The Russian Billionaire’s Secret(38)
“Will you play on my team?” he asked, sipping a beer himself. She was thankful on days like this for her vibrant, curly, short hair; naturally beautiful that looked its best short, she glanced around and saw most of the other girls sweating profusely, desperately trying to figure out what to do with their long locks and how to keep their makeup from sweating off their faces. Alicia was lucky enough, she knew, to have a natural air of beauty to herself; she never wore much makeup besides a bit of mascara.
“Sure. I’m Alicia,” she had said confidently as she extended a hand. He had taken it gracefully.
“Clinton. Let’s go win this.”
After winning their beer pong game, they had exchanged phone numbers. She was happy that he hadn’t gotten the impression that attending parties was one of her pastimes; in fact, many of their dates were spent in the library or at their local coffee shop, quizzing one another or writing papers. He was as refreshing as the tall cups of coffee they would order, a dark roast who always wore glasses and sweaters with collared shirts underneath.
She made sure to visit her family at least once a week, and found true solace in the fact that Leo had kept his promise to remain on the right path and guide Devon. He worked on weekends and had won a full ride to Madison for basketball. She had cried when, over for dinner one Sunday, he had told her the news. He was embarrassed and shocked, having never seen his older sister cry before.
“Oh kid, I am just so proud of you,” she had said and her mother had again, been a weeping ball of emotions, folded into herself as a young child does.
“I’m so lucky to have such great kids, despite our obstacles and challenges,” she had reminded them.
A few weeks later, when Alicia had brought Clinton home to meet the family, her brothers had been as reserved as she imagined a protective father would be. They had been polite, but not overly so, looking him up and down, until Clinton had called them on it. One aspect she had loved the most about him was that he was not only as devoted as she was to his future and studies, but as blunt and honest as well.
“Hey guys, I get it. I’m supposedly the ‘bad guy’, dating your sister and all…but I promise that I have the best intentions, and that I won’t hurt her.” Her brothers had loosened up a bit after that, and they had eaten home cooked meal of steak and potatoes, a luxury her mother must’ve saved up for, for at least a paycheck or two.
She was genuinely happy and content in her life, proud of her life and accomplishments. She hadn’t missed a class in all four years and while others looked forward to getting drunk on weekends, she sincerely looked forward to her classes. She enjoyed them immensely and one teacher, a calm and collected, strong, independent woman, had taken her under her wing the first few weeks at the school and showed her the ropes of the business courses and world.
During her senior year, she had done an independent study with her and Diane, as she had come to call her, even helped her land a job at a prestigious business after college. She hadn’t known how to thank her, really, except for inviting her to a meal at her mother’s apartment.
Her mother, again, had wept when she and Diane had told her the great news, and she could see the look of honor and admiration each brother had in their eyes, the emotion cloaked deep inside the dark brown.
“I cannot express to you enough how taken aback I have been with your daughter. She is truly going places,” Diane had said, helping herself to another dinner roll. She watched her mother think and ponder what she was going to say next and what followed was a true act of expression that Alicia herself had never witnessed, and that sat within her soul for the remainder of eternity.
“Diane, let me tell you my truth, and this is something my children have never exactly heard from my mouth, verbatim. I was a devoted child, devoted to my studies and boyfriend, Alicia’s father. When I became pregnant at 16, my mother kicked me out. I didn’t have anywhere to turn, so I turned to the man I loved…who, in essence, turned me away. So I moved in with an aunt and had no other option than to drop out of high school quickly and work. It was the biggest tragedy of my life; not Alicia’s father leaving, or any of the other men in my life, not the degrading jobs that I’ve had to take on, not even my own mother kicking me out…dropping out of high school, ‘quitting’, as it is called, broke my soul. I loved school. It was everything to me, and I tried my hardest to instill this into my children. I fell in love with Leo and Devon’s father, but he passed away at an early age, and I continued on, kept on keepin’ on and kept living life, just for the success of my children. So, now to see it all come to fruition, to see my daughter land a dream job and my son receive a scholarship to Madison, and to witness Devon do well in high school, makes my heart so filled with love and pride, it takes my breath away at times. There is no other mother in this entire world that is more proud than her children. It makes every horrible situation I have ever been in worth it…and then even more.” There was a silence at the dinner table, their small and old wooden table bringing all social classes together, all paths of life, bringing everyone together.
“You need to give yourself some credit too, mama,” Alicia pointed out, finally breaking the silence. Her mother threw up her hand.
“Let me give you each your credit,” she insisted. She smiled, her warm dimples lighting up her beautiful face; similar to the lighthouse that guides the way for sailors, her mother’s face had always guided her, being her beacon in the darkness when she felt lost or that she couldn’t achieve her goals or dreams.