On the Rebound 2

by Brenda Barrett

  Your brother in Christ,

  Oliver

  Dear Oliver,

  It was a pleasure to see your mail in my inbox this morning. We saw your mother in New York while on vacation on New Year's Eve and she made us promise to attend your graduation in the summer. It was our pleasure to come to your graduation. My, you have grown into a fine young man. If my daughter Alisha was in Jamaica I would definitely introduce you two but alas, she is at university in Canada.

  We live in Montego Bay now; Ruel and I operate a guest-house and wedding business. We are a one-stop wedding shop. From dresses to cakes, and everything you can think of, and we do have a gorgeous view. So remember us when you are ready to tie the knot. The offspring of the daffodils you gave me line the driveway of the guest-house. The place is called Daffodil House. You know, I still remember what you said about them being a symbol of new beginnings and renewal.

  We go back to Primrose Hill quite often. Nothing much has changed. Sister Norma is still the queen bee. Bro. Owen is still the affable giant. He had a nasty bout of flu the other day and was admitted in the hospital, but he is out now, thank God. Jack is still Jack. He doesn't say much or do much.

  Conroy got married a couple years ago to a widow; she had a daughter for him. I am sure your mother must have told you that. She talked my ear off, whining for the whole New Year's Eve about how Conroy is flaunting his happiness to her on Facebook.

  Josiah and Jorja got married before she began to show. Ruel and Conroy twisted his arm about it.

  You wouldn't be able to tell that the two of them were forced into marriage. They are quite happy together, surprisingly. They have two children now...

  Am I leaving out anyone?

  Oh yes, Nolan Ramsey. He is quite the popular televangelist these days. I am sure you have heard about him or seen him on local television. The other day I heard him telling our Primrose Hill story as part of a sermon. He called it ‘Be careful how you perceive others and judge, everything may not be as it seems.’ Very appropriate title from our Primrose Hill days.

  I am happy you found your family, the Scarletts. I do hope you'll find your father, as well.

  Thank you for writing, Oliver. May God continue to pour out his blessings on you. Continue to excel and to make a difference in this world.

  Ashley

  Author's Notes

  Dear Reader,

  THANK YOU for reading On The Rebound 2! If you enjoyed this novel, I hope you'll consider leaving a review at your favorite retailer.

  I really wanted to bring a closure to Ashley's story and what happened in her life after Brandon ended their relationship. The character Oliver will appear again in the Scarlett Series, in fact he gets his own story. Look out for him in SCARLETT BRIDE.

  The Scarlett Series is coming with another family who is filled with drama, romance, suspense and all of that mixed in. You can check my BOOK LIST, for the titles and release dates. In the meantime, scroll down for an excerpt from the first book in the Scarlett Series- SCARLETT BABY.

  If you have comments or suggestions, I welcome them. You can reach me and receive a reply at brenalbar@gmail.com.

  You can be among the first to hear when I have special prices and new book releases by signing up for my mailing list. It will take you less than 50 seconds to signup. Click here to signup.

  Thanks again. All the best,

  Brenda

  Here is the first chapter of

  SCARLETT BABY

  "Good friend why did you have to go…" The Kenny Rogers song belted across the expanse of the yard, held his heart and squeezed.

  Yuri sat heavily in one of the white plastic chairs that his mother had thoughtfully placed around the yard. His eyes were stinging and he swiped his hand over them impatiently. He was bone tired, it was a long journey from Kingston and his tedious middle management job. He had a headache, heartache, a toothache, all of him ached... Excuses.

  He held down his head. He was determined not to let the tears fall. He was sure if he tried to think about something else the song would release its hold on him but it kept pulsing through his head.

  He breathed a sigh of relief and inhaled a refreshing gulp of air when the verse faded away, "And in my memories you'll always be a good, good friend to me…" He had barely, just barely saved himself from an embarrassing crying jag.

  He was relieved when his cousin, who seemed to be acting as the deejay, put in a Temptations album and left it to play.

  But even that was nostalgic especially when he heard the first notes from Soul to Soul. If he was being so tearful now he wondered how he was going to hold up at the burial tomorrow.

  Burial. He hated the word. And he hated it even more when it was attached to his grandfather. Dolby Scarlett had always been more than family. He had been a really good friend to him. They had shared countless memories and numerous confidences. Now he was gone. Why he should feel grief so sharply he didn't know. His grandfather had a good innings, one hundred years old. A solid century.

  Maybe he was feeling ripped up inside because he was not able to get time off from his job to come home and see Pops one last time before he died. Six months ago when he had returned home he had poured out all of his confused feelings and maddening failings to Pops.

  "Want a drink, honey?" His mother asked looking at him sympathetically. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink since you arrived."

  "No thanks, Mom." His voice was low and choked up. "When I am ready I'll come and get it and maybe socialize then."

  His mother patted his hand and moved away, too busy with the scores of people who were trailing into the yard to question him further.

  He watched the goings on, feeling almost detached from it all. He answered greetings in a desultory manner, even had a conversation with a family friend or two and watched as the late sun bathed the spacious yard.

  His family had always lived in this spot. This half-acre of shrub land near the sea, it was rocky in some places, and fertile in others. Through the years they had wrangled with the stony soil and deleterious effects of the wind and had managed to get a few trees going.

  He was sitting under one now, a plum tree. Its gnarled limbs were devoid of leaves. It was that time of the year when it would shed; in a few weeks it would miraculously grow leaves and fruit—juicy red plums that his grandfather loved so much, only this time he wouldn't be around to have any.

  He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. He heard the gentle lapping of the sea a few yards from where he was sitting. The buzz of chatter near the house, a dog barking, somebody coughing, his father's voice and then his sister's finer sweeter tones responding to something that his father said and then the lump of grief that was stuck in his throat subsided.

  He felt a shadow and opened his eyes slowly.

  Terri was standing before him. She had a drink in her hand; she pushed it at him.

  "Drink."

  "What is it?" Yuri asked his voice husky.

  "Fruit juice. Daddy blended it."

  "Ah," Yuri took a sip and then drained the whole thing in his mouth. It was good. His father always did a mean fruit juice.

  Terri pulled a chair and sat beside him. "You left your bag on the veranda that's how I knew you were here."

  "Sorry." Yuri sighed. "I couldn't go into the house any further, I felt a bit..."

  "Overwhelmed." Terri finished for him, "crazy with grief. I understand. Though I am sure with how tight you and grand pop were, this must be worse for you than anybody, even daddy."

  Yuri nodded. He didn't have to respond. He glanced at his sister; the sun bathed her in a golden glow. He realized that he hadn't seen Terri for months now, and he hadn't even greeted her properly.

  "Hey," he smiled at her.

  Terri smiled back. She was a striking looking woman. She had dark brown skin and light hazel eyes. Grandfather's eyes. The only one in the family to get them as far as he knew.

  One could never tell how many Scarlett's there were bec
ause of Peter Scarlet, his grandfather's youngest child. It was said that Peter sired quite a few children. It was just last year that he met his cousin, Oliver.

  "How long have you been here?"

  "I came in last night." Terri sighed. "I am flying out tomorrow after the funeral."

  "That sucks." Yuri murmured.

  "No, it's fine. At least, I got the time off." Terri grimaced, "I am sort of getting weary of the job."

  "You were so excited when you started last year." Yuri grinned. "You were going places, France, Switzerland and all over. What changed?"

  "The thrill wore off." Terri shrugged. "Enough about me, tell me about you. You look like you aren't sleeping much."

  "True." Yuri nodded, "I know I look like hell."

  "No, never. Stop fishing for compliments Big Head." Terri elbowed him. "You have always been seriously good looking and even though you are my brother I can see that you have a little Shemar Moore thing going on."

  Yuri chuckled. "Well thanks."

  "Well why are you looking like half warmed up porridge?" Terri asked. "Apart from the fact that we are here for the funeral and the fact that you always look gutted when you are here whether it’s a funeral or a wedding. Remember Troy's wedding. You sat in a corner and you looked whipped like some evil pixie had given you a beating."

  He remembered Troy's wedding, his little brother had gotten married five years ago, two days before Marla and Ricky. Of course he had been gutted. He had been best man at both affairs and he had thought that he had hid his displeasure quite well, but of course, Terri who had made it her personal job to psychoanalyze him and probe into his mind had seen how devastated he had been at the time.

  "Is there a point to this?" Yuri looked at his sister in disgust.

  Terri's eyes brightened considerably when she saw his expression. "Much better. You look less woebegone when you have that battle light in your eyes."

  Yuri kissed his teeth. "Whatever."

  "So why do you look so sad?" Terri prompted.

  Yuri gave her an assessing look. "This is strictly between us, you can't tell Mom and Dad, or Troy."

  "As if." Terri snorted. "When have I ever let out a confidence."

  "You told everyone that I liked Marla."

  "For goodness sakes, Yuri. You were fifteen, I was ten. Besides, the whole family knew, the neighborhood knew. I am pretty sure that one look at you and everybody in the world would have known! That was thirteen years ago." Terri looked at him slyly. "You still like her after all these years, don't you,?"

  "No!" Yuri protested quickly. "No, of course not. She’s married to my best friend."

  "Ricardo Mills is not worthy to be called your friend." Terri snorted. "Why you still have him in your life is beyond me."

  "He likes to keep in touch," Yuri murmured, "so, we keep in touch."

  "He likes to torture you and let you know that he won, that he got the girl," Terri said harshly. "I am absolutely not sorry that he met in that accident and was paralyzed, that should keep the loud mouthed bully humble."

  "Terri!" Yuri looked at her sharply. "I was responsible for that accident!"

  "No you weren’t. He wants you to think so," Terri said stubbornly, "You know what, enough of this. You were going to tell me something before we went down this route."

  "I don't feel like telling you anything anymore." Yuri grumbled.

  "You'd better," Terri pinched him, "or else I am going to gently suggest to Mommy that you look like hell and it’s not because you are grieving. Then Mommy will hound you and call you all hours of the day and night finding out if you have eaten and if you have brushed your teeth and..."

  "Okay, threat received and processed." Yuri grinned. "She stopped doing that to you yet?"

  "Nope." Terri smiled. "it has gotten a little better though. I think I have passed the adult test because I am a flight attendant now."

  Yuri looked up into the limbs of the tree and then at Terri. "The company where I work is being sold. Three of the guys are planning to buy it from the owner. They asked me if I want in. It is a good deal. They sell electronic circuit boards and the software division that I manage is on the cusp of a few break-throughs. So this would be a good...no not good... an excellent deal."

  "So what's wrong?" Terri asked innocently as if she had forgotten that the Scarlett's were not exactly the richest people in the world.

  Yuri laughed. "Terri, I can barely afford my rent and I am still paying back student loans. Where would I find millions of dollars to buy into this venture? Unlike the other guys I am not from a wealthy background."

  Terri nodded. "I see."

  "It has been keeping me up at nights." Yuri clenched and unclenched his fingers. "I talked to Grandpa about it couple months ago too..."

  "Really?" Terri said. "Well I should have known, you tell him everything."

  "I got a bit desperate and talked to Ricky about it too."

  "Why?" Terri's voice got frosty.

  "He's rich," Yuri said simply, "and he is my friend. You keep forgetting that."

  "He wouldn't lift a finger if you were in trouble." Terri pointed out. "He is a phony who for some strange reason wants everything you have or want, which is very puzzling to me since he is the one that was born with a silver service in his mouth."

  Yuri sighed. "He said he would help."

  "A deal with the devil." Terri snorted. "What does he want in return, service from your unborn children, a right hand and a foot, no...wait, bet he wants you to paralyze yourself too so that the two of you can be equal."

  "He wants a baby." Yuri sighed. "Well, Marla wants a baby. And instead of some strange sperm donor and all the works. They want my sperm. Someone they know and trust."

  There was silence after his statement.

  Terri looked like she was finding it hard to process what he said.

  "Terri." Yuri prompted in the silence.

  "Don't," Terri swallowed, her face serious and tense. "Do not do it, let Ricky find some other sucker to give him a baby."

  "I didn't say I would," Yuri rebuked her gently. "It wouldn't be right."

  "He is just looking for a way to torture you because you are no longer under his spell. You escaped the country and seeing him and Marla together. You are now living in Kingston far away from him and he doesn't know what you are doing. So he has to find some way of hanging on to you from afar.

  He is so obsessed with controlling you and jerking your strings that he wants a child of yours with the woman that you love to make him feel better about himself. Terri was roiled up. Poor little rich boy Ricky Mills has all the wealth in the world but he can't be Yuri Scarlet. He's obsessed!"

  Yuri had never seen Ricky the way that Terri did and he was quite taken aback by Terri's assessment of the situation. Despite her disdain for Ricky he was tempted to do it.

  How else could he come up with thirty million dollars? He didn't know anybody else who would be willing to give him that amount of money or even hear the figure and not gasp in fright.

  Knowing that he wanted the money Ricky had calmly asked him to be a sperm donor in exchange for the money. Just like that. No fan fare, no questions. He hadn't even explained what the company was about or what his plan were to pay back the money.

  Was it really a deal with the devil as Terri had so dramatically put it? He wished he had his grandfather to discuss this with.

  He hadn't gotten the chance to in the last couple of weeks when the old man got sick. He couldn't tell his parents, his mother was a worrier, and this sort of problem would be beyond their comprehension. They were poor country folks, talking to them about raising thirty million dollars was like speaking a foreign language.

  His father was a farmer and his mother a housewife and, it was only just last year that they managed to finished the house. The four bedroom edifice had stood half finished for years. It was a sore in the eyes of the community but his parents had trouble raising the money to finish it. They had sacrificed and sent all three
children through college. Education before aesthetics was his mother's constant mantra.

  "Here comes company," Terri whispered.

  Yuri looked across the yard, all the way to the front and his heart dipped in speed. Marla was parking her BMW beside his battered ford escort.

  "It took her long enough to show up," Terri murmured, "maybe she just heard that you arrived."

  Yuri didn't respond. He had long hardened his heart against any feelings for Marla. He had long mastered the art of only showing her a friendly face, but now, just now when she climbed out of the car in her khaki shorts and her white vest top showing off her honey gold skin, he had a lapse.

  A brief lapse.

  He was thinking of her carrying his baby and he had to admit to himself that this was not the first time he had thought so. This very thought was what was keeping him up at nights.

  OTHER BOOKS BY BRENDA BARRETT

  Resetter Series

  Never Too Late (Book 1)- Addi finds out she is a resetter and goes back to the summer of 92 to change her family's lives.

  Never Say Never (Book 2)- Skyler's handsome college lecturer, who happens to be her neighbor, has a T in his palms. Should she tell him the significance of it. If she does, would he believe her?

  Now or Never (Book 3)- Ten years later Addi and Randy meet again at Randy's engagement party. Why is it that the chemistry between them was still so potent? Can they ever have a future together? Would Randy choose her this time around?

  Almost Never (Book 4)- Tech genius Joshua Porter had all but given up on love. He then meets Portia, an escapee from the female penitentiary and his life takes a turn for the adventurous.