Gold, Fire & Refinement

Chapter Thirty-Four

"Step with care and great tact, and remember that life's a great balancing act." ~Dr. Seuss

Thurgood Williams wasn't the only one watching and waiting for a chance to get close to Zarah on Friday morning. Within the crowd of about fifteen-hundred onlookers gathered in East Goshen for the taping, two other men—both wearing dark shades, were watching her too. Two tall, handsome men in their thirties, both with dark, curly hair, were waiting for the right time to approach her. One was dressed in a dark business suit and the other one, the one peeping out from behind the first one, was wearing a white dress shirt—tails out, and blue jeans. The large crowd in the park that morning was a welcome sight for that one. It meant he didn't have to work too hard to keep Zarah from seeing him.

"I was supposed to take my boys to the dentist this morning. And after that? I was having a meeting with a client," said Attorney Robert Tyler Wilson, Jr. "A big client. But ... instead, I'm in Podunk, Pennsylvania playing 'wingman' for my older brother who is hiding behind me because he's afraid his ex-fiancée will see him." Frustrated, Tyler Wilson sighed hard and threw up his hands.

"She's just angry," Harvey said. "And she's not my ex. We're engaged. And by the way ... I'd do the same thing for you."

"Oh. Nothing this stupid could ever happen to me."

"Keep your voice down. Please? Besides. You love her just like a sister and so does your wife. All four of your children call her Aunt Z. So just help me, please. And stop your b—"

"Say it and I'm outta here."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"I just know when it comes to you know what, you're the biggest hound dog in the universe. And, when you and Uncle Drake start drinking. Anything is possible."

"But what you don't know is there's not enough booze in Europe to get me drunk enough to sleep with Dinah. And Zarah tamed this hound dog years ago, just like Laura tamed you."

"I never was as big a hound as you."

"Says you. Anyway. She'll come back. Once I make her see the lie somebody created, expertly—I might add. Somebody made a lie look like the truth just for her to see."

"Hey! I'm missing time with my children, my wife, and my meeting with a big client. You have a team of pilots who could have brought you here. But no. You wanted me to co-pilot so you could ask my opinion on how to fix what you're claiming is a 'mistaken identity' lie. But no. I shouldn't be angry ... because none of this is at all juvenile."

"Sounds bad when you say it like that." Harvey laughed as he pulled Tyler back in front of him when his brother tried to take a step away. "I'm begging you," he said. Please help me. Please. We have to stay hidden until it's time."

"Time for what?"

"Time  for her to know I'm here. And I could never ask my pilots to hide me."

"Oh, I see. Harvey. Look. One of us has to play the grown-up today. So let me go talk to her." When Tyler took a step forward, Harvey pulled his brother back again by his coattails. Tyler turned and yanked the tail of his coat from his brother's hand. 

"It's not time," Harvey said. "Let her cool off first, then go. We have to wait. Okay? Until she's not so angry."

"She's not angry with me." Shaking his head, Tyler took another two steps forward.

"I'm begging you," Harvey said. "She can't know I'm here. Not yet."

"So you're stalking her?"