Ties That Bind (2 page)

“I swear to God,” he said, his tone sincere. “I never had an affair with Anna Bingham.” Slashes of scarlet appeared on his high cheekbones. “I strayed once, and you know why.”

Kate’s own face burned. She remembered the day she caught her husband of fourteen years with another woman. His car had been parked in front of the young woman’s building, in the middle of the day, for all to see. It had been as if he was flaunting his indiscretion. Jillian had driven past the vehicle and called Kate. Raw from their prolonged emotional distance and the yelling matches that broke out routinely, she’d gone over to the house and confronted the Malibu Barbie, who answered the door in a skimpy robe. Kate had barged through the entrance and stalked up the stairs. Reese had been naked in bed, smoking a cigarette.

“All right,” she finally managed now. “I’ll believe that.”

“You don’t sound convinced.” His voice was still tight. “Again, if you aren’t…”

“No, I am.” She bent back the corner of the file and felt that old vulnerability to Reese, and only to Reese, overcome her. “Truthfully, I was shocked that you went to someone else. Regardless of what happened, we’d always been enough for each other.”

Removing his glasses, he braced his arms on the table. They were muscular and strong, sprinkled with dark hair. “You were enough for me, Kate. Maybe too much.” He sighed, suddenly seeming weary. “It was the other stuff.”

Her heart beat at a clip. “You mean you did it to punish me?”

“Partly, I guess. But mostly, I did it to stop the pain.”

“Did it? Stop the pain?”

“Some.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.

She shook her head. “This is old ground.”

“I know.” Again, he held up the file. “Resurrected because of Anna Bingham.”

“Let’s bury it back where it belongs.”

“Agreed. So, we’re square that I didn’t do what she accuses?”

“We’re square. But hell, Reese, how are we going to prove it? Come out from under it all? This kind of scandal could ruin both of us.”

“You got that right. My credibility as a lawyer will be shot. If people believe I behaved unethically, I’ll be lucky to hold on to the clients I have, let alone bring in new business.”

“I’ll be called before the Judicial Conduct Commission. A judge can’t have her ethics questioned like this.”

“No sense in panicking,” he said gruffly.

“I agree. We have to just plow through it all until we find the answers.”

In this, as in so many other ways, they were perfectly matched: They were perfectionists who took charge, were self-disciplined, and had high expectations of themselves and others. They didn’t wallow in worry, but took action.

“We’ll do what the lawyers said,” he went on. “Now that we’ve scrutinized the file, we’ll look at the trial transcript. And I already have Yolanda downloading any information from the Internet on Anna Bingham. There’s some reason the woman lied about us in her suicide note, and we’ll find it. I promise.”

Kate swallowed back the doubt. He’d made promises in the past that he had been unable to keep.

She only hoped to God this time his words held quarter. Kate didn’t know if she could handle losing her beloved profession. It was all she had left after Reese divorced her and her daughter stopped talking to her.

o0o

AS DRAY MERRILL ducked into Starbucks and headed toward his table, Tyler studied her. A blue-eyed blonde, she was lovely. But she held no appeal for him. When had he become so drawn to luscious dark hair and the supple body of mature womanhood? Dray owned a gym, The Iron Butterfly, and was toned and fit. But she lacked Kaitlyn’s sensuality. And her strong, forceful personality. Where Kate was a blinding diamond, Dray was a soft moonstone.

“Hi,” she said as she took a chair. She wore a lightweight sweat suit that matched her eyes; he guessed she was on her way to work. “What’s up?”

Tyler felt himself flush. “They’re together as we speak.” He was always self-conscious talking like this to Dray. And she had voiced similar feelings of discomfort. But the situation they found themselves in was unusual, and they’d unexpectedly discovered an ally in each other.

A frown marred her brow. She was a few years younger than he, and the bloom of youth still went unhampered on her face. “Why aren’t they at work? Reese said before he left this morning that his day was crazy.”

“There’s trouble, which is going to cause havoc for us, I think.” He explained what Kaitlyn had told him a couple of hours earlier, about the newspaper article. All morning, he’d refrained from calling back to check up on her.

“Damn it.” Dray sipped her coffee. He’d ordered it, knowing what she liked. This wasn’t the first such meeting, though each time Tyler hoped it would be the last. “Well, we can’t keep them apart forever,” she added.

They’d done a pretty good job of that. “I…” Tyler ran a hand through his hair. “We shouldn’t have to. If she’d just marry me, like I asked. And if he’d let down his walls with you, we wouldn’t have to go through this anxiety.”

She smiled softly and squeezed his hand where it rested on the table. “I’m not sure any of that would make a difference. They’re connected, Tyler. Try as we might, we haven’t been able to break that bond. That tie between them.”

“Sofie’s the tie. “

She shook her head. Streaked blond hair escaped from a ponytail and glistened in the overhead lights. “Not just their daughter. There’s something between them. They’re so alike—competitive, take-charge, ambitious. Reese told me once that even though similar personalities often clashed, for some reason his and Kate’s meshed and brought out the best in each other.”

“I guess we should be glad they fight so much when they’re together now, so that the bond gets masked.” The latte he was drinking tasted bitter. “We’re pathetic.”

Dray shrugged. “Yeah. I wish there was a twelve-step program somewhere for insecurity.”

He relaxed. She always made him feel better. He was in a hell of a situation. Thirty-six, successful pediatrician pioneering a new Well Child Project in his medical practice, attractive enough. And in love with someone who wouldn’t commit to him. All his life he’d nurtured significant relationships in the hope they’d work out, like his parents’ solid, happy marriage, but he’d never found anyone he could connect with. Now that he had, he’d chosen a woman who wouldn’t have him.

He was very afraid she was still in love with her ex-husband.

“What are you thinking?” Dray asked him. “You’ve got this horrible look on your face.”

Tyler shrugged. “Just what we’ve talked about before. I think they still love each other.”

Dray watched the man seated across from her. He was a nice guy, real eye candy, smart to boot. And, she thought wryly, totally in love with Kate Renado. What was with guys and that woman? She was a man magnet. “If they do, it doesn’t matter. They spar like cats and dogs whenever they get near each other. He won’t admit it, but he still feels a lot of anger toward her. They couldn’t live together again even if they wanted to. Reese has said that many times.”

“You talk about Kaitlyn with him?”

“Sometimes.” When she was really insecure. “He admits he loved her to distraction. But he also says she drove him crazy at the end.”

“He’s the crazy one, to have let her go.”

“Well, lucky for us that he did.” She stirred her latte. “So, do you think we should do anything about this newest situation?”

He shook his head, his slate blue eyes sad. “No, I just thought you’d want to know.”

Again she squeezed his hand. “I do. And I appreciate you thinking of me.”

“Hey, I got a lot to lose.”

“So do I.” The only man she ever loved in her life. “I hope—”

“Uh-oh.” Tyler’s face reddened.

“What?”

“Kaitlyn’s best friend just walked in. And saw us.” His eyes got a bit panicky. “Will she know you?”

“Is it Judge Jenkins?”

“Yep.”

“She’ll know me.”

“Brace yourself.” He pasted on a phony smile. “Hey, Jillian, how are you?”

Jillian Jenkins resembled Susan Sarandon, and just like the gutsy, outspoken actress, was a force to be reckoned with. As was Kate. Dray had heard they were called the dynamic duo of family court. “Hi, Tyler.” She turned shrewd brown eyes on Dray. “Hello. Dray, isn’t it? Reese’s friend.”

“Yes.” Her smile was as phony as Tyler’s. “How are you, Jillian?”

“I’m good.” The judge glanced from Dray to Tyler. “What’s going on here?” she asked in her trademark no-nonsense manner.

“Dray and I bumped into each other getting coffee. We were just shooting the breeze.” He frowned. “Did you see the paper today?”

Jillian waited a heartbeat, probably assessing Tyler’s story. “Yes, I tried to get Kate, but she isn’t answering her phone. “

“She and Reese are meeting with their lawyers this morning.”

“Ah, I see. “ Jillian checked her watch. “Well, I’m on a break, so I’ll be going.” Her smile was innocuous, but her words weren’t when she said, “I’m sure you two have a lot to discuss,” then walked away.

“Hell,” Tyler said scowling into his coffee.

“Think she’ll tell Kate?”

“As soon as she can. Wouldn’t you?”

“Probably.”

“Will you lie to Reese about meeting me intentionally?”

“I wish Reese would care enough so that I had to lie.”

“You live with the guy, at least. Kaitlyn won’t let me move in.”

“No, I think you two are closer than Reese and I are.” Reese always maintained a subtle distance from her, one she’d bet her new elliptical equipment on that he didn’t have with Kate when they were together. “Despite the living arrangements.” She gathered her things and stood. “I have to go. I have a class to teach at noon. Stay in touch.”

“Yeah sure. And thanks, for listening to my ranting.”

“We’re on the same side.”

“I wish there weren’t sides.”

“I know, me, too.”

As Dray turned, she caught sight of Jillian Jenkins sipping coffee at the sidebar. The woman made no pretense that she was doing anything but watching Dray and Tyler. Dray nodded to her and headed out the door.

She felt like an idiot. She felt deceptive. She felt worthless. But she loved Reese Bishop, and she knew in her heart that her only competition was his beautiful, smart, well-respected ex-wife.

Who’d practically destroyed him. Dray would be damned if she let Kate Renado get another chance to finish the job. With that unselfish thought in mind, she walked toward her car.

o0o

SOFIE BISHOP SLID to the floor of her closet and buried her face in her hands. The nightmares she was having sucked and had kept her up until five this morning. She’d zonked out after lunch, missing classes. Her stomach hurt and even her skin burned. The hole she was digging for herself was deep and she couldn’t climb out.

For a minute she considered calling her father. But he’d rush up here like a knight in shining armor and a) force her to go home with him or b) make promises to her he couldn’t keep.

Go home. What a flamin’ joke. She didn’t have a home anymore. Not since the big D. Not since her mother ditched the coolest man in the world, forcing her dad to hook up with some bimbo. Now the illustrious judge had a young lover, an ult pad and a new life. No room there for a daughter who hated her guts.

Well, fuck her. Sofie crawled over to a box on the floor, opened it and pulled out a reefer. She lit it, sucked in the mellow pleasure and, after two more puffs, could finally breathe again. Nope, Sofie wouldn’t call her parents. She’d have to drag herself out of this pit all by herself. And she would. Much as she hated to admit it, she had her mother’s grit. She’d survive and be a success in life.

And probably, despite what everybody else thought, she’d be as unhappy as Kaitlyn Renado was. Her mother hid it well from the world, but Sofie knew the real truth about the woman who had given birth to her.

“ALL RISE. THE Honorable Judge Kaitlyn Renado presiding.”

Kate entered her courtroom to the familiar announcement, forcing herself to concentrate on the case she was to hear and not think about Reese and the deathbed charge by a federal inmate. From day one, the courtroom had been her refuge. She remembered that first morning she was to preside; she’d been furious with Reese for not being there the night before to help her cope with the anxiety of her debut on the bench. Not only wasn’t he there to give support, but their final divorce papers had been served that afternoon. She vowed then never to let thoughts of him enter the courtroom.

Portia Elliot, her assistant, sat off to the side. She was a feisty black woman who was studying for her law degree at night, and managed Kate’s caseload with the skill of a magician. Kate glanced at the folders stacked on the bench. They were color coded by type of case: blue for domestic violence, yellow for custody and visitation, green for neglect and abuse, black for paternity. She noted a red one: surrender of parental rights which, for a myriad of reasons, everyone in the New York justice system dreaded.

Action on all cases would range from brief proceedings to short hearings to full-blown trials, with the judge as the only decision maker. There were no juries in family court. It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and by five she might hear thirty or more cases.

Somber faced, she looked out at the assembled cast for a brief proceeding on an order of protection. The caseworker from CWA, Child Welfare Agency, stood and made a presentation requesting that a boy of six be taken from the home of a single parent until a complete evaluation could be performed.

Kate studied the overworked woman. “And your reason for this, Ms. Smith, is” —she glanced at her notes— “bruises identified by the school nurse.”

“Yes, Your Honor. We have reason to believe they were inflicted by the older brother.”

“And that’s because?”

“The boy told us. But the mother can’t be reached. And the brother was too busy at work to come here today.”

“Are you saying the child is living with just his brother?” Again, she checked her notes. “Who is sixteen years old?”

“That’s what we want to find out. Meanwhile, we’re worried about Sammy. We need time to unravel all this.”