by Alexis Gold
“Callie, I know that things have been a little difficult for us, and I know that this relationship between us has happened pretty fast, but I want to tell you how much you mean to me. No one else in my life has touched my heart and mind the way that you do. I’m falling in love with you. So deeply in love with you.” He spoke quietly as he touched her face and gazed into her eyes.
She couldn’t stop the smile on her face or the swell of happiness that rose up inside of her. “I’m falling in love with you too! I didn’t expect this to happen. I mean, I didn’t know what would happen, but it just seems like the more we are together, the more you mean to me and the more I want to be with you. I love you too.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
He kissed her deeply and passionately, turning her onto her back and parting her legs. She wrapped them around him and drew him into her, feeling the familiar fires and desire for him in her grow strong until they consumed her, and she gave herself fully and completely to him as she never had before; body, heart, and soul.
As they moved their bodies together, both of them breathless and burning, they whispered their love for each other, kissing in between the words, and loving the way that they felt and sounded on their lips, together. “I love you.” They murmured over and again.
They made love long into the night, and fell asleep together finally, both of them blissful and sure that they had never been so happy. The family had the time of their lives together with Alexander, exploring all of Manhattan that they could, and enjoying every minute of it.
When the long weekend was over, they all flew back to Seattle and Alexander drove them home and left them before heading to his own home. Callie felt as if the world couldn’t get any brighter until she checked her mail and saw another envelope that made her heart stop in her chest.
Jack was sitting beside her at the table and he frowned and looked at her with concern. “What is it?
Callie’s face contorted in disbelief and pain. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “It’s the judge… he’s granted visitation rights to Vick!” She wept as she handed the letter to him.
Jack stared at it and an anger came over his face that she had never seen in him before.
Chapter9
Alexander was working at his desk when Oliver walked into his office and came to sit near him at his desk. Alexander gave him a welcoming smile. “Hello! Back again so soon? I feel lucky. Is it my birthday?”
Oliver gave him an even look. “If it was your birthday, we would be in the Caribbean, sipping MaiTai’s and staring out at crystal blue water. We would not be sitting in your office discussing drama.”
“Which drama?” Alexander sighed as he leaned forward and planted his arms on the desk between them.
“Well your drama of course. I wouldn’t discuss my drama here. I’d wait until we were somewhere like a dive bar at two in the morning and I was completely drunk, and then I’d lay my head on your shoulder and cry my eyes out. That’s how we do my kind of drama. Yours is much more blasé, though not boring.”
Alexander raised a brow. “Well thank you, I do my best. So spill it, which drama has you sitting here insulting my drama today?”
“Well all of it, but specifically I wanted to know how things are going with you and Callie and to begin with.” He watched Alexander with interest.
Alexander couldn’t help but smile then. “things are going really well. Like… I am falling in love with her. That well.”
It was Oliver’s turn then to look at Alexander with some surprise. “You’re falling in love with her? My, that is serious. Does madame feel the same about you?”
Alexander nodded. “She does. I’m a heck of a lucky guy.”
“How serious does this falling in love look to you at this point?” Oliver asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Permanent, serious, I think. I mean, it’s still pretty new, and we’ve only just confessed our love, but if I was going to make a guess from right here right now, I would say totally, definitely, permanent. Probably rings. That’s how serious. Don’t tell her I said that, though.” Alexander smiled slightly.
Oliver shook his head. “Oh I wouldn’t dream of telling her that. I’m waiting to tell her the really good things, like the story of you trying to redecorate my bathroom after a particularly rowdy night out drinking.”
“Please god, don’t ever tell her that one.” He groaned miserably.
“And why not? If she’s going to be my best friend in law, she gets to know all of the juicy bits.” Oliver pointed out.
“Not all.” Alexander shook his head.
“Most of the juicy bits. Definitely that bit. Listen, I wanted to tell you that I know that things are not exactly going easily for you right now, or for the two of you. I want you to ignore all the bad publicity you’re getting, the scary news, the negative press, the dirty looks… the whole thing. Just ignore all of it. I want you to follow your heart. You’ve been given a real gift with that girl, and I know you know it, but I’m here to reinforce that and remind you of it. Don’t screw it up. Don’t lose this very precious gift.” Oliver looked at him seriously then.
Alexander shook his head. “I won’t. I’ll do my best to keep her, and I won’t screw it up.”
“Good. Now that we have that out of the way, I thought I might also mention to you that I’ve decided to have some investigations done about this reporter who seems to be hell bent to bring you down. I want to know why he’s bloodhounding you both. I just know that there’s so much more to it than him getting stories for his trash liner newspaper.” Oliver looked annoyed and interested all at the same time.
“So you’re going to become Sherlock Holmes?” Alexander asked with a smile.
“I suppose I’ll need to get a new hat, but yes, that is the idea. I don’t trust him, and I know that he’s up to something. I want to find out what it is and stop him.”
“Well then, thank you very much. I do appreciate that. It means a lot to have you on the case, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Alexander told him with no small amount of sincerity.
“You would never make it without me, Alexander. Luckily, you’ll never have to try.” Oliver gave him a rare genuine smile.
***
Jack, Noel, and Callie sat with Jenny in the living room of the house and Callie spoke with the little girl, hating everything that she had to say to her.
“We have something that we need to talk with you about.” Callie began as Jack looked away and Noel looked depressed. Jenny had a confused expression on her face.
“What is it?” she asked, folding her small hands together on her lap.
“I know that we never talk with you about your real father, but we need to now, because he is back here in Seattle and he wants to see you.” Callie explained as easily as she could. She didn’t want to tell Jenny all the horrible things about him, at least not at her young age. When she was older, they would hold nothing back and tell her everything, but not while she was so small. Instead, Callie had determined to keep it as neutral as possible to make the changes as easy on Jenny as they possibly could be.
She stared at Callie in surprise. “He… he’s here?” She asked in a thin voice.
Callie nodded. “Yes, he is.”
Jenny shook her head. “I don’t want to see him.” Her eyes were wide and her she clenched her fingers tightly together. Callie saw her demeanor change and she frowned a little with concern.
“What is it that you’re thinking honey? Why don’t you want to see him?” Callie asked with a light tone, at least as light as she could manage. Jack turned his head to look at Jenny in silence.
Jenny’s face grew dark and she scowled as if she was in pain inside. “I remember him, just a little bit. He was so mean! He yelled at Mommy all the time, and he pushed her. He.. he hurt her and hit her. He yelled at me too, and he hit me a lot. I don’t want to see him. He’s so scary and mean!”
Jack stood up from his seat on the sofa and walk
ed into the kitchen. Callie heard a loud thump as he hit the counter, and then there was no more noise. Jenny was startled by the noise, but she turned her eyes back to Callie.
“I don’t want to go. Please don’t make me go.” Jenny pleaded.
Noel reached her arm around the girl and comforted her. “Oh honey, you’re not going to be there alone with him. No. We’re all three going to go with you, and we’re going to sit in one room while you go into the room right next door to see your father. There’s going to be someone… a man or a lady, who goes with you. You won’t be alone with him. Not at all. Not even for a second. He can’t hurt you, and no one is going to let him. He just wants to see you and he asked a judge if he could and the judge said yes.”
“Why did the judge do that? Can I tell the judge that I don’t want to see him?” Jenny asked hopefully.
Callie sighed and shook her head. “Oh honey, I wish. I wish so much that it was that easy, but you see, he is your father, so he has a right to get to see you, unless the judge tells him that he can’t. So we’ll go see him this time and see how it goes, and I’ll find a way to ask the judge if you can talk to him and tell him that you don’t want to see Vick again. Also, this is only for half an hour, so it’s going to be really fast and it will be over before you know it.”
Jenny got up off of the couch and hurried to Callie. “I wish I never had to see him again in my whole life.”
“Well, maybe that’s something that you can tell the judge. I’ll do my best to make that happen for you, okay?” Callie offered helpfully.
Jenny nodded.
“Okay, well it’s time to go, so we’re all going to get into the car and go. We’ll take you out for ice cream after, if you want.” Callie promised.
Jenny trudged out to the car with her family and a short time later, she was taken into a room where her father was waiting to see her. Vick looked every bit the tough guy that he had been on all of his visits to the house since he had been freed from prison.
Callie caught a glimpse of him and scowled, thinking that he could have at least dressed himself up a little bit for his first visit with his daughter in four years. She sat with Jack and their mother, and all of them were silent and thoughtful as they waited.
In the room there was a man who was sitting with Vick and Jenny, keeping an eye on the visit and making sure that everything went smoothly. Vick stared at Jenny in amazement.
“You got real big.” He finally said at last, gazing at her.
She sat in a chair and didn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see him or even be there, and Noel had told her in the car on the way to the meeting that she didn’t have to talk to him if she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to, so she kept her mouth closed and looked away from him with her hands folded in her lap.
It was another few minutes before Vick spoke again. “You look like your mom.”
There was nothing but silence again from her. Vick leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees, as if being a little closer toward her might make her respond.
“I was thinking that you should come and live with me.” Vick stated flatly. “You know, because you’re my kid and all.”
For the first time since she had entered the room, Jenny turned her head toward him and looked at him. She spoke with a vehemence in her that was borne of old poison. “I don’t want to live with you. I have my family, and I love my life, and I want to live with Auntie Callie and Nana Noel.”
Vick nodded. “Well, at least you’re talking to me now. That’s a step in the right direction. You know, them people in the other room, Callie and that b- uh… Callie and her mom, they’re not your family. I am. I am your dad, and I’m your only family.”
“I don’t like that! You might be my dad, but you’re not my only family! They are my family, and I’m going to keep them! I don’t even want you to be my dad!” Tears formed in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
Vick sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Well I’m going to get custody of you, so when that happens, you’re going to come and live with me, and then we will be a family, and maybe you’ll get used to me again.”
She turned her back to him and would not say another word the rest of the time that they were in the room. When the social worker who was sitting nearby told him that his time was up, he rose from the chair that he was sitting in and gave her a wave.
“Good visit, kid. I guess we’ll see you at the next one.” And with that, Vick walked out of the room and Jenny bolted for Callie, Jack, and Noel.
“He’s horrible! I don’t ever want to come back here again! I don’t ever want to see him or talk to him again! Never!” She shook her head and wept.
Callie dried her eyes and hugged her tight. “Don’t you think on him at all, my darling girl. We’re right here for you and we love you. You did what you had to do, and now that’s done. So let’s go get some ice cream and brighten up our afternoon, shall we? You have rehearsal in a little while, and I want your mind clear and ready to dance when you get there. You can’t be thinking about this, so just put it behind you, okay?”
Jenny nodded and took their hands, walking out with her family. They got ice cream as promised, and then the three of them took her to her ballet rehearsal for the big performance.
Jack sat beside Callie and stewed all throughout the rehearsal. Callie saw him grinding his teeth and reached her hand out to his arm.
“What is it? What’s bothering you so much?” She asked worriedly.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t like it that Vick is after Jenny. He doesn’t care about her, and he never has. He shouldn’t even be here! I don’t like it that he’s coming after her. He shouldn’t be. He should never see that baby girl again, for the rest of her life!”
Callie nodded and patted his arm. “I agree completely with you.” she sighed.
***
Callie walked into her office the next morning to find a newspaper waiting for her on her desk. She didn’t want to pick it up and read it, but she knew that it was going to have to happen anyway. There was no way of getting around it.
The most recent article that Kyle had written about her was a story on how she was sleeping with both Vick and Alexander, and stringing them both along while she had a secret love child with Vick, and was working her hot new job as the lead designer at Summitech, using both of the men and taking advantage of them.
Callie groaned and threw it in the trash can, bitter that she had bothered to read it at all, and wondering how his readers could still be interested in her in the slightest.
Alex saw the article and he threw it on his desk and picked up his phone, reaching Norman Wainwright at the other end of the line. “Come in to my office.” He requested, doing his best to keep the anger from his voice.
Ten minutes later, Norman walked into Alexander’s office and took a seat at his desk. “What can I do for you?” he asked as though he was slightly put out at having to be there.
“I want to sue the Seattle Times.” Alexander told him with a building temper.
Norman blinked in surprise. “For what?”
Alexander frowned sharply at him. “For printing false stories about me and about Callie! For defamation! You said it yourself, he’s destroying this company!”
Norman shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “You can’t sue them. There’s no way that you’ll win.”
“I’d like to try! I’d rather fight and lose than not fight at all, and there is a chance that we could win! There’s always a chance. At the very least, perhaps they’ll stop printing these awful stories about us!” He sat down in his chair and sighed heavily.
Norman leaned toward him and placed his hands on the desk firmly. “Listen to me, Alexander. I tried to tell you this before. If you want these problems to go away with the Seattle Times, you’re going to have to break up with Callie. That is the only way that this company is going to survive!”
Alex gave him a sharp look. “I already told you
, Norman, I am not letting her go! She stays!”
Norman raised his voice and rose to his feet. “Then you’ve doomed this company to destruction, and everyone who works here!”
“You don’t know that!” Alexander rose to his feet as well.
Norman glared hotly at him. “I do know that! I am you company attorney, and I’m telling you that if you don’t get rid of that piece of trash woman in the other room, this entire company is going to pay the price, and so are you!”
Alexander narrowed his eyes at Norman. “You can leave.”
Norman scowled at him and turned, fuming as he stormed out of the room. He didn’t get too far before he stopped. He gazed with interest at Callie’s door, and then he went to it and let himself inside. Callie looked up from her computer and Norman walked purposefully over to her desk.