Gabriel's Promise (Gabriel's Inferno)

by Sylvain Reynard

  “I’m okay,” Julia hedged. She reached into the diaper bag and removed a small, thin blanket, which she placed over her shoulder. Then she discreetly moved Clare beneath the blanket and began to feed her.

  “I’m Dr. Khoury.” The physician introduced himself, shaking hands with Gabriel. He indicated for Gabriel to sit down. “I’m the neurologist on call.”

  “Gabriel Emerson. Is the ankle broken?” Gabriel was unable to take his eyes off his wife.

  Dr. Khoury turned his back politely on Julianne and the baby, but addressed her. “Is it all right if I share your diagnosis with your husband?”

  “Yes,” Julianne replied quickly.

  The neurologist continued. “Your wife’s ankle is sprained and she sustained some torn ligaments, but according to the X-rays the ankle isn’t broken. However, based on her reports of numbness in her other leg I was called in for a consult. I performed a number of tests and believe she sustained some nerve damage, possibly as a result of the epidural she received back in September.”

  Gabriel’s eyes swung to the neurologist. “Nerve damage?”

  “She has feeling in her left leg, which is why she is experiencing pain. But she has diminished sensation in her right leg. She said the numbness began around the time she came home from the hospital after having the baby.”

  Gabriel stared at Julianne. The look of surprise on his face quickly morphed into an expression of hurt, then blankness.

  Dr. Khoury lifted his hands in a calming gesture. “Numbness is a common side effect of epidurals and occasionally a patient will experience it in only one limb. Sometimes it can take several weeks for the numbness to abate. Sometimes the nerve damage is permanent. I recommend following up with a neurologist in Boston, after the Thanksgiving holiday.”

  Gabriel assessed the neurologist quickly and passed a hand over his face. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” The neurologist continued giving Julia his back, out of respect for her privacy for Clare’s feeding. “Mrs. Emerson, elevate your ankle to combat the swelling, and ice it as much as possible. Use over-the-counter medication for pain. And follow up with a neurologist when you get back to Boston.”

  “Thank you.” Julia’s tone was subdued.

  “You’re welcome.” Dr. Khoury shook hands with Gabriel and exited the examination room.

  Gabriel was deathly silent. Julia could barely hear him breathe.

  She peeked over at him. “Darling?”

  “Were you going to tell me?” His tone edged toward harshness.

  “I thought the numbness would go away.”

  Gabriel swiveled his head in her direction. “You thought or you hoped?”

  Julia bit the inside of her mouth.

  Gabriel dropped his voice. “So you were going to tell me after it abated?”

  She nodded.

  Gabriel grew silent once again.

  Clare finished feeding on one side and Julia burped her and transferred her to the other breast. And still Gabriel didn’t say anything.

  When she’d finished feeding and burping Clare, Gabriel took the baby and changed her efficiently. Then he handed Julia the crutches.

  “Thank you,” Julia said meekly. She waited for Gabriel to say something.

  He didn’t.

  He carried the baby and the diaper bag, while keeping careful watch as Julianne limped slowly from the examination room to the waiting room.

  And he didn’t speak the entire ride home.

  Chapter Forty

  Julia woke up. Her ankle ached and so did her heart.

  Her visit to the emergency room had been a revelation. Her ankle wasn’t broken, but she was suffering a side effect from the epidural that might never go away. And Gabriel had been angry with her. So angry, he wouldn’t even scold her. He drove her to the house, helped her and the baby through the front door, and then sat in the car making phone calls.

  When he entered the house, he’d taken a long shower and disappeared into his study. Now he was joining her.

  He placed his glasses and cell phone on the nightstand, as was his habit, and pulled back the blankets. Seeing she was awake, he stopped.

  A few seconds later, he slipped between the sheets and rolled onto his back, closing his eyes. The distance between them seemed insurmountable.

  She adjusted her injured ankle atop the cushion it was resting on and closed her eyes. She was reminded of that night so long ago when she’d sneaked into Gabriel’s room after she’d been attacked by him. Gabriel had been kind to her then. He’d been understanding.

  A strong arm lifted and pulled her toward a warm, naked chest.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” she whispered.

  “We’re even, Julianne. I should have told you about the strange car that was watching our house.”

  “I don’t think it was Simon. He isn’t going to waste his time hanging around Selinsgrove on Thanksgiving. And he’s very vain about his car. There’s no way he’d drive a Nissan.”

  “Your uncle Jack is looking into it. I threw a rock and broke the rear window of the car. That should make it easier to find.”

  Julia lifted her head from the pillow. “You broke the window?”

  “Yes.” Gabriel sounded a little too pleased with himself. “I played baseball in high school. Did you know that?”

  “No.”

  “Julianne, you can’t hide health problems from me, especially now. We have Clare to consider.” Gabriel’s voice was quiet and eerily calm.

  “I was hoping it would go away.”

  “You let it go almost three months without telling anyone,” he chided her. “Never do that to me again.”

  “I won’t.”

  Gabriel touched her hair. “We need you. I need you.”

  A tear welled in her eye and fell to her cheek. “I need you, too. No more running out into the woods by yourself.”

  “I can concede that. But I want you to tell me, in detail, about any and all health-related issues you have at present or have had recently.”

  Julia half smiled at his professorial tone. “Yes, Dr. Emerson.”

  He growled.

  “I mean, Professor Emerson.”

  “Go on.”

  “I’m in good health with the exception of the numbness in my leg and now this sprained ankle. Which hurts like a mother.”

  “I’ll get you something for the pain.” He threw back the bedclothes.

  “It’s right here.” She pointed at the nightstand.

  Gabriel walked around the bed and retrieved a couple of pills from the bottle, handing them to her. Then he gave her a glass of water.

  She swallowed the pills with the water.

  “Anything else health-related?” he prompted, getting back into bed. He pulled her slowly so as not to disturb her ankle and helped her rest against his chest.

  “I have fibroids, but Dr. Rubio said they shrank while I was pregnant. I had been taking an iron supplement but I don’t think I need it anymore. I’m supposed to go back for a checkup next September. Dr. Rubio will probably order an ultrasound.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No. You?”

  “I’m in recovery for chemical dependency. I have anger management issues, concerns about the safety of my family, and one Italian endowed chair at Harvard whom I’d like to confront. There’s a driver of a black Nissan I’d like to punch.”

  Julia winced. “Anything else?”

  “I’ll sleep better when I know who has been stalking us.”

  Julia buried her face against his shoulder. “Part of me doesn’t want to know about stuff like that. But it’s important you share this information so I don’t do something that would put us in jeopardy. I took Clare out in the stroller without you a few times. What if the car had followed us?”

  �
�You’re right. It isn’t fair for me to be cross with you for keeping secrets when I’ve been doing the same thing.” He kissed her hair.

  “So you aren’t cross with me?”

  “I’m furious. It scared the hell out of me when the nurse told me you were seeing a neurologist. All kinds of scenarios went through my head—cancer, stroke, multiple sclerosis.” Gabriel cursed. “We are a family, you and I. Family is everything.”

  “Okay.” Julia didn’t sound okay. “I want to say something. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I am hopeful that once Cecilia gets over her jealousy, she’ll sign off on me spending the fall semester in Edinburgh.”

  “That’s a risky decision. I’d rather we confront her immediately.”

  “Maybe when she’s around Graham Todd at the workshop in Oxford, she’ll change her mind.”

  “That’s months away!” Gabriel sputtered. “If she doesn’t relent by then, it will be too late.”

  “I want to try. I want you to let me try.”

  “Fine.” Gabriel sounded exasperated. “If Cecilia refuses to help, I’m getting involved.”

  “Gabriel, you know—”

  “I’m giving your method a chance, but I want the option of using my method.”

  “Your method is to intimidate her.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “You promise?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good.” Julia kissed him firmly and relaxed against his chest. Soon she fell asleep.

  Gabriel lay awake for several hours, exploring scenarios that involved civil discourse and persuasion. But when his thoughts turned to the driver of the black Nissan, he contemplated radically different alternatives.

  Chapter Forty-One

  December 1, 2012

  Cambridge, Massachusetts

  Nothing fits.” Gabriel spoke into his cell phone. He was in the nursery with Clare and had just changed her. Now he was attempting to dress her for the day. A large pile of clothing was strewn around the changing table, all of it discarded.

  He’d called Julianne on her cell phone because she was currently enjoying breakfast in bed and resting her ankle.

  “Who is this?” Julia joked, suppressing laughter.

  “I’ve tried everything—sleepers, dresses, et cetera. Everything is too small.”

  “I think there’s some three-to-six-month-sized clothing in the top drawer of the dresser.”

  Gabriel opened the drawer and pawed through it. “These are completely inadequate. They’re summer clothes. She’ll catch pneumonia.”

  He withdrew a pink dress that had some embroidery on it and a pair of white things that looked like pants but had feet built in. “I found something that may work temporarily. But she’s going to need a sweater.” He placed Julia on speaker and put his cell phone aside.

  “We have tons of sweaters and hoodies hanging in her closet. Let me see her when you’re done.”

  “Only for a minute.” Gabriel heaved a deep breath as he placed one hand on the baby and with the other strained toward the closet. He grabbed a pink hoodie. “I’m taking her shopping.”

  “You want to take Clare shopping?”

  “She must have had a growth spurt. I’m telling you, there are only a few things left that will fit and most of them aren’t warm enough.” Painstakingly, he pulled on the white things and buttoned the dress in the back.

  “Are you going to take Richard with you?”

  “No. Rebecca asked for the day off. She and Richard are going on a walking tour of Beacon Hill this morning and then they’re going to a movie.”

  “Huh,” said Julia.

  Gabriel straightened, still speaking into the phone. “Maybe I shouldn’t leave you by yourself.”

  “I’m fine. With the ankle brace, I can putter around. But I’ll probably just read all day. The list of books and articles Cecilia gave me is very long.”

  “Okay.” Gabriel grabbed a soft plastic giraffe that Clare had recently begun chewing, and lifted her to his shoulder. “Come on, Principessa. Let’s go see Mommy, and then we’re going to find you a new wardrobe.”

  He grabbed his cell phone and exited the nursery.

  * * *

  Gabriel enjoyed shopping at Copley Place. Although he didn’t enjoy the crowds, and shopping with an infant in a stroller was not ideal, he liked the array of shops and services that could all be found in a single location.

  He made his way to Barneys and was quickly directed to the children’s section, where he was set upon by no less than three sales associates who resolved to outfit Clare in everything she needed.

  Gabriel sat comfortably on a couch, with Clare in his arms happily gumming the giraffe, and sipped an espresso. On his approval, the associates assisted him in outfitting Clare for the next six months. And they furnished him with a far better bunny than the one that was currently residing next to her baby carrier.

  Shopping is easy, he thought, as one of the salespeople placed a pair of soft pink leather ballet slippers on Clare’s feet.

  “She will wear them home,” Gabriel directed with a smile.

  (It should be noted that he resisted the urge to dispose of the bunny Paul Norris had given Clare, purely because she seemed to prefer that toy to the expensive one from Barneys. Gabriel sighed the sigh of a martyr upon that realization.)

  He’d already returned to his SUV and buckled Clare into her car seat when his cell phone rang. It was Jack Mitchell.

  Gabriel sat in the driver’s seat and locked the doors. “Jack.”

  “I found your black Nissan. Registered to Pam Landry in Philadelphia.”

  Gabriel paused, racking his brain. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”

  “Figured you wouldn’t. But her son, Alex, took her car to a buddy of his to have the rear window fixed.”

  “Interesting.” Gabriel looked at Clare through the rearview mirror. She was grabbing Paul’s rabbit and sticking one of its ears in her mouth.

  Gabriel winced at the sight.

  “No connection between Alex Landry and my niece that I could find,” Jack announced. “But he was in the same fraternity as Simon Talbot at the University of Pennsylvania.”

  Gabriel swore.

  “Alex is a fuckup,” Jack continued. “Did a lot of drugs, flunked out of school. Bounced around doing different jobs. Came into some money recently. Been throwing around cash.”

  “Can you connect him to the asshole?”

  “Working on it. Not sure how they are communicating or how the cash was transferred. I think you scared the kid with the rock through the window. He told his mechanic buddy he had a gig out of town but that it ended. Gave the car back to his mother and is driving his own ride now.”

  “And what ride is that?”

  “Red Dodge Charger with black racing stripes and Pennsylvania plates. Hard to miss.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  “Don’t think the kid will be bothering you. Sounds like a simple surveillance gig—look but don’t touch. Kid fucked up, you made him, you broke his window. Kid takes care of his Charger. He won’t want you messing up the custom paint.”

  “Right.” Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Do you want me to make contact?”

  “Only if he makes a move in my direction. What about the woods? Was that him?”

  “Can’t say. Kid doesn’t seem like the type to embrace nature.”

  Gabriel hummed. It was possible he’d heard an animal in the woods, but that didn’t explain what he thought was the beam of a flashlight. And if the trespasser wasn’t Landry . . .

  “I asked a buddy to keep an eye on your house. His ride is a blue Toyota with Massachusetts plates. Don’t fuck up his window.”

  “Noted.” Gabriel checked on Clare again. “Cost?”

 
“He’s doing me a favor. But I have one piece of good news for you.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Simon Talbot is on a plane to Zurich. Word is he reconciled with his father, but the senator wants his son out of the U.S. Got him a job in finance. Kid fucks up, the senator cuts him off permanently. That kid won’t be driving by your house anytime soon.”

  “Excellent.” Gabriel’s shoulders lowered.

  “Might be worthwhile to keep an eye on the kid in Europe. Want me to send one of my guys?”

  “No, but I’m concerned he may have hired someone else to bother us. If you could keep digging, I’d be grateful. What do I owe you?”

  “Family discount. Kiss my niece and grandniece for me.” Jack disconnected.

  Gabriel put his phone on the center console and carefully backed out of the parking space. He used the drive to his house to contemplate what Jack had told him.

  Although it would appear Simon was no longer a threat, Gabriel was still cautious. He needed more information about the asshole’s activities in Switzerland, and he knew just who to call in order to find out.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Later that afternoon

  Snow.” Julia pointed to the delicate flakes that wafted featherlike in front of the living room window.

  Clare reached her hand out to the window and then grabbed a lock of Julia’s hair and pulled.

  “Okay, okay. We aren’t interested in snow.” Julia laughed, trying to free her hair.

  She’d stopped using crutches the day before and tried putting weight on her ankle today. She’d wrapped it firmly and placed it in a soft-sided brace, which gave her more support. Still, she moved slowly and wouldn’t carry Clare up or down stairs out of an abundance of caution. She didn’t want to fall.

  “It’s snowing?” Gabriel flipped a switch and the gas fireplace flared to life, creating a cozy glow.

  “Just a few flakes.” Julia directed Clare’s attention to the window once again. “Look, Clare. Snow.”

  Clare turned her head toward her father and began babbling.