His Marriage Demand

by Fiona Murphy

  “I’m already going to be getting a son, we’ll be adopting Justin together, making it legal. I’m going to be happy to call him my son. Two girls sound like heaven, as long as they are miniatures of you.”

  His words fill me with happiness. I have a hard time blinking back tears, “I have a confession to make. All that hiding I was doing behind my job and then Justin. It was because I knew I loved you, and if I had you and lost you, it would be the end of me. I wasn’t trying to protect Justin, I was trying to protect me.”

  “I know, sweetheart. I knew the night I made what was probably the worst proposal in Chicago in the last one hundred years.”

  “Oh, Drake, I’m sure there had to be others worse, at least one or two.” I try to reassure him and he’s smiling.

  A week later, I’m meeting Latisha at the same place Drake had taken me shopping. When she hugs me, I’m pretty sure she almost breaks a rib.

  “Girl, I knew it. I told you. Looking at you like a juicy piece of steak and he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Thank you for asking me to be your maid of honor and even better not making me do anything. I can’t believe you don’t want any parties or me running around at your beck and call. My sister made me get down on my hands and knees to paint her nails when I was her maid of honor. She had me running all over the city like a chicken without a head. I love you, but I almost said no, until you told me I didn’t have to anything.”

  “There’s nothing to be done, Jane is doing absolutely everything and since she’s charging so much, then no, you aren’t doing anything. I also have no desire for a party anyway. You know, I’m no good at parties. I’m simply grateful you said yes.”

  “Of course, I was playing about saying no. A wedding like Drake is going to throw for you, I ain’t missing it for nothing. The only thing is, I’m feeling really bad.” She’s hiding behind a row of dresses.

  “Latisha, stop hiding. What are you feeling bad about?”

  Coming to a stop, she faces me and looks miserable. “I got your job.”

  “That’s great! I’m so happy for you. Don’t feel bad at all. That job was yours for years, you and I both know it. After we get done here, we’re going for a little celebration.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, I’m sure! Hugs!”

  “I’m so glad you’re happy. I’ve been worried about telling you all day.”

  “Oh, my god you have to be kidding me. I’m getting married to the man of my dreams who wouldn’t have wanted me working, anyway. Please, as you would normally say, don’t trip, it’s all good.”

  “Ria, you are so my girl!”

  Three weeks fly by and I’m floating on cloud nine, where Drake assures me I belong, when I come crashing to the ground one afternoon. I’m going over the seating arrangement and I have no idea what I’m doing. Meredith informs me a visitor is waiting and has been shown into the formal sitting room. I didn’t even hear the doorbell go off, so I’m off-balance from the beginning.

  When I follow Meredith to the sitting room the woman standing at the window turns. Every nightmare I’ve had for the last eight years is coming true.

  “Well, look at you, all fancy. My daughter looking like Prada is loungewear. I have to admit, you did better than I ever thought you would do. Do you know, I tried to get our neighbor to fuck you for a price, and he didn’t want you? His old lady was an actual old lady and gross. Even then he wouldn’t have you, a thirteen year old. Everyone else I offered you up to kept trying to bring the price down. I decided you just weren’t worth the effort anymore.

  I gave up on your gangly ass. Finally, I managed to land a wealthy fat cat and have his kid, only to find he doesn’t pay up until I’m gone. You little bitch, you could have told me. You’re sitting all cozy with the kid in a house, all the bills paid no worries at all. Me, I’m out there with nothing, fucking one gross guy after another just to have somewhere to sleep.”

  She stops to take in a breath and I can’t take anymore. I walk out of the room and head to the front door. Walking away from her is something she’s always hated and she follows me. I open the door. “Get the fuck out of my home. Don’t ever come back.”

  “Are you fucking crazy? I came to get my kid. I’m not leaving without him.”

  “You signed legal guardianship of your kid to me eight years ago and you are leaving now. Norman!” I practically scream. He comes running, he had to have been waiting, and he moves toward her with purpose.

  “This ain’t over, missy. I found out what you had me sign was meaningless. You want to push me and I’ll go running to the press. The Tribune would love something meaty like this. The Dragon of Chicago and his wife keeping a mother away from her child.” She’s screaming as Norman leads her by the arm to her car.

  I’m shaking as I lean against the door. I’m crying because she’s saying everything I feared when I tried to talk Drake out of the pictures and announcement. When I had her traced eight years ago I had known what she was signing was basically legal crap. It was something I had printed off the internet and wasn’t worth the paper it had been printed on. I had told her I needed it because I was moving to Dallas for a job.

  Justin’s father had died weeks ago before then and the home he was paying for and the monthly deposits into the bank account had stopped with only one month of warning. There was a small part of me satisfied she had never known how close she had come to having her dream realized. Apparently, Justin’s father was waiting for DNA testing to come back before he would pay out. Only a day after she had left, the letter had come accepting financial responsibility and a debit card. An address had been listed, Justin’s father would pay all bills for the monthly rent and a monthly deposit would be made into the bank account. Relief had been overwhelming, the terrifying thoughts of CPS and foster care had disappeared.

  I had kept my head down and my mouth shut. Somehow, no one had found out it was just Justin and me and that I was only thirteen. Whenever anyone asked, I was fifteen and Justin was mine. Until I was nineteen, and Justin’s father died; then I realized Justin really was mine, in every way that mattered. The thought of losing him had my blood running cold.

  Desperately, I had forgotten all thoughts of continuing school. The monthly payments had been enough to take care of childcare and then some, I managed to save quite a bit. Thinking the amount of money would be enough for several months. Then I had gone apartment hunting and I found out it wouldn’t last for as long as I thought it would. I had managed to find a job quickly, my mother had been harder. Thankfully, she had been tweaked out without any knowledge of Justin’s father dying. With a laugh, she had signed and walked out without even asking about Justin.

  I knew I had to move fast, before she figured out what was going on. I had her sign the meaningless document because I was terrified she would try to take Justin back so she could sue the estate for Justin’s part. Justin wouldn’t have been able to take all of that and her. She was a malicious, physically and mentally abusive wreck of a human being. Justin would have been crushed by her within months.

  I close the front door with a bang and lean against door. Fear has me a sobbing wreck. It’s how Drake finds me. He’s swearing as he picks me up and takes me upstairs.

  “Don’t cry, sweetheart, please don’t cry. It tears me up when you do. Everything is going to be fine. I’m going to take care of her. I promise you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to deal with her. Noman’s guy lost her three days ago but he’s back on her now. She’s not going to get close again without me here. I told you, I love you and no one is going to hurt you. Let me handle her. You trust me, sweetheart?”

  I’ve finally get my tears down to a trickle now that I’m safe in his arms. His question stops me altogether. “Of course.”

  “Of course, I love hearing you say it as if I’m a moron to even ask it.”

  He rocks me for a moment and I’m content to let him handle it. I have no doubt he will. I have no doubt he’ll come out ahead and my mother will disappe
ar again like the bad dream she’s always been.

  The next morning it really feels like the day before was a bad dream. Yet, only twenty minutes after I kiss Justin goodbye I hear the doorbell ringing and I catch a breath. Drake pulls me close, “Meredith, show the woman into my study. I’ll be there in a moment. You want to stay here? Okay, then you have to promise, don’t say a word. I handle all of it.”

  He pulls his phone out of his pocket. “This is Drake Hawthorne, tell Winston I need him and a notary at my home within the next half hour to sign the documents for the waiver of rights for Justin Short.”

  My head comes up in surprise. “When did you do have them prepare the documents?”

  “The day I talked to Justin. I knew she’d come, I got the cashier’s check the same day.”

  “A cashier’s check? To sign away her rights to Justin, you’re going to pay her?” I’m feeling a little unsteady.

  “She doesn’t want Justin, she wants money. I’ll gladly give her what she wants to make you and Justin happy. I’ve known this was coming, if she hadn’t come to me, I would have had to go to her. We couldn’t have adopted Justin and taken him to Boston without her signature. Her coming here gives me the upper hand. She’s on my playing field now, this will end quickly, the way we want it to. Remember, don’t say a word.”

  My hand goes into his as I follow him into his study. It feels comforting and I squeeze it the moment we step inside the room. She’s lying back against the leather chair as if she’s the queen of the world and we’re being brought forth for punishment. I want to become violent and I fight the bile rising in my throat.

  Drake’s arm goes around me and he waits. He doesn’t say a word, simply stares at her.

  The silence grows until she finally gives in. “Well, if it isn’t the Dragon of Chicago. You look even better in person. I never had you down as one for slumming. Then again, with men you can never be sure of their tastes. It’s like I told Ria yesterday, I tried to offer her up for use to several men when she was thirteen, only none of them wanted her. One wouldn’t even fuck her for a fifty, tried to haggle me down to twenty. I bet she’s earning more than that from you now. Friend of mine told me the pearl ring she was wearing was easy fifty large, and her engagement ring a quarter of a million. Bet she’s working all her holes for you for all that pretty sparkly.”

  Drake’s arm tightens around me, still he doesn’t say a word. She’s trying to provoke and she’s hesitant when he doesn’t respond to her malicious words.

  “Cat got your tongue, Dragon? I mean I heard you were smart, are you just playing dumb?”

  “Ms. Short, when you say anything worth responding to, then I will do so. Justin isn’t leaving our care, so say what you came here to say. Ask for how much you want, I’ll tell you to fuck off, and have you removed from our property. You have six outstanding warrants in four states. I can call the police now to have you arrested. The Tribune wouldn’t take a collect call from you. While you’re in jail, child services would see Justin is content and safer with us than in an already full and overwhelmed foster care system. We’ll go to the courts and petition for custody. You’re going to go away for at least ten years with all the charges you have against you. For most people, it would take a year or two, except money talks and I have a shitload of it. We’ll be signing the adoption papers in months.” With every word, his voice gets harder and harder and his face is made of granite.

  My mother opens her mouth, for once, nothing comes out of it. I bite my lip to keep from smiling.

  “I am making you a one-time offer. For twenty grand, you’ll sign a waiver of your rights here today, along with a gag order that you never speak of this, and you’ll save me time and money. You try to haggle with me over this and each time you do I knock off five grand. By the time we get to zero I call the cops.”

  Shock has her opening her mouth, “Jesus Christ! Twenty grand, that’s it?! Your suit costs more than that. That’s all you’re willing to pay for the fucking kid? What a stingy bastard you are.”

  “You’re down to fifteen grand and frankly you’re making me nauseous. I’ll give you ten minutes to think about it. Don’t get any ideas about stealing anything, either, look up in the corner, see the camera? It’s recording this conversation and your sticky fingers.” Drake marches us out the door and we head back to the kitchen.

  “I love you so much. I’m so sorry you have to even be in the same room as she is.” I exhale as I lean against the island.

  Pulling me close, he groans, “I couldn’t stand looking at her for a single second longer. Fuck, I can’t believe I left you here alone where she could get to you yesterday. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Can I say right now how grateful I am that you are so fucking sweet, honest, and amazing; considering you came from that vile woman?”

  “Don’t apologize. I know it’s crazy but she wasn’t always so awful. She used to be just selfish and self-centered. When my father left us when I was eight she became vicious. Slowly, she came to resent me, and then she met this guy and got pregnant. He was married and willing to support her and the baby. Except she had a miscarriage four or five months in and it was awful. There was a lot of blood, she was in agony for days.

  She changed completely then. The guy ran and never came back. How she landed Justin’s father I’ll never know. After coming so close to having a kid by someone who would take care of her, she kept trying. When Justin was born, she had unresolved issues from her miscarriage causing her to almost bleed to death, and they did a hysterectomy. When she got out of the hospital, she left Justin in the carrier, screaming, for days before she even let me hold him to take care of him. When she saw I was doing it, she said he was my problem and left. Even though she didn’t pack a bag I knew she was never coming back. The fear of what would happen after she walked out was nothing compared to the relief. She’s my problem. I’m sorry for letting you handle the mess I should be cleaning up.”

  Chuckling, he shakes his head, “Please stop saying stuff like that, you’re beginning to sound like a saint again and I can’t stand it. I love the way you suck my cock too much to have you enter sainthood. You lost the lottery in parent stakes, that’s all it was. You have handled it with grace and nothing but love and you did it all alone. You aren’t alone anymore, I’m here and I’m taking care of you. Now is when having an arrogant, commanding and know it all husband is going to be your benefit.”

  The door from the garage opens and Norman shows in two men in suits who look flustered, and I have no doubt they were speeding to get here at Drake’s command. “Winston, Wyatt, thank you both for coming so quickly. This is my fiancée Ria Short, and you will both be here to witness her mother signing over her rights for the cashier’s check I’ll present to her. Norman, if you could please stand by to remove her from our home when she’s done.”

  Both men nod without a flicker of surprise, following Drake as he leads us back to the study.

  She’s waiting by the windows when she turns, wringing her hands in impatience. Her eyes are hard as they flick to Drake and the men in suits. Drake sits down at his desk, I stand beside him. Opening the desk, he pulls out a cashier’s check and tears it along the lines. One of the men, I can’t remember which was which, opens his briefcase. He pulls out a notary stamp and opens a ledger. The other man opens his briefcase and pulls out a two page, extremely legal document, laying it on the desk. Drake puts the check on the document, then a pen on the check and pushes it to the edge of the desk toward her.

  “Your ten minutes are up.” It’s all he says, all he needs to say.

  Shooting him a look of pure hatred, she moves to his desk. She looks down at the check and up to him. I can tell she’s dying to say something else, but knew she didn’t dare. With a flourish, she signs before pushing it back at Drake. Jamming the check into her pocket, she doesn’t say another word and walks out of the room. I watch Norman open the front door and follow her out. Finally, I can breathe again. I sag against the desk.

&
nbsp; “Mr. Hawthorne, while we are here would you like to go over the prenuptial agreement?”

  Running a hand through my hair, I exhale in relief. Of course, the prenup. I nod with an easy smile. “As long as they’re here. I’d like to get it out of the way.”

  “We’re going to go over this with you now. We do advise you to seek your own counsel before signing, however.”

  I’m a little intimated by the thickness of it as I settle into chair, pulled up to Drake’s desk. The first few pages are legalese, the lawyer takes me through it slowly and politely. Then he gets to the bones of it and I’m floored. I’ll get a million dollar lump sum settlement for every year we are married, I get to keep everything given to me, including jewelry. I’ll get the family home, as long as it’s not the one we’re standing in. If we’re living here at the time of the divorce, I’ll get to purchase a home of my own, at a cost of up to five million dollars. I’ll get full physical custody of any children with legal custody joint, and twenty five thousand dollars a month in child support for each child, and that included Justin; Justin was actually in the document. The family trust was a bit tighter with the money. The trust would pay all costs of education, upon reaching eighteen the trust would pay directly to the child, but only a thousand dollars a month. It wouldn’t go up until the child married or became twenty five, whichever came first, then it would go to five thousand a month. At thirty it would go up to forty thousand a month. If the child was married it would go up to sixty-five thousand a month.

  My color is draining and my stomach is rocking. Shaking my head, I look up at Drake, “This is too much. This is crazy. A million dollars for every year, this is insane, with the child support there’s absolutely no need for it. A house on top of child support is way too much. I know Chicago is expensive but it’s not this expensive. Drake, you have to redo this.”

  “Gentleman, can you give my fiancée and me a moment please?”