Holding the Dream Page 0,103

do. Please, before you consider going elsewhere, give us a chance to negotiate."

"Yes, I will." She held out a hand, just as Byron and the detective returned. "Thank you for coming to see me."

She was still dazed when she led Bittle and Detective Kusak out, said her good-byes. In silence she walked back into the house with Byron, stood staring at nothing.

"Well?" he prompted.

"He offered me a partnership." She said each word slowly, unsure whether she was savoring them or weighing them.

"Not just to make up for all this. They'd already voted on it before everything got screwed up. He's willing to negotiate my terms."

Byron angled his head. "Why aren't you smiling?"

"Huh?" She blinked, stared at him, then burst into laughter. "A partnership!" She threw her arms around his neck and let him swing her. "Byron, I can't tell you what this means to me. I'm too dazzled to tell myself. It's like - it's like being cut from the minors, then being signed to bat cleanup for the Yankees."

"The Braves," he corrected, home team loyal to the last "Congratulations. I think we should have mimosas with that French toast."

"Let's." She kissed him hard. "And go light on the OJ."

"A dollop for color," he assured her, as they walked into the kitchen arm in arm. He released her to get champagne out of the refrigerator. "Well, aren't you going to pick up the phone?"

She opened the glass-fronted cabinet that held his wine glasses. "The phone?"

"To call your family?"

"Uh-uh. This is too big for the phone. As soon as we eat - " she grinned foolishly at the pop of the cork - "I'm going to Templeton House. This requires the personal touch. It's the perfect way to send Aunt Susie and Uncle Tommy back to France." The minute he'd finished pouring she lifted her glass. "Here's to the IRS."

He hissed through his teeth. "Do we have to?"

"Okay, what the hell. Here's to me." She drank, twirled once, then drank again. "You'll come with me, won't you? We'll get Mrs. Williamson to make one of her incredible dinners. We'll take the dogs, too. We can - What are you looking at?"

"You. I like seeing you happy."

"Get that French toast going and you'll see me ecstatic. I'm starving."

"Give the master room, please." He took out eggs and milk.

"Why don't we swing by your apartment and pick up a few more of your things? We can extend our celebration by having you stay another night."

"Okay." She was too high to think of objecting, though it broke her unspoken rule of staying more than two nights running. "I'll get it," she said when the phone rang. "You keep cooking. And use lots of cinnamon. Hello? Laura, hi. I was just thinking about you." Grinning, she swung over to nip at Byron's ear as he whisked. "We were going to come over later and invite ourselves to dinner. I have some news that I - What?"

She fell into silence and the hand she'd lifted to mess with Byron's hair dropped back to her side. "When? At the - yes. Oh, God. Oh, God. Okay, we'll be right there. We're on our way. It's Margo," she said, fumbling to disconnect the portable phone. "Josh took her to the hospital."

"The baby?"

"I don't know. I just don't know. It's too early for the baby. She had pain, and some bleeding. Oh, God, Byron."

"Come on." He clasped the hand that reached for his. "Let's go."

Chapter Seventeen

She was grateful that it was Byron behind the wheel. No matter how she ordered herself to be calm, she knew her hands would have trembled. Flashes of Margo ran through her head.

There were images of them as children, sitting on the cliffs, tossing flowers out to the sea and Seraphina. Margo parading around the bedroom in her first bra, smug and curvy while Kate and Laura looked on in flat-chested envy. Margo curling Kate's hair for the junior prom, then slipping a condom into Kate's bag - just in case.

Margo on her first visit home after running off to Hollywood to become a star. So polished and beautiful. Margo in Paris after she'd nagged Kate to come over and see the world as it was meant to be.

Margo at Templeton House - always back to Templeton House.

In despair after her world had crumbled, in fury when one of her friends was hurt. The determination and glassy bravado as she'd fought to rebuild her life.

As a bride walking down the aisle to Josh,