Page 91 of Fair Trade
“Bingo.”
Her body vibrates with silent laughter. “Oh my God. How many episodes did you watch?”
I shrugged. “One. I was dozing off by the time one of the grandmothers on the show revealed that she had a secret son who was now a local serial killer. Your family told me to rest while they packed up and prepared to leave. Guess I’ve been out since then.”
“Seems like you had quite the adventure.”
“I did.” I pause. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For taking care of me. Knowing exactly what I needed. For… making me feel like I had a mother again. Three, even. It made me miss my mom so much, while also feeling at peace, knowing that she’d be thrilled that I’ve somehow landed in the hands of such an incredible and loving family.”
I can feel Luisa suck in a breath, and I fear she’s stopped breathing.
“You can ask me about her, you know.”
I feel her exhale. “You’re a private person. And I don’t want to pry. And… please promise you won’t be mad at Daisy. This was totally an innocent slip, but she mentioned how your mother was Dominican. And I’ve always wondered why you’ve never mentioned it. And since you haven’t, I figured you didn’t want to talk about her.”
“She did? That’s… good. Really nice, actually. Daisy doesn’t remember our mom, so it’s nice to hear that she talks about her.”
“She didn’t say anything, really. She clamped up right after that tidbit slipped.”
I hum. “My mother was my favorite person on the planet. For the longest time, it was just her and me. She was the person who helped me with my homework, took the tube with me to after-school activities, and took care of me when I was sick.” I give her a gentle squeeze. “She was the smartest woman in every room she walked into. Put herself through law school while being a single parent, barely making enough money on the side to provide for the both of us. She tried to feed me well-balanced meals while hers consisted of instant noodles and anything that could be microwaved or came in a can. Little did she know that I secretly loved those cheap noodles and would have enjoyed eating them alongside her.
“She sacrificed every day of her life so she could become a barrister and provide a better life for us. Even though, at that age, I still thought we had a pretty decent life. I knew we werepiss poor, but we were happy. Unfortunately, she had a blind spot in her brilliance, and that was my father.”
I swear I feel her growl like a kitten beneath me, and I relish in her protectiveness. “I never knew he existed until my mother came home and told me she was pregnant with Daisy. That’s also when I put together the fact that my father was rich. Came from old money. The kind that wouldn’t acknowledge a child out of wedlock, much less to a dark-skinned Afro-Latina woman.”
“What? All that time, he knew? And you guys—”
“Yes. He knew about me from the time my mother saw two pink lines on a pregnancy stick, and he never once made the effort to meet me or, at the bare minimum, make sure my mother and I could put food on the table. And it wouldn’t have mattered if he had stayed gone. But somehow, he wormed his way back into my mother’s heart and got her pregnant. This time, he promised to be involved and take a role in my life. Which was the first of the many lies my father would come to tell me over the years. He rarely showed his face after I met him. Forgetting to visit on my birthday or call for Christmas. I swear it was better when I thought he never existed, because then I wouldn’t have to feel like he knew of me and still wanted nothing to do with me.”
“Oh, Nick.” Luisa turns over, facing me. “Your father is an imbecile and has no idea what he’s missed out on.”
“My mother… she was hit by a car that failed to stop at a red light while she was crossing a busy intersection. Here one moment and gone the next.” I inhale deeply and slowly work to release it. “After she passed, things moved rather quickly. My father took us under his care, since the local news had caught on that he had two children who were left without a mother. A fact his second wife wasn’t too fond of. The story spread widely among London society. He planned to send me to Connecticut for boarding school, and I begged him to send Daisy with me. Ididn’t want my baby sister, the last living, breathing piece of my mother, to be left in his callous hands. And he much too happily obliged, setting her up with a full-time nanny and enrolling her in the same boarding school as soon as she was able to walk.”
Her fingers scratch lightly over my short beard. “I hate him. I wish I could come up with something more profound to match the feelings within me right now, but I think we can kick-start with hate.”
I smooth the frown on her lips. “Don’t give him the honor of having any feelings designated for him. He gets your indifference at best. And besides, life gave him a little taste of karma when his son became a self-made billionaire. I relied on some of those connections I made in boarding school, of course, and I’m not naïve enough to believe that having that leg up didn’t help propel me. But I fostered those relationships and made people believe in me. And when it was time to find investors, my company had no shortage of them. Within five years of finishing grad school, I was running a billion-dollar media empire. While my father’s generational family fortune of twenty million pounds was the cost of a small network I could buy on a slow day at work.”
“Pfft. A measly twenty million. Get outta here,” she says in an exaggerated New Yorker accent.
“Yes, yes, I know. Stupid money.” I chuckle, but then feel her tense under me. “What is it, Luisa?” My eyes search her face for a clue.
She opens her mouth, as if waiting for the words to fall out. After a deep breath, her soft gaze meets mine. “Thank you. For sharing a bit of your mom with me. It makes me so happy to know that my family was able to provide a sense of comfort for you.” She smiles weakly. “Even though I’m sure you like acting like a big baby.”
“Luisa.” I warn lightly, knowing she’s beating around the bush.
She sighs. “Why are we married?” I jerk back, not expecting that question. “I mean, I know why… but I also don’t. You said it was for something you lost and wanted to get back. That could be a diamond or a thoroughbred horse, and frankly, I don’t think you’d go through all the trouble of owning a baseball team for either of those things when you can buy anything on the planet.”
“Angel—”
She leans away from me and settles into a seated position on the couch. “I mean, sure, there is much to say about sentimental value. But was it really worth marrying me? I keep wondering, what could be so precious that you’d—”
“A house.”
“A house?” Luisa deflates slightly, and I shake my head.
