Disclaimers - See Part 1 for disclaimers.

Chapter Ten

David opened the oven door and peered at the chicken that had browned nicely. Taking a fork, he poked it several times and was pleased with the tenderness and colour of the juices. Closing the oven, he surveyed his small kitchen with satisfaction. Checking the pot on the stove one last time, he left the rectory and strolled next door to the church.

Entering, he grinned to himself at the sight of legs jutting out from underneath a pew. Clearing his throat to announce himself, David called, "Hey, Rhiannon?"

"Yeah?" came the muffled response.

"Are you hungry yet?"

There was silence and then a reluctant, "I could eat."

"Good, because I've made enough dinner for two, and I'd be honoured if you'd share it with me." David waited and was rewarded by a small body wriggling out from under the pew, brush in hand and a painter's mask over her face.

Rhi tugged the mask down as she studied him. "You didn't have to do that. I could've grabbed something when I went home."

The priest shrugged casually. "I have to eat. You have to eat. Seemed to make sense to eat together since you're working so hard on my behalf."

"You're paying me," the young woman said gruffly, but David was pleased to see her carefully set her brush on the tin beside her. Standing she dusted herself off and then looked at her hands. "I'd better clean up first."

"Okay. C'mon over to the rectory when you're done. Dinner's almost ready."
David didn't linger now that his invitation had been accepted. Returning to his kitchen, he set out dishes and cutlery on the small table and began to whip the potatoes. He'd just finished carving the chicken when he heard a hesitant knock on the door.

"It's open," he called. "C'mon in."

Rhiannon stepped cautiously through the door and David saw her inhale appreciatively. "Smells good in here."

The priest smiled to himself as he ladled the corn into a serving bowl. "Take a seat. Everything's ready." Grabbing the butter from the fridge, he returned to the table and set everything in place. Taking a chair opposite his wary guest, he bowed his head. "Dear Lord, we thank You for this day and for the food that You've provided. We ask that You use it to strengthen our bodies for Your work. Thank You for my friend and for her help today, and please help keep me from scaring her off before she finishes all the pews. Please bless our time together, in Your son's name, Amen."

Ignoring the look of amused skepticism on his guest's face, David passed the plate of chicken and urged her to help herself. He was gratified to see her fill her plate and dig in eagerly. Adding butter to his steaming potatoes, he began to match her bite for bite.

"This is good." There was a note of amazement in Rhi's voice.

David grinned as he pushed the corn her way. "Thanks. When Conor came to see me after Hannah left, he was appalled at the way I was eating. He told me man could not live on pizza alone and before he went home again, he made sure I knew how to make chicken, spaghetti, shepherd's pie and omelets. It's simple stuff, but over the years I've learned a few more dishes and managed not to starve to death."

"I like to do stir-fries now and then," Rhiannon said around a mouthful of potatoes. "Usually I make one and it lasts me for at least three or four days."

"Yeah, stir-fries are good. I must admit I love homemade hamburgers too. I make 'em about an inch thick and then grill the life out of them. Put 'em on a Kaiser bun piled with tomatoes and pickles, and what more could you ask for?"

David was pleased to see his guest relaxing as he kept the conversation light. Standing, he walked to the fridge and retrieved a pitcher. "Do you like lemonade?"

"Yes, please," Rhi answered, holding out her glass. He filled it and then his own, before taking his seat again.

"So, did you have a good time at your friend's place for dinner yesterday?" The question was casual but the priest watched the young woman's face closely. He was delighted to see a big grin light up the gamine features, and Rhiannon nod vigorously.

"I had a great time," she said emphatically. "Lee's family is wonderful; they really made me feel welcome." Rhi stopped eating and David saw a slightly incredulous look in her expressive eyes. "They even said they're going to have me back again sometime."

Sadly, David mused how wrong it was that such an ordinary occurrence would amaze the young woman. Determined not to show it however, he said, "That's wonderful, Rhiannon. They must have enjoyed your company too then."

She cocked her head, as if contemplating an unprecedented notion, and then shrugged. "Maybe, or maybe they were just being polite." Stabbing another piece of chicken, she added off-handedly, "My boss was there too."

One of David's pale eyebrows rose. "Really? So she's a friend of Lee's?"

"Uh huh," came the mumbled answer. Rhi took a long sip of her lemonade and said, "Actually, she and Lee used to date years ago before Lee and Dana got together. They all seem to be very good friends." She laughed a little. "I think Danny-he's Dana's son-has a crush on Marika."

The priest absorbed the information with interest but focused on her last comment. "How old is Danny?"

"Um, not quite sure, but I think in his early teens?"

David rolled his eyes with a grin. "Oh yeah, I remember being that age. I think I fell in love with every female who'd give me a second glance." Ruefully he added, "Not that there were many. When I was in seventh grade, I was crazy about my English teacher. I used to go to school early just to leave a flower on her desk."

"Aw, that's so cute," Rhi said in amusement. "Did you ever confess your undying love to her in person?"

"Good heavens, no!" The priest shook his head. "I was so shy that I couldn't even put my hand up in class for fear she might call on me. Nope, I'm afraid I was doomed to unrequited love for that whole year."

"Poor Ichabod. So what ever happened to the love of your life?"

David scowled at the memory. "At the end of the year she got engaged to the Vice Principal, an ox of a man with dandruff and congenitally bad breath. I decided if her taste was that bad, she wasn't the woman for me."

Rhi broke out laughing, and the priest was delighted at the sound even as he said dryly, "Glad to see that my romantic trauma is so entertaining." When her giggles subsided, he asked, "So any childhood crushes for you?"

The young woman pursed her lips and shook her head slowly. "None that I can remember." She traced her fork through the remaining kernels of corn and then looked up at him seriously. "I don't think I have it in me to fall in love."

Appalled, he stared at her for a moment and then, reminding himself to step delicately, asked, "Why do you say that? You're still very young, Rhi. You have lots of time to find that one special someone."

She shook her head stubbornly. "I don't think there's going to be 'one special someone' for me, Ichabod. I've never even had so much as a crush."

Pensively, Rhi went on. "I mean, it wasn't like I had a circle of friends to gossip with or anything, but I used to hear the girls talking in the washroom and change rooms, and they were always going on about who the cute guys were and who was going out with whom. I'd look at the guys they were all obsessed over, and I could never see it." Wryly she concluded, "Not that I ever had to worry about any of them asking me out."

David studied his empty plate, brow furrowed in thought. Finally he said, "I think we all have the capacity to love, Rhiannon. It's part of being human. Has there never been anyone in your life whom you loved?"

"My parents." The answer was instantaneous.

The priest looked up to see pained blue eyes regarding him steadily, almost defiantly. He felt like he was treading through a field littered with landmines. Carefully, he selected his words. "And I'm sure they loved you, and each other."

She snorted bitterly. "Oh yeah. Mom loved me so much she died for me; and Dad loved Mom so much, he wouldn't live for me."

David blinked in astonishment, but before he could decide whether to pursue her intriguing, baffling statement, she held up her hand.

"Don't want to talk about it anymore, Ichabod."

The priest nodded, honouring her reluctance but burning with curiosity. They finished their meal in silence and she helped him clear the dishes. He brought a bowl of fresh sliced peaches from the fridge and set them on the table. Filling two small bowls, he placed one in front of her.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." After a couple spoonfuls of the fruit, he asked his quiet companion, "You mentioned earlier that Lee and your boss used to date?"
She nodded but said nothing. "Are you okay with your boss being gay?"

"Sure, why not?" Rhi shrugged. "She's actually pretty decent and she's fair to work for, so that's all I care about. Besides, Lee and Dana obviously like her."

"And their opinion means a lot?" David knew he was prying but his instinct was telling him this was important.

The young woman considered his question carefully. "Yeah, it does." She looked intently at him. "I think they're really good people, you know? Lee had no reason to ask me over for dinner except that she was being kind. I figure they wanted me to meet my boss on neutral grounds so I could get to know their friend sorta like they do. They went out of their way to include me and make me feel comfortable. I won't forget that."

David was sure that she wouldn't. He suspected that though hard won, once given this young woman's loyalty was unshakable.

"She left a muffin on my desk today."

The priest blinked at the non sequitur. "Um, excuse me?"

"Ms. Havers-Marika, she left a great big raspberry muffin on my desk this morning. Found it when I got in."

David registered the undertone of bewilderment, but he didn't think she was upset by the unexpected gift. "That was nice of her." He watched the play of emotions over the boyish features-confusion, uncertainty and a puzzled pleasure.

"Yeah, it was-wasn't it? Huh." Rhi shook her head unconsciously and then finished off her last peach slice. "Well, I'd better get back to work. Don't want anyone thinking I'm not earning my pay." She stood decisively and started to clear her things away.

"That's okay, leave it. I'll take care of it," David offered as he stood and took the fruit bowl from her hand.

"Um, okay. Well, uh, thanks for dinner, Ichabod." Rhi turned and walked briskly from the kitchen.

"You're welcome," David called after the disappearing figure. "Any time," he laughed softly to himself, mentally exulting over the fact that she'd stayed as long as she had.

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

Rhiannon watched her boss escort the thin young Chechen and his interpreter out to the hall. Returning to her office, Marika stopped and, much to Rhi's surprise, dropped into the seat beside her desk.

The lawyer heaved a dramatic sigh. "Make a note to book a different interpreter for his next session. I'm afraid Mr. Ulyanov left something to be desired, not to mention that at one point I thought the two of them were going to come to blows."

"Any idea what it was all about?" Rhi asked curiously.

"Not the least," Marika shook her head in exasperation. "But I was about two seconds away from calling security to break them up." She laughed ruefully. "Tell me my day is going to get better from here on?"

Rhi glanced at the appointment book. "Well, you have Mr. Njenga last thing before lunch, and then the Abu Masri deposition at two thirty this afternoon." She looked up and was surprised to see a wide smile on her boss' face.

"Kefa's due in today? Oh, that does make my day!" Marika chuckled at her assistant's apparent confusion. "That's right, you weren't here the last time he was in. Kefa Njenga is an Oxford-educated Nigerian civil engineer. He's from the Ogoni tribe in southern Nigeria, and about ten years ago he got involved in the tribe's struggle against the military dictatorship and Shell Oil. He was actually a youth liaison worker with Ken Saro-Wiwa's movement until he was nabbed by the military."

The lawyer shook her head in wonderment. "How he survived what they put him through amazes me, but some how he did; and in the aftermath of the Saro-Wiwa and Ogoni 9 executions in '95, he managed to escape. He had to hide for two years before he could make arrangements to smuggle his family out of the country. Eventually, with the help of sympathizers, they made their way here."

Rhi noted the far away look in her boss' gray eyes. "I take it he's one of your favourites?"

Marika smiled. "Oh yes! You'll understand when you meet him, believe me. He and his wife are remarkable people. I don't think I've ever met more determined, hard-working people in my life." She laughed lightly. "The first time I met Kefa, he was this tall skinny beanpole; I think he's put on about a hundred pounds since then." She stood and regarded Rhiannon seriously. "Just so you're forewarned, the military messed his face up pretty badly and amputated his hand."

The young woman nodded her understanding, determined that she wouldn't shame her boss by anything less than a professional demeanor when the client arrived.

Marika stretched slightly and glanced at her watch. "I'm going to run downstairs for a decent cup of coffee." The two women grimaced together at the thought of the office sludge. "Can I get you one too?"

Rhi rapidly calculated whether her budget would allow this small indulgence, but before she could say anything, an amused voice said, "My treat, Rhiannon."

Startled, she looked up to meet knowing eyes. "Uh, okay. Thanks."

Slightly baffled, Rhi busied herself at her keyboard even as she kept the lawyer in her peripheral vision. Marika returned to her desk to get her purse and left the office.

The assistant found herself staring after her boss. What's going on? It wasn't just the muffin yesterday and the coffee today, her boss' whole attitude was softer and friendlier since the workweek had resumed. Rhi wondered if Lee and Dana had said something to the lawyer on Sunday, but she couldn't recall any time when Marika had been alone with them after she'd arrived. The change in the woman's attitude was unsettling, though not unpleasant.

Rhiannon had sensed that Marika resented her replacing Marian. The two weeks that she'd filled in with the pregnant assistant, the lawyer had been terse and businesslike in all their communications, in clear contrast to her affectionate exchanges with Marian. However, Rhi had reminded herself she could put up with anything in the short term, even a boss obviously galled by her very presence. It won't be that long now anyway.

The young woman was prepared for aloofness and even overt hostility from her superiors and co-workers. Rhi knew she wasn't an approachable person, and that her colleagues tended to shun her company unless on work-related matters. She always tried to project a cool, professional bearing, and had long ago convinced herself that she didn't care about the absence of personal relationships. Any regrets were ruthlessly sacrificed at the altar of her goal and its timetable.

Now however, the solid underpinnings of her life were being shaken up. First Ichabod and his persistent gentle attention, then Lee and her gregarious bonhomie, and now her boss being-nice! I don't understand. Rhiannon shook her head in puzzled exasperation, then resolutely put it all out of her mind as she pulled up the Njenga file to bring herself up to speed.

It wasn't long after Marika had deposited a tall coffee on her desk and returned to her office with a casual wave to acknowledge Rhi's thanks, that a very large African man walked up to the assistant's desk. He was well over six feet and, the young woman guessed, closing in on three hundred pounds. Thick ridges of scar tissue that stretched from his disfigured left eye down over his throat marred his round friendly face. He was neatly dressed in a business suit and kept his left sleeve tucked in his coat pocket.

Rhi stared, then flushed at her rudeness. "Mr Njenga?"

"Yes, Miss, I am Kefa Njenga, and I have a appointment with Ms. Havers."

Rhiannon could hear the clear British influences in his deep, rich voice; before she could say anything more, Marika's delighted voice rang out.

"Kefa! It's so good to see you again."

He turned, a wide smile breaking out as the lawyer walked toward him with her arm outstretched. "Ah, Marika, you grow more beautiful every time I see you," he chuckled as the blonde woman took his hand, shaking it enthusiastically.

"And you're just as honey-tongued as ever. Does Mrs. Njenga know how you flatter all the ladies?" the lawyer teased, taking him by the arm and leading him to her office.

Kefa regarded her in mock-apprehension. "You won't be telling on me, will you?" They laughed together and just before the door closed, Rhiannon heard him add, "Besides, how do you think we ended up with eight children?"

The assistant shook her head in amusement. Even from their brief encounter she could understand why her boss favoured this client. She returned her attention to the file she'd been researching on a Kashmiri client, scrolling rapidly through U.S. State Department human rights reports before switching to the Amnesty International website for additional information.

Shortly before noon, Rhi was still so absorbed in her research that she almost didn't notice the man crossing silently to her desk. When she glanced up, she was startled to find baleful black eyes staring at her.

"I am Salam al-Rashid. You have hidden my sister Tahia. Where is she?"

The voice was imperious and demanding, the man's thick Mid-Eastern accent obscuring his words. Rhiannon examined the angry man and realized this must be the brother of the Jordanian woman she'd escorted to the Immigrant Women's Shelter the previous week. She stood slowly and gestured to the chairs lining the wall. Calmly, she said, "Won't you take a seat, Mr. al-Rashid? My boss is with a client at the moment but..."

He broke in brusquely. "I require nothing from you but the location of my sister!"

Her mind racing, Rhiannon took a deep breath but was interrupted by a firm voice from behind her.

"Is there a problem here?"

Rhi turned, grateful to see Marika standing at her office door, monitoring the situation with a serious expression.

"Ms. Havers, this is Mr. al-Rashid. He is looking for his sister, Tahia." She stared meaningfully into Marika's stern eyes and was relieved to see instant comprehension.

The Jordanian had turned to see the lawyer, and Rhiannon could see the vein throbbing in his forehead as he snapped, "My sister-where is she? Our aunt told me that she came to you, and you would know where she is. Now tell me!"

Concerned gray eyes met worried blue ones, and Marika briefly flicked her gaze to Rhi's phone before casually moving off to one side diverting the furious man's attention solely to her. Rhiannon, keenly aware that if the aunt had revealed that information, she'd undoubtedly done so under duress, discreetly lifted the receiver and punched in the code for security. As the lawyer tried to soothe the intruder, her assistant hurriedly whispered an urgent call for help, then softly replaced the receiver.

Tensely, she watched the man advance toward her boss, waving his hands in angry punctuation of his demands. The volume of his voice had escalated, and he was clearly becoming more agitated by the moment. Curious office workers were starting to gather, drawn by the commotion. Rhiannon kept her eyes fixed on Marika and the livid Jordanian, mentally urging security to arrive-NOW!

Suddenly the man plunged his hands into his jacket pockets and when Rhiannon saw the flash of metal, she instinctively threw her body across the short space between them, intercepting al-Rashid and bearing him to the floor by sheer force of momentum and surprise. He screamed and slashed wildly at the small fury wrapped around his waist.

Rhi felt a blaze of pain across her back and rolled away, gasping as a large frame burst past her and tackled the Jordanian. Through tearing eyes, she saw Kefa pin the screaming, writhing man to the floor, wrenching the knife away and tossing it across the floor.

In the bedlam of noise and movement, Rhi was only conscious of the fire lancing across the back of her right shoulder as she shivered in shock. Suddenly she was aware of arms cradling her, and Marika's anguished voice snapping at the crowd.

"Call 911! Where the hell is security? Get me some towels!"

Over the outcry of panicked confused people, Rhi could hear the agonized ululating of the Jordanian. Hazily, she wondered why he was screaming in such pain, but her attention was on the soft voice inches away from her face as her slight body was rocked comfortingly.

"God, Rhi, why'd you do that?" the lawyer murmured, brushing the young woman's face with a gentle hand. "He could've killed you."

"Could've killed you too," Rhi muttered, her eyes closing.

"Damn it, where are those towels?" The increasingly frantic voice sounded over her head, but Rhi couldn't summon the energy to open her eyes and reassure her boss that she was fine. She couldn't seem to stop shaking, and she absently noted that it seemed hard to breathe even as she took reassurance from the slender arms that held her tighter.

When something pressed firmly against her back, Rhi couldn't stop the cry that burst from her throat. The last words she heard before she sank into unconsciousness were, "I'm sorry-I'm so sorry. I've got to get this bleeding slowed down. Hang on, little one, hang on!"

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

Lee whistled off-key as she entered the office tower. Despite the gray, drizzly weather, it had been a good morning, and she was hoping to steal Marika and Rhiannon away for lunch. She was curious to see if the Sunday gathering had made any change in the dynamic between the two women.

"Hey, Fred," she called cheerfully to the security guard as he waved her by with a grin. She was approaching the bank of elevators when she heard his radio go off in a frantic burst of sound and turned back curiously. When she heard, "Code Red, seventh floor, 712", she blanched. Whirling, Lee pushed through the crowd waiting for the elevator, Fred right behind her as another guard ran to join them.

Punching the button for the 7^th floor viciously, Lee cursed under her breath at the slowness of their ascent. When they finally reached the floor, she burst out between the doors and ran down the hall, the guards hard on her heels. She heard the clamour of excited voices long before they reached Marika's office, and her mind flashed through every occasion her friend had told her of angry clients and confrontations in the office.