Chapter 20: The Repair

Timothy's POV

My mother was in her kitchen at one in the morning, making tea.

She had taken off her pearls. They lay on the counter in a small pile beside the kettle.

I had never seen her without them.

"You'll want some," she said, and set a cup in front of me.

I didn't touch it.

"Sit down, Timothy."

"I'll stand."

"Then stand." She lifted her own cup. "You made your point."

"Mother."

"It was theatrical, and you did it in front of the Albrights. But I admit it was effective."

"Gwen's father left."

"Gwen's father will come around. His daughter is pretty and his company is overextended." She sipped. "Sit. We'll fix it."

"There's nothing to fix."

"There is the matter of how you've behaved." Her voice stayed level. "The Albright merger is the best thing you have ever built."

"I know what it is."

"You'll apologize to Gwen's father in the morning. You'll keep your wife in the house, quietly, until the boy is well."

"Rosemary."

"The woman, yes." She set down the cup. "The boy is a Hargrove. He'll be raised as one."

"And Rosemary?"

"I've paid for every day of him. The woman is optional."

I put both hands on the counter.

My left hand had the scar on it, white against the stone.

"Say that again."

"I've said it kindly." She looked at me. "I offered her a trust, you know."

"What trust?"

"Two million dollars for the boy, after the first lunch. She turned it down."

I stared at her.

"She wanted the name of the specialist," my mother said. "And whether the hospital had a bed."

She turned her cup a quarter turn on its saucer.

"She would not be bought, Timothy. I tried, and I'm not used to trying twice."

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Son's Father Is the Wrong Brother from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.