Jennifer Greene - The Billionaire’s Handler

“Normal’s a meaningless word, as far as I’m concerned. He was always happy by nature.”

“He still is. But he’s talking now. Not perfectly, but he’s able to communicate. He stopped having the seizures, the fierce headaches. Something is seriously weird about his brain wiring. Nobody seems to be able to completely identify or fix it. But he’s amazingly better, thanks to you, with a much happier picture for a future.”

“I wasn’t looking for thanks, Maguire. I just remember him. I care what’s been happening with him.”

Maguire was far more skilled at handling the crab than she was.

She had to work twice as hard to scoop out half as much of the sweet white meat-but damn. It was fun.

“My father always claimed to love Tommy, but his method of caring was to throw treatments and programs at him. Nothing was too expensive. But typical of my dad, that meant that Tommy was primarily seen and raised by various professional people. Strangers. Not people who were really listening to him, looking at him, day by day. You listened.”

“Quit it, Maguire. I wasn’t looking for praise or thanks. I wanted to hear more about the progress he’s made since the surgery. What programs he’s part of now.”

He nodded. “Hopefully, sometime over the next couple weeks you’ll get a chance to see him.”

“Really? I’d love that.” For a few seconds she was diverted from eating the butter-dripping crab. “I’m not sure if he’ll still remember me, but-”

“Trust me. He remembers you.”

Wilbur had brought bowls, warm water with squeezed lemons, for them to wash their hands. She didn’t want to give up eating, but she didn’t expect to have Maguire trapped like this forever. So she rinsed, wiped, removed the gigantic bib and sat back. “You’re clearly happy with what I did for Tommy. But I still find it upsetting that you leaped into my life since I turned into…well, into a fruitcake. So I’d like to explain the fruitcake thing.”

“You don’t have to.”

She said quietly, “Yeah. I really do.” She took a breath and then just started in. “The day the lawyer called, to tell me about the inheritance, I was…beyond stunned. Obviously I know I helped your little brother. But it’s not as if I did anything brave or spectacular. It was just…luck. I work with enough special kids to notice those different symptoms in Tommy.”

“Luck might have been part of it. But you cared enough to step in. To fight for him,” Maguire said brusquely.

“Well. Whatever. The point is…everyone in my world was thrilled for me. My parents. My sister. Aunts and uncles, friends, everyone. We never had much growing up, so the first thing I did for my dad was buy him a new car. He’d never had a new one before. He always bought used, so new was a treat. And my mom…for years she’d been dreaming about having a new kitchen with a double oven. I started out having so much fun with the money, I can’t begin to tell you. Only, that changed. Pretty quickly.”

Maguire finally finished eating, sank back while Wilbur took away the evidence of their feast and then disappeared into the front cabin with the crew. Carolina doggedly talked on.

“I started getting nonstop calls. One was a school for special kids, who wanted me to donate the money for a wing. Then my dad. He got really upset because he thought I should make him into my manager, instead of hiring an accountant. Then my sister…she asked me to fund her two kids’ college educations. I did. In fact, I was happy to do that. Only…it just went on and on…”

Maguire handed her a soda, as if sensing her throat was dry.

It was. But that didn’t stop her from talking.

“I had one second cousin-twice removed-who had a son who got in trouble with the law. I’m not trying to be funny. The relationship was so distant that I barely knew who he was, and I had only met him once in my life. But he wanted me to pay the attorney fees. Then my sister wanted a new house. I was getting phone calls almost 24/7. Life insurance. Security. Real-estate people. Stockbrokers. Cancer, heart, diabetes, prosthetics, Lou Gehrig’s disease…I’m not sure how all these strangers knew I’d gotten this inheritance. And they’re all good causes, Maguire. Things I do care about. But my life just got…insane. I couldn’t take a bath or read a book. I couldn’t come home at all, without the phone ringing or someone pounding at the door.” She lifted a hand. “I woke up one morning to find a homeless woman on my doorstep.”

Maguire didn’t interrupt, just kept looking at her with those silvery blue eyes, as if the only thing on his mind or in his heart was to listen to her.

“For a while, I was still teaching. I mean, I thought my life would basically be the same. Sure, I’d have this fabulous nest egg and some luxuries, but I was still a teacher at heart. It’s who I am, what I do. Only, the kids I teach are uniquely vulnerable, so when strangers started bugging me at school, the kids were affected. The principal gave me a five-star review for my job performance, yet at the same time he suggested I leave. Everything was different. People, my friends, the other teachers… I was expected to pay if we went out to lunch. Or I wasn’t included because I was suddenly perceived as different. I had men calling me. Men I’d never met. Men I never wanted to meet. And then there was a break-in-it was just weeks after the inheritance. I hadn’t really made many changes in my apartment. Well, some. The one thing I did pretty quickly was get a new computer, because mine was six years old and I was getting the blue screen of death all the time-”

Maguire shot her a look. He didn’t roll his eyes, but she got the gist.

“Okay,” she said, “I know I’m digressing. The break-in was the point. It really shook my timbers. But even worse was the steady round of lawyers and security people calling after that. And I forgot. There was a neighbor who came over, lost her husband, was hoping I could pay her rent for a while. Then…my father’s second aunt’s grandson’s wife was pregnant with a baby that needed some kind of expensive operation-”

“Carolina?”

“What?”

“I know all this,” he said patiently. “I’m surprised you didn’t cave long before you did. The way the doctors explained that ‘hysterical deafness’…it was your body giving you permission to shut down and quit listening to everyone’s demands. Losing your hearing was self-defense.”

“Whatever. Here’s the thing I wanted to say. You know what? This is really your family’s money. Not mine. Why don’t I just give it back to you.”

“No. Not an option.”

“Just listen to me, all right? I’ve lost just about everything that matters to me. My job. The family relationships I thought were strong and solid. Friends. The things I loved to do, loved to be part of, always took for granted. And you know what?”

Maguire wiped a hand over his face, tucked his chin on a fist. “What?”

“When you first kidnapped me, I kept thinking how weird it was…that I wasn’t afraid. But now I actually get it. Because my reality is that I couldn’t be a happier kidnappee. I don’t want to go home right now. I really don’t.”

“And you’re not.”

“But all those problems’ll go away if you just take the money back. Wouldn’t you like all those millions?” she asked coaxingly.

Maguire got this expression on his face as if he were fighting not to laugh. Fighting to believe she was for real. “I have more than enough money than I could ever use or want, Cee. So, no.”

“Okay then. How about for Tommy? How about if I give it all to Tommy?”

“Tommy couldn’t use another penny in his lifetime. He’s got a fortune. All in safe, secure trust funds.”