Handle with Care

by Hunting, Helena

  She answers the door in a pair of yoga pants and a shirt I bought for her two Christmases ago that says WORLD’S BEST G-MOM. She pulls me into a hug. “Lincoln! This is a surprise! Did I forget a meeting?”

  “You didn’t forget, G-mom. I should’ve called to tell you I was coming by.”

  “Well, it’s a lovely surprise. Come in. I was just making my morning tea. You should join me for a cup.” Her smile falters as she looks me over, suddenly on alert. “Is everything okay? You look tired. Did something happen with your brother while I was away? I knew I should’ve postponed the trip.”

  “Nothing happened with Armstrong. Well, nothing that Wren and I couldn’t handle, anyway.” I pull out a chair and motion for her to take it. “I have something to tell you, G-mom, and I think you might want to sit down for it.”

  She slips into the chair and folds her hands on the table, waiting for me to take the seat next to hers. “Is Wren pregnant?”

  “What? Why would you … we’re not—”

  She gives me her don’t-bullshit-me face. “Oh, come off it, Lincoln. I see the way you two look at each other.” She smiles wistfully. “It’s exactly the way Norman used to look at me, God rest his soul.” She makes the sign of the cross. My grandfather died of a sudden heart attack when I was a baby. G-mom never remarried, and I guess I can understand why, if she loved him the way I love Wren. I don’t know that any other love would be enough.

  “Wren isn’t pregnant.”

  She looks momentarily disappointed before she purses her lips. “Has Armstrong gotten someone else pregnant?”

  “Not that I’m aware.” I shift my chair so I’m facing her.

  “What’s going on, Lincoln? You’re all”—she motions to me—“helpful and fidgety.”

  “I’m always helpful.”

  She gives me a look. “If you say so. Now, tell me what’s going on.”

  “Did you know Dad had a mistress?”

  Her entire demeanor changes, and she looks down at her hands.

  “G-mom? Did you know?”

  “Lincoln.” She reaches for my hand, but I yank it away.

  I push my chair back and stand. Based on her guilty expression and her complete lack of surprise, the answer is yes, she did know. “Did you know I have a sister too? Did you know Dad had a whole separate fucking family?”

  G-mom’s expression shifts from guilt to confusion. “I—what?”

  I’m relieved she doesn’t know, otherwise it would mean the one person in my family I trusted had let me down too. “I have a sister named Hope. According to Jacqueline, she was pregnant with her before Dad married Gwendolyn, but she didn’t find out until after they eloped.” I give her the abridged version of the story Jacqueline told me.

  “Oh, Fredrick.” G-mom’s eyes fall closed, and she shakes her head sadly. “This explains so much.”

  “About what?”

  “Why your father refused to leave Gwendolyn. Why he continued his affair with Jacqueline even after Gwendolyn found out. I knew he worried about what would happen to you and Armstrong if he tried to leave your mother, but this … now it all makes sense.”

  She sighs and rubs her temples. “I’d suspected for a long time that your father had someone else, and it wasn’t a surprise, since Gwendolyn built their relationship on lies and deceit right from the start. After you were born things seemed … better. But when she fell pregnant again with Armstrong, their relationship seemed to just implode. Things between them continued to get worse, and I had to intervene. The house was toxic, and I couldn’t stand to see you being dragged through their misery. It was the reason I pushed to have you sent to boarding school when you were ten.”

  She squeezes my hand. “I’d wanted to take Armstrong out of that environment as well, but your mother wouldn’t allow it. I used the fact that you would run Moorehead as an excuse, and your father supported it, but he wouldn’t allow Armstrong to go as well. I thought when you were adults, he would finally divorce Gwendolyn, but he continued to stay. When I tried to reason with him, he told me he stood to lose too much if he did, and now I finally understand what he meant.” Regret and sadness pull her mouth down. “Your father was trying to make the best out of an impossible situation. I wish he’d have come to me. I would’ve helped him figure it out if I’d known the whole truth. All these missed years…”

  “Gwendolyn tried to blackmail Wren to keep this from me.” I explain my mother’s threats to expose Wren’s family, and the events of the past twenty-four hours. By the time I’m done, G-mom looks like she’s ready to go to war.

  “Your mother needs to be knocked off her self-imposed pedestal,” G-mom says through clenched teeth.

  “That’s why I came here this morning, to warn you that I’m going to take her down.”

  “I’m coming with you. That woman has ruined enough lives.” She pushes away from the table. “She’s not putting Wren and her family in jeopardy because of a secret she has no right to keep.”

  While G-mom changes, I message Wren, but I don’t get a response, which is worrying.

  The trip to Moorehead is tense. The anger builds the closer we get. “I’d like to be the one to confront her,” I tell G-mom on the way up to the twenty-seventh floor.

  “Of course.” She appears calm, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this furious. Not even when Armstrong set off firecrackers in her garden when we were kids and destroyed her award-winning rosebush.

  “And I’d like to check on Wren before we go in there.”

  “Understandable. Is she doing okay?”

  “She’s got bigger balls than most of the men on staff. She can hold her own, but I’d prefer she doesn’t have to under the circumstances.”

  “She really is an amazing woman, isn’t she?” A brief smile appears.

  “She is,” I agree.

  “You two will make a formidable team.”

  “I think so too.”

  The elevator dings, and we pass Lulu, who shoots up out of her chair. “Mr. Moorehead, Ms. Moorehead, good morning. Mrs. Moorehead has been asking after you this morning. She seems … agitated, and I don’t believe it has anything to do with Armstrong. She asked that you report directly to her as soon as you arrive.”

  “Thank, Lulu.” I keep walking past her desk, but instead of heading toward my mother’s office, I make a left and head for Wren’s.

  “But, Mr. Moorehead—”

  “I got it handled, Lulu. Don’t worry.”

  “That woman deserves a raise for dealing with your mother and your brother.”

  “Agreed. I’ll see what I can do about that.” I knock on Wren’s office door and peek inside, but her chair is empty. Once again, I get that terrible, sinking feeling as I stalk down the hall to my mother’s office.

  Armstrong pops out as I’m about to pass, blocking my way. “Where have you been this morning? Do you know how many people have asked for you? If you’re going to take the morning off, you should at least tell someone.”

  “He was with me.”

  Armstrong grimaces when G-mom comes into view. “Oh, Grandmother. I didn’t see you there.” He turns his attention back to me. “If you’d bothered to call your secretary, we would’ve known you were going to be late.”

  “It was an unexpected emergency,” G-mom snaps and grabs my elbow. “Come on.”

  “Where are you going? You know Mom wants to meet with you, don’t you? She’s not happy with you and whatever’s going on with our handler. Also, it’s not really fair that you get all the perks and I don’t get any. She was mine first, and then you stepped in and took her away from me.”

  I spin around and grab him by the tie. “Wren was never yours, not even for half a second. She tolerated you because she had to. You’re an annoying job to her.”

  He sneers. “What’re you, other than the dick she’s riding on her way up the social ladder?”

  I raise my fist, ready to punch him, but G-mom grabs my arm. “Keep your head, Lincoln. Armstron
g, shut your damn mouth. No one wants to hear you spew your narcissistic garbage.”

  I release my brother’s tie with a shove. He stumbles into the wall. Of course, being the asshole he is, he can’t let it go. He trails after us. “Why does Mom want to meet with you? What’d you do now?”

  I ignore him, because answering means he’ll ask more stupid questions, and I can’t deal with whatever his response will be. The door to my mother’s office is closed, so I knock once and barge on in.

  What I find makes me see red. Gwendolyn’s fingers are wrapped around Wren’s wrist, and she’s trying to force a pen into her closed fist. It would almost be comical, since Gwendolyn is clearly at a disadvantage strength-wise.

  The door slams against the wall, startling them both. “What the hell is going on?”

  Gwendolyn releases Wren and takes a step back. “We’re amending Wren’s contract. Where have you been this morning?”

  Wren drops the pen and pushes to a stand. “If by amend, you mean blackmail with another one of your NDAs, then I guess that’s what we’re doing.”

  My mother jerks as if she’s been slapped. “I’m trying to protect my family from money-grubbing bottom-feeders like yourself.”

  Armstrong’s eyes light up with malicious glee, and he claps his hands together. “You knocked Wren up, didn’t you?”

  Wren throws her hands in the air. “Why is that the first conclusion everyone jumps to?” She turns to Armstrong. “I’m not pregnant.”

  “Oh.” Armstrong stuffs a hand in his pocket and motions between our mother and Wren. “So, what’d you do now, Linc?”

  “This doesn’t concern you,” I retort.

  “Well, actually,” G-mom cuts in.

  I give her a look. “Seriously?”

  “Might as well have everyone involved present. Take a seat, Gwendolyn. You too, Armstrong. We all need to have a talk.”

  Wren takes an uncertain step toward the door, but I catch her hand. “You should stay. I need you to stay.”

  “She’s not part of this family; she needs to leave.” My mother points at Wren.

  “Wren’s involved in this discussion, so she stays,” I reply coldly.

  Wren squeezes my hand and moves in closer so her shoulder touches my arm, which gives me enough calm not to lose it on my brother or Gwendolyn. Yet.

  “Oh for Chrissake! We need to have a private conversation, Lincoln. I’m trying to protect you, and you’re making decisions with the head in your pants instead of the one on your shoulders. Isn’t there a man in this family who uses his brain when it comes to women? She’s only with you because she wants your status and what’s in your bank account. She’ll drain you dry and make you miserable, like all bottoms-feeders do.”

  “Sounds like you’re talking about yourself, not Wren.”

  Her face turns a bright shade of red. “Don’t you dare to talk to me like that! I’m your mother!”

  “You’re giving yourself a hell of a lot of credit there, Gwendolyn,” I scoff. “The only thing you did was give birth to me. Aunt Mimi and G-mom are the ones who raised me.”

  “Penelope was the one who suggested you go to boarding school. That was not my decision. She took you away from me, and she wouldn’t have stopped there either, if she’d been given more opportunity to take the things that belonged to me.” Gwendolyn shoots G-mom a hateful glare.

  “Things? That’s how you refer to your children, Gwen? I was saving Lincoln from a lifetime of misery,” G-mom spits angrily. “Too bad I couldn’t save Fredrick from the same fate.”

  “Fredrick was the one with the wandering eyes! I stood by him the entire time.”

  I snort my incredulity, uncertain if she believes the lies she spews, or if she’s been putting on an act for so long that she’s perfected the role of martyr. “I’m so sick of the bullshit, Gwendolyn. The lies end now.”

  “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sputters.

  I slap the file folder on the desk. “Open that.”

  “What is it?” My mother takes a reflexive step back, as if she’s afraid either me or the file is going to bite her.

  “Open it and find out.”

  “This is some kind of trick. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Lincoln, but you’ll regret it. This woman…” She points to Wren. “She has nothing but bad intentions when it comes to you. I tried to tell you—”

  “This has nothing to do with Wren, apart from the fact that you tried to blackmail her. Open the goddamn folder!” I yell.

  She seems shocked by my outburst, although she shouldn’t be. If anything, my family is good at pushing every single one of my damn buttons.

  She reaches out tentatively and opens the folder, revealing a picture of Hope. Her eyes go wide, wider than they were before, and her hand flutters around in the air. “Wh-where did you get this?”

  “From Jacqueline. I met her this weekend.” I wait for her reaction, and I’m not disappointed.

  Her spine straightens and an approximation of a sneer curls her lip. “Whatever she said, it was a lie. She tried to ruin our family!”

  Armstrong cranes to see what’s on the table and frowns, then points to Hope. “Who’s that? Is she one of Dad’s girlfriends?”

  “Shut up, Armstrong, or I will knock every single one of your overly bleached teeth out of your goddamn head.”

  “It was just a question.” He takes a step back.

  I turn back to my mother and pin her with a glare. “If anyone ruined anything, it was you. I find it more interesting that you thought you could keep this from us forever by blackmailing my girlfriend. You threatened to expose Wren’s family to the media for no other reason than to protect yourself, as per fucking usual.”

  “I was protecting my family and the legacy we’ve built! Do you realize how difficult it’s been to keep all of this quiet over the years? All the time and energy I spent building connections and standing by your father’s side. We built this empire. As if I would let some middle-class ladder climber take it all away from me! That woman was reaching above her station, just like this one.” She flicks a hand in Wren’s direction.

  I slam my palms on the desk. “Don’t you dare insult Wren. You kept our father tethered to you and made our lives miserable, so you could have a cushy life and endless amounts of money at your disposal.”

  “That stupid bitch was going to take your father away from us, and I stopped that from happening.” She points at her own chest.

  “He was in love with her.”

  “He was reckless and infatuated. He wanted what he couldn’t have.”

  I pin her with a look of disgust. “He wanted a life with someone he loved, and he had it, even with you standing in the way.”

  “He had an affair because that’s what men do.”

  “No.” I shake my head, seeing exactly who my mother is, and how much Armstrong is like her. “He took care of them. If it were just an affair, why would he put Hope through college?”

  “Because that home-wrecker threatened to go public with Hope.” Her hands shake as she slams the folder closed, cutting off the view of Hope.

  “Who the hell is Hope?” Armstrong asks.

  “Your sister,” G-mom grinds out.

  “Wait. What? Since when do we have a sister?” Armstrong seems completely confused. “Is this some kind of ploy to divide up the Moorehead shares? If anyone has to give anything up, it should be Lincoln.”

  I ignore my brother, as does everyone else. The alternative is throwing him through a window, and I would like to avoid a murder charge today. I keep my focus on my nervous, edgy mother. “I think it was you doing the threatening, Gwendolyn. Dad bought Jacqueline a house, and he bought Hope a house too. That penthouse they had together? It looked like it was used often. For as long as you’ve been married to him, he was in love with her, and you’re so caught up in your bank account you kept him tied to you.”

  “I did it for you and Armstrong.” Gwendolyn’s voice shakes
along with her hands.

  “Bullshit! Everything you did was for you! You shackled yourself to misery to spite him and took us all down with you. Congratulations on ruining every single relationship you had because you were too selfish and materialistic to let Dad go. I suggest you leave Wren and her family off your path of destruction. I think you’ve done enough damage to the people who are related to you by blood. You don’t need to add to the pain you’ve caused everyone.”

  My mother blinks several times, maybe absorbing what I’ve said, or maybe she’s thinking about all the money she stands to lose now that there’s another potential hand in the cookie jar. “What’re you going to do? You can’t go public with this. Think of the scandal. How will it impact Moorehead Media? You’ll drag your father’s name through the dirt, and for what? To get back at me for trying to do what was best for my family?”

  “I don’t get what the big deal is. So Dad had an affair? Like that’s anything new. At least she dealt with it instead of pulling an Amalie, running off like a bratty, little girl and screwing the first available asshole who showed interest in her,” Armstrong says.

  It’s honestly a miracle that my brother has survived this long without having his entire face rearranged multiple times. I turn to Wren. “What does it take to invoke your self-defense clause?”

  “And Mom’s not wrong.” He motions to Wren. “Obviously this one sees an opportunity. Wrap your rod, brother, or next thing you know, she’ll be telling you she’s having your baby and you need to marry her.”

  “I’m gonna punch him,” I mutter to Wren, who nods in agreement.

  So I do. But I don’t aim for the stomach. I aim lower. He falls to his knees, sucking in high-pitched breaths while he cups his balls.

  “Not sure why you didn’t expect that, you dumb twit.”

  “Lincoln!” Gwendolyn shrieks.

  “Oh, shut it, Gwendolyn. He deserved it. Can’t keep his mouth shut or his pants zipped for five seconds. Also, what he’s accusing Wren of is exactly what you did to my son. You stole his future, forced him to ostracize his own blood, and you’re the reason Armstrong has no moral compass.” G-mom gestures to Armstrong, still folded in half, cupping his balls. “Enjoy the perks you have right now, Gwennie, because you won’t have them much longer.”