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For her part, the woman I’d thought myself in love with for several years, had become a completely different person. She was warm, open and caring, so unlike the sad, stern, closed-off woman I’d known years earlier.
“I see it,” she’d remarked casually when Madelyn and I showed up at their house, intent on finding Bailey a playmate from the dog rescue she was still running. “She’s the original and I was the stand-in.” She punched my arm playfully and Madelyn looked at me with a question in her eyes.
“Sheisthe original.” I scooped my wife’s hair back and leaned in to kiss her temple, something she accepted with a small hum of contentment. “It just took me decades to convince her she’d been mine the whole time.”
That particular afternoon I’d taken Daniela with me to the park, feeling that Madelyn needed her rest. Lukas had been a particularly demanding baby, completely unwilling to leave his mama’s side–something I could well understand–and we were often up with him during the night, as he still insisted on eating at least four times between sundown and sunrise.
“She’s so precious!” The voice was shrill and disingenuous, one I recognized from experience.
Why Jess was still hanging around in Watertown was completely beyond my comprehension, especially considering she still owned a home in Oswego, as far as I knew, and I tried to keep the grimace off my face as I turned to face my ex.
“The two of you clearly make the most beautiful babies.” Her smile was stretched tight and thin, and I grinned back at her.
“Thanks, we do.”
That made her lip curl a little indignantly, something I found hilarious now that I knew how she’d tried to bait Madelyn all those months ago, and what a role it played in Madelyn distancing herself from me. Something that had slowly tugged at the delicate threads holding together our marriage, one based upon hope and desire and a complete lack of trust and communication.
“Oh have mercy,” Jess sputtered. “There’s another one?”
She’d just caught sight of Lukas, sleeping in his carrier next to the bench, where I sat watching Daniela in the sandbox.
Rumor had it that after Jess’s miscarriage, she hadn’t been able to get pregnant again and I thought she looked at Lukas a little enviously, despite her bitter tone.
“You could say we’ve been busy.” I grinned at Jess, unwilling to offer her any sort of explanation or engage her in conversation that wasn’t completely necessary.
Sadly for Jess, nothing about her was necessary to me any longer. I’d wasted so much time, between her and Harlowe, trying to distract myself when only one girl would do. I’d known it the entire time and had tried to convince myself that I could find a suitable substitute for the woman my heart had spoken for years earlier.
“Well…hello, handsome.” Jess stood suddenly, her voice all honey and silk, and I turned to see a tall, older man striding confidently toward us.
“Hendrickson.” I stood and held out my hand. “Good of you to meet me–I know this was quite a drive for you, but I didn’t feel comfortable putting this in the mail.”
Gerald Hendrickson nodded briefly at Jess, a formality that was as much a recognition as it was a dismissal.
“Ma’am.” His voice wasn’t particularly warm. “If you wouldn’t mind excusing us, there are things we need to discuss.”
Jess looked all kinds of put out, and she scoffed audibly as she hoisted her handbag back onto her shoulder and walked away.
“Ex?” Gerald asked easily, and I looked at him in surprise.
“Uh, yeah. How’d you know that?”
“When someone tells me he has potentially incriminating evidence against the governor, you’d best believe I make sure that person isn’t a complete nut job before I bother with looking into their claims. Got a whole workup on you, Beckman.”
I reached into Lukas’s seat and retrieved the folder I’d tucked into the side, covered by his blanket.
“My wife’s brother has been pursuing this information for years,” I said quietly as I handed him the folder. “Long story, but someone with organized connections owed me a favor and was able to ‘un-disappear’ this.”
“Interesting timing,” Hendrickson mused as he sat next to me and leaned forward across his knees. The man was intimidating, his physical presence only slightly less frightening than the energy surrounding him. He was wound tight like a spring, coiled with tension and purpose.
“It’s no secret the governor’s being investigated for corruption.” I snorted at the very idea and Hendrickson gave me a wary glance, eyeing the cell phone on the bench next to me. I picked it up and shoved it into the bottom of the diaper bag.
“This is a completely new charge,” he said quietly, “and if there’s no corroborating evidence I can’t promise you we can make it stick.”
“This will blow the whole thing wide open,” I promised. “There was hush money–a lot of it–and someone was stupid enough to generate a receipt for the wire transfer. Incredibly, my wife found it buried with the paperwork she filed away years ago, upon the conclusion of the transaction.” I tapped the folder to indicate he would find it within.
Hendrickson’s face split open in a delighted grin. “Fucking morons–I love it. Makes my job easier.”
I nodded, pretty sure his job would be anything but easy, but if it dethroned the dirty family that had run the state for nearly three generations, I would happily do my part.
