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| Chapter Four | |||
| After the lunch had ended with Chloe, Mimi went back to her office to finish up some work. Belle had never showed up for the lunch but she did call to say that she wasn't coming and that something had come up. Both Chloe and Mimi wondered what was wrong but when they asked she refused to say. She had insisted that she was fine. They agreed that if the problem were really serious that Belle would have told them. So they left the restaurant both returning to their respective jobs. | |||
| Mimi rounded the corner, returning from a meeting, when she saw a man in her office. He had in his hands a picture of her kids. As she got further into the room she could see the light reflect off his blonde hair, the exact shade of her husband's. Immediately, she assumed it was Brady. But, what on earth was he doing here in the middle of the day. No matter, she thought, obviously he was trying to surprise her. Pushing her shoulder length hair out of her face, she quietly dropped her purse on the chair before she snuck up behind Brady and kissed him on the neck. | |||
| He shot straight up and turned around. It was only when he turned completely that she realized that it wasn't Brady at all. It was Jason. | |||
| "Oh my God," Mimi raised her hands to her face to hide her flushed cheeks. "Jason. I am so sorry. I thought that you were Brady. " Mimi moved away from him taking her hands down from her face. | |||
| "Hey, it's alright. Don't even worry about it. But, I must say that is truly one of the nicest hellos I've gotten in a while." Jason moved to sit down in the chair in front of her desk as Mimi moved to the other side of the desk. | |||
| "You don't know how sorry I am about that. I can't believe I actually thought you were Brady." She laughed a little in disbelief as she settled back into her seat. She turned on her computer and waited to log on to it. Giving herself something to do as she gathered her composure. Once she did that she turned towards Jason. "What are you doing here?" She asked. | |||
| "Well, I thought you might like to go to lunch with me today. But, your secretary told me that you already had plans today. So I'd thought I would wait for you to get back." | |||
| "Oh, I had lunch with Chloe and Belle today." She glanced at her watch it was almost time to pick him up. "Then I had to go to a meeting for the paper. That's why I was late getting back. I hope you haven't been waiting long. What did you want to talk to me about?" | |||
| "You know what, maybe today's not a good day you obviously have work to do. So I will just leave you to it." Jason rose from the seat and started to leave. | |||
| "Jason, if you needed to talk to me, you can go ahead. It won't be a problem, my work can wait." | |||
| "No, really I don't mean to keep you--," | |||
| "Jason, you aren't a bother at all. Now, just tell me what you wanted to talk about." As Mimi finished talking her phone rang. She picked it up on the third ring, holding one hand up to tell Brady to stay put. "Salem Broadcasting, Head of Production, Miriam Black speaking what can I do you for?" | |||
| "Hi Mom," Conrad said. Mimi covered the phone with her hand and spoke to Jason. | |||
| "It's my son. If you can wait, it'll only take a few minutes." | |||
| "No, that's alright. I'll just see you later." Jason turned and started to leave. | |||
| "She misses you too Jase." Mimi called out, Jason stopped and turned to her nodded and left her office. She took her hand off the phone. "Alright, Mr. Black what can I do for you?" Mimi asked her son. | |||
| "I wanted to know if it's okay with you if I go to Chris' house after school." | |||
| "If it's alright with his Dad. But, remember you need to be home early so you--," | |||
| "So I can do my homework. I know mom. Thanks." Conrad finished saying as he hung up the phone. | |||
| Mimi sighed as she replaced the phone on the desk. After looking at the picture on her desk she returned to her computer to work a little before picking up her youngest children. | |||
| *~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~* | |||
| Meanwhile at Titan Industries... | |||
| Philip and Brady had just completed a security briefing. They were in his office discussing their families. | |||
| "So tell me honestly do you think Jason would try anything? I know you know him a little better than I do." Brady asked as he sat in the chair across from Philip. | |||
| "Look, Jason has had some hard times. But, I don't think he would do anything to ruin the relationship he has between him and Mimi. Besides, I think he gave up messing around with married women a long time ago. He hardly does that anymore. I don't think you should be concerned about it." Philip looked at his nephew and watched him carefully. "That's it isn't it. You think that he might try something with Mimi." | |||
| Brady looked pensive but decidedly annoyed. "I know she says he's a good guy and that he's her friend. But, I get the distinct feeling that he wants to be more than just friends with her. And I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. It's as simple as that." Brady's eyes darken as they did whenever as he thought about Jason trying something with his wife. | |||
| "Look, Brady, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Mimi would never cheat on you she loves you too much to ever do something like that. Take it from me, it doesn't pay to get jealous when it's really an innocent relationship." | |||
| "Jealous, who said anything about being jealous? I'm not jealous of anything. And definitely not of Masters (or Welles whichever one you're comfortable with :) ) I am simply stating my -- my opinion of him that's all. Nothing more." | |||
| "Okay, okay whatever. All I was saying is that it seems a little--," | |||
| "A little what? I am not jealous; case closed there is nothing else to say. Let's talk about something else." Philip's eyes filled with glee, it was definitely jealousy on Brady's part. He only hoped that when the time came, Brady was able to hold in the infamous temper of his. "Let's talk about you and Chloe." Brady said. | |||
| The glee left his eyes immediately as they soften a bit. "What about Chloe and me?" | |||
| "Well, you haven't said anything to me about how you're handling the whole thing with Jarod." Philip stood up and walked to the window of his office. He looked very well bred in his suit; with only slight reminiscent of the boy who'd once visited his father. Now his son was visiting him. | |||
| "What is there to say about Jarod? He is Chloe's son and that's that." Philip still looked out at the window. "I-what else is there to say?" | |||
| "You have nothing to say, about the fact that you're wife has another child, by a man other than you. How about the fact that you've got this child in your house with your kids not knowing if he has some possible homicidal tendencies. Whew, you're a better man than even I am. Because, if some child suddenly appeared claiming that he was Mimi's son, man I would-" | |||
| "You would what?" Philip turned around and looked at Brady. "You can't answer me because you don't know what you would do. I know that Jarod is her son and that's all I need to know. He doesn't have any homicidal tendencies. He's been the perfect child. But, it's me who's been having the problems. It's me." He said as she came back to his chair and sat down. Pushing his hands thru his hair he sighed. Then rubbed his hands over his face. "Chloe knows it, she knows I've been well...we haven't really ..." | |||
| "Whoa, you and Chloe aren't--" Brady paused. "You know Phil, there are drugs you could take that would help you--," | |||
| "What in the hell are you talking about?" Philip staring through his fingers before moving his hands from his face to stare at Brady questioningly. | |||
| "You said that you and Chloe aren't having sex." | |||
| "No! This is not about sex, Brady! I never said--," he said stalking toward him. He said moving his hands in frustrated movements. Then massaging his neck as he walked away glaring at Brady with his head tilted to the side. "You know everything's not about sex, man." His eyes zeroed in on Brady, who was holding his hands in a surrendered move. | |||
| "Okay. But, it sounded--," | |||
| "Well it's not about that!" | |||
| "Then what is about, Phil? What's wrong?" Brady asked as he became concerned. Philip wasn't usually this emotional about things. | |||
| "I look at Jarod and I don't know how to act. He has taken to the twins and Jessica so easily. They don't think that anything is wrong. They adjusted so easily to having a brother, better than even Chloe or I could have expected. I guess, another part of me wishes that the kids had not adapted so quickly because I haven't adjusted as quick as they did ... I don't know ... I guess it's just that I haven't acted the same way, as I was when Jarod first arrived. And Chloe knows it." | |||
| "Look Philip, I'm sure Chloe understands why you've been acting the way you have. She's a smart woman. Besides I'm sure she realizes how hard this must be for you. She knows it's going to take a lot of getting used, you know, having a son by another man and all." Philip had a weird look on his face. "What?" | |||
| "That's just it, Chloe swears that she has not been with anyone else and I know she is telling me the truth." | |||
| "Philip, you know I love Chloe a lot, she's one of my best friends. And I'm only mentioning this because you need to think about it," he paused and looked at Philip. "Maybe she had a relationship with someone else and didn't want to tell you about it." | |||
| A muscle pulsed in his well-defined Kiriakis cheekbones. "Brady, the only reason that you haven't been thrown out is because you're family. So please take that that into consideration before you insult my wife again." It was only at that point in the conversation that Brady realized how Philip knew Chloe was telling the truth. Philip was the only man that Chloe had ever been with since they were married. | |||
| "Philip, I wasn't trying to insult Chloe or anything. I was simply trying to remind you of that option. But, if you're so sure, tell me who do you think Jarod's father is?" | |||
| "I am," Brady was studded in silence. "What I mean is I think of Jarod as my son. He's a part of Chloe and that's all I need to make him my son. But, biologically I can't be sure. I have an idea but that's all it is right now. I have well-substantiated leads. But that's all they are right now. I am so close, I can feel it." He stared at the picture of Chloe and their children on his desk. It had been taken when she was six months pregnant with Katherine. It was odd that the picture was still on his desk since a newer one had been taken with Jarod in it, at Chloe's insistence. Chloe had been so happy then, she was ecstatic. But then tragedy struck and she hadn't been the same since. It was for that reason that he had kept his suspicions of Jarod's paternity to himself. If it didn't turn out like he thought then Chloe would be none the wiser. | |||
| "Well are you going to tell me?" He looked up, a little surprised because he had forgotten that Brady was still there. | |||
| "No, at least not until I'm certain. Look if I need to go out of town to figure this out, will you cover for me?" | |||
| "You're that sure?" | |||
| "I know enough not to tell Chloe until I am 100% positive. So can I depend on you to help me?" Philip awaited Brady's answer. "I need to know that someone will be there for Chloe if I leave. Can I depend on you for that?" | |||
| "Yes, of course. And Mimi too. We'll both look out for Chloe." | |||
| "No, you can't tell Mimi. I need you to promise me that when I leave you will protect her for me. Make sure she is alright." Philip looked serious as he gazed into Brady's eyes almost pleadingly. | |||
| "I will. When are you leaving?" Brady asked. | |||
| "I don't know. But, when I do I'll let you know." Philip said walking him to the door. | |||
| "Okay, take care, man." Brady said with a hug and a generous pat on the back (i.e. the man hug). | |||
| After Brady had gone Philip sat in his office by himself. He thought about his wife; the love of his life, Chloe and all the things she had to go through over the years. Losing her friend from college, Jessica's mother, had saddened her but she pulled through and was able to make it thought that by becoming Jessica's sole guardian. Then the death of their daughter, not two years ago had taken its toll on her. Jarod's arrival had brought her back to life again she was almost whole again. | |||
| But, Philip knew in the back of her mind there was a fear, that she could lose him once they found his father. He wasn't going to let that happen. No one was taking another child away from Chloe. He would make sure of it. | |||
| On to Chapter Five | |||
| Back to Secrets of the Heart | |||