Another Notch in the Beltway (26 page)

“Do you, lass?” MP asked, seemingly pleased.

“Yes, I do. People can't help the names their parents saddle them with.”

“Agreed. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,” Nate said with a laugh, and Kelly giggled even though she tried not to.

“All right, how about lunch?” MP asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Sounds like a plan,” Nate agreed, always ready to eat.

They all got up to go downstairs.

Lenore wobbled when she got up.

“You okay, Mom?” Nate asked, suddenly by her side to steady her.

“Got up too fast.” She laughed it off.

MP glanced at her but gave nothing away.

“You're sure?” he asked before letting her go.

“I promise.”

“This happen before, MP?”

“A couple of times, but it's normal for some people who sit in the same position for too long. I can attest to the fact that your mum is healthy. She can outrun me on the mule barge path up the street every day.”

“I'll be watching you,” Nate warned as he let her go and joined Kelly.

MP came up beside Lenore and followed the kids out of the office.

He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a long look.

“I'm fine,” she mouthed.

He looked at her dubiously, and if they hadn't had guests, he'd have carried her to bed, brought her lunch, and made her nap.

“I think I'll take Kelly to New Hope after lunch and get some ice cream. She's never been. You guys want to join us?”

“No, you kids go ahead, enjoy yourselves. I have some bread rising for dinner and some prep work to do—”

“I bet,” Nate said, “Like beating MP until he changes the guy's name. Casper Grossman indeed.” He laughed again. Lenore and Kelly did their best to hide their mirth.

When they were gone, Michael Patrick looked at her and said, “You're going to take a nap.”

“I'm fine. My blood sugar went low.”

“Why didn't you say something? Like ‘I'm hungry, thirsty, MP, can you get me an OJ?' I'd have gotten the clue even though your son and his girl were in the room.”

“Kelly,” she offered again. “I'm fine.”

“You're going up to nap for a while, if I have to carry you up.”

“I'm going, all right?”

He followed her.

“I can get there myself.”

“That may be, but if you get light-headed and fall backward, I want to be there to catch you.”

“Jesus,” she muttered.

“Maybe he'll help, but I'm first on the list.”

****

To her surprise, Lenore did nap. Baby was making its presence known. As long as she wasn't puking, she didn't care. She hadn't with Nate, but every pregnancy was different, they claimed. I'll sleep as much I need to; I don't want to be sick, she thought to herself as she rolled over and saw Michael Patrick next to her on the bed with his laptop. Of course, he was watching her.

“Did you watch me the entire time I slept?”

“Not the entire time. I wrote some, edited some, but I like watching you.”

He leaned down and kissed her.

She rolled over to look at the clock. “I need to put the bread in.”

“I did it a half-hour ago.”

“You did?”

“Since there was a recipe on the counter, I looked to see what the oven setting was and once it reached 350, I put the bread in the oven and put on the timer for 90 minutes.”

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.” He kissed her again and then set aside the computer and snuggled with her. “Do you feel better?”

“MP, I didn't feel bad before. I'm having a baby. I'm not ill.”

“I'm still going to see that you take care of yourself and get enough rest.”

“We'll put some crackers in the office and some OJ in the small refrigerator up there. I meant to and forgot. But people who get up too fast do get light-headed sometimes, with child or not.”

“They do, and you are. I'll not have you falling over or passing out and hurting yourself.”

She sighed, exasperated, but let it go. He was concerned and not being a pain in the ass for no reason. In fact, she said, “Thank you.”

“For what,
a chuisle
?”

“Being worried about me.”

He smiled, “You're welcome.”

“I'm still not used to having someone around.”

“This is new to both of us, and we'll find our way together, deal?”

“Deal.”

She snuggled back into him, and they both must have dozed off. Her cell was ringing from the night table on MP's side of the bed.

Lenore reached over his waking form to get it.

“Hi, honey.”

“Are you kidding?” She asked bolting up and swiping the hair out of her face.

“No, we'll come and get you in MP's Prius.”

“Yes, right on Main Street. We'll be there in a half-hour to forty minutes. I'll leave my phone on if you need me.”

“At this point, you never know.”

“I love you, too.”

“They parked in the lot behind the police station, of all places, and when they returned to the car, all four tires were slashed,” Lenore said in a rush as soon as she closed the phone.

“But they're okay?” MP asked.

“Yes, I think Kelly is shaken up.”

“Smart girl.” MP said, getting up from the bed.

“The police station is on Main Street. We need to go and get them.”

“Of course.” He held out his hand to help her off the bed and to make sure she was steady. She took it. “It will be all right,
mo chuisle
.” He murmured in her hair as he embraced her for a moment.

“I hope you're right.”

Lenore looked into the visor mirror under the guise of getting an eyelash out of her eye to see if they were being followed out of the police station's parking lot. They weren't.

Nathan and Kelly were in the backseat of MP's Prius looking tired and worn.

Lenore's car was being flat-bedded to the Acura dealer, and the tires would be replaced on Monday.

“I'm sorry, Mom,” Nate said.

“Nothing for you to be sorry for. You were even parked behind the police department.”

She didn't know if Nate had told Kelly about the Maxwell saga and didn't know how much to say, so she said little.

MP took hold of her left hand. Until he did, she hadn't realized it was trembling.

“Mom, Kelly is the second cousin of Corrine Kennedy Maxwell,” Nate said with a bit of an edge.

“I see,” she said, gripping MP's hand.

MP glanced in the rear-view mirror and looked at both Nate and Kelly. Nate was colored with anger, and Kelly was white with upset.

MP looked at Lenore. She was paler than Kelly.

“Lenore,” he said softly, “are you all right?”

“I'm fine, MP.”

He nodded.

No one spoke the rest of the way home.

They pulled into the garage, and MP said to Lenore, “Wait and I'll come around.”

“I'll get her, MP,” Nate said.

MP opened the door for Kelly, who all but ran into the house.

“Are you okay?” Lenore asked her son, knowing how betrayed he must feel.

“I will be. I'll call a taxi and have her taken to the train station. She'll be in D.C. in a few hours.”

“Are you sure, honey?” she asked. Lenore and Nate were alone in the garage.

“Yes, I'm sure. I feel dirty and stupid.”

“I understand.” She did, too; they weren't empty words.

“I know you do, Mom, and at least I'm not pregnant like you were.”

“I don't think she could have faked the way she looked at you.”

“She claims she loves me.”

“It could be true.”

“We've been seeing each other since the beginning of the school year. She set out to trap me, entrap me; I'm not certain what the story is. Funny thing is she knew who my father was before I did. Before I did! Her bitch of a cousin told her she was fairly certain I was Maxwell's son.”

“Was Corrine paying her?”

“Her tuition. Apparently, Miss Hyde's father lost a lot of money in the economic downturn—her words, not mine—so her cousin worked a deal with her. Kelly was to extract info from me, except I had none. There is some justice in that. The bitch was paying for nothing.”

“Kelly fell in love with you, though.” Her voice was soft and quiet.

“I fell in love with her. I'm not certain what Kelly's in. I'd have taken it better if she had told me about this before I told her about what was going on. If she loved me, why didn't she tell me?”

“Maybe she didn't feel it was her place to tell you. Or she hoped it would go away.”

“If she loved me, she would have come clean.”

“Maybe she was afraid of your reaction or of Corrine's.”

“Why are you making excuses for her, Mom? You hardly know her.”

“I don't know. Perhaps because I know she means a great deal to you—”

“Meant. I need to get her a taxi out of here. I want her on the next train to Washington.”

“I'd feel better if she took my car service. I'll pay them to make sure she gets on the train. It will be safer.”

“Whatever you want, Mom.”

They went into the kitchen, and MP handed her a glass of juice. She took several sips, then called the car service and finished the rest in one gulp. She wished it were a double anything.

“You don't think she bugged the house, do you?” Lenore asked MP.

“Sweetheart, I don't know what to say right now.”

“I'll ask her myself.”

MP followed her up the stairs. She didn't even bother to harp at him. Once he saw her safely up, he went to the office.

Lenore knocked on Kelly's door.

“Come in,” a thready voice called.

The girl looked much younger than she was at the moment. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her face was tear-stained and blotchy.

“I'm sorry, Ms. Held.”

“It's not my forgiveness you need; it's Nate's. I can't tell you he'll ever give it. He feels very hurt and betrayed.”

“I… I know.” The tears started anew.

“Did you tell your cousin you were coming to my house?”

She nodded her head yes.

“Kelly, I'm going to ask you something, and I expect you to give me an honest answer, because if you don't and I find out to the contrary, I will press criminal charges against you.”

The girl looked panicked now. Good, maybe she would get the truth out of her. “Did you put any bugs, recorders, listening devices, video recorders, or anything else in my home?”

“No, I swear to you I didn't. I wouldn't even know how to.”

“I don't think it's that difficult. Last chance—Kelly, are you telling me the truth?”

“Yes,” the girl said, maintaining eye contact.

****

Nate found Michael Patrick in his mother's office.

“Hey,” MP said when he walked in.

Nate nodded. “I'm going to ask you this one time, MP, and if you lie to me, I swear I'll rip your heart out.”

MP gave him his full attention. The young man was obviously concerned about something. “I believe I'm a man of integrity, ask anything, and I'll answer you honestly. If I don't know the answer, I'll tell you I don't know.”

“You are not in any way tied up with this Maxwell mess, are you?”

“No, I'm not, Nathan.”

“I want to believe you, but after Kelly, I don't know who or what to believe.”

“I can understand that.”

“My mother loves you, and for years it's been the two of us, only the two of us. You hurt her, and I will make your life a living hell.”

“I don't plan on doing that. I love your mother, too, more than I've ever loved anyone or anything. I'll love her until I draw my dying breath. There you have it. I can't imagine my life without her.”

“That's how I felt about Kelly until a few hours ago.”

“I'm sorry about that, Nate. I think the lass cares for you.”

The young man shook his head no.

MP wasn't going to argue with him. Nate was entitled to his own feelings and thoughts.

“When is the wedding?” Nate asked, suddenly changing the subject.

“Whenever your mum wants it. I'd like it if you'd be my best man. Don't know many people around here, and I'd be honored if you'd do it.”

“Sure,” Nate said as a ghost of a smile crossed his face. “Don't let me down, MP. More important, don't let her down.”

“You have my word.”

“That will have to do, I suppose.”

With that, Nate left the room. Michael Patrick had to admire the young man for his gumption and balls in the face of his own upset. MP believed that Nate would have beaten him to a bloody pulp if he had been at all involved with any of the Maxwells.

****

The doorbell rang. It was the driver. Lenore talked to him for a moment and then went up to get Kelly.

“Good luck,” Lenore said to her as she left.

“I'm sorry,” Kelly said.

MP came up behind her as she watched the car depart. “Come on, you'll get chilled,” he said, turning her from the door, closing and locking it behind them.

“Stop fussing.” She managed a smile for him. “Let's go have dinner. The lingering bread smell is making me hungry.”

Nate had already found the bread, had it sliced, and was buttering himself a piece. “Great bread, Mom,” Nate said with his mouth full.

She laughed a bit and said, “I'm glad you like it.”

“What's for dinner?”

“Chicken breasts with artichoke hearts and wild rice.”

“Excellent. I'll eat Kelly's share,” he said with faux humor.

“There's plenty. You can take home the leftovers and eat them during the week.”

“What did you talk to her about, Mom?”