Part 44
Howie leaned against the car holding Sarah’s hands as she leaned against him. "I don’t like you talking to Chrissy alone."
"I’ll be okay, D. She’s harmless."
"Oh, that’s why you spent a month in ICU and lost your daughter?"
"Face to face, Chrissy is harmless. She’d always back down whenever she had to confront me unless she had someone to back her. Besides, Billy, Raoul, and Tito are here and will be close by if I need them. And you’ll be here too, where you can see me."
Looking into her eyes, Howie liked what he saw…the same soft and caring angel who could DEFINITELY take care of herself. He reached up to push a stray piece of hair behind her ear then ran his finger along her jaw. Cupping her chin in his hand, Howie kissed her tenderly, "Go on, Angel. Let’s get this over with so we can get on with the show."
Sarah laughed, "Gee, you make it sound like a concert or something."
Laughing, Howie swatted her on the butt, "GO ON."
He watched as Sarah headed into the park to meet Chrissy. Billy, Raoul, and Tito were positioned around the swings far enough to not be obvious but close enough to get to Sarah if she needed them.
Steve moved to stand beside him and said, "She’s a beautiful lady but not worth you risking everything over."
Howie liked Steve as his attorney; he was cold and ruthless and got the job done. It had been Steve who had handled Sarah’s divorce and ‘forced’ Russell to sign the divorce papers. Steve got the job done effectively but unfortunately, he was just as cold and ruthless in his personal life as well and that bothered Howie.
"You’ve never been in love, have you?"
"Love…there’s a useless emotion. What’s it gotten you over the last year? Sarah slept around on you, got pregnant and claimed it was yours, and then lost it."
"You don’t know what happened and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t bring it up," Howie said coolly. "Besides, look where I am now."
"Yeah, trying to keep HER from having a murder wrap and yourself out of an accessory to murder. I’m telling you, it’s a useless emotion that costs you far more than you gain."
Howie shook his head. "It’s a wonderful feeling to fall asleep with the woman you love in your arms; to come home to her every day; to know she’s the one who’ll take your phone call at ANY hour of the night and understand that you just needed to hear her voice when something didn’t go exactly right. You can’t beat it."
Steve looked at Howie who was watching Sarah. "You need to treat your personal life the same way you handle your business. You’re a damn good businessman."
"Maybe it’s you who should reevaluate your personal life," said Howie. "You’re going through life bitter and cold man."
Meanwhile, Sarah found Chrissy at the swing sets alone. Sarah was determined not to let Chrissy get to her. "Hey…long time no see."
Chrissy looked at Sarah disdainfully. "Not long enough."
"What did I ever do to you, Chris? We were best friends."
"Yeah, as long as it was just you and me. Whenever Ali or Vanessa were around, I was second best."
"That’s not true, Chris."
"Yeah, whatever! And then you went off to college."
Sarah eyed her and said, "All of this was because you felt like I
neglected you? Why destroy my life though?"
"I felt like it was just revenge. Looks like I finally got to you. You must really love your pop star to kill Russell."
Sarah smiled, "Howie’s my heart and soul."
"Do you love him more than you loved Russell?"
"Chrissy, I never loved Russell. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to leave him and then I got pregnant by him. I wasn’t so much hurt that he was with you, just that we had a child together and were married. You could have had him…with my blessings."
"He was obsessed with you and when he was with me, he was seeing you. I never stood a chance with him," said Chrissy as she began to cry.
Sarah stepped to her and held out her arms. The younger girl stepped into Sarah’s embrace and Sarah held her while she cried.
"Sarah, I’m so sorry about Jesse. I never meant to hurt her! She was so sweet and she reminded me of us when we were little. You know, the last time you saw Russell, he was coming to kidnap you."
"Why are you doing this then…asking for money?"
"To take care of Evan. Despite being a complete jerk, Russell was a good father and he provided for his son. I can’t do it and Mama has him now. I thought if I could get this money, I could start over. All I did was screw up."
Sarah looked towards where Howie was watching her and knew all she had to do was ask. Howie would do whatever she wanted. "Chris, where’s my journal?"
Chris stood away and pulled the journal from her backpack. "I hand-copied this and sent it to the cops."
"I know. I’m not worried though. Come with me."
"Where are we going?" asked Chrissy cautiously.
"To talk to Howie. Don’t worry, he’s not gonna have you arrested."
Chrissy grinned, "He seemed pretty protective of you that day at the Youth Center. God, you’ve really done well for yourself here in Orlando. An awesome job, a fantastic boyfriend…"
"Howie’s my husband," grinned Sarah. "We got married yesterday."
As Sarah and Chrissy walked to the car, Chrissy asked, "What’s it like to be around the Backstreet Boys all the time? I mean, they are the HOTTEST group around and Nick is absolutely to die for."
Sarah laughed, "They’re all REALLY sweet guys…Nick’s getting married in a couple weeks too."
"You’re kidding?"
"No…. in fact, I introduced him to her. You remember Becca, my
roommate?"
"Yeah, I remember hearing Russell talk about her. If I remember correctly, she was a musician?"
"Yeah, she is….a church choir director. Well, she was. Don’t know what she’s gonna do now. She’s been gone for about five months," said Sarah as they reached the car. She gave Howie a kiss and said, "I have it."
Howie eyed Chrissy and said, "What’s going on?"
"We were just talking. D, I need to ask you something….privately," said Sarah as she looked at Steve.
Sarah wasn’t very comfortable around Steve and now she was even more uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. She took Howie’s hand and pulled him away from the car.
Out of hearing, Howie asked with a touch of anger in his voice, "What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"You’re acting like Chrissy is a long, lost friend."
"She IS, Howie!"
"Yeah, a long, lost friend who first tried to kill you and DID kill your daughter and is now trying to put you away for life. Sarah, THINK!"
"I am thinking," said Sarah defensively. "She’s trying to take care of her son. After all, I DID kill his father and now she has no one to help her."
"You want to give her the money, don’t you?" asked Howie incredulously.
"Yeah, I do," said Sarah hesitantly seeing Howie’s aggravation.
Howie shook his head in disbelief. "I love you because you see the good in people and you want to help but Angel, if you give her this money, she’s just going to keep coming back for more."
"I have my journal. What can she hold over my head after this?"
"I don’t know but I’m sure she’ll find something. No, you aren’t going to give her the money."
"Back at the club, you said that if I need the money, I could have it. You were WILLING to give it to her then. What’s the difference now?"
"You have your journal back."
"But I still killed Russell. Howie, I never gave any thought to Evan and
it’s not fair that he has to grow up without a father. The least I can do is
make sure he’s taken care of. It’s a lot of money, I know…."
"Not really. It’s the principal, Sarah. She’s blackmailing you."
"But I have my journal back."
"She’s still playing on your emotions. She knows you feel guilty about leaving Evan without a father." Sarah moved to Howie and he put his hands on her waist as she leaned her forehead against his chest. He kissed the top of her head, his mood softening and he said, "Angel, I know what you’re thinking and I understand how you feel but if you give in to her and give her this money…."
"D, I’ll do whatever you want," whispered Sarah.
Howie lifted her chin to look into her eyes and shook his head. He sighed, "Why can’t I say no to you?"
"You just did, Howie, and I accept it. We’ll let it go."
"No, we’ll give her the money BUT there will be conditions."
"What kind of conditions?"
"She has to tell the cops that she wrote that journal to make it look like you killed Russell."
"That’s gonna make it look like…"
"Yeah, it is. And she’s going to confess that she was the one who killed him. She was jealous of you and the fact that her boyfriend was still in love with you."
"But she didn’t do it."
"No, but she DID kill your daughter and got away with it. Seems to me she OWES you for this."
"God, Howie, that’s cold," said Sarah in disbelief that Howie could be like this.
"I don’t give a damn, Sarah. She messed with you and she could very easily have had you locked up for life. What you did was pre-meditated and the only thing that would have kept you from getting the electric chair would have been the fact that he was stalking you! The money will be put in an anonymous trust fund that Steve will oversee and it’ll be for Evan’s education."
Sarah shook her head, "Okay."
"Sarah, after today, this is it. I don’t want Chrissy, Evan, or Russell EVER mentioned again. It’s over and you’ve more than paid for what you did!"
"Thank you."
Howie kissed her lightly. "Let’s go." Howie and Sarah went back to the car where Chrissy was standing with the four men. Howie said to Steve, "We need to go to your office to take care of some things."
"Okay. Did you get what you needed?"
"Yeah, we did and as soon as we get to the office, I’ll explain it further to you. Billy, Sarah and I are headed back to Cocoa Beach as soon as we’re finished with this. Let the others know that we’ll be going to New York with them on Wednesday to do ‘The Early Show’."
"Sure, D. Sorry about ruining your honeymoon."
"It’s okay, Billy," said Sarah as Howie put his arm around her waist pulling her to him. "I’ve got a lifetime with Howie to MORE than make up for it."
Raoul grinned, "And I intend to make sure NO ONE bothers with the two of you while you’re alone so that you can have some quality time together….including the other four clowns."
Howie laughed, "Thanks, Raoul. Let’s go. Chrissy, you need to ride with us."
Tito opened the door for them to get in and the ride to Steve’s office was quiet. Chrissy was wondering what was going on and Sarah was giving NO indication as to what was happening.
At Steve’s, Howie, Sarah, and Chrissy sat across from Steve and Howie proceeded to explain what he and Sarah discussed at the park. Steve and Chrissy were both in shock. Steve couldn’t believe that Howie had it in him to be so cold and Chrissy couldn’t believe that they were going to provide for Evan. She had no problems with WHY Howie was telling her that he’d set up the trust fund for Evan because she did feel like she owed Sarah for what she did to Jesse. She quickly agreed to the deal and Steve said he’d handle everything including going to the police station with Chrissy.