Liberation by Shayne McClendon Page A

time they’d taken off since returning from their honeymoon.  The twins and Teddy were bringing their husbands.  The girls would bring their men and she wondered at the hijinks Tawny would get up to whenever Riya wasn’t looking.
    Brie had been more or less missing since Hudson’s wedding to his oldest friend.  All of them gossiped about her behind her back and cackled madly as they speculated about what she was up to.  She’d issued a tentative yes about the weekend but didn’t know if her lovers would join her. 
    They planned to grill her for every detail. 
    Marci thought about Fahad and Nuri.  Their relationship continued to fascinate her.  It was so different than every other in her history. 
    Her schedule was still insane but finally easing enough to see them more often and she was grateful for every minute. 
    In the months since they’d brought her back from physical and mental exhaustion, they’d introduced her to pleasures she’d never known.  She wouldn’t have even had the knowledge to dream about them. 
    She knew so much more now. 
    The thought made her smile.  All her adult life, she hadn’t really placed much weight on sexual interactions.  Now it derailed her thoughts regularly.
    To her quiet office, she murmured, “I was a late bloomer.”  Then she snickered.  “You got a whole garden now, dirty girl.” 
    Danielle knocked on the door and grinned when she saw Marci standing at the window.  “You look younger and happier every day.  I love those young men something fierce.” 
    “Me, too.”  She glimpsed a visitor in Danielle’s seating area.  “Ah, Owen Douglas is here.  Please send him in.”
    “Right away.  Can I get you anything?”  Marci shook her head and her assistant returned to her reception desk.  “She’ll see you now, Mr. Douglas.”
    The good looking developer picked up his briefcase and nodded at the older woman before entering her office. 
    They shook hands and she chose one of the two chairs on the other side of her desk.  He settled in the other.  She thought he had lovely brown eyes that seemed genuinely kind.
    Angling toward him with a smile, she said, “It’s such a pleasure to meet you Mr. Douglas. I’m a huge fan of your warehouse rejuvenation for the homeless. What can I do for you?”
    “After your father passed, I wanted to give you time to breathe and get your feet under you with the company I knew you’d assume.  I appreciate you making time to meet with me.  Your mother prohibited an introduction between us all the years you were growing up. 
    Marci frowned. “I don’t understand.”
    “I’m Victoria’s son.”
    Marci felt as if the world flipped sideways.  “Oh my god... ”
    “She left me with her father here in New York when I was two weeks old. Last week, I met her face to face for the first time.  I’ll be forty in a few days.”  His smile was gentle and she struggled to comprehend what was happening.  “I felt you needed to know what she had to say to me after four decades.”
    “I...wait. I have a brother ?”  She swallowed hard.  “I’m thirty.  You would have been ten when I was born.  How…oh god , this is both wonderful and terrible.  Why am I just learning of you?” 
    “I was quite the dirty little secret. Only my grandfather prevented her from disposing of me quietly.  I had no doubt that she would have hidden all knowledge of me.”
    “I never knew.  I don’t think my father...”
    “He knew of me,” Owen interrupted gently.  “He provided the seed money for my first venture. It was a loan I proudly paid back within two years. Victoria...was not pleased.”
    The enormity of his words slammed into her heart and she pressed her palm there to ease the shock.  “Dad knew about you...and didn’t tell me?  He died and never told me I had a brother?” 
    “I’m sure you must be upset. Thankfully, we survived her genetics.”  She could tell that he chose his words carefully.