Family of Steele

Part Eight

Remington stopped by the nursery on his way to his and Laura's room. Agatha was there, putting the final touches on the room. "Agatha, it might be for the best if we don't mention that you know Edward in front of Laura's mother."
"I had already considered that, Mr. Steele. Edward and I had a nice, cozy chat last night over coffee when he returned from his dinner engagement. He warned me that Mrs. Holt might not appreciate my past ties to him. She already resents my presence as it is. I have no intention of creating further bad feeling."
Remington continued to where Laura was holding court again- this time while sitting in bed. Abigail had apparently chosen not to mention having seen Edward, and Jessica pulled her brother aside as mother and daughter talked. "Where is Edward, Remington?" she whispered.
"He decided it might be for the best if he went into town for a few hours - give Abigail some time to get used to the idea that he's back."
"Then she did see him. I thought she might have done. When she came in, she was quite pale - even Laura noticed it."
"What did she say?"
"Something about not having slept well last night. She's been on her best behaviour, however."
"Good." He turned back to find Abigail looking at him as she held Megan. "Well, Abigail, what do you think of your grandchildren?"
"They're adorable, Remington, and you know it." She returned the child to Laura. "Where is he?"
Remington saw Laura frown at the question. "He went into town," Remington told her. "He thought you would prefer not to have to see him during your visit."
"You saw Daddy, Mother?" Laura asked. "Why didn't you-"
"I don't want to discuss it, Laura," Abigail told her. "I'd much rather discuss how long you're planning to stay away from the office before you - before you go back to work."
Remington and Laura both knew she'd been about to say "abandon your children to a nanny." They had both heard it before. "I'm planning to take a month," Laura told her. "Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be working, I'll just do it from my office downstairs, where I can be close to Daniel and Megan."
Agatha entered the room as Abigail spoke again. "I'm sorry, Laura, I just can't understand how you can leave those two in the care of a total stranger. I mean, what do you know about this woman?"
"Enough to have been satisfied with the references I gave them, Mrs. Holt," Agatha said in that calm voice. "Enough to know that I won't let ANYone or ANYthing harm either of those children." She smiled at Laura. "It's time for the little ones to be in their own beds, Mrs. Steele."
Remington placed the a baby in each of the woman's arms, then turned to Jessica. "Could you help her with the doors, Jessica? Thank you."
Once the nanny and Jessica were gone, Abigail walked to the windows overlooking the garden. "I suppose you both think I'm a stubborn, foolish woman, don't you?"
"Nonsense, Abigail -" Remington began, only to stop as she turned to look at him.
"Don't start patronizing me, Remington. You, of all people. No one seems to understand that I've been living a lie my entire married life. Edward wasn't an insurance salesman. But that's what I always told people-"
"Because that's what you believed, Mother," Laura said. "That's what Daddy needed everyone to believe to keep him- and us, safe."
"It almost didn't work did it? His coming back here almost cost you those babies in there."
"No, Mother. Dr. Gibson said that they weren't premature. Everything happened the way it was supposed to. Mother, give him a chance. I know you and he weren't getting along before he left, and I don't expect you to welcome him with open arms the way Frances and I have, but I'd like to think you could at least be able to be in the same room together for ten minutes without snapping each other's heads off. Couldn't you at least TRY to be his friend? For the sake of your grandchildren, if for no other reason?"
"All of this is so sudden. I'd accepted that he was gone, that he wasn't coming back-I should have known yesterday when you spoke to me like you did. Your father was always the only one who could convince you to do that. I need to think, Laura. I'll call you later." She gave Laura a kiss on the cheek, then Remington, before leaving the room.
"She didn't take it well, did she?" Laura asked her husband.
"She fainted- I think she's still in love with him, Laura."
"With Daddy? No. No, I don't think so. Where are Robert and Katherine?"
"In the garden, looking at the roses," he told her, glancing out of the window. "With Harley. I'll go tell them you want to see them."

Mildred hung up the telephone as the glass doors of the office opened to admit someone. "May I-" she looked to see Edward standing before her. "Edward. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be supervising the twins' homecoming."
"I thought so too, until Abigail arrived. I thought it best to make a hasty retreat."
"Let me get us some coffee," Mildred told him, indicating the sofa against the wall. "Why don't you sit down? You look exhausted."
"Just heart sore, that's all," Edward corrected, sitting on the tweed covered sofa. When Mildred returned with the coffee, he smiled, taking the cup. "Thanks."
"She took it bad?"
"Really bad. Remington wound up following her out of the house to tell her why I'd left and why I was back. She still didn't want to talk to me."
"She might change her mind- once she has time to think about it. I know if my husband ever came back without warning, I'd probably react pretty much the same way."
Edward took her hand. "I don't think you'd ever react that way, Mildred. She was as cold as ice. That was her nickname in school. The Ice Queen. Thought I'd finally melted that ice, once. I was wrong. No, if you had been in her position, you'd have slapped me, screamed, thrown things, but never simply stood there as if you were made of stone."
Mildred smiled. "Are you sure you never met my ex-husband, Edward? I broke more dishes throwing them at him during arguments-"
"Good, healthy anger. Anger you can release, vent. Abigail never learned how to do that. And if you can't show anger, you can't really know any other emotion."
"I think I can understand how she must have felt, Edward. When you're young and in love, and just married, you think the world's your oyster. That everything is going to be just the way you've always thought they would be. Sometimes, it works out that way. But sometimes it doesn't. And when you have to face the end of all those dreams, all those plans, when you have to change your entire life simply because it didn't work out, that's the hardest thing a person can ever do. Especially a woman, and even more if she's got children to raise alone."
Edward brought his hand to Mildred's cheek. "You're one of a kind, Mildred Krebbs. Thank you. Are you free to have lunch today?"
"I was hoping you would ask. Let me leave a note for Tony."

When Edward returned to the house, he found the downstairs empty, so he went upstairs to the master bedroom. The door was ajar, and he tapped softly, hoping no one was sleeping.
"Come in," Laura said sleepily.
He peered around the door. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I was just resting. All the company this morning -" She patted the bed beside her. "Sit down."
"I'm sorry if my being here this morning created any problem, Laura-" he began.
"It didn't, Daddy. I could never regret your being here. It's something that Mother has to deal with. Where did you go?"
"Your office."
"To see Mildred?" Laura asked.
Edward smiled at her question. "I hope you don't mind, Laura. I like Mildred. She's not afraid of a little honesty. And speaking of honesty, Laura, I need to talk to you about the man you've married."
"Remington?" Laura said, suddenly wary. "What about him?"
"While I was out of the country all those years, I took several different jobs to earn extra money- some probably not entirely on the up and up," he admitted. "But a few years ago, I started dabbling in private detective work. I was hired by a Contessa in Rome to find the man who had stolen a diamond and sapphire necklace from her."
"That's not fair, Edward," Remington said from the doorway, "You have to tell her the entire story, or none of it makes any sense." He grinned as he came into the room. "I was in the study and heard you come upstairs," he explained.
"Well, I wasn't aware of the full story until much later," Edward told him.
"Would someone mind telling ME the full story?" Laura asked, clearly confused- and a bit concerned.
"Since Remington's involvement preceded mine, I'll let him start."
"Fair enough. About a year before I met you, Laura, I was asked by a friend in Rome to retrieve a valuable necklace that he had given to his mistress."
"The Contessa?" Laura asked, slowly sinking farther down in the bed as she realized where this was heading.
"Precisely. It seems that his wife had found the receipt for the necklace and was demanding to know why he hadn't given it to HER. He asked the Contessa to return it, since they were no longer involved, but she refused. So he offered me a rather- hefty finder's fee to retrieve it and return it to him."
"So you stole it," Laura guessed, wanting to draw the covers over her head.
"It was really very simple. She bragged about the security system in the place. The way around it was child's play."
"If you don't tell her how you managed it, Remington, I will," Edward warned softly.
Laura shook her head. "You don't have to, Daddy. I can guess. He probably wined and dined her to gain access to her house, then while she was sleeping, he stole the necklace and ran."
"I told you that she knows me too well, Edward," Remington said.
"So you did. Anyway, that's where I came into the picture. The Contessa didn't want to call the police, because of the publicity, so she hired me to find the man who stole the necklace and force him to return it. I chased him all over Europe for what seemed like forever, always just one step behind him." He looked at the man who was sitting beside Laura on the bed. "You were good. I thought I was the master of disappearing. But next to you, I seemed a rank amateur. I came closest in Paris, thought I had him," he told Laura. "But I got word the Nicholas Radikin was in the city, so I packed up and pulled off the case."
"And thinking that Edward was still on my trail, I came to Los Angeles to make another try for a target that had eluded me on other occasions."
"The Royal Lavulite," Laura said, and this time she DID pull the covers over her head.
"My question still is, how did YOU become Remington Steele?" Edward asked.
"I just sort- stumbled into the part," Remington told him. "Right, darling?"
Laura slowly lowered the covers, peering at the two men. "Daddy, I- I have something to tell you-"
"Yes, Laura?"
"You know how I always loved excitement, how I always wanted to be a private investigator-"
"Of course. How could I possibly forget that?"
"Well, I studied, and apprenticed, and got my license- even opened my own agency. But no one knocked on my door. A female private investigator seemed so- feminine. So one day I had a idea." She was becoming caught up in the retelling of the story that Remington knew by heart. Because it was as much a part of his heart as it was hers. "I created a superior. A MASCULINE superior. I took the name off of the typewriter on my desk and used the name of my favorite football team, and came up with what I thought was the perfect name. Remington Steele. Only, he didn't exist. He was an elaborate ruse that I maintained with a lot of help from someone who had worked with me at the Havenhurst Agency."
"What if a client wanted to meet Mr. Steele?" Edward asked.
"Simple. We would decide not to handle the case. And it was working, Daddy. There were cases everywhere. It was working like a charm." She smiled at Remington. "Until one day he showed up. With those blue eyes and mysterious past- he first claimed to be a South African special agent sent to retrieve the gems, then he discovered the secret I'd been keeping and assumed Remington Steele's identity." She took Remington's hand. "And, over time, he became the Remington Steele that I'd envisioned."
Edward shook his head. "You really are amazing, Laura. To have accomplished something like that- and then managed to, well, I won't say tame, but put a leash on someone with his past - "
"Oh, I think I've been thoroughly domesticated, Edward," Remington assured him, smiling as he bent over his wife. "Right, Mrs. Steele?"
"I hope not, Mr. Steele," Laura said, returning his kiss as Edward silently left the room, still shaking his head. "It makes things so much more interesting."
Edward sighed, softly closing the door. He could finish talking to Laura later. He still wanted to ask her about Acapulco. But right now, he decided, she and Remington needed a few minutes alone.