Chapter Two
Generations
Belle Brady was in the studio at Basic Black, her father's fashion company. She had been working on the new designs for the summer for a while. But since she was still on maternity leave everything had been pushed back. However, today was no different than any other day except, it was Saturday and she had brought her daughter with her.
She stared down at the sketch and in frustration she ripped it off yet again; enough was enough and she wasn't going to finish that sketch today. It was obviously time for a break. She put her pencil down and got her purse from the desk drawer where she kept it. Where on earth is Serena? She wondered as she got up and started looking for her. But Serena wasn't anywhere to be found.
She turned down the hallway and looked for her daughter. "Serena," she called out. Belle continued to walk down the hallway heading towards her father's office. As she moved into the inner sanctum of the office she heard the giggling of a young child. Turning into the office Belle came to a pause at the doorway she smiled at the sight before her. There sitting on the desk was Serena laughing at something her father had said.
John was playing with her. He looked the same he had when she was a teenager except now his hair was streaked gray, making him look more distinguished and attractive. "Serena, I thought I told you not to bother your grandfather when he's working." John looked up and his face automatically expanded into an even bigger smile.
"Hey, my granddaughter is not a bother," he leaned up and kissed his daughter on the cheek before pinching Serena's cheek to send her giggling again. "Hi sweetie, I didn't know that you were coming in today."
"Well, I wasn't going to. But, I've been at home trying to finish this sketch all week. And I decided that since I wasn't getting it at home that a change of scenery might be just what the doctor ordered." She smoothed an errant strand of Serena's chocolate colored hair as she spoke. "Serena asked to come with me and of course I let her come. Besides, Shawn volunteered to watch Iris and Ian. So what are you doing here, Dad?"
"Well, I'd thought I could get some work done today before I leave on Monday." As John finished his statement, the office door was opened again as Shawn walked in carrying ten-month old Ian; JT entered behind him holding two year old Iris' hand. "Well, look at this, it must be my lucky day." He moved from behind his desk to pick up his youngest granddaughter as she ran to him.
"What are you guys doing here?" Belle asked as she took her son from Shawn's arms and kissed him on the cheek. "Not that I mind this surprise visit." She looked at JT who stood behind his brother.
"Mom and Dad wanted some alone time and I'd thought that I would visit my favorite brother and see what he is up to."
"Hey … I'm your only brother." Shawn responded as he lightly punched JT's arm, Belle laughed.
"Well, that explains you. But what about you, Mr. Brady? As I recall this morning you told me that you wanted to stay home with our beautiful babies. What were our darling children too much for you?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Too much to handle, never," he feigned shockingly. "I just thought that I'd invite you to come to lunch with us. Besides, Iris and Ian were missing you." He pointed to Ian who was happily playing with Belle hair in her arms. He was the only child of this Brady Bunch that had Belle's golden hair and Shawn's brown eyes. Both of his sisters resembled their mother, Serena held the strongest resemblance but Iris was a close second. Serena's brown hair and deep blue eyes already had made her popular with the boys. However, Iris was sure to grow to be a beauty because she too had her mother's smiling blue eyes and a lighten shade of brown hair.
"I bet Daddy missed you too, Mommy." Serena said jumping off of John's desk to greet her father. "Didn't he JT?" Serena never called JT her uncle because he was so close to her age. She treated him more like an older brother or a cousin.
"Yeah, he sure did." JT beamed down at his niece who had walked over to him.
"Hey, JT," Shawn gave him a playful warning look. "Anyways, what do you say Ian, Iris and I treat you lovely ladies to lunch?" Shawn asked holding his only son's hand as he looked at Belle and nodded towards their youngest daughter in John's arms.
"Mmm, I don't know Brady, what do you think Serena? Should we let your Dad take us to lunch?"
Serena played along with her mother and tapped her chin as if she was thinking about it. "Well could we go to the pub?"
"But of course Miss Brady." Shawn answered in a horrid French accent.
"Okay then I think that we should go Mommy." Serena answered giggling.
"Alright then we'll go." Belle and her family started to walk out office. JT had taken little Iris into his arms and as he got to the door, he turned around.
"Uncle John, you coming?" John looked as if he were about to say no so JT pleaded. "Come on, Uncle John we haven't talked in a while. It would be fun if you would come."
John looked at the son he had given up years ago and could never tell that he was his real father and smiled. "Of course, I'll come." John glanced back at his desk deciding that his work could wait as he followed JT to the door and left his office to spend some time with his son.
Black House
Mimi was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on her notes for an article she was writing while making a light lunch for the children. As she concluded the article she returned to making the lunches at the isle in the middle of the kitchen. Not a few moments later she walked out to the hallway and went to the staircase. "Conrad, Racquel, Spencer lunch is ready."
She walked back into the kitchen and waited for the children's footsteps on the stairs. She only had to wait a few minutes because sure enough they tumbled down the stairs and came into the kitchen.
Her youngest child walked in first. Spencer was five years old and the baby of the family. He had her brown hair and green eyes. But, other than that he was like his father, he worshiped both his father and older brother and at times he could be seen shadowing his father's every footstep and copying his brother's every move. "Hey Momma!"
"Hi Mom," Racquel said as she entered the kitchen on the heels of her brother. She was the only girl in the family at eight years old and she had dark blonde hair and her father piercing blue eyes. She was like both of her parents shy at times with the people outside her family but very vocal with her family members when staunchly defending them.
"Where's your brother?" Mimi asked as her two youngest children sat down at the table.
"He was sitting down at his computer playing some games the last time I saw him." Racquel answered before she drank her juice.
Mimi nodded in response and then left the kitchen to go collect her son from his room. But, as she headed up the stairs he was coming down. Conrad had grown to look like a little replica of Brady. He was almost as tall as his mother at thirteen years old and in a few years he would probably be as tall as Brady's own 6'2.
"I was just coming up to get you." Mimi said turning and walking back to the kitchen.
"I was coming down, Mom. I just had to finish my game I almost made the top new score."
"Well, you can go back to playing your game after lunch." Conrad sat down and Mimi started gathering the dirty dishes and placing them in the sink to do later. The door opened in the living room. And then shut.
Brady walked into the kitchen. "Hi Dad," the Black children all chorused together.
"Hey Conrad, Rocky," Brady said as he dropped his briefcase on the table.
"Daddy, you didn't say Hi to me." Spencer said looking up his Dad sadden slightly.
"Well, I can't forget to say Hi to my little mini me." He bent down and lifted his youngest son up in the air. Spencer laughed.
"Brady, put Spencer down so that he can finish eating." Mimi said to her husband of fourteen years. He was a lot more mature now than he had when they first got together. Plus with the added facial hair, a goatee, he was even sexier than before.
Brady looked from his youngest son to his wife and placed him back on the floor. "I better do what your mom says or I will forever be in trouble." Spencer ran back to his chair and went back to eating his lunch. After his son had gone back to the table he walked over to Mimi and barricaded her between his arms. "We wouldn't want that now would we." He leaned down and kissed her passionately as if he was dying of thirst and she was his water.
"Oh great, here they go." Conrad sighed.
"Yeah, Dad must you do that right in front of us. We are trying to eat here." Racquel said as she turned and looked at her parents feigning disgust.
Brady removed his lips from Mimi's. "Such is the problem with having children." He started to pull back away from Mimi only to have her pull him back for one small kiss on the lips. Then, she released him and walked away. He turned and took her place against the counter. "So what are you doing today?"
"I'm meeting a friend for coffee."
"This friend wouldn't happen to be of the opposite sex would he?" Brady clearly had an idea of who the guy was.
"Yes, I told you earlier that I was having coffee with Jason today." Mimi looked at Brady as she began to put things into her purse. "Why?"
"No reason. I was just wondering. You've been seeing a lot of him that's all." He smoothly evaded her gaze.
"Well, Jason is my friend. Besides, he's … wait a minute, you're jealous aren't you?" Mimi looked at her husband surprised. He turned away from her and looked toward their children. "Brady Black, you have no reason to be jealous, I love you with all my heart and soul. Besides that I am a happily married woman. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." She walked over to him placed her arms around her neck and kissed him. "I have to go or I'll be late." She stepped back from him and went to grab her purse. "You guys be good for your Dad." She kissed each child on the cheek and Brady one more time. "Trust me you have nothing to worry about." She left the kitchen and walked out the front door.
"It's not you I don't trust, it's him." Brady said under his breath to himself before he turned to his children.
Chloe was meeting Belle and Mimi for the first time in weeks. The last time they had gotten together had been when she told them that Jarod was her son. That was three weeks ago. As she headed to the table she noticed that Mimi was the only one there.
She walked up to the table and sat down. "So what are you up to Meems?" She asked as the other brunette looked up in surprise.
"I thought you were going to be late." Mimi said as Chloe signaled for the waiter ordering a glass of water with a lemon slice accompanying it.
"I thought I was too, but my noon appointment cancelled on me today. So I just left early. Where is Belle? I was sure she would be here by now."
"She had to go to the office for something. I can't remember exactly what she said she needed to do. Oh well, I'm fine by the way." She answered Chloe's first question just as the waiter arrived back at the table. "I'll have the chicken with linguini in white sauce." She said smiling at the waiter when she passed her menu over to him.
"I'll have the Fettuccine Alfredo with the Garlic Toast, please." Chloe closed her menu and handed it to the waiter who took it and walked away.
"How are things with you?" Mimi asked.
"Well, I'm good." Chloe said smiling. But, the smile didn't have the sparkling radiance of happiness that it usually had. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"So then I take it that things are good with Jarod?" Chloe nodded as she sipped her water. But, Mimi had seen the look in her eyes and she knew something was wrong. "Okay, is it the children or Philip?"
"The kids are fine with Jarod. They already accept him, it's like he was there all along. They have a better relationship than I thought they would. Well, you know Jessica follows him around like a shadow. He's like her idol. Ariana gets a kick out of bugging him like she does Dominic and Dominic he just loves having an older brother around the house." Her eyes lightened with joy as she spoke of her children. "And Philip is … with Jarod Philip's … you know I can't even find the word to describe how he is with Jarod. It's sort of difficult to explain." Chloe answered as she pushed a strand of her long hair back behind her ear.
Once the food had been served the ladies ate in silence as if they were each pondering some problems.
"So how is Philip with Jarod?"
"I don't want to say tense. But, that's the only word that seems to fit their relationship— it's tense." Her eyes flickered slightly. " Philip talks to him and I know that he really means what he says. But, there's a barrier enforced between him and Jarod and I get the sense that he can't quite process that Jarod's my son. He says he's okay with it. But, he's not, it's like Jarod poses some sort of threat to him. But, Jarod's just a kid there's no threat to me or him." Chloe drank from her glass and had a far off look in her eyes.
"Chloe, Philip is worried that you're going to get hurt somehow by Jarod. You know how protective he is of you."
"I can deal with Philip being protective of me. I've had a lot of years dealing with that. But, it's not that. Philip is … he's not, I mean we're not..." She paused. "You know, never mind I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No Chloe you can tell me anything, absolutely anything, I promise we are friends you know." Mimi was worried Chloe and Philip were having problems. And she couldn't help but be intrigued, not to mention get her mind off her own problems.
Chloe hesitated. "Maybe I should just wait for Belle to come."
"What?! Chloe, I'm your friend too! You can tell me anything and maybe I'll even be able to help. Now, come on you were telling me about Philip not being able to do… what exactly is it that he can't do?" Mimi asked confused then an astonished look came on her face and she leaned in close covering her mouth from the restaurant. "You don't mean—," she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Chloe was confused at first but then she laughed outright. "No, no Meems I can honestly say that Philip has no problems in that area." She said with a suggestive wink of her own that had Mimi giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Good, because I was going to say," Mimi broke off as both she and Chloe started to laugh. "Okay, well seriously, now that we've out ruled that area, tell me what do you think the problem is between you and Philip?"
"It's just that I don't know for sure myself. All I have been able to determine is that it has something to do with Jarod. I think that it has something to do with Philip doubts about who his father is."
"Oh yeah, what has the investigator told you about that? I mean has he found anything yet?"
"Considering that Jarod refuses to tell us where he was born or who his parents are, I don't think we're going to get very far. His social worker even told us that she didn't know how he got to her office when he was looking for me. All she knows is that he came to her years ago looking for me. So now, we're kind of at our wits end."
Mimi nodded as she thought about what Chloe had said. "I don't know if I could say anything to you to make you feel better but, I don't think Philip is worried about Jarod's paternity so much as he's worried about you. I know I'm not a psychologist or anything so this is just an amateur opinion. But, I think that Philip's main concern is that something might happen to you if you don't find out who Jarod's father." She sipped her drink again as she thought about her own family. Happy that she wasn't Chloe and she knew who the father of her three children was.
"Okay, I can see that. You may be right. But, I'm not fragile it's not like I'll break I just will have to wait and see." Chloe sipped her coffee and glanced at her watch. "I wonder where Belle is?"
"Well, I have no idea, she should have been here by now. Something important must have come up."
"I wonder what happened?" Chloe and Mimi continued eating their lunch and conversing wondering all the while about Belle's absence.
Belle was running late and she knew she was supposed to meet Chloe and Mimi for lunch an hour ago. However, her meeting had run over and she still had to go drop Ian off at Hope's. Technically she knew she didn't need to attend the meeting since she was on maternity leave. But, she had agreed to the meeting before she had gotten pregnant and she wanted to attend it.
Belle sighed. "Ian, I am so late. I wonder if your aunties are still waiting on me." Belle said glancing at her watch as she leaned down to look at her baby son, seeing him alert and happy in the stroller seat. "Let's go see Grandpa before we leave." She stood up and pushed the stroller towards her dad's office.
"Hello Belle, and who is that you have with you today?" Carol, John's secretary asked. She was a nice old woman that had been with Basic Black since the beginning. She was very matronly with several grandchildren of her own.
"Hello Carol. This is my youngest, Ian. We're here to see his Grandpa." She answered as she picked up Ian and straightened his shirt. He waved happily at Carol. "Is he in by any chance?"
"Well, he's not in a meeting right now. And I am sure he wouldn't mind being interrupted to see his lovely daughter. Do you want me to watch the little one while you go in and see him?"
"No, that's okay. I think we will go in and see him together." Belle answered before she left walking down the short hallway to John's office carrying Ian.
As she got nearer she heard voices and figured John was on the phone. Getting closer she realized he sounded angry and he wasn't alone, someone else was there. It was a woman, who had a softer much calmer voice. It was only as she approached the open doorway that she saw the owner of the other voice it was Hope.
"…John, we agreed after JT was born never to tell him the truth. You can't change your mind now. I—we both have too much at stake here."
"Hope, I know that and I'm not suggesting that we tell him the truth. I just want to get a chance to spend some time with my son. He is my son and I just want to be with him. Why can't you understand that? I've given up a lot." John swallowed, his throat thick with emotion. "Don't I deserve at least this? All I'm asking for is a chance to bond with him for a weekend. Please." John begged to hope unbeknownst of Belle's presence at the doorway.
"John I…" Hope opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.
"Hope come on, Bo won't even be here this weekend, I will. JT wants to go on this trip and so do I. It's only one weekend; I promise I won't say a thing. Besides, if I kept the secret this long what makes you think I will tell him now? I let another man raise my son as his so wouldn't it be safe to assume that I won't say anything to him." Hope couldn't refuse his one request. After all the years he stood aside and let Bo raise JT as his own. There was no way she could deny him this one weekend.
However, just as she about to tell him it was okay with him to go on the trip with JT a baby squealed from the doorway. She turned and faced the doorway John did the same. They both were shocked and silent not knowing what to say as they saw Belle in the doorway holding their grandchild.
After a few moments of silence Belle spoke as she held Ian tightly to her body.
"You're JT's birth father?" she asked quietly although it was more of a statement. John started to deny but he stopped himself and nodded guiltily "How long have you known, Dad?" He didn't respond. "How long?" Belle asked him when he didn't respond to her.
"I've always known."
"John," Hope said as she walked to him and grabbed his arm.
"Hope, she was standing right there. She obviously knows we can't lie to her. I won't lie to her anymore." He shook Hope's hand off his arm and looked at Belle.
"Why didn't you say anything? JT is almost eighteen years old and you've allowed him to grow up not knowing who his father is. How could you do that to him? To me … Shawn," Then as if the thought had just occurred to her she faced her father and mother-in-law. "Oh my god, does he know? Does Shawn know about JT?"
"No Shawn doesn't know and neither does Bo or Brady and that's the way we want to keep it Belle." Hope answered her walking closer to Belle who shook her head in disbelief as she backed away. She couldn't take it all at once. She thought about what Hope said and something came to her.
"Mom knows," John nodded again it was all too much. "I have to go I can't stay here with either of you. Not like this, not now." She turned and started to head out of the door. "I have to tell Shawn." As she started to walk back to the hallway John and Hope followed her. John grabbed her arm gently careful not to jostle her hold on Ian and pulled her back into his office.
"Belle you can't tell Shawn. It would mean-," he started to speak but Belle interrupted him.
"No, I'm not keeping secrets from my husband. This secret has been kept too long. And I think that it is time you realized that. Now, Dad, I don't care what you say I going to tell Shawn." Belle resolved quietly removing John's hand from her arm and adjusting her son on her hip she turned to continue down the hall.
"Belle please wait," Hope asked. Belle didn't turn around but she paused at the doorway. "I don't want you to tell Shawn. It's my secret; I should be the one to tell him. Please, let me tell him, in my own way." Hope didn't know if Belle would let her tell Shawn but she needed to be the one to tell him about JT.
"Alright, I won't tell Shawn. But, if you don't tell him by Monday, I will. You have one week, that's all I'm willing to give you. That goes for you too Dad. One week. Now, I taking my son and I are leaving here." And with that Belle left carrying her son.