Enraptured (6 page)

He ran over to the bookshelf. “I bought this really cool book. It has lots of photos from inside the womb. This way I can watch how the baby is growing and developing. I even downloaded a calendar,” he said as he opened up his tablet computer.

“At this rate, you’ll be a doctor,” I grinned.

He shrugged. “Like I have the choice,” he said. “My career was decided for me before I was even born.”

His resignation to his fate made me sad. “You always have a choice, Jonathan. I’m sure your father will understand if you find your passion
elsewhere.”

He gave me a knowing side-eye glance with a cocked eyebrow. It only made me giggle in spite of myself. I amended it to say, “Well, you aren’t taking over FEI yet. So do what makes you happy.”
While you still can
, I added in my head.

That afternoon we began his eighth grade curriculum. He already had a head start in health and biology, so I was tasked filling in the rest.
As I stared at the computer, I found myself nodding off yet again, which frustrated me. I wasn’t used to my body fighting me when it came to the more fast-paced schedule I had begun almost two years ago with Jonathan. There had been relatively few limitations to our curriculum before. If we wanted to go, we went. If we wanted to finish a project, we finished it. I was always ahead of the curve, but my body had other priorities.

Jonathan finally insisted that I take a nap, and walked me upstairs to the master suite to ensure I took one. “Yes, Doc,” I grinned as I crawled into bed. He poured me a glass of water and perched on the edge of the bed. I took his hand in mine. “Thanks again for the nursery, Jonathan. That was so sweet and so unexpected. I still don’t know how you pulled it off.”

He shrugged. “I had a lot of help,” he dismissed humbly.

I raised my eyebrows and waited. Finally he relented with a sheepish grin.

“I had Harrison take me to the offices downtown. Simone had all the designers we worked with for our parties on file. I showed them a sketch of what I wanted and they made it happen.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t love him any more than I already did, he turned up the dial of his awesomeness. “You are an amazing little boy, Jonathan. I think I may be the luckiest stepmom in the whole wide world.”

He squeezed my fingers. “You deserve to be happy, Rachel,” he said softly. “Mom,” he amended even softer.

I pulled him into a hug and he cuddled beside me on the bed. “You make me happy,” I told him as I kissed the top of his head.
“Every day, in every way.”

“Good,” he said.
“Because I have a favor.”

“Oh?”

“I actually have one more surprise. But I need your help pulling it off.”

This piqued my interest. Before I could ask, he hopped off the bed and darted from the room. When he returned, he was carrying an acoustic guitar. He grinned as he perched back on the bed.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Uncle Alex gave it to me,” he said. “So I could play for the baby.”

Tears sprang into my eyes. It was such an Alex thing for him to do. “How can I help, Jonathan? I don’t know how to play.”

“Alex does,” he said softly. “He was teaching me.” He plucked at the strings. “After Mom broke up with Derek, she and I went to s
tay with Alex. You know how he plays for Max?” I nodded. “I told him I wished he could play for the new baby and he suggested I should. We started lessons that night. I don’t think Mom was very happy about it,” he added. “She and Uncle Alex fought a lot before she finally left for New York with some of her friends.”

“They fought?” I repeated, and he nodded.
“What about?” He shrugged. I knew he knew, but he didn’t want to tell me. “Jonathan.”

He looked away.
“You.”

I gulped. “I see.”

“Mom thinks that she’ll lose custody now that you married my dad. She blamed Alex for bringing you back out to California. She said he ruined everything. That he always ruins everything. He tried to defend you, but that only made her madder. She said awful things,” he added with a slight shudder. “He bunked with me and Max until she finally made other arrangements.”

“I see,” I said again.

“Things were better after she left. That’s when we did another campout. He started teaching me guitar. It was great,” he drifted off sadly. “Like last summer.”

I nodded. Last summer had been pretty great despite it all. “I still don’t know what you need me to do, Jonathan.”

“You brought Dad and Alex together last year,” he said hopefully. “You can do it again.”

I closed my eyes and rested my head back on the pillows. If only he knew. “Jonathan…”

“It can be good, you know it can,” he urged. “You can fix it. Like you fixed me. Like you fixed Dad.”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “It’s not that simple, sweetie. No one can
just change anyone else. They have to want to change.”

His bright blue eyes bore into mine. “Make them want to.” Before I could say anything, he went on. “You’re a Fullerton now. This is your family, too. We can make it right. I know we can. Please.”

I sighed. “I’m not going to make this promise, Jonathan. I can’t. But,” I added when his chin fell, “I’ll do what I can.”

He smiled. “That’s all any of us can do.
Right?”

“Right,” I agreed. I cuddled under the blanket as I listened to him play the simple tune, “
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
.” I drifted to sleep thinking of cozy campfires, harmonicas and two little boys torn apart by decades of pain.

And just like Sisyphus, the boulder
once again landed at my feet at the bottom of the hill.

True to his word, Drew had arranged a hearing before the judge to re-evaluate Jonathan’s custody ar
rangement by the following Friday. The only surprise was that Elise didn’t bother to show. She was still vacationing in the Empire State, and didn’t feel the need to rush right back considering she had no intention to contest the changes. It seemed that now that she was a free-wheeling single with a little more money in her pocket, she was willing to whittle her motherhood role down to the weekends, making the new arrangement the most amicable since the divorce.

In fact, everything was handled within twenty minutes, leaving us free for the afternoon.
Drew suggested we head out to the Getty to see the new exhibit, and Jonathan was beside himself with excitement to go.

He had taken his sketchbook along with him to the courthouse, so he was fully prepared to sketch his favorite finds from one of our favorite places. He planted himself in the grass in the sculpted garden to draw all the natural beauty stretching out before him all the way into the horizon. “A gift for the baby,” he grinned as he went right to work.

Drew and I walked over to chairs nearby. “That was pretty simple,” I said. “A little too simple. Did you bribe her, Drew?”

He shrugged.
“Officially? I didn’t do anything.”

“What does that mean?”

He grinned. “Let’s just say it pays to have persuasive friends. If all goes well, Elise will move to New York by the end of the year.”

“And what does
that mean?”

He patted my hand. “It’s a beautiful day. Let’s not ruin it talking about Elise.” He changed the subject easily. “How are you feeling today?”

“Good,” I answered. The week had been touch and go. Some days I barely noticed anything more than morning queasiness. But by Wednesday, I was on my knees in front of the toilet for much of the morning. This affected Jonathan’s studies, as we had scheduled a return to FEI that week. Drew, however, was more concerned about what it meant for my health and the baby’s. He had already cleared his schedule for my next doctor’s appointment, just to make sure I was all right.

He looked visibly relieved that I was having a good day.
“Excellent,” he said as he stretched out in the chair. “Now that we have all this legal wrangling behind us, we can relax this weekend. No pressure, just time at home with the family.”

I felt a rock in my gut. It was as perfect an opening as I was going to get. “Listen, Drew… I talked to Jonathan
. He’s asked me to approach you about something.”

His eyes narrowed. “And that is?”

“It’s like I told you on the island. He wants to spend time with Alex and Max. He wants a real family, and all that entails.”

“I see,” he clipped. “And what do you want, Rachel?”

I met his gaze dead on. “I want Jonathan to be happy.” His mouth thinned into a hard line. “Apparently Elise and Alex had a bit of a falling out before she left. She essentially left Jonathan there with them. It reminded him of the time we spent there last year, so he wants to build on that and strengthen the family bond.” Drew said nothing as his eyes searched my face. “He’s always been fond of Alex. You said so yourself. You honestly can’t be that surprised that he’d want to repair that fracture now that he has the family at home he always wanted.”

“No, I’m not surprised,” Drew murmured.
“I knew this was coming, I just didn’t expect it so soon. Only a couple of weeks of wedding bliss and you’re ready to open up your loving bosom to extended family. Ambitious,” he concluded as he sat up straight and crossed one leg over the other.

I already knew
that was a sign of power for him, but I refused to play his game. “This changes nothing between you and me or me and Alex. If anything, Jonathan wants to change things between you and Alex. That’s the relationship that needs to heal now.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Drew decided. “
Even for a great miracle worker like yourself.”

“So you just reject Jonathan’s wishes out of hand.”

“I didn’t say that. I had already planned on opening our home to Alex and his son.”

My eyes flew open in surprise. “
What?”

He chuckled. “Why does that surprise you? Isn’t that what you want
ed?”

I was too tired to go ten rounds about this issue again. “Drew,” I sighed.

“Relax,” he interrupted. “This has nothing to do with your unfortunate affair with Alex. You tell me that is over and I take you at your word.”

“Then what is it?”

It was his turn to sigh. He glanced toward the ocean. “Alex has decided to get more involved in the family business. He is no longer content to be a silent shareholder. He’s at the office every day, working with my executives to learn all those things he had previously rejected. I haven’t figured out exactly what his angle is, especially since he and Elise are now on the outs. Since I can’t seem to get rid of him, the only alternative is allow him access and hope that I can figure out what he’s trying to do now before it comes back to bite me in the ass again.”

I studied Drew’s cold, calculating face. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” I commented softly.

“Something like that,” he admitted shamelessly. He withdrew his cell phone from its holder on his hip. “Since I was in court today, I’m sure he was at the office all day, prowling the files and questioning the staff. We’ll call, invite him to dinner, extend yet another courtesy and see where he stands. Everyone wins.”

“Except Alex,”
I snapped.

“You underestimate my brother, darling. A chance to moon over his lost love all night, wallowing in his precious misery, is right where Alex lives.” He handed me the phone. “Why don’t you do the honors?”

“I am not going to lure the lamb for slaughter, Drew. He’s your brother. This is your relationship to fix, or not. I refuse to play any more of your games.”

“It’s only a game if he’s hiding something or planning something of his own
, in which case he is every bit as calculating and manipulative as I am, not some pathetic little victim. If I’m wrong and he doesn’t have any agenda, then no harm, no foul. We play nice in front of the kiddies and set right our family wrongs. That is what you wanted, right?”

“What does Rachel want?” Jonathan asked as he walked up to join us.

Drew’s eyes never left mine. “Rachel has decided to invite Alex and his family to join us for dinner this weekend.”

Jonathan’s eyes flew open wide. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely,” he drawled easily. “If you don’t have family, you don’t have anything. Why don’t you call your uncle, Jonathan? Invite him for, what? Six o’clock on Saturday?”

I glared at Drew.
“I really think the invitation should come from you, Drew.”

The smile on his face made me sick as he put his arm around Jonathan and pulled him close. “But who can say no to Jonathan?”

I stewed as an elated Jonathan called Alex. From his side of the conversation, I could tell Alex was taken aback by the invitation. Jonathan had to work a little bit to convince him, but within minutes Jonathan disconnected the call and handed the phone back to his father with a triumphant smile.

We went out to eat at a restaurant in Beverly Hills with stark, modern architecture, a celebrity chef and a higher class clientele.
As raw steaks were presented for us to pick our cut, I had to excuse myself to splash water on my face in the ladies’ room. I wasn’t sure what made me sicker, dead cow flesh or my slick new husband. When I returned to the table, both Drew and Jonathan had chosen their cuts of meat. I settled on a salad and remained quiet as dinner progressed. Jonathan repeatedly asked if I felt all right, and I would smile assure him that I was fine.

I spent the better part of my meal watching how Jonathan mirrored his father’s actions. From the way he placed the napkin in his lap to the way he cut his meat, Jonathan watched Drew closely to make sure that he performed each task just like his father.

I was contemplative all the way home. I turned in early, but I didn’t fall asleep easily. I was still awake, and still livid, when Drew came to bed closer to midnight. He shrugged out of his shirt. “Such disapproval,” he murmured. “What exactly did I do now?”

“I’m still trying to wrap my mind around your using Jonathan to lure Alex into some kind of trap.”

“I told you. It’s only a trap if he’s doing something wrong.”

“Whatever. In the future, leave Jonathan out of it.”

He cocked an eyebrow as he stood next to the bed, his hands on his hips. “Excuse me?”

“Whatever is between you and Alex has nothing to do with Jonathan. He’s a little boy torn in two with loyalty and affection for the both of you. I refuse to stand by and allow you to squander his good faith and his trust to make some kind of point.”

Anger sharpened his features as he stared down at me. “Allow me?” he repeated. “And who, exactly, gave you authority to question me on how I parent my son?”

“You did,” I told him. “You wanted Jonathan to have a mother, and now he has one.
If you think you’re going to use him like some wadded up piece of tissue paper, you’re going to have to get through me first. I’m not just your paid flunky anymore. I’m your wife, and the mother of your children. This family will not run like your business. We work together – honestly and openly – or not at all. Got it?”

His eyes never left my face as he slipped out of his pants and crawled into bed. He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and pulled me close, his mouth hovering just an inch over my own. “There’s that fire I missed,” he murmured
. His mouth descended toward my own, but I resisted, pushing back against his hand while I met his gaze dead on.

“Got it?” I repeated.

A smile broke apart on his face. “Absolutely,” he answered.

“Good,” I said. “
Goodnight, Drew.”

I slipped from his hand and turned my back to him, turned off the light and disappeared under the covers.