A Season Of Miracles

by Christine Michels

  Tyler stared at him wide-eyed as though he didn’t quite know what to think of Geoff’s sudden mood shift. “I am? You mean...you want to use it?”

  “You bet I do. As soon as we get home. Okay?”

  “Sure ” Tyler bent to lace his shoes. “I’ve got other stuff on there, too. You can look at it if you want to. Maybe it’ll help.”

  “I appreciate it, son.”

  After finishing up the dishes. Devon decided to join Geoff in his office to see how he was doing in deciphering the computer disks. The intense expression on his face halted her in the doorway. “Is something wrong?”

  He glanced up from his perusal of the laptop computer screen. “I found the missing pages from the datebook.” He shrugged. “Maybe I just never printed them off.”

  “They were among the encrypted disks?”

  “Yeah.”

  Devon felt her stomach clench. Whatever he’d found, it wasn’t good. “What do they say?”

  He looked at her then with a hard, unreadable expression. “Come see for yourself, if you like. But I warn you, you’re not going to like it.”

  Hesitantly, Devon moved across the room to stand behind Geoff’s left shoulder The page on the screen was from February tenth, SIX months before Geoff’s disappearance: “Spence says there’s something wrong with the security systems. Check it out.”

  “So Spencer knew there was a problem and approached you!”

  Geoff nodded. “It confirms what Russell told me ” He depressed a button and a page in late March appeared Devon read. “Problem is definitely with the software. Looks deliberate. But how? Do more testing.”

  Geoff depressed another button and a page from April twentyninth came up on the screen “Software has been written with a default access code that shouldn’t be there. Winston did most of the programming, but not all Did he plant the code?”

  And on July 29th. “Check records on other programmers.”

  Devon’s eyes widened. “Winston! But...that’s not possible! He wouldn’t do that!”

  Geoff lifted his gaze to stare at her. “And maybe I knew you’d feel that way.”

  Chapter 13

  “You think that...because Winston...?” Unable to finish the sentence, Devon made her way around the desk to plop down in the chair that sat there. “You think that your distance in those last few months could have been because of...your suspicion of Winston?”

  He nodded. “If I suspected your brother was guilty of sabotaging Future-Tech’s security systems, but I didn’t have the evidence, I could very well have felt that I couldn’t tell you my suspicions. At least not until I had proof. Look how protective you are of him. From what I’ve seen, you’ve always felt responsible for him, and you defend him or make excuses for him even now. Would you have listened to any accusation that didn’t have proof to back it?”

  Devon felt almost faint. “I...I don’t know. Probably not ” She swallowed. “Are there...any more entries?”

  “There were a few more notes pertaining to the security systems, stuff we already know There’s only one more about Winston.”

  “What does it say?”

  “It was written in late July, too. It says, ‘Winston seems to have more money than he used to. Check it out. Anyone else?’ ”

  Devon clenched her fingers together, so stunned she didn’t know what to think, let alone what to say. “I.. my God!” She rose and approached the window, staring out at the night, at the myriad of city lights below. Then she turned. “Do you believe there’s anything to it?”

  He met her gaze for a moment, holding it as he tried to assess her reaction, and then said, “I don’t know. But I’m not dismissing it.”

  She nodded and her gaze dropped, moving over the answering machine sitting on the corner of the desk. Her mind focused on the mundane. Blessed normality. “You haven’t listened to your messages.”

  He glanced over. “I hadn’t noticed.” Devon could believe that. After taking a copy of the program he needed from the kids’ computer, he’d been so anxious to see what the disks contained, that he hadn’t paid attention to much of anything——even dinner. Now, she almost wished he’d never decoded the disks.

  “Are you going to listen to them?”

  “Huh?” he asked as he continued to scroll through the pages on his computer screen.

  “The messages. Are you going to listen to them?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Reaching forward he depressed the play button and then resumed his absorbed perusal of a new screen of data.

  There was a sound like an indrawn breath and everything within Geoff went still as a premonition of what was to come left him cold And then an electronic voice blared into the silence. “Your luck won’t hold out forever, Geoff Leave it alone, or you’ll disappear for good. I’d hate to see that nice family of yours get hurt all over again ” There was a click as the caller hung up, and a whir as the machine rewound itself.

  The first thought that raced through his mind was: How did he, or they, know? What had he done that had tipped off whoever was watching that he hadn’t given up? Had someone heard him talking to his son in the dressing rooms after his karate class? Had someone heard Geoff ask his secretary at work where he could find the complaints that had been filed by clients two years earlier? There was no way to know. He didn’t know who was watching.

  “Geoff—”

  Slowly Geoff forced himself to look up and meet Devon’s eyes She was standing in openmouthed shock. “My God, Geoff! You can’t honestly believe that is Winston. It can’t be! He wouldn’t do something like that ”

  “Maybe he’s working for someone else.”

  Devon shook her head vehemently. “No! I can’t accept that.” Suddenly there were tears in her eyes. “It has to be someone else, Geoff,” she said in a choked voice.

  He rose, wanting to hold her, to comfort her, to protect her from whoever was doing this to them. “You’re probably right,” he murmured as he enfolded her in his arms.

  For a moment, one brief moment of weakness, she leaned on him, fitting her head into the hollow spot on his shoulder that seemed made for just that purpose. And then she was drawing away. “I.. I can’t do this.”

  He frowned in confusion. “Do what?”

  But she merely shook her head as fresh tears sparkled in her eyes. “I need to be alone, Geoff Please.” She left the room in such a hurry that he didn’t get another word out before she was gone It hurt that she wouldn’t let him comfort her. Whether she recognized it or not, she was his woman and she shouldn’t have to cry alone. Damn!

  He whirled to stare at the answering machine that had multiplied her pain If he could have gotten hold of the person on the other end of that electronic voice, he was quite certain he could have choked the life from him with his bare hands.

  Devon signed the last check, stuffed it into an envelope and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. There! The bill paying was done for another month. There was comfort in routine and she’d been focusing on that ever since last night. But it hadn’t kept her from thinking. She’d decided to simply ignore Geoff’s suspicions regarding Winston until they found some proof—which she sincerely believed they would not find. But that had been only one of the things on her mind. For an entire day, she’d done nothing but think. And, having finally reached some conclusions, she couldn’t put off speaking to Geoff for much longer.

  She glanced at her watch It was eight-thirty. “Tyler, Britanny,” she called toward the stairs as she passed them. “Time for you to have your showers and start getting ready for bed.”

  A minor argument immediately ensued overhead regarding who was going to go first. Ignoring it, Devon went into the kitchen to heat a kettle of water. Some herbal tea would be heaven right now, something to calm her nerves. As she waited for the water to heat, she thought back over the past couple of months and the changes that had been wrought in their lives So many changes...and now it looked like she would have another one to deal with.

  First
had been the change in her relationship with her father. He’d stopped speaking to her after she’d finally found the nerve to confront him concerning his interference in her life. She hoped they could work it out, but she refused to be the one to try to bridge the gap between them. He would take that as an admission on her part that she’d been wrong; that she’d accepted that her father always knew best. But she hadn’t been wrong and she no longer accepted his judgement as infallible. She was a grown woman, for heaven’s sake. And for the first time in her life Devon was determined to weather the strife between them until he understood how important this was to her.

  But her relationship with her father was only one of the changes that had occurred. There were the children, too. Each of them had changed in their own ways as they accepted their father back into their lives. They were both old enough to remember their father’s personality and realize that he wasn’t the same Both children worked to reconcile themselves to the changes they saw. Britanny seemed to find it easier than her brother. Accepting the changes in her father with her usual pragmatism, she had attempted to explain them to her brother by saying, “He can’t remember how to be, so he just is.” A rather profound statement for a nine-year-old, Devon thought, and so true

  After a time, Tyler had begun to signal his cautious acceptance of this new Geoff in other, more subtle, ways—by talking to him more readily, by imitating the quiet strength of Geoff’s new personality in his responses to situations, and, most apparently, by a significant decrease in his sullen behavior. Geoff’s talk with Tyler on that first night had been a turning point for their son.

  Neither had Devon come through the past weeks unchanged by Geoff’s presence in her life. But the changes she’d undergone were emotional and confusing, and she hadn’t been ready to examine them too closely. And, because she hadn’t been ready to feel them, she’d kept her emotions under rigid control Tonight, though, she suddenly found herself viewing her situation from a new perspective, almost as though she was standing outside herself.

  They had not resumed a physical relationship and would not until they solved their old problems. Devon had been adamant about that. She was still terrified of being subjected again to the emotional agony of losing him to something she didn’t understand. She’d hoped that controlling their base urges would prevent a deepening of the emotional bond between them. But she wasn’t sure it was working. She couldn’t help thinking that these emotions were merely a remnant of the love she’d had for the man she’d married. But...were they? Her physical needs were all wrapped up with her emotional needs to the point where she no longer knew where one ended and the other began.

  But it wasn’t only her own lust that had become a problem because of Geoff’s almost constant presence. She and the children were coming to rely on him, on his being there, in ways she hadn’t anticipated they would until she and Geoff had worked out the other aspects of their relationship—if that time ever came He was becoming an integral part of their lives again before she was ready for him to be, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

  And then, last, but certainly not the least of her concerns, were the continued threats against Geoff’s life. Those made her want to keep him close. But realistically, she knew she was no protection for him. She could continue to help him look for answers, without having him so close. That would be best for all of them until...until things were resolved.

  Now, if only she could somehow find some way to explain all this to Geoff.

  The button on the kettle popped, and she poured water into a small teapot. While the tea steeped, she poured a cup of coffee for Geoff. She was going to take him some coffee and, hopefully, lure him away from those computer disks long enough to have a serious conversation. It was not a discussion that she was looking forward to, but...

  Geoff surprised her by entering the kitchen just as she was taking the tea bag from her cup. “Mmm, coffee smells good,” he said.

  “I was just going to bring you some.”

  “Thank you.” He flashed her that fleeting smile that still had the power to make her heart tremble. He was so handsome, so very masculine. “I decided to take a break. See if I could head off a headache.”

  “Did you take a pill?” she asked, striving for normality, even as she wondered if she was being honest with herself when she said she needed to keep him at arm’s length.

  “Yeah,” he responded. Then, as though sensing the direction of her thoughts, he reached out a hand to caress her cheek and despite herself, despite all her resolve, Devon leaned into the touch. It felt so good to be close to him.

  Dropping the caressing hand to her shoulder, placing the other on her waist, Geoff stepped nearer. The contact was warm, comforting, and as always, she felt fragile beneath his touch, feminine. No other man had ever been able to make her so keenly aware of her femininity. A shiver raced through her as his thumb gently traced the line of her throat. Their eyes clashed and held, and Devon saw the smoldering promise there. Despite herself her heart began to pound, and her breathing quickened.

  “Geoff—” She tried to distract him.

  She never received an answer.

  And then suddenly she was in his arms. Devon gasped at the exhilarating shock of their bodies coming together, seduced by the mastery of his embrace as he tangled a fist in her hair. Tilting her head, he captured her lips with his, slowly deepening the kiss with an expertise that robbed her of strength and reason. The blood throbbed in her veins as he kissed her leisurely, deeply, staking a claim without words, telling her again with slow, expert strokes of his tongue, that she was his. And Devon, despite the alarm bells sounding in her mind, felt a soul-stirring desire rising up within her.

  “Mom, can I have a drink?”

  Devon and Geoff leapt apart as the high-pitched childish voice doused them with an ice-cold ration of reality. “What, dear?” Devon managed to ask in a tone that sounded reasonably calm as she hastily ran her hands over her mussed hair.

  Just then Britanny came around the corner and stopped. She eyed them suspiciously for a moment. Then her face brightened and, with an expression of pure glee, she asked, “Were you guys kissing?”

  “What makes you ask that?” Devon hedged, avoiding Geoff’s gaze.

  Still grinning, Britanny shrugged. “I don’t know.” Her gaze moved to Geoff. Then she frowned. “How come your hair’s all wet?” She flashed a censorious look at Devon “Mom didn’t dunk you for kissin’ her, did she?”

  “Britanny!” Though, for the first time she noticed that Geoff’s hair was damp. She’d been sidetracked by other observations.

  Geoff grinned. “No, she didn’t dunk me. I had a headache, so I wet my head in cold water.”

  “Oh.” Britanny thought about that for a second and then the frown cleared from her face and she looked back at her mother. “Can I have a drink?”

  Devon nodded. “Of course, but only water or milk. Nothing with sugar just before bed. And as soon as you’re finished I want you in bed to stay. Agreed?”

  Bntanny nodded and turned toward the refrigerator, saying, “Thanks, Mom,” over her shoulder.

  When their daughter had left the room, Devon lifted her gaze to Geoff’s face once more. The twinkle in his eyes suggested he was highly amused by their daughter’s forthrightness. Devon, on the other hand, didn’t know what to think, but she was grateful for the interruption. She backed away, grasping the coffee cup and passing it to him, before picking up her own cup of tea. “I... wanted to talk to you,” she murmured. “How are the disk translations coming?”

  Geoff eyed her for a moment as though seeking confirmation that the moment of intimacy could not be recaptured. “All right.”

  He shrugged. “Come on, and I’ll show you.” Moving past her, Geoff entered the hall and led the way back to the office. “These—” he indicated a stack on the right-hand side of the desk “—are pretty much your ordinary stuff. Letters, a couple of spreadsheets comparing yearly sales figures, that kind of thing
But these,” he picked up another smaller stack of disks and waved them in the air, “these contain what look like software subroutines.”

  Devon frowned. “I don’t understand. Is that significant?”

  Geoff nodded and waved away her confusion. “It could be. If they’re copies of the routines used to program the security systems And, if they are, they may even show me how the back-door codes were planted.”

  Devon gave him a stunned look and sat down with a plop on the edge of the chair that sat before the desk. “But...why would you have copies of that kind of programming?”

  “I’m assuming I somehow managed to find them. Maybe by copying them from a computer on the production floor if I suspected an employee. I don’t know. But since I have them, I’m going to go through them to see if they tell me anything.”

  Looking faintly relieved by his plausible explanation, though still more than a little floored, Devon sipped her tea. Then she looked at Geoff, “So you’re still thinking that it was somebody from Future-Tech who was deliberately sabotaging the systems? What about Spencer?”

  He shrugged. “For all I know, everything may still come back to Spencer. I’m simply looking at all the angles, Devon.”

  “All the angles?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I can’t afford to ignore the possibility that Winston may have been involved.”

  She sighed and nodded. “I know, it’s just that...”

  “I know, Devon But you have to admit that, if the entire problem had rested with Spencer, I should have been able to talk to you about it. Wouldn’t you think?”

  “Maybe Unless.”

  “Unless what?”

  She cleared her throat. “Unless Dad told you not to worry me by telling me and you listened to him.”

  Geoff stared at her for a moment. “Devon. I know you’ve been having some problems. with your father lately, but .I don’t think that sounds very likely. Do you honestly think I would have allowed him to dictate what I could discuss with you and what I couldn’t?”