Chapter Twenty-Six
KARLI
Halloween came and went and we were barreling toward Thanksgiving at a break-neck speed. I usually liked Thanksgiving.
Dad and I always cooked a huge dinner and invited all the guys from the gym and their wives and girlfriends or temporary dates, whatever the case might be. Michaela would come and bring whomever she was with at the time. Last year, it was Trent. Thank God that asshole was out of her life. She and Ethan were getting closer by the day, and I’d never seen her so happy. She’d even begun teasing me about us becoming sisters-in-law someday.
But I was digressing, letting myself revel in the memories of cooking turkey with Dad trying to peel and eat the skin and peeling potatoes by the dozens. Instead, I should have been focusing on what I was going to wear to Gregory Grant’s huge, fucking mansion when I sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend, his dad, and his brother. I was a nervous wreck about it, but I couldn’t very well tell Nick no.
The craziest part was that he’d asked me at the gym right in front of Dad and instead of telling me or Nick he couldn’t stand the thought of having Thanksgiving without me, he had said,
“That sounds nice, Karli; you should go.”
“But what about our dinner, Dad?”
“I was thinking about taking a step back from all of that this year, anyways.” That was the point where Nick excused himself and left us alone to talk.
“Really?” I pulled my eyebrows together. “You love our Thanksgiving dinners.”
“I do, baby girl, but maybe this year we’ll do a Christmas dinner, instead. See, the thing is…Kevin asked me to fly out to Philadelphia with him.”
Dad and Kevin had had a heart to heart the night Uncle Lenny was in the hospital. I don’t know what all was said, but the next time I saw them was when I got home from Nick’s the next day. They were watching football in our living room and Kevin had moved back in. The next thing I knew Kevin, was looking after Uncle Lenny during the day and Dad was calling him son more often.
“So, are you going as a family friend?”
He reached for my hand and said, “I know you lost a lot of respect for me over all of this. I’m not making excuses because there really is none. But I will tell you what I told Kevin. Linda and I did something horrible. We were attracted to each other and we acted on it.
“At the time, we rationalized it. Linda and Frank weren’t getting along. Frank was losing a lot of fights and always in a bad mood. Linda wanted to have a baby, but Frank wasn’t doing his part. I told myself that as long as Frank never found out, we weren’t hurting anyone. It was a lie so that I could do what I wanted to do without the guilt I should be feeling.
“Three months after that first time we were together, Linda called and told me she was pregnant and not only did she know it was my baby…but Frank did, too.”
“Oh my God. All this time, Frank has known?”
“Yeah. I left you with the neighbors and flew from Minnesota to Philly. The first thing Frank did when he saw me was punch me in the face. I didn’t hit back. I let him punch me several more times until he was finished and then the three of us sat down and talked.
“I wanted my son, and I was sure that’s what Frank would want. I had thought about it on the flight, and I expected him to want a divorce and to never want to see me again, or the baby. As it turned out, that was far from what he wanted. He wanted Linda as long as she promised to never cheat again, and he wanted the baby.
“He had a secret of his own. He was sterile, and he’d known about it for years. I said no at first, but Karli, I was in my mid-twenties with a four-year-old daughter to think about. I’d betrayed my best friend and this was what he wanted in return for that betrayal. I felt like shit every day of the past nineteen years, but I knew my son was being well taken care of. I knew he was safe and happy, and I knew I’d given my best friend the most precious gift in the world.”
“Why didn’t you tell Kevin this when he first started asking?”
“Because I promised his parents that I would never tell anyone. I talked to them finally and told them how badly this was tearing him up and then I told him.”
“Wow.”
“That a good wow or a bad one? I mean…can you forgive your old man?”
“I don’t have anything to forgive you for, Dad. All you ever did was take care of me. It seems like Kevin has forgiven you, though, so that’s good.”
He nodded. “Yeah, he’s a good kid. Frank and Linda did a great job with him.”
“I do have one other question, Dad.”
“What’s that, honey?”
“What about what Kevin saw that day when he was eleven? You said you promised Frank it would never happen again.”
He sighed. “They wanted another baby. That trip was about trying to make one.”
I almost fell out of my chair when he said that. “Are you serious? Frank wanted you to…I’m sorry, but that’s just…wow.”
“That was the last time we tried. It was too weird for all of us. That’s why we didn’t go back to Philly, too. It was awkward, to say the least.”
“But it was Frank’s idea to send Kevin out here for you to train?”
“Yeah, I told you he’s a good father. He would sacrifice anything, even his own dignity, for his son.”
I had thought about that a lot over the next few days and came to the conclusion that both of our parents had made a decision years ago, and no amount of anger, embarrassment, or regret by any of us was going to change that. Kevin had two good men who loved him, he had his mother, and he and I both had a sibling now.
Maybe being so happy with Nick had given me a new outlook on life, but I was enjoying my happiness and I wasn’t going to rummage around in the past in the hopes of finding something to screw it up.
Besides, the idea of sitting down to dinner with Nick’s family was enough stress to deal with at one time.
********
My biggest fear about Thanksgiving with Nick’s family was that his father would actually remember me from the masquerade ball. That fear was realized almost as soon as the maid led us into the dining room.
Ethan was there and he’d brought Michaela, who was more subdued than I’d ever seen her. Nick had taken his time getting ready, and we were almost an hour late, which was probably what the dark atmosphere was all about to begin with, but once Nick’s father laid eyes on me, the darkness shifted. It was in his eyes, and he was projecting it in my direction.
“Nicholas, if you’re going to continue to be late for every event this family is involved with, perhaps I should stop extending the invitation in the first place.”
Nick pulled out a chair for me and I sat down. He turned the chair next to me around and straddled it. I cringed. “Perhaps you should,” was his reply to his father. Then he looked at Michaela and Ethan and said, “Hey, you two, Happy Thanksgiving.”
Michaela smiled at him, but gave me a look I recognized as, “Get me the hell out of here.” “Happy Thanksgiving, Nick, Karli.”
“Karli?” His father said before I had a chance to say anything. “That’s an unusual name. I was just wondering why my son was so rude not to introduce you, but I realize it’s because we’ve already met. You were my other son’s date for the masquerade ball, right?”
I forced a smile through the nausea I was feeling. “Yes, sir, we did meet that night. Thank you for letting me join in on your holiday dinner—”
“Letting you? Seriously? I don’t recall inviting you to either event.”
“Dad—”
Nick tried to interrupt, but his father had something to say and he was going to say it, “Somehow, in spite of that, you’ve managed to finagle an invitation from not one, but both of my sons.”
“Dad, don’t,” Nick said in a low voice and threatening tone.
“Don’t what, Nicholas? I was simply going to point out the obvious, which is this young lady seems determined to have one or the other of you. I have to say that with all the women available to two young, wealthy men, that it’s confusing why you would each want the same woman.”
“That’s enough!” Ethan said. Nick looked at his brother, shocked. I guess it was safe to assume Ethan didn’t fight back often. “Leave her alone. You were already cold and practically rude to Michaela and now you want to pick on Karli. What is wrong with you?”
Ethan’s father looked as shocked by his outburst as Nick was. He cleared his throat and said, “I see that hanging around gold-digging trash has made you both forget your manners.” Nick was on his feet before his father finished talking. I reached for his arm, but he shook me off.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he said to his father.
Gregory Grant very calmly put his napkin down on his plate and stood up. He took the time to adjust his suit jacket before saying,
“You know who I am. I’m the man that gave you everything. I could have sent you to Italy to live with your grandparents when your mother died, but instead, I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the best schools—”
“No, Dad, instead of letting us live with people that would have actually loved and cared for us, you sent us away to a school full of strangers and you made us beg to come home even for fucking Christmas. You separated us so that we hardly knew each other and you kept us away from our grandparents. Now they’re both dead, so we’ll never know them, and that’s all your fucking fault.
“So, you do not get to say anything about who I choose to be with. But since you brought the subject up, I will tell you this: Karli and Michaela have more class in the tips of their little fingers than you have in your entire body.
“Karli knows what it means to be a part of a family that loves each other and takes care of each other. She and her father serve Thanksgiving dinner every year to the young fighters far away from their home and family. They open up their home and hearts to these people and don’t ask for anything in return.
“Today, she gave up her warm, comfortable Thanksgiving to come to this fucking cold mausoleum with me, and I’m sure Michaela had a lot of other options as well, but they both chose us. Neither of them chose us because we belong to this fucked up family. Neither of them chose us because you’re fucking rich. They chose us because they care about us, and in spite of everything you’ve ever tried to teach us about money being the most important thing in the world, we’re finally seeing things from a different perspective.
“So thanks, Dad, you’ve finally snapped whatever piece of invisible string that still tied me to you and this fucking family.” He reached out for my hand, and I took it and stood up.
“You can kiss that house and anything else I’ve ever bought you goodbye if you walk out of here, Nicholas. I’ll take back that big house you live in and anything else you’ve acquired in my name or with my money.”
“Save it, Dad. I don’t give a fuck about any of that. All I ever wanted from you was the one thing you refused to give me: a father I could look up to. A parent that would love me and teach me how to be a man. As it is, I’m having to figure that shit out myself, and it’s not easy.
“But I’m doing it, and guess what? You can strip every material thing I own away from me, and I’ll still be okay. You know why? Because the one thing I have figured out about being a man is that it has nothing to do with money or things, but everything to do with how you treat people and who you love and who loves you in return. So fuck you and your trust fund, Dad.”
Nick’s dad was still saying something as we walked away, but Nick didn’t stop. He was almost pulling me as we walked through the expansive living room and down the hallway to the front door. We were outside, and he was about to close the door behind us when we heard Ethan say,
“We’ve got that.” I looked and saw him and Michaela following us. He was gripping her hand tightly. As soon as we were all outside, he looked at Nick and said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For all of the years I sat back and let you deal with him. I’ve always enjoyed listening to you put him in his place, but I never had the balls to back you up. I’m sorry I put that on you.” He looked at me then and said, “And, Karli, I’m sorry for what he said to you. I hope you know that it’s his black heart talking and no reflection on how the rest of us feel about you.” Michaela was still quiet, which was surprising.
“You two don’t have to be sorry. I’m okay. What he thinks of me doesn’t matter. I’m sorry that the two of you have to put up with that.” I reached up and put my arms around Nick and hugged him tightly. “Thank you for sticking up for us.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Always,” he said. “And as far as putting up with him, I’m done. I’ll sell the house and my truck and tap out my savings and give him back every penny he’s ever given me. I don’t want it.”
“Me, too,” Ethan said. That was when Michaela finally broke her silence and reminded my why she was my BFF.
“Give it all away, you’re both still hot as fuck,” she said. “Now, who’s hungry?”
Nick and Ethan both smiled as I turned and hugged my friend. When I let her go, I said, “I’m starving.”
“You know, I was in the market the other day and saw that they do full Thanksgiving dinners. Maybe we could pick up one of those if they still have any and go back to my house,” Nick said. “Or, you know, the house that I’m putting on the market come Monday morning. We can pick up Lenny, if you want.”
Since Dad and Kevin were out of town I’d told Uncle Lenny that I’d bring him dinner this afternoon. I’d felt guilty about him being alone with his nurses. I had tears in my eyes as I told Nick, “He would love that.”
“Good.” He opened his wallet and pulled out several hundred dollar bills. He saw Michaela and I both looking at him and he smiled and said, “I earned this money by letting sponsors take pictures of my pretty face.” Michaela and I laughed. Ethan rolled his eyes. “Ethan, will you and Michaela go by the market and get the food ordered? Order as much as this money will buy, the works, pies, and everything, okay?”
“Absolutely,” Ethan said, taking the money out of Nick’s hand.
“Karli and I have to make one more stop on our way home. Come on, babe, let’s blow this shack.”
Nick helped me in the truck and once he got in his side, I scooted over next to him. He drove with one hand on the wheel and the other across my shoulders. He surprised me by getting off the highway and stopping at the gym.
“You’re not going to work-out today, are you?”
He smiled. “Nope, but even though Charlie ordered a dinner for the guys that usually spend Thanksgiving with you and him to be delivered here, I thought they might feel more like Thanksgiving eating it at the house with us. I hope you don’t mind?”
“You just keep surprising me, Nicholas Storelli.”
“Just you wait, Karli Henderson. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”