Michael nodded as a tear trickled down the side of his face. "Thanks, Jessie."
Jessie nodded. "Yeah." She turned to Miranda. "But you and I really need to talk. Right now."
"Um, okay." Miranda got up, but kissed Michael again before she let go of his hand. She hugged Richard on her way out, then closed the door as she and Jessie left.
"A little help," Michael said as he tried to sit up. Richard helped him up, then fluffed his pillows. "Thanks," Michael said as he eased back.
"Are you ready for the ‘I told you so’ speech now?"
"Um, no," Michael said with a laugh, then hissed in pain. "How about I take a rain check for my next screw up?"
"You realize, of course, that people are now going to start looking at you like someone who might not screw up? Certain people might use the word ‘hero’ when talking about you."
"That I don’t think I’ll believe until I hear it, and then I still might not." But Michael was happy. "So what happens now?"
"He’s giving a DNA sample as we speak. I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time before he’s finally put away for what he did."
"Are you sure it’s him?"
"I’m positive." He tightened his jaw. "He raped her while their daughter was still in the house. He didn’t care about Jessie, ever. The day she was hiding with me, he didn’t say one word about her. She...I think he was in the middle of it when Jessie woke up. He let Josie go just long enough to get her back to sleep."
"How do you know?"
"It was something Jessie said that very day. I didn’t get it until I saw the first note. That was a lullaby Josie used to sing to her when she was a baby."
"Between that and whatever they gave me, I might throw up. Why the notes then?"
"I think he wanted to make sure that Jessie didn’t remember. I didn’t think she did Michael, I swear. But now I understand why she had a breakdown when she was at school."
"But why? It doesn’t make sense."
"He wanted to come back," Richard said simply. "He wanted to come back to the life he thought his wife had stolen from him." He shuddered. "It never occurred to him how much he’d stolen from her."
"Does that make it okay?" Michael asked quietly. "She tried to kill him."
"Michael, did you or did you not just take a bullet for the woman you loved? Imagine now that it’s your child. What do you think you would do?"
Before Michael could answer, they both heard Miranda shriek from behind the door. "What?!?" A moment later, Jessie walked in.
"What’s going on?" Michael asked in alarm.
Jessie shook her head and looked at Richard. "Why did I have to be the one who had to do that?"
"Because she was less likely to shoot the messenger if the messenger was you."
"What is going on?" Michael repeated.
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Looks like dear old Dad wasn’t the only demon."
~~~
Miranda walked into the waiting room. Emily ran up to her. "God, Miranda! The next time you leave work to confront a psychopath, can you at least let us know how long you’ll be gone? Jesus, you could have been killed!" Emily hugged her while Carlos, Jordan and Vijay gathered around.
Mitch ran in. "Miranda, are you alright?"
"I’m fine," she said wearily. "I’m not the one who was shot."
Emily put her hands on her hips. "That man is full of surprises."
"Who was shot?"
Emily reluctantly turned to her husband. "Michael Abbot."
"Are you serious?"
Lucy walked in a moment later. Miranda had never seen her look so exhausted before. "Are Richard and Jessie here?"
Miranda nodded her head. "They’re in Michael’s room."
Lucy pursed her lips a bit but Miranda’s gaze didn't waver. Lucy nodded at last, then walked in the direction of Michael’s room.
Emily rubbed Miranda’s arm. "I called Zainab and told her what happened. She’s on her way."
"Thanks, Em." But Zainab wasn’t the person Miranda was waiting for.
One minute later, Robert walked in. "Miss Harel, has the doctor checked you out?"
"Detective, I’m fine," Miranda said with unconcealed disgust. "Shockingly, Jessie seems to be okay as well. Michael, even, is going to be able to leave in a few days. So why don’t you get out of here now before you can inflict any further damage on anyone?"
"I understand you’re upset, Miss Harel, but I’m going to need a statement from you and Mister Abbot."
"Then you’re going to have to wait until I have an attorney present."
"Just let me know, Miranda," Mitch said to Robert.
"What a hero," Emily muttered before she walked off.
"Emily." Mitch looked at Miranda and then walked after Emily.
Miranda turned back to Robert. "And, by the way, if I find out that you’ve gone near Michael before I get back to him, I am going to rip you to shreds. Are we clear?"
Before Robert could answer, Miranda lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me, Detective," she said before she stalked off towards Alex Sheldon.
He was about to follow when he saw Zainab come in. Their eyes met, and she walked over to him. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.
He smiled shyly. "Just here to close up a few loose ends."
Zainab looked over to Emily who was heatedly telling Mitch to leave her alone and Miranda glaring at Alex while he squirmed. She knew where Michael was and she had a pretty good guess about where Richard and Jessie were. "Was it worth it?"
"We got our man."
"That wasn’t what I asked."
His smile drooped a bit. "It’s nice to finish something."
"Never mind the cost?"
"I told you, I have regrets, if that’s what you’re asking. But they might be different from what you’re thinking."
"What are they?"
"I hurt someone who didn’t deserve to be hurt."
"You already told me that one, actually. And I can think of about five or six other someones."
"Maybe," he conceded, "but right now I can only think of one."
"Is that it?"
"No." He shook his head. "I regret that I’ve lost that person’s respect."
"Then take some advice Detective—"
"I’d prefer if you called me Robert."
"Take some advice, Robert. Regret can really eat you from the inside out. By definition, it’s about something you can’t fix. Best you can do is learn from it and then leave it alone, never to be repeated. Otherwise you’re liable to become an empty shell."
"Are you sure about that?"
"About it ruining your life?"
"No. About it being something I can’t fix."
Miranda had caught up to Alex before he could enter the waiting room. "I know," she said.
"Miranda, what were you thinking going after him? Why not call me or tell Richard? You could have been hurt."
Miranda seethed. "And you wouldn’t want that would you? Because you don’t like to see people hurt unless you’re the one hurting them."
"Darling, I thought we talked about this last night."
Miranda struggled not to be repulsed by the memory of lying in his bed. "We did talk. You talked. And what was it you said exactly? Something about never hurting Richard purposefully? That if you’d known, you’d never have done it?"
"And it’s true."
"No, it’s not." Alex had never noticed before how cold her eyes could be when she was angry. But she had never been this angry before. "Lucy thought it was Tom, your friend, who outed her to her husband. So Richard asked him." Alex took a step back. "And it wasn’t him. It was you."
Alex searched her face for some sign of uncertainty and found none. He was undeterred. "Why would you take his word for anything? After what he did to his wife, his daughter and you?"
"Because it’s something you’d do." He swallowed. "You told Annabelle Abbot that her husband was having an affair with my mother. You were wrong
, of course, but I guess you get some points for not realizing that—"
"Miranda, don’t."
She shook her head. "You had nothing to gain when you did that except the knowledge that you’d hurt them. But maybe you did have something to gain when you told Richard’s father. Because then Lucy—everyone—would know how far you were willing to go. That you didn’t make empty threats. So why, Alex? Now I’m asking. Why did you do it?"
"Because my grandfather had just died." Miranda turned to see Richard behind her. He was holding an envelope. "Isn’t that right? Grandpa Hendrickson had just died, and you’d just bought up his company. And now Mom was starting to think about living her life, finally. She was thinking about leaving Dad. That’s what Tom told you. And you just couldn’t have that, right? Because then it would only be a matter of time before the whole world knew how you got everything you had."
"It wasn’t that simple." Miranda felt like a rope had just snapped.
"It never is," Richard said. "Just tell me one thing: did you know what Dad might do?"
Alex shook his head, but Miranda didn’t believe him. "I never would have—"
"Save it," Richard said and thrust the envelope into Alex’s chest.
He looked at the envelope. "What is this?"
"I’m returning something I don’t want. But thanks anyway." Richard took Miranda’s hand and they turned and walked away.
Alex looked at the envelope, then at Miranda. She wasn’t going to turn around. After a long moment, he walked away. "I tried," he said to himself as he walked out to the street.
Emily threw up her hands at Mitch, who looked like he'd just been punched. She walked to Richard and Miranda. Her mouth was opened expectantly, and Richard nodded his head. "Square one, I’m afraid."
Emily nodded. "Lucky for you, I’ve had a lot of practice making do without."
"We’ll need that expertise. Things area about to get very lean," Richard said solemnly, but then smiled. Just then, he saw Robert talking to Zainab. "Excuse me," he murmured. He walked over to them, but then Zainab went to Emily and Miranda while Richard and Robert began a heated argument.
Zainab put her arms around Miranda and Emily’s necks. "Well, ladies. Do you think we’ve had enough excitement this week?"
Miranda put her head on Zainab’s arm. "A lifetime," she sighed.
"Hey, how come I wasn’t invited to the huddle?" Jessie demanded as she put her arms around the Emily and Miranda’s waists.
"Oh, Jess!" Emily cried, and then she and Zainab hugged her tightly. Jessie didn’t pretend that she was bothered. "We could have lost you, and then what would we have done?"
Jess’s eyes filled with tears, and she quickly wiped them away. "Hey, it’s going to take a lot more than a psycho family to get rid of me."
Zainab rubbed her back. "We’re your family," she corrected. "Don’t ever forget it." Jessie nodded, then looked away before she’d start crying again.
"All set?" she asked Miranda.
"All set."
Jessie inhaled. "Dude, I never thought I’d see the day when I preferred Michael to Alex."
Zainab laughed. "Jessie, you preferred a convent to Alex."
"Yeah, but I preferred Hell to Michael."
Emily smiled. "I would have shot him years ago then."
Miranda rolled her eyes. "Alright, just for that, I’m not paying you any rent for the first month."
"Huh?"
Miranda smiled. "I have a feeling Richard’s going to need the space in the old Hendrickson homestead for a little while, and since everyone knows that I’m Hellie’s absolute favorite person—"
"No, that’s me!" Jessie said indignantly. "And if you’re moving in, I’m moving in."
Emily sighed, relieved. "Good, good, good. That many more reasons not to let Mitch move back in."
Just then, Jessie loosened her grip. They turned in the direction she was looking and saw Martin walk into the waiting room. He smiled at Jessie but walked over to Mitch who was still staring at Emily. They talked for a moment, then Martin walked over to Robert and Richard. He tapped Richard on the shoulder. Richard looked taken aback, but took a step away as Martin pointed his finger into Robert's chest.
In two minutes, Robert’s expression changed from one of amusement to one of resentful acquiescence. "And don’t think I’m kidding either!" Martin said before he walked toward Jessie.
"Then again," Jessie said as she walked to meet him.
"Hey," Martin said, looking eye to eye with her.
"Hey yourself," Jessie said as she smiled. "What’s up?"
"So your dad’s alive after all?"
"Yeah. Bummer."
"And you clocked him on the head?"
"Yeah."
"Didn’t he have a gun? Weren’t there other people with guns?"
Jessie shrugged. "I’ve been taken care of for so long, I figured it was time to pull my weight and return the favor."
"That’s funny, because I always thought you did an awesome job taking care of yourself."
She smiled. "I learned from the best."
"You must have...he must be. Because you’re awesome and..." Martin shook his head. "Okay, Jess. I’ve been such an ass. I am so sorry. I was totally BS-ing you about the age thing. I mean, I was, but I wasn’t. I’ve thought you were the hottest girl I’ve ever seen since you were sixteen. And yeah, the age difference does totally freak me out, but that’s not it. I mean, seriously, why would someone as gorgeous and hot and smart and so obviously cool and brave want to be with me? I didn’t know what the Hell you thought you saw in me, but I was pretty sure it was going to take about ten seconds into our first date for you to realize that it was just a figment of your imagination, and I’m too weak to take that kind of rejection.
"And then Mitch told me about that poser cop over there and I know I should have rushed to your house at that moment, but I didn’t think you wouldn’t hate me for being such a loser in the first place. But then he told me about your therapist, or your dad, or whatever...and I’ve probably said a hundred things in the last minute to make you realize that you really don’t want to be with someone like me after all, but I decided that if I really want to be a nice guy—Oof!"
Jessie had been nodding along the entire time, but at that moment shrugged and pulled Martin into a kiss. Everyone in the waiting room stared, most open-mouthed. Martin’s eyes popped for a second, then he grabbed the back of Jessie’s head. Lucy walked into the waiting room and gasped, but Richard shook his head before she could do anything stupid.
Two minutes later, Jessie pulled back. "Martin, you are the funniest, most gorgeous guy I have ever met, but has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"
"No, but what did they know?" he answered before he pulled her in for another kiss.
Mitch looked at Emily, who smiled despite herself.
Jessie and Martin stopped kissing and giggled to themselves before she took his hand and walked out of the waiting room with him.
Miranda started laughing as soon as they were gone. Emily tried to shush her, but then started laughing herself. Zainab joined in after a moment, in part because Martin and Jessie looked so happy, and in part because she needed a good laugh.
"Okay, okay!" Emily said, waving her hand and trying not to laugh. "So, let me guess, Miranda—you’ve got to go check on Michael, right?"
Miranda tried to stifle a giggle. "Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. But," she said as seriously as she could, "my stuff and I are coming over tonight."
"Alright! And what about you, Z? Are you going to give him Mister Martyr another chance?"
Zainab punched Emily’s shoulder. "You first, Little Miss Vengeful!"
Emily shook her head. "So I guess it’s just the three of us."
Miranda smiled. "That sounds pretty good to me."
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Jessie Bartolome has been with me almost as long as her best friend Miranda Harel, and she's arguably gone through a lot more changes. Barely te
enaged me conceived her as a fragile victim, but by the time I was ready to tackle her story, she demanded to be a strong, independent and cynical young woman. Fragile? Perhaps more than she would let on, but steadfastly not a victim.
I recognized early on that Jessie's story seemed over the top; all I can tell you is that I have met many, many women whose stories make hers look tame. I dedicate this story to all of the women I know who are not only survivors and fighters but also winners. I also dedicate this to those who fought just as hard but lost, through no fault of their own.
As usual, my first thanks must go to my wonderful editor Heather Rick. She went above and beyond for this one, and words can't fully express my gratitude. Keri Knutson once again made me grin from ear to ear when I saw the magic she could work for my cover. I'm humbled by her hard work, especially because I realize that at least half the reason a reader will take that extra second to pause over my book is because of it. Special thanks to Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba for suggesting the original concept.
"Beta reader" doesn't do justice to what the following people did after they read this manuscript. Thank you Danielle, Kay Froebel, Erin Cawood, Caroline Fardig, Sheryl Light, Allie Gillies, Penelope Nam-Stephen and Suzanne Nam for your feedback and comments. Special props to Caroline for making me laugh to the point of tears with her characterization of one particular character.
Beyond their official team, most authors are well-advised to have a group of people they can go to for brainstorming, venting and all of the other crazy things writers need to get off their chests and out of their heads so they can move onto the next beat of their story. Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, Matthew Nicely, Elle Chardou, Jim Grenier and of course Erin and Danielle are among those who kept me sane long enough to see this through.
E-publishing has matured to the point that throwing your book on Amazon isn't going to guarantee that someone will see or buy it. A huge thank you to all of the bloggers who helped me promote my work so far, with special thanks going to Jaidis Shaw of Juniper Grove Book Solutions, Kay Froebel, Louise Wise, Karen E. Martin, Diantha Jones, Courtney Giardina, Lisette Brodey, Monique McDonell, Sarah Bell, Chrissy from Every Free Chance, Tim Flanagan, Dizzy C's Little Book Blog, Crimson Flower Reviews, Thea Atkinson and Lisa Stull. And a big, grateful hug to my friends and family who have done the same, including Odessa Cozzolino, Nicole DeSmet, Karen Idra, Susan Downs, Liseli Mulala, Ginnette Powell, Michelle von Vogler and Eileen Prince.
The China Doll Page 20
