Free Her Name Will Be Faith by Christopher Nicole

Michael asked over his avocado and prawns.
    "Good Lord, no! Can't you
just cut down the amount of time you spend on
her?" She didn't want to be unreasonable.
    "I can do that, of course. But the Bermuda Race...
we have a real chance this year, of winning
our section. And we're a team, with me both skipper and navigator."
    "Michael. You have said you have a chance of
winning every year for the past seven, and
you never have. Surely some of the others can navigate? Sam could
replace you as skipper."
    "Cheers." He raised his wine glass and
drank.
    "Cheers! Well?"
    "I guess Sam could,"
he agreed reluctantly. "Larry could navigate..."
    Jo noted the reluctance with a
sinking feeling. Would this mean a ghastly
summer holiday, with Michael sulking all the time because she had dragged him
away from his sport? "You have no idea how much fun it is down
there," she said. "All the family – Marcia is certain to bring Benny down to show off the house – and
Lawson and Belle always come up from Nassau..." she paused.
"It all boils down to a matter of loving, doesn't it?" she asked, without taking her eyes from her plate.
"Which do you love more, your wife and kids, or your yacht?"
He didn't answer, but she felt his eyes on her, and looked up. Her heart
lurched as she whispered, "Michael? How
important to you is our marriage? Do you want to save it, honestly, or
do you want us to split up?"
    His eyes closed momentarily,
hiding his thoughts. He drained his glass and
a waiter immediately stepped forward to take the bottle from the ice bucket,
and dry it on a napkin before refilling both glasses.
    When the man retreated, Michael
held the tips of Jo's fingers and looked
at her rings – the big emerald-cut diamond solitaire left to him by his grandmother and given to Jo on their
engagement, the diamond eternity he had bought her when Owen Michael was
born, and the plain platinum wedding band he
had slid, nervously, on her finger in the splendid surroundings of St
James's, Piccadilly, in front of a vast congre gation
of family and friends... what a let-down it would be to everyone, not
least himself, to admit the marriage had failed.
    His eyes held hers as he
whispered back, "My dearest Jo, our marriage, our love, is far more important
than anything else in the world. It's a deal.
I promise to cut back on the time I spend on Esmeralda. And I will hand
over to Sam for the Bermuda Race."
    Tears of happiness stung her eyes as she said,
"And I promise to cut back on my journalism."
    Their lips met above their climbing
wine glasses, while the headwaiter and
his team stood watching benevolently.
Office of Profiles
Magazine, Madison Avenue
    The phone purred beside Jo, and
she flicked the open switch, unwilling to spare a hand from the article she was composing on Richard
Connors. "Josephine Donnelly, good
morning."
    "Jo? Marcia here. How're you
doing?" Her happy voice trilled out of the box.
    "Never better. How about you? What's new?"
    "Something fantastic. I've
got to tell you all about it. Are you busy right
now?"
    Jo looked down at her pad; there was a lot to be done,
and Ed wanted this on the press by Friday. But Marcia sounded so excited and
eager to relay her good news. "Not too busy. What's happened?"
    "Can I come over for a coffee?"
    "Sure, little sister. Any time."
    "Like right now?"
    "I'll meet you at the place on the corner."
    "Ten minutes. 'Bye."
    Jo sighed, and folded her pad away. Ten minutes later
Marcia rushed into the coffee shop, panting. "I'm so excited I could
die." The disheveled young blonde
squealed as she pranced in and planted herself in the chair across the table.
    Jo giggled, and signaled the
waitress to bring another coffee. "Okay, so what's it all about?"
    "It's so fabulous I don't know where to
start."
    "Try the beginning, sweetie."
    "Well... you remember I told you that Benny's
mother owned an apartment building?"
    "Yes." Jo wrinkled her
nose. She hadn't seen the house, but knew it was in Greenwich Village and in rather a