“Let’s try more like, go to the meeting.”
Tonight’s plans were inevitably going to be put off. Will sent Zoe a text, pushed himself away from his desk and decided to dial Zoe’s cell to let her know he would be running late.
Zoe’s voice filled the screen before her face. “Are you trying to find out if I’m naked or not?”
Donovan and Marcus playfully leaped over the table. Will stood back against the window behind his desk. He held on to the phone while warding off his brothers with one hand. “Sorry, Zoe, I’m not alone now.”
“Zoe,” Marcus yelled out.
“When are you saving Ravens Cosmetics?” Donovan asked.
“Who needs saving?” Zoe bantered back. “I’m the one running around here from coast to coast. Need I remind you that one or both of you told me that Creative Design Director position was mine?”
“Sorry,” both men sang.
“But it was Will’s fault,” Donovan blurted out.
Zoe’s easy smile proved why Will loved her so much. She didn’t hold a grudge and had wished Titus well on his first day. Zoe made it clear she didn’t want to hear too much about how great Titus was or wasn’t doing, but she supported the company because she genuinely wanted what was best.
“I was calling,” Will said, shrugging away from his brothers’ grasps, “to let you know I am going to be late. The board has called some emergency meeting.”
“Everyone’s here,” Marcus called out.
“Including the young ones,” Donovan finished.
“Sounds ominous,” Zoe said, breaking eye contact with Will. He wondered for a moment if this was something she wished, but pushed the thought away. “Well, try to stay positive. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
The three brothers headed off toward the corner office of Ravens Cosmetics. This reminded Will of walking through a stadium ready to hit the field for a match. In soccer he’d prepared himself by working out and doing a lot of strength training and conditioning. Will readied himself for a match by studying his opponents. This meeting was far worse. His opponents were family members out for blood.
The glass walls of the conference room gave a clear view of the board: the Ravens. His blood. Will straightened his red tie with tiny magnolia flowers sprinkled on it. The tie was a gift from Zoe so he wouldn’t forget about her. Not a chance. Will resisted smirking. He didn’t want the anti-cousins, all facing him when he walked in, to get any sense of his emotions.
Instead of the stoic faces Will expected to see, most of the anti-cousins sat with knowing smirks. Katie, Dixon, Charles, Oscar, Mari, Thea and Brandon looked like the cats who’d devoured the canaries. This didn’t worry Will. What bothered him, as he, Donovan and Marcus took their seats, was seeing Cora and J.J., Uncle Charles’s wayward son. School should have already started and they needed to be in their dorms. Cora avoided eye contact with Will, and J.J. drummed his fingers on the glass cover of the black oak table. The beat stopped once the three brothers sat down on the same side as both sets of twins. Seven against seven.
“So, what brings all of us here today?” Will asked.
Dixon spoke first. Well, rather shoved a thick, legal-sized binder toward the center of the table. “This has been the data for the last twelve weeks of our e-commerce with your Creative Design Director in place.”
A twitch threatened at the back of Will’s jawline. “Alright?”
“Your golden choice failed to bring in tweaks, changes,” said Dixon, referring to Titus once again. Nothing had improved after bringing Titus on board. The fans Will thought would follow Titus failed to support the hire. “As a matter of fact, our online sales have been cut in half and we’ve been steadily losing our subsidiaries left and right.”
“What is this supposed to mean?” Marcus asked. “If these smaller companies are buying back their titles, we’re still making money.”
“For the love of God, you guys,” Thea hissed, “we’re getting off this sinking ship. It’s time you all faced the truth.”
“What truth?” Dana scoffed “That you guys are a bunch of lazy, entitled brats who don’t know a thing about hard work?”
Thea’s purple sculpted nails scraped against the glass and she rolled her eyes and fluttered what Will had come to know were wispy, catlike false lashes. “Said the prima donna model who used the company plane to get lobster from Maine.” Thea paused for a moment, long enough for everyone to hear the audible sound of Dana closing her mouth. “Yeah, I saw the books. You’re not modeling anymore, so there’s no reason for the flight other than your sister’s Key West lobsters not being good enough for you.”
“Hey,” Eva drawled with a scowl.
“You don’t have the votes to shut Ravens down,” Donovan declared with his intimidating, booming voice.
Cora squeaked, her face turning bright red. She turned to look away but a tear fell down her face. Will knew at that moment it was over for Ravens Cosmetics. His heart fell. His shoulders slumped and a knot formed in his throat. He’d failed.
“Why are we bothering with conversation?” Charles asked. His gloating smirk was enough to make Will want to leap over the table and punch it off his face. “We’re demanding a vote right now.”
“How can you do this to Grandma?” Naomi asked. Her voice cracked with a hint of crying. Her twin reached over and patted her back. Will and his brothers clenched their fists.
Joyce spoke up. “It’s plain and simple,” she began. “Tell us how much it would take to buy you guys out.”
With a quick calculation in his head, Will already knew they couldn’t come up with the funds to buy them out at what he expected to be their inflated going rate. But Brandon surprised him the most with his response.
“We’re done having our name attached to the sinking ship,” said Brandon. “You think we want to stay if for some strange reason you guys pull a rabbit out of your hats and turn this around?”
“And if we even thought about selling the company to you guys,” said Mari, another anti-cousin, “how do you think you’ll look in the eyes of Grandma Naomi? We want to present it to her as if we made a group decision.”
“That’s not our concern,” Donovan said. “We’re the ones here on a daily basis.”
“We’re not selling to you,” said Oscar. “We’re dissolving the company. We have the votes.”
The only thing Will could do was close his eyes and pray for a miracle. They needed to be saved. Grandma’s birthday was next week. Was the family truly going to sit in the same room and tell her they’d dissolved the company? Her child? Her baby? How was he supposed to look his grandmother in the eyes and tell her he failed? The news was sure to kill her.
Will couldn’t breathe. The air around him became stagnant. All he wanted to do was jump across the table and break one of their faces. If he moved to do so, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop.
Before anyone had a chance to speak their minds, the conference door opened. Zoe entered. Confused, but still a gentleman, Will rose to his feet. All the men did. The receptionist from the front desk stormed breathlessly after Zoe.
“I’m so sorry for barging in like this,” Zoe said.
“I tried to tell her y’all were in a meeting.”
“It’s okay, Tracey,” said Donovan.
Will moved around the table to greet Zoe with a kiss on the cheek while she and Tracey faced off in the war of smirks. “What’s going on, Zoe?”
“We’re in a meeting,” said Katie, rising to her feet with her arms across her chest. “A family meeting.”
“Key word, ‘family,’” Dixon enunciated.
In true Zoe-dramatic form, Zoe pressed her hand to her chest and took a bow. Will bit back a proud grin. “Well, I do apologize for interrupting this family meeting, but since you said it’s a family thing…” She wa
ltzed back over to the door and opened it.
Though the walls were glass, Will’s angle didn’t allow him to see who she was ushering inside. He was more caught off guard by the gasp coming from anti-cousins Katie, Charles and Dixon.
“Zoe?” Will asked, focusing back on the door. An older woman close to his father’s age stepped inside. She was tall like a Ravens, with silky gray hair like his grandmother’s and almond-shaped eyes like his grandfather Joe’s. Blood pounded between his ears. He knew the answer of her identity before Zoe introduced the guest.
“I figured you would want another shareholder here,” Zoe said, giving Will a wink. His heart fluttered back to life. “Everyone, in case you didn’t realize it, this is your Aunt Octavia.”
“How in the hell?” Dixon growled.
“Hello, everyone,” Octavia said. Her voice was like a melody. “Katie, how nice to see you again.”
“Again?” the pro-cousins cried.
Katie sat back in her seat as her face turned beet red. “I was going to send for you.”
“What is going on here?” Marcus asked. He came over and extended his hand to his aunt. “I’m Marcus Ravens, Mark’s son.”
One by one everyone introduced themselves to their long-lost family member. Will stood off to the side, his arm wrapped around Zoe’s waist. “How on Earth did you find her?”
“Actually your cousins did,” Zoe beamed. “I overheard them at the pageant a few weeks back. I knew your cousin Katie found your aunt at a nail shop in Pennsylvania.”
“I thought you flew to Pennsylvania for an interview at Pink Stiletto Cosmetics in Aston.” Will distinctly recalled the trip. It was the first time he’d become nervous about Zoe moving farther away for a job.
“I was,” Zoe nodded, “but I recalled the conversation I overheard and went out to find your aunt. When I heard how your cousins wanted to reintroduce her to the family after a vote had been made, I thought I’d better see if she was interested in coming back and visiting before anything happened to the company.”
Will bent down and kissed Zoe. His lips locked with hers and there was no way he wanted to let go. He cupped her face, breaking only to remind her of what he’d said every day since they returned from Southwood. “I love you.”
“Uh, it still doesn’t matter,” Charles began, knocking his knuckles against the tabletop. Everyone surrounding Octavia turned to give him their attention. “No offense, Aunt Octavia, but your generation only acts to advise the board, and we’re the board.”
“Aunt Octavia’s vote still counts,” Eva announced as she wrapped her arm around their aunt’s shoulders. “Grandma still has her down as a shareholder. Our folks still have their shares, which we control, and we also have shares, as well.”
“Be sure to explain how her vote has counted. You know, the abstaining kind,” Katie sneered with glee. “Even if she voted, you’re still outnumbered since J.J. and Cora have agreed with us.”
“You’re short,” said Brandon.
Spunky as Grandma Naomi, Octavia frowned. “Oh, dear,” Octavia’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “I worked close with my father. I understand any grandchildren would be given shares at their birth. I’m sure we’ll have to get the lawyers in here to double check. But I know it’s fact. If you guys want a rough vote right now, I wonder if I can advise my son, Joseph, to vote to keep Ravens Cosmetics running.” She tiptoed to the glass door and ushered in the damn-near splitting image of Donovan, minus the scar. “This is my son, Joseph. I kept him away from the family for a reason and clearly I was wrong. Y’all need each other.”
“It’s still just one vote,” said Katie.
Will began to groan but Zoe patted his back. When he glanced down to read her face, she nodded at the closed doors, which Aunt Octavia opened again.
“Allow me to introduce you all to your other cousins, my twins, Amber and Audra.”
“Guess y’all should have done a little more investigating,” Eva laughed.
Joyce and Dana both leaned across the table toward Katie. “We outnumber you now.”
Whatever bickering went on, Will didn’t care. Legally, the pro-cousins had won this round. Will wrapped his arms around Zoe again. “You are my hero, you know that?”
Zoe pressed her lips together and nodded. “Given that I’m a nerd, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
* * *
After the hustle and bustle of New York Fashion week, Zoe was excited to finally get back to Southwood to meet up with her parents to witness their re-proposal. Because of everyone’s busy calendars, they kept having to reschedule their vacation. It was a shame Will couldn’t make it this weekend, but given the excitement of the return of Octavia Ravens, Ravens Cosmetics was constantly in the news, and that was a good thing. Titus resigned and the position was still open.
“How does she look?” Dressed in a dark suit similar to the one he’d worn over twenty-five years ago, Frank Baldwin met Zoe as she came down the walkway of the backyard of Magnolia Palace.
The “she” would be her mother, Jamerica. “She’s beautiful and ready for you to propose again.” Zoe added the last bit with a teasing eye roll. She enjoyed her parents involving her with this re-creation. This made her feel more of a family, since they were already so nontraditional. How many children got to witness their parents’ engagement? But that was something Zoe had learned over the last few weeks. Family—no matter where they were or how close or far they were from each other—was family.
Last week Zoe had had the time of her life at the Ravens compound celebrating Grandma Naomi Ravens’s ninetieth birthday. Away from the company, the anti-cousins were not as intimidating. Octavia was there, along with her three kids, and she shared the reason why she’d left. She’d been too afraid to face her parents. Back then, teen pregnancy was not popular. Either way, Zoe thoroughly enjoyed her time with Will and his family, but she just wished she and Will could have had more time together.
“It’s important to create memories, Zoe,” her father said, tugging her arm. “Most people like to renew their vows.”
“But we’re not most people.” Zoe nodded and laughed. Her canvas shoes hit the front step of the boards to the dock. The cooling weather called for a long, pumpkin-colored sweater layered over a cream camisole and cuffed denim shorts. She figured she’d take the sweater off after her father proposed. Later on today, Ramon Torres would fire up the grill and Zoe secretly hoped she’d get a chance to see Kenzie once again. With everything going on in her mind, Zoe tripped over the raised wood of the dock.
“My clumsy daughter.” Frank chuckled.
“Whatever.”
Frank patted Zoe’s hand. “Just remember, I’ll always be here to catch you.”
“Uh, thanks,” Zoe said slowly. Her father quit walking and Zoe raised a brow. “What are you doing?”
“I think I forgot the ring,” he began, backing up. “Can you do me a favor and make sure your mother doesn’t come around that corner and find the spot empty?”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Fine.” How could he have forgotten the important part of the day? Zoe shook her head and laughed at the craziness of her parents. While her father fretted over the ring, her mother was in the bathroom scrutinizing the beauty work Zoe had done on her.
While hurricane season was still in full effect for Florida, Southwood was in line for the powerful weather. The magnolia leaves were gone but the wood of the docks was still slippery. Zoe kept her head down to make sure she didn’t slip. Not looking ahead, she nearly walked into an unexpected figure on the dock.
“Whoa, sorry,” Zoe exclaimed. Then she locked eyes with Will. “Oh, my God, what are you doing around here?” She threw her arms around his neck. Will spun her around two times before setting her down. She placed her hand against his chest. He still wore a light-blue button-down Oxford shirt with a pair o
f khakis. “Did you leave work early?”
“Sort of,” Will said, visibly gulping.
With her hand still on his shirt, she felt his heartbeat pounding against her palm. “What’s wrong? Is someone hurt? Did something happen with your grandmother?”
“Zoe.” Will chuckled and pulled her hands down to her sides. “Everything at home is fine.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I came…” he began, letting go of her hand. With his fingers he began to unbutton his shirt. “Zoe, since laying eyes on you in Kelly Towers three months ago, you have been an intricate part of my life. You’ve been my best friend, my confidant and the woman I have fallen in love with.”
“Will?” Zoe cocked her head to the side and watched Will get down on one knee. Tears sprang to her eyes. A drop clung to her bottom lash, blinding her. Once she wiped it away, Will had completely taken off his Oxford and underneath he wore a blue cape.
“Zoe, a few months ago you asked me to choose you, and I am down here on bended knee, asking—no—” Will shook his head “—I’m begging you to choose me and be my wife.”
“Are you serious?” The words barely got out of her mouth. She couldn’t swallow past the lump in her throat. She knelt down with Will and began kissing him without a care in the world for her lipstick.
Will broke the kiss first. His thumbs wiped away the happy tears. “I’ve never been more serious in my life, Zoe. Please save me one last time and tell me you’ll marry me.”
All her life Zoe had wanted to be a part of Ravens. Before falling in love with Will, she thought it was the business she wanted to be a part of, but after getting to know everyone, Zoe realized she wanted to be a part of his life and his family. She’d known about their history and now she had the chance to be a part of the future. “Oh, my God, yes, a thousand times over, yes.”
“I have this ring,” Will said. His hands nervously reached into his pocket. The pear-shaped diamond sparkled in the afternoon sun. It was the ring she’d spied in picture after picture during her research on women marrying into the Ravens family tree. The heirloom was passed on from generation to generation. “It belongs to you, Zoe. You were meant to be a Ravens.”
Harlequin Kimani Romance June 2017 Box Set Page 54
