Chapter 5

By two o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, Diana Richards was explaining where they were going to her husband Charles as he and his partner, Tom Seldon, loaded their overnight bags into the trunk of the car. "Your mother is expecting us to arrive around three o'clock. She's hoping we'll stay for dinner and visit with your family before we leave to go to my parents' home in Virginia. The drive should take about four hours. So if we can leave by seven, it should put us at my parents' around eleven o'clock. I already told Mama and Daddy not to expect us until late."

Charles said to the others, "I just want to warn you guys now ... I'm not that close with my family. Most of them are not very considerate people. They talk and make jokes and everyone puts on a good front that we all get along famously. But I've hardly spoken to my father in the last ten years. If I'm lucky, he won't even be there. I love my mother ... but she nags me terribly and she's the nosiest busybody you'd ever want to meet!

"I rarely ever see my oldest brother and his wife and their two sons, and my middle brother and younger sister are leeches when it comes to money. They weren't very happy with me just before I moved to L.A. I finally convinced Mom to stop letting them suck money out of her every time they were in financial trouble. I like my in-laws better than I do my own siblings! Gee ... don't I sound excited to see my family?" Charles said sarcastically as they were climbing into the car.

Diana sat next to him on the front seat and leaned her head on his shoulder. She said sadly, "It just seems so unfair that you're the only truly decent member of your family ... and the only one who can't have children to carry on what's good!" She sighed heavily.

Charles glanced in the rearview mirror. Tom and Lynda were looking at him sympathetically. He took a deep breath, started the car and pulled away. He headed toward La Plata, Maryland for what he knew would be a few hours of pleasant, but stilted, conversation with people he felt less kinship with than the two sitting in the backseat of the car.

At seven o'clock that evening, Lynda was chuckling as they headed down the highway from southern Maryland into Virginia. "You were right about your mother, Charles. She is one of the nosiest women I've ever met! But she's so kind about it that you can't help but like her!"

Then Tom said, "I can also see why you said I looked more like your brother! Mike and Paul look nothing like you. As a matter of fact, none of you look very much alike! Are you sure you're mother wasn't ... messing around while your father was gone on all those business trips?" he finished with a chuckle.

Charles glanced at him in the mirror with a grin on his face. "You don't know how many times I've wondered that myself over the years! It would sure as hell explain a lot!" They both laughed.

Diana chuckled, too. Then she said thoughtfully, "I could probably like your sister, Liz. She's a lot like me personality-wise ... except for her inability to handle money! She's a lot of fun to be around and she's very talented in many ways ... but she's a bit conceited about it, too. She likes to brag on herself a lot. That would probably drive me crazy after a while."

She paused for a moment. "But your father ... it's like he has no heart. He doesn't seem to care about anyone ... not even himself. He's going to chain-smoke to death. He drinks coffee like it's going out of style, but he won't touch alcohol? I've never trusted a man who doesn't drink! He's just a strange man. And I see absolutely no resemblance in you to him at all ... physically or mentally."

Charles lifted her hand from where it was resting on his thigh and kissed her fingers.

She looked at him. "Some of your family drove me nuts with the pleasantries that came out of their mouths and the backstabbing looks I caught every once in a while. I understand now why you wanted to get away from them."

She laid her head on his shoulder. Everyone was mostly quiet for the rest of the trip. Diana's father had waited up for their arrival and he could see they were all exhausted. So he showed them to their rooms and bid them all good night.

Christmas morning dawned brightly at John and Josephine Maitland's home in Colonial Heights, Virginia. They were overjoyed to have their youngest daughter and their new son-in-law for a surprise last-minute holiday visit, brief though it would be. They also were glad to see Tom and Lynda Seldon again, having met them at Charles and Diana's birthday party in L.A.

Diana's whole family arrived by mid-morning for Christmas brunch. Afterward, everyone sat around and watched as the younger children opened their gifts. The grown ups had decided long ago that Christmas was for the children. Everyone didn't need to spend hard earned money trying to buy presents for more than twenty people ... some of them simply could not afford it.

The children went outside to play with their new toys and the grown ups stayed inside. The women congregated in the kitchen, making preparations for the afternoon meal and the men sat around talking. Diana's mother, sister, sisters-in-law and nieces all treated Lynda like she was one of the family. And Tom fit right in with Charles and all three of Diana's older brothers, brother-in-law, one nephew and her father. Everyone was laughing and the pleasantries exchanged were genuine.

When the afternoon meal was over, the men were all sitting around talking again. Diana's oldest brother, Dan, asked about something that Charles tried to side step.

"I caught a story on a national news station one night just after Thanksgiving about a shooting that occurred at a residence in Brentwood. They said it had started out as a hostage situation ... that a man who had assaulted a woman months earlier came back to attack her again and ended up being killed by police and FBI hostage negotiators. I figured since you live in Brentwood and are with the FBI that you would know about it."

Charles and Tom glanced at each other uncomfortably. Charles looked back at his brother-in-law and said quietly. "I'm sorry, Dan, but we can't talk about that."

Dan cornered Charles and Tom a few minutes later when they got up to refresh their drinks. "OK ... what's up? I saw that look the two of you exchanged and I don't buy that you can't talk about it. It can't be that confidential if it was on the news. The story said that the identities of the victims involved were being withheld to protect their privacy. They only identified the attacker who was killed ... a guy named Edward Hood."

Diana rushed over when she heard the mention of that bastard's name. "Charles!" she hissed. You weren't supposed to tell anyone about that!"

Dan Maitland turned around to stare at his little sister's ashen face. He forgot that she had switched to using her middle name and reverted to what everyone had always called her when she was growing up. "Sherry ... your husband hasn't told me a thing. I was telling him about a news story I heard back around Thanksgiving. From what you just said, I can only surmise that you were involved somehow!"

Diana put her hand over her mouth as she stared back at her eldest brother. "Oh, God..." she mumbled. She removed her hand and took a deep, ragged breath. "OK, Dan ... I'll tell you what happened, but you have to swear to me that you will not tell Mama and Daddy. I think you'll understand why once you've heard the whole story."

Dan Maitland stared at his sister in shock. Dear God ... she'd been through so much and she never let on to any of them! And he wondered why? She knew how much the whole family cared about her...

"Damn, little sister ... I was shocked enough to learn that you were friends with John Wayne and Ward Bond when Mom and Dad came back from L.A. in November. But now I find out that your husband, his partner and a couple other policeman friends shot and killed a man that assaulted and raped you five months ago after he had secretly stalked you for years! Then he came back to kill you and he held you and your girlfriends hostage?!"

Dan closed his eyes and shook his head. "You're right, Sherry. I see why you don't want Mom and Dad to know about this. It wouldn't be good for Mom's health and Dad doesn't need to hear a story like this about his baby girl. It would probably kill him. I'll try to keep this quiet."

Diana's eyes welled with tears. She hugged her brother briefly. "Thanks, Dan. We're going to have to leave soon to return to Washington. I want to tell everyone goodbye before we leave. And try to remember to call me Diana!" she chided at her brother.

She reached up and kissed her husband tenderly before she walked away.

Charles watched his wife hugging some of her family members as she told them goodbye. She was so vulnerable ... and she didn't even realize how fragile she was. And he couldn't give her the one thing that would probably give her strength ... to want to live her life to the fullest ... He turned back around toward his older brother-in-law and Tom. His eyes were misted with pain.

Dan could see that Charles really did love his little sister. Hell ... he'd killed a man for her... "It's a great comfort to know that my little sister finally found a man worthy of her love."

Charles' eyes filled with tears. "Unfortunately, I'm not worthy enough. I don't think I can give her what she most wants from me." Diana's brother frowned at him. "A child. It's highly unlikely that I'll ever have children. I just found out last week. I know Diana's heartbroken about it ... but she loves me and she'll never leave me. I suppose we could always adopt..." But he knew she wanted to experience pregnancy ... to feel their child grow inside her. And now she wouldn't...