The Commitment (16 page)

Ted stared into her eyes. They stood like that without speaking a word for several long minutes. At last Ted grinned. "Massachusetts. My sister lives in Plymouth."

His smile released her. She moved into the circle of his arms and hugged him. Her throat tightened. She cleared it. "I'll miss you. What will we do without you?"

"I'm sure you'll do just fine. Be happy Miranda." He left. The quiet of his wake was sad, but contented.

"What do you suppose he meant by that last comment?" she said to Alice as she found her coat.

"He's deeper than you suspect. And he probably knows you better than you think." Alice's remark was just about as cryptic as Ted's.

She'd think about it later. "I've got to get some straight answers out of Lucy before I see Drake again. Thanks for helping me put this into perspective, Alice."

Miranda stepped into the frigid night, glad for the clear night. In her current mental state driving on snowy roads would be a recipe for disaster.

* * * *

No sign of Jack's sports car in the parking lot. Good, she'd have Lucy to herself.

In the months since Lucy and Drake split up, Miranda had rarely found her sister alone for more than five minutes. Now after learning what she had from Drake and Bob Jones, Miranda was left to wonder again at the degree in which Lucy was involved in the plot to steal technology and stock from Millennium Tech.

Shrugging off the discomfort anticipated because of the coming conflict, Miranda dodged frozen patches of snow until she reached the steps leading to Lucy's door.

Lucy opened the door just as Miranda put her hand up to knock. Her sister's appearance shocked her. Lucy wore a baggy pair of pants topped with an even baggier sweatshirt and a drab down vest. Her golden hair was pulled into a ragged ponytail; not the glamorous mane Miranda had alternately envied and taken delight in over the years.

The biggest change was the expression of wary exhaustion that showed in the lines running from the corners of Lucy's mouth. A faint bruise around the left eye had Miranda breathing deeply. It looked like Lucy had been punched.

"I should have known you wouldn't leave well enough alone," Lucy said with a weariness that matched her appearance. "You may as well come in. My ride isn't here yet."

"Where are you going?" It was the most innocuous thing Miranda could say. Anxiety overrode all other emotions. She struggled to control it as a knot of fear grew in her stomach.

"Out of town," Lucy answered. She waved a languid hand toward two suitcases. An overnight bag squatted next to the door.

"Vacation?" Miranda asked with a chipped brightness that sounded false even to her.

"Why not?"

"Just curious. You've never had a mid winter vacation before, not counting your honeymoon trip to Aspen. Of course, you never did like to ski."

Lucy ignored Miranda's opening. She pulled a cigarette from an open pack as she sank onto the surface of the coffee table.

Miranda looked around the room. Signs of wear echoed Lucy's appearance. A film of dust dulled the surfaces that Lucy generally kept sparkling, due more to pride in her belongings than in any fervor of cleanliness. It echoed her appearance.

It looked like no dusting or vacuuming had occurred in weeks. Stubs of cigarettes and ashes overflowed saucers and half-full coffee cups on every flat surface. A quick glance into the kitchen showed the same unusual neglect there.

A sour smell pervaded the apartment. If despair had an odor, it was this one.

The oppressive silence grated on Miranda. She sat where Lucy couldn't ignore her. "Tell me the real reason you divorced Drake. He wasn't the monster you claimed, was he?"

Lucy looked away through a wisp of acrid smoke. She grimaced then she crushed her cigarette into an already full ashtray. "You must know by now that he's different at home than in public. Why are you so set on knowing the details of my failure?"

"So I don't make the same mistakes." Miranda surprised herself with the honesty of her answer. Though she and Drake had married under less than ideal circumstances, she'd come to like and respect him. If she were to be totally truthful, she realized in a moment of painful clarity, she might admit to maybe falling in love with him.

Maybe.

"You never make mistakes," Lucy snorted.

"Yeah, right. You're talking to a three-time loser. Or have you forgotten three failed engagements?" She couldn’t help the bitterness that seeped into her voice.

"You recovered nicely."

Miranda stifled a ridiculous urge to laugh. "I'm not sure that marrying your cast-off husband can be called recovering nicely." She kept her tone gentle. Unexpected vulnerability surfaced in Lucy's shaking hands.

"What happened with Drake?" Miranda asked.

Lucy pulled another cigarette from the pack. She put it between her lips but didn’t light it. Instead she took it out of her mouth and began to systematically shred it. The pieces of paper, filter, and tobacco drifted to the floor.

"He … I … " Her hesitation caught at Miranda's heart. The Lucy's clear blue gaze met Miranda's. "He loved too hard." Her voice hitched.

Miranda's heart pounded hard in her chest. Maybe she didn't want to hear this after all. She spoke around the lump in her throat. "I don't understand."

Lucy looked away, and then turned her red-rimmed eyes back to Miranda. "He wanted more from me than I could give him. He wanted me, totally and in every way, committed to him. I discovered that I couldn't give him what he wanted. I was a grave disappointment to both of us."

"Didn't you know what he was like before you married him?"

"I always managed to keep him at arm's length."

"But why?" Bewilderment filled Miranda.

"Why marry him when I didn’t love him? Prestige, money, take your pick."

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I thought you loved him. I couldn't imagine any other reason to marry him or anyone."

"Couldn't you?" Lucy shot back, her eyes hard and icy.

Heat rose between Miranda's breasts. "Three out of four times I was ready to marry for what I thought was love." She picked her words with care. "I didn't plan to marry Drake; it just sort of happened."

"Then why don't you just sort of get a divorce if you hate it so much?"

Miranda ducked her head. The flush reached her cheeks. "There's the question of whether I might be, um, you know, pregnant." The last word came out in a whisper.

Eyebrows pulled together in an elegant frown, Lucy leaned close to Miranda. "Pregnant?" she whispered. She reared back and shouted, "Pregnant!" She paced and mumbled.

I've pushed her over the edge, Miranda thought.

Lucy swung around the room, her face an amazing wreath of smiles. She pulled a cigarette out of the pack again, started to light it, then snuffed it out in rapid succession. "Bad for the baby," she said.

"You aren't angry?" Miranda asked, a bit stupefied by Lucy's reaction.

"I'm going to be an aunt," Lucy crowed.

"I said might. Don't start knitting booties yet. What about Drake and that whole mess?"

"Drake was the worst possible person for me. That doesn't make him bad for you. Oh, I have some reservations, but don't you see? He never allowed the possibility of getting me pregnant after our wedding night. Maybe he had an idea of how it would end. Though he kept up the pretense of marital bliss, he made sure he was protected. The man takes no chances."

"There's more going on than Drake's and my relationship," Miranda said. She had to bring this up, sweep everything into the open.

Lucy stopped her buoyant pacing.

Miranda took a deep breath. "There's the stock you took out of the marriage. How did you manage that little trick if Drake is so careful?"

"Damn. How much do you know?" Lucy slumped into a chair.

"A lot, but not enough. How deeply are you into this with Jack?"

Lucy paled at the direct question. She turned on the lamp on the table next to her. Miranda saw the full extent of the bruise on her temple.

"I'm more dangerously 'into it' than you can imagine. You aren't the only one Jack fooled. I have no luck with men at all."

"Runs in the family." Miranda bit her lip.

"Yeah."

"The only way I can help you is if you tell me the truth. What's going on?"

"I'm way past the stage where anyone can help me." Lucy sighted. "It started shortly before I divorced Drake. He asked me what I'd like for my birthday. In a moment of idiocy I asked for Millennium Tech stock instead of something more liquid."

"Why?"

"I knew our marriage was going down the tubes. I also knew that it wasn't his fault as much as it was mine. Even so, I guess I wanted a small piece of him to keep. The stock was a gift, not part of our pre-nup agreement. Sounds pathetic, doesn't it."

"No." Miranda covered Lucy's hand with her own. "Not pathetic, kind of sweet in a crazy kind of way. But I think the stock was more expensive than you realized."

Lucy took a shuddering breath. "Bob Jones started sniffing around soon after the transaction would have been posted wherever it is that they post that kind of thing. He managed to convince me that Drake was not only a monster but also a poor businessman. I was too good for him. I'll regret my actions for the rest of my life."

"You slept with Jones."

"Yes." Her shoulders slumped with the weight of her confession. "I'll never forget the look on Drake's face when he opened the bedroom door. He covered the hurt up with the coldest rage I'd ever witnessed. Jones didn't have much of a chance to defend himself. Drake punched him in the nose and threw him out the door."

A chill pervaded the room. Miranda shivered. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. That's the hell of it. He had every right to yell and carry on and be as pissed off as anyone. But he just looked at me as though I were less than an insect he'd just stepped on. When he turned and walked out I knew that divorce was my only alternative. I could never live in the same house as Drake again."

Miranda squeezed Lucy's hand once, let go, and asked the next painful question. "How does Jack fit into the picture?"

Lucy flushed a brilliant crimson. She met Miranda's gaze. "I apologize for that. It caused you a lot of pain."

Miranda's throat tightened. Jack's canceling their engagement had sent her straight into Drake's arms. Cause and effect.

She touched Lucy's hand again. "You did me a favor. At the time it hurt like hell. I didn't know that it was about you and Millennium Tech until Drake and I had come to an understanding about the fate, or the state, of our marriage."

"You didn't suspect even when Jack and I arrived together in Las Vegas that morning after you were married?"

Miranda shook her head. "I was pretty hung over. Drake kept pulling the rug out from under my very unsteady feet that morning."
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "How, exactly, did you and Drake get together? Neither of you ever made that clear."

"Later," Miranda insisted. "The more immediate problem is to get you away from Jack and bring with you any evidence of stock tampering and technology theft."

"I hadn't thought of anything more than running away," Lucy admitted. "Last night Jack lost his temper. After … after he slammed out of here I decided to leave."

"This is your apartment."

"It doesn't matter. I have to get away."

"We'll go straight to the police and have him arrested for assault," Miranda stated. In light of her sister's injury, stock and technology took a backseat.

"Not yet." Lucy narrowed her eyes. She stared over Miranda's shoulder. "I know. Jack kept back-up disks here. I think I can put my hands on them. Wait here."

She left Miranda in the living room, moving with a purpose Miranda hadn't sensed in her in a while. When Lucy returned she held a small black computer diskette. Her smile was reserved. "Here it is. This should have everything that Drake needs to prosecute."

Miranda stood to hug Lucy at the precise moment the door slammed open. Jack lurched inside. He shut the door with an unnatural gentleness.

* * * *

Lucy, Jack, Miranda--the names and faces floated behind Drake's eyes as he drove toward Lucy's apartment. When he pulled into the parking lot he couldn't decide if he was relieved or angered at the sight of Miranda's car. A sporty green Mercedes coupe was parked beside it. Its engine ticked with heat as Drake walked past. He was glad Alice had convinced him to leave Pumpkin with her. One less thing to distract him, she'd insisted.

He hesitated a moment before knocking. A moment that would play over and over again in the years to come. The sounds of voices, muted but angry, came through the door.

His hand was on the doorknob when the sharp crack of a pistol shot propelled him forward.

Chapter Eighteen

The gun in Jack's hand shone with a silvery lethalness. Miranda's breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded hard twice before it settled into a faster rhythm.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't leave well enough alone," Jack said to Miranda. "Pretty soon it won't matter. Most of the information is downloaded." His gaze and the barrel of the gun swerved toward Lucy. "But it looks like my darling is cheating on me."

Miranda took advantage of his momentary inattention to calm herself. She shifted her weight. The irrational gleam in Jack's eyes combined with the tremor of his hand suggested a man on the brink of losing control.

She calmly pocketed the data disk.

"Lucy was just congratulating me," she told Jack, hoping to regain his attention. Lucy made too good a target for the bastard. Miranda was big sister enough to want to keep her sibling out of harm's way. Even if Lucy had brought it on herself. Blood did tell. Miranda allowed a moment of pride in her sister.

"Congratulate you on what?" Jack asked.

The black maw of the muzzle swung back to Miranda. She swallowed past the dry lump in her throat; forced a smile.

"I'm pregnant." It was a lie but it got his attention.

"Too bad Lucy won't be around to play aunt." He turned to Lucy again. "You were going to run out on me. What did you plan? To cop a plea in exchange for immunity?"