Healing Her Heart

by Kimberly Smith

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s a ruthless man and his daughter is just as bad. He always arranges things so that he comes out on top. Your father needs to make sure that his lawyers are cautious. I’ve heard that he has a habit of sneaking in clauses that are detrimental to his associates if they try to back out of their deals. That’s how he amassed his fortune, shady deals, hidden clauses and he’s taught Tiffany to follow the same practices, I’m sure.”

  “I’m sure that my father knows what he’s doing.”

  **

  Denise hated to admit it, but she had a good time with Edwin and his friends. She liked Max and Tori. They were down to earth for billionaires. She and Tori had exchanged numbers and talked about having lunch soon. Max and his wife had also promised to have them over again for dinner or for the four of them to go out together.

  Denise hadn’t said much in the car on the way to her apartment. When they arrived, Edwin parked the car and helped her out. “Have you forgiven me for breaking the rules?”

  Denise walked past him as he closed the car door. He caught up to her, sliding his hand into hers, matching her stride. “I’ve forgiven you because I like your friend and his wife, but you are gonna have to make it up to me with sex.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Edwin said grinning as they went up the stairs.

  Denise was breaking another rule by letting Edwin into her personal space, but they didn’t have much choice. He didn’t have a place of his own and going to a hotel seemed silly. She unlocked the door and flipped the light switch by it. Denise closed the door, locking it. She turned to find Edwin a foot away taking off his jacket. He turned to her.

  Denise faced him, reaching behind her back. She unzipped her dress, then slipped it over her shoulders, pushing it past her breasts, waist and over her hips to fall to the floor around her feet. Edwin never took his eyes from hers.

  Denise was naked. He’d been beside her all night not knowing that she was wearing nothing under her dress. He crossed the room sliding one hand along her neck to cup the back of her head, tilting her face up. His other hand found the smooth skin of her hip, moving to the small of her back, pulling her against him.

  His mouth crushed hers as he pressed his pelvis into her so that she could feel how much he wanted her. Denise’s hands slid up his sides and around to his chest, stopping when they were on his shoulders. She pulled her lips from his, flicking her tongue over his lips, “Make me cum with that delicious mouth.”

  She pushed putting pressure on his shoulders, forcing him down on his knees before her. Edwin caressed her soft brown skin, squeezing the fullness of her breasts, then tweaking her nipples between his fingers. As he descended, he placed kisses along the way and alternated teasing her with his tongue.

  Denise’s breathing was ragged as she watched Edwin’s lips and tongue touching her sensitive skin. She continued to push him down until she could feel his hot breath dancing on the skin above her wet slit. Edwin raised his chin, looking into her eyes for just a second before his hands slid from her breasts to her hips. “Open wide for me.”

  Denise spread her legs wider, and there was no delay. Edwin buried his face between them, swiveling his head in circles as he flicked his tongue against her clit. Then he latched on and sucked her into his mouth. He moved one hand under her thigh, lifting it and placing it on his shoulder. Denise moaned with pleasure as he filled her with his finger, rubbing it against her g-spot.

  She couldn’t get enough air, and her legs felt weak. Denise found her hands in his hair, gripping tightly as she ground her hips into his face. She moaned and knew she wouldn’t last long as his fingers increased pressure and he alternated between sucking and tagging her swollen nub with his tongue.

  Edwin delighted in the fact that he could cause such a reaction in Denise as she pulled his hair and made the most sensual sounds as she came in his mouth. Her legs trembled for a while as he continued to taste and tease the sweetness out of her. He could continue his assault with his mouth, but his cock was throbbing, and he wanted to feel her all around him.

  Edwin slid her leg from his shoulder, placing kisses along her thighs. Denise’s head was thrown back against the door, eyes closed. Edwin stood, holding on to her so that she didn’t slide down to the floor. He kissed her neck and then her lips. “Let’s take this to the bedroom.” Edwin chuckled when she didn’t answer or open her eyes. Denise raised her arm and pointed towards a door on the other side of the living room. She was in no condition to walk, so he scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom.

  12

  Something was tickling her nose. Denise rubbed her face. It started again, and it moved from her nose over her lips and down further. It fluttered against her neck. “Fuck!” She opened her eyes to find Edwin smiling down at her. She closed her eyes again.

  “Good morning sunshine.” Edwin leaned forward running his tongue down her neck.

  Denise sighed. Wait, he said good morning. Her eyes popped open. The room was filled with light from the window. She pushed Edwin off her. “What are you doing here?” She got out of the bed, grabbing a tee shirt from one of the drawers in her dresser.

  Edwin laughed, “I was hoping to have a quickie before I have to leave.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she said pushing her hair out of her face. “You shouldn’t be here.” After a few rounds of the best sex she’d had in a long time, Denise had been determined to make him leave. It was bad enough that she had sex in her bed with him, but a sleepover was the biggest no-no next to saying the “L” word.

  Edwin lay there watching Denise. She tossed his clothes to him. “What’s so bad about me being here? You wanted me here last night.” He got out of the bed sliding on his boxers and pants.

  “Yeah because I wanted to fuck, not…” she stammered, “to cuddle and wake up in your arms.” Her cell phone was ringing. She left the bedroom to find it. Edwin pulled on his shirt and grabbed his socks and shoes following her. When he reached the living room, Denise had pulled her phone from her purse. “Hey, Clarence,”

  Edwin didn’t want to fight with Denise, but this was silly, and he needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was that had her so afraid to let him love her. His stomach flipped as he realized it. He was in love with Denise.

  **

  Denise listened intently completely aware that Edwin stood a few feet from her waiting to continue their argument. He couldn’t hear what was being said through the phone, but the look on Denise’s face told him that it was something serious.

  Clarence had gotten a call from a man named Howard Bailey who said he was her great uncle. He was related to Denise’s birth mother. He’d called to let Denise know that her grandmother was very ill and that she’d been asking him to find Denise. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would she be asking for me? She hates me.” Edwin put his shoes on as he listened to Denise’s side of the conversation. She was more upset at the phone call than she had been at waking up next to him.

  “I don’t know, but I think you should call him. Maybe he can answer your questions.” Denise didn’t see the point, but she found a pen and piece of paper and took down the information. She spoke with Clarence just a bit longer. He encouraged her to call the man and to call him back after she’d spoken with Howard.

  Edwin could tell that something was wrong. He walked to her holding her hand. “Everything alright?”

  Denise took a deep breath. Her anger had dissolved, but she needed her space. She needed to think. Denise moved away from him. “Everything is fine, but I need you to go.” Edwin opened his mouth to speak, but Denise didn’t let him get a word out. “Look I can’t do this with you right now. I…” she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. “…I need to make a phone call, and I need some privacy.”

  Edwin didn’t want to leave things as they were, but whatever her phone call with her father had been about, it took precedence over their discussion. He crossed the room, grabbing her chin, tilting it so that she loo
ked at him. “I’ll go, but I’m just a phone call away if you need me.” He kissed her lips and walked to the door. Before he opened it, he looked back at her. “This…” he moved his hand back and forth between them, “discussion, we can finish it later.” He wanted to say I love you, but she wasn’t ready. He winked at her and left.

  **

  Denise stopped the car she had rented in front of the address Howard had given her when they spoke a few hours ago. She blew out a harsh breath. She couldn’t believe that she had let him talk her into coming to Atlanta. His sister was Denise’s grandmother. Howard had explained that he and the rest of the family had no idea that Denise existed until recently.

  Before Denise could get out of the car, the door to the house she was parked in front of opened and an older black man with short grey hair came out to the car. Denise opened the door and stood beside the car as he stopped on the sidewalk on the other side. “Denise?” She nodded causing him to smile as he came around the car and wrapped his arms around her in a welcoming hug. “Come on in the house. Everyone wants to meet you, but I told them not to come today, to give you a minute to adjust to all of this. Where’s your luggage,” he let her go?

  “It’s in the trunk, but I was gonna go to a hotel.”

  “Nonsense. You’ll stay here with us. My wife has a room made up for you,” he said moving around to the trunk waiting for her to open it. Denise pressed her lips together and unlocked the trunk. Howard grabbed her suitcase and closed it. Denise followed him back up the walk and into the house. Howard closed the door behind her. “Shelly, you were right. It was her,” he called out as he set her bag down by the door.

  A plump older woman came from a hallway with her arms open wide. Denise was engulfed in another hug. “We’re so glad that you’re here Denise. I’m Michelle, but everybody calls me Shelly.” She leaned back looking at her. “How was the flight?”

  Denise smiled, “It was okay.”

  “Baby take her bag to the guest room. Come to the den,” Shelly said, taking her by the hand and leading her to the back of the house. Howard disappeared down a hallway with her bag.

  “I was going to stay at a hotel. I don’t want to put anyone out.”

  “We won’t hear of it. You’re family. Besides, it’s just us. All our kids are long gone, and we only have the grandkids when we want to be bothered. Are you hungry?” As Denise took a seat at the table in the kitchen half of the room, Shelly went straight to the refrigerator and started pulling out dishes of food. She poured Denise a glass of tea and then set about heating up a plate.

  Howard joined them, sitting across from Denise. “I know this is got to be shocking for you. It was for us too. When Hazel started to ask for you, we had no idea who she was talking about. Then one day she looked me in the eye and said, ‘You have to find my granddaughter. I need to see her before I leave this world.’”

  “Honey, we looked at each other, shocked. As far as we knew Mary had never married and had no children,” Shelly filled in as she took the plate out of the microwave. “We were living in another state around the time you were born. Hazel never told us anything.”

  “she wasn’t married,” Denise said quietly. She didn’t feel like Howard and Shelly needed to know the detailed circumstances of her birth.

  Shelly placed the plate in front of Denise and moved to open a drawer, taking out utensils for her. “Well, Hazel wouldn’t go in too much detail about any of that.”

  “All she told me was to get her bible from her house. There was information about you and Mary living in Colorado. I didn’t have to do anything really. As I looked through all the papers and photos she had stuffed in the Bible, we found Clarence and Wanda’s address, and from there our son used the internet to get the phone number.” Howard said as his wife sat between him and Denise.

  They seemed so happy to have found her, but Denise had mixed emotions about it. Shelly encouraged her to eat while they told her about her cousins and other relatives. Some lived in Atlanta, and some lived in other Georgia cities. According to Shelly and Howard, they all could not wait to meet their long-lost cousin. When she had finished her plate, Shelly showed her to her room. “Why don’t you unpack your things, freshen up, take a nap maybe and then we’ll take you to see your grandmother.”

  “Thank you,” Denise said awkwardly. She didn’t know what to say. They were nice people, but Denise was still in a state of shock over the whole thing. The grandmother who hated her was dying, and she had asked them to find Denise, for what?

  **

  After Denise had unpacked her things, she lay on the bed playing with her phone. She had called Clarence and Felicia to let them know she had met Howard and his wife and that she would be going to the hospital later that day. Now, she sat trying to decide what to do about Edwin. He’d called while she was on the plane and then sent a text message to her.

  Things had gotten out of her control with him. She wanted to call him and tell him what was going on, but she was in too deep with him already. Everything he said or did seem to heal the cracks and fissures of her heart. Waking up with him that morning, knowing how right it felt was making her crazy. That’s why she had freaked out on him. She reread the message.

  Ms. Grumpy,

  In spite of your surly behavior this morning, I like waking up with you. If you are not too busy, we can finish our discussion over dinner and a movie.

  Dr. XOXO

  She started to type a response, but someone knocked on her door, “Yes.”

  The door opened, and Shelly stuck her head in. “We’re ready whenever you are. Did you get any rest?”

  Denise smiled. “Not really. I have a lot on my mind. I’ll be out in just a minute.”

  “Okay,” Shelly said closing the door. Denise typed a reply to Edwin’s message and hit send, before leaving the room to find Shelly and Howard.

  Edwin,

  I’m sorry, but I can’t see you tonight.

  13

  Mrs. Mendoza stopped Edwin as he entered the kitchen from the garage. “Good evening Dr. McAlister. Your parents would like to speak with you in the study.”

  “Thank you,” Edwin said changing directions. He’d been headed up to his room. He had hoped to see Denise tonight, but the text she’d sent him clearly indicated that she didn’t want to see him. She hadn’t even used their playful names. The tone was serious, and that bothered him. For the first time that he could recall, she’d used his given name, Edwin. He’d tried calling her, and it went straight to voicemail as if her phone had been turned off.

  Edwin had toyed with the idea of just dropping by her place, but he felt that if he just gave her a little bit of time, she might miss him enough to contact him. He put away his thoughts of Denise as he entered his father study. His father stood by the fireplace with a drink in his hand. His mother sat with her back to him on the stylish leather sofa. “You wanted to see me.”

  His mother stood, moving to be near his father. Edwin, we were just talking about our anniversary ball. Tiffany said that you hadn’t officially asked her to go as your date. I told her that it was probably just an oversight on your part,” his mother said walking to him, putting her arm in his and leading him back to the sitting area.

  “No, I’ve asked someone else to be my date,” Edwin said casually. He hadn’t, and he really hadn’t given it any thought at all. Now that his mother had brought it up, he knew that he wanted to invite Denise.

  Meredith sat beside Edwin taking a deep breath before starting in on her son. “What are you doing, Edwin? Tiffany isn’t going to wait forever. I don’t understand why you are hesitant to commit to her. This was the plan after all. You would do your humanitarian work and when you returned you would settle down. We all agreed to this, did we not?”

  Edwin looked from his mother to his father, who sipped from his glass, not saying a word. “No. We did not agree to this.” Edwin stood, stuffing his hands in his pockets, moving away from his mother. “You insist on pushing us together
. I’m not interested in Tiffany any longer. That relationship ended the day I boarded the plane a year ago, and she knows it.”

  “You don’t mean that. Look, I get that you want to sow some wild oats before settling down, but I thought that’s what the trip was about. You’re home now. It’s time for you to…”

  “Stop. Mother, just stop.” Edwin couldn’t listen to another word. “I don’t love Tiffany, and she doesn’t love me.”

  “Do you love this woman you want to bring to the party?” His mother had said it as if the very idea disgusted her.

  “This isn’t about my feelings for Denise. Tiffany and I have no future together,” Edwin said with finality and left the room.

  “What are we going to do? If we can’t get him to marry Tiffany, we’ll lose everything,” Meredith said to her husband.

  “We can find another way. This is our problem, not Edwin’s.”

  “Of course, you would say that. I should have never put you in charge of my father’s company.”

  Oliver finished his drink and loudly set his cup on the table in front of his wife. “You know, if you hadn’t, we’d both be a lot happier, wouldn’t we?”

  **

  Denise froze outside the door to her grandmother’s hospital room. She couldn’t breathe, she wanted to turn and leave, but Howard turned to her, “Are you okay?”

  Shelly was behind her. “It’s okay sweetie. It just looks bad with all the tubes and machines. She’s not in any pain.” They had mistaken her apprehension. She was afraid to enter the room because she knew that the woman lying there dying was cruel and Denise wasn’t sure that she could be in that room with her without telling her to fuck herself.