Perfect Partners

  “Oh, very.”

  “I meant is it entirely physical or is the bond intellectual as well as emotional?”

  “I don't think you could say there's a lot of intelligence involved,” Letty admitted.

  “Then it would probably be best to end the affair immediately,” Stephanie advised. She eased the Porsche out of the drive.

  Letty gazed out at the streetlights and wished she had never mentioned her affair to her father. So much for asking for paternal advice.

  She had known ahead of time exactly what Morgan would say. It was the same thing he had been saying since she was a child: “Make a decision matrix, Letty. Weigh all the crucial factors and enter them on a grid. The appropriate conclusion will be obvious.”

  An hour later, midway through a set of slides showing infants in various stages of rest and activity, Letty realized Stephanie was getting increasingly tense. She leaned over and spoke softly.

  “Are you all right, Steph?”

  “Yes.” Stephanie stared straight ahead at a slide of a six-week-old infant stretching its arms and legs.

  Dr. Marklethorpe's voice droned in the darkened classroom. “As you will see, the infant is capable of communicating a great deal of information even at the age of six weeks. When accompanied by yawning, this stretching activity signals the infant is sleepy.”

  “Gosh, I would never have guessed,” Letty murmured in an aside to Stephanie.

  “Quiet,” Stephanie whispered.

  “Sorry.” So much for trying to lighten the mood. Letty concentrated on the screen.

  “You will notice in this slide,” Marklethorpe said, “that the infant is alert and tracking with her eyes. This means she is in a data assimilation mode. This is an excellent time to introduce a new element into her environment. Think of this as learning time.”

  “Brilliant observation,” Letty mumbled.

  “Now, then, compare the development at six weeks with the development of the infant at birth. Here we have a slide showing a newborn with a very high APGAR rating. The APGAR system rates the strength of the baby's cry and its general physical condition at birth. It's an excellent indicator of…”

  Letty saw Stephanie lean forward and clutch her stomach. “Stephanie. What is it?”

  “Nothing.” Stephanie's voice was a painful, strangled whisper.

  “Stop saying that. Something is wrong. Come on, let's get out of here.”

  Much to Letty's surprise, Stephanie did not resist. Letty led her along the back row of seats and out into the hall. Stephanie's face was pale in the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights.

  “I'm going to call your doctor,” Letty said. “I'll tell her we're on our way to the emergency room and we'll meet her there.”

  “No. Wait.” Stephanie grabbed at her arm as Letty made to move toward a pay phone down the hall. “I'm all right. I swear it. Nothing's wrong.”

  “Stephanie, something is very wrong. You look as if you've seen a ghost.”

  Stephanie burst into tears. “Oh, God, I think I did.”

  Letty was stunned by the flood of emotion from the normally calm, cool, and intellectual Stephanie. Instinctively she put her arms around her stepmother and held her as great sobs racked her body.

  “Steph, what is it? Tell me. I can't help you if you don't tell me.”

  “I lost him, Letty.”

  “Lost who?”

  “My baby. I lost him at three months. Ten years ago this month. He was dead inside me. All that time I was preparing for him, buying baby clothes, choosing names, all that time, and he was dead.”

  Letty closed her eyes and tightened her grip on Stephanie. “I'm so sorry.”

  “I'm so afraid I'm going to lose Matthew Christopher, too. I get more afraid every day. I'm going crazy with the fear.”

  Letty hugged her gently. “You won't lose him. He's alive and well and kicking like mad. He'll be safe in your arms in another few weeks. You've got one of the best doctors in the state. You've got the best hospital in the city.”

  “I know, but so many things could go wrong.”

  “He's strong and healthy. He's got my father's terrific genes, remember?”

  “But he's got some of mine, too. And I lost my first baby. What if there's something wrong with me? What if I lose Matthew Christopher because there's a basic genetic flaw in me?”

  “There is nothing wrong with you. It's going to be all right, Steph.” Letty kept talking, saying the same, soothing things over and over again. “When the time comes, you'll have the most advanced medical technology available to you. Your doctor will be with you, watching over every detail.”

  Gradually Stephanie's sobs subsided.

  When she finally lifted her head from Letty's shoulder, her face was blotched and red from crying. She groped for a tissue in her purse. “I'm sorry you had to witness that. I've made a fool of myself. I'm sorry. I'm not behaving very rationally these days, am I? I've got to get myself back under control.”

  “Stephanie, you're pregnant.” Letty smiled. “Everything I've read says that being irrational is allowed.”

  “I don't want Morgan to see me like this.”

  “Like what, for heaven's sake?”

  “Like this. In such an abnormal state.” Stephanie blotted her eyes and blew into the tissue. “He wouldn't understand. I'm not myself.”

  “Have you told him about the miscarriage?”

  “No, I haven't.” Stephanie shoved the tissue back into her purse. “It all happened a long time ago. During the first year of my first marriage. I was never able to get pregnant again. I'd given up all hope until Morgan and I became involved. I was so thrilled when I found out. And Morgan seemed pleased.”

  “He is. He's looking forward to molding another generation of Thornquist brains. I think he figures he made a few mistakes with me, and he's anxious to get it right this time.”

  “Letty, I've been frightened all along. Right from the start. And it's been getting worse.”

  “You should have talked about it before now,” Letty said. “I think you ought to tell Dad everything.”

  “He'd be appalled at my irrational behavior.”

  “Nonsense. My father grew up on a farm. He was a regular human being before he got that Ph.D., and he still is, once you get past that intellectual veneer he's acquired. He's really very compassionate and understanding. How the heck do you think Mom and I tolerated him?”

  Stephanie shook her head. “He thinks I'm just like him. That's why he married me. And I am very much like him. Usually. It's only since I started worrying about losing this baby that I've gone off the deep end.”

  “You haven't gone off the deep end. You're just tense and worried. And I'll tell you something else. I've known my father for twenty-nine years, and he's not always cool and cerebral. I still remember how he went bonkers when I fell off my bike and had to be rushed to the emergency room with a broken wrist. You'd have thought I was at death's door. Mom spent more time calming him down than she did patting me on the head.”

  “Oh, Letty…”

  Letty smiled sadly. “And when Mom died, I thought for a while I was going to lose Dad, too. My father is no iceberg, Steph.”

  “Well, I know he's not an iceberg. We are having a baby, you know.” Stephanie actually turned slightly pink. “I understand that Morgan does have a passionate side to his nature.”

  “Just keep in mind that passion isn't the only emotion he's capable of,” Letty said dryly. She took Stephanie's arm and started walking down the hall. “What you have to remember, Steph, is that this time your pregnancy is sailing along smoothly. In fact, you're in the safety zone.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I read an article somewhere,” Letty said vaguely. “You're not much more than a month away from your due date. Heavens, even if the worst possible case occurred and you went into labor tomorrow, your baby is still old enough and strong enough to survive.”

  “Oh, God, don't say that,” Stephanie g
asped. “Premature babies have all kinds of problems.”

  Letty realized she had miscalculated her choice of reassuring words. “The point is, you've got everything under control, and your doctor has assured you that you're carrying a healthy, normal baby. Everything is going to be fine, Steph.”

  “The doctor is excellent,” Stephanie whispered.

  “The best.”

  “And so is the hospital.”

  “Absolutely top-notch.”

  “Fully equipped with state-of-the-art fetal monitors and incubators.”

  “Right. Able to handle anything.” Letty opened the door at the end of the hall and led Stephanie out into the parking lot. “I'll drive. You need a little time to pull yourself together.”

  Stephanie looked momentarily dubious. “Have you ever driven a Porsche before?”

  “No. But don't worry. I'm picking up new stuff every day out here on the frontier. Lucky for me, I'm a fast learner.”

  Letty walked into her apartment half an hour later and was startled to find Joel in the living room. He was lounging on the couch, his feet up on a hassock. He had a small glass of brandy beside him and Keith Escott's five-year management plan in his hand. He looked up when Letty came to a halt in front of him.

  “Hi,” Joel said. “How did the baby class go?”

  “I'll tell you all about it later. First, why don't you tell me what you're doing in my apartment at ten o'clock at night?”

  “We're having an affair, remember?”

  “I thought you were extremely annoyed with me because of what happened at the office this morning.”

  “I was pissed as hell. But as you said, the business side of our relationship doesn't have anything to do with the personal side.”

  “You're the one who keeps saying that, not me.”

  “So, I'm right.” Joel flipped over a page.

  Letty regarded him for a long moment and then sat down on the sofa beside him. “I see you're reading Keith's management plan.”

  “Yeah.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I haven't finished it.”

  Letty got to her feet. “Maybe I'll whip up a batch of cookies while you read.”

  “Hell of an idea.”

  Joel ate half the batch of chocolate chip cookies Letty prepared. Then he opened his briefcase, took out a handheld calculator, and started punching in numbers. “You might as well go to bed,” he told Letty. “I'm going to be at this for a while.”

  Letty went to bed and tried to read. She fell asleep in the middle of a chapter. A long time later she felt Joel crawling into bed beside her. She stirred.

  “Joel? What did you think?”

  “I don't want to talk about it tonight.” His voice sounded grim.

  “But, Joel—”

  “Go to sleep, Letty.”

  “Thanks for reading it,” Letty whispered.

  A long time later she was awakened again. Joel's hand was between her legs.

  “Joel? Joel.”

  “You know something, Letty? You get wet for me even in your sleep.” He leaned over her. “All I have to do is touch you.”

  “It's two o'clock in the morning,” Letty grumbled.

  “I can't sleep. I need to run, but there's no place to run tonight. And all my exercise equipment is back in my apartment.”

  “You can't sleep?” She touched his bare shoulder.

  “No.” His fingers moved in a tantalizing pattern.

  Letty sucked in her breath. “Are you trying to tell me you think sex will help you get to sleep?”

  “I'm trying to tell you that I want you very badly right now.”

  Letty smiled and put her arms around his neck. “All you have to do is ask.”

  The next morning Joel refused to give Letty any insight into what he thought of Escott's management plan.

  “I'm still going over it,” was all he said as he wolfed down a pile of incredibly light buttermilk pancakes.

  She did not like being kept on tenterhooks, he realized, but what the hell. She deserved it. He certainly did not like the growing possibility that the red meat that was Copeland Marine might be snatched from his salivating jaws.

  In any event, he could not give Letty an opinion yet, he told himself as he pored over the plan again in his office. He was still reviewing the damn report. The really annoying thing about Escott's ideas was that they just might work.

  Joel had been secretly hoping to find a fatal flaw in the management plan, something he could use to show Letty that there was no hope of saving Copeland Marine. Unfortunately, Escott had done a brilliant job of outlining the potential of the company and had come up with a realistic method of fulfilling it.

  It would have been so much easier, Joel thought, if he could have pointed to a simple, logical reason for shooting down Letty's suggestion of salvaging the company.

  His secretary's voice on the intercom interrupted Joel just as he was starting to run another set of numbers.

  “A Mrs. Diana Escott to see you, sir. Are you free?” The chilly note in Mrs. Sedgewick's voice said it all: she did not entirely approve of Joel's visitor.

  Damn, Joel thought. Just what he needed. “Send her in, Mrs. Sedgewick.”

  Diana swept into the room in a cloud of unsubtle perfume. The whiff of aroma made Joel realize that Letty never wore perfume. He disliked strong artificial fragrances. He liked the way Letty smelled all on her own.

  “Hello, Joel.”

  “This is a surprise.” Joel got slowly to his feet. “Sit down, Diana.”

  “Thank you.”

  Diana dropped gracefully into the chair across from his desk. She was dressed in a chic black and white suit that complemented her dramatic coloring. The jacket was nipped in at the waist and flared out gently over her hips. When she crossed her long legs, Joel saw that her high heels were glossy and black. He watched her survey the office with a long, assessing glance.

  “You really have done very well for yourself, haven't you, Joel?”

  “It's a living. What can I do for you, Diana?”

  “You know why I'm here.”

  Joel leaned back in his chair. “Maybe you had better spell it out.”

  “Keith told me he gave you his five-year plan for Copeland Marine.”

  “He didn't give it to me. He gave it to Letty. I mean, Ms. Thornquist.”

  Diana brushed that aside with a dismissive movement of her elegant hand. “We all know who runs Thornquist Gear.”

  “Is that right? I've been starting to wonder about that myself.”

  Diana's eyes blazed. “This is not a joke. Since you left Echo Cove, I've learned a great deal about the situation here. According to what I heard, this Letty Thornquist person only recently inherited the company. She's an ex-librarian, for heaven's sake. Worked at a college in the Midwest somewhere. She knows nothing about business.”

  “Just out of curiosity, where did you hear all that?”

  “A man named Philip Dixon talked to Daddy yesterday.”

  “Dixon. He was in Echo Cove?” Joel sat forward abruptly. “That son of a bitch.”

  Diana frowned. “Do you know him?”

  “I know him.”

  “He's telling everyone that he'll be marrying Letty Thornquist soon and that he'll be making the decisions for Thornquist Gear in the future. I think Daddy's trying to cut some sort of a deal with him.”

  Joel paused, letting the possibilities sink in. “Your father believes Dixon's on the level?”

  “Isn't he? Joel, I can't stand this anymore. It's all getting so confused. If you're going to shut down Copeland Marine, just do it and get it over with, will you? Don't drag things out like this.”

  Joel started to respond, but before he could say anything, his attention was caught by a commotion in his outer office.

  “Kindly stand aside, Mrs. Sedgewick. I told you I want to see Mr. Blackstone now. When I say now, I mean now.” Letty's voice was muffled by the paneling of the door, but every word
was audible.

  “I cannot allow you to just barge in on Mr. Blackstone when he's in conference,” Mrs. Sedgewick retorted fiercely. “I told you, he's with someone at the moment.”

  “I know who he's with. Arthur informed me a minute ago. Now get out of my way.”

  The door slammed open, revealing a more than normally disheveled Letty. One would never have guessed that her little blue suit had been freshly pressed that morning. Joel knew for a fact it had been, of course, because he had watched her get dressed.

  Letty's militant expression was not one whit marred by the fact that her glasses were tilted and she was slightly out of breath. Nor was her triumphant entrance hampered in the least by Mrs. Sedgewick, who was clutching at the hem of Letty's suit jacket.

  “I tried to stop her, Mr. Blackstone,” Mrs. Sedgewick called from behind Letty.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Sedgewick. I know you did your best.” Joel hid a grin. He got to his feet and gazed at Letty with polite inquiry. “Was there something you wanted, Ms. Thornquist?”

  “Yes, there was. I mean, yes, there is something I want.” Letty turned and closed the door in Mrs. Sedgewick's outraged face. Then she summoned up a lofty smile and aimed it at Diana. “I was told you were here, Mrs. Escott. I knew you would want to speak to me as well as to Joel. After all, the entire management team should be present for this kind of meeting, don't you think?”

  Diana looked from Joel to Letty and back again. “What is going on here?”

  “You'd never know it,” Joel said, “but we're trying to run a company.” He waited until Letty sat down, and then he resumed his own seat. “You may be interested to hear, Ms. Thornquist, that Professor Philip Dixon paid a recent visit to Echo Cove.”

  “He what?”

  “Yes, I was a bit surprised to hear it myself. Apparently he's telling everyone who will listen that he intends to marry you and take control of Thornquist Gear.”

  “Oh, my God,” Letty said, dismayed. She turned to Diana. “I imagine you've come here to find out what's really going on, haven't you?”

  “Yes.” Diana studied her coolly. “I take it there's no truth to Dixon's claims?”

  “Heavens, no,” said Letty. “Now, then, I hope we've settled that issue.” She drew herself up and straightened her shoulders, which did little to unrumple the blue jacket. “I suppose the next thing on your mind is the status of your husband's excellent management plan.”