by Claire Adams
“Noah painted something that looked a lot like this after our trip to Hawaii. It had the blue as the waves and red as the sky. I lost it, though. He painted it before he got sick, and we didn’t save it. If we had known he would get sick, I’m sure Rose and I would have saved every single thing he had ever done while at school.
“Anyways, when I saw it at the show, I just had to have it. I actually have never spent that much on anything, especially a piece of art. I was just moved to buy it.”
“I see how it could look like the ocean. I bet this is very meaningful to you. That’s what I think art is supposed to be. I know some people just collect paintings because they are popular or the artist is the latest thing. But to me, art should be about the emotion that the work evokes in you. Especially if you’re going to be spending this kind of money on it.”
“I could sit on the couch and stare at it forever. It really does remind me so much of Noah, but not in a sad way. It’s more like I feel his presence and he’s watching over me. It makes me feel calm just standing here in front of it. Maybe I’ll even be able to go back to Hawaii someday and the beach that inspired Noah’s painting.”
“I’d love to take Connor to Hawaii someday; he’s always wanted to go there. Probably because I’ve always wanted to go,” I laughed.
“I would really like to meet your son someday. I don’t want to rush you, and I don’t mean that I should meet him right away. I don’t even know if I’m ready to meet a little boy after losing Noah, but I do know that I want to continue seeing you, and that means I want to know your son and love him as much as I can.”
“That sounds like a very reasonable plan. But…” I said as I pulled away from him. “I think it’s only going to happen if you can keep your promises. Don’t you agree that it’s very important for people to keep their promises?” I smiled as I lured him into what I was going to say next.
“I always keep my promises.”
“Then get to work on that massage,” I laughed as I turned around and pressed my back up against him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he swept me off my feet and threw me onto the couch.
It was so much fun to be with Brandon. He made me feel like I was young and carefree again. Being around him had my heart fluttering and my face smiling like I’d thought I’d never have the chance of experiencing ever again.
His lips explored every inch of my body as we lay together in his living room. Each touch of his hands, each kiss of his lips made me fall more and more in love with him. As his hands explored me, I felt comfortable in my skin, more so than I had felt in a very long time.
It was weird to have the word love on my tongue after only knowing Brandon for such a short time. I knew it was odd and tried not to think about it, but as we moved together, I knew the truth. I did love him, and I’d love him for as long as he’d let me.
Brandon and I had bonded so much in our short time together that I couldn’t wait to explore what would be next for us. But in that moment, I just wanted to feel the pleasure he could give me. We made love on his couch for hours and hours as our bodies melted together into one.
Life hadn’t been easy for me. It had thrown me some wild and crazy turns.
I certainly hadn’t expected to find love while working at a dating company and I hadn’t expected for one date to turn into the amazing feelings that I had toward Brandon. But there we were: two hurt humans who had found each other and healed each other.
Epilogue
Brandon
“If we hurry, we can catch the sunset,” I urged as we got into the car that was waiting for us at the airport.
“Brandon, if you hadn’t been on that call with your new business partners, we would have gotten off the plane in time to get over here,” Delilah teased me as we had the driver head to the beach. “Don’t blame this on me. I had all my shoes packed and ready to go on time.”
“Mom, where are we going?” Connor asked.
Connor had done fantastically on our flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu. It was a long flight over a lot of water and I wasn’t sure how well he was going to handle it. Delilah had told me that he was afraid of planes and even had a nightmare the night before because he thought our plane was going to crash.
As soon as the plane took off though, Connor seemed to relax as he cuddled between Delilah and I, and we had a smooth flight. It probably didn’t hurt that I had splurged on a private jet – it was nearly impossible not to be comfortable on one of those. I didn’t like to waste money, but if it was going to make him comfortable, I was willing to do it. In fact, I would do almost anything for that boy.
Delilah and I had been dating for several months and my time with Connor had really helped me grow as a man. I’d been so caught up in the loss of Noah that I worried I wouldn’t be able to be around Connor, but I loved being around him. He was fun, and we played and got along great. He taught me all about his favorite animal, the squirrel, and I taught him about throwing a baseball and how to hit off a tee for his tee ball league. We had without doubt become buddies, which was a huge relief for me.
“We are heading to the beach before it gets too dark to see the sunset. Remember that really cool picture at Brandon’s house? The blue and red one that is in the living room?” Delilah said as she held Connor’s hand.
“The giant one? Oh, man, I love that painting. I like the blue side better than the red, though.”
“Yeah, we are going to see the beach that reminds Brandon of his son Noah and the painting he made at school. Remember I told you the story of how Noah had painted a picture that looked almost exactly like that painting on the wall?”
“Oh, that’s awesome. I can’t wait to see it. Will there be those mean words on the red part, though? I don’t like those.”
“No, there won’t be those. It’s going to look a little different than the painting, but I know you’re going to love it.”
“You know I’m really sorry I had to take that business call. I’m just so excited about this new company,” I said to Del as our driver made his way down the coast and toward the beach we were heading to. “Things are really going fantastic, and we are turning a profit already. It’s almost unheard of to be profitable at this early in the business.”
“Oh, honey, I know. I’m just teasing you. You take all the time you need. I’m really excited about your new company, too. It’s going to be huge. After all those cyber-attacks that have been going on, a company that truly can help keep people’s information safe is exactly what businesses are looking for.”
Delilah and I had come up with the best idea for a new dating company. Not only would it have state-of-the-art technology, but we hired the best of the best to incorporate the most top of the line security available. Customers could trust that their intimate information was safe and nothing was going to happen to it.
Luckily, the company had been doing great and within the first few months, we had seen huge growth. Not only had our clients doubled, but our advertisers loved the concept and we were gaining more revenue than any of our competition. We had a winner already and it was hard not to be excited about the whole thing. I needed a business to run and couldn’t have stayed home without work another week longer.
“Are we almost there?” Connor asked as it started to get dark in the car.
We had been traveling almost all day long. Between getting packed and driving to the airport, then flying and sitting on the tarmac in Hawaii, Connor looked exhausted. It was a lot to expect he could stay up too much longer, but I hoped he’d at least make it to see the sunset.
“Yep, we are getting close. Keep your eye out over there. Soon the waves will look like the blue from the painting and the sky will look like the red, but without the words,” I said softly to him.
I loved Delilah’s son like he was my own. It had been hard at first to be around him because he reminded me so much of my Noah. Not that they looked alike or anything like that, just his innocence and joy when he looked at the
world.
I really had been terrified that I wouldn’t be able to handle the job of being any sort of father figure to Connor. Luckily, Connor had made the transition flawless for me and my fears quickly died down.
“You’re doing great with him,” Del said as she grabbed my hand. “He really likes you. I think sometimes he even likes you more than he likes me. That’s pretty darn good for being the new guy in his life.”
“I feel like I’m doing it all for the first time again. You would think I’d remember how this whole thing worked. Sometimes I think I sound like the lamest old guy on earth.”
“Well, it’s different with every kid. There’s no real way to know if you’re doing it right or not. I guess we will just have to see how much therapy he has to go through when he becomes an adult.”
We both laughed at the thought of Connor someday being an adult. I’d only known him a few months, but I really had started to bond with him. He was a funny kid and so much like Delilah. He was turning six soon, and I hoped we would continue to get along as he made his way to adulthood, although I certainly couldn’t imagine that day ever coming.
“We are here,” the driver said. “I’ll stay here and wait for you. Take your time.”
“Oh, Brandon, it looks just like the painting,” Del said as we got out of the car and went to the beach to sit for a minute.
She was right: it did look just like the painting. I could hardly move as I took it all in.
Of course, it was different because it was real and not an actual painting, but I flashed back to when Noah had given me his version of the sight and how excited he had been. His eyes had lit up and he was so proud of the work. I could tell this spot and our trip to Hawaii had meant a lot to him.
“Yeah, even more beautiful than I remember it,” I managed to say as I held back my tears.
“I wish you still had Noah’s painting, but I’m so glad you bought the one you did. I can just imagine what his painting looked like and what it must have meant to you.”
“This moment means so much to me, Del. This is what I want for my future, for our future. I want you and I want Connor. We both have pasts, and I don’t want either one of us to have to forget about those, but I want to go to beautiful places and sit on beaches and make memories together, the three of us.
“Delilah Hunter, will you marry me?”
The words hadn’t been planned at all. I didn’t have a ring and I hadn’t talked to her family, but as the emotion of the moment hit me, I couldn’t let it pass us by. I was done living in the past and ready to live in the future with Delilah and Connor. My heart raced as I waited for her to give me some sort of answer. I even slid down to one knee and looked up at her hoping that she would say yes.
“I don’t know. What about Connor? I haven’t talked to him yet about this. I should probably…”
“Mom, say yes, he loves you,” Connor said as he turned around from looking at the sunset and came to stand next to me.
“Thanks, man,” I said as I gave him a fist bump and pulled him next to me. “See, we are a team.”
“Well, then… if my little man here is on board, then my answer is definitely yes.”
“Yes?” I asked to verify. “Dude, did your mom just say yes to marrying me?” I whispered as I kneeled next to Connor and gave him a hug. “I think she really did say yes.”
“Yep, she did.”
“Yes. I said yes, you silly boys!”
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BILLIONAIRE AND THE AMISH GIRL
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Claire Adams
Chapter One
Grace
When I walked out of the front door of my apartment building, I realized that this morning was one of those perfect, Chicago summer mornings. The temperature was warm, the humidity was low, and the whole city was awash in the lush greenery that made slogging through the cold, wet winters totally worth it. I smiled as I smoothed my new, red sheath dress and bent to wipe a bit of dirt off of the matching pumps I'd bought on my last trip to my favorite boutiques on Michigan Avenue. I dug into my bag, looking for my sunglasses, and quickly found them, then checked to make sure I had the presentation I was drafting for next month's meeting. When I was certain that everything was where it was supposed to be, I turned and headed toward the L, breathing deeply and feeling cheerfully optimistic.
A half an hour later, I stepped inside the large, glass and steel office building where I worked as a CPA for a large tech company. I stopped for a moment and thought about how far I'd come and how different my life was from my rural upbringing in northern Indiana. When I was a child, I couldn't have imagined living in this city or working at a job like the one I had now. The only thing that I had known back then was scripture and dutiful service to the community.
I shook my head, trying to let go of the memories that hovered in the recesses of my mind as I waved at Gertie, the security guard who sat watching the front desk, and headed for the bank of elevators that would take me up to the 37th floor.
I punched the up button and thought about how I loved my family and missed them all terribly, but from the time I was a young child, I knew that following the traditions of the Amish had never felt right to me. Thankfully my parents had been accepting of my differences and had supported me when I announced that, after my rumpspringa, I'd chosen not to be baptized, but instead would be applying to the University of Chicago so that I could pursue a degree in finance.
The car arrived and I stepped into it, holding the door for a man who was consulting a piece of paper before choosing a floor. I smiled and recalled how the next spring, against all odds, I'd received a letter of acceptance from UC and an award from the Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund covering the cost of tuition and room and board for all four years. That summer, my sister Faith got engaged to Samuel Yoder and I spent the entire time before I left for college helping plant celery and get the house ready for the October nuptials. I felt sad that I'd be missing out on such a happy celebration, but Mamm reassured me that there would be others and that I would always be welcome in our family home.
We stopped on the 25th floor and the man got out. I recalled how tensions rose in the community when word got back to the bishop of our district who also happened to be my father's older brother. He'd warned Dat and Mamm that if I left, I'd not be welcome back in the church unless I agreed to be baptized. Dat had stood firm against the edict and told his brother that all of his children, baptized or not, were welcome in their own home at any time. My uncle didn't take the news well and it made things tense when I'd return home for a visit.
The elevator dinged as I reached the 27th floor, and when the doors opened, I found myself standing face to face with my boss, Mike Killian.
"Good morning, Mike!" I said as I waved and headed toward my office.
"Morning, kid," Mike grunted as he sipped from a Styrofoam coffee cup and scanned the screen of his phone. "Oh, hey, Grace, I need to talk to you about the New York presentation. Come by around ten, will you?"
"Sure thing, Mike," I said as I pushed open the glass doors that led to the front lobby of Riser Tech. "I'll drop my things off and come down to your office." Mike simply nodded before disappearing into the elevator.
I said good morning to the front desk staff and then headed back to my own office, tucked away in the back of the accounting department. The year before I had been promoted and made assistant to the director of auditing. Our department examined potential new client accounts and reconciled the books before Riser Tech did any business with
them, and then advised them on what technology they'd need to adopt in order to complete a seamless transition with the Riser Tech team who would manage their IT needs. Riser Tech had suffered a major blow the year before when it took on a client who was not entirely solvent. The company then went bankrupt after we'd signed all the contracts. Now that Riser was poised to merge with Mija-Walco, the CEO and executives who all worked on the 28th floor had made it a priority to avoid repetition of the mistake and had spent time formulating a plan to prevent it from ever happening again. I was now part of a six-member team whose sole focus was vetting clients and laying out their options.
I spent the better part of the morning reading and responding to email as well as dealing with questions from the accounting staff that ran reports for our team. I had just finished putting together a presentation that I was scheduled to make later in the week when the alarm on my computer went off letting me know it was time to get down to Mike's office. I saved the file I was working on and grabbed the file on the Mija Oil account and headed out.
"Mike?" I said tapping lightly on his door as I peered into his office. He was on the phone and waved me in pointing toward one of the chairs across from his long desk. I crossed the room and took a seat facing the floor to ceiling glass windows that overlooked the Chicago River. No matter how many meetings I attended in Mike's office, I never lost the sense of awe and wonder I felt the first time I looked out those windows and saw the sunlight sparkling on the water. Mike joked about how they'd put him in this office because it was out of hearing range of anyone who mattered, but the reality was that he worked harder than anyone else at the company and spent more time at the office than he did at home. This office, and every piece of uniquely crafted furniture and artwork in it, was Mike's reward for a job well done.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," he said nodding impatiently as he looked at me and rolled his eyes dramatically. "I will. New York will be the shit, I promise, Big Guy. Okay, gotta run! Yeah, you, too. Bye!"
