Scarlett Love (The Scarletts

by Brenda Barrett

  He wanted to see her close up. He was not to be disappointed. She turned in his direction and paused.

  It was her! Amoy!

  He waved and she nodded, meeting him part way on the beach.

  "Hey," he said when she was standing almost before him.

  "Hey." Amoy smiled that special smile at him that always lit him up from the inside.

  "I was thinking about you..." they said almost in unison.

  "You first," Slater said nervously. Maybe she was thinking about him in a negative way.

  Amoy stepped closer to him. "Well, I was thinking about you. Thinking about what I would say to you today. And I think I need to say this fast, okay?"

  "Okay." Slater nodded.

  "I've been praying about my issues."

  Slater frowned. "You have issues?"

  "Yes." Amoy sighed. "Stop acting as if you don't know them. I am selfish and entitled and maybe a few other choice words. But anyway, I realized how bad it had gotten the other day. I went on a date with Jay and I was bored out of my wits—not because he is boring; he is a great guy—but because I was dissatisfied. I was willing to grit my teeth and marry him because my father promised me a partnership in the firm if I married Jay. It's something I have always wanted, along with the baby thing."

  Slater felt a disappointed deflation in the pit of his stomach. "Are you going to do it?"

  "No." Amoy ran her fingers through her hair and then looked at him. "No. And not because I love you either."

  "You do?" Slater moved a step closer.

  "Oh yes," Amoy grinned, touching his arm, "totally, and that's what I wanted to tell you. I told Jay. He said he got it. I told my dad that I would never accept a partnership based on me marrying somebody he approved of. I lit the contract he drew up and dumped it in the garbage."

  "You did?" Slater was beyond speechless.

  "Yes." Amoy grinned. "I almost burned down the office. My dad's secretary Constance ran in with a fire extinguisher and screamed, ‘Fire! fire!’

  “And I laughed like a mad lady while all of that was going on. Alas, my father thinks I am crazy. I am never going to be made partner now." Amoy sniffed. "The truth is, I don't really care anymore."

  "And the baby thing?" Slater asked heavily.

  "I think we should spend a lot more time together, just us, before we revisit the baby issue." Amoy smiled. "Maybe I can convince you to have pity on me and impregnate me, a year or so after we are married."

  "Is that a proposal?" Slater grinned.

  "Nope." Amoy laughed. "You are going to propose to me spectacularly in front of lots of people on bended knees."

  Slater kissed her before she could continue.

  "I have something to tell you too." He drew away from her. "I am Kane Scarlett."

  "What the...?" Amoy took a step away from him and widened her eyes. "I am confused—say what?"

  "I am Kane Scarlett."

  "You were the person I was searching for all this time? This is irony at its finest." She laughed. "Did Zack have you do a DNA test?"

  "Yes." Slater nodded.

  "That's why you were in the office the other day?"

  "Yep."

  "You saw the drawing of the little boy on my desk and you said he was cute!"

  "Yes, I thought so."

  "And now he is grown into a fine man." Amoy hugged him. "I am happy for you."

  She drew away. "So what's the story?"

  After he finished telling her, he couldn't understand why Amoy had gone rigid.

  "That means that I know my family history now. I am fine with us having children together but Amoy, I have been working on a business plan. I don't want us to get married and be left feeling totally inferior to you financially. You are up here and I am way down here."

  Amoy frowned. "Zack didn't tell you about your inheritance?"

  "No." Slater shrugged. "He said Monday morning, his office. What is it, like a token from Pops or something?"

  Amoy smiled. "Tell you what, when you finish talking to Zack on Monday come to my office after."

  *****

  It was a fairytale wedding, at least to him, Slater thought as he played Reuben and Lola's favorite song and then he publicly dedicated one to his love, Amoy Gardener. He even told the huge crowd gathered there, most of them family, that he was going to propose to Amoy in the future.

  And when he played For You by Dennis Brown, he knew she got the message this time.

  "Aint no love like a Scarlett love," one old lady who was his grandaunt or something danced by him and laughed.

  Chapter Twenty

  Slater was sleepy when he entered Zack's office on Monday. He had driven up with Amoy in the early morning, after a long night of partying with family and playing music. He had promised everyone that he would return to Treasure Beach regularly. His aunt Daisy and his uncle Lloyd told him that their doors were always open.

  He sat down in the chair that Zack waved to and yawned.

  "I know," Zack mumbled. "If I didn't have this nine o'clock with you I'd be in bed now." He cleared his throat. "But this can't wait and it shouldn't be rushed."

  "So without further ado, Kane Scarlett, I am legally obligated to read the legal will and testament of Dolby Scarlett to you, as you are one of his heirs."

  Zack cleared his throat. "The last will and testament of Dolby Scarlett: To my sons, Lloyd and Peter, I bequeath to you one million US dollars each to do with as you please.

  "To my daughter-in-law, Daisy, you are better than any child I may have had if I had gotten a girl. I bequeath to you one million dollars. To my eight grandchildren, Reuben two million dollars; Yuri two million dollars; Troy two million dollars; Terri two million dollars; Kane two million dollars; Lisa two million dollars; Oliver two million dollars and Noah two million dollars.

  "My children and grandchildren, do not let money master you. You should be her master. I hope this will make a difference in your life in some way. If you think you will be better off without it, invest it and give it to your grandchildren as I have."

  Slater was rigid after Zack finished reading.

  He couldn't move a muscle. He did not know what to think first. In the space of a few seconds, he was no longer poor. He had inherited a vast sum of money from a grandfather he had never met but who had thought of him even though he hadn't met him, even giving him a sum equal to his other known grandchildren. He felt ridiculously emotional.

  He blinked several times. All of those people he had met yesterday, even Reuben and Yuri and Troy and Terri, were millionaires and they didn't act it.

  What had Pops said? I hope it can make a difference to you in some way.

  Yes, it could. It would. He could start his business. He could buy Edwin a proper car. He could marry Amoy without feeling like a toy boy.

  Zack didn't say a word for a long while. He watched him while he absorbed the information.

  "We at Chang and Dubois will, of course, continue to serve you," Zack finally said, his voice low. And then he went into details about accessing his money, investments and other stuff.

  "I am stunned." Slater inhaled shakily. "I don't know what to say."

  "I understand that this can be overwhelming." Zack nodded. "Take your time. I am here as your legal counsel anytime."

  He stretched. "Now I go home. Your family really knows how to party."

  Slater got up too. "Yes, they do."

  He followed Zack into the lobby area. He was going to get a ring and he was coming right back to propose to Amoy. But his plans were foiled.

  She was just coming into the lobby with her father and a few other men in business suits.

  "Oh Slater." She walked over to him and hugged him without reserve in front of her fancy suited crowd. "After I dropped you home, I took a nap. I couldn't wake up!"

  He grinned. "That's okay." Then he stepped back away from her and got down on one knee.

  Not a sound could be heard in the lobby when they saw him in his King Express unif
orm, kneeling before Amoy.

  "Amoy, I love you; will you marry me?"

  "Definitely!" Amoy squealed. She hugged him when he got up. "Now this was public!"

  Slater laughed and glanced over at her father, who had his hands in his pockets, a half-smile on his face.

  "Well, congratulations," Douglas murmured, coming over to them and shaking his hand. “Zack informed me this morning that you are Kane Scarlett. She loved you when you were a mere delivery guy without a name. You loved her without knowing that you are one of our valued customers. What can I say? All’s well that ends well. See you at Sunday brunch?"

  "Yes sir." Slater nodded.

  He hugged Amoy to him again. "Are you sure you want to be with me forever?"

  "Oh yes. Can't wait," Amoy whispered in his ear.

  *****

  The End

  Author's Notes

  Dear Reader,

  THANK YOU for reading Scarlett Love! The fourth book in the Scarlett Series. I looked forward to writing this one and then had agonies putting it down on paper but I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Slater and Amoy. I hope you did too and as usual I ask for your review.

  The next book in the series will be SCARLETT PROMISE. You can scroll down for an excerpt from this book.

  Thanks again. All the best,

  Brenda

  Here is an excerpt from

  SCARLETT PROMISE

  Lisa stood in the shadows of the business place, her arms and legs bare. Goose pimples had taken over her skin and it felt rough. She chafed it a bit hoping for some warmth to enter her body. The wispy pieces of fabric that she had worn tonight for business barely concealed her plus sized figure in the cold December night. It had rained earlier and the place had been overcast all day and then the wind had started from the sea. It was the chilliest she could ever remember being in Portmore and she had lived in the area most of her life.

  The circumstances that necessitated her being on the road at this time of the night in skimpy clothes and a giant wig trying to look appealing to the leering men driving by also added to her agitation. She was operating on pure adrenalin. Mild shock. Two weeks before Christmas and her once normal world was now in shambles.

  Her grandmother, Vera Lumsden, had made sure of that in the meanest way possible. Lisa had overheard her grandmother and her friend Miss June, discussing her just this morning.

  She closed her eyes as the conversation played in her head.

  "June, I don't know what I am going to do about Chubs." Her grandmother's voice was gravelly and had a snide mean quality. "I have done my duty, took her in when Nadine died. Chubs is twenty this year and she needs to go. I don't want her around anymore."

  "But why kick her out?" June asked, her voice was slightly high pitched, always irritating if listened to too long. She was also Miss Vera's only friend. Miss Vera was not very well liked in the community. "You have three bedrooms and the two of you live here alone."

  "I am not kicking her out," Vera said a hint of guilt in her voice. "It's just that Desmond is coming here to live with his girlfriend and three children. I see no way that having Chubs around can work. One, she is big. You see her. She can't share room with nobody. And two, she eats like a horse and she doesn't work. She is not earning her keep."

  "She lost her job at the bar?" June asked nasally.

  Lisa had slumped at the end of the door when she heard Miss June's question. She had recently lost the job too, just two weeks and while she worked she gave her grandmother her entire salary.

  "Yeah." Vera grunted. "The owner said she wasn't friendly enough to the customers."

  "Friendly as in...oh." June cackled. "Good for her."

  "Good for her?" Vera hissed. "That girl can't keep a job since high school, the supermarket, the ice cream parlor, the restaurant, the bar...might as well she try her hand at Back Road. I hear the girls over there earn good money."

  "No!" Miss June gasped, "don't say that Vera. Please. Chubs is just twenty, maybe if she went back to school?"

  "Who will send her?" Vera growled. "I am not wasting one more cent on that girl. She is not even Nadine's real child."

  "What?" Miss June sounded confused. And so was she, Lisa had pressed even closer to the door.

  "It is a well kept secret," Vera lowered her voice and then said hesitantly, "Nadine was mental for a while, they call it post partum depression or something like that. The doctor said she had lost the baby and that contributed to her condition but when we got to the hospital to get Nadine, she had a baby."

  "Maybe the doctor was wrong." Miss June said.

  "Have you looked at Chubs lately," Vera asked. "She has red hair and those green brown puss eyes. Where in our family you see those things?"

  "Maybe her father's family?" June asked.

  "Nope. Ezra Barclay looked nothing like Chubs. Nadine looked nothing like Chubs. I have no family with red hair and puss eyes. I tell you what, I am very sure that Desmond is my son though and his children, my grandchildren. So, Chubs just has to go and I am going to tell her this morning."

  "But where is she going to go?" Miss June almost wailed the question that was screeching in Lisa's head.

  "Don't know. Don't care. You take her if you are so concerned."

  "I can't." Miss June almost sounded sorrowful. "I just took in two girls from church, the ones that lost their parents in the fire."

  "Well, having Chubs would be like having two girls, she's that big," Vera said dryly. "You are not the only one who is doing their Christian duty. I had Chubs for eight years! And I didn't have to do it, mark you. The government could have taken her, put her in one of them girl's homes."

  Vera got up and stretched and headed to the front door where Lisa was crouching. Shock had kept her rigidly stuck at the door unable to process what she heard and she didn't have any time to move away from the door before she was caught.

  Vera didn't even flinch on finding out that she was overheard. "Pack your things and leave, Chubs," the old lady had said in her cold steely voice. "You are an adult, you need to make your own way."

  "But you are kicking me out to accommodate Desmond who is fifty-two and he'll be staying here with his girlfriend, a girl who is not much older than me, with three children who may or may not be his!"

  "Shut up and start packing." Miss Vera had drawn up to her six feet height; her eyebrows were creased into a heavy frown.

  Lisa shuddered, when she remembered how Miss Vera had stood over her while she packed her two bags. What could not hold in the bags was left behind in her closet. She had even forgotten to take some shoes. They couldn't hold anyway.

  Vera had opened the door and pointed to the gate. "And don't come back till you have fixed your attitude madam. And don't let me hear you saying anything bad about Desmond and Racquel again!"

  Lisa had paused, looked back at the house with the blue awning and the bright orange blooms of a bougainvillea tree and then she had looked at Miss Vera's mean face. She then turned around, bags in hand, to face the uncertain world in front of her and burst out crying.

  Miss June had said something calming from the veranda, it sounded like. You'll be all right Chubs. You'll be fine. God does not forget orphans."

  She had walked down Juniper Street where Miss Vera had her house and turned onto Camden Close and stopped under a mango tree. She had nowhere to go, no money in her wallet, no identification. She had left that at Miss Vera's.

  She sat on one of the bags with her head in her hand. Who did she have to call? No one.

  Wait! She gulped back tears, Jackie Lowe. She had met Jackie at the bar where she worked. Jackie had filled in for another bartender girl who had the flu. Lisa had instantly liked her.

  Jackie was open and fun and was the first person to tell her that she was pretty. When Lisa looked in the mirror she always saw a lump of fat with ugly red hair and ugly puss eyes.

  For years, Miss Vera had said she looked like a pig and that her generous lips could be a snout. She
had grown up believing those words, but Jackie had said she was pretty, she never forgot that.

  She knew where Jackie lived because one evening they had walked home together. Jackie had pointed to a unkempt yard and said, "That's where I lay my head at night."

  She got up with bags in hand and headed to Jackie's place. Jackie did not seem surprised to see her.

  She offered to keep her bags but she couldn't keep her.

  "I'd love to but I already share room with someone."

  Jackie shared house with three other girls, the four of them worked as dancers at Jimmy's Go-Go club. Two of them supplemented their income by prostituting themselves on Back Road.

  "The money is good," Jackie said, echoing Miss Vera's words. "You could make rent in one night. There are some men who like the juicy girls, and you are pretty and juicy. After we are done making you up and wigging you up. You'll look like Carlene the dancehall queen back in her hey day. And it's December honey, you could make quite a bit of money."

  Jackie and her friends had cackled at the rhyme.

  And just like that Lisa Chubs Barclay was thrown into the business.

  She went to sit on the wall and clamped her legs together trying to stop her teeth from chattering; at least her thick curly wig gave her head some warmth. That was a blessing.

  She looked over at the other girls who were dressed as scantily as she was. Cecelia was the most practical, she had on a long sleeved sweater blouse that plunged toward her nipples and a skirt with a split, she was slender and quite doll like in appearance. All the girls envied her; she got the most customers and went home with much more money than everyone did. At least that was what Jackie had said to her when they dropped her off at the spot.

  "I have to go work at Jimmy's, I'll be back later." Jackie had whispered.