Chuckling I chew on more bacon. “Happy tears are always welcome.”
“And the sad ones?” she teases.
“I’ll make those go away as quickly as I can. Speaking of family, I want you to meet mine. Jen and Ryder will love you. But you might want to keep my nephew away from those younger cousins of yours. You’ve told me how innocent they are.”
“Not Lexi,” Emma reminds me.
“Well Zoe and Samantha then. Warn them when he comes around. Ryder’s got the devil in him, just like I do. Only he has less control since he’s just now starting college.”
“Oh God,” she groans, rolling her eyes. “I’ll lock them up like the men in my family locked me. I’m kidding,” she winks. “But Tanner, you didn’t answer my question. Why have the orphanage in Atlanta?”
Taking a sip of coffee I nod and set the cup down, turning the handle to where I like it. “Well, it’s a difficult story. Knew I’d tell you in good time, but here goes. I had a woman working for my company, a bookkeeper named Riva. I found out she was putting in extra hours but not billing me for them. I watched her from afar after that, kept tabs, and saw how few errors she made. When she did make them, she brought them to her managing director’s attention, the necessary corrections already made. She could have swept them under the rug with a company as big as mine, fudged the numbers, but she didn’t. Since I was observing her, I knew and it made me more interested.” Clearing my throat I stare off at the waves, mind traveling back in time. “One year, when I caved in to Dan’s pressuring me to have a Christmas party, we took over a local hotel’s main dining room and bar. I found her sitting alone and grabbed the opportunity to ask what her roots were. She demurred at first, so I confessed I’d been watching her and admired her strength of character, her integrity. She was surprised, but it did the trick. She wanted to tell me why. She was proud of how far she’d come, had in fact probably been dying to tell someone the story.” Pausing I sip my coffee and meet Emma’s eyes, her meal forgotten, attention rapt. “Riva was raised in the lower-west side of Atlanta, in a section where most houses and businesses were boarded up, forgotten. Where crime was a way of life. Where nobody heard your call for help because nobody cared. The South was still holding onto racism then, even among her own race, African-American. The middle and upper class were so relieved to have fought their way out of segregation they sometimes didn’t look back to help their lower class sisters and brothers up. Easier to keep marching forward, especially when drugs were involved. Or gangs. Crime in general. You understand.”
Emma nods, “Yes, go on.”
Frowning I fold my napkin and lay it on the table. “Riva was orphaned at the age of seven—her mother was an addict, her father she never knew. ‘I had to offer my body to whoever would pay for it,’ she told me. I couldn’t believe it. She barely ate, saved that money, and put herself through school. She was good with numbers. Knew the value of hard work, that it was her ticket out of that hellish life she wanted no part of. The last thing she told me before the party interrupted us, I’ll never forget. She said, ‘If I didn’t help myself nobody would do it for me. I had the power to change my life. We all do.’” Clearing my throat I add, “Two winters ago she was in a car accident. Her managing director called me. The orphanage idea formed in my head as I broke every law to get to the hospital in time. When I told her my plan, her expression, I can’t possibly do justice to it. So stunned. So proud. Unfortunately, Riva passed the next day.”
Emma rises up from her chair and kisses the corner of my eyes. “I’m the first person you’ve told, aren’t I?”
“Yes.” I clear my throat again, but this damn lump won’t leave. “Not even Dan.”
“Does he just think you’re crazy?”
I pull her onto my lap and admit, “Probably. But I think he knows deep down, this one is personal. Just doesn’t know why. He would never ask.”
“She sounds like a very special woman, Tanner.”
“Anyone who changes their circumstances for the better, I can’t help but respect them. She was one of the true heroes.”
Emma traces the back of my neck, smiling tenderly. “It’s kind of your redemption, too, isn’t it?”
“How so?” I frown.
“You’ve been telling me stories about the companies you’ve taken over, the people you’ve laid off, and I saw hints of regret.”
“I’ve been shrewd, maybe at times thoughtless in my ambition.”
Emma presses a gentle kiss to my forehead, stroking my hair.
This is the mother of my children.
But first.
I must ask her father a question...
CHAPTER 36
EMMA
F loating on my back in flawless water, soft sand not far beneath, I’m watching fluffy white clouds lazily changing shape in a peaceful sky...has it ever been this blue? That cloud has nowhere to be other than where it is right now. And this ocean is always here, every day of every year. That beach remains where it is, no matter where I am in the world. Those trees are ancient, and they will be here long after I’m gone.
How big are my problems really?
Where do I want to go from here?
I get to choose.
What kind of woman do I want to be?
Am I her already?
How do I handle my father and still stay me? While loving him, and honoring his feelings…
But more importantly, my own.
Sloshing my way out of the warm water, I smooth down wet hair and wave to Tanner working on the patio. “I’m going to call
