"Right. So you're quite sure about this afternoon's procedure?"
"Quite sure." Lexi signed the consent forms. "When can I go to my room?"
"As soon as you're ready, Ms. Templeton. One of our nurses will show you through to the patient suites."
The girl sighed as she watched Lexi disappear through the double doors. It didn't matter if it was a panicked teenager or a world-weary CEO, and it didn't matter how tough a front they put on. Abortion was always sad. Part of Lexi Templeton's heart would break today, never to recover.
Next week, the receptionist decided, she would look for another job.
The captain's voice rang out through the cabin speakers.
"I appreciate your patience, folks. We've been asked to circle around for just a few more minutes. Should have you on the ground shortly."
A collective groan from the passengers jolted Gabe awake. Through his tiny plastic window he could see New York sprawled out below. He wondered for the hundredth time what the hell he was doing coming back here.
You know why you came.
Because you had to.
Your heart never left.
"We're running a little behind today." The nurse smiled sympathetically as she bustled about Lexi's room, drawing back the curtains and refilling the pitcher of water. "You'll probably go down to the operating room at around four. Can I bring you some magazines? I'm afraid we can't offer you anything to eat."
Lexi smiled wryly. As if I could eat! Maybe something to read would help distract her.
"Do you have today's Wall Street Journal?"
"Er...no. I'm afraid not." The nurse looked apologetic. "We have Vogue and InStyle. I think we may have the new Us Weekly. Would you like to see that?"
"No thanks."
Mindlessly, Lexi grabbed the remote and turned on CNN. Four o'clock. Three whole hours. She'd have written a check for a million dollars to jump the line and get it over with now. What use was it, having money, if it couldn't get you what you wanted?
Gabe jumped into the cab. It was filthy and smelled of stale tacos.
"Park Avenue, please. The Kruger-Brent building."
"They ain't there no more." The cabdriver turned around. A blubbery whale of a Mexican, he had sweat patches under his arms the size of dinner plates. When he spoke, he blasted Gabe with taco breath. "They went bust, remember? You don't watcha news?"
"Right, right. I forgot."
Of course. Lexi must have moved to new premises. But where? Gabe looked at his watch. It was three o'clock already and he was dog tired. Maybe he should forget going to Lexi's office? He could go to his hotel, get some sleep and see her this evening at the apartment.
"You know what? I changed my mind. Just take me to the Plaza."
"You got it, boss. Plaza hotel it is."
Lexi felt the medication course through her veins.
The nurse said: "You should start to feel a little woozy. Just relax. I'll be back to get you in half an hour."
Lexi slumped back against the pillow. When the nurse was gone, she started to cry.
I'm sorry, baby.
Outside, the nurses were talking.
"Even without makeup she's really pretty."
"I know. You'd never think she was forty. You think she's had Botox?"
"No way. You can always tell."
"Yeah, but with her money she could get, like, the best. Invisible."
"How rich is she, exactly?"
"She bought Kruger-Brent for cash, so I'm guessing Bill Gates-rich. You know, if I had tons of money and looked like she does, I'd figure I had something to smile about. She looks so sad."
"C'mon, Pearl, give her a break. She's here for an abortion. She's hardly gonna be doing cartwheels down the hall."
"I guess. I wonder who the daddy is?"
They ran through the list of Lexi's past lovers like they were discussing a character on a TV soap until the doctor arrived and put an end to the gossip.
It didn't matter who the father was anyway. In a couple of hours, there would be no father.
The doctor was a woman. Lexi wondered if she'd ever been through an abortion herself. How do doctors get into this line of work anyway?
"Once the anesthetic is in, I want you to count backward from twenty. Okay?"
"Okay."
A sharp prick. "Start counting."
"Twenty, nineteen..."
Lexi thought about her mother giving birth to her. Had she known she was going to die? That she would sacrifice her own life for the new life inside her?
"...fifteen, fourteen..."
Max's face. He was making love to her, violently, passionately. She was coming, screaming his name.
"...twelve, eleven..."
The light was fading. She could feel herself sinking, sliding deeper and deeper into the darkness.
Gabe was here. He was talking to her. She could see his face, his lips moving, but she couldn't hear him. He was waving his arms around wildly, shouting. Something was wrong.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I'm sorry, Gabe."
Then he was gone.
At first she thought she was dreaming. Only when Gabe took her hand did she realize he was real.
She was in bed in her room, the same room she'd been in before the operation. Gabe was sitting by the bedside.
"What happened? Is it over?"
He kissed her on the forehead. "You mean the operation? No. I wouldn't let them go through with it. I convinced the doctor that you were still unsure."
Tears streamed down Lexi's face.
"Was I wrong? Do you want to get rid of our baby that badly?" He looked anguished. "It is our baby, isn't it?"
Lexi nodded miserably.
"How did you know I was here?"
Gabe told her how he'd jumped on a plane in Cape Town, desperate to see her. "I was going to my hotel, but I changed my mind at the last minute and swung by the old Templeton office."
"Kruger-Brent," Lexi said weakly.
"I know. I hoped you might have moved there, but I wasn't sure. Then I ran into August Sandford in the elevator. As soon as he saw me, his face changed. I knew there was something terribly wrong."
"August told you?"
"Don't be mad. I forced it out of him. I got here as fast as I could, but they told me you were already in the operating room. My God." Gabe shook his head. "If I'd been thirty seconds later...Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"
Lexi reached out and touched his face.
"I didn't want to hurt you. I'd already hurt you enough. I knew I couldn't keep it."
Gabe's voice trembled. "Why not? What are you so afraid of, Lexi?"
At last, it all poured out. Her terror of giving birth. Her certainty that, even if she lived, she would make a terrible mother.
"I'm not like you," she sobbed. "I'm different. Max and I, we were both different. We were born with this...thing. Obsession, I suppose you'd call it. Max wanted Kruger-Brent as much as I did. I killed him, Gabe." She put her head in her hands. "When I took the company away from him, I signed his death warrant."
All the grief she'd been suppressing burst out of her like an exorcised demon. Lexi had hated Max for so long, she'd convinced herself that all the love was gone. But it wasn't. Max's death was like a part of herself dying. She knew that now.
Gabe let her finish.
Once she'd cried herself out, he said gently: "You didn't kill Max Webster. The man was ill. He killed himself."
"But, Gabe, you don't know. You don't know me. I've done some terrible things. Unforgivable things."
"Nothing is unforgivable." Gabe stroked her hair. "That's why I got on the plane. Whatever you've done, Lexi, I don't care. I love you. I love you as you are."
"But, Gabe, you don't know. You don't know what I've done."
"No, and I don't care. I thought I wanted the truth, but I don't. The past is the past and it can't be changed. It's the future I'm interested in." He reached down and stroked her belly. "Our future. Have the baby, Lex. Marry me. I know Kruger-Brent will always come first. But I'll take second if that's what it takes to be with you."
He opened his arms. Lexi fell into them, clinging to him for dear life. She loved him so much, it terrified her. As for the baby...
"I'm frightened, Gabe," she said at last, pulling away. "My mother died giving birth to me. My grandmother died giving birth to her. It's not even death I'm afraid of. It's dying before I've had a chance to make Kruger-Brent great again."
Gabe looked at her with a mixture of wonder and pity.
The tragedy is, she means it.
"You're not going to die, Lexi. Marry me."
I can't. It will never work. There's so much you don't know about me. So much you must never know.
"Yes."
Gabe's face lit up. "Seriously? You will?"
"Yes!" Lexi was crying and laughing, touching and kissing him everywhere, unable to let him go. "Yes, I'll marry you. I love you so much, Gabe."
She knew she didn't deserve a happy ending. But she wanted one so badly.
Kruger-Brent. Gabe. A baby.
At last, Lexi Templeton was going to have it all.
Eve knew the end was coming. She could feel death all around her, a smothering blanket she could not shake off. Panic surged up in her throat like vomit.
No! Not yet! It's not my time. Please! I haven't finished.
She was young and beautiful, far more beautiful than Alex. Men fought one another for the privilege of going to bed with her. She was a goddess, rich, blessed, untouchable. Then the ghosts came in and spoiled it all.
Kate Blackwell, her grandmother. You're a wicked child, Eve. Alexandra shall inherit Kruger-Brent. You will get nothing.
Keith Webster. It's just a minor operation, to get rid of those fine lines around your eyes. You mustn't worry, darling. I'll take care of you.
Max, her gypsy boy, her savior. We're going under, Mother! Someone's short-selling our stock. There's nothing I can do.
Fools, all of them. Thieves, liars and fools!
Kate Blackwell was pressing the blanket down over Eve's face. She couldn't breathe. Overwhelmed with terror, Eve felt her bowels opening. She caught the rancid smell of her own filth, felt the sticky wetness on her legs and back.
No! Not now! Not like this!
With her last ounce of strength, Eve pushed her grandmother off. She reached into the bedside drawer, her gnarled fingers scrabbling desperately for pen and paper. She started to write, a frenzied, barely legible scrawl. Folding the paper over, she wrote a name on the back.
Almost there...
Keith Webster snatched the pen from her hand. George Mellis held her down. The last thing Eve saw was Kate Blackwell walking toward her with the blanket of death in her hands.
The old bitch was smiling.