Promises

Parts 13-14

By Candy

"What?" Michelle asked confused. "You know him?" Suddenly she realized what was going on and she didn't give him a chance to respond. "I don't believe this! You hired a bodyguard!"
"Calm down," he said, trying to get her to sit back down.
She pulled away from him and paced across the kitchen. "No! I cannot believe you did this without even discussing it with me!"
"I didn't have a choice, Michelle," he defended. "I knew you wouldn't like it, but I have to protect you and I can't be with you twenty-four hours a day."
"You're damn right I don't like it," she protested. "I am not a child. I know I slipped up and didn't check out the chocolates before I ate them, but I am going to be more alert now. I don't need a babysitter."
"This isn't up for discussion," he replied.
"You can drop the caveman routine," she snapped. "I have never let you treat me like a child and I'm not about to start now."
"Don't you understand I did this for you," he explained, his voice rising. "And for me. I can concentrate a lot better knowing you're safe. The thought of anything else happening to you makes me crazy…even more so now."
"I'm going to be starting school in a few weeks," she laughed sarcastically. "And you expect me to have a bodyguard tag along behind me on campus? There's no way I'm going to go for this."
"How can you think about going to school now?" he asked amazed.
"Why not?" she asked. "Do you expect me to put my life on hold?"
"No," he demanded. "But I expect you to take care of our baby!"
"What?" she was astonished. "How can you even say that? Don't you know I would give my life for this baby?"
"Please don't say that," he groaned. "You're never going to have to do that."
"How do you know that?" she yelled. "Just look at the past few days. Someone is trying to kill me or at lease make me feel like dying. How do you know our baby won't ever be put in that kind of danger?"
She stormed out of the kitchen and marched into the living room. He followed her, "Why do you think I'm doing everything I'm doing now? So neither you or our child will ever be put in danger again. I promised you I would keep you safe and that's what I have to do…whether you like it or not."
He was surprised when she didn't fire back at him. Her back was to him with one hand on her hip and the other holding on to the fireplace mantel. "Michelle?" he asked trying to get her attention. As he drew closer to her, he noticed her knuckles were white from gripping the mantel so tight. Her head was down, but he could see her eyes were closed and she had a pained expression on her face. "Baby, what's wrong?" he reached for her.
"I'm fine," she pulled away from him. But as she let go of the mantel, her knees began to buckle.
He grabbed her by the arms to steady her. "Come over here and sit down." Reluctantly she let him lead her to the sofa. "I didn't mean to upset you," he whispered as he sat down beside her.
She was silent as she leaned her head against the back of the sofa, her eyes closed. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
"I'm okay," she mumbled.
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I don't want to fight with you."
"I don't want to fight with you either," she said. "I know your heart is in the right place, but you have to understand this is all new to me. I've always known your life was dangerous. I knew that before I fell in love with you. But I don't want some man following me, watching my every move."
"It won't be forever," he pleaded, brushing her hair away from her face. "And when I'm with you, he won't be around. I just have to do everything I can to make sure you are safe. I was a fool to let my guard down and because of my carelessness, you were hurt. I can't let that happen again."
"This wasn't your fault," she softened, turning to face him.
"Please just go with me on this," he begged. "I know how much you value your independence, but you have someone else to think about right now. You and this baby mean the world to me."
"I understand," she conceded. "I'll agree with this…Carlos…under one condition."
"What's that?" he smiled.
"I really want to go back to school," she explained. "I know you are concerned, but I talked about this with Dr. Sedwick and she said it was okay as long as I didn't exert myself too much and I can take a light load. I can finish this semester before the baby is born and then I will take some time off and go back later."
Danny looked at her, seeing the desire in her eyes for him to be okay with this. He knew how much she wanted to be a doctor, keeping up her family tradition. How could he take that away from her? She had sacrificed so much already to be with him. "Okay, but please just don't overdo it and don't try to outsmart Carlos."
"Who me?" she laughed.
"Yes you," he smiled. "I've warned him about you."
"I'll be a good girl," she promised. "Now, can we make up?"
"By all means," he smiled pulling her closer to him. "You know I hate fighting with you, but the making up part isn't so bad."
"No it isn't," she laughed as he kissed her ears. "But you know, Dr. Sedwick said I needed to rest, so I really think my husband should make sure I stay in bed."
"I think I can handle that," he whispered, moving closer to her lips. "Shall I put you to bed?"
"I thought you'd never ask," she murmured quietly, reaching up to meet his lips.
Without breaking their kiss, he picked her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to their bedroom. Gently he laid her down on the bed, looking into her eyes.
"I love you so much," he whispered.
She reached up for him and pulled him down with her. "I love you too."
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They spent the rest of the day in bed. Danny had gone downstairs to the kitchen to get them something to eat. He was happy to see Michelle finally eating, while she explained that she had worked up an appetite. After finishing the food and making love again, he finally convinced her that she needed to get some sleep. She was resting when he slipped out of the bed to go back downstairs to his office. He was startled when his cell phone rang.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Danny, this is Frank," he began. "I just wanted to let you know what I found out from the alarm company. Their records indicate the alarm was set at 9:30 and then at 10:03 it was deactivated by normal means and then reset at 12:31."
"So it was set," Danny sighed. "Michelle said she set it at 9:30 and I set it at 12:30."
"But what I don't understand is if someone could disarm it, why didn't they arm it back when they left?" Frank asked.
"I don't know," Danny said. "You use the same code to set it as you do to disarm it. Maybe they were scared off by something."
"Or someone," Frank replied. "I may talk to some of your neighbors to see if they saw anything around 10:00."
"Our neighbors are really good about keeping their eyes open," Danny explained. "If they saw someone out of the ordinary around the house, they would have told me or called the police."
"Just the same, it doesn't hurt to ask," Frank explained.
"Okay," he rubbed his tired eyes. "Did you check the visitor records at the prison?"
"Your mother was telling the truth," Frank said. "Ben and Pilar have been her only visitors. But you know I don't trust Ben Warren any further than I can throw him. Your mother could be using him to get her jobs done on the outside."
"I don't think she's behind this," Danny confessed.
"Before you let your guard down with her, I think you should know a bit of interesting news I found out while I was at the jail," Frank said.

_________________________________________

"What did you find out?" Danny questioned curiously.
"Ben is working on getting Carmen released," Frank explained.
"What?" Danny exclaimed. "How can that be possible? That woman should be in jail for the rest of her life given everything she has done."
"Mr. Warren is claiming Carmen never got the chance to be examined by a proper psychiatrist. He's still claiming she had mental problems that led to her actions. So he wants her to have another evaluation and go back before the judge. Of course, I'm sure you know what this evaluation is going to say."
"How can he do this?" he asked. "He tried to get the psychiatrist at the trial to say she had mental problems, but his testimony said her mind was as sharp as a tack."
"Strangely enough that psychiatrist's license has been revoked recently for undisclosed reasons," Frank explained. "There's no telling what kind of dirt Warren dug up on him. Now he's claming, given this 'new' development, Carmen should be re-examined by a more qualified psychiatrist."
"Wonder why she didn't mention this to me when I visited her yesterday?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"With Carmen there's no telling why," Frank sighed.
"I don't believe this," Danny snapped.
"I know," Frank sighed. "It's things like this that make me ashamed to be a member of the legal system."
"So if he goes back before the judge, what happens then?" Danny asked.
"The judge will look at the evaluation and either reject it and send her back to prison or he could accept it and send her to a mental hospital. And given the year of incarceration she's already served, she'll probably only be at the mental hospital for six months at the most before she's released."
"And there's nothing I can do to stop this?" Danny asked.
"I'm afraid not," Frank sighed. "Listen, I need to finish some things here before I go home. I'll keep you posted."
"Thanks Frank," he said before hanging up his phone.
Danny knew how Michelle was going to react to news of Carmen's potential release. Even though it wasn't set in stone, he knew it was only a matter of time before Ben got her out. He decided given everything going on now, it would be best if Michelle didn't know about this just yet. It would only upset her and she didn't need that right now. He would wait until he knew for sure that she was being released before he broke the news to Michelle. He cringed thinking about how she would react. She wasn't going to like this.
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Danny got back to work making phone calls to various people, making sure the word was out that he was seeking revenge for whoever was after his wife. Word traveled fast when a member of the Santos family issued a threat. He didn't like having to go through these means again, but he didn't have a choice. He had to find out who was behind this before something else happened. Next, he called Carlos to let him know he was going to the office in the morning. He had a few loose ends to tie up before he took time off to stay with Michelle. He wanted Carlos there at 7:00 and to stay close to Michelle.
He finished up more paperwork before looking down at his watch to see it was already after 10:00. He was so tired, he could barely keep his eyes open. Closing his laptop, he turned the lights out and went back upstairs. Michelle was still sleeping in the same position, on her stomach with her arm outstretched on his side of the bed. He gently picked up her arm and slid into the bed beside her, resting her arm on his chest before quickly falling asleep.
The next morning Danny woke up with Michelle in his arms. Sometime during the night she had crawled into his arms without his even knowing it. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and gently eased himself out of the bed. He took a quick shower and dressed, thankful that Michelle was still sleeping. He left a note on the bed beside her and headed downstairs. Carlos arrived promptly at 7:00 and Danny explained the alarm system to him since Michelle didn't know the new codes yet. He set the alarm himself before heading out to the car…just to make sure.
Michelle woke a couple of hours later reaching for Danny, but finding only a note in his handwriting.

"Good morning beautiful! I'm sorry I'm not here when you woke up. I needed to go into the office for a little while to tie up some loose ends. I called Carlos to come over and he is downstairs. Don't be mad. Remember we had this discussion and I promise you this will not last forever. I'll call later this morning to check on you. Take it easy and rest today. You exerted a lot of energy yesterday and last night (smile)! Stay off your feet! Carlos can bring you whatever you need. I promise I won't be at the office long and when I get home maybe we can pick up where we left off last night.
I love you,
D

She crumbled up the note and threw it at the trash can. She didn't know how much more of this she was going to be able to take. A strange man in her house…being watched twenty-four hours a day. She felt like she was the one who had done something wrong. Get a grip, Michelle, she told herself. Danny promised this wouldn't be forever. One day they were going to be able to live a normal life. She didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to tell herself that and still believe it.
After a long soak in the tub, she laid back down in the bed. Despite all the sleep she got last night, she still felt tired. Dr. Sedwick said she needed to start eating so she could build her strength back up. Yesterday she hadn't eaten much. She never did finish the toast Danny had made her for breakfast. After their fight, they had gotten a little distracted. A smile crept on her face as she remembered the day they had spent in bed. She did eat the pasta salad Danny made for her and brought back to her in bed. She was lucky he was such a good cook, because they would have starved if they had to rely on her cooking.
The ringing phone startled her from her thoughts. She checked the caller ID before answering. Seeing it was a call from the hospital, she answered quickly. "Hello?"
"Michelle," Rick said breathlessly. "It's me. Abby's in labor."
She screamed happily, "Rick! That's great! I'll be right there."
She hung up the phone before Rick could say anything else and bounced off the bed to change clothes. After changing and pulling her wet hair up in a clip, she remembered Carlos downstairs. She eased down the steps and found him in the living room.
He jumped up when he heard someone behind him. "Hi," she smiled.
"You must be Mrs. Santos," he said.
"Yes," she said, extending her hand. "But please call me Michelle."
"It's nice to meet you," he shook her hand.
"You too," she said. "Listen, that call was from my brother and my sister-in-law is at the hospital having a baby. I really need to get to the hospital, so how does this work?"
"I'll take you there," he explained, heading for the door. "Do you need to let Mr. Santos know where you are going?"
"I'll call him when I get to the hospital," she replied. "You'll have to forgive me if I seem a little uneasy about all of this. I've never had a bodyguard before."
"Don't think of me as your bodyguard. Think of me as your personal chauffeur who just happens to follow you everywhere," he smiled. "I promise to try not to get in your way, all the while not letting you out of my sight."
"Thank you," Michelle walked through the door into the garage as Carlos set the alarm. "Are we going in your car?"
"Yes," he said, leading her out to his car. He opened the passenger door for her before walking around to his side.
Fifteen minutes later they were at the hospital. Carlos was one step behind her the whole time. She found Rick who was frantic and grabbed him in a hug.
"Rick," she laughed. "Calm down. You're a doctor for crying outloud."
"Who is he?" Rick questioned, looking at Carlos.
"He's here with me," she explained. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell you about it later. Now can we go in to see your wife." She turned to Carlos, "Is it okay if you wait outside the door? I don't want to upset my sister-in-law right now."
"I'll be right here," Carlos confirmed.
Michelle followed Rick inside as Carlos took his position by the door. Dr. Sedwick assured them Abby was progressing right on track. With Rick talking to Abby, Dr. Sedwick pulled Michelle aside and chided her for being there instead of in bed resting. But Michelle reassured her that she was feeling better and she would go to the waiting room and sit down soon. This was going to be her first niece or nephew and she wasn't going to miss this for the world.
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Danny called the house a little while later to check on Michelle. His stomach tightened when no one answered. Next he tried her cell phone with the same result. Luckily, Carlos had given him his cell phone number, so he tried him next. Thankfully Carlos answered.
"Carlos, this is Danny," he said in one breath. "I tried the house and Michelle's cell phone, but I didn't get an answer. Where is she?"
"I brought her to the hospital to…" Carlos began to explain.
Danny panicked and hung up the phone before Carlos could finish. He bolted out the door and headed to his car.

Parts 15-16

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