Jeremy (Members From Money Book 4)

by Katie Dowe

“My mother went through a loveless marriage,” he said tonelessly. He tilted her chin and looked down at her. “That’s not going to happen to us” he told her quietly.

  “How do you know that?” she asked him softly trembling as his thumb went over her lips.

  “Because when I am near you, I cannot stand or sit still. When I think about you, I get all hot and bothered, and when I make love to you I am transformed into a whole other person.” His voice had dropped to a whisper. “Ours will never be a loveless marriage, Deidre, because–” he stopped and his eyes met hers. “I am in love with you.” He did not wait for her to respond but bent his head and took her lips with his. Deidre quivered at his words and his mouth on hers! He pushed her back against the pillows sliding the dress from her shoulders. He had no idea what she was thinking but suddenly he did not care, all he wanted to do was to love her!

  ***************************************

  “Robert, what have we done?” Deborah sprang up and pulled the sheets away with her which was probably not a very good idea because he was totally naked.

  “We were a little drunk when I took you home and we just sort of got into it.” He smiled at her as if he did not have a care in the world. His blue eyes looked foggy with sleep as he looked up at her. “No harm done darling and I still can get it up, thank heavens!” he said gratefully.

  If the situation was not so dire she would have laughed at the thankful look on his face. She remembered vaguely hasty fumbling and shedding of clothes as well as him sinking into her and she moaning in satisfaction!

  “Robert, this was not supposed to happen!” she pulled the sheets tighter around her and swore that she would never take another sip of hard liquor again as long as she lived. She had switched from the very delicious champagne to some scotch, and that was what had done it. She had looked around for Deena but the girl had been nowhere to be seen! “My daughter is now married to your grandson and we cannot make things worse.”

  “We had very good sex Deb,” he chided her as he went on his elbow to look at her. “It is no big deal unless we make it into one. It was very good and I don’t see why we cannot do a repeat performance as long as I get old Charley here to come to attention again.” He looked pointedly down at his pubic area and she could not help but laugh!

  “I would like you and old ‘Charley’ to get dressed and get out of my home as quickly as possible before someone happens to be by and see you here. I have no idea if Deena is coming by, and our relationship is tenuous at best.” She marched into the bathroom. She was stepping into the shower when she heard him behind her.

  “I want to stay for the morning. How about some of your delicious grits and eggs?” he asked in a persuasive voice.

  “Robert Langley, please get out of my bathroom!” she slammed the door to the shower install shut and peered at him through the foggy glass. “You have a very capable chef at home ,so I suggest you go and ask him to prepare what you need.”

  “I am giving the newlyweds some privacy,” his voice was persuasive. “Come on Deb, for old time’s sake.”

  She sighed as she turned the shower on. “Go on in the kitchen and put the coffee pot on.”

  ********************************

  He did not ask her if she was in love with him and she was glad about that. He had made love to her slowly with an intensity that had almost had her crawling out of her body! Deidre had never experienced anything like that in her life, and she did not know what to say to him. He had taken the week off, and the first day after the wedding they went sailing on the yacht. “Want to try your hand?” he asked as he indicated the wheel. The water was calm and there were quite a few people out for the Sunday afternoon.

  “It’s just like steering wheel in the car.” He told her as she looked at him uncertainly. She was wearing a long thin dress over her one-piece bikini and her hair was in the same style she had in for the wedding.

  She hopped off her seat and went on his while he sat beside her. He showed her how to steer and was very patient when she tended to go off course, Deidre’s eyes sparkled as she felt the wind and moisture on her skin and in her hair.

  “This is fun!” she shouted above the noise of the engine.

  “I thought you would enjoy it.” His smile was indulgent as he sat back and allowed her to do it on her own.

  “Want to come and let me sit on you and we do it?” she asked him impishly.

  “I happen to value our lives too much for that.” He told her dryly feeling his heart quicken at the animated look on her face.

  “Spoilsport” she said with a grin.

  He docked somewhere near a small piece of land and they had lunch. She fell asleep with the lull of the boat on the water and he held her in his arms as she slept. He was in love with her, and it was new to him! He wanted to explore his feelings so much with her, but she never told him that she felt the same way. He was scared that it was something that would not last! What if he turned out to be his father after all? He had asked his mother about the early stage of their marriage.

  “Did he ever give any indication that he was in love with you?” he had asked her one evening when they were having dinner.

  His mother had looked at him strangely and then shook her head. “I always knew he was not in love with me but kept hoping that he would eventually.”

  “And you were contented to live with that?”

  “I was in love with him and hope kept me going.” She had responded with a sad smile.

  Chapter 9

  His happiness came to a screeching halt at the end of May. She was due to have their son in June and he had asked her to stop working. But she was keeping busy sorting out things in the nursery. The design had been done by her, but he had hired people to do the heavy lifting. She would spend time in the room adding or changing something inside the large airy room until Rosalind had told her with a laugh that she was going to change the whole design.

  It was late afternoon and they were having dinner outside the pool when Rosalind said it to her. Robert and Jeremy were still at the office and they were running late, so they had decided to go ahead without them.

  “I am so happy that you and Jeremy are working out my dear,” she said sincerely as she passed a glass of lemonade to her.

  “So am I,” she told the woman she had come to like very much.

  “When Robert came up with the silly notion that Jeremy should have a child with you, I thought it was a bad idea but looked how well it worked out?”

  Deidre was resting back against the lounge and sat up slowly staring at the woman in shock! “What did you say?”

  “The arrangement your mother and Robert made, my dear, for him to get control of the company,” she continued blithely unaware that she was making things so much worse.

  “My mother and Robert planned this?” her voice had gone dangerously soft and Rosalind looked at her in understanding.

  “Oh good heavens!” she clapped a hand to her mouth. “My dear, you did not know?”

  “Thank you for enlightening me.” She was so furious that she was afraid that if she said anything more that she was going to explode. “I am going out.”

  “Deidre!” she got to her feet hastily to follow her daughter-in-law, her heart hammering inside her chest. Jeremy was never going to forgive her. But she thought they had discussed it seeing as how close they had gotten. She caught her arm as she grabbed a set of keys and headed to the door. It was approaching six and she knew that the men would be there in another few minutes. “Please, do not leave. At least stay and discuss it with your husband.”

  Deidre shook her hand off and marched outside jumping in the car parked near the front of the building and started it. She left without even looking back.

  ******************************

  “Mother, I can hardly hear what you are saying.” Jeremy put his jacket on and headed for the door nodding to the security who came upstairs to check if everything was okay.

  “She is gone!
I messed up and I am so sorry!” she cried out.

  “Who is gone? What are you talking about?” he was impatient to get home to Deidre. He wanted to take her out to dinner to a restaurant that had just opened uptown and where the food was supposed to be the best around.

  “Deidre,” she was clearly perturbed as she explained what had happened.

  “You told her about the arrangement?” Jeremy pressed his foot harder on the gas.

  “I thought you had told her.”

  “Mother, where is she?” his hands tightened on the wheel.

  “I don’t know, I tried to stop her but she drove away.”

  “I will find her.” Without waiting for her response, he hung up. Oh please, please let her be okay, he whispered as he turned the car around and headed to her apartment. And please, let me be able to explain to her and let her believe me!

  ***************************************

  The first thing she did was call her mother. “Honey I was just planning to call you”

  “When were you planning to tell me, mom?” she asked her mother furiously.

  “Tell you what honey?”

  “About the arrangement you and Robert had going on for Jeremy to get me pregnant and take control of the company? Did I leave anything out?”

  Deborah gasped and did not respond for a little bit. “Honey it was not like that–”

  “Then how was it, mom? You, Jeremy and Robert planned behind my back to manipulate my life so that he could become CEO. Them I get because they were strangers, but you happen to be my mother! How could you do this to me?”

  “Honey, I wanted what is best for you–”

  “So you pimped me out to the grandson of the man you had an affair with. What does that make you?”

  “Kindly remember who you are talking to honey. I know you are upset, but we wanted to make sure that the family become one.” She said in an earnest voice.

  “And you planned all of this without even asking me what I wanted!” Deidre was so angry that she was vibrating! “You know what, mom, I am going to hang up before I say something I really regret!”

  She was not surprised when she heard the keys turned in the door a few minutes later. Deena had gone over to Malcolm to spend the night so the house was empty except for her.

  “Please, let me explain,” his voice was hoarse as he came towards her in the darkened living room.

  “What are you going to explain Jeremy? How your grandfather planned along with you and my mother for me to have your heir?” she asked him bitterly. “Oh, am I supposed to congratulate you, Mr. CEO?” she sneered.

  “I did not take it.” He felt as if he was dying as he stood there looking at her.

  “Why not?” she lashed out at him. “You worked so hard for it and I am pregnant, aren’t I?”

  He bent before her and the anguish on his face was palpable, but she remained unmoved. “Because after being with you, I discovered that I only wanted you.” He told her quietly. “Please, believe me.”

  “Why should I?” to her horror she felt as if she wanted to cry.

  “Because I fell in love with you the first time we went into the pool and made love,” he went down on his knees in front of her, his expression beseeching. “I stopped thinking about getting you pregnant when that happened and just wanted to be with you, to share my life with you.”

  “Forgive me if I find that a little too hard to believe,” the fight had gone out of her and she just wanted to go to bed. “You can let yourself out, I am turning in for the night,” she struggled up and refused to accept the hand he offered.

  “I cannot leave you alone here Deidre. You are in an advance state of pregnancy and anything can happen.” He moved out of her way and let her pass.

  “Do as you like.” She told him coolly. “I am going to bed.”

  He stood there in the middle of the living room and watched as she walked away from him. He went after her and heard when the lock turned. “I love you Deidre” he said resting his head against the closed door. “Whatever else you want to believe please believe that I fell in love with you. I never knew what love was until I met you.” He paused as if he was waiting for her to speak. “I need my family Deidre and I need your forgiveness.”

  He stayed there for a little bit and then he moved away slowly.

  Deidre pulled the sheets around her and curled up on the bed feeling the tears coming to her eyes. That night for the first time in her life she cried herself to sleep!

  **********************************

  He did not leave until she came out. She had deliberately stayed in her room for as long as she could but it became apparent that he was not leaving, so she got dressed and came out. He had made a pot of her special tea and had toast and eggs ready for her. He was still in the clothes he had gone to work in, and it looked as if he had not slept a wink. There was an overnight growth of hair on his face and his dark brown hair was messy as if he had been plunging his fingers through the strands often.

  He poured her a cup as soon as she came in.

  “Are you going to be okay?” he asked her quietly.

  She nodded and avoided his eyes.

  “Deidre–” he began but she cut him off.

  “I don’t want to talk. I need time.”

  He hesitated and stood there looking at her.

  “Please leave, Jeremy.”

  He turned and walked out of the room without another word. She slumped over the counter and gave in to her misery as she heard the door close.

  **************************************

  “I don’t want to talk mother,” he said as soon as his mother came forward to greet him. He had not slept the night but he just needed some coffee and he had to go in to the office. He had finally accepted the CEO position and he had some meetings with the board. He wished he could not go in, but he was not going to stay in the suite where they had spent so many nights and be miserable. He had to do something.

  “How is she?” Rosalind asked him anxiously.

  “She does not want to have anything to do with me,” he said grimly as he made his way up the stairs.

  “What can I do?” her voice was subdued as she made her way up the stairs behind him.

  He stopped and looked down at her and his expression softened. “We will sort it out between us eventually.”

  “I am sorry.” She said, her hands clasped tightly together.

  “So am I.”

  His grandfather came into his suite when he was putting on his jacket to head out. “I tried calling you last night.” He began. He was already dressed to head out and there was a solemn expression on his face.

  “I was trying to reason with my wife,” he said with a grim smile as he took up his car keys. “The damage has been done and she told me she needs time. I have to give her that.”

  “Son, I am sorry. You want me to talk to her?”

  “You have already done enough!” he bit out but he breathed in as he tried to calm down. “It is my problem and I am going to deal with it. Please don’t try and contact her, grandfather, and I am hoping you listen to me.”

  “I will stay out of it.” He looked at the boy’s face and saw the pain etched there. “You really love her, don’t you?”

  “More than anything in the world,” he said plainly. “I am going to fight for her.”

  “Good,” he strode over and clasped the young man on his shoulder. “My money is on you.”

  **************************************

  He called Deena as soon as he drove out. “Are you with her?”

  “I am heading there now.” She paused. “She is stubborn but I think she is in love with you, so she will come around.”

  “Thanks,” he said briefly, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “Could you make me know if she is in pain or anything?”

  “I will.”

  He hung up and parked outside the towering building for a moment staring at nothing. The sun was already high up in the s
ky. It was the first day of June and summer would be making its presence felt very soon. He was almost a father and this should have been the happiest times of his life, but instead everything was going horribly wrong! He got out of the vehicle and nodded to the security as he made his way up to his office suite. He made his way to the conference room, and putting on a smile on his face he greeted the men gathered there.

  *****************************

  “Honey you are going to have to talk to me some time,” Deborah said as she answered the phone finally.

  “Just not now, mom.”

  “Honey, we did not mean any harm.” She protested.

  “I am a grown woman, mom, and I certainly did not need any help organizing my life.” Deidre poured herself some tea and went to the sofa. Deena had told her that Jeremy had called her and made her promise to call him if there was anything to report.

  “He is suffering Deidre,” her sister had given her an accusing look.

  “Not my problem.” She had said with a shrug. “They all lied to me and played me for a fool.”

  “You are not very big on forgiving, are you? That man loves you very much and he made a mistake. You have something very good and something most women would give their life for, but of course being Deidre you have no idea what that means!” And she had stormed out of the apartment. She had gotten a job at a lab at the hospital and was actually enjoying her work.

  “Honey, how many times do I have to say I am sorry?”

  “Until I am sure you mean it.” She told her and hung up the phone.

  His mother came over.

  “I know I am not supposed to interfere after what I did, but I cannot bear to see Jeremy looking like he does,” she accepted the tea from Deidre and placed it on the table beside her clearly agitated. “I miss you my dear” she said sincerely.

  “I miss you too. Look Rosalind, we have to sort it out between Jeremy and I,” she sat down opposite the woman and winced slightly at the discomfort of her swollen belly. “My sister tells me that I am too stubborn, but I hate people trying to run my life.

  “He was against it at first because he did not believe in doing something like that.” She said sincerely. “He is my son and maybe you don’t know this, but his father never loved me,” she looked down at her hands and blinked. “I left the growing up to Richard and stood back while he turned our son into a cold unfeeling shell of a man filling his head with all sorts of nonsense. He met you and I saw the difference immediately, and I began to hope. The way he looks at you and the way he is when he is around you.” She smiled slightly. “That big old house was starting to have some life to it after all these years ,and for a while back there I started to feel as if all the suffering I went through was worth it to see my son so happy at last.”