Contracted To Love

Chapter 4

It had been a week since David’s date with Michelle. Two weeks since the talk he’d had with his father and he hadn’t thought of either of those instances. Not once. Instead, he’d busied himself with business both in New York and in military bases abroad. He was still jet-lagged when he arrived at his family estate on Monday evening. His mother had insisted that he go over for dinner even though he wasn’t really feeling up to it. He’d had a hard time settling back into a normal routine now that up was down and down was up when it came time zones. He was quiet as they dug into the casserole, saying very little. It wasn’t until his mother left the table that his father asked how the search for a wife was going. The question threw David off.

“Dad, I’m not looking for my next phone or something. It takes a while, you know.”

“I was hoping you’d have good news for me because my retirement is fast approaching.”

David looked at his father.

“I’m thinking of vetting Nora Walker,” Taggert went on. “You know, for CEO.”

David looked at his father in surprise. It wasn’t just the threat of replacing him, it was the person he’d chosen to replace him with. Nora Walker wasn’t just another player in the field, she was David’s biggest competition. She’d always been since business school. David had remained at Favre Securities but she’d gone on and worked for the who’s who in the financial sector.

“I’m far more qualified than Nora Walker is,” David said and Taggert shrugged.

“I told you, my retirement is fast approaching and I’m not going to leave it to some playboy with unlimited credit.”

David shook his head.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Son, I already told you… you’re forty-one but you live your life like someone in their early twenties. You cannot be a responsible businessman yet you lead a reckless personal life. Those are two extremes that just don’t mix.”

“So, your answer for that is to cut me out of the company I helped build?” David asked.

Taggert grinned widely.

“You didn’t build Favre Securities, son, I did. What you did was help expand it, build a healthier profit margin.”

“And isn’t that worth something?”

Taggert nodded. “It is but I would have failed as a father if I didn’t make sure that you’ve settled in your role as a man.”

David shook his head.

“What does that have to do with the quality of work I do?” he asked and Taggert forced a laugh.

“Do I need to remind you how we lost the opportunity to work with Katsui Kasahara because you were God-knows-where because of the situation with the Santa Cruz girl and that model you got yourself mixed up with.”

David’s gaze fell. He remembered that blunder. It was actually more than just a blunder. It had been a catastrophic move that had cost Favre Securities millions in potential revenue. Matter of fact, everything he’d done over the last year was an attempt to redeem himself; and he had. At least he thought he had.

“I cannot let something like that happen again, son,” Taggert went on. “Your mother told me that she set you up with the Smith girl. She’s a good woman with a good head on her shoulders, if you ask me.”

Yeah, no one is asking you though. David wanted to yell out his frustration.

“I did meet her but…” David’s voice trailed off. He didn’t know how to tell his father that he thought his business partner’s daughter was an absolute snooze fest.

“Well, whatever happened, you have to work fast. I would love to have a new face to look at by Thanksgiving,” Taggert said before leaving the room.

David sighed loudly. What was it with his father and deadlines all of a sudden? Meet his girlfriend by Thanksgiving? Be a husband by Christmas? Was there some underlying reason that David didn’t know about? There had to be. It was the only explanation for all this madness.

As he sat there, wallowing in his thoughts, David finally realized that his father wasn’t kidding. He really had every intention of cutting David out of the business unless David did something fast. He had to act and act fast. He reached for his phone and did the one thing he did not think he would ever do again. He called Michelle Smith.

                                                            *****

Michelle was uneasy as she waited outside Jean’s house. The house, a three bedroom two bath, was like a permanent reminder, a monument that housed all her unhappiness. It was in that house that she’d found out that the man whose child she’d brought into the world was really a monster in disguise. It was there that she’d learned who Jean DeClerque truly was. At first, all she saw in him was her dream man. A good looking French American who was looking to build a life with her. She hadn’t even cared that he wasn’t in the same class as she was. That hadn’t matter to her. All she’d cared about was that she’d found a good mature man, in a world where such men seemed to be in short supply. It was in that house that she first got knocked around by Jean and then again… and then a third time. It was that house that she’d brought her daughter home to and it was the house Jean had fought to keep. It was only after the fact that Michelle realized just why her parents were so anti-Jean, but for a time Michelle had thought that they were exaggerating. There was no way that a man she loved could be what they were afraid of, right? Jean was great, after all.

“At least sign a prenup before you get married,” Marilyn had insisted, but Michelle wouldn’t give her the time of day.

“Just because I didn’t get a husband from the Upper East Side, mom, you think that he’s no good for me?” Michelle had been angry. “You do realize this is why the world hates the top one percent, right? Because of comments like those.”

Michelle had been beside herself, she was going to defend him if it was the last thing she did. But that move, not having him sign a prenup was the one thing he used to screw her. Well, not completely. He did get the house that she’d paid for and was entitled to half the returns of the bakery they’d started together, but that was it. There were days she’d wanted to take the house from him, make it like she was pulling a rug out from underneath him, but that house was her daughter’s home.