by L. M. Reed
Chapter 23
“What are you doing here?”
“May I come in?” my father requested stiffly. “I need to talk to you.”
“James isn’t here so I would rather you didn’t.”
“I have a…favor…to ask, it won’t take long…”
I hesitated briefly then stepped back and motioned him into the apartment.
“What’s the favor?” I asked abruptly, shutting the door.
“You and your…Wilson…have been invited to accompany your mother and me to a dinner at the Governor’s mansion,” he informed me reluctantly.
“Surely you don’t need me any longer now that you…”
“I haven’t received it yet,” he interrupted in clipped tones.
Taking in his less-than-agreeable demeanor, I decided against asking him why.
“So where do James and I fit into your plans?”
“You don’t fit into my plans,” my father quickly disabused me of that idea. “But apparently the governor follows the Longhorns closely and is very impressed with the things he’s heard about Wilson.”
“When is this dinner?”
Although I didn’t want to go, I knew that if James thought there was a chance to win my father over, he would take it.
“This Friday,” he said, barely moving his mouth.
Furious, I desperately attempted to rein in my ire, not wishing to lose control in front of my father.
If the dinner was Friday, he must have known about it for quite a while, yet he had chosen to wait until practically the last moment to inform us no doubt hoping for something to come up so he could honestly say we weren’t available. He obviously didn’t want us to be there, but being caught in a lie would have been political suicide and therefore unthinkable.
“I’ll talk to my husband and get back to you,” I said attempting to modulate my voice.
He had a hard time accepting that answer, I could see him struggling to control his tongue, but in the end, he must have decided it would be best not to push me any further.
“The governor would appreciate an answer by tomorrow if possible,” was all he said as he reached for the doorknob.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I replied loftily as he let himself out.
James and I ended up attending not only the dinner at the governor’s mansion, but quite a few other events over the following months. As I suspected, James was hopeful that my father might relent and reevaluate our relationship. I knew better, but kept silent.
Much to my father’s annoyance, James was greatly in demand and very popular with everyone who met him. The governor was anxious to discuss the Longhorn’s upcoming season with James and as the season progressed and James seemed to be doing so well, he became quite a hit with many members of the Senate as well.
Richard appeared at most of the functions we attended usually with a gorgeous well-dressed beauty on his arm, occasionally escorting Nat. He appeared to be the same old Richard, complimenting the women, laughing at all of the men’s jokes, and generally giving every appearance of not taking life too seriously. I hoped he was getting over his infatuation with me. I wouldn’t admit it was any more than that; it hurt too much to think about it.
James’ football season wasn’t the only thing going well. I loved teaching. After a couple of months, I knew teaching was my true calling in life. In a strange way, I was very relieved that I enjoyed it so much. Even if I had never met and married James, I was confident that I could have made it on my own. The boost that thought gave me seemed to build my self-esteem in a way I hadn’t realized I needed so badly. I was good at something that was worthwhile and could support myself if need be.
Marriage to James helped me in another related yet subtly different way. My scheming and manipulations through the years had caused me to feel warped and unworthy. With the constant reaffirming of his love for me, I finally began to believe I was worth loving. James never went a twenty-four hour period without telling as well as showing me how much I meant to him.
We didn’t have any time during the day to see each other, I was at school until 4 pm and he had football workouts, but we did have the late evenings and nights together. Before we were married, we frequently had to go days without any interaction because we were too busy so it was comforting to know we would be able to end each day together. The hardest times were the weekends when he had out-of-town football games.
Still, life was good. We were able to live on my income along with what James had earned during the summer without touching any of the money we had in savings. Our apartment was smaller than the one my parents had leased for me, only one bedroom and one bath, but it was big enough for us.
I still felt sad over the loss of the Fowlkes guesthouse, but with the pieces of furniture we had gotten as wedding gifts as well as a few choice pieces from my other apartment our new place was homey.
The Fowlkes had been more concerned about my safety and well-being than the fact that their guesthouse was nothing more than ashes, razed to the ground. They made light of the fact that they had to deal with police crime scene tape and investigators for weeks afterwards, but I knew it couldn’t have been pleasant. My own interview with the police had been far from enjoyable. They had suspected Nat’s as well as Richard’s involvement, but thankfully those suspicions were short-lived with no evidence to support them. Becky had been acting alone and her remains incinerated almost to the point of being unrecognizable.
I shuddered, hating the fact that I still relived those horrible memories in my nightmares as well as my thoughts occasionally. It had taken months for my hair to grow in enough to stop feeling like a boy and even worse for me to quit jumping at every unexpected noise. Eventually I was able to stay alone in my apartment without being totally paranoid, just somewhat paranoid.
I knew it was unreasonable, but when my father had shown up during the summer to ask for our cooperation I’d had visions of him finishing what Becky had started. That he was still furious with me I had no doubt, but I admitted to myself that except for the one time he’d slapped me, he’d never shown a propensity for physical violence, so I realized my fears were unfounded.
Still…I couldn’t help the shivers of terror that were running up and down my spine the whole time we were alone together in the apartment.
He didn’t get his hoped-for appointment until late October. The justice who had been expected to step down for health reasons had gone into remission and changed his mind about vacating his seat.
For a while, it seemed as if my father would have to run against incumbent justices if he had any chance of becoming a Supreme Court Justice, meaning that all of his scheming and brownnosing had been for naught. Then, suddenly the cancer had come back and the man had died within a month of the cancer returning.
Morbidly, my father was ecstatic. He was duly appointed to finish out the term which meant he would most likely be reelected when the term expired and be able continue to fill the seat in the future only coming up for reelection every six years.
The good thing was that as long as his position was subject to reelection, the information the Fowlkes had on him would keep him in check. At least we hoped it would.
Once he was sworn in, James and I relaxed, knowing we wouldn’t have to attend anymore functions. As much as James had hoped my father would come around to accepting him, it hadn’t happened. He had been outwardly civil, but we had no doubt what his true feelings were about our having married without his knowledge or, most importantly, his permission.
I reassured James that I was fine, but I could tell he felt badly about everything that had happened. I had no idea how to convince him otherwise so I gave up. I personally didn’t want to waste any time dwelling on the man and woman who had given me life. I intended to live that life to the fullest realizing that time passed too quickly to spend much of it worrying about things or people for that matter, that couldn’t be change
d…and I knew my parents never would. I was truly done with them.