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Chapter Five
"So they didn't send your client to jail?"
Even though Emma was only six years old, she always showed particular interest in the work of her parents and Diane and Will had no choice but to always tell her something about a case they were working on, so they told her about today's verdict as well.
"No, he's free, he is home with his kids now."
"But he has killed someone."
"No Em, he didn't kill anyone, that's why he's free now. That's our job you know, to make sure innocent people don't go to jail."
"I want to be a lawyer too," the little girl said with dreaming eyes and Diane couldn't help smiling at her.
"I think it's a little too early to talk about it, you've just started elementary school. And if I remember correctly last week you wanted to be an actress."
"But lawyers are more important," Emma said decisively, which earned her another smile from her mother.
"And actresses are more popular," Will pointed out and for a moment Em looked confused when her brother – who obviously had no real idea what they were talking about at the dinner table, since he was definitely too young to understand – interfered.
"Can I go play now?"
"Just for a half an hour, sweetie, then daddy will bath you," Diane said as she started to gather the plates from the table.
"Ok," Nathan replied and disappeared in a minute.
"Let me help," Will stood up to take over her task and she was actually thankful for him, she felt particularly tired that night and she still had to check Emma's homework.
"Thank you," she said and kissed him shortly before turning back to their daughter who obviously had long forgotten if she wanted to be a lawyer or an actress, she was just looking at them, smiling.
"When I grow up I want to marry a man like daddy," she said and Diane had to try really hard not to chuckle.
o-o-o
"Are you going to tell me what Stern told you today?" she brought up the subject again that night, after the kids went to sleep.
She didn't want to fight, she just wished to know the truth and she was convinced he hadn't told her that.
"I already told you, it was about a new case, nothing important," he replied without even lifting his head from the book he was reading.
"But you seemed really agitated afterwards. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I'm sure," he stated and it seemed like he declared the conversation to be over.
"I'm going to take a shower now," she changed the subject quickly, deciding to give up on the previous topic, but she already started to think about how else she could get to know what had happened on that meeting.
o-o-o
The next morning when they arrived at work she couldn't help noticing the assistants' reaction when they passed by them. They suddenly stopped talking and sent curious looks in their direction. Will obviously didn't notice, he was still too sleepy to concentrate on the world around them. But she decided not to share it with him, because she guessed it had something to do with his mysterious meeting and she wanted to finally know the truth.
It didn't take long until she called her own assistant into her office that morning and openly asked her what was going on.
"I'm sorry, I really thought you knew," came the obvious answer.
She and Evelyn had become friends throughout the last year and she was obviously surprised Diane didn't know what all assistants seemed to know already.
"What should I know?"
"Stern&Holt are looking for a third name partner and Will is one of the equity partners they consider."
Diane was glad she was sitting, because she might have actually fainted hearing the words. It was all too understandable now why Will had chosen not to tell her about it. Still it hurt her that she had to get to know it this way. And it hurt her even more that the news shattered all her dreams at once.
"Is there any way I can help?" Evelyn asked and Diane just shook her head.
"Just please don't mention to Will that I know," she added.
She had no idea what to do now. It was obviously a great opportunity for Will, becoming a name partner of a well-known law firm. It would change his life a great deal, their life. On the other hand they'd been dreaming about their own firm for so long and just when they were about to take this huge step, life interfered. She could only imagine how Will must have felt, probably torn between the two possibilities and of course he had chosen not to burden her. She loved him for that, but hated him at the same time.
This was really something they had to discuss together and he was probably waiting for the right time to bring it up. Or maybe he'd chosen not to talk about it, because he had already made up his mind not to accept the offer. But she wasn't sure that would be the right decision on his side. She wanted them to have their own firm more than anything in the world, but she really couldn't expect him to make such a huge sacrifice for her.
It could take a while until their new firm started to run properly and bring profit, it would require lots of patience and resignation. It was a good alternative to their current situation, but compared to being a name partner of a top firm, choosing to open a no name firm sounded like a suicide to her.
She needed time to think it through, she needed to be alone for a while and most importantly she didn't want Will to see her like that. Because as much as she knew him, he knew her all the same, he would have easily told something was wrong had he seen her that moment. She decided to leave for a while to calm down before facing him again.