Milk Money

by Jude E. McNamara

  “I just feel so alone, not having been able to share this information with Nicholas or my family yet.”

  “Well do you have a plan to for clearing this up with them?” Dr. Richards asked.

  “Well, as a matter of fact, I plan to let my mother know tomorrow. She’s had enough time now to calm down. Certainly long enough to hear me,” I said.

  “And Nicholas?” Dr. Richards asked.

  “I plan to talk to him face to face next week. Our companies are competing against each other in an acquisition purchase so we’ll both be in Princeton, New Jersey together. After we make our presentations at Joduku, I plan to let him know about the baby then,” I sighed.

  “I get the sense that you expect this matter of your having a baby may turn out badly like it did between the two of you ten years ago,” Dr. Richards said.

  “Well of course that’s a concern I have, yes. I just can’t bear to re-live that experience again with Nicholas. If Nicholas takes flight again like he did ten years ago, I’ll be done with him and I won’t look back. And what’s even more threatening, I plan to win this acquisition.”

  “Ten years is a long time Harper,” Dr. Richards said. “People grow and change in a decade. Try not to play to your old behaviors, old fears, and old expectations,” Dr. Richards continued.

  I nodded my head in agreement. I knew she was right. I had already factored in her concerns in my mind over and over.

  “You both are grown up now with someone else to consider beyond yourselves,” she continued. “Try to expect the best from Nicholas. I know you’re afraid of history repeating itself, but remember it doesn’t have to be a repeat.”

  “Yes I know,” I said softly, still listening.

  “You and Nicholas can create whatever future the two of you want to have. This business of the acquisition is another story. You’re treading on difficult waters with this acquisition and competition between the two of you.”

  “And your point is, Dr. Richards?”

  “Try not to let business get in the way of what’s true for you, Harper. Business is one thing and a baby is quite another.”

  “I know. It’s complicated. But then again Nicholas and I thrive on complications,” I said.

  “Just remember to show up and be yourself when you speak with him. “We’ll revisit the matter again in your next session,” Dr. Richard said.

  “Thank you Dr. Richards,” I said. “I plan to do exactly that. Show up and be myself,” I said, thinking it was just about time for me to go nuclear. To the victor, goes the spoils.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner, Harper?” Elizabeth asked, picking the anchovies off her salad.

  I’d met mother for lunch at the Café Bella not too far from my penthouse in Soho. It was the first Saturday in April. Last week’s snow hadn’t completely melted, so things were still wet, chilly, and mushy.

  Whenever we could, Mother and I tried to maintain a standing lunch date for the first Saturday of every month. This month we picked Café Bella because we both had a desire for pasta. Café Bella was considered a bit off the beaten path for some. I, on the other hand, found it to be a quaint intimate spot that had a great chef who was a real master at regional Italian cuisine. The foodie in me was in the mood for a really hot plate of spaghetti and meatballs now that I was eating for two.

  “Goodness Mother, I’ve been trying to tell you this news for weeks now. You were just so mad about the fact that you thought I had gone the sperm-donor route that I couldn’t seem to get you to hear a word I was saying,” I sighed, stuffing a huge slice of focaccia in my mouth and reaching for the dipping oil.

  “Of course dear, I understand. I was so distraught at the mere thought of your having a baby by some stranger,” Elizabeth huffed while shaking her head in disbelief. “It was more than I could comprehend.”

  “I know,” I said, hating how badly our wires had gotten crossed.

  “A Carmichael having a stranger’s baby was unacceptable coming from my only daughter who’s quite capable of making her own baby without the help of a sperm donor,” Mother said, motioning to the waiter to pour her another glass of pinot grigio.

  “It’s not like you were returning my calls,” I said, reminding her that she was responsible for putting herself out of the loop. “I knew you just needed some time to calm down so you could hear me,” I said.

  “Well that’s behind us now, dear,” she said.

  “Well what’s not behind me, Mother, is the fact that Nicholas hasn’t been returning my calls. I haven’t been able to tell him that this is his baby that I’m carrying,” I huffed, just as the server placed the huge plate of spaghetti in front of me and winked.

  I was glad to know that even though I was starting to lose my waistline I at least wasn’t losing my appeal to the male species. Even if Nicky didn’t want me, all was not entirely lost if my man-catcher radar still worked.

  “Well you surely could have saved me a few gray hairs had you told me you were having Nicholas’s baby. This is such wonderful news, dear. I’m going to be one of those glammothers.” Elizabeth laughed, clapping her hands together. “The senator is going to be so overjoyed. I can’t wait to tell him the news.”

  “Well mother, before you go off telling anyone past Daddy, I’d like to be able to tell Nicholas the news first. He, like you and the rest of the world, seems to believe that this baby is a result of a sperm donor.”

  “Oh thank God it’s not,” Mother said, sipping her wine.

  “I’ve been trying to reach out to Nicholas every day to explain, but he’s avoiding me like the plague and not taking my calls. I don’t expect this to go on too much longer. I plan to see him in Princeton on Monday at the Joduku Presentation. And, I plan to speak with him face to face then,” I said, stabbing my fork into another meatball while catching the drips of gravy on my chin with my index finger.

  “Oh I just know Nicholas is going to be so overjoyed. This is such good news,” mother said, practically unable to contain herself.

  “Maybe so, maybe not,” I said reaching for my Pellegrino. “I hardly know what Nicholas is capable of under these circumstances. We both know how he behaved ten years ago.”

  “Honey, that was so long ago. You should get over that. I really don’t believe Nicholas has ever stopped loving you,” Mother said. “This will work out with him just fine. I’m almost certain.”

  “I’m not as optimistic as you at this point, Mother.”

  “Big Daddy, I’m sure, will demand Nicholas make an honest woman out of you,” mother squealed. This will be such a wonderful merger.”

  “Mergers, marriage, acquisitions,” I spouted between mouthfuls of meatballs. “Mother, I think you and Big Daddy need to just stay focused on your own companies and not worry about what goes on between me and Nicholas.”

  “Now, Harper, don’t be bull-headed about this.”

  “These are modern times we live in, Mother. Because I’m pregnant does not mean that Nicholas and I are required to get married. Perhaps I don’t want or need a husband. After all I have given a lot of thought and contemplation for some time now to my doing parenthood alone, you know.”

  “Oh Harper, don’t be foolish.” Mother waved her hand in the air dismissively. “I’m sure Nicholas wouldn’t have it any other way. This is just your hormones talking, dear.”

  I just shook my head, realizing this was not a battle that I was going to win with Mother. At least not today. She could be quite relentless when she wanted to be. I would cross these bridges when I get to them. No need for me to argue with her about a baby, Nicholas, and marriage now.

  “How are you feeling Harper? We need to go shopping. We need to have a mother-daughter outing, just as soon as you finish this acquisition and tell Nicholas the truth about this baby,” she said, with absolute glee.

  “I’m feeling fine mother. I have an appointment with the ob-gyn again soon. So far things are good. Finishing up this acquisition soon will take some of the stress off
me too,” I said. “Mostly I’m just hungry all the time.”

  “As I can see,” Mother said, taking another sip of her wine. “And how are the presentation plans and acquisition bid coming dear?” she asked, looking at me with her serious face.

  “I expect us to win, Mother. I’m not in the mood to lose this bid this month with all I’ve been through” I said, with all fierceness. “I plan to leave all the competition in the dust, including my baby’s daddy.”

  “Oh my,” Mother said. “Complications, complications. What would we do without them?” she said with a slight chuckle.

  Mother was hardly being forthright. Something was definitely up with her. Complications my ass.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Nicholas

  As I looked out the window of the Milk Money jet silently watching the rainfall, I knew I was watching my own life pass me by just as it was taking a major turn for the worse. Harper Carmichael Montgomery and I would have to face each other today. I would no longer be able to avoid her. We each were scheduled to make our corporate presentations before the Joduku Plastics Board of Directors with the goal of outbidding each other. This had been a long time coming with hours of work. Today would represent the culmination of tons of efforts by both our companies toward an outcome for which one of us would be unhappy.

  I was vying on Big Daddy’s behalf for Becker Foods. Harper was vying on behalf of Elizabeth for Carmichael Ketchup. I expected everything to come to a head today. At the end of the day, I’d be over and done with this madness. Win or lose, I’d be out of Big Daddy’s business and out of her life. After the winning bidder was announced, my plan was to head to the Mediterranean on the Julianna for some much-deserved rest and recuperation. Maybe I would find myself settling in Spain for a few months. Perhaps I would rethink my life’s purpose. Time off would be good for me to heal my broken heart. It wasn’t every day that I had to accept the fact that my baby maker was proceeding down the path of motherhood with someone else’s baby. The whole idea made me sick and depressed.

  As I heard the wheels of the Milk Money jet skid across the wet runway, I reached over next to me to nudge Lucia out of her sleep. She was nestled in the chair next to me. I looked behind me at Stephen. He was asleep in his chair in the back of the plane. Wheels down hadn’t startled or moved Stephen to open an eye yet.

  “Wake up Lucia. Time to take this jet’s occupants to the gunfight.”

  “Well we are as ready as we are ever going to get Nicky,” Lucia said, rubbing her eyes and tossing back what was left of her Pellegrino with lime.

  “Sir, we’ve arrived at Mercer County Airport,” my pilot Cameron said over the intercom.

  “Silas should be on the tarmac right now to take us to Princeton,” I said, turning toward Lucia who was fingering the text messenger on her phone.

  I always insisted that Silas travel ahead of us on short trips. I hated traveling with unknown drivers. I stretched my arms out in front of me and cracked my knuckles as I waited for Cameron to shut the plane’s engines down.

  I watched as Lucia shuffled in her seat, wiping her lips with her napkin and gathering our things in preparation for our brief drive to Princeton.

  “I see we have company,” Lucia said as she turned her head to look out the plane’s window.

  I swiveled my chair around towards Lucia with a look of curiosity. “Yeah who’s on the tarmac with us today?”

  “I see McKenna Textiles’ jet not too far from our gate, and if I didn’t know better I think that’s Harper’s driver Winston nearby. Scott is helping Harper down the steps of Carmichael Ketchup’s private jet,” Lucia said. “And he’s escorting her to her awaiting limousine. Looks like the gang’s all here,” Lucia grumbled.

  “So it appears,” I said.

  “Game on,” Lucia said, grabbing our things and putting on her game face.

  “Well, well, well. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Who would have guessed, my baby maker is on the tarmac at the same time with us and that social-climbing, piece-of-shit motherfucker Brooks Fitzgerald McKenna. This is truly my lucky day,” I gleamed, wild-eyed.

  I fingered my cell phone to call Scott. “You make sure that fucknut doesn’t get anywhere near her,” I said when Scott answered the phone, and then I hung up.

  “Now look, Nicky, we have a presentation to give.” Lucia glared at me sternly. This is not the time or the place for you to go all-out ballistic. Pull yourself together and focus,” she said, rightfully sensing that my temper was flaring again.

  I would have bet last year’s portfolio that Lucia knew on some level that this was the beginning of a battle she was going to surely lose, trying to get me to tamp down my emotions about Brooks.

  I can’t tell you how many times over the past several weeks since Harper came to my home bruised and banged up that I’ve longed for this moment to deal face to face with Brooks Fitzgerald McKenna. You don’t get to rough up and assault my baby maker and live to talk about it.

  “Not in this life you don’t,” I said mumbling to myself, and swearing under my breath.

  Lucia headed to the back up the plane and tossed a pillow at Stephen who was sleeping in a chair in the back of the plane.

  “Wake up Stephen. Showtime. We’ve arrived and we’ve got company.”

  Stephen nodded, jumping to a state of attention faster than I could toss back the rest of my drink. I swear those Navy Seal guys never really sleep. They just give the appearance of sleeping. They always keep one eye open. God, I loved that about Stephen. He was always at the top of his game.

  I stepped down the stairs of the jet into the pouring rain that seemed to be getting rapidly more intense. I could see Brooks Fitzgerald McKenna walking down the steps of his jet, stepping onto the tarmac the same time as me. Yep, it was fucking showtime alright. Lucia was right behind me, shaking her head. She looked back over her shoulder to tell Stephen to hurry off the plane to tend to me. Lucia’s dark brown hair was blowing wildly in the wet rain. She really was truly beautiful even wet. Not only was Lucia my business partner, but she was also my best friend.

  “Let me hand you an umbrella, Nicky,” Lucia shouted out to me.

  I ignored Lucia’s umbrella suggestion. My mind was focused like a laser beam on one thing and one thing only.

  Stephen’s phone began ringing. I immediately recognized the ringtone as Scott, listening as it played the James Bond 007 theme song. I knew Scott was with Harper. He probably got a glance at me and Brooks hitting the tarmac at just about the same time. Or maybe he was putting Stephen on notice that I had called him and was on the warpath. Nevertheless, I was glad Scott was with Harper. Even though we weren’t together, I still felt protective of her.

  “Nope I’ve got this under control, but do keep an eye out in case I need some backup. Nicky’s been in a constant funk ever since this plane took off,” Stephen said, breathing wind and rain in his lungs just as a gust of wind and hail began to beat down on top of us.

  It really didn’t matter, because Stephen couldn’t stop me now if he wanted to at this point. I had made up my mind that that asswipe Brooks McKenna was mine and only mine. I had been waiting for weeks to confront him. Now I was going to get my chance.

  “McKenna, you shithead!” I yelled across the tarmac. “You’ve got a huge problem, motherfucker. You don’t get to toss my woman around without having to answer to me for it, you shithead asswipe.”

  “Fuck off, Nicholas,” Brooks hollered back on the rainy tarmac, still looking to be about twenty feet out of my grasp. “I don’t recall having to take orders from you. What’s wrong, asshole? You trust fund babies having a problem being a real man and making your own babies, motherfucker?”

  Now I knew I was going to beat the shit out of him for certain.

  “Go fuck yourself, Brooks,” I sneered.

  “Harper needs a real man to fuck and make a baby, you little bitch. If you ask me, you’re not a member of the millionaire’s boys club, but rather the millio
naire’s bitches club, you fucking wussy.”

  Goddamn. I couldn’t believe Brooks had said that shit to me. I was going to put my foot in his ass. I could feel the heat of my own blood rush to my face. My brain seemed to implode and go into overdrive just as my mind started throwing off all of my civility switches, going on fucking kill mode.

  “You go fuck yourself, McKenna,” I shouted, stepping up my pace tenfold as the rain, wind, and hail began to whip against my cheeks. “Your bitch ass likes to manhandle a woman instead of going toe to toe with a real man! You want to manhandle somebody? I’m right here in front of you now. Try manhandling me, McKenna!”

  I stepped my pace up to a run until I got close enough to lunge toward Brooks. I started beating the shit out of him right there on the tarmac. Stephen flew down the stairs of the Milk Money jet just as Brooks’s security people were flying equally as fast off the McKenna private jet. This had turned into an all-out war on the rain-slick tarmac between McKenna’s team and mine.

  McKenna’s people stepped toward me just as Stephen opened his coat and flashed his holstered weapon, saying, “I don’t think so, assholes.”

  McKenna’s security people began holding each other back behind some imaginary line just as Scott ran up to Stephen’s side with another one of his men, joining a line that formed behind Stephen. McKenna’s security began dropping their briefcases and flashing their weapons back at us.

  I grabbed Brooks by his collar. Before I could speak again, he and I were rolling in the wet puddle-filled ground in our suits and overcoats. I knew I was getting the best of him, when my fist bloodied his nose. I wasn’t sure but I guessed I may have taken out one of his teeth.

  Brooks and I continued to swing at each other as I tried to land every blow I could to penetrate that motherfucker’s face and mouth. Brooks got a couple of good hits into my rib section. I rolled on top of Brooks on the ground, pounding on his chest, yelling at him that he better ever never touch my woman again in this lifetime. I started kicking and stomping him so hard and beating him into the ground such that his security detail broke rank, rushing towards me rapidly. Somebody big jumped on top of my neck and began choking me from behind, putting my head in a chokehold. I began sputtering and spitting thinking I was going to lose consciousness. Stephen and Scott rushed to my aid and began dropping Brook’s security detail like flies, starting with the gorilla on top of my back that was trying to choke the life out of me. Even though I was choking and spitting, I refused to let go of Brooks.