Her heart beating faster, Marisa glanced around quickly and saw Jack leaning against her car in the driveway. Arms folded, ankles crossed, he was watching her steadily, his only concession to the weather a red woolen muffler wrapped around his throat and stuffed into the collar of his fringed jacket.
Marisa’s hands went to her sleep disordered hair and the collar of her striped wool robe. The man did have a knack for catching her in disarray. Even so, she had to restrain herself from running barefoot across the frozen lawn and into his arms. Then she remembered how angry she was with him and forced herself to remain where she was.
Jack sauntered toward Marisa as she stood planted like a tree on her front steps, too amazed to move. Then he stopped a few feet away from her and held out a manila envelope.
“What’s that?” she asked flatly, looking at it intently, then back at his face.
“Please take it,” he said.
After a second, she moved forward and did.
“Open it,” he said.
“Jack, I’m not in any mood for games. You’d better tell me what’s inside.”
“It’s a full confession from Randall Block, taking sole responsibility for the attempted bribe and clearing you completely.”
Marisa exhaled a long, slow breath, studying Jack’s fixed expression. Then she flung the envelope in his face, whirled, and slammed the door behind her.
“Marisa, open up!” Jack shouted, pounding on the door. “Come on, this isn’t fair!”
“Fair!” she yelled back at him through the solid oak door, shooting the deadbolt home with a flick of her wrist. “Who are you to talk to me about fair? Go back to Florida!”
“I came from Oklahoma.”
“Then go back there. Just leave me alone.”
“Marisa, please. Can’t you listen for a minute?”
“Just like you listened to me? I remember how patient and understanding you were about Block’s accusations. How dare you show up here with that thing in your hand and expect me to forget your inexcusable behavior?”
“I don’t expect that. I just want to talk to you.”
Marisa hesitated.
“Marisa, it’s Christmas. Are you going to leave me out here on the lawn, peering in the window like the Little Match Girl?”
Marisa sighed heavily.
“I will let you in,” she called, “but once you’ve said your piece I expect you to leave without any further discussion.”
There was a profound, extended silence from the other side of the door.
“Well?” Marisa demanded.
“I don’t suppose I have any choice,” Jack replied.
Marisa opened the door cautiously. Jack was waiting with his arms behind his back, his expression wary.
“Come in,” she said, belting her robe tighter around her waist. He stepped past her, looking around her living room curiously.
“Great old house,” he commented, and deposited the arrow he’d left on her lawn on the entry hall table.
“Did you come here to discuss New England architecture?” Marisa asked frostily.
“You’re not going to give me a break, I see,” he said.
“Do you think I should?” she countered.
He thrust the envelope back into her hands. “Just read it, will you please?”
Marisa broke the seal with her fingernail and removed the two sheets of typewritten paper. She read them through quickly and then looked up at Jack. “How did you get this?” she asked.
“Randall and I had a little talk.”
“What does that mean? You beat him up?”
“I...encouraged him to be truthful,” Jack said flatly.
“I would have bought a ticket to that,” Marisa said dryly, thumbing her hair behind her ears.
“Does that mean I get a cup of coffee?” he asked, sniffing the aroma that was drifting in from the kitchen.
“All right. One cup, and then you go.” She marched into the kitchen and he trailed after her, looking around at the family pictures on the walls in the hall.
“You were a cute kid,” he observed.
Marisa got a mug from the cupboard, filled it with coffee, and handed it to him.
“Are you going to watch and time me while I drink it?” he asked defensively.
Marisa indicated the wall clock. “I have to be at work at eight-thirty,” she said pointedly.
He sat the mug on the counter resignedly. “Aren’t you even going to thank me for getting Block’s confession? It’s already on its way to the Justice Department.”
Marisa stared at him stonily. “Thank you.”
He sighed. “This isn’t going the way I planned. When I showed you that confession you were supposed to scream for joy and throw yourself into my arms.”
“I haven’t forgotten your behavior when you first heard Block’s lies,” she replied.
Jack looked at the floor. “Marisa, I’m sorry.”
“I accept your apology. Now you can go.”
He looked up. “Don’t I even get a chance to explain why I acted the way I did?”
“I know why. You have no faith in me.”
“I have no faith in me,” he said quietly.
“Jack…”
“Yeah, I know. You have to go to work.” He took a breath, then said, “Can I see you for dinner?”
“I don’t think that would be such a good idea.”
“You really do want to punish me, don’t you, Marisa?” he said miserably.
“I just can’t take any more, Jack. I’ve had enough. I want my life to go back to the way it was before I met you. Maybe it was dull, but it wasn’t painful.”
“Wouldn’t you have dinner with any friend who came to town and wanted to see you?”
“We’re not friends.”
“We’re lovers,” he said softly.
“Were,” Marisa said quietly. “We were lovers.”
Jack nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you what. I’ll call on you tonight and see how you’re feeling then.”
“I’ll probably be feeling the same.”
“Tough as nails, aren’t you?”
“If I am, you made me that way.” She looked at the clock significantly again.
“I’m going,” he said.
Marisa escorted him through the hall. “Goodbye, Jack,” she said evenly.
He looked at her for a long moment, then walked through the door. Once it was closed behind him, Marisa sagged against the wall and burst into tears.
She was cleared, and Jack was here. It was all too much to take in at once, and the extreme restraint she had exercised while he was with her gave way to a storm of weeping that left her feeling exhausted.
She hadn’t even asked why he had arrived at dawn or where he was staying. All she could think of was getting rid of him before she collapsed into his arms. She mustn’t forget that there was a serious problem with their relationship or he wouldn’t have treated her the way he had. To pretend that it hadn’t happened would be a mistake.
But she had to admit that she was already looking forward to seeing him that night.
* * *
The firm closed at noon for the annual Christmas party. Marisa had handed Charlie Wellman her copy of Block’s confession as soon as she got to work that day, so there was more than the Yuletide to celebrate. When Tracy showed up after her last class with a wrapped package, she found Marisa still in her office, on the phone.
Tracy, dressed in a red suit and wearing an elf’s hat, waved frantically from the doorway.
“Okay, I’ll send you a hard copy of that first thing after the holiday,” Marisa said into the phone. She listened for a second and said, “Right, goodbye, and Merry Christmas.” She replaced the receiver.
“Fa la la la la,” Tracy said. “I hate to tell you this, but there’s a party going on out there. You’re the only one still working.” She waltzed into the room and planted the gift on Marisa’s desk blotter.
“You’ve got the spirit,” Marisa sai
d.
“Sandy Carter asked me to the New Year’s Eve dance at the Eaglesmere Country Club,” Tracy confided, chuckling wickedly.
“Congratulations. I have a little bulletin myself.”
“What?” Tracy flicked a tinkling bell on one of the Christmas wall decorations with her fingernail.
“Jack is here.”
“Where?” Tracy glanced around wildly as if she expected to find him stashed in a corner of the room.
“He came to my house first thing this morning. And guess what he gave me?”
Tracy sat in Marisa’s client chair. “I’m all ears.”
Marisa told Tracy everything that had happened at her house that day. When she finished Tracy asked excitedly, “What are you going to do tonight?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, he’s coming back, isn’t he?”
“He said so.”
“Don’t look at me,” Tracy said, waving her hand. “I would throw myself into his arms and drag him off to bed, so I’m a bad one to give advice.”
“I have to be sensible.”
“Oh, please. You’re always sensible. Try reckless for once, it just might work.”
“I was reckless enough back in Florida for ten people.”
“And wound up with this gorgeous man madly in love with you. Big mistake, huh?”
The door to the hall opened, admitting the sound of “Jingle Bell Rock” and party merriment into the room.
“What are you two doing in here?” Charlie demanded. “Mark Dempsey is dancing with the dermatologist from the fifth floor and Judge Jerrold is about to do the limbo under Sadie’s mop handle.”
“Wouldn’t want to miss that,” Tracy observed dryly.
“Be right with you, Charlie,” Marisa said.
“I should imagine that you’d be in a celebrating mood,” Charlie said to Marisa and winked, pulling the door closed behind him.
“I think he’s drunk,” Tracy said.
Marisa reached for the gift box on her desk. “I sent your present to your house,” she said, tearing into the wrapping.
“A complete set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, I trust?” Tracy said brightly.
“Nothing so educational.”
“Goody.”
Marisa tore off the last of the silver paper impatiently and gasped with delight.
“Indigo Sky!” she exclaimed, unscrewing the crystal stopper of a tiny bottle of her favorite perfume.
“It’s only toilet water, a minuscule amount at that. It’s all I could afford. But I know how much you like it.”
“How thoughtful,” Marisa murmured, touched.
“Now get out of here and go home to that wonderful man,” Tracy said, rising.
“I should go out to the party and mix a little.”
“Oh, forget about that. I’ll make your excuses and mix enough for both of us. Get going.”
Marisa took her coat from the hook behind her door and followed Tracy’s advice.
* * *
As soon as Marisa pulled into her driveway she knew that something was up. All the lights were on in the house and there was a strange car parked in the slush by the curb. When she got out cautiously she saw Jack appear in the front window, then come to the door.
“What are you doing in here?” Marisa demanded.
“That ancient lock you’ve got on your door wouldn’t keep out a clever four-year-old,” he answered briskly, stepping aside to admit her to her own house. He was wearing tailored dark slacks and a cream wool pullover that made his dark eyes and hair vivid in the softly lit room.
Marisa stopped and stared in surprise. A completely decorated tree stood next to the fireplace, where a cheerful fire was burning. The coffee table was set with two of her mother’s crystal glasses and a bottle of champagne on ice, and the enticing smell of a cooking roast drifted in from the direction of the kitchen.
“Did you do all this?” she asked in wonderment.
“Nobody else.”
“That fireplace doesn’t work,” she said, walking up to it and peering closely at the flames.
“It does now. The flue was stuck. I fixed it.”
“And where did you get that tree?”
“Finley’s Department Store. Christmas Eve special, fully decorated, half price.”
“I see. And you’ve learned to cook, too?”
“Speedy Gourmet on Tenth Street. You can buy anything you want already prepared, all you have to do is heat it up.”
“Amazing. You must have gone through town like a tornado. And the wine? Let me guess. Lake Country Liquors.”
“Right the first time.”
Marisa dropped her briefcase and purse on a chair. “What is all this in aid of, Jack? I mean, it’s very nice and everything...”
“It’s Christmas, Marisa,” he said quietly. “Can’t you relax a little and give me a break?”
“What do you want?” she said flatly.
“Another chance,” he said simply. “I love you. I’m sorry for what I did and I want another chance.”
Marisa sat in her grandfather’s old easy chair near the fire. “We didn’t have a little spat, Jack. You took someone else’s word over mine on an important issue, and when I begged you to listen to me you simply wouldn’t do it. You insulted me and...”
“Please don’t remind me of my asinine behavior,” he interrupted forlornly.
“What I’m saying is...”
“I know what you’re saying. You think it wasn’t an isolated incident and things like that will keep happening again and again.”
“Will you kindly stop interrupting me?”
He sat across from her on the sofa and folded his arms, his expression bleak.
“You really hurt me, Jack.”
He turned his head, looking away from her.
“I know,” he said, very quietly.
“What made you change your mind finally and go to see Randall Block?”
He sighed. “After you left Florida I had a chance to calm down and think things over, and I just couldn’t believe that you had resorted to bribery.”
“Gee, it seems to me that I tried to tell you the same thing,” Marisa said lightly. “More than once.”
“Spare me the sarcasm, Marisa, this is hard enough as it is,” Jack said wearily.
“Go on,” she said.
“So I tracked Block back to Washington and had a discussion with him.”
“I see. Has he been discharged from the hospital yet?” Marisa asked pointedly.
“I didn’t harm him. I wanted him to be in perfect health to testify about his actions.”
“So how did you threaten him?”
“What does it matter? I got him to tell the truth and that’s what counts.”
“You should have known I would never do such a thing. If you really loved me you wouldn’t have credited that stupid story for a minute,” Marisa responded, the old anger and hurt surging inside her again.
The both looked up as the sound of singing outside became audible and then came gradually closer, reaching a crescendo just outside the front door.
“Carolers,” Marisa said. “I have some cookies in the kitchen.”
She went to get the tray and came back into the living room, opening the door and distributing the treats to the children on the porch. Jack watched as she chatted with them and they rewarded her with a shaky version of “Silent Night.”
“You seem to know all of them,” he commented, as she closed the door behind the departing group.
“It’s a small town. I went to grade school with some of their parents.”
“You must think about having children of your own,” he said.
“Sometimes.”
“Want to get started on it tonight?” he asked.
Marisa resumed her seat and glared at him.
“Okay, bad joke. Where were we?”
“I believe I was saying that if you really loved me you would never have listened to Block’s lies
in the first place.”
“I was hoping you’d skip over that part.”
“I think I deserve an explanation,” Marisa persisted, her tone as firm as her gaze.
“It’s complicated.”
“Oh, it must be.”
He strode over to the fireplace and leaned on the mantel. “I’ve always found it difficult to trust ‘the suits’. You know, people like you, establishment types.”
“Thank you.”
“You know what I mean. You come from this tintype town, you have education and background on your side, you were representing the government in this case, you came straight from the places where I had never fit in my whole life.”
“Next we’ll be tracing my bloodlines back to good Queen Bess,” Marisa observed to the air.
He closed his eyes. “I guess I found it difficult to accept that a sophisticated woman like you would want me. It was easier to think that you were using me.”
“You mean that despite your success you feel inside like you’re still back on the reservation.”
His eyes opened and met hers.
“Yes,” he said flatly.
“I’ve already gathered that much, Jack. You can’t use that as an excuse for treating me so badly.”
“Marisa, when it seemed you had manipulated me it just played right into a whole lifetime of doubt and suspicion. I didn’t analyze it then, I was too furious, but after I drove you away I had time to think about all of it and came to some tough conclusions.”
Marisa was silent.
“All right, so I’ve never been in love before and I don’t know how to act!” he said heatedly.
“What do you mean, you’ve never been in love before?” Marisa demanded.
“Just what I said. It’s not a difficult concept.” He sat next to her on the sofa and she inched backward.
“Will you stop doing that?” he said in exasperation.
“What?”
“Every time I come near you a silent alarm goes off and you put distance between us.”
“I’m trying to think clearly.”
“And you can’t think clearly when I touch you?”
“Right.”
“Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“It tells me that you’re trying to confuse me!” she said, almost in tears, rising and going to the window.
He followed, standing just behind her and looking out at the silently falling snow.
Blackfoot Affair Page 14
