Chapter Twenty- Seven
Philip was sitting at his desk finishing up the last bit of paperwork his secretary had left with him when the door opened and in walked his mother in all her glory.
"Must I be the last to know everything, Philip?" Kate Roberts asked throwing her purse down into the chair in front of his desk. Philip looked up at his mother as she settled herself into the chair adjacent from him. Much like Victor, she'd aged well over the years and still looked years younger than she actually was. Her light brown hair was now darkened with not a strand if gray showing. Even for Kate that was a bit much, Philip suspected she had a dye job recently to keep her youthful appearance.
"The last to know what Mother?" He questioned lightly to which he received a look of complete and utter annoyance in return.
"You know what Philip," at his look of confusion she added, " My newest grandchild. I go away to visit Lucas and that blonde she-devil witch he's married to," Even he had to grimace at the malice in her voice as she referred to his sister-in-law, Sami. "And when I come back I find that I have a new grandchild that my own son didn't see fit to tell me about."
"Mom, I just found out myself and I was planning to tell when you got back. By the way, when did you get back?" Philip asked.
"This morning and don't change the subject. When I got back is not the issue. I mean really Philip to find out about my newest grandchild from a reputable newspaper that is really nothing more than a tabloid so the whole town knows about it before I do. Really, Philip would it have inconvenienced you a bit to pick up the phone and call me?"
"I didn't see the point. It's not like the child is even here yet, you plenty of time to spoil him when he arrives. How did the newspapers find out already?" He questioned himself.
Kate frowned. "What do you mean the child isn't here yet? He's been living with you for the past six months."
"Mom who are you talking about?"
"Jarod, of course. Who in the world were you talking about?"
"The baby," at Kate's open-mouthed gaze he continued. "Chloe's pregnant. I thought you were talking about the baby." He informed her as she closed her mouth and sat up in her seat. "What?"
"It's nothing really. I just didn't realize you and Chloe were so … shall we say fertile." Kate replied.
"Mother," Philip sighed grimacing again at the mention of the word fertile, it made him feel like a plant or something. And he so did not want to discuss his sex life with his mother or anyone for that matter.
"What? Would you rather I said I didn't know you and Chloe had found so much time to make love." Philip dropped the pen from his hands and covered his face in embarrassment, a behavior much like one he would have done if he were in high school. Kate laughed lightly. "Okay Philip, darling, I'll stop. But you would think a man of your stature with four children and another on the way wouldn't be so touchy talking about sex." She smiled as Philip groaned she just couldn't resist getting in that last little barb.
"Are you done, Mom?" He asked through his hands.
"Yes, I think I've tortured you enough for now. At least you can take your hands from your face."
Like a child scared of the dark he was hesitant at first but after giving her a look he removed his hands and all business again. "Good, now perhaps you call tell me the reason for your visit. I assume you have some ulterior motive for coming to see me."
"Yes, actually I did. But, when I went by the Manor earlier today I was informed that you were leaving on vacation for two weeks with Chloe and the children." Philip nodded and waited for her to continue. "Well, I wanted to see if I could take my grandson out before you left. Obviously, I can't since he's already gone." Kate said as the door opened and in walked Victor with Ariana and Jarod.
"Kate what are you doing here? I thought you were visiting Lucas and Sami." Victor asked mildly surprised to see Kate there. Although, he knew once she found out about Jarod she would race home to see her grandchild. Anything to get away from her dreaded daughter-in-law.
"I was. But, I wanted to come back and see my grandson. Hello Jarod, Ariana sweetie, come give your dear old grandmother a hug." Kate requested as she looked for her grandchildren to Victor. Her brown eyes lighten slightly as she watched the children come to her.
Ariana walked over and gave her grandmother a hug. She pulled her errant brother along behind her when he hesitated. "Hi Grandma. How was your visit with Uncle Lucas and Aunt Sami?"
"It was absolute he-" Kate caught Philip eyes and amended her words. "Wonderful. My visit was absolutely wonderful. But, I'd rather hear about you two. Tell me how do you feel about your new baby brother or sister on the way?"
"Honestly," Ariana questioned and Kate nodded. "Well I'm hoping for another sister. There really are too many boys in this family. But, Daddy already knows that." Kate turned to Jarod.
"And what about you Jarod, what would you like a brother or a sister?"
"Honestly Kate?"
"No darling please call me Grandma, after all you are my grandson." Jarod's eyes searched out Philip's for reassurance before he replied. Philip simply nodded smiling with his dimples flaring in response.
"Okay Grandma, honestly other than hoping that the baby is healthy and considering that I already have two sisters and a brother, the only thing I could hope for is that it's not twins." Ariana slapped her brother on the arm and then upside the head as their grandparents and father laughed heartily. "What? I'm just saying we really don't need another pair of twins in this family. You and Dominic are bad enough,"
"I'm telling Domi you said that."
"Go ahead, he'll only agree with me because even he knows that I am right."
Before Ariana could either cause any undue harm to her brother or respond Philip interrupted. "Guys, you need to stop arguing. I'm almost ready to go so why don't you two go wait for me outside my office."
"No way Daddy! I'm not going anywhere with that twin-hater." Ariana said crossing her arms.
"Fine, Mom will you wait outside with Jarod while I finish clearing my desk?"
"Sure, come along Jarod. Let's go so we can make some plans for an outing when you get back." Kate suggested as she and Jarod left the room.
Ariana sat down in the seat vacated by Kate and waited for her father. "Philip, son, you obviously have your hands full so I'll take my leave."
"Bye Grandpa." Ariana waved goodbye to her grandfather as he exited the office. Turning her full attention back to her father she watched as he cleared away his desk. When Philip finished he looked up and caught her gaze staring intently at him.
"What is it?" He asked her as he came around the desk and headed toward the door.
"Nothing Daddy. I was just making a memory." Philip gave her a quizzical look as she added. "Mom once told me that when look at someone for a moment you can freeze the image in your mind to make a memory. So I was making a memory of you."
"Hey Ana, you don't have to do that because I'll always be in your heart." He kneeled down in front of her pushing her hair behind her ears. "Even if I'm not physically there I'll always be alive in your memory because of the love we share." Cupping her face in his palms he kissed her cheek. He stood up and walked to the door holding his free hand out for her to take. "Now let's go find your brother and get out of here."
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
Jason rounded the way to his office passing his secretary Eva at her desk. He turned on the lights to his office and shut the door. He was too busy reading the paper for it even to occur to him that Eva turned on the lights for him when she came in. It was only when he walked over to his desk that his chair swiveled around to reveal Brady Black sitting in the comfortable cushions of the chair calmly waiting for him.
"Oh shit," Jason said louder than he'd intended to causing Eva to come into his office.
"Mr. Masters is something wrong?" She asked before she noticed Brady sitting in his chair. "I'm so sorry sir, I told Mr. Black that you weren't available for visitors today. I thought he'd left. Do you want me to call security to have them escort him out of the building?" She asked eyeing Brady warily.
"Jason, I don't think you want to do that." Brady admonished not even batting an eyelash at the mention of security being called.
Jason watched Brady closely; he saw the determined look on his face and knew that not even the threat of arrest would make him leave willingly. It was better to have Brady have it out with him here where there would be witnesses. "No Eva, I'll just see Mr. Black now. You can go back to your desk." The secretary left the office closing the door behind here. Jason looked at Brady waiting for him to say something, anything. "Well are you going to beat the shit out of me?"
Brady arched his regal blonde brow (in a way that only a Black could do justice). "A little impatient for an ass-whipping aren't you Masters? You can relax though, I'm not going to open that special can of Black whip-ass on you." Jason visibly looked relieved for a moment. "Yet."
"Well if you aren't here for that then why are you here?" Jason questioned Brady rose from the chair and stalked toward him.
"I came to give you a little warning that if you're smart you'll take." He reached up and grabbed Jason's tie holding it in a death grip. Pulling on it he tightened the noose so much so that Jason had hard time breathing. "Never touch my wife again because if you do," Jason started to choke as the tie closed his air passage. "This will be the least amount of pain you will receive." He released the tie and stepped away from Jason who was busy gasping for air.
Jason stumbled over to his desk, loosening his tie all the while so he could breath easier. "Jesus man are you trying to kill me." He reached for the glass of water on his desk as he drank some of it. The cool temperature of the water flowing down easily on his throat as he drank it. He turned to see Brady standing by the door with his hand on the doorknob smirking evilly.
"Masters if I'd have wanted you dead, you would be. But, I would never kill you here out in the public like this I'd be suspect number one for sure. And besides that I really don't like to be predictable." Jason looked horrified as Brady's smirk turned into a satisfied smile and he walked out of the office. On an afterthought he turned back Jason and the smile disappeared. "Oh and Masters stay the hell away from my wife." Brady said a menacing scowl now replacing the ever-present smirk.
Jason then watched in bewilderment as Brady left the office. He even smiled at Eva before he left. Brady Black was one dangerous man and it would clearly not pay to get on his bad side. So maybe it would be best if stayed away from Mimi or any other women until he could figure out what to do with his women troubles.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
Chloe was sitting in the sand on the beach looking into the water. She, Dominic, and Jessica had arrived at the beach house yesterday afternoon she was expecting Philip and the others any time. When she had planned this vacation originally it had been for the family to get away from the stresses of life in Salem, meaning no servants, patients, clients, or parents knocking on the door demanding something or other. That had been the plan of course before she was placed on leave and before she had known the truth about Jarod. Now, they needed this vacation to bring them together as one family to deal with all the issues they were facing for the future.
"Hey," Philip said easing down beside his wife in the sand.
"Hey, where are–"
"Jarod and Ana?" She nodded. "They are playing with Jessie and Dominic over there." He nodded toward the children playing with each other further down the beach. "Can we talk?"
"Yes of course. I– what about?"
"I thought about what you said Chloe and I agree you were right."
"Philip I,"
" No let me finish. I do have this tendency not to tell you things when I think you'll be hurt by the truth. I'm not saying that it's right for me to keep things from you. But, you know my family history was like. Bad things always happened and someone always ended up hurt. So I sort of started protecting my mother, my father and you so that you wouldn't be hurt. I just want to keep people I love from getting hurt so I've kept some things I shouldn't have quiet. I kept the investigator and everything he had found out about Jarod a secret to protect you because I can't bear to see you hurt."
Chloe pushed her hair away from her face to keep it from blowing into her field of vision. She was caught off guard by Philip's honesty. "Yes, but it's the secrets and the fact that you kept them from me that hurt the most. I appreciate you trying to protect me and maybe on some level I wanted it so I wouldn't have to face the truth. I realized a lot of things about myself Philip that you never knew. One of the things is that it's really hard for me to except your protection Philip or anyone's for that matter because of the way I grew up." Philip nodded understanding completely. "Another thing is that because of the way I grew up I prefer not being protected by you like I'm some fragile child who can't handle the truth. Because I'm not I'm an adult capable of handling a lot of things." She looked at him then searching his face for understanding. "If I can handle giving birth to twins then I can handle anything."
Philip smiled. "I was there too helping you just like I will be with this baby."
"That's precisely my point, precisely what I want you to do, Philip. Help me deal with the pain or the things that will hurt me. Don't hide them from me." She grabbed his arm. "Don't protect me by not being honest with me, by not telling me the truth. Tell me the truth and then help me deal with it. That's all I want from you I want you to be honest to me."
"That's all it would take?" He asked hesitantly as if he expected something to go along with that. Chloe nodded. "Chloe I don't know if I can stop trying to protect you all at once. But I will try, I will do whatever I can be more open and honest with you."
"That's all I want, Philip for you to try."
"But I know just saying I will isn't enough."
"No Philip it's good for a start."
"It's not and I know it's not. Since I need to tell you this anyway, now's as good a time as any. That investigator that hired is now looking for Emilia Amodeo aka Nonna Amodeo, the woman who brought Jarod to the US and back to us. He hasn't found her yet but he's got some leads he's still looking into."
"How long has he bee searching?"
"Since Friday." Philip took her hand in his and kissed it. "You're not mad are you?"
"No I'm not. I was going to ask you to do that anyway. But I wanted to talk to Jarod about her first." Chloe replied not feeling any anger about him not telling her this at all.
"We can ask him later, wh––," Philip was interrupted from speaking as a bucket of water was poured over him and Chloe. Jarod and Dominic were the culprits. Philip stood up sputtering as he held out a hand to pull Chloe up. Jessica and Ariana had taken this time to walk up and join in the brothers laughing at their now wet parents. "Okay this means someone's going to get it." Philip said as he and both started to chase their children into the water. Thereby officially starting the family vacation.