The
Case of the Man and Woman Who Said I Do, and then Didn’t, and All It Cost Was
A Horse.
By DocPaul
Series: Michael Guerin, The World’s Greatest
Alien Investigator
Episode: Three
Author’s email: DocPaul2002@yahoo.ca
Rating: PG
Spoilers: none,
Disclaimers: The concepts and names are the same, but
the characters belong to me. I give them life, more life than
Warnings: This is not canon, so if you expect it,
don’t. Things change. People change. It happens.
Summary: A
Michael POV documenting his investigating technique as the World's Greatest
Alien Investigator. The question is value, and a skate key. Michael finds it for
a small boy.
Author’s note: This is a fluff piece for me. Thought
you could use a relief from angst…or prolonged angst. The idea of this story
is taken in part from the movie Zero Effect with all parts after the first part
completely mine. This case is dedicated to Tabi who shared a real life
suggestion about a horse, that inspired me, and though the story isn’t quite
the one she told, it was the basis of inspiration. Thank you.
The
Case of the Man and Woman who said I Do, and then Didn’t, and All it Cost was
a Horse
Michael Guerin:
The World's
Greatest Alien Investigator
~For Tabi~
I am
Michael Guerin. I am an alien. And I am, without a doubt, the World's Greatest
Alien Investigator. I have to keep saying that, because my trusted and most
valued assistant is listening, and often she finds pithy comments destined to
create dissension.
So
with that, we come to an important topic. Naming. I’ve pondered the importance
of names, and specifically, my own. Michael Guerin. Obviously, being an alien, I
was given my human name by social services. Strange it is to wake up one day,
alone, cold and afraid, with no language, no understanding, and... no name. So,
Michael. It was given to me, and for a short period of time, it was all that I
had to hold onto, that and nothing else.
I
have never been anything but Michael. Well, with the exception of a few
thoughtless people who didn’t mind demeaning me further by diminishing my name
to Mike, Mikey, or even Mikey G. I think Mikey G was the most offensive. It
sounds like Mikey Mouse’s trailer trash cousin from bum-fuck nowhere.
Michael
Guerin. It says it all. It is me. Who I am. Who I will ever be. Once, on a
distant planet, far, far away, I understand that I was Rath. Not any longer.
There is a man out there, a man with my face, and he uses that name, he lives
that Destiny, and I am more than happy to allow him to do so. Why? Simple. He
had no choice. It was stolen from him. He woke up one day and was told who he
once was. Who he would be. Who he must love. His entire life was a blank, and
someone wrote everything about him on that empty slate. I feel for him. I do.
Mostly, I thank heavenly intervention that saved me from that same horrible
destiny. I am Michael Guerin. I am an alien, but everything else I am is exactly
what I chose to be.
So
naming. It’s important. I have a baby on the way, and often I am trapped in
thought pondering a name. A good name. A brilliant name. Why?
Beginnings.
A
name is the beginning of life. Our life. Our personality. It is a label upon
which first impressions will be based. Obviously people would think of me
differently if my name was say... Elvis,
So,
believe me, naming is important. And with that, it takes me to my point. The
naming of my cases. It has been suggested, and hardly worth the mention, that my
case names tend to be verbose and ostentatious. That is not so. They are
informative and exact.
My
case names tell you exactly what is necessary to understand the entire case,
hence, the need for good, precise, and descriptive naming. So this leads us to
the case I termed ‘The Case of the Man and Woman who said I Do, and then
Didn’t, and all it Cost was a Horse’.
“We aren’t naming our child that.” Maria said
tossing the pile of mail on the kitchen table. Going to the refrigerator, she
took out the milk, quickly stirred in some chocolate sauce, and added a lot of
“Michaelson is a great name! It means literally
‘son of Michael’, which...”
“Is a mute point if we have a girl,” Maria
suggested. “Or should we name her ‘Michaeldaughter’?”
Michael pointed at her. “Now you’re being
silly.” Michael moved her aside, and pushed her into a chair hugging the
bottle of chocolate syrup. He quickly began to make her a healthy sandwich.
Something sane. Nothing too disgusting.
“Put cocktail sauce on it, and some baby
shrimp.”
“It’s peanut butter and jelly.”
Maria’s brow wrinkled in confusion. She knew that!
What was his point? “At least toss some pickles on it!” Maria rubbed her
stomach. As their alien baby grew so did her bizarre cravings. They rode to
“Drink your milk cocktail.” Michael passed her
the plain P&J sandwich minus anything toxic. “I was thinking for a girl
maybe Michelle.”
“Michelle?” Maria took a bite of her sandwich
chewing thoughtfully. “I like that. I’ll add it to the list.” Maria
quickly marked it on a dry marker board on the refrigerator. Sitting down, she
opened the mail groaning at the bank statement. “I can’t open this. You do
it.”
Michael hefted the large unwieldy envelope in his
hand. It was massive and heavy. “Damn. I think it’s alive.”
“Then hit it with a stick, but make it bring our
money back first.”
“Too late.” Michael bit the bullet and pulled
out the statement setting the cancelled checks to the side. “Ouch. That hurts.
This balance needs life support.”
Glancing over Maria moaned. “I told you the carved
Irish wood was too expensive.”
“It’s official. We’re broke, beaten and badly
bent. How you feel about picking up shifts at the Crashdown again?”
“Only if you short-order cook, Moondoggie.”
Michael made a face at that. “So we dip into
savings until payday.”
“Savings? Thought we were going to start college
funds.”
“College later, renovation first.”
Their house. A three story Victorian run down and
embittered by years of neglect was slowly emerging from a cocoon. Every month,
they literally dumped their accounts on materials for the house, and every month
there seemed to be more to do. It was a money pit. The repairs could have been
completed a hundred times over, but they wanted it perfect. It was their dream
house, and every stick of furniture, every wall of paper and banister of wood
was thought over and carefully chosen from the hand carved Irish bogwood
banister to the Austrian crystal chandelier in the front foyer. At the rate they
were going, one day it would be complete. Perhaps if they were lucky, before
their first child graduated from high school.
Maria popped the last of her sandwich in her mouth
and went to scrounge for potato chips. “It could be worse. At least the
nursery is almost done.” Maria kissed the top of Michael’s head. “You did
good, papa. Five months ahead of schedule.”
Kissing her stomach, he calmly reached up and
removed the chips. “Too much salt. I was inspired. But don’t get too
excited. All the walls have been redone and the carpeting's in place, but we
still need to put in the furniture and final touches. That’s your specialty.
Think you can do it over the next five months?”
Maria snorted, grabbing her bag back and evading
Michael’s hands. “It’s more like four and a half months now. So watch me.
I’m inspired.”
Michael pulled her down into his lap. Kissing the
side of her neck, his hand was strong on the side of her hip moving upward.
Maria pushed it down and quickly kissed him on the mouth, and then kissed him
again, not so slowly.
“Stop it. You’re not getting the chips, Spaceboy.”
Naming. There are exceptions to the name game. His
trusted assistant was the only person he permitted to give him nicknames or
refer to him by names other than Michael. He would never admit to liking them,
but he did. There was nothing more intimate than her calling him Spaceboy, or
the numerous other names she thought of along the way. The endearments were in a
total different category, and though they weren’t big on cutesy names, he did
like how sometimes they seemed to leave her mouth without thought.
“I love you.”
Maria moaned, her arms wrapping around his neck.
“That is totally unfair. I hate when you use that to get your way.” Michael
ignored her as he kissed her neck. All was fair in love and war. She
surrendered. The chips were tossed across the room towards a countertop. Michael
found her mouth and he moved deeper into her, his breath moving with her, as
they both panted. She was always able to make his head swim, remove all thoughts
of everything but her. Standing, he held her tight.
“Honey, bedroom...”
“Here,” said Michael huskily as he sat her on
the kitchen table and crowded close to her as his mouth found her again. “Here
is good.”
Michael was leaning over her with one arm supporting
himself on the table when the knock came at the door. Kissing her, he refused to
stop, but the knock was persistent. Maria groaned, and Michael cursed under his
breath as their foreheads rested against the others. “You were right. The
bedroom would’ve been better.” Straightening, he pulled her up and watched
amused as she hastily tried to refasten her clothing. He didn’t bother with
his open shirt. Maria pushed him to the door as she hopped off the table and
went to make herself some more milk.
“Sheriff.” Michael’s voice wasn’t very
inviting.
Maria looked around her husband. “Hi, Jim!”
Michael might be the World’s Greatest Alien
Investigator, but Jim Valenti wasn’t a slouch either. He took in their
disheveled appearance and a slight redness moved up his neck. “Sorry to
disturb you folks at home, but I needed to see Michael.”
“If it’s our neighbors complaining about the
parked skip in the back alleyway, tell them that I left room for the city
maintenance and trash collection to get through, and it’ll be gone soon. My
crew is doing the roof this weekend, so...”
Jim held up his hands. “No, Michael, there’s no
complaint. You’re fine. I saw the permit for construction. Everything is on
the up and up.” Maria quickly put on some coffee. Frowning at the decaf, she
shrugged. It was all that Michael would let in the house. Who knew that letting
him become a father was going to turn him into a worry wart and petty dictator?
“Jim, coffee?” Jim quickly nodded. He took a
seat at the table as Maria grabbed cups. She took out fresh cream and sugar.
Michael looked over at Maria and found her eating
the chips again. Calmly removing them, he handed her an apple. “What is it,
Sheriff,” asked Michael as he sat Maria down in a chair and quickly filled the
cups with coffee. Taking his seat, he waited patiently as his eyes met Maria's.
They had a new case.
Love.
It was a strange thing. I have to say that in my early life that was the one
sentiment sorely missing. Now I always felt I was a brother to Max and Isabel,
and they cared for me in their way, but love? No. Or not so that I really felt
it. More akin to pity. Isabel would share her sandwich with me at times, and Max
spent time with me. Those times were always appreciated, but no one likes to be
the charity case, or pitied for circumstance.
I
realized early that though they valued me, their own lives would always be a
higher concern. Neither cared how miserable or unhappy my life was, as long as I
didn’t cost them their nice comfortable cushy home with loving parents.
Bitter? Not really. Not any longer. Resigned. I was fighting a battle I could
never win with them. Once I was told that Isabel was my destiny, and I quickly
accepted that my life could be that strange being an alien, but destiny? No. I
refuse to allow my entire life to be set out like a plan. It was crap. I knew
that immediately, because as much as I love and care for Isabel, I’d never
think of her in that way.
Something
was wrong. That divine spark. A touch of breathlessness and awe that comes from
touching someone else, and having them touch you. Isabel had been the only
female influence in my young life up to sixteen, and it was shockingly little
and insufficient. Imagine settling for that for a lifetime? Maria wrecked all
thought of ever following the alien destiny. In one look, one touch, and a
smile, there was no home more important to me than her. Of course, it took me
some time to admit that, even to myself.
I
could watch Isabel and Max leave the Earth forever, and I would miss them. But
Maria? No. It was like a physical ache, a real pain… the thought of living
without her. I allowed myself to arrogantly think I could, that it was possible
to walk away and go on. Even I have to admit that should I have ventured too far
abroad, it was she that would have brought me home.
Love
is a beacon. A light in a living kaleidoscope of loneliness. Humans align
themselves into pairs, saying sacred vows of forever. They take their life
partners as a part of themselves, and there is a belief in saying the vow that
nothing, and no man, can cast asunder what has been bound by God.
Bullshit.
The
divorce rate is around fifty percent. That means that of every two marriages,
one will fail. Even the most in love couple can find themselves a few years
later bitterly signing papers to dissolve the union. Where does it go wrong? And
why? Hard to say, even for those involved. One day you love someone, the next
day you’re wishing them gone. Perhaps nothing is sacred.
Nothing,
except Maria. For me, it’s Maria. Will we ever divorce? I wouldn’t even
commit such an outrageous curse of saying no. But I will say that Heaven and
Earth would have to move, rivers would have to reverse flow, and time would have
to stop before I would do anything to make her walk away from me again. Yes,
again. Maria and I. We have a history. A long one starting when we were sixteen.
In three years of long angst and pain, we walked through hard times, violence,
and fear. We walked together, we walked apart, and through it all, we always
found our way back together. She is the one abiding constant in my life. My
anchor. In those years of uncertainty, we lived through more together than most
couples ever experience. If we did not break then, I can’t image anything ever
doing it now. She makes me better. Makes me want to be better. Mostly, she makes
me free. And for an abandoned alien bastard, that is everything.
So
divorce. It happens. And beyond the whys and the whynots, we can see the
results. That leads to our case. Divorce is messy. It is bitter. It reigns in
all the pain and anger, and allows it an outlet.
“Patty Lynn Talbot Parsons shot Richie Parsons in
the leg.”
Maria’s mouth flew open. “Aren’t they divorced
yet?” Patty Lynn Talbot and Richie Parsons were about two years ahead of her
and Michael in school. High school sweethearts, they married after graduation,
and no one thought they would ever break up. People thought wrong.
Jim stirred sugar into his coffee. “Officially?
Yeah, it was signed over two weeks ago. The fighting is over division of
property.” Jim sipped his coffee and looked at Michael over the rim.
“The horse.”
Jim nodded. “The horse.”
Maria was quiet after Jim left and Michael looked at
the time. It was late, and they hadn’t even fixed dinner or done anything they
normally did in the evenings. “You want me to order a pizza?”
Maria nodded. “I think I’ll take a bath while
we’re waiting.”
Michael stopped her on the way out of the door.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Not really.” Maria turned and searched
his eyes, her hands framing his face. “I guess you never know. I think of
Patty Lynn and Richie, and I remember how they were this great love match, and
it reminds me of Max and Liz.”
Michael was silent. Max and Liz. Max had moved out
last week. They were officially separated and giving each other space. “It
happens, Maria.” Michael swallowed the bitterness in his stomach. Max betrayed
his and Isabel’s trust, for a woman he was now on the verge of divorcing. It
was a bitter pill to swallow and it didn't make it any easier to know that Max
was still in love with his wife.
Maria played with his shirt. “Then there's
everything about us.”
“What about us? Is this about my buying the
bike?” Michael asked, amused. His big toy.
Maria snorted. “No.” Her eyes went serious. “I
love you happy, and riding the motorcycle makes you happy. That’s fine.” It
had been expensive, but so was the house. They would make ends meet somehow.
“Then what? I thought we were doing good.”
“We are.” Her hands were slowly unbuttoning his
shirt again. Silly boy actually fastened his shirt. He always made her work
hard. “I was thinking about how no one thought we were a good idea, that our
relationship was based on hormones and lust.”
Michael laughed and kissed his wife hard. “Hate to
tell you this, but it was. Definitely. My hormones were raging hard, and there
was definitely lust.”
“I mean more. No one thought our emotions were
true or lasting.”
Michael was suddenly serious. “No. They didn’t.
Sometimes, I didn’t either. Or I wanted them not to be.” Maria nodded. That
hurt. It always had. Given a choice he never would have chosen her to fall in
love with, but it snuck up on him, ensnared him before he could do anything but
struggle.
“I know.”
Michael forced her to look at him. “I walked away,
demeaned and negated our relationship from the very beginning, but there
wasn’t a moment when I didn’t know that you were it. You were the one for
me. So I raged against the inevitable. No man at 16 wants to see his entire life
written, narrowing from possibilities. I spent my entire young life thinking I
wasn’t for this world, and you, darling, are this world. You couldn’t be for
me. So I denied and walked away from the only thing I ever truly wanted, for a
dream.” Michael kissed her. “It wasn’t a dream, Maria. It was a nightmare.
You... you were the dream.”
Maria kissed him. “When did you get so
romantic?”
“I’m not. I can tell the truth, and if that is
romantic, then fine.” It wasn’t hard anymore, talking to her, telling her
things. He had grown accustomed to telling her everything. “What I thought I
wanted when I was young has changed. I have what I want.”
Maria took his hand. “Why don’t you come take a
bath with me?”
“What about dinner? I really need to feed you.”
Maria pulled him to the stairs. “Good, then come
take a bath and we’ll talk about food later.”
Divorce.
I really didn't think about it much until recently. Max and Liz seem to be
heading that way, but there is always hope they can staunch whatever is wounding
their marriage. Now, Patty Lynn and Richie… interesting couple. High school
sweethearts, they oozed and gooed all over the place, every possible makeout
corner of West Roswell High. Graduating, they had high expectations, and became
parents from the get go.
Then
Richie took all their savings and bought Donner’s Prince. A nice mare with
good papers and good legs. It was Richie’s dream to win races with Donner’s
Prince, to establish a racing and breeding stable. It was a nice dream, but
highly unrealistic. There was more to racing horses than buying a horse and
placing it in a race. Richie never considered the cost of training, feed, and
maintenance. Medicine. Vet bills, and so many other aspects. It bled his family
coffers dry, not that they weren’t pretty brittle to start, and cracking.
Needless
to say, Patty Lynn began to suspect that Donner’s Prince was a big competitor
for her husband’s affection, and as much as Richie loved that horse, she hated
it. For three years they fought, in private and in huge public brawls, over the
horse. Whatever was good between them was lost, trampled under hoofed feet as
their divorce became something even the citizens of
There
wasn’t much in way of property to be settled, mostly bills. One major asset
was Donner’s Prince and according to the courts, and Patty Lynn’s lawyer,
Richie had to sell the horse and split the proceeds. Patty Lynn had finally
found a way to break Richie Parsons' heart.
“How
are yah, Richie?”
“Guerin? How do I look? They took a 38 caliber
bullet out of my thigh.” Jim was silent, listening to Michael as he talked to
Richie. Maria was wandering around the hospital room eating out a bag of
pretzels. Mustard flavored. She bought them out of a vending machine on their
way up, and refused to hand them over.
Michael shrugged, frowning at Maria eating herself
sick on salty treats. “You look dirty to me, Richie. Ever think of taking a
bath?”
“Huh?” Richie scratched his ear reflectively.
Michael shook his head. “Nevermind.”
“Richie, I couldn’t hold Patty Lynn. Her Daddy
posted bail. So why don’t you tell us where the horse is so the courts can
oversee the sell.”
Richie sighed. “I told her! I told her that a
salesman came by, looked at the horse, and offered me a price. Next day, I go
out there, and the horse wuz gone.” Richie tried to adjust himself in the bed.
“I reported it to you, signed a report, and that was it. I was swindled. You
find my horse, you can sell it.”
Michael was silent. He just sat there on the table
edge beside the window. “When did this happen?”
“Three days ago. Ask the Sheriff, I was in the PD
immediately.”
Michael looked at Jim who nodded. “Mind if I look
around your place?”
“Why,” Richie asked suspiciously.
“Why not? If the horse is gone, the horse is
gone.”
Richie looked at Michael nervously and then at the
expectant Sheriff, unable to say no, he nodded. “Yeah, sure whatever. As long
as you keep that crazy lunatic off my ass.”
“You’re just lucky Patty Lynn is such a terrible
shot,” Jim said.
That got Maria’s attention. “Terrible shot? He
got a bullet in his leg.”
Jim nodded. That was true. “She wasn’t aiming
for the leg.”
Maria’s mouth opened. She looked at the injured
thigh and then a little to the side. “Oh. Oh!”
“So
what are you hoping to find at his place?” Maria asked as she turned her head
to look at the fast food restaurant passing by. “Honey, can we stop for a
quick burger?”
“Fast food is loaded in fats and empty calories.
I’ll make you something when we get home.” Michael looked at his watch.
“We need to stop at the job site too. They were cleaning up today.”
“I’m... we’re starving,” Maria quickly
amended.
Michael looked at her and a slight smile pulled at
his mouth. She was eating for two, and the second one was an alien. “Whannaburger?”
“Excellent. Have them put peppers on it.”
Michael quickly pulled in and ordered what was
needed for the both of them. “So, chances of the horse being at his place are
slim. I’m thinking of Buddy Barker.”
“Richie’s best friend?”
Michael nodded, passing the food to Maria as he paid
for it. “Buddy has the family ranch, and they have horses. He can hide
Donner’s Prince there.”
“I’m sure Jim checked that out.”
Michael nodded. “Yeah, but I haven’t. You want
these onion rings, or fries.”
Maria was pushing French fries in her mouth.
“Both.”
“Pig.”
Maria laughed. “You knocked me up. Talk to your
son or daughter. Now that I no longer have morning sickness, I can’t seem to
stop being hungry.”
Michael smiled again. His son or daughter. “How
long until we know for certain what the sex is?”
“Next ultrasound. Do you want to know, or do you
want it to be a surprise?”
“I think an alien baby can be enough of a
surprise. I want to know the sex.”
Maria was quiet. She tried to keep herself from
worrying too much about the alien aspect of her child’s parentage. Michael was
mostly human, she was human, so she had to hope the baby would be the same, and
not be in danger from the government.
“It’ll be okay, Maria,” Michael said, looking
at her. It was hard to hide things from the World’s Greatest Alien
Investigator, and after all these years she had learned that lesson well.
“I know.” Sometimes you just had to believe.
The Parsons place was run down. Patty Lynn wasn’t
much of a housekeeper, and with two children, and a husband who worked part-time
for Wheeler Chemical, money wasn’t in ready supply. Especially when most of it
went towards a race horse’s upkeep.
They went to the stable first. Michael walked around
as Maria climbed up on the fence to watch and polish off her food, along with a
good portion of Michael’s.
“Anything?”
Michael came to stand next to Maria. “Horse is
gone.”
Maria snorted. “Obviously. The paddock is empty.
Hard to hide a few hundred pounds of horse flesh.”
“Best to do it in clear sight,” Michael said
easily munching on a few fries. “C’mon, darling. Let’s go scare Buddy
Barker to death, then check out the boys.”
“My man.” Maria let him lift her down. She
chuckled softly at his ‘dah-ling’ he liked to say in a mock southern drawl.
Silly. One good thing about finally growing up and learning to dream different
dreams was that Michael finally learned how to play.
Buddy Barker saw them coming. Somehow after Jim
Valenti left, he knew that Guerin would be next. Looking around nervously, he
tried to quell his nervousness, but then he saw Maria DeLuca-Guerin getting out
of the SUV and his heart dropped to his feet. Well shit.
“Hi, Buddy Rae. How’s business?” Maria asked
kindly.
The man moved uneasily on his feet. She was even
more beautiful then he remembered, and that was hard. He had spied her across
the way in
“Heard that, huh? Good news travels almost as fast
as bad, it just doesn’t linger as long.”
“That’s true.”
Michael scowled. Like he didn’t know that Buddy
didn’t have a crush on his wife. “Guess you heard about your pal Richie’s
run of bad luck.”
Buddy nodded. “Yeah I heard that psycho bitch,
Patty Lynn tried to shoot his family jewels clean off.”
Michael raised a brow. Interesting. “Actually I
was referring to his horse, Donner’s Prince, being stolen by a confidence man.
Horse thievery is still a hanging crime in this State.” Michael made a face.
“Richie’s dick doesn’t concern me. Small targets aren’t hard to miss.”
Maria bit back a smile, and busied herself with
talking softly to Buddy’s horses standing in the paddock. A black mare came up
to her, and was gently breathing in her hand, searching for a treat. Maria
laughed softly at the huffing breath.
“What you want, Guerin? The Sheriff has already
been this way looking for that horse. I’ve got all the dentals and vet records
up to date, if you care to check.”
“I’m sure you do, Buddy Rae.” Michael looked
over the paddock. Donner’s Prince was a chestnut mare, a real beauty. Nothing
here matched that description. “I believe you wouldn’t want to come between
Patty Lynn and Richie. That Patty Lynn is one unforgiving woman.”
Buddy snorted. “Don’t I know it. I once might
have mentioned how flabby her thighs were looking after the last kid, and damn
if she didn’t dump my ass in the river. That woman makes rattlesnakes look
peaceable.”
“That’s…sweet,” said Maria sarcastically.
“Why Buddy Rae, I refuse to believe that you were ever that uncharitable to a
lady.”
“Normally, Ms. Maria, that would be true, but
Patty Lynn ain’t what I would call a lady.”
They were on their way back to
Michael laughed. “Like that little lilt, do you...
Ms. Maria?”
“Stow it, Spaceboy.”
Michael laughed harder. “A little ‘good ole
boy’ helps people to talk. They’re already intimidated enough.”
“Oh, my big old scary husband.”
Michael raised a brow. “Darling, I was talking
about you.”
“Little ol’ me?” Maria snorted, secretly
pleased. Damn straight. They should be scared. She was one scary little chica.
The
best thing about being an investigator is that the cases are rarely that
difficult. Most of them hinge on common sense, and knowing what is possible
within human nature. If you were to take the time to observe and know what
people are capable of, you could answer the hardest of questions without even
leaving your home.
I
knew where the horse was, almost immediately, but all investigation should be
followed up with fact, and carefully scrutiny of the facts.
So
here were the facts.
One,
Richie Parsons loved that damn horse. It symbolized a dream. He’d rather have
Patty Lynn shoot off his balls then lose that horse.
Second,
Richie couldn’t keep the horse at his place, so that meant he would have to
store it at some place safe. Some place he trusted. That meant Buddy Rae.
And
finally, the best place to hide something was in plain sight.
“Guerin,
back so soon?” Richie turned off his TV.
“Some things are purely academic.” Michael
waited until Jim caught up with them. He called him on his way back in. This
case was over, and he wanted it finished. He and Maria were busy people. They
were painting an upstairs room, getting it ready for wainscoting, and the boys
were coming over to put on the roof in a few days. No time to waste over mundane
things.
“I told you that the mare wasn’t at my place.”
Michael perched his lips. “Knew that. But, I still
had to look around. Place looks pretty run down. It used to be a nice place when
Patty Lynn’s Dad gave it to you.”
“Money's tight.”
“I hear you. Our place eats away all our
expendable cash, but I figure in a little while that will be done, and we can
make up the difference.”
Richie winced. “I thought the same. Few years of
running short, relief never looked near.”
Jim walked into the room, smiling at Maria who was
picking through some of Richie’s flowers, rearranging them and tossing out the
dead ones. He smiled as she added fresh water. Nesting. The young woman hardly
looked pregnant, but it was slightly beginning to show.
Jim let regret move over him. Had things been
different, he might still be seeing Amy DeLuca and Maria and Michael’s child
might be something more to him. But that was the past, and perhaps it needed to
stay there.
“How’s your mother, Maria?”
Maria looked at Jim in surprise. It had been years
since those two had dated, and Maria remembered how upset her mother had been
when Jim stopped calling and started dating younger women. It was right around
the time he was fired as Sheriff. After three years of returning to a status of
Deputy, Jim was finally the Sheriff again.
“She’s fine, Jim. Still running her shop. She
expanded a bit, and increased her business interest with another shop in Las
Cruces. It takes up her time.”
“I heard she was getting married.”
Maria licked her lips, slightly uncomfortable
talking about her mother. “She is. A lawyer from Las Cruces. Sometime next
Fall.”
Michael saw Maria’s discomfort, and interrupted
the polite conversation. “Sheriff, the horse?”
Jim nodded. “Right. The horse. You find out
anything?”
Michael looked Richie in the eyes, straight. “I
thought I’d allow Richie to tell you.”
Richie feigned innocent, but the nervous tick of his
eye belied that. “What? I…”
He never got to finish as a whirlwind hit the room
in the form of a mouth foaming Patty Lynn. “You lying sack of shit! I know
you’ve got that damn horse stashed! I want my money, and I want it now!”
Michael barely registered the gleam of metal of the
gun in Patty Lynn’s hand. It was a long process for the synaptic connections
between his eyes and his brain to discern the information, process it, and give
his body an order to respond. Diving over the bed, he took out Maria where she
stood beside the flowers as the ringing sounds of gun fire rang in his ears.
The ringing echoed into the sudden silence, before
all hell broke loose.
“Dammit, Patty Lynn!” Jim picked himself up off
the floor where he'd jumped the young woman. He quickly restrained her and
removed the gun, emptying the bullets from the loading chamber. Richie Parsons
was cowering in the bed, breathing hard.
Michael rolled off Maria, and tried to help her sit
up. “Hey! What’s the idea of flattening me? I would’ve got down!”
Michael checked her over quickly, suddenly all the
color drained from his face. “You’re bleeding. That loony bitch shot you!”
Maria looked down at the trail of blood streaming
down her arm. Lifting her blouse sleeve, she looked at a bleeding scrape. “No,
that was from where I hit the table on my way down.” Maria looked at her
husband. “Michael, sweetie, you need to put your head between your knees?”
“Shut up!” He was on his feet with her in his
arms. “Emergency room, now!”
Jim raced after Michael. “Michael, wait! Wait. The
horse...”
“It at Buddy Rae’s just like you suspected.”
Michael pointed at Richie. “He’s got black shoe polish behind his ear,
and…” Michael showed Jim one of Maria’s hands which had a black mark on it
as well. “A black mare at Buddy’s place left this on Maria when she petted
him. Wash him down, you’ll find he’s Donner’s Prince. Now get the fuck out
of my way.”
Michael didn’t wait to hear Jim read the divorce
couple their rights. Far as he was concerned, they should be sentenced to life
in prison, in the same fucking cell. Lunatics.
A
truism is that sometimes you don’t know how much something means to you until
you lose it. Maybe that was true for Richie Parsons in regard to Donner’s
Prince, and the tragedy of it all was that it should have been how he felt about
losing Patty Lynn. Seeing my loyal and beloved assistant bleeding on the floor
was not something I can describe or ever wish to repeat seeing. I’ve never
denied how valuable she is to me, and risking her over something as mundane as a
horse was been inconceivable.
So,
in that regard, perhaps people need to stand back from ego and self-interest,
look beyond the pains of their normal living and really assess what is valuable.
They should do it before it's too late. If you know what you love, you can work
hard to protect and save it from all harm. That was the greatest lesson in
foresight.
If
Richie had valued and worked as hard for Patty Lynn’s love as he did for that
damn horse, his life could have been a different one. That is true for a lot of
people facing a break up and a divorce. Priorities. Look beyond the inner demons
and assess your life. Ask yourself, what can you live with, and without. It
makes things a little easier to bring the big picture into focus.
“Can
I come in?”
Maria looked over at the door. “Liz! Absolutely! I
was dying of boredom here.”
“I heard a rumor you were here. It’s not the
baby?” Liz asked softly.
“No. We’re fine. Or we will be after Michael
stops harassing the doctors. He’s had them run every test imaginable, and then
some. The man is about two cards short of a full deck.”
Liz laughed. “I never thought he would be this
way. All those years ago, I never imagined him possible of so much emotion.”
Maria smiled, closing her eyes briefly. “Strange,
to me he was the most emotional of men. Everything touched his tough exterior
and he seemed to rage with it. I never doubted his ability to feel deeply.”
Liz nodded. “Perhaps that's why you two work so
well together. You really see each other.” Liz looked uncomfortable. “So you
getting sprung from here anytime soon?”
Maria sighed. “I hope. Waiting for lab results,
and Michael is off badgering my OB/GYN. He gets a little lunatic at times, but
most times, he walks the straight and narrow.”
Maria looked at her best friend. Liz was unkempt.
Wearing a Crashdown waitress uniform, she must’ve come straight over from the
diner when she heard the news.
“How are you? We haven’t talked since...”
“Max moved out. I know.” Liz held Maria’s
hand. “I’ve been avoiding you.”
“Why?”
“Envy. A sense of failure. I don’t know.” Liz
laughed bitterly. “All those years ago, I was so smug over my catch. Max
Evans. My soulmate. Ours was this great love.”
Maria tightened her hand. “It still is.” Maria
sat up a little. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t still love
him.”
Liz shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” Maria
shook her head. Of course it did. Love always mattered. “I can’t give him a
child, one that he deserves.”
“I thought you were dealing with this, Liz.”
Liz bit her lip. “I was.”
“What happened?”
“Simon.” Liz said simply.
“Simon? Our Simon?”
Liz felt bad. Hating a small child like Simon
Garcia. “Isabel and Jesse are trying to adopt him.”
“I heard. Sounded wonderful. He has no one now
that his mother is dead, and Isabel needed something more than Jesse to make her
feel good.” Maria paused. Liz was pale. Her skin was ashen and almost green.
She looked sick. “What’s going on?”
Liz angrily wiped a tear that moved down her face.
“Max wants to adopt too. He thinks it would be great.”
“And you don’t want that?”
Liz shook her head. “I want Max to have his own
son, like Zan. He deserves to have his own, just like Michael.”
Maria moved to the side of the bed. “Liz, you
deserve your own baby too, but that’s not going to happen. You know that.
Adoption is a way to build a family. There are children out there, children like
Michael, Max and Isabel who need people, homes, and someone to love them. You
have so much love. You could share that.”
“I... I don’t want to give up on having my
own.”
Maria groaned. Specialist. Liz went to every
possible specialist imaginable. They all said the same. She could not conceive.
Her eggs were dead. That moment of death before Max saved her, all the living
ovum in her body died, and they didn’t come back.
“Liz… it’s not going to happen. You know
that.”
Liz got up angrily. “So Max tells me! I told him
to fix me! To heal my body, but he refuses. He refuses to even try! If I can’t
give him children, then he should be with someone else. Someone that can.
Someone like...”
“Tess?” Maria suggested softly.
Liz sat down dejectedly. “Yeah. I should’ve
never come between them. I let him go, and something in me couldn’t let it end
that way.” Liz looked at Maria. “How different would it all be if Tess had
Max, Alex lived, and Zan was their child?” Liz wrung her hands. “My selfish
pride brought me to this. I was his soulmate, his destiny, not her. And I was
paid back in kind. I should’ve asked Future Max if we had children and if not,
why. I should’ve asked. I didn’t, Maria. I didn’t ask, because all that
mattered was me and Max... not even our possible children. I didn’t ask about
you. About Alex. I knew both Isabel and Michael died, but I didn’t ask about
you.”
“It’s okay, Liz. You were in love. Young. The
man of your dreams comes from the future and tells you that your great love
wasn’t that great, that it destroyed the world. How are you supposed to take
that?”
Liz shook her head. “Better than I did. This is
like punishment. All the signs were there. All along. Signs that I was fooling
myself into believing I was important, more important than even you. This is the
last slap in the face telling me to wake up and face reality.”
Maria looked up and saw Michael. He had been
listening. She shook her head. Hugging Liz, she looked at her husband.
“It’s not true. You don’t deserve this. You
never did. Pride? What is that? Love out of control, or true happiness telling
you that nothing can touch you? I don’t think you deserve to be punished.”
Liz cried. “Yes, I do. For Alex, I do. I started
this, and he paid the price, and in all this time, I let my life be more
important. I all but forgot about him.”
Maria shut her eyes. They all had. Love Alex. They
did, but he was gone. They lived on. “There's no punishment needed. Alex
would’ve never wanted us to climb in the grave with him.” Maria pulled Liz
away and looked at her friend. “Don’t let this hurt and anger make you do
things you’ll regret later. You love Max. He loves and risks everything for
you. Make a way. Find a compromise. Believe in love.”
Liz laughed softly, in a huffing noise, not in any
way amused. She touched Maria’s stomach. “Of the two of us, I thought I had
found the real prize. Here you are with the man you love, pregnant with his
child, a real career and company, and a dream house. You found your way, Maria.
Why can’t I find mine?”
Maria stared at her husband. “Believe in love.
Believe. It’ll help you find the way.”
Love
did find a way. It found me mine. I use to be like Liz. Lost. Searching for a
taste of redemption, a taste of worth, and looking for a home I’d never see. I
could’ve spent my life looking at the stars, dreaming of what could’ve been,
or should’ve been. I didn’t. I let love guide me, and it led me out of that
pod chamber that one faithful day to find Maria, Liz and Kyle trying to stop us
from returning to Antar.
Following
love saved my life. My life and Max and Isabel's as well. In all of these years
none of us ever thanked Maria for that, but she's the reason we all still live.
Divorce.
It is the cutting off of an arm, a dream, and a once hoped for future that was
bright and full of love. Max and Liz are looking at that loss because they
can’t find a way to talk, or settle all the old scars. All Liz can see is Zan,
and her inability to give Max all he gave up for her. Selfish and selfless in
the same act. Max can't find a way to convince Liz that it doesn't matter, that
without her, there is no future, whether children figured in it or not.
Every
problem has a solution. Sometimes the answer isn’t what we want to hear, or
what we want it to be. But there is no right or wrong to the answer. It is what
it is. The solution. Liz needed to find her solution, acceptance, and in that,
she needed to realize what was most important. Her giving Max a child, or loving
him forever.
Their
lives and problems were their own.
As
Maria and mine are ours. Sometimes lives crossed, and sometimes they only ran
side by side. I will never apologize to Liz Parker for my children, my love of
Maria, or for the fact that in some strange skewed way we were closer to having
the life she counted on and expected. Life is work. Love is work. No
relationship is given easy. I learned that the hard way. Maria taught me that.
Max
and Liz were given a love, an expectation of being soulmates, and they thought
it would insulate them from the harsh realities of life, the necessity of
working hard for it. They were wrong. Nothing is guaranteed. It is the sheer act
of working hard for what you want that gives everything its dearness.
That
was why Patty Lynn and Richie failed. And why Liz and Max stood on the edge of
the dark precipice. They bypassed the essential steps in making a relationship
work. For Patty Lynn and Richie, it was too late. Max and Liz still had time.
Despite everything, they were still in love. Time to throw away lost dreams and
make new ones. That was what Max and Liz needed to do, together. Before it was
too late.
Michael
stood looking out of their bedroom window. Sunset. It was brilliant in the
desert. He liked the encroaching darkness stealing vermilion from the sky and
replacing it with darkened purples and deeper hues of night. Maria came up
behind him and hugged him tight, her head lay on his back.
“You okay, baby?”
Michael reached around and brought her close to his
side. “No.” He looked down at her shiny golden hair and the brilliant green
color of her eyes. “I scared myself today, Maria. I forgot how fragile life
is. I could’ve lost you.”
“Michael...”
“No. It’s okay. I just learned something today.
Something I didn’t even realize.”
“What?” she asked softly.
“If I knew you that day in the Crashdown anywhere
the way I know you now, I would’ve risked everything had you taken the
bullet.” Michael stared at her intensely. “I finally understand what Max
must have felt. Maybe he got to that point with Liz faster than I did with you,
but today, I understand.” He understood, and he could forgive.
Maria kissed him softly her arms going around his
neck.
“Don’t ever leave me,” he whispered to her.
“Not likely.”