A Marriage To Fight For

by Raina Lynn

  Choked up, Maggie could hardly speak. “We’ve been through all this. It’s over. Can we talk about something else?”

  “Sure,” he said low in his throat. “How about how long it’s been since we made love in a pool? Do you remember the spa in Bodega Bay?”

  Heat jolted through her.

  “Babe, I’ve always believed that’s where we conceived Rick.”

  He’d voiced her most secret fantasy. Maggie recoiled so fast that she lost her grip, and he went under. Why did he torture her like this? He surfaced, water streaming from his smiling face.

  “Garrett, I ought to let you drown.”

  His chuckle was positively lethal.

  “Why are you pushing all my buttons?”

  “You know why, babe,” he said, treading water. “Swim with me.” The seductive tone sent her blood raging with need. He couldn’t have made the invitation sound more erotic if he’d openly propositioned her.

  He flipped over and swam off, desire blazing in his face. She’d seen the state of his body. Survival dictated that the last thing she do was go after him. “But he’s your patient, Hughes,” she gritted out.

  Then, with long strokes, she caught up with him, pacing his slow, steady progress. They reached the end of the pool, turned and swam back, together, matching stroke for stroke. Fatigue settled in, demanding he spend more and more of his attention on swimming. The familiar gray cast settled over his features, but he kept going.

  “Marry me, babe. We’ll get it right this time.”

  She nearly gasped aloud from the pain. “Time to get out. You’ve had enough. So have I.” She stood up, and he stopped. Still, his gaze never wavered.

  Exhaustion had taken its toll, and he could barely stay afloat. With an inward cry, Maggie took hold of him, heartbreakingly aware of the moment he stopped forcing his body to do what it no longer could and he rested trustingly in her strength, his breathing labored.

  “When I was on the plane and I saw that bomb, I only resented dying because I’d never see you and Rick again, never tell you one more time that I love you.”

  The lump in her throat made it hard to swallow. She was a heartbeat away from collapsing and promising him everything.

  “I bet you can still wear your wedding dress. When we get married again would you wear it for me?” He studied her figure. “You were gorgeous at nineteen, but I love your body better now. You’re a woman, not a girl.”

  Her mouth went dry. His lips were so close, so inviting in their promise of taking her once again to paradise. With an inarticulate cry, she turned away, dragging him through the water as she headed back to the side. His ribs vibrated with silent chuckling.

  Chapter 14

  Garrett’s calculated assaults on Maggie’s heart got sneakier from there. One night she came home to a catered candlelight dinner for two. The next night she found painstakingly handwritten coupons tucked in odd places throughout the house. One entitled her to a free bubble bath, complete with back rub. Another promised an entire week free from housework. The latter made her smile. There was no question in her mind that Rick was in cahoots with him on that one.

  In spite of herself, she found herself anticipating what she’d find next when she got off work every night. Tonight, Garrett was nowhere to be found, but a trail of rose petals led from the front door to the kitchen—where she found a glass of zinfandel on the counter. The trail then led to the master bedroom where she found a single red rose on the pillow oh what had always been her side of the bed. The note reminded her of their honeymoon in a cabin at Lake Tahoe, most particularly the night they’d made love by the fire. With trembling fingers, she folded up the note, tucked it in her uniform pocket and went upstairs to change.

  Her willpower cracked. Defeated but caring only that they’d be together for however long they had, she descended the stairs. Halfway down she heard two low-toned masculine voices. One was Garrett’s. The other she didn’t recognize. As she got closer, the stranger’s words became clear.

  “If the prison guards hadn’t reported his threats to kill you, I wouldn’t think much about it.”

  Maggie’s knees buckled, and she grabbed the railing to keep from falling down the stairs.

  “I still don’t,” Garrett muttered. “That slime bag’s a hothead, but he’s not a triggerman and he doesn’t have the follow-through to hire it done.”

  Somehow, Maggie made it to the living room. Garrett’s gaze riveted onto her, anguished dismay twisting his features. The other man, clad in a three-piece suit, barely spared her more than a polite nod of greeting.

  “I agree with you, Hughes. He’s the type who’ll say whatever makes him look like a bigger bad guy than the next idiot. Not much on initiative. Since he’s being paroled, I thought you’d want to know.” As he spoke, he apparently caught the troubled air between Garrett and Maggie and discreetly moved toward the door.

  “Thanks, I appreciate the courtesy,” Garrett said, showing him out.

  “Who was he?” she demanded the moment the door closed. “A detective or someone from the D.A.’s office?”

  “Not important.” He sliced the air with one hand and wheeled himself to her. “What you heard sounded worse than—”

  “Sure, Garrett.” Her voice trembled. “Just like you said you’ll be safe if you go back to the department.”

  “You’re not thinking this through.”

  “So people keep telling me!” Her fists balled into knots at her sides. “I want you out of here. Now! Get out of my life!”

  Rick sauntered in, his contented smile fracturing.

  “I swear somebody ought to patent that kid’s radar,” Garrett muttered under his breath, then added louder, “Son, come here.”

  The teenager stood trembling, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. Maggie wanted to crawl under the floor and die.

  Thoughts ricocheted behind Garrett’s eyes with lightning speed. “Listen to me,” he said, his voice sharp with command. Rick’s eyes slowly focused. “I want you to go into the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. My gold and red Fortyniners mug is dirty. Wash it by hand, fill it and bring it to me.”

  Rick, still dazed, gave him an uncomprehending look.

  “Now, son. It’s important.”

  Like an automaton, the boy wandered into the kitchen.

  Maggie recognized Garrett’s ploy and was grateful for it, but too consumed by her own pain to visibly react. She had to end this now, or she’d be trapped for the rest of her life. A death threat. How can he act like it’s no big deal? “Garrett, I want you out of my life. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  He didn’t answer, but his face looked like a road map of heartache. She couldn’t look anymore and ran to the garage and took two large suitcases down from the rafters.

  Dropping them at his feet in the living room, she put her hands on her hips. It was either that or throw herself into his arms. “I want you packed and out of here in an hour. I’ll call Blake to come get you.”

  As she turned away, he said, “Rick can take me. Blake had a heavy surgery scheduled for today and probably isn’t home yet.”

  Garrett’s sudden resignation should have been a relief, but it wasn’t. She’d made the right choice. Maybe he’d finally realized that he couldn’t have her and his career. Whatever the case, he hadn’t chosen her, so they’d all lost.

  “I’ve got one request,” he said as calmly as if they were discussing the weather. Rick came back with the coffee, and Garrett thanked him. “Did you remember the sugar?”

  Rick blinked and frowned. “You drink it black.”

  “Not today. One spoon, please.”

  “Okay.” The boy turned bleak eyes on his parents and went back to the kitchen. Maggie bled inside for her child’s suffering, but it couldn’t be helped. She had to survive, and this time, she’d make sure Rick got the counseling he needed so he could live with parents who led separate lives.

  “What’s the request?” she asked, her voice as b
roken as her heart.

  “That you get in your car and leave now. Go find something to do while Rick helps me pack. It’ll make it easier on us all.”

  “But Rick needs me.”

  “Later, Maggie,” he said, his voice taking on an edge. “For now, I’ll handle him alone.”

  “And if I refuse?” She couldn’t leave her son in a near catatonic state.

  His expression hardened, as unyielding as steel. “In case you’ve forgotten, we have joint custody. I don’t recommend that you put him in a position where he has to choose. If you do, you’ll have to call 911 and have me thrown out. Since there’s a strong possibility we’ll know the responding officers, that’ll embarrass all of us. Now which is it going to be?”

  Maggie’s stomach lurched, and she made a run for the bathroom. When she was finished being sick and had washed her face, she dragged herself back into the living room. Surely death itself would be less painful than this.

  Garrett sent Rick back to the kitchen to add cream. Rick was more coherent now and balked.

  “You don’t really want this coffee, Dad, so stop running me all over the place.”

  Garrett looked a bit frustrated that Rick wouldn’t be controlled just a little longer, but he nodded. “Go upstairs and get your mother’s purse and car keys.”

  Rick glowered through moist eyes and crossed his arms.

  “For real,” Garrett said almost too quietly for her to hear.

  Rick nodded, and trotted upstairs.

  “Maggie, go to a movie, or maybe over to the Sappersteins. All right?”

  Rick came back with the requested items and handed them to her. She didn’t want to go anywhere, but the idea of watching Garrett pack nearly sent her back to the bathroom.

  She gave him one last look, one she hoped didn’t show the longing in her heart. She kissed their son and walked out the door as Garrett turned his back on her and told Rick to sit down before he fell over.

  He didn’t even watch me leave.

  Maggie felt cold and dead as she sat down on the worn, brown couch in the Sappersteins’ family room.

  “You’re shivering,” Cindy said. “Here.” She took a tiger-print throw from the back of a chair and draped it over Maggie’s trembling shoulders. “Carl is picking up Mitzy from the vet and should be back any minute.”

  “I’m sorry to be such a bother lately.”

  Cindy turned on her hundred-watt smile. “You’re supposed to impose on friends. It’s what they’re for.”

  Maggie almost laughed, but it hurt too much. Cindy plopped unceremoniously on the coffee table and faced her, not saying a word. Maggie didn’t want to take the invitation to talk, but found the whole story tripping from her mouth anyway.

  “A death threat,” Cindy whispered, horrified. “And he expects you to pretend it’s nothing?”

  Maggie shrugged. “To Garrett it is nothing. It makes me wonder how many other threats there were over the years that I didn’t know about.”

  “Since somebody came to warn him, does that mean the convict will be getting out soon?”

  “Apparently.” Maggie leaned back and wrapped the throw more tightly around her, the blanket provided no warmth. The warmth she needed was Garrett’s arms, but she’d closed them to her. “He turned his back as I left. It was like twisting the knife.”

  The other woman patted Maggie’s knee, trying to offer what little comfort she could. Later, she disappeared into the kitchen, returning in a moment with a hot mug. “Try this. It’s a little weird but pretty soothing.”

  Maggie took a sip. The warm tang surprised her. “Hot orange juice?

  Cindy nodded. “Unbeatable.”

  Maggie smiled. “It’s good.” She took another sip and remembered back to the juice she and Garrett had shared in the middle of the night, the brush of their fingers as she’d taken the carton from his hands. “I need him, Cindy. I built a life without him once, but I don’t know how to do it again.”

  “You can’t live with that kind of fear either.”

  A disgruntled Siamese’s yowling heralded Sapperstein’s arrival. “Mitzy, if you’d stay out of fights, your life would be a lot easier.” He set the cat carrier down, opened the door, and the unhappy animal shot under an antique hutch. He shook his head in exasperation and looked up. “Hey, boss, what are you...” His grin froze as he took a good look at her. “You look awful.”

  “Thanks.” Maggie laughed miserably. “I feel like that cat. I know how to avoid getting beat-up, but I can’t help myself.” She loosed another shuddery laugh and took a too large swallow of hot juice. It burned a little as it went down but left a mellow warmth in her stomach. “I think I’ll be drinking a lot of this for a while.”

  Sapperstein sat beside her, his dark eyes riveted on her. For the second time, the story was coaxed from her. Telling it again wasn’t any easier.

  He leaned back on the couch, stared thoughtfully at the ceiling and stretched his long legs out in front of him. The cat, deprived of being the center of attention, meowed pitifully from her hiding place.

  “I know, Mitzy,” he said dryly. “Men are scum.”

  Garrett’s not, Maggie defended involuntarily, then swallowed hard.

  “I wish I had a magic rabbit I could pull out of the hat for you, boss,” he said softly. “I really do.”

  “Thanks,” she said quietly. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could keep the love suppressed and out of sight until she learned to live with it.

  The two Sappersteins cajoled her into sharing their leftovers for dinner, then indulging in a rousing game of Monopoly. Her mind wasn’t on that either. Most of the time she kept forgetting what property she owned. By ten o’clock she felt as if she’d been run over by a tractor.

  “Your ex is a very dynamic man,” Sapperstein observed absently, counting out the Monopoly money he owed her for landing on Baltic with the two hotels he insisted she buy. “He’s not someone I’d ever want to annoy. Wheelchair or not, I think it could get dangerous. It doesn’t really surprise me that he’d drop such an uncompromising ultimatum on you.”

  “He said he’d never go back.”

  Sapperstein shook his head. “Too bad you can’t trust him to keep his word.”

  Maggie bristled. If Garrett was anything, it was truthful. He promised he wouldn’t go back to the streets. All he asked was that I trust him. “Oh, God, what have I done?”

  “What are you talking about?” Cindy asked.

  “I did it again.” Maggie came to her feet. “In the early days after the crash I believed he couldn’t go back to being a cop, and I wanted him back. Then everything blew up in our faces, and he pushed me away. This time, all I had to do was trust him to be who he is—an honest man. I had everything I ever wanted right in my hands, and I threw it away.”

  “I still don’t follow you,” he said, “but are you forming a plan?”

  “Oh, yes,” she moaned. “Plead temporary insanity. If that doesn’t work, I’m not beneath groveling.” Maggie laid the tiger-print throw on the back of the overstuffed chair. “Garrett has never lied to me in his life, and he said he’ll be safe.”

  She drove like a madwoman to get home. Maybe he hadn’t left yet. It’s been hours, Hughes. He didn’t have that much to pack. She clung to the feeble hope anyway.

  When she pulled into the driveway, Rick’s car was gone, and the two-story stucco was dark. Not even the porch light was on. The only illumination came from the street lamp in the neighbor’s yard. “If I lose, I’m going to sell this place. Too many memories.”

  Reluctantly, she got out of the car and trudged up the front walk. Garrett had told her before that he’d left hoping she’d get lonely enough to ask him back. In essence, he’d called her bluff. Maybe he was doing it again. It was a desperate hope, but the only one she had.

  She reached the porch, and her heart plummeted at the sight. The wheelchair ramp had been dismantled virtually nail by nail. Only the concrete footings and the old porch beneath
it remained. The lumber had been stacked neatly to the side in a clear message. He was gone, and he’d returned her house to as close to its previous condition as possible.

  Then she found the note taped to the front door. Tearing it off, she stepped inside and flipped on a light.

  In Garrett’s blocky, determined, left-handed script, she read:

  Maggie,

  Rick promised to get the mess out of the yard this weekend. If he decides to spend the night with me, I’ll have him call. I’ll also see that he gets to school on time. We used the last of the bread for sandwiches. I put money to cover on the table.

  Garrett

  Tears cascaded down her face, and she crumpled into a chair. The note had been functional, to the point and cold as ice. This time, he’d taken her at her word. She desperately wished she’d taken him at his.

  Maggie wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear, but something Garrett had told her whispered in her ear.

  Babe, when are you going to stop seeing yourself as a coward? You’re the most courageous woman I know. You’re always strong when you need to be. The rest is just baggage you don’t need to carry around.

  “I am not that strong!” she yelled at the note, the only thing of his she had. Yes, you are, Hughes. He loves you. If you want him, go get him. It may not work. You hurt him bad this time. But maybe over time, you can show him you can handle the uniform. She shuddered. The fear hadn’t abated one iota. “But I’ll be damned if I let it rule one more day of my life.” Maggie got to her feet.

  She washed her face, scrubbing so hard she wondered if she’d taken some skin off as well. Patting it dry, she stared hard into the mirror. Emerald eyes flashed fire.