Ann Cristy (Helen Mittermeyer)

by Tread Softly (lit)

  Before Samson could ask his usual question, she spoke. "No, there's nothing in the oven yet." And she poked her tongue at the bluff Irishman when both he and Rafe burst out laughing.

  "And are you so sure, colleen? You have a different look to you, I'd swear to it." Samson laughed harder at the flush on her face.

  Rafe didn't laugh. He stared at Cady as though he would see deep inside her. He had opened his mouth to speak when a yell from the stairs turned all heads that way.

  "Hey, you two, it's about time you arrived. I'm starved." Gareth clattered down the stairs and flung him­self at his older brother, trying to wrestle him to the floor. Before he had gotten Rafe into a grip, Cady was there cuffing him behind the ear. "Ouch, Cady. What the hell is the matter with you?"

  "It's one thing for Samson to hand wrestle Rafe, but you are not going to knock him to the ground." She shook her finger in her brother-in-law's face. "He isn't that strong yet, and I'm not going to stand by and let you undo all the good work that has been done on Rafe just because you're an overgrown puppy." She put her hands on her hips and glowered up at Gareth, who rubbed the back of his ear sheepishly.

  Gareth glanced at Rafe and shrugged. "You married a tiger, brother; you'd better watch out. If she decides to come after you, she'll chew you up."

  "The only way I'll go after Rafe is if he doesn't take care of his health," Cady said haughtily. Gareth put his nose in the air, trying to imitate her. When she moved to cuff him again, he ducked, and Rafe caught her around the waist.

  "You'll have my baby brother covered with bruises, darling." Rafe bent over her, nibbling her ear.

  "Cady's right." Gavin came down the stairs in a much more sedate fashion than his ebullient twin. "Rafe's health is the primary thing. If you weren't such a thug, Gareth, you'd know it, too." Gavin smiled as his twin came at him in a crouch, meeting him halfway. Though he was of slighter build than his twin, he was faster and more coordinated.

  They wrestled in the front hall as their father de­scended the formal curved staircase that made a better setting for an antebellum Southern ball than a wrestling match.

  "You two get up from there," Emmett said mildly. watching with obvious pleasure as his progeny bounced off the walls with groans and thuds. "Rafe, my boy, how are you?"

  "Fine, and my wife is fine as well." Rafe took his father's outstretched hand in his, his other arm pulling Cady close to his side.

  "Oh? That's good." Emmett looked at Cady in the circle of Rafe's arm and a frown appeared between his eyes. "Lee Terris is here for dinner. I know you'll be glad to hear that, Rafe."

  "It's your house. Ask whom you please." Rafe's voice had an edge of irritation that narrowed his father's gaze on him. But before he could say anything, the door lead­ing to Emmett's study opened, revealing Bruno Trabold. Emmett turned to look at him, smiling. "And you'll stay, too, won't you, Bruno?"

  "Since it's family, I won't stay." Bruno smiled at Emmett, his hooded gaze touching on the rest of the persons gathered there.

  "You're the same as family," Emmett roared.

  "Not to me, he isn't," the irrepressible Gareth stated, staring back at his glowering father.

  "Me, either," Gavin echoed.

  "Where are your manners?" Emmett glared at the twins, but he accompanied Bruno to the front door.

  Neither Cady nor Rafe had spoken to Bruno, and he had not acknowledged them.

  Lee Terris floated from the back of the house in time to say she was disappointed that Bruno wasn't staying. He was such a stimulating conversationalist. Then she shrugged and walked straight to Rafe.

  Gareth stepped in front of her, catching her uplifted arms, then gripping her in a bear hug. "I love it when you get physical, Lee, baby." He gave her a resounding smack on the lips.

  Although Lee smiled when Gavin laughed, Cady could see the angry glitter in her eyes.

  Emmett herded them into the ballroom-size front room, where the priceless Sheraton furniture that had been col­lected by Rafe's mother was interspersed with over­stuffed couches that would bear the weight of men like the Densmores, who demanded comfort over style.

  Samson served the drinks. He was quick to make Cady's mineral water and lime and serve it to her even as Emmett muttered about the milksop swill drunk by his daughter-in-law. The boys drank beer. Lee Terris had a martini. Rafe and his father drank Irish whiskey with no ice and little water.

  When Rafe's sisters arrived in a swirl of children and subdued husbands, Samson bustled about fixing drinks for them as well. He made a pitcher of sweet Manhattans for Aileen and Aveen and their husbands. For the chil­dren—two boys and a girl—he poured root beer that he himself had made into old-fashioned glass mugs.

  "Cady, that dress! It's lovely." Aveen said it as if she were offended.

  Gareth crept up behind Cady. "What a traitor you are, Cady. Being well dressed when you should look dowdy." His voice went an octave higher. "My dear, you will never get along in this world if you're going to be fash­ionable, intelligent, and gorgeous." His voice was loud enough so that both Aveen and Aileen looked at him and frowned.

  "Don't be a bigger fool than you can help, Gareth," Aileen said repressively, looking at him down her long, thin nose.

  "Don't try any of those schoolmarm airs with me, sister dear," Gareth shot back. "I'm not your husband ... and I won't be trounced on by your size-ten shoes."

  Aileen seemed to swell. Gareth's chin jutted forward. Gavin made a move toward his twin. Cady stared at Aileen's husband, David Bailey. His face had taken on an ugly crimson cast as he looked from his brother-in-law to his wife and back again.

  Without thinking, Cady walked to Dave's side and took hold of his arm. He looked down at her, an angry glitter in his eyes. "I don't know how you've kept from tying her up and putting her in the attic all these years," Cady said lightly, grinning up at him.

  He put one hand over hers, his expression relaxing. "Maybe that's exactly what I will do." He looked back at his wife, who now stood nose to nose facing her brother, their voices low but still piercing enough to have turned the heads of the children. "Aileen, shut up and sit down. Now." Dave's voice wasn't loud, but it pen­etrated the heated argument and the concentration of most of the others in the room. His two children, two-year-old Mara and ten-year-old Emmett, stared at their father, mouths agape, circles of root beer on their lips. Aileen started as though someone had stuck a pin in her. Emmett scowled. Aveen looked affronted; her husband, Harrison Colby, looked hopeful.

  Aileen turned slowly away from a surprised Gareth, a wide-eyed Gavin at his side muttering, "That tears it." She drew herself up to her full height, her nostrils flaring as her mouth opened to speak.

  "And don't bother to begin one of your long-winded discourses, either." Dave spoke through his teeth. "I'm fed up with it and I'm fed up with your damn argumen­tative family." He jabbed his finger at her. "And if you make one comment, I'll take the kids and get out of here and you can stay in this bear's den."

  The silence would have been total if it weren't for Rafe going to the bar, pouring a drink, and carrying it to his brother-in-law, saluting him with it before handing it to him.

  "What the hell do you mean talking to my daughter that way?" Emmett came alive out of his stunned silence.

  "If you don't like it, I'll leave." Dave took a long swallow of his drink, the tremor in his hand barely dis­cernible to Cady. "And if I do, I'm not coming back."

  "How dare you!" Aveen sputtered, starting to step forward.

  All at once Aveen's husband, Harrison, rose and took hold of her arm. "Mind your own business, Aveen. If you say anything else, I'll leave with Dave."

  Rafe went back to the bar, made another drink, and handed it to his other brother-in-law, saluting him in the same way.

  Aileen and Aveen stared at their husbands while Em­mett's color fluctuated from magenta to scarlet to putty.

  Samson reentered the room, ran a quick eye around, cleared his throat, and announced, "Dinner. It's ho
t."

  Dave took another swallow of his drink and offered his arm to Cady. Harrison came up on her other side and took hold of her other hand. "Warmonger," he whis­pered. "I haven't felt so good being at Durra in a long, long time." He grinned over her head at Dave. They strolled past Emmett through the double-doored archway into the spacious dining room. The others followed in desultory fashion.

  When they were all seated, the children included, since Emmett insisted that his grandchildren dine with their elders when they came to Durra, Rafe rose to his feet, wineglass in hand. "I'd like to propose a toast. To my wife, Cady, who takes on all comers and wins." He gave Cady an enigmatic smile, then emptied his wine­glass in two long swallows.

  Her two brothers-in-law and the twins jumped to their feet as well and shouted, "To Cady," then quaffed their wine. Then they looked at the sisters and Emmett.

  Emmett's mouth worked as though he had hot peppers in it, but he raised his glass and mumbled, "To Cady." Aileen and Aveen took deep breaths, watching their hus­bands as though they had turned into tigers before their eyes. "To Cady," the cold voices echoed. Lee Terris reluctantly did the same.

  The conversation at dinner was not the usual. The norm at Durra was for Aileen and Aveen to hold forth on every subject, deferring only to their father. Tonight, as though someone had untied their tongues, Dave and Harrison took the conversational gambit between their teeth and worried it like puppies with a bone. Cady would have been deeply impressed with the knowledge and scope of her brothers-in-law if she hadn't been so im­mersed in her own misery.

  After the first shock of hearing their in-laws discourse on the advantages of having technicians from Germany in their factories, Gavin and Gareth jumped in with their own animated accounts of skiing in Germany the pre­vious year and how intrepid they had found the Germans on the slopes.

  Cady laughed with the others from time to time, but she felt her husband's eyes on her, that blue-gray peeling back her skin and picking apart her mind. She was con­vinced that if Rafe chose to, he could indeed read her mind.

  When dessert was offered, Cady declined, contenting herself with the grapes that accompanied the cheese board. Her stomach seemed to be doing flip-flops, and she had a full, uncomfortably swollen feeling.

  All at once she sat straight up in her chair, heat rising from her toes and the tips of her fingers. She hadn't had a period in quite a while. Even discounting her totally irregular cycle, she should have had one by now. What was it Samson had said to her earlier? She had a different look to her tonight. Could that superstitious Irishman have seen what she hadn't yet guessed?

  "My dear Cady, you look positively green," Lee Terris cooed from her place across the table. "I hope you're not going to condemn the cooking at Durra." The su­perbly groomed brunette sipped at her wine. "It doesn't seem to bother you if you insult the Densmores." The voice had a velvet lilt that just carried to Emmett's ears.

  "I wouldn't like anyone coming to Durra and insulting me." He seemed still to be simmering from the actions of his sons-in-law.

  Gavin leaned close to Cady, his body like a protective shield. "Cady didn't say anything." He looked over at Lee, his face contorting in dislike. "And I don't know where the hell you got the idea that you could come here and insult anyone. If you insult my sister-in-law, I'll take it personally."

  Rafe's body seemed to stiffen as he caught fragments of what Gavin was saying. He was too far up the table to have heard it all, but the grim look on his face when he glanced from his brother to Lee boded ill for someone.

  Lee looked at Rafe, her smile strained. "I think this silly conversation has gone far enough. Aileen, do tell us about the Christmas party planned at Bethesda."

  "Don't forget the Christmas party I'm having here," Emmett interrupted. "Lee is helping me with it, and I expect you all to attend."

  The evening wound down early. Cady had a feeling she wasn't the only one glad to see it come to an end.

  On the drive home there was virtual silence between her and Rafe. When they reached the Highlands, she went directly to her room, not waiting for him to come into the house. She was glad to strip off her clothes and head for a warm bath. She took time to study her nude form in the three-way mirror in the bathroom. Her body didn't look any different, but somehow she knew it was. All at once she recalled the first night that she and Rafe had made love after his return from the hospital. That night she had thought she might be ovulating, but then she had forgotten about it. There had seemed so many other things to think about that she hadn't really consid­ered it again.

  She stepped into the frothy depths of the round tub that could easily accommodate four people and rested her head on the foam bath pillow. If only she didn't have Todd Leacock, Bruno, and those pictures to worry about, she could wallow in the joy of impending motherhood. For all at once she had no doubts. She was going to have Rafe's child. Oh, he would be happy enough about it. Rafe loved children, and their earlier failure to have any had been as big a disappointment to him as to Cady. But when he found out about those pictures, he would be monumentally angry. He would consider her unfit to raise a child, his child.

  Cady sank up to her chin in suds, the sting of tears in her eyes. She would have nothing once Rafe found out. Nothing! She rose to a sitting position, causing a wave of water to wash up the sides of the tub. Damn it, she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She would take Bruno Trabold and Todd Leacock with her, even if she never did another thing on this earth.

  With that victory uppermost in her mind, she dragged herself to bed to sink into a restless sleep. Rafe hadn't said good night to her, she realized with a sigh just before she closed her eyes.

  Rafe was gone before she rose the next day and Cady was glad, because a sudden attack of nausea sent her to the bathroom in a rush. The sour taste left in her mouth was not totally due to the nausea, but it kept her from eating breakfast.

  Trock came to tell her that he had found Greeley and Leacock meeting at a restaurant. He had photographed them, and he had also managed to place a recorder in Leacock's car; though he hadn't yet retrieved the trans­mitter, he felt it would hold enough to implicate Leacock in wrongdoing. "You aren't eating." Track's slate-gray eyes reproached her as he rubbed the ears of the bull terrier. Graf had placed his head in Cady's lap. She knew the dog had missed her while he had been away with Trock. "I told you not to worry," Trock accused her.

  After he left, Cady toyed with a triangle of toast and thought of her lunch with Stacy Lande.

  At five minutes before one o'clock, Cady left her Mercedes sports car in the parking lot of the posh French restaurant called Robert's. There was a chance she'd be seen by people she knew, perhaps even Bruno, but since she and Stacy had always been friendly, she hoped that anyone seeing them would think it was just an ordinary women's luncheon. After all, Stacy was on Rafe's staff, and Cady had been instrumental in getting her there.

  Cady was fond of Stacy and had found her an efficient secretary. Perhaps because she was the only person in Rafe's office actually hired by Cady, the two women had become close.

  At the beginning of lunch they had much to say to one another about people they had worked with. Cady found the catching up amusing as Stacy recounted many anecdotes about the staff.

  Stacy took a deep breath as she watched the waiter depart after pouring them more coffee. Then she looked at Cady. "I have a feeling you didn't ask me to meet you here to have me tell you about Senator Nielsen's Labrador running up and down the halls."

  Cady smiled. "You're right." She pressed her napkin to her lips. "Stacy, I'm going to be very frank with you because I think I can trust you."

  "You can."

  "I'm being blackmailed." She exhaled, watching Stacy, who sat very still and returned her gaze. "I feel sure that Bruno is behind it. Do you think he's capable of it?"

  Stacy took a deep breath, her thirty-five years resting lightly on her designer-suited shoulders. Her blond hair might have come from a bottle, but it wa
s well done and had a soft richness. "Yes, I do. He not only could do it, Cady, he has done it to others. That's why I had to get away from there. We all have to compromise in some areas on the job, but working for Bruno was like working for the Syndicate." She took a sip of ice water and looked around the elegant restaurant. "To give the devil his due, I really don't think Emmett knew the extent of Bruno's shady dealings. Bruno Trabold is one of the most un­derhanded people I have ever known, and I wouldn't trust him around the corner."

  "That's what I felt. And what about Silas Greeley?" Cady leaned both elbows on the table. "You once told me that Greeley pimped those parties at Durra." Cady bit her lip, fighting the sick feeling rising in her throat.

  "Not just at Durra. Greeley and Bruno Trabold set up situations like that for many political galas. That's how they obtained a hold on so many legislators. I don't think Mr. Densmore ever knew that the women brought to the parties were prostitutes controlled by his closest business associate. Once I saw Bruno's little black book. In fact, I copied it on the sly to protect myself if he ever tried anything funny with me. Fortunately I never had to use it, but I brought the copies with me today, in case you need them." She smiled in response to Cady's slack-jawed look of surprise.

  "I never expected anything like this, Stacy. Thank you."

  "Listen, I saw how you were with Rafe when he was flat on his back. Rafe was good to me; he always treated me right." She frowned down at her napkin. "I saw how people tried to manipulate Rafe when he came to Durra... his father, who brought oil men to the house in order to pressure Rafe into not supporting a bill that would impose fines for oil spills, antienvironmental peo­ple, loggers, mining interests, and many others. Bruno harried Rafe constantly. They tried to turn Rafe into a puppet for their own uses, but they couldn't do it. Rafe is strong and he fought back. I remember how ashamed he was about the scandal at Durra and how he never tried to excuse himself. But from that day on there was no more hanky-panky with him. Long before he met you, Cady, Rafe had become the straight, honest legislator he is today."