Chapter 23 – Darren
“Thank you for meeting with Mr. King and I,” Wilson, my lawyer, said to Hope. “These are the papers that you will be needing to sign.”
It was crazy that we were signing the contract after we had had sex. I had let my libido get the best of me. That hadn’t been like me at all. But, it had certainly been worth it.
Wilson pushed the papers across the desk in front of Hope, who just stared at them blankly. I started to panic a little when she didn’t immediately reach for the pen and sign. She just stood there, staring in horror, frozen.
Then, her bottom lip began to tremble and tears welled up in her eyes.
What was happening? Why was she so upset? Had she changed her mind already?
Slowly, she reached for the pen and began pressing it to the paper to sign.
“Are you sure that this is what you want?” I blurted out.
Of course, I wanted her to sign, but I didn’t want her to do it if it wasn’t something that she truly wanted to do. A tear fell and she quickly batted it away.
“No, it’s what I want. I’m sorry,” she said.
She signed and placed the pen on the desk next to the contract.
“It’s settled, then,” said Wilson, scooping up the contract, putting it in his briefcase, and snapping it shut.
“It’s been a pleasure,” he said, standing to shake first my hand and then Hope’s.
He quietly slinked away just as quietly as he had come. Now that he had gotten what he had come for and could collect his hefty fee, he was off. And I didn’t blame him. It was a strange deal I had had him arrange, and he was probably relieved it had all worked out.
“So, it’s done,” said Hope aloud, more to herself than to me.
“Not quite,” I said. “There’s one last order of business that I need to take care of. I’m going to send your mom $75,000.”
Hope looked confused.
“Wait. $75,000? I thought that you said $50,000?”
“Yeah, I did,” I said, nodding in agreement. “But, I really want you to be happy with this arrangement and I know that the financial troubles of your family are something that have been weighing heavily on your mind. This way, you can rest assured that they will be more than taken care of. You have my word for it. I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing is ever the same for you from this day moving forward. Instead, everything will be much, much better. You’ll see.”
Hope’s eyes began to well up with tears again.
“Thank you,” she said, graciously, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me. I snuggled into her neck, breathing her in. She smelled like dryer sheets, mixed with the woods in front of my house, which she had had to walk through to get to my front door.
I could definitely get used to this, I thought.
“Why don’t you go ahead and get settled in?” I asked her. “I’ll be around in a little bit to help you out if you need anything.”
“I should be able to manage. Thank you so much. For everything.” She smiled sweetly before disappearing around the corner.
Things were finally starting to fall into place.
I wanted to make a phone call, though, before I went off to help Hope get settled.
I dialed the phone.
“Hello?” answered a voice after two rings.
“Is this Harlow?” I asked.
“Yes. Hi!”
“This is…”
“I already know who this is,” he said, cutting me off. “Darren King. I’m so glad to hear your voice. Is everything okay?”
I paused.
“You know, it really is! I just wanted to give you a call to thank you. And I also wanted to apologize for hanging up on you the other day. Things have been pretty rough over here and I think that I took it out on you.”
“No need to apologize, Darren. I completely understand. We have all been through quite a bit in the last few years. It hasn’t been easy for anyone, especially after the accident and after Dr. Davis did even more damage. No hard feelings at all. I appreciate you reaching out, though.”
He sounded genuinely happy to hear my voice.
“Thanks for being so understanding. So, what have you been up to? How are your brothers? Jensen and Ramsey? It’s been ages since I’ve heard from or talked to any of them.”
“Oh, we’ve all been doing well. They are still the same guys you remember. Except, settled down now.”
“Really?” I asked in amazement, shaking my head.
When we were in the SEALs together, they had been as against the idea of getting into commitment relationships as I had been. But, look at me now, moving in a virgin I’d just deflowered, so that she could hopefully have my baby. I guessed everyone changed along the way.
“Yeah,” he said, excitedly. “I have, too. I have a wife, Whitney, and we just had a baby. Well, she’s a couple months old now, but seems like it was just yesterday that she was born. Her name is Bella. And then I have some nephews, because Jensen and Riley have a son named Drew, and Ramsey and Monica have a son named James. We should all plan to get together and catch up. I think that that’d be good for all of us.”
“You know, that sounds really great,” I told him. I didn’t say anything about Bryant. I decided it wasn’t the time or place. But I did want to get together with him and his brothers. It would be a good way to ease myself back into the real world. “Let me know when you’d like to set something up.”
We chatted for a few more minutes and then said our goodbyes. It felt good to connect with him.
I was starting to feel human again.