Two Holts: No Holts Barred
Laura made it to Thursday morning. For eleven days--nearly two weeks after Remington and she
returned from their honeymoon--she let herself believe they could be happy together. For eleven
days they had worked, lived and loved together. It was very nearly perfection.
But Laura didn’t believe in perfection, and on the twelfth day, as she sat alone in her loft packing up
the last of her books and clothes, she gave in to all the doubts and fears she had firmly squashed and
placed in the back of her mind since she found out about Remington and the INS.
Remington had a meeting this morning about a security system for the home of one of the wealthiest
couples in the LA area. It would be quite a coup and required his charm and finesse to close the
deal.
She crawled onto her mattress and reached for the telephone. While she waited for someone to
answer, she threw her arm across her eyes and tried not to cry.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Kate.”
“Laura! Why are you calling me on a Thursday? I’m tickled, but since when do you play hooky in
the middle of the week?”
“Since I’m packing up my things so that tomorrow I can move into Mr. Steele’s penthouse for
good.”
“Uh oh. And let me guess--you can’t figure out how you ended up married and living with this
guy.”
“Exactly!” Laura wailed.
“Lay it on me, Twin. All of it.”
Laura sniffled back her tears and started talking, “Kate, just a few months ago we were tiptoeing
around simply sleeping together. Now, I’m … I’m married! To HIM! He didn’t even propose to
me! We just … just agreed to that lousy little charade to get INS off his back. I don’t know what I
was thinking when I suggested that we get married for real in Ireland! And we did! And now I’m
packing up my loft. I love this place. I wasn’t finished living here yet! And my name? I’m not
Laura Holt anymore! I’m Laura Steele--and I don’t know who she is. Why did I give up my
name? I could have been Laura Holt-Steele. Hell, he probably wouldn’t have cared if I just kept
my own name! I could have been Laura Holt forever.” She fell silent, a little embarrassed by her
outburst.
“Are you finished?”
“I think so.”
“Laura, tell me straight. Do you love him?”
There was a long silence before she answered, “Yes.”
“Does he love you?”
Laura closed her eyes and a hundred images of Remington flashed in her head. “Yes.”
“Then the rest are just details, Laura.”
“But--“
“Shut up, sis. I know you like facts, so we’re going to do this your way. First, do you think
Remington would have ever proposed to you?”
“He couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
Laura didn’t want to tell even Kate about his birth certificate. “I can’t tell you why. But I know for
a fact that until Daniel died, it was impossible for him to ask me to marry him legally.”
“What changed?”
“I made it change. I helped him fix it. And he did it because … I told him I wanted to marry him.”
“Would he have done it otherwise?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
“So you’re telling me you loved him enough to ask him to marry you, and he loved you enough to
fix the problem so he could?”
“I guess so.”
“Laura, come clean with me. Why hadn’t you slept with him before now? You didn’t have a
problem crawling into bed with half a dozen guys in college and another half a dozen afterwards.”
“Kate, don’t make me answer that question.”
“Too late. And don’t give me that bullshit about Dad's leaving. That never stopped you before.
And I know for a fact you went to bed with a least one other guy after Wilson left and before
Remington showed up. Why did you make him wait?”
“I love him, Kate. I fell in love over a magnum of champagne in 1982. I didn’t know what else to
do to make him stay. I drove both of us crazy. And I will give you that bullshit about Dad.
Between him and Wilson waltzing out the door, I couldn’t stand the idea of another man I loved just
taking off out of the blue.”
“You can be a calculating, conniving little sneak, Laura.”
“Yeah, I know, but it was for a really good cause. Besides, how do you con a con man, Kate?”
“By running a better con.”
“Exactly.”
“So what’s got your knickers in a twist? You’ve got a ring on your finger and the man himself in
your bed. And I know from the gleam in your eye last Sunday that he is all man, and you are
entirely too smug for the sex to be anything less than fabulous.”
“I don’t know, Kate. I just feel as if I’m losing myself. It’s kind of like when my house blew up.
You were gone, Murphy and Bernice were gone, and all my things were gone. All I had was my
agency and Remington. Now it seems as if all those are gone again, and I still have only the agency
and Remington. But this time, I don’t even have me. Laura Holt is gone now, and it’s just Laura
Steele sitting in her place.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, sis, but I don’t care how or when you get married, that’s just part of
the package. You want the man? You have to take the whole package, warts and all. Now here’s
a guy that has been sitting on a penthouse for two years, just because he thought your piano would
be perfect in the window. You drew a line at the bed and he respected that. You drew a line in the
agency and he respected that. Now he’s done something for you so that you two can have a life
together and you’re questioning it?”
“But--“
“Shut up; I’m not done yet. Did you hear what you just told me? Two major upheavals in your life
in the last four years and there is one person who has been there for both of them. And how many
times have you been there for him? More than will fit on one hand I’m sure. Now, I get the part
about changing your name, sis. You’ve been Laura Holt for thirty years and you know who she is.
Laura Steele has a husband and is sharing more than just her agency with him. But Laura, you’re
only doing this because you made it happen.
“Kate, I called you because I wanted sympathy, not a kick in the ass.”
“Fresh out of sympathy, Laura. Besides, I’m getting married in nine days, and I’m having my own
personal issues about name changes and moving in with a man I haven’t seen in nearly a year. And
yeah, I know, I’m doing this because I love him and want to be with him every single day.”
“And because you want to wake up with him in the morning.”
“And because I don’t want to waste a single minute wondering what might have been.”
“God, you’re good, Kate.”
“I know. That’s why you love me.”
“I do.”
“I love you too, Laura. Now go pack the rest of your crap so you can move with that handsome
stud into that gorgeous flat.”
“I will. How did my little sister get so smart?”
“Because there’s nothing to do on a dig except chip away at dirt and think. I’m ready to stop
thinking for a while and start living.”
“Hope Murphy can handle you.”
“He can’t, but he’ll have fun trying.”
“Sounds like a challenge. Maybe I’ll clue him in.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I might. Thanks, Kate. I’ll see you next week.”
“Same time, next week, in person.”
Laura said good-bye and hung up the phone. She lay there for a minute, then rolled off the bed and
packed up the rest of her things, singing.
3 March 2009
Laura made it to Thursday morning. For eleven days--nearly two weeks after Remington and she
returned from their honeymoon--she let herself believe they could be happy together. For eleven
days they had worked, lived and loved together. It was very nearly perfection.
But Laura didn’t believe in perfection, and on the twelfth day, as she sat alone in her loft packing up
the last of her books and clothes, she gave in to all the doubts and fears she had firmly squashed and
placed in the back of her mind since she found out about Remington and the INS.
Remington had a meeting this morning about a security system for the home of one of the wealthiest
couples in the LA area. It would be quite a coup and required his charm and finesse to close the
deal.
She crawled onto her mattress and reached for the telephone. While she waited for someone to
answer, she threw her arm across her eyes and tried not to cry.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Kate.”
“Laura! Why are you calling me on a Thursday? I’m tickled, but since when do you play hooky in
the middle of the week?”
“Since I’m packing up my things so that tomorrow I can move into Mr. Steele’s penthouse for
good.”
“Uh oh. And let me guess--you can’t figure out how you ended up married and living with this
guy.”
“Exactly!” Laura wailed.
“Lay it on me, Twin. All of it.”
Laura sniffled back her tears and started talking, “Kate, just a few months ago we were tiptoeing
around simply sleeping together. Now, I’m … I’m married! To HIM! He didn’t even propose to
me! We just … just agreed to that lousy little charade to get INS off his back. I don’t know what I
was thinking when I suggested that we get married for real in Ireland! And we did! And now I’m
packing up my loft. I love this place. I wasn’t finished living here yet! And my name? I’m not
Laura Holt anymore! I’m Laura Steele--and I don’t know who she is. Why did I give up my
name? I could have been Laura Holt-Steele. Hell, he probably wouldn’t have cared if I just kept
my own name! I could have been Laura Holt forever.” She fell silent, a little embarrassed by her
outburst.
“Are you finished?”
“I think so.”
“Laura, tell me straight. Do you love him?”
There was a long silence before she answered, “Yes.”
“Does he love you?”
Laura closed her eyes and a hundred images of Remington flashed in her head. “Yes.”
“Then the rest are just details, Laura.”
“But--“
“Shut up, sis. I know you like facts, so we’re going to do this your way. First, do you think
Remington would have ever proposed to you?”
“He couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
Laura didn’t want to tell even Kate about his birth certificate. “I can’t tell you why. But I know for
a fact that until Daniel died, it was impossible for him to ask me to marry him legally.”
“What changed?”
“I made it change. I helped him fix it. And he did it because … I told him I wanted to marry him.”
“Would he have done it otherwise?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
“So you’re telling me you loved him enough to ask him to marry you, and he loved you enough to
fix the problem so he could?”
“I guess so.”
“Laura, come clean with me. Why hadn’t you slept with him before now? You didn’t have a
problem crawling into bed with half a dozen guys in college and another half a dozen afterwards.”
“Kate, don’t make me answer that question.”
“Too late. And don’t give me that bullshit about Dad's leaving. That never stopped you before.
And I know for a fact you went to bed with a least one other guy after Wilson left and before
Remington showed up. Why did you make him wait?”
“I love him, Kate. I fell in love over a magnum of champagne in 1982. I didn’t know what else to
do to make him stay. I drove both of us crazy. And I will give you that bullshit about Dad.
Between him and Wilson waltzing out the door, I couldn’t stand the idea of another man I loved just
taking off out of the blue.”
“You can be a calculating, conniving little sneak, Laura.”
“Yeah, I know, but it was for a really good cause. Besides, how do you con a con man, Kate?”
“By running a better con.”
“Exactly.”
“So what’s got your knickers in a twist? You’ve got a ring on your finger and the man himself in
your bed. And I know from the gleam in your eye last Sunday that he is all man, and you are
entirely too smug for the sex to be anything less than fabulous.”
“I don’t know, Kate. I just feel as if I’m losing myself. It’s kind of like when my house blew up.
You were gone, Murphy and Bernice were gone, and all my things were gone. All I had was my
agency and Remington. Now it seems as if all those are gone again, and I still have only the agency
and Remington. But this time, I don’t even have me. Laura Holt is gone now, and it’s just Laura
Steele sitting in her place.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, sis, but I don’t care how or when you get married, that’s just part of
the package. You want the man? You have to take the whole package, warts and all. Now here’s
a guy that has been sitting on a penthouse for two years, just because he thought your piano would
be perfect in the window. You drew a line at the bed and he respected that. You drew a line in the
agency and he respected that. Now he’s done something for you so that you two can have a life
together and you’re questioning it?”
“But--“
“Shut up; I’m not done yet. Did you hear what you just told me? Two major upheavals in your life
in the last four years and there is one person who has been there for both of them. And how many
times have you been there for him? More than will fit on one hand I’m sure. Now, I get the part
about changing your name, sis. You’ve been Laura Holt for thirty years and you know who she is.
Laura Steele has a husband and is sharing more than just her agency with him. But Laura, you’re
only doing this because you made it happen.
“Kate, I called you because I wanted sympathy, not a kick in the ass.”
“Fresh out of sympathy, Laura. Besides, I’m getting married in nine days, and I’m having my own
personal issues about name changes and moving in with a man I haven’t seen in nearly a year. And
yeah, I know, I’m doing this because I love him and want to be with him every single day.”
“And because you want to wake up with him in the morning.”
“And because I don’t want to waste a single minute wondering what might have been.”
“God, you’re good, Kate.”
“I know. That’s why you love me.”
“I do.”
“I love you too, Laura. Now go pack the rest of your crap so you can move with that handsome
stud into that gorgeous flat.”
“I will. How did my little sister get so smart?”
“Because there’s nothing to do on a dig except chip away at dirt and think. I’m ready to stop
thinking for a while and start living.”
“Hope Murphy can handle you.”
“He can’t, but he’ll have fun trying.”
“Sounds like a challenge. Maybe I’ll clue him in.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I might. Thanks, Kate. I’ll see you next week.”
“Same time, next week, in person.”
Laura said good-bye and hung up the phone. She lay there for a minute, then rolled off the bed and
packed up the rest of her things, singing.
3 March 2009
Steele Holting On
Steele Holting On
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