Page 52 of Sapphire Sunset

“Assuming I do take the GM position, solely to prevent asale, how long do I have to stay in it before I can hire or promote someoneelse?” Connor spoke.

“A year,” Harris Mitchell answered.

“Jesus Christ!”

“Connor,” his mother said softly.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand any of this. Ididn’t run off to New York to find myself, guys. Two weeks before I wasactually supposed to start working at this hotel, I overheard a conversationbetween Rodney, my father, and my grandfather where they made it clear theythought my being gay was going to damage the business they’d built. I’d have tobe contained. Those were their words.”

“Those were Rodney’s words, Connor.” His mother was studyinghim as if everyone else in the room had vanished.

“They discussed me as if my very existence was a liability,Mom. And this was at the prospect of having me in the events office. To say nothingof actually running the place. So I left and I broke my back making a life formyself, a career, where I wouldn’t pollute their precious Sapphire Cove. Andnow I’m being told that if I don’t step up and take the reins, everyone whoworks there is going to be out of a job in three months or less. I’m trying tokeep it professional here, folks, but this is a lot to take in.”

His mother rested one hand gently on the side of his arm.“Connor, if you don’t want to do it, they’ll find other jobs.”

“How, though?Hi, I worked at a hotel where the staffwas involved in blackmailing the guests. You got any openings for me?”

Nobody said anything for a while.

“Connor, with all due respect,” Harris said softly, “the factthat your first thought in all this is for the people who work there actuallyrecommends you for the position.”

“I can’t believe this is what Grandpa Dan really wanted. Idon’t believe it’s what my father really wanted.”

“I can assure you they were of sound mind when they rewrotethe trust,” the lawyer said.

“They knew, Connor.” Everyone fell silent at these wordsfrom his mother. But she waited until he turned to her.

“You told them, didn’t you?” Connor asked. “You told them Iheard them.”

His mother studied her lap.

“Mom, I asked you not to.”

When she saw whatever expression was on his face, his mothersaid, “Folks, if you wouldn’t mind, I think this just became a mother-sonconversation.”

Quietly, with heads bowed, the lawyers and bankers rosewithout collecting their papers and briefcases. In what felt like an instant,Connor was alone with his mother, their stunning view of the distant wildfirebeneath a blue and cloudless sky, and the echoes of the bombshell she’ddropped.

“Mom, why did you do that?”

“Because I’m your mother, and it’s my job to not listen toyou. Especially when you’re very wrong about something. And you were very wrongabout that.”

“I wanted to let it go.”

“No, you wanted to pretend like it never happened, and itdid. And they deserved to feel bad about it, and that’s why I told them.”

“So I guess this isthemfeelingbad about it, huh? Drop everything and dive headfirst into a business I have noexperience in.”

“Connor, you’ve thrown weddings for actual princesses. Fordaughters of former presidents. Events that needed to conform to Secret Serviceprotocols while involving national media. You can handle Sapphire Cove, mydarling boy. Even right now. They knew that. You didn’t run off to study danceor medicine. Your life is about making order out of chaos and crowds, andmaking sure it’s beautiful to boot. That said, whatever decision you make here,I’ll support you fully. The hotel was never my dream. It was your father’s. Andspeaking of which…”

She started digging into her handbag. When she drew her handfree, she was holding a manila envelope, and written on the front, in hisfather’s familiar block print handwriting was his first name,CONNOR.

“In case of a moment like this, he wrote this for you. Toldme I had to give it to you if he wasn’t around.”

“What does it say?” Connor asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t read it. Never opened it. I couldmake a guess, but why not read it yourself? Let’s let your father speak forhimself. Then you and I can talk through all of this.”

There was already a lump in his throat at the idea of his fatherwriting him a letter like this, something to be saved and protected until thetime was right. Their relationship during those last years of his life had beenconsistent and cordial, and in his own way, Connor had forgiven him. Mostly byshuttling his resentment toward Rodney. But now it seemed like he hadn’t reallydealt with those feelings at all. Rather, he’d stowed them on a high shelf in adeep closet, the same place where he’d put parts of himself before he’d beenready to come out.

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