Untraceable (12 page)

The lights in the building were
lowered. I listened to the first gentle piano cords and I couldn’t
help but for my mind to drift back to the night my husband couldn’t
sleep. The night I found him on the pool deck, drowning in his
regrets.

“
Here I am, Lord, and I'm
drowning in your sea of forgetfulness. The chains of yesterday
surround me. I yearn for peace and rest. I don't want to end up
where You found me. And it echoes in my mind, keeps me awake
tonight…but today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You
leaving me this way…I can't bear to see the man I've been come
rising up in me again. In the arms of Your mercy I find rest…You
know just how far the east is from the west; from one scarred hand
to the other…”

I continued, without crying, all the
way to the end. Micah seemed to be absorbing every word, and with
every word a slow smile was working its way across his face. By the
final chorus, he was singing silently with me and a look of
relaxation replaced that small amount of tension that he had been
feeling over his pending baptism.

One of the deacons had already started
leading him away as I returned to where we had been sitting, so I
wouldn’t get to give him a kiss before he went back to the
baptismal, but that was okay because the look he had given me spoke
volumes about how much he liked the song. I had two other deacons
that I had armed with cameras waiting behind the stage to get
several shots of the event from a different view, which allowed me
to sit with our family and watch from the sanctuary. The curtain
was drawn back and Micah was standing behind the half-glass wall in
a white robe in slightly lower than chest deep water with Pastor
Anderson. The pastor explained the significance of the baptismal
ceremony and then showed Micah how to hold his arms as he
continued. “I baptize you my brother, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Buried in baptism…” He was
pushing Micah backwards and under the water, and then pulling him
upward and out of the water. “…Raised to walk in newness of
life.”

Everyone was clapping,
Celeste was crying, Kimmy was cheering, and all I could do was
smile as I headed back up on to the stage to finish with the final
song I had chosen for him. They told me it would take several
minutes before he would be ready to come out, but he would be able
to hear the song as he was drying and re-dressing. And, although I
hadn’t told him what the final song would be, he’d heard it
before—on Remake. This time I cried as I sang,
“Born Again.”

Pastor Anderson joined me on stage and
thanked everyone for staying and then said we had one more ceremony
to complete, but it would be private. As the auditorium cleared
out, I saw someone sitting in the very back row that I hadn’t
noticed earlier; Gwen. She was dabbing her eyes with a tissue as
she smiled back at me. Micah had invited her, but she told us she
most likely wouldn’t be able to make it. I felt a touch on my arm
and Micah was standing there beside me.

“
Look who made it,” I
pointed out as she rose from the back and began working her way
forward through the last of the people leaving the
sanctuary.

Micah met her halfway and hugged her,
“I was hoping you’d be here. We’ve got a surprise for you.” He had
his arm over her shoulder as he walked her to where we were all
standing. “You’re going to be an Aunt in six months.”

“
I’m going to be an Aunt
in three months, unless your wife is actually fat instead of six
months pregnant.” She winked at me.

“
You are going to be an
Aunt in three months, but you’re going to be an Aunt again in
December.”

“
Unless I totally wasn’t
paying attention in science class, that’s impossible.”

“
You must not have been
paying attention then,” David spoke up. “Because that’s what’s
going to happen when I get married in December. You’ll be Kimmy’s
aunt.”

“
Well, I’ll be a
son-of-a…” She suddenly remembered what establishment she was
standing in. “You and Nadia? How long has this been going
on?”

“
From the moment I met her
last June, but she didn’t agree to marry me until
yesterday.”

“
I knew it!” she said, but
still clearly surprised. “Not that you two were…” She let her
statement fade. “I knew there was something going on with you. I
told Mom you were acting weird like you were on happy pills or
something.” She sighed then reached out to hug my mother, “I don’t
know what you did to him, but thank God somebody finally got
through that rock in his chest that he called his
heart.”

“
So you’re okay with
this?” Mom asked. Not that she needed Gwen’s approval, but she
obviously wanted all his family members to be in
agreement.

“
Sure, I am—it might be a
little funky for these two,” she said, pointing to Micah and me.
“But after everything they’ve been through, they ought to be used
to weird by now.”

Although we all laughed, Mom had no
idea exactly how weird Gwen was honestly insinuating.

“
Are we ready?” Pastor
Anderson asked as he approached us.

It was all quite simple and
unrehearsed. But there was a beauty in the gentle rejoining of our
hearts to each other after so much pain had passed between us.
Neither of us wanted to be the source of that pain. I never wanted
to hurt him when D’Angelo forced me into leaving, but it did hurt
him in the worst possible way. He never wanted to hurt me when the
same horrid man filled Micah’s body with enough amphetamines and
steroids to drive him to nearly kill me. None of this was spoken of
course, but it was clearly on both our minds as we re-committed our
lives to each other.

“
Once again, I present to
you, Mr. and Mrs. Micah Gavarreen. May God bless you both and
protect the love you have for one another. You may kiss your
spouse.”

All I could pray, as our lips met to
seal our vows, was that we would finally have a chance to be happy
together.

“
I love you, baby,” I
whispered as I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.

He couldn’t speak, his eyes were red
and he was trying to mouth the words ‘I love you,’ when he buried
his face against my neck as a small choked sound struggled free
from his chest. We didn’t move from the spot that felt like we had
been rooted to as he worked on regaining his control.

Pastor Anderson kept his hands on our
backs and began to pray. Years of experience told him that he
needed to do something to give us a little more time to compose. I
felt Micah’s chest expand with an inhaled breath. He placed a kiss
on the side of my head and nodded to the Pastor.

Micah found my mouth for one more
tender kiss as the last thing we heard was the word,
‘Amen.’

We had a wonderful afternoon as
Giorgio and Celeste treated everyone to lunch at Pistache’s French
Bistro. With the exception of Micah, Kimmy, and me, it was wine all
around. We had sparkling water with a twist of lime and Kimmy had
lemonade, but they brought it to us in wine glasses because Giorgio
informed them that there was going to be a lot of toasting going on
at our table.

Giorgio started off with a toast to
the newly remarried couple, the soon to be married couple, and
(very surprisingly) for his son’s baptism. Gwen got up and toasted
to the fact that her brothers finally got some sense in their heads
(which I found hilarious). Celeste stood and toasted to her
grandson and granddaughter. David toasted to first chances. I
toasted to second chances, and Mom toasted to third chances. The
last person to raise a toast was my very quiet and thoughtful
husband.

“
I have to agree with my
wife on toasting to second chances, but since she’s already done
that, then I have to toast to how second chances happen. I don’t
know why she deemed me worthy for her love, but thank God there was
enough love left for forgiveness. Here is to
forgiveness.”

Mom and Kimmy were the only ones who
didn’t know the true depth of this toast, but the Gavarreen family
was very somber as they raised their glasses in
agreement.

CHAPTER six

The days to our birthday celebration
passed quickly. Micah had been snooping, prying, and prodding to
find out what I had gotten him for his birthday. I’d just smile
when I’d catch him looking around for it or asking Mom or Kimmy
questions about it. The whole time, I kept getting text messages
from Lyle telling me the next offer Micah was making on the
property. Two days before our party, the final offer came in at
forty million dollars. Even Lyle was begging me to let Micah buy it
from me and pocket a thirty-two million dollar profit out of my
husband’s bank account. I just laughed and told him to turn down
the offer once again.

“
I’m going shopping,” I
stated as Micah sat in the big recliner in the living room,
brooding over the most recent refusal he received over the
property.

“
I’ll go with you,” he
mumbled, clearly not interested in shopping, but he didn’t like me
going out alone.

“
No, you may not. I’ve got
a couple last minute things I need for our party that you don’t
need to see.”

A scowl crossed his face, “You aren’t
going to make this a gigantic party, are you?”

“
I only invited a hundred
people, so no, I’m…” I watched his expression as the shock hit him.
“I’m kidding,” I laughed and leaned forward to kiss him. “It’s just
us and Mom and Kimmy.”

“
David can’t make
it?”

“
No,” I frowned. “I—I
guess he’s on a job for the new capo. Would you please talk to him
about quitting—for Mom’s sake. She’s a nervous wreck when she knows
what he’s doing.”

“
I have,” he stated and
then let it drop.

“
Doesn’t he have enough
money that he doesn’t need to—”

“
It’s not that; he’s not
ready to give it up. I think he wants to quit, but for some reason
he seems to still be trying to get back in the Families’ good
graces after wearing that wire. He won’t get into the details with
me, but he’s getting along with the new capo—and
Botachelli.”

“
Who is
Botachelli?”

“
My Boss.”

“
Has he—your boss—has he
talked to you? I know you told him you’d only be able
to—”

“
Yeah, we
talk.”

That surprised me because Micah had
evidently made sure he was nowhere around me when he made those
phone calls. “Frequently?”

He searched me with those deep green
eyes. I think he was looking for signs of panic or distress. “Every
few days.”

“
How come I never—I mean,
I had no idea that you were keeping in touch that
closely.”

“
You don’t need to hear
those conversations.”

I eased myself into his lap. I hated
to see him this way. “Are you okay? Is there anything I can
do?”

He finally smiled and wrapped me in
his warm embrace, “You can stay home and do your shopping with your
mom when she gets back—unless you let me go with you.”

“
I can handle going out by
myself. You know most people don’t recognize me with the blonde
hair.” I could tell he was getting ready to argue with me. “And my
sunglasses, and my hat,” I added. “You won’t let me drive my Aero,
so that can’t give me away.” A couple of the clips on Remake had
shown me with my fabulous car, so it was almost as famous as me.
“But, for my birthday, I would like to take it out of the garage
for a little—”

“
No. You’re too wild
behind the wheel.”

“
Ah! I know how to behave
myself.”

“
Yes, you do, but not
behind the wheel of that car.”

“
Please
,” I crooned, and then kissed his neck. I could see he was
softening. “Just for a little drive?”

“
Maybe, but just for your
birthday, and just for a little while. No speeding, no racing,
and—”

“
I get the picture. But,
right now, I’ve got shopping to do and
I
will be fine.
”

“
Please,” he
re-asked.

“
No. I’m a big girl and I
can go out alone.”

He put his hands on my stomach and
laughed, “Not exactly, but you are getting there.”

“
Ah! Remember, no remarks
about the size of this baby for my birthday.”

He kissed me and let me go, “It’s not
your birthday, yet.”

“
Close enough—no tummy
remarks!”

I was still fuming that he actually
said I was ‘getting there’ as I walked out to my Aston Martin. “I
should take my Aero just to thank him for the comment,” I snapped
to myself, but I wasn’t that vindictive—and in all honesty, I was
‘getting there.’ But the doctor said my weight was perfect. I was,
so far, a textbook pregnancy, according to Doctor Kannova. I took a
deep, cleansing breath as I slipped on to the leather seat and
started my car.

It didn’t take long for me to remember
I was on a fun mission. I was going to the bookstore to find a home
plan book so I could wrap it up and give it to him, but I had
waited until it was close to the day so ‘Snoopy’ wouldn’t find it
before the party. I also was picking up a copy of the deed to the
property. I hadn’t decided if I wanted to frame it, stick it inside
the plan book, or what I was going to do with it.