by Eden Rose
"Everything is fine. I am so happy to see you both." Here we stood in the middle of the sidewalk and held a reunion. "How are you guys? Are you still golfing?" I directed that last question to Jim.
"Great and yes!" Jim nudged Katherine and she walked back to the truck. "Joel will kill us if he knew we took this from him," Katherine came back holding my jewelry box.
I watched as the slow and careful smile from my old mother-in-law spread across her face. "We found this in his place while I cleaned. All of your jewelry is in there... besides..." She looked away and seemed troubled. I grabbed the box out of her hand and held the box to me. "Your mother's wedding set is gone."
Tears sprung from my eyes as I held the box that I thought was gone forever. "Wow," that is all I could say as I processed what she said. "Did you come across anything else of mine?" I wanted to go through the box to do a thorough sweep of it to see if the ring was just hiding. When I was staying in my old apartment with Joel, I was so distraught that I didn't even think to look for this. Granted, I never was alone in the place for long enough to do a thorough sweep.
Katherine looks so nervous and I feel awful because she and Jim meant so much to me. Most people don't realize the extent of a divorce and you are divorcing the whole family. "Yes, I found this in Joel's safe. I had no idea that he had this so please don't be mad at me," Katherine handed me an envelope. I went to open it, but she stopped me. "You should open this in private." I nodded.
"Savannah?" I jumped clear out of my skin when he spoke to me. "Are you all right? We are waiting for you to come eat with us," Vincent walked out of the social club wearing a beautiful blue silky shirt and a grey tie.
He looks like a god who graced us with his presence, and I am suddenly swamped with emotions that I didn't know existed.
"Yes, of course." I look from Katherine and Jim back to Vincent and knew it would not be polite if I didn't introduce them. "Vincent, these are Joel's parents. Jim and Katherine. I would like to introduce you to my someone," Vincent looped his arm around my waist and said hi. "I should be going though. Thank you for this!" I hugged each of them and thanked them again.
He waved at Joel's parents and placed his palm on the center of my back and led me into the club. "I am sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. What's that?" He pointed to the envelope.
My stomach growled which caused me to giggle. "I am not sure. Let's go inside. I am hungry." I stopped in front of the door abruptly and puckered my lips. This has become my tell of requesting a kiss. Once my request was granted, I moved to open the door only to have him swat my hand to do it for me.
For such an intimidating man, he can be so romantic towards me. It’s weird because I know what he does but when he acts like this, I think about how much he loves and cares for me.
We walked inside, and there were about ten different men sitting around the table. I have grown accustomed to the fact that they hug and then kiss my cheek as I greeted them. So, when they did it this time, I didn't stop them.
"Hi, guys. How is it going?" I asked as I took a chair from the back corner of the room to sit at the table with them. Once I was at the table, I set my jewelry box down and opened it.
The guys talked and I ignored them as I took each piece of my jewelry out and examined it. Everything was here besides the ring. My broach, necklaces, bracelets and watches were in here. I found a few of my rings and earrings, especially the canary ones that Vincent gave me.
I quickly plucked up the earrings and made fast work of securing them into my ears. Vincent looked over at me and winked as he seen what I did.
I put the jewelry back in the box and opened the envelope. Even though my parents have been dead for fifteen years, I would recognize her writing anywhere. I choked back a sigh and left the table to go into the kitchen. There was no way that I could read this in front of everyone.
Once in the kitchen, I allowed myself to read it.
Chapter 20
My Dearest Savannah,
If you are reading this, this means that you are getting married. I am so happy for you and wish I could have been there to tell you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world. Because you are. I am so sorry that we couldn't be there, and that if you are reading this then... that means we are dead.
You are the most prized jewel in the world, and I hope you know your worth. Your father and my life has been so wonderful and complete with you in it. Vans, you brought us to life. I couldn't imagine my life without you.
Your father and I love you and worship you. There is only a few things that I wished we could have done differently. One, be there for your graduations and two, be there for your wedding.
Enclosed in this envelope is a money order that doesn't expire. This money order is everything that your dad and I have put aside for you. I hope you enjoy this gift for you and your new husband.
We love you so much,
Mom and Dad.
Oh, my goodness. In the middle of the letter I must have slid down to the floor, because that is where I am now. I reopened the envelope and there was the money gram.
I screamed as I read the amount. A half a million dollars. This is insane. My parents didn't have this amount of money. Right? When they were alive, we lived in a nice house and in a nice neighborhood. I didn't want for anything, but I knew the value of working for something. If my parents had this kind of money... where did, they hide it?
Vincent barged into the door and crouched in front of me while scanning me. "Are you okay? Why were you screaming?" His voice is panicked and he's out of breath. I felt his hands as he cupped my face and rubbed my tears away with his thumbs. "Good god, woman! You are trying to send me to an early grave!"
I held the check and letter out to him, and he read it. "Wait, you were supposed to get this on your wedding day? But you got it today?"
I looked at Vincent and nodded. Anger took the place of my hurt. "On top of everything else, he stole from me. That is my money and he held on to it," I started shaking as I fell into a hug with Vincent. "I needed that to pay for college, to start my life over... And he just kept it. Like it was his." I felt the tears come flooding to my eyes as I thought about this further. "He kept a letter like this from me!" I screamed as I stood up and grabbed the letter from Vincent. "I am going to see him. Now!" Vincent stood up and grabbed me into a hold. "Please don't try to stop me."
"Savannah, I know you want to go and confront him; however, it isn't safe for you to go alone." He held me for what seemed like hours. I didn't go limp in the hug though. I was furious. "Leo!" Leo came running in and looked at my face since I was facing the door. "Go with Savannah. Make sure she doesn't get killed."
"What is going on?" Leo asked as Vincent took me out of the hold and looked down at my face.
"Joel. Go with her, please?" He looked at Leo and then at me. "I love you. Please don't do anything stupid."
"Why can't you come with me?" I asked even though I knew it would be way more dangerous if he did come with me.
"Joel will know it was a set up if I come. When you come back, meet me at our place. We will have dinner," he kissed me and then let me go.
I nodded as I walked over to Leo. "Come on. I am ready," I said in a stern tone to Leo and stormed out of the club.
The men were talking and asking questions as I walked out the door and into Leo's truck. I waited in there for Leo to come. He came out with my purse in his hand and Vincent walked towards the truck.
"Be careful," he kissed me as he opened the door to kiss me goodbye.
"I love you," I pulled him into a hug and brushed my lips against his.
Leo got into the truck and started it while Vincent shut the door. I scanned the truck to see what was in here. There was a box in the back, and I was curious as to what was in there.
"Where to?" I held out my keys and pointed.
"He will be at home. I am sorry that you have to be here." I looked out the window as Leo drove down the street.
"Savannah, there is nothing for you to be sorry about. You are part of the family now. Once you and Vincent got back together, you became important to all of us. I am actually excited that Pop let me come. Normally he would send Rossi."
"He wouldn't do that now..." I was hinting to the time when Ronnie kidnapped me. We drove in silence as we got to my old apartment building. Things became so weird during our last years of marriage. By far, this is the worst thing he could have done to me. It’s not even about the money. The letter connected me to my parents after all of these years. I heard my mother's voice as I read the letter; there was a warm feeling that I got because of the letter. I didn't realize that I missed them so much until just now. It’s amazing how the mind works to block out emotions in order to get through the day.
As soon as he parked, I opened the door and smoothed my skirt down. With a quick fix of my ponytail, I am ready as I could be. "Do you want to follow me?" Leo was putting a gun into his holster.
He nodded and I walked through the building like I still lived there. The guards greeted me by referring to me as Mrs. Castile. Weird. I wanted to tell the guard to drop dead. I haven't lived here in a while. Well, I suppose my brief time here does count. Honestly, you would think how many people gossip around here, people would know that we got divorced. Leo and I walked towards the elevators and rode in silence.
"It’s right there," I pointed at the door once the elevator reached the floor. "Do you want me to lead?" I was so nervous that I didn't know what to do.
"This is your show, honey. I will follow you."
I walked to my old apartment door and knocked. Once I heard movement on the other side, I stepped back. Anger and hurt warred in my body and I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill him or cry. I focused on my anger because crying wouldn't solve anything.
"Savannah, what are you doing here?" Joel looked good like always. I hated him more than I'm willing to admit for that. How can he always seem so unaffected by everything and I get to feel all of this? He is a bastard. "Who is this?" He pointed towards Leo and Leo just nodded.
I schooled my face, so I didn't look like the Mad Hatter who is about to go crazy. "I think we need to go inside. This is my friend," I walked past Joel and walked into my old home. "Sit, please. We have something to discuss."
"I'm not a dog..." he whispered under his breath. Joel sat down, and I paced the living room and kitchen trying to form words to say. Leo stood by the door and nodded at me.
"What's going on?" I have never seen him look so nervous. Secretly, hell not even secretly, I loved watching him sweat. He deserves this.
I stopped right in front of him and leaned into his space with my hands on my hips. My wedges made their clacking noises on the wood floor and it was rather annoying.
"Let's begin by my saying that I want to stab you in your eyeball," Joel jerked his head back and Leo laughed. "After everything... Everything! Our marriage, our wedding, our vows, our baby and our home... Everything that you did to destroy all of that doesn't matter to me," I grabbed the letter and held it out. "You stole from me?" My voice is a lot softer than I thought I could manage.
Again, he didn't look the least bit apologetic towards the betrayal that I feel. "I didn't steal it from you. I didn't want you to cry on our wedding day."
Joel's nonchalance is really rubbing me the wrong way and all I want to do right now is punch him in the face. "Bull shit! You knew how hard that day was for me and you kept this from me. I can't believe that you would do that. Now, I have forgiven you for cheating on me and how you requested the divorce. Hell, I forgive you for drugging me and then bringing me to an office to get the shit beat out of me, but this is unforgivable."
And just like that, Joel's hot temper is back and making its appearance well known. He shoots out of the chair and picks a glass up and throws it on the ground. I couldn't stop the shudder that fell over me. "All you care about is the money! I didn't want you to run away with all that money."
Before I knew it, I heard a slap and felt the sting in my palm. Joel put his hand to his face and stared at me with crazy eyes. My stinging palms gave me some great satisfaction. "I don't care about the money. I care that you kept something from me that was left from my dead parents!" I was screaming at him and went into his chair space. After leaning very close, I noticed something that I have never seen before in his eyes. Fear. He's afraid of me. "This by far hurts worse than anything you have ever done. I would rather be in that room with Millstone than feel this amount of hatred for you!"
Leo came away from the door and set his gun down on the table. I held my hand out to him in order to stop him from doing something stupid. I don't think threatening Joel will have the desired effect that we were looking for. Plus, I am beaming with pride.
"I want nothing more than to kick you until you die. However, I am a lady. I hope you feel my wrath as you walk out of our place and feel it when you come across something of ours. I never want to see you again. I promise you this!" I picked up the gun and held it in my hand. Leo jerked and stood behind me. "I will ruin you."
Joel stood out of his chair and faced me. I didn't show a weakness as he stared me down. "You could never kill me, baby. You don't even know how to do it!" He rubbed my arm and I stumbled back to get away from him.
"I didn't say anything about killing you. You came up with that on your own," I turned to face Leo. "Are we ready?" I walked towards the door and opened it.
"You seem to be all big and bad when you have these bodyguards. However, when we were married you cowered."
"Bite me!" I screamed as I walked out the door with Leo following me. As soon as we got into the elevator I crashed into the wall while still holding the gun and my letter. "I am so sorry that you had to be there."
Leo game over to me and hugged me. "I am happy that I was there. You are so much stronger than me." I snorted as I hugged him back. "It takes a strong person to use their words and not violence. I would have killed him." When we got to the bottom of the building, I looped my arm through his. "That was amazing. Let's get you home."
Chapter 21
Except he didn't take me home. I knew from the way that we took that we were not headed towards Vincent. The way that Leo took brought us back to downtown. I knew he wouldn't tell me where we were going so I just looked out the window.
He stopped the truck at a very prestigious French restaurant. I was surprised that he would take me here. Before I could ask any questions, Vincent opened the door and took my hand to help me out.
"Are you going to give Leo back his gun?" Even though it was a serious question, he was teasing me. I completely forgotten that I still had it in my hand.
"Oh, I am sorry!" I squealed and handed it to Leo. "Thanks, Leo!" I waved at him as I climbed out of the truck and into a hug with Vincent. "I missed you today," I whispered as I clutched him closer to me.
Leo drove off and Vincent squeezed me back but backed out of the hug to hold my hand. "I was thinking... we haven't been out to dinner with each other in a long time. Is French food okay?" He winked at me and before I answered, we walked into the empty restaurant.
The restaurant looked like France actually was in here. Well, what I could picture France looking like. A beautiful restaurant and a busy one normally. In the middle was a table that was lit by candles and wine already served.
"Where is everyone?" I asked while scanning the restaurant.
"Johnny owns it. I reserved it for us. Come on, let's sit." We walked over to the table with me tucked in his arm.
"Thank you for this. I needed it," I said as I took a sip of my Merlot.
"Give me your phones." I handed them to him and heard the jingle that means they have been powered off. He kissed my hand and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "No problem. I turned off my phone and Johnny has been advised to let anyone through the door. Tonight, is our evening."
I smiled at him and moved my chair closer to him so I could snuggle with him. How funny. I feel a
s if I can't get close enough to him. I love being the center of his attention. Johnny came out with two covered platters and tried not to laugh at us.
"You seriously convinced him to serve us?" I asked while laughing as Johnny put the food down. Even through the coverings, the food smelled amazing and my mouth watered for something other than my tall-dark-and-handsome man.
"I did him a favor and now he repaid it. Thanks Johnny," Johnny left our table laughing at us. "I ordered us pasta and a mixture of food. Try this," he fed me a stuffed mushroom.
"That is so good. Here, you try one," I fed him one back and he licked my finger. "This place is beautiful."
We fed each other back and forth until the food in the platters were gone. We chatted about random things to keep a conversation going. It was nothing serious. However, it felt good to be on a normal date and do normal date activities.
