Edward paced the floor, muttering about curses. He seemed worse than before Mike had left.
“Dad, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. The curse doesn’t care about me right now. It’s them you should be asking about.” He pointed to Derek and Gabrielle on the other side of the room.
“Don’t you worry, I’m taking care of him,” Clara assured Mike.
“Thank you,” he said. Mike glanced around quickly. “Dad, where’s Amber?” Mike asked.
“Why do you care?” Edward didn’t look up as he answered. “The curse is going to get you two anyway,” he muttered, continuing his pacing.
Knowing a lost cause when he saw one, Mike stepped over to Clara who sat at Derek’s laptop, typing on the keyboard. “Clara, where’s Amber?” Mike asked.
“Just a minute, son. I think I’m onto something here. Do you know your father’s exhibiting signs of paranoia and bipolar disorder?”
Mike nodded. “We’re going to see a psychiatrist on Friday.” He just hadn’t told his father yet.
Edward stopped in his tracks. “The hell I am! There’s nothing wrong with me that won’t be cured by me staying away from people.”
“Dad, we’ll discuss this later,” Mike said, patting him on the shoulder. He’d planned to spring the psychiatrist appointment on him at the last minute, preferably in the car when Edward was already on his way there.
“No, we won’t,” he said, clearly angry. “And missy, if you want to protect your baby, you’ll listen to me,” he said to Gabrielle.
Gabrielle turned from where she sat in Derek’s big, comfortable chair behind his desk, gripping the old wood so hard her knuckles turned white. “Uncle Edward, I don’t want to hear another word about curses. Please!”
Derek shot Mike a look, silently warning him to get Edward to back off. Then Derek glanced at his wife. “How is your ankle? You know better than to wear those high heels when you’re pregnant! That reporter could have knocked you over,” he said, obviously concerned.
“Well, he didn’t, because Amber took care of things, didn’t she?” Gabrielle asked her husband. “I’m pregnant, not sick. Not an invalid. I can wear heels and—”
Mike stepped between them. “Speaking of Amber, where is she?” he asked again, hopefully for the last time.
“If you’d told me about the baby—” Derek interjected.
“You would have driven me crazy for an extra couple of days,” she said. “Can’t you just be happy?”
He stopped in front of her and knelt down. “I’m thrilled, sweetheart, you know I am.”
Mike had a lump in his throat watching them, knowing how much they loved one another, how they’d do anything to protect each other.
An unaccustomed feeling of envy welled up in his chest, along with thoughts of Amber.
“I hate to ruin the moment, but can someone please tell me where the hell Amber went?” Mike asked in a low, level, I mean business tone.
He just wanted to make sure she was okay. That was all. Really.
Finally, everyone turned to face him.
“She’s gone home, no thanks to you.” Gabrielle spoke first. “She said now that she was safe, it was time to leave, since according to you, there was no hope for anything lasting between you two.” Gabrielle’s voice held a wealth of accusation.
Mike didn’t blame her.
“Tell me you didn’t say that to her face,” Derek said to Mike.
“I may have led her to believe it was over.” He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.
“Is it?” Gabrielle asked.
“It needs to be.” And he wasn’t going to reiterate all the good reasons he’d been trying to convince himself of.