GUARDIAN OF HER HEART

I'LL DO IT!

With an unsteady hand she turned down the door knob and then pushed it open, as soon as she entered she gasped.

“Is that my princess??” a frail and hoarse baritone voice asked, “it's me dad” came her own wobbly response, “that tall beautiful amazonian woman??” came Mr Greyman again with a big smile on his face.

“Yes, yes dad, oh daddy! I've missed you a lot... a lot, a lot!” Lexi said emotionally as she bent over to give the old man an endearing hug.

“And I've missed you a great deal myself. You're all so grown now, it only seems like yesterday, when I carried you in my arms and rocked you to sleep, but look at you, you're a grown woman now” he said as he gently stroked her cheeks.

“Dad, oh what happened to you?? Look at you, what's all these wires??” Lexi said brokenly as she assessed the appearance of her ailing father.

She has always known and remembered her father to be a very strong man, energetic and full of life, never in her life did she think or imagine she would see him so broken and confined to a bed, tears tickled down her eyes.

“Oh come off it princess! Don't waste those precious tears on me now, the last thing I need right now is pity. I'm totally fine, and I will be out of here before you know it, if it were up to me, I would have left long before now, but you know young doctors these days, they tend to be a little bit too sentimental.

I've always been as strong as granite and I still am” he bragged, and Lexi warmed up in a smile, he might appear feeble; even though he would never admit it, he's still got his good sense of humor.

“Now that's what I want to see, just smile!” he said and just then his gaze fell on Kyle, “how do you do son?” “how do you do too? Feel better?” Kyle said in a concerned tone, although he didn't necessarily move from where he stood.

“You clearly haven't being paying attention to our conversation son” Mr Greyman attacked, “Dad!” Lexi and Kyle whined in unison and he laughed.

He has always been like that with the boys, only Lexi gets to enjoy the sweet side of him.

“Has Gabriel prepped you on all you need to know??” he suddenly asked, the seriousness in his tone made it clear on what he was talking about.

“Dad, aren't we supposed to reconsider this decision?? You're acting like I've already agreed to it and like my opinion doesn't matter” Lexi pointed out anxiously.

“Of course it does, who said it doesn't? I know, I know, it's a bit of a shocker and a little too much to process at the moment, but trust me when I say this, I've built this empire on knowing people, so when I chose you as my stand-in, I wasn't out of my mind. I chose you because I know you can, and I know you will, don't disappoint me love” he stated.

Lexi felt backed to a corner, there's something about his last phrase that blotted out every other argument she had coming. She wasn't the sort to disappoint but...

“You're not alone dear, you have Gabriel and you have me, it's not like I'm dead already. You have all the power you need daughter, you just need to make up your mind” he added with a note of finality.

Lexi wasn't sure how she felt at the moment, but one thing was certain, she wasn't scared anymore.

“Hey, you've got this! I told you before already” Kyle chipped in while giving her a soft squeeze on her left shoulder.

“Take her home Kyle, it's been a long day for her, she needs rest” Mr Greyman urged, “alright dad. Let's go home sis” Kyle said to Lexi.

“Alright dad, I'll come see you again soon, then we'll have a long chatter, huh? There's a lot I want to say to you!” Lexi said in a sudden elated mood.

“Sure, I can't wait to see you again then” he replied. They said their goodbyes and left.

On getting home, mother was at the door waiting to receive them. “Where have you been sweetie?? I've been searching all over for you? Kyle how could you be stressing your sister like this?? She just got back!”

“mu.. ” Kyle started to try defending himself but Lexi signalled for him to calm down.

“Mum don't get worked up now! It wasn't Kyle's fault, actually it was my idea, I'm the one who asked to see dad” Lexi explained.

“Oh dear! Pardon my squabbling, I never knew you went to see your father, I was there earlier myself. Come on in, I asked the cook to prepare your favourite!” Mrs Anderson said sweetly as they all entered and headed for the dinning room, and when they were each sitted she continued.

“So how is he? Even though he looked pretty better to me.” “Well mum I don't know, if what I saw was better, then I wonder what he was like when it first happened.

I've never seen dad so frail before, even when he used to get sick in the past, he never came close to what I saw in that hospital bed a while ago” Lexi said then shook her head in disbelief.

“What can I say dear, I've been married to your father for nearly 3 decades now, and never have I seen him like that, my poor darling” she said heart-wrenchingly and it appeared she was crying too 'cause she took out a handkerchief and dabbed the inner and outer corners of her eyes.

“Mum can you not get like this now??

If you continue like this then we would all cry too and who would console the other??” Lexi tired to console her.

“Okay, okay, I'll get it together. So, I guess you two did a lot of catching up, huh? What did you discuss?” Mrs Greyman asked casually, but unknown to them she was very much interested in that last question.

“Not really, we didn't talk much, he spent most of the time convincing me to stand-in for him, aside that, every other thing was just trivial” Lexi said innocently.

By now, the helps were serving the dish to each person.

“I see, you know sweetie, I've been giving it some thoughts and I know how much burden it's going to be for you, so I've come to a decision to have Kevin do it instead.

You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize what a perfect plan it would be, Kevin has been close to it in the past, he was once vice president , so it's nothing new to him.”

“What?? Kevin? We'll remember what happened when he was vice president and there's a reason he's no longer in the company. I'm sure dad would object to this.”

“Shut up Kyle! What do you know?! And who said you could butt in when adults are talking??” Mrs Greyman fired, “Mum I'm no longer a child! I'm 19.. ” “I said shut up!” Mrs Greyman fired again.

“Mum calm down, he was only trying to make a point, and I think he might be right, dad would not accept this, with the way he spoke to me, he would be disappointed if he finds out that I didn't think much of his judgement” Lexi reasoned.

“And who's gonna tell him?? Listen sweetie, your dad doesn't need to be bothered by business right now so he doesn't need to know. Kevin would run the company, but when the reports get to him it would be in your name, see?? This is what family do for each” she persuaded.

“So you're saying we should fool dad?? And keep him in the dark?? Come on mum, this plan is deceptive! Can't you se...”

“alright that's enough! Got to your room Kyle! You will get served there” “but mum...” Kyle tried to object, “leave I said!” she ordered.

“Come on mum! You're taking it a bit too far! You can't do that to him” Lexi objected, but by now Kyle had stormed off to his room.

“You wouldn't understand love, you've been away for 4 years, your little brother Kyle has gotten quite rebellious over the years.

Listen, this isn't deception like Kyle painted it, desperate times calls for desperate measures.

All these are just temporary, letting you handle the company is unthinkable, it would break you, as much as you would break it, don't get me wrong love, I do have faith in you, but everyone has their forte, and for you it isn't business, and I know that. Let mummy help you with this one, ok? Oh! Speak of the devil! Kevin is home!” she suddenly announced as a lanky figure appeared from the door.

One look at him and you could tell he was family, because he had the same blonde hair and grey eyes like his mother.

But on another look, you could tell he was someone who hadn't been taking care of himself since God knows when.

For he had extremely tanned complexion, dark circles around his eyes, a dry skin with no moisture at all, then a figure too lean for someone of his height.

“Mother” came a husky sound from him, “oh honey! I've missed you so much! Look at you!” Mrs Greyman said the last part a little more emphatically as she cast a disapproving glare on his outlook, but because she had her back turned to Lexi, she couldn't see that.

Both mother and son had now broken what could be rated as the shortest hug in the world, for why wouldn't she? When a strong stench of alcohol emanated from Kevin, even Lexi who stood meters away could attest to that.

“Hey little sis" Kevin said flatly with a face-pasted smile, “Hey Kevin” Lexi returned in like manner, the ‘reunion’ was so mechanical that an outsider wouldn't believe that these two haven't seen themselves in 4 years, or more?

“You're right back just in time, cos we were just about having lunch! Come honey.” Mrs Greyman said overjoyed, she was genuinely, cause Kevin has always been her favourite; everyone knew it.

In the middle of the lunch, Mrs Greyman started to speak again. “You know son, just before you walked in I was speaking to Alexandra about the plan, and she seemed pretty okay with it” Lexi had eyes wide in shock, ‘what?? Agreed?? When??’ she mused in her head.

“Oh really??" Came Kevin's response, then he continued, “that's a first, cos knowing Alexandra, she never agrees to anything without being bullheaded at first. It seems that military school has really done a lot of reformation on her” he said in between mouthful with a foxy smile.

“Stop it now Kevin! I've told you to do away with that awful humour” Mrs Greyman said trivially. “Pay him no mind sweetie, he doesn't mean half of anything he says” she said to Lexi whose irritation was increasing by the minutes.

“So, you will have to start making plans to fix a meeting with the board members soon, I'm sure you can pull it off easily, you've been there before” she said proudly.

“Yeah sure, I can” Kevin concurred.

“Uhmm, can we slow down a bit? Mum I didn't get the part where you said I had agreed to the plan, I think you might have misinterpreted my silence for acceptance” Lexi clarified.

Mrs Greyman immediately stopped eating.

“Your point being??” Kevin queried irritatedly.

“I was talking to mum not you, Kevin” Lexi returned calmly but firmly.

“Imagine the temerity! Are we back to the classics were you always countered and challenged me?? Cos I could always whoop your ass like I did back then!” “enough!” Mrs Greyman yelled.

“I thought you said you've handled her mum?? What's this now??!”

“enough I said!” she sounded again.

“I thought we've settled this Alexandra, what's with the back and forth??” Mrs Greyman queried.

“I never agreed to this mum, I won't be a party to this deception, there has to be some other way” Lexi declared.

“Listen up young lady, this is the only way, you don't have much of a choice here, I'm doing you a favour you know, except you have a better plan, do you?"

“What plan could she possibly have?? If she did we wouldn't be here in the first place. Even if she does, we cannot trust Lexi's judgement, she's reckless!” Kevin spat.

Unknown to Kevin, he had struck a nerve, for she slowly stood, put her two hands on the table, leaned in on them and said, “I will do it.”

“What?? You can't be serious!” Mrs Greyman ruled out.

“Yeah right!” Kevin mocked.

“Whatever comes out of it, I will take responsibility for, but I need you two to do me a favour, do not breath down my neck, keep out of this completely" she sounded and then walked out on them.

“Mum are you just going to sit here and watch her walk out like that?? We need to stop her! Do something mum!” Kevin whined.

“Shut up! For the umpteenth time Kevin! You don't know how to do anything! You claim to know your sister so well, yet you fail to realize that when she makes a resolution like that then there's no stopping her!”

“So we're just going to let her have her way??”

“Of course not! Listen...” she started to say but suddenly went mute as she scanned the entire area, then with an extremely low voice she continued.

“You have to meet with the board members ASAP, and convince them that you're the best man for the position.”

“I agree but, can you do the convincing part? Those folks hate me you know.”

“Are you an i***t or what?? I can't continue to spoon-feed you! You must do that on your own and earn their trust all by yourself!”

“Alright, fine, fine! How soon are we talking about??” Kevin asked. “Tomorrow” she replied.

“What??!”

By evening, Lexi had informed Gabriel of her decision and, Gabriel being a man who lived in the future, had already made preparations, one of which included getting Lexi a personal assistant.

“Hello miss Greyman, I'm Matthew Rashford, but you can call me Matt” he said eloquently.

For some odd reason, Lexi liked him immediately, maybe because of the way he permed his hair, did his lipgloss flawlessly, gave his brows the neatest microblade ever, and amusingly carried himself elegantly like a lady would.

Whatever be the reason, one thing was clear, Matt was someone who paid attention to details and that's just the kind of person Lexi would work with.

The rest of the evening was used to do a lot of prepping and getting acquainted with most of the things a Chief Executive Officer should know.

Shopping wasn't even necessary cos every single attire she would ever need had been bought and to her taste too, which had her suspecting that someone who knew her too well was involved in this.

At last, there was nothing left to be said or done and by now, Gabriel and Matt had already left and now she was to wait till she hears the word go.

The next morning started with an early morning meeting at Grey Bridge, and just according to Mrs Greyman's plan, Kevin was proceeding over the board meeting.

“I can assure you that everything you heard was just rumours, there's no way my little sister who had never even set foot in this company would run it.

Believing such baseless rumour is an insult to my father's judgement, therefore I beseech members of this honourable board to jettison such rumour” Kevin assured.

“Still, we cannot over look some glaring facts here. We all got a mail from Mr Greyman's desk, stating that your sister would be his stand-in, now that can't be false. Have you got any explanation for that Mr Kevin??” Mr Brown quizzed strongly.

“Also, the mail stated she would be the one officiating this meeting. So why are you here?” another Mr Harrison queried.

By now, Kevin was already thrown off balance, ‘how did I miss all these details??’ he wondered.

“And giving your reputation with the company in the past, I doubt Mr Greyman would want a repeat in history” Mrs Reginald chipped in.

Kevin was at a loss for words, he was thrown into disarray and whenever he was in this state, he did all the wrong things... he said all the wrong things.

“My sister is incompetent! She is inexperienced! She is... ”

“The best man for the job” came a voice from without and soon the owner of the voice can in view.

“And you are??” Mr Vincent queried.

“Alexandra Greyman.”