Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I suppose I could tell my family I was moving to Colorado. They couldn’t technically stop me. I could attend meetings by Zoom or fly back and forth for gala dinners and charity luncheons.
But Iris couldn’t come with me. She has a life here. If I thought they’d accept it, I would invest in the farm so she would be able to accompany me.
But the Wilde family is far too proud to accept money from me.
So we’d spend half our lives apart. How could we have a life like that? Raise a family? Half our history wouldn’t be together.
Time and distance would eventually take its toll.
However hard I try, I can’t see a solution.
But there must be one. There has to be. And I won’t give up hope. I can’t. Not yet.
Because Iris is… everything to me. I was meant to spot her at the ballet. I was meant to run into her in the diner.
Before meeting Iris, talk of destiny would have sounded ridiculous coming from someone else. But the way I feel about Iris isn’t ridiculous.
Destiny is how Iris feels.
Manhattan is where the Alden family resides, does business, and gives generously. It’s the only place I ever saw myself.
Until Iris.
It’s too much to think about. I should focus on my emails. On The Alden Hotel. I bought The Alden when my five closest friends bought their hotels. Our ownership of the hotels was meant to bind us together.
Except does it?
We thought we needed the hotels. But things change. Maybe it’s different now. They’ve all found the women they’re meant to be with and the bond between the six of us is still as strong as ever. If I sold the hotel, it wouldn’t make any difference to our friendship. I know that as clearly as I know anything.
I don’t have anything to do with the day-to-day operations of the business. There’s a hotel manager and an overall CEO of my personal businesses who also deals with the hotel. I enjoyed getting it off the ground, but it doesn’t really have any value to me anymore.
Things change.
I’ve changed.
All I can think about is Iris. Has she changed?
My phone starts to ring as I’m holding it. My mother. I ignore it again.
And then her assistant, Greg, calls. I groan, and even though I know he’s calling on behalf of my mother, I answer it this time. At least he can’t chastise me. He can’t judge Iris or, if he does, he has to at least pretend he doesn’t.
“Greg. How can I help?” I answer.
“Mr. Alden, there’s been an incident. Your father’s on the way to the hospital.”
I go cold, like all the blood has left my body. I jump to my feet and push my hand through my hair.
“What kind of incident?” I ask, my blood back, my veins pulsing in my neck.
“Are you in New York? You need to come to Mount Sinai.” There’s an edge in his voice that I can’t place. There’s something he’s not telling me.
“What happened. Is he conscious?” I pat down my jeans, trying to locate my keys. I find them and head toward the car.
“We won’t know anything until he’s seen by doctors.”
“Is he conscious?” I bellow into the phone.
“Yes, I think we can say he’s conscious. But you need to come as quickly as possible.”
“I’m in Colorado,” I say. “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
He’s not telling me something. Is he dead already? My mind goes blank at the thought and I head out of Wilde’s Farm.
Back to Manhattan.
Back to being an Alden.
THIRTY
Jack
I head to the hospital straight from the helipad. It’s already nine in the evening when I step out of the elevators into the hospital corridor. The smell of disinfectant hangs in the air, and all I can hear is the sound of machines beeping and clattering furniture.
I try to ready myself for what I’m going to find. Greg’s not been very forthcoming about my father’s condition and I don’t know what to expect. Of course, my mother’s not answering my calls. I don’t know if I should take that as a good sign or a bad sign.
I told Iris to stay in Colorado when she offered to come with me. I told her that Wilde’s Farm needed her and that I’d keep in touch and let her know how everything was.
My overriding reason for telling her to stay in Star Falls wasn’t because she was needed on the farm, although that was technically true. I just knew it would be easier dealing with my mother on my own. Especially if my father was sick. I didn’t want to make the situation more tense by bringing Iris with me.
And I didn’t want Iris feeling uncomfortable. I didn’t want her abandoning her family. Mine wouldn’t be as welcoming to her as the Wildes have been to me.