"How do you feel?" Tom asked Lucy as they had lunch together in his office after the show since they had skipped breakfast because they had been too focused on the live show.
"Great! I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder, and I can finally breathe now," Lucy admitted, and Tom nodded.
He understood that feeling. He was feeling very much relieved himself, too, now that Rebekah Miller and her family had been taken care of.
"That's good," Tom said and picked up his phone when it started ringing.
"It's Eric," Tom informed Lucy as he received the call.
"Mr. Hank, you're a genius! My show rating is at an all-time high. I have never had so many views on our YouTube Channel or social media platform in such a short time! Mr. Hank, I am forever in your debt for this!" Eric announced excitedly, and Tom smiled.
"Well, it was a win-win for us both. I'm glad you trusted us and let us use your platform. The show was a success," Tom said, and Eric chuckled.
"Success? It was a massive success," Eric announced, and this time, Tom chuckled because of how excited Eric seemed despite how dramatic the show was.
"Anyway, I'm calling to remind you that you promised to be a guest on my show," Eric said after they were done talking about the show.
"I thought you'd be willing to let that go seeing how your show benefited from doing this," Tom said in amusement.
"You thought I would let go of an opportunity to have an exclusive interview with you? No way!" Eric exclaimed, and Tom chuckled.
"Well, we can arrange for a convenient time to do that. But I can assure you that you wouldn't find anything interesting on me. It won't increase your rating."
"Let me be the judge of that. Let me know when next you have someone interesting you need me to bring on the show," Eric said, and Tom chuckled before hanging up.
Perhaps he would take him up on that offer someday. Who knew?
"Why are you frowning?" Tom asked when he noticed the crease on Lucy's brows as she raised her phone to her ear like she was making a phone call.
"It just occurred to me that I haven't heard from Sonia by now. It's weird because I know she would have called once the show was over to share her excitement. And I didn't see her among the audience on the show with Jade and Candace either. She said she was going to join them. I'm trying to reach her now, and she is not taking her call," Lucy explained, and Tom dialed Bryan's line and placed the call on speaker.
"Don't worry. I will give Bryan a call and find out from him. She is probably busy," Tom said as they waited for Bryan to receive his call.
"Is everything okay? How is Sonia?" Tom asked the moment the call connected, and Lucy looked at Tom expectantly as she waited to know what the problem was.
"She woke up feeling ill, so I had to take her to the hospital to see a doctor. We got back a short while ago, and she is sleeping now," Bryan explained, and Lucy frowned.
"But she was okay last night. What could be wrong?" Lucy murmured.
"You should speak to Lucy," Tom said as he passed the phone to Lucy, who looked even more worried after hearing that Sonia was ill.
"Hello, Bryan! What did the doctor say the problem was? Is she okay? Is the baby fine?" Lucy asked with concern.
"The doctor said they're both fine, and there is no need for alarm. She was feeling very nauseous and weak, so I rushed her to the hospital since I didn't know what to do," Bryan explained.
"Isn't it too early for the symptoms?" Lucy asked with concern."
"I thought so too. Hence I panicked. But the doctor said it's normal in the first trimester and that the symptoms vary in individuals," Bryan explained, and Lucy sighed.
"Alright. Please ask her to call me the moment she is up. And thanks for taking care of her," Lucy said, and Bryan raised a brow.
"Isn't it my duty to do that as her fiance?" He asked, not seeing any reason why she should be thanking him for something like that.
"Yes, it is. But Sonia has always taken care of herself, and she never even tells me when she is ill unless I find out myself. So, I'm just glad that she has someone now who looks out for her," Lucy explained.
"You don't have to worry about her. I will take good care of her," Bryan assured her before hanging up.
"If she has started feeling this way already, I wonder how it's going to be in a month's time. Don't you think this could affect their wedding plans?" Lucy asked Tom thoughtfully.
"I'm sure they will figure something out. Besides, the wedding is going to be for only a couple of hours. I'm sure by then she would have found a way to manage her symptoms," Tom said, and Lucy nodded.
"I will have to browse and make more research on it," Lucy said, and Tom smiled as they continued with their meal.
"Do you think I should apologize to your grandfather?" Lucy asked after a moment, and Tom raised a brow as he looked at her.
"What for?"
"My conscience is pricking me. I feel sort of guilty. Even though I keep telling myself that I handled the situation correctly, I still think I might have been too harsh and disrespectful while talking to him," Lucy explained with a concerned frown.
"Well, I wasn't there when you spoke with him, but if you think you were disrespectful, you could apologize to him so you feel better. I know you might be mad at him for doing what he did, but he is not a bad person," Tom said, and Lucy nodded.
"Sure. I know he is not. I will give him a call the moment I get back to my office. I also think you should try to smoothen things between your dad and grandfather. He sounded genuinely worried about this whole drama causing more problems between him and your dad," Lucy said, and Tom nodded as he recalled what his grandfather had told him about regretting not being a good father.
After they were done eating, Lucy returned to her office, and Tom decided to give his parents a call to find out how things were going and to know if they had resolved the issue between them.
He briefly contemplated giving his mother a call first but decided to do so later after speaking with his father since he remembered that he needed to talk to his father about resolving things with his grandfather.
All these years, they had grown up to understand that there was a rift between their father and grandfather, but none of them had actively done anything to resolve it. Not even their mother, since this rift had existed long before she even married Desmond.
The most they had done was try to maintain peace between them whenever they were all having family time together. And these gatherings were not done often.
It didn't take long before his father received the call, "Hello, son! How are you doing today?" Desmond asked as he turned down the volume of the television set in the guest room.
"I'm fine, Dad. How are you? And how is mom?" Tom asked, and Desmond paused for a moment before responding.
"I'm okay. Your mom is fine, I guess. I haven't seen nor spoken with her since last night," Desmond admitted.
"Since last night? Where did you spend the night?" Tom asked, sounding really surprised since he could not remember his parents ever having a misunderstanding that would make them sleep in separate bedrooms.
"In the guest room."
"For Christ's sake, Dad! Are you not taking things too far? What happened to talking things through? I know very well that you're not comfortable with not talking to her either, so why are you doing this?" Tom asked with a frown and glanced at his phone when he noticed an awaiting call from Kimberly.
He frowned, wondering why she was calling his line, but ignored it as he focused on his conversation with his father.
"I can't yell at her. I don't want to. I don't want to leave the house either. This is the only way I can let her know I will no longer condone or tolerate her stubbornness, especially when it comes to you, kids..."
"I'm sure she has learned her lesson now. You really should make up with her, and let's all put this behind us. She didn't mean for any of this to happen. If grandfather had told her of his plan, you know she would never have agreed to it," Tom said, and Desmond sighed.
"Don't worry about it, Tom. She is my wife. I know what I'm doing," Desmond insisted.
"If you say so, but at this point, I think you're just being stubborn. You really should let it go," Tom said with a frown.
"I will, don't worry about it. How is everyone doing over there?" Desmond asked, and Tom sighed.
"Everyone is doing great. What about grandfather? Have you spoken with him again?"
"What for? I have nothing to say to him."
"Shouldn't you speak with him and resolve all your issues with him once and for all?" Tom asked, and Desmond raised a brow.
"There is nothing to resolve. I cut him off already..."
"He is your father. Our grandfather. You can be displeased by his choices and choose to stay away from him, but you can't change what he is to you or to us..."
"Did he ask you to talk to me? Listen, Tom..."
"No, Dad. You listen to me for a change. I need you to just listen, okay? Grandfather is not perfect. He made choices that were not exactly fair to you and didn't treat you the way you would have loved to be treated, but that is only because he is human. He could have been worst. He could have been a deadbeat father or even abandoned you. He did what he knew best to do. And whether you like to admit it or not, it is thanks to him that you are where you are right now. He might have realized too late that he made the wrong choices..."
"Did he tell you he regrets his choices?" Desmond cut in.
"Yes, Dad. He told me that. And maybe if you stopped being so mad and judging him long enough to listen to him, he would tell you exactly how he feels. How can you be such a great father and so good at advising everyone else, but when it comes to your relationship with your own father, you are doing such a shitty job?" Tom asked with disapproval, and his father sighed.
"What exactly did he say to you?" Desmond asked, and Tom shook his head.
"If you're so curious about it, I suggest you ask him that yourself. You both need to talk to each other. Really talk, Dad. You know, some years ago, I happened to read one of the books in your library, and it said when we fail to forgive and move on, we get stuck in that same time zone of our past. It didn't entirely make sense to me back then, but thinking about you now. It makes so much sense now. The little boy who felt neglected by his father is trapped somewhere inside you. And no matter how many years have passed or how emotionally intelligent you've become over the years, that little boy is not growing. He has remained stunted all these years because you are still stuck in the past, and that is because of your inability to forgive your father and move on. You should fix things with him," Tom advised, and Desmond blinked back the tears that stung his eyes at Tom's words.
He knew that Tom was right, but merely thinking about talking to his father made his heart to hurt.
"Promise me you will talk to him, Dad? No matter how difficult it is, you should talk to him. Besides, I think his plan worked," Tom said, and Desmond raised a brow.
"What?"
"Apart from the fact that it has made me realize even more now that the only child I want to have is one with Lucy and not with anyone else, I think this whole episode has been making Lucy rethink her decision. She hasn't said anything to me yet, but I can sense the changes in her. So, as much as we didn't like the prank, it did yield result," Tom said, and Desmond sighed and glanced at the door when he heard Evelyn knocking.
"I see. Your mom is at the door. I will talk to her now and maybe give your grandfather a call when I'm done," Desmond said, and Tom smiled.
"Thanks for listening to me, Dad," Tom said before hanging up while Desmond rose to go to the door.
"Des? Open up. I really need to talk to you," Evelyn cried, sounding hysterical, and Desmond frowned when he heard her voice.
Was she this upset simply because he had locked himself up in the guest room and was not talking to her? He mused as he opened the door.
"What is wrong? Did something happen?" He asked in alarm when he saw the tears on her face and the grief in her eyes.
"It's Lawrence. He is dead. I just received a call from his P.A. Your father slumped while giving a speech at an event," Evelyn announced as she broke into a sob.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m