "I see to your soul. I trust you with all I have. If I didn't, this conversation wouldn't be so damned important or so painful for me."

  "Painful?"

  He laughed without mirth. "Like pulling teeth with a greasy pliers."

  She took a step toward him, small and hesitant, but a step nonetheless. A sparkle lit her eyes and the whisper of tears glazing them earlier retreated. "Are you afraid of me, Jordon?"

  "Damn straight. You're the scariest woman I know."

  "Then you don't trust me. Not totally."

  "I do."

  "Then what's there to fear?"

  "That everything real about me will wither and die if I don't live up to the version of me you've made up and sprinkled with fairy dust." That was a little more poetic and a little less sarcastic in his head than in the delivery. Jordon winced inwardly, but held his ground. He wasn't the man she thought he was, and what scared him more than anything else, including being penniless, was that he didn't have it in him to be that man. He feared that he'd keep faking it, and keep fucking it up, until she finally had one too many disappointments and left him.

  "I know exactly who you are, Jordon, and I'm fresh out of fairy dust. I see you clearly." She took another step forward. "I love you and I...

  "...Ouch." She took another step forward and stepped on the small box containing his great-grandmother Bennett's engagement ring, in its original, and hopefully unmangled, box. "What have you got in your pockets? Rocks?"

  Well, yeah, actually. About three carats worth.

  "Finish your sentence, Elf or I'll get the pliers myself."

  "I love you and I trust you."

  About fucking time.

  "What?"

  Did he really say that out loud? She had him tripping all over himself, and he was so relieved by her answer he couldn't bring himself to care.

  Jordon dropped to the floor, kneeing over his tuxedo pants. "I said, I've been plucking dimes."

  "Plucking dimes?" She echoed, shaking her head.

  "Never mind." Jordon found the velvet wrapped box that thankfully was made from steel, and still in working order. He wrapped his fist around it and quickly stood.

  Jordon closed the distance between them and reached for her left hand with his empty one. Bringing it to his lips, he kissed her knuckle right under the slim rose-gold band she picked out in Las Vegas.

  He handed her the box.

  She looked at him, confusion and something that made her frown, marring her beautiful face. "Jordon, I..."

  "For once, Reed, just go with it. You don't need to fight absolutely everything."

  Her expression looked hurt for a moment, as if she didn't realize what a terrier-like personality she had underneath her elven facade.

  "Just open the box, love."

  She opened the box.

  Her hand went to her mouth and her tears were back. "Oh, Jordon. It's so beautiful. So elegant. It looks old and well loved."

  Finally, he could give her something meaningful that she appreciated. Jordon's chest expanded and he felt himself smile.

  "It is. It belonged to my great-grandmother. She gave it to me when I was nine."

  "And you didn't lose it?"

  "I kept it safe. It's always been with me. Even as a little kid, I knew how important it was." Jordon shrugged remembering the day his great-grandmother gave it to him, and the promise she exacted in return. "I've always known there's magic in that ring."

  Jordon reached for the ring and pulled it from its velvet pillow, marveling again at its beauty as he did every time he looked at it. The three stone ring was hand carved in platinum. The hall of mirrors cutting on the square emerald cut stones, and their severe corners added drama and symmetry. The stones were one carat each and lightly tinted, a soft yellow hue. The ring suited Reed perfectly.

  "My great-grandmother Bennett said I'd know when I found the missing part of me, and that I should make sure I gave this ring to the woman who makes me whole."

  Jordon slipped his great-grandmother's ring onto Reed's ring finger, just above the pink gold band. It fit perfectly, like it was made to fit only her.

  "It's where it belongs now."

  "So am I." Reed said, tears running freely down her face.

  Jordon swept her back up in his arms and called Thorson on his cell for Drambuie, pretzels, and coconut bubble bath. He asked that they all be delivered to his room in exactly one hour.

  "Why one hour?" Thorson asked.

  "Because I need to make love to my wife first, and it is going to take awhile to get the job done thoroughly." Jordon said, before turning off his phone.

  Reed was so pleased with him she didn't even hit him for being so male, she was too busy giggling in his ear.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  An insistent knock on the door woke Jordon. A sense of urgency surged through him as he shook off the fog from sleep laced with the after effects of Reed and Drambuie.

  He glanced at the clock, blinking 4:30, the sky didn't even hint at dawn yet and he'd only been asleep for a few hours. He found his boxers, on the floor where he threw them and slipped them on, just in case it was his mother at the door. Thorson's concerned face greeted him without a smile. The perpetual twinkle in his eye was missing.

  "What's wrong?" Jordon asked, instantly alert.

  "The hospital called. It seems you have a decision to make as Mrs. MacDonald's power of attorney."

  Jordon's stomach revolted, and every cell in his body tried to come to his aide by cooling the flames that began in the pit of his stomach and radiated outwards. Beads of sweat made his skin glisten in the moonlight shining through the windows. Jordon glanced over his shoulder toward the bed where his elf, his wife, the keeper of his heart, slept. Just watching her sleep calmed him. His heart opened even farther at the sight of Reed's small hand wearing his great-grandmother's ring, the ring he'd waited a lifetime to give away. Jordon sent a quick prayer of thanks before turning back to Thorson, who seemed to know exactly what Jordon was thinking.

  "Wild roses are amazing. Tough enough to survive glaciers and dinosaurs. Sweet and deceptively fragile. Things of beauty and grace. Well worth the thorns."

  "So, have you ever been pricked, Thorson?"

  The twinkle was back for a moment as Thorson glanced toward the bed and then away. "Once or twice. God willing, I still have a prick or two left in me."

  Jordon appreciated Thorson's diversion. It gave him time to ease the clenching in his stomach and to let the perspiration evaporate from his skin. He was prepared to face the world now, even if that meant saying good-bye to Irma.

  "Let Irma's nurse know I'll be there within the hour. Could you make coffee for me to take along? And, let's keep this between us for now. I don't want the others worried just yet."

  "No worries. I've already got the coffee ready."

  "Thanks, Thorson. I appreciate it."

  "I know you do. Glad to see you coming back, Jordon. I've missed you."

  Jordon didn't need to ask him what he meant by 'coming back', the fact that he stopped calling him Mr. Bennett said it all. He shut the door, headed toward the shower and sent out another quick prayer:

  Please give me a chance to say good-bye. I never got the chance to show Irma how much I care.

  ...

  "Is she in pain?"

  "No. Not to any discernable degree." Dr. Minorik said.

  "So what's the rush?"

  "There's no rush. It's just, given Mrs. MacDonald's age, her obviously frail state, and the fact that her coma seems to be deepening, it doesn't make any sense to kee
p her on the ventilator."

  "So if she starts breathing on her own, then what?"

  "That is highly unlikely."

  "Irma is an unlikely kind of woman. She may look frail, but she's tough as nails. I wouldn't count her out too quickly, Doc."

  "We're already past the point where I'd make the call."

  Jordon's jaw popped as his muscles forcibly clenched. His eyes narrowed and he flashed the doctor a smile that could slice through concrete. "It's a good thing it's not your call, then. It's mine. All plugs stay firmly in place. If I were you, I'd pray there isn't a power spike within a hundred miles of here. I'm not letting her go before she's ready to let go."

  Jordon looked back at the tiny woman entombed in mounds of white cotton sheets covered by a thin waffled blanket that wouldn't keep a polar bear warm. He dismissed the doctor simply by turning away.

  Sullen, not so subtle, footsteps left the room, and Jordon's canine clench of his jaw eased as he let the pit-bull in him evaporate while bringing out his inner golden retriever. Irma liked dogs. Reed's three monsters were never far from her side. The giant cats liked her too. In fact, everyone at Potters Woods liked Irma, even the people who came during the day for the various programs Finn, Reed, and Charlie set up.

  He was the only one Irma gave hell to, and yet, he loved her too.

  Jordon reached for Irma's hand, holding it in his much larger one. She was limp, dead weight lying on that bed. Her skin had the transparency of onion skin and was so dry Jordon was afraid he might tear it if he gripped her too hard. There were bruises up and down her wrinkled arms from all the blood thinners she was on.

  Jordon didn't realize he was crying until his tears hit her bony arm. He sat in the chair next to the bed and raised her hand to his cheek.

  "Feel that, you old bat? You finally made me cry. Why don't you wake up so you can enjoy it. Come on old, girl. There's still fish in that pond you haven't scared to death. Wake up, Irma. Wake up."

  Jordon fell asleep, alternating between cursing Irma and praying for her as he held her hand.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  "Where the hell is he?" William demanded of Thorson, as he looked at his watch for the fifth time in twice as many seconds.

  "I can't say, Sir."

  "You mean you won't say?"

  "If you say so, Sir."

  "Stop 'Sir-ing' me, Thorson we've been through enough together for me to know where your shifting loyalties lie."

  "My loyalties don't shift. They remain exactly where they need to be."

  "He'd better not be at the office. Of course my staff is loyal to me there, and since he's banned from the office, I would have heard otherwise." William's eyes narrowed. If throttling Thorson would do any good he would do it. "Get Jordon back here, Thorson. Quickly." William looked at his atomically updated to the millisecond watch again, not seeing Thorson rolling his eyes.

  "He's about to miss an incredibly important meeting with Mr. Takahara and Giles is already buttering the man up in my study. It's almost as if Jordon's trying to lose this account. He knows how important this is, why the hell isn't he here?"

  "I can't say, Sir."

  "As soon as he reappears, send him to me. I've got plenty to say."

  ...

  Jordon woke still holding Irma's hand. Rubbing his free hand across his whisker stubbled face, he winced. He left this morning without shaving, throwing on the first clothes he found, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans he'd gotten a hole in while helping Jesse plant a surprise peace garden for Reed. The tear actually happened after Curly, Mo and Larry knocked him down in the universal call to play of deerhounds everywhere. He and Jesse played with the dogs most of that afternoon, chasing those three ladies all over the meadow.

  Looking at his watch, a new solar powered gift from Reed to replace his platinum Rolex, he bolted upright. He just meant to close his eyes for a moment and channel what energy he could out to the universe for Irma to wake up and for that damned doctor to stop hovering like a vulture over Irma's bed.

  Instead, he'd slept for five hours.

  And, missed his nine o'clock meeting to discuss his plan for taking over and expanding Takahara's alternative health care business. Giles was probably doing a victory dance already.

  Worse than that was the fact that he was going to have to sneak back into the cottage, looking like he just got out of jail after one hell of a bar fight and a night in the drunk tank.

  Shit.

  Resting his elbows on his knees, hands in his hair, Jordon sat collecting his thoughts. Six weeks ago, his biggest worry was how much more profit he could produce than Jay Giles, so he could ensure his position at B.H. A month ago, he was sure this whole marriage requirement of William's was a cosmic joke to test his commitment to B.H., and once again, his biggest worry was beating Giles, dollar for dollar. He never saw Reed, Potters Woods or Irma coming.

  They snuck up on him and altered his DNA when he wasn't looking, and now he was afraid there was no inoculation in the world that could purge any of them from his system.

  Now, his biggest worry was getting a chance to say good-bye to an old woman he didn't know existed until he came to Potters Woods, and hanging on to the mixed up family serendipity gave him and he wanted to keep.

  "You look like shit."

  Jordon raised his head and stared at what had to be the second most beautiful woman in the world. "I heard you got married."

  "Are you angry about that, or is that your way of saying congratulations?" Finn asked, walking into the room.

  Jordon stood and enveloped Reed's aunt in a big hug. It surprised him almost as much as it surprised her, but he recovered more quickly, pulling away before she had a chance to push him. Smiling down, but not too far down considering how much taller Finn was than his elf, Jordon answered honestly.

  "Congratulations. Henry is the closest thing to a brother I have. He's lucky to have you."

  She looked at him like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop before she smiled at him with real warmth. "You really do look terrible. Where's Reed?"

  "She's still at the cottage. She doesn't know how bad this is yet. I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell her. I was hoping Irma would come out of it and I wouldn't have to tell the others how close she came to leaving us."

  "Henry said you had an important meeting today. The meeting, I think he called it." She cocked her head at him, narrowing her eyes slightly, although there was a small smile on her face that said she knew more about his motives than he did. "Why are you here?"

  "Irma needs me here."

  The smile Finn gave him as she silently took his hand filled him with a feeling he hadn't even known he'd been longing for.

  Belonging.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Jesse didn't like the monkey suit Lily insisted he wear for the late afternoon wedding reception from hell. He didn't know any of these people, neither did his mother. As it turned out, the billionaire groom everyone was whispering about was nowhere to be found, leaving everyone gossiping about Reed. Dreadful hair, too short, too poor, too ugly, too common, too unworthy to be Jordon's bride. Too stupid to see the writing on the wall of what Jordon's absence meant. Too stupid to leave before things got 'really embarrassing' for her, and her working class friends.

  It was as if dressing like these androids, in an attempt to be accepted into their privileged club of worthless consumerism, wasn't embarrassing enough for him and his mother. Just watching her trying to blend, as she was oh-so-subtly looked down upon, made Jesse want to grab Sensei Schwartz and start kicking tail and taking names. The sad thing was, Reed didn't seem to get it. She moved with the strength and grace, that twenty years of martial arts training and blazing her own trail had forged into her bones, from table to table on William's arm, looking more beautiful than ever, which was no small feat as far as Jesse was concerned. She seemed to ignore all of the jealousy and the condescension oozing from the people around her.

  It pissed him off that anyone woul
d hurt her, even when she didn't see it. Jesse yanked on his collar, trying to breathe. The starch from his shirt chafed his skin. He looked like a fraud and he felt like an idiot. He wanted to plant his fist in the face of the Brad Pitt look-a-like leering openly at Reed even as he sat next to his own wife.

  "Asshole."

  "Which one, dear? There are so many here to choose from."

  His grandmother's angelically amused voice hit him like a bucket of ice water on a smoldering fire. Jesse didn't know when she'd worked her way into his heart, but she'd done a good job of it before he knew it was happening. Lily calmed him like no one else could, not even Reed, who if he was honest, was as much of hot-head as he was. She didn't even try to hide it.

  "Let's start with the bleach blond with the surfer tan who can't take his eyes off my mother's chest."

  Lily laughed, the sound resonating through him like the gong at the dojo, easing the tension in his shoulders and his brow. She handed him a soda. When he took it she reached up to straighten the tie he'd mangled in his anger.

  "Reed can hold her own. Look again. See how she's moving toward him, looming even? Like a hawk before it swoops down, crushing a snake or rodent in its talons. Your mother knows how to shift the energy around her." Lily glanced briefly over her right shoulder toward Reed before focusing again on Jesse's tie.

  "He's moving away from her. If I'm not mistaken, that gleam in her eye and that beautiful smile on her face are purely predatory."

  Jesse looked. Really looked, allowing himself to see what was really happening without being blinded by his anger on Reed's behalf. The asshole really was moving away as Reed swooped in. Her size didn't make her any less intimidating when she wanted to be. Jesse knew that firsthand.

  Lily brushed imaginary lint from his padded shoulders. "Your mother can take care of herself. She doesn't need a knight in shining armor. She rides that horse just fine on her own."