by Dyanne Davis
“Those stocks that you wanted me to buy; I couldn’t get what you wanted. I’m sorry.”
Simon sighed, blew out his breath and looked in disappointment at his second in command. “You’re determined to ruin this celebration, aren’t you?” he said and shook his head. “Eat your lobster, Harold. Everything will work out in the end.”
“I don’t think so,” Harold replied quietly as he began eating.
Simon heard him but ignored the words. He would not take this moment from his wife or himself. He’d waited too long for it.
Chapter Twenty-three
Simon looked at the two-story brick house and smiled. “Why don’t we buy your parents a new home?”
“They wouldn’t accept it,” Janice answered. “But thanks for thinking of them; they love you already. You don’t have to try so hard.”
“You think they’re going to be happy?” he asked, suddenly nervous.
“Of course they’re going to be happy; they’re going to be grandparents.”
“But they already are.”
“Yes, but this is our first baby. Besides, it doesn’t matter with grandparents. They always get excited about a new baby each and every time. Don’t worry, Simon, they’re going to be thrilled.
“Are you going to tell them about my past?”
“I don’t see a need for them to know.”
“Are you ashamed?”
Janice stopped and surveyed her husband. “You really are worried about that, aren’t you? Baby, there is no reason to be. Even if they hated you I would still love you.”
“You think knowing would change how they feel about me?”
“Not one bit. They love you.”
The door opened at that moment. Before she could do any more thinking about it, everyone was all over them, hugging and kissing her—two brothers, her sister, and the horde of nieces and nephews. They had only called her parents a few hours earlier and asked them to get everyone over, that they had a surprise.
“Now for our surprise,” Janice said. Simon was glowing and had his arm around Janice as they stood together in the center of the room.
“You’re going to have a baby,” Carol burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. She ran to hug Simon.
“Yes,” he said. “We’re going to have a baby.” For the next few minutes Simon was swamped with well wishes and with love. A family. Finally he had a family. When they at last went to bed, Simon turned toward Janice in the double bed.“I think we should get one of these.”
“What?”
“A smaller bed. I like being close to you.” He sat up and looked around the purple room. He saw posters of a young Mary Jo dressed in a purple and white cheerleader outfit.
“This is your old bedroom?” he asked, looking down at her.
“Yes, can you believe they have kept all of this junk?”
“I can believe it. I plan on keeping everything connected with our son.”
“What if it’s a girl?”
“Then I will keep every memento of hers with the exception of cheerleader outfits. She won’t have any because I won’t let her wear those skimpy skirts.”
“So you don’t like what I had on?”
“I like it on you, just not for my daughter.” He looked at the white wicker chair with the purple cushion. Then he took another look at the walls. “This room has been freshly painted.”
“They always keep it like this just in case.”
Simon smiled down at her. “Just in case you ever wanted to come home.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think you’re going to need this room anymore, do you?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Then tell them that they can repaint it.”
“Does it make you nervous, them having this room for me?”
“A bit, but I also like it. Tell me something. If you like purple so much, why don’t we have anything in our bedroom that’s purple?”
“Mary Jo liked purple.”
“Well, I love Mary Jo and I love Janice, so I’m going to love whatever color the two of you come up with. Want to redecorate?”
“I would, but my deadline was pushed up to a month. That’s the reason I told you we could only stay a day or so. I have to work at least twelve hours a day writing this book until I’m done. I won’t have time to redecorate or anything else. I’m not going to have much time for you either. Is that okay with you?”
Simon had forgotten about changing her deadline and felt a stab of guilt. “Do you want me to call and have that changed?”
“Don’t do that, Simon, please. I’d rather do what I have to do in my career. I know how much behind the scenes help you’ve already given me. Please just let me do this on my own. Actually I’m kind of glad the deadline was advanced. It shows that your money and influence didn’t help. I’m being treated like everyone else. I like the feeling.”
Simon lay back down and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her forehead. “Go to sleep, baby. We’ll leave tomorrow night so you can get some rest before you have to start writing.”
Damn, he thought, like hell my money and influence had nothing to do with her changed schedule. I’ll make it up to her, he thought and pulled her even closer. He’d make sure that the moment the book was released it would go straight to number one on The New York Times list. And that’s another secret I’ll have to keep from her. he thought and groaned. He was raking up a hell of a lot of karmic debt. This time at least he was trying to do it for the right reason.
* * *
“We wish we could stay,” Simon said to his father-in-law, “but Mary Jo has to work on her new book. She has only a month and we need her to get some rest before she starts. She needs a good night’s sleep.”
Simon tilted the can of Miller’s up to his lips, doing what everyone else was doing. Carol had asked if he wanted a glass and had brightened when he’d said no.
“I really have enjoyed myself.” He smiled. “We couldn’t wait to tell you.” He glanced over at Janice, his gaze lingering on her. What the hell am I doing? She’d forgiven him. Why didn’t he just tell her what he’d done?
At that moment Janice turned and smiled at him and he had his answer. She looked at him with love and with pride and that was the reason he didn’t want to tell her. She wouldn’t be proud of what he’d done. She couldn’t be.
* * *
Janice had been working for three and a half weeks without a break. She didn’t know if she hated the book and the characters she’d created or if she loved them. She’d hardly spent more than an hour or so a night in her husband’s arms and it wasn’t because of his schedule but hers. Another day or so and she could send the book in. Only now she was so tired from writing her eyeballs hurt. She wanted to finish the book and go shopping for maternity clothes and baby furniture. Although she needed neither yet, she wanted to go, but she didn’t have the time.
The buzzer on her timer sounded and she reread the last line she’d written, saved her work and turned off the computer. She’d made an agreement with Simon that she would not work past seven-thirty. In fact, she’d promised and this time she was keeping all promises she made to him.
She’d faxed Tommy weeks before and told him of her schedule change, informing him that her book was due in a month and that she was pregnant. She’d almost ended it there but when she thought of Tommy hitting Simon she’d added, “After what happened, I think it best that you get another high profile African American author. I can’t do it any more.”
* * *
Simon looked at the clock. “Look, I have to go. Janice and I have an agreement that at seven-thirty it’s our time together. I’ll be in the office early tomorrow.”
“How have you managed to keep all of this from her? It’s been all over the news and in the papers. What have you done, locked her in a cave?”
Simon started to laugh until he realized that Harold was partially serious. “Don’t worry,” he reassured him. “This is all Jani
ce’s doing. Whenever she works, she doesn’t like outside stimuli, nothing that could affect her stories. She unplugs the phone, the fax, and she doesn’t read the paper or watch the news. Her not knowing wasn’t my doing.”
“And you didn’t think you should tell her?”
“Listen, when she finishes each day she’s tired. I’m not going to give her any more stress. That’s not what she wants from me.”
“Bull, Simon. You’re only making your hole deeper. God, when it happens, you are going to have a hard fall.”
“Are you hoping that’s what will happen to me?”
“I’m just warning you that you’d better get ready, because she’s not going to stay hidden in a cave forever. You’re manipulating her life and that’s not right. It was one thing when you went digging into her past. I didn’t agree with it but in a way I understood it. I mean, a man with your money needs to make sure what he’s getting into.”
“That’s not why I did it.”
“I know, but everything that’s happened so far, you set in motion. You’re the one who brought Tommy Strong into your life. If you had not invaded her privacy, none of this would have occurred.”
“But good came out of that, Harold. It forced Janice to realize that she loved me.”
“That’s the operative word, isn’t it, forced?”
Harold was clicking his tongue and it was driving Simon crazy. “I had to know.”
“Why did you go behind her back and interfere in her career?”
“You know why I did that. I didn’t want her working with Tommy.”
“She’s going to be pissed when she finds out how you’ve been manipulating her. And the bookstores, she’s been working so hard to save them, and you’ve gone and destroyed them.”
“I’m trying to make up for that. I’m in negotiations with Eric Warren to buy the rights back from him.”
“He’s a rotten bastard. He’s not going to sell them back to you. He thinks you see gold in them and he’s not budging. Couldn’t you have picked someone else to do your dirty work? Why didn’t you just have me do it?”
“Would you have?”
“If you had ordered me to do it.”
“And what would you have thought about my ordering you?”
“I would have lost all my respect for you but I would have done it.”
“And now, Harold, have you lost all respect for me?”
“I think you’re going about everything all wrong. You’ve always wanted a family, a wife to love you, kids. Now you have it, you have it all and you’re throwing it all away. You’ve been trying so hard to not live your father’s life but you’re repeating every mistake he ever made. It wasn’t the family secret that destroyed your parents’ marriage. I’ve told you that a million times. It was his deceit, his arrogance, his mistrust of your mother, him trying to manipulate things behind the scenes.”
“My parents slept around.”
“Do you think that happened in the beginning?” Harold shook his head slowly. “That took awhile, a lot of years, a lot of hurt. They both hacked away at that marriage until they had nothing left but you. Is that what you want, Simon?”
“You know that’s not what I want. This whole thing got out of control. If Janice had just listened to me when I asked her not to go to Tommy’s…”
“You’re trying to place some of the blame for this mess on your wife?”
“God, I don’t know.” Simone ran his fingers through his hair. “Don’t worry, Harold, I know this is all my doing. Eric is being so damn stubborn. I’ve offered him ten times what he paid for those damn stores. And that was another mistake. Now he knows they have to be important.”
“What’s he doing now?”
“He’s trying to buy up more independent stores and I’m trying to stop him. It’s a real mess. I’m spending too much time on this.”
“Messes sometimes take awhile to clean up. Are you heading directly home?”
“I have to make a stop before I get home.”
“More jewelry? You’ve been to the jeweler every day this month.”
Simon paused and studied Harold. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but am I spending my money or yours?”
“You’re going about this the wrong way. That’s all that I meant by my observation.”
“I would be buying jewelry for my wife anyway, so you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Simon was tired of snapping at Harold. He loved Harold but lately he seemed to have appointed himself to be Simon’s conscience, and that Simon didn’t need. Every time he saw his wife his own guilt screamed out at him.
Since she was doing nothing but working, Simon had decided he might as well put in time at the office. He hated the idea of not snuggling with her in the early morning. At least he got to have lunch with her. When she worked, generally she didn’t care about food. She didn’t care about anything but the characters in her book. Now it was different, she cared about having a healthy baby and she cared about him. She had a standing request for the staff to interrupt her for lunch. There was no emergency that was going to keep Simon from leaving the office to go home and have lunch with his wife. That time was special for both of them.
He remembered how it used to be when she’d tried to hide how happy she was to see him. Now she didn’t. Whenever he interrupted her she never acted annoyed. She would give him a huge smile, get up from her computer for a hug and a kiss and a few minutes of conversation. But eventually she would kiss him and usher him back out the door.
And every time it happened he wanted to call her publisher and tell him to give her more time. But he knew Janice would be suspicious. She would know without a doubt that he’d meddled and he was trying his best not to interfere any more than he already had.
* * *
Simon handed the sapphire and diamond bracelet to the clerk, who was beaming. Why shouldn’t he be? That was another thing Harold was right about. Every day for a month he’d either had something sent to the mansion or he stopped in the store himself. Over two million dollars in jewels. He looked at the glass cases and the remaining items, thinking the entire store would not be enough to get him out of the mess he’d gotten himself into if Janice discovered what he’d done.
* * *
“You’re late.”
“Just a little. I got you something,” Simon said, bringing the bag from behind his back and smiling. She wasn’t reaching for the bag and he wondered why.
“Something wrong, baby?”
“Why are you bringing me so many presents?”
“I always give you presents,” he answered defensively. “What are you complaining about?”
“I’m not complaining.” Janice smiled, shrugging her shoulder. “I guess I’m just tired and maybe a bit cranky.”
“Are you almost done?”
“Almost. I will be in a couple of days.” She moved so that her back was to her husband, knowing that he would massage her shoulders.
“Don’t you want your present?” Simon asked, moving to rub her shoulders.
“Maybe later. Right now I’m on present overload.”
A lump formed in his throat. He’d thought the jewels made her happy. They didn’t. “If you could have anything in the world that you wished for, what would it be?” he asked as he kneaded her kinked muscles.
“I have it.”
“What exactly do you have?”
“You,” Janice answered without missing a beat. “I thought I was happy with the way things were before. I really did, our fights, everything, not caring, not trusting. This is so much better,” she said, grabbing his hand and bringing it to her lips. “I wouldn’t trade what we have for anything.”
“How about the bookstores? Are you missing helping?”
“I am, but I know that the work I’ve done has helped and I know that Tommy is not going to see the stores close. He’s passionate about that and regardless of everything else, he can be pretty amazing.”
“Pretty ama
zing?” Simon rubbed his teeth across his lips. “You sound as though you’re proud of him.”
“Honey, you don’t have anything to be worried about. Haven’t I proven that to you? It’s you I love.”
Simon wondered for a moment about that. Yes, she’d married him and yes, she was having his baby and yes, she wasn’t seeing Tommy anymore, but that was because he had pulled strings and had practically imprisoned her in the mansion. Sure, she’d set the ground rules and had shut herself in her office typing all day, but it was because of his manipulations that she’d done it. He sighed.
“Simon, do you still doubt me?”
“I want to make you happy so much that I guess it worries me when I bring you home a gift and you won’t open it.” Simon smiled, trying to lighten the moment.
“Give it to me.”
For a moment he wondered at her statement but she was smiling. It was he who was sensitive over her choice of words. He handed her the package, cursing Harold silently. If it had not been for him, he would not be thinking these thoughts.
“I was wondering when you’re done with your book if you would like to come with me to Italy? I have some business there and if you’re going to be done in a couple of days I could arrange it.”
“I didn’t know you had to go to Italy.”
“Well, I’ve been putting it off. I didn’t want to leave you alone.”
Janice smiled up at him. “I’m not worried anymore about your abandoning me, not when you tell me where you’re going and when you’re coming home.”
“Don’t you want to go with me? Have you grown tired of me already?” He looked away.
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m beginning to feel neglected. I know you have to hide yourself away like this when you write but I miss you. I just want some time alone with you.”
“You’re going to Italy for business. I don’t want to sit around in a hotel room all day.”
“I promise we’ll get to see and do whatever you want. Don’t worry.”