Moving toward the door, she heard Remington's quiet words. "I do want to thank you for everything you've done, Terri. You've been an invaluable help - "
Laura paused in the doorway to see Remington sitting on the sofa, a feminine blonde head near his dark one. Terri Carson had come to work at the Agency six months ago as a temp to relieve Mildred of the need to be both receptionist and operative. She had been the last in a very long line of mostly inept, brainless young women who invariably fell madly in love with the "Boss".
But Terri had been different from the rest. She had stepped into the offices of Remington Steele Investigations and into Mildred's shoes, nary missing a beat. She could file, type, and handle all of the various minutiae involved in running the agency. Even Mildred was in awe of the well organized young woman's abilities. Of course, like all of the rest, Miss Carson had also fallen victim to that charm of Remington's.
Now, Terri giggled like a school-girl, and Laura rolled her eyes, coming further into the room. "Well, well. What have we here?" she asked, only half teasing. The teasing light in her eyes vanished as Remington quickly rose from the sofa to face her.
"Laura. I was getting worried about you."
"I'm surprised you found the time," Laura commented dryly as she looked pointedly at Terri, who was gathering her purse.
Terri looked nervously from her employer to his wife. "Hello, Mrs. Steele."
"What are you doing here, Miss Carson?" Laura asked.
"I uh-" Terri began, still nervous under Laura's direct, accusing gaze. "I just-"
"She came to deliver the Cameron file," Remington reminded her. "As YOU asked her to do. You wanted to go over it this evening before we had to meet with him tomorrow."
Laura looked around. "I don't see any file."
"It's on your desk in the study," he told her. "I asked her to stay for a drink after I put it there, since she came so far out of her way-"
"Oh, it was no trouble, Mr. Steele," Terri insisted, gazing up at him with that look that Laura knew all too well. Without another word, Laura turned on her heel and left the room, climbing the stairs.
"Laura?" Remington called after her watching her until she disappeared from the landing.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Steele, if I did something wrong-" Terri began, but Remington shook his head.
"You didn't do anything- " There was a knock on the door, and Remington went to answer it. He glanced quickly at the cab driver. "I believe your cab is here, Terri."
Terri smiled again and slipped out of the house, leaving Remington to lock the door behind her after he watched the taxi turn out of the drive. He glanced uncertainly toward the upper landing, frowning, then took the steps two at a time. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
"I thought the meeting was over an hour ago?" he asked as he entered the bedroom- then stopped upon seeing Laura pulling clothes from her dresser to place them into a suitcase. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked. "Packing."
"Laura, what's going on? It's not like you to over react this way. I give you my word that Terri and I were just having a drink while we wanted for her taxi to arrive."
"And where is her car?" Laura asked, continuing to pack.
"In the shop. I told her from now on to simply use a courier service instead of coming all the way out here-"
"How thoughtful of you," was Laura's comment. "I suppose you and she will have to find someplace else to meet-" She went to move past him, heading for the bathroom, but Remington grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Would you PLEASE just hold still for a moment? We need to talk-"
Laura carried the bottles to the suitcase and dropped them inside, then paused, resting her arms on either side of the case. "No. No, of course not," she admitted. She closed the case and fastened it, then sat on the bed.
"How come you're not unpacking, then?" he asked, wondering why he still felt as if a huge black cloud was looming on his once crystal clear horizon.
"Because I'm leaving."
"Leaving?" His chest felt tight, as if the air in the room had suddenly grown too thick to breathe. "Why?"
"I don't know if I can explain," Laura said with a sigh. She got up and began to pace the room. "At the office, I'm Laura Steele, the employee who married the boss."
Remington extended a hand, intending to pull her into his arms. "Laura-"
But she stepped away from his attempt. "No. I have to try and- explain this. At school, at ballet, at little league, I'm Mrs. Steele, the children's mother. Hell, even the papers can't get my damn name right. Most of the time, I'm still the 'unidentified woman' standing in your shadow," she declared, blinking back a tear, swallowing as her voice cracked. "No," she said again as Remington made another attempt to close the distance between them. She forced her emotions back down before continuing. "I don't know who I am anymore. I've lost myself, Remington, and I need to find out if Laura Holt is still in here," she told him, placing a hand on her chest.
"She is," Remington insisted.
"I wish I were as certain as you are- but I'm not. And I can't find her here." She picked up the suitcase and left the room before Remington realized that she was gone.
He hurried after her, catching up to her on the stairs. "Laura, Laura, just stop a minute, okay? Listen to me?" he begged, forcing her to stop at the bottom of the stairs. "I can't believe that you would just- walk out this way. After ten years-"
"I need some time," she told him.
"Time? How much bloody time do you think you'll need?" he asked, a sudden flair of anger causing him to raise his voice slightly. He glanced once up at the landing, hoping that his voice hadn't carried as he lowered the volume. "A day? A week? A month?" He lifted a hand toward the second floor. "And what am I supposed to tell the children? Eh? That mummy has to 'find herself', so she's deserted them?"
"I'm not- deserting them!" Laura insisted, turning toward the front door.
Remington made one more, last ditch effort, physically throwing himself between her and that doorway. "Laura, please. Don't do this. Don't toss everything we've worked so hard for away like yesterday's rubbish. Whatever it is that I did, I'll make it right. Whatever I've done to upset you-"
"It's not you," Laura said, her dark eyes filled with sadness. "It's me. I feel like there's some- part of me missing. That I have to TRY and find it if I'm ever to feel whole again." She shook his head. "I don't expect you to understand."
"I love you," he said.
"I know," she responded in that same, sad voice.
"Where will you go?" he asked, struggling for air again.
"I'll let you know when I find a place," she told him. "I won't be in the office, either."
"You won't-?"
"You and Mildred and Tony should be able to handle things while I'm out. I doubt anyone will even miss me."
Remington slipped a hand under her hair and cupped her back of her head. "I will," he promised, lowering his head to give her a long kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes searched her face, hoping that the kiss might have caused her to reconsider her plan. "It's late. Why not stay here tonight- we can talk tomorrow-"
"There's nothing to talk ABOUT," Laura said, shaking her head. "I'll be in touch," she promised, and then grabbed her keys and purse as she slipped out of the door.
"Damn!" Remington said, opening the door and heading toward the garage, only to stop as Laura's red MG came speeding around the corner of the house. "Laura!" he called, but she was already to the gate and turning toward town. "Bloody hell, woman!" he yelled again into the silence when he realized that she was gone. What on earth had set her off? He wondered, turning back toward the house, never seeing the open window above him.
***
Inside the house, nine year old Megan Steele met the serious gaze of her twin brother Daniel. "See? I told you that something was wrong. You didn't believe me." Megan had heard her father's angry voice en route to get a glass of water, and had stopped in the shadows of the landing to watch as he tried to convince her mother to stay.
"They've had arguments before," Daniel reminded his sibling.
"Not like this one," Megan insisted. "Mom took a suitcase with her this time."
"You're sure? Maybe it was her briefcase," Daniel suggested hopefully.
"It was too big to be her briefcase," Megan said. "We have to do something, Daniel," she insisted."
"She'll be back," Daniel said. "She gets mad, leaves for a couple of hours, but she always comes back."
"Do you remember what happened to James' parents?" Megan reminded her brother. "The got- divorced and James had to go to live with is mom in Ohio?"
Daniel was thoughtful as he considered his sister's words. "What are we gonna do? I don't want to live in Ohio."
"You won't have to, silly," Megan told him. "The only reason James had to go there was because that's where his mom and her new husband live."
Daniel's eyes widened in alarm. "You don't think Mom-"
"Maybe. Listen. We've GOT to come up with a plan. Some way to get Mom to come back home."
"Where was she going?" Daniel asked. "Maybe we could call her. Tell her that Patrick's sick-"
Megan sighed. "I don't know where she going. I don't think she did, either. She looked so sad, Daniel. Almost as sad as Daddy did when Grandfather died last year."
"Well, we have to know where she is before we can ask her to come back," Daniel said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
***
Downstairs, Remington went to the living room and poured a glass of bourbon, half listening for the sound of Laura's car returning. She would come back, he told himself, unknowingly echoing his son's words. She always came back. She just needed a little time to cool off, to think things out, and she'd come through that door. He tossed back the drink, then turned off the lights and went to the door one more time.
Opening it, he looked down the dark drive, willing the headlights
of the MG to appear. When the tree lined road remained dark and
silent, he closed and locked the door again, and moved slowly
toward the stairs. She'd be back by morning, he told himself.
Just give her some space. Laura needed space. She always had.
She hated being coddled.
He climbed the stairs slowly, and started to enter the bedroom,
but at the last moment decided to check on the children. He needed
to see them, to make sure that they were still there.
Quietly, Remington opened the door into Daniel's room. The various movie posters that lined the walls made him smile. "Star Wars" vied with "Indiana Jones", along with "The Sting". Remington bent over and pulled the covers around his eldest son. "Dad?" Daniel murmured, blinking.
"Shh. Go back to sleep."
"Is Patrick okay?"
"Patrick?"
"I heard him calling for you a little while ago. Everything okay, Dad?" he asked.
Remington smiled, smoothing the dark hair out of the boy's blue eyes. "everything will be fine. I'll go check on Patrick."
Daniel closed his eyes until he heard the door close behind his father, then sat up. "He's gone," he whispered.
Megan flew from the closet and to the door. "Thanks, Daniel."
"One of these days, I'll stop covering for you, Megan."
She grinned. "Sure you will." She waved him to silence as she peered out of the door to make sure the coast was clear before ducking out and scurrying to her room next door. She leapt into her bed and closed her eyes barely moments before she heard the door open again.
Remington entered Megan's room and paused. Instead of movies, his daughter's tastes ran more toward her mother's interests. "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" held a place of honor on the table beside the bed. A magnifying glass lay on the desk, beside a fingerprinting kit that Laura had give Megan for her last birthday. Remington stopped to finger the ebony handle of the glass, then continued to the bed. Sitting on the edge, he watched Megan. She had his dark hair, and blue eyes, but she was so LIKE her mother. Even to the way she tried to pretend to be asleep when she wasn't.
"Might as well acknowledge that I'm here, Megan. I'm not leaving until you do."
Megan's eyes opened and she turned over to look at him in the dim light. "How did you know?"
"I'm your father. Now, suppose you tell me why you're still awake."
Megan sat up in her bed, picking at the covers. "I- needed a drink of water earlier," she confessed in a quiet voice. "When I went to get it, I heard-"
Remington closed his eyes and reached over to cover the nervous movement of her hands. "You heard your mother and I talking," he finished.
The girl nodded, lifting her eyes to his face. "Why did she leave, Daddy?"
Taking a deep breath, Remington pulled her into a comforting embrace. "I wish I knew, sweetheart."
"Doesn't she- love us anymore?"
"Oh, she loves you and your brothers very much. Don't ever doubt that. But- well, right now, she says she just needs to be alone for a little while. Once she works things out, she'll come home to us." Remington rested his chin against the top of her head, silently praying that his words would come true. "Now, you go back to sleep. And if you need me, I'll be just down the hall." He tucked the child back into her bed, then placed a gentle, loving kiss on her brow before leaving the room.
Slowly, he entered the master bedroom. He unbuttoned his shirt, then sat down on the edge of the bed, intending to remove his shoes. Instead, he buried his face in his hands. "Dear God, Laura, why?" he asked in a tortured voice. "Why?"
To Be Continued . . .