Chapter 8
Stuart woke with a start. He looked around and realized that he had fallen asleep on the couch where, only the night before, Leopold had slept. Stuart lay back down again, wondering how and why he was out here and not in his bed.
“Bart?� he called out, but he heard no barking or thrashing coming from the kitchen where the dog usually stayed.
Stuart scratched his head. The apartment was unusually quiet, quite a difference from the excitement that went on earlier that morning.
He was trying to remember if it was real or if it had been all a dream when he heard the front door open.
“Calm down, Bart, “ a female voice called out. “There you go. Go, go on, say hello to your father.�
Stuart sat up. “Amber?� he called. The name sounded vaguely familiar. He waited until he saw Bart run over to the couch. He jumped all over Stuart, licking him all over his face.
Stuart laughed and grabbed both sides of Bart’s neck to grab and push him away.
“Amber,� he called again. “Is that you?�
“Good afternoon, Stuart,� Amber called, walking into the living room. “Lunch is already waiting on the table. I have to go in two hours, but I will be back at five.
Stuart got up and walked to meet her. “You really going to do to this, aren’t you? You really think that you can fill Kate’s shoes?�
Amber smiled. “For the meantime anyway, just until J.J. finds a replacement. I told you my major in college was marketing research.� She smiled and poked him in the stomach. “Got you off the hook, didn’t I?�
Stuart nodded. “You sure did and for that I am forever grateful.� He sat down at his desk where she placed the grilled cheese sandwich that she had made. He bit into it and noticed all the new calculations. “This is good,� he called out to her as she brought her own sandwich over.
“Thanks,� she said, sitting down on the couch. “If you like that, wait until you taste what I have planned for dinner tonight.� She picked up her sandwich and took a bite out of it. “Have you looked at any of that?� she asked, gesturing toward her calculations.
“Just enough to notice that you found another portal,� Stuart said, smiling. He shook his head. “How did you get involved in this? How come you aren’t doing what you had gone to school for?�
Amber smiled and shook her head. She took another bite out of her sandwich and shrugged her shoulder. “It’s just a hobby, Stuart, never really thought about it much. I just got started on it after I got laid off from CRG Janssen.“
Stuart put the cheese sandwich down. “Isn’t that where Kate worked? CRG?�
Amber nodded her head. “I guess it just runs in the family, Stuart.�
“Runs in the family? What are you talking about.�
Chapter 9
“I am Kate’s first cousin once removed, Stuart. I am Kelly Coulter’s daughter.�
Stuart spat out his food. “Kelly Coulter, of the Westchester Coulter’s? You mean Kate’s rich relatives on her mother side?�
Amber nodded. “Yes, Aunt Margaret’s sister, Eileen.�
Stuart couldn’t believe this. Margaret and her younger sister Eileen were inseparable until Maggie married Kate’s father, Sean Patrick McKay of Massapequa.
They had money, but not enough to suit Jasper Coulter, Maggie’s father.
So Jasper had Eileen’s wedding arranged to a distant cousin named Mark Coulter, who had been a successful lawyer. A year later, Eileen had given birth to baby Kelly and everything was fine until a drunken driver with a suspended license had hit Eileen crossing the street, killing her instantly.
At that point, there was nowhere for little Kelly to go, except to stay with her father, who raised her. Mark never got over Eileen’s death and he had blamed himself for leaving Eileen alone so much of the time. So he had quit his job and had become a recluse, giving Kelly his full attention. As she grew older, he came to depend on her more and more. He had started to drink right after Eileen’s death, but it was only to help him sleep. Now he was drinking all the time and was making Kelly’s life miserable.
“She was talking care of your grandfather last I heard. I didn’t know that she had become pregnant.�
“Not yet,� Amber said, looking at him. “Kelly stood by and watched while her father drank up the family fortune. So she attended business school, earned her degree in marketing and accepted a job offer. Of course Grandfather didn’t like that. He would yell at her for working, saying that Coulter woman never had to support a man. During this time, she had an affair with one of her bosses and she became pregnant with me.�
“Didn’t he marry her?� Stuart asked innocently.
Amber shook her head. “Michael actually wanted to, but my grandfather forbade it saying that he not right for her and begged Kelly to stay with him. She quit her job to raise me and lived with her father for a while, but she couldn’t put up with his rules and his constant criticism of her. He always tore her down, Stuart. No matter how hard she tried to make it work, she never could. So she began to go out on the sly and disappear for hours until one day, she never returned.�
She shook her head. “I was sixteen years old when she walked out. By then, we were living in a small condo that Mother had paid in full from the sale of the Westchester mansion. She actually said goodbye to me and I hadn’t even realized it. She hugged me and told me that I was old enough to do as I pleased, that I didn’t have to stay with him any more. She had even hidden some money away to send me to school.�
“But you stayed, didn’t you?�
Amber nodded. “Grandfather was never the same after that. He was a totally different person. He drank more and more especially when I started school. I felt guilty and I stayed to take care of him. When he knew that I would stay, he gave up the drinking and even calmed down a bit, but it was only temporary. I should have known, should have seen it coming.�