A May-September Wedding (17 page)

Cal matched
the investment statements to the files in the cabinet. Most of the
investments had dipped significantly when the banking crisis hit
the US but all had recovered, except for one which he made a note
to speak with Lawrence about. He opened a reminder notice from
Revenue Canada and made a note to call Brenda's accountant, his
accountant he supposed, to arrange for an appointment to get the
financial statements and tax returns done for the holding
company.

He opened the
envelope on the ownership transfers and found a letter from David
acknowledging the change of ownership in Richardson Holdings and
asking if he'd like to invest more money in the company.
Remembering Brenda's warnings and the couple of courses on reading
financial statements from his last job he dug into the files to see
if he could figure out what Brenda had been concerned with.

The financial
statements for David's company going back ten years were in the
cabinet. David was the sole common shareholder and Brenda had all
of the preferred shares which were conditionally convertible to
common. Brenda's initial investment had allowed David to patent an
improvement to cell phone antennas that eliminated the need for an
external antenna of any kind.

The returns
were exceptional for the first four years then they levelled off.
The revenue continued to grow but the expenses grew faster. From
dinner conversations, Cal knew that David and his research team
hadn't gotten any bigger and they owned the building they were in.
So why were they losing money?

There were
raises and bonuses but those seemed to be in line with the income
growth. There were a couple of new patents that were bringing in
good revenue,. The administration costs stayed reasonably
proportional.

Cal continued
down the expense categories. Travel went up in 2006 and stayed at
the new level. Professional fees went up and down but stayed in a
normal band. Consulting fees? David had never mentioned using a
consultant. Patent lawyers, yes, but not consultants.

Cal looked at
the progression. $50,000 in 2006 up to $450,000 in 2010. This
tipped the earnings from very healthy in 2006 to dipping into
reserves last year.

What was this
about? Cal was about to pick up the phone to call David when there
was a loud crash from the kitchen. "Are you okay?" Cal yelled down
the stairs.

Phyl's
slightly panicky voice called, "I dropped the glass lemonade
container as I was carrying it to the fridge. I'm barefoot and I
don't dare move."

Cal called
down the stairs, "Just stay put. I'll tidy up and be down right
away." He hastily piled all of the papers neatly in the middle of
the desk and put a paperweight on top.

Cal entered
the kitchen to see a very frustrated teary eyed Phyl standing very
still in a puddle of lemonade. "Just a minute, dear heart, I'll get
my shoes and work gloves for the glass and the mop for the
lemonade." He saw the tears forming in her eyes and said, "Take a
deep breath or two, I'll be right back."

Lydia and
Felicity came in with their shoes on and began to mop up the edges
of the lemonade spill with paper towels. Cal got an old cereal box
from the recycle bin and began to place the broken glass inside.
Phyl stood still doing deep breathing exercises until Cal was able
to lift her over the broken glass to the edge of the kitchen where
she grabbed some paper towel to wipe off her feet before fleeing to
the half bath to wash up.

The other
three cleaned up the rest of the glass and lemonade. Tim emerged
from the basement to announce the score in the Montreal game and
ask what happened before grabbing a drink and a snack and heading
back downstairs.

Lydia said,
"Mum's going to need some time before she calms down, Beast."

Felicity
looked agreement with her best friend, "We should get out of her
way, Monster."

Cal looked at
both of them. "Cowards."

They both
looked at Cal and said, "Yep." Then they kicked off their shoes
into the front closet and ran back upstairs.

Cal called
after them, "Thanks for the help."

Felicity
called back, "You're welcome." Lydia added, "No problem."

Cal walked
back to the front closet and took off his shoes and gloves then
tapped on the door of the half bath. "Phyl, are you okay?"

Phyl's tear
streaked face appeared around the slowly opening door. "I feel like
an idiot, Cal." She walked out of the room and wrapped her arms
around his waist before putting her head on his shoulder.

A surprised
Cal finally put his arms around Phyl and began patting her back as
she got his shirt wet. "It wasn't anything Phyl. It was humid
today. That container could be very slippery when it got refilled."
He tightened his arms around her to reassure her.

They stood in
the hall holding onto each other for a while. Phyl's breathing
calmed then started to change rhythm as she realized what they were
doing. Her breath got shallow and faster as she willed Cal to keep
hugging her.

Cal felt Phyl
relax as her breathing calmed. He told himself that she was a
friend in distress and tried not to react to the armful of warm
woman. Phyl had toned up since he'd held her at the fund raising
dance. The muscles of her back were sleek and firm and the soft
curves nestled against his chest were reminding him how long it had
been since he'd held an attractive woman.

'If there's no
spark between you...' Cal lost himself in Phyl's hug and allowed
himself to feel the spark grow into a flame.

Phyl could
feel Cal trying to pull her closer and she looked up into his eyes
with a question. Cal's answer was shake his head and move back.
"I'm sorry, Phyl, I can't..."

Phyl dragged
him over to the sofa to sit and, sensing that pushing him to kiss
her would be wrong, said, understandingly, "I know. I think your
reasons are silly, but I respect them, and you. A whole lot." She
pulled his arm around her shoulders. "But I'd like you to hold me
for a bit longer."

Cal, still
somewhat dazed, replied, "I can do that." He reached for the
satellite radio remote with his free hand and tuned into a jazz
station.

They were
still cuddling when the girls came downstairs to get a drink.
Neither Phyl nor Cal noticed their presence nor their approving
looks.

Cal collected
the mail and went upstairs to the study to deal with it. Despite
Brenda's teasing, Cal was really very organized when he had to be,
but no one he'd ever met was as organized as Brenda.

The stack was
mostly ad mail, but there was a statement from PrivateMortgage with
a note from Joyce asking Cal to give her a call. From the numbers
it looked like Cal could think seriously about offering the
Morrisons a no down payment mortgage if they were ready to buy a
house.

The other
large envelope was from an accounting firm. Inside he found a copy
of the latest financial statements at April 30 from David's
company, Antenna Solutions. The bottom line suggested that he was
almost bankrupt. Scanning the statements he saw that the preferred
dividend had been deferred, the payables were rising and that the
consulting fees had risen to $520,000.

Deciding that
this was too strange, he called the company. "Antenna Solutions,
how may I help you?"

"David
Richardson, please. It's his father calling."

"One moment
please." Cal waited long enough to identify the tune on the
muzak.

David
answered. "Hi Dad, what's up?"

"Are you
available this afternoon?"

David's voice
became suspicious. "Why?"

"I think it's
time for the president of Richardson Holdings to meet with
you."

"Are you
bringing a cheque?" David was almost pleading.

"Only if I get
the answers I want."

"Then no."

"Okay then.
I'll send you a notice that I'm converting all my shares to common
because you deferred the preferred dividend for the second year
along with a notice for a shareholders meeting."

"For
crissakes, Dad, can't you trust me to manage my own business?"

"From the
financial statements the accountant just sent me? No, I can't.
Besides, your mother left me a note to say that I was to help Judy
as much as possible. Watching you flush a very profitable company
down the toilet doesn't help anyone."

Cal could hear
David sigh. "All right, Dad. I'll clear my afternoon for you."

"I'll see you
at one-thirty."

Cal was
ushered into the small boardroom where David was pacing. "I don't
know what the hell you want, Dad. I've been trying to keep the
company afloat but no one wants to invest."

Cal put a
stern look on his face. "Anyone who looks at the financial
statements would see the same thing I do; that you're bleeding
money faster than you're making it. Now, I can't see anything
radically different from one year to the next, except for your
consulting fees. I want to see those contracts."

David stopped
pacing and slumped into a chair. "You can't see them."

"Do I have to
take control of the company? I can't see them or you won't let
me?"

"You can't see
them, Dad. There are no contracts."

Cal pondered
and let David sweat. "So what are you getting for the money?"

David fell
silent for a while. Cal suggested, "Is it a gambling habit or is it
a mistress?"

At the word
mistress David reacted. "It's not a mistress."

"You didn't
react to gambling and I know you don't do drugs or drink to excess
and you say there's no mistress, so what's going on David?"

David hung his
head in shame. "It's Erica."

Cal asked,
gently, "Who is Erica?"

"My other
daughter."

Cal sat back
in shock. Then he looked at the consulting fees line on the
financial statements. "You're being blackmailed?"

"Sort of."

"And the
increased travel?"

"I fly down to
Richmond once a month to spend a few days with Erica and to check
up on the antenna factory. She lives with her grandmother, Grace
Humbolt."

"So does any
of that money get to Erica or Grace?"

"Some."

Cal closed his
folder. "Okay. Here's the deal. You are going to call Judy and let
her know. You'll call Erica's mother and tell her that she has a
choice between receiving a fair child support or letting Erica come
to live here. Depending on what Judy says, you may need to go into
counselling or maybe get a divorce lawyer. And Erica may have to
live with me if Judy can't take her in. And last, you'll give Phyl
all of the pictures and negatives."

David had been
nodding until that last. "No way. If I have to go through all this
shit you have to stop seeing that bitch. I'm surprised she told you
about the pictures."

Cal stood and
said in his best officer on duty voice, "I was not negotiating with
you, I was offering a take it or leave it deal. If you want to keep
this company intact with you running it you will start by picking
up the phone and calling your wife. Otherwise, I've bought myself
an entry back into the workforce."

David sat back
and glared at his father. Cal asked, "How did it happen?"

David fiddled
with a pen for a while, then began. "Jeanine Humbolt was working in
the marketing division for the manufacturing concern near Richmond
that I deal with when I went down to pitch the new antenna to them.
She was obviously invited to all the meetings to try to distract me
from making a good deal. Well, I got a good partnership deal from
them, but I had too much to drink to celebrate and one thing led to
another and we spent one night together." David's voice was very
quiet. "Just one. Though we did spend a lot of time together during
the negotiations."

Cal prompted.
"Go on."

"About two
months later Jeanine called to say she was pregnant and that she
was keeping the baby and she wanted support. I flew down to see her
when she was three months pregnant. I gave a blood sample for the
paternity test and witnessed the CVS procedure. It was all right
and tight. We each witnessed the samples being put into the lab
envelope with instructions to fax the results to us at the same
time. About two weeks later I got the fax."

David looked
defeated. "Erica was mine. So I paid for the prenatal and hospital
bills and promised child support. I put Jeanine on the payroll as a
consultant, but she got greedy after I said that there was no way
she could get in touch with you and Mom."

"That's it in
a nutshell. In a way I'm relieved that you found out. Now I can
tell Jeanine to go to hell." David folded his arms across his
chest.

Cal pointed at
the board room telephone. "Call Judy."

David looked
hesitant. Cal said, "I'm not leaving. Call her."

David let out
a long sigh and dialled home. "Judy. I have some news that you
won't like...No. The company isn't bankrupt...Oh, God, this is
hard. Judy, I have another daughter..." Cal could hear Judy's gasp
on the other end of the phone. "Her name is Erica. She's five...
I've been paying her mother off...I don't know. Dad found out from
the financial statements and he made me tell you...You're
what?...Okay, I'll give him the phone." David looked at his father.
"She wants to talk with you. I hope you're happy."

"Judy?"

"Cal, is it
true?"

"I'm afraid
so, Judy."

"I'm going to
need some time to figure this out. Can I stay with you for a
while?"

"Yes, you're
welcome to stay with me." David looked daggers at his father. "But
I'm not going to be a referee. If you want one of those I'll insist
you see a counsellor."

Judy paused.
"I guess that's fair. Are the kids welcome?"