“Let me stop you right there, she isn’t what you think, Catherine is a great girl. Let me explain exactly what happened.” As Mrs. Upman explained Catherine’s situation Albert listened. Half way through he stopped her and asked some questions and then let her finish explaining. In the end, he thought for about one minute before deciding, “There is only one thing we can do from here.”
Indulging him, Mrs. Upman asked, “What’s that?”
“Nothing.”
“What?” Mrs. Upman didn’t understand.
“We can’t do anything. They have to learn on their own.”
Getting more furious, she didn’t know where Albert’s head was. “That just isn’t right. We have to do something.”
“We can’t. I do mean we, that does include you too, Rhoda. I know you have a great heart, but this is something that they have to do on their own.”
“No. Absolutely not, that is for you too. Your son does not know why she did it. We need to tell him.” Mrs. Upman emphasized the we and started again trying to drill the reason into his head, “We need to because they love each other and if two people love each other, they shouldn’t be kept apart.”
“There relationship has nothing to do with ours.”
“Doesn’t it? They are in love and should be together. That is what should happen. If they need us to help and do something, then we will.”
“Rhoda, we should not interfere.”
“We should not, maybe, but we do need to interfere, for them.” She was getting more and more angry at a man she thought was so caring and kind who wasn’t acting like it at all.
“And what exactly do you propose we do?”
“We need to talk to your son and I do mean we!”
“And tell him what?” They were almost yelling at each other by now.
“We should tell him exactly why Catherine did what she was forced to do by her Uncle and what exactly was at stake if she didn’t. You do realize she had no choice.”
“She had a choice.”
“Fine, if you think she had a choice, it was one that would have only ended in misery for her. What she did was the only thing that was possible, especially in her frame of mind, after she lost someone so dear to her. If you actually call that a choice, then fine.”
“Alright, fine, she hardly had a choice, I suppose.” He consented.
“We need to tell Glen that and to show him she didn’t have a choice. She doesn’t think he cares at all. In fact, she thinks he used her because he knew she was spying on him from the beginning. That just isn’t right, both of them are so upset about everything. They deserve to be together, perhaps forever.”
“Forever?”
“Yes, Albert. They love each other and you know they are meant for each other.”
“Yes, I saw that in Glen’s eyes the morning he told me he was going to propose.”
“He was going to propose? Oh god, Glen’s probably even more upset, he felt he’s been so burnt.” Mrs. Upman started to understand even more why Glen snapped so much, but he still could have let her speak.
“So, we should go to the office?”
“Yes, providing your son is there, but if I know him at all, he is; probably trying to drown his sorrows in work.”
“Alright, let’s go.” Albert gave in, he thought Mrs. Upman did have a good point and he knew his son did love Miss Richmond. After Mrs. Upman, Mr. Serentini followed, paid for the coffee, left a generous tip, and both walked out the door to go to the office. It was only a short distance, so they walked together. During the short walk, Glen asked a few questions Mrs. Upman didn’t cover in her explanation since she hurried through it. They arrived at the office only a few seconds after Albert’s last question to discovered Glen was indeed there. He actually was in the conference room talking with the Vice Presidents. Albert knew it would be a short meeting, as those usually were, so they waited in Glen’s office for him to finish.
When Glen came out of the meeting only ten minutes later, he almost walked directly into his father, but stopped short to not only be greeted by his father, but Mrs. Upman as well.
A bit surprised, he walked around his father and addressed them, not wanting to hear whatever they had to say. “Hello you two, I’m very busy, so what can I do for you?”
“Are you okay?” Mrs. Upman calmly asked.
“Why would you ask that? I’m perfectly fine.”
“Because of the way you acted this morning. I was wondering why you were being so asinine because you usually aren’t.”
“You mean with Miss Richmond?”
“Yes, I most certainly do.”
“She was the leak and lied to me the whole time, how was I not doing exactly what I was supposed to? In fact, I thought I was fairly lenient.”
“You didn’t let her speak at all.”
“She didn’t deserve to.”
“How is that true?” Mrs. Upman had never seen Glen so frazzled in all his life and thought it was rather endearing. She knew it only meant he loved her and had true feelings for her. “Maybe she had a good reason for doing what she did and you didn’t let her talk at all.”
Glen sat down. “It’s too bad, I wish something could explain. But, no reason could possibly justify what she did.”
“Alright, then I have nothing to say to you.” As Rhoda looked at him, Albert looked back wondering why she dragged him over to the office if they weren’t going to say anything. “Let’s go Albert.”
Confused, Albert just followed thinking everything would hopefully work out and he was sure Rhoda knew what she was doing, much like many women; it was intuition. They left an upset Glen standing in his office a little confused and mostly just more upset than before. Catherine even had his father and a close friend against him. How was that possible they weren’t on his side? What did he do wrong? Glen assured himself it wasn’t his fault at all and he did nothing wrong and went right back to his work. Glen could not concentrate for more than two minutes at a time for the rest of the day because he was wondering what exactly Mrs. Upman and his father had to say. By the end of the day, Glen decided he would go pay a visit to his father first thing in the morning, which gave him a little while to hopefully get his head on straight before facing his father.
After Mrs. Upman left Glen’s office with his father, they went to dinner, talked with each other, and decided they would be spending more time with each other. Also, she got Albert to agree wholeheartedly that Catherine was a good person at heart and also got him to see that they are two people that are deeply in love with each other and his son was being a pigheaded jerk. They parted on a good note when Albert walked Rhoda to her door and enjoyed a great hug that each knew could lead to more. They understood each other and took comfort in just being in each other’s company and only hoped Glen and Catherine came together and forgave what problems they had recently.
Chapter 15
Catherine woke up cranky and upset with herself for promising Mrs. Upman she would not to leave for three days; she knew almost right after it was a mistake. Catherine was up earlier than usual and all she wanted to do was leave because of the horrible memories haunting her. The only thing that began to comfort her was Sweetie, her mother’s bird. She loved taking her out, giving her new toys, and petting her feathers, it reminded her of the times her mother did the same thing with Sweetie on her rocking chair in their living room. Sweetie did miss her mom, but was adjusting to Catherine, however slow, but eminent.
As Catherine put on the television with Sweetie cooing on her shoulder, the phone rang. “Hello?”
“Miss Richmond?”
“Yes.” Catherine thought she recognized the voice but still could not place it.
As she struggled to remember, the voice clarified his name. “This is Albert Serentini.”
“Oh, hello. Listen, I’m terribly sorry for everything. But, I know I was wrong. Please accept my apologies.” She hoped he wouldn’t yell at her and didn’t know if she could even take it if he did.<
br />
“Nonsense, dear. Mrs. Upman told me everything, and I don’t blame you in the least. I know your Uncle or knew him, but I’m sure of the way he manipulates people. I just wish we could have known sooner what was going on, it might have been better for everyone.”
“I’m very sorry, but you won’t have to worry about me in the least bit, I’m leaving.” Albert could tell Catherine was being hard on herself and hoped things would work out. But, was somewhat glad because he knew it would make his request harder to refuse.
“So I hear. I wonder if you would do me a small favor.”
Catherine wondered what she could possibly do, but she would try to amend anyway she could. “Anything you need, Mr. Serentini.”
Glad she responded the way he expected, he wasted no time. “Meet me for dinner, tonight.”
She was expecting anything but that and wondered why he wanted such a strange request, but responded firmly, “I don’t think that would be such a good idea.”
“Please just come out tonight, after all, you are leaving soon.” Albert hoped he didn’t have to push very much because he feared she would guess why he needed her to go out.
Hesitantly, Catherine said, “Alright.”
Catherine spent only a little while getting ready and supposed it wouldn’t matter how she looked because she didn’t care anymore. Since Glen thought the worst of her, nothing could help her outward appearance because of the hurt her heart felt. There was no way any amount of makeup could cover up the damage. So, she left and arrived at the restaurant even early. The hardest part about leaving was putting Sweetie back in the cage, but promised to take her out right when she got home. Catherine was feeling especially bad and figured she had nothing left to loose by joining him, but still wondered why Glen’s father wanted to share dinner with her.
Catherine was waiting at the restaurant sipping a glass of wine when she saw Glen walk into the restaurant. Catherine thought this was just what she needed, to see a man who despised her. Maybe it was just a way to kick her when she was down, maybe that was what Albert wanted to do, add her more humiliation. But, Catherine didn’t figure him as evil, perhaps it was just a coincidence. Catherine tried to keep her head down in the corner booth and just hoped he wouldn’t take notice she was there. Catherine tried to sink down even lower in her seat to hopefully disappear as Glen started walking towards her. About the same moment he was closing her position, Catherine stood up, “I’m very sorry for what happened and am sure you don’t want me anywhere near you. So, please just tell your father I had to go.” She was able to tell him between sniffles as she started to walk past him. Glen grabbed her by the arm and swung her to face him, “What, do you need to drive the knife in to upset me even more? I said I was sorry, believe me, I paid for it.” She tried to leave again and found Glen’s arm still grabbing her. “What do you to do, serve me a subpoena?” At that point tears were running down Catherine’s face and she was close to screaming. “Just let me go.”
“No.” Glen was smiling.
Catherine tried to get past him, “Mr. Serentini, please, just let me—”
Glen cut her off by kissing her lips. He broke off and looked at a surprised Catherine’s face, “I thought we got over calling me Mr. Serentini. You know it’s Glen.”
Too stunned to say anything, Catherine just looked up.
“Please sit down.” Befuddled and stunned with everything, Catherine quickly sat. “I was being, for lack of a better word, an ass. I’m sorry, I should have heard you out.”
“I don’t quite understand…you were so upset. Why are you acting so nice to me now?”
“Well, I was upset…”
Catherine cut him off. “But, you had every right to be upset. It was my fault.” Catherine carefully said afraid of what was next.
“Not that much, I hear. You see, after Mrs. Upman and my father tried to talk to me earlier, I had some time to think.” As Glen looked at Catherine he realized she had no idea they talked to him and Glen knew she was ever so innocent and he was a fool. So, he went on, “They came and talked to me about the situation.” Catherine only nodded so he continued, “Well, I basically didn’t listen. But, I had time to think and was able to pull some of my curiosity, more so my sense, together and talk to my father. After my father told me everything and yelled at me a bit for being arrogant, which I think I deserved, I made him call you on the phone. Well, that brings us about up to speed because here we are.”
Catherine started tentatively, “Everything?”
“Yes, everything about your Uncle and the deal. But, you have to admit, it was quite a shock.”
“I thought you knew about most everything before because you had me investigated. What more did he tell you?”
Befuddled he responded, “What do you mean investigated? I didn’t find out until yesterday morning when Jack Hammond told me.”
Curiously and tentatively she went on, “But, Mrs. Upman told me you asked her about my family and were talking to Hammond. Surely you knew what was going on.”
“Actually, I had no clue.”
Catherine thought that didn’t make any sense. “Then why did you ask Mrs. Upman…?”
Glen wanted to get on with the rest of his surprise and hoped Catherine would forgive him. “I’ll get to that later. But, right now I want to apologize. I think I have a way to do that.”
“Oh?” Catherine said happily.
“I paid a visit to your Uncle this afternoon.”
“Oh god.” Catherine’s hopes immediately sank.
Glen put the large envelope he walked in with on the table that Catherine didn’t even notice he carried it until that moment. He opened it up and handed her a singe folded piece of paper from within.
“What is this?”
“Why don’t you open it and find out?”
Catherine unfolded it and pulled out the deed to her mother’s house. “Oh my god, is this for real? How did you get it?”
“Wait, I’m not done yet.” He took another two pieces of paper out of the envelope and gave them to Catherine.
“More?” She proceeded to look through the other two pieces and started to tear again.
“Are you upset again? I thought you would be happy.”
“No, no…tears of joy. How in the world did you get my Uncle to turn over the deed to my mother’s house, he art store, and all the art?”
“I reminded him that I could sue him for what he made you do and what he did to my company. It was a short and sweet conversation and in the end I think it turned out very well in my favor.”
“But, what about the damage I did?”
“Honestly, you didn’t do much damage. I think the help you did in the office as my secretary was a lot better than anything you gave your Uncle, which wasn’t much. I guess you didn’t work in my type business a lot because the information he got was tentative and didn’t do much damage.”
“Actually, I just didn’t want to give anything useful. I hated doing the whole thing from the beginning.”
Glen took Catherine’s hand, “I could have guessed that. Frankly, your Uncle is an ass.”
Catherine put the paper down on the table and grumbled, “I don’t think I deserve any of this, I lied to you, to everyone. I feel horrible.”
“You do, you do deserve this. It was even yours in the first place, given to you by your mother. The whole situation was your Uncle’s fault; I can’t believe how horrible he was to you to begin with, family. I just don’t understand how he got a hold of it?”
She tried to explain, “Well, he took the certificates out of the vault and… and…” A tear fell down Catherine’s eye as she went on. “and…said if I took him to court he would tie me up in the system for years and I would never get anything because his lawyers are better…”
Frustrated, Glen didn’t know why he didn’t say more to Martin. “I should have been tougher than him. That is the worst sort of person. I cannot believe, even he would stoop so low, especially with you,
you’re family!”
“Remember when I told you that I wished I had a family like yours?”
“Yes and now I see why.”
“Well, it’s because of what a horrible Uncle I had and how we never got together as a family. I suppose I don’t deserve having a good family anyways, after what I put yours through.”
They both sat there silently and at that moment, Glen decided he needed to assure her of her own place in his life. But, for that, she needed confidence and he wasn’t sure she had any at this point. Especially if he wanted to propose marriage, he was going to have to take it real slow. After her last boyfriend deceived her in some way, Glen wasn’t sure if she was ready to bring him into her heart. He knew he would have to tread carefully. An idea popped into his head. After all, Glen wanted her to be close and he had a perfect solution to completely winning her heart. “So, are you going to come back to work for me?”
“I’m not a secretary as I’m sure you know. The whole resume was a fake, something my Uncle drew up from colleagues.”
He started laughing, “I actually gathered that when I first came back about five months ago and saw how tentative you were being, always questioning yourself. Someone with a resume like yours wouldn’t have. But, I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. You really did a great job.”
In curiosity, she asked, “Really, that gave my away, nothing else?”
He answered honestly, “Actually, the only other thing that rose my suspicions was when you were too nice when people wanted to see me and didn’t chase them away when they had no appointment. After that and what I just mentioned, I made a call to one of your previous employers and he confirmed that you were never his personal secretary.”
It touched Catherine so much that Glen actually enjoyed her company; she thought he was only using her. She couldn’t believe her ears and needed to ask, “Why didn’t you get rid of me right then?”
He smiled. “Because you were doing such a good job that I didn’t think it mattered. I just thought you needed a job and a chance; well, that and the fact that I liked you and you are nice to look at from time to time around the office.”
Cloaked Page 14