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He clasped his hands together and leaned forward in his chair, his clear blue eyes leveled at the younger man. “I realize that you’ll be grieving for a while, but you need to come to some kind of terms with what has happened, and you need to let your father go enough that he doesn’t occupy your mind so much. There are other things at hand that need your attention.”
Derrick glanced down a moment and folded his fingers together. He had expected that someone would be along with some kind of patronizing phrase like that at some point. Get it together, Derrick; you have a lot of responsibility now, Derrick; you can’t keep grieving forever; you have to come back and face the real world. He wondered if he had expected people to begin saying it to him because it was true.
“I know you’re right,” he sighed, looking back up at his father’s best friend. “It’s just hard to let him go at all.” He felt the familiar knot harden in his throat as tears stung the back of his eyes and threatened to flood his vision.
Franklin gave him a nod. “I know it is. I was your father’s best friend almost all of our lives. I know it’s difficult. You don’t have to let him go completely; neither of us do. Neither of us ever will. You can keep him in your heart, but you do have to set your mind to the things that need your attention now. You have to focus on the future, my boy. That’s what I’m here for today.”
Derrick’s thoughts shifted slightly for the first time since his father had passed away. His eyes and his mind both pivoted to Franklin Van Buren. The slightest tingle of curiosity sparked, and for the first time in days, he found that something other than the loss of his father had piqued his interest.
“What is it? Can I help you with anything?” he asked, realizing that he had been selfishly locking himself away from anyone else who might be grieving over his father. It occurred to him that he might be able to help Franklin, and that in doing so, it may ease some of his own pain.
Franklin smiled gently. “Well, son, it’s partly for me, but it’s for many more than just me, and it’s for yourself as well. We need to look at some of the business that your father and I were working on, and we need to talk about your personal future as well. What have you and your father discussed regarding the change in ownership of the company? Have you talked to Levinson?”
Levinson was the family attorney. Derrick shook his head and shrugged. “I’ve met with them a couple of times. I’ve signed some paperwork. They said I’d be inheriting everything, but… I guess I thought that any inheritance would be decades away. So much further in the future. I never paid too much attention to anything that they had me sign or to what they were telling me. I know how the business runs because dad had me working it with him often, but he didn’t go into too much detail about any of his business dealings or what was going on currently with it. I guess he must have thought that he would be around a lot longer too. There was no way that either of us could have known that he would be gone so quickly.”
The hard knot formed again, and Derrick struggled to swallow it. He cleared his throat and looked away from Franklin.
Franklin was polite and looked away from him as well, at least for a moment. “Derrick,” he replied in a steady, paternal-sounding voice. “Your father and I have been working on merging all of our companies. We have some of them already merged, as you are likely well aware, but we wanted to get all of them brought together to make one large company. Were you aware of that?”
Derrick felt sickened, thinking how wrong it was that he should have to be handling any of his father’s business. It should be his father sitting in the chair before the desk in the library, talking to Franklin about his business. It should be his father taking care of all of the loose ends and dealings with the business. His father should still be there. He tried to force himself to let go of all of the thoughts that were convoluting his mind.
His father should be there, but he wasn’t, and he never would be again. Derrick did have responsibilities looking him in the face, and he had to find a way to let go of the pain that was binding him and face what was coming at him at the speed of life.
“I didn’t know about any of the business that you two were doing together, if I’m being honest. Why were you putting all of the businesses together? Why the total merger?” Somewhere in the back of Derrick’s mind, a thought caught itself and wouldn’t budge. It struck him as slightly odd that his father would actively attempt to put all of his business in conjunction with Franklin’s. It was true that he had had many partnered businesses with Franklin, but Derrick had heard his father say many times over the years that it was vital not to put all of one’s eggs in a single basket, and to him, it seemed as if combining all of their businesses into one would be doing just that.
Franklin smiled tightly, and it crossed Derrick’s mind that the hard smile looked as if it was some kind of a door that was shut firmly, keeping all that was behind it hidden away. “I must admit, I’m a little disappointed that he hadn’t discussed the total merger with you, but it is in the works. There are many reasons that we decided to do it, but one of the biggest reasons is because of you and Felicia.”
Derrick blinked. He couldn’t begin to guess why Felicia had anything to do with his father’s businesses. She was Franklin’s daughter. He and Felicia had grown up together since they were born. They had been friends and had even shared a couple of youthful romantic flings together in their teens and a few times in college, but there was nothing that was coming to his mind as to why Franklin and Andrew might have had any business arrangement that might concern Felicia.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What is it that brings Felicia into this at all?” he asked as sorrow began to cloud his thoughts again.
Franklin leaned forward further and rested his hands on the desk between them. “Son, from the time that you and Felicia were both little babes playing together with your toys, your father and I have been planning on the two of you marrying and combining our families as well as our businesses. We’ve both felt that bringing you two together and merging the businesses would give you both the strongest future… together. It’s what we’ve been working for nearly all your lives. We fully expect you and Felicia to marry and take over the businesses together as one. Now, with Andrew gone, I feel that it is my duty to make certain that that happens. We want children born to you both, and soon, especially now that he’s gone. It seems more important than ever that the legacy live on both within our families and our businesses.”
He watched Derrick closely with his old blue eyes. Derrick felt his stomach harden into a knot. “Marry Felicia? But… we aren’t even dating. I don’t know if she’s even with anyone else right now.”
“She wants to be w
ith you, son; she’s always wanted it. She loves you. You know that. We let you get your wild oats sowed in college… kind of exploring the field a little as a man will do, but you’re grown now. You’re an adult. It’s time to take over the business. It’s time to settle down and think about taking a wife and starting a family. It’s time for you to get serious about yourself and your life. You have no choice any longer. Your days of freedom left with your father’s passing. Now is the time when you must face your responsibilities. You take Felicia now, you marry her, and you start a family with her. That’s what your father wanted, and that’s what I want. It’s what Felicia has wanted most of her life. We’ll bring the businesses together. We’ll create an unbreakable empire. My wealth and yours, my daughter as your wife, you as my son, and we will forge a family that will be stronger than almost any other on the east coast. That’s the next step, Derrick. That’s the plan.” He smiled again, though his eyes were serious.
Derrick felt as if his entire life had somehow flashed before his eyes as he was sitting there. Marriage. He hadn’t even considered it. He was twenty-seven. Marriage hadn’t even been a flicker at the back of his mind. He hadn’t fallen in love with anyone. He hadn’t felt as if there was anyone that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
“Franklin,” he began with quiet uncertainty, “I’m not exactly sure that I’m the right man for her.” He didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t in love with her; speaking those words to her father seemed like such a cold thing to admit to. But he wasn’t sure that marrying her would be the right road for him, and he wanted her father to know it.
Franklin’s eyes narrowed slightly, and his voice grew deep. “You are the right man for her. There is no doubt in my mind about that. There was no doubt in your father’s mind, either. In fact, he was so certain that it would be right for you both that he left your mother’s wedding ring with me so that I could give it to you when the time was right so that you could propose to Felicia.”
He reached into his pocket, slid out a black velvet box, and handed it to Derrick. Derrick’s heart pounded as he took it from the old man’s withered hand. He held it in his fingers and stared at it for a long, silent moment.
“Well, go on, open it up,” Franklin urged him, his old eyes shifting from the box to Derrick.
Derrick’s breath was held tight in his chest, and it felt as if he couldn’t inhale or exhale at all while the realization of just what Franklin was asking him gripped him. Slowly, he reached his free hand to the box and lifted the lid of it, and the sight of the beautiful diamond ring inside it made him gasp. It was his mother’s wedding ring, as Franklin had said, though Derrick hadn’t seen it since it was on his mother’s hand when she was alive.
“I didn’t know my father had given it to you…” he whispered as he looked at it wistfully. Thoughts of his mother flooded his mind, and again, his throat tightened.
Franklin shook his head. “No, son. Your father didn’t give it to me. He’s giving it to you. I was only holding it until the time was right to give it to you so that you could give it to Felicia and ask her to marry you. The time is right. This is what your father wanted. Hell, for that matter, this is what your mother wanted as well. We all want it. You and Felicia are meant to be. You’re made for each other. It’s a perfect match. It’s all any of us have ever wanted; that and for the two estates and businesses to come together the way that you two kids will, and everything will be combined as one.”
Derrick hesitated and glanced back up at Franklin with a strong look of uncertainty. “I realize that you’ve all been planning this for years and that you think it would be best if she and I…” he began, but Franklin cut him off.
“We have been planning it for years because it is for the best. It’s exactly what we always wanted, and now it’s time to make it happen. Don’t disappoint poor little Felicia, don’t disappoint me, and for heaven’s sake, do not disappoint your late father. This is what he wanted for you; this is his dream for you and for her, to have your futures sewn together. Now, you take that ring, and you ask my daughter to marry you. You do it soon. You have all the responsibility of running your estate and the businesses, and it’s time to take up that yoke and do it, and the best woman to have at your side is my daughter, my Felicia. She’s been groomed for it all of her life, to take her place at your side. Now, do as your father has always wanted you to do—obey him, respect his wishes, and marry Felicia.”
