The Daughter-in-Law (14 page)

TWENTY

“W
ELL, HERE
goes nothing!” Jonathan turned off the road and slowed at the first gate. The security guard stepped out sternly, then bent to peer through the windshield.

“Oh, Mr. Donner. Good to see you.” He glanced down at his clipboard and then quickly flipped a page.

Jonathan had lowered the window. “We’re not expected. Thought we might surprise them.”

“A pleasant surprise indeed!” He stepped back into the guardhouse and the iron gate swung open. At the same time, tire spikes retracted into the ground.

They were on the road through the woods that Nicole remembered from the party, a mile of Belgian blocks flanked by perfectly trimmed trees.

“Nervous?” Jonathan asked.

“Scared out of my wits.”

“They’ll love you.”

“Not if they’re the ones who tried to have me killed.”

He laughed. The small gatekeeper’s house that they had shared appeared in front of them. He reached down and squeezed her knee. Then they turned onto the circular access road and came quietly to a stop at the front door. “Leave the luggage,” he said as he opened her door.

“You think they’ll throw us out that quickly?”

He led her up the path, tried the door handle, and then rang the bell. Raymond, the front hall porter, opened the door instantly.

“Well, Mr. Donner. Welcome home. And Mrs. Donner,” he added without missing a beat. It was as if he had been greeting her by that name for years.

“Nice to see you, Raymond,” Jonathan said in a full voice. Then, in a more confidential tone, “Are they at home?”

“They are. Out on the patio having a cocktail. They’ll be delighted to see you both.”

The two men exchanged glances confirming that they were both aware of Jonathan’s peculiar status. Raymond asked, “Shall I get your things out of the car?”

“Better wait until we find out where we’re staying.”

“If
we’re staying,” Nicole whispered to Jonathan as they crossed through the living room.

Jack seemed genuinely pleased to see them. “Glad you survived Belize,” he said as he shook his son’s hand. “Snakes and crocodiles . . . hell of a place for a honeymoon.” He paused awkwardly in front of Nicole, not sure whether he should shake her hand or take her into his arms. She stepped close for a kiss on the cheek. “And you,” Jack said. “You must be crazy about him to follow him into the jungle. Wonder you didn’t come down with a poison dart...”

She laughed and called him “Mr. Donner.” He reminded her that he was “Jack.” Then he pushed the newlyweds toward the chair where Alexandra was sitting, a perfect martini standing proudly on the table beside her.

“Congratulations,” she said to her son as he bent to kiss her cheek. She reached out to Nicole and brushed a kiss on her as well. “You’re certainly the easiest child I ever had. A very short pregnancy and a painless delivery.” She gestured that they should pull up chairs, and ordered Jack to get them both drinks.

When he had fixed a martini for his son and a margarita for Nicole, he lifted his own drink and proposed a toast. “Best wishes for a happy marriage.” They drank, and then he said directly to Jonathan, “Hope you’re better at this than managing a portfolio.” They all laughed as if he hadn’t really meant it.

“We wanted to get married, and we didn’t want to wait while you put together a gala wedding,” Jonathan said to explain their elopement. “We just said, ‘Let’s do it!’ and that’s what we did.” He didn’t mention that Nicole was about to leave him. They had decided it was best not to mention that she knew they were investigating her.

They talked about their idyllic honeymoon, the charms of a private island and the joys of diving together. Again, they had agreed to skip the intruder who had battered Nicole. She had wanted to lay it all out so that Jack might include them under his shield of security people. But Jonathan had prevailed. Kidnapping was a stretch from
what was probably an amateur burglary. Finding time for themselves would be enough of a problem without hired busybodies.

Alexandra was completely frank about her disappointment that she had not been told. “I could have gone to City Hall, you know. If that was the way you wanted to get married, I still would have appreciated being there.” It was obvious that she intended to do a good deal of pouting. “I have only one son,” she reminded Nicole. “Now, all I can do is have a cocktail party in your honor.” The implication was that Nicole had been directly responsible for ruining her life. Nicole might be accepted into the family, but there was still going to be a time in purgatory.

They decided to move into the gatekeeper’s cottage. That would give them a bit of separation from the affairs of the main house, and keep Nicole from confronting Jack and Alexandra at every turn. And they would keep Jonathan’s apartment in the city as a base for the workweek. But the arrangements were only temporary. Jonathan had ideas for a resort hotel on Ambergris Cay, tied in with a flight service out of Miami. He needed some time to work up the details into a solid financial presentation, and then he planned to offer the idea to Sound Holdings. It was an escape plan that merged financial proprietary with a career in a diver’s paradise, appealing both to his father and to himself.

Nicole’s presentation was just three weeks later, at Rockbottom. Alexandra had considered scheduling for Newport, in the height of the season. But she had reasonable doubts about how Nicole Pierce might be received. Better to do it quickly without too much fanfare. Just a simple Sunday afternoon gathering of the absolute minimum of family and friends—certainly not more than two hundred. Perhaps heavy hors d’oeuvres and a top-shelf bar. Maybe a jazz combo. Something big enough to get Nicole introduced, but small enough to provide deniability if the marriage crashed.

The invitations carried news of the wedding, and the vultures gathered instantly. The first appraisal was that, “She must be pregnant, but in this day that’s hardly a reason to get married.” Close friends who knew the family situation sympathized that Jack and Alexandra must be mortified. “Why else would Jonathan marry a nobody other than to embarrass them?” And there were those who simply couldn’t believe it. “Who? Not the girl he brought to Pam’s graduation? I never found reason to speak with her!”

The gentleman’s explanations were snickered in the locker rooms. “She looked like one great piece of ass to me. No matter what the settlement, little Jonny will be getting his money’s worth.” Followed by, “Jack ought to get a shot at her. He’s the one who’s going to be paying the bill.”

The post-debutantes, many of whom regarded Jonathan as a prime catch, had other thoughts. “Who is she? Why would Jonathan Donner saddle himself with a nobody?”

Alexandra dreaded the gathering even as she planned it. Not that she really cared what most of the charity set thought, but she knew how skillfully they could inflict pain on an outsider, and that would mean pain and embarrassment for her son as well.

Jonathan wanted his wife to be a smash hit, and thought in terms of an elaborate dress and heavy-duty jewelry. Nicole simply wanted a repeat of the classy but sexy number she had worn to Pam’s affair. “I don’t really care what they think,” she told her husband. “None of them is going to move in with us in Belize.”

The reception, as Alexandra intended, was minimal. Everyone made a point of speaking to the newlyweds, and then sympathizing with Alexandra because she had been cut out of the wedding. Then they gathered in small groups and talked about the downfall of the Donners. “Jonathan could have done so well,” was the shared regret of family and friends.

When it was over, Jonathan brought Nicole back to the cottage. “They all loved you,” he said.

“They all hated me and pitied you,” she answered.

At the main house, Jack ventured into Alexandra’s room to get help taking off his tie. “I thought everyone seemed to like her,” he said.

“They hated her,” Alexandra informed him.

TWENTY-ONE

I
T WAS
two days later when Nicole stopped by the main house to thank Alexandra for the party. She was surprised when her new mother-in-law invited her for another walk in the garden. There were a few moments of pleasant chatter until they cleared the house. Then Alexandra rolled out the artillery that her investigators had assembled.

“Well, you made good on your ambition: you really did marry the richest man in the world. Or, at least one of the better financed.” Nicole looked stunned, so Alexandra explained, “That’s what you wrote in your high school yearbook as your ambition in life. ‘To marry the richest man in the world.’ Surely you remember.”

“That was in high school,” Nicole answered softly. “Ten years ago. We were trying to be funny. I think one of the girls wrote that she wanted to be Tom Cruise’s cleaning woman.”

“Yes, I saw that one, too,” Alexandra agreed.

They walked a few more steps before Nicole asked, “Where did you ever find a copy of my high school yearbook?”

“At your high school, I suppose. I asked some research people to find out all that they could about you. After all, you’ve just become my daughter.”

“You could have asked me. I’d have told you anything you wanted to know.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, there are a few areas that I’d love you to fill in. For instance, you said you went to a junior college. Which one was that?”

“A community college. In Muncie. Part of the state system. But I didn’t graduate. I knew what I wanted to do, so I left early.”

“And that’s when you came to New York. To be an actress?”

“To Chicago, first, to get some experience. And then to New York. Looking back it seems ridiculously starry-eyed. But at the time I thought I had talent.”

“Did you?”

“Apparently not. I took all the lessons, got an agent, and made all the casting calls. I never even got callbacks.”

It was a quiet exchange, in conversational tone, spoken as they meandered from plant to plant. But despite the setting, the words were without warmth. Alexandra was probing, and Nicole was answering, almost as if it were a job interview. Nicole was seething with resentment, but knew she had to keep her cool. In a way, she was applying for a position.

“That must have been very disappointing. How did you manage to make ends meet?”

“Waitressing. Odd jobs. A few modeling shoots. And I shared expenses with a girlfriend, another actress who never got any callbacks.”

“It’s the odd jobs and modeling assignments that interest me. What were they like?”

Nicole stopped and turned to face her. “I’m sure you already know. If your ‘research people’ found my yearbook, I’ll bet they gave you a complete list of my publishing achievements.”

“Yes, I do know. But does Jonathan know? Have you told him about your modeling career?”

Nicole sighed and looked her adversary in the eye. “No, I was hoping that was a part of my life that he would never know.” Then she asked, “Will he know?”

“Not from me. And if you were just another couple he probably wouldn’t hear about it from anyone. But you’ve stepped up in the world, girl. Like it or not, you’re in the limelight. It won’t be long before some society writer pushes your pictures into his face.”

Nicole blushed noticeably. She nodded. “I suppose I have to tell him.”

“But where will you stop? Once you get started, you’ll have to tell him everything. Your career as . . . what do they call it. . . a
hostess?
And your year with that director. What were you trying to do? Sleep your way to stardom?”

“I did a lot of stupid things,” Nicole snapped, her anger suddenly breaking through. “Lots of people make mistakes. But usually no one turns the dogs loose to dig them up.”

“It didn’t take much digging,” Alexandra answered, running right
over Nicole’s implied insult. “And I suspect you knew that it wouldn’t. Isn’t that the reason for the speedy elopement?”

Nicole took a step back. “My God, there’s no limit to your cruelty. You think the worst of everyone: your husband for bullying your son, your son for taking it. And now me.”

“It’s not cruelty. It’s honesty. But the truth can be very cruel to those who would rather hide it.”

“The elopement was Jonathan’s idea,” Nicole said, sounding a note of triumph. “At the moment he suggested it, I was packing to get out of the city and get out of his life all together.”

Now it was Alexandra’s turn to seem surprised.

“And let me tell you why I was leaving. Because I learned that your
research
people were investigating me as if I were some sort of criminal. I didn’t want to be around when you dropped your findings on Jonathan.”

“It would have been so much better for everyone if you
had
just left,” Alexandra said. “Even better for you.” Then she changed the direction and turned back toward the house. She had disclosed the problem while they walked in one direction. Now she was going to consider a solution.

She claimed that she understood the difficulties a young actress can face when she comes to New York, repeating Jack’s comment that they were all waiters or bartenders. She knew why they put themselves into unsavory situations, and she could understand why they might become easy prey to “the worst kind of men.” Obviously, these were years that were better forgotten. But the fact was that the family reputation, its social position, and even its business couldn’t survive the kind of scandal that Nicole’s past would surely bring. Sound Holdings couldn’t very well be married to a “hostess.”

“Jonathan and I were thinking about some sort of career out of the country,” Nicole began to explain. “You know that he has little interest in the family business. He was thinking—”

“He has a great deal of interest in the family money,” Alexandra interrupted. “Your presence makes it very unlikely that he’ll ever get his hands on any of it.”

She had a few thoughts on a solution to their problem. Nicole should confess all, including the fact that she had been skydiving for two years, and that her meeting with Jonathan wasn’t the stroke
of fate she pretended. Then it would be Jonathan’s decision to make. He and Nicole could exile themselves into one of his hobbies where they wouldn’t be around to embarrass the family. Naturally, there would have to be some sort of suitable financial arrangement. Or, perhaps they would agree that the marriage had been a mistake. Then there would be a quiet annulment with a generous settlement for Nicole.