New Beginnings

by LaShawn Vasser

  Ryan remembered asking, “Do you and the baby need anything?” Regardless of her answer he knew he would deposit some money into an account for them. That was all he could do.

  Vicky calmly said no before she hung up the phone.

  Ryan had been so nervous his world was about to crash down around him that he hadn’t even realized until after they hung up that he didn’t even know if his child was a boy or a girl. That was the last time they’d spoken.

  Ryan had had affairs in the past but Vicky had been dangerous. She was a keeper. Hurting her was his one big regret. Maybe if things had been different.

  Anyway that was all water under the bridge now. After his affair with Vicky, Ryan learned his lesson. Now, he made sure he took every precaution not to get his mistresses pregnant.

  “Ryan, will you take the test?”

  Vicky’s voice brought him back to the present. If anyone found out that he had a baby outside of his marriage that would be a disaster. He was now one of Minnesota’s state senators and possibly the next governor. There was no way Alicia would accept Vicky’s child. . Alicia would definitely not handle the fact he’d had an affair with a black woman and fathered a child with her as well. Her ego wouldn’t be able to process that one. Knowing Alicia and her family, he knew they might overlook an affair. Both he and Alicia had overlooked each other’s many indiscretions in the past. But, appearances were everything to them. This might prevent him from ever becoming governor. If Alicia thought there was no hope of moving into the governor’s mansion there is no doubt she would divorce him and the pre-nup he’d signed was pretty iron-clad.

  Ryan had to make a choice. He couldn’t destroy everything he’d worked so hard for because of this mistake.

  Jason quietly walked back into Vicky’s room. She was on the phone. He felt the tension in the air and could see the controlled rage on her face. Then, he understood.

  “Ryan, are you still there? Will you take the test?”

  “I don’t need to take the test Vicky. I know my blood type. I just don’t know how I can help you. Look, I’ve got another call coming through and I’ve got to take it. Good luck.” Ryan hung up the phone hearing Vicky call out his name as he put the phone back onto the receiver.

  After his call with Vicky, Ryan found himself thinking that he was a selfish bastard. Could he really let his own child die?

  Vicky hung up the phone and put her head in her hands. She hadn’t heard Jason come back into the room.

  Jason touched her shoulders “You ok?”

  Vicky snatched her head up before letting the tears erupt, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ok again Jason.”

  He sat on the bed and leaned in to hold her “We’ll get through this. I promise.”

  “I spoke with Dr. Franks and if you’re up to it we can head down to recovery.”

  “Yes, yes. I’m ready. Please let’s go.”

  Jason helped Vicky out of her bed as they made their way to see Angel. “I called Franklin, he’s taking the next flight out and I asked if he could bring Sandra as well. I know you two have grown quite close to each other and I’m sure you can use her support right now. Did you get in touch with your Aunt?”

  Vicky “I called her but wasn’t able to get through. I left her an urgent message. If she doesn’t call back by the time we get back to the room I will call her again.”

  “Maybe I can send someone to her home? Was that who was on the phone?”

  Vicky peered into Jason’s eyes before answering. He loved her. She could see it plain as day. She held the power to hurt him. And that she never wanted to do. But, she would not lie to him. “No it wasn’t. It was Angel’s father, Ryan Carter.”

  Jason knew before she uttered the words. He hated knowing that Vicky would need his help. Especially someone she once thought she was in love. Jason felt somewhat ashamed for feeling jealous at a time like this….especially when he knew Vicky loved him. They were about to get married and bring another baby into this world.

  At some point Jason knew he might have to deal with Angel’s biological father. These weren’t ideal circumstances but they all had to deal with the reality of their situation “When will he be here?”

  Vicky sighed “I’m not sure. He never said he was coming. I’m just hoping he does the right thing.”

  Jason thought to himself that Vicky didn’t need to worry if ‘Ryan’ would show up to get tested. Once they finished with seeing Angel in recovery he would make sure ‘Ryan’ DID show up.

  “And Jason, he’s a match.”

  Chapter 11

  Franklin Roth, who was the CFO of CkR International and Jason’s best friend, had received the call from him while he was in the middle of a meeting. Franklin cancelled the rest of his meeting and made arrangements to get to Atlanta as soon as possible. However, he needed to go find Sandra Catchings to make sure she’d spoken with Jason and to confirm she was coming with him.

  “Verna, cancel all of my meetings and calls for the next 3-4 days. There’s been an emergency and I’ll be out of town. I’ll be periodically checking messages and e-mails. Otherwise, re-schedule everything. As a matter of fact make sure you get in touch with Janice, Jason’s administrative assistant and give her the same directive. I’m not sure if Jason had a chance to do that yet or not. However, there are a couple of files I’ll need, Brinkstone and Westerson. Get those for me. I’ll be back to get them before I head out of the office for the airport. Oh, and by the way…where is Ms. Sandra Catchings located?”

  Verna got Sandra’s information and gave it to Mr. Roth. He took it and headed out of his office in search of Ms. Catchings. He needed to get her personal contact information if she were going to go Atlanta so that they could head over to the airport together. However, when he arrived at her office Joshua Jones, the Director of Sales was there. It looked like they were in a heated conversation. “Excuse me, am I interrupting anything?”

  Joshua looked like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He was pretty nervous “No, no Mr. Roth. I was just finishing up a conversation with Ms. Catchings. Sandra, can we finish this up later?”

  He didn’t even give her a chance to respond before he high tailed it out of her office.

  “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

  “No, not at all Mr. Roth.” She was reaching her limit with Joshua and right now he wasn’t important. She waved him inside her office “Please come inside. How are Vicky and Jason?”

  “So, you’ve talked to them?”

  Sandy nodded “Yes, he called about half an hour ago.”

  “Jason’s hanging on by a thread and I can only imagine Vicky is even worse. So, if possible I’d like to leave as soon as we can. I’ve spoken to the pilot. The plane can be ready to leave within the hour. Can you be ready by then?” Franklin hoped so but he didn’t think women like Sandra Catchings knew how to operate on the fly.

  “Of course. I just need to throw a couple of things in my suitcase. I don’t live far from here. I can be ready within the next half an hour if necessary.”

  Franklin had this look of worry on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. Jason and he had faced many things together over all the years they’d known each other but they’d never had to deal with the possible death of a child.

  “You two are very close?”

  “Yeah, we’ve known each other since our early teens. I love him like a brother. Hell, we are closer than brothers. Something like this definitely puts life into perspective. Out of nowhere life can change on dime. How do you even begin to recover from something like this? Is it even possible?”

  “Mr. Roth, we’ve got to remain positive for their sakes. We can’t allow ourselves to think anything other than Angel is going to be ok. I’ve never been much of a praying woman but I’ve often heard that prayer changes things. I’m choosing to believe that right now. I’ve been praying since Jason called.”

  “Please call me Franklin.” Funny, he’d never noticed how stunningly beautiful Ms
. Catching’s was until now. He’d been so enamored with his ex-fiancé, April that he hadn’t noticed anyone else until she’d broken off their engagement right before the Rutherford’s anniversary party.

  “I’ll call you Franklin only if you call me Sandy. Is that fair?”

  Franklin gave her half a smile “I think I can do that. So, I’ll meet you at your house say in 45 minutes?”

  Sandra shook her head “Sounds good. I’ll be waiting.” After he’d left her office she found herself thinking Mr. Roth was one handsome man. She felt a little guilty thinking that at a time like this. Under different circumstances maybe she would try to push the envelope. Hell, Joshua wasn’t in a committed relationship why should she be? Anyway, she’d heard that Franklin was either engaged or married. Too bad.

  Chapter 12

  Jason and Vicky made it to Angel’s recovery area. They changed into sterile scrubs before they could enter the recovery room.

  As soon as they entered Vicky rushed over to Angel’s bed. Nothing could prepare a mother for that moment. Angel’s listless and ashen body lay in a hospital bed where she was covered seemingly from head to toe in tubing. She was attached to so many machines and they seemed so loud. They were beeping and chirping. The pumping sound was the worst. Watching Angel’s chest rise and fall to the rhythm of the pump was devastating. All Vicky wanted was to see her baby open her eyes and smile again. As the tears dripped down Vicky’s face Jason gently wiped them away before turning around and wiping away a tear that slid down his own cheek.

  Jason whispered into Vicky’s ear “She’s going to be ok you’ve got to know that.” Jason’s cell phone tinged to let him know a call was coming through. He looked at the number and he didn’t recognize it. He answered the phone “Rutherford...”

  “I’m sorry I have the wrong number I was looking for Vicky Martin.”

  “No, no you have the right number. Who’s calling?”

  “Well, this is… Shirley Martin. Is she available?”

  Jason anxiously answered, “Yes, yes. She’s right here, just one moment.” He handed the phone over to Vicky.

  Her hands shook as she took the phone from Jason. Their eyes locked with his for just a moment. There was no need to tell her who was on the other end of the phone. “Hello, this is Vicky Martin.” Vicky thought her voice would falter but it came out much stronger than she felt.

  “Vicky, this is….Shirley. I, I called as soon as I got your message.”

  Vicky was no longer the scared teen looking for acceptance but a grown woman fighting for the life of her daughter. It was Shirley who sounded unsure and nervous.

  “Thank you for calling me back. I hate to have to call you under these circumstances” Vicky took another look at Angel then closed her eyes and went on “but I desperately need your help. I have a daughter who is three years old. She’s in the hospital and is need of a blood transfusion to save her life. Her blood type is very rare. We’re testing everyone but so far we’ve been unable to find a match. I was hoping you would be willing to come to Atlanta and get tested?”

  Vicky’s aunt paused for a very long time before she answered “Yes, of course. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  Vicky hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath waiting for an answer. As soon as Shirley said yes, she was able to exhale. “We’ll make all the necessary arrangements and call you back within the next hour or so. Thank you...Shirley.”

  “It’s the least I can do. I’ll wait for you to call back with the instructions.”

  After they hung up. Vicky felt so many different emotions all at the same time but the one that stood out the most was just grateful.

  Chapter 13

  An hour after Ryan had spoken to Vicky, Ryan was still sitting at his desk looking at the same proposal for the 3rd time. Finally, he picked up his phone “Gina, the woman that called Ms. Martin, did she leave any contact information?”

  “As a matter of fact she did Mr. Carter would you like me to get her on the phone for you?”

  “No, just give me her information and book me a commercial flight as soon as possible to Atlanta. I need to be there as soon as possible meaning by 5 or 6 this evening. If that’s not possible then make arrangements for our company plane. Clear my schedule for the rest of today and tomorrow. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Ryan hung up with his administrative assistant and immediately headed for home to get a few things before heading out to the airport.

  Ryan made it home in record time. The house was very quiet it seemed like even the housekeeper was out. He wasn’t typically home during this time a day. He guessed Alicia was out doing whatever it was that she does with her time. It was probably best she wasn’t home. This way, he could just pack a bag, tell her he was leaving for an overnight business trip and be back tomorrow before dinner. Ryan hoped Gina was able to get him a commercial flight. It’d be harder for Alicia to track his whareabouts and ask a million questions. His legs felt like lead as he took the stairs two at a time.

  When Ryan entered the bedroom suite he was surprised to find his wife still in bed “No don’t get up on my account.”

  “Ryan! What are you doing home so early? I wasn’t expecting you?”

  “Clearly not or else you would have made sure not to be caught in bed with you lover.” Then, he raised his cell phone and took a picture.

  Ryan calmly walked over to his wife and her lover. The man was freaked out he had no idea what Ryan would do. At first, it seemed like nothing but then like lightening Ryan grabbed the man by the throat. Ryan was seething with anger and through clenched teeth managed to get the words out “Now…you might want to get out of my bed and out of my house before I kill you.”

  The man quickly scrambled to grab his pants and shoes before running out of the house.

  Alicia still clutched the sheets to her body “Jason, I...I...don’t know what to say."

  Jason just stared at her. “I’m going out of town tonight for business. I should be back tomorrow evening.”

  “That’s it! We’re not going to talk about what just happened?”

  Ryan was exhausted, “Alicia what do you want me to say? It’s not like this is the first time and it probably won’t be your last.” He turned around and went to the closet.

  “You just caught your wife screwing another man in your bed and that’s the best you can say or do! What do you feel Ryan? Don’t you feel ANYTHING?”

  Ryan turned around and looked hard at Alicia. His stare could have born holes through her body. His eyes were blazing but he needed to remain calm because if he truly let his emotions come out he would be on an episode of “Snapped”.

  “Yes, Alicia, I’m feeling a lot right now. But mainly disgust. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  Chapter 14

  Franklin and Sandy boarded the private plane from Minnesota to Atlanta. They had been seated and were waiting for take off. Franklin was reviewing some reports and without looking up he spoke to Sandra “The flight from here is about 2 ½ hours Ms. Catchings. We should be there before noon.”

  Sandra smiled at him “That’s good to know. I thought we decided it was okay to call each other by our first names. Did that change? If it did I wish you would have let me in on it.” He didn’t smile back. She wondered if he was always this serious or if he was this way because he was worried.

  She guessed they were back to being formal. Franklin seemed different since they made plans earlier. Maybe it was just her being paranoid. Sandy reached over and touched his hand anyway. “Mr. Roth, like I said earlier, you’ve got to believe that everything is going to be ok.”

  Franklin removed her hand and responded very coolly “Thank you Ms. Catchings. I hope you are right.”

  Sandy was kind of surprised at how odd Franklin was behaving. If she didn’t know any better she would almost say it was disdain for her. Of course, that would be ridiculous. They didn’t even really know each other.

  Franklin couldn’t stop thinking
about his conversation with Joshua Jones on his way back to his office earlier. “Mr. Roth, I’m Joshua Jones, Director of Sales. I wondered if you had a minute.” He’d recognized Joshua Jones most recently from being in Sandra Catchings’ office. “Actually, I really don’t. I’m in a hurry. However, if it’s important please schedule some time with my administrative assistant, Verna. I’ll be out the next couple of days though so it might not be until mid next week sometime.”

  “That’s fine. That would be great actually. I just wanted to run a couple of ideas past you.” Joshua’s phone buzzed. He made a big show of looking at his phone “Sorry about that Mr. Franklin that was Sandra Catchings. She’s always calling me.”

  Franklin had only been half listening to Joshua until he mentioned Sandra Catchings. “When I walked into her office earlier you two seem to have been in an intense conversation. Is everything alright there?”

  “Everything is fine. She seems to think somehow I can help her with her career. I don’t know why some women think they can make their way up the ladder on their backs. I’m sure you’ve had to deal with this sort of thing all the time.”

  “Actually, I haven’t. The people who work for me have a clear understanding of my professional expectations. I don’t mix business with my personal life…EVER. My suggestion to you is whatever ‘confusion’ there might be between you and Ms. Catchings, clean it up. CkR International won’t tolerate even a hint of impropriety.”

  “Of course Mr. Roth, of course.” Joshua turned three different shades of red from embarrassment. “I’ll schedule that meeting with Verna and see you next week.” Before Joshua could say anything else Franklin turned around and went into his office to gather his things.

  Franklin and Sandy had been in the air for about two and half hours. They’d barely spoken to each other the entire flight. Her head was down as she read a magazine. Franklin couldn’t help but notice Sandra. She was stunning. She was wearing a form fitting sun dress and sandals. Her legs were crossed and it seemed like they went on forever before disappearing underneath her dress. When he’d seen her at the office she had her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into some type of up do but now it was put up into a sculpted ponytail. Sandra oozed sexy from those incredible blue eyes to the red nail polish on her perfectly manicured toes. Franklin’s eyes followed those hands as she turned the pages of the magazine. He couldn’t help but think how they would feel roaming free over his body.