Second Chance at Forever

by Mary Wasowski

  To hell with it, I decided to just call her suite and easily make up a reason to why I was calling. The operator told me that room 425 had a do not disturb on its phone. I was angered when I heard this. Why was Reese making it so difficult for me to talk to her? Now she had left me no choice but to ask Jackson to call Riley.

  When I arrived back at the penthouse, Jackson was waiting for me. “Hey Dad, good work-out with Tyler?”

  “It was fine, son. How are you? What time did you go to sleep last night?”

  “I told you dad, my girl has energy. Riley kept me on the phone until two thirty in the morning. I think I had fallen asleep at one point, but then she laughed about something and the sound of her sweet giggle woke me up.”

  “Are you ready to go to your grandmother’s?”

  “Yes, but I thought I was going alone.”

  “That was the plan, but I changed my mind and will be joining you. I have some loose ends to tie up back at the house, so while you’re entertaining your grandmother, I will be working.”

  I called Miles Jacobson and asked him to meet me up at the house. He hesitated at first but then reluctantly agreed. Having fired Miles over his betrayal, the man didn’t owe me anything, but something still stuck in my craw about the story that he fed me the other day.

  I read and re-read my father’s letter to me, and I still felt like I was missing something. I knew my father was controlling, but he went to extreme measures to make sure Reese was out of my life, and I had a sinking feeling there were more secrets yet to be revealed. My instincts were telling me that they were held by Miles Jacobson, and he was not leaving until he told me what I needed to know. I called Stephen to make sure my book was on its way. I already made the decision to go with Jackson today, so I had Stephen tell the courier service to deliver it at my mother’s home.

  The drive this time had taken longer than my last trip out here. We were re-routed due to construction, and that delayed our arrival. When we pulled up to the main gate, Jackson screamed into the voice box. He knew my mother was probably waiting for him. For some reason, this always amused her when he called out for her. The gates opened, and we made our way through the rose lined driveway up to the house. As expected, my mother was waiting for her grandson at the front door.

  Jackson leaped out from the car and ran right into his grandmother’s waiting arms. “Grandmother!” shouted Jackson. I watched as they embraced each other. There was no doubt that my son loved my mother with all of his heart.

  “Hello, mother,” I greeted her as I walked up to separate the two and place a kiss on her cheek.

  “Oh, Walker, do you always have to be so formal? You can hug me and at least pretend you’re happy to be here.”

  “Mother, enjoy your visit with my son, I have other matters that need my attention.” I walked away, and instantly regretted my cold attitude toward her when Jackson’s eyes widened at me. If Jackson only knew why I was angry. When I left here yesterday and arrived at Reese’s door, I had intended to tell Reese everything about what I had learned from Miles. And now I’m back in the one place that I hate. This fucking home held no happy memories for me at all, and I wanted it gone.

  “Walker, I’m here as requested.” Miles Jacobson walked through my father’s study and stood like a soldier in front of me.

  “Have a seat, Miles, and get comfortable. We are not leaving this room until I get what I want.”

  “Walker, I only came here today out of respect for your mother. I have told you everything I know. When you fired me, which you absolutely had just cause to do, our ties were severed. What are you possibly seeking now?”

  I rose from my father’s chair and walked around his desk to look in Miles’s eyes for answers, but the old man wore his poker face like no other. It would be hard to break him.

  “Miles, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this whole elaborate plan to rid Reese from my life. You must know that I had already planned on joining my father in California and was ready to step up to take over Reed Global. My only request at the time was bringing Reese with me. Why did he really do it, Miles? There has to be something that I’m missing, what is it?”

  “I have told you everything, Walker. There is nothing more to say.”

  He was lying, I could feel it.

  “Miles, do you really want to play this game with me? My father is dead, and you owe him nothing. The time where you protected his secrets are over. Now I will ask again: tell me, what am I missing?” A knock at the door interrupted our moment.

  “I’m sorry sir for interrupting, but this just arrived for you.”

  “It’s quite alright, Hilda, I was expecting this.” I took the package and placed it on my father’s desk with Miles eyeing my parcel. Did he know what this contained? He knew everything else, so this would not surprise me. I let him sweat it out for a few minutes before I opened it.

  Miles stood up and paced the room. I leaned against the desk and crossed my arms over my chest waiting for his answer. I knew there was more, and now I just had to get him to reveal it.

  “Walker, your father was a very complex man, he was the shrewdest business man I have ever known. He always had a card to play and knew when to use it for his advantage. This is where your Reese Mitchell became part of his plan.”

  “How, Miles? Reese was a simple girl from Pottersville, Georgia. She wasn’t rich, she didn’t run in the same circles we did. She was a struggling college student who modeled part-time to pay the bills. How could she be a threat to the great Phillip Reed?”

  “She wasn’t at first, Walker. Your father knew you cared about her and possibly loved her. He always had a plan for you when it came to your future. He never really thought of your love life until he was faced with a crisis involving the company. He made a deal, Walker, to save Reed Global.”

  “What kind of deal, Miles? And why was Reese a part of it?”

  “Reed Global was struggling around the time you were to finish college. Phillip made some poor business decisions and ultimately was facing bankruptcy.”

  “Get the hell out of here! Our company had never been stronger back then. My father never told me that we were having problems. I was set to take over by September. If the company were in dire straits, then why push me to take over a sinking ship?”

  “You don’t understand, Walker. By the time you arrived in California, everything had been worked out, and Reed Global paid their debts. With the new projects that were on the table, the company managed to become bigger and stronger.”

  “This is still so frustrating, I feel like we’re talking in circles. Okay, so Reed Global was in a financial crisis and was allegedly facing bankruptcy. Who floated the loan to Reed Global to get us out from our money problems? Miles, if this is the last piece of the puzzle, then I need to know. I can never move on with my life with this shadowing me. Obviously my father wanted me to know, or he wouldn’t have left me that letter confessing his sins.”

  Miles took a deep gulp and said, “TD Incorporated secured the loan that saved Reed Global from financial ruin.”

  I felt sick to my stomach and fell to my knees. It can’t be true, not Elizabeth. She did this to me?

  “Townsend Development was the company that did this? Elizabeth’s father, whom I have always respected, was just as calculating and deceptive like my own father? Miles, you say Elizabeth didn’t know about any of this, but how can I believe that now?”

  “Walker, she didn’t know. I swear on my life she didn’t know.”

  I rose from the floor and held my head in frustration as I listened to how two men single handedly destroyed my life.

  “Explain it to me, Miles. How did this happen, and why was Reese and my baby the collateral damage in all of this?”

  Miles gestured over to the bar and poured himself a scotch. I knew if I took a drink, I wouldn’t be able to stop. At that moment, I believed my world was spinning out of control. My father from the grave was still pulling all the strings, and I had no
choice but to go along with it.

  “Walker, when Reed Global was beginning to have financial problems, your father and Henry Townsend were friends. You know this. Henry’s company was doing remarkably well; they had contracts all over the world for development deals. Your father confided his troubles with Henry, and then struck a deal to save Reed Global. Henry wanted Elizabeth, his only daughter, matched well in marriage, and you were his choice for her. He thought because you grew up together and always remained friends that she would be a suitable match for you. Together, your union would also seal the fate of your father’s company.”

  Miles continued, “No one could predict Elizabeth dying in childbirth. One life was lost when another was born. Jackson was a miracle, and he was all Henry had left of his daughter. When she died, it nearly destroyed him. Henry was broken, and inconsolable after his beloved Elizabeth died. If it wasn’t for Jackson, he probably wouldn’t have survived her loss. Mourning his daughter, Henry almost slipped and told you the truth, but Phillip stopped him. Then as the years went by, your father’s resolve had broken down and he wanted to come clean with you, but then it was Henry who stopped him. He threatened your father that if he told you the truth, he would pull all of his invested money and would destroy the company and your legacy. These two men only agreed on the one thing that kept them from absolution of their conspired sins…your son, Jackson. He was the tie that bound them together.”

  “How can you sit here and say it was about Jackson? Maybe that was true after the fact, but the beginning of this was all about the money? My father chose to save our company, and sacrifice my happiness with Reese, for a stupid fucking company! How the hell did I not know this? Was I so blinded back then with greed, and the want for power? Miles, I’m no better than my fucking father or Henry. Reese walked out of my life, and I did nothing to find her. I gave up, and then Elizabeth was there when I was at my lowest point in my life. I should have known Reese would have never done this to me on her own, but I was hurt with her leaving that I didn’t think beyond my own pain.”

  I picked the wrong week to quit drinking scotch. I continued, “All of these years I could have been with Reese. We could have had our life the way we had always planned to. My life with Reese was stolen right out from under me, because of a company that was more important to my father than his own son. What the hell, Miles? Elizabeth was a bright and beautiful woman; what was her father thinking? She could have had any guy she wanted. Did he not trust that she could have found someone on her own? For the first time in my life, I’m happy Elizabeth is gone, because if she had to find this out about her father now, it would have devastated her.”

  I looked over to the box on my father’s desk and took a breath before opening it. It’s the book my father wanted me to have. I ran my fingers over the hard leather cover as they hovered over the title. Redemption…Sins of the Father.

  “Phillip Reed did have sins, and many of them. Before he died, he tried to seek absolution from me, but I threw it back in his face. Now, once I know everything, will he finally have his redemption to live peacefully in all of eternity? I don’t believe I can be that forgiving. Miles, did you know that on my father’s last visit to me in California, he had left this for me?”

  “No, Walker, I didn’t know. I have no clue to what that book contains.”

  “I guess there is no time like the present to face another revelation from the deceptive web he had spun for me.” I slowly opened the book to find it hollowed out. Inside, I found another letter from my father and a black velvet pouch.

  Miles looked over to what my father had left for me. His curiosity was just as piqued as mine. I placed the letter in my jacket pocket and decided to see what the mystery pouch contained. I opened the pouch and let the object slide into the palm of my hand. I felt chills run through me as I was holding the very same locket I had given to Reese on New Year’s Eve all those years ago. This was my tangible piece of my heart only meant for her. I rolled it over and read the inscription. “You are my forever. Love, Walker.” How did my father get Reese’s locket? The clasp was broken. I opened it up to find the picture I had placed inside of it. It was Reese and me in Georgia. I loved this picture of us. I have its copy in my safe back home in my city apartment. I held out my hand with the locket still in my palm and directly faced Miles.

  “Can you explain this? How did my father come to be in possession of Reese’s locket? Answer me, Miles!”

  He emptied his drink and poured another before answering me. He stammered over his words before revealing more of my father’s deceptions.

  “Walker, I had completely forgotten about the necklace. I haven’t laid eyes on that locket since the day your father took it from Ms. Mitchell.”

  “So help me, Miles, you better fucking tell me everything before I rip your throat out. My father is dead, so now his sins become yours. You’re just as responsible as he is, and Henry. How the hell did my father get this necklace away from Reese? I will not ask you again.”

  “It was the day she came looking for you in California. She was visibly pregnant and before she had the chance to call out your name, she was stopped by Ralston.”

  I could feel the bile rising up in my throat, my heart accelerating with rage for my father, and remorse for my broken girl that he nearly destroyed. I waited with the last ounce of patience I had. Miles, the man I had respected and admired while growing up now looked as broken as a fallen bird. His wings had been clipped, and he was struggling to break free. This was what my father had reduced him to.

  “Miles, please? Tell me the rest.”

  “I was already in the building waiting on you and your father to arrive when he phoned me to meet him outside. I had taken the stairs to avoid you coming off the elevator. I met your father outside the atrium, and that’s when I saw Ralston holding back your Ms. Mitchell. She was struggling to get out of his hold. He only released her when instructed by your father to do so. She was crying and begging your father to allow her to go to you, but he stopped her…again. She tried to threaten him, but he knew it was all a ruse, and played out his hand to her. He once again threatened her family, and by doing so was able to bring Ms. Mitchell to her knees. She sobbed and sobbed while begging your father to show her mercy. I’m sorry, Walker, but he never did. She showed him her locket and told him that it didn’t matter how it appeared in print that you had moved on, she was still the owner of your heart. That’s when he did the unthinkable.”

  “What the hell did he do?”

  “He ripped the necklace off of her neck. Ralston was laughing and actually enjoying her visible misery. I was sick over it and wanted to leave, but he ordered me to stay. She begged him to return it, but he said no. We left her there, crying on the ground, Walker. I deserve whatever punishment you want to bestow on me. I will never get her pathetic image out of my head from that day, and her piercing cries haunted my dreams for many months that followed.”

  Miles took another gulp from his drink and went on. “I’m so very sorry, Walker. No words will ever make up for what we did to that poor girl and what it cost you. I can promise you that I have truly told you everything now. It pained your father for a great many years not telling you the truth, but he made his choice and he had to live with it. Don’t let his mistakes and poor judgment define you and take you down the same dark roads as it did for him.”

  “It pained him? Are you that deluded, Miles? What he did to Reese on that day probably caused her to lose our child. How could she provide a safe environment for our growing baby while she was constantly under surveillance, stress, and then to be physically assaulted by Ralston? Reese may have been tall, but she barely weighed over one hundred twenty pounds. Fuck! She was carrying my child, Miles! How the hell could anyone be so cruel?”

  The wheels were spinning in my head. “This just makes perfect sense now. This is what my father was trying to tell me when he visited me in California. I never gave him the chance to tell me the truth. I don’t know if it w
ould have made a difference finding out then or now, I still have so much hatred for the man. I can’t even see straight. Miles.”

  “I’m sorry it took me all of these years to finally tell you what you should have known years ago. I truly hope you find what you’re looking for and make peace with all of this.”

  “Is this it? Do I now know everything, Miles, and I do mean everything?”

  “Without knowing what his last letter contains, I swear to you I have told you all that I know.”

  I believed Miles this time. He had nothing to gain by keeping the truth from me. I sat in my father’s office for hours after Miles had left. I wanted to go to Reese and hold her. Beg for forgiveness on behalf of my father, and all he had done to her. I placed her locket back into the pouch and placed it in my pocket, vowing to repair it as soon as I returned to the city. I only had one last thing to do: read his letter.

  My son,

  I promise you that this will be the last letter you ever will read from me. Again, I took the coward’s way out by leaving this for you instead of telling you the truth to your face like a man should. I truly intended to tell you the truth on the day I came to your office, but you knew me so well. How could I have done that to you? And on the anniversary of your wife’s death and my grandson’s birthday. I could see the pain all over your face, but I once again pushed you until you snapped. This was my forte Walker, and although I’m responsible for all of your pain that you have gone through, I still couldn’t see past my own righteousness. No amount of apologies will ever make up for what I have done to you. You must know by now that Henry Townsend was my partner in all of this. Ralston and Miles were just players in the game. I expect you will seek out your own brand of justice or revenge for the ones that hurt Ms. Mitchell.

  Miles is a good man, and he did try to stop me, but I never listened. What we did haunted him for many years, and I have to presume it still does. Henry has had to also pay for his role in this as well. The night his daughter died, he had said it was God’s way of punishing him for what we did to Ms. Mitchell. I didn’t believe it then, but maybe in some small way he was right. Not that I’m a religious man, but karma is real, and we have all had our share of it.