Nate cut out of work early in order to get back home to prepare for Monica’s visit the following night. Still wearing his work slacks and a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, he sat in the den with his son.
The phone had rung ten minutes ago in the middle of his playtime with Nathaniel. Nate hadn’t bothered picking up the phone, for he knew Mrs. Weatherly would retrieve the call. A few seconds later, a knock came at the den door.
“Mr. Kenny, it’s Ms. Coleman on the phone for you. Would you like to take it?”
“Yes, Mrs. Weatherly,” Nate said. “I’ll take it in here. Thank you.”
Daphanie had only been away in London for three days on business for the pharmaceutical company she worked for. Nate found himself missing her more than he would have ever thought.
Maybe because even though they did not live together, over the course of their four-month relationship, more and more of Daphanie’s personal belongings had found their way over to Nate’s house, and they had recently been spending the better part of the entire week together. Nate had even given her a key to the house. She was a good woman.
“No, I’m not doing anything I’m not supposed to,” Nate said, smiling as he spoke into the phone. “And how about you? I know those Englishmen would love to get their hands on a fine American woman like you.”
“They can’t have what’s not available,” Daphanie said.
“Really?”
“Really.”
She went silent for a long moment.
“You okay over there?” Nate asked.
“It’s night, you know. And I’m in bed wearing nothing, my legs spread, and I can’t do anything but think about you.”
Nate felt a twinge in his pants, thought about the night before Daphanie left. An image of her underneath him, legs open, her breasts jumping each time he pushed himself into her.
“I want you so much right now,” Daphanie said, her voice raspy.
Nate was almost lost in that voice, till he turned and saw his son staring right into his eyes. “Uh, Daphanie…yeah, we need to do this another time. Maybe when little ears aren’t around.”
“Oops. Sorry. Nathaniel’s right there?”
“Yup.”
“Let me talk to my sweetheart.”
Nate held out the phone to his son. “Someone wants to speak to you.”
Nathaniel placed the side of his face to the phone, listened, and then smiled brightly. “Hi, Ms. Daphanie…yes…yes. I’m fine. Okay…okay. I miss you, too. Bye-bye.”
Nate took the phone back.
“I love that little boy,” Daphanie said. “I’m going to let you two get back to business, cause I have some immediate business of my own I have to attend to in order to get to sleep.”
“Don’t have too much fun without me.”
“Never, sweetheart. I love you, baby,” Daphanie said, sincerely.
“I love you, too.” Nate said, then hung up the phone.
He picked up one of the dozen or so photos he had of Monica that were spread out on the table before him. Some were of the both of them during vacations they had taken while they were still married, others were of her just posing, pretending to be a model. And the last few were shots Nate had taken of Monica in black and white.
Nate held one of the photos before his son, as he had done with the others before Daphanie called.
“Now who is this, again?” Nate asked Nathaniel.
The little boy looked at the photo, then at his father, and smiled silently.
“This is your mommy. Say it with me. ‘Mommy’,” Nate said slowly. “‘Mommy’.”
Still Nathaniel did not respond.
It would take a while, Nate told himself.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Nate said.
The door opened, and in came Tim, Nate’s younger brother by two years. They could have been twins, save for the three inches Nate had on Tim, and Tim’s slightly broader nose and shorter hair.
Tim was a writer. He had only authored a handful of magazine articles and several drafts of a novel until he’d finally gotten a publisher to buy his first manuscript two months ago.
Nate and Tim had been very close until last year, when Tim went behind Nate’s back and told Monica everything—the entire scam that Nate was running on her. At first Nate had thought that if it wasn’t for his brother, Monica would never have found out about his scheme, and subsequently, Nate never would have lost those millions of dollars. He was planning on never forgiving Tim, on cutting him from his life. Then Nate found out that the fool Lewis had admitted everything to Monica anyway. It only lessened Nate’s anger toward his brother a bit. But Nate decided to keep speaking to Tim, to consider the man his brother, even though Nate still harbored anger toward him for his betrayal.
“What you up to?” Tim said, looking down at the scattered photos of Monica after picking up his nephew and holding him in his arms.
“Rehearsing,” Nate said, standing and gathering the pictures.
“For what?”
“I’m having a meeting with Monica tomorrow night, and when he sees her, I want Nathaniel to call her Mommy.”
Tim was silent, his mouth falling slightly open.
Nate could look at his brother and know what was running through his self-righteous mind. He called for Mrs. Weatherly.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to go through with what you were considering,” Tim said.
“Yes, Mr. Kenny?” Mrs. Weatherly said, appearing at the door.
“Can you take Nathaniel, please?”
Mrs. Weatherly stepped in and eased Nathaniel from Tim’s arms, then closed the door behind them.
“In answer to your question,” Nate said, lowering himself into a leather armchair, “I have decided to go ahead with it.”
“You shouldn’t have gone after Tori. But you said that would be it.”
“I changed my mind.”
“What is wrong with you? You were the one who started all that nonsense with trying to get Monica to cheat. And now that she did, which made her divorce you, you’re still pissed off because you have to give her the money she deserves.”
“I didn’t force her to divorce me,” Nate said, his legs crossed, trying to remain calm. “I asked her to stay. Asked her to put aside everything that had happened, but she wouldn’t. And I didn’t start anything. It all started because she lied to me about being able to get pregnant. And I can’t let her get away with that and collect fifteen million dollars from me.”
“And what do you plan on doing? You can’t get the money back.”
“I can try. And if I can’t, I’ll do as much damage to her as possible.”
Tim shook his head. “Please don’t do this. You have a son now, and what about Daphanie? You have a woman who loves you. You have everything, but you’re just angry because you got caught.”
Nate practically leapt out of his chair, racing across the room into his brother’s face, pointing a finger. “I didn’t get caught. You told her! And because of that, I lose millions of dollars. You were supposed to be my fucking brother!”
“I was. I still am,” Tim said, looking Nate directly in the eye.
They held each other’s stare for a moment, Nate breathing hard through his nose, before he turned away.
“I appreciate your concern,” Nate said, sitting again. “But I know what I’m doing. I got what I wanted from Tori, and I’ll do the same with Monica.”
“But you’re using your son.”
“He’ll understand when he gets a little older. He’ll be fine, and Daphanie will never know anything about this. It’ll all be over before she gets back in the country.”
“You sure?”
“Positive,” Nate said.