by S. N. Garza
“Let’s go.”
He comes to the passenger side door and opens it for me, waits for me to get in and I open my mouth to say something when he growls, “Don’t.” Then he slams the door, walks around the front to the driver’s side. He stops and I can see him looking past the car and to the front of the house. I shouldn’t but curiosity gets me. I turn and see Laurel in one of the front windows, and yeah, I can see the conflict in her gaze. She doesn’t want to be second to him, but she loves him. I really hope it’s that love that will prevail. While I love my mother, and I miss her terribly, she’s gone. There’s nothing neither one of us can do to bring her back. Marcus needs to move on. He needs to realize his wife loves him and I can see she loves him deeply.
Marcus gets in the car and slams the door. Turning on the engine, he yanks the car in drive, and I hold on as he speeds down the driveway.
“Maybe you should calm down.”
His head whips to the side, his gaze cutting. I’ve seen the same look plenty of times on Gabriel. The ‘don’t test me’ look, and it doesn’t faze me. And I make sure I tell him so. “That look isn’t going to intimidate me. Whatever happened after I walked out of the room, I don’t want or need to know, but even I can see how much she loves you. I saw how she looked at you when she walked in. You’re still her entire world. And what have you done? Been a complete douchebag. You cheated on her. You treat her abominably.”
“How the hell do you know how I treat my wife?”
“Gabriel. He watched you growing up, Marcus. He might have been a child, but we do see things adults don’t think we see. And I see her pain, Marcus. I love my mother. I miss her. But I also don’t mourn for her anymore. I’ve moved on with my life. There’s no way you can live in the past for the rest of your life. I can’t. I want to learn about it, but I don’t want to get lost there.”
He grips the steering wheel tight but doesn’t say anything. I hope he’s thinking it over as he turns right onto the street and climbs up the winding road.
He turns into a dark driveway with an open gate and a nearly black, eerie driveway surrounded by trees and very dim, old fashioned lamp posts. “This is freaking creepy.”
He huffs, gives me a small smile and says, “That’s Everett George. He doesn’t like bright lights. And since you have to have a code to get past the neighborhood gate, there really is no crime up here.”
When he gets past the forest of trees, there’s a massive estate that looks right out of a Pride and Prejudice movie. There’s only one word to say about this place. Grandiose.
Getting up to the front door, I can feel my heart pumping hard in my chest. I know I shouldn’t feel so nervous, but I do. Even though he abandoned my mother, I’m excited to meet him. My great grandfather. The man who can tell me everything about my mother’s side of the family.
“Deep breaths, babygirl.”
He presses his hand to the small of my back and when we approach the front door, someone is there, opening it. An older gentleman, but young enough I see he can’t be my great grandfather.
“Louis, how are you?”
“Mr. Saint, I’m well, and you? Mr. George is waiting in his study. And who might this be?”
“This is Willow Mason, Annabelle’s daughter.”
And for some odd reason, the gentleman who must work here, pales and it’s almost as if he’s ready to get sick. “Are you okay?” Marcus asks, but the man recovers quickly.
Mostly.
He coughs, clears his throat and this shudder racks through him. “Yes. I’m sorry. It’s very nice to meet you. I didn’t know Miss George had a child.”
“She did. She’s a student here at GFU. She wants to meet him, and there’s pretty much nothing I can refuse her, so here we are. Lead the way, Louis.”
Another clearing of his throat and he gestures for us to come in. We follow him to a large set of doors and he gently taps his knuckles on the mahogany. “Marcus Saint and his guest is here.”
“Bring them in.” A deep, baritone voice says behind the set of doors and I grab the sleeve of Marcus’s jacket as my heart quickly jumps up to my throat. It’s now or never.
He leans down and whispers, “It’s alright, babygirl. I’m here, okay? Nothing is going to happen to you.”
I nod and take a deep breath and with his hand at the small of my back, he encourages me to go forward as Louis opens the door wider. When I step down into the room, it must be his office. Shelves filled with thick tomes, and mahogany everywhere. My eyes graze over the dark, majestic room before landing on the old, yet tall gentleman leaning against a desk. His cat-like gaze scans over me and I feel nauseous. Why? I don’t know, but I don’t know if this man likes me.
“So, you really do exist. I am your great grandfather, Everett George. How do you do, Willow Mason?”
How is it this man is as old—wait a minute. “How old are you? Shouldn’t you be old and crotchety?”
Marcus snorts, covers his mouth as if to stifle a laugh.
Everett’s brow raises high at my comment and then his gaze cuts to Marcus. “Of course, her comment amuses you.” With an exasperated look in his gaze, they come back to me. “I am only eighty-two. I keep a very regular schedule with regular workouts. Did you expect me to be short and stumpy? Did he not describe me to you at all? Did my daughter not ever show you photos?”
“No. I didn’t even know you existed until not even an hour ago.”
“Hmmm… why doesn’t that surprise me? How do you like our little haven, Grifton Falls?”
“I love it, It’s a beautiful area.”
He looked happy about that at least and gestures for us to get more comfortable. “Do come in. Sit down. That’ll be all, Louis.” When he speaks to his assistant, his voice is sharp and quick. It gives me time to observe him long enough to see that he looks eloquent and elegant. Nothing seemed to be out of place. His white hair is brushed back, not slick, but there wasn’t a hair out of place. His blue eyes are just like mine. Like my mothers. Despite his age, he’s broad-shouldered, lean, dark, tan and there’s this air about him which seems almost arrogant. A devil-may-care lift to his brow when my gaze comes back to him.
“Get a good enough look, Willow?”
Red heat rushes up my neck. “I’ve never seen you before. I mentally described you, so I can remember.”
There’s a slight roll of his eyes and he comes to sit on the settee across from where Marcus and I settle down. I can’t help sitting on the edge of the seat, not quite comfortable in his presence.
“You do that.” Then he turns to Marcus, “I thought he forbid you to let me see her.”
“I believed it was time and when I told her about you, she insisted on coming here. She’s very much like her mother in some ways. Yet, she’s so very much her own person. I’m proud of the woman she’s becoming. She’s very smart.”
Marcus looks at me with fatherly tenderness and pride and nods with encouragement.
“Hmmm… very good to hear. Marcus, may I speak to my great-granddaughter alone?”
“Alone?” Marcus turns to Everett, who still has his sights on me. I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but I’m not scared of him. I’m not intimidated. If I wasn’t going to wither in Gabriel’s presence, or his father’s, I’m not going to wither now. I might be young, but I’m not afraid.
I put my hand on Marcus’s shoulder and nod, “It’s okay. If you think I can’t handle it, I appreciate the gesture, but I can take care of myself.”
“So goddamn stubborn, aren’t you?”
“Maybe. But like I keep telling you and like I keep telling Gabriel, I can handle myself. He’s family even though this is our first meeting. And besides,” I look at Everett George, who has this inquisitive smile twisting on his lips. “He’s old. What harm can he possibly do?”
His smile turns full-on and there’s a daring glint in his gaze that sends a wave of unease through me, but I’m not scared. He’s just a man, an old, lonely man.
&nbs
p; “I’ll be outside then. Call for me when you’re done.”
“I will. Thank you, Marcus.”
Humming, he leans in and presses his lips to my temple before standing, nodding to Everett and walking to the door, he shuts it behind him.
“Finally, just like a dog, those Saint boys,” Everett says in a very condescending tone. “Lapping at his master’s heel.”
I don’t understand his meaning. “Excuse me? Like a dog? He’s just giving us privacy, so we can get better acquainted.”
“I’m sure. I imagine his son is all over you like Marcus tried to be all over Annabelle. How pathetic to be begging for scraps.”
A rush of anger washes over me at his accusation. Because neither man is like that. “I don’t think so. They’re good men.”
“I’m sure. So, what brings you here? How did you come to be in Grifton Falls?”
He changes the subject, apparently done with the conversation of Gabriel and his dad.
“I got a double scholarship to Grifton Falls University. Which I just learned that Marcus is paying for, so it’s not really a scholarship, but—I don’t know. I’m here, I’m learning. I love the area, as I said. It’s beautiful.”
Just then, a crack of lightning sounds outside, making me flinch. Thunder rolls quickly behind it and I feel something heavy in the air I can’t describe. There’s one statement he made that has me wondering. “Mr. George,” yeah, there’s no way I’m going to call him grandpa, I just met him, “You said he forbid Marcus from letting us meet. What did you mean by that?”
“I think you know exactly what it means. Your Uncle Luke didn’t want you anywhere near me.”
The fact Uncle Luke felt that way, puzzles me, but also, I know he’d do anything to protect me, so I might be missing something here. “Why would he do that?”
“Why don’t you call him and ask?”
Crunching my brows, I dig through my purse, and see Everett George standing and coming closer. He sits down a few feet from me. On my phone, I press my favorites, then touch Uncle Luke’s name. My heart is starting to skip a beat as I wait for Uncle Luke to answer.
“Missing me already, Willow-Tree?” There’s a smile in his voice and it lends a calming effect to me like a balm.
“Hi, Uncle Luke. I have a question.”
“Shoot, honey. I’ll answer to the best of my ability.”
“Why did you forbid Marcus Saint from Everett George and me meeting?”
There’s a quick gasp, then an eerie silence that follows and then quickly, “Tell me you’re not with Everett George right now.”
Never in my life has he ever sounded so distressed.
“Uncle Luke—
“GODDAMMIT, ANSWER ME!”
He’s never screamed at me before and it makes me jerk away from the phone as a small panic begins to fills me.
“Yes, I saw photos of Marcus in the background of a lot of photos from the album I took with me. I had questions. He mentioned I had a great-grandfather and I wanted to meet him.”
“Are you alone with him?”
“Right now? Yes. He wanted to talk to me, and I told Marcus to wait outside.”
“Get Marcus, now.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Willow-Tree, just—
Then the phone is taken from my hand and before I can say anything, Everett George is ending the call and setting the phone on the coffee table.
“That’s enough of that. He’s not going to say anything, because he’s afraid you’ll want to get to know me.”
Something isn’t right here, so I scoot further away and turn just enough to see this spark in his gaze that wasn’t there before.
“Why would he be afraid? Whatever he did, he always does in my best interests.”
“Hmmm…,” he leans back on the settee, lays his arm across the back, where his fingers are close to my shoulders. “I’m sure you think so. But you did miss out on a lot of opportunities here. I could have raised you really good and proper like, instead of some hole in the wall out in the middle of nowhere. You’re my grandchild. It was very selfish of them to keep you from me. But, that’s all in the past. Now, since you don’t know me at all, I think we should rectify that, don’t you?”
“I suppose, but I still don’t understand why he’d keep the knowledge of you a secret. Or my parents.”
He moves closer, this small, gentle smile lifting on his face. His hand reaches out and brushes my hair behind my ear, his pointer finger lingering over the cartilage of my ear. A wave of apprehension sweeps over me. What the hell? His finger slowly rolls down my ear then my neck. “Did you get your fill when you looked at me, little one? Do I look pleasing to you? It really is a shame she kept you from me. You’re so much like them, but you’re voluptuous and thicker than they were. Such beauty and youth. So full of life and spirit.”
Whoa. What?
Twenty-four
Gabriel
When she texted ‘I love you’ a little later, I couldn’t contain the smile turning up my face. I text her back, ‘I love you more’. And yeah, I know how mushy that makes me, but goddamn, if you were in my place and had a girl like Willow, you’d be fucking mush too.
I honestly don’t even care. Nothing feels as good as knowing she’s mine. What I didn’t like is the fact Father had me go on this ridiculous errand when he knows I could have just finalized everything through a video conference call. Knowing how meticulous he is though, it’s best just to go and get it out of the way and make sure everything is done right.
Next time, though, I will take Willow with me. She’s never been out of Texas. Never seen the beautiful mountains of the Rockies or the Grand Canyon. The Empire State Building in New York. The vast countryside of Montana.
I want to show her everything this world has to offer. Not just Grifton Falls. I’m not going to become like my father. I know she’s young, and she has the next four years to decide what she wants to do, and I want to be the one with her when she finds it all out. I want to see her discover more about herself and be the one she shares all her passions, her dreams, hopes, and insecurities with. There’s nothing about her I don’t want to find out about. I also don’t want to smother her either. I don’t know why her mother left Grifton Falls. Maybe Father was right, and it was just too small a place for her. Willow lived and was raised in a small town though and she loved it.
It shows me living in a small town isn’t a problem for her. In Brisbon, she seemed to love being around the people and chit-chatting with them. I’m in no way a social butterfly, but with her, I had no problem talking to a few townspeople. I found myself not being the complete douchebag I’m labeled to be. And it’s all because of Willow. How could so little time bring so much change? Good change, too.
Watching my father be her coach sets my teeth on edge, because I see what I’ve been denied my entire life. Yes, he goes to my rugby games, but that’s because a lot of his buddies are there, and they do whatever fucking business they do. He doesn’t cheer me on. He barely gives me recognition. With Willow, seeing how he’s so into it, so involved in her game, it makes me hate him just a little. I’m glad for Willow though. She deserves the best. I just don’t know if my father’s what’s best.
My mother certainly never shows up to the games. I’ve never seen her with Father. I don’t know what happened to her after I turned a certain age. She just… changed. After I turned ten, she’d look at me and there was a blankness there I didn’t understand then, just as I don’t now. Maybe that should change. She was a great mom before I was ten.
One thing she loved doing was going to concerts.
And she took me. We went to so many. Then everything stopped. It was as if she died somehow. Thinking about what father and Willow have told me, it happened right after her mom died. And seeing how father had loved her mother… makes me wonder all sorts of things. When I’ve never given either one of my parents a second thought. Maybe… maybe my mother—she deserves more than what father h
as been giving her. Which really isn’t anything. She’s not the same mom I remember always taking me out and me and my friends out. Something happened to her that she keeps close to the chest. Why did she stay with father knowing he’s never going to love her? Why didn’t she just take me and leave when she had the chance? Things I’ll probably never know, but it makes me curious. And I wouldn’t be if it hadn’t been for Willow. Her and all the emotions she’s made me feel are making me wonder about everything else in my life. Because, who’s been there for my mother?
Granted, she’s been different since I was ten, but maybe… maybe everything isn’t as it seems.
I’m sure if I had a normal upbringing, I’d probably already be married by now. Thankfully, I didn’t.
Not that I’ll thank him for it. Asshole. I can’t imagine myself without Willow. I know what I want to do the rest of my life. I want her by my side. Marry her. Have babies with her. Grow old with her.
I only hope she wants the same.
I’m halfway to Dallas when my phone rings. Luke Mason. What the hell?
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
His voice is frantic and there’s an edge to it that has me on alert. “Halfway to the airport in Dallas, why?”
“Jesus, fuck! I don’t have your dad’s number. He took Willow to see Everett George. She is alone with him—call him and get her out of there. Now!”
“What the fuck? What are you talking about?”
“Gabriel. You need to understand.”
“Why would he take her to see him? She didn’t tell me and neither did he.”
Rage like I’ve never known—not with Alann, not with that punk Peter, have I felt this rapid hostility towards someone. Father not Willow.
“Gabriel, there’s no time.”
“That’s her great grandfather, Luke. He’s old as fuck. How could he hurt Willow?”
“Gabriel, he abused Willow’s mom. And her mother before that. And not with discipline.”
“How do you know this? Willow told me her mother was very happy. Full of adventure.”
