Chapter 6

Derek

The following week was impossibly long, with Amy creeping into my every other thought. Through endless meetings, I was distracted by thoughts of her. When I was in my office, all I could do was reminiscence about having had her on my desk.

You need to get a hold of yourself, I told myself repeatedly. This woman is driving you mad.

When I thought about it logically, I couldn’t make sense of it. Perhaps she had cast a spell on me. I wouldn’t put it past her bright, coy spirit.

Finally, when I felt about to burst with impatience, Friday afternoon arrived.

I received a text message from Adam while in the middle of an unnecessarily long meeting about dropping stocks.

‘I have collected Ms. Parker. We are waiting out front when you are ready.’

“Family emergency,” I told the men. Some nodded, others ignored me. I left without another word.

I practically ran out of the building, making little attempt to hide my eagerness. Janet said something to me on my way out, but I didn’t hear. How did I go from not interested in dating to complete obsession with this girl, this amazing, beautiful girl?

I slid into the car, waving Adam away as he started to get out. Amy was sitting in the back seat, somehow more stunning than I even remembered. She wore a light yellow sundress, with her hair pulled back in two loose braids. Despite the nervousness apparent in her posture, she smiled at me, reflecting my own joy at seeing her again.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey.” I grinned. “Since you’re here, I assume you’re still up for the plan?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yep. I got my sister to watch Zeus.”

“Did you tell her what you’re up to?”

Amy smiled and looked away as she remembered the conversation. “Uh, kinda. I told her about you, who you were, and that we were going on a business trip. Nothing about, you know, the plan and all. She was more interested in… the other stuff, to be honest.”

“Gotcha.”

Amy giggled. “She chattered on for over three hours. I think she’s more excited than I am.”

“Really?” I smiled and reclined in my seat, turning toward her. “That’s saying something. So, are you ready for a week of fun-filled adventure and tomfoolery?”

“Tom... Tom who?”

I laughed. “You’ll get the idea.”

* * *

Usually, the drive to my father’s mansion was long and filled with worry over which disappointments he would express on our impending visit. But, with Amy to share the drive with, the hours flew past. We talked about everything imaginable—from economic theories, to our favorite places to go, to deeper subjects like the universe and existence. Nothing seemed to be off limits with her. Whatever the conversation, she was ready with a thoughtful response. It was easy to be attracted to her body, but it was incredible to be falling for her mind.

I all but forgot about my father, and the fact that I was going to have to be pretty convincing in order to pull this off.

The distraction lasted until we reached the grand, gold-plated gates of my father’s mansion. Then the nervousness set in.

“Hey.” Amy must have noticed my change in behavior. “Everything okay?”

I gave her a tight smile.

“I think I told you before that my father and I have a strained relationship. He’s not… he’s never been particularly friendly, to me or anyone else. You’ll see. You can’t take anything he says personally, or else you’ll have no self-confidence left by the time we leave. Amy, if he gets to be too much for you, please be honest and tell me. I didn’t bring you here to suffer.”

“Oh, come on, I doubt he’s that bad. He just sounds like a grumpy old man. I can handle that.”

I was beginning to regret the idea, if only because I had grown so fond of Amy. My father was, at best, unpleasant, and it was selfish of me to bring her into this.

I have to go through with it, I thought, steeling myself. It’s my only option. I’ll just have to make it up to her.

I glanced at Amy. She was looking out the window, admiring the grounds.

One week. She and I. Mmm.

My imagination was starting to run away again. I had to focus.

We made it around the hill, and the home that I grew up in came into view. I heard Amy gasp.

The mansion was a work of art, constructed in the 1800’s, but newly renovated and modernized. It was three stories tall, and wide, made of marble. A grand staircase led up to the front door, which was lined by huge Greek columns. There were balconies at almost every window. Perfectly trimmed trees and shrubbery lined the yard, and an elaborate fountain was set in the middle.

“This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” Amy murmured. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

Her gratitude reassured me, and I smiled. “Just wait until you see the inside. Unlike me, my father has quite a taste for decor.”

Adam parked out front. “Enjoy,” he said, grinning at Amy. I sent him a warning glance, only half-joking.

I opened the door for Amy, and took her hand. She looked surprised for a moment, then relaxed as she remembered our facade. From now on, she was my girlfriend of eleven months, nearly a year, and, unbeknownst to me, was carrying my child.

Adam carried our bags for us while I led Amy into the mansion.

“Derek!” The moment we entered the door, we were greeted zealously by Aneta, an old, Polish woman that my father had employed years ago, since even before I was born. She spoke in a deep voice, with a thick Polish accent, her tone warm and caring. “We didn’t expect you back so soon! Did you grow in the last week?”

I rolled my eyes. “I think I stopped growing about twenty years ago, Aneta.”

She clucked her tongue. “Ah, yes. But that seems like yesterday! Just last month, you were a little boy sitting on my lap, begging for another cookie. I am sure of it.”

Amy laughed, and Aneta turned her attention to her. “Oh, and Derek, who is this pretty friend? Did you bring home a girl?”

“Aneta, this is Amy. Amy, Aneta.” I gestured between them. “She’ll be staying here with me this week, as my guest.”

“Ooh la la. Are you two romantic?” Aneta teased.

I sucked in a breath, embarrassed, but to my surprise, Amy stepped in.

“Yes, Derek and I have been dating for almost a full year. We’ve kept it quiet, as they say, for the sake of privacy, but I thought it was about time I met his family. And what a pleasure it is.”

“Ah, she is very polite. Does your father know about her?”

“Not yet,” I said, swallowing.

“Well, I am sure she will love him.” Aneta winked at Amy, who beamed. She was positively excelling at this act. I couldn’t have been more impressed.

Aneta’s heels clicked on the tiles as she led us through the foyer and up the huge staircase. “Well, first let’s get you settled in your room, and then you’ll join your father for dinner. Is he aware that you’ve brought a guest?”

“No.” I glanced at Amy. “After our last conversation, I decided it would be best to let things settle before I spoke to him again. He knows I’m staying for the week, but not that I was bringing a guest.”

“Well, what a pleasant surprise for him!” Aneta patted Amy’s shoulder. “On the outside, he might be a stone wall, but I know Mr. Rittsman very well, let me tell you, and he is nothing but a softie. He will love you.”

“I hope so,” Amy said, half-laughing. I could hear how anxious she was. I took her hand, squeezed it, and didn’t let go until we had reached my bedroom.

Aneta opened the door for us. “Here we are! This room has changed quite a lot over the years. I wish you could have seen it when he was younger. He went through some very, very interesting phases, and his walls always reflected his interests.”

“Oh, do tell,” Amy said.

“Well, when he was five or six—”

“Thank you, Aneta. I think we can handle it from here.” I took the door from her. “We’ll be down for dinner shortly.”

“You’ll have to tell me later,” Amy whispered.

Aneta nodded. “Yes, yes. No funny business now. Your father is an impatient man, it’s one of his few vices! You know this, Derek.”

“No worries, Aneta. We won’t be late.”

Aneta left. Adam, who had been trailing us, set down our suitcases, and bid us farewell for the week.

Finally, Amy and I were alone.

“Wow,” she said, falling back onto the plush mattress. “Wow.”

“I know,” I said. “Aneta is a lot to handle, but she’s like a grandmother to me.”

“Oh, I love her,” Amy said, with a genuine smile. “I can’t wait to talk with her more. Derek, I am absolutely speechless at how beautiful this place is. I can’t believe you grew up here.”

“Yes.”

“You must have had the most incredible childhood.”

I sat beside her. “Sure. I was fortunate, I can’t lie.”

Amy pressed her leg against me, and I looked back at her. She was sprawled out on the bed, blissfully relaxed as she sank into the soft linens.

“I don’t wanna get up,” she mumbled. “That was a long drive.”

“Well,” I said, joining her on the big bed. “I guess we could just sit here.”

“That’s boring.” Rolling to her side, she bit her lip in thought. “I am looking forward to meeting your father. I suppose we should go to dinner.”

I placed a hand on her hip, pulling her closer to me. “Or, we could lock the door, and stay in bed. My father is already wildly upset with me, I doubt I could make it much worse.”

“Mmm, tempting. But I want to make a good first impression.” She kissed me quickly on the nose, then hopped up, moving like a pixie. “Plus, I’m starving.”

I sighed, sitting back up. “You’re right. Let’s get this over with.”

Ten minutes later, I was leading her down the hallway, her hand in mine. She stopped at each painting that hung on the wall, each interesting sculpture or lamp, and stood before every window, admiring the beauty that I had always taken for granted. The way she paused, eyes wide, examining whatever had captured her attention, made it all so much more significant.

“Here we are,” I said, as we reached the huge oak doors that led to the dining hall. I turned to her, “Amy, if you want to stop, now’s the time. I won’t be upset.”

She considered my offer for a second, then blinked. “No. I want to.”

“I can never thank you enough.” I kissed her lips softly before we headed through the doors.

My father was already at the table, drinking a glass of white wine and reading a newspaper. He looked as if he had aged ten years over the past week. His hair was an ashy white. His skin was pale, translucent and wrinkled. An oxygen machine sat by his chair, attached to him with clear tubes leading to his nose. He coughed.

When I was younger, my father was an intimidating man. He was well over six feet tall, broad shouldered, and always dressed in a suit. He walked with the arrogant boldness of a wealthy man, a snide gravitas. Something about him was still intimidating—but with an additional urgent fragility.

He looked up when he heard the door close, and cleared his sick lungs.

“Son,” he said, his voice hoarse, but loud. “I expected you sooner. It’s half past six. Where were you?”

I took a deep breath, readying my patience. “Rush hour traffic.”

“That seems to be your usual excuse.” He looked back down at his paper, either having not noticed Amy, or ignoring her.

“Father,” I stepped forward, holding Amy’s hand tightly. “I’d like you to meet someone.”

“You haven’t gone and hired me a nurse, have you? I’ve told you before, Derek, I won’t have someone hovering over me—”

“No,” I interrupted. “Amy. Her name is Amy. She’s…she’s my girlfriend.”

This caught my father’s attention. He looked over at her, studying her very closely. “I wasn’t aware you had anyone in your life.”

I sighed. “We were keeping it private. But, I figured it was time to introduce her to the family, since things have started to get serious.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Amy walked up to him and held out her hand to shake it. My father stared at her for a second, an unreadable expression on his withered face. I didn’t have a clue how he would react. In truth, I was on the verge of panicking.

“Amy,” he said, then accepted her hand. “It is my pleasure. Please sit. Dinner will be served in just a few minutes.”

I exhaled, somewhat relieved. Dinner wasn’t over yet, though. It hadn’t even started.

Amy sat beside my father, and I by her. We were all gathered at one end of a table that could easily seat ten. It seemed almost comical. I focused on every empty chair, trying to focus on anything but my anxiety. My father’s attention was on Amy.

“So, Amy, tell me about yourself.” He had settled back in his chair and he looked... happy. Happier than I had seen him in a while. “Derek hasn’t brought a girl home in years. There must be something special about you.”

“I can’t say there is,” she said, smiling. “I’m a graduate student at CBS, starting my senior year in the fall. I’m from upstate New York, but I moved to the city for school. I have a dog. Umm…that about sums it up. I wish I had more to say.”

“Oh, come on. Give an old man more than that.” My father looked between us. “How did you two meet?”

Amy hesitated for a moment. “It’s not that interesting of a story, really. Last year, Derek visited one of my classes to give a talk about the stock market. I had a few questions afterward, but he had to run, so he invited me to have lunch with him the next day. I accepted, and we ended up talking about basically everything but stocks. We just hit it off.”

“I didn’t know you were speaking at colleges, Derek.” My father turned to me, and immediately his kind tone faded, replaced by one of criticism. I was used to it.

“Occasionally,” I said. “One of the professors is an acquaintance of mine. She wanted me to come speak to her students about my work at Rittsman Enterprises.”

“I could imagine better uses of your time,” my father commented. “Time is money, after all.”

Before I could snap back in response, Amy jumped in. “I’m really happy that Derek came in that day. I learned way more about investing from him than from any of my other teachers. His story of your family’s success really inspired me to continue my career. But more importantly, if he hadn’t helped out his friend, we never would have met.” She took my hand, positively glowing with affection. “And that would have been a tragedy.”

Jesus Christ, she’s a good actress. For a moment, she had convinced me that we were long-term lovers brought together by fate. Even my father was smiling at her, nodding along. I don’t think he doubted her in the slightest.

It seemed as if Amy was charming the both of us.

The door opened, and the butler, who must have been a new hire, came in with a tray of food. He placed each of our plates before us, and removed the heat covers. Steak and potatoes, my father’s favorite. Amy made a tiny sound of excitement that made me laugh to myself.

“And when did you start dating?” My father asked, cutting into the huge piece of meat on his plate. Sick or not, the man had an appetite, especially for luxury.

“About a year ago,” Amy said. “Almost immediately after we met. He had to work a lot, of course, but he’d call me whenever he had some spare time. We’d go to dinner, the movies, the beach, everything. I just… I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to be spending time with him.”

My father shrugged, “Ah, all we men with money look for is a pretty face. Which—if you don’t mind me saying—you’re very attractive. That’s really all it takes.”

“Father!” I dropped my silverware, anger bristling through me. “That’s a very rude thing to say.”

Amy placed her hand on my knee under the table, calming me a bit.

“No, you misunderstand,” Amy said, her voice light. “I wasn’t saying that I was lucky to be dating someone rich. I couldn’t care less if Derek has money or not. What I mean is, I don’t know what I did to deserve being loved by someone so kind-hearted and funny, someone who makes me laugh every day. I don’t love Derek for his wealth, I love him for how he makes me feel. And I am confident in saying that he doesn’t love me for my looks, either. There are plenty of women prettier than me. What we share goes much deeper than that.”

I had never seen anyone shut my father up, but that did it. For the first time I could recall, he looked ashamed, embarrassed even. He took a drink of his wine, set it down, and sighed.

“I apologize if I was too frank,” Amy said. “I just wanted to make my intentions very clear. I don’t want you to believe something false, Mr. Rittsman.”

My father looked at her with a peculiar expression.

“Call me Walter.”