Chapter 20

As they left the restaurant a couple of photographers scurried out from behind the trees and took some pictures.

“Not so close,” Tobias heard one of the security men warn them. These were things he had become used to but would Savannah put up with this? Would she want to subject Jacob to this?

“Don’t mind them,” he said, as they walked hand in hand again, along the streets as darkness fell. Their time together was flying past and now he wished they had longer. He had mentioned a few places to visit, but she’d shown no interest in any clubs, or bars, and except for a private sailing trip around Biscayne Bay, most of their time had been spent at his house, outside on the sun-loungers, relaxing by the pool.

They didn’t need to be out, doing things in order to enjoy the day. The luxury of spending time alone together was more than enough. The only intrusion in this idyll had been phone calls. Candace and Matthias knew better than to disturb him with trivial matters.

Work hadn’t been the problem.

It had been his mother. Surprisingly, he hadn’t heard from Xavier and he felt sure his brother would have known by now about him and Savannah. When his cell went off again, his insides locked and he dreaded seeing his mother’s name on the caller display. She’d called a few times. Five, to be exact and being with Savannah and not wanting the intrusion, he’d let it go to voicemail.

But now he couldn’t not answer it.

Not when it was his dad calling; phone calls from his father weren’t as easy to send to voicemail.

“Hi, Dad,” He turned to Savannah and shrugged. After the usual polite greetings, his father cut right in. “The papers have nothing but news of the new woman in your life, Son. Is it true?”

“It’s true.”

Ellery Stone made a satisfactory grunt. “That’s all I needed to know. It was more your Mother who wanted to make sure.” With those few words his father absolved himself of the reason for his call.

“You can tell Mom not to worry.”

“I’ll do that. Your mother wanted to know if this is the lady with the son?” Tobias drew his mouth into a straight line and swallowed. He could almost see his mother in the background, whispering. “Don’t put her on, Dad. I’m with Savannah.” He felt the gentle tug of Savannah’s hand. She made a face, obviously wondering why they were talking about her.

“She’s not here. She’s out playing Bridge with the ladies from the Club.” Tobias breathed easier. His father was wise and sensible, and calling when the coast was clear.

“Then please be sure to tell her that it is.”

“Your mother doesn’t mean to interfere,” said his father, “She worries about you, Tobias. If you’re happy, I’m happy. Don’t worry about your Mother’s meddling. She has too much free time on her hands and not enough things to keep her busy.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Tobias replied, amused.

“I’ll let her know I spoke to you and that the world hasn’t ended.”

“Thanks.”

“Will we get to meet your new friend sometime?”

“We’ll see.”

“What was that about?” Savannah asked, when he hung up.

“The news spreads, and my parents wanted official confirmation that we were together.”

“What was it that you didn’t want to discuss in front of me?”

“Nothing. I thought my mother might be hovering in the background and I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her right now. She can be a little trying sometimes.”

“Trying?”

“She’s an acquired taste,” Tobias explained. “Harmless, but definitely an acquired taste.”

Savannah looked at him, unsure. “Acquired taste?”

“You’ll see when you meet her. I won’t subject you to them yet, don’t worry. I’ve learned from my brother’s experience.”

They continued walking and came across another sprawling estate which was set back from the street and gated, as they all were on this private road. But the front of the mansion glowed and was brightly lit up in brilliant purple. A party was in full swing and the music, loud and electric, blasted out into the night. Walking past, they turned and stared at the building which was only five minutes from his home. Tobias cocked his head to listen then smiled as he recognized the tune. The synthesizer chords and pulsing kick-drum of the song vibrated in the air—it was one of his favorites. Prince’s ‘Little Red Corvette’ screamed out towards the heavens; the singer’s vocal acrobatics electrified the night sky, touching it with its magic. Then music faded as they walked away and the night was silent again.

Once inside, and as his security men patrolled outside, checking the perimeter of the building.

They walked through the house to the back where Tobias opened the doors to the gardens and the pool. “Let’s sit out here for a while,” he suggested, turning on the outside lights which illuminated the pool and the area around it. In the balmy night the pool lights glittered like stars. He loved his exotic garden with its gurgling water features and delicately fringed plants. It centered him, giving him a sense of calm that was hard to find elsewhere. These past few days he and Savannah had spent most of the time out here, by the pool. It was where they’d eaten most of their meals.

This was one of his favorite places away from New York, not only because of the weather, but because it was on the waterfront and there was water all around. After spending so much time cooped up inside, either in his office, or his apartment, being able to sit outside and work, or do nothing—a rarity for him—was something he enjoyed.

They settled down on one of the super-sized sun-loungers, the size of a double bed. Tobias lay back as Savannah curled into him. He loved it when she rested her head in the crook of his arm. It was how they slept most of the time.

They lay back, enjoying the peace and tranquility as light danced on the water surface of the pool.

“Are you thinking about Jacob?” he asked, breathing in the scent of her hair.

“I spoke to him earlier, when you’d gone for your run. He’s having a great time. My parents are over-indulging him and spoiling him rotten.”

“I can’t imagine Jacob ever being a spoiled child. You’ve done well the way you’ve brought him up.”

“It hasn’t always been easy but I’m glad we got away.”

“Got away?”

“Left North Carolina.”

“I’m glad you left North Carolina.”

“It was worth it, making the new start.”

“Was it hard? Getting away?”

“I should have done it sooner,” she said. “I tried to, many times, but I was powerless. It wasn’t easy with a young child and I had no money, no savings and I didn’t want to tell my parents too much. They’d only worry.” His gut tightened as he listened to her. “It was the biggest help having my parents close by, but I kept things from them. I never told them about what really went on.”

“And what was that?”

At first she was silent, and he felt the vise tighten around his chest, as if it was stopping the air from getting into his lungs. “Uh, you know, the fighting.”

The fighting?

“Not all the time. He wasn’t always physically rough,” she said quickly. “He was never like that before.” She was making excuses for him. He didn’t like that either. “It started when he lost his job and then he grew bitter and frustrated when he couldn’t find anything else.” She stopped talking, letting silence fill the air. “It only happened when he’d had too much to drink. But it was as if he hated the sight of me, as if it belittled him that I was out earning money and still had a job.”

“Why couldn’t he find work?”

“It wasn’t easy,” she replied, and he could hear the defense in her voice. A chill iced over his skin. Hitting a woman was easier? He managed to stop himself from responding and instead listened while she told him of how her ex had lost his job and had never recovered from it; how he’d scraped by on odd jobs as a handyman.

“He resented me for still having a job and being able to support us. Then we would fight. It was mainly verbal in the beginning, and it was only later, with the drink that he would lash out at me. While Jacob was a baby, it didn’t matter.”

Didn’t matter? Tobias listened, tried to make his breathing work harder, because the vise clamped inside him would not open. He held her tighter, his jaw solid as he gritted his teeth. “But surely Jacob must have been frightened of him?”

“He was too young to be frightened. In the beginning, he was a toddler, but when he turned three the fighting would make him cry.”

“And the fighting…” He forced himself to ask, needing to know, yet not wanting to at the same time. “How bad?”

“I don’t remember. It wasn’t all the time. It was mainly shouting and him pushing me around. But one time, I remember.” She paused, for more than a few moments. “One time it was real bad. I stubbed out his cigarette because Jacob suffered. He had problems with asthma from a young age, and I couldn’t get Colt to stop smoking. So I got really mad and I stubbed out his cigarette and he got angry. His hand was like a rock across my face. I couldn’t go to work for days because I didn’t want anyone to know and I didn’t want my parents to see me. I used to leave Jacob with them.”

He hugged her to him, hugged her tighter than ever, as if he couldn’t bear to let her go. “Do you know what I remember most about it?” she asked him. “Not how much it hurt, but the look on Jacob’s face. He must have been three, I think, or just under, but he was old enough to know something bad had happened. That’s what I remember about that night. The look on Jacob’s face.”

“So you left him?”

“Not then, but I learned not to make a noise. I learned to take the punches quietly.” Her words settled over him like metal chains, cold and heavy.

“But one day he ended up hitting Jacob by accident. I’d been putting him to sleep and we both dozed off on the bed. Colt was beside me when I awoke and we wrestled. His hand slipped and instead of hitting me, he smacked Jacob by accident instead. That was the day I decided enough was enough.”

“Why was he trying to hit you when you were sleeping?”

She shifted in arms, but this time he wasn’t going to let her escape easily. “Savannah?”

“Because…he…”

Tobias knew. His mouth ran dry.

“Because he wanted sex and I didn’t.” His thoughts, like metal splinters, shot outwards in all directions, imagining the situation, seeing her and Jacob as a baby, powerless to do anything. He grit his teeth together so tightly that his entire body hardened. “I left him that day. I went to my parents and still I didn’t tell them everything, I didn’t need to, but I stayed with them for a while and slowly turned my life around.”

He heard how she’d moved to Pennsylvania then to New York to look after her cousin’s apartment, in order to get away and start afresh with a new life for her and Jacob. The insides of his stomach turned hot, like molten metal. He heard her words but they faded away, as his mind lingered in the frightened, dark places of her past life. “I’m sorry this happened to you,” he said.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I’m still sorry. You don’t deserve this. No woman does.”

“It’s all over now,” she said, staring back at him as he kept his arms firmly around her back. He knew there was more to it and he wasn’t sure how he would be able to listen to but he would, because he wanted to know everything.

“Things have turned around for me. I like to think that we turned a corner.” She had turned a corner. She was here and she was his, and she would never again know that kind of life. He could never bear to see her hurt again, or the boy he had come to love as his own. He would make sure of it.

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Savannah. You and Jacob, you’re going to be fine. Nobody will ever lay a finger on either of you again, and your ex,” he swallowed, “he’s out of your life now. Forget about him.”

In the dusky hue of the amber colored pool lights, her eyes glittered as she stared back at him. He ran his hand down her arms, pressing her closer to him. “I’ll keep you safe,” he vowed.

“I believe you.”

He had the money, the security, the wealth and the power, and he would make it so.