Underestimated Too

by Jettie Woodruff

  ‘Mr. Kelley, this is Wanda. Mr. Callaway passed about an hour ago.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call me? Morgan would have wanted to be there.’

  ‘Mr. Callaway asked that I didn’t.’

  ‘Okay, and the arrangements? Does Morgan need to do anything? Do I need to do anything?’

  ‘No. Mr. Callaway had everything taken care of before his death. I’ll keep you posted on the arrangements.’

  ‘I’m sorry. Family problem?’ Celeste asked.

  ‘Not mine. My wife’s grandfather just passed. I need to go to her.’

  ‘Your wife, you’re married?’ Celeste asked shocked. I guess I wasn’t one to talk about my personal life, and Morgan had been missing in action for weeks now. Shock was understandable.

  ‘Yes, she’s visiting her mother. Can you—’

  ‘Yes, yes. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ve got things here. Go take care of what you need to.’

  ‘I’ll be back tomorrow. Double check the lunch reservation with Sturgeon, I’ll meet you there when I get back.’

  ‘Drew, I can take care of Sturgeon. You can be with your family.’

  ‘I’m fine. Just do what needs to be done here. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  ***

  I was nervous as hell to come face to face with Morgan’s mother. I hadn’t been the most pleasant son in-law the first time I met her. Actually, I was downright nasty to her. She’d probably throw me out of her house. What did Morgan tell her? Did she know that Morgan had been living in Maine, that she was in an accident, worse of all, had she told her about our first six years of marriage?

  ‘Hello, um, I really need to speak with Morgan,’ I anxiously requested, shifting from foot to foot at the door. Amanda didn’t look like she had ten years before. She was very attractive, not what I remembered at all. She crossed her arms and leaned against the threshold not inviting me in.

  ‘I’m not sure I should let you see her.’

  ‘Her grandfather passed,’ I blurted out. I didn’t know what else to say. The first time I’d met her, she was scum on the bottom of my shoe and now I was the one intimidated.

  ‘I’m not sure who should be doing the judging here,’ Amanda stated.

  ‘Excuse me?’ Shit. Morgan told her. She knew everything.

  ‘I’m not sure why my daughter would stray from a man of your fortunate looks, had she been given what she needed at home.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll give you that, but you’re right. I’m not sure who should be the judge here either. From my recollection, you didn’t earn mother of the year with her.’

  Amanda pouted her lips and nodded. ‘I guess you’re right. Let’s let god be the judge. She’s out in the shed.’

  Jesus, was I ever in love with my wife. Seeing her playing and laughing with her little sister gave me a warm feeling that I’d never had before. I’d never had a family any more than Morgan had. She was in love with me too, I could tell as soon as she turned to see me. And having her throw herself in my arms was heart melting. She felt amazing, like she belonged. She did belong. She belonged right here with me.

  ***

  I really hoped her brother Justin would be at the funeral. I could tell she was looking around for him. He never showed, not that I was all that surprised, Callaway wasn’t the most liked man in Vegas.

  I was going to do everything I could do to keep Morgan right here in Vegas with me. She belonged with me. She didn’t belong in Maine with that cheating ass.”

  ‘You cheated too, Drew,’ I reminded him. I liked being on the phone and not in front of him. I felt like I could say more without his eyes being on me.

  “Yes, I know. I did it, but not after I fell in love with you. I did it when I was young and pissed that I was being forced to marry you, and I thought I loved Skyler. I never loved Skyler, not like I love you, Morgan. And if you want me to get technical about it I can. You did it too. You cheated on me as much as I cheated on you.”

  “Really, Drew? You’re going to play that card? I hated you, I left you, I wasn’t with you anymore, and I don’t feel as though I cheated on you at all.”

  “You think that’s how it was, Morgan? You don’t think the nine fucking months that I spent waiting, trying to let you make your own choice wasn’t cheating? You fucked us both for practically your whole pregnancy.”

  “How do you think that what you did was any different from what Drew did?” Deidra asked. Was she really going to take his side?

  “You have no idea what went on in this house for six years. You have no right to judge me for anything,” I yelled getting angry. Yes. I liked the phone barrier that we now had.

  “I don’t know because every time I ask you to talk, you shuffle it over to Drew. You don’t want to talk, and I can’t make you. Do I think Drew has issues? Hell yeah I do, but so do you.”

  “My issues stem from Drew,” I argued. Was she really going to jump on his bandwagon? How dare she. We were friends. We had drinks together.

  “I’m sure you have issues from Drew, but I don’t think they all came from him. I think you had abandonment issues long before Drew. I think they emanate from early on in your childhood, starting with your grandmother Joyce.”

  “You know nothing about my grandmother.”

  “I know you told me she was the only one who ever cared, the only one who was ever there for you, and I know she was the first person that left you that cared about you.”

  “I cared about my mother and brother.”

  “I didn’t say who you cared about. I said who cared about you. You’re mother left you to tend to an infant while she was out drinking.”

  “She has nothing to do with Drew and me. We’ve mended our fences.”

  “Morgan, you don’t have to get defensive with me. I’m not saying that the relationship you have with your mother now is not amazing. I’m saying that you too have buried issues that you’re not willing to let go of. Like your part in leading two men on while you were pregnant.”

  “That is not how it was. That was all Drew’s fault. I was doing just fine staying away from him. He’s the one that wouldn’t leave me alone long enough to figure things out.”

  “Morgan, you’re not seeing things from how they really went down,” Drew debated.

  “Yes, I am. You’re not seeing things from how they really were. I never called you. You always called me.”

  “And when I didn’t, you gave me hell. Did you really think I was going to lie down and let you be with that cheating slime ball? You wouldn’t let me lay down. You didn’t have to jump on a plane and go every time I told you to, but you did. You came to me, fucked me like no one else, and told me that you loved me, many times. Remember that, Morgan?”

  Well, hell.

  “You think I wasn’t going off the deep end, thinking about that lowlife being in bed with you? I made myself sick, thinking about him kissing all over you and then hopping next door.”

  “So this is something that you harbor ill feelings towards Morgan over?” Deidra asked.

  “Fuck yes, I do. She kept us both on a string until she knew who fathered Nicholas.”

  “And what if Nicholas would have belonged to Dawson, would you have left her alone then?”

  “Probably not,” Drew replied in a defeated tone.

  “You were willing to raise another man’s child just to have Morgan?”

  “Yes. I would do anything to keep Morgan. I didn’t care about what blood ran through Nicholas’s veins. He’s mine. He’ll always be mine.”

  “Nobody’s taking Nicky from you, Drew,” I said through the phone. I would never be one of those mothers who put their child in the middle. Nicky loved his daddy, anybody could see that.

  “Nobody is taking you either, Morgan.”

  I didn’t reply to that. I had nothing to say about it at the time.

  “Okay, we’re going to wrap this up, Morgan. I’ll see you next week, okay?” Deidra asked, questioning my presence the next week.

 
“Yes, I’ll be there. I’ll see you at home, Drew,” I said before hanging up.

  I hesitated when I heard Deidra ruffle around, like she was standing or something. She didn’t hang up the call.

  “Not so fast, Drew,” I listened. “Why isn’t Morgan here?”

  “I told you. She’s sick. She didn’t feel like coming today.”

  “Hmmm, interesting.”

  “What?”

  “Every other time you’ve hit her neither of you show up.”

  “I didn’t hit her,” Drew lied.

  “Do you not hit her often?” Deidra continued.

  “I never mean to hit her, and I feel like a piece of shit when I do.”

  “But you can’t control it because you need to have all the control over her, right?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that.”

  I would.

  “I have something I call a five rule that I use for women in Morgan’s situation. Do you want to answer my five rules for her?”

  “Sure, I would know what she’d say.”

  Yeah, sure you would. I suddenly wished I could talk after hearing the questions being asked to Drew. I couldn’t. I didn’t know if I was still on speakerphone or not.

  “One—do you control her friends, when and where she is allowed to go?”

  “To a certain point. I mean, I let her hang out with Alicia. I don’t condone her going to bars with her therapist.”

  “But you do say when and where she goes,” Deidra stated, not asking. “Two—do you control the finances?”

  “Of course I do. Morgan knows nothing about that stuff. She has a credit card, if she wants something, she buys it.”

  That part was true. I was always careful of what I bought though, knowing I would have to explain it when I got home.

  “Three—do you control her social media, check her phone, her messages, stuff like that?”

  “Morgan hands me her phone. I don’t demand it.”

  “Hmhmm.”

  Liar.

  “Four—do you control the way she looks, tell her what to wear?”

  “That one is a definite, no. I did pre-accident and tried like hell after, but she refuses to dress up around the house.”

  “And you like that, or you would be controlling that too,” Deidra once again stated, knowing it to be fact. “Five—do you control when and what goes on in the bedroom? Do you feel that she has womanly duties?”

  “I don’t know. Yes, I think she has womanly duties. I take care of everything else, the least she can do is make sure I’m satisfied in the bedroom. I let her tell me what she wants though.”

  He was such a liar. Yes, Drew loved it when I told him to go down on me, did he do it? Yes, on his terms when he was ready.

  “What do you think about coming in without Morgan? Maybe start working on some of your control issues.”

  “I don’t think that is our problem at all,” Drew stated.

  Of course he didn’t.

  “Drew, the first step is admittance. You have to accept and admit that you have a problem. This may be the hardest step for you, and I think that’s why we might want to do this without Morgan for a bit. You don’t think of yourself as physically violent, but you are. I see it, and I have a feeling your wife is at home with a battered face right now, unable to go out in public.”

  “You don’t understand our relationship.”

  “And you think Morgan does? You think she wants you to hit her?”

  “I wonder sometimes. I mean, Morgan is the only one that can push every button I have. She knows when she’s crossing the line. She knows what the outcome will be, and yet she still does it.”

  “And you think it’s your job to draw that line for her? Who are you to tell another human being where the line is? You think you’re higher and mightier than most?”

  “Fuck you. You don’t know shit.”

  “Oh, I think I know more than what you’re willing to give me credit for. I can’t help you, Drew, unless you’re willing to help yourself. Do you think Morgan isn’t going to get tired of living under your rules, or having consequences if she crosses your line? Are you willing to take that chance, of her giving up?”

  “She wouldn’t give up. She knows me. She knows I love her more than life. I don’t need anyone but her and my son.”

  “And she knows that you’re always going to keep her at a level just below you. Let’s wrap it up. Give me a call if you want to schedule something private.”

  “I don’t,” I heard Drew say, and then the door slammed.

  I hung up, taking a deep breath. Drew may not have gotten anything from their one-on-one, but I did. Deidra was right. I had two choices. I could keep on loving this Drew, and never hold him accountable for his actions, or I could move on. Would Drew ever even let me move on? I doubted it, not without a fight, but how much could he really fight? I had the money, and I knew that Walker would help me with anything that I needed. Mr. Callaway assured me of that long ago. Walker was more interested in my wellbeing than Drew’s. I was sure of that.

  Chapter 33

  It was the following Tuesday before I finally got out of the house. Marta knew, she’d been with me for a long time now. She knew I wasn’t sick, but surprisingly she only gave me a pitiful smile, letting me know how dumb I was. She never mentioned my sudden illness that kept me upstairs unless she was out of the house. I smiled back, confirming her suspicions.

  Drew and I never talked about the divided therapy, not that we ever did, but I thought maybe he would say something about how I defended Dawson. He didn’t, and I didn’t mention it either. He never gave me a time to be back, asked where I was going, or what I was going for when I told him I was meeting Alicia for lunch. Maybe that was a good sign and maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know, it just felt strained between us for whatever reason. I mean, nothing had really changed, and I doubted that Deidra’s twenty minutes of one-on-one fazed him. Drew didn’t really work off of guilt or blame.

  “I’ll see you in a while,” I said, reaching up to kiss him.

  “Okay, see you later,” he offered, kissing me. What the hell? I needed more than Deidra. Drew wasn’t asking a million questions, demanding to know my every move, or insisting anything. He was just letting me go. I didn’t like it. Why didn’t I like it? I should have been jumping for joy. I wasn’t. I felt rejected. This was so fucked up.

  “I love you,” he said with warm words to my lips and a pat on my ass, beckoning me to leave him alone so he could work. That was it. Just like that, he let me go without one dominating order. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

  “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,” Alicia said, standing. My eyes went right towards the counter. Yes. He was working. Now what?

  “I would never avoid you. I love you. What would I do without you?”

  “You know you can call and talk to me anytime, right?” Alicia offered.

  “Yes, of course. How’s my baby girl.”

  “Fussy. She got her first shots yesterday.”

  “Ahhh, poor baby.”

  “I know. Celeste walked her up and down the hall half the night.”

  “I thought she looked tired.”

  “What are you doing? Why do you keep looking at that guy?”

  I took a deep breath. I needed Alicia. I needed her help if I was ever going to pull this off.

  “Remember that key I found in the envelope?”

  “No, Morgan. Let it go. You’re not going to go play detective. The safety deposit box is in Drew’s name. He’s the only one that can get in there.”

  “Yes, but if I could pay this guy to cut his hair like Drew’s, wear a designer suit, and steal Drew’s driver’s license, it might work.”

  “You have lost your mind. You think that guy is going to take a chance on going to prison for you, cut his beautiful hair, and impersonate Drew? You’re crazy. Stop it. You’re not doing this. How would you pay the guy anyway? Drew keeps you under lock and key and controls your che
ckbook.”

  “With this,” I taunted with a very expensive necklace.

  “Now you’ve really lost it.”

  “Come on, Alicia. You’re the only person I have. Help me, please,” I begged.

  “Morgan, what do you think is in there?”

  “I don’t know, but it just doesn’t make sense. Why would Drew need a safe at the bank? There’s something in there that he doesn’t want me to ever find. I know it and I need to find out for myself.”

  “You’re going to pawn your necklace to pay this guy? What if he says no?”

  “Then I will let it go, but I have to try. He’s working in a sandwich shop. I don’t know how much this thing is worth, but I’m sure it would be enough to persuade him.”

  “I’m sure of it too, but what are you going to tell Drew?”

  “I’ve already thought about that. I wore it out of the house today. I’m going to whine about losing it when I get home. He’ll never know the difference.”

  “You’re serious about this?” Alicia asked as my new friend placed our customary sandwiches in front of us.

  “Very,” I replied, looking at the resemblance again. I smiled at the guy, hoping to inch my way in a little.

  “Morgan, he really doesn’t look that much like Drew,” Alicia tried discouraging me.

  “He does too. You’re the one that pointed it out. I bet if we get him a haircut, and put him in a suit, he would pass just fine using Drew’s identification.

  “And what if it doesn’t work? How do you plan on getting Drew’s license from him? And Celeste already gave me hell for lying for you; you know when you sneakily used my phone to find out what you needed to get in.”

  “What did you tell her? I don’t want her saying anything to Drew.”

  “She won’t, but she forbade me to get involved. She sort of needs her job, especially now that I am a stay at home mom.”

  “Drew can’t fire her. Technically she works for me.”

  “Not really. You have no say in anything you do.”

  That pissed me off. I didn’t like her insinuating things she had no clue about. Well, maybe a little clue, but I still didn’t want her meddling. “Are you going to help me or not?”