Emily couldn’t speak, so he went on. "When did you first meet Miranda?"
"Christmas, a few years ago," she finally managed. "Just for a few minutes because they didn't want me to run into you."
"She tries to protect people, doesn't she?"
Emily trembled. She looked at the picture of Michael and Miranda’s son. "Zainab told me," she said quietly, "about the benefit for the library. She told me Miranda was using a cane, and that you were all scratched up." She looked at him without judgment, but she had to know. "Was that when—"
"No," Michael said, fighting back his tears. "I saw Alex that night. I felt like a little kid again, watching him take everyone I loved away. And he was trying to take her. She didn’t believe me, of course, because how crazy does that sound? And I wanted to know if she wanted to be with him still. It was a stupid question that she wouldn’t answer. I was mad, and she was afraid. She tried to get away, but I wouldn’t let her. And then she hurt her ankle. She hurt her ankle because she was wearing these stupid high heels to look even better in this dress she’d gotten so I’d think she was even more beautiful than she already was. As if that were possible.
"And I didn’t help her up. I yelled at her even though she was hurt, and then she finally yelled back. I called her a name, and she hit me. She’d only hit me once before, and I’d deserved it. I deserved it this time too.
"She tried to lock herself in our room, but she wasn’t fast enough because she couldn’t walk well. She was terrified of me. She scratched me and told me to leave her alone, but I was so angry. And then she just stopped. She cried like she was dying. And that’s what made me stop, that’s what made me remember that she was the most precious thing, and that I had to stop." He looked down at his hands. "I just wanted to make her stop crying; I just wanted to make her feel good again. And she didn’t say no, she didn’t tell me to stop. But that was because she couldn’t do anything, and afterwards she couldn’t even look at me."
Now he couldn’t look at Emily. "The next night I said I’d turn myself in for having hurt her; I said she should leave me. I told her she shouldn’t stay with me just because she didn’t want to be alone, because someone was always going to love her. And she told me that she didn’t want anyone else, because I was the only one who made her feel... whole." Now he looked into Emily’s eyes. "And she forgave me for what had happened the night before, and for everything else." His chin quivered, remembering how she had touched his face, that they’d both been so tired from making up for so many hours, how he’d known then that she truly loved him and wanted him. "That’s when our baby was conceived, and he was conceived out of love." He cleared his throat. "I’m not proud of a lot of things I’ve done, but I just told you the very worst of it. You can think whatever you want of me now, because I deserve it. But don’t make everything worse for her by thinking less of her because she forgave me then and because she loves me now."
"I don’t," Emily said, wiping her tears. "I’m sorry about the baby."
"Thank you."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to know," he said after a moment, "that I would do anything for her. If I thought she’d be happier without me, I’d leave again. But we both know that’s not the case. She loves me, and I love her more than I’d ever thought I could." He smiled. "I just want to make her happy. I’m not going to hurt her, and I’m not going to hurt anyone else. I know, I didn’t say anything just now to convince anyone of that, but it’s true. Please Emily, please tell her that you know that."
Emily didn’t speak for a moment. She was thinking about Miranda. She was thinking about her baby. She remembered the look on Zainab’s face this morning and what she had been trying to tell her. Now she understood. Then she thought about Mitch. "Okay," Emily nodded at last, and then picked up her envelope. She stood up and smiled at Michael before she left.
CHAPTER 25
When Richard told his story to Ari, he’d needed two drinks to get through it. He looked at Ari when he was done. Ari’s face was expressionless. "Is there more?" Ari asked.
"Not to my knowledge."
Ari nodded. "And you have reason to believe that this will be made public knowledge?"
"At least some of it."
"Does your staff know this?"
"Some of them, yes. I will have to tell the others."
"How do you think this will affect their morale?"
"Their morale? Positively, I’m sure. I can only imagine the jokes they’ll come up with."
"Laughter can be useful."
Richard held his breath. "How will this affect...the morale...at your company?"
Ari laughed suddenly. Richard stayed still. "I believe the board of directors will have a good laugh too. I don’t believe most of it compares to some of the things they have been caught doing. Although, of course, they do try to keep murders perhaps a little more quiet." Richard still didn’t move. Ari laughed harder. "You will need to learn to take a joke, especially if your story gets out."
"You don’t care?"
Ari sighed and ordered another drink. "What I care about, Mister Hendrickson, is your product. Do you promise me that this will not negatively affect that?"
Richard grinned. "I promise."
"Then I will see you in Israel next week."
Richard took a deep breath. "About that..."
~~~
An hour and a half after his lunch with Emily, Michael sat in stunned silence at his house while Richard recounted what had happened between Zainab and Robert Teague. "Michael?" Richard said after a moment.
"Sorry, I just need a second. So Zainab and Teague really—?"
"Notice how I never rubbed Alex in your face? Could you return the favor?"
"What the Hell was she thinking?"
"What was I thinking when I met up with Sophie? What were you thinking every time you followed Miranda? What does it matter as long as we’re done thinking it?"
"Fine. What are you going to do about the bastard who was trying to blackmail the woman you love into bed with him?"
A dark look passed over Richard’s face, and Michael knew that no matter how well Richard hid it, they were more alike than Richard would care to admit. "Nothing," he said finally, "that Zainab would disapprove of. But can we leave it at that?"
Michael sighed. He did have enough drama of his own. "Will we be in existence by the end of the week?"
"Ari seemed to think so, but I know there is a board of directors who will have final say. Even if we’re not, your investment is safe. My mother agreed this weekend to more than cover what I gave back to Alex. If anything should go wrong, you’re covered."
Michael shrugged. "If anything goes wrong, don’t worry about me."
"Michael, please. You know I’ll cover it—"
"I’m telling you, you don’t have to."
"Why?"
"Because I gave you something I was dying to get rid of, and I was able to do some good with it; at least for a while. If it’s not going towards this, then I don’t want anything to do with it."
When Richard had seen the amount of money Michael signed over, he had suspected what it was. Now he knew. "What about Miranda?"
"She practically threw it at me a few years ago. She won’t miss it."
"I see." Richard shook his head. "You really are a bastard, you know that?"
"Then how about you redeem us both and make this work?"
"Come on; just think of how much free time you’ll have with her if I go under."
Michael grinned. "We are going to need to talk about that, but not for, oh, seven or eight months."
Richard laughed. "Really? Miranda’s—"
"No, not yet. But that’s the plan."
"Are you sure that’s a good idea?" Richard asked calmly.
"I’m positive." He stood up and got the photo out of his coat pocket. He gingerly handed it to Richard. "This is our son, Stephen." Richard was shocked, but took the photo. Michael smiled as Richard studied it. "H
e’d be two right about now. I checked last week. Our children will be fine, at least, as well as everyone else’s children."
Now it all made sense…all of it. "I’m so sorry Michael. I had no idea. I would have done anything for her—for the both of you."
Michael looked away so he wouldn’t break down. He understood why Miranda didn’t want to give Richard anything else to worry about. "Please don’t," he said at last. "There’s no fault here, and certainly none of yours."
"That’s why she wouldn’t speak to you last week."
Michael nodded. "But she’s speaking to me now, and that’s what’s important."
"Really Michael?"
Michael smiled. "Really, Richard. I’m done trying to avenge the dead. I’m going to settle now for honoring their memories."
Richard’s eyes filled with tears. "That sounds like a good outlook. I hope you’ll let me help."
"I expect you to be the godfather of any and all children we have."
"I’d be insulted if you didn’t ask," Richard said gently, laughing. "How many are we talking about?"
Michael shrugged, looking around. "I’ve got a lot of room here."
~~~
"You never showed me your office," Emily said in a wobbly voice when she called Mitch right after her lunch with Michael.
Mitch looked at the phone, just to make sure it really was her. He looked at the company’s meeting schedule. His managing partner was off-site, and almost everyone else was in one meeting or another. "I guess now would be a good time to fix that."
Emily came to his floor thirty minutes later where Mitch met her by the elevators. She followed him back to his office without a word.
"Don’t you have a secretary?" she asked as he closed the door.
"She’s taking lunch now, and I asked her to pick me up a sandwich—close to Cambridge."
"What a smart and clever boy you are," she said as he pushed her against the wall.
They were laughing fifteen minutes later. "I am never, ever going to look at this little office the same way again."
"Hope this won’t interfere with your productivity."
"I can’t make any promises."
"At least you’re honest."
"Thanks," he said, nuzzling her neck.
"For what?"
"For thinking that. What made you change your mind?"
Emily sighed as she leaned her head back and Mitch kissed her neck. "Michael. Zainab. Hellie. You."
"What happened?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck. "It’s a long story. How about I tell you tonight?"
"Will you still tell me if I have to stay late?"
"Depends. Will you make it up to me?"
Mitch grinned. "How does couple’s yoga sound?"
~~~
Richard walked to the police station after his meeting with Michael. He found Robert sitting at his desk, talking on the phone. Robert didn’t say a word when he saw him, but did get off of his call within the next two minutes.
"So," Richard said finally, "why didn’t you throw in having me arrested for assaulting a police officer?"
"Do you think any of the witnesses would have corroborated my story?"
"You are getting sloppy, Detective. You should know that Alex Sheldon would probably be more than happy at this point to see me arrested."
Robert knew when he’d been beaten. "What do you want?"
"I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"I saw Michael today—did you know that already?"
"Mister and Misses Abbot—or whatever—are no longer under surveillance, but with his record of activity, you might not want to tell him that for a little while."
Richard laughed just a little bit. "For what it’s worth, I think he’s had other reasons to reform."
"Getting in the line of fire can do that to you."
"Or the reverse. I think we both can appreciate that."
"Perhaps." Robert sighed. "You’re thanking me for...?"
"You knew about their baby, didn’t you?"
"That was one of the easier pieces of information to track down."
"But you didn’t say anything."
"I didn’t see how it could be of any use to me."
"It could have been as useful to you as revealing Mitch’s connection to Kyra, or mine to Sophie. She wanted that kept quiet probably worse than anyone wanted their secrets protected. She could have been useful to you."
Robert shrugged. "I suppose I didn’t think she had that many uses."
Richard nodded. "Of course, Detective." He was coming close to feeling pity. "As soon as Michael showed me the picture of his unborn son—I knew. You never intended to carry out your threat, did you?"
"I have my limits."
Richard already knew that. "You’re not stupid, Teague. Did you know—"
Robert smiled and looked away. "Did I know that her first instinct would be to protect her friends no matter what cost to her? Yes. But then I knew that if she didn’t get the chance to talk herself out of it, one of you would. My money was on you."
"Why?"
"I’ve been doing this long enough to know the way certain situations are going to end, maybe before the players. This time I was one of the players, but I still knew. I knew when I walked in and saw her yesterday. She thought she was still trying to decide, but she already had. She wanted you, but she didn’t want to hurt me. I was trying to give her reason to."
"You took a big risk."
"No I didn’t. She wasn’t going to do anything to me. We both know it’s not in her."
Richard’s eyes narrowed. "But what you did to a certain Mister Welles—that was true, wasn’t it?"
"I’m not going to have to explain having a friend of mine look into his whereabouts, no."
"I guess I want to thank you for that as well. I restrained myself from hunting him down and killing him myself many times."
"You didn’t think I was going to let some skinny know-it-all get the last word on that, did you?"
"Sorry, but I’m going to have to have the last word. I’ve had my mother hire a lawyer to represent him. You might want to tell your friend in Virginia to come up with a plausible reason for releasing him."
"Why?"
"Because Zainab cannot live with him being punished for something he didn’t do even if he never pays for what he did to her."
Robert was trying hard now not to think about Zainab’s reaction when he told her about Joe. "Maybe he won’t suffer now, but he will in the future. They always trip themselves up, especially the cocky ones."
"Or they change."
"You know that doesn’t happen very often, right?"
"But it can. I think that’s secretly what Zainab hopes."
Robert looked down at his desk. "That’s what we all hope for, I suppose."
"What do you want me to tell her?" Richard asked after a moment.
"That I hope she’s very happy. And that I hope she never changes."
CHAPTER 26
Emily came home to find Miranda packing up her room. "How’s it going?" Emily said from the doorway.
Miranda turned around. "Almost done," she smiled. "I just have to get this stuff down to the car."
"I can help."
"Thanks."
Emily started moving boxes. "You know, Richard’s pretty pissed at the two of us."
Miranda shrugged. "Richard will get over it. You were fine without me."
"Well, I quit too."
Miranda looked up. "Emily, you can’t quit! He needs you."
"He needs us both."
"It would just be too awkward, especially with Michael there."
Emily took a deep breath. "It doesn’t have to be."
"Excuse me?"
"I’m willing to stop acting like a ten-year-old about this, if you’re willing to stay on."
Miranda put down her box. "Are you sure? I mean, I know why you don’t like him—"
"Yeah, but I guess he had som
e good reasons not to like me too."
"Did you see him just now?" Emily nodded. "Jesus! What is wrong with that man sometimes—"
"No, Miranda, please." She shook her head. "Don’t be mad at him. He wanted to talk to me because he loves you."
Miranda waited a moment before she spoke. "He does love me. And I love him. Very much."
"I know."
"But I love Hellie too. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her."
"I know that too, and I’m sorry I got so upset with you."
"No, it’s okay." Miranda rubbed Emily’s arm. "You’re a good mom, and I know she’s more important to you than anything. I hope I’m as good a mom someday."
Emily started crying. Miranda hugged her. "Oh honey, why didn’t you tell me?"
Miranda closed her eyes. "He shouldn’t have told you. I shouldn’t have told him."
Emily cried harder. "It shouldn’t have been a secret. I would have done anything for you, and your baby."
Miranda wiped the tears off of Emily’s face. "You really hated him."
"I loved you more," Emily said. "I’m sorry you had to go through all of that alone."
Miranda began to cry then. They sat on her bed and talked for over an hour about what she was going to name him and how she had hoped their babies could grow up together. How guilty she’d felt that she couldn’t give her child a full family, but also how determined she’d been that her child would have its mother for many years.
"You’re going to try again?" Emily said.
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