Breathless 3: In Love With An Alpha Billionaire Read online

  “And you moved the sofa to look for dust, because…”

  “I am not upset with your Father, if that’s what you’re thinking. He just has some misguided thoughts and feelings right now, but don’t be mistaken. I have your Father wrapped around my finger,” she said pointing out her diamond covered ring finger. “Now like I was saying, what I’m upset about is that we pay our help so much and they can’t do something as simple as laying a flower bed or dusting.”

  “Sure,” I said as I sat down on the sofa and picked up a magazine. I haphazardly browsed the magazine while she continued to rant.

  “Jacob, I want you to know that I’m unbothered by anything those people came in here to do last night.”

  “That’s the problem,” I said placing the magazine back on the table. “You should be bothered. The thoughts and feelings you’re unbothered by are serious to me and Dad. If there is any chance for you to salvage the relationships with your son and husband, you’re going to have to understand those facts.”

  “Jacob, you do not know what you’re talking about,” Mom yelled with venom spewing from her eyes.

  “Mom, calm down and talk to me. Right now, I’m actually on your side when it comes to saving your marriage. The last thing I want to see is my parents divorced.”

  “Fine. You want to know how I really feel about last night?”

  “Amongst other things, I do want to know how you feel about last night.”

  “I feel like it’s your fault for bringing those people into our home and upsetting our family. Of all the black people in this highly populated world, how could you go out and handpick Clara’s daughter?”

  “Those people did not upset our family. If anything, Clara coming back into the picture only shined a light on what was already wrong. For instance, before you even knew Ms. Clara was coming to dinner, you had already planned to disrespect my fiancé by inviting Justine.” Mom huffed and turned her back on me. “But, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t know about Dad and Clara’s history. I found out the same time you did,” I said, knowing that I didn’t owe her any type of explanation after the way she treated me and Destiny.

  “Well, that makes me feel a whole heap better,” she said sarcastically, before turning back to face me.

  “Mom, no matter what has transpired here, I’m marrying Destiny and she will be a part of this family. In order for it to work, you have to show some damn respect. Your attitude towards her is getting old.”

  “You don’t even understand what you’ve done,” she said, throwing her hands in the air and hitting them hard against her legs when they came down. “Your father slept in the guestroom last night, because he’s pining over a forty-year-old love affair. You brought the woman it took me years to extract from his heart into our home. You don’t know how he used to call out for her in his sleep. Do you know what it took for him to get her out of his system? Do you know how many times I’ve caught him looking at her old pictures, Jacob? To this day, he has an album labeled Wellmington memories.”

  “Mom, listen.”

  “And now, at sixty five years old, I had to watch him stand in front of her acting like he never knew my name. Like he’s twenty again. And you seem to think we’ll just get through this?”

  I listened to my mother and couldn’t help but feel torn. On the one hand, after years of idle stability, my parent’s marriage was in a rocky place. On the other hand, she had some nerve to look to me for sympathy after her blatant disregard for my relationship.

  At that moment, I hated that my mother didn’t like Destiny. That my father had a past with Ms. Clara. That Ms. Clara slapped my father in front of everyone. That Justine was at dinner. That Justine’s actions caused a rift in my relationship with Destiny, which left the back door open for Montie to slide in. But most of all, I didn’t like that Mom was hurting. At the end of the day, she was the first woman who ever had my heart.

  Watching Mom’s tears fall counterbalanced my reluctant acceptance of Dad’s feelings for Clara, the woman he claimed was his one true love. Thinking back, I watched Dad spend countless amounts of emotional energy trying to please Mom in one way or another. He would wine and dine her, and buy her special gifts. He catered to her every want and need, as far as my youthful eyes could see. However, she would only reward him with an artful smile, a kiss, or more requests for things she wanted.

  Sometimes, I would see him look at her as she rambled on about new items she purchased or planned to purchase and I would see an empty expression behind his eyes, a longing. Mom didn’t even notice the longing. She just navigated through, making her best effort at becoming the perfect, high-class housewife.

  What I knew for sure, as I listened to Mom ramble on about Ms. Clara being at dinner, was that my father longed for the moment he shared with Ms. Clara. He appreciated holding her in his arms as much as his next breath. As a man who went from a relationship of convenience with Justine into a whirlwind romance with Destiny, I understood my father’s position.

  Nevertheless, Mom had one thing over Ms. Clara, and that was forty years of matrimony. I just hoped she managed to pull herself together fast enough to express genuine love, before all was lost.

  “Mom, I need you to listen to me and listen to me very closely. Do you hear me? Very closely,” I said as I patted a place on the sofa for her to sit next to me.

  She sighed as she relented. When she sat down next to me, I leaned toward her and engaged her as intimately and caring as a son could. She looked at me willfully, and I hoped the layers of her nasty, high-society attitude would peel back as I spoke. I needed to get to the core of the woman who had meager beginnings in a small town in Alabama before moving to Miami, when her father got a job promotion.

  “I’m listening,” she said, nudging me to continue.

  “For me, I demand that you set aside any and all ill-feelings you have for Destiny. That will be necessary for us to have any semblance of a relationship in the years to come. For Dad, you need to figure out a way to get inside his heart again. Make him remember why he chose to marry you. Because what I saw last night was not a man who was intruded upon by unwanted guests.”

  I stopped right there. I dared to tell Mom I saw love, compassion and hope in my father’s eyes. A look that let me know for a fact he never stopped loving Ms. Clara one minute. I was sure Mom saw it too. I couldn’t remember a time when he looked at her that way.

  Mom considered what I was saying and dropped her hands to her side. “Jacob, there are a lot of things you don’t understand about me and your father. We may not have had a fiery romance, but we’ve grown old together. We will be just fine.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about us, Tammy,” Dad said as he walked into the room.

  “Johnny?” Mom said jumping to her feet.

  “You can sit back down, Tammy. You’ve done enough jumping around and having your say,” Dad said.

  “I will do no such thing,” Mom said in defiance.

  “Sit down, Tammy!” Dad’s voice boomed through the room.

  Mom’s back was as straight as a board and her face was as red as a beet as she glared at my father. However, under his harsh tone Mom’s body inched down onto the sofa to sit as she was told. “I’m sitting down, now what is this foolishness you’re saying? What do you mean you wouldn’t be so sure of us?”

  “Son, would you excuse us? We need to talk for a minute.”

  “Sure,” I said standing to leave. “Mom and I were just finishing up our conversation about last night. We’ll talk more about it later,” I said to Mom who twirled her head in the opposite direction.

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of everything that happened yesterday. You can believe that,” Dad said, giving me a nod.

  “Alright, well, I’ll see you later,” I said including both of my parents in my gaze.

  Dad nodded as I walked through the door, while Mom ignored me. From the way she was acting, I knew she would never change. Left to her own devices, she would e
ssentially put the last nail in her own coffin. Therefore, I told myself I would be at peace with whatever they decided to do.

  Chapter 2

  John Turner

  I Wish You Well

  “Tammy, there is no nice or neat way to say what I have to say,” I said walking into the room. I could feel knots forming in my stomach as I prepared to talk to my wife of forty years.

  “Well, just say it already, John.”

  “This marriage is over.”

  “What? Our marriage is not over! You can’t mean a word you’re saying,” Tammy said scooting to the edge of her seat.

  “Tammy, I don’t want this situation to get any uglier than it has to. It’s not like every other memory I have of you hasn’t already been bad enough. Let’s just cut our losses and call it quits, so we can spend our golden years happy. We don’t have to pretend to be happy any longer.”

  “But… I’m not pretending. I am happy, John. I am happy to be Mrs. Turner, always have been.” A slight smile crept upon Tammy’s pouty lips as she said my last name.

  Any other time, I probably would have let her admission slide right on past me. I would have extracted what I wanted to hear from her statement. But this time, I heard what she was really saying. Being a part of the Turner legacy made her happy. Being my wife was simply collateral to owning the name.

  “I’ve been content with you being happy for so many years, which is why I’ve always given you what you wanted. I let you have free reign to live whatever kind of life you wanted to live, Tammy,” I said as I scanned the various expensive items in our guest living room.

  A ten thousand dollar grandfather clock, a five hundred thousand dollar sofa that was originally owned by General George Washington and countless other heirlooms that served for empty conversation at cocktail parties. I remembered the thrill Tammy had as she purchased each item. It was a joy she reserved for guests at her many gatherings hosted in our home, ritzy weddings we attended, or when she was ordering more things for this house. Things that didn’t mean a thing to me. Hell, the delivery drivers had received more longing and loving looks than I had over the years, as they ushered in her many prized possessions.

  “This is the end of the road for me. I don’t have anything left to give to you,” I continued.

  “I don’t need anything else, John. I have everything I could ever want,” she said as she stood and walked over to me. Her eyes pleaded to the softer side of me.

  No matter what bad feelings I had about our marriage, Tammy was still the woman I’d spent the last forty years with. It was hard to say, “I don’t have what I want though. To be honest, as long as we’ve been married I’ve never had what I wanted.”

  A look of hurt flashed across Tammy’s face before she replaced it with her signature half smile. She was fishing for control as she tilted her head slightly to say, “What more could you possibly want, John? We have more than anyone could ask for. We have a wonderful son, a beautiful life and a marvelous home.”

  “Well, let’s talk about it. You’ve crossed our son in more unconscionable ways over the past months than I care to mention. Our life was built on lies, so our foundation has forever been weak. The only thing I can say that you have cherished is our home.”

  “That’s not true. I have cherished you, too.”

  “You don’t even know me, Tammy.”

  She waved me off and rolled her eyes. This conversation was peeving her and I was sure she thought this too would blow over and she’d be back to vintage shopping, tea parties, and wreaking havoc in no time.

  “I do know you, John. I know you well enough to know you’ll be back to your senses soon,” she said.

  “Tammy, look, I’m not going to do this with you. I’ve never been a man of many words, so I don’t intend to argue with you. However, I encourage you to take my words at face value. When I tell you it’s over, please understand our marriage is over.”

  “It’s not…” Tammy said faintly before her words trailed off.

  “We’ve come to the end of the road.”

  Tammy stepped closer to me. “Please, John.”

  “The way you treated our son’s fiancé was the last straw.”

  Her face wrinkled into a deep frown. “So this is about that untrained heifer that came into our home and acted like she just got out of the zoo? Hmph, I guess she had no choice. Her mother swings from the same branch. Both of them are donkey asses in my opinion.” I glared at Tammy and she backed down. “John, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I just know we can get past everything that happened at dinner. All we have to do is keep those people out of our house.”

  “Our house,” I said as I imagined hearing Clara’s laughter bounce from the walls of the room we were standing in. “Tammy, you will never be able to undo enough of the damage you’ve caused in order to measure up to the woman you call an animal.”

  “I knew it! I knew this was all about that damn Clara.”

  “Part of it is,” I admitted.

  “Oh, Johnny, you think you still love her?” Tammy laughed. “You’re an old man still auditioning for a part in the Romeo play. This is all really cute.”

  “Only a woman who has never loved her husband would make jokes and think this matter is cute.”

  “It’s cute because you walked away from her forty years ago and now all of a sudden you’re in love.”

  “Well, let’s see how cute it is when I divorce you and move her into this house.”

  “Try it and I will own Turner Enterprises outright,” Tammy said.

  “You can talk about our marriage and try whatever you want, but when it comes to my business you already know you are locked out of any type of payday, so I don’t know why you’re exciting yourself with the idea of owning Turner Enterprises,” I said coolly. On any given day, Tammy and I had ninety nine problems, but her taking my business would never be one.

  “You think you have everything working in your favor, huh? We’ll see about that, Johnny.”

  “I’m not going to entertain any ideas you may have about Turner Enterprises. And what I feel for Clara is well above your ability to understand. I never stopped loving her, not for one minute.”

  “Johnny, don’t you say these things to me! You can’t love her. You married me, remember? Must I pull out the photo albums and remind you who you are, who you’ve been for the past four decades?”

  “That won’t be necessary. I know who I am… a man who made choices based upon what his family and society had to say. I married you because my father insisted you were the one for me.”

  “Rubbish, we dated and you asked me to marry you because you wanted to marry me. No one twisted your arm, so don’t rewrite our history.”

  “Tammy, I was trying to get Clara out of my heart back then. You helped ease the pain, but your friendship never healed my wounds. I spent all these years with a Band-Aid over a wound that needed surgery. Seeing Clara last night and holding her in my arms was like finding a surgeon who offered a procedure that could heal me, at last. I have to get her back, so I can finally heal.”

  The weight of my words caused Tammy to back away from me and shrink down into her chair once again. Her gaze was distant as she recounted our life together.

  “Forty years, I have given forty years to you. I could have danced amongst the greats. I could have opened my own studio. I could have done a lot of great things with my life, but I spent my best years with you.”

  “All you have to do is listen to your words. What’s inside will come up. You just said you could’ve been doing something great, but instead you were with me.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said moving forward in her seat. I held up a hand to stop her from rising.

  “I don’t blame you for your regrets. You should’ve been doing what you loved many years ago,” I said as I looked into her aged eyes that had grown so weary. “We both made sacrifices and put aside what we really wanted to make our parents happy. We gave all we w
ere capable of giving to each other. But for how much time must we sacrifice fire-burning, passionate love?”

  “Well, what more do you expect from me, John? I tried my best to love you.”

  “You don’t have to try when it’s love, Tammy,” I said, feeling pained over her statement, and the time we both lost.

  “It’s not like we had the ideal love story. You know how bad I wanted to move to New York, but my father wanted me to stay and marry you. I did what I thought was best. And I thought we had grown to love each other.”

  “The bar was set so low for love that we both failed to realize we were not giving or receiving genuine love. What we have done is learned to tolerate each other. Our fathers gelled us together and we could have crafted anything we wanted from that gel. But with your desire to have money, power and status, and with my heart filled with another woman, there was no room for our love to develop.”

  “I didn’t desire money, power, and status.”

  “You’re using your money, power, and status to humiliate Destiny. That’s why it’s so easy for you to dismiss her and invite the woman who is wreaking havoc on his life into our home. Never mind that Justine extorted money from my company by seducing the best damn VP of Finance the company has ever had. She did it all to spite our son and your allegiance to her has brought spite to us all. The concept of genuine love doesn’t register well with you.”

  Tammy began wringing her hands together. Her voice shook as she said, “I may have gotten that one wrong, Johnny, but Justine just needs some mental help and she’s going to get through this. You’ll see.”

  “Is that why you put the judge in your pocket who gave her special treatment in that Atlanta courthouse? You didn’t think I knew that, did you?” I asked. “I know every damn thing that happens in this family, even about your hidden bank accounts.”

  Tammy’s eyes doubled in surprise, when I mentioned her accounts. “Those are just savings accounts, just so I can easily access the money in case something happened to you.”