Legal Legacy (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles)

by Kimball Lee

  “Mother, what is up with you and your spray-on fountain of youth? I swear to God I’m gonna snatch that fucking atomizer away from you and run screaming down the street!”

  “I dare you to try, young lady, and I rather doubt that you could run anywhere.”

  “Oh my God! I try to love you, Mother, but how can I? I don’t even like you! What did I ever do to suffer your unending wrath? Was my father a garbage man who you screwed in the bushes once and now you can’t look at me without feeling severely ashamed?”

  “Amanda, I hate to burst your bubble but you and Alexander have the same father. I simply had an axe to grind with my philandering husband so I let him think otherwise.”

  “Ugh! You are the most insane woman who has ever walked this planet. Way to fuck up my life for your own selfish pleasure. By the way Mother, men do not find my curves the least bit undesirable. I happen to have a delectable love affair happening right here under your disgustingly perfect snooty snobby nose!”

  “With whom, pray tell? I’d pay good money to know who finds you the least bit attractive, Amanda. And please understand that I only say these things so that you’ll raise yourself up out of the quagmire that has engulfed you.”

  Bly walked into the media room where his mother and sister were bickering in their usual loving way. He had seemed almost buoyant in the months since Charlotte and Charlie had been living in the mansion, but now he looked deflated.

  “Christopher Tremont or McCall or who the fuck cares is here to see you Amanda. Charlotte’s leaving, if that matters to either one of you,” he said and his hand stopped before he brushed the hair from his forehead. He slumped into a wide leather chair and lay his head back, resting with his eyes closed, trying to release the tension before a full-blown migraine set.

  Ah, Charlotte. Why didn’t he just show her Finn’s letter and wipe those insane thoughts of Jude from her mind? It was clear that she loved him, it was there in her eyes now that she didn’t have the strength to conceal it. She fit so perfectly against him when they had curled together the night before, like she was a piece of him that had been missing and together they were whole, together they made sense. He had decided he would never show her Finn’s letter. If Charlotte loved him with all her heart and soul she would make the choice to be with him. He would live without her otherwise, he couldn’t simply be the man her late husband wanted for her. He wouldn’t settle for being her consolation prize, she had to decide for herself that to live without loving him was impossible.

  “Mother, Amanda, time for the both of you to go home,” he said without raising his head or opening his eyes, “I’m putting this ridiculous house up for sale, my broker will be here this afternoon, it’s time for me to move on.”

  *

  “Hey, Charlotte, how’s it going today? Something’s on your mind, what’s going on, is Bly being unhospitable?” Christopher asked when Charlotte stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek then led him into the sunroom.

  “No, of course not, Bly is great, he’s an honorable man. The maids are packing my things now and Charlie’s, too. I’m going home, I can’t think straight anymore. Why are you here, Christopher, are you and Dad still at my house or the cottage, it’s slipped my mind?”

  “Dad’s at your house but he’s ready to go back to New Orleans. You’d think he’d be done with worrying about women but he’s been back on this Evangeline kick and she’s driving him crazy. He stays in a constant state of agitation over their on-again off-again love life. Charlotte, I meant to tell you yesterday… I’ve slept with your friend Amanda, more than once actually and I think I’ve fallen in love with her.”

  “Christopher!” Charlotte said and wrapped her arms around his immense shoulders, “That’s the greatest news. Amanda and I have drifted apart lately but she’s my very best friend, I couldn’t be happier for you. What about her, have you told her you love her or asked how she feels?”

  “Well, I haven’t exactly said the words, but she seems to be happy, I’ve spent every night with her since I got into to town.”

  “Well hello lover,” Amanda said and she and Christopher were in entwined so fast and so completely that Charlotte might as well have not existed. They kissed so ferociously that after a while Charlotte felt like spraying them down with a water hose.

  It was definitely time that she went back to the real world, Charlotte decided, she was glad for Christopher and Amanda but she wasn’t up to witnessing a great love affair blooming before her eyes.

  “Amanda,” she said, “I had no idea, this is wonderful, good for you. I don’t mean to be a killjoy but I’m going home to my own bed and I’ve got to get back to work,” she said and she might as well have been talking to the furniture because the lovers didn’t stop kissing.

  *

  “No need for you to worry about your homestead, Charlotte. I’ve taken care of both your houses, my maids have put them in perfect order, and the gardener has been there every week,” Bly said louder than was necessary when Jude arrived to pick her up, he was pacing and more than mildly irritated. Charlotte thought he might be drunk and he was definitely primed for battle.

  Jude tossed a nonchalant thank you over his shoulder as he held the car door open for Charlotte and his hand slid to her lower back and rested there.

  The barely restrained anger in Bly’s sea-glass eyes blazed like a wild fire. He blocked the convertible Jaguar so that Jude had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting him. Then Bly jerked him out of the car and let him fall onto the flagstone driveway. But he didn’t want to piss Charlotte off to the extreme so he helped him up, dusted him off and shoved him back in the car. He wished him well and told him to behave himself with his widowed sister-in-law or he would cut his dick off and mail it to England where his Jaguar driving ass belonged.

  *

  That had been at the end of February and other than Charlotte waving from the porch when he picked up or dropped off Charlie they hadn’t seen each other since. Winter made way for spring and April arrived with gorgeous weather just in time for Atticus, Holden and Jack to graduate from BUD/S.

  “Is there any possibility I can get an appointment with you, Charlotte?” Bly asked, when Charlotte finally answered her phone. He’d tried to reach her for days but she was constantly in court. She had gone back to work at Finn’s law practice and she’d just hired two young attorneys to handle part of the case load. Charlie told Bly that his mother couldn’t concentrate on her work but she pushed herself to stay with it.

  “We should discuss plans for our son’s graduation party, Charlotte. It’s an achievement that calls for a celebration. He’s graduated with the highest score ever recorded at Naval Air Station Coronado, its truly amazing. He beat Finn’s score by two points, that bothered him a little but I told him that no one would be more proud than Finn. So can you meet me at my office in half an hour?”

  “Not unless I can get to the Starship Enterprise so Scotty can beam me up,” Charlotte said, and a surge of joy rushed through her over her son’s victory and the delight she heard in Bly’s voice.

  “Good, then you are free this afternoon. Are you at your office? Drive over to Citi Bank Tower and tell security you need to go to the Helicopter Pad on the roof. Billy will be there to pick you up in twenty minutes.”

  “Why do we have to meet at your office? I have to admit, the thought of trying to get comfortable while you sit behind your desk with that dangerous look in your eyes makes me nervous. It was enough to make me run from you when I was twenty-one, some things are better left alone Bly.”

  “You thought I looked dangerous? I was the one who was in real danger it turns out,” Bly said and she heard him laugh for the first time in months. The deep joyful sound caused an eruption of need at her very core and she hated to stir those feelings up. She was a widow, Finn’s widow and it was important not to forget that, not to betray him out of her own human weakness.

  “I want to watch as you walk across my office and sit down and slowly cros
s those mile-long thoroughbred legs. But that’s all, Charlotte, you are in no danger from me any longer. You’ve pledged your heart, or at least your body, to Jude, I accept it. It makes me sick, Jude isn’t half the man his was brother was. But, it’s your call and I’m done beating my head against a brick wall to make you see that I’m the part that’s missing from your life. So, come to my office, let me admire you since I’m a glutton for punishment and then we’ll take another Helicopter ride up to look at an excellent party venue in Santa Barbara.”

  *

  “Who is that?” Lucy Archer asked, pinning her security clearance badge to the front of her blouse. She shielded her eyes from the sun and stared as the tall black-haired sailor walked with long, confident strides and she sensed that beneath his control lurked a wild and reckless spirit.

  “Hmmm, you have a very good eye, that’s Atticus Hale. He’s the top of the heap, perfect scores across the board. The candidates who trained with him designated him the ‘Man of Honor’ for their graduating class,” the Chief Petty Officer said, her own heart beating a little faster as they watched him cross the quad. “He’s the son of Finnegan Hale, so he has the assassin’s gene, I suppose.”

  “I want him,” Lucy said and her voice belied her cold government agent composure.

  “You want him for your CIA Black Ops team or… personally?”

  “Maybe both,” Lucy said, she didn’t care what the Petty Officer thought, she wielded a hell of a lot more power than her lackluster tour-guide.

  “Rumor has it that he’s in love with a model and he would never leave the teams without his brother.”

  “Well, the art of persuasion has helped me rise quickly in the CIA, it’s my specialty,” Lucy smiled a small wicked smile. “Is his brother as enticing as he is? If so, things could get very interesting.”

  An intel-secure conference room had been made available for Lucy to interview potential recruits into the CIA’s elite Special Activities Division. Lucy waited for Atticus Hale and when he walked in and shook her hand her tough-as-nails bravado deserted her. He had an undeniable presence for such a young man, incredibly tall with bulging muscles that were incredibly chiseled from months of intensive SEAL training. His face was beautiful, there was no other way to describe it, square jaw, wide sensual mouth, an enticing dimple in his chin that made her sweat. But it was his eyes that held her and made it impossible to look away. They were large and sincere and the most heart-stopping shade of deep sapphire-blue that she’d ever seen. Looking into them she felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her and she had the distinct feeling that she might never recover.

  “Atticus Hale,” he said taking her hand in a firm grip, so that she felt as if an electrical current had passed between them. “What do you and the CIA want from me, Ms. Archer? If it’s dangerous, I’m interested.”

  *

  The party for Atticus was a huge success although Skyler hadn’t attended and Bly was certain that her absence caused Atticus pain. And trouble seemed to be brewing between Holden and Hadley, she thought perhaps Holden should be done being his brother’s keeper but Holden had fallen in love with the challenging rigors of military life. He and Atticus and Jack were heading to Virginia for advanced warfare and foreign language immersion. They had earned the coveted SEAL Trident but training was an ongoing process and although they weren’t allowed to say which, each of them had been assigned to a specific SEAL Team.

  Charlie liked his uncle Jude just fine but he loved and trusted Bly just as his dad had predicted he would. Finn and Charlie had talked things over man to man when they kicked the soccer ball for hours on end. Finn had said that it was an excellent thing to love Alex Bly, he was a part of Atticus and that made him part of Charlie as well. He told Charlie to be happy for the time spent with Bly, it was a bonus to have two loving fathers, he only had to ask Atticus about that. Finn had also said he wanted Charlie and Charlotte to let Bly be a part of their lives if it felt right, if they could make an extended family with him, they should take the leap and live happily. Charlie missed his dad and there was a dull ache with every beat of his heart. It felt like someone was pressing on a bruise when he remembered Finn’s voice and his laugh and his clean familiar smell. He kept a picture of his dad with him all the time and he studied it, his small fingers tracing over the tattoos, recalling what each one stood for. His dad was younger in the photograph, standing on a beach wearing only baggy swim trunks. Charlotte stood beside him in a bikini with a huge smile on her face and Finn had one arm around her pulling her close. He held a trophy in the air that he’d won in a surf tournament, and on his face and in his eyes, was a look of victory so complete it was dazzling to behold.

  Life moved forward and for better or worse traditions were set aside and family gatherings were postponed and then forgotten. There hadn’t been another Thanksgiving in Surrey or Christmas on the ski slopes. June passed with only Amanda and Christopher spending time in Pass Christian. Jude had moved permanently to his house in San Clemente and Charlotte spent evenings and most weekends with him while Charlie opted to spend his free time with Bly.

  When the anniversary of Finn’s death had passed Jude felt it was time to ask Charlotte for a commitment. They’d been dating so to speak but she they hadn’t been intimate and Charlotte turned away each time he made a move to kiss her. She had made up her mind to try and love Jude, but her heart wasn’t cooperating. She felt him growing impatient, he hadn’t pushed for more than she could give but now he was ready, it was just so obvious.

  He asked her to meet him at their favorite restaurant for brunch on a busy Friday and when she arrived it was closed but the maitre’d escorted her to a table where Jude waited. The table flickered with candlelight, two glasses and a bottle of champagne sat amidst an array of vases spilling over with white roses. She opened her mouth to speak but he covered her lips with his and kissed her long and hard then he stepped back and slipped a ring on her finger. She was stunned by the look of triumph on his face and the kiss left her cold and uncomfortable.

  “Marry me, Charlotte, I can make you happy and I love you. Maybe not like Finn did, but truly and in my own way. It’s always been you for me from the first moment we met,” Jude said. “Who else is there going to be? Bly? Won’t that be a bit like cheating on Finn with his rival?”

  Charlotte looked around at the perfect setting, the white roses were exactly like those that Bly had given to her in the very beginning. Bly had loved her with an unwavering passion from the first moment they met. He had forgiven her for every scar she left on his heart, he had shared her and their child with Finn, and still his love continued, solid and unbreakable.

  She twisted the ring from her finger and laid it on the table, then she plucked a rose from its stem and breathed in the heady fragrance. She began to laugh at the simple truth of it all. All the years, and love and tears, the happy times and the low times that she and Finn and Bly had in their own unique way, shared.

  “Finn and Bly weren’t rivals, Jude, they were soldiers in the war of love, and I was the country they were fighting for. Not fighting each other at all, just fighting to insure that I was happy and our children were safe and well loved. I’ve never betrayed either of them, just as they never betrayed me by loving any other woman. We were three people where there should have been two, but that wasn’t the hand we were dealt.”

  “Charlotte, my love…” he started and before he could say another word she slapped his face not once but twice.

  “I’m not sure what Finn was trying to tell me at the end, and I think that wherever he is now the petty happenings of our lives don’t concern him. He sees the big picture, he knows we’ll all join him eventually and it will be all about love in its purest form. I do know this for sure, Alexander Bly waited patiently and valiantly for me. Loving him for the rest of my life is his reward. Not so much a reward but it’s the way it should be, and not because it’s the logical choice or because Finn would want it that way. I’m sure Finn realize
d that Bly’s love was the same as his, pure and untainted. They each loved one woman and I loved them, and I’ve wasted too much time now, here’s the truest truth I know… I chose Bly because I love him. I love him, and it’s bigger and grander than anything I will ever feel for the rest of my days,” she took a deep breath and said “Wish me luck!” and then she left him there speechless and went to do what she had to do.

  *

  She drove to Bly’s estate and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The ornate security gates stood open and three huge moving vans were being loaded with furniture from the house. She parked her car and wandered through the empty rooms, the tip-tap of her heels echoed around her and a harsh shock of emptiness filled her with dread.

  “Charlotte, I’m surprised to see you, Alex thought you might have left for Vegas by now,” Billy Kipling said, and then he yelled at the movers to be more careful with the grand piano.

  “No, why would I go back to Las Vegas? Maybe to try and lose the money Finn won? Money that I just recently found in my savings account? I live an insane life, Billy, I called Bly a few days ago to ask him why he had made a deposit of thirty-two million dollars and my banker backed him up when he said Finn won that money the night we were in Vegas. Yes, my life is definitely fucking bizarre and out of control. But I’ve made up my mind to put things in order. So what’s all this, is Bly redecorating?”

  “He sold the estate, he’s already gone, everything in the house other than the art and family portraits are going on the auction block.”

  “You have got to be kidding, why would he sell the house, where is going, why didn’t he mention this to me?” Charlotte asked and she could feel panic coiling in her stomach, tightening its powerful grip.