Billionairess's Dilemma: Reclaiming His Heart

Chapter 2: New Routines?

Ellis

I pace in the doctor’s office. Laurel sits in the chair calmly eyeing me with her usual amusement.

“Shortcake, you know I do not have patience.” Especially where she is concerned. This is technically her four and a half year appointment. We have six more months to go before they’ll say the C word. Not that I will let up on her being monitored. I’ll relax to six month appointments. I lost my mother to cancer and I will not become complacent leaving my children to a similar fate just because doctors think five years is good enough. It will just be part of our new routine.

“Hadn’t noticed sweetheart.” Sarcasm drips from the first two words. “Your sons inherited the impatient shark gene also.”

“Our princess didn’t. She’s you in so many ways.” I gesture for her to stand up before I pull her into my lap.

“Be honest Jaws. Were you upset we couldn’t have your hockey team?”

She’s asked this before. We talked about one more after Holden was two. The discussion happening only two weeks before her abnormal test.

“Laurel, ultimately no. You always think wistfully of dreams and ideas that you possibly wanted or planned for. If you wanted five more kids I would have made sure you got that. Another baby could have meant we’d lose you because they’d have missed the early detection. I would never trade you for any dream idea we had. I couldn’t live without my walking, talking heart.”

I recall the desperation that would grip me constantly after her diagnosis. The fear and anger over losing her. Considering the hell she lived through, I thought karma should let her enjoy her life with no major issues.

“Mr. And Mrs. Beaumont.” I grin at Laurel. Those words still give me a spark of joy. We both face Dr. Swanson. She smiles at us. “I know you hate delays, Mr. Beaumont so we’ll skip the pleasantries. All your tests are clean Laurel. No evidence of disease.” I close my eyes in relief before gently kissing my wife.

“We’ll have another appointment in three months and then it’s the five-year one.” She continues on with a monitoring plan. As soon as we walk into the hallway, I fire off a text to Henry.

“All clear Goose. Tell the others.”

After Laurel’s diagnosis, Klein came up with the idea to have a rotating point person after each visit. That way I could send one detailed text and get back to focusing on my wife. They’d field all the questions and send it in one go later. It allowed me to focus on taking care of her mainly.

Henry texts one thing back for Laurel. “No turning back into a pumpkin Cinderelly.”

"How about I take you to lunch, Mrs. Beaumont? And then home to celebrate." I wink at her and she laughs.

"I have a better idea. How about takeout?"

"You've always been much smarter than me. Let's go."

(Polly Aged 16. Kevin Aged 18)

Polly

“Hey Pol, I’ll run you home before hockey practice, ok?” Kevin says and I nod at him smiling. He turns to walk away. He brings me to and from school each day since we live within two blocks of each other.

“Wait, you ride to school with that guy?” I turn and see one of the most popular girls in the school standing there. Delilah Pembroke.

“Yes.” I say waiting for the inevitable ask for help getting him to notice her.

“Is he your boyfriend?” She watches him leaving.

“No he isn’t. My best friend.” It was true. Kevin and I had been friends since we met at Uncle Goose’s football party. We just clicked and along we went.

“Oh well that’s interesting.” She mumbles before turning away.

“Why is that interesting?” I press and she shrugs without looking at me.

“No reason. Just seemed like he was more. He’s always interfering in your love life. See you around Polly.” She walks away leaving me curious about the whole thing. What love life? I don’t have one. No one at this school is interested in me.

On the way home, I ask Kevin about her. “I have a class with her, but I think I’ve said maybe two words to her. She’s on the cheer team and talks a lot about her latest manicure. I don’t think she and I have much in common, Pol.” He turns back to face the road. We’re riding in his Jeep. I will get a car next year after he graduates.

“And by the way, I heard that Todd Briles is wanting to ask you out. Make sure you stay away from him. He’s a prick. I already warned him off you.” He doesn’t even look at me.

I try not to let the irritation rise in me. “Why would you do that?” I ask him curiously holding back the annoyance.

He turns to stare at me. “I just told you why. He’s a serious jerk. I don’t want him to hurt you.”

Delilah’s words return to the forefront of my mind. Was that what she meant? Maybe she heard him warn off Todd. “Anyway, that should save you some headaches.”

A little devil of an imp must be perched on my shoulder today though, because I decide to disagree with him for once. “Maybe I’d like the option to refuse him Kev.” I make my tone light, but I’m trying to prove a point. Big brother a little too much sometimes.

“Why? I already took care of it. Now he won’t bother you.” He sounds surprised I would even argue. Before I can say more, he continues on with his next thought.

“Hey, are you going with me to the prom still? It’s in two weeks.” He asks as he pulls into my street.

“Yes. I got my dress. You sure you want to bring a sophomore to the junior and senior prom?” He asked me a few weeks ago to go with him. I’ve been his friend date to lots of dances the last year or two.

He smiles as he turns into the driveway. “Yeah I’m sure. You’re my best friend Polly. I promised to take you, didn’t I?” I nod remembering him making that promise a few years ago.

“See you tomorrow, Kev. Have fun at practice.” I walk in and do my homework absentmindedly before joining my family for dinner.

Resolving to forget Delilah’s words, I crawl into bed to sleep as my phone goes off.

“Night Pol. I’ll pick you up at 7:30. Watch out for dragons in your sleep.”

I smile as I text him back. It’s pretty much the same text he sends me most nights. We played princesses and dragons so much as kids. Uncle Henry always said that every time he put us all to bed. “Watch out for dragons in your sleep. Sometimes they creep up on you and you wake up startling them into breathing fire all over your bedroom.”

“Night Sir Kevin. See you tomorrow.”

The next day at school, I’m eating my lunch when someone sits across from me. I find a guy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. “Hi there.”

“Hi.” I turn my attention back to my food.

“I’m Archer Thornton. I just transferred here.”

“I’m Polly Barnes.”

“What do you do for fun, Polly? We moved to Atherton two weeks ago, so I know nothing about this place.” He smiles softly and I take a better look at him. He’s good looking and probably around my age.

“There are all sorts of hangouts.” I start listing off what a lot of the other teens do. “Sports are of course a big deal in this area.”

“I plan to try out for the baseball team.” He says. “Do you play anything?”

“The piano.” I quip and he laughs hard. I smile at him then.

We discover we have all our afternoon classes together. As we leave the last one, Kevin is marching our way and he doesn’t look super happy. “Pol, you ready?”

“Yep. Kevin, this is Archer Thornton. He’s new here. Archer, this is Kevin Harris. He’s a family friend of mine.” Kevin stares down at me for a minute before holding out his hand.

“Nice to meet you. We need to go, Pol. I have to take Nathan to practice today.” He has already wrapped his arm around my shoulders and turned us toward the exit.

“I could run you home if your friend is busy.” Archer offers.

Kevin answers before I can. “No, she’s fine.”

I wave bye to Archer. As soon as we hit the outside, I shrug Kevin’s arm off and turn to him. “You didn’t need to be rude. He was being considerate.”

“Polly, you don’t know him. He could be some scary asshole and you don’t want to be trapped in a car. He could kidnap you. Basic stranger danger here.” He says defensively.

I nod rolling my eyes playfully. He’s right.

The next day, Kevin has lunch with me. Our free periods rotate around and he always eats with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays because of that. Archer sets his tray down next to me saying hi to both of us. Kevin nods while chewing but I greet him with a friendly smile.

“Hey Polly, have you started on that essay for lit class?” Archer asks eventually.

“Yes. I’m almost done.”

“Would you mind meeting me in the library after school one day this week and looking over mine? I’m not sure what the teacher wants since I kinda jumped in late.”

I nod and Kevin frowns at me. He mouths out a “no” at me and I glare back at him. He looks pissed off for the rest of lunch. Archer picks up on the tension and leaves after he finishes eating.

“Kevin seriously what is your deal?” I ask as soon as he’s gone.

“You are agreeing to meet with him and you’ve known him twelve hours longer.”

“Yes and I’ll be here in the school library with Mr. Tully. It’s not like I’m following him to an abandoned warehouse Kev.” I say eyeing him with exasperation.

He looks a little cowed. “Sorry butterfly, you know it’s just been drilled into me about strange people.”

He softened me up by calling me the nickname he gave me after I wore butterfly wings for a whole year. He saves it for when he’s worried or really sorry for something.

“I get it Kev.” I say giving him a quick smile, so he knows I’m not mad at him.

Archer is heading back our way. “Hey Polly want to walk to algebra together?”

I nod, noting that Kevin says nothing and keeps his face blank this time. About then, Todd wanders over and sits down straddling the bench to face me. “Hey Polly. I was wondering if you were busy Friday night.”

“Beat it Todd. I already told you.” Kevin grinds out. I give him a look but he only scowls at Todd harder.

“Sorry Todd I am busy Friday.” The bell rings and I stand up to hurry off to class. I’m irritated with Kevin. I told him I could take care of it and now he should see I did. I should have said yes to teach him a lesson. I shrug his hand off as we make it out of the cafeteria.

“Polly..”

“Save it Kevin. I told you I can refuse jerks myself. Talk to you later.” I walk off as he stares at me regretfully.

Archer jogs to catch up to me and I slow my steps. “Sorry, didn’t mean to take off on you.”

“It’s ok. You seem pretty upset with your de facto big brother there. You feel stifled?” He sounds understanding and sympathetic.

“I am upset. I told him I can take care of myself. I’d never go out with Todd Briles. He’s a total player.” It feels nice to vent to someone else.

“I have an older sister. It’s hard for them to step back sometimes and stop smothering you. I had to forcefully tell Jennifer to back off last year.”

I nod absentmindedly. I need to talk to Kevin. I know his intention is simply to protect me but I’m not twelve anymore. And I'm tired of this routine. I feel stifled.

On the drive home, he is quiet at first. I hear him sigh as I begin to open my mouth. “I’m sorry butterfly. I…I was out of line. My defense is I forget you don’t need me like that anymore.”

Well, that deflates my whole argument. I find myself grinning slightly. “You’ve chosen your profession well counselor. You just deflated my whole tirade I was going to launch.”

He laughs before grinning cockily. “Case closed then.” But then his eyes soften, and he reaches over to lightly squeeze my hand. “I will try to back off on the avenging protector. Just tell me when I’m going too far.”

“Deal. That way you can stop hauling that super cape around that says ‘Polly’s Protector.’ Will make hockey practice easier.” I say smiling and we talk about the prom the rest of the way home.

The day before it, Archer mentions he’s going. His cousin is a junior and he’s going to be her date. “Great then. I’ll see you there.” He’s funny and has a good ear for listening. I was fast counting him my newest friend. I could tell Kevin didn’t seem to like him that much, but he never said anything.

“Save me a dance tomorrow night Polly.” Archer calls after us on the Friday before prom. I hear Kevin make a sound and look up at him.

“You don’t like him, do you?” I ask as we climb into the Jeep.

“I don’t really know him, Polly.” He says measuredly.

“And that’s a non-answer. What’s your problem with him?” I push wondering in the back of my mind why I’m continuing to demand an answer.

“I don’t have a problem with him. Not everything is like you see it.” He seems to stop talking abruptly and I let it go. He parks in front of my house. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six.”

I nod and wave bye to him. Things have been weird the last two weeks. I never noticed just how overbearing he can be.

He’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs as I walk down in the rose pink silk and chiffon dress. His eyes light up as he smiles.

“You look very pretty, butterfly.” He holds out a corsage of little pink roses making me smile.

“You got my favorites. You clean up pretty nice Sir Kevin.” I tease and he laughs.

“What’s the point of bringing flowers if you don’t like them? I, uh…listen Polly..” He stares down at me very seriously and I’m about to ask if I have spinach in my teeth or something when Mom’s loud voice interrupts us.

“Get over here so I can take pictures. Coline is waiting too.”

He playfully rolls his eyes, and I laugh as we endure our mothers taking a thousand photos. When we finally escape, we head for the hotel where they are holding the prom. It’s at the Octet Ballroom. We’ve been here on multiple occasions growing up. We walk in looking at all the balloons and flowers everywhere. The theme was “Stars in the Sky” and they had the ceiling draped with blue and white fabric with lights underneath like a night sky. We go find our table we were assigned to and grab food from the buffet. A couple of his hockey teammates join us since they were placed at the same table.

"Want to dance and avoid my two left feet?" He asks smiling.

"I'm good at dodging." I joke and we go out to dance. To my surprise, he glides us across the floor easily.

"Whoa. You are dancing, Kevin."

He laughs. "Mom might have made me take lessons for the gala ball in Australia."

"I am impressed. And I cannot wait to go to Australia!" I proclaim excitedly. We were going for three weeks with our families. Our mothers were having a huge fashion gala there during the last week. I haven't been there before and neither has Kevin.

"Me too. It's going to be so much fun. Tyrese says it's beautiful around the ranch." Kevin adds with a huge smile

Uncle Klein's sister lives there with her family on a ranch and they go every other year to visit.

We dance to a few more songs before heading back to the table. Two other couples sit there. I am talking to them when a hand touches my shoulder. "Hey Polly right? You want to dance?"

I look up to find the football quarterback, Simon Williams is standing there with his charming smile that's gotten him into more high school girls bedrooms than Taylor Swift. "Dance? With you?" I ask to make sure.

He grins wider. "Well yes. I did ask the pretty Polly to dance."

"She's busy." Kevin jumps in loudly with both feet. I turn to see him glaring at Simon. He looks completely pissed off.

"I didn't ask you Harris. I asked the pretty Polly." He snarks back.

Kevin gets to his feet. I stand up too and put my hand on his arm. "Kevin I can handle this."

"Leave Williams." He growls. I've never seen Kevin like this.

"No. She's not a bird you can keep in a cage Harris. If she wants to dance with me she will."

"You're up to no good. Stay the hell away from her. You know she's off limits." Kevin is in his face snarling.

"Yeah that's not your decision to make, asshole. You've already warned off three guys from asking her tonight." Simon fires back not looking intimidated at all. Kevin isn't taller than him but hockey players will put anyone into the wall if they want to.

"Get behind me Polly." Kevin orders and I shove him now absolutely irritated with the fact he won't let me speak for myself.

"No. Kevin sit down. Simon I'll dance with you." I announce and Simon's face breaks into a triumphant smile. He holds a hand out as Kevin looks down at me with irritation.

"Polly...."

"Save it. I told you I can handle myself." I dance with Simon watching as Kevin fumes at the table. After that I have a few others who ask including Archer.

"Hey Polly. Saw you earlier but decided to hang back after that testosterone infused confrontation. You ok?"

"No. I wish he'd trust me. I'm not going to sneak off to an empty classroom with the first guy that asks me to dance." I huff with annoyance.

"Big brother. Maybe you need to lay out some rules for your friendship to continue. He's going to be gone soon anyway unless he's hired the hockey team to block you in." He suggests before we dance to a few more songs.

"Ugh I hadn't thought about that. He'd do something like that."

"You deserve to be able to have some fun if you want to. Tell him off." Archer advises before he leaves to dance with his cousin.

By then, I'm done and ready to go home. I walk back to the table. "I'm ready to go home."

Kevin sighs, looking at the angry set to my mouth and my crossed arms. "Ok, let's go."

We leave and start out in total silence before he finally breaks it. "Polly I'm sorry. I just....Simon is a player and he...."

I interrupt him. "Kevin you need to listen to me now. I am grateful you have always been ready to take on anything to protect me. You've been an amazing big brother for a long time. But I told you I can handle myself. Do you really think I'm going to run off with the first guy who pays attention to me and sleep with him?"

He looks stunned. "No! I know you're not naive like that."

"Then why do you persist in not even letting me have the choice to turn them down for a freaking dance in the middle of a school event? You are going to graduate in two weeks and be gone. I am going to be on my own. I can handle myself. For the next two weeks I want you to promise me you will back off and just be my friend. Not the out of control hovering big brother. I....I just need some breathing room Kev."