Steeling The Bliss

Chapter 6

In their cab, on their way back to the office that afteroon after meeting with her family, Laura asked Remington while looking out at the scenery through the window, "Why are we going back to the office? I thought maybe you'd like to relax after our time with Mother and Frances? I know I could use space from them for a bit, since we're having dinner with them anyway-"

Remington cut her off irritably, stating, "That's enough, Laura!"

Laura, shocked at his tone, answered slowly, "I-I'm sorry, but you know how they can be-"

Remington shook his head as the cab pulled up to the curb at the office building's entrance, and getting out, paid the cab driver as Laura exited the opposite side of the cab.

As the cab left them at the curb, Laura looked at her husband and queried with a gesture, "What's up with you? I'm telling you the truth-"

But Remington went inside without a word, and Laura asked him as they got inside the elevator, "Please tell me what's bothering you? I think we need to talk about this."

But Remington scoffed as he pressed the office floor they needed, and as they went up, Laura pursed her lips and then responded, "Okay...Then just give me the highlights and we'll go from there-"

The elevator stopped on their office floor, and Remington swiftly got off, with Laura following close behind, commenting, "Look, we can't get anywhere if you don't tell me-"

Then they were in the office, and Remington, seeing Mildred filing something, answered briskly, "Ah, there you are, Mildred...We need to have a word with you in my office..."

As he brushed past the two women, Mildred looked at Laura and remarked warily, "I take it the family didn't like your news?"

Laura swallowed, and patted Mildred's arm gently, commenting, "No, but we unruffled some of the feathers anyway. We agreed at least to meet for dinner to finish the discussion-"

Then Remington came out of his office and asked with a gesture, "Ladies? Can we get on with this so we can get back to work already?"

Laura, with a slight eyeroll Mildred's way, tilted her head and remarked, "Come on...You're not the one he's upset with at the moment, really."

The two ladies joined Remington in the office, and as they sat, Remington checked his desk drawer, and pulled out an aspirin bottle, grabbing two, and putting the bottle back, closed the drawer, and filled the glass on his desk with water, and downing the aspirin, swallowed them along with the water, and then sat down in the chair across from the couch answering tiredly, "All right, Mildred. Once and for all...Where's Fred, and what happened to our limo?"

-RS-

Mildred, clearing her throat, responded, "Well, Boss, a couple of nights before you got back to town here, Fred was invited to a friend's place for a party in Malibu. He was going to take his car, but it was in the shop, so he borrowed the limo, telling me he'd have it back in plenty of time, detailed, and ready to go to the airport to get you both when you arrived...But then-"

Remington sighed and looking at Laura, asked, "Translation, please, Laura?"

Laura stated slowly, looking at Mildred's nervous expression, "Well, I'd have to say that what Mildred is getting at, Mr. Steele, is that Fred, a grown man, was actually embarrassed to take his own car and have his friends-who know what he does for a living-rib him all weekend, but the rest of this tale is about to get even more interesting...Am I right, Mildred?"

Mildred nodded slowly, and shrugging, said hesitantly, looking at the two detectives, "Aw, you know Fred's never done anything to mess up here...He-He likes it here, and he thinks-like I do-that you two are the best people to work for-"

Remington shook his head stating, "Save it, Mildred, please! What happened?!"

Mildred swallowed, answering, "He sort of uh, um...Lost the limo in a poker game-"

Remington and Laura, stunned, responded together, "WHAT?!"

Mildred, with a gesture, put up both her hands, commenting quickly, "No, no! It's all right! I've got a friend's relative of ours, right now, trying to win it back-"

Remington, puzzled, looked at Laura, asking, "Who do we know that can try to pull a con-"

A look then crossed his face as he shook his head, and remarked quickly, "Oh, Dear God! Not...Not-"

Mildred nodded answering, "Yeah, Boss...George Mulch's cousin Marty, is right now talking to some people that he knows-"

Remington and Laura jumped out of their seats and raced for the door, with Mildred stating, "Wait! What are you going to do?! I'll come with you-"

But Remington responded, "No, Mildred! Just call Laura's mother at the hotel and tell her we'll be later for dinner then we planned!"

-RS-

Close to 8 PM that evening, Remington, Laura, and Fred came into the office, and Mildred, seeing them, remarked happily as she hugged Fred, "Ohh! Thank God you're okay! What happened?"

Then, looking out at the outside office hallway, asked, "Wait...Where's Marty?"

Laura answered drily, "He's on ice for the moment, Mildred-"

Confused, Mildred queried to Remington, "What does that mean, Boss?"

Remington then patted Fred's back lightly responding, "Well, Fred and Marty were being questioned by the police when we arrived, and when we cleared up the mess by explaining to the police who we were, and that the limo actually belonged to our company, Fred here was released into our custody, and the police are handling the further mess created by Marty Mulch...I daresay he'll be there for quite a while...And, as for Fred here-"

Laura added to the story, stating, "Fred told the police that he tried to sell his car to pay the poker winner to get the limo back, and when he called here to tell you what had transpired, Marty Mulch said he'd just been here trying to get help from us on another matter, but you had said we were away. What did you tell Marty, Mildred?"

Mildred, embarrassed, remarked, "Oh, from the gist of the conversation, he must have figured there was trouble. But I didn't tell him exactly to help. He offered!"

Fred gestured commenting, " Mildred's right. Mr. Mulch came down to the police station to try to get me out and told me he'd try to get the limo back but didn't say how...That's when the Steeles showed up. Anyway, the police decided to return the money to Mr. and Mrs. Steele here, who bailed me out. But I'll be working off the money I owe them, and hopefully get my car back someday..."

Then, turning towards the couple, he answered, "Once again, I apologize for this whole mess, and hope that you'll forgive me."

Laura and Remington nodded, with Remington commenting, "Well, thank you, Fred. In any case, we know some of this was not of your own doing...Now, why don't you let Mildred here take you home, and in the morning, she'll be picking you up...Oh, by the way, Mildred, you'll be taking Fred's place for the time being-"

Mildred, with a bewildered look on her face queried, "Come again, Boss?"

Laura, putting her arm around Mildred, answered, "Well, just until Fred's work sentence is up...You see, Mr. Steele and I arranged a deal with the building owner, that Fred would be the car detailer for all the office people in the building. As for you, Mildred, you'll be our limo driver temporarily-"

Mildred gasped, "Hey! What did I do wrong here?"

Remington sighed responding, "You allowed a Mulch back into our lives-"

Mildred stated, "But-But I was desperate! I didn't know how to get that limo back, and Marty said not to worry and that I could trust him! He left here before he told me anything. I-I'm really sorry."

Laura commented, "Well, we know, Mildred, but you still should have called us to explain the situation before it spiraled out of control and then Mr. Steele and I could've at least tried to come up with something...But, what's done is done. Now, why don't you head home, and we'll see you tomorrow, hmm? Oh, did my mother call?"

Mildred answered with gestures and a sudden piqued interest, "Yeah, she said to call as soon as you got back...Say, if I'm doing Fred's job, how is this place gonna run?"

Remington shrugged commenting, "Between the three of us, it should go all right. We'll go through our case files, to clear things up, and when you're not driving us around, you'll be here with your usual office panache to file away the rest, all right?"

Mildred shook her head and chuckled stating as she turned towards the door to leave with Fred, " Yeah, well, good luck with that..."

As the two left, Remington answered looking at Laura, "Well, that was rather snippy on her part, wasn't it? Anyway, let's telephone your mother and let her know we're on our way..."

It was close to 10 PM when Laura and Remington, returning from dinner at the hotel with her family, entered his apartment, and taking their jackets off, sat down on the couch, where Laura finally asked, "So, would you care to continue our discussion from earlier today?"

Remington sighed, and looking around, responded with a nod, "Of course...We should live here for the time being, and tell the INS that we're still searching for a house-"

But Laura incredulous, stated, "I didn't mean that discussion! Besides, I can't live here...My things wouldn't fit-"

Remington answered with a shake of his head, " Oh, c'mon, Laura! I refuse to live in a warehouse loft-it's rather unsightly. At least I have a big enough kitchen, and plenty of closet space-"

Laura bristled, "Oh, really? Well, I love my loft! At least my piano fits in there-"

Remington put up a hand finally, commenting angrily, "All right, all right. So, we'll table this for now...Anyway,what was upsetting me earlier was your continuous bad attitude toward your family! They have since become my family as well, and I would hope you'd like to at least explain just what the devil they've ever done to upset you so? I've never had a real family, so I have no essence of what a real family is, but I was looking forward to getting to know them better. However, should we have it your way, we'd never see them again. I take it that would be fine with you, nevertheless... So, just start by setting ground rules for holiday get togethers, and we'll go from there, eh?"

But Laura, absorbing his statement, slowly got up, and walked towards the living room window to look out, and sighed saying with a gulp, "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Steele...You're right. It's unfair of me to go on and on about my past family troubles... See, ever since my dad left...Oh, I do love Mother and Frances. Truly I do, but sometimes..."

Then Remington joined her at the window, and wrapping his arms around her from behind, held her close as he said quietly, "Look, Laura...My past isn't exactly what I envisioned either...But on this new path in our lives, let's really try to work toward a new beginning...Together."

Leaning back against his strength, Laura queried softly, "Meaning?"

Remington kissing the side of her neck stated, "Meaning that when the road becomes too rough, I'll be there...But only if you'll do the exact same for me, hmm?"

Laura swallowed and answered, "We'll catch each other when we fall, in other words..."

Remington smiled as he slowly began to lead her to the bedroom, commenting, "Speaking of falling..."

Laura returned the smile, and stopping to take the phone off the hook, remarked as she then continued walking, "Right behind you, Mr. Steele...Right behind you..."

The End