Following Love (23 page)

When all was said and done Julian got up and walked to the fireplace. He stood, stoically looking at a photograph of Dena and Dillon smiling in happier days.

“What can I do?”

“Nothing, wait until it all plays out,” Ellen said.

“No, not good enough,” he insisted, still with his back turned. A fire in his eyes began burning hot and fierce. This was more than personal. “No one's taking Dillon away from Dena. This Adel has no idea who she's dealing with.”

“I'm impressed,” Ellen said, smiling.

Julian turned back to face her. “Now to answer your earlier ‘lamebrain ideas' comment of me, I love Dena and I never assumed she wanted me for my money.” Ellen nodded her approval. “Just so we're clear.”

“Have you told her you love her?” she asked him.

“No, we were scheduled to talk about it this evening but…”

“Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that you two scheduled a talk about your feelings for each other?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but yes, we did.”

Ellen shook her head in pity. “You young people have no idea what to do with yourselves. She's about to run away and the best you can do is schedule a talk.”

“What do you mean, she's about to run away.”

Ellen continued shaking her head. “That's something you two need to discuss.” Julian looked at her oddly. Apparently there was something more going on that he and Dena needed to talk about. “Well, what are you still sitting here talking to me for? Go before it's too late, tell her that you love her, do what you have to do to keep her here.”

“Where is she?”

“She's at home,” Ellen said, standing.

“But, you said she wasn't here.”

“Not here in my home, her home.” Ellen quickly gave him the address and basic directions but he insisted that he'd use his GPS shortly before he bolted out the door.

Forty-three minutes later into an hour-and-a-half drive, he pulled up in front of a huge house with a For Sale sign in the front yard. Dena's car was parked in the driveway. He pulled up next to hers and got out. He walked the path to the front door and rang the bell. Dena opened the door.

“What are you doing here, Julian? How did you find me?”

“We had a date, remember,” he said. “May I come in?”

“No, I'm sorry, I'm busy,” she said, closing the door in his face. “You have to leave now.”

“A few minutes, I drove all this way…”

“I'm sorry, Julian, not now.”

“Dena, I talked to Ellen, she told me about Adel.”

The door stopped then slowly opened completely. Dena turned her back and marched through the huge open foyer through the massive living room back to her office. Julian followed. She sat back down at her desk.

“Nice house,” he commented.

“Want to buy it?”

“Yeah,” he said offhandedly, “sure.”

She slammed shut a book she'd been studying then grabbed another and continued her reading and note-taking. “What do you want, Julian? I don't have time for this anymore. I lost my focus and now I need to deal with the consequences. So just get to the point and go.”

“The point is, I know about the lawsuit.”

“So, Aunt Ellen told you that I'm a blood-sucking parasite looking for a free payday on someone else's expense. No offense,” she said cockily.

With his words slammed back in his face, Julian didn't even flinch. “None taken. Nice shot,” he said simply, clearly unaffected by her tirade. He knew she was furious and that she needed to lash out. He could take it and on some level he deserved that shot. He remained standing and began looking around the large room. Bookshelves lined most of the back wall.

He pulled a book, read the cover, flipped through a few pages then put it back. She continued with her nose in the book. “You and I were supposed to have a serious conversation tonight.”

“That was before all this.”

“All this doesn't change anything.”

“You have no idea what I'm dealing with.”

“I know that for some reason you want to deal with this alone. Why? I'm here for you. I love you and nothing changes that fact.”

“Love is transitory, it'll pass.”

“No,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her into his arms. “Don't shut me out. I love you and all this only makes me love you more. This woman, Adel, will
not
take Dillon, know that.”

“It's not about the money,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “He's my baby, I'm supposed to protect him.”

“I know, we will.”

She collapsed into his strength and felt his strong arms wrap around her, holding on to her, protecting her. She broke down and the tears flowed and he was there to catch and console her. Moments later her cell phone rang. She nearly panicked. Staring at it, she finally reached over to pick it up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“What are you doing there?” Lynn asked.

Dena sighed. “Looking for a precedence.”

“I told you to hold tight, I had something working.”

“I know, but I couldn't just do nothing.”

“I know. I half expected as much. Okay, this is where we are—good news. I need to speak with you in person as soon as possible.”

“Where are you?” Dena asked.

“I'm at home,” Lynn said.

“Okay, I can be there in thirty minutes.”

“Good, see you in a few. Oh and by the way, Kenneth Fields of Fields and Associates, do you know him?”

Dena paused to think. “The name sounds vaguely familiar, but my brain is just too fried.”

“He's a big-time defense attorney here in town. His name is always in the papers having set some new precedence and won some unwinnable case. He's a legend, the man is beyond good, he's brilliant.”

“What about him?”

“He called, offering his services, stating that as an employee of Hamilton Development Corporation his office and staff are at my disposal.”

“Did he?” Dena said, turning to Julian, suddenly remembering where she'd met Kenneth Fields. “I'll see you in a few.” She closed her phone.

“What about this?” Julian said, holding a book up for her to see. “This passage might work.”

She looked at the passage he suggested. “Yes, actually I already have that. Kenneth Fields just called Lynn.”

Julian nodded. “I might have mentioned this to him on the way over.”

“Anybody else happen to get notified?”

“Darius and Jordan, they're always in the loop.”

She nodded and quickly began closing and putting books away. “We're done here.”

“Dena,” Julian said, guessing that she was still upset with him, “don't say that, please.” He placed his hand on his heart then took her hand with the other. “I need you in my life and I need Dillon. Don't just say we're through and throw us away, please.”

She smiled lovingly. “I meant that we're physically through here. I have to go to Lynn's house.”

Julian smiled, pulled her to him and kissed her hard.

Twenty minutes later Lynn opened her door. She and Dena hugged then with Julian shook hands. Lynn led them into the living room where Darius, Jordan and Kenneth sat talking and drinking either beer or soda. They all three stood and greeted Dena and Julian. Dena asked Lynn away to speak privately.

“What the hell is all that in there?” Dena asked as soon as they entered her kitchen.

“That, little one, is four fine-behind brothers.”

“Yeah, okay, granted, but what are they all doing here? Julian tagged along with me, but Darius, Jordan and Kenneth?”

“Don't get too upset. Darius called earlier then stopped by with pizza. While he was here I got an interesting phone call. So I called Aunt Ellen's house for you. She said that you were at the house and that Julian was on his way there. I assume Darius called Jordan and Kenneth, they came a few minutes before you got here. But that's not important right now.” She smiled like a cat in a birdhouse. “I mentioned earlier that I had something working. Well, it came through, we're expecting a phone call in a few minutes.”

“From who?” Dena asked.

“Gaylord Till.”

“What does he want?”

“To settle out of court,” Lynn said.

“What? Adel would never.”

“Apparently there's about to be a coup going on over there.” Dena's mouth dropped open. She was stunned. “Come on let's join the guys. Girl, you just gotta love this part.”

As soon as they joined the others in the living room the phone rang. Lynn put it on speaker then introduced Dena as the men sat silent.

Gaylord laid out a very impressive case both protecting his firm and Adel. He made her out to be a helpless widow still grieving the loss of her beloved husband and sons. Toward the end he detailed Forester's full holdings.

“Due to recent in-house restructuring, we here at Graham, Whitman & Morris would like to offer you, Dena Graham, the following.” He cleared his throat and began.

“We've recalculated Forster Graham's holdings, which under law will be transferred and turned over to you, or if you'd prefer, this firm will be delighted to manage in perpetuity.” He went on to extol his firm's perfect record and exceptional management skills and how they'd be honored to continue handling her account.

“Why the three-sixty turnaround?” Dena asked.

“Suffice to say the senior partnership would like to end this unfortunate misunderstanding as quickly as possible.” He then continued to whitewash the firm and its partners.

“That's all very nice, Gaylord. Just tell us what you have on the table?” Lynn asked.

“Dena, we'll forward a final listing of your and your son's account to Ms. Brice's office tomorrow morning. But off the top of my head, Forester had a land trust from his grandfather, two insurance policies, one for his wife and the other for any legitimate offspring. Since we've checked and identified Dillon's DNA as a ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent match he will be listed in our formal records as Forster's sole heir and have all benefits befitting that status.

“In addition, Dillon as Forester's only son will have a permanent seat and voting powers on the board of directors here at Graham, Whitman & Morris. You, Dena, of course will be expected to take his position until he is of legal age. I believe that would be twenty-one. With that power comes bonuses and a number of very lucrative perks.” He stopped.

“Is that it?” Lynn asked.

Gaylord chuckled. “Well, what more do you want, another pen?”

“Actually I was thinking something in the line of compensation of mental anguish.”

“Ms. Brice, I don't have the power to grant something like that.”

“But I'm sure someone there does,” she said.

“I'll see what I can do,” Gaylord said.

“You do that,” she added.

“But I'd like to inform you that barring any other unforeseen acquisitions from the trust, this offer is worth a considerable amount. I'd say just south of five million,” he said.

“That is before you add on the company shares and profits for the past four years.” They heard him gasp. “Yeah, let's not forget that,” Lynn said.

“Of course, that would bring your client's total to somewhere worth conservatively close to over eight million dollars.”

“Let's make that fifteen million dollars,” Lynn corrected.

“I'll have to recheck some numbers.”

“By all means, we're not going anywhere. And to help, I'll send over one of my CPAs to give you a hand.”

“That won't be necessary.”

“No bother, I'll be happy to, I'm sure his auditing skills will come in handy.”

“Dena, I sincerely hope that you hold no malice toward us. We here at Graham, Whitman & Morris hold you in the highest esteem and still, as always, consider you part of our family. That said, if there's nothing else?” Gaylord said, preparing to hang up.

Kenneth nodded to Lynn. “Actually there is…” She nonverbally granted Kenneth the floor to speak.

“Off the top of my head we'll also be looking for restitution and interest somewhere in the neighborhood north of eight million to atone for added grief, suffering and mental anguish due to your firm's lexical handling of this matter.”

The sudden male voice took Gaylord by surprise. “Who's speaking, please?”

“That was attorney Kenneth Fields of Kenneth Fields and Associates, as a close personal friend of Dena's, he stopped by along with the owners of Hamilton Construction Corporation to give much needed emotional support. Didn't I mention that earlier?”