Secrets That Bind The Heart

By Kimberly Rhea

Secrets That Bind The Heart is a romantic alliance involving two people who come from very different worlds. Their relationship challenges them both to reveal who they are at their core. Kate comes from abject poverty and Thomas comes from a life of privilege. Kate and Thomas both want to redefine themselves by escaping their respective pasts. Through many twists and turns of fate, their lives become entwined in ways that no one could have predicted. The interweaving of Joplin's colorful history adds a unique layer to the story. Readers will relate and cheer for Kate and Thomas who both reveal their depth of character as the story unfolds.

Secrets That Bind The Heart is Book 1 of a trilogy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kimberly Rhea
• Release date: Oct 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386170983

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

SHE ORDERED THE SAME thing every single day but thought it intransigent to not at least consider her many options.

Having the usual today Kate?  Joe the regular barista, asked. Kate wondered why she was agonizing over this. A weird espresso, a frozen blended drink, a smoothie? The barista behind the counter looked past her in exasperation, observing the growing line almost to the door. A voice from behind her suggested, Why don’t you try a frozen chai tea with a big glob of whipped cream?

Kate turned and looked to see where this deep, sultry voice, with the on-point suggestion, was coming from. Her eyes locked with this tall stranger’s big, not quite blue eyes. He was at least 6’3, had a great haircut and the most infectious smile she had ever seen.

Is that what you are having? She asked in what she hoped was a nonchalant voice. Why was her heart beating like it would explode out of her chest at any moment?

This was just a good-looking stranger whose opinions may not be trustworthy. He looked at her and quite matter-of-factly stated, No. I am more of a Caramel Macchiato kind of guy. With your beautiful green eyes, you seem like a frozen chai tea with whipped cream kind of girl.

At the compliment about her eyes, her best facial feature, Kate blushed bright red. She hated that she did that. Embarrassed, she turned and rushed out of the Murrow’s Coffee & Such without ordering anything.

Still flustered, which is not a word that anyone would use to describe Kate Townsend; she climbed into her car and tried to decide where she would go to get her favorite morning drink. Who does he think he is, anyway? What gives him the right to embarrass me to where I fled My coffee stop?

Kate had been stopping at the Murrow’s Coffee & Such every day now for the past 5 years, since moving to the excruciatingly, boring, big town–little city, of Joplin, Missouri. How she ended up in the Midwest was still somewhat of a mystery to even her. She had chosen to relocate here, but she would have rather been living in a more electric and dynamic big city, but the job of her dreams, a national investment firm, was located smack dab in the middle of the Midwest. Glancing at her watch, Kate realized that she needed to get moving or she would be late getting to work at Greenblatt Investment Brokerage. It wasn’t like there weren’t a lot of other places that could make her a frozen chai with lots of whipped cream. How did he know this about her?

In the five years of mornings, she had stopped at Murrow’s Coffee & Such, precisely at 7:58 AM; knowing it would be 7 minutes in line and 8 minutes to receive her order, leaving her just enough time to get across town and arrive at her office exactly at 8:30 AM.  In all of those 1700 days, she had never seen this handsomely tall, annoying, man.

She always saw weird Gordon, the frustrated author, sitting in the corner working on his novel. Edith, the homeless lady with the headphones, who daily exhibited the annoying habit of singing out loud and dancing in her chair. There was the buttoned-down business executive who was cute but obviously married. The metro male guy with the great hair and flawless fashion sense and his Barbie doll wife who always arrived while Kate waited for her. But Mr. You need to order a frozen chai with a glob of whipped cream had never been there between 7:58 and 8:14 in the morning. Kate texted her personal assistant Eric and told him she still needed to make a stop and might be a few minutes late this morning. Just to temper his possible irrational opinion about punctuality, she asked him if he wanted anything from Murrow’s Coffee & Such. He ordered a plain black coffee. Seriously?

He used to be a barista there and knew the ins and outs of every exotic combination of coffee shop drinks. He could have ordered anything and he orders a plain black coffee? Whatever.

Kate calculated that it had been at least 10 minutes since she left the coffee shop and Mr. Know-It-All had to be gone by now. She turned her car around, used her cell phone to call Joe and placed her order so it would be waiting for her.  Kate found the perfect parking spot right by the front door. She had to parallel park, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Joe had seen all kinds of things working there, so hopefully, he would say nothing to make her feel any more embarrassed than she already did for her disappearing-without-ordering-anything act. I will put on my sunglasses and maybe no one will notice me hastily returning after running out of there like a mad woman just 15 minutes earlier.

Taking a deep breath, Kate exits her car and puts on her countenance of confidence, adjusts tight skirt and opens the door. There was a short line at the counter, but Joe saw her entering the shop and called out loudly to her.   Kate darling, your order is almost ready, come on up to the front of the line so I can run your card and get you out of here; I don’t want you to be late for work.

Kate was thinking, Please don’t ask me why I ran out of here 15 minutes ago, please, please, please! Kate berated herself why the hell didn’t I dig out my credit card before I came back in here? She had the flaky habit of just dropping her card into the abyss that was her purse. Now she wanted to enter quickly and exit even quicker, but for the life of her, she could not find that damn card. Her phone dinged. It was Eric texting to ask her if she could also pick up ½ dozen bagels and 3 more coffees. He typed all in caps, for her to GET YOUR ASS TO THE OFFICE. Why does he think he can talk that way to me? I guess he wasn’t talking that way to me; he was texting that way to me. It is a good thing I like him as a person and not just an employee. His saving grace was that he was superb at his job.

Eric had become as much confidant as he was trusted, employee. Kate appreciated that Eric was her eyes and ears in the office and he always let her know if any office political storms were brewing. In addition, he loved gossip and kept her up to date on everyone’s dirty little secrets. Her first appointment of the morning had arrived 25 minutes early and was waiting in the lobby. Could this morning get any worse?

Kate fished her out her credit card from the bottom of her purse. She profusely apologized to Joe as she revised her order. She informed Joe that the change in the order was Eric’s fault. Eric and Joe had been a couple for about ten years. Kate met Eric when he was working in the coffee shop. She liked his spunky attitude and his efficiency. When she was given the approval to hire a personal assistant, Eric was the first person to come to her mind. Fortunately, he had impeccable office skills, did a great job of dealing with the clients and kept Kate on track at work.

While Joe was running her credit card for her purchases, Kate turned away, pretending to read the burlap bag hanging on the wall promoting Sierra Negra Coffee. What was a Sierra Negra Coffee, anyway? She felt herself sweating. It had been a hectic morning so far, but the air conditioning in the coffee shop kept the environment comfortable. Kate felt a bead of sweat running down between her breasts; she prayed that her new silk blouse would not get any sweat stains on it since this was the first time she had worn it. Kate had a body spray somewhere in the abyss of her Dooney and Burk purse, so she knew she could spritz herself once she could return to her car. Even though it was July, it was too early in the morning to be sweating from the blasted Missouri humidity. This morning had been one of the most chaotic in a while. Kate hated being out of control more than anything else.

That deep, sultry voice called out,  Frozen chai with a big glob of whipped cream, 4 black coffees, and ½ dozen bagels, for Kate.

She knew before she turned around that it was Mr. Know-It-All. What was he still doing here? Didn’t he have a job to get to? Why in the world was he calling out her order over the microphone? Kate steeled herself to come face to face with the person who had set her morning routine into such a tailspin. They locked eyes and her stomach churned with a million butterflies. Her palms were sweating now too. What is wrong with me? This was not like her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t received men's attention all the time.

She made the choice to focus on her career and as a result, her social life had become non-existent, unless you could qualify her going to the grocery store, the nail salon and the beauty shop as a social outing. The most skin-to-skin contact she had had in these past five years was when she got a massage from Shona each month.

When Kate looked at the counter, he was standing there. He had on an official looking name tag, which was attached to the pocket of his rolled up, long-sleeved, buttoned-down, pale blue shirt, that accented his not quite blue eyes. According to his nametag, his name was Thomas. Not Tom or Tommy. Thomas. He flashed her that irresistible smile. Kate stammered, I don’t understand, what are you still doing here and why are you holding my order? Weren’t you just waiting behind me in line when I was in here a while ago?

Thomas said, as he shook his head side-to-side, Nope, no I wasn’t.

Kate looked at him perplexed and once again flustered. He set her order down on the counter, offered her his hand to shake, and stated, "I am Thomas Murrow and I own the Murrow’s Coffee & Such. Joe and Eric told me about you, so I decided that I wanted to meet you. Seemed most prudent and casual to just wait at the counter and then get in line behind you. I had to cut in front of 6 other people in that line. Here is your order".

Kate thought I will murder Eric and Joe. Who on God’s green earth says ‘seemed most prudent and casual?’ Kate realized her ears were buzzing; all the talking noises in the busy coffee shop seemed to fade into the background until, in her mind, it was silent. Thomas was saying something about adding cream cheese for the bagels on the house. Kate had to shake her head to clear it, so she could at least pretend to understand what he was saying to her. Thomas then said, How about meeting me for dinner?

Kate‘s tongue was so thick and her mouth dry, which made it impossible for her to form any coherent words. Thomas had this shiny sparkle in his eyes when he laughed, which she realized he was doing at that moment. Kate said What? What did you say?

Have dinner with me.

I can’t.

You can’t have dinner? Or you can’t have dinner with me tonight or ever?

I can’t tonight.

Thomas persisted, Tomorrow is Saturday, how about meeting me here at 10 in the morning for coffee?

Kate stammered, I, I, I don’t drink coffee, it upsets my stomach.

Thomas was enjoying the discomforting effect he seemed to have on Kate. That is fine, I own this place and we have lots of drinks that aren’t coffee, like frozen chai tea with a glob of whipped cream. How about meeting me here in the morning for one of those?

Kate glanced at her watch. Oh crap, I am very late for work! I have clients waiting in my office for this coffee and bagels, I have got to go!

What about breakfast here tomorrow?

Kate sailed out the door without responding. Thomas stood there and watched her fly out the front door of the coffee shop. She hit the door so hard that it resoundingly slammed when it collided with the exterior wall. It was so loud that it interrupted the reverie of all the customers enjoying their beverages and breakfasts, causing them looked up to see what was going on.

The door was attached to a building that was built over 100 years ago. The coffee shop was part of downtown Joplin. It is one of a series of original buildings between 5th and 6th street on Joplin Avenue that Thomas’s family had owned since the early 1900’s.

Thomas always knew he would be the one to return to the fold to help oversee his grandparent’s vast holdings. His grandmother had gotten too old to manage everything. Thomas was the fifth generation to be a businessman in Joplin.  

Thomas was proud of his family’s business legacy that had started in the mining industry of the late 1800’s early 1900’s; an industry that was so prevalent and prominent to the history of Joplin, Missouri. His family ancestors were one of the founding families of Joplin. His great-great-grandfather continued investing in the growing Joplin community. Being prominent business people was a family tradition all the way back to 1860.

Thomas’ Nana Agnes kept the family history alive for Thomas while he was growing up. The family’s beginnings were traced back to Campbell Hunter who came to the United States from Ireland at 21 years of age.

Agnes and William had one son whom they named Charles. They remained humble working people in spite of the inordinate wealth they possessed. They established and operated numerous businesses in and around Joplin. William added to the family fortune through his own hard work and his shrewd and knowledgeable skill at investing in the stock market. The family fortune took a large hit during the great depression of 1939, but under William’s and his wife’s guidance, the fortune returned to its former, impressive value, and then some.

Agnes and William’s son, Charles Murrow was a disappointment to his parents. He was more interested in being a playboy than in contributing to society in any meaningful way. He married a gold digging woman named Carolyn, whom he had met while attending Northwestern University in Illinois. Charles graduated with a business degree but lived a life of leisure at the expense of all the family who had come before him. Charles had a trust fund and an attitude of entitlement. Charles and Carolyn only had one son, whom they named Thomas.

Charles and Carolyn had little time or interest in raising Thomas. When it suited them, such as when they went on vacations or celebrated holidays with friends from college, they would include Thomas because it made them look good. Other than that, nannies, and, Thomas’s grandparents, Agnes and William, were the parents that Thomas grew to depend on.

While Thomas was in junior high school, his father died in a tragic accident. Charles was showing off for a friend by taking him on a tour of the Atlas Powder Company. Atlas Powder was a dynamite producing facility that the Murrow’s had inherited from the mining days. An unfortunate explosion resulted in the deaths of both Charles and his friend. Thomas's mother remarried and lived in Chicago When he graduated from Joplin High School; Thomas left the state to go to college and stayed away pursuing his career as an attorney. He became a lawyer because his mother expected him to, but he hated it. His mother came from a long line of attorneys. Her grandfather was a founding partner of the prestigious law firm, Kirkland, Sparling, and Jenkins in Chicago.

Thomas only sporadically saw his mother and never developed a loving mother and son relationship. He often wondered how he could even be Carolyn’s child. His father’s funeral was one of the last times he had been in the same room with her. His mother took every advantage of Thomas’s grandparent’s generosity. Never once did she even say Thank You to his grandparents when they let her assume the trust fund, which had been for her husband. Even when she remarried, Carolyn continued to enjoy the Murrow’s money.

Carolyn had it in her mind that when Thomas’ grandparents died, she would somehow get her hands on the estate that the Murrow family had earned over the previous 3 generations through their blood, sweat, and tears. Never mind that she had improved her station in life after Thomas’s father died by marrying up into not only the richest family in Chicago but also a family that is listed in the Forbes top100. Carolyn always acted entitled to whatever she could get her hands on. As much as she had disdain for the humble nature of the members of the Murrow family, she sure loved the opulent lifestyle their old money could provide for her. Somewhere in her warped sense of values and broken moral compass, since her son Thomas was the only heir apparent, she believed that just being his mother should buy her a place at the table to receive a share of the Murrow family fortune.

Thomas could have received his trust fund when he entered college, but he chose not to, instead choosing to make his own way in the world. Thomas knew that when his grandparents died, he was to oversee managing the family fortune, but until then he wanted no part of the Murrow family money. He felt since he did not earn it, it would be better off given to charity.

Carolyn would periodically reach out to Thomas in some masqueraded gesture to keep him close, but he saw right through her gold digging efforts. She even adopted her stepson and encouraged the boys to become like real brothers, in the faulty hopes that having another son, technically being raised as Thomas’s brother, would somehow get her in line to receive a share of the inheritance pie. Thomas’s grandparents saw thru all of her schemes. Before Thomas’s grandfather died, he and his grandmother had a prestigious law firm in Chicago, who handled all of their estate’s legal business, draw up an iron clad will that stated: if Carolyn contested any part of the estate, she would give up her trust fund. Once she received the documents spelling it all out, her interest in Thomas and to Thomas being a brother to her stepson/adopted son disappeared.

When Thomas’s grandfather died, his grandmother needed his help. Within 2 years of his return to Joplin, his grandmother received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and she declined rapidly. His grandmother had to stay in a nursing home, so she could get the very best of care available. Thomas daily had breakfast with her, even though she no longer always recognized him. He loved her more than any other person in his life.

As a boy, he had spent as much of his time as he could with his grandparents. He loved going to work with his grandfather and he was educated in the family businesses from the time that he was a little boy. His grandfather used to majestically, spread his hands, in a metaphoric gesture and tell Thomas someday all of this will be yours. Even as a boy, Thomas preferred to make his own way in the world and knew when the time came and he was off to college, he would not accept the trust fund set–up for him. He wanted to be a self-made man like all the men, except for his own father, who had descended from Campbell Hunter.

Thomas had always preferred his grandparents to his parents and moved in with them while he was attending Joplin Junior High School. His parents were busy being socialites, as much as one could be a socialite in Joplin, Missouri. They traveled most of the time and had little energy to spend time with their son, much less build something that would add to the Murrow family legacy. They were all about "take, take, take. When Thomas’s father had died and was barely cold on the ground his mother moved to Chicago; it wasn’t long before she had remarried.

Part of Thomas’s grandparent’s business holdings was multiple rental houses, which now included the house that Thomas’s parents had occupied when he was a child, and, his grandparent’s marital home. The family holdings included so many businesses and home rentals that a local Real Estate office took care and managed them all. The law firm where Thomas had worked in Chicago still had oversight of all the businesses and the money they continued to generate.

When Thomas moved back to town, he could not move into the house that he had spent his childhood in or even into his grandparent’s home, which he loved. He wanted to live in his grandparent’s house because it reminded him of all the love he had received from them as a boy, but it was tied up in a long-term lease and would be sold eventually to the current tenants. For the time being, Thomas opted to live in the modest apartment that was above the coffee shop.

Many of the buildings were constructed in that area of downtown Joplin in an era when the owners of the buildings operated a business on the first level and lived in a dwelling in the upper level. The apartment still contained many of his family’s furnishings and had been kept in pristine condition even after all these years. Thomas’s needs were minimal and living above where he worked was extremely convenient. He had added a deck off of the back to give him some outdoor space.

He had a hot tub, patio furniture, and an outdoor kitchen and a pleasant view of this part of downtown. This outdoor space was constructed and blended into the existing structures. The lush exotic plants blocked the prying eyes of anyone who happened to notice this out of place deck in downtown Joplin. It was so well designed that most people did not even notice it was there. At some point, he knew he wanted to get married and have children. At that point in time he would buy or build a house, but for now, the downtown apartment suited his needs.

Kate arrived at work and rushed into her office. Eric had ensconced her early arriving, clients in the conference room. They had flown in earlier that morning in their corporate jet. Eric had given them some preliminary paperwork to fill out, making them unaware that Kate was running late. Kate tossed her stuff on her desk, freshened her lipstick and ran a hairbrush quickly through her long, mahogany hair. She ran her hands over her skirt to smooth it out and took a deep breath; she then sailed calmly into meet her waiting, but ever so early appointment.

The gentlemen waiting to see her were two attorneys. She inquired how she could help them. The one who was obviously in charge explained;

We represent an estate and the family wants to add a full-time investment broker to the team to make sure that everything remains protected and profitable. The family has decided to review the investments, make adjustments, and secure the estate for the future generations.

Kate’s interest perked up at what these men had to say. This was sounding like an account that could make or break a career in the investment brokerage world.

Kate had moved to Joplin after graduate school to be an investment broker. She had done well since starting her career and was well on her way to the partnership track with Greenblatt Investment Brokerage House. If she made partner within the next two years, she would be the youngest in the history of this well-established, nationwide firm, and one of the first females to crack the glass ceiling of this old boys club.

Kate had done her internship at the home office in California after graduating