part seven

"Darling, have you seen my other earring?"

The quiet note of panic in Olivia's voice brought a smile to his face as Gregory entered their bedroom. In contrast to her, he was collected and elegant in his black suit and red silk tie. The tie was supposed to match the brilliant trim of her black dress and the shawl in a heap at the foot of the bed. He paused behind her at the vanity and rested his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "Which one am I looking for?"

Removing the ruby droplet that she had from her right ear, Olivia handed it to him. "The other one of these." She explained quickly. "I had them both a second ago."

He twirled the earring in his fingers, taking only a moment to remember the little jewelry shop in Chicago he found them in. "I've always liked these."

Olivia shot him a quick glance over her shoulder. "That's why I wanted to wear them, but I can't find it."

Running his hands appreciatively up her bare arms, Gregory gently replaced her earring and tried to calm her. "Where did you see it last?"

She looked at him in despair as she went back to the pile of jewelry on the vanity. "I don't know." Tossing the wrong earrings back into her jewelry box wasn't helping find the right one and it was almost seven o'clock.

Gregory shoved her discarded clothing off the bed and sat down with a patient smile. "We can be fashionably late Liv. It'll be fine."

"You never should have let me sleep," Olivia chastised him, " I've never been able to get ready in less then half an hour and you know it."

Shrugging, he kept his easy smile. "You were tired." Her hands were trembling slightly as she shut the jewelry box, and Gregory left the bed to wrap his arms around her waist. "You're still tired." She relaxed reluctantly into his embrace and tried to convince herself he was wrong.

He rested his chin on her shoulder. Her skin was still noticeably warm and Gregory was impressed at her determination to go to his impromptu celebration. "Why don't you sit on the bed for awhile and let me look?"

Reopening her jewelry box, he carefully dug through the top drawer of earrings. Olivia closed her eyes and willed them to stop being so dammed blurry. She smoothed the soft black fabric of her dress and waited, praying Gregory would find her earring. As he started searching her second drawer he couldn't help wondering how her eyes would light up in anger if she knew he had inflicted this mysterious ailment on her. She was so passionate, so vibrant with disgust when she was furious with him; it made their fights something special. Not the typical disputes of a married couple, but epic battles of wits that ended with them hopeless enamored with each other. It truly was a fine line between love and hate, he mused as he pulled the missing ruby drop from her jewelry box.

Silently crossing to the bed, he surprised her as he gently clipped it to her ear. "Found it."

Olivia's gracious smile was heart-melting. "Where was it?"

He knelt in front of her and rested a concerned hand on her knee. "In your third drawer, with all the other rubies right where it should have been."

Sighing, she pressed her fingers quickly to the center of her forehead. "I guess I didn't see them."

Gregory kissed away her fingers and held her head in his hands to look at her eyes. "I know you aren't feeling well, but I want you to know how much I appreciate your good-little-soldier routine." Leading her up to her feet with one hand, he grabbed her purse and red silk shawl from the end of the bed and started towards the doorway. "It's quite endearing."

Laughing weakly, she sought his arm and snuggled into it. "I do it all for you darling."

He stopped on the stairway and kissed her hand with infinite gentleness. "I know you do."

Something in Gregory's eyes caught the breath in her throat for a second, but she didn't have time to think about it before they were attacked by Caitlin and Bette at the bottom of the stairs.

"Seven o'clock-" Bette tapped her watch in mock annoyance. "Has come and gone lovebirds."

"We're only a little late." Gregory replied easily. "Grenadine's won't mind." Without releasing his protective arm around Olivia's back, he gave Caitlin a half hug and smiled at her with approval. "You look lovely Cate."

Bette coughed and looked indignant. Olivia smiled shyly and acknowledged Bette's vibrant purple cocktail dress. "As do you Bette."

Caitlin was only a step in front of her father as they headed for the car. "Sean wanted to meet us there."

"Can't pass up a chance to drive his chickadee around can he?" Bette teased lightly as she got into the limousine.

Following Bette into the car, Caitlin giggled impishly, "He likes to impress Tiffany with the Mercedes."

Gregory helped Olivia into the car before calling up to the driver, "Grenadine's please Thomas." He stepped in and sat down, immediately pleased when Olivia snuggled in and rested her head on his shoulder. Bette gave her friend a raised eyebrow that fell unnoticed to Olivia's temporarily poor eyesight.She looked next to Gregory, who acknowledged her concern with a nod and a softness in his eyes that said Olivia wasn't all right, but there was nothing to worry about.

When the car stopped at the restaurant, Bette got a chance to whisper to Gregory steadied Olivia out of the limo. "What's up with Livie?"

He threw the silk shawl around Olivia's shoulders and leaned in to whisper back to Bette. "Just a touch of something. She's been feeling strange since this afternoon."

Bette frowned sympathetically, but perked up again as soon as Olivia looked at her. "Well, I already know of course, but are you ever going to share the secret of our celebration?"

Caitlin met with the host and led the way to the Crest room. "I'm curious about that. Bette's completely refused to give me any hints. Is it a secret?"

Gregory chuckled and winked at his daughter. "You're just going to have to wait and see, aren't you?"

Tiffany stared down at the tablecloth, but Sean stood up when they entered the beautiful candlelit private dining room. "We were starting to wonder about you." His hair was slicked down neatly and he wore one of his nicest black suits. It was easy to see the resemblance he had to his father, with both of them side by side, Sean could have been a younger version of Gregory.

Bette wisely decided not to mention it as she sat at Tiffany's side and smiled kindly at the young woman before winking at Sean. "Sometimes you have to have a little faith cutie."

Pulling out a chair for his sister, Sean wasn't entirely distracted by Bette's dodge. "Did something happen?"

Olivia looked guilty as Gregory pulled out her chair and sat her down next to Bette, but he gallantly stepped in for her as he finished the circle at the table. "It took me some time to find my tie. It was in the back of the closet in with the blue ones and even though your mother kept trying to tell me where I should look, it took me quite some time to admit I was wrong and look there so I apologize to you all."

Olivia squeezed his hand under the table gratefully. Caitlin and Bette laughed, Tiffany looked up and relaxed a little, even Sean seemed satisfied.

Arriving mid-apology, the head server waited for Gregory to finish before setting the champagne at Gregory's elbow. "Good evening, our specials tonight are the garam masala scallops in a light rue sauce over linguine..."

Olivia lost interest before the sever finished the list of specialties. She kept her water glass in her hand and took small sips. It felt like ice running down her throat and her head started to ache at the contrast. She wrinkled her brow and Gregory met her gaze with concern in his brown eyes.

"It's too cold." She complained under her breath as Sean asked about the steak. Taking the glass from her hand and carefully fishing out her ice with his fork, Gregory deposited all the unwanted ice in his own glass and gave hers back.

After a moment of discussion, Bette started the ordering with the chicken cordon bleu. As the server went around the table Olivia whispered to her husband, "I'm really not hungry..."

Gregory patted her shoulder sympathetically and moved closer to her ear. "I'm getting the scallops. We'll share it."

After the server disappeared to the kitchen, Gregory's secret had everyone's attention again. Finally, he stood up with the bottle of champagne and started filling glasses to pass around. Bette and Caitlin held theirs up in anticipation, and Sean had a bottle of sparkling apple juice to split with Tiffany. Olivia held her glass up mechanically. She wasn't going to touch the champagne, but she was just as curious as everyone else to know what Gregory's toast was.

"Today is a very special day for me."

Bette held her breath but kept her smile painfully on her face. She didn't want to be in the room when Olivia found out Gregory had been keeping the truth of his father's death from her all day. Those kind of secrets didn't make for pleasant dinner conversation and he had more tact. He had too.

"Today-" Gregory repeated, "The Liberty Corportation broke ground on a new venture, our first international nonprofit deal." He watched Bette's face break from desperation into a relieved smile. "The South Bay-East Chesterfield University research and teaching partnership." Confusion rippled like a wave through the faces of his family and he had a glimpse of the community's reaction when the announcement became public knowledge this weekend.

"If you'll all be so kind as to join me in wishing it well, we can get back to our pleasant evening." The glasses went up in a sparkling ring in the candlelight. "To partnership."

The little group paused, but Bette led the reply with a dash of enthusiasm. "To partnership."

"Of course no one sees it coming. That is the simple beauty of it." Roger had assured Gregory over the speaker phone in his study just an hour ago. "The Liberty Corporation has never had any interest in the medical field."

"We've only just decided now to get our foot in the door." Gregory replied with a cunning grin. "With medical technology advancing so rapidly, we needed to find a way to keep up."

"Letting East Chesterfield become the only medical college in England that can offer in-house residencies in sunny, bloody gorgeous, southern California." Roger finished for him cheerily. "The fact that we've made it non-profit is a stroke of genius as well."

Gregory made a neat note in the margin of his father's estate plan as he packed it finally away into his desk. "That was Evans. He's got a heart for those kinds of things."

Roger chuckled and squeaked in his chair as he leaned closer to his phone. "And you've got a heart for the killing you'll make on your taxes."

Gregory stripped down to his boxers and started redressing in his black suit pants. "That's just a fortunate side benefit."

The chuckling grew in intensity. "A fortune would be more accurate." Papers rustled on Roger's end of the line and Gregory pictured Roger's feet balanced haphazardly across a mountain of unsorted papers. "That's enough work. Tell me about Olivia."

Doing up the belt took only a moment, then he took the crisp white shirt from its hanger and pulled it over his shoulders. "She developed the fever this afternoon."

"Tonight is your night Richards. I expect only your best efforts." Roger's tone was congratulatory. He knew Gregory's could turn on the charm with the best of men, and he could picture Olivia giving in already. Eyes half closed, lips parted slightly- he licked his lips vicariously. "I hope you enjoyed the early gift I sent you this morning."

Gregory finished the last button of his shirt and stopped before the mirror to do up his red silk tie. "That was a bit of a surprise. I thought I had him tucked away enough that no one would find him. How did you know where my father was?"

"The Baxter mind is a steel trap of information." Roger teased, and forced his friend to wait just long enough to make Gregory really appreciate how much work had gone into this little 'gift'. "You told me your father hated two things in the world. You and the cold."

Sliding the knot neatly into place, Gregory shook his head in disbelief. "I must have told you that twenty-five years ago."

"Steel-" Roger repeated as he continued his story. "After I remembered that, I started searching for nursing homes as far north as I could find them. After that it was a simple matter to get the delusional senior Mr. Richards sent to the nursing home of my choosing."

Fastening his cufflinks with a deftness that came from years of practice, Gregory smirked at the phone. "And for sixteen years your operative watched him and waited for your signal to end his miserable life."

"Audrey's a dear woman Gregory. He got what he deserved."

"I'm sure where ever Nicholas is now, you're right." Sliding into his suit jacket Gregory gave himself one last appraising look in the mirror before he returned to his chair at the desk. Pressing the button to take the phone off of the speaker, Gregory brought the phone to his mouth.. "And you knew that the one thing Olivia had when she was growing up was her father."

"Taking yours away now gives you what you asked for." Roger explained simply.

Furrowing his brow Gregory sat in thought for a moment, "I'm missing a part of your logic."

"You asked me for Olivia." Roger reminded him with a friendly tone. "What would cement your fledgling reconciliation back into that raging storm of passion I remember."

"And you said Olivia needed a child." Gregory continued impatiently. "If we had another child together she'd be bound to me for life."

"Tonight, with all luck on our side, you'll give her that child." Roger's slowed his exposition dramatically as Gregory became more annoyed.

"Yes, yes, I know that."

The edge in Gregory's voice drew another bout of chuckles from Roger's end. "It's about vulnerability. Your halting, late-night confession of your father's lonely death will melt her heart in ways you can't imagine. Let her come to you as your savior and it'll all come rushing back to her."

"Olivia needs to see me falter."

"Olivia needs to see you weak." Roger echoed. "Nicholas' death has shaken your entire faith in yourself. All your past mistakes with your son might have been remedied if you had somehow made peace with your father while he was alive."

"Then what?" Gregory's eyes stung for just a moment before he blinked it away.

"Then you live happily ever after." Roger was still chuckling as he hung up the phone. Gregory lay his phone back in the cradle and leaned back in his chair in thought.

Roger was right of course, he had a way with the minds of women. After the set up Roger had so thoughtfully dropped into his lap, vulnerability could definitely be arranged.