Spoiled Fruit

by Sheila Horgan

  The girls were sitting at a small table set up by the alcove overlooking the busy street below. They saw the limo pull up. Granville and Talbot all but ran into the building. Moments later Elsa walked into the room and informed Adeline that they were in the lobby. “Please, allow them up.”

  The girls looked properly confused when the two came storming into the room.

  Granville growled at Anna and Carolyn. “Get out.”

  Anna stood completely erect. “I don’t think so. What the hell is wrong with you? I’m not leaving you alone with anybody.”

  Carolyn made a move toward the phone.

  According to their plan, Adeline raised one hand, and Carolyn stopped. “I don’t think that will be necessary, Carolyn, but thank you.” She then addressed her children. “Please, calm yourselves. I’m sure this is little more than a misunderstanding. Would you like refreshments?”

  As planned, Adeline’s calm response only inflamed her children.

  The girls were not concerned for their safety; they knew before Carolyn moved toward the phone to call for help that it wasn’t necessary to call for security. There were a number of very large men just on the other side of the door should things get out of control. There were also cameras strategically placed. The girls were prepared.

  At first they’d felt foolish putting all of the systems in place, even the approach in setting up Adeline’s children seemed like a complete farce, but Roland had assured them it would work. He explained that people react; they do not respond. Taking advantage of human nature is how police succeed every day.

  Every cop knows you can watch a million television shows about police interrogation and know that it is unwise to speak to a police officer without benefit of representation. Every perpetrator knows that the police are allowed to lie and misdirect you, yet most still blurt out things in that locked little room that will later damage their case.

  People are emotional creatures. Most act first and think later.

  When Adeline’s children were off-balance, which the girls had been seeing to since they got to town, and their funding was in jeopardy, they would react in a very predictable manner.

  Roland was willing to bet that Granville and Talbot would come to confront their mother. Obviously, he had been right.

  Adeline was serene. “What is it, Granville?”

  “Christophe just called.”

  Adeline smiled warmly. “Did he? And what did he have to say?”

  “You know damn well what he had to say. He called to let me, us, know that you are cutting us off.”

  “That is hardly the way I would phrase it, Granville. You were well aware that I am in the process of reorganizing. You are also aware that for decades now, the funds you are speaking of were supplied to you at my discretion. You have your own trusts and interests. The funding from me has become plethoric, and it is appropriate that while doing a complete reorganization it is time to take care of such” — Adeline seemed to search for a word, but she was actually right on script — “oversights.”

  Granville stuttered. He was trying to tamp down his panic to appear to come from a place of strength and power, but he was failing. “Why change? Why now?”

  Anna smirked. “Maybe you should have thought of that when you let your momma rot in that big old house and didn’t lift a finger to help her out.” It felt good to say it, even if it wasn’t in the script.

  Granville started to lunge at her, but held himself back. He was a man of great control, and he wouldn’t allow this.

  Adeline broke into Granville’s thoughts. “Is there a problem, dear? I assume that your holdings are solid. Your expenses for the children should be abated as they have each come into their own funds now. Is there something I should be aware of before putting this plan into effect?”

  “Without warning you simply cut us off?”

  Adeline continued in character. Completely serene. “I am utterly confused. I thought that this reorganization was due. You agreed when we spoke from my attorney’s offices.”

  Talbot’s voice registered as annoyed. “About that, Mother, you looked far less robust when we were discussing those plans. Your recovery is all but miraculous. What happened there?”

  “Proper care. Good friends. A new lease on life, actually. It is amazing what the human spirit can accomplish.”

  Talbot seemed the calmer of the two. “Mother, I believe that you owe us the courtesy — ”

  Anna cut her off. “She doesn’t owe you a thing. She has been paying your way all your damn life. When she needed you, where the hell were you? Did you come help her out? No, you did not! Yeah, we know that you knew she was sick and you didn’t do a damn thing. I pray to God it is because you couldn’t pry your lazy ass away from your important friends and engagements, but you know what? There isn’t any good reason why she should pay for you to hole up in that gilded world of yours when you couldn’t even get off your sorry behind and help her when she needed you most.”

  Talbot whirled and faced Anna. “So that’s it? You have talked her into — what? — spending her money on you? Mother, don’t you see? They are deluding you. These” — there was a pause while Talbot got herself under control — “women, they are not your family. We are your family. Don’t listen to them. They are little more than gypsies.”

  Adeline said nothing.

  Anna smiled.

  Carolyn tried to disappear.

  After a moment of silence — actually it was several moments — Adeline took a deep breath. She decided, right then, to end the charade and confront her children honestly. “Talbot, have you heard the Irish proverb ‘many a rose-cheeked apple is rotten to the core’? My assistant Cara has used that saying when speaking about charities I might be interested in.”

  “Oh, here we go, the almighty Cara. As if we hadn’t heard enough about her from Genevieve and now Christophe. The woman is either a liar or an alien. No one on this planet lives the life that little bitch reports.”

  Anna was fascinated by how Talbot went from sounding like a sophisticated rich person to a haggard house frau in just moments.

  Adeline smiled but didn’t say another word about Cara. She did not choose to make Cara a target of her children. She had tried. Perhaps those around her were correct, and her children did not deserve her kindness.

  When Adeline said nothing more, Granville asked. “So, that’s it? You’re going to cut us off?”

  “Darling, I am not cutting you off, as you put it. I am simply reorganizing, as you were advised, in writing, some time ago.”

  Talbot whined. “But the outcome is the same. You are not providing the support that we have always had.”

  “You enjoyed that income, yes, but it is hardly necessary now. I thought that the additional expenses of raising children was reason to supplement your income, but your children are now raised. Christophe is the last to leave the nest.”

  Granville snapped. “Yes, but the nest requires the same level of care.”

  Adeline seemed flippant. “Downsize.”

  Talbot was genuinely confused. “What?”

  Carolyn was almost certain that Talbot’s head would explode.

  Adeline smile. “I have done so and find it liberating. I live in a much smaller home now. I live a much simpler life.”

  “I worry for your mental health, Mother.” Talbot glared at Anna and Carolyn. “Obviously, you have come under the sway of others.”

  “Not at all. I am perfectly sound of mind and body, perhaps more sound than I have been in the last twenty years, and I have the two of you to thank for that.”

  Granville pulled a face, allowing his confusion to show.

  Adeline continued. “Without the callous treatment you extended me, I might not have come into contact with the very people you despise and who are responsible for my full recovery.”

  The look of pain on Talbot’s face was for her own loss, not the near death of her mother. “Mother, I’m sure you are aware that we had no way of knowing j
ust how ill you were. You must recall that we had not been in contact for some time.”

  Anna couldn’t hold her comment back. “And whose fault was that?”

  Adeline showed grace, as always. “We were both to blame. The telephone system is two-way, as are flights and any other conveyance.”

  Talbot seemed to gain strength from her mother’s defense of her. “Exactly. I fail to see how I have become the villain here. I am sorry that your health was failing, but I truly do not feel that I should be burdened with sole responsibility for not stepping in to find you a cure.”

  Anna was quite sure that Talbot was fishing to find out just how much they knew about the actions or inactions of Adeline’s oldest children. It had been their intent to keep the children off-balance. They allowed them to believe one moment that they knew it all, and the next that they knew little to nothing. Anna could understand why Talbot continued to probe. She prayed none of the girls would make a comment.

  Adeline spoke first. She rocked the children’s position again. “Talbot, that is water under the bridge, so to speak. We will learn from it and move on. Is there anything else that you require?”

  “What do we need to do to convince you not to change our current arrangement or at the very least to give us more notification? It is unrealistic for you to believe that we do not need to make plans to fund the shortcomings your withdrawal of support will cause.”

  “Talbot, darling, I am concerned. You and Granville have enjoyed a very generous trust your entire lives. You have, in addition, been gifted with substantial, if temporary, endowments to further fund your extravagant lifestyle. You have received the best education available and the very best professional consultations and advice. I trust that you have taken advantage of all of those opportunities. Goodness, you are almost to the age that the average person retires. Surely you have your affairs in order.”

  Talbot stood stone-still.

  “If now you must accommodate a more realistic subsidy, it will only do you good. You do not require any more than you have available. Your habit of frivolity is just that — a habit, easily made and easily broken.”

  Talbot turned on her heel and stormed out the door.

  Granville, without saying a word, followed.

  Anna took a breath when she was sure they were out of Adeline’s home. “Well, that should get them moving.”

  Instead of the smiles she expected from Adeline, she saw the woman bow her head, a tear running down her cheek.

  “What? Adeline? What is it?”

  “For some reason that is unclear to me, when I mentioned that Cara used that Irish proverb with some frequency, I remembered another of her favorites.”

  “And what is that?”

  “A bad tree does not yield good apples. I think in this case it might be the reverse that is applicable.”

  Carolyn was horrified that her friend was in tears. Adeline had never shown such emotion. She was afraid that in their efforts to care for their friend, they had gone too far. She needed to know how Adeline felt. Perhaps they could still salvage the whole situation. “And just what does that mean?”

  “It means that were it not for me, my children would not be in this situation, yet I have not only determined that they should suffer for their sins, I have, in effect, arranged to make that happen.”

  Anna did not give up so easily. “There’s another one, another proverb that might be more applicable. Fruits of the same tree have different tastes; children of the same mother have various qualities. Look at Genevieve. She is the light of your life. A woman who took all of the opportunities that were provided for her and made her life something you can be proud of.”

  Adeline dabbed at her eyes. “While that is true, I still believe that if I had only been more involved with my children, I might well have been able to avoid all of this. I am not sure that I have the constitution to see this project through.”

  Roland walked into the room. “Adeline, everything is in place, but we will not move forward without your instruction.”

  “Roland, I appreciate that. Please give me a few moments to think about this.”

  Carolyn and Anna started to follow Roland out of the room. Carolyn reached out and touched Adeline’s arm. “We’ll give you a little privacy.”

  “Yes, in this room filled with cameras and audio equipment.” Anna smiled and winked at Adeline.

  “Please, girls, come with me.” Adeline walked briskly out of the library and down the long hall that led to the living quarters.

  Adeline had a suite. One might have called it a sitting room or a parlor in days gone by. It was a lovely room all done in white and silver with hints of gold. Texture on texture, all rich silks was Anna’s best guess.

  In one corner of the room, the corner Adeline always gravitated to, there were three chairs and a little table.

  The girls had just sat down when Elsa knocked gently on the door. “Ma’am? If I may?”

  “Come in, Elsa.”

  Elsa pushed the door open. On a small rolling cart was a beautiful teapot with matching cups and saucers. A matching three-tiered sandwich stand held small triangles of varying breads and fillings.

  “Should you require anything else…”

  “Thank you, Elsa.”

  Anna poured tea. “What can we do?”

  “You can help me decide my next step.” Adeline had aged ten years in the walk down the hall.

  Anna asked, “What do you want that step to be?”

  “I cannot begin to imagine. I feel that my children should be held accountable for their actions.”

  Carolyn nodded. “Agreed.”

  Anna repeated, “What do you want, Adeline?”

  “I am not clear on what it is that I want. I am more clear on what it is that I simply cannot abide. I do not wish to see my children prosecuted.”

  Anna tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. “We are aware of that. That is why we had the plan.”

  “I thought it a brilliant plan, but as I look at my children, I cannot fathom that they will cooperate with it. I believe one or both of them will go rogue. One or both of them will simply do something we have not anticipated, and as a result of that unforeseen action, he or she will determine their fate.”

  Carolyn’s voice was firm. “You are not responsible for their going rogue, Adeline.”

  “I quite agree. What became clear to me when we were just discussing the change in funding with Granville and Talbot is that I have not prepared them for a real life. I gave or allowed to be given everything that has put them in the situation they are now in.”

  Anna was beginning to get angry. “If I hand you a bottle of whiskey for Christmas, am I responsible if you drink the whole thing down, get in a car, and run over Santa? I don’t think so.”

  Carolyn nodded her agreement.

  It was Adeline’s turn to hold back her frustration. “It plainly is not that straightforward in this circumstance. It was my obligation to raise my children to be responsible members of society. I failed in that task. Now, when that failure is inconvenient for me, I call in the authorities and have them removed from the situation, the very circumstance that I — however unintentionally — created. That hardly seems fair or just.”

  Carolyn was at a loss. “So you want to just go back to Florida and let the chips fall where they may?”

  “That is no more productive than feeding my children to the wolves.”

  Anna did not give voice to her opinion that the wolves were in fact Adeline’s children. Instead she said, “If you can give us some idea of where you want all of this to end up, maybe we can figure out a way to get us there.”

  Three hours later, the girls tucked Adeline in for a nap and made their way to the library. Before saying a word, Anna called Roland on her cell phone. “Are all the cameras off?”

  “They are. I’m in the building. Do you need anything?”

  “Actually, I could use a couple of things. There has been a change in plan. Wh
at I want is all the documentation you’ve got. Print it out. Make it look really official. I want it in black binders.”

  “That is a lot of information.”

  “Yep. I’m hoping for several four-inch binders. Five-inch if they got ’em. Three-hole punched. Make them black. I want it to look like something a woman of my age would do. I don’t want it to look like it came from your office.”

  “Very well. Anything else?”

  “If you’ve got any pictures, print them out on regular paper. And put in some redaction looking stuff, to make it look more official. Like I hacked into some government site.”

  “I can do that.” Roland tried not to smile. He had to give Anna credit. She was someone he never wanted against him. If she were just a few years younger, he’d offer her a job. Hell, he’d offer her a partnership. “Anna, what is it that you are planning? We need to stage it, and you may require backup.”

  “We’ll talk about that when Adeline wakes up. We insisted she take a nap. This whole thing is harder on her than I thought it would be. The woman has a huge heart.”

  Adeline was at the door. “Yes, but I have a hard head as well. Anna, it is time for us to proceed. I assume that is Roland you are speaking to.”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you ask him to join us?”

  “I will.”

  As Anna put the phone to the side, Adeline’s voice was strong. “I fully intend to end this tonight. Be it plan B or plan A. If my children choose not to cooperate, then I feel as if I have given them an opportunity and they have made their decision. I can live with that.”

  Anna knew that Adeline had decided. In all things in life, once the decision is made, the rest is just details. “Very well.”

  Roland was in the library with the girls five minutes later.

  The girls filled him in on the new plan. They were animated. They were committed.

  To Roland’s mind, they were insane!

  He was incredulous.

  Anna liked him best when his head was about to explode.

  “Adeline, I must advise you against this. It is dangerous. We are talking about a plan that will put you and your friends in the middle of a confrontation that will result, best case, in your children losing virtually every material possession they have. These people value their material possessions above all else. It would be like trying to take a trout out of a black bear’s mouth. Why would you put yourself or your friends in that situation?”