by Amy Shannon
“We are sorry,” Rain smiled. “Sunshine, I do need to talk to you about something, but it’s kind of in a professional manner.”
“Of course,” she smiled.
“Can I stop by the Agency tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’ll be there all day. We’re still setting things up and we have to hire a new office assistant,” She smiled. “So, Harry, you said something about the main event. What’s that?”
A knock on the door prompted Harry to stand. He glanced at his watch. “Right on time and before I open this door, all I ask is that you let him speak before saying anything. Right, Sunshine?”
“Why are you looking at me all the time?”
“You have to ask?” Strick laughed.
“Fine. I’ll behave. So, who is our mystery guest?” she crossed her arms.
Harry opened the door. “Come in. They agreed to listen.”
Friend slowly walked into the apartment, his eyes scanned the faces of his brothers and sister. Savvy was about to open her mouth, but Harry glared at her, so she remained quiet. Friend took a deep breath and focused on Savvy. “Sunshine, I am so sorry about how I’ve treated you. I lied to you, but I had a good reason.”
Savvy looked at Harry, who nodded. She stood up. “What reason?”
“Oscar. I am, was in love with him. I thought he loved me, too. I guess not. He only wanted me back because it would hurt his father. He wanted me to hurt his father, along with him. I am sorry. Please forgive me.”
Savvy sighed heavily. “I believe in a lot of things. I believe in love. I believe in loyalty and honesty. I believe in our family. Our family that is here and our family that has passed. We grew up in a loving home, free to express ourselves and when we got in trouble, we had parents, all three of them,” she looked at Tim. “I mean all four of them to help us. Friend, I don’t forgive you. I can’t forgive, at least not yet. I believed you the other night, because I was blinded by you being my brother. I don’t believe you now. Maybe someday, I will, but not today,” She looked at Strick, who stood up. “I’m sorry, but unless I see it, I can’t just have faith in you anymore, brother,” She walked over to her other brothers, hugging each one of them. She looked at Tim and hugged him and then turned to Harry. “I’m sorry. I need to go. I’ll understand whatever you decide, but I just can’t. At least not yet.”
Harry kissed her cheek. “I’ll call you later.”
Strick and Savvy headed out of the apartment as all the brothers faced their brother.
39
The next afternoon, Savvy and Strick carried their cups of coffee into the Agency. “It’s looking good,” Savvy smiled, admiring the spacious office. “I can’t wait until we get the furniture. You confirmed Monday, right?”
“Yes,” he kissed her cheek. “Conference table over there in the corner, four more filing cabinets, six bookshelves and another whiteboard behind my desk,” He walked over to his desk. “I still feel a little far away from you.”
“But now you can have more space for all your stuff,” she smiled. “And we’ll get used to it. I wonder if we’ll ever really use that office.”
“Leonard may,” Strick said. “So, he’ll be here on Monday, right?”
“Yeah, still settling in his place and helping Adler,” she smiled. “I think once Ryan is gone for good, he’ll be happier. I hope.”
“He will,” Strick sat down behind his desk. “We still need to hire an office assistant.”
“We’ll look at what we want when Leonard comes in on Monday,” she said as Leonard walked in the front door, as it chimed slightly. “I thought you weren’t going to be in until Monday.”
“I’m not, but I wanted to tell you something,” he smiled.
“There it is,” Savvy hugged him tightly.
“What?”
“Your smile. Your light is back. It’s in your smile, it’s in your eyes,” She kissed his cheek. “So, what happened?” she took his hand, leading him over to his newly positioned desk. She sat on the edge of the desk as he sat next to her.
“A couple things happened,” He looked around the office. “It looks good in here.”
“Changing the subject,” she smiled.
“Oh, sorry, but it does. When does the furniture come?”
“Monday,” Strick said, not looking up from his desk.
“He’s doing some research on how to be a board member at the museum. Angelica nominated or recommended us or something and they accepted.”
“Me, too,” he smiled. “Adler recommended me. He didn’t attend the board meeting, but he gave my name to Mortimer and I guess I was accepted, too. Well, that wasn’t all I had to tell you. I heard that you had a family meeting last night.”
“Friend apologized but I didn’t accept. I can’t believe my brother until I see that he means it. I lost my faith in him,” she sighed.
“He called me last night, after the meeting. He apologized to me.”
“What did you say?”
“That I accept the apology, but it doesn’t make me forgive him. Actually, I’m not thinking about him at all.”
“Good for you,” she smiled. “I’m glad. My other brothers apologized and will probably apologize to you as well.”
“They all did. I guess after Friend left Harry’s, they called me on speaker to apologize to me.”
“Oh, I have no idea what happened there after I left.”
“Want me to tell you or do you want Harry to tell you?”
“Tell me,” she sighed. “I’m curious.”
“First, they asked him to leave, but then, Harry told them to listen to what Friend had to say. So, then more of his blah blah blah speech and then they asked him to beg for forgiveness. You know, the way.”
“Oh,” she sighed. “Oh, family style.”
Strick flicked his eyes up. “What’s family style?”
“Strip down naked, sit crisscross and beg for forgiveness.”
“Naked? They had to look at Friend naked? Why?”
“Well, we’ve all seen each other naked, you know, weddings, family beggings, but this way they could see his purity. He can’t hide anything being naked. He had to sit that way for an hour, in complete silence, while the family speaks their mind. Did they forgive him?”
“No, but they didn’t ostracize him. They want him to prove something to them and to you, to all of us. Harry hired him back at the bar, but as a dishwasher. He has to work his way up.”
“That means work his way back up in the family. I guess I’m not longer the youngest,” she sighed. “Good. And, I’m glad I left when I did,” She smiled. “Uh, did you make up your mind about Ryan?”
“Yes, and I just came from seeing him,” Leonard said. “And you’re going to be upset with me, but I wanted to tell you.”
“What’s that?” Savvy took his hand.
“I looked him in the eye and told him I hated him. Not because of shooting me. Not because of hurting my… my heart, but because the three of us trusted him and he betrayed us.”
“Why would I be mad about that?”
“I swore at him. I even used the F word. Not your F word, but the F word.”
“How many times?” she smiled.
“Just the once, but I needed to make my point,” he said. “I told him to go to eff’en Hell.”
“Oh, well, I can forgive you,” she kissed his cheek. “And there was something I wanted to tell you.”
“I know, we need a new office assistant.”
“Well, that and Angelica offered the rose garden for mine and Strick’s wedding. I asked her to stand up with me.”
“Oh, all right. That makes sense.”
“But I want you to walk me down the aisle.”
“Shouldn’t Harry do that?”
“I’ve asked him to perform the ceremony. You’re my best friend in the entire world. Will you?”
“I’d love to,” he smiled. “I do love you, honey. Oh, but we’re not doing the naked thing, right?”
“I
love you, too. And no, no naked thing, at least at the wedding,” she smirked. “So, go spend the day, uh, weekend with your lover.”
“I will,” he smiled. “I’ll see you bright and early on Monday.”
“You’re never on time.”
“I have no excuse now that I live upstairs. So, that kinda means I’m always at work, right?” he grinned.
“Very funny,” she smiled. “Now, go,” Leonard left the office and Savvy sat down at her desk. She looked up as the door chimed when it opened. “Rain?”
Rain walked into the room, carrying soft-leather black briefcase. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” he smiled.
“Have a seat. I assume this is our professional meeting?”
“Yeah,” he cleared his throat. “I’d like to hire you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s important,” he smiled. “When I was getting settled into my new storefront, I noticed that one of my pieces were missing. It’s important I get it back.”
“Of course,” she pulled a clean folder and yellow legal pad out of her drawer. “What’s missing?”
Before he could answer, the door chimed as it opened. “Yes, can I help you?” Savvy asked.
“I’m looking for a Deklin Strickland,” the man, dressed in an Army dress-blue uniform said, his three silver stars attached to the shoulder patch showed his high rank.
“General?” Strick rose to his feet and saluted.
“At ease, sergeant,” he sighed. “We need to talk. The Army owes you something and I’m here to deliver it, now that we know where you are.”
“Sir? I don’t understand,” Strick eyed the older man. “Owe me?”
“Your final medal and field promotion. You were discharged before you were able to get them,” He set a wooden box on the desk.
“Why didn’t I get these issued to me before?”
The man cleared his throat and fidgeted with the button on his pocket. “I apologize for these not getting to you as they should have.”
Strick glanced at the box and then back toward General, noticing an uncharacteristic nervousness from a three-star General. “Sir, do I know you?”
“No, but you probably should know the truth about me. The reason I looked for you. The reason I had to go through miles of red tape just to find out where you were,” The man’s stance relaxed slightly.
“I don’t understand. The Army has known my whereabouts since I filed for my benefits.”
“But I’m not the entire United States Army.”
“Who are you, sir? And why do you personally care about me?”
“I’m your father, son,” he sighed. “I’m General Reid Lawson.”
If you’ve enjoyed this story, do the author a favor and leave a review where you bought this book.
References:
Dead Presidents by Brady Carlson (2016) (An American adventure into the strange deaths and surprising afterlives of our nation’s leaders). ISBN: 978-0-393-24393-2
The National Medical Museum of Health and Medicine http://www.medicalmuseum.mil/index.cfm
Amy Shannon
Author of Suspense, Crime/Police, Family/Romance Dramas/Thrillers.
Email: [email protected]
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Bio:
Amy Shannon (1972 - Present) is an American Storyteller, writer, poet and blogger. Amy Shannon runs the book review blog "Amy's Bookshelf Reviews," which has become extremely popular for Indie authors and their books. She runs her own “author blog”
In 2004, Amy was a cancer survivor. In 2005, she survived a domestic violence assault, which resulted in her spouse going to prison and lifelong migraine headaches. Amy doesn't let that get in the way of taking care of her four boys, who are supportive of their family and her passion. In 2015, Amy received her Bachelor of Arts in English and in 2017, she received Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training. She is preparing to work on her MBA in the fall of 2017.
All of Amy's stories are about inner strength as sometimes no one realizes how strong they truly can be until they think they've reached their limit. In November of 2016, she released the collection of some of her stories called “Empowerment.”
Amy Shannon is the author of over 100 stories, with more than half as part of different series or sagas. Once she falls in love with her characters, it's hard to let go of them. Her first novel "Unwritten Life" was written in 2004 and has 4 different printings. It also started off the Sars Springs Saga. Other series, have several books within a series and they are slightly open-ended in case of a new idea for the series. "Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice" (2016) is a fictionalized version of her own experience with Domestic Violence. "Chains" (2016) is about a girl who was kidnapped at age 12 and escaped captivity at the age of 21, it shows her life during and after captivity.
Amy has two stories that have male main characters. “Shattered Pages” (2013) is about an eccentric mystery writer whose books are being used as a map for murder. “Fettering Shadows” (2017) is about a former Texas Ranger turned PI struggling to find a serial killer named Icarus.
Amy’s second book was revamped and released in October of 2017. “Contrary Measures” has been revamped with a new cover and publisher as well as format of the story.
Amy Shannon also has a book review blog called “Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews” where she reviews books of all genre and any type of author, especially Indie or self-published authors.