Redemption (Complete)

16. When You're Smiling...

Carl couldn't help the ridiculous grin he had plastered on his face all week. By the time Thursday morning came around, people were starting to stare.

Carl had cooked his Violet a nice dinner the night before, and they had watched a movie before she had to get home for her early classes the next day. She had stayed longer than expected when his mouth had come over hers in a goodbye kiss that lasted a half an hour. His lips seemed to be unable to break the connection to hers and they were panting by the time it had ended. He knew he wasn't going to be able to hold off that much longer.

And Violet had eagerly welcomed all his kisses. She truly wished she could have stayed longer, but her studies had to come first if she was ever going to prove her father wrong by living her own life the way she saw fit. He was still convinced she should be part of the family business back in the Emerald Isles.

For once, Carl was on time for work and at his desk, even before his punctual secretary Bev had gotten to the office.

That was okay with him and he almost laughed when he saw Bev's jaw drop as she walked into his office with her own cup of Starbucks in her hand.

"Am I late?" she asked.

"Nope," her boss told her with a smirk. "I was early. Get yourself situated and then come back to my office. I want to go over some things before the day truly begins." He smiled as his secretary walked out in a daze to put her things at her desk and grab her laptop. For once, she was wearing appropriate clothing and it made Carl's smile wider. The reminder email about the appropriate dress code for the office seemed to have hit home for Bev, and he was pleased.

Carl gave her a list of email addresses and clients she would need to contact for him. Kintech's newest and most awaited app of all was set to hit the Google Play store for Android and IOS based cell phones in March, so they had little time to reassure their investors about the readiness of the application. It had a couple of bugs they had yet to iron out, but it was coming along.

The technical division had almost worked the kinks out of several of the bigger issues the language app was having since they had to have two different software involved. The IOS was almost up to scratch because of the Bluetooth headphones, but it was harder to fix the problems with Android phones.

The application was for language barriers. If you had headphones with a microphone device, all you needed was to turn on the microphone and open the application. Someone could speak to you in Swahili and the phone would translate the language into your headphones so you heard the translation in your own language through the aforementioned headphones.

The problem they were having was with the different types of headphones Android users were buying. Some were sub-par and not made well enough to pick up all the words making it to the microphone. The results of some of the tests were mind-boggling.

After a short meeting with his secretary, Carl was off to visit Aiden. He needed to advise him of the problems and get his input on them.

While he took the elevator, he whistled as the lift brought him to the top floor of the building, the floor that Aiden's office was on.

Aiden's new secretary was typing away at her desk and Carl nodded to the woman who blushed furiously under his gaze.

Carlton knocked on Aiden's door and heard some shuffling and a couple of voices before he was told to come in.

Opening the door, he was surprised to see a very pregnant Constance sitting on Aiden's desk, her legs crossed at the ankles. Aiden was standing near her, his suit jacket open and his hand planted on the desk next to Constance's hip.

"Why are you sitting on the desk?" Carl asked, looking at the three other comfortable looking chairs in the room.

"It's easier to get up and down off the desk," Constance told him, smiling. "My belly doesn't allow for me to get up as quickly from a sitting position anymore. I have to roll out of bed and off the couch. I looked like that blueberry girl from Willy Wonka."

Carl laughed and walked over to Constance, giving her a friendly hug before thrusting his hand out to Aiden.

"Aid, I've got Bev emailing all our investors and she should be done with it by the end of the day," Carl told him. "Technical says that IOS is almost ready to go, but that blasted Android version is still giving us problems. It's those lousy microphones on some of the cheaper models."

"s**t- sorry Angel," he apologized quickly to Constance. "f*****g low-quality makers from China are gonna be our downfall." Aiden sounded miffed. There were a few cheap models of headphones that came from out of the country that were beginning to irritate him.

Carl nodded, agreeing. He supposed that there was nothing that they could really do about it, but Aiden was intent on making the application flawless. He had been working on this app for over a year. It was one of the reasons he had gone abroad the year before- to meet with several companies about the new application he was working on.

'Cnet' and 'Wired' were already talking about it as the next big thing, making interpreters almost obsolete. Even 'PCMag' was getting in on it and wanted to do an interview with Aiden sometime before the application came out.

"Well, I was going to go visit Harry about the numbers, but I think I'll go and visit with Tech first." Aiden sighed and kissed Constance on the cheek. "Will you be alright here until I get back? No giving birth. That baby in there isn't done cooking yet. You have another month and I can worry about poopy diapers and vomit on my work suits. Carl- keep an eye on my girl while I head down to the first floor."

Aiden left the room and Carl sat down with his cup of coffee, planting one of his ankles across his knee.

Constance studied him, smiling.

"You look cheerful today, Carlton," she told him with a wink. Looking over at the door, she saw that Aiden had closed it firmly behind him. "How are things with Violet?"

Carl blinked at her, his heart skipping a beat. How did this woman happen to know everything about his love life?

"H- how did you know?" he asked, his voice low. He looked over at the closed door as well.

"What else would make you so chipper?" she remarked. "Unless there's someone else that has you grinning like a cat with a bowl of cream?" His lips twitched as he thought about what Constance had said. He may as well be able to speak to someone about his budding relationship. It might ease the ache he had when he thought about having to keep quiet about his relationship with his girl.

"Things... are going well so far," he told her, his voice measured. "We've gone out on a date and I cooked her some of my famous 'Tagliatelle alla boscaiola' last night- which she loved by the way."

"I didn't know you could cook," Constance said, surprised. "Where did you learn?"

"My sister in law is practically a chef," Carl said with a fond smile. "She taught me everything I know about cooking."

"You'll have to teach me some of the dishes," she said. "Aiden and I can't live on takeout forever." She laughed.

Carl joined her before his face became grave.

"I can trust you not to tell Harry and Mathilde, right?" he asked her. "About Violet? We want to see where this goes before we tell them anything."

"Of course," Constance replied, her eyes becoming wide. "I'll keep it between you and me for now." She smiled again, a tired little yawn interrupting her grin. "It's good seeing you happy, Carl."

"Thank you."

"Are you coming to the baby shower next week?" she asked, changing topic abruptly.

Carl made an odd face before replying. To Constance, it looked somewhere between horrified and constipated.

"I- I thought I'd bring your gift to your home and skip the 'aww-fest'," he admitted. He had gotten her an expensive swing that they could put the baby in. It had 6 settings for different speeds and played soothing lullabies.

"Violet will be there," Constance reminded him slyly. Carl's lip twitched again.

"I might make a brief appearance," Carl conceded, nodding his head. Although he wouldn't be able to be affectionate with Violet at the shower, he felt the need to see her as often as he could. Even if it meant a bunch of giddy, baby-crazed females would spend ninety-five percent of the time cooing over adorable outfits and playing ridiculous games. "Did you ever find out the s*x of the baby?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Constance said. "Aiden thinks its a girl, but many other females in the Lamaze class say I'm carrying it like it's a boy. I have no idea what they mean, nor do I care. Happy and healthy is all I care about. Where did you take Violet on your first date?"

Another swift about-face in the conversation. It had Carl's head spinning.

"Is the baby giving you short-term memory loss? You switch topics so quickly nowadays."

Constance shrugged and swung her legs a few times.

"I'm having pregnancy brain," she said, as if that might mean something to him. "No attention span and I forget a lot of things. I had the same load of laundry in the washing machine for three days before I remembered to put it all in the dryer."

"Sounds dreadful," he told her with a smile.

"It comes in handy sometimes," she admitted. "I was supposed to get Chinese the other day and 'forgot', so I made Aiden pick some up on his way home from work."

She grinned at Carl who laughed. They chatted for a bit more about Violet and the shower while they waited for Aiden to get back. When he did, he looked a bit put-out and Constance was immediately concerned.

"What's wrong, Baby?" she asked and put her hand out to him, urging him closer.

"Tech is just irritating the crap out of me right now with their excuses," he told her and walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her in a sweet embrace. Constance buried her head in his neck and he kissed the top of her head.

"It'll work itself out eventually," she told him with a glance towards Carl as she spoke.

******

As Carl walked back to his desk, he thought of Aiden and Constance. They seemed so close- a true family unit in the making. And Carl started to wonder if he could have that with Violet.

It was too soon to tell what the future would hold for them. Until they became closer and were able to tell Harry and Mathilde about their relationship, everything was up in the air. They were flying by the seat of their pants.

Carl sighed as he sat back down in his office chair. He wanted to be able to tell people that Violet was his and only his. But until they were able to come clean to her parents, there was only so much they could do.

He thanked God Liam was out of the picture for now. He had left after New Years for Ireland and Carl hoped he stayed there- for the rest of his life if possible. He didn't need his Violet spending any more time with the man her father wanted her to marry.

He would have to ask about Liam when he saw Harry next. Since he was going to the baby shower, he was sure that Harry would be entertaining the male contingent in his study for a good portion of the time. He could probably get him alone and speak with him about the boy then. Maybe even stick his oar in by trying to convince Harry to let his daughter live her own life and on her own terms. He was pretty sure Harry wouldn't be happy to speak about his daughter with Carl, of all people, but if it would help Violet, he would do it.

Carl sat back at his desk, thinking of ways to turn the Carlton Smith charm on Harry. He'd never had to use it on a male before. Maybe if he got him a box of his favorite cigars to loosen the man's tongue and ply him with some nice Scotch. That was an idea.

Picking up the receiver of his phone, he decided to get some work done finally.

"Bev, how are the emails going?" he asked into the receiver, waiting for his secretary's reply.