Power of Attorney: A Novel (A Greenburg Family Book 1) (14 page)

The ring was
so heavy with memories of lost love that it threatened to break the thin chain. Jane hid it back behind her clothes, next to her heart where it belonged.

The
man she married was already sick with a terminal illness when she met him. She knew that if she loved this man, tragedy only awaited her at the end of this road. But Edmund was a good man. He managed to capture her ice cold heart even though he knew it was going to break her. He tried to refuse her love at first, saying that their love was doomed. He even doubted that she loved him once. But in the end, Jane and Edmund knew they could never deny their feelings, no matter how much time they had together.

“It happened a few years after I finished my
master’s degree. He was a good man. We knew that we didn’t have much time together which was probably why that year, was the best year in my life.”

“I feel sorry for him…
and you.” Patrick could only look away in total shame and regret for saying those mean things to Jane. He had always known Jane was strong, but he was looking at her with new eyes now. She had had the courage to love a man, even in the face of losing him. He wondered how she was able to bear the painful memories.

“
I’m not. I understood his pain. I admired his tolerance, his will to live as long as he could. I would take everything that he could give to me… even his death. That is what love meant to me. Not to love forever but to love as long as your heart is beating.”

Today, Patrick knew two new things about his sister. One was that she was one of the most selfless people he ever knew. Another was that she wasn’t a lone
wolf as everyone believed. She just loved someone so much that she could never find the heart for someone new. She was strong… just like his mom.

“If you stay here and mope around like an idiot, you will lose Sarah. It’s not time that you two need. It’s
a reminder. Remind yourself and each other why you love each other. Unlike me and Ed, you two have time. When you realize that, you will never end up like Mom and Dad.”

O
kay, he admitted that instead of punching the hell out of Henry, he owed that guy a big thank you. The time he’d just spent with his sister was more valuable than gold. He rose up and was about to fish out the payment for the dinner before Jane waved her hand.

“Go, you have an early flight to catch.”

Another thing he learned that night was that he was glad to have a sister like Jane.

Opportunity and greatness, she said. She didn’t mention mundane and miserable.

Sarah remembered her mundane jobs when she first set foot into a lawyer’s career path. Her first few years in this same building were her overture, her prologue. This was where she started to work her way up. Until she was transferred, that is. When she left, she never expected to be back here ever again.

Susanna was wrong when she said that opportunity awaits here.
It was dull and boring, and her patience was worn very thin. She was the center of gossip in this office too, with much rumor being bounced around about why she was back so soon. She closed her ears to it all, just stayed in her office and worked the best she could.

Nothing has changed in Richmond since the day that she left. There was nothing for her here.

The only thing that changed was Sarah herself. She discovered that Patrick left a parting gift for her: a very well written letter of recommendation. She got everything that she wished for, a promotion, a raised, and her own private office with a proper steel name plate. What she didn’t get was a partner like everyone else.

The clicking of the mouse and the sound of the keyboard stroke was the only sound she could hear every day. There were occasional knocks on her door when she
was informed that her client was there to see her.

Another thing that changed was her passion. She felt like she was just one of those white collar workers
who worked for the sake of living another day. She felt that her job was boring, unsatisfactory and repetitive. She never felt this way before, at least not this strong. Her first few years weren’t as bad as her current state.

She discovered later that it wasn’t the job itself that made her
feel that way. It was the fact that she was so used to working together with Patrick that the lack of his presence by her side made her felt empty. Working wasn’t the same without that arrogant idiot arguing with her. Patrick had left another gift for her without noticing: a Patrick shaped hole in her heart.

The coffee didn’t
leave the same lingering taste on her tongue anymore. It tasted bitter. Just bitter. Sarah never added sugar in her coffee but at the same time, she didn’t feel like drinking the nasty brew. As a result, she got one hell of a headache from the lack of caffeine daily.

Somehow, she knew now why Patrick was so grumpy every day.

Patrick Greenburg, the person that inspired her had also become her downfall at the same time. He brought out her best and her worst. She never realized that she also did the same for him.

Being here alone in Richmond made Sarah conclude a lot of things about them. The first
, most obvious one was that she was still hopelessly in love with Patrick Greenburg. Not because she thought about him every second of the day or that she was still crying over his missing presence but because she felt that without him, everything just seemed so… dull. He was that sunshine in her life.

Second thing that she discovered was she missed Henry and her other friends back in Chicago. Now that she
was back, she started to notice things she didn’t at first. She knew now that some of her so called ‘friends’ were just a bunch of paparazzi feeding on rumors. Her ‘friends’ spread bad rumors about her, kicking up stories about the reason that she came back and selling it to the citizens of Johnson and Smith. What a good story these people covered.

The phone on the desk rang
,
and she was told she had a visitor.

A
few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Sarah could only smile when she saw Patrick’s face peeking around the door, looking nervous. She wondered if that was how she looked the first day she met Patrick

“What can I do to help you?”
Well, at least she didn’t act like Patrick did on the first day. Patrick looked around the room as if he was trying to avoid the question. He looked as if he hadn’t had sleep for a few days, and it seemed that he came here to Richmond on the first plane of the day too. He looked a little hassled, but not as much as that day where he ran to her apartment.

“
Your office is even bigger than mine.”

“You wrote a good reference letter for it. Don’t blame me”

They both finally looked at each other and laughed. Here she was, standing at the same position as him, having everything that Patrick had. Patrick sat down at the chair in front of Sarah’s desk.

“So,
how can I help you, Mr. Greenburg? You need me to bring someone down for you?”

“I was just thinking
of asking you a few questions. I heard you were a good listener and a good adviser.” Sarah propped her chin on her hands and started listening.

“I want to know if one person who
matters to me the most has forgiven me for my mistake. Has she?”

Sarah thought about how Patrick apologized, how sorry he looked on that day, his voice when he begged for her not to go. And then even
when she decided not to stay, she thought about how Patrick accepted her decision and understood why. He let her go, not because he gave up; he let her go because he knew that she needed it. He understood her. That was enough for her to believe that he wanted this.

“Couldn’t stand you looking so miserable, so yes, I ha
ve already forgiven you.” Patrick’s smile widened, and he patted his chest in relief at her words. The man must have beaten himself up for what he did. She also thought for a moment too that she might have been too hard for him, but she needed Patrick to know too that she was really hurt.

“And do you find what you need to?”

She found it. She found out how boring her life has been without her new found friends and Patrick. She found out that she never wanted to work alone again. That the Chicago branch was a very fun working place for her.

“I miss your snarky remarks and our arguments.”

“Funny, my former partners never said that to me.” Patrick pretended to be confused just so that Sarah could bump her fist at his nose playfully.

“I’m not just your partner, you know that
.” No, they were more than partners, they the other half of each other. Sarah rose up from her seat and went towards Patrick.

“I think I
’m ready.”

She didn’t need to tell him what she meant. They both knew what was going to happen next. Sarah thanked herself that she didn’t unpack a lot of things since she moved back to Richmond.

“Come back with me?” Patrick still asked her anyway. He grasped her hand and gripped it tight. He would not let her go now this time. Sarah chuckled and named her price.

“Only if you promised to buy me
coffee for a month.”

“Oh Sarah…
I will buy you coffee for the rest of your life.”

To Sarah, that was the best make up speech she had ever heard.
They talked about logistics and how she could transfer back the following week. Patrick made a quick call to her former apartment manager and secured the little apartment again.

They also talked about billable hours, of their need to separate business from pleasure. Now that she was a senior attorney, nepotism wasn’t a problem.

Yes, she would fly back to Chicago in a week after she handled every single stupid obstacle that was going to get in her way. And this time, she was going to stay. She was too tired to pack for another time.

“Come home with us
, Sarah. Everyone is waiting.”

She was going home.
Where she belonged.

“Golden Dome has always performed its duty with honesty and passion
.” Sarah wanted to roll her eyes at the statement. She could even hear Patrick exhale a small sigh when he heard that too. It was the day that they would give closing statement, and Sarah was getting tired of all the rambling nonsense from Golden Dome. Their speech was ending soon, and Sarah couldn’t be happier.

“You ready for this?” Patrick asked her from her side. They
had a plan and had practiced that plan with precision. But halfway through, Sarah suggested they abandon it and try something different instead. Patrick thought she was crazy, but she seemed so confident that he decided to trust her instinct. He was learning to trust, after all. And with trust came the necessity of giving up some control.

“My time to shine
, huh,” she stood up after her name was called. This was it. This was her time to shine and made her name.

“Get them
, my girl.”

The
entire court was silent, and everyone could hear Sarah’s first inhale for her speech. She didn’t even tell Diana what she was planning for her closing statement.

“
I’d prepared and elaborate speech for you all today, filled with lots of legal reasonings to convince you to side with my client. The speech was very good, but no matter how much I looked at it, it could never come close to what I wanted everyone in this courtroom to hear.

Another person could speak it for me, with much more fluency and emotion. He
is not here with us today, which is why I would like everyone to please pay attention to the screen right now.”

The projector screen flickered with a flashing light as the number
three appearing on the screen before it started to count down. The screen went blank after one, and a very familiar face appeared on the screen. Diana looked as if she was going to cry right there when she saw the person on the screen. It was no one else but Daisuke Terres, her own father. It was a clip from an interview. The washed out color of the video was a good indicator about how old this clip was. Both Patrick and Sarah broke their browsers when they were searching for an interview, after all.

“Mr.
Terres, congratulations again for the nominations of your newest work.” Daisuke courtly nodded and thanked the interviewer back. Just like his children, Daisuke was a polite man with the same sharp eyes and a very kind smile.

“And I would like to thank you
and all of my readers again for their supports and their patience. I’m not the best writer-”

“A lot of people would argue about that.”

“No no, it’s true. Compared to many of the writers in the same nomination category, I am still an amateur.” The interviewer laughed at Daisuke humble and modest protest.

“Let’s go back to the topic. I heard that you
are renovating; I have to say this,
the house,
the symbol of your parents’ eternal love.” The interviewer used air quotes to emphasize the words. Everyone knew what he meant. It was the house this case was all about.

“Oh yes, I think that it was probably the time to finally get it back to shape after many years of…
abandonment. It’s been left it to the hands of those who didn’t value it as much as me.”

“But why now? From your first two books about your parents, that was already enough to renovate the house.
Why now?”

Daisuke took in a sharp breath and looked at the interviewer with an uneasy
gaze. It was probably a hard topic for him too. He looked at the camera and smiled. Daisuke fished out something from the floor… letters, a bunch of them. Some of them were new, and some looked worn out as if he had kept them for decades.

“When I first lost the house, I was devastated. I grew up in that
house; it was my childhood. My parents bought it with the money they saved together. To me, it was like a monument of their love and their dedication for each other. It felt like I failed them as their son, and that’s why I wanted to get it back no matter what. And then something happened.”

“I guess that’s what stopped you from getting the house back at first?” the interviewer interrupted him for a moment
. Daisuke just nodded.

“Whenever I saw my parents together, they looked very happy. Dad would just hold my mom’s hand and hoist her up from her seat, made her abandoned whatever activity she was doing and pulled her for a dance to
a Johnny Cash song. They just looked so happy together. That’s when I realized that… the real symbol of their love wasn’t a house. You can put both of them anywhere, and they would still be happy together.”

“Then why still go for the renovation?”

Daisuke waved the letters in his hand. It was letters from his own readers, mail from his fans all around the world. “Ever since the publication, I received countless letters from my fellow readers. All ranged from the compliments of my work which I am very grateful for, to complaint letters about how sappy my stories were.” Both the interviewer and Daisuke laughed whole heartedly.

“But it was these particular messages that got me. A lot of them said that my stories gave them hope. They said that my parents’ story gave them the courage to hold on to their broken relationship. Some are
successful; some are still in progress. My parents are an inspiration to these people. So, this house wasn’t just for my parents, or me. It’s for everyone who wants to believe that true love is real.”

Sarah
had watched this interview over and over, but it always got her every time. For a very successful writer like Daisuke, a house that small would mean nothing compared to the mansion he could actually buy with royalties from his novels. But he knew how much his first two stories meant to his readers. That was why he wanted to hold on to that symbol of hope.

“At first, none of the people I contacted
were willing to do it. They advised me just to demolish the whole thing and rebuild everything from the ground up because it would be easier. I totally understand what they meant, because the whole thing was indeed a mess. But that’s not what I wanted. That’s why I was so happy when I met Golden Dome because they were willing to repair and renovate it instead of just demolishing it.  I look forward to their finished product. I am excited for this, and I’m sure my fans are too. Thank you again, Golden Dome, for doing this for all of us.”

Daisuke looked into the camera at the last moments of the interview. He was smiling brightly which reminded Sarah of
Kanade’s description of him. He was indeed her little sunshine.

The video ended and Sarah could hear the murmur of the
jurists talking as they took in Daisuke words. Sarah chose that moment to continue with her speech.

“He put so much trust in Golden Dome and then, right after his death, Golden Dome broke it
.” There was a great satisfaction flowing inside her. “Ladies and gentleman…” She paused and looked at each juror, one by one. “You’ve seen evidence of Golden Dome’s corruption over the past few weeks. You’ve seen a house built in love torn down by greed. You’ve witnessed a giant corporation turn their back on a family legacy, for the sake of a few dollars.”

She felt tears begin to clog her throat and took a moment to collect herself. “Golden Dome should be ashamed of themselves. But they aren’t. It’s up to you to make sure justice prevails for the
Terres family, and their legacy continues for the millions of people who find hope in their story. Because isn’t this what this case is about… hope?”

She allowed that last word to
vibrate through the courtroom before turning away and finding her seat. Patrick squeezed her hand, no one else moved in the chamber.

Finally, the judge gave the jury their
instructions, and they were dismissed to wait for a decision to be made. Hours ticked by, brutally slow before the call came, and they walked back into the courtroom.

“All rise,” said the bailiff, and they did. The moment of truth was near.

…

Camera flashes exploded around Patrick and Sarah as they walked out of the courthouse, followed closely by Diana and her family. Microphones and records
were pushed into their faces, questions coming at them from all directions.

Patrick raised his hand for silence and waited for the rabble to quieten down. He held his hand out to Diana, urging her forward. “This is your spotlight,” he said to her.

He watched Diana take a deep breath, and then a wide smile spread across her face. She lifted her hand in victory without saying a word and the crowd went wild with exaltation.

Moments later, the Golden Dome representatives exited the
building, and the cheers turned to boo’s as the press turned in an attempt to get a statement. Diana pushed through the crowd, to where the other men stood, no one was certain as to what she was doing.

When she reached the men, she stuck out her
hand, and they reluctantly shook it. She then turned toward the cameras, took another deep breath and began…

“
I want everyone to know that I hold no malice against Golden Dome or any of their representatives. I ask that you don’t either. Life is full of lessons, filled with opportunities to grow. My wish is that this corporation has learned from its mistakes and makes more heart centered choices in the future.

On behalf of my entire family, I’m pleased invite Golden Dome to complete the project they started, to extend their hand of friendship and make this house of love a home again.”

She turned to the men and asked, “Will you?”

The crowd went wild as the suited gentleman grabbed Diana’s hand and raised it in victory. They then fielded additional
questions, but Patrick and Sarah had seen enough.

Smiling, and arm and arm, they walked away from the building.

“Looks like everyone can learn to work together, huh?” Sarah said, and Patrick squeezed her into a powerful embrace.

“It does look that way, my love,” he whispered in her ear.

As Sarah gazed into Patrick’s eyes, a flying object caught her attention. Flying above them was a blue bird, which lighted on a branch not far away.

It was Turquoise, her
lovebird, chirping happily above them.

“Look,” she said to Patrick, who turned in
the little bird’s direction. As they watched, another bird joined the first. Turquoise had a partner. For a few moments, the birds sang together and then as one jumped from the branch and rose high in the sky.

Then they were gone, flying happy and free. Ready to start their
own journey.

~ End of Book One ~