by Hope Stone
The four of us went on chatting about work and life. Laura had read an article on my company and its surprising profit margin. She asked why I didn’t tell them how well I had been doing. I made a point of looking in the direction that Mason had been sitting and said, “Some of us don’t like to gloat as much as others.” Laura and Ted laughed and I swear I heard my mother giggle a little.
At that point, we heard a loud crash coming from the kitchen and Anna’s voice yelling out. I got up and ran toward the noise. When I arrived, Mason had a red handprint on his face and was angrily shouting at Anna.
“What the hell? You’re just a dumb whore!” I walked into the kitchen as Mason was yelling, “You come on to me and then slap me? What’s that about?” He looked at me. “That’s some kind of woman you brought into our home, brother. A real money grabber… she just hit on me and then slapped me when I said no.”
Anna’s face was pale and she was shaking. “I swear, Alistair, that’s not what happened. I would never do that to you.”
Mason laughed, his voice filled with spite. “Are you two together? Wow, she’s a real piece of work. You really can choose them, brother.”
I went to Anna and put my arm around her, finding that she was trembling. “It’s okay,” I said to her calmly. “I don’t believe a word that man says.”
“He came on to me… rather forcefully… and I slapped him,” she said softly, still in shock.
My mother walked into the room, followed by Laura and Ted.
“Seriously? You’re going to take this whore’s side?” Mason spat.
“Yes,” my mother said softly. “Look at her, she’s shaken. And you’ve done this before. I try to ignore your behavior because you’re my son and it’s my duty to love you. But you make it extremely difficult. As much as Alistair didn’t want to plan this party for you… and as much as he put it off—yes I am aware that you put it off, Alistair—he still did it. Mason, the only person you care about is yourself. And I can’t support you anymore. I’m cutting you off, starting with this party, and on Monday I’ll be recalling all the loans I gave you for your business.”
“You don’t mean that, Mother?” he said, his face quickly going pale. “All because of that stupid gold-digging party planner?”
Chapter 15: Anna
Everyone stood in stunned silence as Ella explained that she’d been lending Mason money to keep his business afloat, but she wasn’t doing it anymore.
Angry and drunk, Mason stomped out of the room. Nobody ran after him. Instead, Alistair held me closer and Ella walked over to me.
“Are you all right, dear? I’m so sorry for what he did,” she said softly.
“I’m sorry about the scene. I swear, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I said, realizing that tears were streaming down my face.
“Of course you didn’t,” Alistair said. “You wouldn’t do that. You’re not to blame for any of this. You’re one of the most sincere and amazing people I’ve ever met.”
“You don’t have to say that,” I whispered.
“Yes, I do. Because it’s true and because I love you. I know that we’ve only known each other for a few days, but it feels like we’ve been together forever. I have never felt like this about anyone in my life before.”
And with that, he kissed me.
“I love you,” I whispered back.
Epilogue
One year, two months and 12 days later, Anna and Alistair were married. It was the perfect day and, for once, Anna attended a party that she hadn’t organized. In fact, it had been her assistant and Maid of Honor who had put together the most amazing wedding that anyone had ever attended.
The pair got married next to the waterfall where they had shared their first kiss. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining. It was a small ceremony with only close friends and family (although Mason was never again invited to a family function).
As they joined their lives together and said “I do”, Anna and Alistair couldn’t believe that they’d only met just over a year ago and through something as ridiculous as throwing an engagement party for his vile brother… a party that never ended up happening.
Thankfully, through word-of-mouth praise thanks to Ella Harrington, Anna’s business was now booming. She’d barely been able to take time off for the wedding. But even though their lives were busy, the happy couple always made time for each other. Because they were never happier than when they were alone together, in each other’s arms.
This was important because, unbeknownst to either of them, in a few months, they would find out they were expecting their first child. They’d have a daughter, named Lilly, and two years later, they’d welcome a son, Alex, into the world.
They were successful, they were in love, but most importantly, they were happy. Their little family meant the world to them. There was no better time of day for Anna and Alistair, than when they drank their morning coffee together and then had breakfast with their two wonderful children.
THE END
Bonus Book 1 - Billionaire’s Nanny
EXCLUSIVE BONUS BOOK!
Chapter 1: Dominic
“This could be a really important contract for us, Dominic. Young people nowadays really favor companies that are sensitive to…how do I put this…” Phillip Jameson drummed his fingers into his right knee for a few seconds and then stopped abruptly. “They favor companies that care about humanity…you know?”
“Of course I do,” I replied, glancing at my watch. I had to catch another meeting in an hour and if I didn’t leave right about now, I’d be late.
“Are you even listening to me?” Phillip queried, his thin lips already curling into a frown. Phillip Jameson was a longtime friend. The only childhood friendship of mine that had survived into adulthood. He worked as my PR manager now.
“I am listening,” I reassured him. “You said the Humans against Hunger group is looking to send some food to some third world country…and that they were looking into agro allied production companies…and that we should get behind the project as it would score us brownie points with the millennials.”
Phillip’s frown twitched into a half smile, the type he usually had when he wanted to chirp in something sarcastic. His lips parted slightly and then he shook his head, as if to shake the snarky thoughts away before relaxing into his chair.
“What?” I queried, even though I could guess what he was about to say. I could bet my entire net worth that he wanted to chirp about the fact that I was also a millennial. Barely.
He chuckled. “You say millennial as though you are removed from the group.”
Yeah, totally called it.
“This is not just any group.” Phillip’s attention returned to the topic on ground. “It has been recently listed as the go-to NGO for young people wanting to give back to the world. This is where most young people go…when they want to volunteer. And if we get behind this…you know, get them to give us most of the production deals, it’ll be good for our street cred.”
I glanced at my watch again. “I hear you…”
“That’s all you’re going to say?” he asked with furrowed eyebrows and a jaw clenched.
Getting to my feet, I patted his shoulder. “Why don’t we have this discussion at a later date in the office? In the meantime, l have a meeting and I’d not—”
“Daddy?” My words were interrupted by Millie. She was standing at the entrance of the door and clutching what I assumed to be another drawing in her hand. She was going to become a famous artist, my Millicent.
“Come here, sweetie.” I reached my arms out to hug to my six-year-old.
She half-walked, half-jogged into my arms and giggled as I swirled her around the room.
“How are you doing, Millie?” Phillip asked, rising to his feet and sauntering to the door.
“I’m fine,” Millie replied as she shoved her artwork in my face. It was a stick drawing of a man and a little girl in what looked like a farm. Farms had become a regular s
cene in her drawing ever since I explained to her that I was a modern-day farmer—the best explanation I could come up with at the time when she had asked what my job was.
“I’ll see you on Monday, boss,” Phillip said and made an exit.
“So this is us, huh?” I asked Millie as I exited the home office and made my way downstairs to look for my niece who had agreed to to watch her.
Millie nodded. “That’s me and you and that’s your farm.”
I chuckled and glanced at the drawing one more time.
“Carla, where are you?”
Millie’s face fell as I called for Carla. She knew I was about to hand her over to her cousin.
“Daddy, are you going in to work today also?” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice and it broke my heart.
“Yeah, baby…”
“Carla said normal people rest on Saturdays.”
“Really?”
She nodded.
“So do you think Daddy’s normal or..?”
“I thought we could play hide and seek or build a fort in the living room today,” she said, ignoring my question.
“Oh honey, we can…I won’t be gone for too long…just two hours and then I’ll be back.”
She buried her face in my shoulders and whispered, “That’s what you said the other day and you didn’t come home until evening.” She was really pulling on my heart strings, but I can’t blame her.
“This time will be different, okay? I promise.”
She didn’t reply and my heart sank even further.
“Carla?” I called out again as I approached the living room downstairs.
“Uncle Dominic…hey,” came the somewhat cautious reply.
When I got to the living room, I found her sitting near a freckled young man who was looking at anything but Carla.
I cocked my brows at her. “So, you’re messing around with…who are you, young man?”
“Patrick…Patrick, sir,” he stammered.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on the job?” I knew it was a little weird, making my eighteen-year-old niece babysit my six-year-old daughter. In my opinion, both of them needed babysitters. But Carla was being paid for her effort. She was making much more as a babysitter than many people made working full-time adult jobs. It was the only way I knew how to finance her impending college education. Her mother, my sister, was a proud woman, one of her few faults. She refused to ask or receive anything from me, without reason. She insisted on working for her own money and while her small business is profitable, it wasn’t enough to fund Carla’s tuition to a prestigious college.
“I have a life, you know,” Carla answered, staring at her feet. “I love watching Millie but we agreed that weekends were my days off…and that I could just chill.”
“Fine…but today I need you to watch Millie. Patrick, you’re out of here.”
Carla’s slightly embarrassed countenance morphed into an annoyed one. “You know I have enough money for college now, right?” She glanced at me and then looked away. “And I already got acceptance letters from Yale and Harvard. Next month, I’ll be going on a campus road trip with my mom.”
I sighed as I glanced at my watch. I was definitely going to be late for the meeting with Nancy, Millie’s mom. Not that she deserved my timeliness.
“So what are you saying?”
She scratched her neck and glanced back at me and then at Millie. “Maybe it’s time to get an actual babysitter or nanny for Millicent.”
I knew she was right. But it upset me a little bit. The idea of paying a stranger to hang out with my daughter. Millie deserved people who wanted to be with her because she was an adorable little girl. One could argue that it was the same thing as paying Carla to babysit but it wasn’t. Carla really does love Millicent.
“Fine…I’ll have my secretary look for a nanny. In the meantime, just look after Millie and keep in mind that, doing…you know what…” I used my hands to make the most child friendly allusion to sex that I could while still holding Millie. “…can lead to babies and having babies in college can be—”
“C’mon, Uncle Dominic,” she groaned and slapped her hands over her face. “Geez. I’m not a child.” At this point Patrick got up and headed for the front door. I didn’t blame him. Sex ed talks were always awkward, even if this was the most deficient sex ed ever. I was still prepping myself for the introductory talks I’d have to give Millie soon.
“Sex can lead to babies…you don’t have to use code words because of me,” Millie murmured and then asked to be put down. “Auntie Cecil told me.”
“Insightful,” I murmured and went to grab my car keys. My sister was already giving my child the birds and bees lectures. I didn’t know whether to be appreciative or worried.
“Okay, gotta run, ladies…stay out of trouble.”
After blowing air-kisses to Millie and giving Carla what I hoped was a ‘don’t-get-pregnant’ look, I left the house.
Chapter 2: Amelia
I shuffled as I scanned the crowd, looking for a potential client. Weekends were usually busy and were the times I made the most sales. I worked for a new cosmetic line and we had lots of product stands in various chain stores across the country. Since the product line and the company was a relatively new one, the sales representatives had to work extra hard at pushing the product.
My gaze settled on a young woman who looked to be in her twenties. She had on a pink knitted shirt and skinny jeans with a pair of boots. She looked to care about her appearance, unlike many other people who walked through the door of the mall.
I observed her as she perused the shelves and when it felt like a good time, I took a few steps toward her.
“Excuse me,” I said with a relaxed smile, like we had been taught during training, “I work for Au naturel skin care line. Are you familiar with it?”
She shrugged.
“Well, we have a stand right here”—I pointed to it—“and I was wondering if you’d like to check out some of our products.”
She stood there for a few seconds staring at my face, then looked at my name tag and said, “Sure, Amelia…why not? Your skin looks lovely.”
“Thank you.”
It was a marketing scheme: getting people with clear skin to market skin care lines. It wasn’t the company’s products that gave me clear skin; in fact, I barely used the samples they gave me. I had inherited my mother’s complexion…but that was hardly the stuff you said to a potential customer.
After asking a few questions, she settled for a hydration mask. As she left the stand, I scanned the crowd for other potential customers.
I was still a couple of thousands away from my monthly target and the last thing I needed was to be out of job. Last month, they had fired a sales representative for missing her sales numbers.
By the time I got home, the sun had already started to set. Settling into a seat on the balcony, I watched the sun sink out of sight until the last of the golden red streaks in the sky faded to black. As I watched the end of another day, I allowed my thoughts to return to the dreams I’d had when I moved to the big city.
I had dreamed of being an actress and had left my small town to go to Los Angeles in hopes of fulfilling that dream. That had been five years ago. I was approaching thirty and was yet to get my first role.
“Hey, roomie, wanna help me out?” my roommate’s shrill voice jarred me out of my thoughts. She was returning from her job as a waitress and was clutching a couple bags that I assumed were filled with food.
“Yeah.” I strode to where she was and took a few bags from her.
“So I have good news and bad news…which do I start with?”
“Good news, please.”
“Okay. I brought shrimp soup from work.”
I pumped my free hand upwards in appreciation of the free food. I had recently turned pescetarian and she tried to accommodate my new lifestyle when she planned our meals. “So, what’s the bad news?”
“Well,” she started
as we hustled into our apartment, “we are late on rent. The landlord called me at work to say if we don’t pay up, he’d have us evicted or something.”
She lowered the package in her hand onto the dining room table, walked over to the fridge and pulled it open and then started to load some of the groceries she had gotten into it.
“I know I’m late on rent but I should get paid soon,” I said as I lowered the bags I was holding onto the dining table. I couldn’t even look her in the eyes. This wasn’t the first time I had mentioned that I would pay my half of the rent and then failed to pay. The money I was making as a newbie sales representative was barely enough to stay afloat.
She pressed her lips together and said, “Yeah, let’s wait and see, huh?”
There was skepticism in her tone. I felt awful. If there was anything I hated, it was feeling like a leech and for a while that’s what I’d felt like. Rachel had been the one covering most of the meals and then the rent. Most of my money was spent commuting to work. I had recently left my job as a waitress because this job promised freedom of working hours and, for someone who still had hopes of becoming an actress and going for auditions, the job seemed heaven sent. It was marketed to me as something prestigious but the reality was far from that. Getting paid was a hassle as the sales representatives were paid commissions on each sale and had to write reports and fill out forms before our payment was released.
“Enough moping around. I’ll try and cover the rent for this month and you’ll pay me as soon as you get your money. Okay?” Her voice shifted back to the warm and high-pitched tone she usually had.
“Yeah, thanks…”
Chapter 3: Dominic
My stomach started to growl the moment I stepped into the restaurant. The air held the inviting smell of basil, garlic and smoked hickory wood. Gusto Bellisimo was the place to go if you wanted to have the best ossobuco and risotto…and it was the place I had met Nancy. She usually set up a meeting when she wanted to act like a caring mother to soothe her conscience. I often obliged because she was the mother of my child, after all, but this was the first time she was choosing this particular place as a venue for our ‘parental’ meetings.
