ANNOUNCEMENT—REPAIRING THE LEGACY IS NOW COMPLETE. THE BOOK VERSION, THE ENDURING LEGACY, WILL BE AVAILABLE IN LATE AUGUST. REPAIRING THE LEGACY WILL CONTINUE TO POST, WITH EPISODES AVAILABLE THROUGH NOVEMBER, 2022.

With this segment of Chapter Fourteen of Repairing the Legacy, we continue the serialization of Repairing the Legacy. This is a rough draft work in progress and may not reflect the final form. Time period: set after the ending of The Martiniere Legacy main trilogy. I’m breaking longer chapters into sections for readability. This is the second part of Chapter Fourteen. There will be six parts to this chapter.

New to the series? Chapter order:

Chapter One, Section One

Return of the Prodigal Son (2 parts)

Conversations and a Dinner (2 parts)

Dancing into Change (2 parts)

Sisterly Compromises (3 parts)

Conspiracies at the Rodeo (3 parts)

Passing the Baton (4 parts)

Research Complications (3 parts)

Chasing After Shadows (3 parts)

Fifth Anniversary Present (3 parts)

Mariah (5 parts)

Shadows, Redux (3 parts)

Accidents Happen (4 parts)

Maternal Memories (4 parts)

April, 2070

GABE

Memory skittered away as the clack-clack of Ruby’s boot heels on the polished wood floor alerted him to her presence. Loneliness crashed over him, ebbing as she stood beside the recliner.

“So here you are, brooding again.” She crossed her arms and frowned down at him.

He half-laughed and slid over, patting the big seat. “Join me.”

She slid into the space—Ruby managed to stay lithe and slim, even at sixty-two—and eased the glass from his fingers, sipping from it. “Sitting alone in a mostly darkened room, glowering out the window, drink in hand, especially at Moondance—oh, I know your habits, Gabriel. What the hell is bugging you?”

Damn right you know me, Ruby.

“Just thinking about the date and the resonances around it.”

“The date?—oh. Yeah.” Her lips tightened. “Coincidence. Just like Branny was born on the same day that Justine had her hysterectomy. Ronnie will grow up to be his own person. Like Bran did.”

“I wasn’t thinking so much of Ronnie and his future. Just—” he sighed. “I fucked up so bad years ago, Rubes. You’re so good with the kids. Maybe if I had stayed, our daughter would have survived.”

Ruby shut her eyes for a moment, wincing. Then she drained the glass, reaching over him to set it down carefully on the side table. “Gabe, it was a hydatidiform mole. Just like Justine’s and Kris’s, only more like Kris’s. No hysterectomy for me.”

“God damn it, I should have still been there to support you.” The revelation stunned him. Three instances of hydatidiform mole in their close family?

That—doesn’t seem right.

“I tried to tell you. You kept blocking my texts until I used Remy’s phone.”

“I was being an idiot. A total fucking fool.” He shuddered. “I should have fought Philip then.”

“You were under mind control, remember? Unable to tell me a damn thing about what was going on whether it was voice, handwriting, or typed.”

He groaned. “And yet I could have thought of a way to tell you. I overlooked an obvious possibility.”

“Like what?”

“Remy Trask had that file that would have qualified you to draw on the Martiniere Family Trust in the event of my death. She was one of the assistant US attorneys working on US vs Martiniere Group. Even though I didn’t know that at the time, I knew she was practicing law in Los Angeles during the trial—and would have been aware of my testimony. I had seven days after Philip gave me that ultimatum. There would have been time for me to act.”

“To do what?” Ruby frowned at him.

“To tell her to disregard my original instructions not to open that envelope unless I was confirmed dead. I should have told her to share that information. The two of you would have figured it out. Maybe even contacted Justine or Donna-gran, figured out a way to beat my programming.”

Ruby pursed her lips. “Given the condition you were in after Philip and his goons beat the crap out of you, I doubt you had much brain space to think about something like that. And—” she arched a brow at him. “Remember, you theorized he introduced more psychotropics and nanos into your system while battering you when he made that demand. That’s another factor why you didn’t think of that option. He intended to block your ability to act, period.”

“All the same, I was fucking stupid. I should have thought of Remy. We might have brought Philip down one hell of a lot sooner.”

“It still wouldn’t have saved that pregnancy, Gabe.”

He gulped. “I slipped away from Mariah and lit a candle in church after you told me you miscarried. Broke down crying on the prie-dieu in front of the candles. It was the only damn thing I could do in that whole mess. And then—” he exhaled. “Something weird. An older woman, in blue, the shade associated with apparitions of Mary. She touched my shoulder and made the sign of the cross on my forehead. Couldn’t see her features clearly because my eyes were blurry with tears, but she kinda looked like my aunt Erica Ramirez—who had been killed years before.”

Actually, more like Mama.

But he wasn’t going to say that. Even though he still half-thought his mother had returned to comfort him.

Ruby cupped his cheek. “I didn’t think you believed.”

He turned his head to kiss her palm. “I still don’t, or at least nothing more than is expedient to keep the Catholic traditionalists in the Family happy. But it soothed me. Not sure why. It was probably one of the older parishioners who had seen my face in a vid.”

“Aw, Gabe. So why are you beating yourself up over this now?”

“Because you’re so good with the kids. Not just Mike and Lily, but Bran. A good mother.” He took a deep breath. “I always thought that sooner or later you would remarry and have more kids with someone else. Had resigned myself to it at one point.”

“No, Gabe.” She shook her head. “There wasn’t anyone promising in Thunder County. You’re—” her voice broke and she swallowed hard. “You’re the only man I’ve ever trusted in a relationship. I had a really rough time in college because so many guys were chasing the rodeo queen. But you were polite. Respectful. Interested in my mind, not just my body. Honestly a horseman. Oh, Monty Montgomery sniffed around me a little bit a couple of years after the divorce, but I told him I wasn’t interested, that screwing him would be too much like getting back in bed with you.”

“That damn Monty.” But Gabe smiled, even as he shook his head. “You know the man carried a torch for you for years, right?”

“He was also fifteen years older than me, and—” she sighed. “I just didn’t have the heart for anyone else, Gabe. It hit me hard when you and Rachel got together. So why didn’t you have kids with her? I could say the same back to you—you’re great with the kids, and Rachel was a good stepmother to Brandon.”

Ouch. But he’d asked for it, by finally asking Ruby this question.

“I had a vasectomy nearly a year before I started dating Rachel. I just—after the divorce, and everything else—I was already worried about what Philip would do to Branny. Once I started making enough money to hire escorts when I went to National Finals, I decided I didn’t want to risk any more hostages to fortune. More weaknesses for Philip to hold over me as a lever, to force me to dance to his tune.”

“Vasectomies can be reversed.”

“Rachel couldn’t have kids. Hysterectomy, as part of her first bout with cancer.”

“I see. That sucks. And no nieces or nephews? Bran didn’t mention any of the Alvarez kids. Just your friend Craig’s kids, and after a couple of years not even them.” Ruby leaned her head into his shoulder.

“Rachel’s brother Rick liked to play the field, never settled down before he died from the G9 virus, and her other brother Rafe—he and Serg were lovers. So neither of them had kids. Serg and Rafe would never have been able to adopt—besides the increasing restrictions on gay adoption thanks to Philip, the hostages to fortune thing was an issue as well, with both of them so deep into security work.”

“Well, we have Mike and the grandkids, at least.”

“And the Swait kids. And the interns at the Double R.”

Ruby laughed. “I think that’s why I kept sponsoring and helping a couple of girls with their horses every year. Couldn’t always do money, but even just loaning trained horses as queen rides helped girls who couldn’t compete otherwise.”

“At least you did something.”

“Ah, Gabe. Stop beating yourself up. What’s past is past, and we have a future ahead of us.”

“True,” Gabe conceded.

He just wondered how many years were left for them together. He was sixty-eight, and Ruby would be sixty-three in October. Neither of them had lived easy lives. His heart. Her family history of cancer.

Gabe wrapped his arms tightly around his Ruby.

Cherish the moment.

God, he remembered doing just this, here, holding Rachel close as cancer ate away at her, day by day.

He hoped he wouldn’t need to do that with Ruby.

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