She could hear them both fighting now and screaming over who would have the phone and then Simone's calm voice intervene. "Hi, Kim. Sorry, they're just happy to hear your voice. Ma! Can you get the boys?"

Kim craved her children so much it was a physical pain. Precious time had been wasted trying to pay the bills. She missed good days with her sons. Time she would never get back.

"Are they okay, Kitt?" Kim asked.

"They miss you. But they're managing. Oh, I called up there but they said you couldn't have any phone calls. How much longer?"

"Next week. I um, I could stay longer but I'm going for next week. Will you come and get me?"

"Yes. Are you sure?"

"They have an outpatient program. I'm sure it's hard, but I'll make it. We'll talk about what that means. I just wanted to say thank you. I needed to say thanks so much for doing this, Kitt. Keith must be going crazy without you."

"Girl, please. Don't worry about it. You know I love my babies. As for Keith, yeah, we'll talk. I love you too. I'll be there to get you. Just tell me when. Wait a second. Mama wants to talk to you."

Kim sniffed. "Okay."

"Hi, Kimmy?"

"Hi Di-Mama. How you doing?"

Diane burst into tears.

Kim listened to her soft cries.

"Are you okay in there? Did they give you some methadone to deal with the pain? Was it bad? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine. I am. Don't cry, Mama. I'm okay," Kim said weakly.

"I'm sorry, Kim. I just.... I want you to know I haven't been drinking today or anything. I'm dry too. And I've been okay around the boys. We get along. So it's okay."

Kim wiped at her tears. "That's good, Ma. I'm glad to hear it. They love you. You're their grandma."

"I love you, Kim. I said some things to you, mean things."

"Ma, we both did. It's okay. We're family. We got each other." Kim smiled, thinking of Dennis. " I love you, Mama."

"See you soon."

"Bye." Kim hung up the phone. She slumped down in her chair and cried. The final tears she would cry before she started again. Dennis was right. Everybody deserved a second chance.

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

Two Weeks Earlier Simone/Cain "Name?"

"Simone Wil-uh, Livingston."

The detective's sharp gaze flipped up. Simone could only manage half of an awkward smile, especially when meeting such an inquisitive stare. She nervously ran her hand down the back of her head, smoothing her pixie curls. "My name is Simone Livingston," she answered.

He nodded.

She waited. The hard part was over. She explained her complaint, her fears, all while he listened. Now he was filling in the blanks as she nervously stroked the tan line on her ring finger. Diane and the kids were to the front of the station. The day was a busy one for criminals. It was evident by the traffic hustled through the doors of the precinct. Instead of a desk officer, she was given a detective. And this detective didn't seem pleased at first.

Simone eyed the others barking into phones at suspects or at each other. The one person who agreed to see her was named Alverson, Derrick Alverson. He was a black man around her age, very handsome, with the whitest teeth and darkest skin. He had walnut shaped eyes and a goatee mustache that framed a serious mouth. Detective Alverson sat at his desk, pecking on the keyboard with two fingers, shooting her looks she couldn't quite process. Each time he spoke, he did so in a thick New Yorker brogue that made her feel flushed. The s.e.xy contrast of his voice, skin, authority, and presence was a mix that in the past would make her heart flutter. Not anymore. Her new lover was the polar opposite of all she conceived. She found their bond strange, considering she was a girl to cling to what was familiar. She belonged to Cain Gatlin, his divorce notwithstanding.

"Address?" the detective asked in a dry clipped tone.

Simone hesitated.

The officer looked up from the keyboard, his pointer finger hovering over a key. She met his eyes as his brows knitted together with suspicion.

"I uh, I'm staying in New York again, which is really my permanent address now, because I've only been gone for a few months." She cleared her throat. "Maine. I was in Maine. I was born here though. So this is my home. I'm filing for divorce here so my address is in transit. I mean I stay with my sister, so it's complicated."

"Exactly what is the issue, Mrs. Livingston?"

"My husband, I told you, he's the issue. I left him. I explained it already to you and the officer out front. My attorney said I need an 'order of protection' against him because of-never mind. She said I needed to come here."

A man yelled obscenities as two officers dragged him by the arms and belt buckle. Simone stiffened watching the scene until he was gone. The tension in her chest coiled tighter.

"Do you really need an order of protection? Or is this just conflict over your divorce?"

"Keith, my husband, he's been violent with me." She blew out a deep breath. "I don't want him contacting me. I just want to keep him away. So yes, I need it. I need it desperately."

"This has to go before a judge. He will be served, but if he's not in the State, then the processor-"

"Trust me. He will be. His corporate office is here, his family is here, and I'm here." Simone reached inside her purse. She removed her wallet and then handed over a card. All she needed to do was initiate the process. From here on out, Sue and her warriors would drive it home.

"What will this restraining order give me exactly? What kind of protection are the police offering once I have it?" Simone asked.

"It's not a restraining order. You're married. It's called an order of protection. Now normally I would, as your attorney, file it for you, but I'm sending a message to the courts and to the Livingstons this way. I want you to initiate this. Express your fear and need for protection to an officer directly."

Simone listened intently. The woman was sharp and so sharp she was kind of scary. She'd seen power wielded wrongly. The Livingstons were very calculating people and so were the Hollingsworths. She hoped her attorney wouldn't be more of the same.

"When you go to the station you will ask for an 'order of protection'. Do you understand? Tell them you've retained counsel. And give them Mindy's card. She will deal with the processor and make the appearance before the judge."

"What will it do? I mean what does it mean? Can he simply not contact me or does it guarantee something more?"

Sue smiled. She reclined back. "The judge sets the limits on the order. He could order anything from no 'third party contact' which means phone calls, letters, emails or just simply none period. We're asking for full protection."

Simone nodded. For the first time since she arrived, her anxiety cooled. She welcomed the wave of relief that washed over her. "Thank you Sue. That's what I want, full and complete protection to permanently close the door on my marriage and on Keith. I want him to stay away."

"Okay, Mrs. Livingston, sign here." He handed her a pen. She accepted it and scribbled her name across the paper. She could feel it. The man was staring at her again.

"Are you sure we don't know each other? Have we met before?"

"Huh? No. I don't know you," Simone answered shying away from the look he gave her.

He smiled. His face went from handsome to beautiful in a flash. Not many men, manly men, could manage that affect. His smile was so soft and genuine she paused, he nodded in awareness. "I know you, don't I?"

"I told you no."

"Dennis Jensen. You're his wife's sister, right?" Detective Alverson's eyes swept her face for confirmation. "I was at the wedding. You were the maid of honor. Very beauti-uh I knew you looked familiar. We spoke once. You, your husband, and me. Your hair was longer, but I remember you."

She handed him the pen. "I'm sorry. I don't remember."

He nodded. "Understandable. That was years ago."

There was an uncomfortable pause. However, his eyes never left hers. She wasn't sure what he expected, but she felt as if he expected something. Then he spoke, and his tone softened to a low even pitch. "Dennis was a great brother, one of the best. We used to play his firehouse in tournaments in Central Park. How's his wife? Kim?"

"My sister's good, thank you. She has twin boys. They're out front. They can be sweeties when they want to be. Kim's doing good though."

"Well give her my best." He accepted the pen and printout he had her sign. She gathered her purse, making to rise from her chair. "Simone, wait, take my card. If you should need anything and if he, your ex, contacts you or bothers you, don't hesitate to call me."

"Thank you," she said, accepting his card.

"Call me anytime," the detective said, with an emphasis on 'anytime'. His eyes smiled at her, making his meaning clear. She felt flushed. The last thing she wanted or needed was the desires of another man. But this man was strikingly handsome and charming. He was also good for her ego with the way he drooled. She shook her head, smiling.

"I will. Thank you." Simone walked off. She looked back once to see his eyes never left her. She nodded a final thanks to him, and then slipped out into the hall.

Cain paced. The doctors, nurses, cleaning guy with the mop, none of them would tell him a d.a.m.n thing. He'd been there an eternity thinking the worse. The blood, the tears, Maryanne's terror all hit him wave after wave, breaking him down. He didn't know how much more of it he could take. His head pounded, his eyes watered, leaked, maybe tears, maybe much more. And then he looked up to the sound of hurried footfalls. Bonnie and Andrew Hollingsworth rushed him. What took them so long?

"Where is she?" Bonnie yelled in his face, though she was just a foot away.

"The doctors-" he began.

"Where's my baby? Where's my daughter?" She spun on the pa.s.sing nurses. Andrew grabbed her by the arm. He forced her off to the side. She silenced immediately. He then fixed his cool eyes on Cain. "What's going on, son?"

"The doctors are with her. I don't know anything." Cain's voice held a tremble of the terror he was feeling. He ran both hands back through his hair. He cupped the back of his neck and stretched his eyes to keep the tears from forming. "I don't know anything."

"The baby? What about the baby?" Andrew demanded. "What did they say? I want to speak to the chief of the hospital. I want to know who's in charge now!" Andrew glared at the others on staff that watched them curiously.

To this proclamation, Cain was forced to walk away. Suddenly, he needed air, and not the same air as the Hollingsworths. An heir to them would mean something totally different than a son or daughter would mean to Cain. He knew it in his gut. Andrew's prodigy, legacy, was at stake, not just Cain's child and wife. He walked fast to keep from throttling the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He put more distance between them both before he lost control. He should have seen this coming. His mother did.

"You sure you up for this? Look at me. Like I said, we all pay a price eventually." She tugged on her restraints, testing the bindings. "She worth it? This Simone mean more to you than your princess?" Rachel laughed.

Cain couldn't answer. He felt too burdened with guilt to speak the truth or bother with a lie. Maryanne didn't deserve his betrayal. Still he couldn't get Simone out of his heart now.

"Of course the affair is worth it," his mother teased. "You always had your head in your a.s.s when it came to women, boy." Rachel spat the accusation in disgust. "You're talking about destroying the Hollingsworths, your marriage, all of it. Be ready for the consequences. What did I teach you?" she asked.

Cain finally looked up. He met his mother's stare dead on. "What's done can't be undone," he answered.

Rachel gave him that greedy wicked smile of hers. "Especially if you're the one holding the gun." She finished for him. Rachel winked.

"It's me and you again, Cain. And I always play to win."

"Mr. Gatlin?" A tall graying white man in scrubs approached. Cain focused through the tears, clouding his vision to recall the stranger. It was the doctor that briefly told him that Maryanne was being moved into surgery.

"Can we speak? Let's talk here." The doctor pointed to yet another smaller waiting area. The hospital seemed to have them in every corner. How many rooms and how many families waited and prayed in these rooms for the news he was desperate to hear? Cain nodded. For a brief minute, he considered his in-laws and summoning them. But he couldn't handle that. Not now when he was barely able to think straight. They went into another waiting room.

"We've stopped the hemorrhaging."

"Okay. So she's okay?"

"She'll live."

"The baby?"

"I'm sorry."

Cain closed his eyes. "Maryanne, does she know?"

"She's resting. Mr. Gatlin, there's more."

"How did this happen? She was fine, I saw her hours ago and she was fine."

The doctor looked him in the eye.

"What is it?"

"She ruptured her uterus."

Cain frowned. "She?"

"Your wife tried to perform an abortion, on herself. That's what caused the hemorrhaging."

"No! She wouldn't do that! Maryanne would never do that."

"I'm sorry. I know this is hard."

"Hard! Try ridiculous! Maryanne would do a lot of things, but this! No f.u.c.king way!" Cain shouted.

"She's been sedated. I suggest you and your family be prepared to help her with her recovery. I have unfortunate news."

"What news? Say it!"

"Unfortunately the damage was extensive. She won't be able to have children. We had to perform a hysterectomy."

Cain winced. The doctor sat there, waiting, letting his news sink in, expecting something from Cain. But all Cain could do was look on with a blank stare. None of it made any sense, but slowly, through Rachel's eyes he saw his life, his marriage, and his wife differently. "You're sure she did this to herself?" he asked dryly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gatlin."