Mom walks towards us. She looks at Murphy, then her attention goes to Cherry. They stare at each other until Theo comes over. He hugs Cherry first and says, “Cherry, it’s so lovely to see you again. Please come in, Katie, tell Cherry she’s welcome.”
My mom looks at Theo like she wants to kill him. Then she turns back to Cherry. “Welcome to our home, it’s been a long time.” She then turns and walks into the dining room. “I figured everyone would want lunch. Jeffery will be serving in a moment, please sit.” Mom’s very composed but very on edge.
The whole family gathers in the dining room. I force Murphy to sit her ass down on a chair, then conversation starts off well. Everyone seems to be getting along, except my mother, Cherry, and Murphy are all silent until Murphy stands and asks directions to the bathroom. Mom points, directing her, and then Murphy runs. I get up, following her, but she slams the door in my face. I hear her vomiting, so I open the door, bend down, and hold her long hair away from her face. When she’s finished, she sits back on the floor and pushes my hands away.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.” I hand her a wet, cool towel. She passes it on her neck and face. She then tries to stand. I give her my hand to help her up, but she slaps it away. “I can do it on my own.”
I let her, she stands and then swishes water in her mouth and then walks out, leaving me standing in the bathroom.
When I return to the table, she has just sat down. My mother tells her, “I had Jeffery bring you some lemons and peppermint tea. It helps with the symptoms.”
Murphy looks down at the lemons and asks, “What do I do with the lemons?”
Mom smiles and tells her, “You can smell them, and then you should suck on them. It really helps. I had really bad morning sickness for all my boys. One of my old maids at the time taught me a few tricks, she helped me when I was pregnant with Gabriel. In fact, she helped me with all of them but then sadly passed away not long after Liam was born.”
Murphy takes the lemons and starts sniffing them, then as instructed she sucks them. Lunch resumes, and Murphy starts to drink her tea.
Now that the pregnancy has been mentioned and ice is broken, Fallon starts asking how she’s been feeling. She starts giving her pregnancy advice, and I feel like I’ve already been left out of so much. I don’t even know how far along she is until Fallon asks. Then they talk doctors. Mom tells her, “You can use Dr. Paul Martin he’s a family friend, I have seen him for many years and he delivered Gavin.” Murphy looks towards her mother before accepting.
The conversation is going well until Mom asks, “So, where would you like the wedding to be? We need to rush because of the pregnancy. I’m sure you want to be able to still fit into a beautiful wedding dress.”
Murphy laughs and says, “What wedding? We are not getting married. I will agree, this baby might be Zander’s, but that’s it. We’re not getting married, and if I stay, our deal is off.”
I have had about enough I drop my spoon into my bowl hard, making a loud sound gaining everyone’s attention. “We sure in the hell are getting married. That is my baby, and the mother of my child will be married to me.”
She starts to argue but stops suddenly when my mother stands. “Murphy, I would like to see you in my office, just you.”
Mom walks away without saying anything else, and everyone is silent. Cherry looks over to Murphy and says, “Go, it’ll be all right.”
I stand to follow, but Theo stops me. “You best stay here.”
What does Mom plan to do? I can’t just sit here, so I leave the table and go to the living room.
Eventually, everyone follows, and then we hear raised voices.
43
Catherine
I cannot believe the mess Zander has caused. First he threatens this family with war stopping me from collecting the damn casino, then he gets her pregnant. To top it all off, he brings Cherry back into my life.
I have been patient; I have been kind. But now I am done. I offered Murphy a way out of this situation by offering her to marry my son. Only because I saw something special in her. Now, for the second time, she is dismissing my offer. I am losing all patience for this girl. If she were not pregnant with my grandchild, this offer would never have come again. I need her to understand the consequences.
When she enters my office, I ask her to close the door. I sit down behind my desk.
“Sit, Murphy, please.”
“I think I’ll stand.”
“You are a defiant one, aren’t you?”
“I figure there is no use to get comfortable since I won’t be here long.”
“Where do you plan on going, Murphy? Where do you possibly think you can go that is out of my reach?”
I pause, waiting for her to catch on.
“I was very impressed with you when we first met. I was not expecting that. I don’t get impressed by people often, so it was a pleasant surprise. I saw what my son saw in you, and like I said, to catch Zander’s attention like you have is a rarity. I went out of my way to offer you a way out of this situation. You dared to piss on my offer. I let that slide for my son. Now that you are pregnant with my grandchild, I offer you the same proposition. Ms. Larussa, ask your mother, ask anyone, that never happens. I have never offered something so compromising to anyone, and never twice.”
I watch as Murphy starts to squirm; good, she might actually be starting to get the message.
“I want you to listen to me closely, Ms. Larussa. I am not going to repeat myself. Now that you are carrying my son’s child, there is nowhere you can go that I will not find you. Nowhere! I will give you two options, and that is all. First option, you will marry my son and have my future grandchildren. I will allow you to keep forty percent of the casino because you will be part of this family forever.”
She looks at me like she wants to kill me. “What’s my second option?”
I laugh because I have never met someone so stubborn in my whole life. But then I decide to tell her. I get serious to show her I mean every word, I say in a calm but forceful voice.
“The second option, I will wait for you to have that baby, you will be protected by my family. No one will touch a hair on your red head. But when that baby is born, I will take the casino from you and the baby by force. Ms. Larussa, just so we understand ourselves, do not for a second think I will not follow through on my threats because of my son. The baby is of my blood, and he or she is now my priority. Zander is a grown man. My son thinks he can keep you protected from me. But he is wrong! You will be left with nothing by the time I am finished with you. Do I make myself clear?”
The minute I finish telling her the options I’m willing to give her, she starts yelling.
“Let me tell you something, lady, I will never allow you to take my child, and I will not let you tell me what I have to do. Do you understand me? I am not some little girl you picked up and trained to be what you want for your son. I am a woman who knows what she wants. I am very capable of raising this child on my own. I do not need you or your son in my life or my child’s. If you think for a second I will not fight you, you are fucking wrong. I….”
Her rant is broken by Cherry. “Enough, Murphy, get out!”
“Mom…”
“No, Chéri, I want you to leave. Catherine and I need to talk. Go!”
Murphy looks back at me viciously and then starts to walk out of the room. But then she stops and turns around to say, “By the way, nice desk.”
Did she just imply that…shit, I don’t want to even think about it. On my desk, I am going to kill Zander.
My eyes fly back up when I hear Cherry close the door.
“Would you like a drink, Cherry?”
“Yes, Catherine, I think that’s a good idea.”
I make us a drink, and Cherry starts, “Why were you threatening my daughter, Catherine?”
“Because your daughter is defiant, stubborn, insolent, and…”
“So, you say. I say she is strong-
willed, independent, hardworking, protective, and she doesn’t do well with people threatening her.”
“Protective? How so?”
“She will fight for anything or anyone she loves. Even if that means her destruction. Catherine, do not push my daughter into a corner on this. She might fight for the casino, but she will die for her child.”
I hand Cherry her drink and sit behind my desk. “We’ll see.”
“What do you want, Catherine? How do you see all of this playing out?”
“Don’t play dumb, Cherry. You know what I want, and you know how this is going to go.”
“Maybe. Let me tell you a story.”
“Cherry, I don’t think this is…”
She puts her hand up stopping me. “Let me tell you, Catherine. Let me tell you how the casino is in financial trouble. Wouldn’t you be interested in knowing that?”
She has my attention now.
Cherry finishes her drink. “Murphy called me when he found out he was sick. He knew the cancer treatments weren’t going to work. He knew when he died, Judith would leave his daughter with nothing. He wanted to leave her the casino, and he did. But he knew Judith would fight her on it. So, my love came up with a plan to extort money from the casino over time. All the money came to me, Catherine.”
“What are you telling me, Cherry?”
“I am telling you that I have all the money, Catherine. Murphy can’t find any trace of where the money went or what it was for, and she doesn’t know that I have it.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell her?”
“Because, Catherine, I wanted her far away from here. Away from Judith. I thought Murphy would give up. I should have known, though, that girl never gives up on anything.”
“So why are you telling me this?”
“I have the money to pay the debt off in full, interest and all. I invested the money as I received it. I have enough to even do the improvements and for us to live on for the rest of our lives.”
She gets up and fixes another drink and comes over with the bottle to refresh mine.
“But I don’t want to do that. I don’t want you to force me to do that.”
“Why? I don’t understand. If you have the means to put an end to me trying to get the casino, why wouldn’t you do it?”
“Oh, trust me, Catherine, that’s why I came back here. I was going to pay off the debt and get Murphy started off right. I was also going to ask you to continue protecting my daughter until we could find out who else was after her.”
“All right, then, don’t keep me in suspense. What changed your mind?”
“Your son, Zander. He loves her, Catherine. He loves her like Murphy loved me and how Theo has always loved you.”
“You want to talk about Theo to me?!”
“Catherine, that was so many years ago.”
“You should have never have done that, Cherry. Not to me!”
“What if I told you I didn’t?”
“What?”
“Catherine, Theo never betrayed you, not once. Not with me. I needed your help, you were the only one I could turn to. But you wouldn’t help me. Theo wanted to get back at you for not leaving William, I took advantage. I knew I could make you jealous, I knew you would want me gone. So, I helped him and myself out. But he never betrayed you, it was all for show.”
“I cannot believe that you risked my rage towards you.”
“It worked, didn’t it? Besides, I couldn’t believe you wouldn’t help me.”
That shuts me up. I know I owe her an explanation. Shit! “I…I if I’m honest, Cherry, I didn’t want you leaving me. I needed someone, I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“You needed a friend, Catherine. I was and still am your friend.”
I clear my throat, trying to hide my emotions.
“What are you proposing, Cherry? Your daughter doesn’t want to take my offer.”
“She loves Zander, she does. She is just scared of love, it terrifies her, so she is pushing him away. I’m not going to tell her I have the money to get her out of all this. She’s pregnant now, and I, well, neither of us will be here forever, Catherine. Murphy has no one. She thinks she doesn’t need anyone, but she does. I am not leaving it up to her to destroy the future she should have because she’s too dumb to get out of her own way. I trust your son to protect her and her child from everyone. I will give her to him.”
“So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I will help you. I will keep the secret about the money. I will tell her she has to marry Zander. But you have to give up control of the casino. She will keep the majority shares. Her father wanted her to have it, and it’s hers. But with her as family, it strengthens you and yours. She will fight us both on this, and she will think I turned my back on her, but it needs to be done. She will think it’s a marriage of convenience. He will have to be strong because she will buck him every step of the way. But once he knocks her walls down, I think they will live happily ever after.”
“You know I don’t have to accept this, right? I could just let you pay off the debt and take the baby.”
“You won’t. You’re a mother, Catherine, and I know what that means to you. Besides, I still know some extremely powerful men. It would be a dragged-out war. Murphy has other suitors that I would push her to go to for protection. They would gladly help her. Do not underestimate her or me.”
I think about her offer. I’m thinking about all the ways this could play out when she says, “Besides, you like her, you see potential in her, or I know you wouldn’t have played this long with her. There is some level of respect you have for my baby.”
She’s right, damn. She’s perfect for Zander, and she would be a great asset to our family. God help Zander!
“I agree, how do you want to play this?”
“Just follow my lead. I know it will be hard for you, but I know how to handle my daughter.”
Follow? Follow my ass!
44
Murphy
I have been pacing the living room back and forth. My nerves are so bad. Zander is just staring at me. He even tries to tell me to calm down. When I go to argue, he gives me a look that I know I shouldn’t cross. Fallon stands and asks if I’d like to join her and Avery in the kitchen. I agree, thinking it might take some of my mind off what’s going on in that office.
We enter the kitchen, and Fallon excuses the cook. We all sit, and they start drilling me. Fallon starts first.
“How are you, truly?”
“Besides the morning sickness, I don’t know. I feel like I’ve lost all control, of my body and now my sanity.”
Fallon laughs. “Pregnancy will do that, but the men in this family will do that, too.”
Avery jumps in. “But they’re worth it. Zander’s a good man. You’re very lucky to have him in your life.”
I let out a little laugh. “Good man? He won’t leave me alone.”
Fallon says, “Zander is a good man. He’s strong, confident, and he would never let anything happen to any of us.”
“I’m sorry, I meant no offense. I see you are both close to him…”
Fallon interrupts me and says, “We are close to him, we love him very much, and I don’t like seeing him hurt.”
“Hurt?”
“Yes, Murphy, hurt. You have done something I never thought I’d see. He has been hurting over you. That man would do anything to have you and that child in his life. Do you think it is easy for a man like Zander Stern to throw himself at a woman the way he has with you? He even threatened this family with going to war against us over you. Zander is our protector, but now he threatens our family.”
“Why? I never asked him to do that.”
“For you, Murphy. Do not presume to think that Zander is a man to throw threats like that around easily. You don’t realize how much you own him.”
“I don’t own him. He is free to do as he wants. I see you two both look and talk about him like he is some kind of fierce god, but he�
��s not; he is just a man. And men always show their true colors.”
Avery looks shocked, but Fallon laughs, then says, “You think you know men. I know your story, Murphy; you don’t know shit. All you know is the absence of men. Zander is not a god, none of them are, but they are family. Zander will not abandon any one of us, and that now includes you. Whether you like it or not. I watched you the other night. I saw the disgust in your eyes at what Zander did to that man. But that is not the man in the living room right now. He did what he did to protect you, but what he will do to love you is totally different.”
Avery nods and says, “He’s not that scary man you saw with us. He is kind and gentle, and he loves fully. He is funny and sarcastic. Plus, he is, like Fallon likes to say, sex on two legs.”
That lightens the mood, and we all laugh. “He is that. I don’t think I’ve ever met a sexier man in my life.”
Fallon wiggles her brows, then gets serious. “So, what are you going to do? Liam and Gabriel filled us in on what’s going on with Catherine. I hope whatever it is, it ends the feud between Zander and Catherine.”
“I don’t know. I never saw myself married, but then again, I never saw myself pregnant either.”
“Zander will love the baby, he already does, I’m sure,” Avery says.
I’m about to answer when Vin comes into the room and says that Catherine wants us to return to the living room.
We all enter the living room and I see my mom standing by Catherine. Fallon and Avery go to their husbands. I’m still standing, scared to move. My mom begins first.
“Murphy, we both talked things over and decided that it is for the best if you marry Zander.”
“Mom, I can’t.”
Art of War (A Stern Family Saga Book 3) Page 23