Fall from Grace

by Danielle Steel

  They sat there for three hours while potential jurors were led on and off the stand, questioned, and some of them released. And then the judge called for a two-hour recess so everyone could eat lunch, and Sydney was about to leave the courtroom with Steve when the federal prosecutor asked to speak to him. Steve told Sydney to wait in her seat, and he’d be back. He suspected what was coming but didn’t want to raise her hopes. They had taken this right to the end.

  Sabrina and Sophie approached her after everyone left the courtroom, and so did Bob and Ed. The four of them had been sitting together in the front row.

  “What’s happening?” Sophie whispered.

  “I have no idea,” Sydney whispered back. Steve was gone for almost an hour and none of them moved, waiting for him. He looked serious when he finally returned and suggested they go outside to talk.

  They stood in a huddle in a corner of the hallway while he explained.

  “Okay, we’re getting there. They want to make a deal. They won’t dismiss the case. Their point is that you could have been in on it, and we can’t prove you weren’t. Zeller threw you under the bus right in the beginning, by accusing you of that. According to the prosecutor, you were at customs picking up stolen bags, and every single form had your name and signature on it, which is bad evidence they have against you, so they’re not going to dismiss. They want to offer you a deal for a plea bargain.”

  “And go to prison?” Sydney looked terrified all over again and Bob squeezed her hand.

  “They want you to plead to a misdemeanor, possibly a lesser charge of perjury on customs documents since the bags weren’t listed as stolen, obviously. They’ll figure out some bogus misdemeanor for you to plead to, and a misdemeanor isn’t going to look very serious on your records,” he tried to reassure her. “They want to keep the pressure on you to tell them more about Zeller’s illegal operations, if you know anything. No prison time. They wanted to keep it as a felony, but I refused. They want six months’ house arrest with an electronic bracelet, and two years’ probation. That’s the deal. What you’d essentially be pleading guilty to is lying on customs documents, not importing stolen goods. They’ll only agree to dismiss if you tell them more about Zeller’s illegal activities. Failing that, they’re making an example of you to a moderate degree.” Their offer was the best they could hope for.

  “Six months’ house arrest? And how can I tell them something I don’t know! I never knew anything about his illegal activities and still don’t.” Sydney looked distressed, but Bob looked relieved. She hadn’t thought it through yet. Six months’ house arrest and a misdemeanor was a gift. “How can I do my job locked in my apartment if I can’t go to work?” she said frantically, stressed and shaken by all of it.

  “We’ll set up a monitor, you can Skype. Your assistant can run designs back and forth. We can bring you fabrics and fit models,” Ed said reasonably. “It’s not a big deal. We can make that work. It’s only for six months. That’s a hell of a lot better than five years in prison,” he reminded her, and Steve nodded agreement.

  “It’s a good deal, Sydney. Pleading to a misdemeanor won’t hurt you. There won’t be ramifications later. You can even get it expunged a few years down the road. I’d much rather see you stuck in your apartment with an anklet than in federal prison. If we go to trial, we have that risk. You don’t know what kind of jury you’re going to get, or if they’ll be sympathetic. Zeller is going to take the fall for this now. He’ll get prison time for sure. I don’t want you to, and he’ll try to take you down with him if you go to trial,” Steve said firmly. “I can’t force you to take the deal, but I strongly recommend it to you, as your attorney. It’s a slap on the wrist. In some instances, they let people go to work, even while under house arrest, but this judge is a stickler, and very old-school, and I couldn’t get him to agree to it. But even stuck at home for six months, I think it’s a good deal and you should do it.” But she had been hoping for no slap at all, especially once they found the evidence against Zeller. She stood quietly for a moment, thinking about it, and looked from her daughters to Ed, to Bob.

  “Take it, Mom,” Sabrina pleaded with her. “Nothing bad will happen to you at home. You could get killed in prison. And we can see you any time at home.”

  “Do I get to leave the apartment at all?” she asked Steve.

  “Only for medical reasons, to go to a doctor or a hospital, or for a death in the family.” It was a tiny apartment to spend six months in, but it was better than a cell, and she knew it too. She looked at Steve and nodded. It was going to be uncomfortable, but not frightening or dangerous. If she had to receive a sentence, it was the best she could do, although it still didn’t seem fair that they were charging her and punishing her when she was innocent.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” she said seriously, and they all patted her shoulder and her arm, and Sophie had tears running down her cheeks.

  “I love you, Mom,” Sophie said between sobs of relief, hugging her.

  “Thank God you don’t have to go to prison,” Sabrina said quietly. They all looked relieved.

  “We’ll get state-of-the-art computers set up in your apartment, and a giant screen with two-way video. You’ll love it!” Ed said, and they all laughed. “You can watch movies on it at night.” And she smiled too.

  “Thank you, Steve,” she said somberly, realizing the fate she had escaped. It had come very, very close, and his insisting on their reducing it to a misdemeanor had been a major legal victory for her. He had fought hard for it, and he had sensed that they didn’t want the time and expense of a trial. It was a bogus case, but they could have made it stick if they chose to. He was just glad they didn’t.

  “I’ll go tell them now. You can’t leave yet.”

  “When would it start?” Sydney asked him.

  “Probably right away. I may be able to get you a few days’ grace, if there are things you need to do for work. But you won’t be able to leave your apartment after this.” She nodded that she understood.

  “You’d better all come and see me,” she said to the group after Steve went to tell the prosecutor that she was willing to plead. They all promised that they would. He was back much faster this time, and he was smiling.

  “We have a deal,” he said to her. “I’ll need you to come with me to sign some papers. They agreed to let you start on Monday, after you fill out the rest of the paperwork. You don’t have to wait,” he said to the others. “Sometimes this can be slow.” Ed decided to leave with Sabrina and Sophie, and Bob said he’d stay with her. Sydney promised Ed she’d be back at the office as soon as she was finished. Suddenly she wanted to get out and walk while she still could. It was hard to imagine being confined to a tiny apartment for six months, unable to go anywhere or get fresh air. But she realized how lucky she had been. It could have been so much worse, and almost was.

  She followed Steve through a doorway, with Bob right behind her. The federal prosecutor was waiting for them, and told her she had made a wise decision.

  It took her half an hour to sign the papers, she thanked Steve again, and she and Bob walked down the courthouse steps. He put an arm around her, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard on the mouth, and when he stopped, she saw that there were tears in his eyes.

  “Thank God you didn’t go to prison,” was all he could say, and, hand in hand, they got into his rented town car. “At least I’ll know where you are all the time,” he teased her. “And I’ll come to visit as often as I can.” It was a long way from Hong Kong, but she was sure he would. And as they drove uptown, she thought about it, and knew her lucky stars had been in perfect alignment and fully operative that day.

  Chapter 14

  Bob and Sydney stopped for lunch on the way uptown, and he could see the tension slowly easing from her face. The nightmare had taken ten months to resolve, almost a year. She had carried with her the fear of going to prison for all that time.

  “I never thought something like that could happen t
o me,” she said to him over lunch. That and Andrew’s death had taught her irreversibly how life could change in the blink of an eye, without warning. Suddenly everything you knew and counted on could be taken away, and was gone. Your freedom, your health, the people you loved, your money, your peace of mind. It was a frightening thought.

  “It’s over now,” he said calmly, “or it will be soon. We’ll figure out things to do when we’re in the apartment,” he teased her, and she laughed.

  “It’s going to be strange being trapped like that,” but not as strange as prison, she knew.

  They went back to her office after lunch, and she was stunned by the number of buyers there, filling out orders for what they wanted from the collection they’d shown the night before. Ed was beaming as he circulated in the crowd, and Sydney joined him for a while. Bob left to make some calls from his hotel. And she packed up her office, and took all the drawing equipment she’d need at home. Ed promised to have their IT people there on Monday to set up a computer system with a large monitor that would function as a two-way video screen. She needed more than just her iPad and laptop at home now. She was trying to think of everything, and Ed gave her a big hug. He was as relieved as she was that they weren’t sending her away, and she hadn’t had to go through a trial.

  “You had me scared for a while,” he admitted. They both remembered the night she had almost committed suicide, although they never talked about it. But it was a memory that still made him shudder. He hoped the bad times were behind her now.

  “I’m going to miss seeing you here every day,” he said wistfully, “but I’ll see you on the monitor,” and then he laughed.

  “Come and visit me. It’s going to be weird not being able to go out. I’ll get a lot done, stuck at home,” she promised. They had to start working on the next collection soon, and she already had some ideas she wanted to discuss with him.

  Bob came back for her at six o’clock, and Sydney left the office regretfully. They stopped at a drugstore on the way home. There were things she wanted to buy before her incarceration, and she wanted to go shopping on Saturday, and take a walk in Central Park. She wanted to drink it all in before she had to be sequestered from the world to pay for a sin she hadn’t been aware of committing. She had acted in good faith and innocence, and had been duped.

  “I hope they throw the book at Zeller,” Bob said, as they got back to her apartment. They had picked up some food at the nearby deli. She was too tired to go out. When they walked into the apartment, she let herself collapse on the couch next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “Thank you for being there with me,” she said in a soft voice as he leaned over and kissed her more fervently than he had dared to till then, and she responded just as passionately. They had waited a long time for this, and now she wasn’t worried about leaving him to go to prison. She felt free to follow her heart.

  Without saying anything or asking permission, he began to undress her, and a few minutes later they rushed to her bedroom, as they laughed and she pulled him into her bed beside her. They were both naked by then, and the tides could no longer be stopped. Their desire for each other was overwhelming and insatiable, until they finally lay spent in each other’s arms, barely able to catch their breath.

  “That was worth waiting for,” he said, stunned by the power of their lovemaking, and she smiled and looked up at him.

  “I wanted you so much, but I didn’t think it was fair till we knew what would happen.”

  “I love you, Sydney. I’m glad we went through this together. I would have hated your facing it alone.”

  “So would I.” It had all been so much more tolerable since he’d been in her life. And this seemed a respectful amount of time since Andrew had died. It had been fourteen months. Her life with him seemed so far away now, and all their familiar landmarks were gone, their home, the apartment in Paris, the art they had bought together, the things they had loved that belonged to his daughters now. She wondered what would happen to all of it when they sold the house. But it didn’t matter now. She didn’t need the material objects of their marriage. She had their memories. And now she had Bob, and she belonged to him.

  They lay in bed quietly together for a long time, and they made love again, and then they dozed in each other’s arms for a while. It was nearly midnight when they got up and went to get something to eat in the kitchen.

  “I can’t imagine a life without you,” he said with deep feeling in his voice.

  “Me either,” she said gently, but the idea frightened her. What if he died, like Andrew? She couldn’t bear losing him too, or anyone again. But if they stayed together and lived to be very old, one of them would go first and leave the other lost and heartbroken. It was inevitable, and more than she could stand to think about.

  “I wish I could stay in New York,” he said longingly. But his business was in Hong Kong. She had been thinking of going back with Ed to see Bob. But she’d have to wait. She was going to be a prisoner in her apartment for six long months. “It’ll go quickly,” he reassured her, and she hoped he was right. “I want you to meet my children,” he said, and she looked cautious at that.

  “I’m not very popular with other people’s children, judging by my stepdaughters,” she said hesitantly, and he laughed.

  “They sound crazy to me. You’d be everybody’s dream stepmother.”

  “Apparently not.” She smiled ruefully at the memory of Kellie and Kyra and how hateful they had been. There had been very few good times with them.

  “My children didn’t like my second wife,” he admitted, “but they were younger then, and she was a child herself. She wanted all my attention, and was jealous of them. I knew it wouldn’t last, but I was besotted with her. The marriage only lasted for six months. She ended up marrying a Chinese movie star. I have no idea what happened to her. It was a long time ago. The kids have been very good about the ladies in my life ever since. And they’re going to love you.” He seemed sure of it, but she wasn’t. She loved him, of that she was certain, but the twins had scared her off other’s people’s children.

  “It must have been hard when you had to bring four of them up yourself,” she said sympathetically.

  “We had a lot of fun,” he said, smiling at her. “And now you and I are going to have a lot of fun. There are so many things I want to do with you,” he said dreamily, as they sat at the kitchen counter and ate what they’d bought at the deli. She looked thoughtful then.

  “I hope I don’t get fat sitting around the apartment.” She was worried and he laughed.

  “Hardly. You could do with a little weight.” She was almost too thin, as was Sabrina. It was their body type, but neither of them ate much. And Sydney had been stressed for months, more than a year now.

  They sat and talked in the living room, and then went back to bed at two o’clock. They drifted off to sleep talking, and when they woke up the next morning, the sun was streaming into the room. It was a beautiful day, and Sydney wanted to get out and walk while she could. She was frowning when she made them both coffee, and looked around the room.

  “Do you suppose I have room for a treadmill?” He laughed at the thought.

  “If you hang it off the ceiling.” There wasn’t an inch of spare floor space in the living room or bedroom.

  “I’ll need to get exercise.”

  “You’ll have to run in place,” he said practically. But these were small problems to have now, compared to what she would have encountered in prison.

  They shared a bath, and left the apartment an hour later, casually dressed for the warm fall weather, and headed for the park. Everything looked beautiful to her now. The world had become a gentler place overnight. It was the culmination of a terrible year, but now it was spring in her heart, and he was as much in love as she was. They wandered over to Madison Avenue afterward and looked in all the shops, and he had an idea when they strolled past a jeweler and insisted they go inside. She didn’t want him to buy her
anything, or something foolish and expensive, but he knew exactly what he wanted. He chose a wide band of white gold with pavé diamonds on the front. He could easily afford it, and he asked for it in her size. He slipped it on her finger and it was beautiful.

  “Now don’t get nervous,” he teased her. “It’s not an engagement ring, it’s an ‘I love you band.’ If you’re going to wear an ugly anklet for six months, you might as well have something pretty on your finger. And this one won’t confine you. I just want you to remember when I’m not around that I love you.” He had correctly sensed that she was uneasy about getting tied down again. It had proven disastrous after Andrew was gone. She didn’t want to be disappointed later, but Bob had a very nonthreatening way of dealing with her and loving her and said all the right things. She was admiring her new ring as they left the store.

  “I love it.” She smiled excitedly at him. They walked a long way, and wandered into Barneys for a few things she needed, and then they walked back to her apartment. They were going to Sabrina’s for dinner that night.

  She ordered in sushi, and Steve made pasta and salad for those who wanted it. Sophie came too, but Grayson stayed home. She said he was working on a big assignment, and they all knew that he rarely went out. But the others more than made up for it. Bob had fun with them. He and Steve hit it off, and he loved Sydney’s girls, who were warm and welcoming to him. They were grateful for his being there for their mother, and both girls noticed her new ring as soon as she walked in.

  “What’s that?” Sophie whispered when they were in the kitchen. “Is it an engagement ring?” Sydney shook her head, and she realized that she would always remember that he gave it to her after the first time they made love. It really was an “I love you” ring, which made it even more special to her. There had been no luxuries in her life for a while now. She kept looking at it all through the evening and then smiled at him.