Pandora's Box (45 page)

She turned the tape recorder off.

Stunned silence followed the last speech the president would ever make.

Vice-President Mercer joined them.
 
He took over the microphone and told the people everything the president had done and the people believed.
 
Mercer had been well-liked despite his male model beginnings.
 
People trusted him.
 
He would make a good president.

The first lady stepped forward and added in her two cents.
 
She told the enraptured listeners how she’d feared for her life and had had to pretend to be a drunk just to survive her marriage.

The director of the CIA pulled Madison and Tyler to the side.
 
“I had no idea what was going on until the vice-president filled me in.
 
I was wondering when the two of you would like to return to work.
 
You made a great team.”

Madison and Tyler exchanged a look.
 
They were totally in-sync.
 
Madison
said, “I don’t think so.
 
I feel like moving far, far away from the spy business.”

“Yeah, I think we’ll be opening up our own little business,”
Tyler
said.
 
“A nice little security business.”

They smiled at each other.

The director walked away and
Madison
asked, “How did you snap out of it?
 
Roxie had you under her control.
 
Was it what I told you about being pregnant?”

“Pregnant?”
 
His eyes widened and he looked a little like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Relax.
 
I’m not.
 
I just told you that I was so you would come back to me, but you were really out of it.
 
So what happened?”

“Brett.”
 
Tyler
smiled, pulled her close, and kissed her hard on the mouth.
 
“My Navy buddy finally got his timing right.”

He winked at her.

Then they were surrounded by reporters, every single one shouting a different question.
 
Regardless of what
Madison
thought about her father on a personal level, he didn’t deserve to die under such suspicion.

She replayed the tape for the reporters.
 
She couldn’t wait for morning, couldn’t wait to see Malcom Law’s name dragged through the proverbial mud.
 
Too bad he wouldn’t be going to prison.
 

Didn’t matter.
 
She smiled.
 
Nothing mattered as long as she had her husband at her side again.
 
For always this time.

******

Epilogue

Boston
, six months later.

“I can’t believe you put this thing together yourself,”
Tyler
said in awe.
 
His slid his palms along the white railing of the crib.
 

“It needed a woman’s touch.”
 
Madison
smiled sideways at her husband.
 

She left
Tyler
standing in the nursery, a grown man choked up at the sight of teddy bears on a little blue blanket.
 
She went into the living room and waited for him to piece it together.
 
It didn’t take him long to connect the dots.
 

Tyler
went to her, touched her protruding stomach with a stunned expression on his face.
 
“You talked to the doctor, didn’t you?
 
Are we…?
 
I mean, is it…?”

“A boy?”
 
She nodded.

For a moment he looked like he was going to pick her up and swing her in the air, but then he changed his mind.
 
Instead he pulled her to the couch with him.
 
They sat together, close, his arm around her shoulders and her legs resting over his.
 
He nestled his mouth against the side of her face.

“Are you happy?” he asked.
 
“I mean, really happy?
 
No regrets?”

“Don’t I look happy?”

“Yes.
 
But you gave up a lot to be with me.
 
You were always so gung-ho about your work.
 
I just want you to know I’m not planning on keeping you barefoot and pregnant all the time.
 
I want you to feel challenged and needed and happy.”

Silly man.
 
Didn’t he know that he and their unborn child filled her to the point of over-flowing.
 
She couldn’t be happier or more grateful.

To him she said, “Since the chips were destroyed I haven’t missed the cloak and dagger stuff, not one bit.
 
Remember, I was programmed to want that life.”
 
She frowned at him.
 
“What about you?
 
Do you miss it?”

“I miss the Navy sometimes, not the CIA.”
 
He winked at her.
 
“You know, if you ever get bored at home you can always help me test a system or two.
 
I’ve been missing you at work.”

She rolled her eyes as she thought about jumping from roof to roof to escape the Blonde Assassin.
 
It seemed a lifetime ago.
 
So much had changed.
 

His face brightened.
 
“I forgot to tell you, I got a call from mom today.
 
She and Mercer are going to buy a house in
Connecticut
.
 
She told me that she wants to be close enough to see the baby, but far enough away so we can’t drop in on her without calling first.”

Madison
laughed.
 
“I never would have guessed in a million years that I would grow to love your mother.
 
She and our former vice-president seem happy.”

“I think they are.”
 
Tyler
grabbed a long lock of her hair and twisted it around his finger.
 
He gently tugged on it.
 
“She was relieved when he didn’t want to be president.
 
After being married to one overly ambitious man, she didn’t want another one.”

“I’m glad she found him,”
Madison
said.
 
“And I’m glad I found you.”

“You found me twice,” he teased.

“We belong together.
 
Brainwashing, assassins, and microchips couldn’t keep us apart.
 
Marriage should be an easy ride after all that.”
 

His smile faded.
 
“Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but Mercer told me the CIA has Grainger’s work.
 
They finally got their hands on it, and they somehow convinced two agents to let them test the chips on them.”

“Anyone we know?”
 
Before he could answer, she held her hands up.
 
“No, don’t tell me.
 
I don’t want to hear this right now.”
 
She rubbed her stomach.
 
“This should be a happy time for us.
 
No spy talk.”

“Well, then.”
 
Tyler
stood and reached into his jacket pocket.
 
He pulled something black and square out, but she didn’t get a good look at it before he moved it behind his back.
 
“Normally I’m not a mushy man by any means, but tonight is special.
 
So listen up, wife, because I will never say these words again.
 
But I will always feel them.”
 
He went to his knee in front of her and took her hand in his free one.
 

“If I was an artist, I’d draw a thousand pictures of you.
 
If I was a poet, I’d write a poem a day for you.
 
If I was an engineer, I would construct the grandest, most beautiful skyscraper in your honor.
 
I can’t do any of those things, so this will have to do.”
 
He produced a black velvet box.
 
Opening it for her, he revealed the sweetest diamond ring she’d ever seen.
 

He asked, “Madison Grey, will you marry me again?
 
And not in secret this time?”

“Yes!”
 
She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him until he complained.
 
She let go of him and held her hand out for the ring.
 
As he slipped it on her finger, she said, “I’m not marrying you until after the baby is born and I have my figure back.
 
This time I want a wedding with all the trimmings, including a magnificent wedding gown.
 
I wonder if your mom would help me with the arrangements.”

He sighed.
 
“Try to stop her.”

“I’m going to call her right now.”

Madison
tried to get up, but
Tyler
pulled her closer to him.
 
He spoke to her in a sexy, husky voice.
 
“Call her later.
 
I’ve heard a rumor that there’s a former spy who desperately needs your assistance.”

“Really?”
 
She kissed the corner of his mouth.
 
“And where does he need me?”

“In the bedroom.”

“I thought so.”
 
Giggling, she wrapped her arm around his neck again and brought his mouth to hers.
 
After kissing the breath out of him she told him to lead the way upstairs.
 
She had a feeling it would be a long time before they had dinner.
 

The End