Chapter 33

A few days after Jonathan and I had told our friends and family about our wedding, David came over to our apartment.

I opened the door with a smile, “Hi David, Jonathan isn’t here right now.”

He nodded, “That’s okay. I actually wanted to talk to you. Do you mind?”

I shook my head, “Not at all, come in.” I stepped back to let him in.

As he sat down on the couch, I closed the front door and walked over to him. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thank you. I’m good.”

I nodded and sat next to him on the couch. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

He gave me a smile as he said, “I heard that you got accepted to the state university in the city.”

I nodded, “Yes, I start at the end of August.”

“Well, congratulations Alex. It is a fine business school you will be attending.”

I smiled, “Thanks, David.”

He nodded, “There’s something I wanted to discuss with you. After Jonathan came to me and said he would be helping you with school finances with the money he’s already saved up, plus the money he will earn when he goes back to work for me I thought there could be another way to help the both of you out.”

“Really? How’s that?”

“Well, I know it may be too early since you haven’t even started school yet, but I was wondering if you have an idea of where you’d like to work when you graduate.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I know I will look for something locally, but I haven’t looked around at the possible places yet.”

He nodded, “I thought so. Well, I would like to be the first to offer you a place in my firm if you’d be interested.”

I stared at him in shock. “In your firm?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“David, are you sure you know what you’re asking? It’s like you said, I haven’t even started school yet. How would you even know if I can do it?”

He gave me another smile, “I trust my son, Alex. Jon was always really good at what he did and he always had an eye for seeing the competition. So, when he told me about how good you already are at accounting, I thought it was perfectly natural to offer you a position in the firm. Whether you do accounting or bookkeeping, you’ll have a place there. Plus, you can work your way up to a management position if that’s what you want to do.”

I arched an eyebrow, “So you’re saying you’ll have an open position in four or so years?”

He chuckled, “I’m saying that if you want to start interning when school starts, you can do so. I know I can work with the school to make arrangements for you to start interning with my firm as soon as possible. Even if you don’t want to stay there, it’ll help to have experience, plus I can arrange for the pay you earn as an intern to go towards your school payments.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Now you know you don’t have to agree to it Alex. Even if you don’t want to accept this, Elise and I will do everything we can to help Jonathan and you pay for your expenses. I just thought I’d help you out not only with the expenses, but with some experience for you. And you don’t have to make a decision right away. I mean, before school starts if you want to start working then, but if you want to wait a little longer, that’s fine too. No matter what you decide, I’ll find a way to make it work for you.”

“Thank you for the offer David. And you’re right, I do want to think about this for a while before I give you an answer.”

He nodded, “Not a problem. I just wanted to make the offer now, so you would have some time to think about it.”

I nodded.

“Okay, well now that that’s done, there’s one more thing I’d like to give you.”

I chuckled, “Why am I beginning to think Jonathan put you up to this?”

He grinned, “Trust me, he didn’t. He did tell us about the things he’s been trying to do for you and of course Elise and I decided we’d help out. You are going to be family after all, so it’s only natural for us to take care of you the way we try with our sons.”

As I chuckled again he said, “Jonathan told me about the situation with your dad and the car he gave you.”

I rolled my eyes, “He did, did he? Did he also happen to mention the struggle I went through when my father was trying to buy me a car in the first place?”

He grinned, “Yes. He said you tried to convince your father to get a reasonable car and not something flashy or expensive like everyone else in your family had.”

I nodded, “Yes. That’s why I left the car with my father. It’s his and I don’t want anything to do with it.” I sighed, “Although I know I’m probably going to have to look into getting a second hand car soon otherwise I’m going to drive Jonathan crazy with having to take me places or pick me up.”

“Well, you won’t be driving him crazy any time soon.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “What did you do?”

He stood up and dangled a set of keys as he said, “Why don’t you come outside with me and take a look.”

As I followed him to the front door I said, “Oh David you really shouldn’t have done this. I was going to wait and get a used car, one that would be good enough to get me around until I could afford to get a new one. I didn’t think…”

I stopped the moment we’d made it outside and David motioned to the car a few parking spaces down from the apartment.

“David!” I whispered.

He gave me a smile, “I hope it’s not too far out of your range.”

I slowly shook my head as I continued to stare at the car. It was a red Toyota Camry. And just looking at it, I knew it was at least two years old, but still looked relatively brand new.

As we walked over to it, David filled me in. “I figured you’d like the Camry and I decided not to get a brand new one for you, even though there was one on the lot that kept tempting me. Anyway, this one is two years old and has five hundred miles on it. I had it checked out and it’s still in very good condition, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

I nodded as I looked the car over.

“So what do you say, Alex?”

I sighed, “David, you really didn’t…”

“I know, but you do need a car since Jonathan will be going back to work soon.” He shrugged, “Think of it as an engagement present from Elise and me.”

I laughed, “An engagement present huh?”

I turned to look at the car again. I couldn’t help but be amazed at how astute David truly was. He’d known exactly the kind of car to get for me. This was not a flashy, expensive car. It was a used car, in fairly good condition, and it was very economical. Exactly the kind of car I would have gotten for myself.

Finally I turned and looked at David with a smile. “I love it David. Thank you.”

He grinned, “So, you’ll take it?”

I nodded, “Yes, I would love to have this car. It’s perfect.”

He chuckled and dropped the keys into my hand, “You’re welcome.”

Jonathan slid his arms around my waist and leaned over me, pressing a kiss against my neck as we walked out of the restaurant.

I giggled and leaned back against him. “Dinner was wonderful, Jonathan.”

He chuckled and whispered into my ear as we waited for the valet to bring the car. “Can’t wait to get home and have some dessert.”

I turned around in his arms and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Hm, and I would love to share it with you, handsome.” I whispered as I tilted my head back in invitation.

He gave me his trademark smirk as he leaned down to kiss me. Just as his lips met mine, we heard screams and I felt something whiz by us.

Jonathan and I looked up at the same time, but it was Jonathan who saw Mark first. He was running towards us, pointing a gun. Jonathan didn’t hesitate to push me behind him.

We all heard the sound of the gun going off again and I felt Jonathan push me down to the ground as more screams rent the air. I could feel Jonathan stumble back against me, but as I looked up at him, he was already running towards Mark.

This time I was the one who screamed as I watched the scene play out in front of me in horror.

Mark had been trying to aim the gun at Jonathan through the crowd of people he was maneuvering through. Jonathan had been dodging thorough the crowd too, making it hard for Mark to aim at him. But there was suddenly an opening in the crowd and Mark aimed. A split second after Jonathan lunged at him, Mark pulled the trigger. Just as I screamed, Jonathan dodged the bullet and grabbed Mark by the waist, lifting him up and slamming him down into the pavement.

I scrambled to my feet and ran towards the two of them as Jonathan kicked the gun out of Mark’s hand and pounced on him when he’d tried to get up.

“Jonathan! Stop!” I yelled as he began to pummel Mark.

I knew better than to get in the way, but Jonathan wasn’t listening to me. Mark lifted his hands and tried to get in a few swings. I could see some of his hits connecting, but they were no where near as effective as the ones Jonathan rained on him.

As I continued to hover around the two of them, Mark reached up and dug his fingers into Jonathan’s left shoulder. Jonathan screamed and wrapped his hand around Mark’s wrist, attempting to pull his fingers away. It was then that I noticed the blood covering the front of Jonathan’s shirt.

“Jonathan!” I gasped as Mark shoved him off of him and tried to scramble up.

Just as Mark got to his feet and prepared to lunge at Jonathan, voices intruded.

“Freeze, Police!”

Everyone froze as the police made their way among us, trying to find out what had happened.

With my heart in my throat, I turned to look at Jonathan. He was still laying on the ground where Mark had shoved him, his eyes closed in pain.

“Jonathan?” I whispered as I moved towards him.

A police officer stepped in my way. “Don’t move, ma’am.”

I looked up at him, “Please, he’s my fiancé and he’s injured!”

“He’s not the one who had the gun, it was the other one. The other one shot him.” The police officer and I turned to see a group of people standing behind a line of police officers among whom one of them had spoken.

“Are you sure?” asked the officer.

Several heads nodded and one of the men spoke, “Yeah, that guy” he said as he pointed to Mark who was getting handcuffed, “came charging in here pointing the gun at the other guy and her. The other guy managed to get the gun out of his hands before he could do anymore shooting.”

The officer nodded and stepped back, allowing me to go to Jonathan. As I stumbled to his side and knelt down besides him, I could hear the sound of an ambulance approaching.

“Jonathan?”

He opened his eyes to look up at me. “Alex?”

I smiled as I ran my fingers through his hair, “Hold on, baby. The ambulance is on it’s way. You’re going to be okay.”

He gave me a small smile and threaded his fingers into mine as he closed his eyes once more.

“Alex?”

The sound of my mother’s voice made me look up from the seat in the waiting room where I sat. She was walking towards me with the rest of my family trailing behind.

“Mom!” I cried as I got up and rushed into her open arms. She held me close, hugging me and letting me take comfort in her arms.

I pulled away and Samantha came to give me a hug as my mother asked, “How is he?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know yet. They are still working on his wound.”

“What happened?” asked Alishia.

I sighed as we all took a seat in the waiting room. “We were leaving the restaurant that we had dinner in when Mark came at us with a gun. The first shot missed us and Jonathan managed to push me to the ground before Mark got the next shot off. Unfortunately that shot got Jonathan in his left shoulder.”

As everyone gasped Danny asked, “How bad did it look?”

“By the time I’d noticed it, the front left side of his shirt was soaked. But that was after he’d ran after Mark, dodged the next shot, picked Mark up, slammed him into the ground, and proceeded to pummel him.”

I looked up at my mother as I added, “Even then, I didn’t notice until Mark managed to dig his fingers into Jonathan’s wound before shoving him off of him.”

As my mother frowned Alishia asked, “How did Mark know to find you at the restaurant?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. Jonathan and I decided to go eat there on the spur of the moment.”

Samantha piped in, “Maybe he followed you two there?”

“Maybe. I was never aware of being followed.”

My mother shook her head, “I thought this whole thing with Mark was over with. I just talked to his mother the other day and she said Mark seemed to be over you.”

I nodded, “I thought so too, mom.”

“I don’t get it though,” said Alishia, “Why would Mark try to shoot you if he wanted you back?”

“He wasn’t trying to shoot Alex, he was trying to kill me.”

We all turned to see Jonathan leaning against the door frame, his left arm in a sling.

“Jonathan! Oh thank God you’re all right!” I exclaimed as I rushed to his side.

He slid his good arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead, “I’m fine, beautiful. It wasn’t deep.” He turned to look at the others and said, “Mark was aiming the gun at me. I saw him aim it directly at me when he shot me and the first bullet that missed, it was aimed at the spot I’d just shifted away from.”

“What! Someone tried to shoot my son!” boomed David’s voice from the hallway as he and Elise came into the waiting room.

Elise immediately went to Jonathan’s side and he gave her a hug when I stepped away to let him. “Oh, Jon!”

“I’m all right, mom.” He looked up at his father, “I’m fine.”

David pursed his lips to keep from saying anything, but Elise said, “Who tried to shoot you?”

“Mark,” I replied.

David’s eyes went wide, “Your ex? I thought that was over with? How did he find you?”

“We don’t know dad. I think he followed us there. We decided to go out to dinner at the last minute.”

“So, why was he after you?” asked my mother, “He was supposed to be over you.”

“He said if he couldn’t have Alex, she wouldn’t have me either.” replied Jonathan.

I looked up at him, “What?”

Jonathan nodded, “He said it the last time he tried to aim the gun at me, just before I kicked it out of his hand. He muttered it so low that I almost didn’t hear it, but I did.”

“Okay, so why now? I mean, he’s known that you and Alex have been an item all along.” stated Danny.

“That, I don’t know.” said Jonathan.

“Maybe he was responding to your engagement?” replied David.

All heads turned towards him as silence descended. Finally I shook my head, “But we haven’t told anyone outside of the family yet.” I looked at Elise and my mother as I added, “And none of the invitations have been sent out yet, right?”

They both nodded, until my mother’s eyes narrowed. “Unless…”

We all looked at her as I asked, “Unless what?”

“Kevin! Come down here this instant!” my mother yelled as we all followed her into the house.

My father heard her yelling and came out of his office grumbling, “Really Laura, must you…”

He stopped when he saw all of us behind him. With a frown he asked, “What’s going on?”

As Kevin came down the stairs, my mother turned to glare at him. “When was the last time you spoke to Mark?”

“Huh?” asked Kevin.

“You heard me! When, Kevin!”

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Yesterday I guess.”

“You guess?” hissed Danny. “If I were you, I’d have more respect towards our mother before I knock some sense into you!”

“Fine! Yes, I talked to him yesterday!” he snapped.

“Did you tell Mark about Alex and Jonathan being engaged?” asked my mother.

My father rolled his eyes, “What difference does it make? Everyone knows they’re engaged.”

My mother turned to look at him, “Not everyone. Only the people in this room and Darryl and Sarah know about it. We haven’t sent out the invitations yet so no one else should know.”

Kevin shrugged, “So what if Mark knows, everyone will know when you send the invites out.”

“Mark attacked Jonathan today, Kevin!” I shouted.

Kevin turned to me with a sneer, “Well apparently it wasn’t that bad of an attack.”

“Jesus, Kevin! Mark had a gun!” roared Danny.

“What?” whispered my father.

I turned to him and nodded, “Yes. We were leaving a restaurant a few hours ago and he came with a gun.” I indicated Jonathan’s shoulder behind me. “He shot Jonathan in the shoulder before Jonathan kicked it away from him and beat him down until the police arrived.”

My father turned to look at Jonathan, shock in his eyes. “Good lord!”

Kevin frowned at my father, “I thought Mark was supposed to be a good shot?”

My father cringed as every one of us turned to look at him. My mother hissed, “Daniel, tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this!”

There was a pause before my father swallowed. Finally he said, “I didn’t know he was going to try to kill Jonathan.”

“But you knew he was up to something!” I growled.

He turned to look at me. “I knew Kevin told Mark about your engagement. And Kevin said Mark was upset about it. I didn’t think anything about it until Kevin came home last night mumbling about something.”

Danny growled at Kevin, “And what were you mumbling?”

Kevin swallowed, “Mark said he was tired of everyone thinking of Jonathan as the perfect saint. He said he was going to go talk to the guy and make him tell Alex she was better off without him.”

My mother yelled at my father, “And you knew this! You knew he was going to talk to Jonathan?”

“I thought he was going to talk to him. I didn’t think he’d try to kill him.”

“God dad! This is Mark! Did you honestly think he’d want to talk to Jonathan? He’s never had anything civil to say to Jonathan before!” I screamed.

“Maybe he wouldn’t have talked quietly, but he said he was going to talk. All I heard was what Kevin told me. There was no indication that he was going to kill the man!”

David stepped up to my father then, “Look, I don’t know where you come from, but where I come from, if Kevin had come home mumbling something like that. And knowing what I know you know of this Mark, the warning bells would have definitely gone off in my head.”

My father frowned, “You don’t know Mark, he’s not…”

“Don’t you dare start defending that boy again, Daniel! He’s not your son!” snapped my mother.

“He may not be my son, but he’s just as good.”

Now it was Jonathan’s turn to step up to him, “You know something Daniel McCain? You are a real piece of work. Did it not occur to you that whatever Mark had planned could have involved Alex? Did you not hear what she said?” he hissed. “He put your daughter’s life in danger too! She was right there when he tried to shoot me the first time!”

“Mark would have never harmed Alex.” my father snapped.

“You son of a bitch! If he had hurt Alex, I would have kicked your ass!” roared Jonathan.

“I’m kicking your ass just for good measure,” snapped David.

Before either one of them could make a move, my mother walked up to my father and slapped him.

Silence descended in the room as we all stared at them. My mother’s voice came out in a deadly whisper, “How dare you put our daughter’s life and the life of the man she loves in danger like that. Have you no morals?”

My father just looked at her as the shock wore off, he finally whispered, “Laura, I…”

“Save it, Daniel! Whatever justification you have isn’t going to save you this time. You have gone too far! Mark my words Daniel McCain, I will tell your two oldest children the truth about the money you set up for them when they were born and why you never told them. Danny and I will get it all back from you before you know what’s hitting you.”

She turned to glare at Kevin. “And you. I have never been more ashamed of a child I bore than I am about you! How could you have possibly have come from the same place as my other children! You and your father deserve each other!”

She looked over her shoulder and snapped, “Sam, go back a bag, we’re not staying here tonight.” Turning back to my father she hissed, “If I never see either one of you again, it won’t be soon enough!”

As she stormed up the stairs to get her stuff, Elise looked at the rest of us, “I’m going up to help her and ask her to stay with us since we have lots of room.”

I nodded, “Thanks Elise.”

David turned to glare at Daniel, “I’m going to wait with the car, but if Laura needs help…”

“You go ahead, David.” interrupted Danny, “I’ll help mom.”

I turned to Jonathan and slid a hand over his cheek to get his attention, “Will you go wait with your dad while I help Sam?”

“Alex…”

“Jonathan, I’ll go with her.” said Alishia.

Jonathan nodded, “Thanks, Ali.” He looked down at me and smiled, “I’ll wait in the car, beautiful.”

I smiled and gave him a kiss before watching him walk out of the house with his dad. I turned back around and started walking up the stairs.

“Alex…” I paused on the stairs without turning around.

“Don’t. Whatever you have to say, just don’t. Because everything that comes out of your mouth just gets uglier and uglier.” I stood there for a moment before I resumed walking upstairs to help Samantha.

Danny stood at the bottom of the stairs and spoke. “I hope you’re proud of yourself dad. I hope everything you did for Mark was worth all of this. I’m sure he’s going to enjoy the visits you’ll be paying him while he’s in prison for attempted murder.”

Without another word, he and Alishia went upstairs and left my father alone with Kevin, the only family he had left.