Twist of Fate (45 page)

The slanting sunshine found blond streaks in his hair and sculpted his strong features. He looked good enough to eat. She filed the idea for later and gently touched the day-and-a-half of stubble that shadowed his jaw. Sexy.

His eyes opened, regarding her with such warmth that she had trouble remembering that the light color had once seemed icy cold. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Much." She rolled on her side, eliciting a small snort of protest from Malcolm down by her feet. "We'll need a king-size bed to accommodate us and all the critters."

"Are we at the stage of buying beds together," he asked with interest, "or was that a rhetorical comment?"

"Not rhetorical." She trailed her fingers through the soft hair on his bare chest. "I hope you don't entirely give up remodeling work. The results are so splendid."

"Glad you think so, but let's go back to the subject of beds. That had promise."

Promises...Her mouth dry, she said, "I'm still working on this marriage idea. Though I think my panic factor is down by at least a third, there's still quite a way to go. But there is one thing I've figured out."

He raised his brows encouragingly.

"I love you." The words were amazingly hard to get out. Love meant vulnerability, commitment, for better and for worse--all those scary things that she hadn't been able to accept, but was no longer sure she could live without. "It wasn't until meeting you that I even realized I didn't know what love is. Friendship, lust, broken hearts--I was pretty adept at those, but love, no. I still don't understand all the nuances, but there can't be a better teacher in the world than you."

"Love goes both ways, my Valentine," he said softly. "You are the light of my life, quite literally. You bring me joy I've never known, and didn't think I'd ever know." He wrapped his arms around her and rolled her on top of him. It wasn't just his chest that was bare, she discovered.

"You really want to get this conversation back to beds, I see," she laughed before bending into a kiss. Was she imagining the lightness she sensed in him? No, this was real. Their success at saving Daniel had freed him at the same time. Though grief and regret for his brother would always be part of him, he was no longer imprisoned by those emotions. They had both come a long, long way since meeting each other.

There were more journeys ahead. Thinking of the previous day, she said, "Were you raised in any particular religion?"

He shook his head. "As a kid I'd sometimes go to Sunday school at whatever church was closest because I wanted to know the things the other kids knew. It helped me blend in, but wasn't exactly a comprehensive religious education."

"As you know, I was raised Quaker." She crossed her arms on his chest and used them to cushion her chin. "I fell away from the meeting when I discovered boys and developed the urge to be a killer lawyer, but the values are still a part of me. More so than I had realized for many years. Visiting the meeting house yesterday filled some missing holes in me."

He caught her gaze. "Is that why now you can say that you love me?"

She blinked. "Maybe so. I felt better for being there, and I'm going to start attending First Day meetings again. Would you be interested in coming with me?"

"I like what I've heard about Quakers. They seem like people of principle," he mused. "What do they believe?"

"There isn't a lot of specific doctrine. Everyone is encouraged to pray for guidance and follow their inner light. Friends are a community, not a hierarchy."

"I think I'd like that. Shall we attend a meeting this Sunday?"

"We call it First Day and yes, I'd love to take you. You'll fit right in." Her eyes drifted out of focus. "It takes enormous spiritual rigor and faith to become a good Quaker. I suspect that I'll be trying for the rest of my life and still not make the grade."

He grinned. "Yoda to the contrary, I think that trying counts for a lot."

"I hope so, because I'm never going to be the perfect woman." She wriggled her hips against his, loving the way his eyes darkened with desire. "But I'm beginning to think I can be good enough."

Epilogue

The day before Thanksgiving was cool and crystal clear, so beautiful that Kendra thought even the grim exterior of the penitentiary looked good.

It had taken only a few days to identify the fingerprints of Omar Benson and Darrell Long on the Walther PPK. The DNA tests that conclusively identified the specks of blood as James Malloy's had taken much longer, over two months. Once that was proved, the courts had ordered Daniel's release in less than a week.

Finally the hour had come. The inner circle of people waiting included Kendra and Jason, Val and Rob, Lyssie and Rob's friend Sha'wan, Luke and Angel Wilson. Resplendent in his uniform, Jason murmured, "I'm more tense now than when I was waiting to find out if I'd been accepted by the academy."

She tucked her hand in his elbow, grateful the Air Force had allowed him to come home for his father's release. "So am I, Jay. Hard to believe this day has finally come."

Also present were well-wishers and a crowd of reporters and cameras. A1 Coleman was anticipating an exclusive interview with Daniel later, but for now he and his colleagues stayed back a respectful distance.

The door of the penitentiary opened and Daniel stepped out, tall and powerful, a free man for the first time in over seventeen years. A cheer went up from the onlookers, stopping him in his tracks. He looked--stunned. Exhilarated. Maybe even afraid. She could only imagine the complex feelings that must be surging through him.

Lyssie broke the tension by skipping up the steps to present him with a bouquet of autumn blossoms. "Welcome to the world, Mr. Monroe." Her voice was very clear. She and Val had worked this out in advance. "Lots of people are glad to see you."

Daniel's expression softened, and he went down on one knee to accept the bouquet. "You're Lyssie. I've heard a lot about you. Thank you for the flowers." His fingertips skimmed over the petals of the gold and bronze chrysanthemums. "In the old days, I never noticed how beautiful flowers are."

Beaming but suddenly shy, Lyssie scooted back to Val and Rob.

His expression more sure, Daniel rose and walked down the steps to Kendra and Jason, straight into their arms. "Oh, baby, baby, baby," he said hoarsely.

She wasn't sure if he meant her or Jason. Both of them, probably. His powerful body was both familiar and unexpected. They had been lovers once and would be again, she knew in her bones.

To her shock, she began to cry, burying her face in Daniel's shoulder as great wrenching sobs tore through her. "I'm sorry, honey," she gasped. "I...I wouldn't let myself cry in front of you when you were in prison, but now..."

"It's okay, girl," he said with a grin. "If I weren't such a big mean dude, I'd be cryin' myself."

As she and Jason laughed, Luke and Angel came forward, then Val and Rob. After greeting his brother and sister-in-law, Daniel gave Val a hug that swept her off her feet. "Just a bit of a thing," he said fondly.

He turned back to Kendra and said in a voice so low that even Jason couldn't hear, "The first time I met your mama I said I'd marry you, but I never got the chance. I'm not fit for marryin' now any more than a bulldog just off his chain. I've got a lot of learnin' and livin' to do. But a year from now--well, by then I should be ready to ask you a question. Think about it between now and then."

She smiled through the tears that insisted on stinging her eyes. "Yes, Daniel, I'll think about it." She'd think, she'd weigh the pluses and minuses, maybe even make a neat list of pros and cons. She would think about whether they still looked as if they belonged together.

And then she'd say yes.

∗ ∗ ∗

Val watched misty-eyed as Daniel and his family moved forward into the crowd of reporters. Lyssie's gaze had the sharp observation of a potential writer. Val could almost see the mental notes her little sister was making. With the improvement in health Louise was showing now that she had better care, Val was unlikely to become Lyssie's guardian, but they were sisters forever.

"It's been six months since I decided to open my own office so I could practice more do-gooder law," Val said quietly to Rob. "So much has changed."

He put his arm around her shoulders. "Pretty much all for the better, too."

For sure. Rob had taken to the Meeting like an eagle to the air. His hard-earned clarity and integrity made him a natural Quaker. She would spend her life working to be a better Friend, but that was another battle worth fighting. "I've been thinking. Now that the weather's getting colder, surely you and Malcolm would be more comfortable living at my place until you finish the main remodeling work at your house."

"If that's an invitation, we accept," he said promptly. "But didn't you say that people who lived together first were more likely to get divorced if they later got married? Maybe we need to do something so we don't become victims of a statistic."

"I've thought of that." With a grin, she stuck out her palm. "Hand over the keys to the Corniche, and let's start looking at dates."

Author's Note

∗ ∗ ∗

Capital punishment arouses strong opinions on both sides, but just about no one is in favor of executing innocent people. While any thinking person has to assume that sometimes the justice system makes mistakes, the advent of DNA testing has proven how alarmingly often those mistakes occur.

Ever since then public awareness of the problem has been stimulated by stories such as those coming out of Illinois. With the help of energetic journalism students from Northwestern University, more men were released from death row as innocent than were being executed. The stories were so outrageous and horrifying that eventually the governor of Illinois declared a moratorium on executions.

While my characters and plot are fictional, most of the details are derived from real cases. A major inspiration for this book was the case of Michael Austin, imprisoned for murder in my hometown of Baltimore. Austin was convicted by the flip-flop testimony of a lying eyewitness, and a business card that turned out to be totally irrelevant. Not only had several other eyewitnesses described a killer of very different appearance, but Austin had been at work at the time of the murder and had a time card to prove it.

t took twenty-seven years for the truth to set him free.

With the intervention of Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey organization dedicated to helping wrongly convicted prisoners, Michael Austin was released after spending half his life in prison. Anyone interested in learning more about wrongful conviction can find more information on the Internet. One good site is
www.justicedenied.org
, which has a bibliography of books and articles on the subject.

Excerpt

from

The Burning Point

Book 1 in the Circle of Friends Trilogy