A May-September Wedding (18 page)

"Always."

"Okay, I want
to talk with David again."

Cal handed the
phone back. He could hear the anger in Judy's voice as David
listened, his shoulders slumping as the tirade went on. Finally he
said, "I understand. You'll be at Dad's and you'll call when you're
calm enough to talk. You do know that Dad wants us to try
counselling?...Okay. Judy, honey, I hope you can forgive me...Fine.
Whatever...Bye, Judy."

David hung up
and crossed his arms. Cal said, "That went about as well as I
expected. David, Mark and Vivian went through something similar a
while back and they got through it. Granted, Erica makes it more
complicated, but if you and Judy still love each other you have a
chance."

"Right now,
I'm so pissed off at you that you should be glad I don't have a
weapon handy."

"And you
should be glad it happened now instead of after you lost the
company and Judy both. Because the way you were fighting, it
wouldn't have been long before she left you."

David lost his
belligerence again. "I know that, Dad, but I'm still mad."

"David, you've
been angry about something for most of your life. I'm amazed that
Judy's put up with you for so long."

David thought
about that. "Maybe I am, too."

Cal said,
"Now, you have to make another call."

The second
call was somewhat noisier. Jeanine was not at all happy about
having her gravy train cut off, but because David had kept the
emails and there was enough evidence to make a blackmail charge
possible, Jeanine eventually backed down.

Cal spoke up
toward the end. "I want to see Erica and have her visit us."

David spoke
for a while longer and ended with, "My lawyer will be in
touch."

David looked
halfway normal for the first time in an hour. "No decisions today,
but she agrees that I don't owe her any more child support for this
year. If it was up to me she would get nothing more but that will
depend on Erica."

"Erica is a
really sweet girl, Dad, and the last thing I want to do is hurt
her. So Jeanine said that you can visit with her later this month
and, if Grace agrees, Erica can come for a visit. Then we can get
the lawyers involved."

"I'll be
interested in what the lawyers have to say about everything." He
fixed David with a stare. "There's one more thing."

David looked
like he was back in a fighting mood. Cal said, "I don't know why
you are so obsessed with Phyl. Hopefully when you go for
counselling you can work on that at the same time." Cal held up his
hand to stop David from interjecting. "I have one last question.
Did all of the consulting fees go to Jeanine?"

David said,
"Yes. Except thirty thousand last year for the engineering work we
did to refit the lab."

"Okay. I'm
heading to my lawyer to have him draft another preferred share
agreement. I will invest $500,000 in the company to get your cash
flow back in order. You can afford to pay me a ten percent dividend
per year and still pay a reasonable child support. You can buy back
the new shares on any quarterly payment date after you catch up the
dividend payments but I'm keeping the first set of 6% preferred
shares. With Jeanine off the payroll you'll be back in the black
and your head should be clearer so you can do better research to
design the next great antenna."

"When Phyl
informs me that you've sent her the pictures and negatives, I will
have the bank wire the money to you. And if I find out you kept any
pictures back you'll lose the company." Cal held out his hand.
"Deal?"

David looked
at his father's hand like it was venomous. After a small pause, he
clasped Cal's hand and said, "Deal."

As Cal was
leaving he turned and said, "I don't know how this will turn out,
but I'm glad that you've cleared the air."

Cal got home
from the lawyer to see a puzzled Felicity helping her sister-in-law
bring suitcases in from the car.

Judy saw Cal
and ran forward to get a hug. Felicity's puzzlement grew. Cal
called over his shoulder. "Judy and your cousins are going to stay
with us for a while. We're not sure how long. I'll tell you about
it in a bit." He turned his attention to the crying woman he was
hugging. "Don't worry, Judy. You can stay as long as you need to,
but I hope that David has already made the appointment with the
counsellor. He definitely needs help and I think he needs you,
too."

"He can go to
that woman."

"That woman
was blackmailing him, Judy, to keep Erica secret from us. There is
exactly one night of stupidity between them. Unfortunately, that's
all it took."

Judy wiped her
eyes and stood up straight. "But he lied to me for how many years?
He should have trusted me."

"You're
absolutely right about that. He should have trusted you, especially
with all of the money problems that resulted. But you'll have a
chance to work on it, if you want to. Now to practical things. You
and Brenda will be in the guest rooms upstairs that share a bath.
Jason and Duncan will have to share the bedroom in the basement
that has the bunkbeds unless they're willing to help me sort all of
the junk that's piled in the other bedroom downstairs."

"Felicity
already figured that out." Judy looked up nervously. "What are you
going to tell her?"

"That she has
another niece and because her stupid brother forgot to tell you
about her, you left him because he's a liar and a cheat."

Judy asked,
"Is that wise?"

"It's the
truth. Oh. In return for all of this truth, I agreed to put more
money into David's company but I'll be taking a more active role in
overseeing the business. From what I can tell when I spoke with my
accountant this afternoon, Antenna Solutions should be in good
shape now that David won't have to pay Ms. Humbolt for her
silence."

Judy gave Cal
another hug and said, "I'd like to know what David told you and
what he plans to do about Erica."

"We'll talk
after supper. Now I have to go speak with Phyl."

Cal walked
over and Phyl opened the door to let him in. Eyes flashing with
curiosity she asked, "What's going on?"

Leading Phyl
to the kitchen he sat down and began to tell the story of his day,
ending with, "So, you should expect a call from David shortly."

Phyl sat back
and tried to absorb all of the information. "Okay, I'll let you
know when I have the pictures. But what about Erica?"

"I have Grace
Humbolt's phone number and address in Ashland, Virginia. I'm going
to call her tomorrow to arrange a visit and maybe bring Erica here
to introduce her to her relatives on the weekend of the girls'
birthday party. It will probably be a big shock to her. She's the
only child of a single mom being raised by her widowed grandmother.
When she gets here she'll have three half siblings, four uncles,
five aunts..." Cal caught Phyl's raised eyebrow and continued, "Tim
and Lydia, and a huge number of cousins."

Phyl said,
"The poor girl won't know what hit her. And none of us are
Americans. Although she's young enough that it shouldn't matter
that much." They were silent for a bit then Phyl asked, "Is David
going to tell Mark, Elaine and Jeremy?"

"I don't know.
I forgot about them. I think I'll email him to ask then say that
I'm calling them on my usual schedule."

Phyl took
Cal's hand. "Thanks."

"It's the
least I could do. David thought you were crazy to tell me how much
of a loose woman you were in high school."

"Well, he
seems to like keeping secrets from people he ought to care about."
Phyl drew Cal closer. "You're a good man, Cal Richardson."

Cal swallowed
at the combined respect and longing he saw in Phyl's eyes. "You're
a good woman, Phyl Schuyler." Then he straightened up, and with an
effort, said, "I have to get back to my guests."

She sighed and
said, "I suppose you do, irritating man."

"What have I
done now?"

"It's what you
haven't done and before I tie you to a chair and have my wicked way
with you, you should get back home."

Cal smiled and
said, "Duty calls."

Phyl sighed
and muttered about stubborn old men as she watched her handsome man
return to his house.

Later when all
was quiet, Cal sat in bed trying to read. What did she mean by tie
him to a chair? He thought she knew and accepted his objections.
He'd have to try to be clearer. And she called him stubborn.

With some
trepidation, Cal rang the doorbell of the small two story wood
frame house. An older grey haired woman answered. "Y'all must be
Cal Richardson. David favours you."

"And you must
be Grace Humbolt."

"Come in.
Erica is playing in the sandbox in the back yard. I'll call her in
after we've had a chance to talk. I didn't tell her you were
coming."

Cal nodded and
said, "That's wise. I've only had a week to get used to the
idea."

"So how did
you find out?"

"Your daughter
was on payroll at David's company and as I'm a major investor I get
the financial statements. I asked some questions and David
confessed."

"I wondered
where Jeanine got the money for that executive MBA program she just
finished."

"She kept
asking for more money and David gave it to her. I've seen the
emails she sent. It wasn't quite blackmail, but David felt like it
was."

Grace sighed.
"My baby daughter got pretty wild after my Fred died. I thought I'd
raised her better."

"I thought my
David knew better, too."

"Well, sir,
folks have been making these kind of mistakes since before King
David and Bathsheba."

Cal laughed.
"You are surely right, Mrs. Humbolt."

"Call me
Grace, please. Well, now my Jeanine has a fancy job in Raleigh and
a fancy boyfriend who doesn't fancy our Erica."

"And my David
already has a wife and three children and they didn't know about
her."

Grace looked
Cal in the eye and said, "I didn't agree that he should keep her a
secret from you, but he's been a big part of her life so far. I'll
give him some credit for supporting us and visiting regularly."

"I only wish
my late wife could have seen her." Cal cast his eyes down.

"If my Fred
had been around, maybe Jeanine would have turned out better."

"But then you
wouldn't have Erica."

Grace smiled
broadly and began a gentle interrogation of Cal and his intentions.
After about a half hour, a small voice called into the house,
"Nana, I'm thirsty."

Grace studied
Cal and said, "I think it's high time you met your granddaughter,
Cal. Especially if you're taking her to Ottawa for the family
reunion."

Grace called
back, "Come inside, sweet pea. I got someone I want you to
meet."

The screen
door slammed and there was a sound of slapping feet on the hardwood
floors. A small girl with a round face, curly brown hair and the
Richardson green eyes came racing into the living room to stand
next to Grace. She looked curiously at Cal and said, "Hi. My name
is Erica, what's your name?"

Cal was
dumbstruck by the resemblance to Felicity and couldn't say anything
right away. Grace filled in the silence by saying, "Erica. This
gentleman is your Daddy's Daddy, your grandfather Richardson."

Erica studied
Cal intently for a while and said, "He does kinda look like Daddy,
but I thought Daddy's family didn't want to know about me."

Cal seethed
internally at that but answered calmly, "We did want to know about
you Miss Erica but your Daddy was just scared he'd get into trouble
with his wife if we found out about you. But we were way more mad
that he didn't tell us."

"So I'm not
his special secret anymore?" Erica looked confused.

Cal leaned
forward to look her in the eye. "You are still very special, Erica,
but you aren't a secret any more. And I know that at least four of
your aunts and three of your uncles can't wait to meet you."

She crossed
her arms and looked at Grace. "Is this really true, Nana?"

"Yes, sweet
pea, it surely is. Your Grampa would like it if y'all would go to
your aunt's birthday party with him today. You'd have to fly on an
airplane to get there."

"An airplane?
Really?" Erica's eyes got very wide.

Cal smiled
fondly. "Yes sweetheart. We'd be flying to Ottawa this afternoon."
He turned to Grace. "Would you mind? David could bring her back
next week. He has to be in D.C. for some meetings with the FCC and
the patent office."

Grace turned
Erica to face her. "What do you say Erica? Would you like to go to
Ottawa with your Grampa to see your Daddy and your aunts and uncles
and cousins?"

"Can I really
Nana?"

Grace smiled
at her granddaughter and gave her a big hug. "Yes, child. Y'all can
go visiting. But I expect you to tell me all about everything when
you get back. Promise?"

Erica was
quivering with excitement. "I promise, Nana."

Grace stood
up. "Then we should pack your suitcase."

Cal said, "The
temperatures were in the low eighties when I left home and they
aren't predicting it to get much hotter for the weekend. And it can
get cool at night."

Grace said,
"Good to know." She led Erica upstairs.

Cal pulled out
his cell phone and called Phyl.

"Hi Cal.
What's the decision?"

"Well, Grace
thinks it's fine for Erica to visit. She gave me a pretty good
interrogation, but she'll trust me with Erica for the weekend.
David will bring her back on Monday night when he comes down here
for business."

"So what's she
like?"

"She's a real
ball of fire, Phyl. She's almost like a miniature Felicity except
that she has more energy, the same green eyes as David and me and
she has a darling Southern accent." Cal paused. "Are you sure you
can put her up for the weekend?"