The Secret Billionaire: A BWWM Love Story For Adults (12 page)

She decided
to call Jane and tell her about it, but then Vera noticed something
on the table. It was an empty soda can, placed upside down on the
table. She took a closer look at it and found a paper underneath it
with her name.

Quickly, Vera
opened the paper and started reading —

“
Dear
Vera,

I know
what you have been going through after your father’s death. You
left your life and future to care for me and now I am seeing you in
this horrible dilemma where you will have to choose between a good
life for yourself or getting stuck with me. And I am not the kind of
mother who will let her child suffer.

Please
don’t worry about me. I have enough money to take care of
myself. I plan to enjoy myself and suggest you do the same. It's
about time, and I am going for that holiday your father promised me.

I love you
my dear.

Mom.

PS: This
is not a suicide note. I am not going to kill myself.”

Vera broke
down. All this time she thought her mother had no idea about her
problems. But it turned out, she took all the blame upon herself and
removed herself out of the situation. She put the letter down, wiped
her tears and called Jane.

“
Jane,
Mom left!” she cried.

Jane was not
able to understand what Vera meant. “What do you mean?”
she asked.

Vera
explained the whole thing to her and even read the letter. She was
crying all the time.

“
You
stay there, I am coming.” Jane said and hung up.

Within an
hour, both of them were sitting together.

“
Should
we go to the police? File a missing complaint?” Vera asked.

“
I
don’t know. Your mother left on her own will. So technically,
she is not missing. I am not sure how the cops are going to look at
it.” Jane said taking a deep breath. “Lets just calm down
for a minute and put our heads together. We need to figure out where
she must have gone.”

Vera picked
up her phone and started dialing.

“
Who
are you calling?” Jane asked.

“
Archer!”
she replied.

*****

Archer was
playing golf that morning when his phone rang.

“
Hey
Vera. How are you?” his face lit up answering the call.

“
Archer,
my mother left the house. I don’t know where she is.”
Vera was crying.

Archer
realized how serious this was. He signaled Phillip to come with him
in a corner. After making sure nobody was able to hear them, Archer
put the phone on speaker and started talking to Vera —

“
Vera,
do you have any idea why she left?” Archer’s tone was
firm like a detective.

Vera felt
obliged to tell him everything, and so she started narrating
everything in chronological order. Archer had heard much of that
stuff on their first date, but now he was getting to know Vera’s
dilemma.

“
Wow!”
Archer said to himself but then composed his voice. “Listen to
me, she wrote she is going on that holiday that your father promised
her. Tell me, where was he going to take her?”

Vera wiped
her tears and read the letter again. “He used to say that they
would go around the world in a ship.”

“
Okay,
we are getting somewhere. Now tell me, does your mother have enough
money to go around the world?” Archer asked another question.

“
I
don’t know. She does have some bank accounts of her own but we
are not that rich.” Vera remembered.

“
Okay,
now tell me, when did she leave?”

Vera tried to
remember but she did not come up with anything, “I woke up at 8
and she was already gone. I am guessing she took off way before
that.”

“
Alright,
you stay at home, in case she comes back and I will make some calls.
I have a friend who knows some people.”

“
Could
you please come here?” Vera cried.

“
Let
me take care of this and I will be with you. Okay?” Archer
said.

Vera hung up
and Archer looked at Phillip. Archer did not need to say anything.
Phillip took out his phone and made some calls.

“
Hey,
I need details of her mother — her name, address, picture.”
Phillip asked Archer while talking to somebody on the phone. Archer
called Vera and got all the necessary information emailed to him. He
then forwarded that to Phillip.

After
relaying from one person to another, Phillip finally had something,
“I think we found her,” he said to Archer.

*****

Archer, Vera
and Phillip reached the bay and boarded their yacht.

“
Who
is this guy?” Vera asked Archer looking at Phillip who was busy
with his phone all the time.

“
He
is my friend I told you about? Very influential guy.” Archer
replied.

“
Is
this his yacht?” she asked.

“
Uhh..
yeah! It's his..” Archer said looking at Phillip.

Hours later,
they were able to see a cruise ship at a distance. “There!”
Archer said. “Your mother is on that cruise.”

Vera could
not believe it. Her mother had left her to go on a cruise.

Vera, Archer
and Phillip boarded the cruise from the yacht and the captain himself
took them to the lounge where his passengers were enjoying a post
lunch variety show.

“
MOM!”
Vera screamed at her mother in the spectators. The program abruptly
stopped and Vera walked to her mother with heavy steps. “What
were you thinking?” she yelled at the top of her voice.

“
Ooohh!”
Phillip giggled standing by Archer.

“
Do
you have any idea what you did to me today?” Vera continued
yelling. A few attendants arrived on the scene. “Miss, I need
you to calm down,” a female attendant warned Vera.

Phillip
signaled Archer to do something.

And so, he
walked to the scene with the captain. “Can we get these two a
room, where they can have their discussion in private?” Archer
looked at the captain.

After much
walking, Archer, led Vera and Alice inside a first class cabin. “I
will be waiting outside,” he said closing the door behind him.

“
How
dare you leave me like this?” Vera screamed.

“
I
left you? You only live with me. But you have left me long ago.”
Alice spoke out. “Whenever I try to talk to you about your
future, you dismiss me like a child. I am tired of being treated like
that. After you go to your job, I stay in that house all alone. How
dare you lecture me for leaving you? At least I never ran away from a
discussion.”

“
But
why did you pull this stunt? You could have clearly told me instead
of leaving like this.” Vera was still furious.

“
Oh
please! Have you forgotten how many times I tried to talk to you. And
don’t expect me to beg you to have a conversation with me. I am
your mother and I deserve much better than that.” Alice was now
letting her anger out.

“
But
it's my life, and my future. Why do you keep pushing me to make a
choice? Things were going so good for me and you went and did
this
!”

“
I
did
this
??”
Alice screamed in astonishment. “I gave up my life for you and
your father. I toiled with him when we struggled for money. I put his
and your needs before mine all my life. At least you have Jane to
talk to. Do you know who do I have to talk to?? NOBODY!”

Alice’s
anger had trumped Vera’s and now she was just listening to her
mother.

“
Your
father was a private man and never told me how he really felt. He
kept it all inside him and maybe that is why his heart gave up. And
then you grew up to be just like him — you never came to me to
talk. All you did was sit in your room and be alone. Try to
understand, it's your right to be alone, but when you do that in a
house with two people, you are not giving the other person a choice.
For your selfishness, you and your father left me alone! Tell me what
wrong I did by coming here? Tell me honestly, If you go back right
now and resume your life like normal, would it stop without me?”

That made
Vera think. She had made her mother obsolete. Vera realized that
though she regularly cried about sacrificing her future to take care
of her mother, she was actually not doing anything for her. It was
not her mother who was holding her back — she was doing it to
herself.

The
realization was too heavy for Vera to take in. She sat down in a
chair and looked at the floor. Tears broke out of her eyes and ran
down her cheeks.

Alice could
not stop herself anymore. After all she was a mother.

“
Oh
my baby!” she wrapped her arms around Vera.

“
I
am sorry mother!” Vera held her mother tightly.

Both of them
embraced each other.

*****

Phillip
nudged Archer, signaling him to turn around.

Archer saw
Alice and Vera coming out of the cabin.

“
Mom,
this is Archer, and his friend Phillip,” Vera introduced her
mother to Archer for the first time.

“
It's
a pleasure meeting you, Ma'am!” Archer shook her hand, but
Alice pulled him towards herself and gave him a tight hug. “Thank
you for bringing my daughter to me.”

“
Mom,
it was because of Phillip.” This was Vera’s way of
thanking Phillip. “He brought us here in his yacht.”

“
You
own a yacht? You must be rich!” Alice joked thanking him.

Phillip
looked at Archer, “I believe I am, Mrs Jones.”

Archer’s
grin signaled Phillip to stay quiet.

“
So
what do we do now?” Phillip ask.

“
Lets
go back, Mrs Jones!” Archer looked at Alice.

“
I
think I will stay here. I like this ship. Besides, I deserve this
holiday.” Alice replied. She really did not want to go. It was
the first day of the cruise and she was enjoying it, until Vera
barged in.

Archer looked
at Vera who in turn looked at her mother, “Mom, are you sure?”

“
Yes!
You guys go ahead, I will be back when this ship comes back.”

“
I
guess they are not going to refund your money, so you better enjoy.”
Vera smiled.

Before
leaving the cruise, Archer made all the arrangements for Vera to
communicate with Alice any time. Bidding farewell to her mother, Vera
left the cruise with Archer and Phillip.

*****

“
Look
at this.” Vera said looking outside the yacht window. “This
morning, my life was upside down. My mother had left home and I had
no idea what to do.” She turned to Archer who was standing
behind her, “And now I am in a million dollar yacht.”

“
And
I have no one but you to thank for this, Archer!” her eyes were
filled with tears.

Archer just
stared at Vera in disbelief. He had developed feelings for Vera way
before their first date took place. But he did not want to open
himself up before telling her the truth. “Don’t cry Vera.
I will always be there for you…” Archer wanted to say a
lot more, but Vera could not wait anymore. She pulled Archer close
and planted a kiss on his lips.

Forgetting to
measure time, they kissed each other passionately. Vera pushed Archer
against the wall and he lifted her in his arms. Vera suddenly, pulled
her face away.

“
Is
Phillip expecting you?” she asked.

“
What?
No!” Archer replied almost laughing.

“
Great!”
Vera kicked the door closed that locked itself from inside. And then
she grabbed Archer like she was a lioness and he was her prey. Archer
could feel her nails going deep in his skin through his shirt.

“
What
has gotten into you?” he smiled as Vera seductively looked at
him. Both of them were hungry for each other’s flesh. Archer
jumped at her this time, grabbing her in his arms. He picked her up
and threw her on the bed.

Quickly, he
unbuttoned his shirt and threw it away. Vera was finally able to
touch that chiseled chest outside of her dream. “Come here!”
she growled and grabbed him from the ribs. She started planting
kisses on Archer’s chest while he took off her top.