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

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CHAPTER 54

      Victoria did not hear about Nicole's divorce offer from Robin, which might have been the logical source for the news. She heard about it from Gabriel.
      After a week of trying to track him down, Victoria did what she judged was the logical, reasonable, and justifiable thing: She stopped futilely calling and ringing the bell to his apartment, and simply jimmied open the lock. Gabriel had taught her how to do it years earlier. He'd learned how in juvenile hall.
      Unfortunately, Victoria wasn't exactly adept at it. The entire jimmying process took her so long that, by the time she was finally inside, Gabriel was standing on the other side of the threshold, his hand on the doorknob, looking down at her with bemusement.
      "Goodness, but you suck at this," he offered.
      Victoria scrambled up off her knees, unapologetic. She was about to launch into her well-prepared defense about how he could have been lying there dying or something, and thus she had every right to break in and check, when she noticed that her brother was home in the middle of the day, barefoot and dressed only in sweatpants, and that the bulk of his back was covered with white gauze bandages and tape.
      "My God! What the heck happened to you?"
      He turned gingerly, still in visible pain, but attempted a nonchalant, "Little accident at the clinic."
      "What kind of accident does - "
      "Boys. Knives. Drugs. You know, the usual."
      "You were attacked?"
      "I'm fine now."
      "I went down to the clinic, I asked Sheila - "
      "I asked Sheila to keep it a secret. She likes me more than you. I sign her checks."
      "Why? Why keep it a secret? And why aren't you in the hospital? Gabriel, you could have died!"
      "I kept it a secret, Victoria, because if I didn't, the police would have descended on my clinic like bees on a picnic."
      "And this would have been bad because... "
      "Because a majority of the people who avail themselves of my clinic's services are not people who would appreciate a large police presence. I didn't want to risk their not coming in and getting vital medical attention because a cop was stationed at the door. For the same reason, I did not go to the hospital. I suspect they wouldn't have bought an 'I fell into my blender' story no matter how convincingly I told it."
      Victoria wanted to smack him. And she would have, too. If she didn't already possess years of experience telling her it would do absolutely no good.
      "You're just lucky Sheila was there to keep you from bleeding to death. I hate to think what might have happened if you'd been alone."
      "I was."
      "Alone? At the clinic when this happened?"
      "Yes."
      "Oh, my God. Gabriel, how did you - "
      "Nicole."
      "What?!" Victoria didn't raise her voice. Her voice practically raised her.
      "Nicole found me. She found me and she took care of me, and she's been taking care of me ever since."
      Victoria could think of only one thing to say. "Now I know you need a tetanus shot."
      When Gabriel didn't respond, Victoria looked distastefully around the apartment, as if she expected to see the slime trial Robin's wife would surely leave behind.
      "So where's your Angel of Mercy now?"
      "With Robin," Gabriel said evenly. "Granting him a divorce."
     
      After Nicole left his office, Robin remained sitting where he was. As if she'd turned him into a statue. The divorce decree - the signed! - divorce decree continued lying on his desk. He could easily reach out and touch it if he wanted to.
      He was afraid to.
      If he touched it, it might disappear.
      Or it might not.
      Robin no longer knew which one he preferred.
      Finally, he got up. He picked up the divorce degree, wincing as he did, as if anticipating an electric shock. He tucked it under his arm and he walked down the hall. He took the elevator up to the legal department. He showed it to Douglas' top lawyer. The older man looked it over. He said it looked on the up and up. And, considering how many of these documents the lawyer had drawn up for Robin over the years only to see them go to waste, he congratulated Robin on finally getting Nicole to sign it.
      He asked Robin what finally did the trick?
      Robin left the office without answering.
      He retreated to the safety of his own desk. He sat back down on the chair. He thought about Nicole and he thought about what she'd said. He especially thought about what she'd said just before she left.
      He was still sitting there - God only knew how long he'd been sitting there - when Victoria burst into his office, the smile on her face broader and sweeter than anything Robin could ever remember seeing in his whole life.
      He ached to be able to return her smile. It actually physically hurt him to look at her. And yet, he couldn't look away.
      "Is it true?" Victoria wanted to know. "Gabriel told me, but, I couldn't believe it. Not until I heard it from you. Is it really true? Did Nicole - "
      He couldn't even nod. Instead, Robin simply handed Victoria the document.
      He watched her face as she read it, first skimming, trying to discern the most important parts, and then more slowly, trying to absorb and understand and, most importantly, believe what she was seeing.
      She looked back up at Robin with such joyous hope, he could only swallow hard in reply.
      "This is for real, isn't it?" Victoria wasn't jumping up and down, but her voice was certainly doing handsprings.
      "I took it up to Legal."
      "And they said it was for real."
      "It's real."
      Robin's flat confirmation visibly dimmed Victoria's joy. She slowly put the document back down on Robin's desk.
      "What is it," she asked him softly. "I - I thought you'd be pleased. I mean, you told me you wanted - I thought you wanted…" Victoria bit down on her lip. "Was I wrong? Did I misunderstand? I thought - "
      "It won't work, Victoria." Robin had repeated the sentiment so many times in his head during the past hour that actually speaking the words out loud made it feel like an echo. He shuddered, as if a ghost had just walked over his grave.
      "What won't?"
      "You and me. It won't work. I can't do this anymore. I'm so sorry."