Fidelity - SF6 (8 page)

He paced back and forth with his hands linked behind his back, head bowed in concentration, silently thinking of the young woman who had brought him so much joy before this interloper appeared on the scene. "This is getting us nowhere," he decided. "I think it’s time we stopped playing games and got to the point, don’t you?"

"I have no idea what your point is," she countered.

"Oh, I think you do, Ryan." He turned and sat in one of the upholstered chairs, reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, and extracted a cigar. While she waited for the punch line he fussed with the precious object, finally lighting it and taking several deep puffs. Blowing out a stream of smoke into the air above his head he gazed at Ryan and asked, "What exactly do you want from my daughter?"

"I have no idea what you’re getting at," she stated, folding her arms across her chest.

"Okay, let me make it more clear." His tone was now almost conversational, and Ryan realized that he was adopting his deal-making persona. "When Jamie comes to her senses and goes back to her true sexual orientation, as I am certain that she will, what do you hope to take away from this relationship?"

Ryan couldn’t conceive of her life without Jamie, but considered his question seriously since she assumed he was asking it in the same fashion. "I suppose I would take my shattered heart and try to recover enough to start over. But I would question my judgment for a very long time if I could be so wrong about someone."

Jim had expected her to be evasive concerning how she was using Jamie, so he phrased his intent more directly. "I think you know that I was referring to your monetary aspirations," he said quietly.

"I have no monetary aspirations when it comes to Jamie," she replied in a tone even quieter than his. "And if you knew how special she was, you would know that no amount of money could ever make up for the loss of her love."

He was taken aback by this simple declaration. He didn’t believe it for one minute, but the thought crossed his mind that Ryan could make a good trial attorney since she was able to come up with such ready, yet sincere-sounding lies.

"I know exactly how special she is, Ryan. Sometimes I think I know her much better than she knows herself. I love the Jamie that I know far more than you ever could. And I also know, with every fiber of my being, that she is not a lesbian."

"She may not be," she said agreeably, loathe to get into a full-blown argument over a definition, "but she loves me, and I love her, and we’re going to be together until death parts us." She made this last statement with such a determined look in her eye that he realized he would not be able to shake her confidence on the issue, though he doubted that–even left alone–their relationship would last, given Ryan’s past history.

"Fine," he said dismissively, waving his cigar in the air. "Let’s table the lesbian issue, since that isn’t the main point, anyway. I’m not happy about Jamie taking this little detour, but I know it’s a common thing for girls to try. You were something different, something intriguing that Jamie was duped into thinking she wanted to experiment with. You girls aren’t the first to try to shock society, Ryan. It was even going on when I was in school!" He tilted his head back, reminiscing about his youth. "We called them members of Phi Beta Lesbiana, as I recall. After graduation, most of them got married and forgot all about their little flings. I’m quite sure that’s what will happen with Jamie–even though I know you don’t share my opinion."

"That’s putting it very, very mildly," Ryan said flatly, her face a blank canvas. Her first impulse was to attempt to provide evidence that would sway Jim’s stance, then realized that nothing she could say would make any difference. She refrained from adding to her simple statement of disagreement.

"Be that as it may, it’s not the source of my worry. I am certain that Jamie will come back to her senses. In the meantime, my worry is about the financial harm that you can cause my daughter."

Ryan’s mouth gaped open, and she stared at him in amazement. "You
DO
know how much money she has, don’t you? What in the hell do you think I’m going to do…buy a yacht? A raft of classic cars?" She blinked slowly, reminding herself that using examples from Jim’s life was probably not wise.

He ignored the insult, acting as though he had not even heard it. "I think I’ve been quite generous with you, Ryan. I’ve paid for your golf, I’ve let you use our home, I’ve let you drive my cars. I’m sure that Jamie has bought some of your clothes and pays for your entertainment, as well as buying you a very expensive car."

"Yes, sir. You’ve both been very generous. You probably don’t understand this, but Jamie gets pleasure out of buying things for me. I don’t need the things she buys, and in some cases I don’t even want them, but it makes her happy, so I try not to complain."

"You’re too kind, Ryan," he drawled, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Be that as it may, the money she’s spent on you up until now is chump change compared to what she plans on doing in the future, and I think you know that. You plan on living in my house with my daughter supporting you for God knows how many years until you finish some form of graduate education. If you attend medical school that will be at least seven more years! The tuition alone could run over $100,000! Given her generosity, you could easily take her for several hundred thousand dollars by the time your education is complete."

"I don’t ‘take her’ for a dime!" she snapped, growing so angry she was beginning to shake.

"You’re willing to soak her for a quarter of a million dollars, and you have the nerve to say that you have no monetary aspirations with her?"

"I don’t!" she insisted.

To Jim Evan’s legal mind, the evidence to the contrary spoke for itself--was irrefutable. As her father, it was his obligation to protect Jamie’s interests, even if she did not agree with him as to what those were. "Then why were you down at Bank of America grilling Tuck Gray about the terms of her trust? Why have you convinced her to add you to her checking account? Why is your name on the title to the car? Those are not the actions of a woman who is not interested in money or what it can buy her!"

Money. Always the fucking money! Like it matters that was all Jamie’s idea!
"I know you don’t believe me, but I swear that I would love Jamie just as much if she had less money than I did!" Ryan insisted.

"Fine!" he cried. "Then prove it! Live in your own house and support yourself! Get a scholarship or take out loans to go to medical school. Live like you lived before you had her to foot your bills!"

She ran her hands through her hair in an agitated fashion. He was really getting to her, but she didn’t want him to know it, so she tried valiantly to control her physical reactions. "It’s not fair to ask me to do that. It’s not what Jamie wants, and I won’t hurt her by rejecting her offer," she said quietly. "We are partners now, and she wants to support me. Our relationship is just as valid as her relationship with Jack was. I bet you never had this kind of talk with him," she added rather derisively.

"I didn’t have to," he said as he glared at her. "In three years he never took a penny from her. He took out loans to go to Stanford, he drove a ten-year-old car, and he lived in a small apartment that he paid for with his summer earnings. That’s after three years mind you, and with a formal engagement behind him!"

Ryan had no ready answers for this one. She knew that her intentions towards Jamie were completely honorable, but she had no way of convincing Jim that was the case. "All I know is that I love Jamie, and she and I have decided that it’s best if she supports me through graduate school. I can only hope that over time you come to realize that my love for her is in spite of her money, not because of it."

"Look, Ryan," he said carefully, backing off and changing topics as he had done several times–and keeping her severely off-balance. "Just for the sake of argument, let’s say that I’ve misjudged you. Let’s assume that your feelings are sincere. Monetary issues aside, neither of you know what it takes to make a successful long-term relationship. You’ve admitted that you’ve been with dozens of women, and given your age you obviously haven’t been able to make a go of a relationship. Jamie was trying to get back with Jack during the time she was supposed to be falling in love with you. She’s just experimenting, Ryan, and when she moves on, or tries to get back with Jack or another man, you’ll be left to pick up the pieces."

Much to her chagrin, she found that the mere mention of Jack still caused her to grind her teeth, and the thought of her partner leaving her made her crazy, even though she knew it would not happen. But she did not want him to know that he had gotten to her, so she tried to appear unconcerned. "She chose me over Jack. That’s the bottom line. And even if I’m dead wrong, and she is just experimenting, being with her has been so wonderful that I swear I would not regret one day that we’ve spent together. I’m willing to risk everything to be with her."

Regrettably for Ryan, Jim’s years of pouncing on weakness served him well. He could tell that the composed looking young woman was angry, and he had a perverse desire to poke her a little to test his assumption. He actually thought his daughter was quite steadfast with her affections, but he sensed a weakness in Ryan, and guessed that it was because of her own checkered past. "You know, the way Jamie tells it, she was engaged to, and sleeping with, Jack while she was falling in love with you."

She just glared at him, which encouraged him to continue.

"And, she was, in effect, cheating on you when she tried to reconcile with Jack. I know she was sleeping with him since our maid told us he slept at our home when we were gone. How can you be so sure she won’t cheat on you again?" he challenged triumphantly when he saw the fire in her eyes.

In retrospect, Ryan had to admit that she set the course of their future relationship when she uttered the words that flew from her mouth. She deeply regretted saying them, and she knew that she was wrong to do so, but he caught her at a weak moment and her tongue was quicker than her brain. "Don’t you dare paint her with that innuendo!" she yelled. "Just because she’s your daughter doesn’t mean she cheats on her partner!"

It took a few moments for her slur to really reach his brain. As it did, a mask of fury settled over his features. He glared at Ryan, a plume of cigar smoke settling over her like a toxic cloud. "I think you’d better explain that statement," he demanded icily, glowering at her as though he wished to tear her limb from limb.

She knew she had no way out. It was impossible to just write it off as a flippant comment, so she tried to extricate herself from the situation with as little damage as possible. "I apologize," she said softly. "Your personal behavior is none of my business."

He got to his feet and stood opposite the couch, glaring menacingly into her eyes. "Tell me what you meant by that statement," he repeated, ignoring her apology.

She took a breath and bit the bullet. "Last May, Jamie and I were trying to find a safe place where we could be together," she said softly, terribly angry with herself for having gotten into this position. "We went to your apartment one Saturday afternoon. We were in the guest room when you came in." She paused for a moment as she could see the recognition dawn in his eyes. "You weren’t alone."

"So Jamie knows, too," he stated with a pained expression that had replaced his anger.

"No, she doesn’t," she said softly. "She doesn’t know because I didn’t tell her. She went out to talk to you, and you went down to the garage with her. Your, um…friend came in after you left…I guess you told her to wait or come up separately. As soon as I could get out of there, I left too. I didn’t tell Jamie anything!"

He gazed at her with a haughty smile, feeling as if he had an out. "And your point is that having an associate at my apartment is proof of infidelity! I’ll have you know that my job is very demanding. I work nearly 24 hours a day, and quite often I conduct business at my apartment! How do you even know my associate was a woman?" he asked suspiciously. "You were sneaking around in my personal retreat!" he accused. "A civilized person would have made their presence known!"

"I assume it was a woman," Ryan said as she began to blush furiously, "because you were…umm…conducting your business on the floor of the hallway. I didn’t look closely, but I heard her voice…" She trailed off weakly, knowing that there was nothing she could say to make the situation any better.

He was so quiet that Ryan swore she could hear his watch ticking. Only the arrhythmic rasp of the breath leaving his lungs broke the stillness. His mind raced, falling back on a standard ploy he had used during his 20 years of practicing law. In times too numerous to count he had been cornered, and he had learned to deal with such situations in a very simple manner. When someone had him dead to rights, he attacked. It didn’t always work, but he had learned over time that the best defense was a very aggressive offense. His very real concerns for his daughter’s happiness and life choices were totally subverted as his personal welfare came to the fore. He used the only weapon he had at his disposal–Jamie.

"If you ever breath a word of this to my daughter…" he trailed off, leaving his unspoken threat hanging in the air. He leaned forward and let his body eat up the space that separated them. Resting his hands on the back of the sofa he stared at Ryan, and said in a fairly normal tone of voice, "It’s over, Ryan." The words sent a chill of fear down the frightened woman’s spine, even though the tone was relatively calm. "You’re in over your head, kid. Nobody–but nobody--tries to blackmail me."