The Contract: Sunshine

by McCarver, Shiree

  Still, that last thing with her finger and that remarkable thing she did with her tongue finished him off. He couldn’t have got it up again if she had held a gun to his head and threatened him.

  Yoon shook his head with a chuckle. “I must love her to let her go near my asshole,” he muttered. The shot glass halted at his mouth.

  He stood there at his desk motionless. Shocked at the realization. the glass hit the desktop with a thud as he placed it down before dropping it and the rest of its contents. He was in love with his wife.

  The very thought of it aroused old fears and uncertainties. “I love you Sunshine,” he said the words tentatively as he played with the idea of running into the bedroom to tell her how he felt.

  His breath caught in his throat as he felt his heart pounding with the uncertainty of telling her he loved her. What if the one chance he had at stopping her grandmother from destroying his business completely didn’t work? What if Sophia Dupree’s threat to go after his father and hinder is re-election was her next step. He couldn’t allow that to happen. His father had sacrificed so much of his personal time with his family for the political career he had.

  Losing all that he had for the sake of love was one thing; but taking everything his parents had away from them also was something he would not be accountable for.

  Why didn’t he just go to that fucking dinner party? All he had to do was insist and even if she hadn’t wanted to, Sunshine would have gone inside because she loved him.

  He supposed that is why he didn’t go inside or force the issue with Sunshine. He knew she would have suffered her family for the sake of love, just like he unknowingly loved her too much to allow her to be hurt by her family anymore.

  Enough thinking. Sophia Dupree had drawn a line in the sand and after tomorrow if all went well, he would be kicking up a little sand of his own, right in her beautiful aging face. Sunshine had chosen him to be her champion and he be damned if he was going to let her down.

  With hands placed belligerently on his hips he stalked out of his office determined to make love to his wife again.

  By morning she would thoroughly know she was loved even if he hadn’t said the words yet. Once that call he was expecting came through that, he would say the words and he would tell her she was free from her interfering grandmother once and for all.

  Yoon’s heavy lashes that shadowed his cheeks flew up as he started to stroll into their bedroom. He was surprised to see the usual soft lamplight on the table in the corner of the room Sunshine usually left on for him was off.

  Reaching on the wall next him in the hall, he flipped the switch and illuminated the hallway giving him enough to light in the bedroom to see the bed but not wake up Sunshine in the process. He planned on doing that himself when he got in bed. There was no sight more beautiful than her sleepy smile when she realized he was kissing her.

  Intense astonishment touched his face and he paled. The bed he left her in rumpled and musky by their passion was now neatly made. However that wasn’t what surprised him. Finding it empty is what knocked the wind from his lungs.

  Yoon turned on the bedroom light and quickened to the closet. Her things were gone.

  A sudden bereft feeling of loneliness and confusion welded together in one upsurge and threatened to devour him. His dark eyes showed the tortured dullness of disbelief as he stumbled back from the closet and sat on the edge of the bed, his hand landing on the folded paper that rested on the bed.

  He hesitated, torn with screams of frustration and the gamut of perplexing emotions like none he ever felt before. He rubbed at the spot above his heart. Was he about to have a heart attack? Or was this what a broken heart felt like?

  Why would Sunshine leave him? They had a contract, damn it! Sophia Dupree. She’d finally gotten to her. That had to be it. He couldn’t imagine Sunshine leaving him unless she was forced to do so, not when she loved him. But then again, she didn’t know that he felt the same.

  God no. Sunshine was trying to save his company from her grandmother on her own. She probably thought she was doing him a favor because she believed he would care more about his business than he would about being married to her. She couldn’t be more wrong.

  He unfolded the paper and read:

  My one and only love, and I can say that with conviction because it’s the truth. I’m sorry for leaving this letter. After all you’ve done for me...how much you changed me...the happiness you gave me in such a short time, I wanted to say this to you face to face because it is the least I could do for you.

  However, time has betrayed us and for the first time since we married, you didn’t make it home early. I don’t have to ask why. My grandmother is at it again I know and I wished you would have told me before things got so bad for you. I’m sorry for making a mess of your life. I should have been honest from the beginning and told you exactly what you were signing up for. I also should have not ignored my family from the beginning as if that would make them go away.

  The only reason I wasn’t home to tell you this in person is because I promised my grandmother I would return to her home before nightfall. I call it her home now because for the rest of my life no matter where I am or who I may end up being married to in the future, my heart’s home will always be where you are.

  Rest assured as you read this letter the world as you know it, your business, your finances, your privacy and your entire life before me are returning to normal. I hope in time you will be able to forgive me for agreeing to marry you knowing the baggage I carried, but the simple domestic life I pictured with you was too tempting to pass up and it was everything I imagined it to be and so much more than I anticipated. I swear Yoon, for a man that didn’t love me you put your all into making me feel very...very...VERY loved in our marriage bed. Thank you for that.

  Tearfully, Yoon smiled.

  I never realized I knew nothing about love between a man and a woman until I met you. The times before you were just practice for the real thing.

  Yoon, be happy. Don’t be so hard on yourself about your first marriage. After being married to you, I’m thinking you weren’t the only one to blame for that marriage not working, besides I’m grateful to her because if you had been married still, there would have been no need for you to blackmail me!

  He laughed.

  Seriously, Leslie is a good woman and she really does love you. Not as much as I do I’m sure, but enough that she will try hard to make you happy if you let her. I know it’s crazy that I say this but I realized she truly cared for you when she stayed out of our marriage after your mother’s visit. Leslie put your happiness first and that is what a person who loves another does. So that should earn her some favor points on your mother’s list of potential brides in the future.

  By the way, your mom let one Black woman in, I doubt she will let another one so don’t go marrying another Black woman. Okay, you know me too well. I don’t want you with another Black woman. I like knowing I was your first and your last. Selfish huh?

  Yoon nodded with a grin. He washed his hand over his damp face.

  Oh wow, this is about to turn into two pages and I know the only thing you sit still for this long is when you’re having sex and I’m on top. That was my favorite position by the way; but I think you already know this.

  Be happy for the both of us, Yoon, for I will be keeping an eye on you from a distance. I will be the angel behind your shoulder and you won’t have to worry about my...Grand Madam Sophia ever again. She wanted a replica of herself? That is exactly what she will get until the day she or I die. It’s time she gets a taste of her own medicine.

  I will always...always...believe choosing to be Mrs. Sunshine Young— even if it was for such a short time —was the most significant thing I will ever do in my entire life. Why? Because it was the first thing I ever did just for me.

  Much Love Always,

  Sunshine

  “I be damned if I let you become anything like your grandmother, Sunshine.” Yoon’s voice
cracked in the deafening silence.

  It was too quiet without her here. It already no longer felt like his home and the thought of sleeping in the bed without her warm body against him was completely out of the question.

  She was his wife and he would not allow her to spend twenty-four hours in that old domineering shrew’s care. Marriage meant they were a team and he wasn’t going to allow her to fight this battle alone.

  “And who the hell was she to think she could fix me up with Leslie of all the women. And no Black women? Maybe that’s all I wanted to be with after being with her. God, I love her, but she’s such a princess!”

  Yoon shook his head and chuckled. “Why am I sitting here talking to myself? I’m going to need help with this one.”

  He removed his cellular phone from his pants pocket and pushed the redial button.

  “Hello Ap-ba, Father, I didn’t have anyone else I could call.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Sunshine is gone. I love her and I’m going to need you to call in a few favors to help me get her back here where she belongs.”

  “I know you love her, your mother said as much. She hasn’t been kidnapped has she?” His deep voice was full of concern.

  Yoon quickly put his fears to rest. “No, it’s nothing like that Ap-ba, but do you remember our conversation about her grandmother and how there might be a problem...”

  “Of course, I was surprised that I had a new daughter-in-law from such a prestigious family. You make me very proud son,” Ambassador Joon Woo Young said.

  “Well I hope you continue to think so when I tell you one of the things I may be required to do in order to bring Sunshine back home to me.”

  “I don’t understand. She is your wife, is she not? Why are you bartering with your in-law for a woman that is already legally bound to you?” His father’s voice became stern. “Get off the phone with me and go get your wife, Yoon!”

  “It’s not that simple. Sunshine’s grandmother has a lot of pull in this town--”

  “Is this woman why you have been having business troubles lately?” Joon Woo interrupted.

  “You’ve heard about that?” Yoon’s eyes drifted closed for an instant and he chuckled in chagrin. “I can’t seem to keep much from you.”

  “No and you shouldn’t try. You should have come to me when things first started to go bad,” the older man chastised. “I take it that you already know what Mrs. Dupree wants from you. It obviously isn’t money.”

  “Definitely not money.”

  “Don’t tell me she doesn’t think my son is good enough for her granddaughter!” He bellowed into the phone.

  “No, though she probably does think she could find someone more palpable to give her what she wants than I will,” Yoon murmured.

  “My goodness what does the woman want? Your firstborn child?”

  “I never considered that but since she wants me to change my last name to Dupree instead of Sunshine taking our family name, then our first born will probably be her next request,” Yoon replied sarcastically.

  “Yoon, this is not the time for jokes.”

  “I wish I was joking, Ap-ba.”

  “I see.”

  Huh? “Is that all you have to say?”

  “Well, it’s not that uncommon for a family of power with no male heirs to want their son-in-law to become the heir, especially in a royal household,” Joon Woo reasoned.

  “Are you saying you’re okay with this?”

  “Hell no! You’re my only son! What does the woman expect me to do about my future heir? I dare her be so presumptuous and without discussing it with your parents first. It is quite improper.”

  “I think I have a way to stop Sunshine’s grandmother’s interference but I need you to look into something for me tonight. I don’t want to wait until my resource gets back to me tomorrow,” Yoon confided.

  “Anything. Tell me what you need me to do.”

  “She attacked my business and seeing how I have spent the past two years setting up a deal for her, I’m not without knowledge of her business affairs. The thing is, what I have planned is not quite legal for me to pursue because she used to be my client, but I can say Dupree Foods is very interested in infiltrating the Asian markets.”

  “Say no more. I will do some snooping on my own and the less you know about it the better. My meeting with my new extended family is long overdue.”

  “Ap-ba, I want Sunshine back home tonight.”

  “I taught you patience,” Joon Woo stated and with a sigh added, “I will do what I can, but these things sometime take time. Just keep your mind on the outcome and not the process of getting there.”

  “I will.”

  “I truly hope she is worth the favors I am going to have to call in because doing business with the Dupree Corporation is a big deal, Yoon.”

  “I know what I’m asking of you, but this is my future I’m talking about.” The desperation he felt leaked over into his voice.

  “I could lose a lot of future votes during the re-election if Sophia Dupree were to withdraw her business offer to expand into South Korea. Having her build stores and a distribution center there that would service throughout Asia could be a big boon for our economy.”

  “I know, Ap-ba, I made the arrangements.”

  “Maybe with all that is at stake I don’t have the right to be vain and ask you not to change your name...”

  “You have every right. You are my father! I am proud to carry your name. Hell, Sunshine was proud to carry your name. That is the way it is in a marriage. A woman takes on the name of her husband!”

  “Yes...yes...but...”

  “No buts,” Yoon said passionately. “If I give this woman her way this time, what will she demand of us the next time? I can’t live in fear of Sunshine being wrenched away from me every time I tell Sophia Dupree to stay out of my marriage.”

  “You’re right,” Joon Woo conceded. “I would be remised as your father if I encouraged you to give into blatant blackmail. You are now your own man and this is your own family you’re fighting for. You have to do what your conscious bids you to do.”

  “Thank you...for everything.”

  “No, Min Yoon, thank you for making me proud to be your father,” his voice cracked with emotions. Clearing his throat, he said, “I will call you back once I have what you need.”

  Chapter 16

  Time makes us forget the things we swear we’d never forget...

  “You’ve been down to the gardener’s shack again?”

  Sunshine looked up at the sound of her grandmother’s voice. She hadn’t even realized she wasn’t alone in the family library anymore for the old diary she found hidden amongst the books was turning out to be more interesting than she first imagined.

  “Yes,” she answered, easing the diary closed and moving it down between her thigh and the arm of the chair.

  “The place is filthy. Why do you insist on spending time out there?” Her grandmother settled down in the chair across from her spreading the wide tea-length green chiffon skirt about her and crossing one dainty ankle over another.

  “It holds fond memories for me. Instead of coming inside to your party, I asked Yoon to hang me up by my wrist and fuck me like I was one of his slaves,” Sunshine replied. “Does it offend you that a woman with Dupree blood in her veins would find pleasure in being dominated by a man considered beneath her station?”

  “Please do not lie just to be crass, dear. It’s not very becoming for you to do so. Tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté, luxe, calme et volupté.”

  Sunshine rolled her eyes. All is just order and beauty, luxury, peace and sensual delight. Her grandmother’s answer to all things unrefined. With a deep sigh, she countered with, “E me presse de rire de tout, de peur d'être obligé d'en pleurer.”

  I push myself to laugh about everything for fear of having to cry about it.

  “How long are you going to feel sorry for yourself, Sunny? It’s only been one day and I’ve already grown bored by your beha
vior,” Sophia complained. “Is the phone ringing off the hook? Is that man camped outside waiting to risk all for you?”

  “When did you become so cruel?”

  “I’m not cruel, Sunshine. I’m a realist. Fairytale romances don’t happen for the Dupree women. We are cursed. The men we love either betray our trust by accepting this blood money that fills the banks or they die.”

  “I don’t believe that.” Sunshine shook her head smoothing back her hair behind her ear. “I don’t believe you believe that either. What’s happening is we keep making the same mistake. We always have one Dupree woman that has become embittered with loneliness and lack of love; immersed in work and power. So much so she deliberately seeks out to destroy another’s happiness!”

  “Sunshine, just like all of us that came before you, you will learn that you are meant to serve a greater life purpose. We hire help to be average domesticates, we don’t become one. We do not marry for love,” Sophia final words were said evenly.

  “But you did,” Sunshine said softly. “I came here in the family library hoping to find answers to why the women in our family keep making the same mistakes. I found nothing. So after awhile, I decided to read one of my favorite stories and I found--”

  “Tell me, did you look over the portfolio of eligible men that I had my assistant to prepare?” The older woman interrupted.

  “Why are you doing to me what your mother did to you?” Sunshine asked. “Why not be the one to stop history from repeating itself, Nana?”

  “I was young and foolish like you once,” Sophia’s lips turned up in a half smile. “I thought I knew what I wanted and yes, I fell in love; defied my mother’s wishes and left my husband at the altar literally. It was like that scene from that movie, Mrs. Robinson with that actor Dustin Hoffman. You know the one that I mean, don’t you?”

  “I think so,” Sunshine murmured.

  “The difference was I wasn’t a young naive woman unaware of what her actions would mean to her future. I ran away from my tenth anniversary gala where I was about to renew my vows with a man I didn’t love the first time I married him. Why? Because my mother thought it would remind me once more of my responsibilities.”