With this segment of Chapter Four 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, before the Epilogue (for this chapter). I’m breaking longer chapters into sections for readability. This is the third part of Chapter Four. There will be three parts to this chapter.

January, 2060

GABE

It wasn’t the Double R, but Gabe was grateful that the heat and smog had eased off at Justine’s house so that they could gather outside for dinner. Not that he wanted to eat outside at the Double R in January other than a quick sandwich during all-day ranch chores. Even during the warmest winters, Januarys in Northeastern Oregon were cold.

Gabe shed tie and suit jacket, unbuttoned the collar and top two buttons of his shirt, and removed cuff links to roll his sleeves up before joining the others on the deck overlooking the ocean. Now he sprawled in a lounge chair, mojito in hand, savoring the slight breeze. Somehow that drink felt more appropriate in this setting than his usual whisky. Watching the sun set over the ocean brought back childhood memories—the good ones, for once. The days when Saul, his mother Angelica, and his little sister Louisa were still alive, and they lived in a house set on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Back when he still thought Philip was his uncle, not his biological father, and Saul had been Dad. Not his biological uncle.

Justine’s deck was very much like the one at his childhood home. When Gabe leaned his head back and closed his eyes, he could almost imagine himself in that long-ago era. It was a delightful antidote to the busy, intense day he’d spent getting things organized at headquarters, with too damned many flashbacks to the bad years. And a contrast to the memories from his teens.

No bad memories by the ocean.

Philip’s house was inland with no yard, a monstrosity that sprawled across the entire lot, a smaller version of the Hôtel Martiniere. Gabe took pleasure in putting it up for sale.

Gabe turned his face to the soft zephyr, enjoying its gentle brush on his face.

Who now owned his childhood home? Or had it survived landslides and wildfires? If he bought property here, it would be oceanfront. Someplace like this. Maybe he should look for his old home.

Or perhaps just plan on sharing this compound with Justine. It appeared to have plenty of space. He’d look around and talk to her. After all, he didn’t intend to stay here forever. Just a week or so every month, as long as he was the Martiniere. Ruby and Mikey might appreciate spending time near the ocean. But nothing permanent, nothing forever. LA had ceased being home many years ago. Home was Northeastern Oregon, most particularly the Double R.

“You look relaxed,” Brandon said quietly.

Gabe opened his eyes. “Memories,” he said. “Before my family died, I lived in a place very much like this. It was—the good time of my childhood.”

“Was that why you and Rachel spent so much time on the water?”

Gabe nodded. Rachel. His gentle wife, not his warrior wife. His second wife’s upbringing was very similar to his when it came to material things, only in San Diego, not Los Angeles. And while Hernan and Erica Alvarez were—well, he wasn’t going to think poorly of the dead—they had not been vicious to Rachel as a child. Not like Philip had been to his children—and his clones.

Except for Joey, who wasn’t even his own.

But then, even though Joey was his nephew, not his son, he’d been just like Philip.

“Pretty much. Your mother didn’t have that same background, except for Thunder Lake. Not the same at all.”

Brandon snorted. “I should say not.” His water and beach experience as a kid was primarily with Thunder Lake, and occasional excursions on the Columbia and Puget Sound with Gabe and Rachel.

“A place like this comes with concerns,” Justine said. She sat upright in Donald’s lap, taking a break from supervising dinner preparations. Donald’s arms wrapped loosely around her waist. “Earthquake. Fire. Landslide.” Her mouth quirked. “But it’s worth it for evenings like this.”

“Better than the islands?” Donald asked.

Justine gave him a knowing look, one brow raised with a slight smirk. “Solitaire Island is gone. I do enjoy Nameless, in part because I can stand it year-round. It has seasons, and I don’t need to worry about hurricanes.”

Nameless?

Gabe had visited Solitaire, the Caribbean island owned by Donald’s mother, once, shortly after Justine married Donald. Nameless must be Donald’s island residence, somewhere off of the coast of British Columbia. Both Justine and Donald were vague about its specific location.

“Nameless is nice,” said Nick. He and McNaughton sat close together, not quite touching. Justine had welcomed both men warmly, as had Donald. Gabe now recognized Nick as another man who had been part of Justine’s stable of lovers. How did he fit into the mix?

“You’ve been there?” Gabe asked. He hadn’t been invited—yet.

Nick and McNaughton exchanged glances.

“It was a backup bugout site for all of us, not just Justine,” McNaughton said. “A necessary refuge.” He and Nick gazed at each other once more. “Especially during the last few years.”

This was getting complicated because it was clear to Gabe that Nick and McNaughton were in a relationship—and how did that tie into the public involvement that Justine maintained with both of them?

Justine kissed Donald on his lips, a long, lingering caress, and got up. “Eliot, Donald, Gabie looks confused. I think you’d better explain things. I’ve not taken the time to do it yet.”

“Are you certain it’s safe?” McNaughton asked.

“Gabriel is not Philip,” Justine said. “Neither is Brandon. It’s safe. I just—it’s not my place to disclose. I’ve been waiting for the right moment, when you can divulge whatever you’re comfortable with saying. I’m checking on our dinner progress. You men talk.” She kissed McNaughton’s brow, then Nick’s, before going inside.

McNaughton sighed. Then he glanced at Donald. “So who goes first?”

Donald shrugged. “I can start. As you’ve probably figured out by now, Gabe, the divorce was a protective cover for our political activities.”

“I somewhat had that impression, yes. Tine has said that you, Eliot, and Nick were important elements in her surviving Philip.”

Donald nodded. “Eliot—and Nick—were part of that cover.”

“I’m bi,” Eliot said flatly. “I had a huge crush on Justine while working with her, but figured she was unavailable. So I started dating Nick, just before Justine and Donald began their divorce drama.” He took Nick’s hand. “Justine discovered the relationship, thankfully before Philip did. She laid it on the line—she needed to role play her involvement with another man. I needed to hide my relationship with Nick from Philip. Different goals, but similar concealment needs.”

“So all the media was fake?” Damn.

“Oh, the divorce was a real thing,” Donald said. “As was my involvement with Coral, Francie, and Meg. What wasn’t disclosed was that they served as my medical and emotional support throughout—more than they were ever my lovers.”

“I came into the picture with Justine shortly after she discovered our relationship,” Nick said.

Gabe exhaled. “All of you are superb actors. I followed things from afar, obviously, then got sucked up into my own drama. I hadn’t the faintest clue.”

“When the stakes are as high as they were, that tends to make one focus on the slightest action that could destroy you,” Nick said.

“Yeah,” Gabe said. “Philip never knew?”

“Oh, I think he suspected,” Eliot said. “But he had his own little harem on the side. He had to keep it concealed because of his role in the Electric Born, and that was often difficult with Mariah Meyers. If it hadn’t been for the hidden indenture contract Philip held on her, I think she would have tried to blackmail him into marrying her. As it were, I think that’s how she managed to establish herself as first amongst his women.”

Gabe snorted. “Mariah does not exactly do discreet.” As he well knew, from her role in his and Ruby’s divorce. He was still surprised that she had kept her child by Joey, the cyborg Alexander, secret all these years.

And yet, access to her son had been Philip’s means of control over Mariah’s actions. More than that hidden indenture contract.

“No. She doesn’t,” Eliot sighed. “To protect us all, Justine threatened to disclose Philip’s involvement with his women, at the same time that she was visibly involved with both me and Nick. That revelation would have destroyed everything he was trying to do with the Electric Born, so Justine had the upper hand over him. For once.”

“It was a challenging and difficult era,” Donald said. He raised his glass. “And thanks to you, Gabe, and my—our—beloved falcon Justine, those times are done. To a new future.”

“To a new future,” Gabe echoed, along with the others. He glanced at Brandon, whose expression was studied and blank. He wondered just how much of this his son had already known, due to his time spent working in Los Angeles with the AgInnovator.

Georgy Batineau, the AgI’s owner, was one of Mariah’s long-term lovers. On her own initiative, or at Philip’s direction? Now that Philip was dead, Mariah had sworn off all involvement with men.

Gabe had to wonder how close to the truth that vow really was. He didn’t trust Mariah Meyers, not one bit. Even this reformed version.

He had gained that knowledge the hard way, and possessed no desire to repeat the experience.

*************************

Like what you’ve read so far? Check out the other stories in The Martiniere Legacy—all links here, both Amazon and other sources.

Justine Fixes Everything: Reflections on Mortality is now available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo!

What’s it about?

EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE....

Over the years, Justine Martiniere has become the fixer for the Martinieres. Have a problem? Go to Justine to get it remedied.

But it wasn't always that way.

First, Justine needed to escape the abuses of her father, Philip. She didn't expect to fall in love with the man she married, Donald Atwood. But she did–and then she faced the choice between remaining married to Donald, or stopping her sociopathic, megalomaniac father.

Justine Fixes Everything is in part the unusual love story of Justine and Donald–and in part the saga of her rise to power, viewed in retrospect as she tells the history to Philip's clone Mike, as he recovers from surgery. It's about what she sacrificed to become powerful—and, at the same time, how that past comes to haunt the challenges she faces toward the end of her life.