Uncorked

by Rebecca Rohman

  Mitch pushed his breakfast plate aside and sank his forehead in his palm as he listened to the doctor.

  “This is rare. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you,” Mitch replied, ending the call.

  “Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

  “I can’t believe after all we went through, he died.”

  Mitch shuffled to the patio and gazed out at the city. Chella had seen him upset before but never like this. For over an hour he stood in silence, staring at the view. He said nothing the whole time Chella stood behind him, silently supporting him. Eventually he turned, and she encircled him in her arms. They sat on the sofa for hours, he, resting his head on her thighs, she, combing her fingers through his hair.

  “What was the point if he was going to die?” he asked eventually.

  “Maybe so you could mend your fences before he died.”

  “I can’t believe this, Chell.”

  “I wish I had the answers, Sweetheart. Maybe all he really wanted was your forgiveness. He was finally at peace with himself. Do you have any regrets?”

  “I don’t think so. I can’t believe within such a short space of time he came and went out of my life.”

  “I wish there was something I could say to help.”

  “You being here helps. There’s nothing anyone can do. It’s just a sad reality of life. I think I need to go see them. Especially Olivia. It broke my heart to hear her cry like that.”

  “I think that’s a good idea. Get ready, and I’ll call you a cab.”

  Mitch had a difficult time attending the funeral, but he could now finally put an end to that sorry chapter of his life and move on to a new one. In the process, he acquired two beautiful new girls in his life–his sisters. And while he and Simone did not always see eye to eye, he hoped over time their relationship might improve.

  Chella worked at the office late into the evening the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. She was trying to tie up loose ends before the long holiday weekend. She had promised Mitch she would attend a dinner party with a client of his, but at the rate she was going, she’d be late. She called him to see if she could get out of it.

  “Would you be upset with me if I told you I couldn’t make it?” said Chella.

  “Maybe. What’s up?”

  “I’m trying to avoid working over the weekend. I won’t be done for another hour or so.”

  “We have to be there in fifteen minutes.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Are you in the office alone?”

  “Yes. Security knows I’m here, though.”

  “How will you get home?”

  “The driver is waiting for me downstairs. I’ll be okay, Sweetheart. Tomorrow, I promise, I’ll be all yours.”

  “Good, because I have a surprise for you.”

  “Ooh, I love surprises. Have fun tonight. I’m sorry I bailed on you.”

  “No worries. Let me know when you arrive home safely.”

  An hour later, she packed her briefcase and shut off the light in her office. Walking to the elevator, she heard a faint noise behind her. She paused and heard the noise again. She looked behind her and saw nothing. Goose bumps rose on her arms. Her stomach sank. She pulled the Taser from her purse and increased her pace to the elevator. Inside the elevator, she quickly shut the doors and went straight to the lobby.

  Two security guards greeted her as she stepped off the elevator.

  “Is there anyone else in the building?” she asked.

  “No, Ms. Noon. The cleaning staff went home about an hour ago. Why?”

  “Maybe it’s nothing or maybe I’m being paranoid, but I thought I heard noises as I was walking to the elevator.”

  “I’ll go up and check,” one of the men replied, immediately leaving them.

  “We’ll handle things here, Ms. Noon. Let me escort you to the car. The driver is outside.”

  “Thank you.”

  Relieved to be safely in the vehicle, she found herself constantly looking over her shoulder. She was certain a red car was following them, but after asking the driver to take two detours, it turned out they were not.

  When she finally got to her condo, she could breathe. After a quick shower, she unwound with a glass of wine on the patio sofa, taking in the ocean views. She sent Mitch a text message, letting him know she had arrived home safely. Minutes later, she drifted off to sleep.

  Mitch tried calling Chella the next morning with no response. Chella would always call him back immediately, but it was the second time in over an hour he tried to reach her and she didn’t answer. He had hoped she would come with him to pick up Emily, but it was looking like he would have to head over to the airport first, then go check on Chella at the condo.

  Since Emily was visiting for the weekend, he rented an SUV and headed to the airport to pick her up. On the way to Chella’s, he dialed her number. Again, there was no response. He grew concerned and headed over to her condo with Emily as quickly as he could.

  “Chella?” he called out.

  No response.

  Her briefcase and bag were on the entry table, so he knew she was home.

  He called her a second and third time while looking through the condo, but still there was no answer. It occurred to him that she might be in the gym, but Emily said, “There she is, Daddy. She’s sleeping on the patio.”

  He tried to wake her. “Chella? Chella?”

  It wasn’t until he shook her violently that she awakened.

  “Chella, are you okay?”

  After a few seconds, she said, “Hi… wow… I can’t believe I fell asleep out here. What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to call you since about ten this morning, and you wouldn’t answer.”

  “I didn’t hear my phone ring. I still feel so sleepy. Are you okay? Why were you trying to reach me?”

  “Emily is here. I wanted you to come with me to pick her up at the airport.”

  “Emily is here? Where is she?”

  “Over here you silly goose.”

  Chella turned around to see her and took Emily in her arms.

  “I’m so happy to see you. I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “Daddy thought it would be a nice surprise.”

  “Oh, Sweetie. It’s great to see you.”

  Chella stood but quickly had to sit down.

  Mitch realized something wasn’t right. He brought Emily into the living room and turned on her favorite channel.

  When he returned, he noticed half a glass of wine on the side table.

  “How much did you have to drink last night?”

  “I guess not the whole glass,” she replied.

  “What happened last night?”

  “I came home, took a shower, poured myself a glass of wine and came out here. I texted you to let you know I was home. That’s the last thing I remember. I know I was pushing it hard at the office the last few days, but I didn’t think I was this tired.”

  “That’s extremely bizarre.”

  “Did you have drinks or go out to eat at all yesterday?”

  “No. I worked through lunch. Jade brought me a sandwich…”

  “Do you still want to go to Craig and Maggie’s for dinner?”

  “I don’t want to miss Thanksgiving dinner, but I feel so tired.”

  “Why don’t you get back into bed and get some rest. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard. Emily and I will go to the beach and later we can go to dinner.”

  “I’ll call Craig and tell him Emily’s coming.”

  “I called him yesterday. He knows.”

  They enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner that night with Craig and his family. His sons Bobby and Chad were visiting from Seattle, along with Chad’s wife and daughter Kerry, who became Emily’s new best friend. They were about to have dinner when they heard a loud bang outside followed by the sound of a vehicle racing off. Their three Dobermans went crazy, bolting from the kitchen to the outside. Chad and Bobby went to see what it w
as. They returned moments later, but said they saw nothing. They thought it might have been the neighbor across the street.

  They watched the football game while having dessert. Chella smiled as she observed Emily and Kerry playing with their dolls nearby.

  The night soon ended after hugs and kisses goodbye. Chella strapped Emily in her seat.

  A heavy downpour began. Mitch listened to the weather report as they drove. In the rear view mirror, he could clearly see Emily as she sat quietly perusing through her picture book.

  Two forty-foot trailer trucks clogged both lanes in front of them, constantly braking. Mitch tried slowing down, but the brakes would not work.

  No dashboard warnings flashed. Everything appeared to be fine, but the vehicle wouldn’t slow down.

  “Something’s wrong. The brakes won’t work,” he said, trying to sound calm.

  They were on the parkway, on an incline approaching the freeway. He didn’t want to get onto the freeway without being in total control of the vehicle. The traffic was coming to a halt in front of him. With two trucks in front of him and no brakes, on a slippery, wet road, they’d be crushed if he hit either of them.

  “Mitch, look out!”

  The semis were at a standstill. Mitch swerved to avoid them. The SUV careened toward a copse of trees.

  Emily screamed hysterically.

  Mitch locked the steering wheel to the right and pulled the handbrake.

  Branches blasted through the windshield. Metal crunched. The driver’s window exploded. The vehicle came to a stop facing the traffic.

  Emily was silent.

  Mitch released his seatbelt and scrambled into the backseat.

  “Emily, are you okay? Sweetie, Daddy’s here.”

  She was unconscious.

  “Chella, are you okay?”

  Chella dug through branches. She had a cut on the back of her head. She felt around, pulled her phone from her bag, and dialed 9-1-1.

  “I’m fine. Is Emily all right?”

  “No, she’s unconscious.”

  “Oh, God. Please let her be okay,” Chella said as she climbed out through the driver’s side of the vehicle.

  “The brakes wouldn’t work… if I didn’t veer off the road… we would have been crushed… under those trucks…”

  “She’ll be all right. Everything’s going to be all right.”

  The ambulance arrived, secured Emily and removed her from the vehicle.

  “I’m going to go with her. Will you deal with the police?”

  “Yes, go. I’ll come to the hospital when I’m done.”

  Chella explained to the police what had happened. When she told the officer the SUV had been rented that day, they were surprised that the brakes did not work and got suspicious. He said they’d need to have the vehicle thoroughly inspected. By then it had stopped raining. When the mechanic arrived twenty minutes later, he immediately examined the vehicle. After he was done, he came over to them as Chella spoke to the lead officer on the case.

  “It looks like someone tampered with this vehicle.”

  “Tampered?” Chella asked.

  “Brake line’s been cut. Not all the way through. After the driver applied the brakes a few times, it severed completely.”

  “Shouldn’t that have shown up on the dashboard once we started the vehicle? He said the brake light never came on.”

  “Ordinarily? Yeah. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. They bypassed some wires so the light on the dashboard would fail. Whoever did this knows BMWs—well.”

  “Are you telling me that someone intentionally put us in danger?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

  When Chella told the officer about the events of the last few months, the emails, the phone calls, and the explosions, the accident scene turned into a crime scene. Soon after calling Detective Carter, he arrived on the scene.

  Chella was so worried about Mitch and Emily. She knew she bore some responsibility for what had happened to that child. If Mitch knew Chella was being threatened again, he would have never allowed his daughter to visit him in San Diego. Before the police went to the hospital to question him, she knew she’d have to tell him. She did not want him hearing about it for the first time from them.

  An hour later when she walked into the hospital, she found Mitch alone in the waiting room, raking his hands through his hair. He stood and hugged her.

  “How’s Emily?”

  “She has a severe concussion and her hand broke in several places. She’s still unconscious. That might mean it’s more serious.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “They’re doing an MRI now. The doctors will be able to tell me more after.”

  “Does Charlotte know?”

  “She’s driving down tonight. There aren’t any more flights.”

  “Mitch, there’s something that I have to tell you. Sit down.”

  Mitch lowered himself into a chair.

  “I feel horrible this happened to Emily…”

  “What is it?” he asked, his brow sharp, serious.

  “Someone cut the brake line on the vehicle.”

  “Are you telling me that someone intentionally put my child’s life in danger?”

  “Yes, but I’m sure it was meant for me. The threats started again about a month ago. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

  He stood and paced. “Chella, why would you keep this sort of thing from me?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to worry about me. You were dealing with your father and his illness then his death, and I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

  “Overwhelm me? Chella, do you realize if I knew this, I would have never brought Emily here?”

  He glared at her. His eyes burned with rage.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “My daughter is in the emergency room right now fighting for her life because you didn’t want to overwhelm me?”

  She closed her eyes as she listened to his words, painfully aware that he was right about this.

  “If I knew she was coming, I would have stopped you. I never would have allowed you to let her come here. It was never my intention for this to happen.”

  “You know, for the first time I feel like you’re a liability. How do you expect me to keep my family safe if you keep me in the dark about this sort of thing?”

  “You were going through a rough time, and I didn’t want to put you under any more stress, so I just handled it myself.”

  “Yeah, well, great job handling this one,” he shouted.

  “I love that little girl, Mitch. It breaks my heart that this has happened to her.”

  “You tell me to trust you, and when I do, you lie to me. Chella, I’m sorry but I’m not willing to risk my daughter’s life because you can’t be honest with me.”

  “I thought I was protecting you.”

  “I guess you were right all along. You are a liability.”

  She tried to reach out and touch him, but he pulled away.

  “My daughter will always be number one. It’s over between us.”

  “I never meant to hurt you, or her. Please, let me try to fix this. We can work through this. We love each other.”

  “I may love you, but I love my daughter more. Leave, before I say something I’ll regret. If she doesn’t make it out of this…” He couldn’t finish. His words disintegrated on his tongue.

  Chella never thought it was possible to feel so heartbroken. In a matter of minutes, she had lost the man she loved, as well as his daughter, whom she had grown to love as her own. She had never seen Mitch that angry—not even when he spoke to his father—and because of her bad judgment, he was beyond furious.

  When she walked into her room, Emily’s suitcase was still on her bed along with some of Mitch’s things. She thought the guilt she felt when her parents died was bad. This was worse. An innocent five-year-old, caught up in her drama. This was exactly what she had been afraid of months ago. This was e
xactly why she was afraid to get involved with Mitch. This was why she seriously questioned if she should be with him when she found out he had a daughter. Now her fears were realized.

  Whoever did this had followed them. They would have known a child was in the vehicle, but it hadn’t stopped them. Mitch’s voice rang in her head over and over. He had been right about so many things. She wanted to call him to see if there was any news, but she didn’t want to upset him any further. Not knowing what was going on killed her. She paced around, looking at nothing for minutes at a time, gazing at a framed picture of Emily, Mitch and her that day in Morro Bay. It scared her when she realized they might no longer be part of her life. She hoped and prayed that it was Mitch’s anger talking. She prayed Emily would be fine, and she and Mitch would talk and work it all out, but she knew that might be wishful thinking. At three in the morning, she could hold back no longer. She sent Mitch a text message asking about Emily.

  He never responded.

  Since she could not sleep, she decided to go to the gym on the first floor of her building. After a two-hour workout, she returned upstairs, showered, and climbed into bed to watch TV. She dozed off.

  Her beeping phone awoke her, a text message from Mitch.

  Mitch Mariani

  Friday November 25, 2011

  5:55AM

  Emily is fine. I’ll be coming by later to pick up our things.

  If you could have them ready and left with your concierge, I’d be grateful.

  He was still very angry with her, so angry he didn’t want to see her, but she did as he requested and left their things with the concierge. She crawled back in bed and fell asleep, but only for a couple of hours. She decided to check her email and get some work done. She needed to preoccupy her mind.

  She booted her laptop. When it finally came on, the home screen image shocked her.

  A picture of her lying on the patio sofa, asleep, nude.