Part 35 (1/2)

A car drove past, its horn blaring. It double-parked just around the corner up ahead. Ihbraham's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched it, and he handed Haley back to Mary Lou.

”That article scared the bejeezus out of me,” she continued, telling her story to Bob as she settled Haley on her hip, ”and you know, I could've a.s.sumed that the damage had already been done and just kept on drinking. But instead I thought, Lord, if I'm going to have a baby with all these problems, then she really better have a mother who's stone cold sober all the time.”

”Excuse me,” Ihbraham said. ”I'll be right back.”

”I went to my first meeting that very night,” she told Bob as Ihbraham headed toward the double-parked car. It was brand-new, one of those enormous cars that was just one step down from a limo. A Town Car, she thought they were called.

What was Ihbraham doing?

Three men had gotten out and had come up onto the sidewalk. They were just as darkly complexioned as Ihbraham, but their hair was shorter and their clothes more expensive. Two of them wore suits; the third wore a s.h.i.+ny sweat suit. They all looked angry, but then again, Ihbraham always looked angry from a distance, too.

One of them pointed at Ihbraham and let loose a stream of gibberish. Well, of course it wasn't gibberish to him. And probably not to Ihbraham, either.

”I had a lot of tests done,” she said to Bob, still watching Ihbraham and his friends with one eye. ”Amnio and some other stuff that came back looking gooda”and I did a lot of praying. And I got lucky. Really lucky, thank you, Lord Jesus. Because Haley's fine. Your marriage might be over, Bob, but somewhere out there, there's good luck waiting to happen to you. I just know it.”

Bob was watching Ihbraham, who was now surrounded by the three other men. ”How well do you know this guy?” he asked. ”I mean, you must know him pretty well if he's your sponsor, right?”

”Uh, yeah,” she said. ”I've known him for ...” Had it really only been a few days since she threw her keys into the Robinsons' garden? It seemed as if she'd been friends with Ihbraham for close to forever. ”A while.”

”Where's he from? How did you meet him?”

On the corner, one of the men gave Ihbraham a solid push, causing him to step back a few feet toward a chain-link fence that cordoned off a construction zone. Ihbraham had his hands out in front of him in a gesture of peace. It was very clear that he didn't want to fight with these men, whoever they were.

”He's a landscaper in my neighborhood,” she said. ”He's very good with flowers.”

Bob laughed. ”I bet. So what, did he just show up one day? Where did he come from?”

”You make it sound as if he's a stalker or something.”

”Yeah, well, maybe he is.”

She rolled her eyes. ”That's silly.”

”Is it?”

”Yes,” she said.

”You really trust him, huh? I'm not sure I would, with a name like Ihbraham Rahman. I mean, look at him. He could be the poster boy for al-Qaeda.”

”Well, he's not, and you're being racist to a.s.sumea”

The man with the sweat suit shoved Ihbraham so hard that he fell back against the fence, making it rattle loudly. Dear Lord, they were going to beat him up.

”Hey!” Mary Lou started toward them. ”Leave him alone!”

One of the men said something she couldn't understand, and the two others laughed.

Ihbraham launched himself at his attackers, managing to b.l.o.o.d.y one of the men's noses even as he sent another to the sidewalk with a kick to the knee and an elbow to the back of the head. It happened so fast, she would have missed it if she'd blinked. The third man quickly moved back out of rangea”no doubt terrified by the murderous look in Ihbraham's eyes.

He spoke to them then, in that same strange language, and they dragged themselves back to their car. But not without babbling back at hima”getting in the last word, no doubt.

Ihbraham let them. But he stood there, silently glaring, as they drove away.

”Are you all right?” Mary Lou asked, hiking Haley farther up on her hip.

He was still breathing hard, and it took him a moment to pull his eyes away from the car's disappearing taillights, glowing red in the night. His face was hard, and his eyes were cold. But then he blinked, and the Ihbraham she knew was back. ”I'm very sorry about that.”

”Who were they?” she asked as Bob finally caught up with her, pus.h.i.+ng the stroller she'd left farther down the sidewalk.

Ihbraham ran his hands down his face. ”They were my brothers.”

”What did they want?” she asked.

He just shook his head, glancing at Bob.

Mary Lou turned to Bob, holding out her hand for him to shake. ”It was nice seeing you. I'm sure we'll run into each other again before too long.”

He took the hint, and although he squeezed her fingers meaningfully, he started backing away. ”I'm sure we will, Mary Lou. Nice meeting you, Mr. Rahman.”

And then he was gone and there she was. Standing on a city sidewalk, looking up at Ihbraham, who was ruefully examining a hole torn in his s.h.i.+rt.

”What did they want?” she asked again.

Haley, of course, picked that exact moment to start to fuss. She went almost instantly from mildly annoyed to completely inconsolable. A sniff test and a pat to the bottom revealed that her diaper was clean and not entirely soggy.

Mary Lou knew only one way to quiet Haley down fast. But where to go for a little semi privacy? She looked around.

Back the way they had come was the church where the meeting had been held. It had a small side yard with a bench. She'd parked right next to it in the church lot. The entire area was lit with a floodlight, but at least she could sit with her back to the street.

”Grab the stroller, would you, hon?” she asked Ihbraham.

Haley was in full wail by the time Mary Lou hit the bench, and she pulled up both her s.h.i.+rt and bra without ceremony.

Then, oh, blissful silence. Of course, if she kept this up, this baby was never going to get weaned.

Friend.

After everything Muldoon had admitted, Joan still called him her friend.

As soon as they'd entered the ballroom, Brooke had been immediately approached by a waiter, who conjured up two scotch and sodas in record time, despite Muldoon's attempts to signal him otherwise.

”Gee, that's not really my drink,” Muldoon admitted as Brooke handed him one of the gla.s.ses. Apparently keeping her from the bar was not going to be easy.

”Good,” she said. ”You can hold it for me, darling.”

Yes, the evening was off to a roaring start.

”You should probably slow down,” he cautioned her, annoyed with himself for being Joan's mouthpiecea”or at least agreeing with her about this.

”Why would I want to do that?”