M
ichael followed Alan down the hallway from the boardroom to Alan’s office, his feet
almost swallowed by the plush carpet. He tried not to be too impressed with what Abraham
Martin had accomplished in his life but it was hard not to be, with all the awards
and recognitions lining the hallway wall. He even caught a glimpse of the old man
standing with Barack Obama. Still, Michael was determined to outdo him.
He followed Alan into his office and closed the door behind him. Instead of settling
himself into one of the chairs, he lifted a palm and gave Alan a high-five. “I can’t
believe we pulled it off,” he said.
Alan slapped his palm. “We haven’t done anything yet,” he warned. “We’ve only executed
the first steps of our plan. We have a ways to go.”
Michael dropped down on the leather couch in the corner of the office. “That Saralyn
is a piece of work, isn’t she?”
Alan went to his wet bar and opened a bottle of scotch. He poured two glasses and
handed one to Michael. “She’s spoiled. Always has been. Started with her father and
continued with Abraham. She’s used to getting her way.” He sat in the club chair across
from Michael.
Michael thought of his own mother and how hard she’d worked to give them a decent
life. No one had pampered her. He would some day, though. “I bet her son is spoiled,
too.”
Alan chuckled. “Don’t be too sure. From where I was standing, he was on top in that
little skirmish between the two of you.”
Michael gulped down all of his scotch in one swallow. “I didn’t want to hurt the little
pansy. I was feeling him out, trying to push his buttons.” He grinned at Alan. “It
worked.”
“Maybe, but we need to cut the physical contact.” He tapped his forehead. “We’ll achieve
our goal with brain power, not brawn. We’re going to beat Abraham on the field where
he thinks he rules.”
“You hate the old man as much as I do,” Michael observed. “What did he do to you?”
he asked, not expecting an answer. It was a question he’d asked before, without receiving
an answer.
“Let’s just say your father is a taker. He thinks the world and everyone in it is
his for the taking. He holds himself in the highest esteem and everyone else to no
esteem.”
“What about his wife? He seems to dote on her. A blind man could see the sparkles
in her jewelry.”
“Abraham likes women…
all
women. Saralyn only gets special attention because as his wife she’s a reflection
of him. Same with the boy. They have to live up to his lofty standards. Be glad that
you and your sister didn’t grow up under that kind of scrutiny.”
Michael wasn’t so sure. A boy benefitted from a father’s guiding hand. Having a father
allowed a boy to be a boy. In a household of women, a boy had to become a man too
soon. “So, was it a woman?”
Alan stared at his glass. “Yes, but not in the way you think. It was my sister.”
“What happened?” Michael wanted to know.
“What usually happens? It’s the same old story. Older married man seduces young, impressionable
girl. She falls in love; he doesn’t. He ends it; she’s devastated.”
Michael hated the obvious similarity with his mother. “Did she get pregnant?”
Alan shook her head. “She drove her car into a tree. They called it suicide but I
know it was murder. Abraham killed her when he broke her heart.”
Michael had no response. When Alan had come to him four months ago with a proposal
for a partnership to bring down Abraham Martin, he hadn’t needed much coaxing. Alan
was an insider at MEEG. He had access to information that they could use against Abraham.
“We’ll make him pay, Alan.”
“I know we will,” the attorney said. “It was clear today where the votes are on the
board. If Abraham remains in his coma for a while, we may be able to short-cut our
way to victory. I’m the deciding vote in his absence.”
“How long before we can get everything in place?”
“Six months, tops.”
“That’s a long time. I doubt he’ll be in a coma that long.”
Alan shrugged. “He could die.”
The words took Michael aback. “You hate him more than I do.”
“My sister is dead. Your mother and sister are alive. There’s a difference.”
Michael realized his partner was right. Then he had a terrible thought. “The old man’s
car accident,” he said, “it was an accident, wasn’t it?”
Alan chuckled. “I may hate Abraham Martin but I wouldn’t kill him. It wouldn’t bring
my sister back and it wouldn’t hurt Abraham enough. He has to suffer—the way my sister
suffered.”
Y
ou can’t let Michael get to you like that, Isaac,” Rebecca said, once they were out
of the boardroom. “He deliberately goaded you, and you fell for it.”
He gave her a cold glance but kept moving. “You don’t want to talk to me about Michael
right now, Rebecca,” he said.
“We have to talk at some point,” she said.
“I said everything I needed to say the other night. This marriage is over.”
Rebecca stopped, grabbing his arm so he skidded to a halt with her. “Don’t you think
that’s what Michael wants? He knows I love you, and he’ll take great joy in breaking
us up.”
“You should have thought about that before you lied to me.”
“I’m sorry, Isaac. How many times do I have to say it?”
He shrugged his arm out of her grasp and resumed walking. “Too little, too late. It’s
over.”
She jogged a couple of steps and fell into pace with him. “You
can’t toss me out like the morning garbage,” she said. “I won’t let you.”
He chuckled dryly. “You can’t stop me.”
She was about to say more when they reached his office and he opened the door. She
spotted his mother stretched out on his couch, one of her arms resting on her forehead.
“This conversation is not over,” she whispered.
He walked toward his mother, ignoring Rebecca’s whispered words. “Are you all right,
Mom?” he asked.
She lowered her arm and sat up. “I’m fine. I just needed to rest my eyes for a minute.
I can’t put up with any more of those meetings,” she said. “Your father was wrong
to put us in this situation. What was he thinking?”
“You know as much as I do,” he said to his mother. “I would invite you to lunch, but
I’m already committed to meet with one of our vendors, though you’re welcome to join
us.”
Saralyn shook her head. “I can’t do another meeting today.” Glancing at Rebecca, she
said, “Rebecca and I can have a nice lunch and then I’ll head off to the hospital.
You two can join me later for dinner. According to the schedule, Deborah Thomas is
supposed to have time with Abraham tonight. God, these people have invaded my life.”
Isaac pressed a kiss on his mother’s forehead. “You can handle it,” he said. “I have
faith in you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I had faith that you’d never get into a brawl in the boardroom,
too, and look what that got me.”
“He was asking for it,” Isaac said.
“You’re a better man than he is, Isaac,” his mother said. “I don’t care what he does—you
have to maintain your composure. When you go off like that, he wins. I don’t want
it to happen again.”
Rebecca slid a sly glance at Isaac to see if he received his mother’s words better
than he’d taken hers. She was disappointed when his response was a perfunctory nod.
He looked at his watch. “I’ve got to run,” he said. “You two enjoy lunch.”
After he left the office and closed the door behind him, Rebecca turned to Saralyn.
“So where do you want to go for lunch?”
Saralyn patted the space next to her on the couch. “I can’t eat a thing,” she said.
“You and I need to talk about Isaac.”
Rebecca welcomed the discussion. Her mother-in-law seemed to share her thinking in
regard to Michael and Isaac. She took the offered seat, saying, “I’ve never seen Isaac
react the way he did today. I told him he shouldn’t let Michael get under his skin.”
Saralyn crossed her legs and turned sideways to face Rebecca. “Evidently, Michael
pushed some hot buttons. He insulted you, Abraham, and me. He had a lot of ammunition
and he seemed to use it all.”
Rebecca began to grow wary of the way Saralyn was looking at her. She couldn’t think
of a suitable response.
“To me, it seemed his insult to you is what tripped Isaac’s switch,” Saralyn said.
“Has Michael done or said something inappropriate to you?”
Rebecca shook her head. She didn’t want to have this discussion with Saralyn. The
woman was too observant. “Michael was just trying to get under Isaac’s skin.”
“Are you sure there isn’t something more?” Saralyn probed. “Michael seemed very specific
when he mentioned anniversary gifts and seducing you.”
Rebecca looked at the framed artwork above Saralyn’s head. “It was all just talk.”
Saralyn leaned close and placed her hand on Rebecca’s knee. “Isaac is my son, Rebecca,
and I know him about as well as any mother knows a son. Idle words from Michael would
not have provoked him to physical violence.”
“I don’t know what Isaac was thinking,” she said.
Saralyn studied her. “I’d like to think our relationship has
grown since Isaac first brought you home to meet us. It took me a while to warm to
you and I’m sorry about that, but I’ve always been a bit overprotective where he was
concerned. I had to make sure that you really loved him.”
“I know,” Rebecca said. “And I understood.”
“From where I sit, you’ve been a good wife to him. I think you love him.”
“I do.”
“Yet I can’t help but think that whatever is wrong between you and Isaac contributed
to his reaction to Michael today.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Saralyn met her eyes. “I think you do,” she said, “but since you won’t be more forthcoming,
I’m going to have to ask you straight out. Did you have an affair with Michael? Is
that what he meant with his seduction comment to Isaac?”
Rebecca kept her eyes fixed on Saralyn. “I have never cheated on Isaac with Michael,”
she said, telling the truth but not really answering the question.
Saralyn sat back. “But you have slept with him, haven’t you?”
Rebecca looked away. She had no explanation to give Saralyn.
“You don’t have to answer. I’m assuming you didn’t tell Isaac before you were married.”
Rebecca shook her head. “At the time, I had no idea that Michael was his half brother.
Why would I tell him? He didn’t tell me about all the women he’d slept with.” She
didn’t see any value in telling Saralyn about the anniversary gifts. She needed her
mother-in-law on her side.
“You may be right, but you should have told him as soon as you learned that Abraham
was Michael’s father. When you didn’t, you should have kept it to yourself. Forever.
That’s the cardinal rule of lying to your husband. Once you do it, you have to stick
to it. I’m assuming you told Isaac in some grand moment of true confessions.”
“I didn’t want Michael to hold it over him.”
“Don’t kid me, Rebecca. I wasn’t born an old married lady. I know the games men and
women play. You told because you knew Michael would tell him at some point and you
wanted to beat him to it.”
“Maybe that was part of it,” she said. “But you know I love Isaac. Can’t you help
me make him see that I do?”
Saralyn patted her knee. “You need to face a hard truth, Rebecca. Your marriage to
Isaac is over. He’s never going to get past this, and frankly, I don’t blame him.”
D
eborah shook her head. She couldn’t believe how her brother had treated Isaac in the
boardroom. She placed her order and handed the menu back to the waitress. “Mama, I
think we’ve got bigger problems than me and Alan. Your son was fighting with his half
brother during a business meeting. We’ve got to do something.”
Leah took a sip of iced tea. “Well, he said Isaac threw the first punch.”
“Come on, Mama,” Deborah said. “You and I both know Isaac didn’t jump Michael out
of the blue.”
Leah shrugged. “We don’t know any such thing.”
Deborah could not believe this conversation. “You can’t be making excuses for Michael,
Mama, not now, not after what he did today.”
Leah wiped her fingers down the side of her glass. “I’m not making excuses for him,”
she said. “I’m trying to see things from his perspective.”
Deborah loved her mother but she couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “Maybe we’ve
tried to do that too much, Mama. Maybe all we’ve done is turn a blind eye to Michael’s
misdeeds.”
“That’s not true,” Leah said.
Deborah bit her lower lip. “Yes, it is. The most glaring example is how we treated
his relationship with Josette. We should have made him tell her that Abraham was his
father and Isaac his brother. And if he didn’t tell her, we should have. Instead,
we went along with it, convincing ourselves that Michael’s motives were pure. When
is it going to stop, Mama?”
Leah wiped at a tear with a hand. “I don’t know what to do. How do you think it makes
me feel to see how much my son hates his father?”
Deborah squeezed her mother’s hand. “It’s not your fault, Mama. It’s nobody’s fault.
It’s just the way things are. But if we love Michael—and we do—we have to find a way
to help him.”
“I’ve talked to him and talked to him,” she said. “My words don’t penetrate.”
“I know what you mean,” Deborah said. “Words aren’t working. Everything he’s doing
goes back to the animosity he feels toward Abraham.”
Leah smiled weakly. “Now who’s making excuses for him?”
“I don’t seem to be able to help myself. I know the rejection he feels. I felt it,
too. And I think Abraham was wrong not to put Michael on the board. That was only
more rejection. We shouldn’t have gone along with it.”
The waitress brought their meals and placed them on the table. When she was gone,
Leah said, “The proposal made sense when Abraham first put it to me. I think he had
good intentions.”
Deborah sprinkled salt on her fried potatoes. “Maybe he could have made them work
if he weren’t in the hospital, but I can safely say that his plan is one big failure.”
“What can we do about it?”
“We can give Michael his seat on the board. All we need to do is tell Alan that we
think he’s ready.”
“Do you think he’s ready? Abraham was concerned that he might try to sabotage the
company.”
Deborah picked up her hamburger and took a bite. “What could he do? Saralyn made it
perfectly clear that we don’t have enough votes to do anything. What harm could come
of it?”
“I promised Abraham—”
Deborah stopped her mother. “Mama, we need to think about what’s best for Michael,
not what’s best for Abraham. I think giving him some say in his father’s company would
go a long ways toward helping him establish some relationship with Abraham. As it
stands now, there is no chance for that. He’s still an outsider. He probably feels
more of an outsider now that I’m working at MEEG and sitting on the board. It’s his
birthright. He shouldn’t have to earn it if Isaac and I didn’t have to.”
“I’ll think about it,” Leah said. “It’s hard for me to picture Michael and Isaac working
side by side, given what happened today.”
Deborah chuckled. “It’s hard for me to picture it, too, but that’s where we are. They’re
both Abraham’s sons. They both have to adapt. This would be a lot easier if Abraham
were awake, but we have to work with what we have.”
“When did you get so smart?”
“I’m not smart, Mama.” She stabbed a fry with her fork. “Abraham told me that he wants
me to help bring this family together. I think he’d approve of what we’re considering.
We’re never going to be a family if Michael is on the outside looking in. It won’t
work and it’s not fair.”
“I bet this will go over well with Saralyn.”
Deborah laughed. “We’ll leave the telling to Alan. He’ll find the best way to break
it to her.”
Leah took a bite of her salmon. “Alan’s an attractive man.”
“Does that mean I’m going to have to fight you for him?”
Leah shook her head. “He’s too old for me.”
Deborah laughed and flicked a fry at her mother. “No, you didn’t say that.”
“He seems like a nice man. Your type—smart, established, handsome, older.”
“Right on all four counts, but there’s nothing to worry about. Yet. We haven’t even
gone out.”
“But you will,” Leah said.
“Probably,” Deborah said. “I’m taking it slow. Part of the attraction is that he’s
known Abraham for a long time and he’s willing to share those stories with me.”
“Be careful,” Leah said, “of your own heart and Alan’s. There are quite a few broken
hearts in your past, sweetheart.”
Deborah sighed. “Don’t start. If another person tells me I have commitment issues,
I think I’ll scream.” She picked up the dessert menu in the middle of the table. “Enough
of the serious talk,” she said. “My sweet tooth is calling me.”