The Love Of Money - Episode 198
30-07-25 (11:35)
Emily bit her lip and looked back and forth between the
two of us. "Okay," she finally said.
Was she jealous? Last we spoke, the nature of their
relationship wasn't anything serious. Surely, that hadn't
changed, and if it had, Natashya didn't strike me as the
kind of person who would do something she thought a
significant other would disapprove of. Though, how well
did I really know her?
I stood up. "Erin told me she was here, and I just
wanted to take a few minutes to talk." To break the
awkwardness, I decided to change the subject. "Is that
what you're wearing for tonight?"
"What?" Emily said, looking down at her shirt. "Oh, no.
Natashya said she wasn't feeling up for a party tonight,
so I thought I'd stay with her for a bit and then join
you guys later. She sounded relieved that I'd changed
the subject. "Oh! I came here to find you, by the way.
Mom and Dad are here."
"Okay. Thanks." I looked back at Natashya. "I should
probably get going. I don't suppose you'd be interested
in meeting my parents."
Natashya chuckled. "I'm not really a 'meet the parents'
kind of girl. Besides.. she gestured to all the bruises on
her face.
"Alright," I said. "I'm glad I caught you."
She gave me a small smile. "I am, too. Have fun
tonight, and tell the girls I said hi."
"I will," I said and then headed for the door. I stopped
by Emily, and she smiled at me.
"Tell Mom and Dad I'll see them soon," she said.
"I will." I looked back at Natashya and said, "Take care
of her."
The reuni0n with my mom and dad was about what I
expected. Mom greeted me with immediate concern,
fussing over the bruising and noticing the slight limp I
had, while Dad was more reserved with his words,
simply giving me a hug and murmuring in my ear that
he was glad to see I was okay.
Both my parents were tall. Mom stood at about 5'9",
while Dad was 6'3". That was where' the similarity
ended; in every other aspect, they were opposites.
Everything about my mother was loud-her laugh, anger,
and joy. Dad always claimed they could never catch us
doing anything wrong because we could hear Mom
coming a mile away. She also had a fiery temper. She
was the mama bear who would come running the
moment one of us got into trouble as kids, ready to kill
anyone who even looked at her cubs wrong.
Meanwhile, Dad was soft-spoken, slow to anger, and a
great listener. He let us make mistakes and was
always there to pick us up when we fell. Mom was a
thunderstorm. Dad was a rock.
They looked different, too. Dad was white, with a
permanent five o'clock shadow for a beard and hair he
had started losing in his early thirties. By this point, he'd
lost so much on his crown that he gave up the battle
and kept it buzzed close to his scalp. Fortunately, he
had a good head shape, and baldness suited him well.
He was lanky and had kind eyes the exact shade of
Emily's. He wore a simple button-down shirt, a pair of
slacks, and a cardigan.
Mom was black, with skin the color of milk chocolate
and black, liquid eyes. Her raven hair spilled from her
head in tight curls and framed a round face and wide
smile. She wore a dress that reached almost her ankles,
hugged her curves, and displayed a modest amount of
her prominent chest-nothing like some of the dresses
I'd seen on my ladies while we were in Vegas. She
was a beautiful, full-figured woman of forty-five years
old.
And then a thought struck me. Helen was only two
years younger than my own mother. That implied many
things I did not want to entertain at this exact moment.
I shoved them out of my head as quickly and violently
as possible and focused on Richie
At seventeen, Richie was the baby. He was also the
smartest and was likely going to revolutionize the
energy industry or cure cancer or... something. He had
our mother's eyes, our dad's height, and a full head of
hair he kept shaggy, much to our mother's disdain.
"Hey, brother!" he said, giving me a hug.
"Hey man," I said, returning it. "I'm glad you came with
them. I've missed you."
"Me too," he said and pulled away. "Hey! Marcus, this is
Megan!"
Keeping his hand on my shoulder, he gestured to a
young woman standing behind him. I smiled and
extended a hand to what i assumed was my brother's
girlfriend, a tiny, walfish thing who probably stood little
more than five feet tall. Her hair was a dark. coppery
red and matched the liberal dusting of freckles over her
cute, upturned nose and cheeks. She had a peaches-
and-cream complexion that suggested the hair was
natural. Bright green eyes were set in a slender face
that suited her svelte frame. She wore an off-white
tank top, a black skirt that stopped just above the
knees, and boots that went mid-calf. Her breasts were
so small that she looked nearly flat-chested. She was,
in a word, cute as a button.
"HI, Megan. It's good to meet you. Marcus has told me
absolutely nothing about you."
"Aw," Megan sald with a pout and glanced up at her
boyfriend. "Well, he's been talking about you a lot
lately... and thanks." She took my hand and smiled at
me with a twinkle in her emerald eyes.
"Hey!" Richie said, "How's this on me? He wouldn't have
believed me if I'd told him about you anyway."
"That's probably true," I said, "I can already tell you're
too good for him."
"Wow!" she said as she twirled a bit of red hair around
a finger and looked up at him, giving him a grin. "I can
see the charm runs in the family. Then she cast a look
back at me with a pair of 'come hither' eyes that
almost knocked me off my feet. I did my best to ignore
the look and put an arm around my mom, pulling her
into the conversation.
We made a few more minutes of small talk before Erin
arrived, looking stunning in a sequined, high-collar
black-and-silver dress. She wore dark wine-colored
lipstick and makeup, emphasizing her stunning deep
brown eyes. Her silver hair was put into a bun that
rested high behind her head, and the light hit it just
right to show the soft sheen of lavender that wove
subtly throughout her hair.
"Hi, Marcus," she said as she approached us.
I introduced everyone to Erin and noticed my mom
taking a keen interest in her. She seemed to cool off a
little at first, but within five minutes, I could tell that
Erin had won her over. When she suggested showing
off the house, she told them to go ahead but asked me
to stay behind.
"I like Erin," she said as soon as they were gone.
"Emily had the same reaction when they met," I said.
"And she's your assistant? What kind of stuff do you
have going on where' you need an assistant?"
"A lot, actually. She gets me coffee and manages my
schedule. When she's not doing that, she's arranging
the purchase of my apartment and my plane. She'll be
at an important board meeting with me on Monday at
VistaVision, and sometimes she helps me decide what
I'm gonna wear, but we're not dating or anything,
Mom."
"Sounds kind of like you're dating to me," Mom sassed.
Then, she grew more serious. "Honey, I wanted to tell
you again that I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you
sooner. I thought you were better off not knowing who
your father was."
"Thanks, Mom," I said. "It's fine. I was just blindsided
when it first happened. I lucked out and found some
people to help get my feet under me, though."
"You sure did," Mom said. Her look became more
pensive, and she said, "My boy attending board
meetings at VistaVision and going to news
conferences... it just seems like yesterday you were
crying over your math homework."
"I wasn't crying," I protested, though I might have once
or twice. PreCalc was hard, and I thought it was going
to keep me from getting into college.
"My sensitive boy... so unsure of yourself but so kind,"
Mom said, deciding to take an emotional stroll down
memory lane. I looked around to make sure it was still
just the two of us.
"Thanks, Mom," I said.
"You've grown up," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh... you just seem a little more sure of yourself."
"Was Colin sure of himself?" I asked. As far as I could
tell, my mom was the only one who had actually
known my biological father.
"Your father?" Mom said, "Oh yes. He was a little too
sure of himself. It was obnoxious at times."
"How long did you guys date?"
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