Making Progress

Matt

Simultaneously as the last board member left the conference room, leaving me alone with Abigail, my cell phone rang. Normally, I would have ignored it, but I set a specific ringtone for Nicholas' number; I've been waiting a whole week for his call.

"What did you find?" I asked immediately I answered, skipping all the formalities.

"Bad." He replied in the same tone. I tensed up in my seat.

"How bad, Nicholas? Did someone die?" I secretly hoped that won't be the case. Leaving the country was bad enough, if someone died, I didn't know what I would do.

I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and looked up into Abigail's concerned eyes. She knew how important this call was.

"Unfortunately yes." My heart dropped. "I'm sorry buddy, I have no good news for you today. I finally found her but I was too late, she'd be dead for over two hours; neighbors said her husband killed her. The kids are nowhere to be found. I'm still trying to find out from my guy that works at the station if there's anywhere they could be." He finished and waited for my response. What could I say? Doris was dead and our kids are missing. What husband? She can't get married to someone else while she's still married to me... Right?

I exhaled, physically and mentally drained. After all these years and I can finally go back to my family, I'm finding out that my wife probably remarried and was murdered and my daughter and her little sibling I've never met before are nowhere to be found? What do I say to that?

Abigail squeezed my shoulder, pulling me away from my depressing thoughts.

"Matt, are you there?"

"Where's the husband?" I finally spoke up.

"Fled before the cops got there. They are still searching for him." He paused. "Look, I'm sorry for your loss, but I promise you that I'll find your kids. I'm just waiting for a call and I'll get back to you, okay?"

"Sure, thanks Nick." I hung up and sank into my seat. What do I do? That thought kept going round and round in my head. Claire would definitely hate me; she would blame me for her mom's death. I wasn't there when she needed me.

"Damn!" I've fucked up big time.

"Matt? What did Nick say?" Abigail pulled up a chair next to mine and sat on it, taking my hand in hers as she squeezed it lightly. Her green eyes held so many questions; questions I didn't have answers to.

"Please tell me what happened." She took off her kimono jacket and draped it over her chair. She stretched her long legs under the large table and leaned closer to let me know she was ready for anything.

"I'll call Mom and Luciana, then you'll find out what happened." She nodded her approval and waited as I called my sister first.

"Hey!" Came Luciana's bright reply. She wasn't fooling anyone though. With the divorce and her kids, she was definitely drained.

"Hey, hang on, lemme add Mom."

"Ugh! Sure." I almost smiled. My Mom isn't someone anyone would like to talk to; she had a way of killing whatever cheerful spirit you had.

"This should be important, Matthew. I have a meeting in half an hour."

"I'd be lucky if I don't have to talk to you for five minutes straight." Luciana replied to Mom's remark.

"Luciana, you've been avoiding my calls all day! We agreed to..."

"I wonder why!" Lucy said dryly. "Anyway, this isn't about me. Matt clearly has something important to say if he's calling you."

"I don't..."

"Doris is dead." I interrupted whatever Mom wanted to say. Abigail and Luciana gasped at the same time.

"Matt, I'm so sorry..." Abigail began, placing her other hand on mine as well.

"This is terrible." Luciana's voice was faint.

"Oh, please! This is great news! You just made my day, Matthew."

"Mom!" Luciana rebuked. Well, I didn't mind; I expected nothing less. Mom has never liked Doris and I can't blame her.

"Your son just told you he lost his wife and you're saying it's great news? Do you even have a heart?"

"Luciana, when you stop thinking with your heart, that's when you'll start making great changes in life. Doris never even liked Matthew, let alone loved him. And I hate her more because she stole Matthew from Abigail and just happened to be the mother of my grand daughter! The slut..."

"That's enough, Mom!" I said icily, cutting her off. "Whether you liked her or not, she was my wife. You know better than to speak ill of the dead."

"Ignore her, Matt. Some people weren't made with a single drop of kindness."

"I..."

"What about Claire?" Abigail asked softly, unintentionally interrupting Mom.

"Yes, and how did Doris die? Was she ill or maybe an accident?"

"I'm sure the most important question is where are my grandchildren?"

"They are missing." I said flatly, getting more exhausted at the arguments.

"What does that mean?!" Mom's voice rose.

"The cops didn't find them there. It could be they left before she was killed or after. Or maybe her husband took them with him."

"Oh my God, she was killed?"

"Be quiet, Luciana. Matthew, can you just give me a straight answer? Where are my grandchildren?"

"I don't have that information right now. Nicholas has a lead on where they might be, but until then, I've got nothing."

"I don't understand, Matt... Aren't you her husband? And who killed her?" Abigail was chewing on her lower lip, something she did whenever she was nervous.

"Apparently, Doris remarried and her husband..."

"I knew that woman was a good for nothing slut! That is not even the least of my worries; she put my grand children's lives in danger! If she isn't already dead, I would have killed her myself!"

"You know what Mom? You're the only one to blame for this. If you hadn't given Matt your stupid condition and dragged him away from his family, none of this would have happened. But no, you just had to interfere in everyone's lives and ruin it!" Luciana spat. From the tone of her voice, I knew she would start crying the next second.

"How dare you?! Everything I did was just for..." I ended the call. I didn't want to listen to that.

"Matt, I..." I stood up and grabbed my jacket.

"Don't worry about it. Please tell Beatriz to leave my schedule open for the mean time, I'm taking some time off." I made for the door.

"Matt, please wait. You can't be alone right now. If you need someone to talk to, I'm right here. I can..." I gave her a small smile. It was all I could afford.

"Don't worry about me, Abby. I'll just stay home for the mean time while I wait for Nick's call. I'll let you know as soon as I get something."

"Okay..." She took a few steps and enveloped me in a hug. "I'll check up on you."

"That's not necessary."

"I'll still do it, Matthew. I'm not going to leave you all by yourself." I gave up and nodded. I knew there was no point in trying to change her mind.

"Alright. See you later."

I walked into my vast house, sent all my staff home until further notice and locked the door. If I'm lucky enough, Abigail doesn't have a spare key. I needed to be left alone with my thoughts; have some time to figure things out.

I didn't know how I was going to face Claire again after what happened. I needed no one to tell me how much she'd resent me.

"All of this wouldn't have happened if Doris had agreed to follow me!" I thought aloud, tossing aside my jacket. I sat on the carpet and ran a miserable hand through my hair.

But it wasn't Doris fault... If you'd go back to the very beginning, it was my fault; all of it.

When I first met Doris, I'd just lost my Dad to a heart attack. Not only that I had lost my best friend; I had to take responsibility of all the companies, hotels and factories he owned. I had just turned twenty and it wasn't at all easy to process. I wanted to live one last time before I'm swept up with the responsibility of taking care of the businesses and the family as well.

I hit up a club and drank away my pain. Then I had a one night stand with the first girl my eyes fell on, Doris. I mean, she looked like a dork and was clearly asking for it. But who knew? We were both wasted.

Anyway, I was finally coping with my grief and getting a hang of how to do my job as the CEO of Wagners world-wide. About two months after the incident with Doris, she suddenly shows up at my mom's house asking for child support.

I was suddenly torn between my responsibility to my family and my responsibility to my unborn kid. I could have had both, but my Mom wouldn't hear of it. She insisted that Doris was just a golddigger and she probably wouldn't have showed up if she didn't find out that I inherited millions from my late Dad. I didn't want to believe her; Doris was so cool about everything and couldn't stop talking about having a family together.

To prove her point, my mom gave me a condition that it was either Doris or my family. She promised that if I chose Doris, she'd disinherit and then we'd see if Doris would stay or not. Clearly I chose my baby, since she comes with a mother, it's a win-win for me. The only thing I regretted from that decision was having to hurt Abigail in the process.

We have been friends since we were in diapers and although we weren't actually dating, there was this unsaid decision that we would get married when we were ready. But that didn't stop her from supporting me, no matter the crazy decision I made.

I hate to admit, but my Mom was right. As quickly as I was disinherited and thrown out of my home, Doris's attitude changed. She wasn't so enthusiastic about having a family, she complained non-stop and nothing I did ever pleased her; she never left though. When our daughter was born, she seemed to calm down a little; probably she thought that my mom would have mercy and give me my inheritance back. That almost happened, but instead of wanting to overlook the fact that I'm married to Doris, she insisted that I came home with only Claire and Doris could take a hike.

I couldn't do that to Doris, she was the mother of my beautiful daughter and she was already my wife. No matter what it takes, I had to be there for my family.

My mom stopped trying to convince me. She completely shut me out and handled the business herself. It was just Abigail and Luciana that occasionally called and offered their support. Luciana had her own inheritance which was actually a lot, but it was almost useless to her since she married a multimillionaire, Thomas and they already had a kid a few months older than Claire.

Claire was an amazing child; even when she didn't get the toys she wanted or had the healthiest meals, she was extremely happy. There was hardly ever a time she was sad. I mean, I felt blessed because it wasn't easy trying to get ends meet.

Doris on her part was bitter and was never cheerful. She'd nag the life out of me but tried to make sure Claire never found out.

When Claire turned ten and we had a second baby on the way, my mother started calling again. This time, she screwed with my head, telling me of how disappointed my Dad would be; he left me everything and I just abandoned it because of a girl. She got deep into my head and I got convinced; it was unfair to everyone. Doris clearly wanted to live in wealth, Claire needed a more comfortable upbringing and I couldn't betray my Dad because of my stupid mistake. I agreed to go back home and resume my duties as CEO, but then Doris refused to go with me. She said my family hated her and she won't deal with them; she couldn't care less what I did with myself... I either stayed or I don't. Then she told me just what my Mom said, that she didn't care about me and only wanted to keep Claire because she found out I was rich. And now, it didn't matter to her anymore; she wasn't going to let anyone insult her because of money. I knew that was the case already, but it didn't help pacify my anger. Clearly our children meant nothing to her, all the effort I put into trying to make our family work was useless. I had already given her ten years of my life and if it was worthless to her, then it was better if I left.

I promised her that I would come back for my kids and I also promised to send child support. I left before Claire could wake up, without any explanation. I went back home to my duties but I didn't forget my promise; I sent child support and it bounced back to me. It was like Doris and Claire disappeared; no names or records matched their profiles. I panicked and hired private investigators but no one could find them. Whatever she did, it was as if she dug up a hole and hid herself and the kids away from society and civilization. I had to fear the worst; what if they were killed in an accident? But there was no such record, so I couldn't be so sure.

I didn't give up but I was slowly losing myself. Abigail, Luciana and my mother were there to support and encourage me, but it wasn't enough to fill the void.

I finally met Nicholas who's known to be the best private investigator; he has been searching for them for a year now and finally had a breakthrough. But isn't it too late? Doris is dead and who knows what happened to the kids? When we do find them, Claire would never forgive me, it was all my fault.

Maybe if I had stayed, or maybe if I had taken her with me... It's useless thinking about that now. Maybe she's still my cheerful girl and she'll forgive me.

I stayed locked up in my house for nearly two weeks, barely eating and hardly communicating with anyone. Abigail stopped by often but I never unlocked the door for her. She'd drop by with food, make sure I'm still alive, then she'll leave. It went on like that until the end of the second week and I finally got a call from Nicholas.

"Mark Willis, Doris's younger brother. He has the kids, Claire and James." That was the greatest news I had received in a long time, probably after I found out that I'm going to have another kid. I had a son! How was it possible that I forgot about Doris's brother? It was true that I'd only met him twice, but yet, it was obvious that the kids would go to him.

"Do you have an address?"

"Unfortunately no. Turns out Mark is really influential and they can't just give out his home address. But I know a place where you can meet him."

"Great!" I grinned for the first time. "You've been of great help Nicholas, I owe you big time." He chuckled on the other end.

"If you weren't my friend, I'd ask for a yatch, but you deserve to reunite with your kids, you've worked hard for it."

"Thanks, buddy." I hung up.

Kids, Daddy's back!