by Tina Martin
Mouth falling open just slightly in disbelief, he glared at her. “Are you really that selfish? I’ve been—” He paused before he said something he would regret.
“I don’t like the circumstances either if that makes you feel any better,” she said.
He turned away from her and when his feet touched the floor, he said, “You have one month.”
“What?”
“You heard me. One month. If your parents don’t know about us in one month’s time, you can take the ring I gave you and toss it. You barely wear it anyway.”
Panic had her heart beating out of control. “I know you don’t mean that,” she said with a tremulous voice.
He stood up naked, searching the floor for his boxer shorts. “I love you, Savannah. I love you in a way I’ve never loved anyone. But I will not come second place anymore. Not to you, your parents or that stuck-up attorney they want to set you up with.” Stepping into his boxers, he said, “One month. If you want me, prove it.” He stepped out onto the balcony for fresh air feeling his gut wrench at the possibility that in one month’s time, his marriage to Savannah could potentially be over.
Chapter 2
Two Weeks Later
Harding had spoken to Savannah only once in the last two weeks, and it wasn’t for her lack of trying. She’d called him consistently every day, but he had enough of hearing empty words and false promises. The only call he answered from her was the first one. During the five-minute-long conversation, he waited for her to bring up his ultimatum but she hadn’t said a word about it which led him to believe she still hadn’t told her parents about them. She wasn’t taking his threat seriously.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, son,” Florence said.
Harding glanced up at his beautiful, gray-haired mother, assuming she was talking to him instead of his brother Mordecai. He was right. Her eyes were fixed on him. Harding glanced away from her, catching the other eyes beaming back at him – those of Mordecai and his sisters, Amira and Zoya.
Harding released a deep-chested sigh. He was the oldest, the pillar of his family – the one who filled the missing shoes of their late father – Nolan Champion. Even when their father was alive, he was never really there because Nolan had another secret family – part of the reason he never married their mother. He couldn’t marry her. He was already married to someone else and Florence had been, well, the side chick.
“Harding Champion…” Florence said to reclaim his attention.
“I’m fine,” he said to his mother, despite knowing that she knew better. “I’m glad we could get together to celebrate,” he continued. “Tonight’s Zoe’s night. Congratulations, Zoe. You deserve it.”
“Aw, thanks, Harding,” Zoya said.
“You’re welcome,” Harding said, proud of his sister who was recently promoted to manager at the financial lending company she worked for. She’d only been on the job for five years and was already climbing her way up the ladder. Her accomplishment made him proud. Whenever any member of the family achieved a goal or reached some important milestone, they’d go out to celebrate. Only thing was, he wasn’t in a celebratory mood tonight and Florence had picked up on it. He had no plans to discuss anything pertaining to Savannah with them, at least not yet. Besides, he had something else in mind that he needed to talk about.
Clearing his throat, he said, “I’m glad we’re all here because I have something I want to discuss.”
“Must be important,” Mordecai said. “You look serious.”
“It is pretty serious. First off, let me start by saying, Zoe, I’m in no way trying to overshadow your accomplishment this evening. I hope you know how proud I am of you.”
“Of course,” Zoya said, blowing her brother a kiss from across the table.
Harding continued, “And, Mother, I know you told me to stay away from this issue, but I couldn’t. I mean no disrespect, but I needed to know the rest of my family.”
Amira’s eyes brightened. “You met them? Our half brothers?”
“I did, and they want to meet the rest of you real soon.”
“Wait a minute,” Florence said, snatching the black, cloth napkin from the table to wipe her mouth. Afterward, she slammed it down on the table and asked, “You went behind my back and did this?”
He’d anticipated this reaction, but he didn’t know she would nearly have a stroke. “Mother, calm down. Please,” he said softly. “It wasn’t so much of me going behind your back than it was about my desire to find out more about my family. You’ve always stressed the importance of family and—”
“Yes. Our family. Us,” she snapped, looking around the table. “We don’t know them folks.”
“That’s all the more reason to get to know them. I know they are of no relation to you, but they’re our brothers.”
“Well,” Florence said, face red with frustration. “You get to know them—the family your father loved more than he loved you. All of you!”
“Ma, calm down,” Amira said when she saw her mother’s temper escalating.
Florence pushed her plate towards the table’s center then stood up, leaving the remainder of her food untouched. “Zoya, I’m going to the restroom and after that, I’ll be waiting by the car for you to take me home, baby.”
“Okay, Ma,” Zoya replied before Florence took off.
Harding leaned back in his chair. “That didn’t go as planned.”
“Really? How could you tell?” Amira asked sarcastically.
“Man, you done did it now,” Mordecai said, his jaw stuffed with rotisserie chicken while he eyed-up the potato salad on his plate.
Amira wiped her mouth with a napkin then cleared her throat. “All jokes aside, I think she’s actually hurt this time, Harding.”
“What was I supposed to do?” Harding asked. “Pretend our half-brothers didn’t exist?”
“That’s what they did to us,” Zoya said.
“No, it’s not,” Harding replied. “See, that’s why I needed to see them and talk to them for myself. They had no idea about us. None whatsoever.”
Amira raised a suspicious brow. “And you believe them?”
“I do. After speaking with Dante, Dimitrius and Desmond, I can say for a certainty that they were stunned to find out we existed.”
Zoya stood up. “How are we supposed to get acquainted with them when mom feels the way she does?”
“Exactly,” Amira added. “Why go out on a limb to get to know people who didn’t make any efforts to get to know us? I understand why mama’s so upset. Our family is all we’ve ever had. Why destroy our family unity over people we don’t even know?”
Harding’s forehead creased. “Because we have the same blood running through our bodies as those people. They’re our brothers. Does that not matter to you?”
“Matters to me,” Mordecai said, finishing the last of his potato salad.
Amira sighed. “Mother obviously has issues with it, Harding, and I don’t think we should neglect her feelings just to learn about people who’ve never mattered to us.”
“Don’t worry about mom. I’ll talk to her when she cools off a bit. You know how mom gets when she feels strongly about something,” Harding said. He knew all too well how stubborn and unwavering she could be. Unfortunately, he’d developed those same personality traits.
“Good call,” Mordecai chimed in to say. He turned up a mug of beer.
“All right, well, let me take mama home.” Zoya threw her purse straps on her left shoulder. With her keys in her hand, she waved. “Love y’all.”
“Love you too, Zoe,” Mordecai said. “Drive safe.”
Amira stood up, taking her purse from the backrest of the chair. “I’m going to head out, too. See y’all later.”
“Yep,” Harding said. He rubbed his eyes before throwing up a finger to get the waitress’ attention. After doing so, he ordered another beer.
Mordecai ordered a second one, too. He lounged back in his chair after the hearty meal and breathed h
eavily as if heavy breathing would reduce the tension of his full stomach. He was as tall and lean as Harding despite his excessive appetite. And they looked alike, but Mordecai kept his hair short with a hint of curls.
“Ah…I’m good and full,” Mordecai said. He glanced at Harding’s plate noticing he had barely touched his food. “This thing with the half-siblings got you all stressed out, huh?”
“Nah. I’ll talk with mom. She’s the one stressed out about it.”
“You ain’t never lied. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her face so red.”
“And it’s not even all that serious.” Harding shook his head. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought up the subject which had inadvertently ended Zoya’s night on a sour note and left his mother looking like she needed an oxygen tank. “I’m not going to worry about it. I’ll talk to her.”
Mordecai took a sip of beer immediately after the waitress set it on the table. He looked inquisitively at Harding and asked, “If you’re not stressed about the half-brother situation or mom, what’s eating at you?”
Harding glanced up at his brother. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on Harding. You look rough, bro.”
“Gee. Thanks.” Harding chugged the beer, almost finishing it.
“You’re not talking, eh?”
“I told you, I’ll handle mom.”
“Man, Harding, don’t insult my intelligence by telling me your current mood has something to do with what happened tonight.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“Then what is it?” he probed.
“It’s complicated.”
“Must be about a woman then.” Mordecai grinned then chugged more beer. He lowered the mug and said, “I thought you loved your complicated, twisted, long-distance romance with Savannah.”
Harding forced a weak smile but his situation with Savannah had him wanting to explode. Not only had she talked him into keeping their marriage a secret from her side of the family but his as well. No one knew he was married to Savannah. They only knew he was dating her.
“What is it? Did y’all get into a fight or something?” Mordecai pressed.
Harding stared off in a daze, thinking about the situation between him and Savannah. He couldn’t understand how a grown woman allowed her parents to dictate her life – who she married, who she loved, when she would get married and where she would work. She had a position at her father’s law firm – Ellsworth and Associates – and he recalled her telling him that as long as she played by her parent’s rules, her whole life would be a cakewalk, just like her mother’s life was. It didn’t matter that Alistair wasn’t in love with Dorthea. He loved her, but he wasn’t in love with her. They’d built a life together. A foundation. They were well-known. Widely respected. Dorthea played her position, and she played it well. Savannah was groomed to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
“Harding?”
Harding looked up at his brother.
Mordecai raised a brow. “Well?”
Harding thought for a moment more. He was sick of keeping this secret about his marriage. It was bad enough they couldn’t be a part of his special day. Then, a year after the fact, they had no idea he had married Savannah. He had to tell somebody, get it off of his chest and possibly get some advice in the process. “I got married a year ago.”
“You did what!” Mordecai asked, his eyes nearly springing out of their sockets. “You’re married?”
“Yes. I’m…married.”
“To Savannah?”
“Of course to Savannah.” He looked down at his left hand. No ring. He made it a habit of removing his ring just as Savannah had made it a habit of removing hers.
“Wait, I’m having a hard time processing this,” Mordecai said. “You’re married?”
“Yep.”
“When did this happen?”
“It happened a year ago—a private ceremony with me and her on the beach in Hilton Head with a minister.”
Still not believing him, Mordecai asked, “Then why do you still live here and she lives in Charleston?”
Harding shrugged, wishing he’d kept his frustrations to himself, especially if he’d known Mordecai was in interrogation mode. “It doesn’t matter, Mordecai.”
“It does matter. When I get married, my wife is living with me, not in another city. That’s for sure.”
“Let me put your mind at ease. I’m not crazy. That sounds normal to me, too, but I can’t get that through Savannah’s head, which is the reason why we’ll be divorced soon.”
Mordecai froze with the glass of beer halfway to his mouth. “I just found out you’re married. Now, you’re getting a divorce?”
Divorce…
He said it, but he didn’t mean it. It was the anger talking, spurring him on to say things to help alleviate the pressure he was under. There was no woman in the world better suited for him than Savannah. None. He remembered when he’d first met her. Her father had found his company, Champion Computer and Web Security Services, online and hired him as a contractor to beef up their network security at the firm. Savannah’s father, Alistair, was old school that way. He didn’t trust the major security firms. He wanted his computer security upgrades done quickly and efficiently without having to worry about a whole team of people in and out of his office. Harding had come in and taken care of matters in two week’s time. It was during those two weeks that he met Savannah.
“I have a feeling I will be getting a divorce soon,” Harding said.
“And I have a feeling you’re full of crap. What are you talking about, Harding?”
Harding’s eyebrows bunched together. “Why are you asking when you just made my point for me? My wife lives in a different state.”
“Okay,” Mordecai shrugged languidly. “Work out a compromise.”
“Work out a compromise…you make it sound so easy.”
“It can be.”
“Only if both parties are willing to work together.”
“Are you implying that Savannah isn’t willing?”
“I’m not implying it,” Harding said. “I’m saying it. Her parents don’t know about us.”
“Well, shoot, I didn’t know until a minute ago.”
“I’m not talking about the marriage, which, by the way, they don’t know that either. I’m talking about the fact that we’ve been sneaking around like teenagers in heat. Her parents don’t know I’m her man.”
“But you visit her all the time. You never see her parents anywhere around when you visit Charleston?”
Harding grinned uncomfortably. “That’s another thing…whenever I go to see her, she drives from Charleston to Hilton Head to meet me at a hotel because she can’t risk us being seen together in her hometown. Her parents have picked out the perfect guy for her to marry and they know nothing about me. I’m one big secret.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Tell me about it...”
“Why do you think she’s hiding you?”
“She won’t say it outright, but my gut feeling is, I’m not good enough for her in her parent’s eyes.”
Mordecai frowned. “Not good enough? Do they not know you own your own business, graduated top of your class—”
“They don’t care about my accomplishments. They’re more focused on making top-dollar family alliances. The guy they want Savannah to marry is Dudley Carrington. Apparently, the Carrington’s are a pretty well-off family and the rich marry the rich—not some computer programmer from Wilmington.”
“Forget that, man. It’s all about you and Savannah at this point. She married you. That proves she’s willing to defy her parent’s authority, right? They shouldn’t have any authority, but given the circumstances…”
Harding nodded. “I saw Savannah two weeks ago. I told her to tell her parents about us or I was ending it.”
“Do you think that’s fair?”
“It’s more than fair, considering I’ve given her two years of my life. Two years and her parent
s still don’t know about us. I mean, I know her father only because I did some work for the firm, but other than that—” Harding sighed.
“Here’s simple solution. You tell her parents.”
Harding quickly shook his head. “I thought about it, but why should I have to tell them? What will that prove? I need her to do it. She needs to stand up to them and take a stand for me if she truly loves me.”
“Then give her time to do that, man. Don’t be too quick about throwing a divorce at her. People give up too easily nowadays. If you want something, you have to fight for it.”
“I thought that’s what I was doing – fighting for her and our marriage – but as far as I can tell, I’m the only one rowing the boat. While she’s living a life of royalty, I’m over here working like a regular class citizen and I don’t think she’s ready to give up her lavish lifestyle for me. She likes the attention. The galas. Fancy dinners. Charity balls…all that ritzy, stuck-up nonsense.”
Mordecai grinned. “How can you call a charity ball event stuck-up when you have one every year to benefit single mothers?”
“Yeah, but I don’t have millions of dollars to toss around like her parents. Look, either way it goes, I’m not feeling it. A woman who can keep me hidden from her parents for so long is capable of hiding just about anything from me.”
“Well, I can’t argue with you there, brother.” Mordecai drummed his fingertips on the wooden tabletop. “When are you going to see her again?”
“I was thinking about making a surprise visit there tomorrow night.”
“There, where? Hilton Head?”
“No. A surprise visit straight to her place. I’ve never been there. I’d say I’m long overdue for a visit.”
“Maybe you should call first,” Mordecai suggested.
“Nah. I’m curious whether or not she’d be happy to see me. I need answers.”
Mordecai stretched his arms up in the air and then stood up. “I hope everything works out okay.”
“Me, too,” Harding said.
“I still think you should call first.”
Harding stood up, took his wallet from his back pocket and left enough cash in the check billfold to cover everyone’s meal plus the tip. “I probably should, but I don’t want her to have notice that I’m coming.”
