COUNTERPOINT
An original romantic serial

From Alina Adams the author of "When a Man Loves a Woman" (DELL 4/00), "Annie's Wild Ride" (AVON 8/98), "Inside Figure Skating" (METROBOOKS 11/00 & 9/99), "Thieves at Heart" (AVON 12/95) and "The Fictitious Marquis" (AVON 6/95)

Available weekly by e-mail from http://www.AlinaAdams.com

Brought to you by:
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Dedicated to Helping Children All Over the World

CHAPTER 44

      From what little Nicole could remember of Eve's toddler days, when the child was first learning to walk, she'd be paddling along, grinning at her accomplishment, when, suddenly and out of nowhere, her feet would slip out from under her and, in an instant, she'd be on her butt on the floor, too stunned to even wipe the earlier grin off her face.
      Nicole felt exactly like that, now.
      She stared impotently from Gabriel to Victoria, unable to force her features into what should have been an appropriate response. Mainly, because she could think of no appropriate response.
      She stared with all her might at Gabriel, hoping that his reaction to Ms. Morgan's announcement might give her a clue as to how to proceed. But, Gabriel remained stubbornly blank-faced. As if he, too, had been toddling along, and then was suddenly blind-sided.
      Nicole had expected him to be furious, but, instead, he only seemed to have grown calmer.
      Turning to Nicole, his voice steady, his back straight, his arms by his side, he politely informed her, "My sister has never lied to me. Care to try making the same claim?"
      "I -- Gabriel -- "
      "Yes?"
      "It wasn't -- "
      "No?"
      "It wasn't about you!"
      "Really?" His smile had not an ounce of sincerity. "Well, thank you, sweetheart, that makes me feel a great deal better."
      "I just -- I needed -- " she struggled to make him understand, fully aware that she lacked the vocabulary. "I NEEDED Robin."
      "I see." Gabriel nodded thoughtfully, as if noting a patient's medical history on their chart.
      Nicole tried again, hoping against hope that the right words would come. "He's my husband."
      "I'm well aware of that."
      "He's mine!"
      "And you're welcome to him." Gabriel reached into his wallet, pulled out a twenty dollar bill, and left it on the table, tucking it under his water glass, lest the wind sprint it away. Looking Nicole straight in the eye, he added, "And he most certainly is welcome to you."
      Before walking off in the direction of his car.
      Which left Nicole and Victoria the only ones still standing there. Victoria, too, looked Nicole in the eye. And, for the first time since she'd laid eyes on the woman, Nicole felt the niggling, terrifying suspicion that she had finally come up against an opponent with guts equal to her own.
      "Enjoy your lunch," Victoria courteously offered, before taking off after Gabriel.
     
      She caught up with him at his car. He was blindly trying to shove his key into the driver's side door that had been sticking for years, and angrily cursing to the wind when he failed.
      "Gabriel!" Victoria called out.
      He whipped around, holding the keys in his right hand the way another man might handle a knife in preparation of a fight.
      "Not now, Vicky."
      "I didn't mean to hurt you."
      "Yes. As we've clearly established this afternoon, nothing is ever about me."
      She sighed. "I just wanted you to know what kind of woman she was."
      "I'm eternally grateful."
      "Don't be like that, please."
      He finally got the car door open, slipping inside and gunning the ignition before he asked Victoria, "What do you want from me, sweetheart?"
      She opened the passenger-side door, and slid in beside him, "Well, first of all, I want to make sure you're okay."
      "I'm terrific, thanks."
      "And second of all, I want you to understand what happened."
      "Was there something you left out in your earlier declaration?"
      "Maybe."
      "I'm all ears."
      "I had to protect you, Gabriel."
      "From Nicole."
      "From the law. And, yes, from Nicole."
      "You could have told me what was going on. I'm not a child that needs to be sheltered from the truth."
      "I know you. You would have never gone along with the blackmail. You would have sacrificed yourself to protect me. Just like you always have. It was my turn to do the giving."
      "You still could have told me. We'd have worked something out."
      "I was afraid of what Nicole would do. You didn't see her face when she was blackmailing me. She's like a petty, spiteful, petulant child. You can't reason with that. You can't even argue with it."
      Slowly, Gabriel lowered his head, until it was resting on the backs of his palms on the steering wheel. Softly, he said, "She was my friend."
      "She was never your friend. She used you to get to me, that's all."
      He didn't respond. They sat there for a good minute before Gabriel changed his tact and shifting his head a few inches, so that his face was now turned towards Victoria, asked, "So, why now, sweetheart? If you were so afraid of what Nicole would do that you lied to me for all these weeks, why tell me, now?"
      Unconsciously, Victoria's hand twitched up to massage the scar on her cheek. She confessed, "I've had a very rough couple of days. Seeing you with her... I just snapped. To think that she had you fooled into thinking she was your friend! Like Nicole could ever -- "
      Gabriel gunned his engine a second time, drowning out whatever else Victoria had to say.