When I Saw You

by Laura Branchflower

  “But you’re free now,” Lia said, following. “You’ve chosen to let this hate you have for your father control your entire life.”

  “That’s preposterous. He has nothing to do with my life.”

  “It certainly didn’t seem that way last night. You got yourself so upset you got a migraine and left me in that restaurant. And if what you’re saying is true—if your sole motivation for making that money was to make some silly list—then you’ve given him your freedom.”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about, no idea what it feels like to be me.” He walked into the separate toilet area and closed the door.

  “I do know,” Lia said, raising her voice. “My father rejected me too. Remember? Except my father knew me when I was rejected. Your father was rejecting your mother. He’s never even known you.”

  “You can’t compare these situations. Our lives were completely different. Your father wasn’t worth millions of dollars.” He yanked open the door and stepped around her.

  “Joseph?” Lia followed him back into the bedroom. “Money has nothing to do with this. My brother let the rejection rule his life too. His whole mission in life has been to establish a relationship with my father.”

  “Money has everything to do with this.” He picked up his coffee mug and headed towards the door. “Money rules the world.”

  “Only if we let it.”

  He turned back to her, meeting her eyes. “So my announcement that I’m worth eight hundred million had no effect on you? It didn’t make you think any differently of me?”

  “It didn’t change how much I love you.”

  “It certainly wouldn’t lessen it.”

  Heat came to her cheeks. “That isn’t fair.”

  “It changed the way you look at me, didn’t it? You have a little more respect for me than you did earlier today.”

  “That’s not true! I’ve never cared about money.”

  He smiled slightly. “You’re lying. When I told you, I saw your eyes. They were impressed, just like Eastman’s will be, and everyone that’s ever known me.”

  “And that’s what’s going to make you happy? Knowing that everyone is impressed with how much money you have?”

  Joseph gave an exaggerated nod. “Yes, that and imagining how Eastman will feel when he realizes that I have more money than he does.”

  “So, let me get this straight,” Lia said. “If your father was only worth fifty million, you would have met him by now?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Your whole life goal is to have more money than your father, a person you don’t even know? You care so much what this stranger thinks about you.”

  “Forget it.” He turned and headed out of the room. “You don’t understand.”

  “You’re right. I don’t understand,” she said moments later as she joined him in the kitchen.

  “That’s okay.” He leaned back against the counter, bringing his coffee mug up to his lips. “It has nothing to do with you anyway, but you’re going to be my wife and I wanted you to know the truth.”

  “It bothers me though, that you’re motivated by hate. That can’t be healthy.”

  “I haven’t hurt anyone. And our children are never going to have to deal with the prejudices I had to deal with. No one will ever look down their nose at a Craig. They’ll have respect from the moment they take their first breath.”

  “What I hope is that they respect themselves and other people.” She was still having a problem wrapping her head around what he was saying.

  “Come here.” He set down his coffee mug and pulled Lia into his arms. “They will. They’ll take after their mother.”

  She turned her face into his warm neck, taking comfort in his familiar smell. He was still her Joseph. He was different and yet he was exactly the same, and suddenly the conversation they’d shared wasn’t nearly as important. This was the man she loved, the one she was going to share her life with. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, and this Eastman thing…It’s something I have to do. It’s separate, completely separate from us.”

  “Okay.” She nodded, hating his obsession, but knowing it wasn’t something she could undo.

  “We need to set a wedding date. I want to marry you.” His lips lowered to hers, and the coffee, Richard Eastman, even the money was momentarily forgotten.

  16

  Three and a half weeks later, a week before the custody hearing was scheduled and twenty-five minutes after his secretary buzzed him to say Ned Merrick had arrived for their 1:00 p.m. meeting, Joseph pushed the intercom button on his phone and told his secretary to send him in.

  “I was about to leave,” Ned, dressed in a dark suit, said after entering his office.

  “You should have.” Joseph lifted his eyes from his computer screen. “I’m busy and I have a lot more important things to do than save your ass.”

  “Excuse me?” Ned lowered himself into one of the chairs in front of Joseph’s desk. “How could you possibly save my ass? Lia’s the one who needs saving, considering our custody hearing is a week from today and you’ve been sleeping with her while my impressionable six year old is in the house. I think you should lose the cocky attitude. That’s right,” Ned continued when Joseph didn’t comment, “I’ve had a detective watching the apartment and taking pictures for the past month. I think Lia needs to start packing Taylor’s bags.”

  Joseph tapped his pen on his desk as he stared at Ned. “Are you done?”

  Ned shrugged. “For now.”

  “I’ve found some discrepancies in your time records.” Joseph opened a file on his desk. “It seems your wife was mistakenly billing some of your hours on her time sheets.” He picked up one of Candice’s time sheets and tossed it towards him.

  Ned scrambled to pick it up off the floor as Joseph continued. “Your Accounting Department was generous enough to share her time sheets from June of last year with us.”

  “What in the fuck are you talking about?”

  “You were billing approximately a third of your hours on your time sheets, and your wife was claiming the other two-thirds of your hours on her time sheets.” He tossed him another sheet of paper. “Based on the June total of five hundred and twenty-five hours, I extrapolated your actual hours out over all your time sheets to correct the errors. For that month, I added a hundred and sixty. In this month”—he picked up another sheet of paper and tossed it towards him—“I added a hundred forty, in this one a hundred fifty.” He continued to rattle off numbers and toss sheets at Ned until he’d accounted for seventeen months of records and there were sheets all over the floor surrounding him.

  “I know it was a mistake because, if it was intentional, I’d have to report you.” He looked up from the folder and met Ned’s eyes. “You know, Counselor, it’s a disbarrable offense to charge a client for work that wasn’t performed.”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” Ned was out of his chair. “That work was performed.”

  “Not by C. Merrick, it wasn’t. The work was performed by N. Merrick, and before you waste any more of my time or insult my intelligence further,” Joseph continued, holding up his hand, “we’ve been through the court documents. We know she wasn’t even involved with most of those clients. We figure your wife owes you about a hundred thousand dollars.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ned said, his face red. “All your conclusions are wrong.”

  “Like I said earlier, we believe they are legitimate mistakes, because if you were actually letting your wife receive money for services you performed so your salary would look lower during your divorce settlement, that would be a federal crime as well. You could be disbarred and go to jail. Of course, we know you’re not stupid, so we’ll assume it was a computer glitch at your firm. A glitch that seems to have corrected itself based on the recent data, so now there is the little matter of straightening out the prior mistake.” He extracted a sheet of paper from the open file on
his desk. “Based on our calculations, this is how much money you owe in back child support and rehabilitative alimony.” He handed the paper to Ned.

  “You’re out of your mind,” Ned said after studying the sheet for a few moments. “Even if your theory was accurate, which it isn’t, these figures are ludicrous.”

  “They’re based on a seventy-hour work week, and we added eight percent interest.”

  “Eight percent!” Ned dropped the sheet on Joseph’s desk. “That’s obscene.”

  “I think eight percent is generous on our part, considering the money should have been Lia’s all along and you, or rather Candice, was borrowing it.”

  “I’m not paying her a dime. Go ahead and disbar me. We’ll see how much money she collects then. If I’m out of work, she won’t even be able to afford the apartment she’s living in now, and she’ll have you to thank.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Have you noticed the diamond on Lia’s hand?” Joseph slowly came to his feet. “She’s going to be my wife. And based on these figures, I make more in a couple days than you make in a year, so financially it won’t make a bit of difference whether you’re employed or not. In fact,” he paused as he walked around the desk and came to stand directly in front of Ned, “Lia’s the one who convinced me it was a mistake. I wanted to report you to the bar without this discussion. But for some reason, Lia didn’t want to believe Taylor’s father could be such a crook, so I told her I’d discuss it with you and give you the benefit of the doubt.”

  He reached behind himself and picked up the settlement paper. “It’s your choice, Merrick. If it was a legitimate mistake, you can go home and, between you and your wife, scrounge together twenty-five thousand dollars and have a certified check delivered to my office within five days. If I don’t receive it, I’ll assume it wasn’t a mistake, and I’ll be forced to turn my evidence over to the bar.” He held out the sheet of paper. “It’s your decision.”

  “This is extortion.”

  “I don’t think so.” Joseph continued to look down at him. “One more thing before you go.” Again, he reached back and picked up a sheet of paper from his desk. “This is the invoice for my time.”

  “You’ve got to be joking.”

  “I don’t joke about money.” He tossed the sheet of paper at Ned before resuming his seat behind his desk. “I told you at the hospital, if I found any mistakes in your divorce settlement, you’d pay me for my time. I spent twenty hours on you.”

  “Twenty hours,” Ned repeated, looking down at the invoice. “You expect me to pay you twenty thousand dollars?”

  “And that doesn’t include John Bianchi’s time. He said he’d send his bill directly to your office.” Joseph picked up his reading glasses and slipped them on. “Any questions?”

  Ned’s face was pale when he lifted his gaze from the invoice. “I don’t have this kind of money lying around.”

  “Then I recommend you take out a loan. I have another meeting in ten minutes I need to prepare for, so…” He nodded towards the door.

  Ned didn’t say a word as he came to his feet and headed towards the door to Joseph’s office.

  “Oh, one more thing.” Joseph’s voice had Ned turning back towards the desk. “I’m assuming when we meet before the judge next week, we’ll be discussing an increase in child support, nothing more.”

  “No.” Ned shook his head. “I still want custody.”

  “If that’s your decision, I’ll have no choice but to provide the information I’ve gathered about you during the hearing. If you could make mistakes like these, you really don’t appear responsible enough to be a full-time father.”

  “You son of a bitch!” Ned crossed back to the desk. “You’re blackmailing me into giving up custody of my daughter.”

  “Careful, Merrick.” Joseph leaned back in his chair as he met his eyes. “I don’t appreciate your tone or your accusation. I suggest you take a few deep breaths and walk out that door. If you don’t, I’ll be forced to charge you another thousand for my time.”

  “You—”

  “Now!” Joseph interrupted, raising his eyebrows. “This discussion is over.” He closed the folder on his desk. “Another word and I’ll increase the invoice you’re holding by a thousand dollars.”

  Ned hesitated only a moment before turning on his heels and leaving the office.

  17

  Later, Lia would wish she’d never attended the private showing of Picasso’s early years at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, but not knowing beforehand she was going to meet Kathy Paige or see Stan Hall, she actually looked forward to the evening.

  She couldn’t remember ever feeling happier. She was finally debt free, thanks to the check she’d received from Ned, and her days in the small run-down apartment that had been her home for almost a year and a half were finally over. She’d gotten a generous raise at work and, by a stroke of luck, a friend of her mother’s needed someone to sublet her townhouse for six months while she was out of the country. Lia had moved in a month earlier.

  Joseph seemed more pleased than she was with the move. He’d been trying to convince her to leave the apartment since practically their first date and offered, on more than one occasion, to pay off her debt and finance the move. But she wouldn’t let him. She wanted to pay off her obligations without his help and, as she wrote out her last check, becoming debt free for the first time since parting with Ned, she felt elated.

  Everything seemed to be working out in her life, and more than a little of the credit was due to the man standing in her mother’s doorway, looking incredibly handsome in a black tuxedo and holding two small boxes and a bouquet of flowers.

  “What’s this?” Lia asked before stepping back so he could enter the foyer.

  “This,” he said, before pausing to kiss her on his way in, “is for you.” He handed her a rectangular box wrapped in silver paper. “The flowers are for your mother, and this,” he held up a smaller box, “is for Taylor. You look sensational, by the way.”

  “So do you.” She met his lips for another kiss.

  “Joseph, Joseph!” Taylor called as she ran into the foyer, stopping and scrunching up her face when she saw them. “Kissing’s so gross.”

  “Does that mean you’re not going to give me a kiss?” He effortlessly lifted her into his arms. “Because I’d really like one.”

  “Well,” she began, wrapping her arms around his neck, “maybe just one.” She kissed him on the cheek. “You smell good.”

  “Do I?” He smiled at her. “This is for you, pretty girl.”

  “For me?” She took the box from his hand and quickly opened it. “Oh, Mommy, look! It’s a heart.” She scrambled out of Joseph’s arms. “Put it on me, Mommy!”

  “Joseph?” Lia looked up from the heart-shaped pendant surrounded by diamonds and sapphires. “Please tell me these aren’t real.”

  “I thought of her when I saw it.”

  “Put it on me, Mommy! Put it on!” Taylor was jumping up and down.

  “You can wear it for a little while, but this is for special occasions only.” She clasped the necklace around Taylor’s neck. “You can never wear this to school.”

  “I’m going to go show Grandma.”

  “Give these to her,” he said, holding out the flowers.

  She took the flowers and began to leave, but then suddenly turned back and threw her arms around Joseph’s legs. “I love you.” Not giving him a chance to respond, she sprinted off in search of her grandma.

  Lia touched Joseph’s cheek, a feeling of pure love swelling in her chest. “You’re amazing.”

  “You haven’t even opened your box.”

  “I’m serious.” She kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you. Taylor loves you.”

  “I count on it. Now open your box.”

  Lia gasped when she saw the diamond necklace lying in blue velvet. Besides her ring, it was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she’d ever see
n. There was a large, tear-shaped diamond in the center with dozens of smaller diamonds along the sides.

  “Just as I imagined,” he said after clasping it around her neck.

  “Thank you for the flowers, Joseph, they’re—Oh, my!” Elaine brought a hand up to cover her mouth when she saw Lia. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Let me get my camera. You both look so nice, and I don’t have any pictures of you together.”

  Moments later, they were standing in the family room in front of the fireplace, Joseph’s arm around Lia as they posed for the camera. Within a week, a five-by-seven print of the picture would be displayed on the mantle behind them.

  “Stop touching it,” Joseph whispered in Lia’s ear an hour later as they admired a painting at the National Gallery.

  “I’m so afraid of losing it.”

  “It’s insured. If you lose it, I’ll get you another.”

  “I don’t want to lose this one.”

  “You won’t.” He kissed her cheek as he pulled her into his side. “You’re making your neck red.”

  “I’ll stop,” she said for the third time in fifteen minutes. “I promise I won’t touch it again.”

  “You promise, huh?” He turned her in his arms, his hands running over her hips as he pulled her lower body into his. “And what do I get if you renege on this promise?”

  “Whatever you want.” She linked her hands behind his neck. “I’m yours all night.”

  “I have news for you, sweetheart.” He kissed her softly. “You’re mine all the time.”

  “And are you mine all the time?”

  “Definitely.”

  A movement from directly behind him caught Lia’s attention, and a moment later she found herself meeting the eyes of the very beautiful Kathy Paige. She instinctively began to break loose from Joseph.