A Taylor-Made Life (25 page)

A few bold employees spoke about their
reservations at having me run TME. I countered with my own
reservations and set forth my plan—the plan Gavin helped me with—to
win them over.

I clasped my hands and laid them on
the conference table. “I know you’re all concerned about the
company while Gavin and I battle our health issues. I want to
assure you that I intend on a full recovery and plan to spend many
years running and growing the company. It’s true I don’t have a lot
of experience, but neither did Gavin. And what he’s learned, he’s
teaching me.”

A murmur traveled across the room, but
Thomas smiled encouragingly. I took strength in the gesture and
continued, “In the meantime, Thomas will take over as Interim
President—”

“This is bullshit!” Charlie
bellowed.

Thomas broke in. “If you cannot hold
your tongue, you’ll be removed from this meeting.”

“Rick and I are part owners. You can’t
do this. We have a say.”

“Actually, with only thirty percent
interest between the two of you, you don’t. And I will have full
authority to fire or demote your ass. So please do not tempt me.”
Thomas smiled like he’d waited ten years to say those
words.

I trembled but spoke again at Thomas’
urging. “In addition and effective immediately, my father, John
Smith, will assume the position vacated by Thomas. John has twenty
plus years’ experience in accounting and is a licensed
CPA.”

After my presentation, Sara brought in
sandwiches from the deli, but the arguing lasted well past lunch.
Rick took the lead, and Thomas countered. The divisions splintered,
but thank the Wizards, the majority of the workforce was on my
side.

I closed my eyes and rolled my head
from side to side to kill some of the stress. In my forty-four
weeks of chemo, I’d never felt as drained or exhausted as I did
that minute.

During a break in the shouting, I
stepped to the restroom to splash some water on my face.

I stared at my reflection in the
mirror. Bright gray eyes looked back at me, but the fluorescents
made my complexion look drawn and sallow. My body was telling me to
slow down and had been for a couple of months. The effects of my
disease had increased over the last few days, but I hadn’t told
anyone. Although I was pretty sure Gavin had noticed, he hadn’t
said anything yet. Mom definitely had. There was no hiding anything
from that pregnant woman.

At times, Mom’s pregnancy felt like an
extension of me, like I played a part. At other times, I felt
almost as if the baby-to-be was a brother or sister. What would
happen once he came? I’d taken to calling the baby a
him
,
because I couldn’t see him any other way in my mind’s eye. Having
grown inside Mom, would the little thing even know who I
was?

I patted my face dry and smoothed down
my hat. At least the employees seemed to accept me. Most of them
did, anyway. The meeting—

A stall door opened. Nancy sauntered
out to the sink and washed her hands. “All this must be tough on
you.”

I stared warily. “I’m holding
up.”

The woman dried her hands and stared
at my image in the mirror. “I’m glad. I’d hate for your illness to
progress because of stress.”

My gut clenched. Was this woman
threatening me? “What do you mean?”

The woman’s eyes rounded in fake
innocence. “I mean, you’re sick. It would be unfortunate for your
health to fail because the demands of the job are too stressful.
This job would be stressful for any qualified person, but for a
sick girl, I imagine it’s unbearable.”

I hadn’t missed the jab in her words.
“As I learn more about how things work here, my stress will go
down. But those who don’t play by my rules might find more
stress.”

Take that, HR
biotch!

The woman smirked. “Life’s too short
for all this quibbling. I can’t imagine why you don’t sell to the
Bozo Brothers
and live out the few months you have left with
your dying husband.”

The little bit of fuzzy hair on my
arms and the back of my neck stood on end. This woman even insulted
her allies. “I don’t like you. You better watch
yourself.”

“I imagine you don’t.” She laughed.
“What woman likes their husband’s ex-lover?”

“What?”
Gavin had sex with this
woman?

Now the woman really did appear
surprised. “You mean Gavin never told you? About us? About why he
can’t fire me?” She grinned viciously. “How delicious.”

My head swam in a murky sea, and bile
rose in my throat.

Abandoning her position at the mirror,
Nancy turned to face me head-on. “I’m certain he’s much gentler
with you. But he does like it rough. I’ll have to show you the
pictures sometime. I think you would find
them…
educational
.”

She strode out the door, her Italian
leather heels clicking on the tile.

I leaned over the sink and threw
up.

* * * *

“Taylor, Sweetness. Honey, I’m sorry I
didn’t tell you.” Gavin raked his fingers through his hair,
shifting next to her on the leather seat of the limo.

If he could have gotten his hands
around that black-hearted bitch’s neck, he would’ve killed
her.

Fuck!

This was a disaster of biblical
proportions. He should’ve never let Taylor go to the morning
meeting without him. But since John had done a good job shielding
her from Rick and Charlie, it wasn’t as if her dad could’ve
followed her into the women’s room.

Taylor sat with her back to him,
staring out the window of the limo. He rested his chin on her
shoulder, but she shrugged him off.

Shit.

He hated the silent treatment. Not
that he didn’t deserve it. How could he have put his angel in the
devil’s lair? And now she knew about his past. The thought made him
want to spew.

He pleaded to her mother. “Maureen,
can you help me here? I can’t change what happened in the
past.”

Maureen smiled sympathetically. “Well,
Gavin, I don’t think Taylor is upset about what happened between
you and Witchy-poo. I think her hurt and anger stems from the fact
that you never mentioned it or prepared her.” She glanced over to
Taylor. “Is that right, honey?”

Taylor didn’t move. She was
pissed
. Maureen winced and shrugged. And thank God, John
kept quiet, but Gavin wanted to sink to the floorboard and
hide.

Why hadn’t he told her? “Taylor, I was
ashamed. I didn’t want you to
ever
know. I never believed
she’d say anything, and honestly, I never believed she would be so
ruthless.”

Taylor spun in her seat toward him.
“So you were going to keep it from me forever? She’s blackmailing
you with kinky sex pictures, and you didn’t think I’d find out?
Who’s the teenager here?” She faced the window again with a
huff.

He hung his head. “I realize it’s
irrational logic, done out of self-preservation. But it’s
….”

“It’s what, Gavin?” She turned to
stare at him. “It’s just
fucking
around?”

Maureen gasped.

He peered into Taylor’s stormy gray
glare.
Wizards of War
, she was letting him have it. And she
was so beautiful.

“It’s…that you…looked at me with….”
Her eyes narrowed. “Admiration.” He threw his head back, focusing
on the roof of the car.
Damn
, he hated hurting her.
“Sweetness, what we have is nothing like…. I’m sorry I put you in
that position. It makes me sick.”

He wrung his hands then flexed and
fisted his fingers. “Brad said we could fire her. If you want her
gone, she’s gone. Period.”

“Oh, she’s gone all right. I’ve
already talked with Brad myself and that woman is history.” She let
out a long sigh. Her face softened and lit with love. “I don’t want
more drama-rama. We can talk about her later. Right now, let’s
concentrate on being able to see our baby for the first time.” She
grabbed his hand. “But no more secrets. Okay?”

The chill he’d felt dissolved. He
smiled as relief flooded him. “Okay.”

Her eyes flashed, and a shiver again
ran through him. “And just so you know, we are so not finished
about the kinky sex pictures.”

He winced.

* * * *

Gavin was the last one into the
sonogram room. He stood behind Taylor, who sat on one of those
short, round rolling stools. Everyone’s eyes fixed on the TV
monitor in the top corner of the small room. The lights were dim,
and the black and white gradient picture shone like a
beacon.

Maureen lay on the leather exam chair
and pulled her blouse up below her breasts. John stood beside her
and took her hand. The forty-six-year-old woman was fit for her
age, and the pooch of her lower abdomen indicated life was
definitely growing there. The nurse folded the waistband of her
pants down and tucked a towel underneath.

The equipment appeared much more
advanced than when he had his sonogram almost two years ago. That
had been a tower contraption with a small monitor they’d wheeled
into his room. But this—this was extensive, with a computer and
mouse connected at the base of what appeared to be a control
panel.

The doctor knocked and came in. He
smiled. “I see we’re all here today. I’m Dr. Culpepper.” He focused
on Maureen. “Is this your family?”

“Hi, Dr. Culpepper.” She smiled and
nodded. “This is my husband, John, my daughter Taylor, and my
son-in-law, Gavin.”

She made it sound like she was
introducing them on a game of
Family Feud
rather than to
witness a medical procedure. That was Maureen’s way of adding
lightheartedness to any situation no matter how dire, and he loved
her for it.

The man looked at Taylor and Gavin.
“So you’re the baby’s parents?”

Taylor lifted her head to catch
Gavin’s gaze. She smiled brightly. His heart burst with joy at her
dimples. Then she nodded. “Yes.”

He still hated what had happened with
Nancy. And the thought that she’d hurt Taylor—that he’d hurt Taylor
made him sick. The night he’d spent with Nancy had been its own
torture, but she was milking the mileage out of his momentary lapse
of sanity.

The doctor clasped his hands. “All
right, then. Are we wanting to know the sex of the baby
today?”

They all looked at each other and
Maureen said, “Yes, if we can.”

“Well, you’re at twenty-two weeks, so
if the baby cooperates, we should be able to tell.”

He spread gel over her protruding
stomach and pressed the device into her swollen lower abs. He took
a series of pictures and measurements as the group watched in
silence, all eyes fixed on the screen above.

Gavin squinted. Other than a
flickering blip on the monitor he assumed was a heartbeat, he
literally couldn’t make heads or tails of the wobbly picture. Was
that a butt or a brain?

Culpepper entered his findings in an
electronic file. “All right. Let’s see if we can determine what we
want to know. I thought I caught a glimpse of something earlier,
but let’s go back there.”

Gavin froze, mesmerized, as the doctor
rolled the smooth instrument over Maureen. He settled on one area
and took a picture. Then enlarged the area and took another. He
turned and twisted the view, then looked up and grinned. With the
pointer of the mouse, he settled over a small protrusion on the
indistinguishable lump. “Anyone care to guess what that
is?”

Small though it was—dear God, he hoped
it grew—the baby was undeniably a boy.

* * * *

Later, I sat cross-legged on the bed,
eating a bowl of rum raisin ice cream. “How about Gavin,
Jr.?”

I laughed as Gavin groaned. “What is
so horrible about that name?” It was my most favorite in the world,
but I knew he hated G names. Apparently his whole family had a G
name.

“Taylor, I really don’t want to strap
the kid with my name. How about Jason or Jackson?”

I poked a bite of ice cream in Gavin’s
mouth and shook my head. “Uh-uh. How about Aiden, Jayden or
Caden?”

“Oh, hell no.” He spoke with his mouth
full then swallowed. “How about Aaron?”

I was about to protest, but a warm
feeling came over me.
Aaron.
It wasn’t awful.

He rose from the bed and stepped into
the bathroom.

Then
Michael
popped into my
head. “How about Aaron Michael?”

Gavin peeked from around the
doorframe. “Did you know Michael was my middle name?”

I grinned. “I might’ve.”

He smiled back at me. “I like that.
Aaron Michael.” He stood in the threshold and stared at me. “Have
we found a winner?”

I nodded. “I think so. Aaron Michael
Taylor. Our son.”

As the words left my mouth, I knew
they were the perfect ones. My heart filled with love. I squealed
and leapt from the bed. Gavin stepped to meet me as I jumped into
his arms, spinning me around and kissing me. But just as suddenly,
he dropped me hard and grasped his side as he fell to his
knees.