Chapter 9: The Beach
The four hour ride to the beach house passed quickly. Sophie slept most of the way, but about 10 minutes before reaching the house, she decided she needed to eat.
"Her lungs are healthy, that's for sure," Tony joked.
The house was set nearly a mile off the road at the end of a tree lined drive. It was a cottage, really, but elegant. Tony, who had taken over the task of driving about two hours into the drive, pulled a garage door remote and house keys from his jacket pocket. He opened the garage door and pulled the car in. With the ignition off, he immediately and closed the garage door. Both Tony and Michelle had kept a sharp eye out for any sign of a tail. From his years at CTU, Tony knew that trailing Michelle at this point would be considered low yield and consequently, probably not worth the effort, but he still felt uneasy.
Michelle took a screaming Sophie from the car.
"Go ahead inside and feed her," Tony said, handing her the house keys. "I'll start unloading."
Michelle stepped into the house. It was beautiful. She walked through the kitchen to a sunken sunroom decorated in a nautical theme. She sat down and began to unbutton her blouse. Sophie was rooting frantically, looking for food, her face red from screaming. Her cries stopped abruptly as Michelle offered her a breast.
Tony carried all of the bags in from the car. He walked in the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "What do you want for dinner?" he asked. He began to list choices: "Swordfish steaks, fillet mignon, chicken, salmon, pork tenderloin. Your choice."
"Those are all of my favorites," Michelle exclaimed.
"I know," Tony said. "I gave them a grocery list. How about the swordfish?"
"That would be perfect. Sweetheart, you are amazing," she marveled. "This must have cost a fortune."
"And worth every penny of it," he responded. "That reminds me, I set up an off shore bank account for you and Sophie in the Cayman Islands. I'm making a lot of money and, frankly, it doesn't cost me much to live. I want to make sure you two are taken care of."
"Tony, that's dangerous. If I start spending money that wasn't reported to the IRS as income, I'm going to be audited. They'll know where the money is coming from."
"Michelle, it's untraceable. They can assume the money is coming from me, but it's a numbered account so they can't trace it to me. They may put some pressure on you, threaten you, but they don't have a leg to stand on. It won't hold up in court and they know it." He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips and touched Sophie's face. He loved watching Michelle nurse Sophie. "Let's not worry about it now. I will give you all of the access codes later."
Tony grilled the swordfish steaks and some vegetables and finished the meal with grilled fruit kabobs. Michelle really did miss his cooking. She hadn't eaten this well in a long time. After dinner, they decided to walk on the beach as the sun set. They walked slowly, hand in hand. Tony carried Sophie in a pouch where she could rest her head on his chest and sleep. They barely spoke; they just reveled in the joy they felt at being reunited at last.
It was nearly 11pm when they walked back into the house. Michelle nursed Sophie and got her ready for bed. She didn't understand at the time, but for the first time in her life, Sophie was kissed goodnight by both of her parents.
The time at the beach was magical. The days were generally too warm and sunny to have Sophie outside much, so they spent the days inside. But as the temperature cooled and the sun was lower in the sky, they spent their late afternoons and evenings on the beach taking walks or just sitting watching the waves. The nights were spent sharing their love. They made love passionately as if to make up for the months they had missed and still store some up for the time ahead that they would be apart.
Saturday evening they sat in beach chairs at the water's edge, the waves lapping at their bare feet. Tony was holding Sophie and watching her eyes grow heavier and heavier.
"You're going to spoil her to death, Tony," Michelle said. "Then you're going to leave and she's going to think I should hold her all the time." She sounded angrier than she really intended. She stood up and took Sophie from him and held her close to her face. "When do you have to leave us?" she asked as she turned her back and walked a few steps away.
He looked down at the foam from a wave curling around his feet. "Tuesday morning around 2am."
"So, we drive back to LA on Monday evening?" Michelle asked.
"No," he answered. "I'll be picked up here. There will be a yacht anchored about 100 yards out. There's an inflatable boat in the garage. I take it out to the yacht and we sail off." His voice was expressionless.
"How long will it take you to get home?" her voice cracked.
Tony stood and walked up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and Sophie. "Sweetheart, I'm home now. Where I'm going is not home." They stood like that for a long time just watching the ocean through eyes blurred with tears.
The love they made that night was slow and quiet and particularly tender. Neither spoke or cried out, it was as if they expressed their sadness through soft kisses and gentle touch. They fell off to sleep curled one behind the other, Tony's arm around Michelle, their fingers intertwined.
Tony woke later to find Michelle was not in bed. He walked over to Sophie's room expecting to find her there, but Sophie was sleeping peacefully. He grabbed a bathrobe and walked toward the kitchen. The door to the patio was open and he could see Michelle sitting on the beach.
She was sitting near the water hugging her knees to her chest. Tony knelt in the sand beside her. "Baby, what are you doing out here?"
"I've made a decision," she said without looking at him, her voice was strong and clear.
"What's that?" he asked slipping his finger under her chin and raising her face up toward his.
"Sophie and I are coming with you."
"Michelle, you two can't make this trip."
She interrupted, "Not this time, Tony. Go back and get settled. Get a place for the three of us to live. Then send for Sophie and me."
Tony closed his eyes. "Michelle, I want us to be together more than anything in the world, but think about what you're giving up. Once you go, you can't come back. You become a fugitive just like me. And, Honey, I don't want to sound selfish, but if you leave, there is no one to fight for me. I lose all hope of having the charges dropped."
Michelle started to cry. "How long do you want me to continue this fight? Tony, I can't take this anymore. I'm tired. I've been all over the country, more than once fighting for you. Some days I made as many as 3 or 4 appearances. At the same time I was working and I was pregnant. I had Sophie without you. Do you know how scared I was? How much more do you expect me to do?"
"Oh, Baby, I'm so sorry," he said as he grasped her hands, pulled them to his lips and kissed them. "I know what you've done for me. God, I hate what you have gone through because of me and if you want to stop and come with me, then that's what I want, too. Michelle, you are incredible. You're my rock. I look at how strong you are and it gives me the courage to go on. The night Sophie was born, I was so depressed I was going to kill myself. The only thing that stopped me was you. After all you've done for me; I couldn't do that to you." He wrapped his arms around her. "It's your decision, Honey. If you want to come with me, I can have a place for us in a few weeks. Just say the word." He kissed her forehead and held her.
Tony and Michelle savored the remainder of their time together. As the sun began to set Monday evening, the family went out on the beach as had become their routine. They walked silently watching an amazing sunset.
Michelle spoke first, "Tony, I've thought it over and Sophie and I are going to stay here and keep fighting for you for a while."
"How long is 'a while'?" he asked.
"Until Sophie's 2nd birthday. Period. That's it. Once she turns two I think she needs to have you in her life. So if I can't make this happen by then, we're coming with you."
"Honey, I will live with whatever decision you make. It's okay with me." He kissed her. "If you ever need to get in touch with me, take out a personal ad in the LA Times Sunday classifieds that says 'always and forever'. I'll check them on line every week. If I see that ad, I'll have somebody get in touch with you. Okay?"
She nodded slightly, her eyes downcast. "Tony, is there any chance we can do this again? See each other, I mean."
"I don't know, Honey. This was dangerous and if it was just me taking the risk, I'd do it again in a minute but I can't put you at risk. There's too much at stake now. If you get caught harboring a fugitive, you go to jail. What happens to Sophie? I should have never asked you to take this risk in the first place."
She nodded, she knew he was right. They sat and watched the calm water. Tony brought the inflatable boat and his backpack out around 1:45am. Michelle tried hard not to cry. After all, this was really harder on Tony than it was on her. At least she got to see Sophie every day. Tony clutched the baby to his chest, telling her over and over, "Daddy loves you so much."
They watched as the yacht came into view. As planned, it anchored about 100 yards off shore at 2am. They said their final goodbyes and kissed. They could each taste the salt from the tears that spilled down their cheeks and mingled on their lips. Tony walked the boat out a few yards then climbed in and pushed off. He didn't turn back to look at her, it was too painful. He stared straight ahead and watched as the yacht loomed larger and larger in front of him.
Michelle stood on the beach until she could no longer see the yacht. Then she walked in the house, put Sophie in her crib and cried herself to sleep.
She awoke the next morning hardly feeling rested, but knowing she had to be alert for the long drive ahead of her. She packed the car and put Sophie in her car seat, then she drove away. She knew that shortly after she left a cleaning team would come in to the house to erase any evidence that Tony Almeida, fugitive from the U.S. government, had ever been there.