By the time I got to Davis’s house, I’d thought about that text message no less than a thousand times. I’d run it over and over in my mind, and it had dominated the remainder of my shift.
I pulled into the mansion driveway a little before one, parked the car, and gave myself a quick glance in the mirror. Not the best, but not the worst. Not that it really mattered at that moment. I kept thinking about Davis. Maybe we’d be able to figure this all out. Maybe we wouldn’t.
And what about the fraudulent bank account? What’s he going to say about that?
He stood at the doorway to the kitchen, waiting for me. I walked up the garden path tentatively, unsure of what to say. Thank God, he spoke first.
“I’m so glad you reached out,” he said as he stepped from the doorway into the moonlight. “I thought you wouldn’t.”
“I admit I was ignoring you.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “It seemed like the easiest thing to do. The simplest solution. I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted—”
“What?”
I stared at him, struggling to find a way to phrase it all. His grandfather was dead, and maybe it was better that the horrible secret between his family and mine had died with him.
“I know all about what happened,” Davis whispered, as if he could read my mind. “I know the truth.”
A flush pulsed through my body. “You do?”
“I know what my grandfather covered up. The things he did in the name of our family.” Davis sneered. “The pain he caused so many people. I know the truth.”
“I’m sorry.” A sob pushed on my chest. “I kept the truth from you. I edited out the bad parts. I lied to you.”
Davis shook his head. “No, you didn’t lie. You protected your mother. She was innocent. Dad wasn’t.”
Another sob heaved inside me, and this time I didn’t bothered to hide it.
“Come inside,” he said. “Let’s talk.”
I followed him into the kitchen, and a chill raced up my spine. Here we stood, in the house that held so much of the past, but this time, things had fundamentally changed. The wall between us had broken.
He motioned for me to sit at the kitchen table, found a napkin in the cabinet drawer, and headed to me before he sat in the chair opposite mine. By then, I was crying harder than I’d cried in a long time. He knew the truth. I felt almost vindicated, as if justice had been served for my mom. But he’d also just lost his grandfather, so my victory felt short-lived.
“How did you find out the truth?” I asked.
Davis took a long breath. “I confronted my grandfather about everything. After you left, we argued. And he admitted what he’d done.” His jaw hardened. “He’d covered up for my father, and what he did to your mother went further than just a drunken allegation.” Hurt swelled in his eyes. “He told me my father tried to rape your mother. What he did wasn’t reckless. It was criminal.”
“Yes,” I croaked. “Then your grandfather sent a team of attorneys to our apartment and paid my mom over one hundred thousand dollars to go away.”
“I’m not like him. I’m not like either of them.”
“I know.” I wiped my face with the napkin. “I think I’ve always known that. But at the time, it was enough money to change our lives. And it worked for a while but…” I looked away. “Now you know why I didn’t want your help at first. This thing with your family went deep.” My eyes met his again. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Sam.” He braced his elbows on the kitchen table. “I’m the one who should be sorry. For the past. For the pain. For the way my family treated yours. And that when you needed me to stand up for you, I didn’t.”
“I don’t blame you. I couldn’t.”
“You’re too forgiving.”
I shook my head. “No, I just wish we can get a chance to start over. With this mess gone. With none of the secrets and lies between us.”
“I want that too.”
He studied me for a long time, but even in the heaviness of the moment, I could feel the world around us shifting. Maybe we did have a chance for a future, one without lies and deceit, one where money didn’t lord over our lives and keep us chained to the past.
“I love you,” he finally said. “I do.”
“I love you too.”
Davis got up from his chair and moved to the one closest to me. “I want to start again. I believe we can do it. Today can be day one.”
A gasp escaped my lips.
“I don’t want to do life without you, Sam. Will you give us a chance?”
“Of cour—”
His lips silenced me. They pressed into my mine, and the kiss was like being with someone who had always known me, someone who had taken me in, and saw into my soul.
“Samantha, I thought I’d lost you,” he said after he broke the kiss. “I thought you were gone, and I was certain I’d never be able to go forward without you.” He caught my lips in a quick peck. “But as God is my witness, that is never going to happen again.”
“No,” I said, “it isn’t.”
“Whatever my grandfather did—whatever my father did—they aren’t me. It was abhorrent. The contract you were forced to sign is null and void. I cannot undo the damage they did, but I want to make up for it however I can. I want you to allow me to help care for your mom. It feels only right that my family—that I—step up here.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I want to love you, Samantha Green. I want to take care of you. And I want you to let me. We can have a better future. We don’t have to be defined by the past anymore.”
“Yes,” I breathed. “I want to be with you too, Davis Armstrong. There is no other place I’d rather be.”
We embraced again, and tears sprang into my eyes. I didn’t know how this had happened, but it had. I was where I needed to be.
“I hope we can start again,” he said against my shoulder. “I hope we can forget the way this ended, and the lies of the past. Will you do that with me, Sam? If I’m going to make sure I get through this transition, I need you at my side. I can’t make it if I don’t have you.”
“I know,” I whispered then pulled a bit away from him and looked him in the eyes. “And if you’ll have me. I’m staying.”
The next morning, I woke up next to Samantha. Her legs entwined with mine, her head rested on the pillow next to me, and the morning light illuminated her face, sharping her features, softening the curves of her nose. Her naked body had a dewy, soft glow.
I let her sleep. She looked peaceful and serene, and as I stared at her, I could hardly believe my good luck. Life had sent some major changes my way, but the best change of all had been the chance to restart a life with her. With Samantha by my side, I knew I could make it through the next slog of uncharted waters.
I slid out of bed around six thirty. A spread of muffins, cereal, fruit; a selection of the day’s newspapers; and my phone awaited me downstairs. For a while, I sat at the breakfast table contemplating the next steps I needed to take. My grandfather’s funeral needed final arrangements. His burial needed scheduling. Flowers needed ordering. Board members needed reassurance about the transition. Emails needed answering. Staffers needed instructions.
Need, need, need.
But I needed to do one thing first, before I addressed anything else. And I needed to do it with Samantha.
“Good morning,” I said when she padded into the kitchen about half an hour later. “I didn’t want to wake you up. I figured you deserved a decent night’s sleep.”
“Thanks.” She smiled at me and ran a hand through her tousled hair. She walked over to the fruit and placed some berries in a bowl, along with yogurt and granola. “Busy day ahead, right? All of the funeral plans?” She sat across from me at the breakfast table.
“There’s plenty that needs my attention.” I pointed at Wall Street Financial, which had an above the fold story about my grandfather’s death. “But for some reason, I’m not scared about it.”
“I can help you with whatever you need. Whatever plans—”
“You’ve already helped more than you know.” I sipped some coffee. “And most of it is already arranged. Grandad knew he was getting old, and he didn’t like to leave things undone. Not his style.”
She ate a few bites of granola. “It’s still overwhelming.”
“Not when I know you’re with me. Not now.” I cleared my throat. The moment seemed as good as any to suggest what I’d been thinking about for the better part of the morning. “I want to visit your mother. I want to see her again and tell her how sorry I am. Offer her a real apology. For everything. My father, the payout, the pain…all of it.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. We can’t start over again until I make things right with her.”
She gave me another weak smile. “I don’t think she holds grudges. Not to you, at least.”
“That’s not the point.” I sighed. “The thing is, I won’t feel right about any of it until I get a chance to hear what she thinks. Besides, she doesn’t know I’m back in your life, does she?”
Samantha shook her head.
“How do you think she’ll react when she finds out about it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Either way, I want to know. I don’t want any more lies. Any more secrets.” I thought back to my final conversation with my grandfather and shuddered. “That can’t be part of our future.” I reached across the table and took her hand. “And that’s what we have, Sam. A future. Together.”
She looked at me for a long time then squeezed her fingers with mine. “Okay. Let’s go see her this morning.”
Not a lot made me nervous, but I was jittery and on edge as we drove from the beach house to JKF Medical Center. I’d thought about the specifics I’d say to Sam’s mom, but I still wanted it to go right. I wanted her to know while I might share my father’s name, I wasn’t like him. I wanted to give her peace. To give myself peace.
“Let me go in first,” Samantha murmured as we walked down the hallway to her mother’s room. Since my last visit, her mother had been moved to a quieter floor of the hospital, one that signaled to me she’d likely be in the facility awhile longer. “Just in case she’s not doing well.”
I agreed and waited outside as Sam visited her mother. I couldn’t hear their conversation through the thick hospital room door, but when Samantha reemerged, she wore a smile on her face.
“Go in.” She stepped aside so I could walk into the room. She didn’t follow.
Her mother lay in bed, hooked up to a few machines that whirled and hissed, taking readings every few minutes. The television on the opposite side of the room hummed with the sound of a daytime television breakfast show.
“Ms. Green, it’s nice to see you again.” My words were stiff and formal as I crossed toward the bed. “I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Davis—”
“I haven’t forgotten you,” she said in a raspy voice. “I never would.”
“I know.” I stopped about a front from her side. “I’m—”
“You’re the youngest billionaire in the world.” One side of her mouth turned upward, and she pointed a bony finger at the TV. “That’s what they said on the news this morning.”
“Did they?” A nervous laugh escaped my lips. “I don’t…that’s not why I’m here.” I cleared my throat. “A few weeks ago, I ran into your daughter again.”
She nodded. Her eyes were heavy and weak.
“I never thought she’d be back in my life. I wasn’t sure she was still in South Florida. But there she was.” I scrubbed my face. Pull yourself together, Davis. “What I’m trying to say in the most inelegant way is—I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“Yes, I do.” I pulled a stool toward me and sat. “I don’t know what Sam told you, but before my grandfather died, he told me everything. The sordid details about my father and who he really was. All about the payments.” I grimaced. “And what he did to you that night. The way he treated you.”
She pursed her lips. “I remember everything about that night.”
“I’m sure you do.” I shook my head a few times, still in disbelief I was having this conversation. Still, I knew I couldn’t move forward, couldn’t take the mantle of Armstrong International without it. I needed this moment. She did too. “And I’m sorry. What happened to you was a crime. An injustice. And it wasn’t right.”
“I took the money.” She stared at me. “And that says a lot about me too.”
“No one should have ever put you, or your daughter, in that kind of position.” I felt my heart swell as my shoulders relaxed. And I realized I was grateful for this chance to right a wrong. “And I want to promise you, I’m going to take care of her. Of you. Of all of this.” I made sure to keep my gaze steady on her as I said my next words. “When I saw Sam again, I was given another chance. And if you’ll let me, I want to take it. I don’t want to waste it.”
She sucked in a few ragged breaths. “Do you love her?”
“I always have. And I want a chance to show her how much I do. I’ve never stopped.”
A broad smile spread over her face as she studied me. “All right, Davis Armstrong the third. I believe you. And I accept your apology.”
They were the three sweetest sentences I’d ever heard.