She's always looked amazing in black. Quiet, elegant, and professional- the antithesis of the frantic dismay demonstrated in Annie's posture at the defense table. She's up next today and as soon as Olivia takes the stand, it's over. Annie never expect Olivia to be able to testify against her and since the two of them were the only ones in that dammed cabin the only rebuttal witness is Annie herself.
Jeffrey Hunter, the veteran from Charles' firm Bette managed to get on short notice, knows too well that a jury's going to feel every moment of my wife's pain. Every tear Olivia keeps from her face is one etched in the mind of those twelve people. She could be anyone of their mothers or their wives. Annie doesn't have a chance. Maybe if she'd had any altruism in her heart at all, but her motives are simply financial.
Charles himself testified on the wording of the codicil in Del's will. Unless Annie could marry me by June 30th, Olivia would have inherited all of his stock. The defense calls Bette as a witness to the depravity of her brother, but the young assistant district attorney asks her about Olivia on the cross and the tide turns. Even Bette can't keep a dry eye when she remembers how destroyed Olivia was after we lost our baby.
The young ADA, Alison Wright, stands up calmly, cool and collected. "Please state your full name for the court."
The back of the courtroom starts to fade away behind Olivia's quiet face.
"Gregory Richards."
"What do you do in Sunset Beach, M.r Richards?" She takes a step towards the far wall, obviously unhurried.
"I'm a member in good standing of the California bar, a partner with the Massey-Greysolon firm, one-quarter shareholder of the Liberty corporation and CEO of Richards Communication Corp."
"Have you ever been married?"
"Yes, twice-" I pause to correct myself. "Three times as of last week."
That draws the tiniest of smiles from her. "Congratulation, please tell the court who you married and when."
"I married Olivia Blake on November 24th, 1975, and we divorced June 29th of this year.
"Let's talk about your first wife. You married Olivia over twenty years ago, correct?"
"Yes, our twenty-third wedding anniversary is-" I pause, correcting myself with a note of pain. "Would have been in November- the 24th."
"Twenty years is a long time to spend with someone. In fact, you have three children with your first wife, don't you?"
"Yes, Caitlin's twenty-two, Sean's eighteen and Gregory Junior-" I pause, it still isn't real to me that he's back. "Is seven months."
"How would you describe your marriage?"
I pause, smiling bittersweetly at her as I turn my gaze to Olivia. "I don't know if I have that kind of time. Certainly never boring. We went through some rocky times, but after our older son, Sean went through a difficult brain surgery we really found each other again. That was when we discovered we were pregnant with Gregory Junior and our marriage really seemed solid."
"When did you divorce Olivia?"
Olivia's still looking at me even though her eyes are growing soft. "June 29th of this year."
"Why did you decide to end your marriage of twenty-two years?"
I wince, remembering the pain as I signed those papers as if they were in front of me again. "I don't think either of us decided to end our marriage. After our son was believed to be dead-" I pause, struggling with the memory of that incredible pain. "I blamed my wife and we drifted apart. Everything in my life became a blur after my son-" I pause again, reminding myself that he's safe at home with Rose. "Supposedly died. Then one day we were signing divorce papers."
"Is that something you regret?"
"I did. I regretted it every day until very recently."
Alison smiles, the jury's going to love our happy ending and she knows it. "What happened recently?"
"Olivia agreed to marry me again." I grin foolishly but I can't help it. "We're raising our son together."
The defense has been looking forward to getting to me. I'm their hostile witness, the foolish man who bought into Annie's schemes and turned his back on the woman who actually loved him. The defense can make me look like Hannibal Lecter for all I care.
"On June 30th you married the defendant, Annie Douglas."
"Yes, I married Annie."
Jeffrey tilts his head quizzically. "Why did you marry her?"
"I wanted her money. I knew what she stood to inherit by marrying me and I knew she'd be in too much of a hurry to read any prenuptial agreement I laid down in front of her."
"Was there ever any emotional involvement between you?"
I look directly into Olivia's gaze. "Aside from a mutual admiration for her greed and tenacity, no."
"Even though you shared her bed for these last few months?"
My jaw tightens and I can feel my whole face harden. "My marriage to Annie was a business transaction, her willingness to share my bed was nothing more than a fringe benefit."
Annie jolts in her chair, but her counsel's arm keeps her where she is. "Isn't that rather cold-hearted, Mr. Richards?"
"Yes, it is." I agree sternly as I grow aware of the jury's newest thought. Why did Olivia marry me in the first place?
"Nothing further." Jeffrey sits down and I make a mental note to congratulate him on his stunning performance on a very difficult case.
"Would say you've always been cold-hearted?"
"Depends on who you ask." I tease lightly, drawing a smile from Olivia in the front row. The judge gives me a stern look and I correct myself. "No. I was rather idealistic and foolish when I was young but loosing a child rips your heart out. It isn't something I'd wish on anyone. Even Annie."
"One last question, Mr. Richards. Do you have any 'emotional involvement' with your current wife?"
Perhaps the toughest question I've been asked all morning. "I love her and for reasons that are entirely beyond me, she loves me."
"Thank you. Nothing further." Smiling slightly, Alison sorts papers on the table in front of her as I return to Olivia's side. I take her hand as I sit down next to her.
"I'm glad you don't understand why." Olivia whispers playfully. "Would take a lot of fun out of things."
"The people call Olivia Richards."
She kisses my cheek as she stands up. Something's changed since yesterday. There's a strength in her bearing she claimed she didn't have. Olivia folds her hands in her lap after she's sworn in. The bailiff adjusts the microphone for her and she looks up at the ADA with steady blue eyes.
Olivia's responses fly by. "My name is Olivia Blake Richards. I own and manage the radio station KJSR. Gregory and I were married once for twenty-two years and again now for six wonderful days. We have three children together."
"What happened when your youngest was born?"
Olivia swallows, but her voice is clear when she starts to speak. "I got a phone call that morning. The voice on the other end told me he, it sounded like a man, had a tape of my son-in-law, Cole Deschanel and another woman in a compromising situation. He wanted $5000 to keep it out of the papers. He arranged to meet me in a cabin in the woods outside of town."
"What happened when you arrived?"
"It wasn't a man at all. It was a woman. She tried to hit me with some kind of dart, she missed but we struggle and she jabbed it into my shoulder." She's gone pale but she's still steady. Annie's the one who's starting to shake.
"Is this woman here, in the courtroom?"
Olivia nods quickly, raising a hand to point to Annie. "It was the defendant, Annie Douglas."
The whispers roar through the back of the courtroom and Annie stands up, trembling with what appears to be fury until she collapses in on herself like a delating balloon. "Stop this! Just stop it. I did it. I stole the b#tch's baby, I left her to die in the cabin." She holds on her wrists, sobbing pathetically as she feels her defeat for the first time. "I confess."
The Judge pounds down her gavel. The lawyers fly up like black suited bees to re-negotiate. Five minutes later it's all over. Annie's accepted a guilty plea on all counts. Sentencing is set for tomorrow morning but the kidnapping charge alone is worth ten years, minimum.
Olivia curls her arm around mine and lets me kiss her cheek again before running into a long embrace with Bette. We've won, but it'll prove a bittersweet victory. Sean's waiting for us outside the courtroom. He went to see Caitlin this morning. She's plead guilty as well, never even bothering to go to trial. She'll spend a year in a minimum security psychiatric facility for illegal trafficking in human beings. After that she'll be on probation and mandatory counseling.
"She seems like a different person." Sean admits as he gives me a sad smile. "Keeps calling Junior Trey instead or talking about her baby. She's not making a lot of sense. Her therapist is really good though, she thinks Cate will be fine again, someday."
I touch his shoulder, unable to admit how pleased I am that he's stuck by his mother and I. Even when it took him away from his sister. "Thanks for going to see her."
"Sure no problem." He shrugs amiably. "Glad I could help you out. I know how hard it's going to be for mom to visit her."
"They just need some time." I assure him, glad he didn't ask about my feelings about his sister. "We all needed some time."
Olivia returns to my side with Bette in tow. "What do you think about lunch back at the house?" She asks brightly. Blooming in the glow of relief after the trial as she sighs happily. "I've already invited Bette so you just need to say yes."
"Of course, Bette, we'd love to have you."
She surprised yet again, pulling me into a tight hug that threatens to cut off my circulation. There are tears in her eyelashes as we pull apart. "I'm just glad you two are happy. Someone needed to get something good out of this whole mess."
Olivia and I can't stop smiling at each other as we set the table on the patio. The sun's brilliant over the ocean. Junior's squealing in delight as Bette plays with his chubby feet. Sean and Emily emerge with a pitchers of iced tea and lemonade and promise that Rose is almost done with lunch. Olivia looks at me and holds up the extra plate she took for Caitlin by accident. I follow her to the butler's pantry and we put it back together.
"Time." I promise simply as I fill her empty hands with my own. "She just needs some time Liv."
"That was all we needed, wasn't it?" Even joyful crying pulls at my heart when it's her.
I slip my hand into her jacket, sliding between the space of the buttons of her shirt to touch the bare skin beneath. "We needed time alone."
Olivia sighs that little gasp of wanting that turns my knees to water. "Tonight. After Junior's asleep. We'll have all the time we want."
Her mouth is promise itself, warm and full of life against my own. "What about this afternoon? Bette and Junior do get along so well-"
Bursting into surprised laughter, Olivia lets me push her back against the shelves behind her. "All right, just make it through lunch. That's all I ask."
I pout as I she tries to escape from the pantry. "Longest lunch of my life."
Her hands slip around me to lay claim to my butt, rather forward of her and extremely distracting. "You'll live." She's teasing, but I realize it's the truest thing anyone's ever promised me.
"Yes, I will." Now that I have her again, living is something I'll be doing every moment. I whisper something to myself, not meaning her to hear the musing, but she demands it from me with another kiss.
"Indigeo habere." I repeat bashfully. "Marcus Aurelius' secret to a blissful life." I close my eyes, sealing her perfect smile in my memory forever. "Wanting what you have."
-finis-
