Part 30: DECIDED FUTURES
:
Greenwich, CT
"Grandpa! Where are you?' Sean called as he walked into the house. "Grandpa!" He said more loudly.
Grandpa came hobbling into the foyer "What you yelling so for boy, I ain't got no hearing problem yet!"
"Sorry, grandpa. I came to spend some time with you this weekend. I've had such a busy few weeks." Sean walked into the living room with his grandfather and put his things down then headed to the refrigerator. Grandpa sat down in his favorite chair waiting for Sean to come from the kitchen to sit with him.
When Sean came back he had a carton of milk in his hand. "Mom & dad aren't back yet?"
"Naw, he called last week and said they should be back in about six to eight weeks. He asked how you were doing with the company."
"What did you tell him?"
"I didn't have nothin' to tell him. I told him I was retired and if he wanted information on you he should call you and ask you himself!"
"Well, I haven't heard from dad. I guess he feels I'm doing o.k. It can't get any worse." He said sipping some of the milk.
"Didn't your mother always tell you not to drink outta the milk like that? You just come in here and start eating everything up like you was an orphan or something. You need a woman to cook you a good meal every once in a while. And I mean a real woman not that imitation blondie woman you got swingin' on ya right now."
"I'm not with her anymore grandpa." Sean said closing the milk as he was reminded that he needed to find out whether she was pregnant or not. It had been about three weeks since she mentioned it, so he knew she would be telling him sooner or later.
"Ah, so you finally got rid of that one." Grandpa said slapping his knee. "Good! I was hoping she didn't have her hooks too far in you."
"I'm glad I don't have to listen to you complain about her spending up all of my money anymore, even though I never really bought her anything."
"Humph, you never bought her anything? I guess that means she never did anything that would make you wanna buy her something nice."
"I was not in love with her grandpa, so I think that was the seat of my motivation."
"I could have told you that a year or so ago, saved you some frustration. Even though she looked like one of those skinny women sashaying around on T.V. that most men like. Any man would stay with her for her looks and good sex, even you could have lived with her if she was pleasing you at least, so she must not have been any good in
bed, huh?."
"Grandpa! That didn't have anything to do with it?" Sean said laughing from embarrassment.
"Don't be trying to fool me, boy? I know you better than you know yourself and I also know you're a Logan and it's certain things we Logan men can't live without and that's a good woman we can spoil and who can please us in every way. You wasn't spoiling that one and everybody could see there wasn't no sparks between you. The two of you together was like oil and water you just did not mix."
"Yeah you're right grandpa. That's why I had to end it."
"Like I said I know why you ended it. She was not no good in bed. Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of boy. I used to be a young Logan boy like yourself. Of course at your age, I was married already, but I certainly picked the right woman...."
"O.k. grandpa, I don't want to hear about that." Sean said stopping his grandfather from disclosing the details of his intimate life with his grandmother, something Sean did not want to picture.
"Well, the point is, make sure you got a woman who can put you in shock sometimes and who really appreciates the way you love her, like your grandmother did for me. I really loved that woman, and I miss her everyday. She would always tell me how much she appreciated me being a good husband and father and businessman. That goes a long way for a man's woman to tell him that. I never remarried because I knew I'd never find anybody else like her.
"Grandpa you never remarried because you were in your seventies when she died."
"What's age got to do with it, boy? There's plenty of women who would be happy to be with me. I might be old, but I'm rich as hell, and I can still pack a Logan punch to the right woman..."
"O.k! O.k! That's enough grandpa. I don't want to talk about this anymore. What have you been watching on that cable t.v. of yours?"
"Ain't been watchin' nothin' I ain't seen before. And I don't look at those girlie movies. I got my own memories, but I won't keep embarrassing you with that. So now that missy is gone. Did you find yourself another woman?
"Yes, I did grandpa. I told you about that already."
"So you started back running after that colored woman."
"Grandpa, don't call her colored, she's black, or African American."
"That's just what I'm used to, son. I'll try to call her black. What's she think about you two getting back together?"
"She was all for it. We had a good talk and we settled what happened. It seems my father ran her off telling her that he would disinherit me if I married her, so to protect me she disappeared, so that I would not be a family outcast."
"Phillip ran her off? Well she must have a mighty big heart to leave if things were between you like you said they were."
"Yeah, she has a wonderful heart, grandpa and I'm gonna spend the rest of my life making sure she's happy, no matter what I have to do. I need to make her know that she's the most important thing to me. I didn't do that before. She gave up nine years of that happiness and I don't intend for another nine to go by."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well I came here to get the key to my safe deposit box. I had bought her a ring years ago, so I want to upgrade it. That should take a few weeks for the company to do what I want with it and then I'm gonna give it to her and beg her to marry me."
"What did this woman do to you Sean, for you to feel so emotional about it?"
"She loved me grandpa. She just loved me in her own special way and I can't live without that. I knew that when I saw her. I hope everything goes well. I'm taking your advice to make her come to me and I'm not going to touch her until we're married. That's what she wanted when we were in college, so I'm gonna try to honor that."
"You mean you never been with this woman. I thought you said you was dating on the sly for five years when you were in school."
"We were, but she never let me touch her and I didn't bother any other woman until about a year after she left, so I need to do this for her."
"Well, I see you really love this woman, just don't get yourself all worked up because I ain't known a Logan who can stay away from the woman he loves too long. Why your great, great grandfather had to rush his wife to Ohio to get married in the middle of the night because he told her he was not gonna wait for her any more."
"Yeah, I can see that happening with me already. Grandpa, I'm gonna go get that key and I want you to come to the bank with me. I'll be here all weekend, so we can do some other things too. I wish you would come to New York sometimes and stay with me for a few weeks so you don't have to be by yourself. You know I told you that before."
"Yeah, Yeah. I remember. Who knows maybe I will one day son, maybe I will."
Grandpa, went to go get ready while Sean went to his old room to find the safe deposit key he had hidden in his room after he finished school. When they were both ready, the two men got in Sean's car and headed for the bank where Sean picked up the ring and showed it to his grandfather. Afterwards they went to the family jeweler and Sean indicated what he wanted done to the ring. The jeweler was very happy with the profits he'd be making off of the changes and indicated that he would see that it would be delivered to him personally in four to five weeks. Grandpa, assuming Sean was going to finance the ring, was grumbling about how much money Sean spent and told him he better hope they last forever because that's how long he'd be paying on the merchandise. Sean just laughed it off and spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday catering to the things his grandfather liked to do. On Sunday night Sean left
Connecticut after unsuccessfully trying to convince grandpa to come home with him for the week. When he finally arrived at home, the first thing he did was to call Elana.
"Hello?"
"Hi lollipop. It's me."
"You just called me two hours ago, you made it home pretty fast."
"There's not much traffic on Sunday night. I was trying to get grandpa to come stay with me for a week, but I couldn't get him out of the house, as usual."
"Sometimes older people are pretty comfortable where they are. Your grandfather probably does not want anything to do with the big city anymore."
"You're probably right." He said before a brief moment of silence.
"Sean?"
"Yes, honey?"
"When are you going to talk to Sheridan? It's been a few weeks. She should know by now."
"I thought about that this weekend. I guess I can call her tomorrow sometime, I was trying to put it off as long as possible."
"Well, I think we need to know, so that you can start making plans for it and defining what your role will be."
"Yeah." Sean said sighing. "Elana I need to know how you're going to feel about this if she is pregnant. I don't want to lose you and if I have too I'll just give Sheridan a check and wash my hands of the whole thing."
"Sean, I could never ask you to do that. If you're going to be a father, you're going to have to take responsibility to help raise the child. I know you couldn't just walk away from your own flesh and blood and I wouldn't want to be responsible for you doing that."
"But are you going to be there with me Elana. Are you willing to help me raise a child I conceived with somebody else? Because without you I'm not going to be a good anything, a good person, or man and least of all father. Not if I lost you a second time."
"I'm not going anywhere Sean, not anymore, because the truth is I can't be without you either."
"Good. I needed to hear that."
The next few minutes they talked about, when Sean would call Sheridan and they speculated on how things would be once the child was born.
Eventually Elana changed the subject. "Theirs is something else, I wanted to mention to you. I've been going over the information I gathered last week from your Collections department and there are a few things I think you should know. It seems that some of your credit advances are being discounted after the accounts receivable has been retired."
"Is that within the discount period?"
"No. Actually you have a standard policy of a 2% discount if paid within ten days, but most of your receivables are retired between 15 to 45 days and the discounts have been calculating up to 8%."
"If the discounts are given after the account is paid, then where is the money going?"
"It seems that it should be reimbursed to the customer, but the paper trail is weak and the cash disbursements are hard to follow, so I'm going to have to spend some extra time in this department and figure this all out."
"Extra time as in evenings and weekends?"
"No, just a few extra hours during the day for the next few weeks. My original plan was to spend a week in each department, but I'll need more time for this one."
"I see. Good. I was hoping this would not impact our time together. If I can help you out in any way let me know. Jerry Falkner is our Controller, so he should be able to give you some insight on those reimbursements."
"Alright. Well I need to get some sleep so that I can get in early tomorrow. When will you be in?"
"I'll be in early too. I can't wait to see you."
"I can't wait to see you either Sean. Goodnight."
"Goodnight and you'd better dream about me."
"I've been doing that for a while now." Elana said before she hung up.
Monday morning
Crealite
The next morning Elana was in early as she said she would be. Sean came in soon afterwards hoping Elana did not see him because he wanted to go straight to his office to give Sheridan a call and he knew if he saw Elana first thing in the morning, he would not want to call Sheridan. When he went into his office he sat down and turned his chair to face the large window overlooking the city. After more than a few minutes of meditating, Sean turned around and pushed the speakerphone button for Charlotte.
"Yes, Mr. Logan?"
"Charlotte, could you get Ms. Winthrop on the phone for me please. You can call her at her home."
"Sure, I'll connect you if she comes to the phone."
"Thanks." Sean turned off the speakerphone and sat there waiting to see if she would answer. After a few seconds Charlotte buzzed him. "Yes?"
"Ms. Winthrop is on line 1."
Sean cut Charlotte off and hesitated before he answered the line, but then he did.
"Hi Sheridan. It's Sean."
"I know who it is. Your secretary formally informed me that you wanted to speak to me."
"You know why I'm calling. Do you know anything for sure yet."
"I'm surprised you called Sean. I thought you could have cared less about this just as you did for me."
"Come on Sheridan, let's not get into it. We don't have to do this anymore. I just want to know if you're going to have a baby."
"What will it mean for us Sean, if I am."
"We already discussed that Sheridan. I just need to know so that I can prepare myself for it when it comes."
"Well. I just found out last Saturday that I am pregnant. Four weeks, to quote the dr."
As she spoke, Sean had heard what he already knew inside. Four weeks was exactly the last time they were together, so now he could not shrink back from it. "O.k., so now what? What do you need me to do for you?"
"Right now, I'm fine but as I get bigger Sean, I want everyone to know that this is your child. I can't project the image that it could be someone else's especially since we dated so long. I also plan to attend Lamaze classes and I would like for you to go with me. When the child comes, it is to have your name and we can work out child support arrangements after its birth. As for now, I'll just need a small expense account so that I can get the things I'll need."
"What type of expense account are you thinking about Sheridan?"
"Oh, nothing much. I was thinking maybe about $5,000 a month until the baby comes, afterwards I'll need less and you can just add it to the child support."
"Sheridan, what are you going to do with $5,000 a month? What do you need that kind of money for?"
"So, is this how it's going to be Sean. Me asking for money for your child and you wanting to know what I need it for. It's not like you can't afford it and you have to remember, if we were married I would not have to ask you for these things. Then too if I took you to court for child support, I would probably get much more. I have to keep up my appearance even though I'll be pregnant. My entire wardrobe will have to be changed each month. I don't wear inexpensive clothing now nor will I do that as I get bigger. As the father of this baby, I would expect that you would want me to maintain the same dignity and class that I have now. Do you want people thinking that you refused to contribute to my appearance, which kept you around for two years, but now that I'm pregnant and you're not marrying me, you don't feel that's important? I also will need the money to get a room ready for the child and other supplies that infants need."
Sean was getting agitated so he stood up and paced a few steps back and forth, as he spoke. "I'll tell you what Sheridan, since you feel it will take $5,000 monthly to cover your clothing and incidental expenses and since this baby is also yours, I'll set up the account for $3,500 a month and you can take care of the rest. When the child is born we'll review your expense account."
"$3,500! Sean you forgot I did not ask for this and..."
"And you also did not yell loud enough, if I was raping you like you said. That butler of yours could have easily overtaken me if I was so drunk and you were screaming rape like you said. Look. I think we should end this conversation. I'll make sure the account is set up this week and I'll have my bank mail you everything you need. When you start your Lamaze classes call Charlotte to set up the appointments for me and I'll be there. O.k.?"
"Fine, Sean."
"Fine!" He said before he hung up. He could not believe the audacity she had to demand so much money for her personal appearance. He could see that this was going to be a long nine months and an even longer 18 years as they shared in the raising of their child. Now as he stood leaning against his desk looking out the window with his arms crossed in front of him, his thoughts wondered to Elana and he knew he had to go tell her. He was saddened by the fact that this child with Sheridan would come before any children he had with Elana and he wondered if his family would favor Sheridan's white child over the interracial one's he would eventually have. He knew from his own inheritance that the stipulations of the uncontestable trust fund that his great, great grandparents set up, included an inheritance only for the first born child of the eldest son, to be collected once the child reached 25 years old. He could see how the time he and Elana were apart had cost them both so much and now it was affecting the family they would some day have. He knew there was no way to change the trust fund because it was part of an iron clad system designed to protect the wishes of the one's who established it. How could his ancestors have known he'd be in this situation? How could he have known himself? He decided that he would set up a separate trust fund for his future children with Elana, so that if anything ever happened to him, his family would not be able to take anything away from her.
While he stood in heavy thought, he did not hear Elana knock on the door, nor did he hear her come in until he heard her voice...
"Sean?"
"Yeah, Elana I'm sorry. I did not hear you come in." He said as he straightened up and turned around to see her. Elana walked up beside him and they both turned to look out the window as the sun shown down on the buildings and through the office.
"Did you call Sheridan?"
"Yeah. I just got off the phone with her. She's four weeks pregnant and she wants a $5,000 a month expense account until the child is born, then we'll settle on support and the future amount of her expense account."
"$5,000 is a lot of money? Can you afford that?"
Sean just looked at her and chuckled. At that moment he realized that she had no idea what he was really worth. "Yeah, I can afford it, but she doesn't need that kind of money. I told her it would be for $3,500. She wined about it, but I didn't really leave her any choice in the end. I'm going to set it up this week."
"So, it was four weeks ago since you were with her?" Elana asked apprehensively.
Sean saw her tense up and he put his arms around her. "Yeah, four weeks last Saturday. I was drunker than whiskey." He said laughing a little trying to get her not to feel threatened by it.
"Do you need somebody to oversee the account and her expenses, that's part of what I do you know."
"Thank you, but I don't want you to have to be bothered with that. I don't need to monitor her because I know she's just going to buy a lot of expensive junk with it. It doesn't matter. I guess it's a type of compensation for not marrying her."
"So, are you in some way easing your own conscious, by letting her have this account before the baby comes."
"I think it's what I should do, but I'm also going to try and be reasonable. I'm sorry things are working out like this. You know I'd give anything for you to be the mother of all my children, but unfortunately life doesn't work out the way we want it too all the time."
"Yep, you got that right, but let's not be so gloomy about it. You're gonna be a daddy and that's always a blessing. Now you'll have somebody to carry your name on especially if it's a boy. And you know what I've learned from all of this?"
"What's that?"
"At least now I know you're fertile."
Sean could not help but laugh at what she said and he snuggled his face up against hers. Just from her reaction, he loved her more because she was determined not to let this baby business with Sheridan get her down and she knew just how to lift his spirits, no matter what he was going through.
:
Greenwich, CT
"Grandpa! Where are you?' Sean called as he walked into the house. "Grandpa!" He said more loudly.
Grandpa came hobbling into the foyer "What you yelling so for boy, I ain't got no hearing problem yet!"
"Sorry, grandpa. I came to spend some time with you this weekend. I've had such a busy few weeks." Sean walked into the living room with his grandfather and put his things down then headed to the refrigerator. Grandpa sat down in his favorite chair waiting for Sean to come from the kitchen to sit with him.
When Sean came back he had a carton of milk in his hand. "Mom & dad aren't back yet?"
"Naw, he called last week and said they should be back in about six to eight weeks. He asked how you were doing with the company."
"What did you tell him?"
"I didn't have nothin' to tell him. I told him I was retired and if he wanted information on you he should call you and ask you himself!"
"Well, I haven't heard from dad. I guess he feels I'm doing o.k. It can't get any worse." He said sipping some of the milk.
"Didn't your mother always tell you not to drink outta the milk like that? You just come in here and start eating everything up like you was an orphan or something. You need a woman to cook you a good meal every once in a while. And I mean a real woman not that imitation blondie woman you got swingin' on ya right now."
"I'm not with her anymore grandpa." Sean said closing the milk as he was reminded that he needed to find out whether she was pregnant or not. It had been about three weeks since she mentioned it, so he knew she would be telling him sooner or later.
"Ah, so you finally got rid of that one." Grandpa said slapping his knee. "Good! I was hoping she didn't have her hooks too far in you."
"I'm glad I don't have to listen to you complain about her spending up all of my money anymore, even though I never really bought her anything."
"Humph, you never bought her anything? I guess that means she never did anything that would make you wanna buy her something nice."
"I was not in love with her grandpa, so I think that was the seat of my motivation."
"I could have told you that a year or so ago, saved you some frustration. Even though she looked like one of those skinny women sashaying around on T.V. that most men like. Any man would stay with her for her looks and good sex, even you could have lived with her if she was pleasing you at least, so she must not have been any good in
bed, huh?."
"Grandpa! That didn't have anything to do with it?" Sean said laughing from embarrassment.
"Don't be trying to fool me, boy? I know you better than you know yourself and I also know you're a Logan and it's certain things we Logan men can't live without and that's a good woman we can spoil and who can please us in every way. You wasn't spoiling that one and everybody could see there wasn't no sparks between you. The two of you together was like oil and water you just did not mix."
"Yeah you're right grandpa. That's why I had to end it."
"Like I said I know why you ended it. She was not no good in bed. Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of boy. I used to be a young Logan boy like yourself. Of course at your age, I was married already, but I certainly picked the right woman...."
"O.k. grandpa, I don't want to hear about that." Sean said stopping his grandfather from disclosing the details of his intimate life with his grandmother, something Sean did not want to picture.
"Well, the point is, make sure you got a woman who can put you in shock sometimes and who really appreciates the way you love her, like your grandmother did for me. I really loved that woman, and I miss her everyday. She would always tell me how much she appreciated me being a good husband and father and businessman. That goes a long way for a man's woman to tell him that. I never remarried because I knew I'd never find anybody else like her.
"Grandpa you never remarried because you were in your seventies when she died."
"What's age got to do with it, boy? There's plenty of women who would be happy to be with me. I might be old, but I'm rich as hell, and I can still pack a Logan punch to the right woman..."
"O.k! O.k! That's enough grandpa. I don't want to talk about this anymore. What have you been watching on that cable t.v. of yours?"
"Ain't been watchin' nothin' I ain't seen before. And I don't look at those girlie movies. I got my own memories, but I won't keep embarrassing you with that. So now that missy is gone. Did you find yourself another woman?
"Yes, I did grandpa. I told you about that already."
"So you started back running after that colored woman."
"Grandpa, don't call her colored, she's black, or African American."
"That's just what I'm used to, son. I'll try to call her black. What's she think about you two getting back together?"
"She was all for it. We had a good talk and we settled what happened. It seems my father ran her off telling her that he would disinherit me if I married her, so to protect me she disappeared, so that I would not be a family outcast."
"Phillip ran her off? Well she must have a mighty big heart to leave if things were between you like you said they were."
"Yeah, she has a wonderful heart, grandpa and I'm gonna spend the rest of my life making sure she's happy, no matter what I have to do. I need to make her know that she's the most important thing to me. I didn't do that before. She gave up nine years of that happiness and I don't intend for another nine to go by."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well I came here to get the key to my safe deposit box. I had bought her a ring years ago, so I want to upgrade it. That should take a few weeks for the company to do what I want with it and then I'm gonna give it to her and beg her to marry me."
"What did this woman do to you Sean, for you to feel so emotional about it?"
"She loved me grandpa. She just loved me in her own special way and I can't live without that. I knew that when I saw her. I hope everything goes well. I'm taking your advice to make her come to me and I'm not going to touch her until we're married. That's what she wanted when we were in college, so I'm gonna try to honor that."
"You mean you never been with this woman. I thought you said you was dating on the sly for five years when you were in school."
"We were, but she never let me touch her and I didn't bother any other woman until about a year after she left, so I need to do this for her."
"Well, I see you really love this woman, just don't get yourself all worked up because I ain't known a Logan who can stay away from the woman he loves too long. Why your great, great grandfather had to rush his wife to Ohio to get married in the middle of the night because he told her he was not gonna wait for her any more."
"Yeah, I can see that happening with me already. Grandpa, I'm gonna go get that key and I want you to come to the bank with me. I'll be here all weekend, so we can do some other things too. I wish you would come to New York sometimes and stay with me for a few weeks so you don't have to be by yourself. You know I told you that before."
"Yeah, Yeah. I remember. Who knows maybe I will one day son, maybe I will."
Grandpa, went to go get ready while Sean went to his old room to find the safe deposit key he had hidden in his room after he finished school. When they were both ready, the two men got in Sean's car and headed for the bank where Sean picked up the ring and showed it to his grandfather. Afterwards they went to the family jeweler and Sean indicated what he wanted done to the ring. The jeweler was very happy with the profits he'd be making off of the changes and indicated that he would see that it would be delivered to him personally in four to five weeks. Grandpa, assuming Sean was going to finance the ring, was grumbling about how much money Sean spent and told him he better hope they last forever because that's how long he'd be paying on the merchandise. Sean just laughed it off and spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday catering to the things his grandfather liked to do. On Sunday night Sean left
Connecticut after unsuccessfully trying to convince grandpa to come home with him for the week. When he finally arrived at home, the first thing he did was to call Elana.
"Hello?"
"Hi lollipop. It's me."
"You just called me two hours ago, you made it home pretty fast."
"There's not much traffic on Sunday night. I was trying to get grandpa to come stay with me for a week, but I couldn't get him out of the house, as usual."
"Sometimes older people are pretty comfortable where they are. Your grandfather probably does not want anything to do with the big city anymore."
"You're probably right." He said before a brief moment of silence.
"Sean?"
"Yes, honey?"
"When are you going to talk to Sheridan? It's been a few weeks. She should know by now."
"I thought about that this weekend. I guess I can call her tomorrow sometime, I was trying to put it off as long as possible."
"Well, I think we need to know, so that you can start making plans for it and defining what your role will be."
"Yeah." Sean said sighing. "Elana I need to know how you're going to feel about this if she is pregnant. I don't want to lose you and if I have too I'll just give Sheridan a check and wash my hands of the whole thing."
"Sean, I could never ask you to do that. If you're going to be a father, you're going to have to take responsibility to help raise the child. I know you couldn't just walk away from your own flesh and blood and I wouldn't want to be responsible for you doing that."
"But are you going to be there with me Elana. Are you willing to help me raise a child I conceived with somebody else? Because without you I'm not going to be a good anything, a good person, or man and least of all father. Not if I lost you a second time."
"I'm not going anywhere Sean, not anymore, because the truth is I can't be without you either."
"Good. I needed to hear that."
The next few minutes they talked about, when Sean would call Sheridan and they speculated on how things would be once the child was born.
Eventually Elana changed the subject. "Theirs is something else, I wanted to mention to you. I've been going over the information I gathered last week from your Collections department and there are a few things I think you should know. It seems that some of your credit advances are being discounted after the accounts receivable has been retired."
"Is that within the discount period?"
"No. Actually you have a standard policy of a 2% discount if paid within ten days, but most of your receivables are retired between 15 to 45 days and the discounts have been calculating up to 8%."
"If the discounts are given after the account is paid, then where is the money going?"
"It seems that it should be reimbursed to the customer, but the paper trail is weak and the cash disbursements are hard to follow, so I'm going to have to spend some extra time in this department and figure this all out."
"Extra time as in evenings and weekends?"
"No, just a few extra hours during the day for the next few weeks. My original plan was to spend a week in each department, but I'll need more time for this one."
"I see. Good. I was hoping this would not impact our time together. If I can help you out in any way let me know. Jerry Falkner is our Controller, so he should be able to give you some insight on those reimbursements."
"Alright. Well I need to get some sleep so that I can get in early tomorrow. When will you be in?"
"I'll be in early too. I can't wait to see you."
"I can't wait to see you either Sean. Goodnight."
"Goodnight and you'd better dream about me."
"I've been doing that for a while now." Elana said before she hung up.
Monday morning
Crealite
The next morning Elana was in early as she said she would be. Sean came in soon afterwards hoping Elana did not see him because he wanted to go straight to his office to give Sheridan a call and he knew if he saw Elana first thing in the morning, he would not want to call Sheridan. When he went into his office he sat down and turned his chair to face the large window overlooking the city. After more than a few minutes of meditating, Sean turned around and pushed the speakerphone button for Charlotte.
"Yes, Mr. Logan?"
"Charlotte, could you get Ms. Winthrop on the phone for me please. You can call her at her home."
"Sure, I'll connect you if she comes to the phone."
"Thanks." Sean turned off the speakerphone and sat there waiting to see if she would answer. After a few seconds Charlotte buzzed him. "Yes?"
"Ms. Winthrop is on line 1."
Sean cut Charlotte off and hesitated before he answered the line, but then he did.
"Hi Sheridan. It's Sean."
"I know who it is. Your secretary formally informed me that you wanted to speak to me."
"You know why I'm calling. Do you know anything for sure yet."
"I'm surprised you called Sean. I thought you could have cared less about this just as you did for me."
"Come on Sheridan, let's not get into it. We don't have to do this anymore. I just want to know if you're going to have a baby."
"What will it mean for us Sean, if I am."
"We already discussed that Sheridan. I just need to know so that I can prepare myself for it when it comes."
"Well. I just found out last Saturday that I am pregnant. Four weeks, to quote the dr."
As she spoke, Sean had heard what he already knew inside. Four weeks was exactly the last time they were together, so now he could not shrink back from it. "O.k., so now what? What do you need me to do for you?"
"Right now, I'm fine but as I get bigger Sean, I want everyone to know that this is your child. I can't project the image that it could be someone else's especially since we dated so long. I also plan to attend Lamaze classes and I would like for you to go with me. When the child comes, it is to have your name and we can work out child support arrangements after its birth. As for now, I'll just need a small expense account so that I can get the things I'll need."
"What type of expense account are you thinking about Sheridan?"
"Oh, nothing much. I was thinking maybe about $5,000 a month until the baby comes, afterwards I'll need less and you can just add it to the child support."
"Sheridan, what are you going to do with $5,000 a month? What do you need that kind of money for?"
"So, is this how it's going to be Sean. Me asking for money for your child and you wanting to know what I need it for. It's not like you can't afford it and you have to remember, if we were married I would not have to ask you for these things. Then too if I took you to court for child support, I would probably get much more. I have to keep up my appearance even though I'll be pregnant. My entire wardrobe will have to be changed each month. I don't wear inexpensive clothing now nor will I do that as I get bigger. As the father of this baby, I would expect that you would want me to maintain the same dignity and class that I have now. Do you want people thinking that you refused to contribute to my appearance, which kept you around for two years, but now that I'm pregnant and you're not marrying me, you don't feel that's important? I also will need the money to get a room ready for the child and other supplies that infants need."
Sean was getting agitated so he stood up and paced a few steps back and forth, as he spoke. "I'll tell you what Sheridan, since you feel it will take $5,000 monthly to cover your clothing and incidental expenses and since this baby is also yours, I'll set up the account for $3,500 a month and you can take care of the rest. When the child is born we'll review your expense account."
"$3,500! Sean you forgot I did not ask for this and..."
"And you also did not yell loud enough, if I was raping you like you said. That butler of yours could have easily overtaken me if I was so drunk and you were screaming rape like you said. Look. I think we should end this conversation. I'll make sure the account is set up this week and I'll have my bank mail you everything you need. When you start your Lamaze classes call Charlotte to set up the appointments for me and I'll be there. O.k.?"
"Fine, Sean."
"Fine!" He said before he hung up. He could not believe the audacity she had to demand so much money for her personal appearance. He could see that this was going to be a long nine months and an even longer 18 years as they shared in the raising of their child. Now as he stood leaning against his desk looking out the window with his arms crossed in front of him, his thoughts wondered to Elana and he knew he had to go tell her. He was saddened by the fact that this child with Sheridan would come before any children he had with Elana and he wondered if his family would favor Sheridan's white child over the interracial one's he would eventually have. He knew from his own inheritance that the stipulations of the uncontestable trust fund that his great, great grandparents set up, included an inheritance only for the first born child of the eldest son, to be collected once the child reached 25 years old. He could see how the time he and Elana were apart had cost them both so much and now it was affecting the family they would some day have. He knew there was no way to change the trust fund because it was part of an iron clad system designed to protect the wishes of the one's who established it. How could his ancestors have known he'd be in this situation? How could he have known himself? He decided that he would set up a separate trust fund for his future children with Elana, so that if anything ever happened to him, his family would not be able to take anything away from her.
While he stood in heavy thought, he did not hear Elana knock on the door, nor did he hear her come in until he heard her voice...
"Sean?"
"Yeah, Elana I'm sorry. I did not hear you come in." He said as he straightened up and turned around to see her. Elana walked up beside him and they both turned to look out the window as the sun shown down on the buildings and through the office.
"Did you call Sheridan?"
"Yeah. I just got off the phone with her. She's four weeks pregnant and she wants a $5,000 a month expense account until the child is born, then we'll settle on support and the future amount of her expense account."
"$5,000 is a lot of money? Can you afford that?"
Sean just looked at her and chuckled. At that moment he realized that she had no idea what he was really worth. "Yeah, I can afford it, but she doesn't need that kind of money. I told her it would be for $3,500. She wined about it, but I didn't really leave her any choice in the end. I'm going to set it up this week."
"So, it was four weeks ago since you were with her?" Elana asked apprehensively.
Sean saw her tense up and he put his arms around her. "Yeah, four weeks last Saturday. I was drunker than whiskey." He said laughing a little trying to get her not to feel threatened by it.
"Do you need somebody to oversee the account and her expenses, that's part of what I do you know."
"Thank you, but I don't want you to have to be bothered with that. I don't need to monitor her because I know she's just going to buy a lot of expensive junk with it. It doesn't matter. I guess it's a type of compensation for not marrying her."
"So, are you in some way easing your own conscious, by letting her have this account before the baby comes."
"I think it's what I should do, but I'm also going to try and be reasonable. I'm sorry things are working out like this. You know I'd give anything for you to be the mother of all my children, but unfortunately life doesn't work out the way we want it too all the time."
"Yep, you got that right, but let's not be so gloomy about it. You're gonna be a daddy and that's always a blessing. Now you'll have somebody to carry your name on especially if it's a boy. And you know what I've learned from all of this?"
"What's that?"
"At least now I know you're fertile."
Sean could not help but laugh at what she said and he snuggled his face up against hers. Just from her reaction, he loved her more because she was determined not to let this baby business with Sheridan get her down and she knew just how to lift his spirits, no matter what he was going through.