Heartbeat Echoes

by Brittany Yeats

  “Melissa, really. You need to let go of the black and sad and blah and get back into life. It’s been almost three weeks since we buried them. Life has to move on. You have to move on. Do you think Ashley would have wanted so much sadness in this house?”

  Melissa looked at her mother and wanted to yell that life was about more than clothes and dates and the social world.

  “Mom, please. I am getting back into life as quickly as I want to. Why does everything have to be at your pace?”

  Anna huffed, and Melissa heard her walk to the closet. Melissa couldn’t wait for the barrage to start on how disgraceful the lack of current fashion hanging in her closet was. It wasn’t as if she hated shopping, she just had other things to do with her time. The shuffling of clothes hangers was quickly grating on her nerves.

  “Mom, get out of my closet! I will move on when I feel I am ready to move on. God, I can hear the lists forming in your head. ‘She doesn’t have that, she doesn’t have this.’ I mean, really, so what?”

  Anna ignored her daughter and continued to go through the hangers. When Melissa watched her mother moved onto shoes, her hands went inadvertently to her hair and began to tug, almost of their own free will. In an effort to control herself and her emotions, Melissa decided to let her mother do whatever she wanted.

  “Melissa, call in Grace. I need to organize this mess.”

  It gave Melissa the reason she needed to leave. Instead of picking up the inter-house phone, Melissa dashed from the room in search for her maid. The house was just big enough to keep her away from her mother for the amount of time needed for her blood pressure to return to normal.

  “Grace! Mother is cleaning out my goddamn closet. Can you hurry her along so I can go back to some degree of privacy? I am dealing with so much right now; I do not want to deal with a wardrobe enhancement to go man catching added into the tornado that is my brain.”

  Grace did her best to hide a chuckle and went to Melissa’s room. She walked into chaos, finding the contents of the closet she herself kept ruthlessly organized spilled all over the room. When her foot crunched on the remains of a crystal turtle Melissa had brought back from Barbados, Grace knew she was in for a long afternoon.

  “How can I help, Miss Anna?”

  Since her room was occupied and the boys were in the library, Melissa decided to go to her tree after all. It was a beautiful day and maybe some time in the branches would dissolve the rest of the tension lingering in her shoulders. As she climbed, Melissa was once again struck by the tree itself. Strong and sturdy, it had been growing for a hundred and forty-odd years and hardly looked a day over a hundred. Melissa chuckled to her own joke and situated herself on her favorite branch. It was the second highest from the ground and gave her a perfect view of the back of the house. It was worn smooth from the constant rubbing of her hands and legs.

  Sighing, Melissa began to work out the current dilemma of her family’s company in her head. It had to be the Vice President trying to make her father look bad or bring the company to ruin. There was no way her father would have jeopardized his own company in such a way. It would destroy his family and the legacy he was building for his son. Not financially but most definitely emotionally and reputational wise. No other company would ever trust them again.

  “There has to be a reasonable, logical explanation for all of this.” Melissa continued to look out over the rest of the property and the lights of LA, thinking of ways to help Conner. Melissa knew she spoke the words out loud. What she did not expect was an answer.

  “With these things, there always is.”

  Melissa jerked around to see if the voice she recognized by ear matched the face and almost tumbled out of the tree. She felt her father’s hand grip her arm to keep her in her spot. She looked over and was indeed face to face with her father. She blinked, then hesitantly reached out a hand and it pressed against her father’s shoulder. Suddenly a very calming feeling passed through her body. Opening her eyes, Melissa was staring into the mirror image of them on her father’s face. He was sitting next to her on the tree.

  “We buried you. I’ve cried myself to sleep for weeks. What is going on? Am I having one of those lunatic episodes?”

  Melissa heard her father laugh and it was like a knife to the heart.

  “Yes, I am still dead, and no, you are not crazy. The higher-ups in the other realm saw my record and sent me straight back to work out all the problems going on here. We are conversing in your subconscious, meaning I’m not a ghost. Just here to help. There is a lot of damage, Melissa. It can only be fixed if you stop looking at me like I’m a dragon and listen to what I have to say.”

  Melissa took three deep, slow breaths in an effort to calm her racing heart.

  “Christian and I realized the business was not doing well. We picked too many mom-and-pop shops to sell our merchandise to. They were not selling our products at the volume we needed them to. My Vice President, the excuse for a human being he is, innocently suggested we start selling to the bigger name stores to make up for the lost revenue. Christian and I took it under advisement but decided to let the contracts for the original stores run out instead of breaking them. Harry decided to go behind my back and make new contracts with a huge number of new stores. I was furious and Christian quickly realized our signatures had been forged. But to admit such treachery to the rest of the company and the business world would be devastating. All trust would be lost.”

  “Dad, we are already passed devastating. I walked into your office today and watched Conner get into a fist fight with one of the owners of the new companies we are contracted to. Did you know Harry generated fifty-six contracts? The amount of work we would have to do to keep up with fifty-six new companies plus all the original companies demanding product would put most of our employees in the ground.”

  Max ran a hand through his hair and sighed in disgust. Melissa had watched him do that countless times. Whenever the numbers were wrong or he saw his daughter run to the tree, his hair would be tousled for the rest of the day because his fingers would ruin the order of it. Melissa smiled at the gesture and fixed the messy strands into more order.

  “So how can I prove any of this? Obviously the signatures on the contracts are real enough looking to fool people. It would be a my-word-against-his-word sort of thing and since I am not really involved with the business, thanks to Mother, no one would believe me.”

  “You have to get Christian on your side. He is the key to all of this. Conner is too new and Harry is scum. If you can work with Christian, you can get the things accomplished needed to get Harry out of his position and save the company.”

  “Christian will willingly work with me but what things am I supposed to accomplish?” Her question was met with silence.

  Melissa turned to her father and, in horror, she watched him shrug and vanish.

  Melissa woke with a start and grabbed on to the trunk behind her to keep her stationary. She shook her head at the forced nap she was thrust into and still couldn’t believe it.

  “Well, holy crap. You give me all this cryptic advice and then you can’t follow it up with anything solid. I need a drink.” Melissa began to climb down from the tree in hope that solid ground under her feet would help make her feel less emotionally beaten. She walked into the house and headed to her room, praying her mother had left. Melissa walked into utter bedlam.

  Every single piece of her clothing was strewn around her room. Her dresser was empty, her closet was empty. And there was her mother, humming a merry tune as she dictated a list to Grace. A list of even more clothes.

  “What in God’s name are you doing?” Melissa demanded at the top of her lungs. “I told you to get out of my closet! Why is everything I own all over the room?” She was so angry there was red edging her vision.

  Her mother looked at her with eyes so wide she looked
like an owl.

  “You need new clothes. If you are going to get a suitable husb—”

  Melissa held up a hand to stop her mother mid-sentence. “If your next word was going to be husband, I am going to take all of these clothes and burn them and walk around naked for the rest of my life. How suitable a husband will a naked crazy daughter get, huh, Mom? Get out of my room this instant.”

  Outraged and obviously insulted, her mother walked stiffly from the room, tight-lipped and silent.

  Melissa looked at Grace and sat down on a pile of clothes, mounded up from the bed.

  “I need to tell you something, and you need to promise me, on our secret handshake, that you will not freak out.”

  Grace walked cautiously to the bed and then waited.

  “I was in my tree earlier and I had a conversation with a rather interesting individual.”

  ~ ~ ~

  It happened three more times over the next month. Every time a thought about her father popped into her head, Melissa made sure she was sitting or lying down. She would instantly nap and his form would appear and they would talk. To Melissa, it didn’t matter what they were talking about. She was just thrilled he was around again. Oh, she knew it wouldn’t last forever that she would lose him for real again, but it was still nice to have him around to listen.

  The debacle with the company was getting worse. The demands of the newly contracted companies were getting out of control. Conner had to delay them over and over and it was making all the workers want to revolt. To break the contracts and give back the money at this point in time would make Conner look like an incompetent business man. As twilight descended, Melissa laid down on the library sofa and thought of a day on the lake with her father. She was instantly transported to the dock of her memory, ready to relay everything to Max.

  “I know, Dad. But we cannot help it. We have to do something. Our employees are so overworked most of them are not even showing up to work. The way I see it, we really have two choices. We either break some of the contracts or we overwork our people and lose employees.”

  “Why hasn’t Conner hired more people? If we had more employees we could keep everything as it is.”

  “I have asked him that same question. When he bothers to answer me, he says he doesn’t want to waste time training new people when the current ones should just work more. He really has become quite a monster, so bossy and over bearing. How come you were never like this?”

  Melissa’s father smiled and shook his head. “Because, my dear, I trusted my VP. Clearly a mistake on my part. I would make Harry deal with the problems Conner is facing and come home to be with you guys.”

  Without warning, Melissa found herself being shaken awake by Grace.

  “Lissa! Wake up! Joshua is here. I think your mother just had a stroke. She’s all aflutter.” Grace was whispering, and even though Joshua was standing by the door, he smiled because he heard what Grace had said.

  Melissa looked at Joshua. Obviously Joshua had not taken the hint. Not wanting to start anything new with a strange man, she had ignored all of his attempts to contact her. Her dream with Max had ended abruptly, leaving her wanting more of his presence. She missed her dad.

  Melissa flew to her feet as Joshua walked over. He stood in front of her, not saying anything. He took her hand and walked out to the back yard and over to a bench by the pond. For some reason, it became clear to Melissa that what she was feeling was nervousness. Nothing like this had ever happened to her. She was never nervous with Christian. Shaking her head, Melissa looked up at Joshua and smiled.

  “What are you doing here?” Melissa said with some trepidation. She was worried about the fluttering in her chest and how it seemed the same fluttering was happening in the ground. As if there was a heart beating under the dirt.

  “You ignored every one of my attempts to see you. What was I supposed to do? Give up? I don’t know if I gave that impression as I was beating up your brother, but I can be very tenacious. I like you. I met you once and it’s crazy, but still, I like you. Why does that scare you?”

  Melissa had no idea the same expression crossed her face as when she saw a snake or a spider. She could barely keep up with her feelings for Christian and now another guy wanted to pursue her?

  “I hope I don’t seem like a bitch, but I’m just a little confused right now. Are we starting over? As if this is the first charming meeting between us?”

  It was Joshua’s turn to smile now, amused by the light sarcasm dripping from her tone.

  Melissa blinked. It blinded her.

  “And you think my smile is dangerous? Yours transforms your face. I’m surprised you don’t have a harem lining up behind you to scratch my eyes out.”

  “Well, unlike you, I’ve learned how to control my smile. I don’t have more than one woman interested in me because I only smile at the ones I like. You seem to just throw out your secret weapon willy-nilly.” He stood to stare at the koi fish swimming around the little garden pond. Melissa laughed at his joke about her love life. She never thought she would get one man much less two at the same time. She went to stand beside Joshua where he stood watching the fish.

  “It’s not my fault you find my smile so alluring. You were beating up my brother. I was even planning on punching you. How was I supposed to know you’d be so charming? You said something funny. I smiled. Natural occurrence of life.” Melissa knew her tone was something akin to a petulant teenager talking to a clueless parent, but the need to explain herself made her feel like she was sixteen again.

  “We are spending an extraordinary amount of time talking about your mouth. Can I interest you in using it for something other than talking?” Joshua slapped a palm to his forehead. “Wow that was a lot less dirty when it was in my head. Dinner. I am trying to ask you to dinner.” He sat down, fully expecting Melissa to run away as her expression said she was going to do. He was outrageously surprised when she sat down next to him.

  “Well, your approach was rather questionable but I guess dinner wouldn’t be so bad. I can’t wait to see what else you will say.” Even as Melissa agreed, she knew it was a bad idea.

  Joshua stood and offered an arm. Melissa was once again surprised by the man.

  “You mean now? You want to go to dinner now? Well, at least I’m already dressed.” Melissa took the offered arm and they strolled to his car, a rather impressive black Ferrari. She was impressed despite herself. She lowered herself into the front seat and ignored her mother’s prying eyes. The woman practically had her face pressed against the glass. She smiled at her mom and gave a little wave for emphasis, enjoying playing games with her head as Joshua sped out of the driveway.

  ~ ~ ~

  Over the next few months, Melissa found herself being charmed by Joshua almost every weekend. Sails on his boat, picnics on his private beach that was attached to the back of his house. They went to the movies and he would call her at night and they would talk for hours. If she had to define it, Melissa would say she was having an old-fashioned romance.

  There were more attempts from Christian to get in touch with her. She knew he was most likely innocent of everything her own mind was accusing him of, but she could not bring herself to give him the chance to defend or explain. She had even stopped going to the office to help in case Christian was there. She didn’t want to have it out with him at all, but especially not in front of the whole warehouse.

  The debacle at the company continued on its downward spiral. Each contract had a clause written into the last page. It was written out in extremely technical terms that Melissa could not even for a second hope to understand, but the bottom line was that if the contracts were broken not only would the money be refunded but it would all have to be paid back with interest. The kind of interest that turn millions into hundreds of millions. It would bankrupt the family business, and in
turn, the family for sure.

  Conner had begun to grow worry lines so deep, Melissa was waiting for NASA to call to try to explore them as moon trenches. In the months after finding out, the boy seemed to age into a man faster than a Popsicle melted in summer. Every time she tried to offer assistance, he would tell her not to worry. That he would handle it, and on his own.

  “Melissa, for the love of God, get out of my office. I need to work on this whole mess alone. Go find Joshua or something.”

  Melissa was tired of hearing the same words come out of her brother’s mouth over and over again. All she needed was one chance to prove she could help.

  “Conner, just let me look over some of the paperwork. I’m a fresh eye to sift through everything. Maybe I can find something you overlooked.”

  Conner looked up with something similar to malice in his eyes. He waved her off with a flick of the wrist.

  “I am the acting CEO until father’s will is read. Face it, Melissa, I have control of the company, and you’re just the daughter.”

  Melissa narrowed her eyes to slits. She straightened and walked around the desk to stand face-to-face with her brother.

  “What I am, brother, is the oldest child in this house. You will show me the proper older sibling respect, especially since I’ve been the one running around making every arrangement for father and Ashley, dealing with our distraught mother, and having to deal with your odd distancing, so don’t stand there and tell me I’m just the daughter. I’m the one essentially running this house. So let me help you, as well.”