She looked around when the refrigerator door closed with a loud thump. Maggie regarded her solemnly. “What’s wrong?” Alice asked uneasily. “I was your grad assistant, I used to teach a couple of your classes every semester. Do you think I’d be out of practice?”
“Of course not. But I already have a grad assistant. You aren’t a grad student anymore. You graduated with top honors and you’ve been offered a position at Durand Enterprises by that Stalwalter guy. If you don’t want to work for him, I’m sure there are plenty of other companies that would give you a spot. And of course, according to some reliable accounts, you own Durand Enterprises,” she added drolly. “You’ve sort of moved past grading papers and doing my least favorite lectures, Alice.”
“But this is just a temporary thing. I wanted to help out while I was here with you, that’s all,” Alice said, frowning.
Maggie sighed and stepped toward her. “And I appreciate it. But you’re here as a friend. You don’t have to work for me. You needed time and space to heal and figure things out.”
“So you’ve decided my time is up, huh?” Alice asked with a dry laugh. “Are you kicking me out?” she asked, smiling despite her uneasiness at the turn of the conversation.
“No. I’m just . . .” Maggie shrugged and made a helpless sound. “Prodding you a little?”
Alice exhaled and leaned against the kitchen counter, her arms crossed beneath her breasts.
“I saw an article in the Tribune this morning about the Durand Enterprises press conference next Friday. I assume you know about it?” Maggie said.
Alice nodded mutely. She’d suspected Maggie would see the article.
“And you weren’t going to tell me about it?”
“I . . . I didn’t know how to,” Alice said, frustrated because she felt guilty for not being forthcoming with Maggie. She felt like she had this huge, enormous thing inside her, and she wanted to get it out. Problem was, she didn’t know how to expel it properly. She was like an overdue mother desperate for relief, bursting and helpless in the face of nature.
“Wait. Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Did you get the test results?” Maggie asked tensely.
“I got them,” Alice said, studying the tile floor. She’d gotten the call from the genetics lab two days ago.
“And?”
She met Maggie’s gaze hesitantly.
“As it turns out . . . I’m a miracle after all.”
Just saying it caused shivers to rush down her arms. Her awed reaction hadn’t lessened any since she’d first given the news to both Special Agent Clayton and Charlie Towsen.
“You’re Alan and Lynn Durand’s biological daughter.”
“It would seem so,” she said, shrugging disbelievingly.
“Wow. Does Dylan know?” Maggie asked cautiously after a pause.
Alice swallowed. “I would think he does.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“I told Charlie Towsen the news and e-mailed a copy of the lab report. Dylan is Charlie’s boss. I’m sure Towsen told him.” She inhaled and straightened, starting to unload groceries again because she knew what Maggie was going to say next and she needed a distraction.
“Dylan hasn’t called?” Maggie asked, sounding a little confused.
“No,” she replied briskly, putting a loaf of bread in the bin and slamming the door down too hard. “But I asked him only to call me in case of an emergency.”
Besides which, he’s probably so furious at me that he’s avoiding contact at all costs.
“He doesn’t consider the fact that you’re definitely Alan and Lynn’s child major enough news? Or Kehoe pleading guilty not only to the kidnapping, but to giving the order to have you murdered twenty years ago, or attempting to kill you recently? That doesn’t qualify as serious enough information for him to call?”
“You know that Clayton told me all about that before the story broke on the news,” Alice said, moving mechanically and averting her gaze from Maggie’s. Both Clayton and Towsen had actually been great about keeping in contact and filling her in on all the minutia of unfolding events.