She sputtered, glanced at me casually, then did a double take.
“What is
she
doing here?” she asked, as I sat Kerry down between my seat and Jesse's.
My brother spotted it first. “It appears she's a Stone. Sorry, it appears she
has
a stone.”
“What on Earth are you talking about?”
Kerry tried to fight it, but I brought her hand out on the table. In a room full of chandeliers and crystal glasses, her diamond engagement ring twinkled the brightest.
My mother's face contorted through the first four stages of grief, and then four extra ones of anger. The furrows looked inscribed into her face by the end.
“How dare you bring her here like this. Deacon, even for you, this is beyond the pale.”
“Falling in love?” I clasped Kerry's hand with mine, rubbing it warm. “Yeah, I never quite planned it out, but here we are.”
“And you have to flaunt this...crassness before me in this-” she glanced around, confused. “This carnival house of mirrors.”
“You're blaming me for Jesse's choice of venue, now?” I turned to Jesse. “Everything just slides right off you, doesn't it?”
“The funhouse mirrors bit certainly hit home,” Jesse sulked. “I helped Lilliana with that bit of the décor.”
“There's nothing crass about what Kerry and I have,” I said. “She’s my missing half, kind and careful while I demand and execute. Plus, she’s smarter than me, of course. We could rule this world, if she so as much as gave me the permission.”
My mother sniffed at her. “She's fit to rule the desert with you perhaps.”
Kerry's hand tensed under mine. I tried to settle her, but she yanked it away.
“Ever since I met you,” she rumbled next to me. “You treat me like I'm some strange smell on the street. Just cause I don't know your world, you think I don't matter? Your world can’t see reality straight. I've lived in one like that, and I don't ever want it again.”
My mother huffed, but Kerry was fuming like a dragon. She roared again. “I don’t need you to like me. Just leave me alone, or so help me god, I will come over there and smack some truth into you. And I really don’t want to put the poor waitress through cleaning up that mess.”
The room was so still, even the sizzle from a table on the other side of the wall buzzed the air. My mother was utterly speechless.
“Feel good?” I asked finally.
“Much better.” Kerry took a sip of water. “You're right. I'm glad I came.”
“What was that you were saying about her being kind and careful?” Jesse asked.
“That was a careful outburst,” Kerry said, leaning back. “There's a lot more I could have said.”
I smiled. How couldn't I? Even now, with my mother about to take it all away from me, Kerry was free in a way I'd never been
“You two had your fun?” my mother asked, clasping her hands on the table. “Let me tell you what gives me the right to judge, missy: my one third stake in Stone Holdings, granted to me by my late husband, and worth billions of dollars. How much are you worth exactly?”
“The same, soon enough,” Kerry said.
“Ah, yes. I'm sure Deacon will be blind enough to forget a prenup. But, let me tell you this, even if you rob him of everything, as I'm sure you intend to, you will still never hold any power in this company. When I am dead and dust, my shares will go to the only member of my family that does not spit in my face by proxy.”
A dangerous purr filled her voice. I sat up straight.
“In fact,” she said. “I see no reason to wait until I'm dead. Let me enjoy the fruits that I will seed.”
She turned to Jesse. “Summon the lawyer. I wish to grant you my shares effective immediately. You will be the new CEO of Stone Holdings.”
Jesse's phone already lay in his palm, but he just gaped back at our mother. He must have known this was coming, same as me. It was just far swifter than imagined.
In fact, why hadn’t my heart seized? I hadn't walked in here expecting to lose my title today.
Kerry's soft hand wound around my fingers.
Oh right, that was why.
The seconds ticked on. My brother and my mother just stared at each other.
“Jesse?” she said. “Do you not have his number?”
He chewed thoughtfully on what must be nothing. The worry looked wrong on that long, aristocratic face of his. He was always the golden child, never unhappy, never not getting his way. So what was the problem?
“I don't want it,” Jesse said, softly.
“What?” The word erupted from my mouth.
He tossed me a shrug. “The company, the top spot. I don't want it.”
My mother jerked back. “I don't understand. I'm giving it to you.”
“And I don't accept.”
“You don't want the company?” I said.
“Listen,” he said. “Father had you and I compete from the beginning. We both knew that. You would scrape and brawl your way to the top, and I would give him what he was actually looking for. That's what I excel at. Convincing people I’m giving them what they want. I could sell a toaster to a volcano if it would speak. It’s almost a shame that my looks keep me from needing that talent in my personal life.”
He took a short sip of tea.
“So I'd rather stay in sales. I can sell our product to everyone and anyone - that's how I can help Stone Holdings best, anyway.”
My mother's mouth fluttered for words. “You are throwing away everything your father and I have worked for.”
“Nonsense. I'm handing it to the brother who actually enjoys dealing with all that dreadful high-minded stuff.”
My mother glanced at me as if I were a monster in a horror flick.
“Then make him CEO,” she said, frantically. “You don't have to make the decisions, you simply control the company.”
Jesse cast a furtive glance at me. “I don't suppose having even the possibility of me second-guessing your decisions is something you'd go for? I should point out how well that worked out for you last time.”
He ticked his head at Kerry.
“Actually,” she said. “We met before the project. In fact, it almost ruined everything.”
“Oh,” Jesse said, popping his mouth. “In that case, I can see how you would have zero confidence in my override.”
“It’s nothing personal,” I said.
He shrugged. “No offense taken. Like I said, decision-makings more your thing.”
A smile had erupted on my mouth and set root there. There was nothing about this not to like. Kerry’s grip was positively giddy in mine.
“And there it is,” Jesse said. “I'm a rainmaker, mother. You find me a cloud and I will make it pour wealth. But I can't steer us towards the clouds. That's Deacon. It's always been Deacon.”
He reached out an arm to the flustered woman who had been so much in charge my whole life. “So if you give me your share, I'll pass it right along to him. I'm no mathematician like these two, but a third of billions sounds quite larger than two thirds of nothing - which is what we’ll soon be worth if I’m in charge.”
“I don't need two thirds control,” I said. “You pull your weight in ways I can’t. You deserve a solid 49%.”
“Really?” Jesse's brow wrinkled. “49.9% wouldn't be acceptable to you?”
I shrugged. “Guess I don't see a problem with that.”
Jesse clapped his hands and sank into his seat. “See? And he just gave that to me. I excel at making people do that.”
Kerry laughed. He beamed at her.
I wanted to slap the smile of his face and crush him with a hug, both. Leave it to Jesse to understand himself just as well as he understood others.
My mother looked very alone on her end of the table. She cast a look from face to face, eyes tightening.
“Don't worry,” I said. “Believe it or not, I'll take good care of the Stone family name. People might worry about it here in Texas, but the world is just waking up to its potential.”
A thousand panels spun toward the sun in my mind, drawing on power that could not be taken away or depleted. Power that was vital to life itself. That was what the Stone name would come to mean.
“You trample over your father's visions,” she said softly.
My father's visions? His vision had been a world where he could hold onto the Stone legacy without changing or adapting. He had believed in a right and wrong way to do things based on his own will, rather than reality. In some ways, he was just as warped as Kerry's father had been.
My mother could reside in the clouds if she wanted. But I could only face the real world. I would continue the work where my grandfather had left off.
“Well, what can you do?” I said. “You're out of Stones to hold onto. I suppose you could adopt a little son from somewhere like Korea and raise him to do your bidding, but it might not work.”
“Oh, he would love this restaurant,” Jesse said, glancing around warmly. “I don't think he'd turn on us.”
“Our hypothetical adopted Korean brother?” I asked. “Don't restaurants this fashionable have planned expiry dates? Two more would rise and fall by the time he grew up.”
“I suppose it depends on how old he is.”
He turned to my mother, but she had gathered her purse and was getting up to go.
“We'll see how this winds up,” she said, and then she scuttled off through the chairs.
“Can she do anything?” Kerry asked.
“Even if she did,” Jesse said. “We control a majority between the two of us. It would make no difference.”
I heaved a long breath. Damn, was I hungry. Being blindsided by utter victory could have that effect.
“This place does more than just decorate tables, right?” I said.
“I think so.” Jesse hit a little button at the center of the table. “I didn't actually try any of the food yet.”
“I don't care. I'm starving?” I glanced at Kerry. “You?”
“I could eat.”
“Were you really going to go beat her up?” Jesse asked.
“Oh god, no,” Kerry smiled wickedly. “But I thought I'd threaten it first before she came over here and whacked me with her purse.”
“Oh mother would never do that.”
“No, she'd hire someone else,” I said.
The three of laughed.
The waiter came and helped us place orders for food that made no human sense. It actually turned out to be good though. Bulgogi beef and guacamole made a fine mix in a corn tortilla shell.
The three of us got along quite alright, as well. It was terrifying how suddenly that undercurrent of tension between me and Jesse vanished. Hell, it had been a mirage in the desert of my mind. I was never so grateful to be wrong.
It was good having Kerry, but I'd had her walking in to this place. Now I could give her the company and better yet, I could give her my family. The good part of it.
Note: I wasn't going to give her
to
my family. I’d have to be very careful on that.
But as the afternoon tinkered on, and we lay full amidst the wreckage of our final board meeting, I felt completely sated. With my woman in my arms, my brother at my right hand, and my company firmly under my control, the future had never looked so bright.
Epilogue
The sun was still golden as I stood on the pier, but the light didn't burn. Growing up in Houston hadn't prepared me for that.
Was Houston still my home? Southern California wasn't, but we'd gotten here as easily as taking a taxi. That's what planes were in my life now, big taxis that smelled better and gave me free drinks.
Ok, free 'drink' was about all I could handle, but I was certainly offered much much more.
That kinda applied to so many other things being a billionaire's partner. I could have filled a hundred walk in closets with bouquets of clothes and never gotten Deacon to blink an eye. I could have demanded the most extravagant vacations without even a day's notice and he would have simply rerouted our jet. I could ask to meet all my comedy heroes and find them waiting in the hotel lobby for me when I got back from work.
It wasn't fair, not in the least. But I was starting to get used to it. I was also starting to get used to how much good I'd have to put back in the world to justify the heaven that I'd fallen into. Thank god Deacon was more than just a pretty face and a giant bank account. We could do that together.
After all, he was now also my husband. And I was his wife.
We had said the words just a couple hours ago on a tiny grass field, overlooking rolling hills and this shimmering blue bay. His grey eyes had been shimmering themselves, as my lips moved with the words: “I do.”
I hadn't even heard him say the words himself. That look said everything.
I'd been his since he'd kneeled in my old dingy living room and asked me. Today was just another beautiful day in our new life together.
I watched the waters as I caught a well-needed breather from our reception. The wind swept over from the rolling blue bay just past the railing, ruffling my wedding dress and bathing me in salty air.
“What are you doing out
here
?” someone asked.