Adam

by Katie Dowe

  “Are you trying to make me change my mind?” she asked him, her tapered brows lifting.

  “My intention is to make them realize that I am with you and I am going to be with you no matter what.” There was a determined glint in his eyes as he said it and Amber forced herself not to give in to the worry she felt when it came to his family. Before now, she had never been afraid of getting their approval because Adam had been just her friend, but knowing their history and the way his grandfather and father had looked at her made her realize that it was going to take a miracle for them to accept her. Adam might be secure in the knowledge that they would eventually accept their relationship, but she was not so sure about that.

  “Adam, they are not just going to suddenly change their minds,” she warned him.

  “They will change it if they find out that not doing so, they stand the chance of losing me.”

  Amber felt the premonition again and the shiver of fear that was darting up and down her spine. She had grown to love him, but she had a feeling that she had loved him from the very beginning. They shared a friendship where they told each other pretty much everything and she had never been intimidated by his wealth or his extreme good looks, but now she was in a position where she was vulnerable because she was in love with him and in a few short weeks he had become the most important person in her life. Suffice it to say, she was scared of losing him and she had a feeling that his family would never made it easy for them to be together!

  “I don’t want that to happen.” She forced a smile to her lips. “Make the arrangements and let’s get it over with.”

  Chapter 13

  “Are you going to say you who this young woman is?” Abraham Whitmore demanded the Friday night as soon as he announced that he would be taking someone over for dinner on Sunday.

  “No. I prefer to use the element of surprise,” Adam told him sardonically as he sipped the brandy that he had poured. He had come for dinner with his father and grandfather and had made the announcement at the table. His grandfather had retired for the night, claiming that he was feeling a little tired. Adam had stayed back at his father’s request even though he was impatient to go and be with Amber. He was hoping that after this she would agree to marry him! He leaned against the mantle and stared into the fire inside the hearth, his mood reflective. He knew that Amber was anxious about the upcoming dinner and he realized that he was as well. He knew his father and also knew that as bad as his father was that his grandfather was much worse! He was not afraid for himself, but Amber was the woman he was in love with and he did not want them to say anything to hurt her.

  “It has to be someone who we are not going to approve of or you would tell us who she is,” his father insisted as he took out the thin cigar he favored out of the hardwood box and lit it before looking over at his son. “We only want what is best for you, Adam.”

  “I am an adult who pretty much can make his own decisions and here you are thinking that you and Grandfather have the right to make them for me.” Adam’s voice had an edge to it as he tossed down the liquor.

  “You have not made some very good ones in the past,” he was told.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You got involved with a married woman-“

  “I had no idea she was married!”

  “Luckily for you, we had her checked out and realized that she was in fact married and that her husband was a colleague who was bent on causing a scandal. If it was not for the respect he held for us, there would have been one.”

  “You are holding that against me?” Adam asked him coldly. “It never happened again.”

  “There was the incident when you were in college.”

  Adam closed his eyes in defeat. “I was young and reckless!”

  “You got involved with a professor and allowed her to fall in love with you. It cost the woman her job and almost got you killed because she could not get over the fact that you did not want her anymore.” His father tapped the end of the cigar against the tray and watched as the ashes fell into the hand-carved tray before directing his gaze to his son. “You are promiscuous and with no regards for anyone’s feelings but your own.”

  “Your high opinion of me will have me in tears in another few minutes,” Adam said bitterly.

  “I am just telling you the truth.” His father eyed him for a minute. “Is this woman someone you see yourself settling down with?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Then your grandfather and I would be delighted to meet her.”

  *****

  He was quiet on the way to the manor that Sunday afternoon. As a matter of fact, when he came over to be with her on Friday night he had made love to her with a restlessness that had him rushing the lovemaking and leaving her dissatisfied until he had belatedly realized what was wrong and had made love to her again. He had left for the club on Saturday and had spent the night there, coming back just in time to go to his apartment, change, and come to pick her up. He had kissed her absently and had told her she was beautiful in the slightly conservative plum-colored dress she had on and had said nothing else. Amber fiddled with the radio until the sound of John Legend sounded in the car and settled back to allow it to wash over her. She would wait until he wanted to talk. She knew him and also knew that something was bothering him and she had an idea of what it was.

  The gate swung backwards automatically as soon as he made the turn and he drove into the circular driveway until he reached the front doors. He killed the engine and turned to her. “I love you,” he told her quietly. “I want you to know that.”

  “You are scaring me, Adam.”

  “That is not my intention.” With a small smile, he ran one finger over her flawless cheek. “You are so beautiful and when we leave here tonight I want to make love to you until the sun comes up.”

  “I would like that.” She captured his hand and held it in hers. “Let’s go do this.”

  He nodded to the uniformed man who came to take the keys from him, and sliding is hand in hers, he guided her to the front door which was opened by what appeared to be a butler in full black. “Good evening, Mr. Adam,” he said with a slight smile. “Miss.” He stepped aside for them to enter and then took their coats. “Your father and grandfather are in the living room and asked that you join them. Dinner will be served in ten minutes.”

  Adam’s fingers tightened on hers as they made their way along the passageway into the vast living room where a cheerful fire was crackling in the hearth. The two men were standing - Adam’s grandfather next to a cherry wood table with a drink in his hand and his son leaning against the hearth. Both men looked up as they came into the room and Amber saw the incredulity and distaste on their faces before it was politely schooled.

  “Father, Grandfather, you already know Amber Gardner.” Ignoring the tension in the room, he brought her forward.

  “Ms. Gardner.” His father nodded to her curtly before turning to his son. “When you said you were bringing someone for dinner I had no idea you meant the woman you only referred to in the past as your best friend.”

  “The relationship has changed recently.” Adam’s eyes warned him not to say anything else before he turned to the older man standing erectly against the table.

  “This is quite a surprise, Adam,” the man said as he gave Amber a scathing look. “Ms. Gardner, what would you like to drink?”

  “By the way you are looking at me, I would have to say nothing.” Amber felt the tension stiffening her body and forced herself to relax.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I am going to be afraid that it is laced with poison.”

  Adam let out a shout of laughter that drained the anger and tension from his body. “I told you that she speaks her mind.”

  “That she does,” his grandfather said distastefully. He was about to say something else when the dinner bell rang. “Shall we?”

  The dining room was even larger than the living room and surpris
ingly cozy with the twenty-chair table set in the middle and a long trestle table in one corner of the room. Glittering chandeliers hung over the starched white tablecloth and two uniformed maids stood with folded hands as they waited for them to be seated. Adam’s grandfather took one end of the table and his father took the other. Adam chose a seat at left and made sure that Amber was seated next to him. A nod of his head at the maids and the meal was served. They ate in silence for a few minutes and unwittingly Amber started to relax but not for long!

  “What is it that you do, Ms. Gardner?” Adam’s grandfather asked her politely as the plates were cleared away and coffee and dessert, a delicate strawberry concoction, was served.

  “I am a designer,” Amber told him calmly, realizing that her temporary respite was at an end.

  “What does that mean?” The question was delivered in an amused tone by Adam’s father as if he was addressing an imbecile.

  “She is-” Adam started to respond, but Amber touched his hand briefly.

  “It means that I design clothes. I work for a living, Mr. Whitmore, and I am damn good at what I do.”

  “I am sure you are,” he said smoothly as he sipped the coffee. “I respect the kind of person who has to work for a living, the kind who does not have things handed to them on a silver platter. Adam is the exact opposite I am afraid, he has always been given everything he wanted without so much as an effort. Hard work certainly builds character.”

  “If you are trying to belittle me in front of Amber, I am afraid you are wasting your time, Father,” he said sarcastically. “She knows who I am.”

  “Does she really?” His grandfather had joined in the conversation again. “Is she also aware of your reputation with women?”

  “Every last degrading bit of it,” Amber told them smoothly, guessing correctly what they were doing and wanting to put an end to it. “He has a past and I get that, but that does not matter to me one bit.’

  “How noble of you,” his father jeered. “Women have been tripping over themselves to be with my son for years and I can assure you, my dear, that you are one in a long line of women he has used and discarded over the years.”

  Adam felt the blinding fury and had to force himself to calm down. “I can see that this was a mistake,” he said between his teeth as he pushed back his chair with the intention of leaving. “I came here with Amber to give you the benefit and the respect of getting to know her before we go public with our relationship, but it was a waste of our time. I am just letting you know, both of you, that I have no intention of letting you stand in the way of us being a couple and that I intend to ask her to marry me as soon as possible.”

  “What?” Both men uttered the word at the exact same time and Amber sat there staring up at him.

  “Adam?”

  He looked down at her and his expression gentled. “I was going to propose to you when we got back to your place, darling.”

  “You cannot be serious!” his father said furiously, rising to his feet, his expression thunderous as he looked from his son to the woman still seated around the table.

  “Incredibly so,” Adam told him coldly.

  “We will not allow it-” His grandfather had half raised from his chair and suddenly, he clutched his left arm and swayed slightly.

  “He is having a heart attack!” Amber screamed.

  *****

  Amber sat in the living room as near to the fire as she possibly could and shook her head for the second time when the maid came and asked if she wanted something to drink. If she had driven her vehicle instead of coming with Adam, she would have gone on home. It was surreal that this was happening and it had been exactly or almost exactly what she had feared. It had been two hours since the doctor had been summoned and aside from Adam coming back to check on her an hour ago, she had not seen him since, making her think that the worst had happened! His grandfather had died and she had been the cause of it! She clasped her hands together and stared into the mesmerizing orange red flame and felt the shiver in her body. She was not used to all this drama and she had no idea how to deal with it! The pleasure of hearing Adam announce that he wanted to marry her was offset by what had happened as a result of that announcement and it would forever stay with her. She looked up suddenly as he walked back into the room, a weary and defeated look on his handsome face. “Adam?” Her tone was agonized as she waited to hear the worst.

  “He is stable.”

  Amber sagged back against the cushions in relief. “So he is alive.”

  “He is,” Adam said grimly. “I should take you home. He is sleeping now and will be for the rest of the night. My father is with him at the moment.”

  “You should stay-”

  “No,” he said in a clipped voice. “I took you here, remember?”

  She nodded, realizing that something was wrong! She got to her feet and followed him out into the foyer, stopping short as she saw his father standing next to the door. “I am sorry about your father,” she told him.

  He gave a curt nod without responding and then turned to Adam. “I would greatly appreciate you coming back here tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “He will want to see you in the morning.”

  “I will see him in the morning. Goodnight.” Taking Amber’s arm, he ushered her outside and helped her into the passenger side before going around to take his seat. This time, the silence was so filled with tension that she did not even make an effort to break it as he navigated them through traffic. She glanced at his hard profile several times before keeping her eyes on the passing scenery. He pulled up at her place an hour later and turned the engine off, sitting there in silence for a few minutes before he got out and opened the door for her to get out. He followed her to her door and when she opened it and turned to tell him goodnight, he pushed his way in.

  “Maybe you should go back,” she ventured as he took off his outer coat and his jacket that he had donned for dinner.

  “Why?” She followed him into the kitchen and watched as he reached for the brandy on top of the fridge, pouring a generous amount into a glass. “Want some?” he asked, lifting the glass.

  “Your grandfather suffered a heart attack, Adam, it is usually indicative of another one happening.” She went to put the kettle on to make some tea.

  “And my being there would help how?”

  She turned to get the tea bag out of the cupboard along with the cup before she responded. “Considering that it was your announcement about your intended proposal that gave him the heart attack in the first place, I just think it is only fair that you be there for him in case he has another one.” Her hands shook a little as she poured the water and put the kettle away. “I did tell you that they would never approve of us being together, only I never expected that it would almost be the death of him.”

  “Don’t do that,” he told her quietly.

  “Don’t do what? Recognize that as far as your family is concerned I am a pariah? What’s the term I am looking for? Oh!” She snapped her fingers. “Persona non grata! The last person they would ever accept in the Whitmore family! Our love is doomed, Adam, and we have to accept that.”

  “Funny, I am the only one who ever uttered the ‘l’ word.” He drank his brandy moodily. “It had to take extreme circumstances for you to admit to me that you love me. That was a declaration of love, wasn’t it?”

  “Focus, Adam.” Amber wrapped her fingers around the cup and willed the trembling to stop. She felt as if she was on a treadmill going nowhere and as if her heart was being torn into little strips! “Your family is never going to accept me and I am not sure I want to be the one to drive an everlasting wedge into the Whitmore family.”

  “What are you saying?” he asked her tensely.

  “I am saying that we should cool things off for a little bit, at least until your grandfather is strong enough again,” she told him.

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “You think I want this?” She pushed away the cu
p of tea that she had not taken one sip of and clasped her hands in front of her on the counter. “I need some time to think this thing through, Adam, and I want you to give me that time.”

  “No,” he said resolutely, tossing back the liquor and slamming the glass onto the counter. “My grandfather is a tough bastard who will get through this. I am not going to allow them to ruin what we have, Amber. I am not going to give you time.”

  “I am going to have to insist.” There was a finality and determination in her voice that had him running scared.

  “Don’t ask that of me, Amber.” He reached across the counter and took her hands in hers and held on tight. “I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please don’t ask me to stay away from you. I am not going to do that.”

  “So we are going to go on with our lives and pretend that nothing happened? That your grandfather’s heart attack had nothing to do with what you said?”

  He did not let go of her hand and he felt the weariness and sadness permeating his body. He had stood in the room as their personal doctor administered the medicine that would start the healing and had seen how frail he looked lying on the mounds of pillows on his king sized bed. His grandfather had always been formidable with an indomitable spirit and as much as Adam hated his highhandedness, he had a fondness for the man and had been frightened that it would be the last time he would be able to hear him say anything to him. But he was not prepared to sacrifice his love life, the woman he had fallen irrevocably in love with, just because of that, he refused to stop seeing Amber just because of what happened. That he could not do!

  “I am not going to stop seeing you, Amber,” he told her quietly. “I will talk to them again, but I am not going to end the relationship, that is not negotiable.”

  *****

  “Do you think he bought it?” Abraham Whitmore the First asked his son as he came back into the room and closed the door behind him to give them some privacy. The doctor had already left for the night.