Page 8 of Merrick

She had come a hell of a long way. Being brought up in a group home had been lousy. Not knowing why her mother had left her there, had been worse. She had learned to defend herself since she was six years old and had grown tough over the years. Had to. It was eat or be eaten.

It wasn’t until later that she discovered the truth about her parentage. Her mother had been a junkie, and her father was unknown. Her grand aunt had spent years looking for her and when she finally found her, the woman had told her the truth.

It had taken a hell of a long time for her to accept the woman’s open devotion, but she finally accepted that Aunt Sybil loved her. The woman genuinely cared.

Rising, she went to pour a large cup of the brew and took it with her upstairs. A long bubble bath and maybe some cleaning up before crashing for the night was in order.

She had told Brad that she was going to be taking in some art and make a stop at the museums and that is exactly what she planned to do. In between, she was going to visit her aunt and maybe spend a night.

After she had failed to convince her niece to live with her, she had extracted the promise that Margo come and see her as often as she can.

“Like it or not, I am your only remaining relative and I happen to love you. Please don’t make me beg.”

So, she had succumbed, and the visits were not so awful. Aunt Sybil was in her nineties, but the woman was as spritely as someone much younger and did everything for herself.

She only had someone come in twice a week to take care of the household chores. She did her own shopping and cooked her own meals. She also loved to garden. Margo had a feeling she had inherited that aspect from her aunt.

Gardening relaxed her and whenever she was at home, she would dig in the dirt. Her flowers were blooming, and her vegetables were lush and thriving. She had herbs planted in pots on her windowsill.

Whenever she had a yield, she would take it to the precinct and hand it out to her fellow cops who would always tease that she planted all these vegetables and did not cook.

Taking the cup with her, she pushed the door open to her suite and just stood there in the small sitting room.

It was always a marvel that she had a home of her own after her inauspicious beginning. She worked hard, harder than most of the men in her squad. She was a woman and had come in with nothing and realized that she had to prove herself.

She worked out religiously, both at the precinct and at home. She had transformed one of the bedrooms into a fully equipped gym and sparred mostly with Brad. She ran almost ten miles every day and kept her body well-toned and fit.

She was not crazy about working out, but she was aware that as an older woman, she had to be on the ball.

Sweeping her eyes around the lovely green and blue room with its tan leather sofas and big screen television hooked to the wall, she stepped out and into a bedroom, she had designed herself. She wasn’t at home too often, but when she was, she wanted to be comfortable.

The blue and green theme continued in the bedroom. The windows were large, giving the room an illusion of extra space and there was a window seat with plump pillows that overlooked her garden.

She liked the view a lot and had the idea that it soothed her nerves whenever she was on an exceedingly difficult case. Her queen-sized bed was in the center of the shiny parquet floor and the quilt covering it had mixes of green, blues and yellows.

Her closet doors were thrown wide open, revealing that she did not do much shopping. The few items of clothing were woefully inadequate, reminding her that she need to order some more clothes online.

She was certainly not going to torture herself by deliberately going to a damn mall and searching for bargains. After all, she was not insane.

Walking over to the window seat, she took pleasure in sitting down and looking out at the beautiful view.

*****

Unwrapping the gauze after tugging off his workout gloves, he stared at the bruising and reluctantly realized that he had overdone the hit on the punching bag. But his mind had been in a disarray. The meeting with his brother and family had not gone as well as expected.

Jason had been resentful and disrespectful, two things he did not tolerate. And his brother had compounded the problem by apologizing effusively. Janey had been annoyingly predictable, with her simpering.

It always sickened him that his brother’s wife did not show the slightest hesitancy about coming onto him. She had tried to lure him into her bed several times and he had skillfully avoided it without having to resort to anything drastic.

But the woman got on his nerves. He had no idea what on earth Maurice saw in her. But to each his own and he had no intention of getting between a married couple, even though Maurice was his brother.

Michael on the other hand was a welcome change. His other nephew was steady and a hard worker and was involved in a monogamous relationship with a lovely young woman. Merrick was proud of him.

Stripping off his sodden clothing, he stood in front of the mirror and ruthlessly studied his lean body. His shoulders, chest and forearms rippled with muscles when he moved, and his stomach was taut and flat. Sprinklings of dark hairs dusted his tanned chest.

He might be approaching his sixties, and that always took him aback – but he did not look it and was in exceptionally good health. His sex life was active and whenever he had the time, he indulged.

Moving away from the double mirrors in his green and gold bathroom, he bypassed the massive tub in the center of the room and headed for the large shower install. Having it out with his brother’s family had put a pall over his evening. He had had plans to take in a musical but instead had to run interference.

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