by Sadie Grubor
I shuddered at the threat, earning a chuckle from James. He pulled out his cell and made some calls. I drudged off to the bathroom hoping that the hot water would make me feel a little more like myself.
Once I was showered and dressed in a pair of black slacks and a white button down, I met James in the living room. He gave me a once over and shrugged while slightly moving his head side to side.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," he chuckled. "You look alright but I don’t know if you look like husband and father material." He laughed and headed toward the door.
"Shut the hell up." I yelled as I followed him.
Once James parked his sleek red car, I finally noticed our destination for the night.
"Are you serious?"
He smiled and shrugged.
"I thought we would hang out at a bar or something." I groaned.
"Hey, there's a bar in here," he smirked.
I rolled my eyes as I climbed out of the car.
We entered the club and weaved through the bodies to reach the bar. Celia moved behind the bar, she was working with some red head tonight.
"What can I get you guys?" The red head asked, trying to be seductive. She wasn’t successful. She was irritating. James ordered our drinks and she went about the task.
"Dude, she was totally eye-fucking you." He smacked my back and laughed loudly in my ear.
"I can’t believe Elora lets you out of the house." I glared at him.
"She has nothing to worry about." He grinned.
"What? Did the playa just put his balls on a shelf?" I chuckled.
He smirked.
"Oh, they aren’t on a shelf. They're in Elora’s mouth." He laughed back. I shook my head laughing.
"Hey stranger." Celia stood smiling before us.
"Hey," I smiled back.
"Haven’t seen you for awhile, how are you doing?"
"Good," I lied.
"Liar," James snorted.
I smacked him. Celia eyed us curiously.
"So, I heard you finally got a woman," she smiled.
I felt the frown form on my face. Celia’s smile morphed to regretful. Before she could say anything, I simply blurted out a quick response.
"Nah, let’s just say that we didn’t see things the same way," I forced a smile and tossed my bourbon down slamming the glass onto the bar.
"Let me get you another." Celia quickly returned with a full glass and I thanked her.
"So, don’t you and Lilli usually work together?" I asked between gulps.
"Uh…yeah," she answered. Her forehead creased with worry.
"What’s wrong? Everything okay?" I asked, with a small amount of true concern.
"Yeah, well…Lilli had to go back to Maine. She’s been gone for like a month." She sighed unhappily.
"She’s been gone for a month?" I furrowed my brow.
"Yeah, her father got sick again and she was in the hospital with him for two weeks before he was allowed to come home with a nurse." I could see the tears start to form in her eyes. "Sorry," she said when she realized that I was watching her get upset. "I just feel bad for her and I miss her," she shrugged.
I was about to ask her more but she gave me the just a minute motion and went to help some people who had just sat down at the bar.
My mind started to digest what she had just said. The wheels turning so wildly in my head, I didn’t hear Dixon or Oscar arrive.
"Hello!" Dixon’s boisterous voice brought me out of my head.
"Oh, hey, Dixon!" I replied, seeing Oscar over Dixon’s shoulder. "Oz," I raised my glass to him and he nodded.
"What’s this we hear about that Natalia bitch?" Dixon blurted out and Oscar shook his head.
I turned to look at James and scowled.
"What? They are like your brothers so quit with the damn glares." He tossed back his drink and set it on the bar for a refill.
Celia appeared and took his glass. When she brought it back she leaned over the bar to kiss Dixon.
"Hey baby," she winked.
"Hey," he smiled goofily.
He had it so bad. I quietly chuckled.
"You heard from Lilli?" Celia asked him.
He nodded.
"Yeah, she doesn’t know when she is going to leave or if she can even come back." He looked upset. "She’s already cancelled her classes for the current semester. It sucks."
"What happened?" I asked. He eyed me warily before he told me what happened to her father.
It wasn't until that moment I knew three things. One, I was definitely going to work tomorrow. Two, I was a total douche bag for what I was about to do. Three, the plan would be placed into action as soon as possible.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After making what felt like hundreds of calls, all before noon, I began implementing the return to Plan B. My next move was a text message. I pulled up her number and typed out a message.
The offer still stands. Please consider.
I hit send. Now, all I could do was to wait. When there was no response by the end of the day I calculated my next move. I knew I was being just a little manipulative. Okay, it was a lot. But I was beyond desperate and this opportunity continued to fall in my lap.
The next day I got some answers from the research I’d requested. My next step was put into place and all I could do was wait.
It was three days after the transaction before I got the call I'd been waiting for.
"Hello?"
"What do you think you are doing?" She was as pissed as I had expected.
"What do you—?"
"Don’t play dumb with me, Iverson! I want you to take it back, all of it!" She shouted.
"I’m afraid I can’t do that." I sat back in my office chair hoping this played out in my favor.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lilli
I had been gone for over a month tending to Donald. I cancelled my classes, knowing full well that I would not be able to go to school. Hell, I didn’t know if I would be able to return to New York at this point.
Once I got Donald out of the hospital, I had to work with him and the nurse to get them familiar. The live in nurse was expensive but, believe it or not, it was cheaper than the hospital stay. I had stacks of hospital bills in my old bedroom that I was adding to the other bills we had.
Going over the budget, I had to make a few calls to get the current balance owed on the house. What I didn’t expect was the balance being at zero. Thinking there was a mistake, I called the bank in an attempt to correct it. No one at the bank would listen when I told them it was a mistake. There was no way in hell our mortgage was paid off. Christ, we were lucky to pay the interest on the late months. When the phone call proved futile, I grabbed up the thick mortgage folder and left for what used to be a small town bank.
Arriving at the, newly renovated and acquired by a large chain, bank, I marched up to a teller. Trying not to unleash my frustration on the bank employee, I requested to speak with someone about my mortgage. Once seated with Mr. Barmire, we discussed the situation. I pulled out all of my prior statements, including the most recent one. Mr. Barmire pulled up the account on his computer and showed me the zero balance.
Still, I insisted there was a mistake. He did more research and discovered the total payoff amount had been wired to the account three days ago. Dumbfounded, I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Dazed and confused, I climbed into my father’s old beaten up truck. Then, as I pulled out of the bank parking lot, I remembered the text message from him.
"That son of a bitch," I yelled. I immediately pulled over to the side of the road and called him.
"Hello?" The fucker had the nerve to sound smug.
"What do you think you are doing?"
"What do you—?"
Oh no he wasn’t!
"Don’t play dumb with me, Iverson! I want you to take it back, all of it!"
"I’m afraid I can’t do that." The self-satisfied sound to his voice grated my already raw nerves.
"Aidan, take the money back. You had no right!" My frustration had reached its boiling point.
"What’s done is done, Lilli." He was so calm and collected. My fist clenched, I wanted to punch him in the face.
"I can’t let you pay off the house. I’m assuming you expect something in return but I already answered you."
He sighed but said nothing.
"Why didn’t you just go find someone else?"
"Honestly, I did try. I almost had but that didn’t work out. It seems to me, fate keeps bringing me back to you."
"It’s not fate, Aidan!" Rubbing at my forehead, stress crept up my neck, tightening the muscles.
"Lilli just accept my help." He pleaded.
"You mean a favor. A favor you expect to be returned," I spat.
"Only, if you want to return the favor." His response sounded resigned.
"There is no way in hell I am going to let you just pay off my father’s house! I’ll pay you back the same way I was paying the bank." Proud of myself for standing firm, I straightened my spine and held my head higher.
"I’m afraid I won’t accept your money, Lilli."
My head fell a bit, as my heart sank. He was refusing repayment.
"The only thing I will accept is you saying yes."
I paused, waiting and, before I could argue with him, he spoke again.
"It’s the only payback I will accept. However, you can just accept my kindness and not worry about owing me—"
"You’re an insufferable asshole, you know that?" I seemed to suddenly develop Tourette Syndrome.
"And you, my dear, are a stubborn pain in the ass," he chuckled.
"Unbelievable," I groaned.
"Well, then, just accept my kindness and charity—"
His charity?!
"Whoa, now we're your charity case?"
"No, I apologize, that’s not how I meant it. I simply mean that you should just accept it as a gift of friendship because I don’t want your money," he rushed to explain.
"No, you just want my uterus!" I countered with a huff.
"Listen. I know that the kid thing really freaks you out. Trust me, it scares the hell out of me but, right now, I just need to meet the first requirement before I worry about the other. How about we agree to the first term and discuss the other as we go? Maybe we’ll be able to figure out a way around it." He pleaded, again.
"Fine," I growled.
There was no way I would be a charity case and no way was I just going to let him pay off our house. He knew I would owe him for the rest of my life and that wouldn't sit well with me. The jerk!
"W-what?"
"You fucking heard me, Iverson!" I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.
"Y-you agree then?" Relief and victory flooded the sound of his voice.
"Yes" I hissed. "But—"
"But what?" Apprehension replaced victorious relief.
"I will not be having sex with you, nor will I be getting pregnant. I will actively use my birth control pills." I conditioned.
"Lilli, part of the terms of a marriage is the consummation of—"
"Oh, shut up. It's not like someone is going to demand to be in the bedroom with us. We can easily lie about that detail." I rolled my eyes.
He huffed.
"So, what are we supposed to do for four years of marriage, Lilli? Cause I can abstain but not for that long."
"You have a hand," I countered.
"I don’t think so," he spat.
"Fine, get a mistress, just keep it discreet then you won’t break any rules. I sure as hell won’t say anything, as long as you don’t get caught."
He groaned.
"You really think I'm going to risk getting caught and losing everything?"
"Look, I’m sure I can help you out, make it look like she’s a friend of mine or something. I’ll bring her home with me and you can do what you want when I make myself scarce." He didn’t say anything. "Hello?"
"You’re diabolical," he said, astounded.
"Don’t forget that either," I threatened.
"We can work out the details when you get back in New York," he growled.
After a couple moments of silence, he spoke again, this time much softer. "How is your father?"
His question surprised me, having been so focused on his own problems just a moment ago.
"Uh…he’s alright, for now. He needs surgery. I have him at home and am trying to work things out with the nurse."
"Why isn’t he at the hospital?"
I cleared my throat, uncomfortable with the questions.
"He hates the hospital, so I'm trying to budget out a permanent live in nurse or caretaker for him." Then I realized I probably just told him too much and smacked my forehead.
"Lilli give me all the hospital information and I'll take care of it," he practically demanded.
"No. I’ve got it," I stated firmly.
"Quit being stubborn, I’ll take care of the bills and then I will have my uncle make some calls. He has connections in the medical field. I can get a live in nurse within a couple of days."
I wanted to argue but the thought of my father being so well taken care of was too much for me to pass up.
"Fine," I grumbled.
"Good," he sighed. "When will you be returning?"
"Once there's a nurse here with him, I will probably stay at least another week to help Donald adjust with the new —"
"Hold on one minute."
The line went silent. I started the car up and began my trek back to my father.
It was a few minutes before he returned and my mind was exhausted from everything trying to process at once.
"Lilli?"
"Yeah," I said quietly.
"There will be three nurses at your father’s home tomorrow for you to meet. Decide which one you would like to keep around and the home health agency will contact me."
I couldn’t speak. How did he do that?
"Hello…Lilli?"
"Um…I’m here," I said still a little in shock.
"So, I will see you in about a week then? We can meet to discuss things?"
"Sure," I squeaked, overwhelmed.
I agreed to call him when I got back to New York in a week and we said goodbye.
Walking through the front door of my father’s small, cottage style house, I debated on telling him about everything. We didn’t keep secrets, however, I knew if I told him about Aidan he would stress about it. It looked as if I would have to keep the whole marriage a secret until I could be sure he was strong enough.
As promised, the next day three nurses arrived within an hour of each other. All were really friendly and professionally capable. However, when the one nurse arrived in Yankee scrubs, Donald was sold. At least he would have someone to watch all of the games with. Two days later, Millie brought her things and moved into my old bedroom.
The day after she settled into the house, I started getting her familiar with my father's doctors and medical instructions, along with his routine. She was a quick learner.
Millie quickly gained the trust and friendship of my father. She was a tough woman who wouldn’t take his crap, but she was also very tender with him.
While I finished dinner, I thought about the day I would be heading back to New York. Everything waiting for me there felt like an alternate universe. My plan was to leave Winter Harbor in three days and, still, I couldn’t believe I be discussing a marriage proposal.
As I walked towards the living room to announce dinner, there was a knock on the door. I stopped Millie just as she was about to get up.
"I got it," I smiled. "Dinner is ready, go grab a plate."
When I opened the door, all the air in my lungs whooshed out. Once I caught my breath, I shook my head clear.
"Ai-Aidan, what are you—?"
A big smile stretched across his face as he walked in the house, brushing by me. I closed the door and turned. "Why are you here?"
"I’ve come to speak to your f
ather," he winked.
Chapter Ten
Fancy Flights
Aidan
After I hung up with Lilli, I called Viola to make sure she was home and left work immediately. I had my secretary make all of the necessary changes to my schedule as well as make other arrangements with Liam and Henry.
On the drive over to Viola and Liam’s, I was still processing the phone call with Lilli. She finally agreed. Well, she hadn’t entirely, but it was a start. I was now starting to feel some of the stress lift from my shoulders. We still had a lot to discuss and agree on, but I was feeling lighter. Arriving to Viola and Liam’s home, I hurried inside.
"Viola?" I called out to the empty entryway.
"Aidan?" She called from somewhere upstairs.
"Where are you?" I called back.
In a pantsuit, she appeared at the top of the stairway which led from the main hall to upstairs. "I’m right here, now are you going to tell me what you are going on about?" she smiled, lovingly.
"I need my mother’s ring," I replied, returning her smile.
"You mean, her ring? You are going to—?" Her eyes lit up.
I nodded. "It’s simply an agreement but I want to use my mother’s—"
Her large hug cut me off.
"Oh, Aidan," she squeezed tighter. "I wish it was for real but I’m still happy for you."
"I’m sure you’ll all be relieved now, at least." I shrugged.
"Oh baby, please don’t do this if you’re going to be miserable," she cupped my face in her hands, just how I thought my mother would have.
I smiled and shook my head.
"I’m not exactly ecstatic or head over heels in love but she’s a nice girl and a good friend."
"A friend?" She questioned with the raise of a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"Yes, just a friend," I chuckled. "It’s sort of like a business arrangement that she’s agreed to."
"A-a business arrangement? Aidan she isn’t a...?"
I burst into laughter.
"Oh, God, no! Viola, she is a real friend that I know, not a ‘professional’." I chuckled again. "It’s just a simple agreement." I shrugged again, but Viola looked slightly apprehensive.
"Her parents are okay with this?"
I hadn’t even thought about what Lilli’s parents would think of this arrangement.
"Umm…we haven’t really talked about parents just yet." Embarrassment tinged my cheeks.