It had been a couple weeks since the day James and I had our fight. I made sure to steer clear of him and I felt like he was doing the same thing. The engagement party was around the corner and I was ready to show Patrick off as my date, my actual date. Not someone who brought me because he felt bad for me but someone who seemed to actually show interest in me. The fact that we hadn't slept together yet was just a plus, I had self-control.
It was early in the morning when I got a call from Edwardo's secretary informing me that Mr. King would like me to meet him to play some golf. I told her to tell him that I politely declined and five minutes later I got a call from the man himself.
"I'm really not any good," I said honestly.
"I'm not expecting you to be, everything takes some practice," He said calming my nerves a bit.
"Okay, I'll join you," I sighed giving in.
"Wonderful, it'll be at my golf course, my secretary will call you again in a couple minutes with the details," He had said and hung up. The one thing I got out of that conversation was, his golf course?
After he had hung up I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He just seemed so intimidating sometimes, but other times, you'd never guess who he was if you saw him in the street.
I guess I was playing golf this morning.
"No, no, lock your arm," Edwardo said a little farther away from me. We had been playing for maybe fifteen minutes and I had hit one ball, well, in reality, it rolled away after I kind of hit it. Regardless, I let him know that I was going to be counting that as something.
I looked back at Edwardo and he nodded his head, that's when I swung.
"I hit it, I did it," I said as the ball flew away. I turned around to look at Edwardo, a giant grin on my face.
"My god, you look just like him when you smile like that," Edwardo said looking at me. I tilted my head to the side confused.
"Look like who?" I asked giving him a puzzled look. Edwardo realized his mistake and sighed ushering me towards the bench close to him.
I put the golf club down and walked over to sit next to him.
"I had a younger brother, well a step-brother," He began as a girl brought us two lemonades. "We're good here Aly, why don't you go ahead and go," Edwardo said pulling out a couple twenties to tip the girl. She took the money and nodded thanking him.
I looked back at Edwardo waiting for him to finish and trying to figure out how him having a step-brother had pertained to me at all. "Everyone that met him loved him and thought he was the life of the party. He was so ambitious, my god he was ambitious. Idea after idea too," Edwardo continued taking a sip of his lemonade and reminiscing.
"He was twenty-three and had everything at his fingertips when he fell in love with a girl a couple years older than him. They were so in love and I knew they eventually wanted a family. Very mature for their ages. They weren't together for more than a year when she fell pregnant. Now, this was a good Catholic family Katherine or so my mother thought. His father, my step-father, gave him the money to get rid of the baby. It was that or get disowned and he made his decision," He finished taking another sip of his lemonade.
"Did she? get rid of the baby I mean?" I asked curiously taking a sip of my own lemonade and looking intently at Edwardo.
He set his drink on the ground next to his feet and turned to me "No, she kept the baby," He said turning to look at me. The pieces were all starting to come together after he said that. The story did sound similar to the one my mother once told me but what were the chances. I knew that he didn't have any reason to lie to me if this was what I thought it was.
"What happened to your step-brother?" I asked even though his sad eyes already told me.
"The little girl's mother didn't want him in either of their lives later on. It really broke his heart. He ended up overdosing years later, he was never quite the same after all of that" Edwardo said and my throat went dry even having drunk all that lemonade.
"A day before he did, he seemed completely normal to me and had called asking me to find that little baby, who was now a little girl," Edwardo added taking a deep breath.
"Did you?" I asked holding back tears.
"I did and I made sure she was alright. I made sure things were taken care of for her later on in life and that she'd get a decent job, or at least I tried but she had other plans" He laughed running his fingers through his grey hair. He leaned back and crossed his legs. "She got herself fired from her retail job and ended up quitting a great position working for my son," He laughed knowingly and I turned red looking away.
"Truth is, I didn't expect her to be more stubborn and driven than he was at one point," He said sighing.
"Do you think she turned out alright?" I asked smiling while a tear ran down my cheek.
He looked me in the eyes and straightened his posture "She's turned into one of the most intelligent and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of watching grow into a beautiful young woman, just don't tell my wife that," He said quickly with a chuckle.
"Come here," Edwardo said motioning for me to move closer to him. I reluctantly did and before I knew it, I had hugged him.
"Am I really you but with boobs?" I asked laughing and wiping away tears.
"You're your father but with boobs, Mikey would've been proud," He said nodding and smiling.
"Now, get up, you only hit one ball," He said getting serious. I stood up and sniffled, gathering myself. "I hit two," I said correcting him and laughing.
"It rolled away," he said laughing and shaking his head.
"Thank you," I said turning to him and smiling.
"For what?" He asked winking.