by T V Hartwell
“Hello, Jake,” Rick said as he extended both his hands to him, shaking Jake’s hand with his right and covering it over warmly with his left.
“Hi, Rick. How are you?” Jake said with a nervous quickness before shaking Mike’s hand as well.
“Hi, Jake,” Mike said. “Please join us. Have a seat.”
“What can I get you to drink, sir?” the waiter quickly followed behind Jake to ask.
“Just a glass of water, please.”
“Flat or sparkling?”
“Sparkling,” Jake said, feeling that it might help his stomach to get some relief from the tension.
“It’s good to see you, Jake. You’re looking well,” Rick said. “I think the last time I saw you was back in June.”
“Yes, I think that’s right. Time really flies. A lot has happened since then,” Jake said stoically.
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as Mike looked at Rick and Rick looked at Mike as if they hadn’t decided who would initiate the topic of discussion. Jake stared down at the table top with his hands slightly folded together and waited.
Rick sighed heavily before launching in. “Well, I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me on such short notice, Jake. I know that you have spoken with Mike and in hindsight I think it’s better that I be part of the conversation and speak with you directly. Jake, I want you to know, first and foremost, that I am very fond of you. I think you are one hell of a guy. A class act all the way. I have been acquainted with your family for many years. Of course, I’ve known your dad since we were boys. You come from good stock, and as I have said to you before, my daughter could not have picked a more outstanding young man to marry. More important to me as her father, I know, in fact I am absolutely confident, that you love my Amanda more than you love yourself, and that you would give your life to protect her and to keep her from harm.”
“Absolutely. I absolutely would,” Jake agreed without hesitation.
“It means a lot to me to hear you say that. That’s why I feel I can talk with you confidentially, man to man, because no two other men in this whole world love Mandi more than you and me. Her grandfather, my dad, would argue that point, but he’s no longer here,” Rick said, trying to add levity to the heavy conversation, but nobody even so much offered half of a grin.
“Look, Rick, I will do whatever is necessary to help Amanda. I just need to know what kind of help she needs and what she needs the help for exactly. If you just tell me what the problem is, I am sure that I will be able to help you. And help Amanda, of course.”
“Amanda suffers from a very serious mental disorder, Jake.”
“Are you referring to anorexia?”
“No, but that is symptomatic of her problem. Mike mentioned to me that Amanda told you that she had a bout with anorexia, on a level of moderate severity, when she was still a teenager. However, I suspect that she didn’t tell you the cause of it.”
“Well, I mean, she told me about a guy she was dating at the time and how she became that way because she was competing for his attention and didn’t feel like she was attractive enough to him plus all the usual teen angst.”
“That’s not the reason why Amanda became anorexic, Jake.”
Jake looked at Rick with an expression of astonishment, intently searching his face for any clue to what he would say next.
“Jake, I don’t know how else to break this down to you other than to be completely straight up and to the point about it. Amanda has Dissociative Identity Disorder, better known as Multiple Personality Disorder.”
Jake’s mouth dropped open and his eyes widened, suddenly pale beneath his Vegas tan. “How is that possible?”
“She’s had MPD since she was a child. We saw the first signs of it when she was nine years old and she started behaving as if she were Maggie, her twin.”
“Her twin?”
“She never told you that either? I’m not surprised,” Rick said, looking up toward the sky and shaking his head. “Yes, Amanda had a twin, Magdalena, we called her Maggie. Mandi and Maggie; they were identical twins and Camilla and I were beside ourselves with joy when they were born. Amanda was born fifteen minutes before Maggie, so technically she was the oldest. They were two of the most beautiful, happiest little girls you ever did want to see. The twin apples of my eye. However, we soon learned little Maggie had a rare blood disease called Fanconi Anemia, succinctly, it’s a failure of the bone marrow to produce enough blood cells, and Maggie sadly did not make it past her third birthday. The two of them were very close, as you can imagine, so very attached to one another. They slept together, they ate together, they were bathed together, they played together. Inseparable, and if you tried to part them for any reason they would cry unceasingly until they were reunited. So we were surprised at how Amanda handled the loss, which was pretty well or as well as you could expect for a three-year-old. We told her that since there were two of them, exactly the same, and both of them pretty little angels, God decided to take one of them with Him to Heaven and to leave one of them here on earth with us, and bless her precious little heart, she just embraced the idea and could explain it to you better than I or her mother could without shedding a single tear. She was just so accepting and understanding. It seemed perfectly reasonable and fair in the mind of a three-year-old.”
“What happened when she turned nine?” Jake asked.
“So when she turned nine, it was as if the trauma of losing Maggie suddenly surfaced after being repressed all that time. At first it manifested itself by Amanda telling us that she was having conversations with Maggie. That actually started when she was about five or six and we consulted a psychiatrist who assured us it was within the normal bounds of grief. Then she stopped that for a while and we thought it was over. But when she turned nine things became more worrying—she started saying to us that she was Maggie. And she started making demands for things, like spending more time with us. Wanting to sleep in bed with us and wanting us to play with her, more so than your average nine-year-old would want to play with her parents. And all the while, insisting she was her twin. It was as if Maggie wanted to make up for the lost time of being away from us and she was using Amanda’s body and mind to come back to us. It was… very difficult. Because of course, Maggie was dead and that was just how Amanda started to manifest her grief after being separated from her sister. She isn’t able to make the distinction between her own grief and her alter ego’s personality.”
“Wow. I don’t even know what to say. This is so fascinating and so unreal,” Jake said as he ran his fingers through his hair and held on to his head as if to stop it from spinning. “And so you’re saying that this is still going on now?”
“Yes, it is. It had been dormant for quite some time, since before she met you actually. But these last two months things have gotten really out of hand, which is why we need to take more drastic action. We’ve noticed that a certain pattern has developed. Maggie seems to appear in Amanda’s life most pervasively when she feels that she will be separated from her again. Since your engagement to Amanda, Maggie has become increasingly unsettled about the thought of losing Amanda to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. She feels that you will take Amanda away from her forever if you get married. But that’s not the most disturbing part,” Rick said then, pausing for effect, staring hard at Jake. “What’s most disturbing is that she is now threatening to kill Amanda if she goes through with marrying you.”
“What? That’s crazy. I don’t believe this. This can’t be true. Please tell me you’re making this up.”
“I wish I were. God, how much do I wish I were.”
“But how do you know this? Are you saying that Amanda is saying these things in the person of her alter ego, Maggie?”
“Exactly. Amanda only fully becomes Maggie to me and her mother. Sometimes Maggie makes appearances with other people but it’s rare, and only Camilla or I would recognize it.”
“But how do you
know when she becomes Maggie?”
“She identifies herself to her mother and me and is much more emotional than Amanda. She’ll start crying and lamenting that you are taking Amanda away from her. But more recently, she has been saying that she would kill Amanda so that nobody could take her away from her sister again and so that they could be together forever in Heaven. That’s when we knew that we could not sit by any longer. We had to intervene to help save our daughter from herself. What’s even worse is that Amanda is either completely in denial about her alter ego or she is not conscious of it, because when we have spoken to her about what we experience of her as Maggie, she refuses to believe us and will not get the treatment she needs.”
Jake covered his face with his hands. He was in such a state of shock and disbelief that he was beginning to lose confidence. There were so many unanswered questions, but he was too overwhelmed with doubt and inner turmoil to even think of the right questions to ask.
“Do you really believe Amanda would try to kill herself?” Jake asked, removing his hands from his face to reveal eyes that were filled with stress and fear.
“Yes, I do,” Rick said solemnly. “As I said, there is a pattern here. We’ve seen this before and it’s what you pointed to earlier. You see, Maggie caused Amanda’s anorexia. Although Amanda might think that she became that way because of some boy who wasn’t paying her enough attention, Maggie told us that she would starve Amanda to death to keep her away from boys. Maggie doesn’t like boys, especially ones who show a romantic interest in Amanda. That guy you referred to, the one Amanda told you about, he ran as far away from her as he could after she became ill and went into the treatment center. When the coast was clear and he was sufficiently scared off, Maggie stopped starving Amanda. That’s what really happened.”
Mike finally interjected himself into the conversation at that point, the lawyer seeing an opening to close the deal now that Jake understood the extreme nature of the condition Rick had described. “Jake, I hope you can now appreciate why we are asking you to do something as drastic as terminating your plans to marry Amanda. We just don’t know when this alter ego of hers will lash out again and since Amanda does not even seem to recognize that she has an alter ego, it poses a tremendous risk to her safety and perhaps to yours as well. I don’t mean to sound so sinister, but what if Maggie decided to turn on you instead of Amanda? She could come after you and harm you in your sleep or in some other way. Even if she wasn’t successful, Amanda would still go to jail. We have to think about all possibilities.”
“That’s exactly right,” Rick chimed in, piling on. “And God forbid you two have children together and Maggie turns on the children and harms them through Amanda’s very own hands. Remember that woman in Texas who drowned all of her kids in a bathtub a few years back because she said the devil told her to do it? What was her name, Bates?”
“Yeah.” Mike thought for a second. “I think her name is Anna or Andrea…uh, Andrea Yates.”
“I don’t know,” Jake said, looking grim. “I think I need a little more time to think about this. There is so much to process. The idea that a person that I’ve known for six years and who I thought I knew extremely well, is perhaps someone that I really don’t know at all. This is so overwhelming and hard to comprehend.”
“Jake, I know this is hard to comprehend and to get your head around,” Rick said. “If I were in your shoes, I would be as shocked and devastated as you must be right now. However, unfortunately, we are running out of time and we need to act quickly. You have got to call off the wedding and end your relationship with Amanda immediately. Then we’ll encourage her to move back home and keep a close eye on her until we’re sure she’s stable again. But she won’t do that unless you end things with her.”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know,” Jake said, burying his face into the palms of his hands once again.
“You can’t be selfish about this, Jake, you have got to think about Amanda first and foremost and do what’s best for her,” Mike said, igniting a fuse in Jake.
His head shot up and his eyes blazed with indignation. “Damn it, I am thinking about what’s best for Amanda, Mike. I’m the one who’s faced with this decision. Do you understand how hard this is? How hard it is to hear that your girlfriend, your fiancée, the person you love more than anything in the world is someone that you can no longer be with? That she desperately needs help and you can’t help her? That she could harm herself, that her life could be ruined, destroyed because of her relationship with you? Do you understand?” Jake was trembling with anger and desperation.
“We do understand how hard this is, Jake,” Rick interceded. “That’s why I am prepared to offer you a very substantial sum to compensate you for your anguish and loss. All I am asking you to do is simply walk away and to never tell anyone what you know of Amanda’s condition.”
Jake remained silent, appearing deep in thought as he weighed his options. Mike sensed vacillation in Jake. Having worked with him, he knew how resolved and determined Jake could be when faced with a challenge and so he tried a different approach.
“I know things look pretty bleak to you now. But this might be a blessing in disguise, a fork in the road where you have an opportunity to redirect and to change the course of your life in a way that you might not have considered before or that you maybe have considered but rejected prematurely. This could be a sign that there might be a better path for you. Rick is willing to help you do that with a generous financial offer. When we spoke before, you didn’t allow me to tell you what that offer was, but I think you should hear it.”
Jake folded his arms in a dejected fashion and looked at Rick, wanting to know what the financial proposal was without directly asking for it.
“Jake, assuming that you would be amenable to an agreement that specifies in exchange for terminating your relationship with my daughter and for keeping your reason for doing so strictly between the three of us, I will provide you $5 million in cash delivered to you however and wherever you prefer. Offshore, onshore, in a suitcase, you name it.”
Jake stared straight ahead for so long Rick and Mike began to exchange nervous glances, then he finally turned to look at Rick with a steely-eyed glare. His response was so bold it took them both by surprise.
“Five million? So you think that’s all this is worth?”
Chapter 37 Hopelessly In Love
“Nice view,” Amanda said to Lucy as they were being taken on a tour of the newly opened Soho House in West Hollywood. “I mean, it’s the same view I have from my condo, but it’s still amazing.”
“Wait until you see the room we’re using for the dinner party,” Lucy said. “It’s divine. You’ll love it.”
Amanda met Lucy for lunch at Soho House only hours before Jake would meet with her dad unbeknownst to her. Amanda’s bachelorette dinner party was to be held at the swanky club that coming Saturday and she met Lucy there to do a final walk through.
“Lucy, this is so nice. I really like the décor. It’s clubby but very modern and chic.”
“Yeah, this definitely has more of a relaxed California vibe in comparison to the original club in London. And the people who come here are predominantly entertainment industry folks, which is different from the other clubs where the membership is a little more varied.”
“I hope that doesn’t mean that my bachelorette party will be crashed by you know who? I assume he’s a member here too.”
Lucy laughed superficially. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that he is barred at the door from admittance that night. Seriously though, I am so sorry again that Adam showed up at Cass’s birthday party. I really didn’t expect that. I am still stupefied by the whole thing. The fact that he and Cass keep in touch and are good friends was a big surprise. And I can’t believe he kissed you. How obnoxious of him. I’m like still in shock at his brazenness. Did you tell Jake?”
“Hell no. Are you kidding?”
“Of course you didn’t. I woul
dn’t either. Especially after Flowergate.”
Amanda chuckled. “Flowergate. You’re too funny.”
“Definitely have to find a way to keep him away from here on Saturday.”
“Please do. If I see him again I’m going to faint and not in a good way. Like nervous breakdown kind of faint. He’s starting to give me the creeps.”
“Let’s pray that he’ll be out of town this weekend,” Lucy said as they made their way out onto the club’s covered rooftop garden to have lunch.
“Lovely,” Amanda said as they were seated, looking around at the space filled with tables set amongst a variety of flowers and herbal plants and shaded by Olive trees with long, extended branches with round wicker lanterns hanging from them. “I really like this place. The photos are one thing, but to see it in person really puts it into perspective. Good choice.”
“You know I’ve got you covered, honey. I hope Alex isn’t upset that I took over hosting your bachelorette party. I guess technically as your sister and maid of honor she should be hosting this.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. She’s hosting my bridal shower with my mom and you’re hosting this. I think everything worked out fine.”
“Good. I hope so. I’m so excited and I’m not even the one getting married. The countdown is on, Amandaaaa. Your bridal shower and bachelorette party this weekend and the wedding next weekend. Aren’t you excited?” Lucy said, beaming and clapping her hands cheerily.
“You’re so cute,” Amanda said, giggling. “I am, but it seems so surreal. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. I always knew I would marry Jake. I’ve imagined this for so long and for it to be finally happening…it feels like a dream,” Amanda said, tearing up.
“Awww. Honey, don’t cry. You’re going to make me cry.”
“All I’ve ever wanted is to have a family as close as Jake’s. I don’t feel like I had that warm, loving home life with my parents the way Jake had with his. I did with my grandparents, but you know, I’ve always felt that my parents were too absent and preoccupied with other things, especially when Alex and I were teenagers. I know that with Jake we’ll have the kind of family and the closeness with our children that I’ve always longed for.”