Nico slowly came awake. Something didn't feel right.
When she opened her eyes, Eddie was gone. His stuff, his jacket, his knit cap. All gone.
"I didn't think you meant today!" she said in a quiet dismay. "I didn't get to say goodbye!"
She felt the tears and she didn't care. How could he do this to me? she asked herself.
Then, she saw the envelope sitting propped up against the lamp. On the front of it was written, "My dearest Nicoletta".
Inside were two things. The first was a note. It only had two words written on it and wasn't signed.
"If only..."
Nico knew what he meant by that. He'd said it enough times.
If only he were younger...
If only he weren't the leader of the Second Occupation group her department was tasked to try and stop...
If only she wasn't married...
If only he were worthy of her love...
"If only..."
"Eddie..." she said to herself. "If only you had waited to say goodbye..."
The second item was a debit card, the kind that was purchased at places like drugstores, but only had "The Bank" on the front with the account number.
"I wonder what this is for?" she asked aloud to no one. She knew that by departmental rules, she could not accept a monetary gift from him.
"Who would know? Who would know if I didn't tell them? There's probably not that much on it because these cards have an upper limit."
She grabbed her purse from the chair next to the bed. She got out her phone and called the number on the back to check the balance. The first thing she heard was an actual human voice say, "Thank you for calling The Bank. How may I help you?"
"I received one of your cards and I wanted to check the balance," Nico said, trying to keep the astonishment out of her voice.
"May I have the number from the front?"
Nico read the number off the card. The answer she got to her question completely floored her.
"Your balance is five-hundred thousand dollars and no cents, ma'am."
"Are you sure you read that right?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am," the teller on the other end of the line said. "This card was loaded by phone at 3am this morning from a long existing account. The balance is correct."
"All right, thank you," Nico said and closed her phone.
Eddie had checked his balance for the first time in two decades, she thought. Maybe he thought he had to get rid of some of the money.
"What the hell am I going to do with half a million dollars, Eddie?!" she said out loud. "I can't fucking spend it!"
Then she asked herself, why can't I? I can add to the kids college funds. No one has to know.
She held the card that had an amount she never expected to see on it. She made forty-thousand dollars a year as a police officer. She'd never see half a million dollars all in one place again.
Is this why he left before I woke up? she wondered. So I wouldn't freak out on him? Because this is really freaking me out!
She placed the card in a hidden compartment in her wallet. She discovered it by accident one day shortly after buying the wallet. She hid her spare car key and house key in it. Now it held half a million dollars!
Nico got up and got dressed. She had to get out of that room before 11am. Her shift started at 2pm.
As she put her coat on and prepared to walk out the door, she wondered briefly where Eddie had gone. She then remembered the promise she made to her captain to cease all contact with him.
"I...can't... I can't keep that promise because I have to know he's okay!"
Her hands shook. It wasn't from the cold.
As she walked out the door, she looked out towards the city. She wondered if he was out there, somewhere, thinking of her.
She then dared to say aloud the words she thought she'd ever say to another man.
"I love you Edward Michael Marshall...wherever you are."
He hid in the woods just beyond the motel. He could see the door of the room he left Nico in hours before.
Eddie couldn't leave Chicago without seeing Nico again, even if he couldn't speak to her to explain why he had to leave it this way.
He knew that saying goodbye to her in person would tear him apart. He'd never leave.
Why did it take me so damn long to find my soulmate and why is she married when I do find her, he asked himself. Why couldn't I find Nicoletta years ago?
"Because you were evil and didn't deserve a beautiful girl like her," he said answering his own question.
He tried to tell himself he wasn't abandoning her, but in his heart he knew that's exactly what he was doing. "It's for your own good, Nicoletta," he said; "I would only ruin you."
If only...
It's all the note he left her said. He hoped she understood what he meant by just those two words: if only.
And the debit card. He wanted to take care of her. He knew she'd balk if he told her how much was on it.
He was floored when he called the Bank and found out there was over twelve million dollars in the account he set up with his grandfather's money. The interest rate at one point soared to above thirty percent. Over the 35 years since his grandfather's murder, the balance just kept growing. He was the only one with access to it, and he wanted Nico to have enough to take care of her family.
I can't spend it, he thought; I'd just squander it. He had the money he made. He didn't need Gramps' money. It was there if he wanted it, but he didn't need it.
He'd run, but only after his job was complete.
But he promised not to hurt Julia Summers, her family or anyone close to her.
I won't do it, but I can have someone else...
No, Edward, he chided himself, using his birth name for the first time in years. You promised Nicoletta...
Just then, the moment he waited hours for.
Nicoletta had come out of the motel room, closed the door, and put the hood of her coat on her head. She scanned the horizon, and for the briefest of moments, made eye contact with Eddie. She had no idea he was out there.
Eddie's heart beat loudly in his chest. He was certain she would hear it. But she looked out to the city beyond the parking lot of the little motel on the interstate. Wondering, perhaps, where out there he could be.
He could see her saying something, but couldn't make out what. He decided that whatever it was, it was meant for him.
She walked down to the stairs and disappeared from view. He knew her car was parked on the other side of the building. She then reappeared at the bottom of the stairs, again looking in his direction. The time had come. He had to say it now. Maybe the wind would kiss her ear and whisper those words to her.
"My darling angel Nicoletta," he said, feeling his heart slowly break, "my sweet emerald eyed beauty... goodbye but not farewell. I will find you one day and make you mine, I swear it! Nicoletta, my sweet... I love you. Be well..."
Eddie then turned and walked deeper into the woods. He sat on a stump of a long dead tree and let his heart break completely.
Then he picked up his duffle bag, slung it over his shoulder, and walked away.
Nicoletta had his heart. And though he didn't know it, he had hers.
II
The sale of the mare now complete, Jameson Summers now was the proud owner of two horses. It turned out that not only Mama was a purebred, but so was the probable father of her colt. BIA had the papers to prove it, and those arrived by courier to the house early that morning.
"How did she get in with the wild herd, then?" Jaime asked her mother.
"I couldn't tell you, Jaime," Julia said. "Maybe the two horses were abandoned at some point, and just joined the herd and kept running. Jack said that sometimes happens when owners die and the families don't want to keep them."
"If they're purebreds, they could have been sold," Jaime said. "People are lazy and cruel to make those horses fend for themselves."
"Jaime, you can't save the whole world you know," Julia told her second born daughter; "Just be happy you can save the mare and her colt, and they're coming back home with us."
Jaime had to admit that her mother did have a point.
"I just hope you don't expect anything for your birthday this year," said Julia.
"I got Mama and Coltrane, Mom," Jaime said; "They're the best early birthday present in the whole world!" And with that, she ran out to the barn to see her horses.
Jack came into the room and sat at the table with Julia.
"How are your plans coming along?" he asked.
"Everything is falling into place, Jack," she said; "Now that we've got your medical records, we can send them on to whatever hospital you want to be seen at."
"I'm not sure I want to go to the hospital at Great Lakes, Julia," Jack said; "But if they have the best doctors there, then that's what I'll do."
"There's an oncologist there named Parker Traben," Julia said; "He's Navy, and he comes highly recommended."
"Recommended by whom?" asked Jack.
"Other doctors, for one;" Julia said; "They're doing research at Great Lakes into several different kinds of cancer. It's open to military and their families, and cancer patients who aren't military because of the research they do there."
"I'll meet with this Dr. Traben," Jack said; "And reserve judgement until that time."
"That's all you really can do, even if your cancer wasn't terminal," Julia said. "They might be able to do something for you that the doctors in Jackson or Denver couldn't do."
"How did you find out about Dr. Traben?"
"That's the nice thing about Nik being in the Army again," Julia said; "He can do the research for me and make recommendations. Turns out that Dr. Traben once worked at the Veteran's Hospital in Oklahoma City, and one of his patients was Jasmine Donovan's father. As a physician herself, she hears things, and heard that Dr. Traben was in Chicago and spoke to him on our behalf. She told Nik that he's looking forward to meeting you."
Jack took Julia's hand, brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it gently. "You're an angel, my dear. I wouldn't have known any of this on my own."
Julia said nothing. She wasn't looking forward to the day that Jack would be gone from her life forever. She wanted to make sure he had the best doctors she could find. Maybe he can be saved, she thought. Then he and I could live in peace.
She couldn't even begin to comprehend the reaction she would have to his death.
Staff Sergeant John Crossley entered his commanding officer's office, where he was asked to sit.
Once seated, his C.O. said to him, "Sergeant, I have received a request for your services from Major Nikolai San Marco. Apparently, you've impressed him. He asked for you by name."
"Sir?" Crossley asked; "Maj. San Marco asked for me by name? I didn't know he even knew my name."
"Do you still write to Mirielle Summers, son?"
"Yes, sir," Crossley said, thinking of the teenaged girl he met the previous summer with fondness; "On occasion when I have a break in my duties."
"That's how he knows of you," the C.O. said; "It's through him that Miss Summers gets your correspondence."
"You said he requested my services," Crossley said.
"Yes, on behalf of Julia Summers," said the C.O.; "She and her family will be making two trips back to her base in Chicago. The first one will have only her four children. This is the one you will be leading."
"I'm flattered that I've been asked to be of service once again to a hero of the Occupation," Crossley said. "And getting a chance to see Mirielle again, of course."
"Of course," the C.O. said; "It's not for another month or so. You'll receive TDY orders as soon as I get word when this will take place."
"Yes, sir."
"You're dismissed for now, Sergeant," said the C.O.
"Yes, sir."
With that, Crossley got up and went back to his workspace. He smiled thinking about the pretty girl he met nearly six months before.
I wonder if I could get PCS orders for her hometown, he thought as he went back to work.
III
They literally pushed her brother out of the car.
Then threw his bags at him.
She saw the old man come out of the house to find out what the commotion was all about, and saw his 13 year old grandson standing there.
The car took off with a start that scared her and her sisters. Her little sister was crying about Eddie, and her older sister yelling at their parents, high on cocaine, to go back and get their brother.
She saw Eddie running after the car, but after chasing it for half a mile, he gave up.
An hour later, the same thing happened to her. Her mother pulled her out of the car as she fought to stay inside, but was pulled out anyway.
She was marched up to the front door of the house they'd stopped at. Her mother knocked on the door, and when her sister answered, pushed Dee at her and told her to "keep the whiny little bitch".
Then the car took off again, leaving her behind.
Dee had no idea that at the next stop, her sisters would escape from the car and find their way to a police station. Their parents, in their intoxicated state, had no idea they were no longer in the car.
Dee never saw her sisters again, and saw her brother as he was laid out on a table in the coroner's office the summer she was 14.
Though whom she was told was Eddie had the same scar, she never really believed it. She waited in vain for Eddie to find her. At that point, she convinced herself that her brother really was dead.
Then Jeremiah Donovan shows up and starts asking questions about Eddie years later.
That got her wondering again if Eddie was alive, and if so, where was he?
Dee Ryan knew she didn't have much time before the cancer that ate away at her claimed her life. If she was going to find Eddie, she was going to need help.
But from who?
"Trust no one," Delia mumbled in her sleep. "Trust no one."
The nurse in the hospice where Delia was staying made a note in her patient's chart, then replaced it back in the holder at the end of the bed.
"What do you mean he isn't there?" Christian DeWitt said testily.
"Exactly that, Mr. DeWitt," the secretary who answered DeWitt's call at A.R.M. said; "Mr. Marsh is not in the office and I don't expect him back any time in the next ten days. Is there something I can help you with?"
"Who is in charge in Mr. Marsh's absense?" asked DeWitt, growing more impatient and frustrated by the moment.
"Mr. Owens might be able to assist you," said the secretary, "but he is out in town taking care of personal business. Shall I have him call you upon his return?"
"Yes, have this Mr. Owens call me," DeWitt said.
"I certainly will, Mr. DeWitt," she said; "Can I take your number?"
DeWitt gave her the number of the secure phone he used for business, then hung up.
He sat in his home office and groused about how he just wanted his involvement with A.R.M. to end so he and Kathryn could live their lives in peace. The girls were in school and Kathryn was downstairs in her studio, getting reacquainted with her paints after their family trip to New York City to see the musical and do some sightseeing. DeWitt realized that his daughters had never been outside their hometown, and he wanted to change that.
He picked up the brouchure for the cruise he wanted to take the family on after school was out, but before Helene got involved with the ballet company's summer workshops, Erin went to art camp, and Lili went to day camp.
The girls will love this, DeWitt thought. Kathryn would love it too. Now that she's been home a while, we're starting to be like a real family again.
Putting the brouchure aside, DeWitt concentrated on drafting the letter stating that he would no longer support A.R.M. financially. They spent the money he gave them before recklessly, and he would be damned if he'd give them another chance to squander more of his money.
He worked on it for about an hour, read it over, and put it aside in a folder on his desk. Then he got it out and re-read it.
The American Republic Movement
Attn: Lincoln Marsh
1102 Terrace Commons Parkway, Ste. 334
Collinsville, New York
Mr. Marsh:
This letter's purpose is to inform you that I will no longer be supporting your organization financially. I think you know the reasons for this, but please allow me to clarify:
1. I made the original agreement with your predecessor, Chastity Edwards, and in light of her disappearance and your subsequent hiring as her replacement, I don't feel that my continued financial support will help your cause.
2. Ms. Edwards, for whatever reasons she deemed fit, spent the money that I donated as if it were her own personal account. No one reigned her in or called her on the carpet to stop her from doing so. Sending her agents to harrass college students was not my idea of sound financial practises.
3. I understand that you, yourself, have a healthy bank account of your own. Why don't you provide for the organization's financial needs?
My financial support will cease immediately. Please do not call to request more funds, as I will only direct you to my lawyer if you do.
Please be advised that this letter was signed by me in the presence of witnesses on this 15th day of January, 2035. A notary's seal appears below. A copy of this letter is on file with the law firm of Jansen, Detwiler and Goldberg, located at 56-098 Greer Commons Road, Collinsville, New York.
Thank you for your time.
(signed)
Christian C. DeWitt, Esq.
Satisfied with it, DeWitt replaced it in the folder on his desk, then placed the folder in a lockable drawer in his desk. Only he had a key.
It was time to concetrate on Kathryn and her needs. And deal with the nightmares she'd been having.
God, DeWitt thought, please don't torture my angel anymore. Chastity is dead.
IV
Booking his flight under his birth name, Marsh prepared to fly to San Francisco to meet up with the team who would be looking for Julia Summers and her family.
He sat in the airport lounge waiting for his flight to be called. He tried to read the cheap paperback book he bought in the gift shop, but really wasn't interested in the story after the first one hundred pages or so.
Shifting his attention from the book to the scene before him, he was startled momentarily by the sight of a tall, dark-haired woman.
Nicoletta? he thought. Couldn't be.
The woman turned around just then, and Marsh got a good look at her. She was too young to be Nicoletta, he thought sadly.
That was his fantasy: that Nicoletta had come looking for him. That she would take him away from this life he had and go with him to their own private paradise.
Marsh knew better. Nicoletta would not leave her family, her husband or her job for him. It's why he admired her so much, instead of feeling the disdain he felt for most women. She had what he lacked.
Morals.
I'd do anything to be able to be with her forever, Marsh thought. To get away from Lincoln Marsh and just be Edward again. To be the man my grandfather tried to mold me to be.
Nicoletta would be his reason for living on the right side of the law. Everything was possible when Nicoletta set her green eyed gaze upon him.
He thought of the promise he made to her to not hurt Julia Summers. Only for you sweet, precious Nicoletta, he thought;
He didn't know that he'd be so blinded by anger, revenge, and retribution that he would forget his promise. He wouldn't hurt Julia Summers directly, but someone close to her. He'd promised Nicoletta that he wouldn't do that either.
When he realized weeks after the fact that was what he had done, he would ask for the ultimate punishment, but somehow, would be spared.
Someone else wouldn't be so lucky. But their death was not going to be by Marsh's hand.
Kimber had just closed her phone, still not believing what she had just been told.
Julia and the kids would be coming home. At least the kids at first, and Kimber had been asked by Nik to look after them until Julia herself returned.
Julia would not be alone when she returned.
"What's wrong, Kimber?" asked Jamey as he brought Kimber a sandwich.
"Nothing, really," she said; "I just got word that my nieces and nephew will be coming home sometime in the next month or so."
"That's great, Kimber!" Jamey said. "Julia's not coming with them?"
"From what I understand, she's doing this on purpose," Kimber said. "The kids first, then Julia and her protector, whom I understand is very ill and will go straight to a hospital from the airport."
"Wow, that's incredible news," Jamey said; "How soon will this take place?"
"Sometime next month," said Kimber; "At least for the kids. As for Julia, I haven't been told anything about that. The kids will be staying here until their mother returns. So it might be a bit crowded here for a while. Are you okay with that?"
"I'm more than okay with it, Kimber," said Jamey. "I'll finally get to meet them."
"I hope Lady Marmalade isn't too pissed off," Kimber said as the big orange cat strolled into the living room; "Your people are coming home, Ms. Marm!"
The cat just looked at her as if to say, aren't you guys my people? My other people ran off and left me with you.
Lady Marmalade then yawned, meowed, took her customary place on the couch, curled up and went to sleep.
"She's not impressed, I guess," Jamey said, chuckling.
"She will be," Kimber said. "She loved those kids. She'll act like they'd never been away."
I hope, thought Kimber.
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