Amanda's Blue Marine

by Doreen Owens Malek

  As she came up the front walk the door was opened by Hattie Rollins, the housekeeper who had worked for Mandy’s parents for twenty years. She eyed Mandy with distaste.

  “Your mother isn’t very happy with you,” Hattie announced, as she took Mandy’s wrap and purse.

  She’ll be a lot less happy with me in a few minutes, Mandy thought. Aloud she said, “What did I do this time?”

  “Something about that cop who rescued you and the award ceremony. Were you kissing him or did I hear it wrong?”

  Hattie was a professional eavesdropper and always heard it right. “It was just a gesture, Hattie, Mom makes a big deal out of everything. Where is she?”

  “In the solarium with your father. Congressman Henderson is in there with them too.”

  Mandy nodded and walked down the entry hall to the back of the house.

  “Can I get you anything?” Hattie asked as Mandy went through the screen door which opened to the solarium, a big enclosed deck winterized with glass panels and filled with plants.

  “No, thanks. Talk to you later.”

  Hattie, disappointed that she wasn’t going to get an earful, pretended to rearrange some flowers on a hall table and then departed, vowing to resume her reconnaissance at another time.

  “There she is,” Tom greeted Mandy as she appeared in the flower room. He was holding a wine glass and came over to kiss her cheek.

  Margaret Redfield turned from the liquor tray ready to do battle.

  “We were wondering what kept you,” Margaret said pointedly.

  “Tom, I need to speak to you privately,” Mandy said, deciding not to prolong the agony. “Can we go into the library?”

  “Is it something your parents can’t hear?” he asked jokingly.

  Mandy sighed inwardly. He was going to make this difficult and all she could think about was her recent lovemaking with Kelly. Her lips and her nipples were still tingling from the exquisite pressure of Kelly’s caressing mouth. She wanted one thing: to get this onerous duty over with and go back to him.

  “I think you would prefer to hear it alone,” she said to Tom.

  Now he was getting concerned. “Does it have something to do with tonight’s event?” he asked.

  Mandy could see that the light was beginning to dawn. “Tom, just come with me,” she said, edging toward the adjacent book lined room.

  “I don’t see why your father and I can’t hear what you’re going to say,” Margaret interjected querulously.

  “I agree,” Jonathan Redfield said, but his expression was worried rather than irritated.

  Mandy gave up in exasperation. “Fine,” she said. “Since you’re all determined to air this like it’s a public news broadcast, I came here to tell Tom that I can’t marry him because I’m in love with someone else.”

  They stared at Mandy as if she had just announced that she was joining the French Foreign Legion. Tom’s mouth fell open and Jonathan set his shot glass on a side table.

  Mandy’s mother was the first to recover and said bitterly, “It’s that cop, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Mandy said. “He has a name. Brendan Kelly.”

  “I don’t know why I’m surprised,” her mother said sarcastically.

  “I don’t know why you are, either, Mother. Since you’ve been here the whole time and not in China with Tom you should have been aware of what was happening.”

  “I was so hoping I was wrong,” Margaret said.

  “Well, you were right, as usual. You like being right so this announcement should suit you just fine.”

  “That’s enough, Amanda,” Jonathan said quietly.

  “I told you she was going to do this,” Margaret said in an aside to her husband. “That detective did everything but undress her in front of the Mayor tonight. I was humiliated.”

  “Oh, get over yourself, Mother. It takes a lot more than a sweet, three second kiss before a supportive audience to humiliate you.”

  Tom’s mouth finally closed and he seemed to find his voice.

  "I can't believe this, Amanda. You are throwing me over, trashing all of our plans for the future, for a roll in the hay with this... kid?"

  "Kelly is thirty years old, Tom. I'm twenty-eight. You are forty-five. Which member of this trio is age inappropriate?”

  “Amanda,” Jonathan said sharply.

  Mandy ignored him. “If I was old enough to be your wife and stepmother to your children, why is Kelly who is two years older than I am a kid?” she demanded of Tom.

  He lifted his shoulders. "You know what I mean," Tom replied irritably.

  "No, I don't. Unless you mean that he isn't a member of your country club and doesn't have lunch with the president of the town council." Mandy could feel her anger rising. "Kelly served six years in the Marine corps and has spent seven years on the police force. He was wounded in Iraq and has been shot on the job. He was decorated for valor twice by the Marines and received a citizens' medal for bravery tonight, delivered with speeches given by your golf buddies, Commissioner Foster and the Mayor. I believe you were present for the ceremony. Exactly what constitutes maturity on your planet?"

  "Your boy toy is a stupid flatfoot who's spent too much time saluting the flag. He’s a testosterone freak who doesn't know he's playing a fool's game," Tom said snidely.

  "Are your constituents aware of your attitude toward the police?" Mandy asked pointedly. "They might vote differently at the ballot box if they knew you have nothing but disdain for the cops you pledged to support in your last election."

  "I can't believe you fell for that dimwit jock’s macho theatrics," Tom said disgustedly, ignoring her last comment. "You're trading a pile of muscles for a functioning brain."

  "I see. So the next time my life is in danger, we'll call on an intellectual, like, say, yourself to save me?" She couldn't resist the opening he'd given her.

  He surveyed her sourly. "I don't know why we ever let women into law school," he said darkly. He refilled his wine glass and bolted half of it.

  Mandy’s parents exchanged glances. Margaret folded her arms and Jonathan shook his head at her.

  "Does he have any money?" Tom demanded.

  "No. He has a job."

  "Does he know about your trust fund?"

  "No, Tom, he doesn't. He hasn't asked to see my portfolio. His approach to relationships is a little different from yours."

  "But I'm sure it has dawned on him that you're hardly impoverished," Tom persisted. "Even he can't be that oblivious."

  Margaret hmmphed and her husband shot her a warning look.

  Mandy sighed and shook her head. She couldn't possibly explain Kelly's complete indifference to financial gain to somebody like Tom, who lived for it.

  "Then that's why he's marrying you," Tom said, with a slight lift of his shoulders. "Your monthly check would keep quite a few cops happy."

  "He isn't marrying me. We haven't even discussed it."

  Tom stared at her. "Then why are we having this conversation?"

  Mandy forced herself to say nothing, buying some time. She was rattled by Tom’s blunt reaction, surprised that he had made no effort to temper stark reality or soften his blows. She had expected some prevarication or persuasion, not this instant hostility. But she should have been ready for it. She had seen him before when presented with an obstacle he hadn't anticipated and watched his good natured facade crumble in the face of opposition. She knew there was another side to him, a tough campaigner behind the mask of the genial politician. But she had never indicated that his plans for acquisition and management of her money might be in jeopardy. She hadn't cared much about that end of it and had accepted his interest in it as part of their deal. But now when he saw that plum disappearing from his orchard his response was turning ugly in a way that actually amazed her.

  Mandy suddenly realized that Tom had misjudged the situation. His ego had not allowed him to consider Kelly a real rival, and he had also underestimated Mandy’s determination to fight for what she w
anted. He had only seen her placate and mollify and indulge her parents. It had never occurred to him that she might want Kelly enough to defy them. He had never considered that she might change everything in her life for a cop Tom viewed as a poorly paid municipal employee with delusions of grandeur.

  “We’re having this conversation because I have fallen in love with someone other than you. I didn't think it would be right to continue my engagement to you when I no longer have any intention of marrying you," Mandy finally said, enunciating each word carefully.

  “Thank you so much for your courtesy,” Tom said nastily.

  “I don't know what business arrangement you have, or think you have, with my father,” Mandy continued. “That's for the two of you to work out between you.”

  “Our business arrangement is completely separate from your life,” Jonathan said to Mandy reassuringly.

  She took off her engagement ring and handed it to Tom. “Thanks for making this easy for me."

  Tom stuck the ring in his pocket.

  "That cop is using you," he called back to her as he headed for the front hall.

  Mandy sighed heavily as he finished his drink in one gulp and then slammed the glass down on the entry hall table. Mandy and her parents watched him stalk out of the entryway and then heard the front door crash as he left.

  “I guess the birthday party’s off,” Mandy observed, to no one in particular.

  “Well, that was pleasant,” Margaret said dryly. “What shall we do next, drive slivers of wood under our fingernails?”

  “Marge, you are not helping,” Jonathan said to his wife. “I’d like to talk to Amanda and I think it would be better if you left us alone.”

  His wife looked at him intently and then shrugged as if the matter were of no importance to her.

  “Margaret, calm down,” Jonathan said gently. “Amanda is a grown woman and if she has chosen this Detective Kelly we have to accept it. Now go upstairs and relax while Mandy and I visit for a while.”

  Margaret threw him an “I’m tolerating this now but you’ll hear from me later” look and marched out of the room.

  “Your mother is a little upset,” Jonathan said, with his usual gift for conciliation. He led Mandy into the library and they sat down in armchairs facing each other.

  “She doesn’t know how she’s going to explain my liaison with a policeman at her next DAR meeting,” Mandy said darkly.

  “That’s a cheap shot, Amanda, and you know it.”

  “She’s preoccupied with class distinctions. You’d think she was a member of the British royal family, for heaven’s sake.”

  “She knows something about this Kelly’s background and she hasn’t found it encouraging,” Jonathan said.

  “What do you mean?” Mandy asked, alarm bells going off in her head.

  Jonathan lifted one shoulder. “Your mother hired a private detective to investigate your policeman’s past.”

  Mandy closed her eyes. “I can’t believe you let her do that, Dad.”

  “I didn’t know about it. Your mother operates autonomously on some occasions.”

  “And what did she discover about Kelly? He’s guilty of war crimes? He’s an international pornographer? He was once a woman? What?”

  “Nothing that dramatic. He appears to be guilty of nothing worse than teenage hijinks.” Jonathan paused. “There was nothing in his past that would keep him out of the service or off the police force.

  “But?”

  “There was a bad situation in his home. His father was an alcoholic who abandoned the family when Brendan was eight.

  “So?

  “It’s distasteful, Amanda. And that problem is genetic.”

  “I see. So this is the awful secret Mom ferreted out when she spent thousands on a gumshoe to dig into his past? His father was a drunk? So what? Millions of people share that situation and it hasn’t ruined their lives.”

  “It’s more than that. Kelly saw a lot of brutal action when he was in the service and that experience changes people.”

  “And?”

  “Your mother is frightened by your relationship with him. Frankly, so am I.”

  “Why?”

  “You mother thinks he is dangerous.”

  “He is dangerous sometimes, Dad. I was very happy that he was dangerous to James Cameron when the man was trying to kill me. If Kelly hadn’t been dangerous in that situation you and I would not be having this conversation.”

  Jonathan sighed and nodded. “All right. I accept that. I gather that you think your mother’s real objection to Kelly is that he isn’t from the social register and has no money.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “I think that Tom Henderson is much more the partner she would have chosen for you.”

  “That’s the understatement of the century,” Mandy said grimly.

  “But you don’t want him any more.”

  “I don’t think I ever did. I just didn’t know what I wanted.”

  “But when you met Kelly you suddenly knew what it was.”

  Mandy looked at her father and could feel herself blushing. “Yes. I know that sounds trite and silly but it’s the truth.”

  “It sounds like infatuation.”

  “Maybe it is. I’ve never felt like this before so I’m hardly an expert. But I deserve the chance to find out, don’t I?” She paused. “Do you remember Andrew Barnes, my boyfriend in junior high?”

  “Blond hair, pug nose, obsessed with video games?” her father said, puzzled by the lighting transition.

  “Yes. Since my first date with Andrew when I was fourteen I have been out there looking for somebody, anybody, who would make me feel the way the songs and stories describe how you should feel when you’re in love. And this is the first time I’ve felt that way. Ever. I know Mom thinks Kelly is trying to exploit me or bankrupt me or do some other nefarious thing. But if you knew him better you’d realize that he doesn’t care about money or position or any of the things that are so important to Mom.”

  “Ted Manning says that Kelly doesn’t care about anything BUT you,” Jonathan said flatly.

  Mandy looked at her father, stunned.

  “Manning said that?”

  “Yes. He knows Kelly pretty well, has been his superior for years, and Ted says that you are the most important thing in that boy’s life.”

  “I can’t believe that you’ve discussed this with Lieutenant Manning.” She was uncomfortable with the idea of her love life as the subject of any conversation between the two men.

  “Of course. You’re my child. Did you think I wouldn’t ask my friend, who happens to be Kelly’s boss, what type of person Kelly was?

  “I thought you were just concerned with the Cameron problem.”

  “I was. But your happiness matters to me as much as your safety. I could see that you were falling for this policeman in a big way and I wanted to know if you were likely to be hurt by him.” Jonathan paused. “Did you know that Kelly bribed Lt. Manning with Phillies tickets so that he could take Manning’s place at the MD fundraiser? Kelly had noticed your name on the guest list and he wanted an excuse to see you outside of the police station so he conned Ted into letting him go in Ted’s place.” Jonathan chuckled. “I got the impression Manning enjoyed the whole thing when he put the pieces together.”

  “You went to the wrong source to get dirt on Kelly,” Mandy said, smiling slightly. “Manning likes him.”

  “Yes, I discovered that. Ted also burst out laughing when I asked him if he thought Kelly was pursuing you for financial gain. He told me a few stories about the state of Kelly’s apartment and wardrobe and mode of transportation which indicated that the young man is hardly interested in money.”

  “Oh. So you heard about his glamorous lifestyle?”

  “And the wardrobe courtesy of various athletic departments. And the ancient Jeep sporting three coats of paint.”

  “Mom would say that he was after me because he wanted to change all that for the bett
er,” Mandy said dryly.

  “You mother just wants to protect you from fortune hunters. But I am satisfied that your Brendan does not qualify in that regard. From all the evidence he isn’t worried about appearances or finances.”

  “Tom is a much more likely candidate in that arena. Why doesn’t Mom see that?”

  Jonathan sighed. “Your mother is too concerned with position, I’m afraid. Ted Manning also told me that Kelly is very sharp, perceptive.”

  “Yes, he is. He’s a great cop because he knows how to handle people and knows what motivates them.”

  “He knew exactly what to do to circumvent the department’s regulations to get to Cameron quickly when you were in trouble. Kelly ignored the rules and that’s why Commissioner Foster wanted to make an example of him. But Manning talked Foster out of that idea, I gather.”

  “The Mayor was giving him a medal, Dad. Kelly told me the cops could hardly toss him off the force as the medal was being draped around his neck.”

  “By you,” Jonathan said. “Ted also said that Kelly was a big hand for the ladies until you came along but now that’s changed.” Jonathan studied Mandy closely. “Manning says that Kelly was frantic when he learned that Cameron had cornered you in the DA’s office. He violated every department regulation to make sure he got there first and alone to rescue you. He knew that he would likely lose his job for his actions but he didn’t care.” Jonathan looked at her seriously. “Manning says that Kelly loves you, Amanda. What do you say?”