Chapter 28 Elizabeth
ELIZABETH
What the hell is going on?
The nausea I’ve been feeling since finding out I was pregnant has now doubled. The tension thickens, and it feels as if all the air is sucked out of the room.
I knew how they felt about this meeting, but I never expected them to show up like this.
As my father and brother stand in the doorway, panting as if they ran to the office from home miles away, I am truly blindsided. I stand up out of my chair and furrow my brows.
“What are you guys going here?” They don’t answer, and it feels like I’m still invisible to them. My heart is shattering. Are they going to treat me like this forever?
They aren’t even aware that I’m pregnant. Would that change their vision of me?
Karl begins pointing at Jon, ignoring me completely. “I’m here to put a stop to this. I can’t let you buy the company. My family depends on this income, and we put our blood, sweat, and tears into this job.”
My father pushes Karl back and takes off his hat, something he often does out of respect or if he is down to his last option. And seeing his face, he looks desperate.
It breaks my heart to see my father in such a state.
My entire life, while he was standoffish, he was the rock of our family. Someone who would take all our problems and fix them. Now that he is the one with the problem, all I want to do is fix it for him. Return the favor of carrying the burden for once.
“I’m sorry for the interruption,” he cuts in. “Ethan, you’ve known us for a very long time, and I came down here hoping that for the sake of us and many other employees, you reconsider selling.”
It’s hard to watch your own father practically beg. I begin to tear up as his desperation fills the air.
I also make a mental note that I never want to see my father like this again. How could I put him in this kind of situation?
This could have been avoided if I weren’t such a coward and spoke up before it was too late.
“Ethan, please reconsider this. We are here on behalf of all your employees. We can figure out another way where you don’t have to sell,” my father continues.
“Don’t you have enough leverage in this city?” Karl burst out again, speaking to Jon. “Why can’t you just move on?”
All our attention moves to Ethan once Dad ends his proposal and Karl stops his speech to Jon. I want to stand and defend Jon, yet I don’t want to see my family suffer. I’m stuck in the middle, and I don’t know what side to be on.
Sighing, Ethan stands and faces my dad. “It’s true. I do plan on retiring. I’m not getting any younger, and God knows my son isn’t going to take over for me. My only choice here is to have another person take it over for me.”
The hope that I was holding onto flies out the window. I was banking on Jon retracting his offer or doing something to help, but I can’t fault him for this. It’s entirely my fault that things ended up the way they did.
“Come on, Boss,” Karl interrupts, stepping beside Dad. By now, Jon is standing, joining most of the rest of the room, and holds up a hand for silence.
“Karl, please. I see your frustration, but let Ethan finish.”
Again, I am more stunned than before hearing Jon stand his ground with my brother. No one does this because they know how hot-tempered Karl can be.
Unfortunately, Jon didn’t get the memo. I worry that I’ll have to break up a fight before this meeting is over.
I was certain that Karl showing up last week at the office was going to end in disaster, but luck was on my side that day. Will I get lucky again?
“Thank you, Jon,” Ethan continues. “This is why … I am not selling my company to Jon here.” My father and Karl halt, each one giving Ethan a curious look before they look at me.
I look at Jon, who is smiling broadly as he looks straight ahead at Ethan. Was this what their secret conference was before the meeting started? Maybe Jon did pull through and help me and my family.
“I would much rather see the company that I built from the ground up go to someone who loves it just as much as I do. Someone who is like a son to me and has been since he started working for me years ago, straight out of high school,” Ethan reveals and smiles at both my father and my brother.
“What?” I say out loud without thinking. Jon takes my hand gently into his as he stares at Ethan.
My heart nearly stops as he speaks. Is he truly going to give his company over to Karl? It has to be who he is referring to.
Karl has been there since the week after he graduated from high school, working side by side with Dad.
He put all of his free time into the job, not to mention helping Ethan with little things on the side when his own son never showed up. It would only make sense that Karl take over. He is one of the few who wouldn’t destroy what Ethan has built.
As unpredictable as Karl can be at times, work has never been something he joked around with. He has the same work ethic as my father.
There was a time during his senior year when he wanted to go to college to be a diesel mechanic, but his heart ultimately kept him home to work with Dad.
He even left his long-time girlfriend at the time, who was supposed to be going to the same college he applied to in Boston.
Since then, he hasn’t been the same, but he loves his job, no matter what it costs him. Maybe that’s the reason he goes through a different girlfriend every single month.
Losing something as important to him as Eleanor Davis has him searching for someone to fill that void.
Not to mention my mom constantly on him about finding a nice woman, settling down, and starting a family. She never tried those lines with me because she knew better. My attention was always put on my work, in and out of school.
She lost hope that I was going to settle down a while ago. But little does she know what’s going on with me right now …
If only my family would talk to me, then they would know that I’ve already started the process of finally making them grandparents. We all assumed Karl would be first since he dates so much, but of course, it had to be me … the one who rarely gets out of her apartment, let alone dates.
If anyone deserves this sort of opportunity, it’s Karl.
It doesn’t occur to me until this moment, seeing the panic and passion in his eyes as he looks at Ethan.
“Sir?” Karl asks. “What are you saying? If you aren’t selling to Jon, then …” Karl stops mid-question as it must click in his mind.
My father looks curiously between Karl, Ethan, and me. Maybe luck is truly on our side today. His curious look soon turns into shock as he pats Karl’s shoulder and lets out an exhausted sigh.
“Karl,” Ethan starts. “You have always been there for me when things go awry either at work or in my personal life. When Marcus took off on me, who was there? You. Whenever I needed something fixed at my house, you took time out of your days off to come and help me.”
As he continues down the list of all the good Karl has done, I can’t control my emotions as my eyes tear up.
As messy as he can be, he is a great human being.
Even when we would bicker, as most siblings do, he would forget everything the moment I needed his help.
There was a time one of my boyfriends had dumped me for another girl just because I didn’t want to sleep with him, and when Karl got wind, he paid him a little visit as if defending my honor.
When he got home with slightly bloody knuckles, I knew what he had done. But we didn’t speak of it, even when the boy confronted me at school the next day with a black eye. That’s the type of person he is, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I’m saying,” Ethan continues, drawing the attention of everyone in the room once more. “Karl, would you do me the honor of taking care of Jones Construction for me? I can’t think of anyone else who could run it better than you, son.”