The Teacher's Billionaire (3 page)

Callie dialed the phone number. “Mrs. Lee it's Callie,” she said when the other woman answered.

“What have I told you about that, Callie. It's Helen. How are you doing? You've been on my mind.”

How had she been? Confused? Hurt? Shocked? “Still a little in shock,” Callie finally settled on. “You said if I needed to talk again, I could call.”

“I'll help in anyway I can. You know that,” Helen answered in her soft motherly voice.

“It's about my father. I'm still not sure I want to meet him. Yeah, he's my father but. . . it's just so strange, you know. At first I didn't want to contact him because I thought he would deny I'm his daughter. But he sent someone here today to set up a meeting with me.”

“That's a good sign. So when are you meeting him?” Helen's voice took on an upbeat tone. “I was a little worried he wouldn't believe Ruth's letter after all these years.”

“Even if he does believe Mom's letter that doesn't mean he'll accept me.”

Helen made a tsking sound. “Why wouldn't he, Callie? You are a wonderful woman. He should be proud to call you his daughter.”

Although she didn't know more than what the media said about the man, she did know he was one of the richest men in America. “I doubt he has many school teachers in the family,” Callie said unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She knew from her personal experiences in high school that the wealthy often looked down on those without huge bank accounts to match their own.

“Ruth had only good things to say about him when she told me he was your father. If I were you, I would give him a chance. What is the worst that could happen?”

Callie had other reasons for not wanting to meet him, but she didn't want to share them with Helen. At some level she felt that if she never met him face to face, she could almost convince herself that nothing had changed. Somehow ignoring the truth made it easier to keep at bay the anger she felt toward her mother for lying.

Callie had considered her mom more than just a parent. She’d thought of her as a friend too. She never doubted that her mother felt the same way. At least not until several days ago.

“So you really think I should meet with him?” Callie asked instead of telling Helen the whole truth.

Again Helen sighed. “Only you can decide that, but I do think it
is
what your mom wanted.”

For a solid hour after getting off the phone, Callie sat working or at least trying to work on correcting papers. When the effort proved pointless, Callie picked up her books and focused on Lucky who still sat at her feet.

“How does a walk sound?” The words had the dog on its feet and whining in mere seconds. “I’ll take that as good.”

***

“So you’re telling me your father is alive?” Lauren McDonald exclaimed louder than Callie would’ve liked. The two of them were in Callie’s classroom eating lunch the following day. Lauren wasn’t only Callie's closest friend but also a fellow teacher at Reagan Elementary School.

While she hadn’t intended to tell Lauren about her mother’s secret yet, she couldn’t keep the information bottled up any longer. She simply needed to talk more. Her conversation with Helen hadn't been enough.

Tucking several strands of ash blond hair behind her ear, Lauren rested her chin on her hands and leaned forward. “Why didn’t she tell you before?” She didn’t give Callie a chance to answer her first question before continuing. “You guys seemed so close. It’s hard to believe she kept this from you.”

Tell me about it.
“I wish I knew all the answers,” Callie replied frowning. “The only thing I know is Senator Warren Sherbrooke and my mother were involved thirty-two years ago.”

A sudden gasp escaped from Lauren. “You didn’t tell me
he
was your father!”

“Yes, I did.” Callie thought she mentioned it, but the look on Lauren’s face said otherwise.

Lauren shook her head adamantly causing her long pink earrings to dance wildly. “What else did you forget to tell me, chickie?”

She hadn’t said anything about Dylan Talbot’s visit. “My father sent someone to my apartment.” For some reason she didn’t want to mention Dylan’s name. Maybe it was because she still found it hard to believe he’d really been in her apartment. “My father wants to meet me. Or at least that’s what his messenger said.”

“So when are you going to see him?”

Callie shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe never.”

Lauren’s light brown eyes grew wide with surprise. “Why not? It sounds as if he’s sincere. I don’t think it’d hurt to give him a chance.”

Her friend made it sound so simple. And maybe if her emotions weren’t involved it would be. Unfortunately, she couldn’t turn her emotions off.

“It might not, but I’m not ready. I can’t explain it. Besides I can’t take time off now,” Callie explained hoping to satisfy her friend. “Once school ends I’ll reconsider.”

“
If you say so.” Lauren frowned. “But I think you should give him a chance. Meet with him at least once. You could end up having a great relationship with your father and his family.”

Callie and Lauren finished their lunches and threw away their trash in silence. The students were due back in from recess at any minute.

Standing Lauren started toward the door which connected their rooms but suddenly stopped. “Callie, you’ve got a brother and a sister. Well, a half brother and sister.”

The room around her seemed to tilt and spin. Callie clutched the closest desk to steady herself, as she took a few deep breaths. Lauren was right. Warren Sherbrooke and his wife had two children in their mid-twenties. She should have realized sooner that she had half siblings. Somehow though her brain hadn’t let her make the connection. It was so focused on her mother's lie and Warren himself that she hadn't thought of the bigger picture. This new development only added to her emotional turmoil.

“I’ll talk to you later.” Lauren’s voice broke through the fog just as Callie’s students came barreling into the classroom. Sending her friend a little wave, she tried to focus on her afternoon lessons.

That night she found herself scrolling through the hits her internet search had found. When she’d sat down, Callie only intended to write a few email messages before losing herself in a book. Instead she’d brought up her favorite search engine and typed in her father’s name. She'd done a very brief internet search after learning the truth about her father, but this time she intended to do a more thorough job. In seconds the Internet came up with well over one million hits.

Thank goodness for modern technology.

Like most of America, she already knew the basics about Warren Sherbrooke. While that meant she knew more about him than she did any other stranger, she still didn't know a lot about him. While the Internet couldn’t give her all the answers, it could help fill in some of the gaps.

Dylan Talbot could tell me even more.
Callie eyed his business card. At first she considered throwing it away, but at the last minute she changed her mind. Now the card sat on her end table near the phone.

“For now this will have to do,” she muttered aloud refusing to allow herself to call him. If she called him it would look as if she wanted a meeting with her father. And she still had not made up her mind yet.

Moving the cursor over the first Internet link, she double clicked. Instantly, an official political website popped up.

Over the next hour Callie scanned through the various sites. Many of them contained the same information, much of which she already knew. As she read the articles regarding Warren and the Sherbrooke family the same question kept plaguing her. How had her parents ever met?
They came from completely opposite backgrounds. Callie couldn’t see anything which would’ve brought them in contact with each other let alone allow them to be intimate.

He came from a wealthy, well-connected family. Ruth Taylor, on the other hand, had grown up in Rhode Island where her parents had owned a small deli and convenience store in Newport. Sometime before Callie's birth, her mom moved to Massachusetts. So how had it happened? She was dying to know. And the only person who could tell her for certain was her father.

***

The proper thing would've been to call, Dylan thought as he rapped his knuckles on Callie Taylor’s weathered apartment door three days later. He considered calling but decided against it, although he didn't know why. Perhaps it was because he knew she might refuse to see him. How could he persuade her to change her mind if she wouldn’t see him? He was good but not that good. Dylan knew how important this was to his stepfather. And even though he was against them meeting before the election he didn't want to disappoint Warren. It would be like disappointing his own father.

Inside the apartment, he could hear her dog barking and then her voice scolding the silly mutt. Without asking who it was first, she pulled open the door.

Since their first meeting, he hadn’t thought much about Callie’s appearance. Rather he’d been focused on how he could change her mind. Yet with her standing only a few feet away, he couldn't ignore what a beautiful woman she was. Silently he watched her lips form a smile which didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“It’s nice to see you again.” Callie paused for a moment and Dylan wondered if she would invite him in or not. “Please come in,” she finally said.

Dylan could tell she wasn’t pleased to see him again. Although her words were polite and friendly, her body language gave away her true feelings. He doubted she realized just how much her rigid stance and crossed arms told him about her feelings regarding his visit. Dylan knew most people didn't know how much their body language revealed, but he'd taken a sociology course as an undergrad that had spent more than a month on this very topic. It was amazing just how handy it came in when dealing with business executives.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you.” Following her into the sweet chocolatey smelling kitchen, he forced himself to keep his eyes locked on the back of her head and her long dark ponytail rather than the gentle sway of her hips. “I thought we might be able to arrange a time for your meeting with Warren,” he continued when she sat down at the table which was covered with trays of fresh baked chocolate brownies.

Her fake smile faltered for a moment. “I told you the other day, Mr. Talbot, I’m not ready. Even if I wanted to meet him now, I can’t take a lot of time off. It's just not possible as a teacher. It'll have to wait until at least June.”

Take it slow and easy.
Making her angry won't help matters.

“We could arrange something for a weekend then.” He made the offer fully suspecting that she would still refuse.

Initially, he hadn’t expected her to be so resistant. In fact he’d thought she would be excited about the prospect. After all it was Warren Sherbrooke. Most people would be thrilled to learn he was their father. Callie Taylor, however, seemed to be just the opposite. And even though it made his job more difficult he liked her more because of that fact.

Callie folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair. “Mr. Talbot, flying somewhere for the weekend isn’t in my budget. I’m sorry if you don’t understand that.”

Her movement had his eyes moving instinctively to her breasts. During his first visit she’d been wearing a loose baggy t-shirt which had hidden her body well. However, today she wore a fitted purple tank top and a pair of well-worn jeans both of which showed off her curves.

Keep focused Talbot.
Despite the mental command, his body didn’t want to cooperate.

Forcing his eyes back up to her face, he ignored her clipped tone and thought about how best to reply. While he didn’t know any teachers personally, he knew they weren’t paid a fortune. But if the cost of travel was the only problem, that could be easily rectified.

“
Warren would be more than willing to pay for all the travel expenses, or you could use his private plan. If you want to give me some dates, I’ll arrange everything before I leave Boston.”

As soon as the words left his lips, Dylan knew he said the wrong thing. For a few seconds Callie glared at him, her eyes flashing with anger. The emotion made them even bluer, if that was possible.

“If Mr. Sherbrooke is in such a rush to meet me, why didn’t he come himself? Why did he send you instead?” Callie snapped her tone cold and unfriendly. A tone he hadn’t heard her use before.

Dylan knew he gave her a reason during their first meeting, which meant she’d either forgotten or didn’t accept it. Something told him the latter was more likely. Still just in case it would be better to stick with his first excuse.

“He’s campaigning on the West Coast,” Dylan began. “I thought I mentioned that.”

Shifting in her seat, she nodded. “You did. But he could have come when he finished couldn't he?”

Unexpectedly, she gave him a small knowing smile. “If he really wanted to meet me, wouldn’t it be easier if he came rather than send you?”

He sensed she already had an idea of why he’d come instead of Warren. Still he needed to answer her question. The truth was going to sound crass, but it would be better to get it out in the open now. If it came out later, it'd be much worse.