by Laila Kelly
The palms of his hands began to sweat, and he wiped them on his pants. For some reason, he felt nervous about flying to Georgia. No one really knew why he was flying there except for Jamie, and he didn’t know if he should risk telling his mother tonight. Only time would tell, and he would worry about that later. For now, he would find a realtor to work with tomorrow. He would disguise this trip as business as usual. Besides, no one would be surprised that he wanted to expand outside of Texas. Those plans had been in the works for years. That would be the focus of the trip to keep him sane. Graham picked up his phone and dialed his sister’s number. If she could tell him about her search, he might as well return the favor.
“Hello?” Sophia sounded like she was running. “Hey what’s up? Did I call you at a bad time?” He forgot she had changed her daily running time to the evening. “Oh no, I just finished my run. You never did call me back the other night. What happened?” Graham had a bad habit of saying he would call someone back and forgetting to actually do it. “I’m sorry Soph, it slipped my mind. I had gotten a little sidetracked,” “With a woman?” Sophia perked up. She along with his mother have been trying to set him up with someone for at least five years. All to no avail. All of the women that they tried to set him up with had either two problems, they were only after one thing: his money or they were so dense that he couldn’t stand to be around them. Whenever he did find a woman, she had to be different from the women that he was used to.
“No, not a woman. I was working,” Sophia sighed dramatically. “Graham, when are you going to settle down and meet a nice woman? Mom and I aren’t getting any younger and having a family used to be important to you. Now it seems like it’s the last thing on your mind. What happened?” Sophia’s comments hurt. Finding someone and starting a family never left Graham’s mind. If anything, it was the only thing on his mind most of the time, when he wasn’t thinking about working. “You’ve built this great business and you’re a literal billionaire. You have a great personality and a beautiful home, all the qualities any woman would want. What else are you waiting on?” Graham cleared his throat, “There’s nothing that I’m necessarily waiting on, I just haven’t had a chance to get out there and find someone I actually liked. I want to find someone naturally because the women that you and Mom have set me up with have definitely not been my type, but in due time I will find someone. Until then, I’m content where I am with my life.” Some of that wasn’t entirely a lie. He did believe that he would one day find someone that would be his life partner. The lie was that he was content with his life. Outside of the four walls of his office, everything else was in shambles.
“Have you at least found anyone that has piqued your interest?” Sophia’s million questions reminded him why she was one of the best lawyers that he knew. “No not really, but I am going to be making a trip tonight after dinner with Mom and we’ll see what happens for there.” He knew telling her would only bring on more questions. “A trip? What kind of trip are you making and when did you decide to make it? You didn’t tell me anything about a trip the other day,” It was Graham’s turn to sigh, “Well, I just made the decision a few hours ago. I’m headed to Georgia to begin my east expansion project.” Half-truths were definitely Graham’s word for the day. Telling his sister about all that he wanted to gain from going to Georgia would do more harm than good. If his mother was going to find out that he was on the hunt for his birth mother, he would want her to hear it from him and not his sister. Knowing Sophia, as soon as they hung up the phone, she would be running to tell her what he planned on doing so she could convince him that it wasn’t a good idea. That type of negative energy wasn’t what he needed before he boarded his plane tonight. He didn’t want anyone to know because he didn’t want to be persuaded to do otherwise.
“Oh, wow I didn’t know that you were starting that so soon. I thought you said you were going to wait another year to decide where you were going,” Finally she was off his case about his private life and putting her focus other places. “Well, I have been looking at the market and it has been increasing for the past few years positively. I want to move quickly before the market becomes saturated. I’ve had some people look into this and I believe that this is a great move.” Graham had been looking at expanding to Georgia for two years, along with two other states on the East Coast. It was inevitable that he would make his way to Georgia, that’s what he told himself. Except that this had little to do with business and more to do with him finding who his mother had been sending flowers to, and why she had been doing it for so long.
“That sounds like a pretty good reason. I didn’t know that this was so far on the forefront of your mind. Have you talked to Mom lately? She said that she hasn’t heard from you in a while and she misses you.” Graham hated hearing that his mother missed him. He just got so wrapped up at the office that he couldn’t think about anything else other than his construction sites or finding new land to purchase and put up more subdivisions. It had all but consumed him. “Yes, I’ve spoken with her today. I actually just got off the phone with her before I spoke with you. I made our reservations tonight at the Four Leaves downtown, and I’m about to leave the office to head over and pick her up now,” Hopefully tonight’s dinner would make up for the lack of communication the past few weeks. “Oh,” Sophia paused, “I didn’t know that you were going out to dinner with Mom tonight,” he could hear the pain in her voice.
Sophia had the tendency to always feel left out of things. Again, that was the last thing that he wanted. He made a mental note to spend time with her when he got back in town. “It was a spur of the moment thing. I just thought about her and thought a nice dinner before I head out of town would be nice.” Sophia got quiet, and he knew that her mind was beginning to wander. He needed her to snap out of it. “What do you and Collin have planned for this evening?” Sophia cleared her throat, “Well Collin is on call tonight at the hospital, so we’ll probably stay in and watch a movie tonight, nothing major.” Collin was one of the best doctors at Riverside Hospital in Houston and he seemed to be on call more than he wasn’t, but Sophia met him in college, and they’ve been together ever since.
Graham always figured if they could handle being in medical school and law school on different sides of the country then they could make it through anything. “Yeah, I’ll probably cook dinner. I just hope that he doesn’t get paged tonight. He hasn’t had an entire night’s sleep in three days,” Graham couldn’t imagine having to function without his sleep. When he did eventually get tired, all he wanted was the softness of his sheets and his bed. He looked over at the clock, 5:00. “Well, I need to head over to mom’s house to pick her up. I’ll call you tomorrow when I get to Georgia. We should definitely hang out when I get back,” Sophia’s voice perked up. “Sure, I’d love that. When are you getting back in town?” Graham hadn’t thought about when he would make it back to Texas. He wanted to stay in Georgia as long as it took to find what he needed. It’d be an added bonus to find a few pieces of land to buy while he was out there. “Um, I’m really not sure, I have to meet with a few lawyers and agents and find some land that I want to buy, so I’m not one hundred percent sure how long that would take,” Finally Graham had gotten back to telling part of the truth. He hated lying, especially to Sophia.
“Well I’ll call Amy, my friend from law school. She does property law out there in Atlanta, so she could direct you where you need to be. I’ll text you her information.” Sophia’s law school friends were always the first ones for her to set him up with. Hopefully this wasn’t another one her schemes but knowing his sister things old habits would die harder than that. “Okay, that sounds great. I’ll contact her in the next few days. I’ll talk to you later though, I’m about to head out of the door.” Graham got up and grabbed his jacket and walked out the door of his office. “Alright, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Sophia tried to mask her excitement. Another date she was going to set me up on, he thought. He sighed to himself, “Ok, have a good night a
nd tell Collin that I said hello,” “I will,” he hung up the phone before he rounded the corner to Stephanie’s desk.
Stephanie looked up at him and smiled. “Mr. Graham, I was just binding together that report that you asked for. I also sent it to you in your email so you could have a digital copy. I also scheduled the jet to depart around 10:00 pm tonight and I sent you your hotel reservations to your email. The hotel is about twenty miles from Flowery Branch and I also made the reservations for your car.” She handed him a perfectly bound twenty-page report on Flowery Branch, Georgia to him. He flipped through the first couple of pages and it was exactly what he wanted. “Perfect, as always Stephanie, thank you,” She smiled even wider and her eyes began to crinkle at the corners. “You’re welcome, Mr. Brentwood. I’ll call tonight to confirm that you made it safely,” he nodded and walked towards the door. “Sounds perfect, have a wonderful rest of your evening.” She waved, “I will,” he placed his hand on the door before he turned around, “Don’t stay here all night, Stephanie,” she blushed and shook her head. “I won’t, Mr. Brentwood.” It had been plenty of nights that Graham thought he was the only one left in the office to find that Stephanie was drinking a cup of coffee in the break room at 2:00 in the morning. She was a dedicated worker and definitely one of his most essential team members.
He walked down the hall and waved goodbye to his other employees and reached the elevator, pressing the ground floor button. The glass elevator was one of the main reasons that he decided on this building being his headquarters for his business. He liked to be able to still see the outside and the street while he was descending from his floor to the parking garage.
His car was dripping water and he could see that James had just finished getting his truck washed. The truck shined just as if it were new and the pearlescent blue specks twinkled and made his car look like a clear country night’s sky. The drive to his mother’s house was smooth, and the winding path through the big trees relaxed him. It reminded him that it had been far too long since he had been to his mother’s house to visit, almost four months. A length of time that he hoped no one else was keeping up with. As selfish as it seemed, he couldn’t bear to spend too much time at home. It reminded him of when his father was alive, and he still expected his father to be at the door with open arms every time he pulled into the garage. When he died, everything changed for Graham, and going to visit his mother as much was one of them. He shook his head to clear his mind. He pulled up to the gate and entered the pin and the huge spiraled gate opened swiftly and closed once he made it through. The fountain in the front of the house that he and his sister used to put rubber ducks in when they were younger was still as grand and beautiful as he remembered.
He parked and walked up to the stairs and knocked on the door. A short woman with red hair opened the door, “Good evening, Mr. Brentwood, Mrs. Brentwood should be ready shortly. Is there anything that I can get for you?” he smiled slightly, “No thank you, I can manage myself,” and walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. He hated being waited on when he came to his mother’s house, and he especially hated being called Mr. Brentwood outside of the office. He was just Graham. Mr. Brentwood was his father. He opened his bottle of water and gulped down half of it before sitting at the breakfast nook and looking out the window into the backyard. It was as beautiful as ever and not much had changed since his childhood except for there being more lounge chairs and his mother’s garden had spilled into the other side of the pool.
“Graham?” his mother called, “Yes ma’am?” He got up and finished his water before throwing it in the recycle bin and walking towards the grand staircase as she descended down like a queen. Her steps were light and airy, and she never rushed anywhere, rather had a smooth grace to where she made it in ample time, but never broke a sweat. He stood at the bottom and held out his hand to her, “You look beautiful, Mom,” she wore a gold pantsuit and her favorite pearl necklace and earrings. They were the ones that his father got her for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. “Thank you,” she smiled, radiating as always. He opened the door and helped her down the stairs to his truck, and he helped her inside.
The ride to the restaurant was smooth and when they arrived their table was already waiting on them. They sat down and Graham ordered them a bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon and their usual meal of lamb chops with frizzled herbs, asparagus, and potatoes. He sipped some of his and his mother just swirled hers around in her glass. Graham thought of the best way to approach the subject to his mother but decided to wait until she drank at least one glass of wine. The appetizer came and she still hadn’t spoken. His mother wasn’t one to not speak. If anything, she talked all the time. The silence worried him. “Is everything alright, Mom? You haven’t said anything since we got here.” She shook her head, “To be honest I’m a little upset,” she took a sip of her wine and placed her hands on the table.
She took a deep breath, “I’m pretty sure your sister has already told you, but she’s gone and found her biological mother,” Graham nodded his head, “She called me the other day and told me,” he didn’t seem to understand what the major deal was about that. She was 27 years old, and it was about time she at least figured out who her biological mother was. “I’m just not understanding the reason as to why you’re upset though,” He reached for his wine glass to take another sip, but it was empty. The waiter rushed over with the wine bottle, but he held up his hand, “Can I get a glass of water?” he knew drinking another glass would make him too tired to go home and pack after he dropped his mother off. “Well, she didn’t tell me until after she had already gone and done it.” He could see his mother beginning to pout. “Mom,” he started slowly as to not upset her anymore, “She’s an adult, and it’s completely her choice to go and find out who her biological parents are is a decision that belongs completely to her.” He spoke slowly, hoping she could understand what he was saying. “Well yes, I do understand that, but…” she trailed off. “Were you hoping that she would ask your permission to do it?” he hoped that wasn’t going to be his mother’s train of thought, or she was going to be upset with both of her children for the same reason. “Kind of,” his mother shrugged and took another big gulp of her wine. It was Graham’s turn to take a deep breath. “Well, I guess now is the perfect time to talk to you about this. I plan on searching for my biological parents, too,” His mother gasped and put her hand to her mouth.
He reached out and grabbed her hand, “Mom, this doesn’t mean that I love you any less, but what Collin said at your birthday dinner really resonated with me. I plan to have children one day, and I want to at least be aware of anything that could potentially get in the way of that or affect the quality of health that my future children could have.” She shook her head, “Collin is a doctor. I don’t know why he would tell you and Sophia that when you could easily both go and see a genetic counselor.” She pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. Graham could see that she was going to take the childish way out of this conversation. “I hope you understand that health is not just a matter of the physical being, it includes the mental part of you as well. I just want to be well informed. To at least be afforded to meet the woman that’s the reason that I’m in the world, and to know the circumstances of my conception would be a bit of closure for a lot of the questions that I have.” She unfolded her arms, “But Graham, you know why you’re here. You’re here because your father and I so badly wanted to have children, and we prayed many years for you.” He understood that, and that’s the same thing they told him when they first told him that he was adopted. It was a beautiful thing to tell a child, but he was a grown man and he wanted something more.
“Yes, Mom, I do understand that. And you and Dad are my only parents, but there are two other people out there who share the same genetic makeup as I do, and I want to put faces to those people. That’s it.” Before she could respond the waiter brought their food out. The plate was hot, and the steak was steaming, just like he liked it. “
Is there anything else that I can get the two of you?” the waiter asked. In unison they replied, “No thank you. That’ll be all.” The waiter walked away, and his mother cleared her throat. “Well, I just don’t understand why suddenly this is a big thing for the two of you. You don’t even have a girlfriend yet, so where is this coming from about you wanting to start a family?” Her words cut deep, and he decided to cut into his lamb chop instead of responding immediately. He put his fork to my mouth when she interrupted me, “Wait!” Graham met her gaze and looked up at her and put it in his mouth. The lamb chop tasted just as delicious as it always did. “What?” He picked up a piece of my asparagus and popped it in his mouth. She knew she had crossed the line, but he wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that.
“I’m sorry. That came off a lot harsher than I wanted it to. I just can’t believe that this is all happening so fast. When you all were younger you said that you weren’t going to do this, but it’s like all of a sudden both of you are so interested in doing this,” she picked up her fork and began eating. Graham wondered why she expected them to stay true to the same decision that they made when they were eighteen years old. Nobody should expect them to do that, and neither should she. As their mother, she had been there to witness all of the changes that they had gone through and they certainly weren’t the same people now that they were when they were teenagers.
“Mom, you do know that we were eighteen and thirteen years old. We barely knew how we felt about anything other than dinner and you expected us to hold true to a lifelong decision of not finding out who our birth parents are? You know that’s unfair to us, and I don’t know why you’re so upset with this when Dad always told us that it was strictly our decision.” Bringing up his father always created a sore spot with his mother. A sore spot within all of them. None of them had dealt with his death appropriately. It was something that they had all compartmentalized. He looked back down at his plate and they both continued eating. A tense silence fell on the table and the only sound made was the sound of their silverware cutting up their food.
