by Tina Martin
Her father frowned and dipped his head back. “Asheville? So that’s where this guy—a guy we don’t know—is from, I take it.”
“Yes, Dad. Kurt lives in Asheville.”
“Which means, you’re going to be moving there—leaving your family behind for a man you’ve known for six short months...”
“Dad—”
“How can a man prove himself in six months? How can you trust somebody after six months?”
“Wow…such a double standard. Did you ask Bryson the same thing when he married Kalina? They didn’t know each other all that long.”
“Bryson is my son. I know him.”
“And you know me, but since I’m a woman I’m held to a different set of standards?”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all and I’m sorry if you think it’s coming across that way. As your father, I want to make sure you’re well taken care of. I think it’s my right and I don’t know this man. He didn’t come to me and ask for your hand in marriage. Back in my day, a man didn’t marry a woman without asking for her father’s blessing. It’s a sign of respect.”
“You assume that’s his fault when it’s not. He wanted to do all that. He wanted to talk to you. He wanted to have a traditional wedding. I’m the one who didn’t want those things. Look, all you need to know at this point is I love Kurt and I know he’s a good man.”
“Then if you love him so much, why don’t we know anything about him?” Elowyn asked.
“I want you to know him, Ma. In fact, the next time he comes to Wilmington, I would like to introduce him to both of you. Maybe we can sit down and have dinner and talk about this.”
“What’s there to talk about? You already married the boy now,” her father said, then stood up and walked away from the table, leaving the rest of his food. Apparently, news of his daughter getting married made him lose his otherwise ferocious appetite.
All the life drained from Candice’s face when she looked at her mother.
“What can I say, dear? We’re worried about you. And you know he is. You’re his only daughter.”
Candice’s face warmed over with irritation. “Why does everyone keep saying that? I’m aware I’m the only girl in this family. Trust me. It’s been stamped into my head so many years of how I’m supposed to follow a different code of conduct than my brothers.”
“Not necessarily.”
“There’s no need to deny it because it’s true, mother. That’s why I married Kurt without talking about it with anyone. I needed to do what was right for me without seeking anyone’s approval.”
Elowyn pushed her plate aside. She was done with her meal, too. “Okay, so at this point, it’s already happened so there’s no use in dwelling on what’s already been done. So tell me about him.”
Nervous and all, Candice still couldn’t hide the smile that glowed on her face or the slight wetness in her eyes. “He’s amazing, mom. You know I wouldn’t just marry any old guy.”
“What makes him amazing?”
And so the interrogation begins…
She pinched the small tear from her eyes and said, “He’s an overall good man.”
“Has he ever been married?”
“No, he’s never been married.”
“Does he have kids?”
“Definitely not! I couldn’t handle a man with kids.”
“Does he work?”
“Yes. He works. He’s a marketing manager at a major corporation in Asheville,” she said, hoping to leave it at that.
“What corporation?” Elowyn pressed.
Candice turned around to see if her father was any where in sight or earshot of them and when she saw that he wasn’t, she looked at her mother again and responded, “He works for The Champion Corporation.”
“The Champion Corporation…why does that name sound familiar?”
“Because it’s—” She hesitated to tell her for obvious reasons, then decided she was going to be transparent about her relationship with Kurt. She didn’t want to hide anything that could come back to look suspicious at a later time when her family finally did find out. And they would find out. “The Champion Corporation is the company who wants Blackstone to merge with them.”
“Wow. And you’re dating a man from that company?”
“No. I’m married, mom.”
“Right. Married…” Elowyn shook her head. She didn’t have to verbalize her displeasure. Candice could read through the lines, but at least her mother didn’t get up from the table and give up on the conversation like her father had done. She was surprised by that. She was a daddy’s girl. They could usually talk about anything and being the youngest, she always felt the closest to her parents, but the news of her marriage sent him over the edge.
“When your father finds out about this, he’s going to hit the roof.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think, Candy? Your new husband works for a company that wants to basically dissolve Blackstone Financial. And besides all that I—I still can’t believe you’re married. It all happened so fast.”
“It wasn’t fast. It just seems that way to you because I’m just now telling you about this. What I need from you and dad is to trust my judgment. Trust that you raised a daughter who followed her heart and is doing what she thinks is right for herself without anyone else making her decisions for her. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Of course that’s what I want, but I have to be honest with you. I feel like you’ve gone about this all wrong—well, not wrong but, you know—not the way these things are typically done. It could’ve been handled a lot better.”
“I know and—” Candice sighed. “I know it’s going to take some getting used to but what’s done is done. Kurt is my husband and he’s always going to be my husband.”
“When are we going to meet him?”
“Soon. I’ll talk it over with him to see when we could make it happen.”
“Good. In the meantime, I’ll try to calm your father down a little.”
“Thanks, Mom. I appreciate it. I’m sorry I came here and ruined your dinner.”
Elowyn stood up and walked around the table to hug her daughter. “You didn’t ruin anything. You just shook us up. That’s all. What I do know is, this Kurt fellow better live up to the hype.”
“You’ll love him. Trust me.”
Chapter 7
Kurt loved his job. Working for The Champion Corporation brought him financial stability and afforded him to live comfortably in Asheville. He had a nice, four-bedroom house with a two-car garage. He lived in a gated community that came with a pool, playground and tennis courts and whenever he wasn’t home, he had the financial freedom to access all the city had to offer. But now, things were different.
Loyalty to his wife took precedence over the job. That’s why when Dante Champion, CEO of the company, called a meeting this morning, he didn’t want to attend but knew he had to. No one turns down Dante Champion’s meeting requests, plus, as a manager, he needed to be kept in the loop of what was going on with the company. Still, Kurt found himself checking out. He’d especially checked out when he heard Dante say, “I’m calling Tennyson and Savannah off the investigation into Forsyth and Blakeney. I don’t want any parts of it. Quite frankly, I’m getting tired of dealing with it.”
Tennyson Tillman and Savannah Champion were the two lawyers who worked for the corporation.
“Wait—what investigation?” Kurt asked.
Desmond spoke up to say, “Dante wanted Tennyson and Savannah to look into the details of Forsyth’s acquisition of Blakeney. If you recall, shortly after they acquired them, they dropped them. That’s when we picked up Blakeney.”
Kurt nodded.
“Ay, have you already made them aware of this?” Dimitrius Champion asked his brother. He handled the accounts for the company.
“No, but I will immediately after this meeting is over,” Dante answered.
“I know there are certain things around here that are well
over my pay grade,” Kurt said, “But me and Desmond have been working to acquire Blackstone for a while. How did I not know about this Blakeney investigation?”
“It was probably just an oversight, Kurt,” Dante replied. “Besides, I’m calling it off before it ever started, so no harm, no foul.”
Desmond spoke up to ask, “Then what direction are we going with Blackstone because I’ll be honest—this is getting out of hand. Maybe we should let them be.”
“I agree that it’s getting out of hand,” Dante responded, “But as for letting them be, no. I say we take another crack at them. I don’t want to hear any more talks of merging. Let’s change the dialogue to buying them out. We have their biggest client. Why can’t we buy them as well?”
Kurt had to literally bite his tongue to keep quiet. If he said he thought it was a bad idea and they found out he was married to Candice, they would know right away that his answer was based on personal reasons and not the best interest of the company. If he said he thought it was a good idea, he would be doing harm to Blackstone Financial and he couldn’t do that to Candice. He was stuck in the middle of all of this.
Desmond looked at Dimitrius before they both returned their gazes to Dante.
“Why the change of heart?” Desmond asked.
“I need this to be over so we can focus our energy on other pursuits.”
“They’re plenty of finance companies around, though, Dante,” Dimitrius said. “Why are you zeroing in on this one?”
“For the reason I just stated. We already have their biggest client and while there are plenty of other finance companies we could go after, Blackstone is fairly large in size and has a massive potential for growth. Plus, I get the feeling Blakeney would rather do business with Blackstone.”
“If that’s the case, why’d they leave them in the first place?” Kurt asked.
Dimitrius chimed in to answer, “Because Blackstone doesn’t have the new technologies that most of their competition offers.”
“That would leave a lot of people out of work, wouldn’t it?” Kurt asked.
“Not necessarily,” Dante replied. “We can bring them all on board. They can still work out of Wilmington and after brainstorming earlier, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to open up an office in the Raleigh-Durham area.”
“I don’t know about this,” Desmond said. “It sounds like a huge undertaking.”
“Then what do you suggest.”
“I think we may need to back off and let Blackstone be. We go our way and they go theirs. Me and Kurt have already been down this road. Barringer Blackstone isn’t letting go of his company.”
“Desmond’s right,” Kurt said. “He’ll never go for it. It’ll probably be a waste of time going over there again.” He said he would stay quiet on the matter, but he saw a way in and he took it. If he could convince the team to back off of Blackstone, it would alleviate some pressure in his marriage. No one from the company knew he was married to her. Had they known, they’d certainly made sure he stayed away from anything pertaining to the company. Business with pleasure mixed just as well as oil and water, and when it came to business, Dante, Desmond and Dimitrius didn’t play around with their money.
Kurt knew that all too well. He’d thought about asking Desmond for permission to take a step back from anything Blackstone-related, but then Desmond would want to know why. Even more importantly, if he removed himself from Blackstone discussions, he would lose the advantage of knowing in advance what was going on with his wife’s company. He’d be completely in the dark.
Dante thought for a moment and after tapping his pen on his desktop, he said, “I think we should proceed. We got a pretty good shot at taking them. Giving up now isn’t the way to go. What I need you to do, Desmond and Kurt, is convince them that this is the way to go. Show them the numbers. If they turn you down this time, we’ll let them be.”
“Alright. Got it,” Desmond said. “I’m booked for the rest of the week, but I can be out that way on Tuesday. Is that good with you, Kurt?”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
“Good,” Dante said. “Stay a few days if you need to. Let’s see if we can finally get some traction on this.”
“Yep. We’ll take care of it.”
Chapter 8
Kurt went home after the workday and fell across the couch. He was still dressed in the black suit he wore and had on his shoes and all. He just laid there exhausted from the meeting that had him feeling like he was being pulled in two different directions and at the moment, he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
He’d dozed off when the ringing of his cell phone woke him up again. He took it from the coffee table and answered in a groggy voice, “Hello?”
“Hey. Were you sleep?”
“I dozed off. I had a rough day.”
“Aw…wish I was there to give you a back rub or something.”
“I need a lot more than a back rub, baby.”
Candice smiled.
“You must’ve had a hard time last night, huh?”
“Oh, you mean with my parents. My goodness, Kurt—I knew this would be difficult for them, but I didn’t know how much.”
“What happened?”
“Well, my dad walked out of the room. In the middle of dinner, actually…”
“Oh, no.”
“He didn’t like the fact that they didn’t meet you first, I suppose. And he said he felt like you should’ve asked him for my hand in marriage. I told him you wanted to, but I didn’t want you to.”
“You should’ve left that blame on me.”
“I can’t do that when it wasn’t your fault.”
“I don’t care—whatever would take the pressure off of you, I’ll take responsibility for.”
“I appreciate that, Kurt, but taking the blame for things that aren’t your fault wouldn’t do anything to help my family dynamic. It’s almost as if they think I’m not capable of making a good decision when it comes down to men. Who did they think I would bring home? Tyrone Biggums? Somebody scratching their neck with white lips, begging for crack rocks?”
Kurt laughed.
“Oh, and my mother went so far as to ask where you worked. Guess she wanted to make sure you weren’t a bum.”
“Did you tell her?”
“I had to. I can’t lie to my mama.”
“Okay, so now, your family knows I work for their worst enemy.”
Candice chuckled. “You sound paranoid. The Champion Corporation is not Blackstone Financial’s worst enemy.”
“You thought so before you fell for me.”
“Well, yeah, but let’s get one thing straight, Mr. Hempstead. As far as I’m concerned, you are not The Champion Corporation. You just so happen to work for them.”
“If you think your brothers will understand that logic, you’re wrong.”
“My brother’s won’t understand any logic. I’m just telling you where I stand. You don’t own that company. Ultimately, whatever’s going on between the two companies is up to the CEOs to decide.”
“Right,” Kurt said, feeling awful. He’d already decided not to tell her about Dante’s new buyout plan – at least not yet. That was sure to upset her.
“I can’t help but think that maybe we should’ve waited to get married,” Candice said.
“You didn’t want that.”
“No, I didn’t, but seeing how upset my parents were last night had me rethinking everything.”
“Even us?”
“No. Not us. Just the way we did everything. Had we done this the traditional way from the jump, we’d be living together right now. Instead, we’re pedaling backward while trying to move forward…going up the down escalator trying to get to the second floor.”
“Who’s to say we didn’t do this right? Okay so we didn’t have a traditional wedding—that’s not a big deal. Look, all I want is for us to be together so whatever we have to do to get there, let’s just keep taking it one step at a time.”
�
��You’re right.” Candice sighed. “Anyway, how was your day?”
“It was rough,” he said, still hearing the words, buy them out echoing in his mind. How was he going to break that news to her? She was stressed out enough as it was.
“What happened?”
“Oh, just normal work stuff, baby. Just know I’m laying over here on the sofa, still in my work clothes missing you right now.”
“I’m missing you, too. This long-distance thing is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”
“Well, we’re on the home stretch now. You’ve talked to your parents so you can check that off the list. Now, you just need to break the news to your brothers. Do you have a plan on how you’re going to do that?”
“Um…somewhat, I guess. I figure if I tell the girls, they can relay the news to their husbands. Kalina knows already so she’s putting together a girl’s night out on Friday and I’m going to break the news to the rest of them.”
“I didn’t know you told Kalina.”
“Yeah, I told her on Monday.”
“And she didn’t have any crazy reactions, I take it?”
“No, well she was a little shocked that I was married. That’s the bit of news that will throw everybody off—the fact that I’m married. If we were dating, they probably wouldn’t have much to say, but since we’re married, everybody wants to know how it happened so soon.”
“Just tell them your boy spit that game in your ear and you had no choice but to marry me.”
Candice laughed. “Hush, Kurt.”
“What? That ain’t true? I didn’t get you by my handsome good looks and charm.”
“Okay, that had something to do with it, but—”
“But what?”
“You’re an overall good person and I respected and admired you before I fell in love with you,” she replied.
“See, you can’t be talking like that when we’re this far apart. My hands are twitching to get a hold of your body.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“No worries. That’ll make it that much more special when you can finally touch me, huh?”
