Echoes of Titanic (26 page)

It didn't take long to find out. Though some of the calls had been from concerned friends and colleagues who had just heard the news about Gloria's death, there were three messages from Sharon. The first two simply urged her to call into the office as soon as possible, but the third went into more detail.
Kelsey, it's me again. Walter just called together the staff and announced that the company is being targeted for a hostile takeover by Queen's Fleet Management Group. Please call me!

Queen's Fleet? That was Pamela Greeley's company. Kelsey lowered herself to the bed.

Not now. Not them.

Queen's Fleet was known throughout the industry as “Clean Sweep,” as in an acquisition by them meant all top-level executives gone, whether they were good at their jobs or not. Queen's Fleet always cleaned house of upper management when they did a takeover to make way for their own people.

How could Pamela, the CEO of Queen's Fleet, attempt a takeover of B & T? She had known and respected Adele. They had considered each other friends. Now Pamela was going to take over Adele's company, her very legacy? Kelsey pictured the woman sitting at the ceremony two days ago and realized why she'd been silent while Adele's name was being besmirched, offering no help in her defense. It was because she already had plans in the works to destroy what Adele had built.

Kelsey had to speak with her. She had to talk to Pamela in person, face-to-face. She wanted to march in there and demand to know how she could dare do this. But she couldn't just fly off the handle at her; she needed a plan. She would have to tread carefully, or she might end up making a bad situation worse.

She took a deep breath. Better to wait until she had more information before she did anything.

After a quick text to Sharon—
Got your message, will call later
—she went into the kitchen and told her grandfather that she was sorry but she needed to go. She had to get back to the city as soon as possible.

He frowned. “What's up?”

“B & T is being targeted for a hostile takeover.”

He glanced at the clock. “Well, do you want to look up the train schedule, or should we just head on up there now and take our chances?”

“Let's go,” she said. “I can be ready to leave in ten minutes.”

“Well, then, so can I.”

She ran to her room and changed into the only nice outfit she'd brought, a maroon shirt and a pair of black slacks. Though the outfit wasn't quite dressy enough for the office, it was better than the jeans and sweatshirt she'd been wearing.

Kelsey threw the rest of her things into her overnight bag, made the bed, and turned off the light. Her grandfather was waiting at the door, a mug in one hand and keys in the other. He gave the mug to her, and she smiled when she looked inside to see a steaming serving of oatmeal with raisins, a little brown sugar sprinkled on top and a spoon resting against the rim.

“Aww, Grandpa,” she cooed.

“Gotta eat,” he replied gruffly, stepping outside and locking the door behind them.

On the way to the station, he asked her to explain what a hostile takeover was exactly. “I mean, I've heard the term, but I don't really know what it means.”

Kelsey wiped her mouth with a tissue. “Well, a takeover is simply when one company acquires another company by buying up their stock, or sometimes by exchanging stock. It's called a ‘hostile' takeover when the management and the board of directors of the company being taken over don't want that to happen.”

“And that's what's going on at B & T?”

The traffic light ahead turned yellow, and though Kelsey wanted him to run it, he slowed to a stop instead.

“Yes.”

“That's bad?” he asked.

“Very.”

“What can you do about it?”

Kelsey took a bite of oatmeal, thinking about that. “I'm not sure. At least this isn't something that happens all at once, so a lot can change before it's all over.”

The light turned green and he accelerated as she continued.

“First, the acquiring company, in this case Queen's Fleet, makes an offer to management at the target company, in this case B & T. If the offer is turned down, then the acquiring company has the option of taking its offer directly to the stockholders. If they send out a letter to the stockholders notifying them of their offer, that means a hostile takeover is underway. Then there's a meeting held where a vote is taken, and if the stockholders vote to accept that offer, it's pretty much a done deal.”

“Has that gone out yet? The letter to the stockholders?”

“I assume so. I'll call my assistant once I'm on the train to find out more of the details. I haven't received such a letter yet, but it could have come in this morning's mail.”

“Well, I'm a stockholder too. If you want, I could call my broker and ask him.”

She smiled. “That's okay. Sharon can fill me in.”

They rode along in silence, and Kelsey took in the passing scenery as she finished her breakfast. They were driving north on 35, but with every cross street, she could look to their right and see sand dunes at the end of the block. Even in the midst of this turmoil, they were a calming sight.

“I know that the family doesn't own a majority stake anymore,” Jonah said, “but isn't it possible that this thing won't go through anyway? I mean, what if enough other stockholders vote no? Then it ends there, right?”

Kelsey nodded. “Yeah, but I doubt that's how it'll play out. Pamela Greeley doesn't do anything by chance, Grandpa. I have a feeling she already has enough votes lined up to win this thing or she wouldn't be moving forward.”

“What do we do? What will
you
do?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I don't know yet,” she said. “But if you feel like praying for me over the next few days, please do. Trust me. I'll need all the help I can get.”

Once they reached the station, Kelsey gave her grandfather a quick hug and kiss goodbye before grabbing her things and running inside. Unfortunately, she'd missed the 10:10 train by just five minutes. The next one wasn't
until 11:10, so she bought a bottle of water from a vending machine and found a quiet corner of the station to wait.

She needed to call Sharon, but before she did that, she pulled out pen and paper and dialed into the messages on her home phone. There were a ton, most of them media, but some from concerned friends and coworkers. She had almost gone through them when another one started and a familiar voice came to life.

He went on to leave three different ones, cell and home and office, and then he said goodbye one more time and hung up. Kelsey was so stunned to hear from him that she played the message through three more times before she remembered to write those numbers down.

Cole Thornton.

Coming out of the woodwork and back into her life.

She disconnected the call without listening to the rest of her messages. When the train came half an hour later, she was still sitting there, staring into space, trying not to think about how good it had been to hear the sound of his voice.

April 11, 1912

A
DELE

A
fter a delicious lunch, Adele and Jocelyn went up to the B deck promenade, both glad to see that the day had grown much warmer. Adele had forgotten her hand muff and fur hat in the stateroom, so she was relieved when she realized she wouldn't need them after all.

As it had since late that morning, Ireland sat in the distance and continued to taunt them both, surprisingly visible from where
Titanic
was anchored several miles off shore. The ship had been stationary for nearly two hours but would be departing soon.

The third-class promenade deck below had grown far more congested while they had been inside eating, and it was clear to see that the ship had taken on a number of new steerage-class passengers during their stop. Adele hadn't seen anyone new in second class, but she felt sure there would be at least a few additional people because she'd seen stewards preparing more of the rooms for occupancy.

The ship was scheduled to set sail again at one thirty, and Adele was determined to stay and keep watching the horizon until her homeland disappeared in the distance completely. She was saying as much to Jocelyn when a nearby passenger, a priest, interrupted to explain that the rest of the day would be spent moving in a direction that would have them running alongside the coast, and thus they might well be able to see Ireland for the entire afternoon.

Both girls found that thought comforting, that they would be given more time for a final farewell than just the next twenty minutes or so. They decided to stay exactly where they were just long enough for the initial departure, and then they would go to the library for reading material and relocate to the enclosed promenade, where they could alternately watch and read much more comfortably.

As the clock ticked closer to their departure time, Adele suddenly sensed an odd disturbance among her fellow passengers. Turning to look upward, she took in the shocking sight of a man's head, black with soot, peeking out from the top of the ladder inside the aft funnel. She decided that he must be a stoker just trying to take in the final view of his homeland, as she was; perhaps breathe in that last breath of sweet Irish air before setting sail. But those around them took a much dimmer—and more ridiculous—view, saying it was a bad omen of which they should all take heed.

Either way, the excitement of the sight was soon forgotten when the ship's horn gave three deep blasts, so loud from their vantage point that they could
feel
the sound as well as hear it as the engines sprang fully to life.

Then they were off.

The sight of land receding in the distance tore at Adele's heart even more than she had expected it to. To her delight—but also her dismay—down on the third-class promenade directly below, a passenger took out a set of Irish pipes and began to play a dirge. They sailed from Ireland to the tune of “Erin's Lament,” a sad and mournful goodbye to a land more beautiful than any other on earth.

Listening, Jocelyn took hold of Adele's hand and gripped it tightly, and when the song was over they clung to each other in a long embrace.

“Please stay with me in America,” Adele whispered, even though she had promised herself she wouldn't pressure her cousin on this matter. “I cannot bear to leave my homeland and lose you too!”

Pulling away, Jocelyn gave her an encouraging smile, always the motherer.

“Do not worry, cousin,” she said. “Whether I stay with you there or come back with my father here, you and I will always be bound together in our hearts.”

Adele nodded, knowing it was true. God had blessed her with a cousin, a sister, and her dearest friend all in one. Moving again to the rail, they remained side by side for a long time, unable to tear themselves from the sight of the rolling green hills slowly receding in the distance.

“I don't know how my father did it,” Adele said softly, trying to imagine how Sean Brennan must have felt when departing from this same shore sixteen years before. Not only had he been saying goodbye to his homeland, he was also leaving his wife and young daughter behind.

“He went to America to make a better life for all three of you,” Jocelyn replied. “I know it must have been difficult, but at the time he thought he would be bringing you both over to join him within a few years. He didn't know that his wife would die shortly after. He was just trying to do the right thing.”

Adele nodded, grateful for Jocelyn's wisdom. “You're right, cousin. None of us knows what the future holds.”

“That's why we do the best we can and trust in our heavenly Father,” Jocelyn replied, linking elbows with her cousin. “No matter what happens, we find strength in our relationships and comfort in the arms of the God who loves us all.”

K
elsey had a lot of calls to make, so as the train rattled toward Manhattan, she started by dialing Sharon, hoping to get all of the details of this latest development. Without taking time for chitchat, the EA jumped right in, telling her that Walter had gathered the staff together first thing this morning and told them what was going on. He said that he'd recently turned down an offer from Queen's Fleet Management Group for the purchase of Brennan & Tate, but they hadn't taken no for an answer. Now Queen's Fleet was going straight to the stockholders to try and overthrow management and pursue the purchase in a hostile takeover. Since that meeting, according to Sharon, not much else had happened around the office. Mostly there was just a lot of whispering and closed-door conversations. Kelsey imagined that probably half of her coworkers had already gone online and started looking for a new job.