Empires Fall (MidKnight Blue Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  Robert Debenshire was nodding his head. This young lady knew her stuff, and he was pleasantly surprised to hear she had a degree in law.

  “ … Now … if you will just hold on … ” Midnight continued, as if talking to a child. “We’ll get the DNA evidence and we’ll have him for murder one … so just chill out, Spider, okay?”

  She listened again for a few moments. She stood with her free hand on her hip, and her teeth worrying her lower lip. She focused on a spot on the floor as she listened. “He’s not gonna bolt, Spider … he’s on parole, BNE’s got him tagged. We’ve got him tagged, he’s got nowhere to go … so just sit back and relax okay?”

  She rolled her eyes again, sighing. “We’ve only been gone a day and a half, do you think you can hold it together for another twelve days?” Her voice was skeptical.

  Then she grinned at Rick, he was leaning against the opposite wall, shaking his head and smiling.

  “Okay, good … geeze, you guys are going to make me old before my time! Okay … fine … I’ll call you sometime next week, okay? Tell Tammy hi for me, and the rest of the gang too. Okay … bye.”

  Midnight hung up the phone and looked apologetically at the Debenshires who were now watching this little woman with a new respect. “Sorry about that … they’re not used to me being gone …”

  “Nothing to be sorry about, dear. You’re obviously very important, and they need your advice, not to worry. Robert gets calls at all hours too,” Anabelle said, looking at her husband on the last.

  The rest of the meal proceeded quietly. Rick knew that Midnight had just earned a lot of respect from his father. Robert Debenshire hated nothing more than a beautiful woman without a brain in her head. After dinner, Midnight went to bed, to try to get more rest and hopefully beat her cold.

  Later that night, once again Rick and his mother ended up in the kitchen. Rick told his mother about how Midnight came to be in the type of business she was in. He told her about how Midnight’s little brother had wanted to join her gang, and how she had decided it was the lesser of two evils to let him into hers. He also told her how Thomas had been killed and how Midnight’s parents had disowned her from that point on.

  “I can’t believe that …” his mother started to say, but he shook his head.

  “I didn’t either at first,” he said, feeling the knot in his throat tighten, “but her father called her a while back, and before the conversation got very far, he was right back to accusing her of murdering their son. It’s like they think she’s still in the gang and they’re ashamed of her.”

  Anabelle was aghast; she could understand Midnight’s parents being upset about losing their son, but for her parents to treat her so badly, after all she had accomplished was just ludicrous. She couldn’t imagine cutting one of her children out of her life. She felt all the more sorry for the girl.

  “And how did you two get together? Through Joseph I imagine,” she said smiling at him. She looked on Joe as one of her own children.

  Rick nodded. “Midnight is Joe’s boss, if you can believe that!”

  Anabelle shook her head, laughing. “Not really!”

  “Yeah, he works for her, and I ended up working with Joe. I think I loved her the first time I met her though …” He looked at his mother, trying to see if she’d think him crazy, but all he saw was love and acceptance. He had rarely ever seen anything else in her eyes when she looked at him.

  “Love at first sight?” she asked, her smile still in her eyes.

  “I guess,” he said smiling at the thought. “I thought she was gorgeous—”

  “And you were right,” she injected.

  He smiled at her, happy that she thought so too.

  “But man she was tough. She didn’t want to have anything to do with me. Although we had a brief go around, but when Joe was shot … and she was …”

  He couldn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t like to talk about that time, it had been so awful. His mother knew about Joe getting shot. Of course he had called and told her that, and she had been extremely worried about him having been cut up so much and Joe being injured so gravely. He hadn’t told her about Midnight at the time, because it would have taken more energy to explain than he had, and then the time had never seemed appropriate. Now the time did seem right. He told her everything, about Midnight being kidnapped and raped, and how he had found her and gotten her out of there. Then he told her about how a woman who was involved with Joe at one point had been involved in the plot to kill Joe, Randy, himself, and Midnight and shut down FORS.

  “And now Joseph is getting married, and what about you? What are you thinking to do with Midnight?”

  Rick thought for a minute. “You know, Mum, I honestly don’t know, we’ve never talked about it. God I haven’t even been crazy enough to think of marriage with her. It’s a lot to ask for from someone like her.” Then he grinned, shaking his head. “Getting her to slow down long enough might be the hard part.”

  “Well lad, you just have to keep trying …” She too was grinning.

  They were both startled to hear Midnight’s voice from the kitchen doorway. “And what’s this? A plot?” but she was smiling, she knew they had been talking about her. She walked over to Rick taking his outstretched hand and he pulled her down onto his lap.

  Even with no makeup and her hair tousled from sleeping, she looked so beautiful to him, he couldn’t resist reaching up to kiss her. Her hand came up to touch his cheek tenderly as they kissed. When their lips parted they looked into each other’s eyes, smiling. Anabelle cleared her throat, looking the other direction, although it did her heart good to see her son so obviously in love.

  “So,” Midnight said, picking up his cup and taking a sip. She had learned to like tea since the days after Tim’s death. She had come to think of it synonymously with Rick’s soothing voice and sweet manner. She looked at Rick over the rim of the cup. “What are you two planning?”

  “Oh nothing,” Rick said, his deep blue eyes wide and innocent.

  Midnight looked at Anabelle, smiling. “Something tells me you saw that look a lot when he was growing up.”

  “Aw indeed I did, dear, he was a little devil that one.”

  Midnight laughed, her eyes shining. She was happy here, and glad that Rick’s parents seemed to like her. They spent an hour or so going over what a mischievous little boy Rick had been. When they finally stood to go to bed, Rick walked her to her room. She leaned up against the doorjamb looking up at him. He stood with is arm over her head. “So what were you two planning when I came in?” she asked. Her finger traced a pattern down the front of his shirt. She looked up at him through the veil of her hair.

  “Are you getting paranoid?”

  “Probably” she said, laughing, “who wouldn’t be after all the shit we’ve been through.” Grimacing, she looked around hoping Rick’s mom wasn’t within hearing distance to hear her cuss.

  “Hey!” he said softly, touching her under the chin, lifting her eyes to meet his, “don’t worry, she likes you, a lot.”

  “Does she?” she asked hesitantly. He realized then how much she wanted his mom to like her. For someone who hadn’t cared about what people thought of her for a long time, that was a huge step.

  “Yes, love, she does.” His voice was sincere.

  “Well that’s a relief. One down, only five to go …” she said, her hand trailing a little bit lower.

  Rick sucked in his breath, eyeing her. “You’re mean.”

  “Who me?” she said, her hand moved further down.

  “Midnight!” he said in a harsh whisper.

  But she laughed as she moved her hand back up to his face, touching his cheek and then his lips. He kissed her fingers, then bent down to kiss her on the lips. In moments, they were both breathless.

  “Oh God!” he groaned, holding her close to him. Her head rested against his bare chest, as she’d already unbuttoned his shirt.

  One of his hands was entwined in her hair, the other str
oked her back.

  “Why do you do this me?” he said, his voice still ragged from the passion she’d ignited.

  She smiled against his chest. “Oh, I’m so sorry” she said, her tone full of mock concern.

  “No you’re not, you evil wench.” But he laughed, knowing she was getting him back for talking about her behind her back. Then he became serious. “Are you okay with all of this? My family and all, I mean I know it’s a lot for you …” He wanted to know, he really wanted his family to like her, because they meant a great deal to him, but so did she.

  “Yeah, it’s okay. It’s weird, but it’s okay,” she said, sighing.

  He let his breath out in a rush, and smiled back at her, taking her in his arms and hugging her fiercely.

  “I love you, babe,” he said into her hair.

  “I love you too,” was her response.

  Then it was her turn to groan.

  “What?” he said looking down at her.

  She gave him a mournful look. “Tomorrow,” was all she said.

  He laughed. “It won’t be that bad, love, they won’t eat you.”

  “The hell you say!” she said, smiling at him.

  She was meeting his four sisters the next day. She was terrified, she knew they wouldn’t like her, the one she was most worried about was Katherine. Rick had told her about Katherine, and she knew that this one was going to be trouble. Rick had told Katherine, his oldest sister, about Midnight’s checkered past on the phone before they’d even left America, meaning to win Katherine over with the sad tale. Unbeknownst to Rick, Katherine had decided that Midnight was a gold digger from America.

  Katherine was the oldest and therefore the one with seemingly the most power in the circle of the siblings. Even Anabelle admitted that Katherine could control the other girls and usually Rick too, so Midnight was worried.

  Chapter 7

  The next day Midnight was supposed to meet the sisters at Harrods. But since she was still feeling tired and nothing seemed to help for long, Anabelle suggested that they make a trip to the urgent care doctor first just to make sure everything was alright. Rick had agreed, and they had been gone a long time. By the time they got back, Rick was rushing her off, because he wanted a chance to take her to lunch before she met his sisters.

  He took her to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe London, at her insistence. “I have to have something normal in my stomach before I meet them,” she had said.

  “Normal?” he asked.

  “Yeah, you know, burgers, fries, all that stuff”

  “I see.” He was smiling at her; if Katherine thought she was a gold digger, she had another thing coming.

  She never wanted to go to expensive restaurants or buy expensive clothes, he practically had to force her to try on clothes when they went shopping, and then he had to talk her into letting him buy them for her. She’d say it’s too expensive, that she didn’t need it, or already had one. But he wanted to buy her things and give her everything that she ever wanted. He sincerely hoped that Katherine would like Midnight, but even if she didn’t, Rick didn’t care. He loved Midnight and that’s what mattered, he didn’t care what anyone else thought.

  After a nice lunch at the Hard Rock, Rick drove down to Harrods. Once in front, Midnight turned to Rick in almost a panic and grabbed his arm. “Come with me!” she said, her voice shaky. He had never seen her like this, she was actually nervous, and he didn’t think that happened too often.

  “Night, it’ll be okay,” he said holding her hand. He had to pry the other one off his arm so he could hold it too.

  “No it won’t be, she’s going to hate me, they all are.” She breathed a heavy sigh, throwing herself back in the seat of the car.

  Then she looked at him, eyeing him in mock anger. “I hate feeling like this, ya know.”

  He couldn’t help but smile at her petulant look.

  “Midnight come on, you’ve faced gang members and drug dealers, you’ve dealt with police chiefs and you even had a show down with the Attorney General himself once, you can handle this.”

  He had to laugh, because she was scowling at him, as if all those things were nothing compared to this meeting.

  She sighed, laughing at herself. “I guess you’re right, I just hate relatives.” She grinned sardonically. “Hell, I think half the reason Joe and I got along so well is because I never had to meet anyone!”

  “Sorry,” he said, his face schooled in a look of mock sorrow.

  “Oh bullshit!” she said, laughing. Her face brightened up a little and. she swatted at his arm. He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to him to kiss her.

  They were still kissing when someone tapped on the window. They looked up together, and Midnight knew she was looking at Rick’s sisters. They all looked a lot like Rick; they all had brown hair and blue eyes in varying shades. And they all looked very excited to see their brother. Midnight moved back to the passenger side of the car, trying to straighten herself up, thinking what a great impression she had just made. She was pawing their brother in front of a historic English department store. Great! she thought to herself.

  Rick got out of the car and was pulled into a group embrace by all four of his sisters. Midnight could hear the squeals of delight. She was happy for the opportunity to reapply lipstick and run her fingers through her hair. Then Rick was there opening her door. He took her hand to help her out of the car and held it as he was introducing her to his sisters.

  “Night, this is Allison, Mandy, Deborah, and this is Katherine.”

  They were all looking at her and she hated it. She had never felt self-conscious about her appearance, but now she was and it wasn’t a good feeling.

  “Hi!” Allison said, smiling brightly. She was small like Midnight and her eyes were almost the same shade as Rick’s. Her hair was cut in an attractive bob and she wore a beautifully cut light blue silk suit.

  Midnight tried to remember what Rick had said about each one of them as she shook hands. Allison was still single, although she was engaged to a young man from their father’s firm. Rick said that Allison being the youngest at twenty-five years old was the most bubbly of the four. She was two years Midnight’s junior, which made Midnight feel a little better, less overwhelmed.

  “Hello,” Mandy said.

  Midnight remembered that Rick had called her his willowy sister. She could see why; Mandy stood almost as tall as Rick and she seemed like she weighed almost nothing. Her hair, like her sister’s, was cut in a bob, but longer and tapered in the front that made her angular face even more fascinating. She had the same high cheekbones as Rick, but her cheeks were almost hollow. She wore a black sleeveless pantsuit and looked very chic. Then Midnight remembered that she was a model. Mandy was very reserved, but Midnight wasn’t sure whether or not it was actually that she didn’t like her or if it was just how she was. Rick had said that she was very quiet.

  “Hello,” Deborah said.

  Deborah she was more sophisticated than the rest of them. Her hair was up in a French twist, and she wore a cream wool suit with elegant gold jewelry. Her makeup was absolutely perfect, her hands perfectly manicured. She was married, Rick had said to a banker, a man Rick didn’t like at all. Deborah had two children that Rick said were just great, but Midnight couldn’t imagine this woman having “great” kids. She figured they’d be as manicured and coiffed as their mother.

  Katherine remained silent, and as she was shaking hands with each of the sisters, Midnight saw, out of the corner of her eye, Katherine shake her head at Rick, as if to say that his choice was not suitable and that she couldn’t believe he was subjecting them to her. Midnight looked at Rick immediately and saw the anger in his eyes. Even though he tried to smile at her, she could tell he was angry at Katherine. She knew it should make her happy that he would stand against his own family for her, but in some remote way, it made her sad. She turned then to Katherine, determined to try for Rick’s sake.

  “Katherine,” she said extending her hand to th
e other woman.

  Katherine just looked at her, raising an eyebrow at her extended hand. Midnight heard Rick take an angry breath, to say something but she spoke first.

  “I’ve heard a lot about all of you,” Midnight said, moving her hand subconsciously to the small of her back where she usually carried her gun.

  Rick didn’t miss it and, knowing Midnight the way he did, he realized that her subconscious was warring with her good intentions. He laughed then taking the hand that Midnight had moved behind her. She turned her head, smiling at him.

  “Well, let’s move along then, shall we?” Deborah said.

  When Rick didn’t make any move to leave, Katherine looked at Midnight as if she was holding him there forcibly, but she spoke to Rick. “Are you staying, Rick?”

  “I think I’ll meet you back here in a while. I have to go down the street to meet Joe for tux fittings, but I’ll hang around after that.”

  Midnight squeezed his hand gratefully, but because of the look on Katherine’s face, Rick found it necessary to say, “That is if you ladies don’t mind …”

  Allison, Mandy, and Deborah assured him that they didn’t mind at all. Katherine just shook her head all the while looking at Midnight, as if trying to figure out what kind of spell she had put on their brother.

  As far as Katherine was concerned, Midnight was a gold digger and she was in no way suitable for Rick. Midnight could see her opinion in her eyes. I always thought the English were supposed to be good at being discreet about how they really felt she thought to herself. She looked at the woman who at thirty-nine years old was twelve years her senior. She knew from Rick that Katherine had always been the serious one. She also knew that Katherine only had one soft spot and that soft spot was Rick, which made her extremely protective of him.

  Katherine stood looking at the girl who thought she was in love with her brother. Katherine was older than Rick by ten years, and she had always kept an eye on him. When he was little, she had been his constant vigilant mentor. As he grew older and more handsome, she had become his protector from the vultures. She knew that because their family had money and because he drew women like flies to honey with his deep blue eyes and his long hair, that he would be a prime target. She had kept a close watch on his relationships over the years and had managed to keep him from making any number of mistakes. Although she had to admit she had lost a great deal of her power when he had moved to the states.