Chapter 20
WILLOW
Idecide to keep the pregnancy to myself for the time being. An OB-GYN consult is needed first, along with some more detailed tests, including blood work—I tell myself this to justify the secrecy after I chewed Cole, Asher, and Toby out over their secrecy regarding Sheila.
With a racing heart and enough electrolytes in my system to make me look and act like a functioning human being, I knock on the door of Bill Morgan’s private room at the medical center.
“Hi,” I say with a soft smile.
The Morgan brothers look up. They’re sitting a couple of feet away from their father’s bed. William’s eyes glow as soon as he recognizes me.
“Willow, what a joy to see you!” he says, genuinely thrilled.
“Mr. Morgan,” I reply and hold up a carefully selected gift basket. “I brought these for you, all heart-friendly options, of course.”
“That’s mighty sweet of you. Really not necessary, though. I don’t plan on sticking around this place for much longer.”
Asher chuckles softly. “They’re not letting you out of here until they make sure you’re okay, Pops, so cool your heels.”
I set the basket down on a table to my left, which is already home to a couple of other lavish gift baskets.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be back on my feet in no time.”
“It’s nice of you to visit,” Cole tells me, his gaze softening as our eyes meet. “I take it Jamie told you?”
I nod slowly. “He did, yes. It really was no trouble.”
“How’ve you been?” Toby asks.
It feels awkward between us. I don’t know why I thought it would be different or better. I’m the one who walked out.
“I’ve been fine, just resting through what’s left of the holidays. Come the new year, Jamie and I will be knee and elbow deep in new events,” I reply.
Bill’s gaze bounces from me to each of his sons, humor flickering in his eyes. “Boys, if I could have a minute alone with Willow, I’d greatly appreciate it,” he says, surprising everyone.
Cole, Asher, and Toby look at one another, then back at their father, before they settle on me for the longest and probably most uncomfortable handful of seconds.
In my womb, there’s a life growing, and one of them is the father.
The thought lingers in the back of my mind, haunting me and likely teaching me a lesson I’ll understand later.
For now, it’s a secret, and I need to keep my game face on.
“I don’t mind,” I tell them.
“We’ll be right outside,” Cole says.
I offer a faint smile and wait for them to leave. As soon as the door closes behind them, William points to the chair closest to his bed. “Have a seat, kiddo.”
“Sure.”
Once I’m seated, I get a better look at the great Bill Morgan.
Photos from his youth show a man bearing a striking resemblance to Cole—or better said, the other way around.
But he was bold and powerful, a presence that could not be ignored.
Yet even in old age, and fresh off the heels of a heart attack, he still keeps his head up and his bluish-green eyes bright with a thirst for living like no one else.
He gives me a warm smile, and it fills me with a strange sense of comfort.
This man knows how to lead, both in his personal and his professional lives.
“Willow, the trouble with my heart isn’t the disease I’ve been living with. It’s not even the heart attack that damn near killed me the other day,” he says. “It’s that I haven’t let it take the reins more often.”
“Mr. Morgan, I’m not sure I follow.”
“Please, call me Bill.”
“Okay, Bill,” I reply with a soft smile.
“Most of my life, I was busy running the business, making friends, keeping my enemies close, putting together deals and strategies designed to turn a profit without hurting the people. It’s been a challenge.
Sacrifices were made,” he says. “I wasn’t around as much as I would’ve wanted for the boys or for their mother.
When Sheila came into my life, I felt like God was giving me a second chance to try and do better. I took it.”
I nod slowly. “I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been to try and move on at the time.”
“Oh, I found comfort in work. My sons, not so much. But there is one thing I’ve always appreciated about them: The way they stuck together.
As brothers, as friends, as men. I never quite truly understood their ability to share a lady, but I’ve accepted it.
We all lead different lives, and I’m no saint either. ” He chuckles dryly.
Underneath the pale green hospital blanket, he looks smaller and feebler than usual, but he still exudes a certain confidence. I’m in awe of this man.
“So when my sons decided that you are the woman they want to be with, I figured, let’s wait and see how it works out.”
I can feel my face reddening. “It wasn’t easy for me, sir, I assure you.”
“Oh, I’ll bet, especially after the way Terrence treated you.
I’m sorry you got hurt in that whole affair.
Terrence and his mother, they’re complicated creatures.
I’ve learned to love them despite their issues.
You, on the other hand, deserved better.
I’ll be honest; I was glad when my boys stepped in. ”
“You were?” I wasn’t expecting that.
He smiles broadly. “For all of their bickering with Terrence, I’ll give Cole, Asher, and Toby credit where credit is due.
They’re right when they say they’re the real Morgans because a real Morgan would never do a woman wrong the way Terrence did.
I had this talk with him, as well, after that charity gala debacle. I was so mad.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Bill.”
“No, but I saw the red flags and did nothing about it. It’s my cross to bear,” he says. “My point is, I know about the Christmas luncheon, the argument, the revelation about Sheila and Cole.”
“Oh…” I lower my gaze.
Bill shakes his head. “I knew about it. I chose to ignore it because it didn’t mean anything.
The past needs to stay in the past. I’ll say this, though, I didn’t like it.
And it tore me apart to see Cole struggling the way he did when Sheila became a part of our lives, a part of our family.
I kept hoping he’d understand and that, eventually, he’d be happy for me, for us. ”
“He couldn’t, could he?”
“Not because he didn’t try,” he says with a laugh. “He did, but Sheila—damn that woman—can be impossible to deal with sometimes. And she made every interaction twice as hard as it should’ve been.”
It’s my turn to shake my head. “If Sheila is so difficult, why are you still married to her, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Because I take my vows seriously. I promised I would take care of her and Terrence, and I intend to do just that, no matter what my sons might have to say on the matter. However, it doesn’t mean I will allow her or Terrence to hurt you any further. Give my sons another chance.”
I blink a few times. The way he slid that request right in there, I barely registered it. “Excuse me?”
“I know you’re upset about Cole and Sheila’s tryst. Just remember, it’s in the past. It belongs there.”
“Bill, I’m upset because he didn’t tell me, neither did Asher or Cole. Given my contentious relationship with Sheila, don’t you think they should’ve disclosed it?”
He cocks his head to the side, carefully weighing his answer. “Maybe. I can’t say I blame them for keeping it a secret, given their dynamic with my wife. They were terrified of losing you, which is why they held onto it for as long as they did.”
They were terrified of losing me. I know this isn’t something the Morgan brothers would’ve easily discussed with their father, so for Bill to be able to offer such an insight changes the way I’ve been looking at the entire situation.
“I’m not asking you to get back together, mind you. It’s not my place nor my decision to make,” he adds. “I just think they deserve a second chance. They’re good men, all three of them. They make their old man proud every single day.”
“I know they’re good men,” I reply, my voice wavering. “What hurt me was hearing the truth from Sheila, not from them.”
He waves the concern away. “Sheila’s got a fight to pick with anyone who crosses her.
There was a time when I loved that spunk in her.
Now, not so much. She can be a bull in a China shop, I know.
But my sons, Willow, you’re it for them.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as happy as when they were with you. ”
“I was happy, too.”
“Then why let Sheila ruin it? I’m just saying, if you love them, if you want to try and build something with them, maybe think about it?”
I give him a curious look. “How can I build something with three men? How would that even work?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Everybody wondered how I’d manage with a new wife and a kid on top of the ones I already had.
Everybody wondered how I’d pull Morgan Enterprises out of two recessions.
Everybody wondered, but nobody stood in my shoes to do it.
I did. And so should you. If no one’s ever done it before, it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. ”
I sit beside Bill’s bed, his sons patiently waiting outside, while I think of a way to follow his advice. A second chance. In the midst of all this chaos and uncertainty, the Morgan brothers were the one thing I was always sure of. And despite the heartache, they still are.
“As for Sheila, just don’t mind her anymore, for your sake, not anyone else’s,” William continues. “She had it rough before she married into the Madison family, really rough. It left her with some scars on her soul, some unhealed wounds.”
I raise my eyebrows in genuine curiosity. “How so, if I may ask.”
“Oh, her folks were dirt poor, plain awful people. Her daddy left when she was just a little girl. Her momma loved the bottle more than anything else. All Sheila had was the boy next door. Perry was his name, I think.”
“I’m sorry she had to go through that. I just don’t think it’s an excuse for bad behavior.”
Bill chuckles lightly. “I agree with you there. I also reckon that a lot of her bad behavior she learned from that Perry boy. He’s the one who got her into dancing and hard drugs at one point, anything to numb the pain, I guess.”
“Sounds to me like she had terrible influence in her earliest years.”
“What else could she have learned from a guy who celebrated his eighteenth birthday by getting a snake heart tattoo on his wrist before he ended up in jail for a drunk and disorderly? But Sheila came a long way from those troubled times. When she met James Madison, she was already clean, applying for college. When we met, she was the closest thing to a goddess I’d ever seen. ”
A goddess? Not the word I would’ve used, but I won’t fault a man for being in love.
What does persist like an echo in my head is the snake heart tattoo William mentioned. Somewhere in the darkest corner of my mind, a faint memory rises, a glimpse of a snake heart tattoo. I’ve seen one before, up close, not that long ago, peeking out of a white sleeve.
The hand was holding a plate.
I can almost smell the shrimp, the sauce.
“Oh, God,” I whisper, breaking into a cold sweat.
William gives me a worried look. “Are you okay, kiddo?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you so much for this whole talk. It really helped put things into perspective,” I say and get up. “I just need to talk to the guys now, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” he says, sounding hopeful.
However, I don’t leave his room to talk to the Morgan brothers about getting back together. No, there’s something else, something urgent and terrifying and disturbing as hell I need to discuss with them.
“What’s wrong? Is Dad okay?” Cole asks, quickly noticing my anxiety.
“Yes. Sorry. He’s good. He’s fine. I just remembered something.”
The more I think about it, the more missing pieces of the same puzzle return to the surface of my conscious mind, things I heard in conversation a long time ago. Terrence told me about the snake heart guy. I remember now. His mother’s first boyfriend, her true love, she called him.