Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) (3 page)

I couldn’t help but notice the papers
that were on the coffee table in front of me. Bank statements, a letter, pay
stubs and some other financial paperwork sat scattered all over. Dixon burst
through the door. I turned my head to him quickly.

"Hey man, sorry. I got caught in
traffic. Just give me ten—"

"You may want to check on
Lilli," I glanced toward the hallway leading to her room. "She looked
like she was crying when I got here." I added the last part quickly, so he
didn’t think I'd done something.

 Dixon studied me before looking down towards
the bill covered coffee table. He moved quickly down the hall.

"Lilli," he said softly and
knocked on her door. I heard the creak of the door. "Oh Lilli," he
exclaimed and I could hear her sniffling. "It’s going to be alright,
shhh."

"How can you say that?" she
seemed upset. "You know that he’s going to lose the house," she
sobbed. "He has nowhere else to go if that happens!"

"I know, but we’ll figure something
out," Dixon was trying to soothe her. Unintentionally, I moved closer to
the hallway to better hear them.

"It’s not your responsibility,
Dixon, it’s mine." The defeated tone in her voice gripped at my chest.

"I think you should take me up on
not paying part of the rent—"

"Dixon Thomas Haywood, don’t you
even finish that sentence! I am not going to let you pay for me to live here,"
she shouted. "I’ll just have to get another jo—"

"Don’t
you
finish
that
sentence," he yelled. "You’ve already pushed yourself down to part
time status at school and now you won’t finish up when you originally planned. Besides,
you work way too much as it is!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do,
Dixon?"

The guilt of my eavesdropping started to
sink in so I went back to sit on the couch. When I sat down, I couldn’t help
but glance at the papers again. I saw something about a mortgage and a past due
notice, along a letter with a lawyer’s letterhead.

Dixon emerged about twenty minutes
later; fully dressed, but his mood wasn’t the same.

"Dixon we don’t have to go."

"Oh, don’t get me killed, Aidan. If
the harpy down there finds out I skipped the game she will rip off my balls and
feed them too me. She’s vicious when she’s angry."

He smiled lightly, but not the normal
Dixon smile. Sighing, he led the way to the door.

Monday arrived again. I got into my
office with my grandfather sitting at my desk and immediately knew what kind of
day this was going to be. He was going to be relentless and brutal. His first
attack was to grill me on the different things going on with the company. His
test to make sure I was paying attention. The second attack was to start
criticizing the different deals that we had on the table with multiple media
outlets; another one of his tests to see if I could argue a case for each deal.
Third was the usual attack on my personal life. This was the lecture of
marriage, an heir, the Iverson name and having a purpose in life. I just
couldn’t grasp why he thought that marriage was what anyone needed for
‘purpose’ in life. It didn’t make sense to me. Once he was finished, I got my
usual half hour alone in my office before being ushered into meeting after
meeting.

It was Wednesday and I was just walking
in the door when my cell phone rang. I hit the silent button and threw myself
onto my bed. It had been a brutal day and it was ten at night. I was beat. My
cell rang again. I sighed, ready to mute it again when I saw it was Vi.

"Hello?"

First, I heard the sobs. Panic seized my
lungs of air but finally released, allowing me to rush through an array of
questions.

"Vi! What’s wrong? Is it Liam?
Maggie?"

"No," she sobbed. "Aidan,
it's your grandfather."

This time it wasn't panic seizing my
lungs.  Terror stilled my body, yet churned in my gut long enough to bring
nausea. Without saying goodbye, I dropped my phone and was out of my apartment.
Before I realized my surroundings, I was in the car speeding through New York.

No matter how much we disagree and
argue, Grandfather was dear to me. To lose him felt as if a piece of my soul
would be torn from my body.

Arriving to Grandfather’s mansion, I rushed
through the door. Most of the family was gathered downstairs crying. I ran to
Viola and wrapped my arms around her.

"Oh, Aidan, he had a heart attack
when he got home," she sobbed. "Mrs. Giles found him when she went to
offer him his nightcap." She sobbed louder.

"Is he—?"

Liam entered the room. I looked to him. 
His face carried deep lines of stress, reflecting his age.

"Is he...?"  I couldn’t choke
out the word.  It was so final.

"He doesn’t have much time left. He
—"

Liam didn't have a chance to finish. I
flew up the stairs.

Grandfather had been a tough man and
hard to love. But, for how much he had done and given me, he held my respect
and my love. I rushed to his side.

"Grandfather," the whisper
fell from my lips.

"Aidan," he croaked. "My son,"
He coughed.

"Don’t talk…just get some rest."
I knelt to the side of his bed.

Afraid to touch this unusually fragile
man before me, my hands gripped the edge of his mattress. Tears rolled over my
cheeks. His skin was ashen and glistening with sweat, as if each word was an
effort for his body.

"No crying." He tried to
demand but his ragged cough stole from his stern intention. As much as I hated
his reprimands and disapprovals, it broke my heart that he couldn't yell at
me—swear at me—like he used to. Closing my eyes, I tried to hold in my tears.

When his hand landed upon the fist I was
making in his bed sheet, I jerked my head up to look upon his face.

"I get to see my Isobel
again." His raspy sigh ended with a weak smile. Then, he was gone. Gone.
The grip of his hand loosened on my fist and slid to the mattress.

I buried my head in the softness of the
bed and cried.  I cried like the night I lost my parents—like a part of my soul
was stolen.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I sat with Uncle Liam and Aunt Viola at
yet another family funeral. It felt like only yesterday that I was sitting in
this exact spot listening to the priest say the same heartfelt words about my
parents and listening to traditional Irish harps play behind us.

Now that Grandfather was gone I had some
large shoes to fill as the sole heir to the family’s multi-billion dollar
company. After the burial, the family gathered in Grandfather’s mansion. The
immediate family was requested to sit in the cold leather chairs of the library—a
room ironically never used by my grandfather—as the final requests of Aidan
Iverson Senior was read.

I sat once again between Liam and Viola.
Viola held on to my hand tightly. Mr. Devlin, the family attorney, stood at my
grandfather’s large mahogany desk with folders, papers and a small plastic case
in front of him.

"First of all, I would like to
express my deepest condolences for your loss," Devlin paused for a moment
before he continued. "Per the request of Mr. Iverson we have a DVD that
you are to watch after the will is read."

Mr. Devlin proceeded to establish
everyone’s share of the inheritance. Most were receiving monetary inheritance
or physical assets like property or cars. Liam and Viola were given a large sum
of money along with an island Grandfather bought for his first wife—Isobel. My
cousin, James Iverson, acquired a monetary inheritance as well.

Mr. Devlin turned, his eyes on me and
sighed.

"Your grandfather has made his
intentions for you, Aidan, very clear, However, before his death he made
changes to his last will and testament." Everyone in the room looked at
Aidan and then the whispers circled from one family member to the next. Devlin
cleared his throat. "You are the sole heir to your grandfather’s home,
possessions, AIS and a large monetary inheritance." He took a deep breath.
"However, your grandfather left certain
conditions
with your
inheritance." Mr. Devlin held out a DVD.

"I don’t understand." Staring
at the plastic case held out before me for a long moment, I hesitantly reached
out and took it. 

"You will need to watch the
DVD." Devlin stood, asking everyone, except me, to leave the room. Liam
and Viola stayed at my request.

At the large, old box shaped TV, I
placed the DVD inside the player sitting on top. Nerves swam in my stomach,
causing my finger to shake as I pressed play. Aidan Senior appeared before us.  Viola
sniffled as I sat between her and Liam to watch the video.

"Aidan, my boy, if you’re watching
this damn thing, then I’ve finally kicked the bucket!" His deep laughter
filled the room. Tears welled in my eyes.  I would never hear the bluntness of
his remarks or his laughter again.

"Well, by now that swindler Devlin
has told you about the inheritance and my
changes
."  Grandfather
smirked at the camera.  It was a smirk I knew too well. This look was reserved
for when he knew he’d won.  The knot in my stomach tightened.

 "Aidan, you know I favored you. Hell,
everyone knows it. Now, I will tell you why."

I straightened my spine. This wasn’t
what I was expecting from him.

"You, my boy, are the exact image
of your Grandmother, Isobel— love of my life, just as your father."

Liam stiffened at my side but I couldn’t
take my eyes from the television screen.

"Well, it’s as simple as
that." He chuckled again. "Know, my boy, that I loved you as a son
and have always wanted what was best for you." Then he sighed heavily.

"Now, on to the pressing
bullshit," Aidan Sr. put a glass of brown fluid to his mouth and took a
gulp. Knowing Grandfather, it was bourbon. "Aidan, you get the house, all
the possessions and the money to do with as you wish, as long as, within a year
from tomorrow, you are married."

Choking on my own saliva, I barely heard
Liam and Viola gasp next to me.

"Did he just say married?"
Glancing to Devlin, he simply silently nodded.

"Yes my boy…you have to get
married!" Jerking my head back to the screen, my grandfather laughed from
the television screen. Before I could say anything, he continued.

"You may have not listened to me
before, and continued to carry on with those harlots. Well, my son, now you
will have to pay attention to my wishes." He leaned in toward the camera
and smiled. "Now, for the rest."

"There’s more?" I groaned,
putting my head in my hands.

"AIS, ah yes. You are a shark, my
boy, and an excellent asset to the company. I have to say you’ve learned and
even taught well. However, you still lack one thing we all need in our
lives." Aidan Senior smiled and leaned back into the high back leather chair.
"You will inherit AIS, one hundred percent, after you’ve married and
conceived an heir to the Iverson family fortune within the first year of
marriage."

I baulked. Liam and Viola gasped, again.

"You have to be kidding me," Shouting,
I threw myself back into a chair.

"You will have temporary custodianship
of the company and money during the first year—along with the board of
directors. However, if you do not meet my
conditions
at the given times,
then the house and money will be dissolved and distributed. And AIS will fall
into the hands of the board." Aidan Senior’s face grew grave and he raised
his glass to the camera. After a long drink he slammed the glass down and spoke
again.

"Do me proud, my boy!" The
screen went blank.

Shock consumed me. Staring at the blank
screen, I didn’t know what to say, what to do. 
How could he put me, the
family, in this kind of position?  Did he realize that the family could lose
everything he had built?

"Um…Aidan, we need to go over a few
details." Devlin interrupted my moment of shock.  He headed back to the
mahogany desk.

"There’s more?" I asked,
incredulously, turning to look at Devlin.

"Well, it’s more just the fine details
to your grandfather’s conditions." Devlin looked over the top of a folder
he held in his hands. "You know that your grandfather was a stickler for
details." Devlin grinned.

"Yeah, I know." I growled.
Where sadness, worry and shock had knotted in my stomach, anger grew.

"Like grandson like
grandfather?" Devlin’s attempt at humor only helped to fuel the anger.

"Let’s get this over with," I
groaned. "Apparently, I’ll have to go out and propose to someone tonight."

Devlin began to read the specifics of my
conditions.

"Well, as you know, you need to be
married within a year from tomorrow." He looked up, meeting my eyes as I
rolled them. "Okay, well it must be a valid marriage. Meaning, it must be
equally joined into as well as consummated and monogamous. Infidelity will
immediately violate the terms." He cleared his throat.
"The…um…marriage has to last no less than four years."