Page 15 of Axel

“The building downtown is nearly finished up but for the carpet that you wanted in the lobby. I can’t pick that out for you—I guess I could, but I won’t be working there when it’s finished, so I have no say in the way it looks. My mom used to be an interior decorator when I was a kid and she told me that if you don’t want carpet, she can soften up the room with some things that will make it look really homey. I told her that I’d ask you.” He told her that would be wonderful as he bit into his third roast beef sandwich. “Good. I thought you’d say that, but I’ll tell her tomorrow.”

“I’m done with the other firm. They have been trying to get me to come back but I’m done with working for someone else. I’m actually excited to be working for myself. And like I said earlier, if I need more help, I can take on a partner, but I’m not seeing that happening.” She said that her dad was hinting about retiring again. “How many times has he done that? I’m assuming a few times. Will he turn it over to you?”

“I’m not sure that I want it now. Not with having you in my life. I mean, I’ll take it as my own, but I won’t be working the jobs anymore unless the help is needed. I want to be here with you.” He told her that he could understand that, but if it was money, he could support them both without any trouble at all. “No, I’d have to do something. I can’t be a rich attorney’s wife and not have a job. Besides, I have money too. Owning this business for as long as we have, we’re not hurting for money at all. I even have a nice retirement plan thanks mostly to my mom looking into that when I first started working for my dad. I have a fat 401K too.”

“As do I. But I’m not looking to retire just yet. Like you, I’d need to have a job or something to do that wouldn’t get me into trouble by being idle.” She told him that she was glad to hear that. “Good, then that’s settled. Now that I’m full, I’m exhausted again. How about I clean off this stuff, and we get some sleep. Tomorrow will come earlier than we would want it to.”

After she fell asleep, he put all the things that they’d used on the dresser. Walking back to the bed, he felt like a new man when he thought about Mac heavy with their child. Life, he thought, couldn’t get any better than it was right now.

Chapter 7

Debra had everything packed that she was going to take with her. The rest was going to go to a charity place, and even that wasn’t very much. Looking around the room once more, she was almost giddy with the change in her life. Her uncle had given her an easy way out of her debt as well as clearing up all the student debt that she still had from law school. It wasn’t going to be all bread and honey, as her grandma used to say.

Working with her uncle was going to be difficult. He may well have offered her the law firm, but he was the type of man who didn’t care for a working woman and, especially, one who was as educated as she was. But he’d offered, and now—

The phone ringing had her taking in a deep breath and rubbing her chest for the hundredth time today. Picking up her cell phone, her number not known to that many people, showed a recent picture of her uncle and she made herself have a bright smile when she said hello.

“Who is this?” She told the man on the other end of the line her name and then did the same for him. “I’m your cousin, Phillip Author.” He paused long enough for her to no doubt be impressed that he’d taken the time to call her. “My grandda passed away two days ago. Getting into his phone was the only way that I knew of to contact you. There isn’t any reason for you to come home for the funeral or will reading. You’re not mentioned in it, and I’m having the old bastard cremated.”

“I know for a fact that I’m mentioned in the will, Phil.” He told her that his name was Phillip. “So? Also, you might want to remember that he’s my uncle as well. He and I had an arrangement.”

“Yeah, about that. I’m taking it. And everything else the old bastard had.” She asked him if he suddenly had a law degree. “I don’t need to have a law degree to run the firm. I just need money. And I’m also getting all of that, too. You know how he was about you working. And if you call me Phil once more, I’m going to sue your ass for defining my character.”

“It’s defamation, you idiot. And you do need a law degree to own a law firm. Also be a licensed attorney in order to run one. Don’t you ever look things up before you go spouting off things you are wrong about? And I will be there. Seeing you get your comeuppance will make it worthwhile.” She disliked Phil with as much passion as he did her, apparently.

She felt her panic get the better of her and had to sit down. Lucky for her, there was a chair close by or there was no telling where she might have ended up. Lying her head on her table, she groaned when someone knocked—more like they pounded on her door to her apartment. She opened the door to see not just one of the Hathaway men but three of them. They sat on the couch that was going out to wait on her and her call.

Her hand gripped the phone tighter. He was getting on her last nerve. “Phil, you can’t just think that I’m going to make your word for not being in the will. Uncle promised me that I could take over his firm when he retired. And I would assume that the same thing holds true because he’s passed on.” She was handed a phone that had a message on it to tell him what the firm was that her uncle used. After typing it on the little screen, she remembered that this brother was Axel, the attorney. “I’m going to be there as soon as I make a few calls. And if you’re trying to keep me from showing up when I’m mentioned in the will, they won’t be able to execute anything without all parties there.”

Debra wanted to hang up on her cousin, but she was afraid that he was telling her the truth. It would be just like her uncle to say one thing and then do something entirely different. But she did remember just then that she had it in writing from him, she just needed to remember where she’d put it. Going through the few law books that she had, she found it and handed it to Axel. Nodding his thanks, she decided that she was going to be sick if she didn’t get off the phone with her fucking bastard of a cousin.

Putting the phone on her table, she asked the doctor one…she couldn’t remember his name for the life of herself, why they were there. He looked at Axel but didn’t answer her.

“Well, if you don’t know, then I think that it’s time that you moved on. I have a sort of crisis going on here, and I have nothing to entertain anyone with.” She’d not cared for this brother.

She found him to be arrogant and sort of selfish. When going to the door to shoo them out, he smiled at her, and she wanted to bash his head in. Taking a step back, she hoped that they’d just leave on their own so that she could think. She needed to know what this was going to mean for her if she wasn’t in the will.

“Mac sent us to help you move some of your things out to your car or whatever you’re going home in.” She liked Mac very much but couldn’t think over the now-pounding headache that she was getting. “Mac seemed to think that you weren’t taking all that much, but we should be nice to you because she said she’d beat our asses if we weren’t. I’d like to think that I’m—what’s the matter with you? Are you sick?”

Instead of answering him, she put her hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom. There was only a small amount of things in the little room, but it was enough for her to rinse out her mouth after throwing up everything that she had for breakfast. She came out of her bathroom to find Kahana, that was his name, standing near the door. Glaring at him, the best that she could do with her stomach churning up, she asked him again when he was leaving.

“You’re stressed out.” She just glared at him. “Listen, I’m trying to be helpful to you.” She told him that she wouldn’t tell Mac about his bedside manner if she ever talked to her again. “I don’t think she got that memo. The way she’s talking—come sit down before you pass out. You’re as white as a ghost.”

This time, she didn’t argue with him about how she looked or felt. That feeling in her chest, like she was being squeezed to death, was back. Putting her hand over her chest, she nearly fell over the back of the couch to sit down when she simply blacked out.

When she woke up, she was not just in her home but she was on a gurney that had somehow appeared while she was out. Trying to sit up, it was Kahana who told her to lie still. No, please. No, will you lie down? Just stay the hell down. She tried once more when he put his hand on her chest and got into her face.

“You’re having a heart attack. How long have you been feeling this way?” She told him that it was stress and that the hospital told her that she wasn’t to take up their time when indigestion was what she had. “It’s not indigestion. You are having a heart attack. Just lie still and let us take you to—do you know who told you that you weren’t ill?”

“The head nurse from the third shift. Why? Are you going to yell at her as well?” When he growled at her like he was some damned dog, she started feeling the pressure again. “She told me that I was wasting resources in the emergency department and that I should just stay home. They wouldn’t even check me out the last time I was there but told me to go home and take an antacid.” She looked up at him. “Am I really having a heart attack?”

“Yes, you really are. It’s a small one but enough to cause some damage to your heart if not treated properly. Now, hush.” When she felt something pinch at her arm, the pain in her chest eased up. It didn’t go away, not entirely, but she did feel less in pain than before. “I know that nurse. I’m assuming that you were in there at the end of her shift. Other people have complained about her before. How many times in the last week have you been to the emergency department?”

“Ten times in five days. It was making me sick; it was so bad.” An IV was in her arm, and she looked at it like she’d never seen one before. “My uncle is a bastard, and now I have no home, no place to sleep, and I won’t be able to ever pay off my student loans. I was…I don’t remember what I was doing.” She could barely understand herself. Her words were like she’d been on a long drunk.

Even though she’d felt better a few minutes ago, she wasn’t now. The pressure was building up, and before she could complain, she heard a loud beeping noise. Not caring all that much about what was going off, Debra passed out again.

~*~

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