Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Caper (11 page)

“Adopt
and
— How many kids do you want?” she asked him.

“Three, four at least.”

“Good Lord. You have it all planned out, don’t you?”

“You haven’t talked before about how many children Eric might want?” Melody’s voice brought K.D. up short. She’d forgotten about the other woman.

She recovered fast. “I don’t want any, so it hasn’t mattered how many he’d want.”

“Why don’t you want children?”

“Kids deserve more,” she blurted.

“More than what?”

But she was done blurting. “More than parents who don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, right down to whether they should have been born.”

“She’s terrified she’ll become her mother.”

Eric’s words felt like a spear thrust into her ribs. She sucked in oxygen at the force of the blow.

Then she realized.

He didn’t know.

He hadn’t been aiming to hurt her. He was simply using accumulated information to further their goal of passing for an unhappy couple.

“Explain that, Eric,” Melody invited.

“She thinks she ruined her mother’s life by being born, that because of her, her mother married a man a decade ago that her mother doesn’t love.”

She hadn’t said
that
. Hadn’t thought it. At least not that succinctly.

“That’s—”

“Just a minute, K.D.,” Melody said firmly. “Let’s pursue this. Eric, you don’t agree with what you believe K.D. feels?”

“No. I don’t. Her mom would never regret having K.D. She’d say that having a daughter has made her life. As for her marriage, Theresa isn’t K.D. She married a man K.D. wouldn’t love. They have a marriage K.D. wouldn’t want.”

Melody was nodding.

K.D. drew a breath to dispute him, but the counselor held up a hand, forestalling her, then asked Eric, “What about K.D. fearing she will become her mother?”

“Isn’t it obvious? If she has a child, she thinks she’ll be as trapped as she thinks her mother was — either in single motherhood or—” He met K.D.’s eyes. She had to admit he was selling this really well. “—a marriage she has never been sure she wanted. I suppose the biggest surprise is that she ever said yes in the first place, considering her fears.”

“So, you were the one who steered your relationship toward marriage?”

“Pushed, not steered,” K.D. said, touching the rings on her left hand.

“Yeah, I pushed,” he agreed. “You could have said no.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

Melody turned to her. Sure,
now
the woman wanted her to talk.

“Why did you say yes, K.D.?”

The trouble in his eyes
.

No, no. Because of the opportunity. To advance her career. She’d said yes
despite
the trouble in his eyes. His trouble wasn’t her trouble.

“His eyes,” she said at last. Because she couldn’t say any of the rest of it.

Melody nodded and smiled at her. “I can tell from your tone that you’re remembering all the reasons you said yes in addition to his eyes. And I think that’s a good point to stop this session. I want you to split up now. One of you can go to the garden, one for a massage, or to the gym, or the hot tub. Then you can switch. While you’re in the garden, I want each of you to write two lists. What attracted you to each other initially, then what made you want to get married. We’ll talk about those lists after you have lunch.”

L
unch was the first time they saw any other couples at Marriage-Save. Two of them were on the same four-day program as them, according to their friend, Ms. Smiley. The other three were there for two weeks. Still more couples were on a slightly different schedule that would have them lunching later.

One of the two-week couples, both gray-haired and at ease with their wrinkles, chatted with each other across their table with apparent comfort and pleasure. Maybe they’d decided their marriage was worth saving.

The other five tables were ponds of misery, with the only conversations coming in stilted, staccato bursts.

Eric pushed aside his plate and leaned forward to talk softly to her. “Cameras are all over.”

She gave a short nod. “I had a few words with Albert on my way to the gym. Indicated I might be worried you’d beat me.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“That’s why the cameras are here. Insurance insists. He assured me they’ve never been needed, because the counselors are so good. But he also muttered something about the cameras not stopping everything. Probably referring to the loss of those papers he referred to last night.”

Eric nodded. “The office door is kept locked. Tried it on my way by. No camera real close to it. Tonight?”

“Not until I know more about the cameras in the room. Anyway, I’d go alone.”

“No way.”

She grimaced, exaggerating the not inconsiderable irritation she felt. “It’s my job.”

He met her eyes. “No way. Ready for this afternoon’s counseling? Any surprises I should know about?” Before she could answer, he added, “You know, I meant what I said, K.D.”

“About?”

“About not wanting kids in my image. Though I wouldn’t mind some in yours.”

T
heir lists were safe and so boring that even Melody’s good cheer dipped.

She sent Eric out for an “activity” of his choice, while talking one-on-one with K.D.

Gradually, K.D. shifted the trend from Melody asking questions, to her answering. She eased into comments about how satisfying it must be to help couples . . . and how disappointing when the counseling didn’t succeed.

Melody sighed. “Sometimes it’s hard. You think you’ve made a difference, that a couple has a good chance, if they keep working the way they have here. Then they leave, and it seems like nothing they’d achieved sticks. They go back to the old habits — or worse.” She shook her head. “Some can really surprise you. It’s so sad.”

“Especially if kids are involved,” K.D. said to keep her talking.

“That’s one bright spot. The couples with kids have done much better statistically.” She perked up. “That’s interesting. I hadn’t made that connection before. I’ll have to look into that. Perhaps the children strengthen the bond that— Oh, not that couples without children can’t make it. I’m not saying that at all.”

“It’s okay. I have no illusions about our future.”

“They don’t have to be illusions,” Melody said. “Don’t give up.”

The timer on their session discreetly sounded, and K.D. felt a rush of relief.

It
was
all relief, wasn’t it?

A
fter Eric’s one-on-one session, they were sent for a walk around the neighborhood.

“How did you use your free time?” Eric asked. “Did you get a massage? Sit in the hot-tub?”

“Used it the same way you probably used yours. Nosing around. You first.”

“I went to the business office. Hoped it would be empty, but it turns out Harvey, the business manager, likes to work Saturdays because it’s quiet in the office.”

“Bad luck.”

“Not entirely. Myrna had set it up so I’d have a
questionable
charge on my credit card, so we discussed that. When he pulled up my records, I could see how they set up their system, what sort of information they have. It appears they keep the financials and counseling records separate, but I’d sure like to look more closely.”

“Why are you grinning?”

“Because I happened to notice what Harvey was typing in as his password. Do you have any idea how many people use 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8?”

“You’re telling me their business manager is that stupid?”

“Oh, no. Harvey uses 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. So tonight’s escape should be more fruitful than last night’s.”

She chuckled, but also shook her head. “Afraid not. I used my free time for further conversation with our friend Albert. He’s feeling quite ill-used after being unjustly accused of misplacing or outright stealing counseling records that went astray last week. A little sympathy, and he told me more about the room cameras.”

“Just told you?”

“No. He rattled off the specs, clearly expecting it to be gibberish to me.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“Nope. No audio. No night vision. But they are movement- and light-activated.”

“Damn. So any time we’d try to go out the hall door . . . .”

“Exactly. And the tapes are reviewed each morning by staff, with a report to the counselors. So our poking around needs to be when other people are roaming around.”

He took her arm to step up a curb as they reached the back of the Rose Chalet property, and grinned wickedly. “That does leave more time in bed.”

“Motion-activated,” she repeated. “Reviewed by staff.”

“Double damn.”

She was trying to suppress a grin when they entered the kitchen, which was revved at full-throttle in anticipation of a wedding reception about to begin.

“Ken’s in Rose’s office,” Julie threw over her shoulder, then appeared to forget their existence.

They eased around the edges of the kitchen, down a back hall, and found Ken thoroughly enjoying a portion of the reception fare, apparently just delivered by Rose.

“Little progress,” K.D. said, “especially on who might be the mole. But check on the couples who’ve gone from Marriage-Save to Gail Bledsoe, and see if any have kids.”

Rose’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t believe any of the couples I’ve heard about have had children. I’ll double check that and let you know, Ken. In the meantime, I need to be sure everything’s in order for this reception.”

After she left, they quickly filled in Ken on what they had learned about how the program worked, about the counseling and financial records being kept separate, and the restrictions on their movements at night.

His eyebrows hiked at that, but after a quick look at each of them, he said nothing.

Smart man.

“I’ll check the kids angle,” he promised. “But why would it be significant?”

“Because it could tell us something about whoever is selecting which couples Bledsoe goes after. It has to be someone who not only knows their financial circumstances, but also that they have no children. It might be fairly easy for some of the office and billing people to share financial information. But if what we’ve found out so far holds up, then they also need access to the counseling records to know who doesn’t have kids. Plus, which couples are more likely to split.”

Eric nodded. “That has to narrow down who could know. If we could get in to see who’s been accessing both systems—”

“Be careful,” Ken said. “This isn’t a law enforcement investigation, but we don’t want to make it impossible for us to follow the legal route with Marriage-Save if we absolutely have to.”

“Okay, but we don’t have much opportunity for digging in to things. The schedule’s fairly tight and with us essentially locked in the room at night, we’re going to have a hard time knowing who at Marriage-Save is involved.”

“It might already be enough to persuade the mayor to prevent the sale.”

“But then Marriage-Save could move, and the mole could set up shop somewhere else with another lawyer.”

“Then somewhere else will have to deal with it,” Ken said. “We’d all like to stop them for good. But first priority is protecting the people of San Francisco.”

K.D. glanced at Eric and knew that didn’t satisfy him any more than it did her.

“H
ello, Mr. and Mrs. Larkin,” Lily said with her usual smile after buzzing them in. “I hope you had a lovely walk this afternoon.”

“Lovely,” K.D. repeated with a hint of sarcasm, as befitted her role.

“Wonderful. And are you— Oh, excuse me,” she said, as the phone gave a distinctive trill. “I’m needed in the office.”

She bestowed another smile on them, then hurried off.

K.D. looked toward Eric. He was already looking at her. His gaze went to Ms. Smiley’s desk.

“I’ll look. You keep a lookout,” she said.

“You keep a lookout. I’ll look.”

“I’m the police.”

“I’m the lawyer. I’d recognize information that might help a divorce lawyer.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. He might have a point. “Fine.”

She stood where she could see the stairs, the elevator, and the entry to the hall that led to the counseling rooms. Behind her, she was aware of Eric flipping through files in a drawer. Her fingers itched to do the flipping themselves.

Voices came to her from down the hall. They seemed to be coming nearer.

After a quick check of the stairs and elevator, she stepped into the hallway. At the far end, Melody, another counselor, a man in khakis and a pink and yellow shirt, and Lily appeared to be breaking up a discussion, with the other three headed the opposite direction, and Lily the Smiler coming toward her.

K.D.
walked to meet Lily, nodded in response to her requisite smile, then took another step past before saying, “Oh. Lily.”

Lily stopped and turned toward her, which is what K.D. had wanted, because it left Lily with her back toward the reception area.

“Yes? May I help you, Mrs. Larkin?”

K.D. bit her lips, and let tears form in her eyes. “Don’t call me that.” Her broken voice added the perfect touch. “Please. Please.”

“Oh, dear.” Lily’s smile flickered, faded. It left her face blank, as if it had no idea what to do with the smile gone. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. La—”

“K.D. Please call me, K.D. It’s the only way I feel like a
person
anymore. He puts me in a box. Treats me like the little housewife. Like I have no other meaning than being his
wife
. Because he earns so much money and I don’t earn any. I feel so
worthless
.”

“No, no, you shouldn’t feel that way at all.” A smile started, then fled. “Of course you have worth. Why, Melody was just saying . . . .”

“Melody was talking about me?” She made it sound needy and hopeful. It worked.

“Why, yes, in only the most general terms, of course, but she was saying what an intelligent, thoughtful woman you are. And she’s quite optimistic for you and your husband. She feels you truly care about each other and will do the hard work that’s necessary to make your marriage work.”