A Season Of Miracles

by Christine Michels

  Geoff swore under his breath.

  “I concur,” Pete said. “All that aside, however, I’ve been able to mitigate Future-Tech’s responsibility and preserve the company simply by dint of Future-Tech being the manufacturer and not installer. I have to point out, though, that some clients felt there was evidence of tampering with the software at the production level. Those that accepted settlements will, of course, have to live with what they’ve received. However, if other clients decide to pursue the matter—” He shrugged, indicating that there was no predicting what might happen.

  “What exactly were the charges against the company?” Geoff asked.

  “Conspiracy to commit corporate and economic espionage,” Pete replied bluntly. “But the charges weren’t levelled just against the company. They were also directed at you as the president and CEO. Which brings me back to my original point—I think your return now could mean trouble. Some of Fort Knox Security’s clients were out for blood. They could be again if they discover you’ve returned. We’ll keep it quiet as long as possible Ensure there are no newspaper articles concerning your miraculous return from the dead, that kind of thing ”

  Geoff felt as though he’d been hit in the solar plexus. Despite all of Devon’s assurances to the contrary, could he have been involved in something illegal? Would he find himself fighting to stay out of prison without a memory to aid him?

  Frowning, Geoff considered what he’d learned about Future-Tech through his own research over the last couple of days in conjunction with what Pete Sherwood was telling him and tried to put together a scenario. “So some people thought that I, in league with Spencer and Fort Knox Security, was facilitating break-ins for the purpose of corporate spying by.. what?”

  “In a nutshell, by providing security services preprogrammed with an alternate access. A system that would bypass whatever company security codes were installed by the purchaser of the system in order to grant access to thieves. Once inside the company, the thieves stole sensitive design plans. Some of the stolen information has apparently already made it into competitors’ designs.”

  Geoff leaned forward to roll the ash off his cigar again He could see why some companies had suspected that the problem was at the manufacturing level. That was the level at which the primary software routines would be written. Of course, anyone who knew how could have changed them after the fact—just as Spencer apparently had done. “How much of this does Devon know?”

  “Very little. It would only have worried her. I certainly didn’t tell her that, had you lived, you could very well have found yourself in the fight of your life. There was no need to hurt her more than she was hurting already.”

  “Dad...” Both Geoff and Pete turned toward the doorway at the sound of Devon’s voice. Neither had heard her approach. “What...exactly...are you saying?”

  Pete looked at Geoff and cleared his throat, apparently realizing that he would now have to give his daughter the fnghtening details of a situation he’d been able to avoid explaining for more than two years.

  They’d arrived home from her parents’ place only a short time ago, and Devon was putting fresh sheets on the guest bed when she glanced up to see a dark shadow in the doorway. She gasped in startlement before she recognized Geoff lounging there watching her.

  “Oh, it’s you!” she said with a faint laugh. She’d thought he was upstairs with the kids, tucking Britanny in and beginning the process of trying to break through Tyler’s shell.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Then he smiled slightly. “They sure are great kids.”

  Devon studied him. “Even though Tyler won’t speak to you?” she asked.

  Geoff shrugged. “He’ll come around. It’s a shock for him.”

  She nodded and reached for the quilted spread.

  “Here, let me help you with that.” Geoff stepped into the bedroom, his big body instantly making the room seem small and close Grasping the edge of the spread, he helped her smooth it over the bed. Finished, they straightened and looked at each other, gray eyes meeting green, clinging as the banked embers of a desire she was not yet ready to acknowledge flared between them.

  The intimacy of the moment was more than Devon was capable of dealing with, and she sought desperately for something to say. “Whenever you want fresh bedding, just help yourself. It’s m the hall closet The laundry hamper is in the utility room ”

  He nodded but said nothing and the silence thickened For some reason the bed seemed to loom ever larger between them, an object of temptation that made Devon even more aware of the breadth of Geoff’s shoulders and the solidity of his muscular chest.

  “I ..I should go to—” She broke off, unable even to say the word bed She sidled toward the door, trying to appear nonchalant even as she cautiously maintained a safe distance between them.

  “Devon—”

  Halting, she allowed her gaze to slide toward him, but avoided his eyes “Yes?”

  He stepped forward, bringing his hand up to lift her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his She was immediately seduced by the tenderness in his gaze as it skimmed her features with gentle understanding. Enveloped by his scent as a tantalizing whiff of his cologne wafted toward her Taunted by his body heat as he stood closer than was wise. “You can’t run from this forever ”

  She swallowed. “I know, but ..good night, Geoff.” Quickly, before her waning willpower failed her altogether, she made good her escape

  On Sunday afternoon as Devon headed over to David’s, her mind was not on the meeting to come. Rather, it was on the words she’d overheard spoken between her father and Geoff on Christmas day. And on the frightening explanation she’d received. She’d always known that her autocratic father was overprotective, but she’d not suspected to what extent And now she’d brought Geoff back only to plunge him into an apparent hornet’s nest of suspicion, innuendo, and accusation. How could the poor man defend himself when he remembered none of It? And, even more importantly, was he completely innocent?

  She’d invariably believed Geoff to be above criminal activity of any kind But, considering the change in his attitude in the months before his disappearance in conjunction with what her father had said last night, could she be as certain of that as she once was?

  She no longer knew what to think.

  Pulling into the guest parking at David’s condo on the waterfront of Lake Okanagan, she looked out over the water. A brisk December breeze had blown away the insulating blanket of cloud that usually covered the valley in winter. The wind stirred a slight froth to the crest of waves still devoid of the myriad sailboats and yachts that would dot the huge lake come summer And some rare winter sunlight danced on the dark blue waters in a way that should have sparked happiness, an appreciation of nature’s beauty, but instead struck a melancholy note in Devon. She felt...alone.

  Sighing, she draped the strap of her purse over her shoulder and got out of the Jeep.

  David’s condo was on the fourth floor of a four-story building. He answered the door almost immediately. “Hi,” he said with a gentle smile.

  David was a handsome man, there was no question of that; he could have stepped right off the pages of GQ. But somehow he now seemed a bit too..perfect. His grooming was impeccable; not a single blond hair was out of place. His clothing was sophisticated; flawlessly fitted ivory linen trousers and a navy silk shirt clothed his lean form with fashion-model elegance His hands were perfectly manicured, his teeth perfectly capped. Even his apartment, as always, was perfectly immaculate.

  “Hi,” she returned, stepping over the threshold and slipping off her shoes before stepping onto the rich cream-colored carpet.

  David immediately tried to pull her into his embrace, his angry mood of their last telephone conversation apparently forgotten Devon raised her hands, palms out, to ward him off “Please, David We have to talk ”

  He frowned slightly. “Devon, we can work this out Now that you’re home, we can deal with the problems”r />
  She walked past him, moving into the living room to stare from the picture window at the fantastic view of the lake. Even the view was perfect. How could she, someone for whom clutter was a way of life, have thought that she could possibly measure up to David’s expectations? Somehow, in just the short time she’d been away, her perceptions of her life had changed dramatically Even had she never found Geoff, she realized now that her marriage to David wouldn’t have worked. She had. settled when she’d accepted David into her life, and she’d settled again when she’d accepted his proposal She’d been lonely, she’d wanted her children to have a father, and she’d settled David was a good man, but .he was not the man for her He never had been

  Looking down, she fingered the engagement nng on her finger. David had chosen it and presented it to her. It was dramatic and beautiful, but ..it wasn’t her Slowly, she removed it from her finger

  “Devon?”

  She turned to face him, to meet his apprehensive blue-eyed gaze. “David, I ..” She broke off and swallowed Lord, this was one of the most difficult things she’d ever done. She’d always hated hurting people, hated confrontation.

  “You what? Why did you take your ring off?”

  She held it out to him “I have to return it to you.”

  He looked at the nng, but made no move to take it. “Why? Because Geoff is back?” His tone was tinged with bitterness.

  Devon shook her head and set the nng on the edge of a nearby plant stand. “No. Because we’re not suited to each other. We never have been I just didn’t want to see it ”

  “You’re wrong, Devon”

  “No, David, I’m not. Look at this place.” She waved her hand at his immaculate apartment where even the magazines on the coffee-table were fanned out at a precise angle. “Can you honestly tell me that you’re prepared to have two boisterous almost-teens in your life? Look at you” She indicated his impeccable sense of style. “Can you tell me truthfully that you’re looking forward to having a wife who feels more comfortable in denim than anything else? A wife who isn’t exactly the tidiest person in the world?”

  David avoided her eyes. “We can work around that.”

  She stared at him. “You have thought about it!” she realized suddenly. “And how exactly did you plan to work around it? Divide the house in half?”

  “No, of course not. I thought it would just take...some guidance.”

  “You planned to try to change us to meet your ideal!”

  He met her gaze then, his own heated and angry. “People change for the people they love all the time.”

  “Wrong, David! People work to overcome small habits that annoy their loved ones, but they don’t change their character. Love means the wholehearted acceptance of a person for who they are.” She turned to look out the window again. “This may be hard for you to understand, David, but I like me the way I am.”

  She didn’t hear him approach, but suddenly his hands were on her shoulders, kneading the knots of tension that nested there. “This isn’t going the way I’d planned at all,” he murmured. “I was going to offer you coffee, and we were going to discuss our situation like two reasonable adults. Then, when we’d worked everything out, we were going to spend the afternoon together. I don’t even know where it went wrong.”

  It had gone wrong the moment he’d tried to kiss her, but she didn’t say that. As unobtrusively as possible, she stepped out from beneath his massaging hands and turned to face him

  His hands dropped. “Would you like that coffee now?”

  She shook her head. “I think I should go.”

  “Dammit, Devon! I’m not going to let you do this. You’re ruming my life, my career.”

  She stared at him He was an attractive man with an excellent career and any number of women who would be eager to date him, or to marry him for that matter. “Would you care to explain that statement?”

  It was one of the few times she’d ever seen David agitated He raked his fingers back through his hair, avoiding her gaze. “Forget it. It was just a slip of the tongue.”

  “Really, David? Well, a slip of the tongue like that requires an explanation.” She studied him for a moment and a horrible suspicion began to surface in her mind. He wouldn’t! Would he? “It’s my father, isn’t it? He said something to you.”

  His gaze snapped up “What makes you say that?”

  “Just answer the question, David.”

  He looked away uncomfortably. “Just forget it, will you?”

  Ice trickled through Devon’s veins as David’s words confirmed her worst suspicions. “Tell me.”

  He shrugged. “It was nothing really. probably shouldn’t even have given it any credence.”

  Devon simply stared at him, waiting.

  He sighed and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Oh, all right. Pete hinted a couple of tunes that, once I’m a member of the family, a partnership could be coming my way.”

  Devon’s mouth opened but no sound emerged. She shook her head in stunned amazement, unable to form a coherent thought. Finally, she asked, “Did this hinting start before or after you proposed to me?”

  David refused to meet her gaze, and Devon believed she had her answer.

  She’d forgiven her father for a lot of interference in her life over the years because she’d known that his motivation was love, but this she didn’t know if she could forgive She cared for David, deeply, but she now knew that she had never loved him the way a woman should love the man she planned to marry. Had he ever cared for her?

  “You never loved me, did you? You pursued me for the sake of your career? And you’re upset now because you’ve suddenly lost your ticket to a partnership ”

  David said nothing Was there guilt in silence? She sighed. “Well, David, I think you should count yourself lucky that you won’t be marrying me, because I would not have been the wife you needed”

  He finally spoke. “I do love you, Devon I just didn’t see any harm in benefitting in other ways from our relationship.” He looked at her then, and she couldn’t deny the existence of the pain she saw reflected in his eyes. The problem was that she didn’t know whether it was for the end of their relationship, or the possible loss of the partnership he’d wanted so badly.

  “I have to go.”

  He grasped her arm, forestalling her departure “This isn’t over yet, Devon. It can work between us. I’ll prove it to you if you’ll just give me the chance.”

  She looked up into his handsome face. She cared for David. She really did. Just not in the way he wanted, the way they would both need in order to build a life together She reached up to place her palm against his cheek “Let it go, David.”

  Sunday dinner, the first real meal that Geoff shared alone with them, was a success. Devon had concocted a meatball stroganoff dish which seldom failed her and which had been, at one tune, a dish Geoff enjoyed Britanny was on her best behavior, helping with the meal and taking pleasure in catering to her father Even Tyler managed to set the table without complaining, though he spoke little during the meal—and then only to reply in monosyllables to whatever question had been asked of him

  Devon should have known that the smooth sailing was too good to be true They’d just finished dessert—cherry pie purchased from the local supermarket bakery—when Tyler announced he was going over to his friend’s house.

  “Have you finished cleaning your room?” Devon asked him.

  “Mo-om!” he sang warningly in two distinct syllables as he stared at her defiantly with olive green eyes so much like Geoff’s.

  “Have you finished cleaning your room, Tyler?” Devon reiterated firmly.

  “No’ I’ll do it when I get back.”

  “Why isn’t it finished?”

  “Because it’s not, okay? I didn’t feel like doing it.” His tone was more sullen now than defiant.

  Devon flashed a glance at Geoff, but, as usual, she couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking. She’d hoped he wouldn’t have to witness one
of Tyler’s outbursts. “And do you think that we only have to do what we feel like doing in life? Do you think that I always enjoy doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms?”

  “I don’t care!” Tyler rose from his chair to stare down at her “I said I’ll do it when I get back. Why isn’t that good enough for you? Why can’t you just leave me alone sometimes?”

  Devon refused to allow herself to be drawn into an argument regarding his right to independence. “Clean your room, Tyler. When you’re finished, you may go to Shane’s as long as you’re home by nine.”

  His eyes narrowed with rancor and he thrust his jaw out in an obstinate manner. “I hate you,” he said in a low voice.

  “Hate me all you want as long as you get your room cleaned. Someday you’ll thank me.”

  “Don’t bet on it!” Tyler threw the words over his shoulder in an undertone as he turned and stomped off up the stairs. Throughout the exchange, not once had he looked in his father’s direction.

  When Tyler was out of earshot and the racket coming from the other end of the kitchen suggested that Britanny was making too much noise with the dishes to overhear them, Geoff said, “There’s a whole lot of anger in that young man.”

  “I know. He seems to be getting more and more defiant. I took him to a counsellor at one point, shortly after you disappeared, but...” Devon gripped the bridge of her nose, fighting the sudden urge to cry as past pain crowded too near the surface. The task of explaining to her children that their father was dead had been harder by far than the discussion of divorce ever had been. Dead meant that he was never coming back. Dead meant no more weekend hiking expeditions up to the falls. Dead meant no Dad. And Tyler had blamed her Even now his accusing words rang in her memory as clearly as they had that day, echoing her own guilt-ridden thoughts. It’s your fault. He wouldn’t have gone if you hadn’t told him you wanted a divorce I hate you.

  Devon massaged her throbbing temples. It wasn’t true, of course. Geoff had planned to take that fateful plane trip regardless. But guilt had a strange way of making a person second-guess themselves.