Written in the Margins

Delia Prescott had spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But now, the mere mention of signing away that anonymity felt like sending herself over a cliff. And she hadn’t packed a parachute.

“You can still remain anonymous.” Reed said, sliding a thick contract across the polished desk between them. “I wrote that clause weeks ago. I know you read through it.”

As a lawyer and brother, Reed always had his sister’s best interests at the forefront of his actions when it came to working on any of her contracts.

“Thoroughly.” Delia replied, though the words somehow felt hollow. Her voice didn’t betray the sheer panic gripping her.

Reed leaned back in his chair, the leather creaking beneath him. Sunlight spilled across his desk, glinting on the silver streaks at his temples. The sign of his years spent balancing family loyalty within a career that had never truly felt like his own.

Reed had been convinced, more like strong-armed, into working for their parent’s publishing company. Delia knew he would rather work for a big firm, making large decisions to help change the world, instead of being the in-house lawyer for the family business.

He even had a job all lined up as soon as he got accepted into law school. Their parents had a lot of resources and such a wide reach with high-level corporate heads. Of course, he would have had something set up so early. Although, their mother got her claws in him and stressed the importance of family sticking together and maintaining the business on all fronts.

“Deals,” he said, using her childhood nickname. “This is the biggest movie deal I’ve worked on in my entire career. And I’ve been here since I got out of college.” He told her. “Do you understand what’s happening here?”

She did. Almost too well.

The fantasy series she wrote under a pseudonym, Into the Abyss, had done more than hit the bestseller list. The series had saved Prescott Publishing from failing after her father’s passing, sparked global fandoms, and now, movie networks were calling. Instead of basking in the glory, Delia felt as if she was suffocating.

But as Delia looked past her brother and out the large office windows into the New York city scape, she was relieved to have him here. Especially for her. For this career that she had managed to keep secret from so many others.

“What would happen if I stay anonymous?” she asked almost too quietly.

Reed didn’t answer right away. He spun slightly in his chair, the Manhattan skyline framed like a painting behind him. “It could hold you back. It would mean no in-person events. No press junkets. No award speeches. You’d basically be the ghostwriter of your own legacy.”

Deli’a gaze roamed to the contract again. Her name didn’t appear once in connection to the books. Only Lucy Evans. Her secret identity, named after her grandmother’s maiden name. It was the persona she created on a small online writing platform that had unexpectedly exploded with fans.

“Marketing’s been breathing down my neck for months,” Reed added. “They want a face. They want the face behind the pages. Of course, the mystery is selling, but they think revealing you would launch it into another stratosphere.”

Of course, she was following all the tags and posts. How couldn’t she? She might use a pseudonym for her novels, but having the entire series as best sellers, with most of them winning awards, none of that had prepared her for the result of gaining a movie deal for her science fiction action series.

By the time she was in the middle of writing her second installment, she heard just about everyone in the company talking about the influx of sales. When she finished the fourth installment, her series not only kept the company alive, but it began thriving.

Delia ran a finger along the edge of the chair’s armrest. She wasn’t afraid of the possibility of success. She was afraid of being seen, of people assuming her name had gotten her there. Of the whispers judging her based on her family name.

“How Mom hasn’t figured out I used her mother’s name, I’ll never know.” Delia muttered.

Reed chuckled lightly. “Because she doesn’t look for secrets unless she planted them first.”

Delia snorted, and for a moment, the tension within her cracked. It didn’t disappear, but it faded at the edges.

There was a ten-year age difference between them, which inevitably, without her father alive, he had somehow assumed that role for her. She sometimes hated that he had taken that mantle. He has a daughter of his own, there was no sense in adding her to that list of responsibilities.

But, his standpoint on Delia maintaining her privacy hadn’t always been like this. In the beginning, when she had brought him her manuscript, he immediately wanted the world to know what she had created. But once she explained her reasoning, he finally relented. He understood the pressure to want to make something of herself without help, even if it would only be speculation, of their family’s reach and money.

Fine, she may have used one family connection. But in doing so, he was able to give the manuscript to an agent in the company, claiming that his daughter, Charlotte, found it online and thought they should check it out. And their eyes were surely on it, emailing her incessantly. She woke up to no less than eight emails the next day wanting to have her contact information and have her come in to write up a deal as soon as possible.

“Just sit and think about it, okay?” He picked up the papers in front of him and tapped them gently, aligning the pages before clipping them tightly together. “You’re working tonight, right?” Reed gestured vaguely to her outfit of black jeans and loose white blouse.

“Yeah. Shae needs some extra help behind the bar tonight.” Most of the others had to wear a tie, but as the head bartender, she never followed that rule. Instead, she left the top two buttons open. She might get a hefty paycheck for her books and add the fact that she owned a portion of the high-end bar and restaurant, Delia still wasn’t one to deny the nice tips that came with the job.

“Alright. Well, call me tomorrow. Don’t let fear make the decision for you. We’ll finalize this together and go over the pen-name situation.”

She eyed him warily.

He smiled, “alright, not the situation, but the decision.” He raised his brow, “If you want my personal, brotherly, opinion-”

“Not particularly,” Delia grumbled.

“Well, I put the contract away, so I’m not your lawyer right now.” He eyed her back with the same intensity she gave him. “As your brother, I think you should do it. Tell the world. You sold the highest number of copies, for each of your books, that this company has seen. And,” he sighed, “and nobody even knows it was you!” he crossed his arms. “At this point in your writing career, there is no way anyone would say that you used your connections to get this far. Even mom couldn’t say that you had.”

Delia rolled her eyes at the mention of their mother.

“I can’t stand that she thinks you’re wasting your time bartending.”

Delia eyed him again, this time more sternly than before.

“Hey, I commend any bartender around here. I’m not negating their choice in career. I wouldn’t make it out there for a second. But Mom thinks you’re wasting away your money and screwing every… oh how did she word it?” he asked the air above them, “floosy that looks at you a certain way, I think is what she said.”

“Yeah well, Mom hasn’t deserved the right to know that I actually have a career. The career that I’ve wanted my whole life. She and I have never had that kind of relationship. We never could just sit and talk about the big stuff.”

“So, you’d rather continue in letting her assume that you’ve chosen to work behind a bar and travel the world with your inheritance?”

“I know I wasn’t what she wanted in a daughter.” Reed shot her a flat look. He hated it when she said that. She waved a hand at his expression, “I know I was the unplanned kid. Showing up when her and dad planned on having an empty house after you and Cassandra would have been going off to college in a few years.”

Cassandra and Reed were only two years apart. So, by the time Delia came, they were exhausted. They both had run this company and as both Reed and Cassandra would have been out of the house roughly at the same time, her mother had already begun planning their world-travelling extravaganza. Too bad that when Reed first left for college, Delia was only turning eight years old.

Ironically, their mother’s perception of children changed when Reed announced that he and his then-girlfriend were expecting a baby. Delia had been sixteen when Charlotte was born, and all eyes were off her and on her niece. She couldn’t complain one bit when she could do what she wanted at college because Charlotte took up her parents’ entire world at that point.

“Have you talked to Cass in a while?” He asked cautiously.

Delia chortled. “No. I’d prefer to maintain a phone screen distance from her.”

He nodded, “yeah she’s been vlogging about her healing journey lately.” He told her dryly.

“Healing?” She asked, “healing from what?”

He shrugged. “Who knows. A few months ago, she was on a baking kick.”

“Baking? I thought she was doing a health segment. Wanting everything to be all-natural and a bunch of juices.”

“I think she’s doing different chapters in her videos.”

“And… it’s working?”

“For the most part, I think. She has a good following, but when you see her, make sure you don’t mention anything about this series.”

She raised a brow in question.

Reed gave her a flat smile. “She has her phone recording everything. She tried to rope Charlotte into telling her about high school and the differences from when she was in school. I don’t know. I think it was something about healing from your past, or bullying or whatever.”

“She tried to get Charlotte in these things?”

“Yeah. Probably because Brock doesn’t want their kids in videos anymore.”

“Well at least we know he’s good for something.”

Both Reed and Delia laughed. Cassandra’s husband, Brock, hadn’t been the best of boyfriends out of the many that Cass had over the years. They both thought that he was in it for the family money. But it seemed he was quietly making moves of his own. He was an engineer and running one of the most widely known firms in the tristate area. Of course, that wasn’t what Cass had told them, but Cassandra wasn’t one to fully understand the scope of any of her boyfriend’s lives. That is, until he popped the question and told her that he wanted to marry her.

Cass was now all about the house-wife lifestyle. Trying to be noticed from her blogs and now, her videos.

“If she really wants to build a following, she should just start a podcast or something.”

“Don’t plant seeds where they don’t need to be.” Reed warned her.

“I can’t help that I could help her with her business plans.”

“That is, if she sticks with this one.”

“And I’m the problem child.” Delia huffed.

“You’re not. You’re just not married.” He reminded her.

It was true.

Once Cassandra and Brock got married, their parents stopped obsessively worrying about what Cass was going to do for her future. Then, when their dad passed, the three of them got a hefty inheritance, and Mom didn’t have a need to worry, especially knowing that the money couldn’t go to any spouses if there was a divorce.

Reed’s office phone rang, breaking their conversation. Out of reflex, she reached for it before he did.

“Prescott Publishing legal department. May I help you?” She asked the caller.

“Yes. Reed Prescott please.”

Delia felt her posture straighten at her mother’s tone. She changed her voice to a higher register. “Oh, um, certainly. M-may I ask who is calling?” It shocked her how well she could portray a timid woman over the phone.

“Vivienne Prescott.”

“Oh, is this his wife calling?”

“What? No.”

“Well, does he know what this call is in reference to?”

“Well, I would hope so. I’m his mother.”

“Oh,” Delia chuckled nervously, as if she had no idea his mother would call his office. “H-he is in a meeting at the moment. Can I take a message?”

Reed shook his head at Delia and held out his hand for the phone, clearly over her twisted sense of fun.

“Oh, forget it. I’ll come down to his office myself.” Their mother’s temper always ran thin with assistants that seemed to struggle with the simple tasks of the job. She herself had already gone through three within the last two months.

“Relax Mom.” Delia said in her normal voice, “It’s me.”

“Delia?”

“Yes, Mom.” Delia rolled her eyes.

Vivienne huffed in frustration, “well you are very unprofessional and certainly not funny.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll make sure to stay clear of any open mic nights at the comedy club. Here’s Reed.” She finally handed the phone over to her brother giving him an eye roll.

“Hey Mom.” Reed said, “can you give me a couple minutes? I’ll come down to your office as soon as I’m done here.”

Delia looked at her phone, knowing that she had to leave soon, or Shae would have her head for being late after agreeing to cover tonight.

“I gotta get going,” she told Reed once he ended the conversation with their mother. “Tell Charlotte to call me about this weekend. She said she wanted to go to some art show.”

Reed smirked. “I thought it was a concert.”

Oops.

She smiled sheepishly. “Right… concert.”

“I’m sure she’ll text you later about it. Maggie and I are going upstate for a few days.”

“You’re anniversary, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I got us a little cabin and everything.”

“Aww Reed Prescott has a romantic side.”

“Oh, shut up.” He teased. “When you finally settle down, you’ll find that us Prescott’s do, in fact, have the capability of love and all that heart stuff.”

She scoffed as she stood. “Yeah, okay. Sure.” Not believing him for one second.

“I mean it. When you find the right girl, you’ll see that we aren’t all heartless.”

She shrugged as she walked to the door, “Then I guess the real problem is finding the girl.”