“It’s silly,” she says bashfully.
I wipe a little relish from her chin and lick it from my finger.
“Tell me,” I prompt her, feeling butterflies and even a little fear because I know she’s already made her mind up.
“I’ve always wanted a house in the suburbs you know, the white picket fence, long driveway. The whole bit.”
I feel my heart leap, fear replaced with relief, pride. I am proud of her. It’s part of why I love her so much.
“And kids, one day?” I ask, unable to hold back now.
“Of course,” she adds. “Lots of kids and maybe some dogs…someday,” she adds cryptically, giving me that knowing look again.
Her eyes roll though once she hears the phone on the wall ringing.
“And can we do away with that?” she asks, then laughs as I sigh, heaving myself off my stool to answer it out of another habit.
I guess I have to be accessible to someone all the time. Someone that isn’t my Jules.
I figure it must be Fitch or someone who’s working closely with the new changes. But to my annoyance, it’s Nicholas.
Note to self: change this number once I get off the phone. Maybe get a restraining order against this guy.
“Before you hang up,” he starts. “I think there are some things you should know, Mason.”
I feel my jaw clenching and my hand tightens on the phone, my first instinct is to hang up, rip the damn phone off the wall.
“After twenty years, just give me a minute,” he says, almost pleading.
There’s some emotion in the old man’s voice, and I grunt quietly.
Jules has cleared the dishes and gives me a little wave goodbye, signaling she’s going to the bathroom.
“You’ve got fifty seconds,” I snarl down the line.
“I did wrong by you in the end, Mason. But it wasn’t always that way. I just got tired of seeing you get more and more while I never got anything.”
The second phase after the ‘fire me’ face is the ‘I didn’t mean it, can I have my old job back’ face.
“You did more than double-cross me Nicholas, you broke the law, sold out thousands of people using my name,” I reprimand, unable to contain my anger.
“Your name?” he bellows down the phone. “Your name!”
It’s a stupid question, but his anger beats mine down, which is replaced with confusion and then silent understanding.
Something I guess I knew all along, but could never admit. Not even to myself.
“Forty years ago… I had a son. His mother gave her life so he could keep his… I was a mess, financially… emotionally… I’d just lost my wife of five years…”
I feel my legs buckling, and I pull up a stool, sitting myself down, trying to swallow but my mouth is too dry all of a sudden.
“Our boy was adopted out, but I never forgot him. I never thought I’d see him again.”
“Until you came to work for me,” I say aloud, feeling like I’ve double-crossed myself all these years somehow.
“How did you know?” I ask him, still suspicious the old man could be up to something else, a new con maybe? But no, I know it’s the truth.
“That little birthmark under your arm, shaped like a cross almost. It’s different now, but when you were born its how we knew you were special, that somehow you’d change the world. Make it better.”
I clear my throat, pulling myself together.
“So, why try to ruin me, why try and take it all as your own? I know how you did it now. You had access to all my investors, my friendly and not so friendly competitors. It was nothing for you to contact them, even act on my behalf, telling all the lies needed to get what you wanted.”
He’s silent for a moment, then continues, “Aye, it was simple enough. I just got sick of seeing you, my only son as the man who had it all while I had nothing. Lately, you’d sign anything I put in front of you, you trust me that much.”
“Trusted,” I correct him, looking at my watch.
“And that’s your time up,” I inform him, ready to hang up.
“Aren’t you even going to forgive your own father?” he asks, his voice trembling with emotion, but mine’s recovered. I can hear Jules humming as she comes back into the kitchen.
I know where my loyalty lies.
“I might’ve,” I tell him in a low voice. “Except you made the worst call, telling me I could do better than Jules. Look out for my subpoena in the mail, as well as the cops knocking. I’ll see you in court, asshole.”
I hang up, taking a second to breathe in and then out while I yank the cord from the wall.
“Everything alright?” Jules asks, sidling up next to me, stroking my face with her hand.
“Better now,” I tell her. “Just a ghost from the past… Say, what kind of dogs were you thinking about?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jules
I might not know much about high finance, but I’m no dummy when it comes to who’s on the phone.
I know it’s that Nicholas man. Mason said he’s one of the few who has access to that number. I also know that no matter how much Mason wants me by his side 24/7, I know when to make myself scarce too.
I take a bathroom break, and by the time I come back to the kitchen, I can’t help but overhear. And I think I hear enough to get the picture anyway.
I turn back, giving Mason his privacy, waiting until I think he’s done before going back into the kitchen.
I can’t help it either, the passing thought.
There’s just too many stairs in this place too… the kids… They don’t come out with common sense or big enough to climb stairs the right way.
Remembering what Mason said about keeping me barefoot and pregnant, it makes me smile. I find myself standing in the
