The doorbell rang at precisely 8:30 a.m. Kathryn decided Ron must have waited on the porch for the second hand to reach twelve. She told herself she couldn’t run to the door. She’d already changed her routine so she could be in the living room. Anything more would be too obvious. She opened the door to find Kerry O’Grady on her porch. He looked as if he were frightened out of his mind.
“I’ve got to see Lisette,” he said.
Kathryn blocked Kerry’s path. He knew she didn’t allow visits until the girls finished their lessons.
“My dad’s back,” Kerry said. “He says I can quit school and go to work. He says I can go live with my mother’s relatives. He says I can do any damned thing I want, but he’s not going to support me and my gold-digging little whore. I’ve got to see Lisette.”
Kathryn struggled to mask her disappointment. “Why aren’t you in school?”
“This is more important than school,” Kerry nearly shouted.
“I agree, but you can’t see Lisette. She would get so upset it would take me a week to calm her down.”
“What are we going to do?”
Before Kathryn could answer, a black Bentley pulled into her driveway. Ron Egan got out and waved to her. Instead of coming toward her, he opened the trunk, and began to take out one package after another.
“I think Mr. Egan would appreciate some help with those packages,” she said to Kerry.
“I don’t want to help anybody with packages,” Kerry practically wailed. “I want to see Lisette.”
“Help Mr. Egan with the packages, and I’ll think about it.”
Kerry turned to help Ron. Kathryn thought it might be a good idea if he did have to work for a while. His mother had done her best to keep him her little boy. If he and Lisette did marry, at least one of them should be capable of acting and thinking like an adult.
Kathryn was glad Ron had thought to buy Cynthia something in Geneva. Still, even if he was worth a hundred million dollars, a dozen packages were too many. She couldn’t stop him from giving them all to Cynthia, but she would explain that neither his guilt nor Cynthia’s anger was likely to be assuaged by such extravagance.
“I brought something for all the girls,” Ron said when he reached the porch. “Tell me where I can put them.”
It never occurred to Kathryn he would have bought presents for the other girls, too. “You can put them in the back parlor,” she said, opening the door for the men to pass inside. “I’ll have Ruby take them up later.”
“Nothing doing,” Ron said. “Presents are no fun unless you get to open them together.”
“The girls are studying.”
“I can wait,” Ron said.
“Yeah,” Kerry said. “We can wait.”
Ron set his stack of presents in a sofa and settled down next to them. Kerry followed suit on the sofa opposite Ron.
“It won’t take them long to open their presents,” Ron said. “You could consider it a study break.”
Kathryn knew she wouldn’t get anything done until Ron had handed out his presents. “I’ll tell Ruby to bring the girls down.”
“She’s got to come, too,” Ron said. “I brought something for her.”
“Why would you buy Ruby a present?” Kathryn’s surprise caused her to ask before she realized it was a rude question.
“Because she answered the phone when I called. Somebody had to tell me the girls’ names and help me figure out what to give them. You can stop standing there with your mouth open. You have a beautiful mouth, but I like it better when you smile.”
Kathryn closed her mouth, too stunned to smile.
“While you’re trying to remember how to smile,” Ron said, “you can open your present.”
“You shouldn’t have bought me anything,” Kathryn said. She was afraid her surprise was clear to both Ron and Kerry. Her pleasure was, too.
“I couldn’t bring something for Ruby and not for you,” Ron said.
Kathryn worried what Kerry was thinking. She’d always remained above gossip. If he started telling people Ron was giving her gifts, they could get the wrong idea.
“They’re not terribly imaginative,” Ron said. “I didn’t have much time, and airport shops never have a good selection.”
Kathryn didn’t patronize airport shops—they never had anything she wanted and charged twice as much as she’d have paid elsewhere—but she had no doubt Ron would have had them fly anything in that was out of stock.
“I’ll get the girls,” she said.
It took a little convincing to talk Ruby into leaving her kitchen long enough to accept her gift, but the girls came tumbling down the stairs as if they were responding to a four-alarm fire.
“Don’t you say a word about your father,” she whispered to Kerry. “We’ll figure out something later.”
She needn’t have worried. The moment Lisette saw Kerry, she started babbling happily. Kerry couldn’t have gotten a word in if he’d tried.
“Your father brought something for everybody,” Kathryn said to Cynthia. “That was very thoughtful of him.”
Cynthia appeared unexcited by the stacks of presents. “Why?”
“Ask him.”
“He’ll probably say it was rude to give me a present without bringing something for everyone else. Like he would even remember me.”
“Leigh remembered you when you didn’t think she would. Don’t you think your father has an even better reason?”
Kathryn wondered whether Cynthia was afraid to believe her father had truly thought of her. She couldn’t be too critical of Cynthia. She had never believed her father had thought of her when he came home from trips bearing presents, even when they came from stores in the cities he’d visited. It was obvious to Kathryn his secretary had ordered them.
“The other girls can’t open their presents until you do. If you don’t hurry, Lisette will explode.”
Julia was pleased, Betsy petrified. Ruby Collias didn’t appear able to decide whether to disapprove or just accept her present and go back to her kitchen.
“You have to open your presents, too,” Lisette said to Kathryn. “We all want to know what you got.”
“You can start with this one,” Ron said, handing her a small but rather heavy package. He’d gotten two presents for each of them.
All of the girls received necklaces with their birthstones as pendants. Naturally Lisette’s would be a diamond. She squealed with delight, jumped up and gave Ron an impetuous hug and kiss.
“You don’t have to hug me,” Ron said to the other girls. “Just open your other gift.”
“Miss Roper hasn’t opened hers,” Lisette said.
Kathryn knew she couldn’t accept anything as extravagant as a birthstone pendant from Ron. Her birthstone was a ruby. She held her breath as she tore off the paper and opened the box.
“They’re little pictures,” Lisette said, obviously disappointed.
“They’re coasters for the living room,” Ron said. “Now I’ll have someplace to set my glass of water.”
Even as Kathryn breathed a sigh of relief, she felt her internal tension level rise. The pendants were probably handled by someone in his office, but Ron had obviously picked her gift out himself. It didn’t matter that it was worth only a few dollars as opposed to a few thousand; it meant more because he’d chosen it.
“Maybe you’ll get something better next time,” Lisette whispered.
Kathryn knew it would be impossible to explain why her coasters were more valuable to her than a ruby pendant would have been.
The second gift was the same for everyone—very expensive German chocolate. The girls started sampling theirs immediately.
“It was very thoughtful of you to remember us,” Kathryn said. Taking the hint, each girl thanked Ron, even Betsy who was so nervous she barely whispered the words. “Now run upstairs and put away your pendants. I’d hate to see you lose them.”
Lisette clearly wanted to take Kerry off by herself. “I have to talk to K
erry first,” Kathryn said to Lisette. “I’ll tell you when you can come back down. You, too, Cynthia. I need your father’s help for a few minutes.”
Cynthia didn’t show any of Lisette’s reluctance to leave.
“What can I do?” Ron asked.
“Kerry, tell Mr. Egan what your father said. Maybe he can think of some way to help.”
“That’s a nice man,” Ruby said when Kathryn entered the hall. “You be nice to him.” With that, she turned and headed back to the kitchen.
Kathryn very much wanted to know what Ruby meant by her remarks, but she put her presents away and returned to the living room. Kerry had just finished telling Ron what had happened.
“Have you ever held a job?” Ron asked Kerry.
“No.”
“Cut the lawn or carried out the trash?”
The boy shook his head.
“Then I suggest you put all thoughts of marrying Lisette out of your head, go home and tell your father you’ll do anything he wants as long as he doesn’t throw you out.”
Kathryn was hardly more surprised than Kerry. “I love Lisette,” the boy said. “I want to marry her and take care of our baby.”
“You’re a baby yourself,” Ron said, dismissing him carelessly. “Leave playing house to real men.”
Kerry jumped up, uttered a few four-letter words and turned to the door.
Ron grabbed his arm and nearly threw him back onto the sofa.
“It’s easy to cuss when you get mad. It’s not much harder to get your girlfriend pregnant. What’s hard is stepping up to the role of being a man, a husband and a father. It wouldn’t be as important if you only had to worry about Lisette. She’s got a family to take care of her, but you’ve helped her create a baby. And no matter what kind of spoiled kid you are, no matter how little you were concerned with anything but your own physical gratification, you’re this baby’s father. For the rest of your life. It’s up to you to determine if the kid will say That’s my dad with pride or use some of your own four-letter words. You’ve got to learn to think and act like a man, learn how to support a family.”
Kerry looked as if he’d been hit in the face with a fish. Kathryn didn’t feel much different. Ron’s actions had taken her by surprise, but it was the emotion behind his words that riveted her attention. He was white about the mouth. She hadn’t seen him look this intense, so tightly wound.
“I want to take care of my kid,” Kerry said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I love Lisette.”
Kathryn was afraid Ron was going to tell the boy he had no concept of what love was, but instead he released Kerry and settled back into his own seat. “Tell me why she ought to marry you instead of waiting for someone else.”
“Because nobody else will ever love her like I do,” Kerry said.
“What do you love about her?”
Kathryn listened as Ron guided Kerry into giving a more intelligent answer than she would have expected from him.
“Have you thought of the changes getting married and having a baby will make in your life?” Ron asked.
“I haven’t thought of anything else since we found out.”
“Do you have any idea what you want to do? It’ll be hard to finish your education and work enough hours to support a wife and child. And there’s Lisette’s education.”
“I’ve thought about all of that,” Kerry said. “I know what I want to do.”
“Good. Go discuss it with your family.”
“My father won’t listen.”
“Make him. If you’re going to be the head of your own family, you’ve got to stop thinking of yourself as a kid whose parents will take care of everything. Your decision forced you into the role of a man whether you’re ready or not. Now it’s time to step up to the plate.”
Kerry didn’t look completely confident, but neither did he look like the panicked boy Kathryn had found on her porch.
“Now you need to talk to Lisette.”
“You can use the TV room,” Kathryn said. “Mrs. Collias will call her for you.”
“You’re not going to sit with us?” he asked Kathryn.
Kerry seemed to have matured in the last half hour. “I think this is something you need to discuss in private.”
“Thanks.”
“You were a little rough on him,” she said to Ron.
“Not half as rough as life is going to be.”
“I’m sure of that, but I don’t approve of being so hard on kids. They need understanding, not criticism.”
“Is that why you’re still angry at your father, because he criticized your sister instead of understood her?”
“This has nothing to do with me or my sister.”
“It has everything to do with you understanding the responsibility these kids have taken on. It’s good to give them support when the shock hits, but they’ve got to understand the rules have changed. They’ve created a new life. It doesn’t matter how innocently. Somebody’s got to make them realize they’re not kids anymore. I expect both Kerry and Lisette’s parents will come around sooner or later, but Kerry needs to start thinking like a man now. Lisette’s not ready to carry her part of the load.”
She was sure of that. No matter what they worked out, Kerry would need all the love and patience he could muster to help Lisette adjust to the life ahead of her.
“No kid is ready to be a father at seventeen,” Ron said. “He ought to be dating a different girl every night and sneaking beers with his buddies.”
“Is that what you did?”
“I didn’t have buddies or money for beer, but guys need a period of pretty much limitless freedom before they’re ready to settle down for good.”
She wasn’t sure any of the men she knew were ready to settle down, even the ones who weren’t driven to be wealthy enough to retire by forty. They all seemed to want a relationship that was more like an extended honeymoon. “Thank you for the presents. It was very thoughtful to think of the girls and me.”
“Think nothing of it. Did Leigh come back to see Cynthia?”
“Yes. She spent nearly an hour here yesterday. Cynthia was a little unsure at first, but it wasn’t long before they had their heads together, whispering and giggling about everything that’s happened in the last few days.”
“Has it only been a few days? It seems like weeks.”
“Things aren’t going well in Geneva?”
“This one is tough.” He suddenly grinned. “That’s why I charge so much.”
It was a grin to forestall further questions rather than one of amusement. He was just as bad as his daughter about not wanting to share, not wanting to depend on anyone else. She guessed that came from the years of his lonely struggle to lift himself out of a background of poverty, but that didn’t make it any easier. Nobody should have to go through life feeling alone. It was always easier to carry the load when you had someone to share it with.
Not that she had a lot of room to talk. She never discussed the situation between her and her parents with anyone, not even her brothers. She didn’t mention it to Elizabeth because Elizabeth mentioned it enough for both of them. But that wasn’t sharing. It was more like replenishing the feeling of blame, culpability, or renewing her anger when it showed signs of wearing thin. Anger and guilt. She didn’t know how it happened, but every time she saw her sister, she ended up feeling guilty she hadn’t been the one thrown out of their parents’ house.
“Got anything planned for this afternoon?” Ron asked.
“The usual. The girls visit with friends. Sometimes they go out with their families. We rent movies to watch in the evening.”
“Then you don’t have to be here.”
“No, but I usually am.”
“I need to talk to Cynthia a little while. That will give you time to tell Mrs. Collias I’m taking you out for a drive and lunch. I wish you’d told me about the movies. I’d have rented a theater. The girls need to get out once in a while.”
Kathryn had never bee
n poor, but she didn’t think in terms of renting a whole theater for half a dozen people. Apparently Ron Egan did, which made it even harder to understand why he should want to spend his afternoon with her.
“I have an idea how to get these kids and their parents together long enough to really talk to each other.”
“We can talk about that here.”
“This isn’t something to talk about. You have to see it.”
“I don’t know why I let you talk me into this,” Kathryn said. “It’ll be a disaster.” She’d known Ron for two weeks, long enough to know his boundless energy could convince her he was right when she knew he was wrong. Yet she’d let him talk her into this harebrained scheme which, during the course of the last week, she’d become more and more certain would never work.
“It may not achieve everything we want, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. The girls and their parents won’t see anybody but themselves. They’ll have to talk to each other.”
“No, they won’t. They can leave.”
“I’ll lock the gates.”
“They’ll stare at each other in stony silence.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
They were headed to a private corporate retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville. Ron had hired the entire complex and invited the girls and their families to spend the weekend together. He’d even convinced Kerry’s parents to come along. Kathryn didn’t know what kind of pressure Ron had brought to bear on Kerry’s father, but the man had left a message saying there’d be hell to pay.
“You need to spend time with Cynthia,” she said.
“I will, but I’ve got to make sure everyone else is making some progress. That’s why I had Cynthia invite Leigh.”
Leigh had visited Cynthia every day for the last week. Once Cynthia started to believe Leigh’s friendship was strong enough to survive the stigma of Cynthia having an illegitimate child, she had started to look forward to her friend’s visits. Leigh’s presence had gone a long way toward helping Cynthia begin to bridge the gap between her and her father. Leigh liked Ron. She said she wished her own father were as attentive and understanding.
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