Things Happen For A Reason Ch 07 1

Luke and Sarah strode up the path to the Fletcher house, or rather mansion, Luke thought to himself, eyeing the large estate with trepidation. He and Sarah had argued over breakfast about how best to approach the newly-married Bree-Anne Fletcher.

He'd wanted to do it alone; so had Sarah. They'd finally settled on doing it together. "The shock value of both of us might stun her into revealing more than she would to either of us alone," Sarah had pointed out, and he'd had to agree.

When he rang the doorbell to announce their visit, he felt Sarah's hand slide into his and squeeze it a little too tight for comfort. "No matter what happens, you're still coming home to me and Jack, right?" she asked in a strained voice.

He wondered why she'd ask something like that now but decided he'd find out soon enough. Before he could answer, the door swung open and a small middle-aged woman in cleaning garb asked, "Can I help you?"

Sarah cleared her throat and beamed a smile at the woman. "Hi there. We're old friends of Bree-Anne and were passing through town. Is she home, by any chance?"

"She's around back in the garden. Please come in and I'll tell her you're here." The woman led them into a warmly decorated living room and then asked, "Who may I tell her is calling?"

"The Johnstons," Sarah said, sending Luke a veiled glance and adding another squeeze to his hand.

When the woman left, Luke decided to snoop around a little. Bree-Anne had obviously married well. The paper had said her husband was the CEO of a local marketing firm. Luke walked around the room, looking at expensive knick-knacks and framed photos of people. His eye caught one and stopped. He picked up the frame of the man and woman and said, "Hey, I know this lady."

Sarah rushed over to look for herself. "You remember her?"

He shook his head. No. It was the lady from the bar and grill, the one who'd tried to pick him up. "I saw her yesterday at the restaurant."

"Well, she used to be blonde and I'm pretty sure she's had a nose job since I last saw her, but that's definitely Bree-Anne," Sarah pointed out.

Luke suddenly got a very bad feeling about this and was tempted to grab Sarah's hand and leave.

"I was wondering if you two were going to show up," a distinctly feminine and British voice said, capturing Luke's attention. He lifted his head and saw the woman from the picture standing in the doorway, not looking the least bit phased to see them in her home.

Sarah pressed closer to Luke, but calmly returned, "Hello Bree-Anne. It's been a long time."

The other woman's eyebrows shot up as she smiled at the comment. She stepped further into the room and said, "Let's not kid each other, Sarah. It hasn't been long enough for either of us. Can I get either of you a drink?"

Luke and Sarah exchanged glances as if to say Is she kidding? Then Luke pointed out, "Your voice is very different than it was yesterday. One might think you were deliberately disguising it from me then."

Bree-Anne laughed. "How true. I have to say I expected you to remember me anyway. After all, we knew each other so intimately at one time. Then again, I suppose you don't remember any of that, do you? Pity."

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, even as Luke frowned at the implications.

"Oh Sarah, don't be so bloody stupid," Bree-Anne chided. "Who do you think Luke turned to when he found out you were cheating on him? Of course, that was a long time ago and I am married now. Quite happily, in fact, so if you will please just say what you came to say and leave, I would appreciate it."

Sarah shot Luke a look full of hurt and shock. He wished he could tell her it wasn't true, but hell if he knew if it was or not. His frown turned angry as he focused on the other woman and asked, "Why were you following me yesterday? How do you know about my amnesia?"

She shrugged and took a sip of the drink she'd prepared herself. "The accident made the papers. But I was hardly following you. I just happened to be at the same restaurant as you yesterday. Pure coincidence."

"Yeah, well, I'm starting to think there are no such things as coincidences."

"Suit yourself," she said. "What is the purpose of this lovely visit anyway?"

Luke stepped forward and demanded, "What did you tell me to make me leave Sarah?"

She laughed. "Tell you? Why nothing but the truth. In fact, I think it was what I gave you that finally did the trick. Sorry, Sarah, dear, but I couldn't keep your secrets forever. Dear Luke deserved better. It was quite sad, really, the way you and Riley were cuckolding him behind his back once he was trying to give you a second chance."

"What the hell are you implying?" Sarah demanded angrily.

"Does it really matter anymore? Let's just put it all behind us. Obviously you two have, if you're here together. Or did you try to use Luke's amnesia to hide your dirty affair?"

Sarah moved toward her smug-looking nemesis, with what intent he didn't know, but Luke grabbed her and held her back just to be safe. "You gave me a tape," he pointed out.

Something flickered in Bree-Anne's eyes as if he'd caught her by surprise, finally. "So you have remembered?"

"What tape? What are you talking about?" Sarah asked.

"Tell Sarah about the tape, Bree-Anne. I'm sure she'll find it enlightening to know you were taping her and Riley without their knowledge."

Sarah looked puzzled, but Bree-Anne had regained her composure and simply shrugged. "If I hadn't taped that conversation between them, you would have never known the truth."

So it had been an audio tape, not a video tape as Luke had first suspected. He probed for more details, saying, "I'm sure Riley knew it was being recorded, didn't he? I'm sure he even helped."

Again, Bree-Anne seemed surprised, but she agreed, "Poor Riley. It was his idea, actually. He really thought he was in love with your wife, but even though she was happy enough to carry on an affair, for some reason she didn't want to leave you for him. He wanted to help that along."

"That's a damned lie! And what conversation? What are you talking about?" Sarah demanded. "Luke, I swear I never led Riley on. After that one night, I made it clear I never wanted to see him again. You have to believe me!"

Suddenly Luke remembered. He remembered sitting in his office with Bree-Anne across from him as she pulled a tape out of her purse, looking pained to do so, and gave it to him. He remembered going down to his car for lunch and listening to the tape there.

The tape had been a little muffled, but he'd clearly been able to make out Riley's distinct voice talking and laughing with a woman. A woman who had sounded a lot like Sarah. As he continued to listen to the sounds of obvious lovemaking, he'd grown angrier and angrier, especially when the lovemaking stopped and Riley said, "What do you think Luke would do if he knew we were still seeing each other?"

"Probably kill us both," Sarah laughed. "Especially if he knew I was expecting your child. I suppose I'll have to convince him it's his. He'll probably be so happy, he won't even question it. I haven't told him yet that I'm pregnant, so I have some time."

Shaking himself of the memory, he stared anew at his wife, who still appeared angry by what Bree-Anne was suggesting.

"It was a conversation between you and Riley," Luke told Sarah now, even as he backed away from her a little. "Half of it was the two of you having sex, but the rest was pretty clear. You told him you were pregnant with his baby, but you'd convince me it was mine. ... Jack?" he breathed harshly and felt more pain than he would have expected at the revelation.

"What? No!" Sarah turned to Bree-Anne and demanded, "I never had a conversation like that. It wasn't me!"

"Who else could it have been?" Bree-Anne shot back haughtily. Sarah pointed a finger in her direction and accused, "You! You're pretty good at changing your voice. You must have somehow changed your voice to sound like mine."

"How ridiculous." Bree-Anne glanced at her watch. "As much fun as this has been, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave now."

"No," Luke said.

He was remembering...

He remembered that he'd never slept with Bree-Anne. She had just implied, not fifteen minutes ago, that he had. That meant she was lying then, and he knew she had a history of lying. Why hadn't he realized it might not have been Sarah on the tape?

The memories were clear now. They were assaulting him, making him dizzy. He turned to look at the woman who had once been his assistant and said, "You killed Riley, didn't you?"

"What?" she turned red. "How dare you!"

"You were helping Riley embezzle funds from the firm," he said, still remembering. "That's one reason you were so intent on driving a wedge between me and Sarah. To keep me so distracted, I wouldn't find out. But I did, didn't I? At least, I almost had enough evidence to turn you and Riley in, but that's when you gave me that tape. You encouraged me to leave Sarah and leave town, and by that point, nothing mattered to me anymore so I did."

"You're talking crazy," Bree-Anne argued, but even so, she was backing away. Sarah was casting glances between him and her ex-friend as if everything was starting to make sense.

"Why would she kill Riley? How?" Sarah asked quietly.

"That I can't answer," Luke admitted.

"You can't prove any of this!" Bree-Anne said, looking more and more discomfited by the minute.

Luke thought hard for a second and then, "You tried to have me killed. You had someone rig the site I was working on so it would give way and crush me. How did you know I was even back in Atlanta?"

"I've always known where you both were," she said, and then realized she'd probably admitted too much.

"Both of us? But..." Sarah shook her head, then looked as if she'd just had a major revelation. "It was you who sent me that package! You must have sent them all. But why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Luke said, feeling more confident in his conclusions now. "To control you. She wanted you out of town as much as she wanted me out of town. If you were still here, I might come back for you someday. She used your fear to drive you into hiding and to insure you never came back. Just as she used my anger to drive me away. She had us pegged all along."

"Even if it's true, you have to realize I was only doing it to protect you. If you came back here, I would have to—"

"Kill me?" Luke said, moving in close to shield Sarah in case the other woman was to do something crazy. "I guess you must have gotten pretty nervous when you saw I was back in town. You have a lot more to loose now – a husband, money, respect. If I went to the police with my suspicions, your whole world would crumble. Do you know it was pure luck I was the only one who got hurt in that accident? You might have killed other innocent men in the process."

Bree-Anne looked at him calmly for a second, then turned back to the bar. She quickly downed a glass of something and turned back to face them. Only this time, she had a small gun in her hand.

"I didn't want to do this," she said emotionally. "The whole thing with Riley was an accident. We were having dinner at his place; I was trying to convince him to give up his infatuation with Sarah. He knew where she was and was thinking of going to see her, but I tried to make him see that could only stir you up again if you found out. Make you vengeful toward the both of us. When he had a reaction to something he ate, I didn't know what to do. I panicked. I left him alone. I didn't know he'd die! It was only afterwards that I realized what a good stroke of luck it had been for me. With him dead, I didn't have to split the money with him. There was no one around who knew the truth, except for you, Luke, but you were gone and didn't give a damn about anything anymore. Everything seemed to fall into place after that."

"Until I came back,' Luke pointed out bitterly.

"I'm sorry. I love my husband. I love him enough to kill you to keep him from ever finding out the truth. It's not even about the money anymore. Can you understand that?" She swallowed hard and raised the gun a little higher. "I followed you yesterday as a test. If I could convince myself you really couldn't remember anything, I was going to let you go on with your life with Sarah. You see, I finally understand now, what it's like to love someone as much as you two did. I was so damned relieved when you didn't recognize me. Then you had to ruin it by coming here. Damn you! How am I going to cover this up now?"

"You can't," Luke said calmly. "Killing us will only make things worse for you. Right now, you're only facing embezzling charges. You might even get off with probation. Killing us will get you ten years to life in prison."

Luke sensed Bree-Anne's actions before she took them. He was already moving toward her even as she raised the gun and was pointing it at herself. He dove toward her just in time to knock her to the floor. The gun went off. Sarah screamed. "Luke!"

Rolling over, feeling light-headed, the last thing he saw before passing out was Sarah's concerned face leaning over him.

Epilogue

Halloween had always been a favorite time of year for Sarah. She always enjoyed the feeling of fall beginning to change to winter in Georgia, and even more so, she enjoyed seeing the excitement on the faces of the children she taught as they dressed in various costumes and worked on Halloween crafts while waiting for the end of the day to arrive.

With a slight little smile, Sarah saw her last student off safely to the dismissal area and wondered why this Halloween seemed so different from the others she'd experienced. Maybe it was because of Luke.

As if just thinking about him had conjured him in the flesh, she felt a pair of strong arms slide around her waist from behind as she was writing the next day's lesson on the chalkboard. With a happy sigh, he leaned his head on her shoulder and said, "Aren't you finished yet? Jack is dying to show you his costume."

She smiled to herself. She suspected it was Luke who was dying to see her costume rather than Jack showing her his. Luke had made a game of Halloween this year. They, along with Edna of course, were set to attend a Halloween party at the Kincaid house after they took Jack trick or treating. Luke had decided none of them would show the others their costume until Halloween night. Jack had been the exception, of course, but he'd chosen to let Luke help him pick out his costume this year, keeping it a secret from Sarah.

"I suppose I can call it a day," she said, turning to give him a teasing kiss. "Besides, I need to get home and get dressed soon, don't I?"

"Sure, and I'll be glad to help with that last part."

She eyed him haughtily in mock disgust and couldn't help but smile inside knowing how lucky they were. She'd almost lost him three times now, but thank goodness, luck had been on their side.

He'd saved Bree-Anne's life and managed only to get grazed by the bullet, but when he'd passed out and she'd seen the blood, Sarah had been certain he'd been fatally wounded. The grief she'd experienced in that minute had been overwhelming. To have had him back again only to lose him so soon had seemed like the cruelest of fates. He'd woken up just as the paramedics had arrived, only to look at Sarah and say, "Hey, if it gets me this much attention, maybe I should keep having more accidents. What do you think?" Then he'd smiled, and she'd cried in relief.

The months following had been a time of transition for her, Luke and Jack. Bree-Anne had been arrested, of course, and much to Sarah's surprise, the other woman's husband had seemed determined to stand by her, at least for now. Bree-Anne's trial for attempted murder was coming up in a few weeks, and even though her one-time friend seemed genuinely remorseful now, Sarah wasn't sure how she felt about any of it anymore. She was just glad the truth had come out, and Bree-Anne was getting help.

Luke still hadn't fully recovered all of his memories. It seemed likely he never would. But he didn't seem to mind anymore, and a lot of the memories he could now access were of the early days, when he and Sarah had been so much in love. Sure, they still had their awkward moments, but they were getting through them.

Jack had tested Luke's authority something fierce those first few weeks, but Luke seemed to know just what to do to keep their son in line. He and Jack were fast becoming best friends, and although Sarah sometimes felt oddly jealous and left out, she was willing to step aside and share her son with his father.

Luke had also continued his friendship with A.J., and Sarah had found a kindred soul in A.J.'s wife too. Luckily their new friends also had two kids, one of which was a little boy a year older than Jack. The two families often did things together now that Sarah hadn't had an opportunity to do when it was just her and Jack.

"So, what's your costume, mister?" Sarah asked Luke as he drove her home.

"What? Isn't it obvious? I'm Perry Mason, of course!" he said, then sent her a teasing smile as he flipped his tie up. On a trial basis, he was working at a small lawyer's office near the school she taught at. This time around, however, Luke was making a point of taking cases that truly helped people who couldn't afford big fees and who had legitimate cases. He seemed happy doing it, and that's all that mattered to her.

Once home, Sarah left Luke to deal with their son, who was dressed in an adorable costume as Spiderman. Edna, their elderly neighbor, was dressed as a clown. Sarah reached into the hiding place she'd made and pulled out the box containing her costume. She supposed Luke was expecting her to be dressed in something scandalous, but she just hadn't been able to bring herself to purchase the playboy bunny or French maid outfit she'd seen. She hoped she'd reached a good compromise, choosing something she wanted and something he would appreciate. It had cost a little more, but she figured it would be worth it.

Squeezing into the tight leather outfit proved to be more daring than she'd anticipated. When she had it on, she figured she'd gone a size too small, but it still looked pretty good on her. The leather molded her body like a second skin. She tousled her hair and then used the hairspray paint to add a finishing touch to the costume. Satisfied, she stepped into the hall and called, "Everyone ready to see mine now?"

Jack yelled back, "Come on, mama! Let me see. Let me see!"

Smiling, she stepped into the living room and twirled.

"Wow! You're an X-men, mama!" Jack pointed out excitedly.

"Remember which one?" she asked her son, then tilted her head so he could see the white streak in her hair.

"Rogue! Cool!" Jack danced around impatiently. "Look, Nanna. Me, mama and daddy are all going as superheroes!"

Sarah glanced around, not seeing Luke anywhere. Just then he came walking into the room, messing with his costume and not paying attention to Sarah's yet. She had to laugh, but it was a surprised, pleased laugh that caught his attention and made him look up at her.

"What! You copied my costume, woman!" he mock growled. He was dressed in the male version of her costume, another X-man. Obviously they'd gotten it from the same place. They were too similar not to.

She supposed great minds think alike. Not to mention, Jack made them watch the movies at least twice a week.

"Yeah, daddy, but which one are you supposed to be? You don't look so much like Wolverine," Jack pointed out. "Ooooh! Put on some sunglasses. You'll be Cyclops!"

Luke smiled as he walked over and pulled Sarah into his arms. "Which one is Rogue's boyfriend?"

Jack bounced up and down. "In the cartoon it's Gambit, but you don't look like Gambit either, Daddy. Gambit has this long coat he wears."