Dale studied my face for a few moments, his hand dropping the papers to rest in his other palm. It was a thoughtful gesture. “Relax, Brice, you’re all good. Hey, I won’t say they haven’t reached out a time or two, and I won’t say they haven’t also tried to get me booted out. But, I have a few friends of my own and it’s in their interest to keep me as prosecutor. I can see you’re angry and I get it. You’re on safe ground here, buddy. We’re both young and hungry to make a change in the status quo. We’re also both still green enough to think we can do it. You sure you want to follow through with this?”
I relaxed somewhat. “I’ve wanted it a long time, but I won’t lie. I’ve got someone in my life now and I’d hate to see this backfire so that we couldn’t live around here or maybe even not be able to come home and see the folks. But, yes, I’m pretty committed.”
“Glad to hear you say that. You’ll be glad to hear, on the other hand, that you’re not alone in this.” He shoved his chair back, putting his feet on his desk and crossing his hands behind his head. “In fact, you’re not alone at all. Just because people have had to put up with the status quo for a while doesn’t mean that at some point, they’re not going to start adding things up and when they hit a certain level—boom! They’re going to detonate. That’s pretty much where I see you at right now.”
I nodded. “Just who are we talking about?”
“Aw, now you know I can’t name names, just like I won’t be using yours. What you’ve done here,” he motioned to the stack of papers I’d brought, “is my homework. I thank you for that. I’ve had an earful of rumors and innuendo, but solid evidence is hard to come by. I don’t know who you had putting this together, but I take my hat off to him. He knew what he was doing.”
I nodded. “Consider it a gift. Look, here’s where I’m at. Between you and me, I’ve got a little development I’m building down on the shore. You won’t find my name attached and I’ll deny I ever told you this. I want to be left in peace to get it done and the support I’ll need to make it happen—legally speaking. Other than that, use what you can from that dossier and I’ll leave it to your conscience and intent to do with as you please. I know I hope which direction it will go, and it will sure as hell make my life easier if it goes that way, but otherwise, I’ll understand. Just leave me out of it. I want to remain anonymous.”
He was nodding as I spoke. “I get it. Leave you the hell out of it, right?”
“Pretty much.”
Augustine lowered his feet and stood up, extending a handshake across his desk. “Glad you’re back in town, Doc,” he grinned. “Watch the papers.”
I nodded and left, feeling a huge sense of relief. A burden had been lifted from my shoulders and I hoped like hell that Dale was on the up and up. If not, then hell and all its fury was about to break over my head. Mine and Mina’s.
***
I drove through North Bay Village on my way to the hospital. Todd had been busy. There were foundations laid and crews at work with their equipment. I knew there was at least one family that was trying to scratch their itch at the moment. What they didn’t know was that all that building, all those taxes, and all those votes wouldn’t be under their control. They were standing like idiots with their pants down right now, applauding the progress and not realizing they were about to take it up the ass. The visuals that produced made me cheerful.
What didn’t make me happy was Marcy. After Mina’s little anecdote, I’d left to go by the folks’ house and take Marcy out for a coffee and a hard talk. She’d claimed she hadn’t said anything to David and even got a little pissed that I’d been suspicious.
“Marcy, just how serious are you about this guy?”
“Brice, you don’t have the right to question my personal life.”
“I do when it affects mine, damnit! He’s a dangerous man. You do understand that, right?”
“You don’t have any proof of that.”
“Actually, I do.”
She pouted. “God, when will you quit being my know-it-all big brother?”
“Look, Marcy. Do this thing for me at least. Don’t say anything, about what I told you, and don’t go anywhere alone with the man. If it all blows over, you’ll have my blessing at the wedding. But, if it doesn’t, and if David is in up to his eyeballs, you’ll be glad you didn’t get involved. It would ruin your reputation, not to mention Mom and Dad’s.”
She stared at me, her fingers tapping on the table’s top. Finally, she expelled a huge breath and shouted, “I hate you sometimes, you know that? I really do hate you!” She got up and headed to the door, forgetting in the midst of her dramatic departure that I’d driven.
I let her go, paid the check and jumped into my car to catch up to her. “Get in, I’ll take you home,” I said, pulling over to the curb with the window down. She stomped over and got in, not dressed for the walk. “Do I have your word?” I asked as we pulled up to the folks’ house.
She opened her door and if there was a way to slam a door open, she’d have done it. She got out and just before slamming it shut, said, “For now, yes. But don’t leave me in limbo, big brother. That won’t be pretty.”
I watched her walk to the door and let herself in. I felt like Marlon Brando with a spy in the family. I wondered who would get the brown paper package with the dead fish.
Chapter 23
Mina
Life was almost back to normal. The boot was gone, and I was almost finished with physical therapy. Except for the occasional twinge, I felt myself again and was looking forward to summer and long walks on the beach.
Brice and I had never had that conversation about how long he was planning to stay. I let it go because I didn’t want to put an expiration date on our relationship. He’d been especially protective, more than a recovered patient required. He entered and exited doors first, holding me behind him until he’d looked around. He managed to always bring home groceries so there was no reason for me to get out. He’d call just as I’d leave school before I entered the no-signal zone on our side of the dune.
Brice at night was a sensual world that I never wanted to end. There was an almost ferocious quality to the way he looked after me, making sure I was never uncovered, never sleepless, never unloved. He put my needs ahead of his own and no matter how tired he was, how many hours it had been since he’d slept, his hands wandered my body as though I was an erotic garden he couldn’t wait to tend. His kisses were never perfunctory, never ill-placed. I felt as though when he came into the bed, he’d been mentally planning and happily anticipating the things he could do to, and with me. I’d never felt so loved and found it amazing that the man who brought me that sumptuous love life had once been a man I couldn’t get away from fast enough.
Teaching had become a joy again. The holidays were approaching; always a fabulously magical time of year with fourth graders. We began the cycle of plays for parents, making costumes and decorating the classrooms. I often thought it was more fun for the staff than for the children.
I wanted children. I wanted a daughter I could dress in pastels and frills. I could curl her hair and naturally, she’d be blonde like me and all the little boys would want to sit by her in school. Or, he’d be a boy, wearing little denim jeans with checked shirts and sneakers with dinosaurs that roared when you tied the laces properly. The picture in my mind was so complete, so delicious and yet there was one major question mark that kept it from being complete.
Brice never talked about the future. He never brought up the topic of being together forever, or used the word, “we.” It was as if he purposefully refused to use it. Now that I thought about it, he never used the pronoun, “I” either. It was about “it” – it will be a good world, good future, good time. Perhaps he thought the “we” or the “I” were foregone conclusions.
Brice carried a cell phone, but once he walked into Rose Arbor, the world couldn’t reach him. If they needed him at the hospital, they could send someone to nab him inside of five minutes; we live
d that close. It was the calls that he couldn’t get that seemed to irritate him.
“You leaving again?” I’d ask just as we’d settled to watch a movie.
“Be back in a few. Have to check my messages,” he’d say on his way out the door. When he came back I could tell how well it had gone. He’d be preoccupied, or calm and satisfied; it seemed to be one or the other. He was never neutral. He lived in his mind and that’s where the problem came in between us.
What was in his mind was private—and kept secret from me.
I looked for diversion. “Why don’t we go out to dinner this weekend?” I suggested one Thursday night. The snow had begun and the winds off the lake were cold. “I love the idea of having dinner somewhere with a fireplace and have a long conversation where we’re facing each other.”
“You don’t like our nighttime conversations side by side?” he’d teased.
“Oh, Brice, you know what I mean. I’ve got my leg back. I’d like to throw it in a stocking, pull on a dress and some lipstick and have someone appreciate it.”
“You’re always beautiful to me.”
“Do they teach you that line in locker rooms?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m always hearing men say that. Not to me, but to their wives. It sounds like they’re saying the bare minimum they can get away with; like their wives aren’t in the shape they used to be so this is their way of complimenting without lying.”
“I meant it.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I went quiet and before long, he agreed.
“Saturday night. Let’s go to that place in South Haven. Prime rib and cheesecake. What do you say?”
“I say, absolutely!”
***
It turned out to be a magical night. I wore a tight-fitting, red knit dress and black heels. I knew I looked good and by the turn of heads at the restaurant, I must have been right. Brice, well... Since he still ran every day, he’d managed to hold his tan and the white, crisp collar of his shirt lay in contrast against his clean-shaven jaw. His broad shoulders filled out his jacket perfectly and when he smiled… well, it made me wet. The brown eyes that drowned me every time I looked at him were facing me that night, and I became his slave.
After dinner, he surprised me by pulling into a bed and breakfast that stayed open during the off-season. We were shown a quaint but large bedroom with a fireplace and a four-poster bed. The wingback chairs were covered in chintz and we had our own private bath, complete with a claw-foot tub large enough to hold us both.
Brice carried me naked to the bed, his skin damp and warm. I wanted to sleep beneath him but knew I’d never be able to breathe. His hands massaged my back, his strong fingers reaching deep into the muscle until I was a limp noodle. Then his mouth began exploring the relaxed pathways he’d left behind. He sucked or kissed every inch of me and when he finally arrived at my female terrain, he went in, his weapon hard and ready to conquer. Having full use of my body again, just before he released I pushed him away and swung my leg over his chest, mounting him instead. He loved it; his head lolling back against the pillow as I slowly raised and lowered myself onto his hard organ, stoking beneath it and then leaning forward so my breasts rested on his chest. He groaned as he held them in his cupped palms. I lowered my hips and rotated them steadily, reverse-grinding him into me at an ever-increasing tempo until I knew I couldn’t hold it back any longer. He sensed it and with a wrestler’s cunning, flipped me onto my back and slid inside, so deep I thought he would tear me apart. He paused like that, letting me acclimate to his girth before he, too, began the mating dance. The logs had burned low in the fireplace when he finally rolled away from me. I was exhausted and fell into his arms to sleep.
***
The next morning, we opted for breakfast in bed. Our trays were left outside the door with a considerate, subtle knock. I scrambled into a complimentary robe and brought them to our bed. Brice fed me strawberries until we finished our eggs. I adjourned to have a hot bath while Brice read the paper.
“Oh, my god,” I heard him exclaim.
“What?” I called from the next room.
“I don’t believe it!”
I scrambled out of the tub and back into the robe. I covered the distance in a few steps and landed on the featherbed we’d slept beneath. “What is it?”
He handed me the paper.
BRETHERTON DYNASTY ARRESTED IN LATE MORNING RAID
“What does it mean, Brice?” My thoughts were on Marcy and I began worrying how she might have been caught up.
“It means, my dear, that it is about to hit the fan.”
Chapter 24
Brice
Mina and I immediately dressed and headed for town. We couldn’t go to the cottage because there was no phone service, so we made the Coffee Grounds our headquarters. We snagged a corner table and while I contemplated who to call first, all we had to do was stay silent and we overheard much of what had transpired from the adjoining tables. Eventually, I call Augustine. He took my call, although I was pretty sure he was swamped.
“Hello.”
“It’s Brice.”
“You’ve seen the papers?”
“One. Can you give me a run-down?”
All three generations were arrested and are awaiting arraignment at the Bretherton County Jail. Charges include tax evasion, a variety of financial infractions, money laundering, fraud, election tampering, jury tampering, extortion and they are re-opening the murder investigation. That’s just so far. They go before the judge this afternoon. Don’t know who may be permitted to bail, but I’m asking that all three are remanded to the jail until the trial. It would be like choosing which snake to let out of the cage. It’s gonna bite for all three.”
“My sister?”
“Not involved. In fact, I understand she’d distanced herself the past few weeks. Smart girl.”
“Thank you. You need me?”
“No, pal, I think you’ve done enough.”
“What goes around…”
“Yep.”
Chapter 25
Mina
I looked down at the brown-eyed, black-haired toddler who had just pushed her way off my lap in search of a toy. Sabrina looked just like Brice, and to tell the truth, that was fine because she was beautiful.
I had my storybook life.
Sabrina was chewing on the ear of her stuffed rabbit, tears in her eyes. She was teething, I knew, and her temperament was raging. She’d gotten that from her father, as well.
I was proud of Brice and the character of the man he’d become. When he’d told me about the money, I had to mentally review all he’d done to see that he’d been wise in its distribution and not reckless or selfish. He’d done well by me and now would do the same for many others.
The Village was fully occupied now, and they’d already elected a council and had filed for secession from Bretherton Bay. Everyone said it would be granted and the real estate pricing for that area had skyrocketed. The entire town, it seemed, wanted to rid itself of the stench that was the Brethertons.
Brice and I were married three months after our stay at the bed and breakfast. Sabrina came six months later. I can’t say that I didn’t forget my birth control pill those few days, but I can definitely say I forgot to take them that night and the next day. The life of a doctor—what can I say? Brice had interrupted Todd long enough to begin building our own home. We’d kept Rose Arbor and added an addition, more than tripling its size. I was expecting our first son and we’d already named him Michael.
Brice was now in charge of the entire Bretherton General and looking forward to recruiting more doctors for the medical clinic he’d built in the village. He did his best to keep regular hours, but there were dinners alone. I didn’t mind, though, because he always made up for them once we’d gone to bed.
Marcy had quickly recuperated from her dashed hopes for David Bretherton and Brice had introduced her to Todd. They were dating seriously, and I hoped to some
day be her matron of honor. Jude had moved to Chicago and met a nice funeral director. One day she was giving corpse make-overs and the next she married the man who drained their blood. At least that was the way I liked to tell it to classmates I’d run into from time to time. Every so often she took the ferry over from Milwaukee and we three girls went to dinner.
David Bretherton was serving time at the state prison in Jackson. He’d gotten a good attorney who managed to keep his time down to about ten years. That was long enough. His father, a little more deeply implicated, was doing twenty to life and it was doubtful he’d ever be a free man while he lived. The senior Bretherton died before he could be found guilty of murder. The Bretherton assets had been liquidated and the city claimed most of it in unpaid city taxes and added a new pier and more tourist attractions. It was money well spent. Brice had built a matching pier for North Bay Village and the towns coordinated a festival each summer with booths their entire lengths. It had become yet another tourist destination, but I loved it.
As for me, I’ve never been happier. Brice is the man I literally always dreamed of but didn’t recognize until he shared my bed. We conducted a life typical for a young, but upcoming doctor and I helped him with his charitable work when I could. We would soon celebrate our third anniversary. Brice had installed a private cell tower that reflected signals over the dune and now we never felt isolated, except when we closed the door, shut off the phones and explored one another’s bodies.
I loved my storybook life.
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