Red Collar (20 page)

“I have done nothing that’s illegal,” Clayton growled back.

“Not illegal but certainly unethical.”

“Unethical?! What’s unethical about what I do?”

“Oh come on,” Frank said tiredly. “Walking out on negotiations. I heard you even turned soviet on the last one. Employed Cyrus Maine to turn the deals dirty. And Cyrus Maine is as bad as you can get.”

“They are business tactics. Not that you will understand. You’re satisfied with the little you got. Growing slowly maybe your idea of business, but it is not mine. In the fifty years or so Dad, how much
growths have you added to your business?”

“And what are you racing towards with the way you do it? Not forgetting the trail of unreasonable layoffs. We’re talking about people’s lives!”

“None of it was unreasonable! We made cuts whenever we needed to. Those who could not stay were those who couldn’t offer anything profitable to the business.”

“That’s because you decided that your objectives were different!”

“The companies I buy are failing ones. Their objectives were not viable anyway! Does that even occur to you?”

“Enough!!” Olivia shouted.
“Not one more word. Both of you!”

The two men clamped, their eyes averted as they tried to calm their tempers.

Kate watched them uncomfortably. She had some problems at home but the altercation she just witnessed between Clayton and his father was more than just a problem. It didn’t take much to guess that Clayton and Frank had more disagreements than business. In fact, Clayton’s business only seemed to scrape the surface of their dissensions.

Leah nibbled nervously at her nails. Grandma Connie continued to play with Leah’s baby.

“It’s not always that we get to sit together as a family and have breakfast on a wonderful morning as this,” Olivia started. “On an island. People pay to get what we have for free. Shouldn’t we be grateful that we have this opportunity? We’re here, all of us. Alive and well and god bless, with additions to our family. And all you men can think about is your businesses. Not one more word of it! You hear me?” She dabbed at her forehead in irritation. “To think I even gave the maids the day off,” she muttered crisply under her breath.

The two men bowed their heads in
silence. But Kate sensed it was far from over.

“What have you planned for your
self, today Kate?” Olivia asked, a strained calmness prevalent in her voice.

“Not much,” Kate coughed. “In fact, I don’t really have any.”

“Well, if you are feeling any better, we’re going into town to get some supplies for the party. Would you like to come with us?” Olivia asked. “And with all that’s happened this morning, I think we need to treat ourselves a bit. Show the men we can do a better job at working together.”

“I’d love that,” said Kate. “Thanks Olivia.”

Clayton scowled. “Kate can’t go. I’ve got plans with her.”

“Oh stop it, Clayton,” Olivia scolded. “You’re turning out to be more like your father than you’d
like to admit. Let the woman make up her own mind. The way you drag her around makes me wonder why her hand hasn’t fallen off already. She’s not a rag doll, you know?”

Clayton gawked, on the verge of making a comment but shut up immediately when his mother gave him a warning look.

Olivia gave Kate a small smile. “Frank was just the same when we first started dating. He was possessive and wouldn’t let me out of his sight in case I fled back to California. He calmed down after we married. It’d be the same for you. Don’t let it scare you. They mean well.”

“You’re talking about me in the third person again, Olivia,” Frank grumbled.

“Well, you deserve it,” his wife shot back. “With the way you conducted yourself this morning, you deserve to sit in the corner and sulk.”

“Ma,” Frank ple
d. “Aren’t you gonna say something?”

Grandma Connie lifted her head. “What dear? I really think I need a pair of hearing aids. I
can barely hear what you’re saying anymore.” She scrambled out of her chair. “I think I will go make an appointment with that otologist in Sitka while we’re there. What’s his name?”

“Dr. Harper?” Leah offered with a giggle.

“That’s right,” Grandma Connie nodded. “Better now than never.” And she wandered off into the house.

Leah laughed. “She’s been trying to get that appointment with Dr. Ha
rper for more than ten years. The problem is though Doctor Gilbert Harper’s been dead two years now. But still Grandma uses him as an excuse to stay out of their squabbles.” She raised her eyes at Frank and Clayton.

Olivia giggled and despite their
efforts of forced solemnity, Frank and Clayton couldn’t suppress a smile.

The powerboat jetted across the Gulf Sea, heading towards the town of Sitka. Kate sat in the luxury of the cabin,
savoring the ride.

“Rudy would have loved this,” she thought.

Only ten minutes after they had left the island, Wayne, their bodyguard, brought the boat to a slow halt, docking it neatly into Crescent Harbor.

Kate marveled at the domineering presence of the giant Mount Edgecumbe flanking the background of the small town. It was hard to ignore its beauty and its snow-capped peak
in the fog that blistered about it as if trying to hide it and envelope its majesty.

“
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Leah whispered beside her. “It’s a dormant volcano, did you know?”

Kate nodd
ed. “I’ve seen pictures of it. But it’s even better in real life.”

“Have you heard of Porky Bickar?”

Kate shook her head.

Leah chuckled. “Well, his name’s almost synonymous with the mountain. When you talk about Edge
cumbe, you can’t help mention Porky Bickar as well. I’ll let Grandma tell the story. She actually witnessed the darned thing.”

Grandma Connie laughed. “Oh yes, I did. And even after all these years, you don’t get over something like that. Porky Bickar, god bless the poor bastard, threw in at least seventy old tires into the dormant crater of the
volcano and blew it up. When the town folks saw the rising smoke, they panicked, fearing it had become active and was going to erupt.  Someone called the coast guard up who flew above it to search the cause of all that smoke. And there he saw the evidence of the prank and a message for him in fifty foot letters. ‘April Fool’. You can’t do a prank any better than that.”

As Wayne stepped out to tie the boat, Kate gazed amazedly at the numerous boats bobbing in the harbor.

“Come on, Kate,” said Leah. “It looks as if it’s gonna be busy today.”

They moved quickly through the dock and into Lincoln Street.

“As you go further into town, you will also be able to see the equally beautiful Three Sisters Peaks on the right of the town. It’s not all just about Mount Edgecumbe, you know. ” Leah jibed. “And t
hat by the way is the family store.”

Leah pointed
at a building with a large sign that read
Reid’s Sitka Fishery and Hunting Supplies
.

Kate admired at the sheer size of the elegant store, feeling that Leah humbled the business drastically by calling it a mere family store.

“The locals of Sitka love fishing,” she explained. “We are known for the quality and the quantity of the best seafood you’ll ever find,” she stated proudly.

Kate smiled. “Even after all these years you’ve been abroad, you still love your town.”

Leah wound her arm through hers. “If I had a choice, I’d prefer living here. But Paris isn’t bad either, you know. It’s got a different feel entirely and a complete contrast to Sitka. But it also has its perks and you fall in love with it gradually. The culture, the people- they all get to you and before you know it, you’re addicted. Besides, Armand, my husband makes it all the more worth it.”

“
How long have you been married?”

“
Became Madame Blanc ten years ago and still happily married,” Leah gleamed. “After Dumont was born, we really wanted a girl to complete the family. But then we had Leveret, which was nice. But I so wanted a daughter. So when we tried again and baby Natalie came along, we were over the moon. She’s the first girl in her generation for both Armand’s and my side of the family. Everyone else has boys. So well, now you understand the excitement.”

She gave Kate a wide smile. “
You’ll get to meet Armand in two days. He really wants to be here for his little angel. He’s already so attached to his daughter, he calls me everyday just to make sure she’s fine,” Leah sighed tiredly. “It’s cute and it’s annoying. But I know I shouldn’t be. There are fathers who wouldn’t care, right?”

And mothers, Kate thought as she recalled the days when she was left alone without her mother.
She blinked away an image of her father as she listened to Leah’s tale of her husband’s affection for his daughter. Her own father hadn’t much to give her in terms of wealth. But he had certainly showered Kate with a love she would never forget. She lifted her face in the hope it would lift up her spirits as well. She didn’t want to ruin the Reid women plans with the somber details of her life.

“Talking about husbands, I wonder how
yours is doing with my baby girl, Mom?” Leah called out to her mother.

“Serves him right to babysit his grand-daughter,” Olivia retorted. “What was
he thinking picking a fight with Clayton after we had taken so much pain preparing such a beautiful breakfast? But as assurance, your father knows how to handle a baby like he was born to do it. Baby Natalie will be just fine.” She tapped her daughter’s arm with an air of confidence. “It’s your father I’m worried about.”

Olivia pressed onto her remote keys, rolling open a garage door- a side entrance to the store building.

“Wayne, we’ll be doing this alone,” she said, stepping into the driver seat. “Tell Frank we’ll be late, will you?”

They spent the entire day shopping and then headed to the beauty parlor for some rest and rejuvenation.

Kate was surprised that even at almost ninety years of age, Grandma Connie caught up with their strength, resting only briefly in the office lounge of the store.

They met again for dinner at an exquisite Italian restaurant that took her breath away immediately on sight.

Designed after “The Pantheon”, it was the pillars that caught her attention.
They were exquisitely carved totem poles with designs integrating both the Italian and Native Indian cultures.

“According to Guido Orsini
, the manager, each pole represents an Italian legend,” said Leah amusedly.

“I didn’t know totems were such a huge thing in Sitka,” Kate replied. “I’ve seen so many already.”

Leah smiled. “I’ve really enjoyed the day out with you, Kate. Never thought I would ever say this about any of Clayton’s girlfriends but I am really looking forward to you officially being part of the family.”

Kate lowered her eyes, biting her lower lip anxiously,
an encumbering nausea of guilt rising in her throat.

“What is it, Kate?” Leah peered
at her.  “Every time I mention anything about the wedding, you grow all pale. Don’t you want to marry Clayton?”

Kate lifted her gaze, her eyes brimming with tears. “I…I….” She closed her eyes and started again. “Of course, I do. I love him.”

Leah nodded. “I didn’t doubt that. I see it each time you look at my brother. He has his weakness. He’s got a short temper and sometimes so dogmatic to the point of annoyance. But he has a good heart.” She clasped Kate’s palm. “I suppose Clayton is right. You’re just all nervous.”

“Who i
s?” Olivia said as she led the way to a table.

Leah rolled her eyes. “Kate is a little anxious about the wedding.”

“Oh, that’s expected my dear,” Grandma Connie chirped in. “Do you know that on the day of my marriage, I snuck out of my room and stole away to Sitka. I sat at the pier until my husband came looking for me. The poor man was so stricken with distress and anxiety; he was shivering in his boots. He thought I had changed my mind.

But all I had wanted was to think. I suppose mourn as well. I was going to be married. I was going to assume a new identity. It was going to be Mrs. Connie Reid. My life as Connie Basinski was fading away and I was terrified. I didn’t know Connie Reid
. Who was she? What did she do? Would she still love this same man ten, twenty, thirty years later? How many children would she have? So many questions whirred through my mind.

I was leaving all that I knew for eighteen years
, to be with a man I knew barely eight months. Frankly, I was diving into an ocean of trust. It was a huge gamble. It could flip either way. For all I knew, my new husband could have been a monster. Or a vampire. It’s what you kids are into now, isn’t it?” She chuckled.

“
And then he found me, my Thomas. He saw me sitting at the pier, my skinny legs dangling over the side and my hair, wild as a wheat field on a windy day. I must have looked like a mad bag lady.