Many Shades of Gray (37 page)

“As a matter of fact, I went home and confronted Simon.”

“And you forgave him?” Tommy sneered.

“No, I packed a bag and left.” She saw the hope that sprang into Tommy’s eyes. “To give us both time to cool off. I’m not leaving my husband for good. I’m staying in a hotel for a day or two. Tomorrow I’m going home or at least in the next few days.”

“Then why the hell do you keep coming back to me?”

“I’m not coming back to you, Tommy. I’m here to ask you to stop…to stop trying to hurt Simon.”

“He’s going to hurt you, Mary Jo.”

“He already has,” she said sadly. “But I’m going to forgive him the same way he forgave me for three years. Tommy, I don’t understand why you’re so worried about Simon hurting me. You didn’t worry all the times that you did it. You think when you hurt my husband it’s not hurting me?”

“Janice, what if my suspicions are correct. What if his ancestors owned slaves?”

“And if they did, Tommy, that has no bearing on Simon. He didn’t do it. Let it go, please, I’m begging you.”

“He wants to be black, to make up for what his family did.”

Janice took yet another step away from Tommy. He was scaring her, saying crazy things out of desperation. His eyes were bulging and he was flinging his arms frantically about. Despite his desperate ploys she held out hope that she could make him see reason if she talked to him in a calm, rational voice. “I know that,” Janice answered without thinking and caught the glint in Tommy’s eye and rephrased herself. “I know that Simon loves black culture. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“He wouldn’t be trying so hard if he wasn’t guilty.”

“He has nothing to feel guilty for. He’s done so much for the African American community that I don’t understand why you’re trying to crucify him.”

“What he’s done for the community doesn’t make up for what he’s done to the bookstores. And if I’m right and his family owned slaves, then that makes him just as guilty in my book.”

“Even if it’s true you can’t fault him for what his family did. That’s not Simon.”

“How can you so easily shove this all aside?”

“Because I don’t hold him responsible for the deeds of his ancestors.”

“There has to be some dirt on the guy. No one makes that kind of money without getting dirty. How the hell do you think he got to be so rich?”

“He was born into wealth, Tommy. Even if the things you say are true, Simon has done everything he could think of to change things, things he didn’t have to do because the past was not his fault.”

“Not even what he did to the bookstores?”

She glared at Tommy, determined not to admit that Simon had anything to do with the stores closing. “That may be his sin, Tommy, not slave trading.”

“That not true. You’re his slave. He bought and paid for you.”

Janice decided to ignore the cruel remarks. “Why did you tell him that we kissed?”

“Because we did. I thought he should know, I’d want to know.”

“You did this to help him then?”

Tommy laughed. “I did it to let him know that no matter what he does he can never erase the fact that I had you first, that I was the first man to put a baby in your womb. And I told him that I intended to have you again.”

“You…you…I don’t believe you did that.”

“Why? I wasn’t lying. We’ve both known since the day of that banquet that we were going to pick up where we left off. I have no doubt we’re going to eventually sleep together.” He laughed again. “Your husband’s really worried about that. I saw how he looked when I told him.”

“That made you happy, Tommy?”

“Somewhat.”

“It shouldn’t. You don’t know anything about Simon. He’s a good man.”

“If you came here to extol his virtues you came to the wrong place. Tell me something, Mary Jo. You knew what I was going to say about this, you had to. Why did you come? If this act of pretending to care about your husband is to save face, don’t worry about it. You’ve taken the first step by moving out. Make it permanent.”

“I came here because I remembered how much I loved you for four years of my life. I came because until the day you walked back into my life I had not allowed myself to feel anything, not even anger.” She felt the quaking begin in her limbs and trembled as it spiraled through her.

“I wanted you to know that you don’t have to attack Simon because of your anger with me. That’s why I came. Seeing you again after all those years made me open myself to the truth, that I love Simon, that I had loved him all along. For that, I’m grateful to you. I wanted us to get past this. I’m sorry that I didn’t wait to see if you would come back.”

She sighed, knowing that she was sorry she’d not given him more time, but not sorry that her life had taken a different turn, that she was now in love with Simon. And she was, regardless of what Tommy thought.

“About our baby: I had a hard time making that decision, Tommy. Please don’t hate this baby or my husband because of it. I had pain then and have had every day of my life since for making that choice.”

Tommy looked down. “I will admit that I have regretted for twelve years that you thought I didn’t love you. I regret that I ran off like that. But this is about Simon. I still don’t believe you love him.”

“That’s too bad because I do.”

“Yet you’re living in a hotel.”

“For a day or two. Then I’m going home.” She sighed again. There was no use in continuing the conversation. Tommy saw what he wanted to see and none of it was true. She reached for her purse and spilled it. Watching her belongings tumble to the floor, she felt a lurch of sadness. Janice quickly picked up as many things as she could. She needed to get away from Tommy. If she left a tube of lipstick she didn’t care.

“Tommy, if you ever loved me like you say you did, please stop trying to destroy my marriage.” She practically ran out of the door.

* * *

Tommy stood staring after Mary Jo, wishing he could make her understand he wasn’t doing what he was doing out of anger. If he didn’t believe there was something left between them he’d let go, he’d forgive her. Hell, he’d even admit to the jealousy that gnawed at him. Why shouldn’t he be jealous? She was going to give to another man what she’d taken from him.

He couldn’t get over the fact that she was having Simon’s baby. Tommy looked up as Neal came into the room. “I thought I asked you not to bother me.”

“I didn’t come in while she was here but, man, maybe we should lighten up on her. She was crying when she left here. It’s not good for her baby for her to be so stressed out.”

Glaring would have to suffice. If Tommy spoke to Neal now, that would be the end of their friendship. He didn’t give a damn about the baby Mary Jo was carrying. It wasn’t his.

“There’s something under the table,” Neal said.

Tommy bent to retrieve the velvet jewelry box. He opened the cover and took the bracelet out and held it up for inspection.

“Wow,” Neal whistled, coming closer to examine the bracelet. “That’s some serious bling-bling. Is it Janice’s?”

“It’s Mary Jo’s, yes. Before you give me that suspicious look, she dropped her purse. I didn’t lift the damn thing; you saw it under the table.” Tommy turned the bracelet over again and examined it, smiling as he did so. “I wonder how much I would get for this.”

“Aren’t you going to give it back to her?”

“Sure. I was kidding. I’ll make sure to return it. Matter of fact, I think I’ll leave and do it now. Do you think you can handle things here for the afternoon?”

Without waiting for an answer Tommy left the store laughing. After all, it wasn’t as if Neal could very well say no. Tommy was the boss.

* * *

“What?” Simon barked into the phone. All day long he’d been in a bad temper. All day his secretary had buzzed him even though he’d told the man he didn’t want to be bothered.

“There’s a Mr. Tommy Strong to see you. He said he had an appointment with you.”

Simon growled low in his throat. “Send him in,” he said, rising from his chair, not believing the man had the gall to come to his office.

“What the hell do you want?” Simon asked.

Tommy smiled. “I came to give you something that might belong to you.” He smirked and pulled a pair of panties from his jeans pocket—a pair of panties he’d stopped in a boutique to buy.

He brought the panties to his nose and sniffled. “Too bad you didn’t believe me before,” he said. “You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble.” He sniffed the brand new panties again. “I’m sure you recognize your wife’s scent.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

“You dirty filthy liar!” Simon lunged at Tommy as fury cold as a winter’s snow raked over him.

“You think so?” Tommy laughed. This time he reached into his other pocket and brought his hand out, dangling the sapphire and diamond bracelet in front of Simon, stopping Simon in his tracks. “I guess you need to repair the clasp. It fell off in my bed.”Tommy laughed and threw the bracelet to Simon before he turned on his heel and walked away.

It hadn’t felt as good as he’d thought it would. The man had turned a ghastly shade of white and for a moment Tommy had thought he was going to have a stroke or a heart attack. He looked back and saw Simon standing in the same position he’d left him in. Simon’s eyes came up and Tommy saw the pain.”

Join the club, he thought as he walked away. Simon Kohl wasn’t the only one hurting. If Janice couldn’t realize on her own that she belonged with him, then he had no choice but to show her. He pushed away the pain in Simon Kohl’s eyes. He knew all too well how it felt to have someone ram a sword through your heart.

* * *

Simon clutched the bracelet in his hand. He’d been about to slam his fist into Tommy’s face for lying about his Wife, and then he’d shown him the bracelet. There was only one way he could have gotten it and that was from Janice. He clenched and unclenched his fists, willing the pain that had gathered in his chest to go away.

Simon didn’t know how long he stood in the middle of his office like that. He only knew when he moved that he was going to keep another promise he’d made to his wife. He’d warned her not to sleep with another man; he’d made it perfectly clear. She’d chosen to leave him. Disgust for her actions filled him. How could she do that while she was pregnant with his child? “Is it yours?” a little voice said. And Simon raked every item off his desk in one massive sweep of his arm. When several employees ran in, he screamed at them to get out and slammed the door.

He was feeling clear about what he was going to do. He made several calls, then looked again at the bracelet and made several more.

* * *

Janice turned on the news, wondering if she should call Simon, surprised that he’d not called her to apologize, to ask her to come home. No matter, she would return home tomorrow. She would make her husband understand if she had to get a hammer and pound him over the head with it. Suddenly what the news anchor was saying broke into her thoughts.

Publisher William J. Davis has acknowledged that the buzz around town is true. They are severing ties with several of their writers who have used ghostwriters. New York Times best-selling writer Janice Lace is one of those authors. According to him, they will be seeking a return of the two million dollar advance for Janice Lace’s last contract, due in part to missed deadlines. Janice Lace, for those of you who don’t know, recently married billionaire Simon Kohl. This reporter doesn’t think having to return an advance, even a two million dollar one, will send Janice Lace AKA Mrs. Kohl to the poorhouse.

Stunned wasn’t the word, for Janice’s reaction. She was almost paralyzed with outrage. She reached for the phone and dialed Michelle.

“Did you see the news tonight?”

“I saw it.”

“What the hell’s happening? What is that about? You know it’s not true. I have never missed a deadline.”

“I know that.”

“Then why are they saying it?” When Michelle remained silent, Janice knew. “Is it true about the advance? Did they ask for the advance back?” she asked, knowing that she didn’t have money sitting around in a bank. It was invested, Simon had invested it all. “Oh God, no! Simon, what have you done?” she moaned.

“What?”

Janice had almost forgotten that her agent was on the phone. “Never mind,” she said. “I’ll call you when I straighten this out, if I ever do.” She hung up the phone and screamed in frustration.

She had one more call to make. Shaking in fury, she hit the programmed number. “Simon, what have you done?” she asked.

“Just exactly what I told you I would do. I warned you and you wouldn’t listen.”

“Warned me about what?” she screamed.

“I warned you not to go, not to leave me for him, not to sleep with Tommy and you didn’t listen.”

“I didn’t go to Tommy. Simon, stop talking crazy. I’m staying at the Edwardian.”

“You haven’t been with Tommy?”

“No.”

“Then how the hell did he get your bracelet? Magic?” Then he slammed the phone down.