Old man, huh?

A salt and pepper eyebrow quirked.

You can jest kiss mah ass.

KERRY SHIFTED IN her seat for the hundredth time, listening to the 310 Melissa Good repetitive questions being put to her siblings. Michael had been called up and had to answer honestly to how much their parents had supported him, including the six years he’d muddled through college and the fact that they’d bought him a townhouse in Michigan and paid for his car.

It had been a little embarrassing. At least Angie was married and had her own home, bought by her well off husband, Richard. Angie looked terrible though, Kerry realized, pale and drawn even taking her pregnancy into account. She felt bad for her sister, but Angie wouldn’t even meet her eyes in the audience.

Michael had gone back to sit next to her after his testimony, though, and the two dark heads were bent together in obvious collaboration.

“This has got to be killing you,” Ceci murmured sympathetically.

“You have no idea.” Kerry sighed, sliding her fingers through her hair and rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s not like we haven’t always had the press sniffing around, but to have to sit up there like that…Jesus.”

Ceci patted her arm. “Hang in there, Kerry. It won’t last forever.

Maybe the worst is over for you. I’d think they’d move on to more fertile ground.”

“Mmph.” Kerry looked around, then faced Ceci. “Thank you again, by the way, for hanging around here with me.” She managed a smile. “I only wish I knew what was going on with—yow!” Kerry jumped, as her cell phone vibrated, since she’d turned off the audible tones in deference to the crowd. “Jesus, I hate that.”

Ceci eyed her in mild alarm, but refrained from commenting.

“Hello?” Kerry murmured into the instrument.

“Kerry?”

“Hey. I was just thinking about you,” Kerry replied, hearing a tired, but not horrible tone in Dar’s voice. “How’s it going?”

“I was just going to ask you the same question.” Her lover chuckled.

“We’re about finished here. I worked out a deal. Things are status quo.”

Kerry blinked at the casual statement, as though Dar had arranged to have her car waxed or something. “Oh. Hey, great. We’re almost done here, too, I think. At least for today. It’s been,” she sighed, “interesting.”

“In the Chinese sense?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah,” Dar replied. “Well, I’m just waiting for Alastair to come back so we can wrap things up. Dad and I are going to grab dinner near here, then see if we can catch a flight up there.”

“Good Lord, Dar, you guys don’t have to all come up here, you know,” Kerry protested mildly. “Why don’t you go home and relax? I think I’ll only be another day or so, at the most.”

There was a distinct pause and a little silence at the other end. “All right. If that’s what you want,” Dar finally answered, in a subdued tone.

Be honest, or... Kerry sensed the hurt on the other end of the phone.

“No, it’s not what I want.” She sighed. “I was just trying to be nice and self-sacrificing and unselfish and all that good stuff.”


Eye of the Storm 311

“Ah.” Dar laughed softly.

“We’ve just got so much work to do, and I really didn’t want you thinking that I considered you my personal walking and talking security blanket.” Kerry kept her voice very low, but was aware of the tiny smirk on Ceci’s face. “I think I’m amusing the hell out of your mother.”

“I bet.” Dar chuckled. “Well, I gotta go. We’ll see you all later tonight, okay?”

“More than okay.” Kerry balanced the situation here, with the one she knew Dar was in and decided she’d love the ability to crawl through the phone and come out the other side. Even Houston beat this. “Be safe.”

She closed the phone and tucked it away, then folded her arms as the lawyers all gathered up near the council table, muttering to each other.

She felt a hot light on her face and only just kept from looking, as she realized she was being filmed by the reporters.

God. Her jaw moved. I’d almost forgotten what that felt like. “We’re on Candid Camera,” she murmured to Ceci, who had her arms resting on the chair backs in front of them and was watching things with mild interest.

“Is this where Allen Funt comes out in a clown suit?” she remarked.

“You’re also the subject of attention across the aisle.”

“Great.”

“Who’s the young, blond guy?”

Kerry hesitated. “Brian. He’s a family friend.”

“He keeps looking at you.”

“I’m supposed to be married to him and have a kid by now.” Kerry managed a wry smile, then glanced down. “Or at least have one on the way.” She patted her stomach.

Cecilia’s pale gray eyes fixed on her, then shifted across the aisle, then moved back. “Really?”

Kerry nodded. “Actually, it’s kind of a secret, but Angie’s baby is his.”

Dar’s mother rubbed the bridge of her small, finely shaped nose. “I thought she was married to that tall man over there?”

“She is.”

Ceci regarded her with a curious expression. “You ever consider contacting Jerry Springer?”

Kerry giggled unexpectedly at that, covering her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. The light lingered on her for a minute then she felt it go off, as the camera’s attention turned elsewhere. “Oh god. That was funny.”

“I was serious,” Ceci muttered. “You could get a novel out of this at the least.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, that will be all for today. All those who were under subpoena today please return here tomorrow morning to continue the investigation. Opposing council has requested time to question some of the depositions taken today.”

“Yippee,” Kerry murmured. “Well, they’re attacking over there.

Let’s see if we can get out of here while we can.” She got up and brushed 312 Melissa Good her jacket off, then edged down the aisle with Ceci behind her. A loud voice drew their eyes and Kerry saw one of her father’s lawyers arguing with “the other woman.”

“I’ve got a right to be here!” the woman yelled. “So get your hands off me, you pig!”

“Oh boy.” Kerry turned right and plowed determinedly for the door as the cameras scuttled eagerly for the new distraction. She ignored the calls behind her, pretending it was some other Ms. Stuart people were yelling for. “How hard is it to change your name?”

“Not very,” Ceci replied, ducking under a reporter’s arm. “Half of humanity does it on a regular basis.”

“Hmm. Good point.” Kerry almost made it to the door, but a tall, burly man with a beard, a microphone, and a cameraman planted himself firmly in her way and she didn’t have room to go around him. She stopped and regarded him warily.

“Ms. Stuart, that was a very interesting deposition you gave.”

“Glad you thought so,” Kerry replied. “I just answered what they asked.”

“Our sources tell us you’re estranged from your family. Is that true?”

The microphone came closer and she was suddenly very aware of the round, black eye of the camera.

“Why do you want to know?” Kerry asked directly.

The reported hesitated a beat at the unexpected answer, then rallied.

“This is a public hearing, Ms. Stuart, the people have a right to know the facts.”

“It’s not my hearing,” Kerry objected. “I doubt the public much cares about my facts. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think the juicy action you want is going on over there.” She pointed where her father’s mistress was struggling with her father’s lawyer and then hitting him over the head with her purse. Distracted, the reporter looked, then grabbed his cameraman and started wading over towards the fight.

Kerry sighed. “I said it would be a circus.” They edged past a crowd of excited people, many of them pointing at her, and managed to get outside the room where even more cameras waited. A blast of flashbulbs went off and Kerry was almost blinded, stopping short so she wouldn’t crash into anything or anyone. “Whoa.” She threw up a hand in front of her eyes in sheer defense, then felt a tugging at her elbow and followed Ceci’s lead as they dodged around two local reporters who were on the air and got a little breathing space near the top of the long, marble steps.

She could still hear the yelling inside and, briefly, part of her wondered if she shouldn’t go back inside and stand by her family, despite the fact that she knew she wasn’t wanted there.

She thought about that for a very long moment.

Then she turned and started down the steps. “C’mon. If we wait for them to come out, we’ll never get out of here.”

Cecilia murmured an agreement as she followed and they went down the steps and out through the huge wooden doors. Outside, barri-Eye of the Storm 313

cades had been set up, and a small crowd milled around, seemingly trying to organize themselves.

Banners were raised, and Ceci squinted to try and read them. “I believe those are your father’s supporters.”

Kerry stopped and looked. America for Americans. She breathed, seeing the T-shirts and the cropped hair. The group was white, of mixed ages, and definitely growing. A bus pulled up and started unloading, with men dragging out signs and women carrying baskets. “Oh my god.”

A sign went up:

Framed by the Left. Supported by the Moral Right.

“How can they stand behind him, after what he did?” Kerry turned, and asked her older companion. “I don’t get it.”

Ceci took her arm and urged her towards the street. “Kerry, you live in a country where black men get beaten to death in the streets and sex except in the missionary position is illegal in many places. Don’t try to make sense of this, all right? I’ve learned better.” She hailed a cab, which pulled obligingly to the curb for them.