Page 60 of Denying Davis
She looked at me for a long time then squeezed her fingers with mine. “Okay. Let’s go see her this morning.”
Not a lot made me nervous, but I was jittery and on edge as we drove from the beach house to JKF Medical Center. I’d thought about the specifics I’d say to Sam’s mom, but I still wanted it to go right. I wanted her to know while I might share my father’s name, I wasn’t like him. I wanted to give her peace. To give myself peace.
“Let me go in first,” Samantha murmured as we walked down the hallway to her mother’s room. Since my last visit, her mother had been moved to a quieter floor of the hospital, one that signaled to me she’d likely be in the facility awhile longer. “Just in case she’s not doing well.”
I agreed and waited outside as Sam visited her mother. I couldn’t hear their conversation through the thick hospital room door, but when Samantha reemerged, she wore a smile on her face.
“Go in.” She stepped aside so I could walk into the room. She didn’t follow.
Her mother lay in bed, hooked up to a few machines that whirled and hissed, taking readings every few minutes. The television on the opposite side of the room hummed with the sound of a daytime television breakfast show.
“Ms. Green, it’s nice to see you again.” My words were stiff and formal as I crossed toward the bed. “I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Davis—”
“I haven’t forgotten you,” she said in a raspy voice. “I never would.”
“I know.” I stopped about a front from her side. “I’m—”
“You’re the youngest billionaire in the world.” One side of her mouth turned upward, and she pointed a bony finger at the TV. “That’s what they said on the news this morning.”
“Did they?” A nervous laugh escaped my lips. “I don’t…that’s not why I’m here.” I cleared my throat. “A few weeks ago, I ran into your daughter again.”
She nodded. Her eyes were heavy and weak.
“I never thought she’d be back in my life. I wasn’t sure she was still in South Florida. But there she was.” I scrubbed my face.Pull yourself together, Davis.“What I’m trying to say in the most inelegant way is—I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“Yes, I do.” I pulled a stool toward me and sat. “I don’t know what Sam told you, but before my grandfather died, he told me everything. The sordid details about my father and who he really was. All about the payments.” I grimaced. “And what he did to you that night. The way he treated you.”
She pursed her lips. “I remember everything about that night.”
“I’m sure you do.” I shook my head a few times, still in disbelief I was having this conversation. Still, I knew I couldn’t move forward, couldn’t take the mantle of Armstrong International without it. I needed this moment. She did too. “And I’m sorry. What happened to you was a crime. An injustice. And it wasn’t right.”
“I took the money.” She stared at me. “And that says a lot about me too.”
“No one should have ever put you, or your daughter, in that kind of position.” I felt my heart swell as my shoulders relaxed. And I realized I was grateful for this chance to right a wrong. “And I want to promise you, I’m going to take care of her. Of you. Of all of this.” I made sure to keep my gaze steady on her as I said my next words. “When I saw Sam again, I was given another chance. And if you’ll let me, I want to take it. I don’t want to waste it.”
She sucked in a few ragged breaths. “Do you love her?”
“I always have. And I want a chance to show her how much I do. I’ve never stopped.”
A broad smile spread over her face as she studied me. “All right, Davis Armstrong the third. I believe you. And I accept your apology.”
They were the three sweetest sentences I’d ever heard.
Four Months Later
New York City
At least twenty media outlets waited in front of a large podium in the lobby of Armstrong International’s Manhattan headquarters. I peeked at the them from behind the navy curtain that made a U-shape around the dais.
“Wow,” I muttered. “More people than I expected.”
“All you have to do is send out a press release about the Armstrongs, and the dogs come running,” Gregory replied. He gave me a grateful smile, and I appreciated it. He’d expected me to fire him, but I still hadn’t. He was trying, and I’d been in a mood to be forgiving, almost as a new start for the company. I wanted to show him, and everyone else around me, I wasn’t like the Davis Armstrongs who had come before me.
“Your grandfather was notorious for only talking to the media when he wanted something. They’re curious, and that’s one of the best things we have going right now.”
“We’re safe. I don’t know why all the analysts said the company would collapse after Grandfather’s death.”
