CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Desmond
The past few months have gone by quickly, and both my grandfather and I are surprised by my father’s sudden turn of heart. We still kept preparing, thinking he had something planned, but one day, my grandfather stormed in and announced that my father had left the country.
“Cassandra took him away,” he says with a furrowed brow.
No one can make Alexander Sinclair do anything he doesn’t want to, and if he truly has left the US, then it’s because he wanted to. That doesn’t make any sense, not when we are in the final stages of our fight for control of Sinclair Holdings.
There must be something he is planning.
A day later, Lorelei receives a call from my mother, who tells her that she wouldn’t have to worry about my father or anyone getting in her way. I was working in my study when Lorelei rushed in, her face a bit pale.
“Did something happen?” I ask, fearing for her safety and that of the baby.
“Your father apologized to me,” she says, looking at me.
“He did what?” I ask, not sure I heard her right.
My grandfather laughs at the news, telling me that my mother probably made him do that. I sense that there is something he isn’t telling me, and he finally admits it.
“Cassandra has always had Alexander wrapped around her finger. It’s just like with you and Lorelei, just that I messed things up.”
He explains that when my parents suddenly announced they were getting married, he had tried to get my father to cool things down.
“The two of you are quite similar,” he admits with a sigh.
It explains why my father has this fierce dislike of his father, just like I’d do anything to ensure my father doesn’t harm Lorelei. It also explains why he was supportive of my relationship with Lorelei, almost as if he were scared of the same thing happening again.
“Anyway, this makes things easy for us. You should prepare to take your father’s place,” he pats me on the shoulder.
When I relay everything to Lorelei, she nods with understanding, telling me that I should try to mend things with Alexander.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
She gently explains to me that to break the pattern, I will have to do something. Besides, she has forgiven Alexander, and she doesn’t want our daughter to not have her grandparents in her life. Unable to win an argument against her, I tell her I will think about it.
That was four months ago, and since then, I have been busy. Becoming the Executive Vice Chairman is not a move I could have seen coming. My grandfather had suggested it, expecting some sort of pullback from my father’s faction since that was the role he previously held.
“It’s not as powerful as what Alexander used to hold, but it’s quite good,” my grandfather admits.
Due to my lack of solid experience, the power of the Executive Vice Chairman is severely limited, as it once belonged to my father, but it places me on the path to being more involved with the management of the group.
However, it means being awfully busy and spending less time with Lorelei than I would like.
With her due dates only a few weeks from now, I have temporarily suspended all travels outside of Velhaven just to be close to her.
“These meetings might be the end of me,” I complain to Timothy. “I can see why my father looks grumpy all the time.”
My daily schedule is always packed, and sometimes, it feels like I’m always off to one meeting or another. Even now, I am scheduled to have a meeting in thirty minutes to talk about our projections for the last quarter of the year, then I have a meeting with Ayanokoji from Japan.
My grandfather should be the one meeting with him, but he wants me to meet with him, which means a round of drinking sake and talking about shipping routes.
Maybe I should give up and just be with Lorelei.
We have enough to never lack a thing, but there’s an immense joy of coming home to meet her, one that I expect to double when our daughter comes along.
As always, Ayanokoji is more than excited to talk about his family as he shows me a picture of his great-grandson.
I suspect this is the real reason why my grandfather avoided meeting with him, as he claims Ayanokoji likes bragging way too much.
My phone buzzes during the meeting, and I look at it, as the only person who can reach me during meetings like this has to be Lorelei. I gaze at the screen, then straighten up.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to end the meeting,” I inform Ayanokoji, telling him my wife is in labor.
“Please, go be with her. We can always finish our talk later.”
I race to the hospital, my heart beating fast as I want to be with Lorelei. My grandfather is waiting right outside the room.
“Great! You’re here. We were having tea when she suddenly mentioned her water had broken.”
I step into the room where Lorelei is on the bed surrounded by nurses, and I rush to her side.
Her entire face is covered with sweat, and all I can do is try to comfort her, even though that barely takes the pain away.
I am not sure how many minutes pass by as my perception of time seems to disappear.
All I care about is Lorelei and the baby being safe.
I watch as the nurse in charge picks up the baby, holding her up as they proceed to attend to her.
“Our baby… That’s our baby,” Lorelei says weakly.
“Yes. You did it, darling,” I say softly as I stroke her hair.
“Here you go,” the head nurse holding our daughter brings her close to us.
Lorelei accepts our daughter, bringing her to her chest, and a strange feeling wells up in my heart. For so long, I had debated on whether I would be more than willing to be a good father to my kids, and now I know.
I’ll do anything for my family. Anything.
“What should we name her?” I ask as I look at my daughter.
“Penelope. I want to call her Penelope,” Lorelei says, looking at me.
My grandmother’s name.
I want to say something, I know I should say something, but all I do is hug Lorelei as I realize just how lucky I am to have a woman like her in my life. Not only did she make me realize what it means to be in love, but now I am a father.
“That’s a beautiful name,” I say, looking at my fuzzing daughter. “That is a beautiful name.”
This is everything a man could ever pray for. A loving wife that he worships, a child, or rather, children of his own, as I am sure that Lorelei and I would be having more in the future, and great wins in every dimension.
“I love you, Lorelei. I’ve loved you from the very first moment I set my eyes on you,” I say loudly, the nurses overhearing my declaration of love to my woman.
“I love you too, Desmond,” Lorelei parrots, and I kiss her deeply, sealing our love and life together.
*****
THE END