Spoiled Fruit

by Sheila Horgan

  Roland was either graceful enough to ask for her or equally confused. “Pecuniary?”

  “My children are ‘all about the money,’ as Anna’s little Jordan would say.”

  “True enough. I will excuse myself now and make some phone calls.”

  “Will we see you there?”

  “No. Your children are aware of me; there is no reason to introduce that complication into the equation. Deb will be there. You know her. She is the brunette, about yay high…” Roland indicated a height of about five foot ten. “She will pull your ears off and hand them to you if you put her in the right frame of mind. I will see to it that she is a server in the private dining room. If you need my people, scream.”

  Anna smiled. “If we need to scream, your people probably won’t be needed. We aren’t that far over the hill. I think I could at least trip ’em.”

  Roland stood. “Please, don’t think that way. I happen to agree that under normal circumstances, all involved would consider physical intimidation to be beneath them, but these people are experiencing immeasurable amounts of stress. That can motivate a person to do something that they would not normally do. I am further concerned that you, or they, might actually be caught in crossfire.”

  Anna’s eyebrows went most of the way to her hairline with that comment, but she found it difficult not to smile. “Do you mean that literally?”

  “Unfortunately, I do.”

  Adeline stood. “See to it that your concerns do not become a reality, Roland.”

  “Yes, ma’am. You have my personal guarantee.”

  Carolyn smiled. “Well, that’s a comfort.”

  Roland immediately exited the room, toward the office area in the back of the house, normally used by staff.

  Carolyn smoothed her dress. “Are we ready?”

  Adeline was concerned. “Do you still want to do this? If anything happened to you girls because of my children, no matter how indirect their involvement, I would never be able to forgive myself.”

  Carolyn reached out and took hold of Adeline’s hand. “Don’t be silly, Adeline. Nothing is going to happen. We are going to go and have a lovely dinner, and with any luck at all, we will be able to get a little bit of information out of them. But as we discussed earlier today, our main mission is twofold. We want them to know that you’re back. Not a trace of weakness that they might be inclined to burrow for. Then the second thing we want to make clear is that if they are willing to work from a place of positivity and family solidarity, you might be able to help them, but we want to make it clear that they are not the alpha dog here. Oh, and we want to do all of that very indirectly.”

  Adeline nodded. “Plausible deniability is important from a legal standpoint. I do not want them to be able to come back at some later date and say that I either participated with them in their unfortunate schemes or that I tried to coerce them in any way.”

  Anna smiled. “Exactly. This would have been so much easier in my day and in my circumstance. A visit behind the woodshed, and this would all be over.”

  The girls took their scheduled limo tour of the area. As they drove back and forth around the city, Adeline pointed out places she had loved when she was younger and places she thought the girls might want to go back and visit after they got all this family business out of the way.

  Anna marveled at how, yet again, things worked out. They had planned the tour early in the day. Just a bit of sightseeing as they wound their way to 7on7.

  It worked out well, enabling Roland to get his people in place. Even on such short notice, he was able to pull it off. That impressed Anna more than she wanted to admit.

  As the girls alighted from the limo, the doorman at the restaurant greeted Adeline with genuine affection. “Adeline, such a pleasure. I was thrilled when I saw your name today. It has been too long.”

  “It has, Anthony. How is your lovely bride? The children?”

  “They are all very well, thank you. Denise is twenty-seven now, graduated with honors, thanks to you.”

  “She is a lovely girl. I quite enjoyed the time we spent together.”

  “She is determined to become a mentor to others, saying that her time with you is invaluable.”

  “She is too kind.” Adeline extricated herself from the conversation beautifully and was immediately involved in a similar talk with the owner of the restaurant. Several tables inside had people who acknowledged Adeline. Anna was pretty sure she recognized a guy who stood and greeted Adeline. He’d been on the news lately. She remembered it was for building either the world’s biggest yacht or maybe tallest building or something. Whatever it was, he was a titan of business; she was sure of that.

  By the time they’d made it to the private dining room, Anna and Carolyn were again reminded that the Adeline they knew and loved was but a small part of the real Adeline.

  It struck Anna that Adeline was rich and powerful and it was a little odd that they were all able to set that aside so easily.

  It was a little odd that every person they came into contact with thought that Adeline was perfect.

  It was a little odd that two of her children had fallen so far from the path while her third child had grown to be a woman of honor and service.

  Before Anna could decide if she was intrigued or concerned, Adeline asked, “Girls, shall we enjoy a drink before my children arrive?”

  The owner of the restaurant chimed in. “Martin is here this evening, and he has all the ingredients for your favorite, ma’am.”

  “That sounds wonderful, thank you.”

  Once the owner was out of earshot, Adeline laughed. “Why is it that he assumes that a drink I ordered once is my favorite?”

  “Because you have not corrected him?”

  “It is a very good drink. I believe it is most popular in Rio.”

  “Is that where you first experienced it?”

  “No, actually, a man between husband number one and two mixed us up a few. I believe we were in the house in Colorado.”

  “Don’t tell me you have a house in Colorado, too.”

  “Not anymore. There was a time it made sense. The children were younger and skied, although I will admit they did more of that in Europe than here in the United States.”

  Anna tried not to sound flummoxed. “You had a house so that your kids could ski once in a while?”

  “Something like that.” Adeline was truly a beautiful woman when she allowed herself to smile from her heart.

  Anna mused. “I’ve only ever had the house I lived in, and I was glad for it.”

  It was Piper who piped up. “We have houses in several of the more important areas. We find it necessary, although I can understand how some would see it as an extravagance.”

  Anna was well aware that when the woman snuck up and tried to startle the older women, Piper tried — unsuccessfully — to not only put her in her place, but to establish who the important person in the room was.

  She addressed her mother-in-law as if Anna and Carolyn were simply the help. “Hello, Mother.”

  Before Adeline could jump to her defense, Anna gave her the smallest wink, barely a movement in her right eye.

  Seeing that Anna did not require her protection, Adeline relaxed a bit and greeted her children and their spouses. They had all arrived together. Carolyn wondered if they had shared a car or waited outside the room to make a grand entrance.

  The drinks for the girls arrived, and each tasted their Caipirinha and smiled with approval.

  Adeline’s children ordered their drinks, and Anna suggested they all sit.

  Although there were seven of them, the table was quite narrow, and conversation was not a problem. Anna had maneuvered so that Adeline was at the head of the table and the other guests were scattered about, breaking up the couples with Anna and Carolyn placed in the middle. Anna hoped it would make for an interesting evening.

  The small talk that took place while an army of servers set up an elaborate buffet was completely impersonal. Not
a single question about Christophe, which Anna and Carolyn found particularly strange. The conversation stuck to politics, mostly.

  While Carolyn found the discussions interesting and Adeline seemed to be comfortable, every word grated on Anna. She became increasingly annoyed that the children of such a lovely woman could do nothing more than parrot the words of the pundits.

  “Tell me, Talbot, what is your favorite memory growing up?” The look on Piper’s face was priceless — somewhere between sucking on a particularly tart lemon, and a Brazilian wax.

  “I would have to give that a bit of thought.”

  Anna shook her head. “Not at all. Right off the top of your head.”

  “Is this a Rorschach test?”

  Anna smiled benevolently. “Of sorts, I would suppose.”

  “Very well.”

  It was obvious the woman could not allow a challenge to go unmet. Anna would use that to her advantage.

  Talbot allowed herself a moment to search her memory, as if she were taking the question seriously. “I would suppose my favorite childhood memory would be the day in riding class when I first jumped the triple combination successfully on the back of my favorite horse, London.”

  Granville laughed. “Isn’t that the day you also fell and broke your arm?”

  “Yes, unfortunately.”

  “Well, isn’t that interesting.” Piper, Granville’s wife, seemed intrigued. “Your favorite memory is on the day you were injured. That just might explain a few things.”

  There was snide laughter among the younger group.

  “And what might that be?” Anna was like a dog with a bone, but she had skill enough that she seemed more like a slightly confused older woman trying to make conversation with persons completely out of her league.

  “Let us just say that Talbot is not completely pain averse.” Granville smirked.

  “That is a little disturbing.”

  Talbot saw it as a challenge. “And why do you think that?”

  “There is a difference between a woman that enjoys fifty shades of pain and a woman that allows her own brother to not only know that, but to make reference about it in front of their mother.”

  All four of the younger group sat a little straighter. They instantly understood that their mother’s friends were not at all what they had assumed. They were not as naïve as they thought, nor as weak-minded, nor as retiring.

  Granville shook his head. “It was just a harmless joke.”

  “Yes, I can understand why you would see it that way.” Anna’s voice was firm and knowing, and it actually shamed Granville, as much as he was able to be shamed.

  Carolyn decided to be the good cop to Anna’s bad cop — or more precisely, the country mouse to Anna’s city mouse. “I didn’t quite catch all that, but let me ask you this, what is it that you kids do for a living?”

  The younger group relaxed a bit. They were on safe territory. Adeline and Carolyn knew that Anna would be listening carefully, if not covertly recording every word. Probably not necessary, as the girls assumed that Roland had the place wired for sound. The couples must at least hold a suspicion of that, so none of them felt the least bit guilty.

  Granville volunteered, “I am in finance. Greg here is in a variety of different interests. It is complex and quite simple at the same time. We are a growing group. There are over fifteen hundred of us now.”

  “Fifteen hundred?”

  Talbot smirked. “Billionaires.” She was obviously trying to intimidate Carolyn and Anna.

  Carolyn didn’t take the bait. “Really? I had no idea. That must be quite something.”

  “Actually, I was born to this.” Granville looked at Adeline. Her face was serene. She didn’t respond at all.

  Obviously the man had his ego wrapped up in numbers. Anna decided it would be best to feed that ego for a bit.

  “Tell me, how do you keep track of all that you do? I imagine there are a million little details. You must have a huge staff of professionals figuring out what goes to what and how to do what needs to be done. I just can’t imagine that kind of pressure. Then again, I’m sure you can do pretty much anything you want to do in life. I’m sure that whatever you want is yours for the asking.”

  “It isn’t like we’re Bill Gates. We don’t have the president of the United States changing laws so that we can drive our favored cars down the road.” The four younger members of the group laughed as if it were an inside joke.

  “I’m not familiar with that story.” Carolyn smiled.

  “I have been told that when Bill Gates decided that he wanted to drive his Porsche 959 in the U.S., it was impossible, as it hadn’t passed the necessary bureaucratic nonsense such as safety crash ratings and emission control. As ridiculous as that sounds. Instead of simply purchasing a different car, he had Bill Clinton sign a new law into effect allowing him to drive his car. We haven’t gone quite that far.” Granville winked at Piper.

  “So is Bill Gates a friend of yours?”

  “No, not at all. He seems to have gotten into the business of giving away his money. I am quite happy making more of mine.”

  “And how do you go about doing that? Investments? I’m not on your level, of course, but I might be interested.”

  “I’m sorry, but we do not entertain anything on such a small scale.”

  Anna shrugged. “I can understand that. In the circle I usually navigate, two hundred and fifty thousand, maybe three hundred thousand, is a bit of money, but I’m sure that isn’t reason enough for you to even discuss the possibilities. I’m sorry. I got a little carried away with myself. All of this is so new to me. I find it fascinating. I’ll have to tell my brother-in-law about you. He did a little better in the financial department than I. He was going to join that group — what is the one? — minimum investment is twenty-one million I think. His money comes through blind luck. Invented a little widget. He knows nothing about business. Fortunately, one of the guys he worked with did. But that man passed some time ago, and my brother-in-law is at a loss as to what to do. It doesn’t grow at all in the bank these days, does it?”

  Even though Anna was slightly off script, the girls trusted that she knew what she was doing and went with her strength — improvisation.

  Granville didn’t take the bait. “I’m sure that mother’s people could provide your brother-in-law with all the necessary information.”

  “You’re right, of course. As you might guess, your mother and I are not on the same level financially. We do not discuss money or financial opportunities, but that’s fine. He can just look out for himself.”

  Anna gave the group her best deprecating smile.

  “I’m usually better with my filter, but since you’re almost family, I’m sure you will forgive my rudeness.” She then stood up and went to the buffet table and helped herself to some more beef. Had they been in other surroundings, she would swear it was slow-cooked brisket, but couldn’t imagine such a fancy place serving something like that.

  When she got back to the table, Carolyn was discussing education and the need to go back to the basics, enhanced with technology. She was sharing her theory that younger people, Americans in particular, were no longer encouraged to create. That for some time there had only been improvements on what has already existed. She explained that we, as a nation, are losing our edge, not because our young people are lazy or misguided, but because we have educated the drive right out of them. Competition, among individuals or corporate entities, is no longer fashionable.

  Greg, Talbot’s husband, seemed interested. The others were less than intrigued.

  Carolyn continued, giving Anna a chance to watch the group and to think of her next approach. “It is heralded that in 2001 a new mechanical heart was the big invention, but they started work on artificial hearts in the 1940s. The wireless headset, the iPhone, the Ares rocket? They are all improvements on things that have been around for a long time. I can’t remember the last time we came up with something truly new.”


  The younger ones seemed uninterested in extending the conversation, so Anna decided to move things along. With a tilt of her head, she excused herself from the table to find the ladies room. Carolyn and Adeline followed. It wasn’t so much that they expected the younger ones to spill their souls right there in the private dining room; it was more an attempt of doing the old cop trick where they leave you in an empty interrogation room to think for a while. The human imagination is always much worse than the reality of any situation.

  After a considerable but acceptable amount of time, the girls walked back in the room laughing.

  That took the younger group by surprise, and they seemed a bit uncomfortable.

  “We just noticed that there’s a DJ out in the main room with a dance floor. We know what we will be doing a bit later.”

  Talbot’s eyes were huge. “Dancing? Mother?”

  “Is that so hard to believe?”

  Granville smirked. It seemed to be his go-to facial expression. “Well, frankly, it is.”

  Anna’s voice was rich with fun. “You don’t know this woman as well as you think you do.” The girls exchanged a knowing look, all three breaking out in great peals of laughter. It was just the right move to make her children wonder and worry.

  The next forty-one minutes were spent eating and talking about current events. Anna found it strange that not one subject broached was personal in nature. She found that very telling. Didn’t like the story it told.

  The waiters came back in and took away the buffet, replacing it with a dessert bar. There was a small chocolate fountain featuring milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate, with a variety of fruits and small cakes and cookies cut into interesting shapes. There were also ice cream, gelato, and frozen custard. There were dessert shots. Hollowed out strawberries stuffed with cream cheese and garnished with chocolate shavings. There was even an area of exquisite handmade candies.

  Both Talbot and Piper filled their little plates to capacity.

  Anna, being the most cynical of the girls, assumed they would excuse themselves shortly and relieve themselves of the calories, but that never happened.