Ruby Island

by Anita Rodriguez

  Matt typed frantically, words spilling from his mind faster than he could type them. He hadn't even started the Bill Ruby article yet, but he'd already written more of his novel in the last six hours than he'd written in three years. He didn't want to think about where the inspiration was coming from, but it felt good. Like a bull rider, he'd opened the gate and was now holding on for dear life. The ideas came in waves and he tried to funnel them into coherent thoughts for the page.

  You can't earn happiness in dollars so be true to yourself, Matt thought. It was something his mother had said to him since he could remember.

  He cringed for a moment thinking again about the article he was supposed to be working on, and then he lost all steam when there was a knock at the door. Matt was shocked to see his father standing at the threshold.

  "Dad," Matt said.

  "Are you going to invite me in?" his dad asked, and Matt stepped aside and let him into the apartment. His father walked the space of the living room and then moved to the small dining table that doubled as Matt's office. Matt cringed as his father read the page that was open on the screen. He didn't want anyone to read his work right now, especially his father, but he didn't want to make a big deal about it.

  Matt was always defensive around his dad and when his dad started to rub his chin, Matt knew something was wrong. It was his tell that he was stressed, and he'd come here to see Matt. His father had never made a visit unannounced, and since Matt had graduated college, he'd never visited without Matt's mother.

  Matt wondered if his dad was going to try to get him into corporate banking again. Matt had attended college for finance, and to his father's utter dismay, Matt hadn't gone into corporate banking or worked his way up the ladder like he had. His dad was a self-made man, and Matt always felt that he could see the disappointment in his dad’s eyes.

  "How are you, son?" his dad asked, turning his attention to Matt but still rubbing his chin.

  "I'm fine," Matt answered.

  "Hmmm," his dad said, looking at the ground and starting to pace.

  "You haven't called your mother."

  "Is Mom okay?" Matt asked. Matt's mom had always had a soft spot for her boy, and she had defended Matt's decision to go into journalism out of college.

  "She's fine. She's fine," his dad repeated himself.

  The pit in Matt's stomach widened, and he thought his dad might be having a medical issue that he'd come to tell Matt about.

  "So, you're fine, and there's nothing that you should be telling me or your mom?" his dad asked, and Matt turned white. He instantly thought of the trip to Ruby Island and the three mysterious boys who had materialized out of thin air, but there was no way Matt was going to tell his father.

  "Sarah and I haven't set a date, if that's what you mean," Matt said trying to play it cool, but he was sweating now.

  His father's face lost its composure and Matt saw a look he hadn't seen since he was twenty-three. His father was struggling for words, or he knew what he wanted to say, but it hurt him to say the words. There was anger and disappointment there, and his father had seemed to age twenty years since he'd come through the front door.

  His father gulped back his indecision, and he squared up to Matt and looked him straight in the eye. "Matt, I saw the boys. The eldest, William, he is your spitting image."

  Matt was shocked and angry at the same time. He couldn't believe that Reynolds would stoop so low as to call his father, and Matt could strangle her right now.

  "Dad, you should stay out of this," he said, trying and failing to keep calm.

  "No," his father snapped back and then took a deep breath.

  "I don't know what Reynolds told you, but you don't know what's going on."

  "I don't know any Reynolds," his dad said, and Matt was confused.

  "I got a call from William. He's a smart boy. He found me on the Internet."

  "William's on the Internet?" Matt asked worrying about the kind of trouble a pre-teen boy could get into on the Internet after spending a sheltered life stranded on an island. Matt shook his head.

  "He found my phone number and left a message from a boy named William who said he was looking for his dad."

  Deny, deny, deny, Matt told himself. "Dad, I don't even want kids and you're going to believe some stranger who leaves you a message? Really, you can't believe everything you hear. Get it together." Matt held his breath after he'd said that because he never talked back to his father. He was raised in a strict household, and flippant disrespect wasn't tolerated. He waited for his father's blowback, but it didn't come.

  "I called the boy back and we had a nice chat," he said, and then he stared at Matt.

  Matt was trying his best not to run out of the apartment. He wrung his hands together and stood stock still as his father paced some more.

  "Let me tell you something, Matt. You’re my son, and I love you." His father gulped again and Matt knew it was tears. They were not a very expressive family, and yet his father was having a hard time keeping it together. "I'm not telling you that you have to be with this woman, Matt, but if those are your boys, and they are," he said with certainty, "I will be very disappointed in you, ashamed of you, if you don't own up to being their father."

  "Dad, they aren't my boys. I don't know what happened on that airplane. I mean, Reynolds is cute and all, but I don't even like her that way. I'm not interested in her like that." Matt wasn't sure why he'd said it like Reynolds was repulsive or something. She was a knockout in the yellow dress. He shook his head and tried to focus.

  His dad was staring at him, and Matt was more resolved than ever. He had no idea what had happened on that airplane, but there was no way that he had children. He felt panic, and he could see his future plans slipping away.

  "Listen, son, I don't know what happened either. This is some miracle."

  "Some miracle," Matt muttered, losing his fight.

  His dad kept the stare for a moment longer before stepping closer and patting Matt on the shoulder. His dad clearly wasn't done yet, so Matt slumped into a chair and his father perched softly on the couch opposite Matt.

  “Matt, William explained how you and Amy can’t remember anything, and I don’t know everything that happened, but I'm a grandfather, and you need to tell your mother because she needs to know. This changes everything."

  "You're telling me," Matt said under his breath. He'd been denying, ignoring, and defensive when it came to mention of the boys, and he wanted to go about his life as it had been before the stupid flight to Ruby Island, but he was finally realizing that was impossible. Matt's father was forcing the issue, and he wouldn't let it go, not ever.

  "And I didn't even get to take my grandsons to their first Yankees game," his father said with regret.

  Matt nodded, and then realized what his dad had just said. "Wait, what?"

  "Bill Ruby took them to the game yesterday.”

  "You're kidding," Matt said, his face reddening with anger. Bill Ruby was everywhere.

  "You're a reporter and you don't know? There were pictures in all the papers. It was on the morning news, son."

  Matt shook his head. "I'm not a reporter."

  "You say that as though you’re offended. Isn't your fiancé a reporter?" His dad smiled evenly, and Matt grit his teeth.

  "She’s a news anchor, not a reporter."

  "You say tomato," his dad said.

  "What's your point?" Matt said loudly. He hated when his father took an interest in his life. It usually meant he had some explaining to do, and Matt was too old for that.

  "Sarah has a reputation to keep," Matt's father said as he rubbed his chin. He'd been charmed by Sarah for a long time, and Matt was beginning to think that his father no longer approved of her. It was one thing if Matt was getting tired of her, but that was a normal relationship hurdle. All of Matt's married friends told him the honeymoon would end someday.

  "You don't like Sarah now?"

  "She's fine, Matt. I like her just fine. It
's more than that, son. Sarah is beautiful, and successful, and everything a man who tries to make it in this city wants. Heck, half of America is in love with her."

  Matt nodded in agreement, and he sat a little higher in his chair. Sarah was all of that and more. She had access to New York City and soon the whole country, and she was on his arm. He'd gone to more red carpet parties and outrageously decadent fundraisers in the last year than he had in his life.

  He'd been in green rooms before meeting Sarah, and he'd tagged along with a few celebrities while writing articles about them, but he'd never really felt part of that world. Sarah was glamorous, and Matt was hardly going to apologize for wanting to be with a beautiful woman at the top of her game.

  "When I met your mother," his dad started, and Matt couldn't help but roll his eyes. Matt had heard enough "back when" stories from his grandfather to last a lifetime, and now he heard his grandfather's voice in his head telling him to show his father some respect. Matt cleared his throat but he didn't interrupt.

  "When I met your mother, I didn't know right away that she was the one, but it didn't take too many dates to realize it. I didn't have much back then, Matt. I'd come to New York City with aspirations of building a business of my own, but it was expensive even back then. I worked as many hours as I could, but banking hours were pretty set, so it was hard to earn more at the time."

  Matt was surprised to hear this. His father had always worked countless hours as the Chief Finance Officer on the 82nd floor of the company's building, and Matt had never thought of his father working his way up the ranks or struggling in any way. This was an eye opener.

  "I spent most of what I had extra each month to take your mother out, and when I was ready to ask her to marry me, I had no money for a ring."

  Matt had no idea where his father was going with this conversation. He guessed that seeing those boys had really rattled his cage. "That's too bad, Dad, but it all worked out in the end, right?"

  "Matt, I sold everything I had to buy an engagement ring for your mom. I sold the luggage that my parents had bought me when I moved to New York, I sold most of the furniture I had collected in my apartment, and I even sold the gold plated pen that the bank had awarded me when I earned employee of the year." His dad looked at Matt and rubbed his hand over his chin.

  Matt let out a sigh. Where was his dad going with this story?

  "Matt, I was so in love with your mother that I had to marry her. I didn't care what things I had to let go of to propose to her the right way and to make sure she married me. That's how strongly I felt for her."

  "Ha!" Matt blurted. "Have you seen the rock I put on Sarah's hand?" he asked his dad with a laugh. He was still paying that debt, but it was the ring that Sarah wanted and so he had to get it.

  Matt's father nodded slowly and Matt could see that he was trying to exert some patience with his son. Matt felt like a schoolboy who'd not done well on his report card again.

  "Matt," his father said like a fifth grade teacher who was trying to get his student's attention, "I'm not specifically talking about the ring that I bought for your mother. I'm talking about how I felt when I sold everything I owned to buy it. I was in love, and I wouldn't let your mother go for the world. There was no other life for me, Matt, and if that's the way that you truly feel for Sarah, then I wish you the best."

  Matt's eyebrows crinkled low on his forehead and a gnawing feeling returned the lump to his throat. Why was everyone trying to shake his confidence?

  His father rose and dropped an envelope on the coffee table between them and Matt stared at it as his father walked to the door. "Go see those boys with an open mind, Matt, and you will see what I see."

  Chapter 13

  Matt leaned forward to grab the envelope that his dad had dropped on the table, and he opened it. It was a picture of the oldest boy William, only it wasn't really him. It was Matt's own eighth grade picture. He jumped off the couch barely believing it was true. He’d noticed a resemblance, but he saw in this old photo that William was his spitting image, and now he understood his dad's demeanor.

  Matt was more confused than ever. He’d been denying their very existence, and yet here was undeniable proof that the boys had to belong to him. Matt had been so focused on what he wanted that he hadn’t stopped to think about his parents. He knew that his mom would be thrilled to have grandchildren, and he didn’t need to give his dad another reason to be disappointed.

  The walls felt like they were closing in, and Matt grabbed his keys and ran outside. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't breathe. He pulled out his cell phone and ordered a car to Reynolds’ house, but when they were close to her brownstone, he changed his mind and now found himself in the elevator up to the 73rd floor of One World Trade Center. His mouth was dry when the doors opened, and Matt lumbered out into the lobby of the magazine office.

  "Hi, Matt!" Danielle said from behind the desk. He waved and tried to smile, but his lip stuck to his teeth and he was sure it looked more like a grimace. He pushed the glass door open and felt his body shrink in on itself when he saw Sarah's face planted on half of the TV's that were mounted around the open expanse of the cubicle office.

  It was so strange to wake up in her bed just this morning, and now he didn't know how he was supposed to feel about her. He was sure that they were just in one of their spats, and yet his father was right that she did have a reputation to uphold, and Matt owed it to her to say something about the kids. He looked over the sea of cubicles and saw Charley in his office and ducked lower wondering why he had come here.

  "Mattey-Cole, Mattey-Cole, Mattey-Cole-Cole-Cole," he heard from Nicole's sing-song voice. He practically ran down the row to her cubicle to get her to quiet down.

  "Nickey-cole," he said back playfully and tried to smile. He slinked into the larger than usual cubicle space and slipped into a chair. His eyes bulged at the photos hanging all around her and laying haphazardly on the desk.

  There were newer photos of Reynolds with Bill Ruby at the gala mixed in with red carpet photos from the Oscars and the Golden Globes. He was shocked to see so many photos of Reynolds in elegant dresses.

  "Is your mouth hanging open?" Nicole asked.

  Matt snapped his mouth shut. "No!"

  "She cleans up nice, doesn't she?" Nicole said, appreciating the photos again.

  "I had no idea," Matt said.

  "Mmm-hmmm," she said with a cluck of her tongue.

  "I meant that I didn't know she used to date Bill Ruby."

  "You didn't see this in your research?"

  Matt crunched his teeth together. "I don't do research in advance. I find it taints my interviews."

  "Mmm-hmmm," she said again.

  That was most people's reactions when he told them he didn't do formal research before an interview. Sarah had said that it just made him unprepared and a bit of a snob.

  "She's too down to earth for that lifestyle," Matt said.

  "You're so blind. I can't believe she had a crush on you," Nicole blurted, and then she tried to cover her tracks. "Forget I said that."

  "Who had a crush on me? Reynolds?"

  Nicole shook her head. "You know, for one of the smartest men I know, you are really one of the dumbest men I know."

  Matt stared at Nicole with his mouth open. There was no way that Amy Reynolds ever had a crush on him. He knew, in fact, that she hated him at this very moment.

  "Remember those three in a row last year?"

  "What, the back-to-backs you sent us on in the freezing Arctic winter weather? I have no idea what you mean." Remembering the frozen tundra, Matt's shoulders climbed up his neck as his body involuntarily shivered. It had been interesting to meet the Inuit people, and Reynolds had taken some fantastic photos. He had one printed of himself hanging in his apartment. It was just the circle of the parka opening, his wind chapped red face and five o'clock shadow a stark contrast to the blinding white landscape. They'd been trapped with the Inuit's for five days, and it wasn't even a
terrible time.

  "I sent you there hoping you'd get stuck for a while, and you did. You managed to get trapped in an actual igloo sitting around a fire in the frozen tundra, and you didn't even move in for a kiss!"

  Matt grunted. What was Nicole even talking about? Reynolds was cute and all, and by these photos and how she looked in her dress at the fundraiser, even beautiful, but she'd never even hinted that she was interested.

  "We were on assignment, Nicole. I'm a professional," Matt offered defensively.

  She laughed. "Well, it all worked out because Amy's back with Bill and you are engaged to Miss Sarah Robinson, a.k.a. the boss' daughter." She winked at Matt.

  "I don't know if we're close enough for you to make a joke like that," Matt said dryly. His head was spinning.

  "I'm assuming you’re here to turn in your article on Bill Ruby."

  Matt shook his head, suddenly perturbed. "I'm here to see Charley," he lied. He rubbed his eyes and considered why he’d come.

  "Hmmm," she said again.

  “I need to see something from you, Matt. I'm an editor, I need something to edit, and your deadline is approaching."

  "I didn't bring my laptop," Matt said. It was true, and he couldn't very well tell her that he hadn't written a word.

  Matt's ears burned. He didn't know what to say about Bill Ruby, and seeing all of these photos of Reynolds with Ruby started to make him angry.

  Those boys, those three boys that were going to ruin his life, they were the real article. And Reynolds, ambushing him with a DNA test - that was the real article.

  Reynolds had a crush on me a year ago? Matt thought. Things were getting stranger by the minute.

  Amy was sitting quietly in the kitchen drinking tea. It had been a while since she had sat alone without some interruption. She was starting to realize how exhausting three boys could be. All of her time seemed to be taken up now, and at least on Ruby Island the staff and the activities kept the boys busy. Here, they were always around her asking questions, or wanting her to read or watch TV with them or take them around the city. It was tiring, and it was a life she wasn't sure she would ever have, but now that it was reality, she liked it.