With this segment of Chapter Ten 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 fifth part of Chapter Ten. There will be five parts to this chapter.

New to the series? Chapter order:

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

September, 2064

GABE

Taking care of Braun’s illicit labs connected to Heaven’s Reach wasn’t quite as bad as cleaning Heaven’s Reach out of North Fork. Gabe personally ensured that Justine’s cell clones and every record on that damned site were eradicated. He sent copies of the files to Donald for analysis. Those files were safe with Donald, safer even than with Justine.

Gabe let Justine and Brandon deal with the political fallout from Zingter and the incapacitation of Terence Braun and Natalie Braun-Weimer. He and Ruby led the destruction of the labs.

Delegation of responsibility.

Both Reinhard Weimer and Berendt Weimer died along with others at the source lab when drones destroyed it. Shrapnel from one explosion clobbered Gabe’s right thigh—not bad enough to break through his protective armor, but enough to leave him sore and hobbling.

A price to be paid.

Ruby was at his side the whole time, at least.

And when the damned bloody mess was finished, Gabe and this wife, his warrior wife, went to the cliff house.

They spent the first day sitting together on the deck overlooking the Pacific. Neither able to pick up a book, watch vids, or anything else to distract from the memories of destroying the labs.

Neither able to keep even the slightest bit of food down without vomiting.

Just listen to the ocean and the cries of seagulls, arms around each other.

And drink bourbon straight from the bottle, puking it up before drinking more. But alcohol brought the shadows into sharper focus, instead of blurring them.

It still felt good to do.

Ruby cried multiple times. Sometimes she swore and raged, beating on Gabe’s chest.

He didn’t resist.

Their sleep that night was troubled, one or the other waking up screaming from nightmares.

A price to be paid.

#

The second day was better.

Both of them were able to eat small amounts without puking, and they didn’t touch the remaining unopened bottles of bourbon in the liquor cabinet.

Gabe coaxed Ruby into the hot tub.

This hadn’t been what he had in mind when he bought this house as a retreat back in August, but God, now he was grateful they had the cliff house.

#

By the third day, they made love.

The steady thunder of the ocean waves against the small sandy beach at the bottom of the cliff soothed both of them. They didn’t venture down the narrow cliff trail this visit. Just hearing the faint roar of the ocean mixed with seagull cries was enough.

#

“Are you ready to go back?” Gabe asked Ruby on the fourth day, as they sat on the deck, Ruby in his lap. A soft autumn drizzle mixed with fog muffled the sound of gulls and ocean waves.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think I was capable of doing things like this,” Ruby said. “Breaking people like I did Terence Braun. Killing—“ Her voice cracked. “But it had to be done. I just—if we didn’t, what would they do to Mike? To Lily?”

“I know,” he murmured.

“Better that we did it ourselves rather than handing it off to others,” she said. “But oh God, Gabe, the nightmares. Now I understand why you had so many of them when we got back together.”

“I wish I could have spared you this,” he said. “The price of being a Martiniere.”

“But it would have meant life without you,” she said. “I—don’t think I could have tolerated that.” She choked. “Twenty-one years apart was bad enough. So yes. Even if I had known about—this—I don’t regret it. Not one bit.”

He nuzzled the top of her head, unable to speak as he held her tight.

#

They returned to the Double R on the fifth day, more or less patched together and ready to face whatever came next.