THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

by Ginna Gray

  As a plain young child, and later a gawky, unattractive teenager, Maggie had often wondered how someone like Lily could have produced a daughter like her. Next to her mother and sisters, she had felt like a lumbering giraffe.

  All of her life, Maggie had thought her mother looked like a fairy princess, with her misty beauty and dainty build. There was something fragile about Lily, an ethereal quality that made everyone she met want to shelter her from life. Maggie had been no exception.

  This morning, however, she wasn't feeling in the least protective. She had not forgotten her mother's deception.

  Lily's smile faded when she saw her expression. By the time she slipped into the chair next to Maggie's and reached for her hand, her blue eyes were moist and contrite. "I know, I know. Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry."

  "Why? Why did you do it, Momma? I trusted you, and you lied to me. How could you do that?"

  "I had to. You wouldn't have come home otherwise. And I was desperate."

  "But what was the point? You must have known how he would react. Especially springing me on him like that."

  "No. No, I thought that knowing he was going to…" Her chin quivered, and she stopped to look skyward and blink back tears. "Knowing that his time was short would make him do some soul-searching and realize that the most important thing was family. I was so certain that when he saw you he'd regret all the lost years and be happy to have you back home where you belong."

  "Oh, Momma, you are such a Pollyanna. When have you ever known Daddy to relent once his mind was set?"

  Maggie knew it was futile to point out that the chasm between her and her father went deeper than just what had happened seven years ago. Lily either couldn't or wouldn't accept that Jacob didn't love his oldest child. That he never had.

  Such a thing was unthinkable to her. She steadfastly refused to even consider the possibility.

  In the past, whenever Maggie had broached the matter, her mother had always rushed to assure her that she was wrong.

  "Don't be silly, sweetheart. Your father loves you very much. Truly, he does. He's just not a demonstrative man, that's all," she had insisted.

  Jacob had been demonstrative enough with Lily, and with Laurel and Jo Beth, Maggie had noticed.

  However, pointing that out had merely brought more denials and platitudes and caused her mother unnecessary distress. After a while she had stopped asking and kept her hurt to herself.

  "You're right," Lily said in a dispirited voice. "I suppose I do insist on seeing the bright side, even when there isn't one." Sighing, she slumped back in her chair and ran a shaking hand over her eyes. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have tricked either of you. I should have had it out with Jacob years ago and put an end to this stupid estrangement."

  "Why didn't you?"

  A part of Maggie felt heartless even posing the question, especially seeing the stricken look on her mother's face, but she was still raw and hurting from the scene with her father yesterday so she ignored the twinge of guilt It was something she'd wondered about for years, and time was running out. She wanted some answers. She needed them.

  "Because I'm a coward," Lily whispered, surprising her. "When I found out that Jacob had thrown you out we had a terrible fight."

  "You? You had a fight with Daddy?"

  Maggie made no effort to hide her skepticism. Her mother was sweet-tempered and biddable by nature and had always been perfectly happy to acquiesce to her husband's wishes. In addition, anger and harsh words unnerved her. Lily went out of her way to avoid strife of any kind. It was difficult if not downright impossible, to imagine her having the grit to take a stand against Jacob.

  "I know you think of me as a meek little mouse, but mothers of every species, even the most docile ones, will fight for their young, you know."

  "Sorry. I was just surprised, that's all. Go on."

  "Jacob laid down the law and said that neither I nor the girls could ever see you or speak to you again. When I refused he was nearly as shocked as I was.

  "I made it clear, though, that while I would not overrule him where Laurel and Jo Beth were concerned, there was no power on earth that could make me abandon you." Her chin came up at a defiant angle. "I told him that I would leave him before I would give up one of my children."

  Maggie stared, stunned and touched at the same time. Lily had threatened to leave her father? Never in a million years would she have thought her mother capable of such a thing.

  She had never discussed with her mother what had taken place in the gazebo that night, probably because the habit of protecting Lily from unpleasantness had by then become so ingrained she kept quiet without thinking. The closest they'd come to talking about it had been the first time her mother had visited her in New York.

  She had asked, point-blank, if Maggie had tried to seduce Martin away from Laurel, as he claimed, and when Maggie had said no Lily had accepted her word without question, and that had been the end of the matter.

  A wave of tenderness washed through Maggie. For her timid mother to take that stance against the man she loved had been an act of courage and love that touched her to her soul.

  But then, she had never had any doubts about her mother's love for her.

  "Jacob didn't like it," Lily continued. "Things between us were strained for a time after that, but for once I refused to back down, and he finally accepted my terms. He had no choice.

  "Since then we've rarely discussed you. Whenever I announce that I'm going to New York to see you, an uneasy silence hums between us for days, both before I leave and after I return. Whenever I try to tell Jacob about your life or how you're doing, or even mention your name, he gets quiet and remote or changes the subject. I've learned not to talk about you to him."

  Lily's mouth wobbled pathetically and her eyes filled. "I shouldn't have let this go on so long, but I've always been afraid to force the issue, for fear of starting another frightful argument. Even now, knowing I'm going to lose him soon, I still can't do it."

  Her mouth twisted. "I tell myself that he's so ill I can't bear to upset him, and that I don't want to spend what little time we have left together arguing. But the real reason I don't push him to work things out with you is … I just can't handle that kind of angry confrontation. It's selfish and cowardly of me, I know, but … I just can't."

  Dropping her face into her hands, Lily began to weep softly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know I've failed you. You must hate me."

  "Oh, Momma, of course I don't hate you," Maggie said wearily, but Lily's sobs did not lessen.

  Torn between resentment and pity, Maggie studied her mother's down-bent head and shaking shoulders, and after a moment she sighed. Oh, what the hell. Trying to stay angry with Lily made her feel like she was abusing a defenseless kitten. Anyway, her mother couldn't help it. She was simply one of the world's noncombatants.

  Maggie patted her arm. "C'mon, Momma, don't cry. You're not to blame. You can't help it if you're sensitive. Anyway, I'm a big girl now. I can fight my own battles."

  Lily sniffed a few times, wiped her eyes on a napkin from the table and struggled to compose herself. "I know, but—"

  Jo Beth burst out of the French doors onto the terrace, her face alight with excitement. "Whose car is that out front?"

  "Jo Beth, if you don't hurry you're going to be late for school," their mother admonished gently, but the girl ignored her.

  "If you're talking about the Viper, that's mine," Maggie said.

  "Yours? Yeah, right. Tell me another one. Like the car rental places offer brand-new Vipers."

  "Oh, I imagine there are some that do, but that car isn't a rental. I bought it in Dallas yesterday. I called the dealer before I left New York, and he was nice enough to meet me at the airport with the papers and the car."

  Instantly the excitement in Jo Beth's face vanished and her mouth tightened. "Huh. I guess because you're a famous model people fall all over themselves to do stuff like that for you."

  Maggie shrugged.
"There are times when celebrity does have its advantages."

  "Yeah, I'll bet."

  Ignoring the sarcasm, Maggie lifted one eyebrow. "So … do you like the car?"

  "What's not to like? It's bitchin'."

  "Jo Beth!"

  The teenager groaned and rolled her eyes at her mother. Maggie took a sip of coffee, hiding her smile behind the cup.

  "What's the big deal? It's just an expression," Jo Beth said.

  "Well, it's not the kind of language I want a daughter of mine using."

  "Do you have a driver's license?"

  The question earned Maggie a narrow-eyed look.

  "I'm not a baby. I'll be eighteen soon. Of course I have a license. Why?"

  "I just thought if you did, maybe you'd like to take the car for a spin sometime."

  Excitement lit Jo Beth's eyes, but she quickly tamped down her delight and assumed a sullen expression. "No, thanks. I'm not impressed with your expensive car and your glamorous image. So don't think you can come waltzing back after all these years and wheedle your way back into this family with bribes."

  "Jo Beth!"

  The teenager sent Lily an eye-rolling look of disgust. "You just don't get it, do you, Momma. She only bought the car to show off what a big deal she is."

  "That's not true," Maggie said calmly. At least, impressing her former friends and neighbors hadn't been her sole reason. "I've always wanted a sports car, but they aren't practical in New York. Here, with so much wide-open space, it's different. And since I was planning to fly out on assignment every few weeks, and I could hardly expect Momma or you or Laurel to chauffeur me back and forth to the Dallas airport, I figured I'd better have my own transportation.

  "At the time it all made perfect sense. Of course, that was when I thought I'd be staying for a while."

  Lily shot her a look. "You're not leaving?"

  "Oh, get real. You didn't really think Miss La-di-da Supermodel would hang around here, did you? The only reason she came at all was because it would've looked bad if she hadn't."

  Before Lily could answer, the girl whirled around and stomped back to the house. "Well, go on back to New York. See if we care. Nobody wants you around here, anyway!" she yelled over her shoulder, and slammed into the house.

  "Pay no attention to her." Lily leaned forward and grasped Maggie's hand. "Please, Maggie, you can't leave."

  "What did you expect, Momma? That I'd stay where I'm not wanted? That I'd stick around for more scenes like that one at the hospital yesterday?"

  "I want you to stay. Please, Maggie, I need you here."

  Pulling her hands free, Maggie pushed back her chair and stood up. "You don't need me. You have Laurel and Jo Beth, and they're sure as hell all Daddy needs. Besides, if I stayed I'd just be a thorn in his side and make his last days miserable."

  "Maggie, no—"

  "I'm sorry, Momma. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get my things and say goodbye to Ida Lou."

  She turned and headed for the house.

  "No, please, you have to stay. I need your help, Maggie. The business is in trouble. If we don't turn things around soon, Malone Cannery will have to close its doors."

  Maggie jerked to a halt and whirled around. "What? That can't be!"

  Particularly since she personally had funneled a huge amount of money into the company through her aunt Nan just over a year ago.

  "Malone Enterprises has been successful for over eighty years. What happened?"

  "I don't know." Lily wrung her hands. "Jacob explained it to me, but you know I have no head for business. All I know is the company is in financial trouble, and for months now Martin has been badgering your daddy to sell the business to Bountiful Foods."

  "Sell? Martin knows that's impossible. Daddy's grandmother set up Malone Enterprises as a closed corporation so that it would always remain in the family. The charter and articles of incorporation forbid the sale of shares to anyone who isn't a direct descendant of hers. Not even spouses are allowed to own shares."

  "Martin wants Jacob to call an emergency meeting of the shareholders and vote to change the articles and the charter so that everything can be sold."

  That earned Lily a sharp look. "Everything? You mean the orchards, too?"

  Lily nodded.

  Maggie ground her teeth and began to pace. Some of that land had been in her family even longer than the cannery. Bountiful Foods was a huge company that had bought up small canneries all over the country. Now they wanted to gobble up Malone Enterprises, as well?

  Not if she could help it.

  Maggie reached the far side of the terrace and swung around. "I might have known that Martin was behind this somehow. That self-serving, arrogant maggot."

  "Now, now, dear, I don't care for Martin any more than you do, but I don't think you should let your feelings blind you. I didn't say that he was to blame for the company losing money. I really don't see how he could be. Jacob has never given him any real power. He's a vice president, yes, but only because he's married to Laurel."

  "That's not a good enough reason to make someone a VP. What was Daddy thinking? Martin is, always has been and always will be a lazy, incompetent screwup who is so spoiled and egotistical he thinks he's entitled to whatever he wants. By making him a vice president Daddy merely affirmed Martin's inflated opinion of himself."

  "He did it for Laurel's sake. But at least the title carries absolutely no authority. Martin is in charge of customer relations. He calls on clients and prospective clients, wines and dines them and keeps everybody happy."

  Maggie snorted. "That ought to be right up his alley, since it doesn't involve any real work." She slanted her mother a look. "So, what's being done to turn things around?"

  "Lately, since Jacob has been so ill, nothing. When things first began looking bleak he was still well enough to work. At that time he got a loan from Nan to bail the company out of debt."

  "Oh? And did the infusion of capital put us back in the black?"

  Maggie asked the question innocently, but she couldn't quite meet her mother's eyes. She knew all about the transaction. More even than her father did.

  "For a while it looked as though it had. But lately, the situation is worse than ever. And we still haven't paid back the loan from Nan."

  "I wouldn't worry about repaying Aunt Nan right away. Uncle Edward left her comfortable financially, so she isn't hurting for the money. Besides, the family business means as much to her as it does to the rest of us."

  "Yes, but the worse things get, the more Jacob worries, and the more Martin pressures him to sell out. I've asked Martin over and over to stop, but he just pats me on the shoulder and smiles in that condescending way of his. He says I don't understand how dire the situation is—and maybe he's right—but I do know that his constant badgering can't be good for Jacob."

  Lily sighed. "I'd like to think that Martin is just trying to help us avert financial disaster. I truly would. But in my heart I know it's more likely that he's simply panicked that we'll go broke and he'll go down with us."

  "You're probably right. He won't find another cushy position like the one he has. I'm sure his father would give him a job at the bank, but I doubt it would be as a vice president. Rupert has other shareholders to answer to."

  Maggie paced the width of the terrace twice more, then stopped beside the table. "At the hospital, Martin said he was in charge of the business now. Is that true?"

  "Jacob hasn't authorized him to take over, if that's what you mean. Martin has just taken it upon himself to step in. But I have to say, your father knows and he hasn't objected. And to be fair, until you came home, who else was there?"

  Maggie made a face. With her brother-in-law at the helm, they'd be lucky if the business survived another six months.

  "What about this Dan Garrett person? You made him general manager, so you must have a lot of faith in him."

  "Oh, we do. Dan's a fine man."

  A fond look came over Lily's face. "You probably
don't remember, but in his youth, Dan was a bit of a hell-raiser. Mind you, even so, he's always been a hard worker. He started working here part-time after school as a teenager, picking fruit during harvest season. I understand that in his senior year in school he earned a college scholarship, but he had to give it up when his father died and go to work full-time to help support his family. Such a pity.

  "Early on, Jacob sensed there was something special about Dan. He might have been a rowdy kid from the wrong side of town, but he had drive and ambition and a keen intelligence. And he's proved himself to be absolutely trustworthy.

  "Over the years, Jacob has steadily promoted him to positions of greater and greater responsibility." Lily shot Maggie an amused look. "Two years ago, over Martin's strenuous objections, he made Dan general manager. It proved to be one of the best decisions Jacob ever made.

  "Dan knows Malone Enterprises top to bottom. He can repair every piece of machinery in the cannery, and he knows exactly what each individual tree in every orchard needs in order to stay healthy. He can judge to the day when the time is perfect for picking. He also has a knack for overseeing the workers and coordinating the harvest and canning and shipping. Frankly, I don't know what we'd do without him. When it comes to the actual day-to-day operations, Dan is Jacob's right-hand man."

  "Hmm. He sounds almost too good to be true," Maggie drawled. Her two meetings with Dan Garrett had not endeared the man to her, but she was reserving judgment. The very fact that her brother-in-law disapproved of him was a point in his favor.

  "Your daddy relies on him heavily, particularly these days. Jacob has never said so, but I think, in many ways, Dan is the son he never had." A wistful look flickered over Lily's face. "I've always regretted that I couldn't give your daddy a son, but after Jo Beth was born the doctors said another child wasn't advisable."

  Lily blinked and squared her shoulders, visibly shaking off the old sadness. "Oh, well, we have to live with what we can't change. Anyway, much as Jacob trusts and relies on Dan, the financial end of the business is just not his area of expertise."