the traffic, but he still reacted to her words with a smirk.
“Okay, honey. As long as you’re okay,” and he chuckled, “I’ll tell the tongue-waggers here that you’re not chopped up into little bits.”
“Thanks Dad. I’ll talk to you later.”
She ended the call and laid the phone down on her lap, her mind spinning with all of the questions. She didn’t want to ask, not wanting to invade his privacy. But her reporter’s mind was going a hundred miles a minute.
There was a long silence as both of them considered that phone call. In the end, Ella couldn’t suppress the questions. “So…what were the rumors that were so horrible about your family that I never heard about them?” she finally blurted out.
He laughed, shaking his head. “Other than the way my bastard father fired your mother?” he asked.
“That wasn’t a rumor,” she snapped back, fury returning at the memory. She took a slow, deep breath and let it out again. “Do you know why your father fired my mother? Not that it matters. I was just wondering what his justification was.”
Malcolm’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “My father fired your mother, who was a wonderful woman, by the way…”
“I know that. You don’t need to tell me that because I know that.”
He nodded, silent for a long moment. “She was good to me and my mother, Ella. She was a kind, decent person to everyone.”
There was a mystery behind that comment. But one question at a time, she thought. “Back to why your father fired my mom?”
He sighed and turned off of the highway. They exited into the Mayfair area and Ella groaned, not wanting to be here. This was the ritzy area. The houses were huge and hidden behind either tall brick walls or elaborate landscaping with enormous yards and massive trees that were centuries old.
“My father fired your mother for the exact reason you suspect.”
“He couldn’t be such a bastard to fire her because she was diagnosed with cancer, Malcolm. No one is that much of a monster, although I admit, that’s what I thought when it happened. And,” she was ashamed of this admission, “that’s what I’ve thought ever since. Although I’m sure the truth isn’t that bad.”
Malcolm turned into the driveway of one of those big, beautiful houses. “Unfortunately, that’s the truth,” he told her and pressed button that opened the garage door in the back of the house. One of four garage doors, Ella noted. “He fired your mother because she was diagnosed with cancer. My father fired her the moment he discovered her illness. He wanted her out of his house that very day. I remember that afternoon. He was livid that your mother had dared to enter his domain with a sickness.”
Ella was more horrified. “But it wasn’t her fault that she got cancer!” she exclaimed, the garage doors closing behind them. It was quiet and dark inside the garage. “Why would he do that?”
“Because my father truly was, and is, a bastard of the first order, Ella,” he sighed, then stepped out of the car.
Ella followed, still struggling to understand. “But…”
“Ella,” he interrupted, stopping her next objection. “He’s done far worse. I don’t know everything he’s done, but I know enough. So yeah, he can be that big of a bastard.”
She contemplated that as he led her into his house.
Over the years, Malcolm had made a great deal of money. He’d enjoyed the places he’d lived during that time as well. The money he’d earned allowed him to live however he wanted. And he’d lived very comfortably. But now, leading Ella through his house, he wondered what she thought of it. He’d designed it with an award winning architect but…was it not to her taste? Did she find the layout soothing?
He remembered her apartment and the surprise that it was so small and…empty. She didn’t collect things. Nor did he, Malcolm supposed. But he preferred creature comforts at all of his homes. This one in London was his main residence and the one he’d put the most thought into.
“This is lovely!” Ella gasped when she stepped into the two story great room with tall, black trimmed windows that looked out onto a stone patio surrounded by evergreen trees.
Malcolm looked around, nodding. “Thank you,” he replied, surprised by the relief he felt. Why was he so relieved? He’d never cared what the women in his life thought of his residences.
Then again, he’d never brought a woman into his home. Malcolm hadn’t really