"Yes." Douglas grinned. "But in this case, honey, it is not going to sway me one way or the other. You know what would make me give you partner?"
"What?" Amoy perked up. This was the first definitive statement about partnership her father had ever mentioned in her years working for the firm.
"Marrying Jaylon Best." Douglas sat back in his chair and fanned his hand expressively. "Forget about this fling with a guy you know you are going to get tired of anyway. He is good looking, yes, I can see you going for that but financial-wise the cracks will soon appear. Most of the divorces I have handled in the past had to do with the whole issue of money."
Amoy shook her head. "Dad, where is this going?"
"Partnership. I want to make it easier for you to give Jaylon a chance again. You marry him and your partnership at this firm will be sure. I'll even put it in writing. Partnership will be yours the day after marriage."
"I really don't like you right now." Amoy stood up and inhaled shakily.
"The choice should be easy," Douglas spread his arms, an innocent look on his face. "Rich man, poor man, delivery man, thief, lawyer, doctor, Indian chief. I am just looking out for your best interest this time around. I didn't do enough for your last marriage. I should have done more to incentivize you to stay here and not marry Shawn Gardener. See, it didn't work out. I have a feeling that Jaylon will."
"Butt out of my life," Amoy fumed, "and I am taking back my roses." She grabbed them up and walked out of the office and plopped them on Constance's desk. "Yours."
"Thanks." Constance looked at the roses and grinned. "What's the occasion?"
"For putting up with my dad for so long," Amoy said flippantly and walked briskly out of the office, almost slamming into Zack.
"Woah!" Zack steadied her. "What's the rush?"
"Your father just told me that I can make partner if I marry Jaylon Best and forget Slater."
"Partnership in this firm? Your lifelong dream? Hinged on marriage and not your impressive contributions? You threatened to sue him, right? Report him to Mom? Leave the company?"
"Stop grinning," Amoy hissed. "He was serious, said he would put it in writing."
"Walk with me." Zack put his hand in the small of her back and propelled her to his office. "I am confused; why do you sound like you are thinking about it?"
"I am not!" Amoy started pacing while Zack took his seat. "I happen to really like Slater. I really, really like Slater, not Jay."
"And Jay…how is he, by the way? Why is he suddenly in the picture?"
"We went on a date—Jazz in the Gardens. I am also filling in for Carmen. He is the lead attorney on that case.
"I am not feeling anything for him. I had a little thought somewhere floating in my head that maybe we could rekindle something. And then maybe I could have the children I have always wanted. But there was Slater. And the fact that I can't seem to shake him from my thoughts, even when I am around Jay."
"Mmmhm." Zack leaned back in his chair and grabbed his stress ball. He bounced it on the ceiling and grabbed it, bouncing it again, annoying Amoy.
"Stop!" Amoy gritted. "Just stop."
"You are getting upset at the wrong guy," Zack muttered, squeezing the stress ball. "You know Dad was jerking your chains?"
"No he wasn't," Amoy huffed. "He knows I want partnership and he actually offered it with a caveat. Smiling all the way, making jokes and as usual, he has managed to rub me the wrong way!"
"You are too valuable to this firm for him to do that." Zack grimaced. "I'll talk to him."
"Nope," Amoy shook her head, "it won't make a difference. "
"Maybe not, but I'll still talk to him. So what are you going to do?" Zack looked at her solemnly. "Marry Jay?"
"No..." Amoy sat down in a huff. "I don't know...what do you think?"
"On one hand, marrying Jay would be like a jackpot for you, wouldn't it? You would get your partnership, your children and a very qualified lawyer spouse. You loved him once; if you didn't have your emotions taken up by someone else, you could love him again. At least, I am assuming that's how it could be."
Amoy nodded.
"And if you stay with Slater you get to pursue an attraction with a guy you really like. It could be temporary, could be permanent...who knows?" Zack shrugged. "One thing’s for sure, whatever your decision, it will have far-reaching consequences for your future.
"You've been through the whole marriage thing before. Choose wisely; choose carefully...Oh, and by the way, we'll be over on Thursday night. Reuben and Lola are coming over as well, so that will make more of us. You cool with that, or should we postpone it?"
"I am cool, yes." Amoy sighed. "No, don't postpone. It's at eight-fifteen though, after my class."
"Sure, there was something else…" Zack's phone rang and he picked it up. "Wait a minute, don't leave." He answered the call.
Amoy watched him. He had a solemn look on his face said thank you to the other person on the line, hung up and hit the desk. "Ha!"
Amoy jumped. "What?"
"You won't believe this." Zack shook his head. "You won't!"
"What?" Amoy leaned forward in the chair. "Obviously it's good news."
"Well," Zack grinned, "I asked John to contact Noah Scarlett this morning, or at least the guy he thinks is Noah Scarlett."
"And?" Amoy frowned.
"And he caught him on his way to the hospital for surgery. His mother answered the phone. He is having a heart replacement. They need to operate today, actually. She said that Noah Scarlett, otherwise known as Noah Ess, the writer, would be pleased to hear that he has gotten an inheritance.
"Yes, she had a relationship with Peter Scarlett, got married to him twenty-nine years ago for a year. She hasn't heard from him since the divorce. She requests that we pray that Noah has a successful surgery. She was too preoccupied to tell John anything else."
"Oh?" Amoy widened her eyes. "Noah Ess! Wow! That's Slater's and Mom's favorite author. Are we going to do a DNA to make sure?"
"Yep," Zack nodded, "one can be arranged now. John is in Montego Bay. I am going to contact our regular lab and have him take the sample there. We'll get the results by tomorrow."
"A legitimate heir." Amoy smiled. "Who knew that Peter Scarlett had it in him?"
"Not only that, it helps with his timeline." Zack scribbled on a piece of paper. "So first when he was seventeen he got Reuben with a school teacher. He ran away from home and then went to where? Montego Bay, where he met Caroline--that's Noah's mother--and got married to her. Divorced her a year later, after Noah was born, and then what?
"Farm work in Canada?" Zack scribbled farm work with a question on his paper. "Did that for a few months, returned to Jamaica where he had simultaneous relationships with Oliver and Kane's mothers while he was a janitor at the university hospital."
"And a very large lady named Miss Pearlita," Amoy added.
Zack shook his head. "I wish I could have been in that interview with her."
"You can always interview her again." Amoy shrugged. "You may even get more info than I did."
Zack hit the pen on the desk. "I think I am going to do that."
Amoy got up. "You said there was something else?"
"Yes." Zack snapped his fingers. He was obviously happy with solving one of his missing Scarletts.
"The guy with the aging technology—I sent him a copy of the sketch of Kane Scarlett. I can't wait three months for it. He said I'd get it back by the end of the week!"
"That's great!" Amoy nodded. "You are the perfect person to work on this case. I would have just waited."
"Yes, but I need to close this."
"So that leaves the girl, Alicia Scarlett, and Peter Scarlett." Amoy smiled. "The final pieces of the puzzle."
"Alicia Scarlett." Zack scratched his chin. "As soon as John gets back, she's next!"
*****
Amoy looked around her little-used formal dining room table and beamed. Her attempt at cooking hadn't turned out too bad
ly. The stove had cooperated, though she had to admit that Slater had helped quite a bit, adjusting and tasting the meal until it was perfect. He had saved the baked chicken from being blah and flavorless too.
She watched him, a pleased smile on her face as he talked and laughed easily with Reuben. He had even acted as host when they had arrived, moving around her place as if he had always lived there.
"I have to admit I bought dessert!" she announced when the dinner was finished. "Ice cream and triple chocolate fudge cake."
"Yum," Lola declared, "but no dessert for me. Reuben's family are serious about cooking and his mother is trying to fatten me up. I have to watch my weight for my wedding dress!"
Terri helped her clear the table. "I am game for dessert!"
"Okay then. Let the rest of us live dangerously." Amoy winked at Lola.
Lola chuckled. "I can picture you now. You are going to be a very fun aunty!"
"And mother." Terri grinned at Amoy.
"Are you looking forward to having children when you two tie the knot?" Lola asked Slater.
Everybody turned to look at Slater, but Slater was looking at the table. When he finally raised his head, he shrugged. "Marriage yes," and then he looked at her and shook his head. "I don't want children. I never have."
"Oh my," Terri murmured. Amoy felt all life leave her fingers as Terri hurriedly got the plates before they fell.
Zack cleared his throat. "We can have dessert on the patio."
Everybody cleared the table as if Slater had the plague.
"I'll take care of it," Terri whispered as Amoy stood looking at Slater in shocked disbelief.
"But you know how I feel about children?" She could hardly form the words. She was seeing him as if for the first time.
"I know but I don't feel the same way." Slater sighed. "I have been meaning to tell you. I never found the right time."
Amoy frowned. "We can have dessert and then talk about this."
Slater looked at her and nodded slowly. "Okay."
He was in big trouble. Slater could sense her seething all through the light banter on the large patio with the city lights in the distance. Everybody seemed relaxed and happy. Terri and Zack grinned at each other every second like they had some secret joke between them; Lola found excuses to touch Reuben, but he could feel the frost coming from Amoy's end of the patio.
The conversation dwelt on Reuben and Lola's wedding for a long time. Before they left Reuben whispered to him to remember his promise to play the saxophone at his wedding. He wanted to sing Stay With You, reggae style, to Lola at the wedding reception.
He had nodded. It was a popular song at weddings; he could play it in his sleep.
Zack had patted him on the back and looked at him solemnly. "Go easy on my sister; she seems to like you very much."
He had nodded but he didn't know what that meant. Go easy on her. He had the sinking sensation that he should be telling Amoy to go easy on him. She closed the door when everyone left and she had a strange battle light in her eyes.
She folded her arms and glared at him. "We are not compatible."
As an opening sally it hit him squarely in the heart. He knew that already. It just felt stark and mean coming from her, especially since they had spent the last couple of weeks getting to know each other.
It hurt that she still thought so. Apart from her obvious wealth, which she never paraded and made him feel odd about his lack, she was a normal, regular girl who was pretty as a picture but not vain. She laughed at her own jokes; she made him feel comfortable.
The stark 'We are not compatible' was like a nasty reminder.
What had he thought, that she would have forgotten her dream to be a mother because they spent time together and he was lulled into a foolish kind of sleep thinking that they were indeed compatible?
"It's the one thing I can't compromise on," Amoy said, a hurt look on her face. "My ex-husband had a vasectomy to avoid having children, and he knew I wanted them. This is a sore topic, Slater."
Slater inhaled. "It wouldn't be fair for me to bring children in this world. I don't even know who I am. I have no family history to speak of..."
"I don't care about that," Amoy hissed. "So what if you don't have any family history? You can create a new one."
"I can see that you are never going to see things from my perspective," Slater growled. "Come on, Amoy. We were so good together; we were getting to know each other."
"But now it is all coming to an end." Amoy had tears in the corners of her eyes. "I am not going to spend the rest of my productive years trying to convince somebody else that I am worthy to have children with."
"This is unfair!" Slater frowned. "You are judging me based on your past relationship. I could change my mind eventually."
"But I am not going to be waiting around to find out." Amoy inhaled and then turned around, leaving him standing in the middle of her large hallway.
"What are you saying?" Slater forced the question from his throat.
"I am saying experiment over." Amoy looked back at him. "You can see yourself out."
He nodded. "Okay."
"Okay" was her choked reply.
Chapter Sixteen
In the week ahead Slater realized three things simultaneously. He got fed up with all of Noah Ess' brokenhearted books. He was feeling some of the symptoms of the main male characters when he read them, and he was reading better than before. Mrs. Perry was just correcting him on a few words now. He still struggled with the ph and f sounds though, but he was definitely not illiterate anymore.
He should be joyous. He had accomplished something but felt restless and bereft.
He visited Edwin more frequently now too; in one week he was there for four days. He was sitting under the shade of a mango tree watching as Edwin gardened. His pneumonia was practically gone, except for an odd cough or two, and he was whistling as he dug up the weeds and cleared out the undergrowth of his plants.
"How is Mrs. Perry's garden?" Edwin squinted at him.
"Fine," he muttered.
"I must pay her a visit one of these days."
"Sure, she loves company." He looked up into the leaves of the mango tree and sighed. Life. Was. Crazy.
"How is the reading coming along?"
"Good. I read the newspaper this morning; the entertainment section was especially enlightening."
"Why?" Edwin prompted him after he silently fumed about what he saw.
"There was a picture in there with Amoy Gardener and Jaylon Best grinning together at the Law Review function she had invited me to."
"So?" Edwin grunted as he pulled out a weed.
"So, it is only ten days," Slater gritted out. "She has moved on from what we had in ten days to her ex-boyfriend from college. Her first love."
"Forget her." Edwin wiped his hand across his brow and sat back on his heels. "You knew it would have never worked out; you guys were unequally yoked. The vast difference in your wealth alone would have made you always feeling like you were not good enough somehow."
Slater grunted. "I love her."
"Love is never enough, especially in your situation," Edwin replied. "You notice in all the fairy tales the rich, handsome prince is the one who rescues the damsel in distress. When the princess kissed the frog, he turned into a rich prince.
"Society doesn't mind the equality skewing the other way. The man is rich, the woman poor. Once it is the other way around, they'll call you a toy boy. You get the title of Mrs. Amoy. There is no respect for poor men who get together with rich ladies.
"Worse if you are younger. People just don't like it. And if you had any pride at all, you wouldn't want that kind of life either."
Slater closed his eyes. "It wasn't money that drove us apart, Edwin."
"Yeah, I know, it was the child issue but it would be money eventually, mark my words." Edwin grunted, "I think she has her priorities screwed up though. Children grow up and live their own lives; they don't stay babies forever, and if
she chooses a guy based on the whole child issue, what then, when she gets them? He becomes redundant."
"You are only talking like this because she and I are not together," Slater sighed. "A couple of weeks ago you were teasing me about making babies with her."
"Yes," Edwin chuckled, "but I still think you escaped her. Even if you were mad enough to marry her now, you two would not be equals. That's a large handicap. Because she is paying the bills, you would have to toe the line, son.
"Next she tells you that your job is too lowly and turns you into her house husband, bossing you around. And then suppose you have children without planning stuff like discipline. How would you know her disciplining style or she yours? For all you know you would be stern with them and she would be soft, turning them in little spoiled, entitled brats unleashed on the society. And then they treat you like a wimp, having no respect for their toy boy father."
"Whoa," Slater looked at Edwin in alarm, "that's a lot of bitterness there."
"Yes," Edwin mumbled, "I was in something like that. Before I married Nelly there was Victoria, head of her own corporation. I worked security. I held doors open for her when she got out of her chauffeur-driven car and headed into the building. And then one day she noticed me.
"We got together and I almost lost my manhood. By nature I am not a taker, so it rubbed me raw every time she took us to restaurants or paid the bill. And then the last straw was when she suggested that it didn't look right for me to be working as lowly security in her building; I should quit and stay home. I had no need to work.
I couldn't get out fast enough." Edwin whistled. "You had a lucky escape from Amoy Gardener, I tell you."
Slater grimaced. "It doesn't feel like it."
"Switch routes again." Edwin started back with his weeding.
"Nah. Carlos won't let me," Slater muttered. "I already tried. He said I am becoming annoying."
"Get another job." Edwin suggested. "You can read now."
"Or I could join Tony and his band. The gigs pay better than the delivery thing."
"Or do your own thing." Edwin shrugged. "Why not?"
Scarlett Love (The Scarletts Page 13
