eating again. I shook my head and took a few bites too. “It sounds
wonderful!” I said. He narrowed his eyes at me. “All that family
under one roof; living and working together. And now a new baby to
celebrate the two families becoming one. It sounds so wonderful.”
He smiled and took another bite.
“Well I don’t think they know I know this, but I think Lina and
Raymond have started seeing each other too.” Raymond was a very
attractive Italian man that was in charge of the grounds. I had
spoken to him a few times. I thought my sisters would like his
assistants, so I made a joke.
“Well if you really want to make it a family affair, we can
bring my sisters over here, I’m sure they would love Lorenzo and
Carlo, and then we can be related!” He didn’t laugh, he didn’t seem
to think my joke was funny. I lowered my eyes back to my plate, as
his cell phone rang.
“Hastings. You’re kidding? He’s here? I thought the deal was
done, over, he walked away! What now? I’m having dinner, and I
can’t….” he looked down at me. “Fine I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” He stood up. “I have to go to the office, Stackhouse is here, in
London and wants to try to negotiate again.” He started to walk
away from the table. “Just put the food in the fridge, and leave the
dishes in the sink. We can do them when we get back.” I looked up
at him. “Yes, I want you to go too. Go get your shoes on, I’m going to
change into something a little more businesslike. We leave in fifteen
minutes.” He ran up the stairs. I quickly did as he instructed with the
food and dishes and then ran to my room. I was wearing khaki
colored capri pants and a yellow knit top. I brushed my teeth, and
squirted on some of my vanilla coconut body splash. I slipped on my
brown sandals and ran out the door. I grabbed my black bag as the
shut behind me. I stood by the doorway and waited for him to
return. He walked down the stairs in khaki pants, a white button up
shirt and brown loafers. He was talking on the phone, but came right
over to me and looked me over. He turned me around, and then
turned me again, winking his eye in approval. Then he grabbed the
clip from the back of my head and let my hair down. He set the clip
on the table next to the door, and ran his hands through my hair. He ended the conversation on his cell by telling whoever it
was he would call them back from the car. He shuffled through his
briefcase and I decided to apologize about the family comment.
“Um, I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier,” I
paused and he looked over at me. “You know, at dinner, I made a
joke about my sisters moving here. I know that isn’t possible and we
aren’t a couple, I was just kidding.” I lowered my eyes again. He
stepped directly in front of me again, and raised my chin to his face.
“Do you think I’m upset that you would want your family
here with you,” he paused. “Here with us, I mean?” I didn’t have
time to respond before he spoke again, which was fine, because I
didn’t know what to say anyway. “Norah, I’m glad you feel
comfortable enough to say something like that to me. I only wish for
your sake, I could make it happen.” He turned back closed his
briefcase, grabbed my hand and we walked out the door.
In the car he continued to talk on his phone for a few
minutes, then turned to me. “We need to talk about the rules.” His voice was stern. “It
goes without saying that ours is a very unconventional,” he paused,
“relationship. The less people know, the better. While I am taking
this meeting, you will sit in my office and wait. I don’t want you
talking to anyone. I don’t want you to be rude, of course, if someone
speaks to you, be polite. But by no means go out of your way for
conversation.” I nodded. “Tell me you understand, Norah. This is
important,” he squeezed my hand, “for both of us.”
“I understand, sir.”
He smiled, “and don’t call me sir in the office.”
We walked in the office building. I was nervous and he held
my hand as reassurance. He walked very briskly, and I did my best to
keep up. He waved and nodded at the security guards who said good
evening to him and then we were on the elevator. An attractive
woman got in with us, and started talking to him. I could tell she was
flirting until she saw he was holding my hand. Her eyes met mine
and I lowered my head to the floor. He was pleasant to her, but overall very uninterested in what
she had to say. We got off the elevator and went to the right. The
floor was black marble, and the wall in front of us was lined with
glass, with double glass doors in the middle. My feet slipped a little
and Liam moved his arm to my lower back to steady me. We walked
through the glass doors and were met by a cute red head at a large
white desk. She smiled and stood up when she saw Liam. He said
hello to her, and kept walking. We went around the desk, passing
people the hallway who all said something to him. At the end of the
hall we went left and were again greeted by a young girl, at a desk,
this time a blonde. She stood up and started talking about the
meeting, and followed us as Liam opened a large cherry wood door
behind her desk. It was a very large office with cherry wood
furniture, and a large black sofa and chair. He went straight to the
desk and they were both shuffling papers. She kept looking over at
me as I walked around the office looking at things. There were
pictures of Liam playing golf and tennis with whom I assumed were
clients. He had pictures of him with beautiful women at charity
events, and degrees and accomplishments framed hanging behind
his desk. I think he could see how the blonde was distracted by me,
so he introduced us.
“Marcy, this is Norah. Norah, this is my secretary, Marcy.” I
turned and walked to her and shook her hand.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” I said.
“Nice to meet you, too.” She still looked very confused. Liam
had given her a title, but not me. I didn’t like the way she kept
looking at Liam and I wondered if they had relationship other than
boss/secretary.
“This shouldn’t take long, at least I hope not. Make yourself
comfortable, there are drinks in the fridge, snacks behind the bar,
and the remote for the TV is on bookcase.”
He walked towards the door. “If this starts to take too long, I
will call Trig to come get you.” He kissed my forehead and looked in my eyes. “I’m trusting
you to stay in this room, Norah.” I nodded and they walked out
shutting the door behind them.
I walked around, looked at the books, turned on the TV, and
got a soda from the fridge. The movie “the Princess Bride” was on, so
I got a large bag of popcorn from behind the bar, and got
comfortable. I looked over at the door and briefly thought about
walking out. I had no idea where the conference room was, but I was
certain I could get out of the building before he was done with his
meeting. He might be in there for at least an hour, so I could possibly
have time to call a cab and really get away. But where would I go?
What would I do? What if he caught me trying to escape? My
punishment would certainly be much worse than solitary
confinement in the basement and being denied conditioner for my
hair. I knew whatever he would do to me for trying to leave him
would make his spankings look like love taps. In the middle of my jail
break fantasy I heard a knock at the door and it slowly opened. An older man with a big black cowboy hat on walked in. He
was wearing jeans, a plaid shirt, and black cowboy boots.
“Well hello there, little lady, have you seen Mr. Hastings by
any chance? I think I’m running a little late for my meeting,” he
laughed.
“You must be Mr. Stackhouse. Yes, I think they are waiting for
you, but honestly I don’t know where,” I held out my hands to the
sides.
“Well it’s just as well. All this talk about selling my company
depresses me.” He walked closer to me, and sat on the couch. “Are
you Mr. Hastings secretary? I didn’t meet you in Houston,” he asked.
“Umm, no. I’m Norah, I’m…well, I guess I’m…” I didn’t know
how to explain our relationship. “Liam and I live together,” I finally
said. No matter what our relationship truly was, that part was true.
“Oh, well good. He seems like a good man, and every good
man needs a good woman.” I knew I was over stepping my bounds but I had heard so
much about this deal Liam was trying to make, and how bad he
wanted it, I couldn’t help myself.
“He is a very good man. He’s really trying to help you. I know
it’s scary, and you think he’s trying to take your company away from
you, but he really isn’t. He wants to make it better. He knows what
it’s like to build something from the ground up, that’s what he did
with this company, and he wouldn’t want to lose it either. Your
company is vulnerable and from what I have heard, the other offers
haven’t been as good to you and your employees. His plan is to make
an investment so you can continue to operate as you do now.” I took
a breath, and started fidgeting with my hands. What was I saying? I
couldn’t shut up. He told me not to go out of my way to talk to
anyone, and not only was I going out of my way, I was getting in his
business.
“Please go on. You make this sound a lot simpler than all
those lawyers combined.” “From what I understand, he still wants you to be CEO, and
your son would still hold his position as well. Then when you retire,
your son could take over just as planned now. He doesn’t want to
take anything away from you or your family. He would take seat on
your board and retain a percentage of ownership. He wouldn’t have
the majority, which would still go to you and your son. When you
retire, however his percentage would get bigger. With his
investment your business would not only continue to operate as
usual, but it would become more profitable. Instead of layoffs, you
could create more jobs. And instead of closing factories, you would
be building more.”
“How do you know all this? Do you really work for Mr.
Hastings? Were you sent in here by him to butter me up? The pretty
girl convinces the old man?” He laughed. “Well honey, let me tell
you, if that is the case, I’m sold!” I smiled and we both went back to
watching the movie. “You should probably call someone to find out where this
meeting is, I’m sure they’re waiting for you,” I said.
“Let them wait. They’ll find me eventually.” We both laughed
and the door opened. Liam walked in with his secretary behind him.
“Here you are, Mr. Stackhouse. We have been looking for
you. Everyone in is the conference room at the end of the hall
waiting for you, sir.” He held out his hand. Mr. Stackhouse stood up.
“Well I’ve been sitting here with this pretty young thing,
having a much better time than being in a stiff conference room with
a bunch of lawyers,” he chuckled. “I like her, Hastings. She sold me
on this deal. She explained so it made since. She didn’t need a power
point presentation or a thousand papers shuffled all over the place.”
He looked back at me, and turned back to Liam. “Nope, your
girlfriend, explained it so I understand. Draw up the papers and I’ll
sign them.” He patted Liam on the shoulder and started walking to
the door. “We’re having that dinner tomorrow night, and I’d like for
you to bring her with you.” “Mr. Stackhouse, Norah is not,” Mr. Stackhouse looked back.
“I mean, well, of course, sir, she’ll be there.”
“Good. Good. I like to hear that. She’s a good girl, Hastings. I
thought you were a good man, but way to serious all the time. I’m
glad to know you have someone like her with you. Makes you seem
like more of a family man, and family is something I like, you know
that.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll have the papers ready tomorrow. Thank you sir.”
The door shut and Liam looked at me. I lowered my eyes right away.
“I’m sorry, sir. He came in and just started talking, I didn’t
know what else to do. I didn’t tell him I was your girlfriend, I just said
we lived together,” he sat beside me and lifted my chin to look at
him, then placed his hand over my mouth.
“I’m not mad, Norah. You did great. You seem to be full of
surprises today.” He dropped his hand and touched my leg. “People are going to assume you’re my girlfriend, and we do
live together, so it’s to be expected.” He stood up, and pulled me up
with him. He moved some hair off my shoulder. “How would you like
to go see the baby?” I looked up at him and smiled. “Rosa called me
from the hospital and said, Sofia delivered a beautiful little girl. I
thought you might like to go see her.”
“I would love to,” I gushed.
“Good,” he whispered. He stepped a little closer to me, and
leaned down. Just before his lips touched mine he asked permission.
“Can I kiss you, Norah?”
“Yes,” I breathed. He gave me a light kiss. I wrapped my arms
around his waist to pull him closer, but he stepped away.
“Let’s go,” he said.
*****
The baby was beautiful. She had a head full of black hair and
the softest skin. Rosa was surprised when Liam came to visit, and she was
shocked when Norah walked in behind him. Norah sat quietly in the
rocking chair holding the baby as the room erupted in Spanish. Every
so often Liam would say something in English, so Norah could follow
the conversation. They all thought Norah looked like a natural with
the baby, and they asked Liam when he was planning on becoming a
father. He watched Norah rocking the baby, and whispering sweetly
to her. She seemed so happy. Seeing her like this made Liam smile.
Rosa touched Norah’s arm and said something that looked
like she expected an answer. Liam chuckled and shifted his feet.
“What did she say?” Norah asked, looking
up from the baby.
Liam smiled at her. “She wants to know if you want to have children
some day?” he looked back down at the ground, and back at her.
Norah looked in his eyes, and then over at Rosa. “Umm, I guess so. I
mean I always did before…..before I came here.” Norah looked back
at Liam obviously feeling awkward about the question. He breathed
out, and closed his eyes. “What’s her name?” Norah asked Rosa.
“Josefina Marianne,” she said. Rosa understood English very
well, she just didn’t like to speak it, and Liam didn’t mind translating
for her.
“That’s beautiful,” Norah said looking over at Sofia. She said
something in Spanish and Norah looked at Liam for the translation.
“She said, Nathan’s grandmother was named Mary and her
grandfather was named Joseph.” Norah nodded and admired the
happy couple. Nathan was the typical new father, taking pictures of
everyone and everything. He kept asking Sofia if she needed
anything, and she kept telling him she was fine.
“Well, I think it’s time to go,” Liam said. Norah stood up and
handed Nathan the baby.
“She’s really beautiful, Nathan. You guys are so blessed.” She
kissed her on the forehead and walked over to Liam, who was talking
to Rosa. “Please, don’t worry about it. Stay here with Sofia. Everything
is fine, be with your daughter. She needs you.” Norah was surprised
and impressed by his sensitivity to the situation. He kissed her hand
and they waved good bye to everyone. As they walked down the hall
Norah instinctively took Liam’s hand. Whenever they held hands it
was Liam who normally initiated it.
“What’s this?” he gestured. “You okay?” She leaned into him
and rubbed his arm, but didn’t say anything. They got on the
elevator and she put her head in his chest and started to cry. “Hey,
what’s this? What’s wrong?” he asked. He tried to get her to lean
away from him, but she wouldn’t. He decided that seeing the baby,
and all of Rosa’s family together must have been too much for her.
He held her to his chest and let her cry. When they reached the
bottom floor, she pulled away and hid her face while she wiped away
her tears. As he opened the car door for her, he took her face with
both hands, and brought it up to look at him. “Don’t feel like you have to hide your feelings from me,
Sold (Keeping her in the Dark) Page 14
