Dark moon, p.4
Dark Moon, page 4
They shared a room because their tiny rented cottage only had two bedrooms. But it didn’t matter because Sam was afraid of the dark and preferred to sleep in his sister’s room. Alexa sat on Meggie’s bed with the two of them between her to read their bedtime story. Sam’s favorite was Goodnight Moon, but Meggie adored Runaway Bunny. She loved the part where the Baby Bunny asks the Mother Bunny what would happen if he ran away, and the Mother Bunny says she’d come after him. Meggie always asked, “You’d come after us, too, wouldn’t you?” Alexa thought she asked because the three of them lived every day in fear of separation. Michael used family court as his ultimate weapon of abuse.
The star twinkled down at Alexa, reminding her to stop thinking about Michael and his scorched earth litigation tactics, in order to preserve whatever remnants of sanity she had left. She could stay in her semi-conscious state, floating free from everything that surrounded her, only if she didn’t think about Michael and Ronald Brigman. If those memories crept in, or worse yet if she talked about what they had done to her, she would come crashing back to the horror of being locked in this cell. That’s why she was glad she could no longer speak, and that’s why she was glad she couldn’t talk to the man and the woman who’d come today. Or yesterday. She wasn’t sure. The man’s eyes haunted her. They were so kind. She hadn’t seen eyes like that since her father died. She’d been just Meggie’s age when her parents went off to church one wet Sunday morning and never came back.
The star twinkled down at her, taunting her with its freedom. If she’d had Meggie and Sam with someone like the man with the kind eyes, they’d still be together. Her precious star was nearly out of sight. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
* * *
Alexa woke with a start. For a minute, she could not remember where she was or why. Then it all came rushing back. Michael, dead. Brigman, dead. Her missing gun, the murder weapon. Sam and Meggie in D.C. with Coleman and Myrna. And the woman with the beautiful face and the ugly scar, and the man with the kind eyes, who wanted her to talk to them.
She looked up at the sliver of night sky visible between the bars. Her star was long gone. She had no idea how long she’d slept.
If she hadn’t married Michael, she wouldn’t be here now. Danger clung to him like a heady perfume, but that was the very quality that had attracted her the first time they met.
June 2003, Washington D.C. - The United States Supreme Court Building
She’d been sitting in Justice Moreno’s outer office, waiting to be summoned for an interview for the clerkship opening in her chambers when Michael Reed walked in.
“Wait! I know you. You were in my class at Georgetown! Are you trying for Paula’s job? I’ll tell my old man to put in a good word for you. The Court could use some better looking women! How about coffee when you’re through?”
She didn’t know whether to be insulted or amused, but his striking green eyes twinkled at her. “Not today, thanks. I’m just taking a few hours off for the interview.”
“Shot down. Too bad. Where do you work?”
“I’m a clerk for Justice Steiner at the D.C. Circuit.”
“Oh, Marilyn. Tell her I said hi.”
“You want me to tell Justice Steiner Michael Reed said ‘hi’?”
“Yeah, sure. She and my dad go way back. How come I never asked you out in law school?”
“I’m not your type.”
“And what is my type?”
“Curvy and not very smart.”
Michael threw back his head and roared. “Damn! The rumor mill was more accurate than I thought. So skinny blondes with brains and melting blue eyes weren’t considered ‘my type’?”
The door to Justice Moreno’s inner sanctum opened, and the Justice herself appeared. She was about forty-five, with mousy brown hair, going gray, and fifteen extra pounds around her middle. “Miss Harrison? Are you ready to come in now?”
“I am, Your Honor.”
Alexa got up to follow the Justice into her inner office. Justice Moreno looked over at Michael and gave him an indulgent smile. “Don’t be developing designs on my clerks, Michael Reed, if you’re looking for a date.”
“I wasn’t, Paula. I swear. I just came in to find a stapler; I didn’t mean to stay.”
And that was how it began. He found her number at the court of appeal and asked her for coffee two days later.
“So how was your interview with Paula?” They had walked a few blocks to Starbucks on her lunch hour.
Alexa laughed. “I can’t get used to hearing Justice Moreno called ‘Paula’ or Justice Steiner called ‘Marilyn.’”
“Sorry. But they socialize with my mother and father. I don’t call them ‘Justice’ at my parents’ cocktail parties.”
“What’s it like having your father on the Supreme Court?”
His green eyes grew thoughtful. “It has its advantages and its disadvantages.”
“Such as?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure Steptoe and Johnson would not have hired me as an associate in their litigation section if my old man hadn’t been on the Court. My grades at Georgetown, as you probably know, were not in your league.”
Alexa sipped her coffee. “Actually, I had no idea what your grades were.”
“Really? I thought everyone knew I was in the bottom third of the class.”
“Not me.”
“I suppose you realize everyone knew your GPA?”
“I’m not sure if ‘everyone’ knew, but I got my share of attention.”
“For being number one?”
“Right.”
“How does it feel?” He studied her face.
“Actually, a bit lonely. My grandmother died a few months ago. All the work I did in school was for her. Now there’s no one to work for anymore.”
“What about your parents?”
“They died when I was six. They were on their way to church one Sunday morning when a drunk driver ran a red light and plowed into their car. I had stayed home that day with my grandmother, my dad’s mother, who lived with us, because I had a sore throat.”
“Wow! So you’re kind of an orphan?”
“Not ‘kind of.’ I am.”
“That’s tough.” He gave her a warm, deep sympathetic smile and squeezed her hand. Alexa’s heart fluttered.
“So besides the job perks, what’s it like being the son of a Supreme Court justice? Do you get a lot of dates?”
“With first-year female associates and paralegals, yes. But you wouldn’t go out with me just because my father is on the Supreme Court.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t.”
He looked disappointed. “Why not?”
“Two reasons. First, I’m seeing someone. And second, you had quite a reputation at Georgetown.”
“As a ladies’ man?”
“I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.”
“Who are you dating?”
“His name is Josh Turner. He’s a clerk for Justice Dombrosky.”
“You mean ‘Clarence.’”
“Justice Dombrosksy goes to your parents’ parties, too?”
“Everyone in D.C. goes to their parties. My dad’s only been on the court four years, but he knows everyone in this town. Was Josh in our class?”
“No, he went to Harvard.”
Michael’s beautiful green eyes studied her thoughtfully. “You’re not going to marry him.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“Has he proposed?”
“I think he’s planning to. His clerkship is almost over, and he’s looking for jobs here in D.C. because he knows I want to clerk at the Supreme Court.”
“I’m not going to let you marry him,” Michael Reed insisted.
“There isn’t anything you can do about it.”
“Yes, there is. Dinner, tomorrow night at Bistro La Mer.”
“No, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Come on, Bistro is one of the most expensive places in the District. Don’t tell me you aren’t curious.”
“Okay, I admit I am.”
“Look, we’re just law school classmates, nothing else. I’m coaching you for your follow-up interview with Paula–if your boyfriend asks. And I heard, by the way, she’s going to call you back for another interview. Congratulations.”
* * *
The night sky had lightened outside her slice of window. Red dawn would be coming soon, and it would bring with it the clang of breakfast carts, and metal trays being shoved through metal doors, and guards shouting insults to the inmates. But for now, she could remain undisturbed, floating on her cloud of memories.
Michael Reed would not give up on something he wanted, and Alexa found his pursuit flattering. It was much easier for Michael to make excuses to see her after she started working for Justice Moreno. He popped in whenever he stopped by to see his father. And that was often.
Josh complained, of course; but she insisted repeatedly that she and Michael were merely friends. She’d clung very hard to that fiction, possibly because she’d sensed the danger that lay just below Michael’s heartbreakingly attractive surface. She knew she’d be safe if she never slept with him. The two of them hung on the phone for hours on week nights, and ate lunch as often as possible at their favorite Georgetown restaurants, and returned to Bistro La Mer so often the waiter offered to name a table in their honor. But what Alexa would not do, and what Michael dearly wanted her to do, was sleep with him. And she steadfastly refused. Josh was still her official boyfriend, and he had hinted he was going to ask her to marry him at Christmas, and he made it clear he did not like Michael Reed at all.
Justice Moreno noticed how often Michael now turned up in her chambers and tried to warn Alexa one late November afternoon. They had been working on revisions to a draft opinion that Alexa had researched. When they finished the last edit, Justice Moreno pulled off her reading glasses and looked across her desk at Alexa.
“Mind some advice?”
“Not at all.” She had thought it was going to be about something professional.
“Michael Reed is trouble. So is Coleman. I know the Reeds make it look good from the outside, but you don’t want to be mixed up in their mess.”
Alexa felt her cheeks burning as she tried to deny what she realized must have become obvious in the last few weeks. “I understand, but Michael and I aren’t dating. We’re just friends from law school.”
“So you’re still seeing the young man I met at the Thursday night cocktail parties?”
“Josh Turner. He’s finished his clerkship at the D.C. Circuit, and he’s taken a job with Arnold and Porter.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. I’m not trying to be nosey, Alexa. But I like you, and I’m certain you don’t know the sordid history of the Reeds. And judging by how often Michael has dropped by these chambers since you started here, he isn’t taking your relationship with Josh seriously.”
“Well, he should.” Alexa smiled, hoping Justice Moreno was finished handing out advice.
“Then I won’t worry about you.”
* * *
“I think you’d better stop coming by the office to see me,” Alexa told Michael that night over dinner at Bistro La Mer. Her guilt at being out with him, knowing she’d lied to Josh about her plans for the evening, was easily assuaged by the tranquility of crisp cream linen, pale pink roses in crystal vases, good wine and the seductive smell of garlic simmering in cream and butter, while a trio of violins wafted Mozart delicately into the atmosphere.
“But I like seeing you at work!” His green eyes danced mischievously in the candlelight.
“Did you know Justice Moreno doesn’t like you? Or your father?”
His face fell. “Actually, I knew she has had some problems with Coleman. She’s an outspoken liberal, and of course my dad is as conservative as they come. They’ve had words, I understand, about professional issues. I didn’t know she held her animosity toward my old man against me.”
“She doesn’t think you are someone I should get involved with.”
His eyes went a shade darker. “I guess she’s heard those womanizer rumors, too.
This is a big small town. Things get around. That’s why you won’t sleep with me, isn’t it?”
“I’m officially dating Josh, remember?”
“I wish I could forget.”
“It has to stay a friendship, Michael. There are too many other women in your life.”
“There wouldn’t be, if you’d be the only one.”
It was a beautiful speech, and his eyes were soft and gentle as they looked into hers. She’d drunk more wine than she’d intended; and Michael’s compact, five-nine frame of pure muscle was so much more attractive than Josh’s six-foot beanpole. And the soft music and candlelight along with the hovering waiters ready in an instant to do their bidding made her feel safe. But instinctively she realized Michael carried that edge of risk and danger that Josh did not, and that was precisely what Paula Moreno was trying to tell her. She was in the midst of a lovely, dangerous dream. She mustn’t let it seduce her into letting go of what she knew to be true.
“We agreed on friends, Michael.”
“Okay, okay. And to prove I’m keeping my word, I’m inviting you and Josh to my parents’ big Christmas bash. December 10. I’ll make sure you get a formal invitation addressed to both of you.”
* * *
Michael hadn’t been in her or Josh’s intellectual league. That’s why the two of them had been clerking for appellate justices that winter while Michael was slogging his way through interminable depositions as the right arm of a Steptoe and Johnson civil litigation partner. But, Alexa reflected, as she listened to the clank of breakfast trays move closer, he outranked them in the cunning department. And the invitation to his parents’ Christmas party had proved it.
It had been a bitter cold night. She and Josh had taken a cab from her apartment in Cathedral Heights to the Reed’s impressive Georgetown townhouse. They’d arrived late because cabs had been scarce. The party was in full swing, with hearty fires roaring in all the fireplaces, massive silver trays loaded with food on white linen in the dining room, and a trio of jazz musicians noodling Christmas carols by candlelight in the den. Waiters in white coats with sprigs of mistletoe circulated with trays of canapes and champagne flutes.
Alexa stayed with Josh throughout the evening, although she was deeply aware of Michael’s eyes on her as they circulated through the crowd. She’d expected him to have a date, but he’d been solo. He made certain she and Josh were introduced to his mother and father. Coleman seemed to cling to their handshake a moment too long, and Alexa had felt uneasy.
Josh had not wanted to come, and only when Alexa fibbed and told him Justice Moreno expected to see her there did he relent. Fortunately, Justice Moreno spent a lot of time with them, introducing them to her colleagues. She seemed to be sizing up Josh, too. When she came across Alexa alone for a few seconds in the dining room, she whispered her approval in her ear. “You’ve got a good man, there. So glad you know that.”
But the evening didn’t end that way at all. Around midnight, when Alexa came out of the downstairs powder room, Michael stepped out of the shadows. Alexa jumped, and he caught her in his arms and gave her a long kiss that left her breathless.
“Stop that!” she pulled away.
“You don’t really want me to stop.” And he began to kiss her again. Alexa was torn between the magnitude of the attraction and her fear of Josh’s discovering her. And the footsteps behind her told her even before she turned that her worst fear had come true.
Alexa pulled away from Michael and started to walk toward Josh. “It’s not what you think. I can explain.”
But he shook his head and turned away. A few seconds later, she heard the front door close behind him.
In shock, she stared at the floor, wondering what to do. Michael put his hand on her arm.
“You’ll need someone to take you home.”
She nodded.
“Hey, look!” He put his hand under her chin and turned her face up to his. “He’ll get over it. And if he doesn’t, well maybe I’ll have my chance now.”
“That’s why you did it, isn’t it? You wanted him to see.”
“No, I didn’t think he would come looking for you.”
She wanted to believe him, but she was skeptical.
“Hey, let’s at least go for a walk, so you can calm down. And we’ll see if we can find you cab.”
So she let him fetch her things, and they walked through the silence of Georgetown on a freezing December night at one a.m. They meandered in the cold until they reached Michael’s townhouse, a few streets away.
“I haven’t seen a single cab, and you’re freezing. Come in for a few minutes and get warm. I’ll get my car and drive you home.”
But she’d didn’t make it home. As soon as they were inside, the months of wanting tore away the last of Alexa’s resolutions. She was angry with Josh for leaving her alone with Michael. And she knew she wasn’t safe with him, but all the danger and risk of this beautiful man overwhelmed her. They made love over and over until they fell into an exhausted sleep.
Alexa woke several hours later. The bedside clock said four a.m. She studied Michael’s peaceful face in the glow of the streetlight. He had the longest, most beautiful lashes she’d ever seen on a man. They softened his otherwise squarely masculine face. She looked out and saw flakes drift past the window in the pinkish glow of the streetlight.
She wrapped herself in a blanket and went to get a better look. The world had become a white wonderland of snowy silence.
“What are you doing over there?” Michael raised himself on one elbow.
“Looking at the snow. It’s beautiful.”
He smiled. “Come back to bed. I have an early Christmas present for you.”
He opened a drawer in the table next to the bed as he spoke.
The bedroom was cold, and she was glad to slide next to his warmth. “Don’t you want to wait until morning?”
“This can’t wait.” He opened the ring box, and let the diamond glitter in the frosty light from the street lamp. “Will you marry me?”
