by L. M. Reed
Chapter 13
Sitting next to James on the settee in Mrs. Fowlkes’ sitting room, I was rigid with fear. James glanced curiously at me from time to time as he and Elsee casually chatted about nothing in particular, but I ignored him; summoning every bit of self-control I had meticulously acquired over the years in order to remain outwardly calm required all of my concentration.
James would not be happy with me for not telling him about the events of the preceding few days, but without the Fowlkes’ input I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t think I was just overreacting.
Mrs. Fowlkes was not feeling well, and even though we offered to postpone the meeting, she insisted on continuing as planned. She entered the sitting room leaning heavily on the arm of her husband. Leading her to a special reclining chair that hadn’t been in evidence on my last visit, Mr. Fowlkes gently lowered her into it, producing a blanket from behind the chair to tuck around her legs.
“Mrs. Fowlkes,” James said gently, “We don’t have to do this now if you aren’t feeling up to it.”
“You are a good boy,” Mrs. Fowlkes smiled at him with obvious fondness, “But you are incorrect. We must do this as soon as possible. The Tates know about you…well, not you specifically, but they know Allison is engaged,” she qualified as Mr. Fowlkes seated himself in the armchair next to his wife.
“I don’t understand,” James knit his brow in confusion. “Did you tell them?” he turned to me in surprise.
“No,” I denied, angry at my own stupidity, “Nat noticed the chain while we were studying at the library the other day. I shouldn’t have worn it knowing how observant she is, but I hated to take it off. Being one of the only people aware of how much I dislike jewelry she knew right away there had to be an important reason I was wearing it. She must have been the one who told.”
No way would I believe Richard had betrayed my confidence after our long conversation the other day. Besides, if it had been him, my father would have known it was James.
It had to be Natalie
“Was someone else with you and your friend?” Elsee spoke for the first time…she was too observant.
I nodded, looking down at my hands, wishing I didn’t have to allow that Richard had been there. I knew in my heart he wasn’t the culprit, he wouldn’t hurt me like that, but I didn’t want to have to explain why I was so certain of that. I hated admitting even to myself that Richard thought he was in love with me.
“It was Stover wasn’t it,” James demanded angrily. “He’s the one who told your parents.”
“No,” I denied, tears filling my eyes at the thought of Richard’s pain. “Nat did, I’m sure of it. If Richard had, my father would have known…” I stopped abruptly drawing in a sharp breath, realizing what I had almost revealed.
“Known what, Allie?” Elsee asked gently.
“Everything,” I whispered reluctantly, afraid to look at James.
Seeing my tears, James voice softened, “It doesn’t matter who told. At least they know now.”
“Allison has explained the whole situation to us and we want to help,” Mr. Fowlkes said.
“Help…? With what?” he asked, still unsure where the conversation was headed.
“You and your mother will need protection, a type of insurance if you will,” Mrs. Fowlkes stated baldly. “Lowell and Violet Tate will not take this…engagement…lying down. They’ve already threatened to cut Allison off financially if she doesn’t tell them who her fiancé is, and once they have that information they will come after you and your mother.”
“I mean no disrespect, and I don’t mean to disparage your concerns, but that sounds a little…extreme,” James said hesitantly.
“Young man,” Mr. Fowlkes began in a stern voice, “You have no idea what Allison’s parents are capable of. Millie and I have watched them use and abuse people for more years than I care to count. Allison’s assessment of their behavior towards her past social life is dead on,” he said nodding his head at me. “I can’t even begin to count how many times Millie heard Violet Tate bragging about how carefully she and her husband vetted Allison’s ‘friends’ in order to be certain that she only associated with the ‘right’ people.”
“Why hasn’t someone done something about them then?” James demanded, still not totally convinced.
“Nothing they have done is illegal,” Mr. Fowlkes conceded heavily, “Immoral and unethical certainly, but Lowell is too smart to do anything…prosecutable. Money is power, and they have a lot of money. I know of at least three instances where someone defied their wishes and ended up having their loans or credit card debts bought up quietly and then either made immediately payable or raised to such a high interest rate there was no way to keep up the payments. Not many people stand up to them for long. There have been other things, but I think you get the picture.”
“Mom and I don’t owe money to anyone,” I could hear the relief in James’ voice.
“No, but you have a scholarship and Tate is a major contributor to the school as well as on the Board,” Mrs. Fowlkes supplied. “I am not implying that would be the direction his retribution would take, but it is a prime example of the vulnerability of your position.”
“I’m sorry, it’s not that I doubt you, but it’s hard to believe someone would go to such lengths just to control their daughter’s life,” James said shaking his head.
Elsee and I had remained silent throughout the whole exchange. She obviously believed the Fowlkes and was afraid for James; I was afraid for both of them.
“James please,” I pleaded softly, “You have to believe them. We will be flouting every plan they have made for my future. As Mr. Fowlkes said, they will not take this lying down. They will find a way to hurt you, or your mother, and I can’t…I won’t allow that to happen.”
Turning towards me, taking both of my hands in his and looking deeply into my eyes, James recognized my undisguised fear. That decided him.
“What do we need to do?” he asked twisting around in his seat to face the Fowlkes.
“My wife has a plan,” Mr. Fowlkes grinned widely at us. “We have incontrovertible evidence of something that Tate would never want to come to light. At the very least his appointment as a judge would be in jeopardy.”
Startled, I opened my mouth to ask but Mr. Fowlkes put his hand up to forestall me.
“I will not divulge this information to anyone, including you Allison, unless Tate forces my hand, but rest assured it will stop him in his tracks.”
“Allison has been given two days to produce her fiancé before her father cuts off all financial support and, although Allison has assured me that won’t be a problem for her at this point I fear it is only the beginning. I would like to invite him here tomorrow to formally introduce you two,” Mrs. Fowlkes suggested with a tired smile. “After that is done, George and I will have a private chat with him. He will need to make his intentions towards you clear before I will risk exposing…” Mrs. Fowlkes caught herself before she could say too much. “Anyway, if he reacts as we suspect he will, we will deal with him. I’m certain you will find him a changed person when he leaves.”
“You think it will work?” I asked dubiously. “I thought my father was going to have a stroke when he confronted me at my apartment yesterday afternoon. He is not going to accept James willingly.”
“I have no doubt about my ability to convince him,” Mr. Fowlkes said grimly. “When you called yesterday afternoon I immediately began to put everything in order. My lawyer is more than a match for Lowell Tate and there is no love lost between the two of them. If he starts a fight, he will lose his appointment, and that is more important to him than anything else is right now. We must play to that weakness.”
“I hate doing things this way,” James shook his head helplessly.
“No more than we do, my dear sweet boy,” Mrs. Fowlkes said sadly. “I deeply regret having to do this, more than you can know, but I trul
y believe there is no other way if you and Allison are to have a chance of happiness.”
“Thank you,” I smiled tremulously at both of the Fowlkes. “I’m sorry we involved you in this mess. I just didn’t know where else to turn.”
“You did the right thing in calling us,” Mrs. Fowlkes reassured me with a smile. “I am very fond of the Wilsons and you will soon be joining their family. We are glad to be able to help.”
“Someone needs to teach Lowell Tate a lesson,” Mr. Fowlkes was practically beaming from ear to ear, “and I am very much obliged to you for allowing me the chance to do it.”