“A good night’s sleep will serve her well. She’ll be fine in the morning.”
Isaac pulled his already loosened tie from around his neck. “She won’t be fine until Dad gets better. Their marriage wasn’t perfect by any means, but they’ve been together for thirty years. If he doesn’t pull through, I don’t know what she’ll do.”
Hesitantly, Rebecca reached out and touched his arm. She was heartened when he didn’t recoil at her touch. “Abraham’s going to be back and as good as new before we know it. We have to believe that, Isaac. We have to have faith.”
She read the stress in his tired expression and wanted to pull him into her arms. She searched his face for some sign that an embrace would be welcomed, but he turned away from her. “Are you hungry?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m tired. I guess I’ll go to bed, too.”
She wasn’t sure where he meant to sleep and she wasn’t sure how to ask.
He stepped close to her and whispered, “Since Mom is here, I’d like for us to pretend that nothing is wrong between us. I don’t want her to worry.”
His words hurt. “So you’ll be sleeping in our bed tonight, with me?”
He met her eyes. “Only because my mother is here. We’re not even close to fixing what’s wrong between us,” he said. “I don’t want you to be confused by this show we’re putting on.”
“Oh, I understand,” she said, fighting back the defeat that seemed to surround her. “You’re being very clear.”
“You can’t be angry with me,” he said, eyes wide with surprise.
“Of course I’m angry,” she said, folding her arms around her chest. “You’re being unreasonable. Michael is just some man from my past. I had no idea he was your half brother.”
He lifted his arms in exasperation. “There’s more to it than that. He’s a man you slept with to further your career, a man who happens to be my half brother.”
Rebecca looked away. Though she’d asked for this conversation, she didn’t relish having it. “I can’t change the past, Isaac.”
“And I can’t change the uncertainty I feel about you and our marriage.”
She glanced down the hallway, his words breaking her heart. “If you don’t want your mother to hear us arguing, you’d better keep your voice down.”
He took a deep breath. “I have one question. Did you really not know he was my half brother?”
She recoiled from him. “Of course I didn’t. How can you even think that of me? I know you’re angry, Isaac, but now you’re just being cruel.”
His eyes darkened. “We look a lot alike,” he said. “How could you miss the resemblance? Are you saying you never noticed it?”
Rebecca wished she could lie. “Sure, I recognized similarities in you, but that didn’t mean anything. Like most women, there is a type of man that I find attractive. You and Michael both have that look.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m not lying,” she pleaded. “Why would I lie?”
“That’s what happens when trust goes,” he said, turning away from her. “Everything sounds like a lie.” He cleared his throat. “You should start looking for someplace to live. I want you out of here as soon as Dad’s better.”
Rebecca absorbed his words like a body blow. “You don’t mean it.”
He turned back to her, fire in his eyes. “Yes, I do mean it. And I want you out of the MEEG Building, starting tomorrow. Gail Rivers can take over mom’s PR duties and yours. She’d probably be next in line for the top job anyway if you weren’t married to the owner’s son.”
“You’re going too far, Isaac.”
He shook his head. “I only wish I could get you out tonight. Don’t you see that I can’t trust you?”
“Of course you can trust me. You wouldn’t have any of this to hold against me if I hadn’t told you about Michael and those gifts. And I told you so that you’d know how he really feels about you. I was trying to protect you, Isaac. If there is anybody you can trust, it’s me. I’ve always had your back.”
He studied her. “You know, a part of me believes you’re sincere, but I can’t even trust my feelings for you.”
“Yes, you can,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He brushed his hand across his head. “I can’t keep talking about this,” he said. “I’m tired and I’m worried about my father. I don’t have energy for anything else.”
“Not even our marriage?”
He snorted. “What marriage?” Then he turned and headed in the direction of their bedroom.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Michael Thomas strode into the hospital after midnight. The hallways were quiet, just as he suspected they would be. Abraham’s room was out of direct eyesight of the nurses’ station so he had no problem simply walking into the room. He hesitated a moment near the door as he looked at the older man in the bed, his father.
He shook his head. No, not his father, but the man who had impregnated his mother and paid the price with steady but measly duty checks. He walked closer to the bed. The light from the machines monitoring Abraham’s vitals cast enough light for Michael to clearly see his nose and his chin in the older man’s face. It hurt to look into the face of the man he hated and see himself. It almost made him hate himself.
Almost. The irony of it was that, with his dark complexion, he looked more like Abraham than the cherished son, Isaac, did. Isaac looked more like his mother, took his complexion from her. He wondered if that drove the old man crazy. He hoped it did.
“You better not die, old man,” he whispered through tight lips. “You better wake up so you can see me when I bring you down. You’re going to pay for every tear my mother cried, for every time my sister wished for a father who wasn’t there, and for every moment you loved your other son and refused to acknowledge me. What goes around, comes around. You reap what you sow. Vengeance is mine—Michael Thomas’s—and I will repay. You can count on it.”
Michael stood back from the bed, folded his arms across his chest, and stared at the old man. He exerted all his energies willing him to wake up. Nothing would have made him happier than to have the old man wake up so he could repeat everything he’d just said to his face.
He waited. And waited. And waited.
“Not tonight,” Michael said. “But one of these nights you’re going to wake up, and I promise you, I’ll have a big surprise waiting for you. Count on it.”
With those words, he turned and left the hospital.
Death had better not try to cheat him, he thought. Abraham Martin had a debt to pay, and he was going to pay it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Josette looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked like Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. She plucked a tissue from the box on her vanity and blew her nose. Again. It seemed all she’d been doing that evening was crying and blowing. She tossed the tissue into the wastebasket.
Why was she letting Michael treat her this way? It was after midnight. He wasn’t home and he hadn’t called. He could deny it all he wanted, but she was certain he was cheating on her. What else could explain his long, long nights? She’d never believe that work required this much late night entertainment.
She rubbed her hand across her bulging belly. “What have I done to you, baby girl?” she whispered. “What kind of father have I given you?”
She flipped off the light in the bathroom and headed for the bed. After pulling back the covers, she slid in and turned off the bedside light. Her tears began to fall again, and she let them fall unheeded.
She awoke when the bed sagged next to her. Her husband had finally dragged himself home. She sniffed to detect any hint of another woman’s perfume. Nothing. She should have known he was smarter than that.
A part of her wanted to ignore him, to pretend she was asleep. That part lost. She reached up, switched on the lamp, and turned to him. “You finally made it home, huh?” she said to his back.
He glanced over his shoulder at he
r. “Don’t start,” he said.
“You started it,” she said. “I’m finishing it.”
He jerked off his tie and stood. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She watched as he kicked off his shoes and tossed his tie on the chair near the closet. His shirt and pants quickly followed. Then he was in bed next to her. He had the nerve to yawn.
“Tired, huh?” she asked.
He yawned again. “I had a long day.”
“I noticed.”
He turned exasperated eyes to her. “I’m not going to argue with you.”
Her heart sank at his words because she knew they were true. He didn’t care enough about her feelings to calm her fears by answering her questions. “If you want out of this marriage, just say so, Michael.”
“Now you’re talking crazy,” he said, dismissing her as if she were a child.
“You’re crazy if you think I don’t know what’s going on.”
He turned on his side and faced her. “What do you think is going on?”
“I think you’re having an affair.”
He laughed. “I don’t have time for an affair. I work too hard and too long.”
She felt those words as if he’d stomped on her heart. “That’s the only thing stopping you—you don’t have time?”
“You’re twisting my words,” he said. “Those pregnancy hormones of yours are all out of whack. You’d better talk to your doctor about them.”
“If you’re not having an affair, why were you so late? Why are you always late?”
“Work.”
She didn’t believe him. She’d called his office. “You’re a liar,” she said. “And a bad one.” She turned away from him, flicked off her lamp, and sank down in the covers. “You’re Abraham Martin’s son, all right.”
That got his attention. He rolled over to her. She felt his breath on her neck but she didn’t turn. “What did you say?” he asked.
“You heard me.”
“I’m sure I didn’t hear you because I know you didn’t say what I thought you said.”
Josette savored the taste of victory. She’d found a button to push. “I said that you’re Abraham Martin’s son, all right. You’re doing to me what he did to his wife. Cheating must be in your blood.”
He grabbed her shoulder and turned her flat on her back so that she faced him. “I’m nothing like him,” he said through clenched teeth. “Nothing.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” she said. She glanced at his hand on her shoulder. “And don’t manhandle me again.” She turned back on her side, away from him. She could still feel him seething behind her. She didn’t care. She’d finally turned the tables on him. She liked the feeling it gave her.
“I’m not like him,” Michael said again. Then she heard him turn away and settle himself in the bed.
Her joy at winning tonight’s battle subsided quickly as she realized that she was still losing the war.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leah stood, unmoving, outside the MEEG Building and stared at the smoked glass revolving doors. This building represented the life she and her children could have had if Abraham had made her his wife. Now here she was preparing to take her son’s place at a MEEG board meeting. She felt her knees weaken. She knew she needed to recover before she entered. She didn’t want Deborah to see her this way.
Slowly, she made her way over to one of the marble benches that dotted the garden park in front of the building. She eased herself down on the first bench and practiced the breathing exercise that she used to ward off panic attacks. It had been a long time since she’d needed to do this. The last time had been right before she defended her master’s thesis. She was more anxious now than she was then.
She exhaled and began to feel the calmness settle around her. She blamed Abraham for this. Her anxiety attacks had started after Deborah was born, when she realized that she was going to have to raise two children alone, even though their father lived close by. She’d had to take things day by day, and still found herself oftentimes overwhelmed by the challenges she faced.
How was she going to raise two children, when she was twenty and barely an adult herself? she’d worried. Abraham’s money had kept them off welfare, but not much more than that. He never felt compelled to see that their children’s fortunes increased with his. No, it was as though what he gave them was no more than the minimum payment on a revolving credit card balance. She gave him points for paying faithfully each month, but the sheer grandness of the building in front of her showed clearly that what he’d given them was a pittance compared to what he had. That the original three hundred dollars per month had grown to two thousand by the time her kids graduated college seemed inconsequential.
She took another deep breath. It did her no good to go down that road again. She’d had to forgive Abraham a long time ago in order to be a good mother to her children. She wanted them happy and she knew a mother raging about an absentee father would only do them harm. So she’d prayed and tried to move on with her life. She hadn’t done too badly with Michael and Deborah, either. Or she thought she hadn’t until recently.
She shook her head back and forth a couple of times to shake off the negative thoughts. Taking a final deep breath, she stood and walked determinedly to the revolving doors that had initially paralyzed her. She pasted a smile on her face as she strode through the doors of what was now her children’s heritage.
“Good morning, ma’am,” the security guard said when she reached the grand 360-degree, marble-topped front desk. “May I help you?”
“I’m here to see Deborah Thomas,” she said. “I’m her mother, Leah Thomas.”
The guard punched a few keys on the keyboard and looked at the screen that was facing him on the counter. Then he picked up the phone and dialed. “Ms. Thomas,” he said a short while later. “Your mother is here to see you.”
Leah watched as the security guard nodded. Then he hung up the phone. “I’m going to need you to sign in, Mrs. Thomas,” he said.
Leah didn’t bother to correct him. She merely entered her signature on the electronic signature pad. When she was finished, the security guard opened a drawer under the counter and pulled out a visitor’s badge that he handed to her. “You have to wear the badge at all times,” he told her. “And you have to return it before you leave the building.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the badge and clipping it to the lapel of her suit jacket.
“To get to your daughter’s office, take the elevators to the twelfth floor. Her name and room number will be on the wall facing you when the elevator doors open. Welcome to MEEG.”
“Thank you,” Leah said, impressed with the operation Abraham had set up here, despite herself. She turned toward the elevators and was pleasantly surprised to see Deborah’s smiling face when the doors opened.
Deborah stepped off the elevator. “You’re looking good, Mama,” she said.
Leah looked down at the two-piece navy suit that she rarely wore. Teaching at the community college required a much more casual look than the outfit she sported now, but she’d felt the need to dress for the occasion. “I didn’t want to embarrass you,” she told her daughter.
Deborah’s smile disappeared. “Don’t say that, Mama,” she said. “Don’t even think it. Try not to let this impressive building intimidate you. You belong here as much as I do.”
Leah patted her daughter’s cheek. “Calm down, sweetie,” she said. “I was teasing.”
Deborah pressed the button for the elevator, whose doors had closed. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m being too sensitive.”
“That’s okay,” Leah said when the elevator doors opened. She followed her daughter in. “This is new for all of us.”
Deborah pressed the button for the twelfth floor. “Now that’s the understatement of the year.” She glanced sideways at her mother. “Michael and I never told you, but we came down here when we were in high school, just to see what it was like.”
> Leah’s heart ached. “Oh, sweetie.”
Deborah shook her head. “It was childish curiosity, Mama. We had to check the place out. Once, Michael even drove us by the Martin estate in Forest Park, but the house was hidden in a thickly wooded area so we didn’t see much.”
“I never knew,” Leah said. “I should have guessed, though. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Deborah shrugged. “We thought it would hurt you.”
Leah fought the onslaught of another panic attack. As their mother, she’d tried to protect her children, and all the while they were protecting her. What a burden that must have been for them! What had it done to their childhoods? She’d thought they were happy and healthy but maybe she was only seeing what she wanted to see. What had she done to her precious offspring?
Chapter Twenty-Five
What are you doing here?” Isaac asked when he turned from the paperwork he was studying to find Rebecca standing in the doorway of the MEEG boardroom. “I thought we agreed that you were not welcome here any longer.”
Rebecca hid her pain behind a false bravado. She needed the false front to fight for her marriage, since Isaac seemed determined to end it. She couldn’t let him see weakness. She had to be resolute in her determination.
“We didn’t agree on anything,” she said, holding her head high as she marched to the table and slid into the chair next to his. “As long as I’m your wife, my place is beside you, and that’s where I’m going to be.” Her mask slipped a bit. “I love you, Isaac,” she said. “I’d never do anything to hurt you. I told you the truth about me and Michael because I love you, and because you needed to know the lengths he’d go to hurt you.”
Isaac turned cold eyes on her. “You don’t want me to call security.”
She shrugged. “Call them, but you’d better tell your mother our marriage is over first.”
Isaac opened his mouth and then closed it again. Rebecca read his action, or inaction, as his acceptance of her presence at the board meeting. She wanted to tell him again that she loved him, but knew that words would not work. She’d have to show him. So, instead of pleading her case, she sat quietly next to him and waited for the other board members to arrive.
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