Cherished by You: A Found by You Finale Novella

by Victoria H. Smith

  Workers towed everything from rocking chairs to the bare materials it took to make them, and that was just on the outside. Behind those warehouse doors was truly a production, people sawing away and constructing fine works of art. We had tables, couches, and chairs, and even jungle gyms being made for children to play on, the employees hard at work as they always were. Many of them passed a friendly expression my way, my face only familiar to him. They waved at me, which I quickly returned, then took a moment of appreciation for everything there.

  What my pop made for himself was truly amazing. His business outsourced inventory to furniture shops all over the world, greatly expanding the reach of his own local furniture shops. Pop had several, not just the one he originally made when he kicked off the company. This whole thing was my pop’s dream and working together as a family, I think was all of ours. I never saw my brothers more than when this whole thing began a few years ago. Even old Colton made his way out there sometimes. He did the branding, an artist, as well as a basketball player.

  Grateful for it all, I made the moves to take steps forward. I planned to head toward my pop’s office located in the back of the building.

  But it seemed I couldn't get there on my own.

  Hair chopped off, my brother Hayden was starting to look more and more like an old man and less of the scalawag he used to be back when we were kids. He really had come into his own since working for pop, a man of the business world instead of just a guy working under his father. We all changed in that way in these few short years and how interesting it was to see.

  Hayden’s hand went out to me. Pulling me in, my brother patted my back and I got to see the man up close.

  A wide smile touched his lips.

  “The old bum’s come to check-in on us, huh?” he asked, shaking me a little before pulling away. Initially, he lobbed off his hair so he could deal with the public, my brother the face of the company. If one wanted an order, they went through him first.

  I pushed his arm. “Nice, man.”

  “What? We just haven’t seen you in a while is all.”

  He only left out my visit three weeks ago and the one not long before that. He was obviously giving me a hard time, as brother’s do.

  Sliding his arm around my shoulders, he guided me toward the back, giving me the lowdown on the things I liked to hear about, business or otherwise.

  He spent the most time on his family.

  “I tell ya, Griff, that kid of mine is borderline odd,” my brother said, opening the doors of the freight elevator for me. We needed the space considering the size of the stock we hauled around here. We went inside, and he closed the doors, grinning at me.

  “Karen and I couldn’t even get Sarah to touch her homework when she started school, but Crissy…” He whistled, propping his hands on his hips. “She rips her schoolbag open before we can even get her inside. Her teacher says she’s top of her class.”

  “So what is that exactly?” I asked, taking a moment to open the doors when we reached the warehouse’s top level.

  I grinned upon exiting.

  “High marks in finger paints?” I asked. “She’s in daycare still, right?”

  From what I understood, an accelerated learning program, but still… daycare.

  As expected, I got a nice, strong sock in the arm when he got into the hallway. My brothers and I took turns with Hayden, yanking his chain and what not. This man was the proudest papa one could ever meet when it came to his kids. I guess he learned from the best—we all would eventually when it came time.

  He pointed at me. “And the best damn finger paints you could ever see and don’t you forget it. My girl’s gifted. Both of them are.”

  Lifting my hands, I only smiled, lowering my head to the truth of that statement. I had no doubt he was right.

  I paid for my teasing in the next moment when my brother’s arm went around my neck. He pulled me into a headlock I could probably get out of, my training for ball playing allowed me to surpass the strength of my big brother long ago, but I let him have that one. I always did.

  “You’ll be doing it, too, soon, string bean,” he said, my childhood nickname holding strong despite the lack of truth to it. I hadn’t been an actual string bean in years.

  He hugged my shoulders. “A man couldn’t be prouder of his kids come time. They’ll sneeze, and you’ll want to bake them a cake in congrats.”

  I hadn’t doubted that and I knew before Roxie and I got pregnant that’s how it’d be. I couldn’t wait to teach Jackson things, grow just as much with him, as he did alongside me.

  I must have had those thoughts lingering on my face in that hallway, because my brother stopped, his smile slow as he looked at me.

  He rubbed my shoulders. “Where’s Roxie, huh? She hasn’t been coming with you lately.”

  My check-ins did usually include Roxie, but like he said, not for a while.

  I pushed my hands into my pockets. “She’s officially no fly and has been for a little bit, so we’re being safe.”

  I purposely left the part about her former step-sister coming back into our lives out of the conversation. He didn’t need to know. Cassidy was a non-issue, and she’d be gone soon. Almost as if she never was.

  The white walls took us on to my pop’s office, a bit more back and forth between us. Everything was good, as per usual here, but I loved to see it up close and enjoyed seeing my family even more. In the business I was in, it was easy to lose track of my loved ones. But the family business kept us connected, gave me an excuse to come down and just be, be here with them and spend what time I could.

  I went to turn the knob of a wide door and see the man who raised me behind it, but to my surprise, I got something else just before.

  Hayden’s hug was firm, hard and I didn’t resist it.

  “You tell no one about this,” he said, laughing a little, as he held me tight. I could hear the emotion in it.

  He pulled away, and I saw it just the same, a little red in my big brother’s eyes.

  “I always thought you’d be something, Griff, and you are, something so great,” he said, shaking his head. He smiled. “But even with all that, you being a dad I’m sure will trump everything you’ve done so far. I’m proud of you, string bean. We all are. I just thought you should hear it.”

  I didn’t know which one of those statements got me, but something kept me from opening that door to my pop’s office right away, as well as hugging my big brother again.

  “You tell no one,” I said, emotion in my voice.

  Nodding, Hayden pulled away, and we solidified our pact with a fist bump.

  A whole party was in my pop’s office, my pop himself, my stepmom… yeah, I had one of those. My pop married not long after I had. He’d met someone in the hospital, a nurse who cared for him after his heart attack a few years ago. It’d been a trying time for all of us, but his wife, Ann… she made it just a bit easier. He found strength in her, and I bet, if asked, she would have said the same.

  I got a nice tight hug from her. The woman reminded me so much of my own woman at home. I think it was her kindness, as well as her loving smile.

  The aged, black woman pulled away, and when she did, she returned to the side of my pop, his arm readily available to welcome her.

  The man literally shined light when he was around her, something I hadn’t seen much of in the twenty-plus years. My mom left my family so young I barely remembered her. Pictures were all I had left, ones buried unfortunately with the memories. It couldn’t be helped. I’d just been so young when she left.

  Pop patted Ann’s shoulder. “No Roxie with you again today, Griff?”

  What could I say, my wife was loved, cherished by everyone, not just me.

  Hands in my pockets, I gave them the same words I shared with my older brother. Roxie wasn’t here. She wasn’t, but she wanted to be. She always would as she was just as much a part of our family, as me.

  We all reconvened around my pop’s desk, my pop an
d Ann behind it with Hayden and myself taking a seat in front. I asked about Brody during the gathering, but apparently, he was out on deliveries.

  “Hayden, tells me things have been going okay here,” I said, sitting back in my chair. That’s usually how these check-ins went. I asked about the progress, and we all sat around and talked about it, so imagine my surprise when my pop’s big hand rose in the air, waving me off.

  “We ‘gon hear your news first, boy,” he said, crossing his legs behind his desk. “Ann told me a bit, but we need you to fill in the blanks. And be thorough now. You know your grandmama. She’s gonna want to know everything.”

  My gram did want to know everything in my life and hell, my Aunt Robin was damn worse, but regarding this bit of information I was supposed to share, I had no idea what my old man was talking about.

  My brow lifted.

  “Pop?”

  “Now, don’t be doing that now. Deanna already went and told us everything, so you might, as well—”

  “Wait. Deanna?” I questioned, holding up my hands. “What exactly did she tell you?”

  The room went silent, all eyes either on me or avoiding me. Hayden’s traveled away, hand covering his mouth, and Ann’s traveled too. By my pop, she wrestled her hands in her lap, but it was Pop’s gaze that held fast, tight and relentless. He clearly wanted to know something, something I had no idea of even the content to share.

  It was Ann who spoke first.

  “Deanna shared your movie news,” she admitted, apparently a bit of shame behind the words considering she all but whispered them. In the next instance, she gave my pop a quick pat on his arm, the only one brave enough to do such a thing to the big man.

  “And it was supposed to be a secret, Blake,” she said to him, a frown following her words. “We agreed he was going to tell us when he was ready.”

  “Well, he was taking, too, long,” Pop grumbled, but I didn’t miss the smile behind his goatee highlighted by the occasional white whisker. This woman made him extremely happy, and that showed all over his face. He glowed.

  It was me who was sweating bullets.

  “Christ.”

  I spoke the word under my breath, but I was sure it was all over my face. I hadn’t even told Roxie about the opportunity yet, and as it turned out, my entire family already knew.

  I was the only one who knew my ultimate decision, though.

  I moved my hand over my mouth. “Deanna told you guys?”

  “She told Ann,” Pop said, pushing back from his computer. “The two exchange recipes or something.”

  “Yes, we do,” Ann went on, bumping my pop’s arm. “And it took a lot to get the information out of her, Griffin, so don’t be too mad.”

  Normally, I wouldn’t be. I wouldn’t because this was an exciting opportunity. This was quite literally the biggest deal of my life, and normally, I would be shouting it from the rooftops. I’d want to share it with my family… my wife.

  My hands came together. “So, you’ll get to go to Hollywood, right?” Ann asked with genuine excitement in her eyes. It lit them up just like my pop when he stared at her. “And your daddy is right. You’ll have to tell us everything. And what does Roxie think about all this? She’s probably through the moon, right?”

  “Of course she is,” my pop chimed in, nodding. “The pair of you are always moving mountains together.”

  “Aren’t they, though?” Ann put her hands together. “Such an amazing time for you both.”

  “And Jackson, too,” my pop said. We’d shared the baby’s sex and name months ago through Roxie’s baby announcement idea, our family forever joyful.

  My pop’s smile started slow, and when it reached his eyes, I saw his light. But it wasn’t toward my step-mom this time.

  It was in my direction.

  “My blood,” he said, that smile higher on the right. “You’ll tell us all about it when you go, the people you get to see? And not just for your grandmama. I want to know, too.”

  He wants to know, too.

  “We all do.”

  Ann’s hand smoothed down my pop’s arm after her words, nothing but pride in the pairs’ eyes, and I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have the heart to tell them everything, what I’d ultimately decided. I only realized I was staring away when my brother’s arm came around my shoulders. He’d done so recently, in the hall before we’d come in.

  “I told you we were proud of you,” he said, and I realized he knew about the opportunity, too. He had since before we came into the room together.

  The entire room went on to ask me more questions, most of which I evaded. How could I let them down?

  I wouldn’t knock the wind out of their sails, too.

  Griffin

  I didn’t know it was possible to be just as drained from a few hours of conversation as a day on the basketball court, but my family managed to achieve the impossible.

  Drained, I dragged myself into the house that night, the plane ride just as tiring as my time spent in Texas.

  I just couldn’t turn my brain off, my mind wandering. I spent so much time answering questions to offer my family complete honesty. I told them what I knew, and in actuality that had been the easy part. The hard stuff had been the ones that affected my gut, no matter how much I didn’t want that.

  They asked me how I felt about all of it, the offer and everything.

  The sickness only came from the truth.

  I was truly honored to get such a role. I wasn’t an actor, my chops that of but a few acting classes and some small roles here and there on television. Roddy Price saw out of everyone me, some country hick who one day decided to have a dream. I had no desire to change fields by any means, but this stuff? Well, it was pretty damn cool even for me.

  “Roxie?” I called, hanging up my coat, then my messenger bag. It had the film contract amongst other things involving my family business inside it. I always came home with stuff.

  I put my hand on the outside of the bag, that opportunity inside there.

  Perhaps, it wouldn’t be a big deal to mention the role to her. I had no hopes anything would come of it. I mean, I had already basically decided. But I knew if I was her, and this was the other way around, I’d want to at least hear about it.

  Okay, I’ll do that.

  In any sense, I needed her outside of that. I had a long day and she, no doubt, had much of the same.

  All that crap with her former step-sister was a pure mess and hopefully, what she got done while I was away managed to give her a little peace. We could relax tonight, no talk of business, movie roles, or people thrust into our lives that didn’t deserve the space. Some of the best times I’d ever had was just us, Roxie and me. We could spend hours just sitting together, lying to together, and now, we had a baby between us to enjoy the time even more.

  Sounds like a perfect damn night.

  She didn’t answer me the first time I called her, so I tried again, making my way through the house. Clanking in the kitchen met my third call, and I rerouted, smiling when I made my way in that direction.

  Anytime she spent in there was a good time for her. She enjoyed cooking, the breeze coming off the beach rolling into our kitchen window on her.

  Today must have been okay.

  I was hopeful, coming around the corner. I expected to see my wife around that corner, her hands taking a hot pie out of the oven. But that’s not what I saw, who I saw.

  I saw a stranger, a woman wearing a dress with faded flowers on it and her hair thick over her shoulder in a long braid. She didn’t notice me when I came in, and I couldn't see her face as she placed that pie tin down to rest on the kitchen counter.

  “Hello?”

  I scared her. Hell, her reaction even made me jump.

  Her oven mitt covered hand went to her chest and she finally faced me; she had the expression of the purely freaked. Probably because she recognized me.

  I sure as hell recognized her.

  I took a step forward on instinct. Thi
s woman… that woman has no business being in my house, and my charge was only halted by the appearance of another.

  Roxie’s sock-covered feet came to a stop in the kitchen. Her hands on her stomach, on Jackson, she looked just as surprised, as the stranger before us. But the surprise wasn’t at seeing the woman.

  It was from seeing me.

  Roxie

  The moment he saw her I knew he’d be angry. He met her before, was well aware of her, and I knew her presence in our home he wouldn't like.

  But I didn’t feel like I had much of choice.

  I went to pick up the phone so many times today, call him and at least warn him what was to come, but every attempt ended in failure.

  My own dismay already filled the space in my head.

  I never thought she’d say… yes to help. I never thought… I never thought…

  But the fact she had said a lot, the fact Cassidy herself agreed to return home with me instead of going back to the place she lived said so much. It spoke of need, a desperation that most likely went beyond both of us. She had a baby. She was pregnant.

  And that’s really all there was to it.

  I expected a lot from Griffin, frustration, and discord a given. I knew that because I knew him. I could have explained the decision all I wanted, why I needed to continue helping Cassidy and the urgency of it, but that wouldn’t matter. He wouldn’t understand the decision because of the history between Cassidy and me, and there’d be no way around it. I mean, he’d want to understand. I know he would but simply wouldn’t allow himself to. He'd go into protection mode, and that would be it.

  It would be this.

  "I want her out of my house," he said, not looking at me. He leaned forward, sitting at the end of our bed…

  The place he’d escaped barely after I came in the room and tried to explain myself.

  The start of a sentence barely left my mouth before he came in here, our room. He was clearly done here.

  Griffin dropped his hands between his legs. I hadn’t caught his gaze not once since he’d entered the room, my husband staring forward at our bedroom wall.

  He moved a hand over his mouth.