After Lucy returned to her office to meet with a designer who she had an appointment with, Harry remained with Tom in his office.
Tom raised a brow when he noticed how Harry was staring at him instead of leaving too, "What? Why are you not leaving too?" Tom asked, and Harry scoffed.
"Did you think I wouldn't find out?" Harry asked with a raised brow, and Tom looked back at him blankly.
"Find out about what?" Tom asked and Harry gave him a pointed look.
"That you had given a call to most of the branch directors outside the country to know if your attention was needed anywhere. And then you made them call me to lay a complaint so that I would ask you, and you could in turn offer to travel in my stead because you knew I wouldn't be able to travel right now," Harry said, and Tom shrugged.
"So?"
"So don't tell me that was the grand plan you had to win Lucy's heart? Distance? Really? Sometimes I can't believe you!" Harry said with a shake of his head.
"Well, it worked. Or at least it was working before this whole stupid Kimberly and Dawn stuff put an end to it," Tom said, annoyed that he had fallen for the stupid prank.
He should have insisted that the kid wasn't his especially since he knew for a fact that he had used a condom. And now that he was thinking straight he recalled that he hardly ever released inside any of the ladies despite wearing a condom and he always made sure to flush the condoms.
How could he have lost his head over Kimberly's claims so easily? Had he been that desperate for a child?
Harry shook his head, "Well, it's a good thing this happened to bring you back to your senses. Staying away for weeks or months would have done nothing good for your relationship. Some times I doubt your brain works so well when you think about your relationship with Lucy. That is assuming you have a brain to begin with," Harry said and Tom scowled.
"Now you're a relationship expert?" Tom asked dryly.
"Yes, I am. So, take my advice and stop coming up with stupid plans to make her change her mind or anything. By the way, I think your grandfather visited them immediately after he left Ludus. Did something happen during your family dinner to make him think he needed to prank you with something like this?" Harry asked, and Tom frowned as he thought about it.
Harry was right. He had traveled the very next day after dinner with their grandfather. Now that he thought about it his grandfather had left Ludus that night after the family dinner saying he had to make a stop to visit an old friend before leaving for his next humanity saving adventure. While he on the other hand had left the next evening after the close of work.
"I'm not sure. He did ask about our marital plans and I made it clear it's not in my plan. He didn't seem bothered by that. I see no reason why he should be or why that should prompt him to do something like this," Tom said, and Harry sighed as he glanced at his wristwatch.
It would be noon soon. He wondered if Mia was going to show up or not.
"You Hanks are a handful. I guess you all got your meddling character from your grandfather. It's good to see that you're at the receiving end of the meddling of a Hank," Harry said with a shake of his head as he rose.
"Too bad you're romantically involved with one now so you should get ready for a life time of having your affairs being needles upon," Tom said with a scowl and Harry grinned.
"Too bad I'm drawn to you Hanks. But it's a little price to pay for having your sister. I can live with that. I'm sure it's not too late to congratulate you on not being a dad. Maybe when you stop being so pissed we can toast to that. I'm going to take care of company business now while I leave you to take care of your meddling family business," Harry said as he headed for the door.
Once Harry left, Tom took a deep breath and paced around his office to work of some steam before dialing his grandfather's line.
As angry as he was, he didn't want to end up saying stuff he might regret later. He would rather have this serious conversation with a clear head, not one clouded with anger.
"Hello, Thomas! To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" Lawrence Hank greeted the moment he received Tom's call and Tom scowled.
"We both know why I am calling. And I'd appreciate it if you don't insult my intelligence any further and go straight to the point by telling me why you felt the need to do something so unwarranted and annoying," Tom said, and Lawrence Hank sighed.
"Think of it as a harmless prank…"
"DID YOU JUST CALL THAT A HARMLESS PRANK?" Tom yelled angrily and Lawrence had to pull the phone away from his ear a bit.
Tom shut his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself, "In what world is something like that a harmless prank? I can't believe you got that little girl involved in your act. What are you thinking?" Tom asked in a gruff voice.
"You are upset. I get it. I'm sorry. If you can't think of it as a stupid prank from your bored old grandfather…"
"NO! I can't! I won't. I need an explanation. What exactly was your plan? If the plan director had done what you wanted and given me a fake result what else would you have pulled? What did you stand to gain by making your own grandson believe something like that?" Tom asked irritably.
"Alright. Calm down. Okay? You were going to be told the truth eventually…"
"Eventually when? After I must have bonded with the kid? Or after my relationship might have been ruined?" Tom asked and his grandfather raised a brow.
"Was something like this capable of ruining your relationship?" Lawrence asked and Tom paused when something occurred to him.
"Is that it? Was it your plan to make this come between Lucy and I so that we would break up and then I would get married to Kimberly thinking the kid is mine?" Tom asked, and to his surprise Lawrence chuckled.
"Your imagination is quite funny. It's not as serious as that, okay? Besides, Kim would never have wanted something like that to happen. Although there was a time when I hoped you would get married to Kimberly, but that was so long ago. I thought you would make a good pair and wanted to matchmake you two but your parents wouldn't hear of it. Especially your father. You know how he behaves when I try to get involved in your lives…"
"Rightfully so. After what you just did, I can't blame him," Tom muttered, but then became curious about the former part of his statement.
"Did you say you wanted to matchmake us? When?" Tom asked, and his grandfather sighed.
"A long time ago while you were still in college. Don't you remember Kimberly? I've mentioned her a couple of times in the past. I even showed you her picture once. Besides, I was the one who invited her to the hotel opening. She was having a hard time after her fiancé deserted her so I and her parents encouraged her to go out," Lawrence said, and Tom frowned.
"Does that mean she knew who I was even then?" Tom asked in confusion.
"No, she didn't. She had seen pictures of you as a child on my phone but none of your adult self. I doubt she could have recognized you. Maybe if you told her your name she would have known. She called me a couple of weeks ago after she watched the interview to tell me she met you at the night of the hotel opening," Lawrence explained.
"You both must be very close for her to tell you something like that," Tom observed.
"Yes, we are. She is just like a daughter to me. I would have said granddaughter, but Jade wouldn't like that," Lawrence said with a smile.
"But that still doesn't explain why you both did what you did," Tom said, bringing them back to the conversation.
"Well, when she called to say she had met you, but she didn't tell me anything happened between you two. We joked about it and made thought nothing more out of it. And then after my dinner with the family some days ago, I stopped over to visit her family since I haven't seen them in a couple of years. I was stunned when I saw her kid. The little girl looked so much like you and I thought she was actually yours. Especially since she told me she had crossed paths with you…"
"If she is like a daughter to you shouldn't you have seen the kid all this while or known who the father was?" Tom asked, and Lawrence sighed.
"Being like a daughter to me doesn't make her my daughter, does it? I keep tabs on you because you're my family. It would be weird to do the same with her, don't you think? Besides, she had the child through artificial insemination. Got the sperm from a sperm bank…"
"So, the child doesn't really have a father?" Tom asked with a frown, thinking that must have been the reason she had easily played along with her mother's act.
"Yes. She decided she never wanted to get involved with any man after that experience."
"So, when do we get to the part where you tell me why you decided to do something like this?" Tom asked impatiently and his grandfather sighed.
"While I was visiting with them your mother called me…"
"My mother?" Tom asked with a frown wondering why his mother was being mentioned in this.
"Yes. She was very worried about what you said during dinner. She said she couldn't sleep all through the night and since your father was not bothered by your decision I was the only one she could talk to. She was scared you really might not want to get married anymore and she wanted me to maybe talk you out of ruining your life by doing something you might regret," Lawrence explained.
Tom's brows pulled together as he tried to make the calculations in his head to know if she had talked to Lawrence before coming to see him in his office with the pregnancy kit or after.
It would make more sense that she had spoken to his grandfather before he told her about Lucy.
"She wanted you to talk me out of it? Am I missing something or did she forget that you are not family oriented?" Tom asked incredulously.
Lawrence was silent for a moment, "Your mother knows me best. Don't you think the world would have been very lonely for me at this age if I didn't have you all in my life, even if I only visit every once in a while? I wasn't a good father to your father, and it wasn't because I didn't want to. I just didn't know how to be. The only reason I often say if I had known better I would never have gotten married is because I hate to see how my actions and inactions has affected my relationship with my only son. However, the truth is if I had the chance to go back in the past and correct something, I would try better at being a father to him while also doing my best for humanity. Both can coexist. My son doesn't have to suffer in order for me to save the world," Lawrence said thoughtfully, and even though Tom was tempted to ask him to tell that to Desmond and not to him, Tom decided to focus on the part that concerned him instead.
"So you decided to prank me in order to convince me not to tow your path and to get married?" Tom asked, wanting to understand his grandfather's logic.
"Not exactly. It was more about your girlfriend than about you. Your mother and I figured your girlfriend was the reason for your decision. I saw how you both acted during the board meeting and during dinner. If you noticed, I didn't comment on your decision during dinner because I was too busy assessing her reaction," Lawrence continued.
"Hold on. Does my mother know about this? Did you tell her about using Kimberly?" Tom asked with a frown, thinking he would be more pissed at his mother than anyone else if she knew.
"No, she doesn't. I'm sure she would never have agreed to it," Lawrence said, and Tom relaxed.
"After the call with your mother, I was watching the kid and it suddenly occurred to me that she could pass for your daughter. Then I started to think, what if. I told Kimberly about it and she laughed it off. I asked her to play along with me, and she decided to indulge this old man in playing such an expensive prank on his grandson. Don't blame her. She doesn't know how to say no to me, especially after I helped her track down her fiancé who jilted her and taught him a lesson. And then as though the universe was in support of it, her uncle's wife who just joined us received a call from her husband informing her he had invited you to join them at the club. Kimberly did what she did as a favor to me. So, please don't be mad at her," Lawrence said, and Tom frowned.
He didn't know what to make of all this. It was just messed up and crazy, "I have no idea what to say to you right now." Tom confessed.
"Listen, you are like your father in a lot of ways. I know this might be hard for you to believe, but I did it with your best interest in mind. I thought your girlfriend might feel threatened at the thought of another lady coming into your life and would want to sit up or act fast to claim you if she truly loves you. I did something similar for your parents," Lawrence said, and chuckled when he remembered all he had done without Desmond'a or Evelyn's knowledge.
"My parents?"
"Yes. But that's a story for another time. I'm getting older by the day. So if the only thing I could do for you before I die is help you fix your relationship, I wanted to do it. I can assure you that Kimberly wouldn't have caused any problems for you. We would have told you the truth after seeing the effect of the DNA result on your relationship. Kimberly meant no harm. That was more reason I asked her to chat with Lucy. I wanted to know what Lucy was thinking," Lawrence said, and Tom sighed.
"I can't say I'm not annoyed. I'm still very much annoyed. I couldn't sleep or think straight," Tom said irritably.
"I'm sorry about that. I will apologize to Lucy too if you want me to," Lawrence offered.
"I told my parents about this already. They are going to be really pissed when they find out you were behind it," Tom said with a frown.
"You told them already? Why?" Lawrence asked, sounding so alarmed that Tom almost laughed.
"I had to. If she turned out to be mine it would have been a family issue," Tom said, and Lawrence frowned, thinking of how he would face another confrontation with his son. He knew Desmond would be pissed.
As annoyed as Tom was by it all, deep down he knew that this might have had its own perks. Even though he hadn't created the drama, somehow he knew it had helped strengthen his relationship with Lucy. It had somehow made her focus shift from herself to him.
She had become more attentive to him in the last couple of days and had focused on being there for him because she believed he needed her.
Tom sighed, "Don't worry. This will just be between us. I will tell them the result came back negative and that will be the end of it," Tom said, and Lawrence sighed in relief.
"And Kimberly? Will you forgive her?" He asked hopefully.
"I don't think I have a choice seeing how she was only following your instructions. If I can forgive you, I should as well forgive her," Tom said, and Lawrence relaxed.
"That's a relief…"
"You have to stay out of my relationship going forward. I don't want you meddling in my business. Thanks for your help, but I don't need it. If and when we are ready to settle down, we will let you know. But until then, don't come up with any more pranks or whatever. I won't forgive you if you meddle in my relationship one more time," Tom said and Lawrence nodded.
"I won't. I promise," Lawrence said before hanging up.
Although he had wanted to know if his plan had worked even a little, but he knew better than to ask Tom about it.
He hadn't really thought about the fact that Tom would be very worried and upset about having a child, all he had thought about was rushing things up so they would get married.
His heart was very weak now, and his doctor had said if he suffered another heart attack he might die. He had wanted to tell them that during the family dinner but had been unable to.
He sighed as he looked at the picture of Bryan's engagement which was displayed on his laptop screen.
He was at least glad that even if he didn't witness Tom getting married, he would most likely watch Bryan walk down the aisle with Sonia and possibly hang around long enough to see his first greatgrand child. That would have to do.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l