Episode 103
Episode 103
Where in the World is Alana?
MEMPHIS
"Yeah, Ma, you and Dad own the house free and clear. You don't ever have to move. You'll need to pay the property taxes each year, but outside of that, your mortgages have been paid off."
"I can't…I don't…I don't understand, son. How is this possible?" Mom's voice shook after I shared the good news.
I grinned as I thought about how incredible Naomi was, battling against her father. I was still worried about what she planned to do about working for him when the month was up, but ultimately, we came to New York to get my family's home back.
"It was all Naomi. She went to war with her father and came out the victor. Their relationship, however, did not survive the battle."
"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. After meeting her parents, I could tell there was some bad blood between them, but I had hoped when the two of you left to discuss the situation things would have gotten worked out. I'm happy to have our home back darlin', don't get me wrong about that. I'm eternally grateful to Naomi for having our family's best interests at heart, but not at the risk of losing her parents. I can't live with that type of unrest on my heart. Tell me you believe things will ultimately work out between the three of them?"
"Momma, I honestly don't know. Some pretty harsh words were said between them, and I hate to admit it, but she disowned him outright. He's going to force her to work for him at his company even though he knows her heart isn't in it."
"Good Lord, that's awful."
"I agree. But ultimately, Naomi's happiness is what's important to me. She has plenty of time to work on her relationship with her family. For now, we've agreed we're focusing on our future, the wedding and my new job opportunity. And now that you own the house free and clear, we can get married as planned."
"That is music to my ears, son. And what of the job? Did you meet with the university?" she asked, nosing into my life as usual.
"I met with them this morning. They offered me the position, provided I finish my coursework before spring training. I've already got things in motion on that front too. Scheduled my online class and made sure the rest of my credits were in line with receiving my bachelor's degree. I start the class next month. Which means, after the wedding, Nay and I will have a couple weeks to honeymoon, and then move me to New York."
"Babe, I was thinking about your apartment in Georgia. We should keep it," Naomi interrupted my call.
"Ma, hold up for a sec."
"Of course, I'll be right here, listening in," she teased.
I chuckled and turned to face Naomi, who was at the table working in some design program that she used to create new jewelry.
"What were you saying, baby?" I asked.
"I know we talked about having you move to New York, and that's still the plan, but I like your apartment, and we'll need somewhere to stay when we visit the family. I imagine you'll want to take trips down to Georgia often, right?"
"Well, yeah, but…you like my place? It's a dump compared to this." I gestured around the palatial home we currently lived in.
She gave a little shrug and pursed her lips. "I like it. Reminds me of the you before me. Besides, I got used to spending time there. I don't see any reason to make a change. We can afford the yearly rent. Plus, Syd can use it when she visits too."
"Well, I think that's a dynamite idea!" Mom had clearly overheard our conversation.
"You're the boss," I winked at Nay as she rolled her eyes and shook her head, then went back to her work.
"Anyway, we'll be home in a couple days to help with the wedding plans."
"Speaking of the wedding, I'll need to know the number of guests Naomi is inviting from her side." I was about to butt in when she continued, "I know we're keeping it small. Just your sisters, and any relatives that live close, as well as the handful of friends you've mentioned, but I need a final tally from Naomi."
"I'll get back to you on the guest list once I've confirmed things with Naomi." My phone beeped, and I glanced down at the screen. It was Jade Lee from The Marriage Auction calling. For some reason, that made me excited and nervous at the same time. "Hey, Momma, I'm getting another call. I'll hit you back later. Love you."
"And I love you, son. Please tell Naomi she has our gratitude for returning our home to us. And I can't thank you both enough for paying off the mortgage in full. Your father and I…" she croaked, "we're just so appreciative and so damn proud of you, son. That's all. Talk soon. Love you. Bye." My mother hung up so fast I couldn't even respond.
I hit the button to accept Jade's call. "Hi Jade, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"
"I'm RSVPing for your wedding. I will be attending on behalf of The Marriage Auction."
I frowned. "Jade, I invited you because we're friends, not because of your job."
"Well, be that as it may, I have to inform you that I am attending as your friend but also on Madam Alana's behalf. She has a situation she is handling in France that prevents her from attending. Though she sends along her well wishes for a long and happy life together."
"Okay, now that you've got the work part out of the way…it's me Jade. You can speak freely. Is she okay?"
Jade sighed. "I don't know. I'm worried about her. She left for France with someone having threatened her and one of the other candidates."
"No shit? Who?" I started running through the list of my candidate peers, attempting to guess but coming up empty with someone who may have a shady side.
"Maia Fields," Jade answered. "But I could get in trouble for saying anything, so keep it to yourself."
"I know anything we discuss about The Marriage Auction is confidential. I'm not super familiar with her. She didn't speak much during the whole process. Dang, now I wish I'd connected more with her. She was threatened?"
"Yeah, and her place was trashed. Her bidder swooped her off her feet and they are supposedly fine now, but I know there's more to the story than what Alana has shared. She was really cagey and curt in her correspondence with me last week. She's even given me the go ahead to start working on the next set of candidates and bidders by myself."
"That's good news, right? It means she trusts you."
"Or she's got something keeping her away that she doesn't want me to know about."
I started laughing. "Seriously, Madam Alana is beloved by everyone. I can't imagine a single soul having a beef with her. It's probably one of her admirers gone rogue. I'm sure Christophe will take care of her. But in the meantime, I'll reach out. I'm actually surprised she hasn't been checking in."
"Wait a minute… She hasn't been checking in weekly with you?"
"Nah, I haven't heard a single word since we left Las Vegas."
"You see? That right there is proof something strange is going on. She always checks on the candidates. When I first started, I even offered to do the weekly check-ins, and she said she needed to hear their voices herself. Make sure every candidate was okay. Now you're saying she didn't check in."
"Maybe it's because she knows me better than the others? I'd contact one of the other candidates to see if they've heard from her. Is she responding to communications?"
"We haven't had anything pressing in the last week, so I didn't need to reach out."
"Give her a call and maybe check in with Julianne. That's her goddaughter, right?"
"Oh my God!" Naomi screamed. "Memphis, you need to see this!" Naomi was pointing at her laptop. "Put the phone on speaker. It's important." Her eyes were wild and her face pale.
"What is it?" I got up from the barstool I was perched on in the kitchen and went to the table.
"I got bored of designing so I thought I'd read the latest news…" She pointed to an article in The New York Times .
My heart started pounding as I read the paragraph out loud.
"It has been revealed that business mogul Giovanni Falco, the heir to the Falco dynasty and his new bride, Julianne, were two of the three persons that perished in last week's mid-town explosion. The other victim was real estate magnate Brenden Myers…"
"What the fuck! Julianne and Giovanni are dead? Jade, Jade, did you hear that?" I slumped into the chair next to Naomi. Visions of Julianne's bright red hair and big blue eyes flooded my mind.
"I need to go," Jade's voice was barely a whisper. "I need to get in touch with Alana now," she said and hung up.
"Baby…" Naomi reached for my hands. "I'm so sorry. I knew Giovanni as an acquaintance in business, but we weren't close. Were you close to Julianne?"
I shook my head. "Not really. I mean, she was in the auction, but more than anything, I'm worried about Alana. From what I understood, Julianne was her goddaughter and Giovanni her friend. She'd be devastated right now, and what's worse is Jade hasn't really talked to Alana in over a week. And the fact that Alana hasn't been doing her check-ins. I mean, has she called you at all?"
Naomi shook her head. "I know she mentioned that calls and pop-ins were likely, but frankly with all that we had going on, I'd forgotten about it entirely. I'm so sorry. This is awful."
"It is. I just can't believe it. The story says it was an explosion."
Naomi got up from her chair and slid into my lap sideways, her arms around my neck. She hugged me, and I held on to her for a solid few minutes, letting all the information we'd just received soak in as I tried to make sense of it all.
"I need to call some of the girls. Dakota, Faith, Ruby, or Savannah might have an idea of what's going on. Plus, they'll want to be there for Alana as she's grieving. Shit, we should probably go to the funeral. Did the article say anything about a funeral?"
Naomi shook her head. "No, it didn't, but these were really rich people. If they announced where the funeral was taking place, a bunch of whackos might try to attend, to find a way into the family."
"Seriously?"
"Money brings out the weirdos, baby. I don't know what to tell you."
I kissed her pretty lips and then patted her thigh. She took the hint and got out of my lap. "Do you want a drink? I sure could use a drink after hearing all this."
"Yeah, I'm thinking a beer and a shot."
"Tequila or whiskey."
"It's definitely a whiskey moment."
"You got it." She bent toward me again and pecked my lips. "I'm really sorry to hear about your…um…coworker?" Her lips puckered. "No, that isn't right. Your peer. I'll send up a little prayer that they find peace at the foot of God."
"I love you, Nay."
"I love you, too. Now call your girlfriends ." She used a silly high-pitched voice when saying the word "girlfriends."
"They are my friends that happen to be girls, not my girlfriends . I mean, they are but… Ah, shit, you know what I mean. You're twisting it up for the fun of it."
"But you're no longer frowning, so that means I win. Call your friends. I hope they have some answers about Alana too."
I pulled up my contact list. I would have called Ruby first because I know her and Alana became really close, but the time difference in London would put them in bed right now. So I pulled up the next best person I could think of and dialed.
"If you think I'm dragging this ginormous body all the way to Georgia to attend your wedding to ‘God's answer to beautiful women', you've got a screw loose."
"Hey, Dakota, how's pregnant life?" I quipped.
"It fucking sucks. I can't wear any of my clothes, I've taken to wearing my husband's sweats and flannels."
"You know, there is this thing called maternity clothes…"
"And waste money on clothes I'm never going to wear again? You're outta your mind." She huffed. "God, I wish they'd get out of me already."
"How much longer do you have?" I asked.
"Next question!" she snapped.
I chuckled at her outburst. "All right, little mama, I'll leave it be. Are you really not coming to the wedding?"
"Ugh, I'm not allowed," she whined. "Sutton put the smack down because the doctor says it's dangerous to travel in my third trimester. I planned on making that fancy wife of yours send a plane."
"She would absolutely do that, but I'm with your man. Doctors are doctors for a reason, my friend."
"But I can't even make fun of you in your penguin suit. Another con to pregnancy! Add that to the tally," she hollered. "And while you're at it, can you make me a peanut butter sandwich with Lay's potato chips in the center. Peanut butter on both sides!"
"Woman, you just ate lunch," I heard Sutton gripe from somewhere in the background.
Oh Lord, he was risking his life…
"Yeah, and that meal fed one of your children. There's still me and Baby B, so hop to it!" she demanded.
"We don't have anymore Lay's. Will Ruffles do?"
"Are you honestly asking me that?" Dakota hissed.
"I'm headed to the store now. Anything else you and our girls need?" Sutton murmured.
"Not at the moment, but if I think of something, I'll text. Wait…as a matter of fact, gummy bears. And make sure the package has a lot of red ones. Those are the best."
"For fucks sake." I heard Sutton grumble then the sound of a kiss.
She finally came back to the call. "Sorry, these cravings are ridiculous, Memphis."
"Sounds like it."
"So, yeah, no to wedding attendance. And I doubt Savannah and Erik can come because they're in Norway with Jack and Summer doing the whole adopting their friends' kid thing."
"Shoot. How is all that working out?"
"Jack lost a friend and is now a dad to a two-year-old. How do you think it's going?" Dakota said dryly.
"Good point. Hey, subject change. I was wondering if you'd heard from Alana lately?"
Dakota groaned and whispered, "Calm down, your sammie is coming, little bug," before she got back to my question. "You know, it's weird, she usually calls or texts me daily. The damn woman always wants me to send her a weekly picture of the twins. Which means a picture of me looking fat and bloated in my ill-fitting clothes. Now that I think about it, it's been a couple weeks. Weird."
"Okay, no big deal. I'll check in with Faith and Ruby. Wanted to get a count for the wedding," I lied. The last thing Dakota needed was to worry about Alana when she had two small humans growing inside her, demanding all of her attention. "Keep me posted on the twins. I fully plan to be a regular part of their lives."
"You building a house in Montana too? Jeez. Seems like everyone else is. We've got homes being built for Alana and Christophe, Irene and Henrik, Savannah and Erik, might as well start a commune."
"I don't know about all that, but I'll run it by my fiancée and get back to you," I laughed. "Take care of yourself and don't be too hard on Sutton. The guy is trying."
"Um, hold the fuck up. You're my friend first. You're on my side. But I hear you. He is doing everything for me. Waiting on me hand and foot. It's annoying as fuck. He doesn't want me walking too far. Won't let me ride the horses. He's even uncomfortable with me using the ATVs to get between houses. Says I need to use the truck. To hell in a handbasket. I'm pregnant, my legs aren't broken."
That had me laughing harder. "Boy, does he have his hands full with you."
"And there is so much more of me too!"
"Stop it! You're killing me, lady," I chuckled louder.
"Hey, you happy, Memphis? This Naomi woman treating you right?"
At that moment Naomi set a double shot of whiskey in front of me with a cold bottle of beer.
"Oh, she's taking care of me alright," I grinned up at my beautiful woman.
"Are you happy? Do I need to kick some ass? Don't let my size or disposition fool you. I'm an ace at gutting fish and have a lot of unchartered property to hide a body…"
"Fuckin' hell! Yes, D, I'm happy. She's everything. The whole damn package. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her."
"The rest, eh? Not just the three years?"
"Nope. We're marrying for love and life. The contract means jack shit at this point," I confirmed.
"That's what I was hoping to hear. All right, well, send Barbie my best."
"Barbie?" I looked Naomi up and down. She was made exceptionally well.
"Have you looked at your woman? She's absolutely perfect, so yeah, Barbie for the win, you lucky fucker."
Naomi slapped her hand over her mouth because she could hear what Dakota said and couldn't hold her laughter back.
"Good point. Take care of you and those babies, and tell them Uncle Memphis loves them."
"Will do. Now I gotta text Sutton. I'm suddenly in desperate need of a big package of Funyuns to go with my peanut butter and Lay's sandwich."
"Gross. Good luck!"
"To you as well. See you when these girls make their appearance."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
I ended the call smiling.
"So, all it takes to get you smiling is a pregnant woman? Gives a girl some crazy ideas." Naomi lifted her shot and I did the same. "Bottoms up!"
I made a few calls and left messages for Faith, Ruby, and Savannah and of course, Alana. There was nothing else I could do but wait and get shitfaced with my Barbie, while I wondered where in the world was Alana?