A New Resolution (23 page)

“Are you threatening me?” Mia’s voice was strong, but Lore could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She was nervous.

“No, I’m just letting you know they wouldn’t be pleased, but that’s your decision to make.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“I told you, look up Edward Donaldson and read the articles about the sad little daughter he left behind, and how nobody in the press really believed my mother and I didn’t know what he was doing the whole time. You can decide for yourself what to believe.” She took one step closer, now eye to eye with the woman, her voice no louder than a whisper. “But believe me when I say that I know people, people who would jump at the chance to help me in honor of my father’s silence. Silence he kept in prison until the day he died.”

Mia visibly swallowed, stumbling back from Lore and dashing into the elevator before it closed.

“Leave Nolan alone, Mia.”

The elevator doors closed without Lore getting an answer, but she was pretty sure Mia had received the message loud and clear. If she proceeded with the case, Lore would have to think of some other way to scare her off, something she was at peace with, no matter how far from the path it took her.

“That was pretty devious of you, Lore,” Wayne said as he stepped up next to her and pressed the elevator button.

“Yup.”

“Feeling okay with that?”

“I’d do anything to protect them, Wayne. Anything.” Even give up every resolution she’d ever made and become deceptive like her father. She shook the thought away and turned to him with a relaxed smile, not wanting him to see the battle brewing in her mind.

“So you’ll send the IDs to the police tomorrow?”

“I’ll drop them off at the local bureau and say what we agreed, that you found the documents a few weeks ago but did not actually see what they were until yesterday. Upon realizing they were fake IDs, I promptly turned them over to the authorities.”

Wayne eyed her carefully as they stepped into the elevator. “You sure you want to do this? It will probably mean more investigations concerning your dad.”

“I’m sure. It’s time to wipe everything left of him clean.” And to start anew.

* * * *

Kieran sat on the top step of Lore’s childhood home, enjoying the warm breeze as he waited for Lore and Nolan to pick him up. He’d volunteered to sweep and mop the house while Nolan was at work and Lore ran some errands. She had been ecstatic, the great whoop of enjoyment and powerful bear hug she’d bestowed on him giving her away. Kieran enjoyed learning the little things about Lore as their relationship progressed, and a passionate dislike of cleaning was one of the more comical quirks of her character.

A mother and two children walked by, no doubt on their way home from school with their large backpacks and lunchboxes. Kieran picked up the small sketchpad and pencil lying by his hip. He’d disregarded the pad at first, not thinking he’d be struck by much inspiration in this smaller neighborhood, but as usual he was wrong. He couldn’t trust when or where the need to draw or paint or capture the simple beauty around him would strike. It was random, much like him.

As he sketched the quaint street, he took note of all the houses he’d come to know as he and Nolan frequented the block to help Lore out. He wasn’t very familiar with the neighborhood, but it was pleasant enough. He could understand why a couple would want to raise a family in the area. Good schools, low traffic, large lawns, and low crime. That is if you didn’t count the illegal arms dealer living with his wife and daughter next door.

The memory of Lore’s history here made his thoughts turn dark, reflecting in the new sketch he started. Instead of capturing the present-day, sunny suburban street, he found the sketched road covered with snow and surrounded by police vehicles. A dark figure coated in malice and regret was handcuffed and forced into the police car, and a little girl with long black hair gripped the porch and watched as every notion of her father was torn to shreds. Staring at the finished product, he shook his head. The whole scenario felt like something he’d watch on a crime procedural drama.

He tossed the sketchbook aside and stood, thinking he’d take a walk around the block to clear his mind. The memory of Lore’s face as she told her story flashed in his mind. The usual calm reserve had crumbled as the story progressed, revealing the tarnished layers of a woman scarred by her childhood. Scarred but not defeated. That’s what the three of them were, formed by but not the sum of their pasts.

Kieran stopped at the end of the walkway and looked up and down the block, imagining what New Year’s Eve might look like here. Christmas trees and menorahs would be in the living-room windows of the surrounding houses. Some mothers and fathers might be more keen to display their decorating prowess by bathing their homes in festive lights, a facet of the holiday season that never ceased to amuse Kieran. As his mind wandered, illustrating a snowy night in this corner of the world, one filled with spying eyes and police cars, something caught his eye, waking him from his creative revelry.

A black, unmarked car sat diagonally across the street from Lore’s childhood home. It seemed innocuous enough, but there was something tweaking Kieran’s gut, his intuition telling him the car was out of place. He could see the outline of a man in the driver’s seat, and if Kieran was a person prone to paranoia, he’d say the man’s gaze was focused in his direction.

Kieran was too inquisitive to let this go, so he lifted his hand in a pleasant wave, just one neighbor waving to another. He stepped off the curve to walk toward the car, and its engine revved, almost like a warning to keep away. Kieran shrugged it off and counted it as bad timing, needing to feed his curiosity about the mysterious car.

A car honked behind him as he reached the middle of the quiet street. He turned to see his lovers stepping out of Nolan’s car. He grinned as they waved at him in the midst of a conversation they were having.

“You could have told me you were in the room with Wayne as he went all daddy figure on me,” Nolan said in the petulant voice he used to imitate an annoyed teenager.

Kieran chuckled, having known Lore was going to surprise Nolan at his office today. Apparently the minx had engaged in a little teasing with Wayne. Wayne loved to torment Nolan, and really who could blame him? Sometimes the sexy man just made it too easy, but it was all in good fun.

The engine behind him revved again, making Kieran look back, and the black car pulled out into the street. Kieran only caught the face of a man with dark sunglasses. The guy nodded to Kieran as he passed and turned right once he reached the end of the block. That didn’t seem too ominous. Kieran was just overreacting, letting his imagination get the best of him.

“It’s not my fault you’re so gullible,” Lore said as Kieran looked back to them. “Wayne said he could hear you tremble in your seat.”

“Please.” Nolan laughed, resting his fists on his hips in a show of courage. “That man wishes I cowered whenever he spoke. More like laughed.” And then he laughed, outrageously loud and overexaggerated.

“Cool it, Nolan,” Kieran said as he ran up to the porch to grab his things and meet them back at the car. “That booming baritone voice is gonna cause an earthquake.”

“Maybe an earthquake in your pants,” Nolan muttered peevishly, getting back in the car.

Lore snorted and winked at Kieran before climbing back into the passenger seat. “Ah, such maturity for an accomplished lawyer.”

“Doesn’t it just warm your heart knowing he’s ours?” Kieran asked, settling into the backseat and leaning forward to kiss Nolan on the cheek.

“Yes,” she answered, wrapping her hand over Nolan’s where it rested on the steering wheel. “Every day.”

Chapter Sixteen

Lore smiled as the pasta sauce jar she considered buying from her local grocery store reminded her of Kieran’s face when he’d spilled sauce all over his favorite boxers the other night. Apparently underwear-only cooking was a thing at the guys’ house. When they told her she also had to conform to their rules if she wanted to eat the delicious food, she figured they’d let her get away with wearing a bra or a thin cami in addition to the panties. She should have known better. The men treated her the same way they dealt with each other, something she appreciated. They pushed and they pulled and they made her more comfortable in her own skin.

They weren’t fixing her, per se, but a relationship, no matter how many people participated, changed a person. This was something she hadn’t considered when accepting her involvement with them. But it was too late to go back now, and who the hell in their right mind would go back? She had two men to smile and joke with every day. Men who supported her and wanted to know her. They were good people, and they made her a better person. They made her happy. For the fifteenth time that day she felt a comforting weight of surety and love settle over her heart. So this was what being loved unconditionally felt like.

“Lore!”

Her spine straightened at the giddy shriek. She knew that obnoxiously perky voice. Lore plastered on a smile and placed the sauce jar in her cart, turning to see Kathy and her voluptuous curves bounce down the aisle toward her.

“Lore, I haven’t seen you since the last case meeting! Where have you been hiding?” Kathy was as vivacious as ever, but there was a small difference Lore couldn’t help but note in the woman. Her eyes were no longer dark with circles, and the smile wasn’t a facade to hide a mountain of shame for what was being done to her. She was a new woman, a stronger woman. Lore had to admit that even though Kathy could annoy the shit out of her, it was a relief to see the woman truly happy. She deserved it after all the crap that asshole had put her through.

“I’ve been around,” Lore said noncommittally. She didn’t want to end up being one of those people blocking aisles as they engaged in a deep conversation in the supermarket.

“Listen,” Kathy started, adjusting the purse strap on her shoulder and shifting on her feet. “I know you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Kathy, I don’t work at the office anymore. There’s no reason—”

“For us to hang out? Chat on the phone? I get I’m not your cup of tea or whatever, but if it weren’t for you, I’d still be stuck under the thumb of that monster. I just—”

“You don’t owe me anything, Kathy. What happened, happened. It’s over now.” Lore sighed, clearly seeing the woman was stressed-out by the direction the conversation had turned since their greeting. Well, she’d only put a couple of items in her cart, and it wasn’t like she had anything else to do that day. “Let’s go get some coffee; sound good?”

Kathy nodded, still pouting in distress. Lore put her items back, and they walked across the street to the small, local coffee shop she favored when she needed some time around people, but not too much.

After they received their orders, the women sat in the typical large yet tattered-looking coffeehouse chairs.

“So tell me what’s going on,” Lore asked, worried by the unease apparent in Kathy’s demeanor. The last time she’d seen the woman so uncomfortable was because of the asshat.

Kathy took a sip from her cup and leveled Lore with a stare far beyond the maturity level she’d ever suspected Kathy capable of. “I’ve called you a few times since I last saw you.”

“I couldn’t go to those parties, Kathy.”

“I’ve called you a few times about things other than parties. If you’d listened to the messages, you’d have known that. Why do you avoid me? Why have you always avoided me? I mean, you put yourself on the line for me and the other women at the office. You gave up your job for us so you could nail that bastard. I would have thought that meant we were…”

“Friends?”

“Hell, I’d take acquaintances at least. You think you hide yourself so well from the world, keeping everything close to the chest. I tried so hard to get you to open up when we worked together.” She shook her head, sitting back in her chair. “I saw the looks you gave me. Like I was some annoying, bumbling idiot. It is possible not to react and still drip with disdain. I admit you have a talent for it.”

That surprised Lore. It was true, Kathy wasn’t her cup of tea, but she’d never insult the woman out loud, not after what she went through. “I’m sorry if—”

“Don’t lie to me right now.” Kathy laughed without humor, a stern tone Lore was impressed by. Time without the asshat had made her stronger. “I thought finally catching you unawares after so long would allow me to really see what you thought of me. I thought it was that place, keeping yourself so mute to avoid the boss. I really hoped you weren’t that cold. But it’s just—”

“It’s just me,” Lore interrupted, disliking the brutal observations Kathy had made, no matter how true. “Are you done judging me now? Can I go?”

“No. No, you can’t. Because I want more than that from you. You’re so smart, Lore. And I don’t know you enough to guess why you keep people at a distance. Maybe you’re so antisocial that being around people is truly distressing for you, and if that’s the case, then I apologize for all this. But I can’t just let you go on with your life without having any friends. Especially not after what you did for me.”

“Why do you think I don’t have any friends? I have friends.”

“Please.” Kathy snorted into her cup. “I saw you at the company picnic last year. You sat by yourself, on your laptop, and whenever a guy or a person from a different branch of the company would go to speak to you or introduce themselves, they were sent away in a matter of minutes.”

Lore had hated that obligatory picnic. She would have called in sick if she’d had any more sick days left. She’d used them all to avoid the other gatherings organized by her office. “That doesn’t mean I don’t have friends outside of work.”

“Give me the name of a friend.” Kathy pointed. “A female friend.”

“It— I— It doesn’t matter, Kathy. My personal life is none of your business.” Lore moved to leave, having had enough.

Kathy inched forward on her chair and grabbed Lore’s hand before she could place her cup on the table and get the hell out of Dodge.

“It does matter. I know I’m younger than you and loud and can be all over the place, but I’m more than what I seem. Just as I’m sure you’re more than a cold bitch who thinks herself better than all the people around her.”