Amanda's Blue Marine (24 page)

“We’re having this conversation because I have fallen in love with someone other than you. I didn't think it would be right to continue my engagement to you when I no longer have any intention of marrying you," Mandy finally said, enunciating each word carefully.

“Thank you so much for your courtesy,” Tom said nastily.

“I don't know what business arrangement you have, or think you have, with my father,” Mandy continued. “That's for the two of you to work out between you.”

Mandy sighed heavily as he finished his drink in one gulp and then slammed the glass down on the entry hall table. Mandy and her parents watched him stalk out of the entryway and then heard the front door crash as he left.

“I guess the birthday party’s off,” Mandy observed, to no one in particular.

“Well, that was pleasant,” Margaret said dryly. “What shall we do next, drive slivers of wood under our fingernails?”

“Marge, you are not helping,” Jonathan said to his wife. “I’d like to talk to Amanda and I think it would be better if you left us alone.”

His wife looked at him intently and then shrugged as if the matter were of no importance to her.

“Margaret, calm down,” Jonathan said gently. “Amanda is a grown woman and if she has chosen this Detective Kelly we have to accept it. Now go upstairs and relax while Mandy and I visit for a while.”

Margaret threw him an “I’m tolerating this now but you’ll hear from me later” look and marched out of the room.

“Your mother is a little upset,” Jonathan said, with his usual gift for conciliation. He led Mandy into the library and they sat down in armchairs facing each other.

“And what did she discover about Kelly? He’s guilty of war crimes? He’s an international pornographer? He was once a woman? What?”

“Nothing that dramatic. He appears to be guilty of nothing worse than teenage hijinks.” Jonathan paused. “There was nothing in his past that would keep him out of the service or off the police force.

“I see. So this is the awful secret Mom ferreted out when she spent thousands on a gumshoe to dig into his past? His father was a drunk? So what? Millions of people share that situation and it hasn’t ruined their lives.”

“He is dangerous sometimes, Dad. I was very happy that he was dangerous to James Cameron when the man was trying to kill me. If Kelly hadn’t been dangerous in that situation you and I would not be having this conversation.”

Jonathan sighed and nodded. “All right. I accept that. I gather that you think your mother’s real objection to Kelly is that he isn’t from the social register and has no money.”

“Maybe it is. I’ve never felt like this before so I’m hardly an expert. But I deserve the chance to find out, don’t I?” She paused. “Do you remember Andrew Barnes, my boyfriend in junior high?”

“Blond hair, pug nose, obsessed with video games?” her father said, puzzled by the lighting transition.

“Yes. Since my first date with Andrew when I was fourteen I have been out there looking for somebody, anybody, who would make me feel the way the songs and stories describe how you should feel when you’re in love. And this is the first time I’ve felt that way. Ever. I know Mom thinks Kelly is trying to exploit me or bankrupt me or do some other nefarious thing. But if you knew him better you’d realize that he doesn’t care about money or position or any of the things that are so important to Mom.”

“Yes. He knows Kelly pretty well, has been his superior for years, and Ted says that you are the most important thing in that boy’s life.”

“I can’t believe that you’ve discussed this with Lieutenant Manning.” She was uncomfortable with the idea of her love life as the subject of any conversation between the two men.

“Of course. You’re my child. Did you think I wouldn’t ask my friend, who happens to be Kelly’s boss, what type of person Kelly was?

“I thought you were just concerned with the Cameron problem.”

“I was. But your happiness matters to me as much as your safety. I could see that you were falling for this policeman in a big way and I wanted to know if you were likely to be hurt by him.” Jonathan paused. “Did you know that Kelly bribed Lt. Manning with Phillies tickets so that he could take Manning’s place at the MD fundraiser? Kelly had noticed your name on the guest list and he wanted an excuse to see you outside of the police station so he conned Ted into letting him go in Ted’s place.” Jonathan chuckled. “I got the impression Manning enjoyed the whole thing when he put the pieces together.”

“You went to the wrong source to get dirt on Kelly,” Mandy said, smiling slightly. “Manning likes him.”

“Yes, I discovered that. Ted also burst out laughing when I asked him if he thought Kelly was pursuing you for financial gain. He told me a few stories about the state of Kelly’s apartment and wardrobe and mode of transportation which indicated that the young man is hardly interested in money.”

“You mother just wants to protect you from fortune hunters. But I am satisfied that your Brendan does not qualify in that regard. From all the evidence he isn’t worried about appearances or finances.”

“Tom is a much more likely candidate in that arena. Why doesn’t Mom see that?”

Jonathan sighed. “Your mother is too concerned with position, I’m afraid. Ted Manning also told me that Kelly is very sharp, perceptive.”

“Yes, he is. He’s a great cop because he knows how to handle people and knows what motivates them.”

“He knew exactly what to do to circumvent the department’s regulations to get to Cameron quickly when you were in trouble. Kelly ignored the rules and that’s why Commissioner Foster wanted to make an example of him. But Manning talked Foster out of that idea, I gather.”

“The Mayor was giving him a medal, Dad. Kelly told me the cops could hardly toss him off the force as the medal was being draped around his neck.”

“By you,” Jonathan said. “Ted also said that Kelly was a big hand for the ladies until you came along but now that’s changed.” Jonathan studied Mandy closely. “Manning says that Kelly was frantic when he learned that Cameron had cornered you in the DA’s office. He violated every department regulation to make sure he got there first and alone to rescue you. He knew that he would likely lose his job for his actions but he didn’t care.” Jonathan looked at her seriously. “Manning says that Kelly loves you, Amanda. What do you say?”

“I say I love him too.”

Jonathan nodded, satisfied. He got up and stirred the logs in the fireplace with a poker.

“Dad, I’m sorry if breaking it off with Tom screws up your business deal with him,” Mandy said soberly. “But I had to do it. Kelly may not be the man that Mom can brag about as a wonderful catch for her daughter, but I have to make the choice that’s right for me.”

Jonathan looked worried suddenly, as if he had just remembered that there was more to Mandy’s severed engagement than hurt feelings. But he waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ll handle my business with Tom,” Jonathan said. “You go along now and I’ll go upstairs to talk to your mother.”

“Okay.” Mandy hesitated. “If Tom pulls out of the deal what will happen to your end of it?”

“He’s not going to pull out, he has too much invested in it. Don’t worry about that. Take care of your personal life.” Jonathan turned to look at her. “You have always been a good daughter, Amanda. Please have some patience with your mother. This is the one time you haven’t done what she wanted and I think she hasn’t absorbed the shock of it yet. Plus, she’s been dealing with your brother’s latest mess and I think she is just on overload right now.”

“It’s two o’clock in the morning,” Jonathan said to her. “Who are you calling?” Then, after a moment, “Oh, of course. Go ahead and call him.”

Mandy dialed Kelly’s cell and got his message. She texted him and then dialed the phone again. No reply.

She was worried. After what they had shared earlier that night, and what he was waiting to hear, he would not have gone to bed without speaking to her.

Something was wrong. The omens were bad. She turned her head so her father wouldn’t see the concern in her face.

“So tell me what’s up with Rick,” Mandy said wearily, as she sat down and prepared to be a good daughter once again.

* * * * *

Kelly dozed on and off in his car, smoking the occasional cigarette and recalling his evening with Amanda. He didn’t get worried until midnight came and went and he had still heard nothing from her. He pulled out his cell phone and stared at it, dying to call her and find out what was going on but afraid that he would interrupt a bad moment and make it worse. His smoking escalated as his emotional state deteriorated and by the wee hours he was lighting the next cigarette from the stub of the previous one. He glanced up at the dark windows of her condo and couldn’t dismiss the feeling of dread creeping over him like a fog.

Something had gone wrong. He knew it, he could feel it. She had been on fire in his arms a few hours earlier but the fire was out now and reality was entering the picture once again.

She was having second thoughts. Her mother had gotten to her, Henderson had pulled something, the moon and the stars and the planets were not in the right conjunction. He couldn’t be that lucky, to have the woman of his dreams decide to dump everything in her previous life for him in a moment of reckless ardor. The fever had passed and once she saw her family and her fiancé again she was wondering what had raised her temperature in the first place.

And now she was avoiding him because delivering bad news was never a task to be relished.

He lit his last cigarette and tossed the empty packet through the open window to the ground.

Amanda listened to her father describe Rick’s latest debacle until grey dawn was seeping in at the windows and she had stopped leaving messages and checking her phone. Kelly’s silence told her that she had better get to his apartment and talk to him. And if he wasn’t there she would scour the earth until she found him. She said goodbye to her father and changed out of her evening dress and into sweatpants and a T shirt of her mother’s. She then drove to Kelly’s complex as the sun came up at around seven in the morning. Her heart was pounding as she parked across from his Jeep at the entrance to his building and then glanced at herself in the rear view mirror. She looked a little rocky, like she hadn’t slept, but she knew instinctively that she had no time to waste. She had to reach Kelly before he did something that couldn’t be undone. He had been too happy when she left him that evening. To fall from that high would produce a new low that might be unbearable.