Chapter 10

 

 

I spent the next two Thursdays learning more about the relationship my husband had with Skyler and trying not to be mad about it. I had no right to be upset over that. I hated him then, most of the time, anyway. I tried my best to keep my mouth shut and only listen to Drew as he described parts of his life I’d never known about, some, I didn’t want to know.

Drew took his position by the window, getting lost in his story. I wasn’t even sure he was aware that Deidra and I were even there this time. He was so engrossed in the details. I even pulled my feet underneath me, absorbed in his life like a good book. That’s what it felt like, like I was reading a really intense book while Drew described the death of my father.

Drew relayed his story calmly as always, “Randal sat beside me, looking to my mother. She stood over his coffin, sobbing uncontrollably. I didn’t understand it. How could she not be throwing a party, exultant over his death? I was. That bastard deserved the suffering that he had endured over the past few months.

‘I’m fine,’ I stated, looking over to Mr. Callaway. I remember him rubbing my shoulder with his hand. I wanted to shove it away. What was I supposed to say? Your son was a fucking bastard; he deserved everything he went through. It wasn’t necessary. Michael was dead. That was the important thing. He would never lay a finger on my mother or me again. I would never feel like a piece of shit because I couldn’t protect her again. I’d happily spend the fucker’s money for the rest of my life, taking care of both the women that I loved. Smiling over to my beautiful Skyler, she smiled back.”

My beautiful Skyler? Fuck your beautiful Skyler, I thought, fuming.

“I wanted to go to her, stand by her, and accept support from her rather than Mr. Callaway. I couldn’t. Mr. Callaway wouldn’t hear of it. Mr. Callaway couldn’t stand her mother and would insist that I didn’t spend one penny of his or Michael’s money on her. I would. I didn’t care about either of their fucked up orders. I loved her and would spend the rest of my life taking care of her. Or so I thought.” Drew smiled, turning to look at me.

I smiled a warm smile back, urging him to continue.

He did. He turned back to face the dirty alley and continued, “It was killing me to see my mother so hurt, so distraught and acting like a crazy person. Smiling over to Mr. Callaway, I got up and made my way to my mother, dropping to the ground on her knees as the coffin was being lowered, and Michael Callaway was being laid to rest, soon to rot in the ground where he belonged.”

 I got a cold chill thinking about Drew’s mom, throwing herself to the ground as she said goodbye to the man who she probably shouldn’t have loved. I wondered about her. She and I had a lot in common.

“Michael’s cancer doctor and friend gave my mother a couple Valium once we were in the backseat of the limo. By the time we made it back to the mansion she was comatose, staring blankly into space. A nurse was ordered by Mr. Callaway to stay with her through the night. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to go back to the city, to my own apartment where I’d left Skyler, open up a bottle of something one hundred proof in alcohol and get very intoxicated. I, however, didn’t leave her. I stayed, knowing she needed me. I hated the mansion that would be left to me when my mother died at a ripe old age. There were just too many memories that I wanted to forget. I’d probably never live there again. Hell, I wanted to burn the place to the ground,” Drew said, resentment lacing his tone.

Drew hated the mansion? Why hadn’t I seen this? We needed to move from there. Maybe that would help him forget Michael and things that had gone on there that I was sure I didn’t even know the half of.  

“I asked the nurse to leave us once she had my mother in her fancy satin night clothes snuggled in bed. The nurse smiled, nodded, and left me alone with my mother. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I placed my mother’s frail hand in mine. ‘You know how much I love you, right?’

My mother smiled up at me.

‘Yes, mom. It’ll be okay. We’ll be fine,’ I reassured her.

‘Andrew, listen to Mr. Callaway, learn from him.’

I frowned, wondering if she’d been given too much Valium.

‘I mean it, Andrew. This will all be yours. Mr. Callaway will leave it all to you. I’m sure of it. Learn from him, learn to run this company even better than Michael did.’

‘Mom, Michael has been teaching me to run this company since I was ten. I’m not worried about that, and this will all be yours before it’s mine. I’m okay with that. You’re going to get through this and find a man that loves and respects you.’

She was right quick to stand up for him, she always was. I’d never understand it. ‘Michael did love me,’ she protested with a stern voice.

I weakly smiled down at her, feeling pity. ‘You get some rest,’ I coaxed, not wanting to get into how Michael loved her. It was pointless, and I would never understand it. I opened the door to Michael’s office and stood there, staring at the dark mahogany desk as memories flooded my mind. I stood there thinking about being ten. It was my first summer living there. I had burst into the office, excited to tell Michael about the stupid infomercial I’d been watching. He could buy diamond rings for a cheap price and sell them in his stores for more. I know now how dumb that was, but at ten, I thought it would be a great arrangement. I froze when I saw the belt in his hand and my mother lying naked over his desk.”

Oh, my god. Michael treated Drew’s mother the way he treated me. This was making more and more sense by the minute.

“Michael screamed for me to get out. I’ll never forget the look on my mother’s face as I stood there contemplating what I should do.  Her expression held something between shame and humiliation as she too told me to leave the office, yet she was upstairs crying her eyes out because he was gone.” Drew shook his head like he was still trying to understand his mother. He turned and asked Deidra for a drink.

She filled his glass and left the bottle beside him on the windowsill.

He filled his glass often and I knew I’d be driving home. I kept quiet and listened, only speaking to myself, here and there.

Drew continued, “I walked to Michael’s liquor cabinet, not understanding how she could be so disturbed over his passing. Pouring a full glass of vodka, I sat in his leather chair, propped my feet on his desk and toasted the portrait of him and my mother hanging on the other side of the room.”

Portrait? I’ve never seen that portrait. I had never seen a picture at all until the day I saw it on her headstone.

“I boasted to the cold hearted bastard staring back at me in the portrait, ‘Here’s to you, you fuck face. I hope the maggots are eating your eyes out.’ Then I answered a call from Mr. Callaway. He asked how my mother was doing, like he gave a shit. ‘She’s holding her own,’ I told him.

‘Good, good, she’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Can you come by my office tomorrow? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you,’ Callaway informed me.

‘Yeah, sure,’ I replied, not really wanting to dive into Callaway Jewels right away. Couldn’t I have a couple of days to mourn the death of his fucked up son? Although I didn’t think Mr. Callaway was anywhere near the ass that his son was, he still wasn’t my favorite person to be around. Power, that’s all the Callaway’s cared about, the more the better. Mr. Callaway demanded respect, and he got it. Everyone within twenty feet bowed down to the old fucker, including me.

I called Skyler after talking to Randal.

‘Hi, are you okay?’ Skyler asked, picking up on the first ring.

‘Yeah, I’m okay. I wish I could be there with you,’ I honestly told her.

‘You will be. Take care of your mother first.’ Skyler offered.  That was pretty messed up too. Skyler didn’t give a shit about my mother. She never did,” Drew said, turning to look at me again.

I didn’t reply. I got the look from Deidra again.

 “I told Skyler I’ll be there tomorrow. I needed to get out of that house. I hated that fucking place.

‘I love that house. I was hoping we’d live in it, you know, if your mom decides not to live in the house,’ was Skyler’s reaction.

Stunned by her answer, I asked her, ‘Why would my mother not live here?’

Skyler hesitantly replied, ‘I don’t know. I just meant, like the memories and all. I’m not sure I could live there after my husband died.’

I assured her he wasn’t her husband. She didn’t know shit about anything. If she did, I was sure she too would have been running for the hills as far away from me as she could get.

‘Don’t get mad at me. I’m sorry. I’m just saying, I love that house, and we could do a lot with it after we’re married. I’m glad Michael is gone,’ Skyler confessed.”

You will never touch MY house, you slimy little slut.

Telling every aspect, Drew kept talking, “I told Sky I would talk to her tomorrow. I was kind of tired.

‘Okay, I love you, Drew,’ she said.

‘Love you too,’ I mumbled and hung up.”

 “Really, Drew? You can leave some stuff out,” I chimed in.

“Morgan,” Deidra chastised.

“Well, it’s the truth. He doesn’t have to mention the two of them saying how much they’re in love,” I complained.

“Morgan, I loved her this much,” Drew said, holding his thumb and finger a quarter inch apart. “I love you to the moon and back.”

“Can we continue now?” Deidra asked, giving me a look to shut the hell up. I crossed my arms and leaned back, waiting to hear more of how much my husband loved Skyler. I couldn’t wait. 

Drew carried on, “I woke with a headache from hell, slumped in the office chair. Rubbing my face and eyes, I called, ‘Come in,’ when I heard the tap on the door. The nurse came into view and told me my mother was sleeping, she was heading out, and to call her when she was needed. ‘I will. Thank you for staying with her.’ I nodded, dismissing her. Flipping on the desk computer, I clicked the camera button, studying the empty rooms in the house. One by one I added them to the screen, starting with the kitchen, the living area, the den, and then Michael’s room. He never did share a room with my mother. She had her own living quarters upstairs and he only visited when he needed her.”

Humph, imagine that.

“Clicking on my mother’s room to check on her before going to find some much needed coffee, I froze. I couldn’t move fast enough. There was absolutely nothing I could do, but watch.”

Oh, my god. I didn’t know he watched.

Drew confirmed what I suspected he saw. “I screamed, ‘NOOO,’ to the top of my lungs as I watched my mother’s shaking finger pull the trigger.”

I wanted to go to Drew, immediately. I wanted to hold him and tell him that I loved him, and I’d always be there for him. I didn’t move. I was in shock and Deidra moved to the edge of her seat, placed her hand on my knee in a comforting fashion and smiled, giving me the look not to talk and to stay seated. I swear that woman could read my thoughts.

“I never went to her room,” Drew said whisper soft.

I covered my mouth with my hand and listened to his voice change, become sadder, and a little distant.  

“I didn’t have to go to her room. I saw it all with my own eyes. Knowing what the scene would be had I tried to save her, I refrained and only watched the zipped body bag, being wheeled out twenty nine minutes later. Yes. That was all Michael Callaway’s fault too,” Drew decided with narrowed eyes directed right at me. “Wishing I could dig him up and kill him all over again, I slammed the office door, and gave his office a new makeover. I broke everything in sight, cleared his desk with one swipe of my arm and put my fist through his face, hanging on the wall.”

Deidra squeezed my leg harder, feeling me tense, fighting the urge to go to Drew.

“Four days after I sat in the same chair next to Mr. Callaway, burying his son, I sat again, burying my mother while Mr. Callaway explained, ‘I know things are pretty rotten right now, but we still need to have that talk. There’s something that I need you to take care of.’

My mother was being laid to rest and he wanted me to take care of something,” Drew snorted, taking a gulp of his drink before continuing, “I replied Callaway in a monotone voice, ‘Yeah, I’m sure I can do that.’  My mother was lying in a fucking coffin. She’d just blown her head off because of his son, and he wanted to talk about Callaway Jewels. Un-fucking-believable. I stood and walked across the dry grass toward my car alone. I needed to get out of there.

‘Hey man, I don’t really know what to say. I’m sorry, dude.’ Derik said.

‘Don’t worry about it, Derik. Take care of business for the next couple days. That’s all you can do. I’m going to get fucked up,’ I bluntly let my friend and assistant know my plans.”

I cringed at the mention of Derik’s name. I still hated him.

“Derik said, ‘Okay, don’t worry about a thing, I got this, dude.’

‘Do you think maybe you could act like a professional? Maybe stop using man and dude? You’re not sweeping floors in some lunch room,’ I reminded Derik, sliding behind the wheel of my new black Porsche, complements of Michael fucking Callaway. I was test driving that car before Michael ever took his last breath. I never went back to the estate. I went to my own high rise mansion overlooking the Las Vegas strip. I wasn’t sure I’d ever go back there, not if I had anything to do with it.

‘Sky! You here?’ I called when arriving at the empty apartment, and then dialed her number.

‘Hey,’ she finally answered after the fourth ring. ‘Where are you?’ I was pissed she wasn’t there waiting for me.

‘With Jena, we’re getting our nails done. Where are you?’ she plainly asked.

‘Oh, just at the apartment. You do know that I just buried my mother, right? Thought maybe you’d be here, that you’d want to be here for me or some shit,’ I smartly stated through the phone.

‘Drew, I’m not going to be gone that long. I’ll be there shortly. Stop being a baby,’ she said, and just like that she hung up.

Stop being a baby? I shook my head and dropped my phone to the sofa, letting her words reverberate in my head. You would have never said something like that, Morgan, especially under the circumstances,” Drew said, turning to me again.

I only smiled back, not sure what to say. I didn’t even know what I was going to say to him once we were alone. I was speechless. He watched his mother shoot herself. How could anyone be normal after that?

“I think that’s enough for one day. You’re doing just fine, Drew. Baby steps, okay?” Deidra advised.

I was sure she didn’t want him going too deep too fast, but how much worse could it get?

“I don’t need you to treat me like some poor little boy that needs your pity. I don’t need your pity or anyone else’s,” Drew angrily spoke, slamming his empty glass to the tabletop.

“Hmm, I do think you need some time to yourself. I think maybe you should take a cab, go work at your downtown office for a while,” Deidra suggested.

I didn’t want that. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to pity him and love him. I didn’t want him to be alone.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. You okay to go home by yourself?” Drew asked, looking at me.

“Deidra, can we have a minute?” I asked. I didn’t want to go home alone. I wasn’t afraid of Drew.

“Morgan, just go get Nicholas and go home, please,” Drew begged when Deidra left us, and I went to him.

“I don’t want you to be alone.” I worried, leaning into him. He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my forehead.

“I need you to. I need to not be around you right now. I’m too angry. Please just go home and give me some time.”

“Okay,” I reluctantly agreed. He knew his tolerance more than I did, and I assumed he realized it was a bad idea to be alone with me. I should have been grateful that he recognized that beforehand. I wasn’t, and I wanted to be with him.