"Something like that. My reasoning is additional insurance. As difficult as this may be to accept, I think Spiro has a soft streak running through him. Look how he released your predecessor to get married. I believe your linkage will be truly severed in his mind when he sees you taking your marriage vows. It's worth the outlay of a couple of places at our wedding breakfast to test that theory. Can your parents afford the outlay for that test?"
"Don't worry about them, they are loaded. Look, I need time to think about this radical suggestion. Already in my mind I'd seen the last of Spiro, and now you want to bring him right to me. It's rather unnerving."
"Sure, do that darling. You know you are taking a big risk marrying a man ten years older than yourself and I took a big risk going to New York. But sometimes one has to take risks, knowing that the chances of things coming unstuck cannot be discounted. My instinct tells me this is the right thing to do. If yours tells you otherwise, then so be it. I shall leave it to you to make the decision. I'll not raise the matter again."
"Thank you darling. Just give me a little time to get my thoughts straight. You blew me away for a moment."
"How are you liking it up there on the coast?"
"Oh, scenically it's lovely, the people are friendly but there's so few of them. The place appears deserted. Brian and Marg have been so lovely. I can see why you and he are so close. Marg and I have become close, also. She's constantly hugging me and inviting me to feel the baby moving. She introduces me to people they know as 'My lovely friend Kirsty Fallon from New York.' She makes it sound as if I am a princess; I've never had a female regard me in high esteem like that since college days. It's wonderful."
"So you won't be returning home with me the morning after next from the airport."
"Oh yes I will. I'll be eager for the kisses and the sex but most of all I want your arms around me. I'm truly in love with you, Merrick."
She could hear his strong breathing but he did not speak.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, it's just that I'm exposed here in Pen Station at a phone, so I have been thinking about flying mice over the wheat fields of South Australia."
Kirsty laughed. "Fancy in danger of getting a boner when I talk to you sweetly. If you want dirty phone sex, I can..."
"I'm happy just the way things are, thank you. That was a wonderful thing you just said to me. I feel blessed."
"God, Merrick. Now you're getting me going."
"Well, perhaps fortunately I must dash. The train to Bellmore leaves in five minutes. I'm off to see Jimmy and Aunt Betty. They'll take me to the airport."
"Give them my love, darling. I shall see you at the airport. Save journey."
"Bye darling, keep it warm for me."
"Don't be revolting," giggled Kirsty. Hurry home – oh, phone me from LA. Bye."
"Bye."
"No, wait. How did you get Spiro to agree to release me?"
"I promised to destroy my list of names my law firm is holding in return to him promising to free you and ask for nothing in return."
"Only a promise? You idiot – can't you see what Spiro is?"
"I figured it was a novel agreement for him, that in his whole life no-one has asked him to do a deal on the strength of a promise and that would make him feel good."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing," Kirsty wailed.
With great reluctance, Merrick terminated the call.
At JFK Airport Merrick kept an eye out for the returning henchman, having no idea what flight he'd be on. He looked for anyone in a neck brace, as it was likely one would have been needed after that blow with the axe handle. He saw nothing to alarm him.
Jimmy and Merrick mostly listed to Betty prattling on about the wedding. She had already emailed Kirsty with suggestions about the dress – 'short, lacy and white with a short white veil. Have no compunction about wearing white – I wore full length white at my wedding all those years ago despite having been a very naughty girl before the wedding'. She was absolutely sure the venue would be LA.
"It's going to be so exciting wandering the malls in Los Angeles and going star spotting," Betty told Merrick. "I haven't done that for fifteen years when we stopped-over through going to Honolulu or was it that trip to New Zealand; it was fifteen years, wasn't it Jimmy?"
"If you say so dear," was Jimmy's automatic response. That produced a pleased grunt from Betty and a big grin from Merrick. He was damn sure he would not drop into automatic responses with Kirsty, not that he'd be allowed to anyway.
"I'm so much looking forward to this wedding and seeing my dear sister again," began Betty, in another replay, unaware that her naughty nephew had dragged Jimmy away to find a bar.
* * *
The Air New Zealand jet landed in a fine, windless early morning at Auckland Airport. In Merrick's bag were five choice presents purchased in the shop of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. One for Kirsty (plus a bottle of her favorite perfume) and gifts for Brian and Marg and an equally expensive gift for his travel consultant, purchased in anticipation that he would be upgraded to business class - possibly all the way through. That had happened.
Merrick emerged into the main concourse from customs and was looking around the big crowd gathered around the arriving passengers exit when Kirsty slammed into him with a jump, wrapping her legs in unladylike fashion around his waist and was smothering his face with kisses. She was so soft, warm and smelt exotic. Merrick kept his mind in neutral and then heard her reciting something, "Flying mice over the wheat fields of South Australia ... flying mice over the wheat fields of South Australia."
Grinning, he placed her on the ground gently and kissed her thoroughly, feeling entirely under control. What a homecoming!
Then Marg was beside him, face upturned waiting to be kissed. He ran his hand over her huge belly. "When?"
"This Saturday," we believe. "Being my first it may delay its arrival."
"So it's 'It', not my choice of Trevor?"
"Ha-ha. It's a boy and it will be named Logan which was Kirsty's suggestion."
Marg pulled down Merrick's head and whispered, "She's absolutely lovely, well done."
Merrick gave her a grateful smile and shook hands with Brian.
"Kirsty has told us how you guys came to meet, and then one night when we got her drunk she told us why you had gone back to New York. Christ, mate, it would have been safer to have holed-up somewhere in Australia."
"I know but without guarantees. If these people decide they want to find you they'll find you."
"I guess you're right. You always were a hard bugger so that way would be the only way for you. It's good having you back. Come on, we'll take you home then go shopping for baby clothes for a couple of hours, giving you time to get reacquainted. Then we'll come back for lunch and you can tell us all about it – the New York adventure I mean," Brian said, grinning cheekily.
Laying back on the bed after his most memorable fuck ever, cuddling his lover, Merrick asked Kirsty to tell him about her younger days.
"What do you wish to know?"
"Just the interesting parts."
Kirsty told him her first memories were living in Dallas, where her father had been assigned after returning from New Zealand. The appointment contracts tended to last for five years. Their next relocation was to Chicago and her father landed a renewal of contract there which covered her high school years. He then won a contract in New York and that covered her college years.
"It was very convenient of daddy, really. But despite all of his influence he couldn't get me the type of job I wanted in journalism after I graduated. He retired and he and my mother Bess decided they would like to go to the West Coast to find a choice place to retire, so daddy generously paid up the apartment lease for me for one more year. When that expired I began a series of joint sharing apartments with other girls, trying a number of jobs. But none I liked; I wanted to be a journalist."
Kirsty said she accepted three trial positions with publishers but each time found they were simply out to engage her as cheap labor under the guise of receiving on-job training, but the reality was no training system was in place. She picked up information by watching others work and asking questions and amassed some experience but only doing mundane work such as rewrites and producing fillers.
"It was all very depressing. I found waiting on tables was the most suitable thing for me to do while I waited, and waited for an opportunity to crop up. One day I applied for a position in journalism and that's when the manager dialed up his boss to watch the interview, which is how I met Spiro. You know the rest."
"What was he like at making love to you?"
"Is that asking for a blow by blow account in all its variations?"
"God no; generalizations if you please."
Kirsty sucked in her bottom lip, composing a suitable response. She said that Spiro's interest was always in 'getting one away', as he called it. He varied from being quite gentle for such a large man to being rather rough but he respected her enough to not to be brutal.
Merrick looked thoughtful and said he guessed there could be a fine line between being rough and brutal.
"Yes, in my experience men who are brutal carry on regardless. Spiro was not like that, fortunately."
Spiro invariably brought her to wonderful orgasms, Kirsty said, but orgasms devoid of real emotional attachment.
"He would call me 'love' in address, but never did he say he loved me. When we finished he might give me a couple of strokes on the body or a pat or two on the butt, and that was it. Just a form of 'thank you lady'. He would then roll over and go to sleep, or put on his shorts and loll back on the sofa and began a long round of phone calls, talking quietly so that I could not follow the conversations. It was agreed between us that I would not be involved in his business affairs. Never did I go through his brief case or his pockets."
"Were you aware he carried a gun?"
"Yes."
"Is that all?"
"Yes. It is not rare for New Yorkers to either carry a gun or to keep one handy."
"You are going to love living here where it is illegal to carry any weapon for the purpose of offensive use."
"I hope so. My main worry is I may become bored. Life looks rather slow here and theatre is pathetic, if you excuse me for being critical and TV lacks the bright and funny full-on chat shows that I love so much."
That response made Merrick aware more than ever that Kirsty was in need of reprogramming, to help adjust to a new and very different life-style.
"Do you like sailing?"
"Yes, at times I went with Spiro out on company-owned yachts, some being more than 120ft long. It was very enjoyable and the saloons would be all gold and velvet."
"I mean small boat sailing?"
"I really don't know. Are they safe?"
"Invariably. Brian's twin brother Stan now owns his father's yacht that I used to sail as a winch hand. I'll organize a trip out on that when I go in to see him tomorrow. He's my lawyer and he'll want to meet you."
"Why are you seeing him tomorrow?"
Merrick then told him how he'd set up the IRS threat including implicating Spiro's business pals, using the list of names she'd provided. It was now necessary to retrieve that sealed envelop and to incinerate it.
"God, that was brilliant. Spiro would have been mad about it, but impressed. He then would have imaged himself being disemboweled by a knife-wielding fanatic acting under orders. It could have occurred any time, any place. In a restaurant, emerging from a business meeting or even out on a crowded street, witnessed by scores of people. Did he offer you money to get that list?"
"No, I traded your release on the promise that I would destroy that list. It was a gentleman's agreement."
Kirsty said she still believed emphatically that Spiro would be incapable of comprehending the meaning of that term 'gentleman's agreement'.
Merrick grinned, conceding that he'd worried about that possibility himself. But Spiro's eyes had convinced him that Spiro did understand, was genuine and eager to complete the agreement. "I guess you have expressed the reason why," Merrick chuckled. "The image of being publicly disemboweled in the company of one's friends – knowing that probably one of those friends was responsibly for arranging the execution – is not the most comforting of thoughts."
Merrick now came under close interrogation.
"Was Meg in the room while this was going on?"
"Yes."
"What was she doing?"
"Sitting close to Spiro."
"What was she wearing?"
"Nothing that I can recall."
"What about the minder? There always was a minder when Spiro and I were together."
"Yes, one was there. On the floor with a near death rattle in his throat."
"What happened to him?"
"I kicked him."
"I was under the impression that a kick in the nuts is painful but not life threatening."
"I kicked him in the throat."
"Bejesus, how did you do that? Minders are no mugs."
"He wasn't expecting me to do it, so I jumped him."
"What, you jumped high enough to kick a six foot man in the throat?"
"Not exactly jumped, I spun around and kicked my legs up and sliced into his throat with my boot."
Kirsty sat up to look directly a Merrick. "What kind of man are you, Merrick? First you try to chop my ankle off with your cowboy boot and now you're telling me that you almost killed a man by kicking him in the throat. You appear to be a walking deadly weapon, and I guess the minder had a gun pointing at you?"
"Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"He'd changed his grip to hold it by the barrel and was about to try to slam the butt through my skull."
"Oh Merrick," said Kirsty shaking. "That was my worse nightmare; I was sick with worry all the time you were away."
"Now, now; I've filled you in with the details. There is no need to think about this any more. Get your mind on other things – kiss me and love me. We've got another hour to go before the others arrive back for lunch."
Brian arrived back with two bottles of French champagne and a loan hamper filled with food from a delicatessen's.
With glasses filled – fruit juice for the very pregnant Marg – Brian proposed a toast. "There is an engagement party at our place on Thursday night as Friday night might be bad timing for Marg. Here's a toast to two lovely people who have luckily found each other Congratulations, Kirsty and Merrick; welcome into our tight little circle, Kirsty."
During lunch Kirsty gave the Raymond's her account of what Merrick had told her had happened in her old apartment in New York. The Raymond's listened wide-eyed, in the end asking only two questions.
"How did you know exactly where that guy would be standing when you weren't looking at him?' asked Brian.
"My instructor all those years ago used to make me practice that kick repeatedly, session after session," Merrick said. He was lightning fast, and would catch my foot, and twist it savagely if it was off target. If he blocked me on target he would simply grasp my foot. I found it a lot less painful to keep kicking right on target. Miraculously, it seems that I haven't lost the skill after all these years. He trained me to see in my mind where the target would be."
Marg asked a real curly question.
"How is it that you are so descriptive about what happened in that room and yet you can't remember what that woman was wearing?"
Merrick was conscious that all three of them were waiting for the reply.
"I instantly blanked her out as she was not a threat to me. As Spiro promised to put a slug up my ass if I didn't move through the door quickly there was no reason to stand around waiting to see what clothes she had on or whether Spiro was going to shaft her. Are you guys coming to the wedding?"
Attention immediately swung away from apartment action.
"Oh heavens, I forgot to tell you Merrick," confessed Kirsty. "Mama phoned back last night to confirm she wants the wedding in Los Angeles and had booked a reception lounge for the 30th of next month. The facility has a beautiful garden where temporary seating is placed for the wedding ceremony. Weddings of famous people are often held there. Is the 30th acceptable to you?"
"Absolutely. I had anticipated it would be in LA because that's where your mom lives."
"Good. I'll email her right now." Kirsty left the room.
"Yes, we'll be there," said Brian. "I expect I am confirmed as Best Man."
"Yes, and the new-shape Marg will be my chief bridesmaid and I will have one other attendant," came the voice from the study.
Merrick winked at the Raymonds. "That means I'll need another man - I guess Spiro will stand in."
Kirsty rushed from the study screaming, stopping when she saw the three grinning faces. She returned to her emailing, giggling.
"I'll ask Stan; I'm inviting the Raymond seniors as well as they were very hospitable to me over the years."
"That's nice, darling," said Kirsty re-entering the room. Mama is expecting a strong contingent from New Zealand."
"I haven't spoken to you about this, darling," Merrick said, but I would like to invite Kate and the children and their foster father. It seems the right thing to do and I would like my children to be there."
"Yes, of course," Kirsty said, smiling warmly.
Brian cleared his throat and said that in his opinion his sister would stay away, as she had a vindictive streak in her, but she would probably send the children.
Merrick nodded, saying he agreed that was the most likely outcome. But he'd be happy about that.
"The other bridal attendant?" Merrick asked.
"I want to invite Spiro and Meg. If he accepts then I would like Meg as a bridesmaid if that is acceptable to you."
"Very acceptable, and you two women will find out for yourself what she is wearing when I went face-to-face with Spiro," said Merrick, taking the risk, having downed four glasses of champagne. Kirsty poked her tongue while Marg merely looked at him pitifully.
"How did you know Spiro would be in that apartment when you arrived?" Marg asked.
"I had a hunch he'd be there waiting to welcome back Kirsty."
Kirsty turned white and Brian caught her as she fell.
"Just a temporary loss of blood supply to the head," Merrick grinned. "She tends to buckle a little under pressure."
The next day final page proofs of the Waiheke article arrived from Sydney for checking. The setting sun shot of the winery looked very arresting. The heading was 'Auckland Retreat of Wine & Fun'. Kirsty had seen photographs and text separately but not the series of small photographs and Merrick's caption-story of the article headed, "Drama for Three Little Boys in a Leaky Boat."
With relief she found that the story made no suggestion of a dramatic life-saving rescue, although the pictures did depict that, particularly of the two women rescuing the young lads - wet dresses revealing that neither woman was wearing a bra.
"Well done," was all she said, handing that page back to Merrick with 'the' ringed as a literal that had been missed by the magazine staff and Merrick. "Well done yourself," he acknowledged.
Merrick went on to find two captions on another page were transposed and he noted that the very artistic wine tasting picture could be cropped a little tighter to allow the re-worked image to be make larger and thereby more dramatic. He drew in the cropping marks and then rescanned the page proof for sending back.
After emailing the changes, Merrick asked: "Notice anything in particular about the subbing of your articles?"
"Yes, all are now more tightly written but despite that they flow well."
"Good girl. That's exactly it. Better you find that out for yourself than for me to point it out. Self-criticism and self-appraisal are excellent teachers.
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