by Robyn Carr
Lauren could not close her mouth. “You admire me?” she asked in a whisper.
Sylvie put down her fork and sat back in her chair. “Lauren, you were raised by a single mother. So was I. It’s hard on a girl. You lost your mother just a couple of years ago. You protected your children and raised them well, though it had to have been difficult. You held a responsible position in a large company for many years. You were dependable, you didn’t give up easily, you have a close relationship with your sister’s family and your daughters. And you’re smart. We get along so well. You’re the kind of assistant I want.” She touched her napkin to her lips. “I won’t take it personally if you’re not interested.”
Lauren laughed. “Well, there’s a lot more you have to tell me about the job. I really loved Merriweather but I don’t want to go back. In any case, I haven’t heard a word from Stu or HR. And I can’t think of anything I’d like better than having you for a boss. But good God, I’ll have to be trained! I’ve never investigated anyone in my life!”
“Don’t worry, that’s the easy part. It doesn’t come up that often. The hard part is getting to the bottom of the charities and foundations that want our money.”
“Are they often crooks?”
“Hardly ever,” Sylvie said. “But sometimes they’re exclusive. We insist on inclusive giving. Oh, I think you’re going to find this fun. This is the greatest fun in the world. Giving to people who not only need it, they will pay it forward. You’ll be helping to make a better world, Lauren. That’s all we care about now. We have more than we need, our kids have more than they need, so what should we do? Buy another boat or plane or feed and educate people who weren’t as lucky as we’ve been?”
Lauren felt tears cloud her eyes. “Oh Sylvie, that you would trust me to help with this. I’m humbled. And wait till I tell you about Beau’s best friend, formerly Father Tim Bradbury. We attended his wedding a couple of days ago. He’s a study in charitable works.”
“Tell me,” Sylvie said. “Tell me all about him.”
Lunch lasted three hours. Lauren enjoyed telling Sylvie about Tim and his new wife, both of them soon to be traveling to Puerto Rico to work on the restoration. She passed on what she’d heard about Angela and her food bank. Sylvie told Lauren about all the foundations they were involved in, all the special projects that took up most of Andy’s time. They both talked about their families at great length. And then Sylvie explained what her assistant would be expected to do and Lauren was so excited, she wondered if Sylvie could see her wiggle. It presented an entirely new life for her, one that was both challenging and fulfilling.
When they were finishing second cups of coffee, Sylvie asked, “What’s it like, Lauren? Being in love now, after ending a twenty-five-year marriage?”
She thought for a moment. “Startling,” she finally said. “So unexpected. So shocking, really. Like my heart is full of sunshine. Like I just woke up and everything is all right. Finally.”
* * *
Lauren eagerly accepted Sylvie’s offer. She couldn’t wait to tell Beau. When she got home she found him cleaning out the garage with Drew’s help. It was a detached garage but they needed room for two vehicles and since Pamela had left, it seemed to have filled itself up.
When Lauren told him about the job offer, he hugged her and said, “That’s wonderful, honey. When will you start?”
“I’m going to start going over there afternoons right away. Her current assistant will start showing me the ropes, introducing me to some of their projects. I’ll be the liaison between Sylvie and some of their fund-raisers. They hire event planners for golf tournaments, auctions, dinners and other things. She’s going to have us to dinner soon so we can all get better acquainted.”
Beau chuckled. “Dr. Delaney is going to shit himself.”
“I’m going to avoid talking to him about my new job,” she said.
There were a couple of people she was anxious to tell, along with an explanation about where she was now living and why. Lacey immediately asked if Lauren suspected Brad of the bomb and Lauren said, very honestly, “I can’t imagine it. Not the way your father values his hands. I’ve not only never known him to play around with explosives, he never even talks about things like that. And Beau is so well liked by everyone, no angry clients, nothing... I bet we find out it’s random.”
To her surprise, Lacey did not get her back up about Lauren staying with Beau and Cassie was relieved to hear it—she wanted her mother to be as safe as possible. Beth wanted Lauren to stay with them but understood why she’d rather stay at Beau’s. “I come with a lot of baggage,” Beth said. “But promise you’ll come to dinner soon and bring that young man. Drew. The boys love him.”
When Lauren went to the Emerson home the next day, there was a shiny stained oak table sitting in the middle of the library. A laptop was open on it along with a couple of new iPhones. “What do you think?” Sylvie asked. “Would this be a good office?”
“Oh God, it’s delicious. Is this where Ruth Ann worked?”
“She moved around a lot—my office, the kitchen, sunroom. You might do that, too. But this is a good place to start. We cleaned out a cupboard for you,” she said, opening a couple of cupboard doors, the shelves inside empty and waiting for her use. “We’re almost entirely paperless now but you’ll need the scanner and computer.”
It was like a dream come true for Lauren.
There was one more poker night before Tim and Angela left town and it was a wonderful celebration filled with laughter, but at the end of the evening, during the goodbyes it was a little emotional. When Tim took Lauren into his arms and said, “I’m so happy Beau has a good woman in his life,” she completely lost it.
“Please, please, please be safe,” she said, sobbing onto his shoulder.
It took a lot of comforting to get her under control again but before all was said and done, lots of people were crying.
There was a lot going on. Brad failed to provide his financial records and was cited with contempt and fined by the judge who had made the order. Brad’s response was to stop sending Lauren monthly support payments.
Beau was checking with the police about the progress of their investigation almost weekly. One of the first things he learned was that the detectives had interviewed Pamela and Brad, separately of course, and both had alibis for the night of the bomb and were not suspects, however they now both knew that Beau’s truck had been destroyed.
Lauren was going into the city to work with Sylvie daily and at the urging of both Sylvie and Lauren’s lawyer, she did not withdraw her suit against Merriweather. “Please do it,” Sylvie said. “They shouldn’t be allowed to do this to someone else in the future.”
Lauren was offered her old job back, but she declined on the grounds she just couldn’t trust them again. She had a long conversation with Sylvie and said if there was a financial settlement, she’d donate it to one of the Emerson foundations. “I’d rather you donate it to law school for someone who doesn’t plan to make herself rich but plans on doing some good in this crooked world. Know anyone who fits that description?”
The first week in February everyone at the Magellan house rose to go to their jobs—Lauren to the city, Drew to school, but Beau was wearing a suit.
“Today I have mediation with Pamela,” he told them.
“You didn’t say anything!” Drew said.
“I wasn’t being secretive,” he said. “I knew it would cause some anxiety and I just want us all to stay calm. It might take more than one meeting. It might take more than two. I’m hoping for a peaceful outcome that’s fair to everyone.”
“I’m really surprised Mom hasn’t called me, tried to get me to wrangle something on her behalf.”
“I’m a little surprised by that, too,” Beau said. “I hope it means things are calming down and we’re getting to the end of hostilities.”
A
nd Lauren thought, wouldn’t that be nice. But she had an ugly feeling the end was not yet in sight.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Beau’s day of mediation was surprising, to say the least. One surprise after another. He had worn his best suit and, for a landscape architect, that was saying something. He was typically seen in jeans, khakis or shorts. There was hardly ever a business meeting that required this much of a suit, however there was the occasional wedding or funeral.
He thought of this meeting as a funeral. He expected to be buried. He came to the marriage with so much and it never once occurred to him to create a prenup. Not so much because of his ferocious trust for Pam but because he wanted the boys, his boys, to be well cared for right into adulthood. Their fathers had pretty much bailed on them. Beau was going to hang with them till his last days.
The mediator had looked over the figures, done all his own figuring, calculated again and again and gotten his own value estimates on things like the business and the house. There were things that Pam was asking for that had a red line run through—like her legal fees—that adjusted the total by quite a bit. She wanted the house and half the value of the business. The mediator explained the law very patiently, it was assets accrued during the marriage.
Their lawyers argued about their research—the value of the house and business at the time of marriage versus current assessments. The mediator split the difference.
Beau had to concentrate to close his mouth. He really hadn’t expected to get a break on this.
Alimony was out. She didn’t need alimony—her income was substantial and she wasn’t supporting her kids. Her income was nearly as good as his and not only were the boys still living on his income rather than hers, he was paying their tuition. She wanted half of his substantial retirement funds, but those were off the table. They had agreed early on to stick to the standard no-fault parameters. That put her retirement off the table also, but the difference was, Pam had socked away a little, paid cash for her fancy car and since she had a 401K retirement fund, she’d built a tidy little investment portfolio. She’d been taking vacations, partying, buying clothes, living it up. Beau had been investing in the boys and saving for the future. By the time Pam had left him twice, he increased his retirement fund and put away a substantial amount for college educations, money he had wisely put in the kids’ names, keeping it safe.
Once Pam saw the totals on the college funds, she wanted half of that as well. She loudly protested her assets were being added to the mix; he was allowed half of that. By the look on his face, that soured the mediator. Pam lost ground when he realized she would take from the boys.
It took three hours to go through the financial reports, then they each met with their lawyers. Pam and her lawyer went out to lunch, Beau and his very astute and grandmotherly attorney ate in her boardroom while figuring.
“It’s my opinion, you’re coming out in good shape. Given the value of your home, possessions, business and investments, if you accept this settlement, she is due about 27 percent of your house value and 34 percent of your business value. We can negotiate that you’ll pay her a fixed amount based on current appraised value, but not due until you sell the house or in ten years. But you’re not going to be so lucky with the business. To keep it clean, you have to buy her out or she can put a lien on it. Trust me, you don’t want that.”
“Do we have a number?” he asked fearfully.
She turned around a page and ran a red circle around a figure. $1.3 million.
“My business is worth three times that?” he exclaimed.
“More. Much more. Your net worth is very respectable. Impressive. We’re not negotiating based on your net worth but income accrued during the marriage. Thank God you lived with her for a while. We were able to depreciate a lot of your office equipment, office space, salaries and benefits, et cetera. You have a very successful operation, Beau.”
He started to laugh. “Don’t tell anyone but I could work from home if I had to. I’d be damn busy, doing all my own paperwork, but that’s how I started.”
“Believe me, I won’t tell. But your business assets are all tied up,” she said. “You’d better arrange to clear that debt right away.”
“Yeah, but I can get that much,” he said. “I have a house to live in. When I bought it, it was falling down. I spent a lot of money and did almost all the work myself. It’s paid for. It was already fixed up when Pam moved in.” He laughed. He ran a hand through his hair. “Damn.”
“I have a question,” Sonja said. “What kind of man has every receipt for every nail he ever bought?”
“A businessman,” he replied, and laughed. “Plus, the bank is there to help. They can get bank statements from years ago. I love computers. Don’t you?”
She made a face. “Not particularly.”
“All I want right now is for Pamela to let me go.”
“I can’t vouch for her leaving you alone but you’ll be free of the marriage. You both agreed to final mediation and I think the mediator did a very good job. This settlement is fair. No one is suffering unduly. Your wife should get along just fine and the boys will be able to finish their educations.”
“Ex-wife,” he said. “Can she take me back to court?” he asked.
“Listen, anyone can sue anyone for anything. Winning is another story. And bringing a frivolous suit to court is risky business. It wears badly on an attorney.”
“Where is Pamela now?” he asked.
Sonja gathered up papers and put them in a large envelope. “I imagine she’s having her lips sutured shut by her attorney. I’ll have this packet copied for you. Do you have a safe?”
He nodded.
“Keep track of this,” Sonja said. “Something about Pamela strikes me as relentless.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” he said.
It had taken all day and he was grateful it hadn’t taken more than one day. The necessary paperwork had been signed by both parties and would be filed; the official dissolution would be forwarded through the attorneys in about ten days. Pamela’s lawyer must have told her she wouldn’t do better. Plus, she had never had that much admiration for a landscape architect. She thought of him as a landscaper who had fixed up an old house to live in. She was probably surprised by that settlement figure; likely she hadn’t thought he was worth much.
He couldn’t wait to get home. Home. He looked at his watch. With this new job of Lauren’s, he couldn’t keep track of her hours. He hadn’t really tried, for that matter. He knew she would go early and stay late if that’s what it took. But if she wasn’t there now, she’d be there soon. The important thing was he was not only free, he had a home, a job, a good reputation, plenty of work and a good woman. No matter what happened with Lauren and the doctor, he wouldn’t have any trouble supporting them. Himself, Lauren and the boys. He was left pretty much intact. He felt like he got off with a bargain.
He laughed out loud. A million-dollar bargain? The truth was as long as he had his house, his business and his boys, he could always rebuild. He texted Tim.
Divorce final. I paid and I’m a single man.
I’m glad, brother. It was a hard bargain.
Are you well?
Very well, Beau. Angela sends love.
If you ever need anything...
Thanks. Back atcha.
Love to Angela.
When he got home, Lauren’s car was in the drive but he didn’t see Drew’s car. He unlocked his door and walked in—they kept the doors locked these days. She was at the dining table on her laptop and she stood expectantly.
“Where’s Drew?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I got home a couple of hours ago and he hasn’t been here.”
He let out a breath. He went to her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her neck. “I’m done,” he said softly. “It’s over.”
“
Over?”
“It will have to be filed so it’s just paperwork. It’s not my paperwork.”
“You don’t have to do anything more?” she asked.
“I have to write a big check,” he said, and he laughed. “That’s easy. That’s so much easier than the stress of fighting, of being off balance, of being unhappy. Well worth the money.”
“Your house? Your business?”
“The money will make all that secure. It’s money well spent.” He pulled her closer. “I love you.”
“Oh Beau, can it really be over?”
“The marriage is over,” he said. “How Pamela takes it? That’s something I can’t do anything about.”
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“Tomorrow I’m going to the bank to borrow some money, then I’ll deliver a check to her lawyer’s office, then I’m going to decide what to pack for our long weekend in Victoria.” He covered her mouth in a passionate kiss that lasted forever. “I hope we have time to see the flowers,” he whispered against her mouth.
“We’ll manage,” she said.
“Is Sylvie going to give you that time off?”
She nodded and smiled. “I told her about it the first day. Since I already had the tickets, she was very understanding. We’re getting a schedule of events together so I don’t miss anything in the future. And you have no idea how many things the Emersons have going on!”
He rubbed a knuckle along her cheek. “Is this a good move for you?”
“All my moves have been good ones since I met you,” she said.
* * *
Their visit to Victoria was magical. The gardens seemed to be celebrating Valentine’s Day, but that wasn’t even the most charming thing. It was the dead of winter and yet pots of colorful flowers stood and hung all over town. The average temperatures in Victoria were milder than most of the country. It was a little like Alameda—a special place just a bit balmier than the rest of the world.