Less Than a Treason

by Mary Birk

  She looked down at their child. Michael had fallen back to sleep while he was eating, then his mouth fell away from her. Another tired Reid. She gazed at the two of them, trying to see the resemblance in them. It was definitely there. Michael was dark haired like Terrence, and his complexion was much more the darker tone of Terrence’s than her own. She should put some photographs of Terrence when he was little in an album for Michael to have. She frowned. No, probably that was some-thing Terrence would do for him. He would expect Anne to concentrate on her own side of the family.

  She would never understand Terrence. After letting her know he had no use for her anymore, last night when Michael was so sick, he’d put his arms around her and talked to her with endearments. Now he was acting like this. Like he and she were still something together. She guessed they were. Michael’s parents. This was what it was going to be like raising Michael with Terrence. There would be moments when they would be together for their child’s sake, yet still totally separate. She was going to have to figure out a way to do this without having her heart ripped out each time, and learn not take any little gesture of kindness from him as an indication he wanted to be with her.

  She touched the ring on her finger. Andrew’s ring. It was completely different than the one Terrence had given her when he loved her. This one looked like something an artist would design, as in-deed it was. She knew Andrew had taken a lot of care to get it right. A large, warm yellow diamond set in antiqued gold and ringed by smaller white diamonds set on thin circles of gold. Like a yellow rose with diamond petals around it. She slipped off the ring Andrew had given her and read the inscription inside the band. My Anne. My Love. Surviving having to see Terrence and not having him would be easier to do as Andrew Grainger’s wife.

  *****

  Hearing a quiet knock, Anne crossed to the door, opened it, and was surprised to see the Earl standing there. She belted her robe as she greeted him. “Happy Christmas.” It felt strange calling her father-in-law Lord Wynstrathe, but even more strange calling him anything less formal, so she decided to err on the side of omission and call him nothing at all.

  “Happy Christmas to you too, my dear. I thought I’d check on how the little one is doing. Juliette has been fretting all morning for news, so I told her I’d come see what I could find out.”

  “Come in and see for yourself.” She opened the door, indicating in the direction of the bed.

  “Oh, they’re both asleep.” He dropped his voice to a whisper and stepped just inside the door. “Looks like my son’s getting the hang of fatherhood.”

  Anne had put the baby in the middle of the bed after he nursed, and Terrence’s arm had found its way around the baby’s middle. “He’s a natural.”

  “Everything all right?”

  “I think Michael’s doing fine. Hardly even a cough. Tired, but eating well again.”

  “I’m glad.” He motioned for her to come outside the door to talk. Puzzled, she followed him.

  When they got into the hall, he said, “My son has told me, against his will, a little bit about what’s going on with you two.”

  Anne flushed. “I expect you mean the annulment.”

  He nodded.

  “Does Lady Wynstrathe know?”

  “She does.”

  “That makes things easier.”

  “Is this what you want?”

  She swallowed. “Truth?” For some reason, confiding in this man felt perfectly comfortable. She could tell he liked her, genuinely liked her.

  “Truth.”

  “Two days ago I would have said I couldn’t think of anything I wanted less. But now I think he’s right. Maybe we’re just too different to make it as a couple. Besides, I’m sure you know your son when he’s made up his mind. Especially when he thinks he’s right. And,” she tried to smile, “this time he probably is.”

  His eyes kind, he kissed her on the cheek. “Juliette and I want to thank you for coming all this way with the baby, and for not walking out before the christening. I hope you know neither my wife nor I knew about this beforehand, or we wouldn’t have put either you or Terrence in this situation. We’re truly sorry, my dear.”

  She felt tears coming behind her eyes, willed them to stay back. “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to embarrass your family. You both have been lovely to me.”

  He embraced her, and then she couldn’t stop the tears. He didn’t try to stop her, but just let her cry while he held her. When she was finished, he patted her on the back. “There, there, my dear. Every-thing will be all right.”

  She sniffled and gave a little laugh. “I know. We’ll all be fine.”

  “Come down to breakfast when the rest of that group in there wake up. We’ll have Mass after breakfast, if you want to come. It’s Christmas, after all.”

  Chapter 27

  WHEN REID WOKE, Anne was already dressed and was sitting on the bed, putting Michael in a little red corduroy outfit.

  “How’s he doing? Any coughing?” He put his hand over on the baby’s head, stroking his silken hair.

  “He still has a cough. But nothing like last night. That scared me to death.”

  “Me too.” He sat up. “Sorry for falling asleep here. You should have booted me out.”

  “You earned the right to sleep. Thanks again for sitting up all night watching him.”

  “It was the least I could do.” He paused. “Happy Christmas, Anne.”

  “Happy Christmas. It’s starting out well, anyway.” A brilliant smile spread across her face like the sunrise.

  He looked at her, his eyes asking her a question. But then she spoke, and he realized he’d mistaken her meaning, and she’d misinterpreted his look.

  She snapped the baby’s outfit together. “Don’t worry, you’re safe. I’m not taking your being here as anything more than it is. I meant Michael doing so much better.”

  “That is happy.” He looked at her hand. Grainger’s ring had been replaced with his. Had he dreamed that whole thing? He looked over at the dresser. No, the unwrapped package still sat there. She had just put his ring back on to go downstairs.

  She spoke again, and her voice was matter-of-fact. “Just for your information, though I know it doesn’t matter anymore, I didn’t sleep with Andrew. He knew I was waiting for you. He asked me to marry him if things didn’t work out with you, and I’ve decided to accept. At least I can fix that part of the mess I’ve made. I’ll never be able to make up for my part in what happened to Lenore. I’ll live with that every day of my life, but maybe I can try to make up for it every day, as well. So, everything is working out for the best.”

  He looked at her, stunned.

  “I’ll take Michael and go downstairs so you can get dressed. Unless you want us to wait for you so we can go down together, for appearance’s sake? Just in case there’s anyone we’re actually fooling.”

  He didn’t know what to say. He was still reeling from her casual announcements of monumental news.

  “Should we wait for you?”

  He pulled himself together enough to speak. “I’d like that, but you must be starving.”

  “I can wait.” She gestured to his face. “You’d better shave.”

  He rubbed his face with his hand. “You’re right. I’ll be quick.”

  He made it back in less than ten minutes, coming back into the room through the adjoining door, leaving the door open between the rooms.

  “Okay, let’s go, you two. Let’s eat.” He made a face at Michael who just gazed back placidly. “Oh, you’ve already eaten, haven’t you?” He inclined his head to Anne as he spoke. “I see. You keep your food close to you at all times. Good planning, old chap.”

  Anne laughed, her mood appearing to lighten, and she handed the baby over. “You carry him. The food is hungry herself.”

  As they descended the stairway and he tried to think about what she’d told him, she whispered. “Your father came by this morning to check on the baby. While you wer
e sleeping.”

  “Mmm. I suppose they were worried.” He was taking the stairs slowly, holding the baby with one hand and the rail with the other for safety.

  “Yes. I told him Michael was better. He asked about us.”

  “About us?”

  “The state of the union, you could say.”

  “Oh.” He looked over at her.

  “He said he knew about the annulment. He asked me if that was what I wanted.”

  Reid’s chest tightened. “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him yes.” She smiled over at him. “So that should be the end of that.”

  He couldn’t think of anything to say.

  Anne went on, as casually as if she’d just told him she wanted coffee instead of tea. “What were you working on all night?”

  “An investigation we have going on. I was going through account information. Tedious and not too exciting.”

  “Your cases are always exciting.”

  He smiled. “They certainly get exciting when you’re involved.”

  Anne laughed. “That’s not fair.”

  “Actually, you might be interested as it involves your old friend, Walter Von Zandt. We’ve a murder we’re trying to connect him to.”

  “See, I told you it was exciting.”

  “Not what I was doing last night. Trying to tie names of companies and people investing in various accounts to Von Zandt. Some of the investments were in a couple of hedge funds that turned out to be bogus and millions have disappeared. Von Zandt himself invested in at least one of them, and wasn’t happy at the loss.”

  “Don’t tell me. The broker he invested with was the murder victim.”

  “You’re no ordinary gardener, Ms. Michaels.” He automatically used her maiden name, but of course, that had remained her name. She wasn’t and never would be, Anne Reid.

  She grinned. “I can’t believe Walter would be stupid enough to have invested in those kinds of funds.”

  “A lot of smart people have gotten stung.”

  “Right, but I’ve been reading about the hedge fund frauds in the States; those people were taken in because of the record profits—a lot of it was just stupid greed on their own part. Why would Walter do something like that?”

  “For the same reason he does everything else. Money.”

  “I know, but I would think he’d want to keep things more low profile, and he’d never invest without knowing what he was getting into. Now, I could see him having a bogus hedge fund and taking everyone’s money. That would be more like him.”

  Reid frowned. “Invest in his own bogus hedge fund?”

  “He wouldn’t lose anything, would he? And who would suspect him if he was one of the poor duped investors as well?”

  They reached the dining room and Reid pushed the door open for Anne to go in before him. She went over to sit between her mother and Meg and he, still holding Michael, found a seat elsewhere, still thinking about everything she’d said.

  *****

  After Christmas Mass, the children dragged everyone into the drawing room and to the tree with its surrounding presents. After this, Anne thought, she’d be one step closer to being able to leave.

  Terrence sat down with Michael to open the mountain of presents amassed for the baby. He motioned for Anne to sit next to him, but she smiled and sat instead in a nearby chair. “I’ll sit here so I can take photographs. Better angle.” She wasn’t going to keep pretending they were still together. Almost everyone here knew about the annulment, the proverbial elephant in the room no one was talking about. Certainly Terrence and she could act as civilized as George Greene and Lady Flora did. They’d done so well this morning. She’d struck the right balance in her tone with him. Friendly, but not personal.

  John Stirling smiled at her from across the room, then got up and came over to her. “Happy Christmas, Anne.”

  “You missed Mass.”

  “One of the perks of not being Catholic. I slept in.”

  “Smart man.”

  He inclined his head in Terrence’s direction. “Take pity on the guy and sit with him.”

  “Not a chance.”

  He gave her a mischievous look and raised his voice. “I need a snap of you three together. Anne, can you sit next to Terrence and Michael?”

  She shot him a look, but cooperated.

  He grinned, acknowledging his tactics had been unfair, but not apologetic in the least.

  After everyone with a camera had taken advantage of the photo opportunity, Anne moved back to her original chair. She glanced over at Miranda, who’d been watching her and Terrence like someone mesmerized by butterflies in flight. How far had their relationship progressed? But it didn’t matter, did it? Not anymore. Not to her. If it wasn’t Miranda, it would be someone else eventually.

  She had presents to open from her family and his too, but she went through her pile mechanically. In the stack of presents with her name on them, there was nothing from Terrence. Of course not. What do you get the woman who dragged your family’s name through the mud and ruined your life? She heard his voice in her head. You must be used to men telling you you’re good in bed.

  If she could just get through the day, she’d be fine. For now, she’d do what she had to do to make sure Michael’s first Christmas was good for everyone. She concentrated on snapping photographs of Michael with Terrence as he opened the baby’s gifts. Miranda had taken the seat Anne had refused, but Anne told herself she didn’t care.

  Terrence glanced over at her, obviously uncomfortable. “Wouldn’t you like to open some of Michael’s things, Anne? I can take your photo with him.”

  “I’m fine, thanks. I’ll have Meg take some later.” When he looked away again, she felt her energy and resolve start to fade. Tired. I’m just tired. It had been a long, emotional night and she dreaded the rest of the day. She leaned back, feeling oddly detached, as if she’d already left, and her eyes drifted to the window where she could see the snow falling down on the cold morning. In California, it wouldn’t be snowing. Of course, Andrew wasn’t there; he was visiting friends in Italy. It had been too hard for him to stay in Bodega Bay for Christmas. His first Christmas without Lenore. She should have been there for him.

  A flash went off in her face, startling her.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know the flash was on.” Rodney’s curly-haired girlfriend looked stricken at the camera she held in her hand.

  “That’s okay.” Anne smiled at her, glad to think about something else. “Would you like me to take some photos of you?”

  “Would you?” Krystal put her hands together in a clap of happiness. “That would be lovely. Rodney, come over here.”

  Rodney obliged, and Anne took several shots of them with Krystal’s camera. Then Krystal handed the camera to Rodney, and turned to Anne. “Is it okay if he takes a snap of the two of us? You and me?”

  Anne moved over so Krystal could sit next to her. “Of course.” The girl was like a sweet little puppy.

  Rodney shook his head. “You’re taking too many photos.”

  “I’m chronicling my trip. You don’t mind, do you, Lady Anne?”

  “Of course not. But it’s Anne, okay?”

  Krystal nodded and beamed. “Right, Anne.”

  Rodney took the photograph, then tucked the camera in his pocket. “That’s enough for now, I think.”

  After Rodney led the girl back to the sofa, Anne watched the others opening their presents, and exclaiming appropriately as they opened them. Lady Flora opened a package with a cashmere sweater from her husband. He opened one with a watch from her. Lady Wynstrathe and the Earl exchanged presents, but she couldn’t see the contents. They leaned over to each other and kissed, as if they had a secret. Miranda opened a present from Terrence. Anne looked away. She didn’t want to see what it was.

  Chapter 28

  REID PICKED UP a present, looked at the tag, and then over at Anne, who was now holding the baby. He hadn’t expected a present fro
m her.

  She smiled, shrugged. “Go ahead. Open it.”

  He unwrapped the long flat package. A detailed print of a falcon soaring to the sky. Taking out the framed print, he noticed the signature. An Audubon? “Anne, this is exquisite. But . . . .” He frowned. She didn’t make that kind of money.

  She waved away his concern. “I got a bonus.” She hesitated. “You like it? I couldn’t resist getting it for you when I found it. It just looked like you.”

  “It’s wonderful, thank you.”

  She nodded, her lips pressed together.

  He excused himself, saying he would put the picture someplace safe considering the excitement level of the children. He took his present up to his room and leaned its frame against the back of the dresser top. Buying this gift had to have taken all of whatever bonus she got. She’d found a present for him that had taken a great deal of thought and given it to him in spite of everything. She was working hard at keeping things civil between them, and again he felt ashamed at how he’d acted to her at the dance.

  He had a present for her, though not actually a Christmas present. The one he hadn’t given her when he went to California to see Michael.

  Opening his bottom drawer, he fished out the blue box tied with a white satin ribbon from underneath a pile of clothes and quickly went back downstairs.

  He handed the gift to Anne, and instead of going back to the place he’d vacated earlier, sat down on the floor next to her, keeping his voice low. “I got this for you when Michael was born. Sort of a combination Christmas and job well done present.”

  She looked surprised but took it from him. “Thank you.”

  “You can open it later if you like.”

  She smiled with her full lips this time, a real smile. Her remoteness seemed to recede. “Or now?”

  “Now is fine.” He smiled, and he felt his heartbeat accelerate in anticipation of pleasing her. Giving gifts to Anne was always fun.