by kj lewis
“Terrance.”
“Emme, I don’t know nothing about raising a baby. What kind of life can I give a baby? I barely got Reggie out of there in one piece, and that wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for you and Pearl.”
“What does Pearl say about all this?”
“I haven’t told her yet. I couldn’t when I didn’t even know how I felt about it.”
“I can’t make the decision for you, Terrance. What I can tell you is Reggie wanted for nothing. He always had clothes on his back and food in his stomach. Same with Pearl. You have been a caretaker your whole life. You have the tools you need to be a father to this child. She deserves a chance to be loved.”
“Loving her isn’t the problem!” he yells, getting on his feet and standing over me. I hold my hand up when I see Teague make a move. “You’re not listening,” Terrance says, the tears flowing. “You’re not hearing me.” He falls onto his knees resting his forehead on my lap. I run my hand over his head in a repeated pattern, giving him time to let it out.
“Terrance. Nothing about this is easy. I am hearing you. It just doesn’t change anything. You are at a crossroad and have a decision to make. You can walk away from life as you know it now and be a father to this child, or you can risk raising her like you did with Reggie where you live in fear each and every day of what might happen.”
“I could give her up.” His voice is barely audible.
“Terrance.” I lift his chin so I can look him in the eye. “You and I both know you aren’t going to do that. I know your heart. You can do this. You can be a father to that little girl.”
He nods and takes the seat next to me again.
“I’m sorry,” he says trying to toughen up and collect himself.
“What do you need? Graham and I will set you and Pearl up in an apartment. We’ll buy you a house somewhere. You have family in Virginia, right? Whatever you need. We can help you get out of the neighborhood. You deserve the chance as much as Reggie did. You know Pearl would go. She only stays there because of you.”
“I don’t need a handout.”
“No, but you need a hand up. And coming from someone who needed one, it’s the best thing I ever did. Putting my pride aside and accepting the help in front of me.”
“You let Graham help you?”
“Jackson, Harry, and Graham. It took three men to sort my crazy out.” I wink and smile when I win a laugh out of him. “When do you get her?”
“Day after tomorrow. The lady from the state is meeting me tomorrow to put something called a plan of care in place. I have to show how I intend to care for her and what I would want her future to be like. I guess they think if you have to write it down it might just come true.”
He shakes his head like it’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard.
“Talk to Pearl and Reggie tonight. Decide what you’re going to do. If you want to move, I can have it done in a day,” I tell him, knowing money talks and I have a husband with the means to get people moving. Grabbing his hand, I say, “I love you.”
He looks at me with a sincerity I have never seen from him before. “I love you, Duchess. I mean it. I’ve never said that to anyone other than Pearl and Reggie.”
Standing, he offers me a hand up before pulling me into a hug. “Text me the picture,” I tell him. He nods, pulling his hoodie back up, and he’s gone without another glance over his shoulder.
“Emme.” Teague pulls me from my thoughts, placing his hand at my elbow. I nod to let him know I heard him and start walking to the car. Traffic isn’t terrible and I’m home by 4:30.
“Emme.” Vinnie greets me.
“Good afternoon, Vinnie.” I lean over to smell what’s cooking.
“Homemade chicken pot pies.” She is startled by my sudden hug.
“Oh, Vinnie. That is the most perfect thing you could have made me for dinner. Thank you so much.”
“Chocolate cake for dessert!” she smiles big, holding her arms open, reciprocating my laugh when I hug her a second time.
At dinner, I fill Graham in on the talk with Terrance, about how I offered to help but he wouldn’t accept. He doesn’t say much, but I can tell his wheels are turning. After dinner, Graham and I settle onto the couch in the den.
“You never look sexier than when you look like this,” Graham says running his hands over my bare legs draped across his lap. I’m wearing only his Yankees t-shirt. “Except for when you come. You’re sexy as fuck when you come.” I nudge my toes into his groin while taking a bite of chocolate cake.
“You got some chocolate in your teeth,” Graham says and I take another big bite of cake.
“Do I now?” I smile big, not having chewed very much.
“Let me help you with that.” He sets the cake on the table, before helping make my smile pearly white.
“I wish he would let us help him,” Graham says when we come up for air.
“I know, but we can’t make the decision for him.”
“No. We can’t. But I can encourage him to see it my way. I’ll call him.”
“I hope you can get through to him.”
“What are you going to do if I can’t?”
I shrug my shoulders before pulling him into the bedroom for a distraction from my worries.
I stop at the entrance to the bathroom, admiring the view of my husband in a just a towel shaving.
“What?” I ask him when I realize the razor has stopped moving against his neck.
“Stop looking at me like that. I have a meeting I cannot reschedule.”
“I’m just watching you shave.”
“While you think dirty thoughts.” The razor cuts another path through the foam on his skin.
“Whatcha gonna do?” I shrug my shoulders and continue to the closet to get dressed. Shocked that we are actually going to leave on time.
“Good Morning, Mrs. Taylor.” Cassie meets me but gives Graham the cold shoulder.
“What did I do?” he asks.
“Orphan Annie,” I remind him when she doesn’t respond.
“You and George aren’t allowed to talk anymore,” he reprimands, a little dismayed when she doesn’t respond again.
“You know I used to be feared. You’ve turned me into a big marshmallow. Even George doesn’t mind telling me what he thinks anymore.”
“That’s good. That’s how you know you have the perfect PA. You don’t want a yes man. A yes man will leave you in a year.” I hand him a couple of messages that I think he will find curious.
He hands me back the message when George walks up. “Charlie would like five minutes with both of you if you have it.”
“I don’t,” Graham says a little irritated, looking at his watch. “Can you meet with him?” “I will.”
“Let me know what he says.” He kisses me before he and George head to the conference room.
“Charlie.” I enter Graham’s office. “Graham has a meeting, what can I do for you?”
He hesitates.
“Charlie, just get to it.” I cross my arms, exasperated that he wants to wait for Graham.
“I wanted to give an update on the gala. We’re on track. We have the media coverage we were hoping for. I talked to the event team, and they have received RSVP’s from the key guests. Emme, I need you to help me convince Graham—”
“Sorry, I’m late.” Orphan Annie enters wearing an outfit that is completely inappropriate for work. It’s also eerily similar to one I wore last week.
“Emme—” Charlie is cut off again.
“I apologize for my tardiness,” Reggie says.
“Is there anyone else that plans to be late to this meeting?” I ask moving around the desk and taking a seat in Graham’s chair. Charlie takes a seat across from me, leaving Reggie and Orphan Annie standing.
“As I was saying,” Charlie starts again, visibly frustrated. “I need you to convince Graham to do some interviews at the gala.”
I don’t hesitate. “No.”
“
Graham needs to be made aware of the impact it’ll have if he doesn’t,” Orphan Annie says.
“Emme is one of the best in the imaging business. She doesn’t need us telling her what the impact will be. I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve introduced you. This is Gretchen. She’s interning with us.” Charlie says. I finally place her. She is the redhead from the elevator.
“I know who she is,” Reggie says, putting his hands in his pocket, watching her like she might steal something.
Gretchen begins, “Emm—”
“Mrs. Taylor. You’re not my intern and you don’t know me well enough to call me Emme. I’m also certain you should be referring to your boss’s boss as Mr. Taylor.”
“Mrs. Taylor,” she says, pulling off a major bitch voice.
I ignore her and direct my response to Charlie. “No interviews, Charlie. I will handle the interviews.”
“Beg your pardon ma’am, but I think they would rather interview the CEO.” She raises a brow in defiance.
“Gretchen, Mrs. Taylor owns fifty percent of the company.” Charlie looks at her like she has lost her mind.
“You would know that if you did your job as an intern instead of spending all your time figuring out how you can sleep with her husband. Let me draw you a map. There is no way Graham is sleeping with you when he has this,” Reggie says, pointing to me. I realize he came in because he thought I needed protecting.
“Gretchen, Reggie, take it outside please.” I roll my eyes at the both of them. “Fire her.” I tell Charlie before the door is closed. “I don’t have time for games.”
“Done,” he says with no disinclination. “Now, I’d rather you and Graham do the interviews together. They need to see you as a unit. You know as well as I do the benefits of him doing the interviews.”
“I do, Charlie. And I will talk to him, but don’t hold your breath.”
“I won’t. Sorry for Gretchen. I had no idea.”
“It’s inconsequential. What did you want to meet about?” I stop him before he stands.
“We just met.”
“Charlie, spill it.”
“Emme. Maybe we should wait for Graham.”
“Fine,” he exhales after a beat. “I’ve been doing some digging on the video.”
“And?”
“And. One of my contacts was able to trace the IP address back to who released it.”
“Really? Who was it?”
“Tony Woods. Do you know who that is?”
“My stepfather. Is it possible to be surprised and not surprised at the same time?”
“Why would your—”
“It’s a long story Charlie. But thank you for letting me know and thank whoever got you the information. Do we know if he got paid for it?”
“No. That’s what’s so weird. TMZ offered to pay him, but he refused. And my understanding is that his bank account could use some money.”
“Thanks for letting me know.” I stand. “And thanks for taking care of Gretchen.”
Charlie only has a foot out the door before George and Reggie enter.
“Life lesson, Reggie. Never give someone more effort than they are worth.”
“Whatever. She’s a bitch.”
“Language,” I tell him, more than a little shocked by his response.
“Mr. Taylor’s meeting is running over. He asked me to let you know,” George says, keeping his comments about Orphan Annie to himself.
“Will you pencil me in for the first five minutes he has today please?” I ask before heading to my office.
“Hi, dad.” I make a call to Harry as soon as I get settled behind my desk.
“Hi, sweetheart. How is your day?”
“Good. I fired an intern who was a little too happy to please my husband.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Are you busy?”
“I have a few minutes. What’s up?”
I tell him what Charlie told me about the video. “Dad?” I check to make sure he is still there.
“I already knew.”
“You knew. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Are you free for lunch today?”
“I can be.” I look over my calendar and start an email to Cassie telling her to move a few things around.
“Eloise and I will be there around noon. See you then.”
I have enough on my plate that it doesn’t take long for me to get lost in the projects I’m working on. But in the back of my mind, I’m preoccupied with what Harry could want to talk about.
“Hello, beautiful.” Graham enters my office and closes the door. “I heard you had Orphan Annie fired today.”
“I did.” I don’t look up from my computer.
“Why?”
“Because I can.” I give him my sweet southern smile, pleased when he responds with a chuckle.
“Can you get away for lunch?” He comes around my desk, protesting when I wrap my arms around him and pull him onto my lap.
“Emelia,” he chastises, pulling me up and reversing our positions.
“Harry and Eloise are coming for lunch.”
He lifts his chin to give me better access to his neck. A gesture that I love.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that was on your schedule.”
“It wasn’t. You have talked to Charlie today haven’t you?”
“No. He’s been persistent, but my day hasn’t allowed it. This is my first free moment, and I’d rather spend it with my wife than Charlie.”
“Well, I might as well tell you now. Tony is the one responsible for releasing the video.” I wrap my hands around the arms of the chair, anticipating his next move when I feel his body tense. “Harry is coming to talk to me about it.”
“Why?”
“I called to tell him, and he said he already knew. He wanted to come for lunch to talk about it.”
“I’m going to destroy him.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Emelia.”
“You’re not. It’s his way of taking control. I don’t want him to have any. It’s out. We can’t change it. He gets off on thinking he’s influencing my life, but he’s not. I won’t have you giving him the pleasure of thinking otherwise.”
There’s a knock at the door and Harry and Eloise enter, closing it behind them.
“Harry. What the fuck?” Graham says shifting me, so he can lean forward in CEO-Graham position.
“Before you go down that road, let’s talk it through,” Harry says and I note that he looks tired. “I found out last week. Something about Tony has been nagging me, so I’ve had someone looking into him. They are the ones that found out he released the video. Best we can piece together from what Addie’s boyfriend told Emme and what my person discovered is that when Addie told Tony about the attack, he went to talk to a few of the boys. One of them confessed and showed him the video. I don’t know if he released it to hurt only you Emelia, or if he also wanted to harm Willis’s campaign.”
“Like I was telling Graham, there’s nothing we can do to change it. We’ve released the whole video. There’s nothing left he can do to us. It is what it is.”
“Well, there are a few things I can change, and I will be pursuing them,” Harry continues.
“Tennessee recently changed their laws. Addie has a complaint on file. I plan to pursue charges against the five guys that raped her.”
“Justice for Addie,” I nod, understanding his need to follow through with this. “What does that have to do with Tony?”
“Well, technically nothing. But when we were searching for this, we found something else.” He pauses. “My guys in Tennessee were able to connect some dots on some investigations into Tony that never came to play. Once they did the investigative work, they were able to find the evidence the state needs to pursue a case against Tony.”
“For what?” Graham asks, as confused as I am.
“Emme, Tony is responsible for your grandparent’s plane crash,” Harry says as gently as possible.
I pale. Of all the things he could have said, I never dreamed he would say this.
“Are you sure?”
“They confirmed the evidence a couple of days ago. I’ve received word that they picked Tony up yesterday and have charged him with the murder of your grandparents.”
“Emelia?” Graham says after a minute. His hand running across my back.
“I feel like I should be shocked, but I’m not. Like I should feel angry, but I’m too numb. Do they know why?”
“Money. Laura was the sole beneficiary of their farmland. He sold everything off and took the money.”
“And then he left us.” I shake my head. “I always knew we were living with evil.”
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to tell you. I planned on telling Graham.”
“I thought you should know,” Eloise says.
And for the first time, I realize how selfish I’ve been. I’ve been so caught up in having a father that I haven’t paid attention to what this is doing to Harry.
“Maybe you should take a break,” I tell him. “I can take care of Addie. Let the state take care of the rest. I’ve been selfish in how I’ve handled this with you and I’m truly sorry. I don’t want you to give it anymore effort or thought. I won’t let him take you from me, too.” I can feel my lip quiver and I take a breath to lock it down. “Honestly, I’m not sure you have benefitted since I came into your life. I feel like I’ve turned your life upside down and not in a good way. You look exhausted. Your business has to be taking a hit with you spending so much time trying to make things right and getting justice. You’ve lost your family. All because of me, not Tony, but me.”
“Emelia,” Graham says, ready to defend me against myself.
“Emme, Eloise and I have talked about it. I want you to see a counselor,” Harry says matter-of-factly. “Graham I want your support on this.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because you’re our daughter and we love you. We couldn’t save you from what happened when you were little, but we can and will fight for you now.”