She got up and went into the bathroom.  She turned on the water.  As she brushed her teeth, she looked down at her left hand.  He had gotten her rings at Tiffany’s and they were amazing.  She didn’t know much about those “four c’s” of diamond buying, but she knew big and sparkling when she saw it.  She washed her face with Ivory soap, stripped out of her underwear and got into the shower.  The shower was six feet by six feet and had rain showerheads in the ceiling with jets in two walls.  She washed her long strawberry blonde hair, shaved her legs, and used the luffa on her back.  She stepped out of the shower and towel dried both her body and her hair.  She sat at her dressing table and applied her makeup before going to her closet and dressing.  She rotated through her closet by selecting the suit on the furthest left, then selecting a blouse to go with it.  She’d wear a suit twice and then send it to the dry cleaner.  The routine worked for her.  This way she didn’t stand in her closet debating about what to wear.  She grabbed her underwear, shoes, and hose, walked into the bedroom, and laid the suit on the bed.  She dressed, changed her purse to match her shoes.  She went to the den, got her brief case, and left the house.  Her office was about 15 minutes away and thank God she had reserved parking so she could be at her desk in about 20 minutes.

Her assistant was always in the office by 8:00 a.m. and had checked Lane’s calendar, her email, and voice mail.  Meg had everything sorted and ready for Lane as she walked into the office.  She had hired Meg Kelly when she had first taken the Chief Privacy Officer position.  It was Meg’s first office job and the two of them had just clicked.

Lane’s oldest son, Jake, had met Meg at Lane’s birthday party in August and the two had been dating ever since.  Meg had a little girl from a relationship she’d had in college.  The relationship had ended badly and Meg hadn’t even told the boy about Abbey.  Jake seemed to adore little Abbey, who would be three years old in just a couple of weeks.  Lane hadn’t spoken to either Jake or Meg about their relationship, but from what she had observed, it wouldn’t surprise her if Jake bought Meg a ring for Christmas.  Jake had gotten his MS in Civil Engineering from Kansas University and had been working at Burke and Jones since mid-August.  Lane had given each of her children $250,000.00 from an unexpected windfall she’d gotten during the summer.  Jake had used his money to buy a house, but she suspected there was enough left over for a nice engagement ring.

Meg handed Lane her messages.  “I don’t know how it happened, but you have no meetings today.  You do have your OB appointment this afternoon at 3:30 p.m., so I’ve blocked your calendar from 2:30 p.m. on so you won’t be late.  Is Ben picking you up or meeting you?”

Lane took her messages.  “When he left for work, the plan was to meet me.  He’s doing prep for a trial that starts next week.”  She smiled, “But, you never know, he might break free early.”

She walked into her office and was greeted with the scent of roses.  Every Tuesday morning Ben had two dozen red roses delivered to Lane’s office.  It was a symbol that he loved her and thought about her every hour of the day.  She smiled remembering his proposal.  He had the ballroom at his family’s Italian restaurant filled with nine dozen red roses.  According to him, 108 roses meant, “will you marry me?”  He’d filled their wedding reception with 1001 ivory roses and told her it was for a love that will last for all eternity.  She smiled as she shook her head.  She had no idea how he knew all of this but she was glad she was the lucky recipient of the knowledge.

“Meg, what are you and Abbey doing for Thanksgiving?”  Lane knew Meg was an only child and it suddenly occurred to her that since Jake was probably going to be spending at least part of the day with Meg and her family, that maybe she should invite Meg and her parents to have dinner with the Parker, Bellini and Luciano families.

“My mom cooks.  It’s usually just Mom, Dad, Abbey, and me, but this year Jake will come over sometime.”

Lane smiled and nodded as Meg replied. “Why don’t you call your Mom and see if she’d like to join us?  Ben and I are already cooking for the whole family, this way you and your Mom won’t have to cook if you don’t want to.”

“That’s so nice of you.  I’ll give Mom a call.  The truth is, she loves making the pies and doesn’t care too much for the rest of it.  Maybe we could contribute dessert.”

“That would be nice, but no pressure, I won’t be offended if your parents would be uncomfortable coming.  We’ll be serving lunch at the nursing home where one of my friends is a volunteer, so we won’t be eating until around two o’clock in the afternoon.  Just let me know.”  Lane thought, “It’s probably time we all meet.” After all, she had a strong feeling that they’d be in-laws someday soon.

*****

Ben was deep in preparation for his defense of Rosella Garcia.  Rosella had killed her abusive ex-boyfriend during an assault.  He was using fists and she picked up a .38 caliber revolver and emptied it into him.  According to the medical examiner, one of the shots was to his back, which would indicate that he was fleeing at the time.  Which is why the D.A. had decided to prosecute.  Ben was pouring over reports and photographs taken over the two years that Rosella had been with Juan Rameriz. She had been in the ER 36 times over those two years, with injuries ranging from bruises, to broken bones, to stab wounds.  Each time she had told the medical staff that the injuries were due to her own clumsiness; but it’s hard to believe that anyone could stab herself, in the back, between her shoulder blades.  At the time, she told the ER doctor that it had happened when she backed into a knife.  Ben shook his head, yeah, right, a knife that just happened to be more than four feet off the ground and went deeply enough that it required over twenty stitches.  There was no doubt that Rosella was systematically abused during those two years.  She had finally gotten away from Rameriz, and moved from St. Joseph, Missouri to Kansas City, Missouri. She was hoping to start a new life, but six months later Rameriz had found her and he wasn’t happy that she had started seeing someone else, or that she was in fact pregnant with the other man’s child. Juan had decided the way to teach her a lesson was to beat her until he killed her, or she miscarried, whichever came first.  He was well on his way to that end when she’d gotten away and locked herself in her bedroom.  She had pushed a dresser in front of the locked door, but Juan kicked the door in, pushed the dresser out of the way, and came after her.  Her new boyfriend kept a loaded .38 caliber revolver in the nightstand and she’d used it to save herself and her baby.  She had a restraining order against Juan and called 9-1-1 to report him as soon as he had entered the apartment, but it had taken the police too long to respond, and by the time, they finally got there, Rosella was badly beaten and Juan was dead.

A friend of Ben’s who worked at the hospital where Rosella was taken after the last assault, called him and he had gone to the hospital to talk with her.  He’d never lost a case, and he was very expensive.  There was no way Rosella, who worked as a maid in a downtown hotel could have afforded him, but after he’d talked with her and reviewed the police reports, it didn’t matter.  He took the case pro bono.  It was self-defense and he was going to make sure the jury saw it that way.

Ben was thinking about jury selection, which was set to start the Monday after Thanksgiving when his cell phone rang.  It was 1:00 p.m. and once again, he’d worked though lunch. “Bellini.”

“Dad?”  Jamie whispered, “I think I need a lawyer.”

“Bambino?  What are you talking about?”

“Coach is dead and I’m afraid they’re going to think I killed him.”