The Emmanuel Sisters

Chapter 6 Love's New Assignment

Love had just finished reading her magazine when John walked into the ladies restroom.
"Love there you are, what are you doing? You weren't even using the bathroom, were you? Don't you hear the partners summoning you for the last twenty minutes to the board room?"
Love and John had formed a bond because they were the only black attorneys at the firm, they started at relatively the same time, and they were also around the same age. They were very competitive with each other, but also they both knew when it came right down to it they had each other's back. They had many late night sessions together at the office, and it was clear there was definitely a strong attraction between them. However, Love never dared act on her feelings towards John. Love didn't have a problem with sleeping around, but she did have a problem with sleeping around at work. She never wanted to do anything to tarnish her professional reputation at the firm. So herself and John just enjoyed playful office flirtation, and gradually they became close platonic friends.
Love gave John a "you're really annoying me stare", and she said, "of course I heard the intercom, can't a girl use the restroom around here without being stalked. Oh you are aware you are in the women's restroom aren't you?" Then Love got up and followed John to the board room where the partners were waiting.
"You're not even going to wash your hands are you? Don't try to hand me any food at this reception, Love."
"Shut up John, I didn't even go to the bathroom in there, you know I was only hiding out."
When the two of them got to the boardroom Love saw on the boardroom table there was a big spread of cake and other treats. First thing Love thought was she wished she didn't use up all her calories on that twinky, now she was going to have to work out an extra hour tonight if she ate anymore sweets. Love eyed the sweets trying to decide which one was the best. Then she caught Mr. Swanson the senior partner smiling at her affectionately.
Mr. Swanson had always thought Love was just the sweetest, smartest, and most delightful young lady lawyer he had ever met. He praised her accomplishments at the firm as if she was his own daughter, and in fact he looked at her like the daughter he had never had.
What Love adored about Mr. Swanson the most was how he obviously thought of her, and it made her work even harder to never let him down. Love was usually very open and unashamed about her liberal attitude towards sex, except around Mr. Swanson. He was sort of a father figure to her and she only wanted him to see her as a perfect young lady.
Mr. Swanson walked over to Love and gave her a gentle pat on the back. He was grinning from ear to ear, but Love didn't think anything of that, he was always in an exceptionally good mood.
"So John you finally found our young associate Ms. Love King, or shall I say our Junior Partner, Ms. King?"
When Love heard the words partner come out of Mr. Swanson's mouth, it made her totally forget about that cake on the board room table. She thought they were throwing another one of their "let's all celebrate, eat and get drunk because Love just won that case that earned our firm another million dollars." But this celebration was different, this was her, you have arrived celebration. She was finally, a partner, well technically "junior partner", but that was okay with her. All she wanted to do was contact her realtor about purchasing that beach house, and call her girlfriends up so she could treat them to a drinking and partying celebration that night. She was already trying to figure which man in her little black book would be most appropriate to end the night with; it had to be someone really spectacular.
All the attorneys and paralegals and legal assistants were there and they all hugged and congratulated Love and she could truly not think of a time when she felt more accepted and adored by her peers. As everyone settled down and started chit chatting and eating and drinking Love sat and daydreamed about the first time she could remember feeling like everyone admired and accepted her, it had to be when she first started college.
Before college she didn't have many friends. Love had always been the nerd all throughout school. College is where Love started changing into the confident woman she was today. College is also when Love first started writing in journals. The journal was originally an assignment her creative writing teacher gave her in freshmen year, but Love continued it pass the freshman class and still wrote in her journals every day. Love had thought about becoming a writer, but she didn't think she would make money doing it. She obtained her undergraduate degree in English and International Studies, but instead of pursuing a writing career she opted to attend Harvard law school. At the time she couldn't think of anything better to do. She scored high on her LSAT's and she received a full scholarship to attend. Several of her friends from college were also accepted into the same law school. Although Love was very popular she never allowed herself to get but too close to anyone in college. She trusted no one completely. Her current friends in California didn't really know the true Love, where she was from, or about her past. Her true identity was contained only in her memories, and the pages of her journals. Her journals almost became her best friend. It was the only place she felt comfortable enough to disclose her inner most thoughts, secrets and fears. Her journals had become her confidant and her therapy. Unlike most of her Hollywood friends, Love didn't believe in psychologist. Her friends all thought she was a little crazy and really needed to see a shrink. But she didn't think so, although she did admire how much money psychiatrist made doing what they did; she just wasn't ever going to give any of them her hard earned money. Besides her journal writing was the only time she felt like she was actually doing something she loved. Deep down she didn't really love practicing law, but what she did love was the winning cases, the respect and recognition she received from all her wins, and most of all she loved the money she was paid for doing something that came so easy to her. On the other hand, Love enjoyed writing so much she sometimes would do appeal briefs for other associates and partners just to past the time, if she didn't have a jury trial going on. She just loved writing, researching and reading.
Love thought to herself, "I sure have some good stuff to put in my journals tonight." Making partner was a big theme contained in many, many pages of her journals. It had been her most important goal for so many years now. She could hardly believe she had finally achieved it. Things had been going so well for Love lately in her career that the recent pages of her journal were filled with one legal success story after another. However, there were some journal entries that were not filled with happy entries of successes and dreams come true. Actually most of her past journal entries were just so painful that if she didn't journal it down her sub-conscience would have surely blocked them out forever.
Then Love's thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Swanson. Mr. Swanson walked over and sat next to Love. He started to tell her about her next assignment which was extremely important. He told her to follow him to his office so they could discuss it in private. Mr. Swanson must have been one of the only men Love could recall since college that had not ever made a pass at her or even a flirtatious comment to her. Mr. Swanson was also old enough to be Love's grandfather; but that had never stopped other men of his age from pursuing her. Love felt totally comfortable with Mr. Swanson, and she also felt the need to constantly please him, as if he really was her father. This fatherly fondness she had for him caused her to volunteer for the cases no one else wanted. She took them on partly to please him, but also partly because she wanted to make partner. When it came right down to it Love was still searching for that elusive father figure she never had and still trying to replace the emptiness in her life with her accomplishments. She was smart enough to realize this much on her own without any help from counseling. Love figured everyone in this world is messed up in some way, and she was no exception. She had the feeling that this meeting with Mr. Swanson, was going to include him asking her to take on one of those difficult cases, and she knew she would accept it. Love was sure Mr. Swanson's speech would start something like this, "Love you know you are our firm's most valuable asset, and because of that there are certain very sensitive cases and clients that I only trust in your hands." She had heard his speech many times before. Then she knew he would offer her one of his rare Cuban cigars. Then he would asked her to come sit on the balcony with him while he grabbed one of the many bottles of expensive brandy he kept in his office, and then he would offer her one of the two 14K gold and diamond engraved shot glasses he kept on his desk. It would be as he was pouring the brandy into their glasses that he would began going into the details of the case he wanted her to handle. It was like the dancers' warm up before a ballet. The warm up was going just as Love expected, now she was preparing herself for him to get to the main event. The two of them were enjoying the smoggy LA view of the beach from the balcony. Love had taken her first sip of the brandy in her glass. Then Mr. Swanson surprised her, and changed his routine, and he said "Love I was wondering, are you happy?"
Now this really caught Love off guard. She wondered, "is he dying." Mr. Swanson never asked her questions about her personal life. So she thought to herself, "oh he must be wondering if I am happy here at the firm, that's all." Love thought, "maybe he thinks I am looking at making a move and that's why he has made me partner." So she replied, "Am I happy? Why of course I'm happy Mr. Swanson. I love this firm, I love my job, and you have just made my dreams come true by making me the youngest partner in this firm's history. Seriously, who in my shoes wouldn't be happy?" Love hoped her answer would extinguish any doubt he may have had about her loyalty to the firm. Truthfully Love had no desires to go anywhere else. Love really did think that she was happy at the firm and her answer was a sincere and honest one.
But Mr. Swanson never doubted Love's devotion to the firm when he asked her if she was happy. For the first time he felt an interest in Love's personal happiness. So he responded to Love's obvious declaration of devotion to the firm by explaining the meaning behind his question. "Love I meant, are you really happy with your life. When you leave here and you go home tonight, will you still be happy? It's just that I'm concerned about you Love."
"Concerned about me, why?"
"I have heard a few rumors about your lifestyle." Love wondered out loud, "rumors, what rumors?"
Love, I'm going to just be frank with you but I've heard you really have a reputation shall I say as being a bit of a playboy, or in your case I guess the better term would be a playgirl. I know this is probably none of my business, but I'm sure you are very prudent in the area of protection, but I wonder about you being lonely or being alone. You see I've learned the hard way that no matter how much money you make and accumulate over the years it doesn't bring you happiness if there is no one around to spend it on, or better yet to spend it with. Love you know I have no children, no wife, the firm is my family. That's my fault. See I had a reputation for being a bit of a playboy in my days too, and every woman who ever fell in love with me I ended up breaking her heart. Also I'm actually incapable of having any children, have been all my life.
However out of the 5 wives I had all of them wanted to adopt, but I wouldn't agree to it. I was too selfish. My view was my wife was there to devote her life to me and my desires, not to anyone else's needs, not even a child's needs. So sooner or later each wife left me because I was emotionally or physically unavailable."
Love tried to show she was listening intently, but inside she felt partly ashamed that Mr. Swanson had found out about her reputation. At the same time she felt an overwhelming, childlike love for him because no one had ever expressed such concern for her since her grandmother was alive. It had been so long since anyone asked Love if she was really happy. Love didn't say anything until after she thought Mr. Swanson was finished with his fatherly lecture, and advice.
"Mr. Swanson I hope that what you heard about me won't affect your personal or professional opinion of me, because your opinion means the world to me. But really you needn't be concerned. I am just not at a point in my life where I want to settle down with anyone. I love my job, and I'm not lonely, not at all."
"Okay then, Love if what you're saying is true let us talk about me. I guess I've become more sensitive because you see, I've met someone. I've met a wonderful woman, over the internet believe it or not. She lives in New York, in a small senior citizen community home, and the best thing about her is
she has no idea that I'm so rich and even after seeing me in person she's still crazy about me. I've been visiting her and she is stunning for her age, and funny, and smart, but she has had a hard life. I've come to love her so much, and now all I want to do is take care of her for the duration of my life. I've been visiting her every weekend for the past two months. She thinks I'm a divorcee, which I am, but she also thinks that I live off of a nice little pension and savings, which isn't quite the truth. She doesn't even know my real last name. So I know she loves me for me and not my money."
Love thought to herself, that his behavior was totally unlike anything she had experienced from him before. He was always an open book. Although it was sort of second nature for most attorneys to be skilled at deception; Mr. Swanson always seemed to be so honest an open, someone with no personal secrets, and no hidden agendas. Love couldn't believe he was telling this lady he had met such lies.
"I know, what you must be thinking Love. It is very deceptive of me to not tell her the truth about myself. It started out innocently, she just assumed I was a senior citizen, someone of average income, living out their retirement years, and I never corrected her. At this stage of my life I'm looking for a true companion. I'm not looking for a beauty queen or a trophy wife. I'm looking for someone I can live the rest of my days with, and be assured that they love me just for me and not for my money. Anyway, this weekend she doesn't know it, but I'm going to propose to her and if she says yes then I will tell her the truth about my finances and of course my real last name, occupation, all my previous marriages, and all the other details I've left out about my life. But other than all those things, everything I feel about her is the truth, and that's what really matters, right?"
Love couldn't help but look at him with disbelief, was he really so romantically naïve.
"Oh jimity crickets she is not going to marry me when she finds out I've kept so much from her, is she?"
Love started laughing she had never seen Mr. Swanson look so vulnerable before. For the first time since Love had come to know him, he appeared to lack confidence about getting something he wanted. Mr. Swanson was a man accustomed to always getting what he wanted. And now it appeared to Love like he had just worked himself into a sudden panic in realizing that his new girlfriend just might not say yes to his upcoming marriage proposal.
Love wanted to reassure him. "Mr. Swanson any woman who says no to you would have to be out of her mind. Don't worry of course she will say yes."
"You're right Love. But just to be on the safe side I have a plan and well Love this is where you come in and the assignment I am about to ask you to do for me isn't exactly firm business, but it is very important to me."
Love felt even more confused. She thought, "what could she possibly do to help him with this romantic crisis he was having?"
"You see, my girlfriend has a very hurtful past, which includes the fact that she gave up her only child for adoption when he was first born. This is her biggest regret. So one of her dreams is to find her son and ask him for forgiveness and to raise a child that no one wants, and then to give it all the things, and all the love that she never had. You see, I know all these things about her because one day we just played a game, what would you do if you were a millionaire, and she said she would use the money to take care of as many unwanted children as she could and then she told me about the child she had given up."
"That must have not been much of a challenging game for you, since you are already a billionaire?" teased Love.
Mr. Swanson smiled and went on with his story. "Well she also told me if she had a million dollars she would spare no expense and search the ends of the earth to find her son and some other loved ones she had lost over the years. She said she would tell her son how sorry she was she gave him up, and how she has thought about him every day. Then she would explain to him that she knew he would be better off with the people who adopted him, because at the time she was addicted to drugs and homeless. Love, when she said these were the only two things she would do if she was a millionaire, well it touched me on levels I didn't even know existed in me. So my plan is that after I ask her to marry me I want to be able to tell her I made her two biggest dreams come true, finding her son for her and adopting an unwanted child for us to raise together as husband and wife.
"Mr. Swanson that is such a wonderful thing for you to want to do for her, but what if she says no to your proposal, what will you do then with a child?"
"Love I've already decided that I love her so much it doesn't matter if she says no I will still bring her son to her so that she can meet him, and I am ready to be a father so I want to adopt a child not just for her, but for myself. You see just getting to know her and love her, has made me realize I am ready to open my heart and finally give all I have to someone else unselfishly. And I've also realized I am ready to retire from the firm."
Nothing else Mr. Swanson had said to Love today had shocked her more than that last statement. People like Mr. Swanson and Love, did not retire, they just died doing what they did as attorneys. Mr. Swanson was not a partner who just advised others; he was still in court litigating every day, and from what Love observed he loved doing it.
All Love could say was, "Wow".
"I know, Wow. I never thought I would want to retire one day. I always thought I would die doing what I do. But my priorities have changed Love. So you are probably wondering what it is I need you to do for me, right?  You know you are one of our firms most valuable assets, and because of that there are certain very sensitive cases and clients that I only trust in your hands.....and this is why I'm sharing all of this personal information about my life with you, because I have a special assignment that I only trust you to take care of for me."
"Oh, and what is this assignment, coordinating your wedding plans, or your retirement party? Seriously Mr. Swanson, the suspense is killing me, and you already know your every wish is my command, but I really can't imagine what you would need me to do for you."
Mr. Swanson gave Love a warm smile, because he knew the words she had just spoke were sincere.
"Love I want you to handle finding my girlfriend's son, and finding a child I can adopt for us, all by this time next week. Well you actually have a little more than a week, eight days to be exact. You see I'm proposing to her next Sunday. We have a date for me to take her to church. She says it will be the first time she has step foot into a church in over thirty years. Anyway my plan is right after church service is done I want to get down on one knee and pop the question. I figure with a crowd around I'll have more success of getting a "yes". People are always more agreeable when under pressure by spectators."
Love smiled and thought, "now there is the Mr. Swanson I know and love, always thinking like a lawyer, and planning out his best strategy for success."
"After I pop the question, I would like you to be waiting in the wings with her son, and also our new bundle of joy. So what do you think about my plans, and what do you say about helping me carry them out?"
"Well I'm confused. This sounds like work for a detective and an adoption agency Mr. Swanson. Plus the time constraints also make it sound a little impossible. You want someone to find her long, lost son, and find a baby that some adoption agency will let you two adopt within the next nine days, impossible?"
"Actually that would be in the next seven days that I want "you" to do all this because I'm planning on proposing to her in exactly eight days from today."
Love looked at Mr. Swanson in amazement. "Okay, and then somehow I am suppose to get them to you, all tied up in a big ribbon for them to be there on the day you pop the question? It just all sounds, with all due respect, well just a little bit crazy, Mr. Swanson."
"I know, I know. It may sound crazy, but when you get to be my age, you don't try to waste any time when you have a dream that pops up in your head. If you have the means, you make that dream a reality as soon as possible, because you know that there is just no telling, life on this Earth is very, very short and you realize you've got to make the most of what you have left. Love I have a dream to marry this woman, and to make her dreams come true, and I am going to make it happen. Besides one thing I have learned over the years is that whatever I truly desire and go after I will get it, if I believe. Also Love, there is something else this old, crazy, geezer has, and that is lots and lots of money, connections, and people who owe me favors, and now I am ready to collect on those favors. Collecting on those IOU's will now be at your disposal in completing this task I have given you. See there are some countries that I know of where I can actually adopt a child in less than a week if I desire to, and believe me I have connections as far as satellites can reach. But I can't do the leg work myself, I have promised her that I will be spending my vacation, all of next week with her. And I admit this idea of proposing next week and the very special gifts I plan on giving her were, sort of a spontaneous, actually I decided on it yesterday. But I had a dream, or a vision of the two of us married and surrounded by children the other night. I'm sorry that I have given you such an impossible deadline, with no offer to assist you with it myself. But she thinks I have spent my entire life fortune on a penthouse suite in Manhattan for us to vacation in this week. I can't disappoint her. But I know you Love and I know if anyone can get this done for me, it is you. I can't trust a detective or some adoption agency to work with the urgency and motivation I know that you will have, for me. You are also the only attorney, well the only person in my life right now that I trust enough to hand over full power of attorney for a whole week, for the purposes of getting this done for me. I have full confidence that you will never take advantage of the power I place in your hands, or that you would ever betray my trust. So I will be giving you full access to all my accounts cash and credit, my private jet and anything else you need to accomplish this for me. I know you are already fully knowledgeable of International Law, and I'm sure you will get up to speed on Adoption Law in no time. Of course this is confidential business between me and you, but I am sending with you someone to assist, someone I know you trust, that would be John. He knows everything about this assignment also."
"John, why John?"
"I will feel more comfortable with John going with you. The two of you seem to work very well together. You ever notice he also seems to work out a lot. I heard he paid his way through college and law school doing the amateur boxing and fighting tours. He is also a black belt, very athletic. So besides his legal expertise, I also would feel better about him working with you concerning your safety in the different places you may have to travel in order to take care of this assignment for me. Of course after you have completed this assignment, there will be a sizeable bonus waiting for you and for John too. And I will be putting in my personal recommendation that you be given senior status as partner as soon as possible, despite the fact that there are others who have been here longer, eagerly waiting for senior status to be bestowed upon them, and John will be slated as next up when another junior partner slot becomes open. So what do you say to all of this, will you do this for me? But before you answer, this goes without saying that my request is a personal one, and if you decline I would never hold it against you."
Love was touched by the confidence and trust he had in her. She had no idea of this hidden romantic side of him and that touched her too. His fiancée was indeed a lucky woman. But most of all she was in awe that someone his age could still feel such passion for another person. For a moment, she secretly wished she could find a man who felt that same passion for her, and someone she could return those feelings to. Then Love briefly thought about Mr. Swanson's questions about her happiness and wondered if him sending John on this assignment with her was his way of trying to secretly be a little matchmaker himself. She quickly put that thought aside, because she wasn't trying to get tied down to anyone now that she was a partner, and maybe even looking at receiving senior status all in the same week. She thought to herself this day had truly turned out to be an incredible day. Then finally she got out of her own head and decided to stop over thinking everything, and just simply answer her mentor's question.
"Okay Mr. Swanson, I accept this impossible assignment. But of course you knew I would. I could never say no to you. Now I think ......... , I'll need a list of all your connections and the countries that you know of that will allow a quick adoption to a crazy, old, unmarried man like you. If possible the name of your girlfriend, her long lost son and the adoption agency she went through. The power of attorney I'll need that ASAP, of course and anything else I need I can get your personal secretary to handle. Oh, don't worry I won't mention the personal nature of this assignment to her, if you don't want me to."
Mr. Swanson said approvingly, "now that's the spirit, but there is just one little thing I forgot to mention to you which may make this assignment a little tricky."
"Oh something you forgot to mention. Somehow that doesn't surprise me. What is it?"
Mr. Swanson took a swig of his brandy. "Well knowing the name of my girlfriend will not really help you. You see the adoption, her giving her baby away, was not done by legal means. My girlfriend... Let me explain, at the time she was pregnant she was actually going by a street name then, and she also sort of gave her son away through informal ways. So there was actually no adoption agency involved, or Social Services. You see she was addicted to drugs and she was also a prostitute at the time she gave birth to her son." Mr. Swanson noticed how Love's eyes grew ten times wider as he talked. "Please don't think badly of her Love. She is not the same person she was back then. She says she was essentially being held hostage at the time by her dealer/pimp. Now she does recall the name of the dealer who set up the "adoption", for lack of finding a better word for it. She recalls where he was located and some minor details about the people they sold her baby to. She never got any money for her baby, but she says the couple paid for her baby's freedom and for her freedom from the dealer. She told me they were a nice couple who couldn't have children of their own."
"Love thought out loud, they couldn't have been that nice. How did they end up getting involved with a drug dealer and a pimp in the first place Mr. Swanson?"
"Well from what she tells me they were at a local restaurant eating at the time she went into labor. One of the other prostitutes went running out and went into the restaurant yelling that she needed a doctor. The girl got the couple to follow her. The husband told her that he was a doctor, and his wife was a nurse. They delivered the baby and promised to come back and check on her and the baby, which they did. She knew she couldn't raise the baby and asked them if they would raise him. She says they asked her several times if she was sure about giving him up. She told them over and over again she didn't want the baby. They told her they would raise her baby up to know that his real mother loved him and that was why she gave him away. She never received any money from all this, but the couple paid her dealer a considerable amount of money to let her leave with her baby. She refused to take any money from the couple because she didn't want them thinking she gave away her baby for money. But the couple was kind; they paid for her to stay in a clean room at a hotel for a month and brought her new clothes. She says she always thought about her son she gave away, but she just wasn't in a position to care for the child and she knew he would be better off without her."
"Mr. Swanson, did she ever get her son's adopted parents names?"
"No she didn't. Not their last names anyway. She said they were African American and that they told her they lived in the suburbs, in a place in New York called, Roosevelt, in Long Island. Actually, she said she thought they had let that slip out on mistake, because they seemed to be very scared being that they were doing something illegal. So, that's it Love, that's everything I know and now you know it. Oh and my girlfriend's street name I guess is more important for you to know since that is the only name she gave them, she called herself "Princess". That's the name she gave the couple the name they would have known her by. She said she never picked out a name for her son, because she didn't want to feel attached to him in anyway. I also have a DNA sample in the safe belonging to her, and don't ask me how I got that without her knowing about it. But you can have a doctor test her DNA along with the young man's DNA once you find him, to confirm he is her son. We don't want to drag the wrong person into all of this because that would only cause more pain. You have to understand Love that she grew up all her life with people raping her emotionally, and physically. She never had anyone show her love, except for one old friend who eventually inspired her to get off drugs and straighten her life out. But by the time she had gotten off drugs, her son was long gone. When she had the child she was a homeless, drug addicted prostitute, with no money and an abusive pimp controlling her, and she had nowhere to go, and no means to raise the child. So giving him away was the best thing to do in her mind, and the money made on the deal was not something she asked for, but all of it went to her pimp. Coming into contact with this couple saved not only her baby's life, but her life too. It would take many, many years before she finally got her life straight and got off of drugs for good. She is very lucky she is still alive today, and I'm lucky she lived through her past life, so that now I have a chance to give her a fresh, new future filled with happiness and my unconditional love."
"Mr. Swanson I can't believe what a romantic you are. You're a good man to be able to not judge her and still love her. Not most men could be like that.
I will do everything I can to make this happen for you, I promise."
Love gave Mr. Swanson, a warm hug and she left his office thinking, "I just have to come through for him". For a moment the financial benefits to her didn't even come to mind, she just wanted to succeed in this assignment just to make her only father figure, Mr. Swanson, happy.