EPILOGUE
“Hello, Mrs. Carrington.”
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Carrington.”
“How are you doing this beautiful day, Mrs. Carrington?”
Toya beamed with pride every time she walked through the lobby of Carrington Capital and everybody bent over backwards to speak to her.
And for good reason. She wasn’t just the wife of the newly-minted Chairman of the Board of the vast corporation. She was the brand-new CEO of that corporation, a position Grayson himself once held.
Grayson inherited all of his father’s shares while maintaining his own shares. That gave him seventy-five percent majority stake in his company and put him on a glide path to be the new Chairman. Once installed at the top of the hill, he put Toya’s name forward and the board voted to make her CEO.
She was apprehensive. She always wanted to get ahead, but how on earth could she be at the helm of a corporation of that size?
But Grayson, who was the absolute driving force behind her appointment, wasn’t apprehensive at all.
Her criminal case had been permanently dismissed despite the fact that Emily Preston lost her reelection bid.
She was free from the worries that dogged her former life. It was time.
“You’re the smartest person I know, with a lot of common sense mixed in and even more determination,” Grayson said to her. “That’s all you need to bring to the table. I’ll teach you the rest.”
It was a gutsy move that few in the industry applauded, but that happened nearly a year ago.
Now, because of her hard work and tenacity, she was nearly as respected as Grayson was.
If he was the lion of Carrington Capital, she was the bear.
Together they were unstoppable. Together they were redefining the power couple.
“How did it go?” Grayson asked her when she walked into the massive office of the Chairman. He was seated in the chair in front of his desk reviewing case notes on his iPad. His brand-new chief of staff, Keith, was standing at his chair.
“It went well,” Toya responded as she plopped down in the chair beside him.
Grayson, who hadn’t looked up from his iPad, dismissed his staffer. “That’ll be all, Keith.”
“Yes sir.” Keith, with his own iPad in hand, began to leave. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Carrington. They’re still talking about your excellent presentation last week. We’re a shoo-in to win that contract.”
“Let’s hope,” she said with a smile as Keith walked out and closed the door behind him.
“How’s he working out?” Toya asked Grayson.
“He’s good. He’s not as good as Dena yet,” Grayson admitted, “but he’s getting there.”
“I told you that you didn’t have to fire her.”
“Yes I did. I don’t want any ex-lovers around my wife.”
Toya laughed. “I’m just glad you shut down that home office nonsense.”
“That was long overdue as well,” Grayson said. “The idea of my wife living on the second floor of her own home was ridiculous. It worked for me. That wasn’t good enough for you.”
Toya loved how he put her first in seemingly all of his decisions. It had been foreign to her that anybody would consider her above all others. Now it fit like a glove. “It certainly feels great coming home to peace and quiet for a change.”
“I agree.” He continued to work on his iPad. “I heard from your mother and your sister today.”
Toya looked at him. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Nothing happened. They wanted to thank me again for buying them the house.”
“Thank you? They should kiss the ground you walk on. And a house my foot. That’s damn near a mansion you bought them.”
Then Toya smiled. “I’m glad you did it, Gracie. It’s given them both a new lease on life. Ma stopped drinking altogether and Keisha finally dumped that damn Bam. I never thought that would happen.”
“I spoke to her about that. She said she made up her mind when Bam wanted her to hire a hit man to take out the state’s attorney”
“What?” Toya could not believe it.
“She said then she knew that fool was crazy,” Grayson continued.
“She cussed him out and ended it right then and there. And guess what? The guy he was telling all his secrets to was a jailhouse snitch that told on his butt. He’s looking at additional years if they can prove it.
Keesh said she won’t testify, she said snitches get stitches, but she said it’s true.
He actually was trying to get somebody to kill the state’s top prosecutor. ”
Toya shook her head. “That’s Bam.”
Then she looked at him. “My mother called you. Your mother called me.”
But he was already shaking his head. “Forget it, Latoya.”
“She just wants you to call and talk to her sometimes.”
“The day she accepts Vincent into the family is the day I’ll give her a call. But not a second before. She chose her husband over her own child. And she still won’t make it right. That’s foul.”
Toya knew he wasn’t going to change his mind about that particular issue so she left it alone. “Anyway,” she said, “Vincent’s coming for dinner tonight.”
“Is he bringing a date?”
Toya shook his head. “Nope. He hasn’t found anybody yet. And he’s not about to bring, in his words, ‘none of those chicken-headed girls’ he fools around with anywhere near a respectable house like ours.”
Grayson laughed. “That’s my brother!” Then he exhaled. “So how did it go?” he asked her again as he continued to review the case notes on his iPad.
“I told you it went well. The doctor said exactly what you’ve been saying. I need to slow my butt down. He said I’m just exhausted.”
“It’s settled then. I’m booking us a vacation. Wherever in this world you want to go, we’re going.”
“We went to Paris for our honeymoon, which I’m still pinching myself about. How about Accra?”
“In Ghana?” Grayson nodded. “Sounds like a winner to me. I’ll make the arrangements.”
“That’ll work for me. Oh I almost forgot!”
“What?” Grayson was still looking down at his iPad.
“The doctor also said I was probably so fatigued lately because I’m pregnant.”
Grayson looked up. Did he hear that correctly? Then he looked at Latoya. When she started smiling that beautiful bright-white smile of hers, he knew he heard her right.
“Oh Latoya!” He dropped that iPad and jumped to his feet. She stood up too and he pulled her into his arms.
But he had to be certain. He pulled back. “Did they give you a pregnancy test only, or did they run further tests to be certain?”
“Further tests,” Toya said. “It’s certain.”
Grayson could hardly believe it. “We’re having a baby?”
Toya was still happily stunned too. She nodded her head. “We’re having our first baby. You’re gonna be a daddy. At your age,” she added, and started laughing and running.
He chased her around the room laughing too.
When he caught her, he pulled her into his arms again and they both slowly stopped laughing. And then he turned serious. “I’m going to be a daddy,” he said. Then he smiled. “About time.”
And then they kissed the kiss of two people who no longer had any points to prove. They were in love. That was all there was to it.
They left the office, went home, and spent the rest of the day in bed.