Aaron reached for his phone then. For a moment, he hesitated to speak once the connection was made.
“I need you to find my
brother,” Aaron said finally. “I need you to find Vale.”
***
Manoa, Hawaii 1983~
“That’s right...that’s right, Thunder Way...okay then...okay I will...yes I’ll return the papers signed as soon as I get them...Thanks Aunty...thanks for not-not holding the things I said the-the way I am...against me...yes...yes I know...I love you too.”
Jake Shannon studied the phone for at least a minute once the connection broke. He was as dumbfounded as he’d been near the onset of the conversation. The news his aunt had called with… unbelievable, unreal...impossible!
They’d struck it rich? Their family? Millionaires? They were wealthy? How was this possible?
Jake set down the phone and shook his head in wonder. The lot of them barely had an ounce of smarts between them. Such didn’t pertain to Jake. He grimaced then, remembering the lot he was only connected to by blood.
He’d never felt any truer connection to them. He’d fled Medora soon as he was able. He’d fled the place where his family had toiled for those whose only superiority was supposedly in the color of their skin. Medora wasn’t known for its bustling population of geniuses. Still, Jake supposed there was a measure of love lingering for them in his veins.
His aunt was a gem, the only one who’d never treated him like he was a freak for having a working brain. She’d been the one to push him- to insist that he not be defined by his circumstances, his skin tone or the fact that he epitomized the term second class citizen in a place where black faces were indeed an oddity.
It was because of her that he’d challenged himself to learn and keep learning. He’d had the confidence to join Eston Perjas’ team of scientists for the kind of research the masses would frown upon.
Yes, it was the love for his aunt; the woman who was more of a mother than his own. She was the reason he’d changed his name. It was to keep her safe in the event those strange tests and dark research projects put their lives, and the lives of those they loved, in jeopardy.
Jake shoved at the phone then and cursed. Lives in jeopardy? God, he’d certainly put those horrific wheels into motion, hadn’t he? As yet, his forays into finding a cure for whatever he’d picked up on that wretched island had only succeeded in him finding cures to other nasty things.
Those efforts had not been in vain. Perjas and the Italians had paid well for his concoctions. Still, it had remained all too clear who was working for whom.
Now...Dear Lord, now his family had joined the ranks of the most elite. Wealth- the kind that changed lives for generations and a chunk of it was his! He’d spent his life working to fulfil the passions of others while his own took a back seat.
Now he’d have the means to research what was dearest to his heart. As for the stoic Perjas and those oily Tesano snakes, he’d make sure they continued to pay and pay well for the concoctions they salivated over. They would understand what it meant to do business with someone for whom money now meant little.
Lives would indeed change
for generations to come as a result of the terms
he would dictate.
Finally he would
dictate the terms.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
Persephone studied the sway of the palm trees in the distance. The hypnotic dance of the wide green leaves against the late afternoon skies, reminded her of the huge feather fans that slaves would use to keep their masters cool in ancient times.
Drawing her thoughts out of daydream’s realm, Persephone tuned back in time to catch the punchline of whatever comment her mother had just sent through the phone.
“You’re right,” Persephone laughed out the words she fully agreed with.
Tammy James had just summed up her daughter’s inability to keep her head and hormones in check around Hill. Her words were as encompassing as they were simplistic.
“His looks are a distraction. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’re a woman, with a woman’s needs. You’ve got a beautiful thing like that roaming around, wanting you every time he sees you- Lord… I can’t say I don’t envy you, Sweetness.”
The words, amusing, only had a slight effect over Persephone. “I think that may be all he wants, Mama. I don’t think there can ever be anything more than that between us after all this.”
“Honey...why would you think such a thing?”
“Mama?” Incredulous, Persephone turned her back on the swaying leaves and commenced to walking her office. “Those two little girls that you think can do no wrong- well they’re his and I kept them from him for six years.”
“Baby...he’s got a right to be angry about that-”
“Of course he does. He definitely does. He has a right to be angry about that forever.” Newly dismayed by the possibility, Persephone jerked a hand through her hair.
“Baby? Do you think angry is all he is? This could’ve turned into a very nasty situation. That it hasn’t, tells me he’s a lot more than angry.”
Snorting, Persephone dropped onto one of the loveseats comprising the lounge area of her home office. “I think I’ve already figured out that part,” she said.
“Doubtful,” Tammy chided. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Honey. My guess is he’s trying to get past it- to reconcile that anger with his love for you.”
“Mama he can’t even understand why I did it. I’d be surprised if he confessed love.”
“Why not? He has before.”
“Operative word-before.”
“You’re the mother of his children, Baby. The girls are beautiful, vivacious angels who are all the way in love with that man- fierce and intimidating as he should probably be to two little things like them. They trust him in a way that should take years to develop.
Hill’s reaping the benefits of that trust because of you, sweetie. You could’ve kept those children a secret and never mentioned him to them, let alone plaster your house with pictures of him. You chose a better way-not the best way but you made Hill someone real and loving to his kids. Trust me that fact has not been lost on him. It’s what’ll enable him to push past the anger to get to the love that hasn’t gone anywhere.”
Persephone couldn’t resist a smile born of disbelief as well as hope. “Say lady, you ever considered becoming a therapist?”
Tammy laughed. “I have, Hon. It’s called motherhood. Now I’m saying goodnight. Kiss the girls and their sexy father.”
“Night, Mama. Kiss the family for me.” Persephone urged, waiting for the connection to break on Tammy’s end before she pulled the phone from her ear.
Persephone relaxed for a second, curling her toes into the loveseat fabric before she turned to put her phone on the table nearest her end of the seat. She saw Hill in the doorway and tamped down the urge to jump in reaction.
