“Anyway, he re-ran the trace, the fluids, the bio and came up with a great big fucking question mark! Where the fuck did the pube come from?” He smiled and walked to the left of me. I turned my body in the chair to face him.
“The pube?” I asked. Totally confused.
Dean walked over to the window that overlooked the New York City skyline, and stared out a moment as if in thought. Then turned and walked back towards where we sat. “I had him run all the evidence through all the systems, fingerprint, DNA…so on and so forth… and we finally got a hit… a ‘big as fucking day’ hit.”
I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but I felt a surge of hope. He was so enthusiastic it was contagious.
“Like I said, we got a hit. Here’s the pay dirt Cole…It seems your insurance company demands a check, fuck, a check I didn’t know even existed.” He looked squarely at Cole. “They take a DNA test on all flight personnel. Pilots, flight attendants…” he paused long enough for me to feel Coles hand tense. He had been holding mine for support but now I felt his fingers squeeze mine a little tighter.
“So as I was saying…we got a hit, a big fucking hit that led us right back to fucking Denver Colorado.” He smiled as he turned away. Obviously trying to get his ducks in a row. I could see out of the corner of my eye Lemelson shaking his head ever so slightly, as his eyes rolled back. Yeah, Dean could do that to you, but right now I was starting to really like him.
“Led us right to a flight attendant named Jessica McIllwain.” He paused and looked directly at Cole. “You’re feeling me now, Cole, aren’t you?”
I spun my body around and looked at Cole. There was a light in his eyes that I hadn’t seen for weeks.
“Well, little Miss McIllwain’s DNA showed up on Lauren Buckley’s body by way of a pubic hair. I thought W.T.F.” He actually said the letters W.T. F. Really Dean?
He cleared his throat and continued. “Well…I got a warrant to search her house and…well lets just say, she had a freezer full of pops…and I ain’t talking the kind you want to put in your mouth on a hot day.” He laughed out loud. Obviously finding something very funny. “No…she had a freezer full of natural lamb skin condoms—thirteen to be exact—full of frozen sperm.”
Cole’s head nearly spun off his neck.
“Yours pal,” he smiled and took a sip of his water. Apparently going off on a tangent made a fellow thirsty. “Thirteen, crazy bitch had thirteen of your wasted babies in her fucking freezer, all marked with little dates and covered with red magic marker ‘X’’s and ‘O’’s. What a fucking fruitcake this one is.
“Anyway we take her in for questioning. I gotta say Denver’s got a lot of competent cops, the whole Ramsey case was fucked, but these guys were good, knew their shit.
“We talked to her, real slow and easy. She saved your packets…liked to take them off you herself, huh?” He looked directly at Cole.
Cole slowly nodded. My head was spinning here. To quote a brilliant Detective ‘W.T. F.’
“She froze them all, get this shit, she thought she’d impregnate herself…catch you the hard way. Well, that wasn’t working for her so she kept them babies frozen. No pun intended.”
I gasped. Cole sighed.
“Then she got some crazy fucked up idea into her pretty little head. This is the part where she starts the water works, looking for a little sympathy. I played along, trying to keep her talking. She tells me ‘if she can’t have you, or your baby, she’d kill the woman who could, and frame you as punishment. So that the woman you wanted would be alone like she was and you’d have lots of time to think about how much it hurts not being with the one you love.’ A little over the top with the theatrics, but it was entertaining. You could say that she was somewhat of a fucked up girl. In fact, Grace?” He asked sweetly. “I owe you an apology.”
My eyebrows lifted, was there really more he had to tell us. I sighed.
“Remember when you thought someone was in your apartment…that night after Cole here left?” He smiled weakly when I nodded. “Well, seems Ms. McIlwain had a set of Cole’s keys. Seems the crazy bitch stole ‘em from Cole’s briefcase when he fell asleep on the plane.
I think I gasped.
“Well,” he continued, he was on a roll for sure. “She told us she followed Cole to your apartment building, and waiting until you both left, then entered and roamed around your apartment. Even told us she tried to enter one more time but heard someone inside and took off running.” He looked perplexed, “don’t know why we didn’t see her on the security footage, but…”
As angry as I was, I also felt sorry for her. She apparently loved him, just like I had. Just like Lauren had. And because of their strange infatuation, both were left alone and disillusioned.
“Anyway, we got her. And because of Stewy here, ” he pointed to Stewart Lemelson, who cringed ever so slightly again, “and someone who has friends in high places...” he looked directly at me lifting his eyebrows.
My brain was trying to process all the information Dean was feeding us, but at his mention of ‘friends in high places’, I pushed away the fog and panicked.
“Franklin was a supreme court Judge in New York County for several years.” I turned to Cole apologetically. “He said he’d bury it all for as long as we needed…” I squeezed my eyes shut terrified I’d just stuck my foot in my big fat mouth.
I heard Cole chuckle softly, and slowly opened my eyes.
“He’s my attorney Grace, nothing you say here could jeopardize my case.”
I took a deep breath thankful I didn’t screw up his chances for acquittal.
“Contrary to that,” Dean continued, “He helped you out. The case against you has been dismissed. You, my friend,” he said looking at Cole, “after tomorrow, will be fully exonerated. You’re free.”
Lemelson couldn’t contain himself any longer and stood up.
“Yes…all true, but what Detective Johansen neglected to tell you was…” his tone of voice, where Dean was concerned, was right on the money. He was an uncouth, big mouthed, son of a bitch. But he was our son of a bitch, and I wanted to squeeze him so hard right now his head would pop off.
“Detective Johansen didn’t neglect to tell us anything.”
I turned around to face the man behind the voice.
Cole stood up and reached his hand out to Dean. Dean shook his hand and Cole pulled him in and gave him a hell of a bear hug… guy thing I’m sure.
Laughter erupted from Cole’s chest and a hundred years of pressure was released. Suddenly he seemed younger than when I first met him.
Even Lemelson had to take a seat. The stress was that intense and insanely crazy.
“Well, there was something that Stewy didn’t tell you yet.”
At the mention of Dean’s pet name for Stewart Lemelson, Stewart bowed his head and after moment or two gratefully looked up, knowing full well that Dean just did his job for him. He’d be getting paid very well for all of Dean’s solid police work.
“Yes, your father, Franklin,” Lemelson started to say.
“Step-father,” I corrected.
“Pardon… Stepfather, Franklin Chancellor went a bit further. I think you will both be more than pleased.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back a bit. “Think of it as a wedding present.” He continued.
I think I yelped…okay, so what if I yelped?
“Seems your ‘step-father-in-law’ could move mountains. Cole,” he turned to face Cole, “Your son, Kyle, will be joining you both tomorrow morning.”
I think I screamed, but was totally and rightfully ignored.
“He will arrive at JFK Airport tomorrow at 7:40 am and be placed into your custody… permanently,” he went on to say. “I have arranged for a car to pick you both up and be taken to the airport to greet your son.” He beamed.
Cole was beside himself. He looked just like a kid on Christmas morning. He had received the two gifts he wanted most…his son and his freedom, and he deserve
d nothing less.
I looked at Dean, leaning on Lemelson’s desk with his arms across his chest, smiling broadly as he watched Cole step back into himself. I’m sure he turned up some stories that would turn a person’s hair gray while investigating Cole, which made it even more important that he be the one who told him the truth. Wow, my mind was truly blown.
He truly was a good friend to me—to us—and a more than perfect match for Michelle.
The two of us took the ride to JFK the next morning. Neither of us could sleep the whole night. We lay in each other’s arms and talked, and talked, and talked. We planned our future, set a date and place for our wedding and laughed. It had been a long time since we’d done that. Just be silly and laugh.
Cole walked up to the woman walking towards us carrying his son, our son, and took him in his arms. I was crying uncontrollably as I watched him, this man I have come to love more than my own life, take that little baby in his arms. I saw the relief. I saw the love there, and I wanted to preserve this moment in time forever. They were my forever.
Chapter 27
“What the hell am I going to tell him, Shelle?”
“You’re going to tell him you love him. Then you’re going to tell him you’re pregnant.” She stood before me with her hands on her hips. No one in their right frame of mind is going to defy that woman, especially when she’s got her hands on her hips.
“I feel sick.” I turned and ran to the bathroom.
Several minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom after dry heaving for an eternity to find her standing in the same place, in the same position.
“Stop looking at me like that…no one wants to marry a girl that is a blimp with the mood swings of a fourteen year old.” I bent over at the waist; it felt better like that.
“Grace, I swear to God if you keep acting like a baby I’m going to call your mother.” I knew she was serious.
I stood immediately, my mouth gaping open.
“Shut your trap before a fly…”
I waved my arm at her.
“I know, I know… I’ll tell him tonight.”
“Promise?” She looked at me with puppy eyes.
“Stop that… you’re not being fair.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah…yeah…yeah…” I threw the tissue I had balled up in my hand at her. “He’s really going want to marry me now,” I whimpered.
“I’d marry you.”
“You’d do anything for me.”
“I would…”
“And I’d do anything for you Shell, you know that right? I love you so much.”
“Maid of Honor?”
“I already asked you. Think I have a secret best friend hidden under my bed?”
“No…I mean would you be mine?”
“No fucking way.” I looked at her incredulously.
“Yeah way.” Hands still on her hips. She stuck out her left hand and wiggled her fingers showing off the sparkler she wore. It was a beautiful round stone, set high in a four-pronged platinum setting.
“Nothing would make me prouder or happier. Of course I will,” I said through my tears as I pulled her into a hug, then I smiled. “Whose the guy?”
“Funny.”
That night when Cole came home from work I stood looking out the window into the blackness of the Manhattan night, terrified of how he’d react, what he might say. He’d just gotten his life back on track and I knew an added pressure was the last thing he needed. I knew he wouldn’t run screaming into the night, but I wanted him to want it as much as I did.
When he walked in I turned around from the counter. I was preparing his favorite home cooked meal, chicken parm.
He threw his suit jacket on the bench and walked over to me. I stiffened as he encircled my waist with his arms. He leaned in to kiss my neck and I pulled away slightly.
“What’s wrong, Grace?”
When I didn’t answer he pulled me closer.
“Wedding jitters?”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay, then…what exactly?”
“Shit…Ace.” I knew I was done. There was no way I’d be able to keep the truth from him anymore. “We’ve got a….an, umm…issue.”
“An issue, huh?”
“Sort of.”
“What sort of issue do we have?”
“The kind that likes to get up in the middle of the night and cry.”
He glanced towards the nursery where Kyle slept peacefully.
“And this is news how?”
“It’s a new issue.”
“A new issue?” I think I heard him smile.
“Yeah, kinda.”
“I see.” He looked up at the ceiling, and I was instantly worried. “Is it a girl issue or a boy issue?”
“Well, if you believe in modern medicine, and you believe what the doctors tell you, it’s a girl issue.”
“I like girl issues,” he said as he nuzzled my neck.
His nose tickled me. I laughed immediately feeling his arms tighten around my waist.
“And if she’s anything like her mother, I’m gonna love her like crazy.”
“Really?” I was astounded. Never expecting this reaction. I sighed and released the pent up air I’d been holding in.
“Did you think that getting sick all times of the day and night, feeling extra horny…” he emphasized that point by squeezing me tighter, “and getting emotional at every Hallmark commercial didn’t give you away?”
“You knew?”
“I hoped.”
“You hoped?” I was shocked.
“Yup.”
When I didn’t speak due to a large lump that got stuck in my throat, and the tears filled my eyes faster then I could swipe them away, he physically turned me around to face him and lifted my chin up, so our eyes met.
“It’s like the diamond,” he stated matter of factly.
“Diamond?” I said through sobs of relief.
“Yeah, the diamond that sparkled…the one that shined through all the ugliness.”
I stiffened remembering the story he told me about his mother’s diamond being found after the fire. How it sparkled through the soot and debris. The one I wore proudly every day.
“This,” his hand lowered onto my belly, his fingers splayed out covering my entire abdomen, “this is the diamond that sparkled and shined through all the darkness and ugliness. This…she is my diamond.”
I shook so violently Cole pulled me closer, holding me tightly.
“Grace, what’s the matter…are you okay?” I could hear the concern in his voice.
“I can’t believe you just said that…”
“Said what?”
“Evelyn’s your diamond…” I looked up at him, no longer caring that my mascara was trailing rivers of black down my cheeks.
“Wait, did you say Evelyn?” he asked so low, I barely heard him, but I did hear the crack in his voice.
“I was thinking we could name her after your mother.” I looked over at my hand resting on his chest and the stunning diamond on my finger. “If you…only if you. Do you want to?”
“Grace…” his voice faded but he held the back of my head with his hand and pressed me to his chest. I could hear his heart beating; it was a tad bit faster than normal.
“I love you a ridiculous amount, you are aware of that right?” He was trying so desperately to sound normal, but his tone gave him away.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I leaned up and stood on my toes pressing my lips to his.
“She’s your diamond.” I smiled so widely, I was sure I looked like a fool. “That’s what my father called me when I was little.”
He pulled us closer to him and whispered the word, ‘’Diamond?”.
I nodded against his shoulder. He dipped his head down and nuzzled my neck just like he did on more than a thousand occasions, and breathed in deeply. I reveled in the feeling…the feeling that the world finally belonged to us.
With his head still buried
in my hair, he spoke against the skin of my neck sending shivers up and down my spine, “I think we should tell everyone…after the wedding.” I felt him smile against my throat.
Chapter 28
“Stop doing that,” Michelle said in a mock-annoyed voice.
“I can’t.”
“Your gonna wear a path in that nice expensive rug if you keep it up.”
I looked down at my bare feet and smiled remembering the look on Michelle’s face when we pulled up in front of Cole’s Vermont home.
“Is he shitting me?” she asked, her eyes wide as saucers.
“I know…sick money right.”
“I.” She raised her hand to her chest. “Well, I for one believe wholeheartedly that if you’ve got it, you should spend it.” Her eyes traveled up the front of the house, taking in the enormity of it, shaking her head the whole time. “Does he have any left?”
I laughed as I followed her towards the door Cole held open.
“How many suitcases does one woman need for Christ’s sake?”
We both turned around to see Dean wrestling with Michelle’s suitcases, trying to extricate them from the rear of the SUV.
“Dean…” Cole called out. When Dean raised his head Cole said, “Leave those there, the staff will bring them in and put them in your room.”
“The staff…the staff? Now I’m seriously jealous…Dean!” she called out over her shoulder, “I want a staff.”
“Funny,” I said as I pushed her forward. “Let’s go Lampinelli.”
That night Cole had the fire in the great room going, which was nice. Up here, in Vermont, the late summer nights could be a little chilly. Michelle and Dean had gone exploring the house earlier and were still whispering about it.
Cole opened a bottle of Champagne and poured three glasses handing one to both Michelle and Dean, then poured me a glass of sparkling cider. I took the glass from his hand and half-smiled.
“Why do I feel like those,” I said pointing to their glasses, “are going to taste a hell of a lot better than this?” I held my glass up.
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