For the Love of You

by Donna Hill

  He was a grown, successful, independent man, but when he pulled up in front of his father’s palatial estate—his childhood home—he felt like a child again. He’d thought about calling first, but he knew that if his father wouldn’t speak to him, it would be the final break. After debating the wisdom of what he was about to do, he finally got out of his car and went to the front door.

  The last person he expected to answer was his father.

  “Dad.”

  The stunned expression on Jake Lawson’s face spoke volumes. The ten years since he’d last seen his father showed in the slope of Jake’s broad shoulders, the dimming of his once piercing gaze and the firm mouth that had softened.

  “Craig...”

  Did his voice crack with emotion, or did Craig only imagine it?

  “I, uh, was in town... I wanted to see you.”

  An uncomfortable silence hung between them.

  “I suppose you should come in then,” he finally said. He opened the door wider and stepped aside.

  Craig walked in, took a look around, and the past rushed at him like a speeding train, the good and the ugly. He turned toward his father, who still stood at the door.

  Jake extended a hand toward the living area. Craig led the way and took a seat on the couch. He rested his arms on his thighs.

  “Drink? Bourbon, if I remember.”

  “Thanks. Yes.”

  Jake walked over to the bar, and that’s when Craig noticed the slowing of his father’s once purposeful step. He was getting old. He had more years behind him than in front of him. The realization shook him.

  Jake returned with two glasses and handed one to Craig. He slowly lowered himself into an armchair.

  “I saw the write-up about you and this film of yours in the papers.”

  The corner of Craig’s mouth lifted in a smile. “Yeah, we’re just about finished.”

  Jake took a swallow of his drink.

  “I understand it’s about the family.”

  “Not entirely. It’s based on the family, or a family like ours, the struggle from nothing to prominence and success.”

  “I suppose you’ll be going back to Europe when you’re done.”

  “Not right away.”

  “Hmm.” He took another swallow. “So what brings you here after all this time...to see me?”

  Craig hesitated. What he was about to say could go either way. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, a lot of soul searching. I know that you don’t think much of what I do. I’ll never fully understand it, but I...want my father back. Life is so short. We’ve spent the past ten years not speaking to each other. Years that we can never get back. I’ve always respected you and all of your success, and I understand that you only wanted the best for me, for all of us. But I’m not you. I’ll never be you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to respect my dreams. And maybe, just maybe be happy for me, that I’ve achieved them. It’s what you taught me. Go after what I want. That has got to mean something, Dad.”

  Jake lifted his chin and looked away.

  “Just tell me. Now, finally. Why?”

  “It was your mother’s dream, too,” he said slowly, reaching back in time. “She was good. They said she could be great, and I was her biggest cheerleader.”

  Craig watched his father’s throat work up and down.

  “That night...of the accident. She told me she had a last-minute rehearsal and she’d be back late.” He pressed his lips together, and Craig could see the pain of the past race across his father’s face. “She didn’t have a rehearsal. She was with him.”

  “Him? Who?” His heart began to pound.

  “Her leading man.” He snorted a laugh. “They’d been having an affair for months. She was going to leave me—us.” His voice grew hard. “He was in the car with her that night. He was driving. She was killed on impact. He survived for about three hours.”

  “But you always told us that Mom was in the car alone,” he said, the shock not registering.

  “I did it to protect all of you. Back then there wasn’t all of his social media bull crap. Your uncle Branford pulled some strings and had the whole thing covered up. We couldn’t have that kind of scandal.”

  Craig felt sick. The vague image that he’d had of his mother was forever tarnished. Now it all made ugly, terrible sense.

  “I wanted to keep you as far away from that life as possible, and when you told me that you were going to be a filmmaker, all I could think was that it would take you away the same way it did her. It may not make sense to you. It may never make sense to you, but I didn’t want to lose you, too.” His voice shook. “But I did anyway. There was nothing I could do to stop you.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Dad? All these years.”

  “I...wanted you to keep the memory that you had of your mother, not the one that I had.” He hung his head. His shoulders shook with all the years of grief, and loneliness and loss.

  Craig jumped up and went to kneel at his side. He put his arms around his father and held him as he wept.

  * * *

  “Oh, my God, Craig, I’m so sorry,” Jewel said as she lay next to him in bed. She stroked his hair. “I can’t imagine what your father must have felt.”

  “He loved her. That I know for sure,” he said into the darkness. “I remember when I was little how he used to touch her and light up every time she came into the room, how he’d steal a kiss whenever he thought we weren’t looking. And I thought, I want to have what they have when I grow up. Humph—it was all a sham.”

  “I don’t believe that. I’m sure your mother loved him. She had three children with him, built a life with him. That has to count for something. Don’t dismiss that. Sometimes...things change and cloud our vision for a time, but it doesn’t make the past go away.”

  “I don’t know,” he said sadly. “Maybe you’re right. The worst part is he and I spent all this time being at each other’s throats when we could have been each other’s ally.”

  “Now you have the opportunity to work on things between you.” She paused. “There is one thing that I want to say, and then I’m going to let it go.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t shift the animosity that you felt for your father onto your mother. Forgive her. Remember the mother that she was to you. Don’t take on a new demon.”

  He turned fully onto his side to face her and ran his finger down the bridge of her nose. “How did you get so wise?”

  “My dad was a great teacher.”

  “I love you, Jewel Fontaine.”

  “I totally believe that.”

  * * *

  “I gotta run, baby,” Craig said the following morning. “Loose ends to tie up.”

  Jewel sat on the side of the bed and watched him get dressed. “When will you be totally finished?” she asked with trepidation.

  He stopped. “Tomorrow.”

  Her heart sank. “When were you going to tell me?”

  “Tonight.” He looked sheepish. He came to sit next to her. “I know I should’ve said something, but the moment I did, it would make it real. I kept thinking I could drag out the inevitable.”

  She pushed up from the bed and crossed the room. “We both knew you wouldn’t be here forever. It had to come to an end at some point.” She kept her back to him.

  Craig came up behind her. He slid his arms around her waist. “I promised you that we would work it out, that I’d find a way. I meant that.”

  She didn’t respond. He kissed the back of her neck.

  “We’ll talk tonight.”

  And then he was gone.

  * * *

  Throughout the day Jewel continued to remind herself that she was prepared for this. She’d known the day would come when he would have to go back t
o his life. She’d wanted to believe that somehow he could make the impossible possible, but if nothing else she was a realist. Their brief idyll was coming to a close. If their love was a script, she wondered how Craig would pen their ending.

  Then another reality pressed to the forefront. The money that she’d been paid for the use of the house wouldn’t last forever. It would get them through the summer and maybe early fall. Her small baking business, such as it was, wouldn’t fill the gap.

  She looked around at the canvases in various stages of completion, and an idea hit her. She went for her phone and called Mai Ling. They hadn’t spoken in months. Jewel was sure that Mai was tired of trying to convince her to get back to work, to put a small show together. Since the days of working as Jewel’s personal assistant, Mai had moved on to running her own publicity office. Mai knew the movers and shakers in the Big Easy and beyond.

  Jewel tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth as she listened to the phone ring.

  “Mai Ling and Associates. How may I help you?”

  “Hello. This is Jewel Fontaine. Is Mai available?”

  “Hold one moment.”

  Jewel had barely sat down when Mai’s voice screamed in her ear.

  “Jewel! Jewel! Girl. How are you? Oh, my goodness, I was just thinking of you. Are you okay? Dad?”

  “Everything is fine. How are you?”

  “Crazy busy. But I’d rather be busy with you, as you well know.”

  “Maybe you will.”

  “Wait...what are you saying? Don’t play.”

  Jewel giggled. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her friend. “I’m not. Do you have some time today to stop by the house? There’s something I want to show you, then we can talk.”

  “I’m putting the rest of my day on hold. Be there in a half hour.”

  “Mai, you are still crazy.”

  “Yep! See ya soon.”

  “’Kay.”

  Jewel disconnected the call, feeling better than she’d felt in hours. A new energy flowed through her veins, an excitement that she hadn’t felt in years. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. Mai would be brutally honest with her, that much she knew for sure. Then she would decide.

  * * *

  Mai must have taken a jet, because she’d made the thirty-minute trip in record time.

  “Oh, Jewel, it’s so good to see you,” Mai said, hugging her friend. She stepped back and held her at arm’s length. She angled her head to the side. “There’s something glowing around you. You got a new man?”

  Jewel tossed her head back and laughed. “We’ll talk over wine and lunch. But first...” She took Mai’s hand and led her out of the house and over to the studio. “I need you to be honest,” she warned before she opened the door.

  “Jewel,” she whispered, the reality of what was happening beginning to hit home. “You...you’ve been working?” Her sloped eyes grew wide.

  “Just come inside.”

  They stepped in, and Jewel came around the back of the canvas to the front. Mai followed.

  Her gasps were confirmation. Mai moved reverently from one canvas to the next. “My God, Jewel...these are magnificent.” She whirled toward her friend. “Phenomenal.” She turned back to the renderings. “They tell a story,” she said in awe, studying each one carefully.

  “It’s the story of Rendezvous With Destiny captured on canvas.”

  Mai frowned. “You mean the film that everyone’s been talking about?”

  Jewel nodded.

  “Yes! Of course, you had a front-row seat.”

  “These are some of the scenes from the film, but what I wanted to do was to recreate the feeling of the time as well.”

  “Girl, you did that in spades. These are... I’m at a loss. Tell me you’re going to show them.”

  “That’s what I want to talk with you about.”

  “Consider it done. You know I have my contacts. We won’t start off with anything big. Something local, to get the buzz going.” Her brows rose to peaks. “They would be perfect publicity for the film! Maybe we could partner with the production company. I’m thinking if you had them filming on your property, you have some kind of connection.”

  Jewel gave a sly grin. “Something like that.”

  “Now I need that drink. This could be major. I mean, really major.”

  * * *

  Jewel was on a natural high by the time Mai left. Her head was filled with limitless possibility. There was still so much more to do. For a show, even a small one, she would need at least five more pieces. They would need to be sealed and framed.

  She felt that she had purpose again. That what she loved about herself wasn’t really lost at all. And it took Craig walking into her life...and now walking out for her to find herself again. She supposed that even though there would be a void in her life once Craig returned to Europe, she would still have her art.

  This time she believed that she was made of more resilient stuff and could take whatever the critics threw her way without crumbling, plus she had Minerva in her life to help with her father.

  She took one last look at the row of renderings. She had her mojo back.

  Chapter 15

  “So what are you gonna do, man?” Anthony asked over drinks with Craig.

  Craig stared into his glass. “Been trying to figure it out.” He angled his head toward Anthony. “I can’t ask her to run around the world with me. She has her father to think about. And I can’t very well stay behind. We have projects lined up for the next two years.”

  “Yeah, and so where does that leave you?”

  “Screwed.”

  “Listen, plenty of folks have done the long-distance thing. If it’s meant to work out, it will. What is she saying?”

  “Not much. It was me that told her I’d find a way.”

  “Humph.” Anthony took a swallow of his drink. “Well, then, my brother, I suggest you get to finding a way.”

  “Thanks,” he said sarcastically.

  “Hey, I’m really glad to hear about you and your pops, man.” He clapped Craig on the back. “I know how much that thing between you ate you up, even if you didn’t admit it. Good that y’all made peace. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been to hear all that, and even harder for your pop to tell it to you.”

  “Yeah, it’s gonna take some time to get past it. But I’m planning to take Jewel’s advice and not shift my animosity from my dad to my mom. It’s a no-win situation.”

  “I hear that. Smart lady.”

  Craig half grinned. “Yeah.”

  “You know, if you need to, you can hang back a couple more days. I can take care of the crew and get started on the editing back in LA.”

  “Thanks, man. I might take you up on that. I’ll let you know in the morning.” He lifted his cell from the table and checked the time. “I’m going to cut out. Stop by and see Jewel.”

  “Cool.”

  They gripped hands and shoulder hugged.

  “See you in the morning,” Craig said and walked out.

  * * *

  On the drive over to Jewel’s place, he went through a dozen scenarios. None of them was going to solve their problem, and he wasn’t sure what would. When he rolled up to the front of the property, he called. She answered on the second ring.

  “Hey, baby. I’m out front.”

  “I’m at the cottage.”

  “Be there in a few.”

  At least she didn’t sound as upset as she’d looked this morning. If anything she sounded happy.

  Jewel met him at the door with open arms and a welcoming smile. “Hey,” she whispered and stepped into his arms.

  “Hey, yourself.” He squeezed her close.

  “Come on in. How did it go today?�
��

  “Good. It’s a wrap,” he joked.

  “I want to talk to you, and there’s something I need to show you.”

  She led him inside. On the evenings they spent at the cottage, Jewel made it a point to keep the canvases covered, insisting that she never showed anyone her work while it was in progress. It was partly true, but in this case she was more concerned about how Craig would feel about the work. If he felt that the art truly depicted his vision.

  They walked around to the front of the canvases, and one by one Jewel removed the cloths that covered them until all four were revealed.

  For several moments Craig was completely speechless. Slowly he walked back and forth in front of them. Then he spun toward her. His face looked as if it was lit from within. His eyes actually glowed.

  “Jewel, these pictures...they’re...”

  “Do you like them?”

  “Like them? I love them. They’re amazing, even more stunning than watching it on film. The way you captured the nuances of their expressions, the body language—they look as if any minute they’re going to walk off the canvas and into the room.”

  He looked at her with awe. “You are incredible. This is what you’ve been working on and hiding from me?”

  She grinned. “Yes. I didn’t know how they would turn out or how you would feel about them.”

  “You don’t plan to hide them in here forever, do you? You are planning to show them?”

  “That’s the part I wanted to talk with you about...”

  * * *

  Craig listened intently to what Jewel and her friend Mai had envisioned, and his own mind was on overdrive thinking of the collaborative potential.

  “We can do this,” he cut in before she’d finished. “I love the idea. We use your art as publicity for the movie and the movie as publicity for your art. It’s crazy brilliant, and I know it’ll work.”

  Jewel breathed a deep sigh of relief. “I wasn’t sure if you would go for it.”

  “Whatever can keep us and bring us closer together, then I’m all for it, baby. This may open up the doors to a whole new way of cross advertising, not to mention the business it will bring you.”