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Gregory chuckled. “He’d let you, too. If he and I were together, this would be a disrespect I wouldn’t tolerate. It’sstilla disrespect I won’t tolerate.”
“It shouldn’t be. And they know it.” She flattened her lips, distaste for her next words evident. “They want to leverage this to their benefit. I know how they are. Henry had them over far too often for me not to know what kind of men you are dealing with. I never liked most of them. They’re snakes, conniving to poison you the moment they think they have room to strike.”
“They’re welcome to try me.”
Her soft fingertips stroked the back of his hand, as they had when he’d cried over playground bullies or broken hearts as a child. “You’re a new generation, Gregory. A threat, and a beacon of hope, all wrapped up with your strength to hold them together. I’m proud of you for that. Will you listen to an old woman’s advice?”
“I would welcome it, really.”
“I grew up in times when men like those held all the power. They still hold too much of it. Men with too much money and too great a sense of their own importance, who think they can control anyone not like them. I’ve marched for my rights. I’ve marched for the rights of others, and I’ve learned, they can be beaten. But only if you know how to play the game.” Her gaze held his, still powerful, still imposing, a woman who feared no one.
He nodded once.
“You have to be a snake to understand the snakes. Know when to strike. Make your position unassailable, ensure your victory, andtheninitiate the battle. They’re small men, but they’re powerful ones, and they wouldn’t be picking this fight if they didn’t think they could win it. And from what I remember of the company workings? They can. For now.” Her hands squeezed his, weaker than they’d been when he was a child but strong enough.
“So I have to appease them.”
“You have to lure them into a false sense of security. Then you have to pull the rug out from under those fucks so fast they don’t realize they’re ass up on the floor.”
“Gran!”
“There’s a time and a place for crass language, dear.” Gran smirked. “This is one. It’s time for the board of directors to change. It’s time for thecompanyto change. Henry never had a mind for it. He had his own limitations, bless him, and his own wrong-headed ideas.”
Gregory thought of the mysterious payments and nodded. “He was a human, like the rest of us.”
“He always tried to be a good man, but his thoughts on what made a man good sometimes had holes. He gave you this company so you could lead it into the future, not leave it bogged down in the past. Make your mark, but do it the right way.”
“Such as?”
“Trying to bring them around. If that doesn’t work? Putting yourself in the position to tell those old asses to go suck eggs. Undermine them. Oust them. Henry never dealt much with the shareholders. You’re a nice, charismatic young man, though. I bet they’d enjoy talking to you.” Gran smiled. For that moment, she didn’t look old at all.
In all the years he’d spent with her, all the years he’d watched her care for his grandfather in the way wives of that generation often did, he hadn’t seen this side of her. The wolf in sheep’s clothing who watched the herd move, learned how it functioned and how it reacted to threats, and planned her strikes beneath the disguising wool of pretty dresses and hosted parties. He wondered if his grandfather realized how much she knew.
“Do you think Grandfather would approve?”
“I think it doesn’t matter. He left the company to you for a reason. But… I think if he’d wanted it to continue on as it was, Robert’s name would have been in the will instead. Have faith in yourself.” She patted his hand gently. “I do.”
His eyes misted over, and a lump formed in his throat.She always knows exactly what I need to hear. I don’t know how I’m going to manage without her. She’d scold me for saying that, too.“Thanks, Gran.”
“I’m always glad to help, Gregory. Now. I think I’d like to nap here in my chair before supper. Why don’t you go look over the list of shareholders and do a little research?”
“I think that’s a terrific idea.” He squeezed her hand, then stood up. “You sure you don’t want to lay down?”
“No. I want to fall asleep looking at my gardens, and dream about walking through them with a handsome gentleman who’s there to woo me. Or dream of one climbing up the lattice outside this window to come offer to carry me away.” She grinned up at him, still girlish at heart. “Who knows if he’ll succeed, but I think we’ll have a great deal of fun while he tries.”
A laugh escaped him, full of scandal and amusement. “You enjoy your dream suitor, and don’t tell me any more about what he intends to do. I’ll see you at supper.”
Her laughter followed him out the door. Though he’d gone in angry, at Robert, at the board of directors, at the ridiculous opinions of stodgy men who remained trapped in another era, his grandmother never failed to ease his heart.They don’t make many like her anymore. She didn’t have to love me. A grandson who isn’t even related to her by blood, who came from a stepdaughter who hated her… But she did.Because of her, he would never doubt how love could change a person, how it could shape and inspire someone to rise higher than they would have without it.
Empathy. Compassion. Understanding. And a sharp business acumen. Maybe I would have thought about the shareholders eventually, but I would have worried about stepping wrong, or screwing up my grandfather’s legacy, or offending Robert. She was protective of him still. Wonder what happened there.
Though he didn’t wonder as fervently as he expected. He pondered his willingness to leave that stone unturned as he rounded the corner to start down the stairs.Maybe Hanna is awake. I should ask her to come down to the office and sign her employment paperwork. I’d hate to make her wait for an answer. She came all this way.
He paused, turned, and took the right-hand passage away from the stairs. Seconds later, he was glad he did. A woman’s voice snarled, sneered, spoke with a condescension that enraged him even as a place within his mind, long hidden in the dark, quailed deeper into the shadows.
The anger won. He stormed into Hanna’s room. “That’s enough, Mother. If anyone is leaving Greenhill Hall, it’s you, and I will personally slam the door behind you so you don’t hit yourself in the ass with it.”
5
