Heartbeat Echoes

by Brittany Yeats

  She laughed.

  “Now, now, darling, I’ll be at all the upcoming dinner parties and all the other stuffy events in the near future. I will strive to slay the boring girls who want a decent husband. Heaven knows why they would think you right for the part.” Melissa laughed at her own joke.

  Christian leaned over and tweaked her nose. “I know I have to get married eventually, but I do not want to go through it yet.” Christian sighed.

  Melissa nodded, knowing exactly how Christian felt. She, too, would have to be married eventually and was dreading the whole experience. She took a deep breath before she asked her next question.

  “What if you found the perfect girl tomorrow and your choice was to marry her or lose her? What would you do?” Melissa waited, wondering what he said. Christian was silent for a moment. He looked at Melissa and wondered if she was the perfect girl.

  “I would marry her. If she really had exactly what I am looking for in a woman then I would go through the whole kit and caboodle and pray it turns out better than my parents’ marriage. What about you? Why aren’t you so excited to hear the wedding bells? Most girls your age are settled by now.”

  Melissa shook her head but didn’t answer his question. “I have been dictated to all my life. My father, although he was subtle about it, my mother, who is like a sledgehammer with everything she has ever said to me, telling me what to do and how to do it and how to act in society and what is proper to wear and not proper to wear to get a man. As if a man is all I need. It’s not as if I have to produce an heir, that’s Conner’s job. Which, by the way, is such a load of crap because, hey, girls can get everything too. Plus, there are plenty of girls in the world all a-twitter about marriage. Let those girls get the man of their dreams first. I want to travel and learn things about places I have never been to before. I know I have traveled with my family quite extensively but I never got to explore any country on my own. I always had a bodyguard or Grace with me. I do not want to be looked at as a breeder like a family looks at a horse. I want love.”

  Christian nodded.

  They played chess and talked. Christian made lunch and amazed Melissa with his cooking skills. Apparently the years living alone had made him quite domestic, although she would never say so out loud. Well accustomed to the male ego, Melissa praised Christian and ate every scrape on her plate. They watched a couple movies and criticized every actor and scene they saw, almost always being in agreement. They made lazy love in any spot that was convenient. It was an afternoon greatly needed. Melissa could feel her dark cloud begin to lighten. Christian had the ability to make her laugh even at a low point in her life.

  As the sun began to set, Melissa was returned to her bench with the promise of another meeting. It had been hard not to kiss Christian in the open, but they both knew it was for their own protection. Melissa climbed into her car and began to drive home. It was almost eight at night and the sun was still shining brightly in the sky. It was if it was telling Melissa that no matter how sad she was, the sun was not going to stop trying to break through the clouds and make her happy again.

  Melissa walked into her house and went in search of her family. She found her mother writing out gratitude letters to all the people who came to the repast. Her mother was about to ask her for help when Melissa announced she was going to go find Conner. Fleeing, she found her brother asleep in the library. He had a book stretched over his face, a novel about love, loss, and victory. Melissa violently shook his leg. He sat bolt upright, throwing the book away from him, and almost unseating Melissa.

  “Melissa, you scared the hell out of me.” He stopped when he saw she was trying not to laugh. He rolled his eyes and got up to put the book, now almost across the room, away.

  “And where were you all day?”

  Melissa had been wondering how to answer this question all day. “I went to the park to read and met up with some friends for a light lunch. It was refreshing to be outside in the sun. This house is so dark right now. Everyone is so gloomy. I had to get out. I wonder if Dad is giving us this nice weather.”

  Conner nodded, but made no comment. Dinner was announced. As she was walking out, Grace appeared and handed Melissa another note. It was from Christian! Shocked at this brazen display of attention, Melissa slid the note into her pocket, saving it for later. She really had to teach the man how to use a telephone.

  ~ ~ ~

  Sneaking out was going to be a challenge. According to Grace, her mother was already awake and starting the day. All Melissa had to do was get into her car and she would be home free to go to the warehouse. Conner had called her with some questions and they were not the type to be answered over the phone.

  Creeping quietly down the stairs, Melissa was on full alert for her mother. If she was spotted, she would be pulled into some task or dragged shopping or some such other horror. Her mother’s way of coping with grief was to spend as much money as possible. It boggled Melissa’s mind that there was any money left. Entering the kitchen, she saw it was empty. She made the dash for the back door and was home free. Climbing in her Porsche, she gunned the engine and floored it all the way to the warehouse.

  The inside looked like a beehive. There were people running everywhere. There was yelling and people were dropping things in their rush to make sure orders were filled and things were shipped out on time. Everyone looked the way Melissa felt. Downtrodden. Without the jubilance of her father’s booming voice, the employees seemed to be less peppy then before. They still did their jobs, but without the same excitement as before. Worried the employees were about to walk out, Melissa went in search of her brother.

  She went right into her father’s office, knowing Conner would be trying to acclimate himself to his new surroundings. What she saw was Conner yelling at a strange man she had never seen before. The man began to yell back and both men moved and got very close to each other’s face. There was a lot of finger pointing and big gesturing. Melissa couldn’t hear what was being said, but the color of Conner’s face was starting to become an alarmingly dark shade of red.

  The stranger picked up a thick stack of papers and threw them across the room. It hit the wall with a solid thwack and made Melissa jump. She was on the verge of breaking up the argument when the stranger shoved Conner. Interested to see what her baby brother would do, Melissa decided to watch.

  Conner shoved the man back and shoving became punching. The way the fists were flying, Melissa was wondering if walking into the room was a good idea. Then the stranger tripped and the men began to wrestle on the floor. Neither man seemed to notice when Melissa crashed through the door, trying to make enough noise to break the men apart.

  Fighting the urge to yell, because she knew it would do no good, Melissa reached down and grabbed the stranger’s ear. He flailed around, trying to grab her hand but Melissa just gave another tug and he released her brother. Looking up, Melissa raised an eyebrow at his attempt to try to involve her in the altercation. The murder in his eyes turned into curiosity then morphed into sheepishness amped up by a wicked grin. Conner scrambled to his feet and looked at Melissa through one already swelling eye. The stranger got to his feet but said nothing. Melissa still held on to his ear to make sure no more fights broke out.

  “What in the hell is going on in here? I had no idea my help would come in the form of breaking up a fight.” Melissa tried to sound as stern as possible.

  The man raised his own eyebrow at her. She released his ear. He stepped back and cleared his throat.

  “My name is Joshua Bates. I am the owner of a new company and want to sell these products. This punk says he is the new owner and wants to look over the paperwork. The paperwork that was completed over a month ago. I want to know where Max Yard is. He is the owner and the one I made the deal with.” Still breathing heavy, the man sat down and waited.

  Melissa looked at Conner and g
estured for him to take the lead.

  “Max Yard is my father. He died two weeks ago. I am his son, Conner Yard. The new acting president of this company. I just started and want to look everything over. I was trying to explain this to you and you took a swing at me. Is that how you settle all your business deals? Beating the owners to a pulp?”

  Joshua stood up and offered a hand. Conner looked at it but didn’t move. Instead he deliberately swiped his bleeding lip. Joshua looked at Melissa, as if asking for assistance, but Melissa shook her head and looked pointedly at her brother. Joshua took a deep breath and prepared to eat some crow.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that something had happened. You didn’t notify anyone? I shouldn’t have hit you. I thought I was being played. This company has been stonewalling me for months. I get dribbles of product and when it runs out, it’s days before I get more. I came here to find out why nothing has been getting done.”

  Conner nodded and clasped hands with the bruised and bleeding Joshua.

  “With the sickness of my father and his death, the running of this company has been left to a multitude of different people. It was supposed to be taken over by the Vice President while I was still getting adjusted, however he failed to be . . . responsible. I will be fixing all of the problems over the next coming weeks. I need to work out some in-house problems first. Let’s make a follow-up meeting in a week so I will have a more thorough understanding of our business arrangement.”

  Joshua nodded then Conner left the room and walked to the receptionist to make a new appointment for Joshua.

  “So, who are you?”

  Melissa looked at Joshua and was struck by the intensity of his eyes. They were green. The type of green that nature sprouted in the summer. Everything else about him was dark. His skin, the color of caramel covering an apple. His hair, a dark curing wave that fell past his suit collar. As she sized him up, she felt the same happening to her and instantly respected Joshua. He wasn’t one to just see a pretty woman and start to flirt.

  “I’m Conner’s sister, Melissa. The better half of the new president.” Melissa smiled to show she was joking.

  “You have a beautiful smile. Very powerful. Dangerous, really.”

  Melissa wanted to smile again but refrained because she didn’t want to encourage the man.

  “Thank you. It’s my most formidable weapon. I use it only in desperate situations.”

  Joshua smirked and straightened when Conner came back into the room.

  “We’re all set up for next week. We can go over everything after I have been more completely briefed.”

  Joshua nodded, and after another handshake and a wink for Melissa, he left. When Joshua was out of sight, they burst into a hysterical laughter.

  “Was he really one of the new companies Christian brought in? I thought he was going to start to drool when I smiled at him. Men these days. So, as you can see I got out of the house. What is this huge dilemma?”

  In answer, Conner bent down and pulled out huge stacks of paperwork. The amount even shocked Melissa. She walked over to one pile and picked up the top file. It was a sheath of papers about fifty pages thick. A contract for another company. That was what all of them seemed to be.

  “How can we have this many outstanding contracts, Conner? There are at least fifty here. Are we partnered with all of them? Or are they in discussion? Did anyone know about these besides Dad?”

  Conner was sitting in their father’s chair, just shaking his head.

  Outstanding contracts were the death of most of the business’s dealings. The way things worked was one company paid upfront and waited for product. If the product wasn’t delivered in a timely fashion then the Yard’s product company had to give back all the money. Melissa had no idea any of this was going on. It burned her to know her mother had gotten her way. Melissa was so out of the loop she didn’t know if she would be any help to her brother.

  “I have no idea, Melissa. I thought we had one or two pending. We can’t possibly sell our products to this many other companies. We would never be able to make enough products. If we don’t fill the orders, we renege on the contract and go bankrupt. What did Father do?” Conner stood and paced to the window. He continued on as if he didn’t ask a question.

  “Honestly, I don’t think Father did this. Our Vice President is the biggest slime ball I have ever met. I am not even a little surprised he has never been to the house or met any of us. I’ve read through four of the most current contracts. The companies pay us one million dollars upfront and when the money gets cleared we send them a year’s worth of whatever product they want to sell. The top one is for an auto shop that wants to see our car mats. They sent a half a million dollars and we were supposed to send six months of the listed mats. None have been sent and this was set up a year ago. How could Father not have caught this?” Melissa sat down hard in one of the visitor chairs and tried to absorb what Conner was saying.

  If fifty contracts had been taken out that meant fifty million dollars would have to be given back. It wouldn’t hurt the business to much but it would destroy the reputation of the family company. The reputation of solid products and limited business dealings with other companies to ensure the quality of products. This would wreck everything. Melissa paced to the window as well and watched the busy street below.

  “We need help, Conner. Obviously we have to keep this on the down low. Get the lawyers in here without alerting the slime. And we have to keep this from Mother. It will make her hysterical. You were right to call me. We can deal with this together. I have to go home before Mother has a fit. Bring some of this home. I’ll help you go over it and I’ll bring over Edward. He can help too.”

  Conner nodded. Edward was the family’s personal lawyer. He was shrewd and always had his client’s best interests in mind.

  Melissa laid a hand on Conner’s shoulder and squeezed. The lines of worry etching themselves into her brother’s face were starting to concern her.

  Knowing they would be going through some major issues in the next few days, Melissa knew she’d have a few new lines too.

  Chapter 6

  “This is a mess. None of you knew any of this? Most of these contracts date back to when your father was healthy. Did he just sign things and not read them over?”

  Melissa was trying her best not to hit Edward. He was restating everything that was already running through her and surely Conner’s head. What she wanted to know was if there was anything that could be done to fix it and Edward wasn’t cooperating.

  “What can we do to fix this so we don’t lose our reputation? Give me something here, Edward.”

  Edward nodded and began to lay out each contract. There were fifty-six in total that promised some of the same merchandise to different companies.

  Melissa was baffled at how it could have even been pulled off. Apparently the PR teams in these companies didn’t do the research to see if other companies would have the same products. Edward looked Conner in the eye.

  “It will be very difficult.”

  Conner closed his eyes and the expression that crossed his face was so thunderous Melissa was surprised he didn’t throw his glass of scotch across the room. Nothing else could have been worse. Conner inherits the company and it goes to hell.

  “We all need to calm down. Maybe we are blowing this all out of proportion. Let’s go over everything again and try to find a loophole.” Melissa was shocked her voice sounded so calm.

  The lawyer cleared his throat. “There’s something else. Each contract was put into writing by a Christian Cutterson. And sighed off on by the Vice President.”

  Ice washed through Melissa’s veins. Everything in her had gone dead still at the mention of Christian’s name. There was no way her closest companion could have acted out such a betrayal. It was something she could
n’t believe. She threw down her glass and ran from the room.

  Edward looked at Conner.

  “Melissa and Christian are quite close. This would be very difficult for her if he did this. She’s going to her tree. Let’s get back to work.”

  Edward nodded but wondered if he could work his way to comforting his client’s beautiful sister.

  “Her tree? That’s an interesting place for a hide out.”

  Conner nodded and got back to work.

  ~ ~ ~

  Conner was wrong about where Melissa went. She was currently in her room destroying things. It looked like Tokyo to her Godzilla. Anything that was small enough to wrap her fingers around was launched across the room. The sounds of glass breaking and metal thudding against dry wall was satisfying but not enough to make her feel less betrayed.

  Her Christian. How could he do this? If he hadn’t known it would destroy them, he was as naïve as a college graduate taking their first scut job. Taking a deep breath, Melissa decided to calm down and wait to see what Christian would say in his defense. Melissa dropped down onto her bed and tried to calm her breathing. She rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes. They were supposed to meet up in two days and the very thought of it made her sick to her stomach. Melissa knew she had to hear his side of the story, but she really didn’t want to. As she was trying to relax herself, the door burst open.

  A shard of some trinket crunched under Anna’s delicate pump and it caused her to pause in the launch of any prepared spiel. She looked around her daughter’s room and couldn’t quite believe the amount of destruction spread around the room. A part of her wanted desperately to comfort Melissa, to stop meddling into her life and just be a mom, but another part of her knew that when she matched Melissa with the perfect man, her daughter would have all the love and comfort she needed. Anna gave herself a little shake to get her brain back on topic. She turned to Melissa sprawled across the bed and tsked.