Fallen Too Far

by Mia Moore

  Was that her head hoping? Was that a message from beyond? She shook her head. Did it matter?

  No. Not at all. It was comforting. She stood up and exhaled, feeling better. Not as afraid. Yeah, she'd figure out the next part if it didn't go as she needed. She was smart; she was strong. She kissed her fingertips and raised them above her head.

  “Thank you Mamma, thank you Poppa,” she sighed. Whether to their memory or their spirits, she didn't know. She did know they were there when she needed them to be—whether they were ghosts or an imprint; they gave their daughter strength when she needed it.

  Love is eternal.

  She left the bathroom and went downstairs to the kitchen to make coffee. Again, the familiarity, the routines of preparing the coffee pervaded. While the coffee was dripping, she found, no surprise, croissants in the freezer and micro waved them. She put together a service tray, butter, jam, cream and sugar. Going back upstairs, she smiled, happy.

  A morning of hope.

  It was truly, wonderful to be alive. This here, this now, was wonderful.

  Tom was sitting up in bed. Those blue eyes, that smile and the muscles on his bare chest, under the skim of dark hair. God, he was good looking.

  “Good morning.” They said in unison. She brought the tray and they sipped their coffee in silence.

  “Big day, Annik,” he said. “How’re you doing?”

  “I'm good, Tom, I was just thinking, that this, here, now, no matter what happens later, is wonderful. I have a man I love in front of me, and when we get down to it, isn't that all that matters?”

  He rested his cup on the tray and stroked her cheek with his finger. “Sounds like you catch up fast, honey,” he said softly.

  She looked away into space for a moment. “I had good teachers.”

  “Wish I knew 'em.”

  “Wish they knew you.”

  They left the moment for what it was, enjoying their morning together; Annik sitting on the bed next to Tom's reclined body, both savoring being alive. And in love.

  When they finished drinking their coffee, he got up. “Well, kiddo, let's get ready to ramify 'em, Addie!”

  “What? Who's Addie?”

  Over his shoulder, heading to the bathroom, he said, “A hell of a kid—Addie Pray—they made a movie about her.” He closed the bathroom door behind him and she heard him start his shower. Who the hell was Addie Pray? Nevermind.

  He got dressed for the day at the office, while she sat on the bed, watching him.

  ‘Hey,” he said, buttoning his white shirt, “don't be shy—help yourself to anything that's here. ‘Mi casa est su casa’, yeah, my Spanish needs work. I'm going to have Marco, my driver take me in to the office. If you need to go anywhere, call him.” He jotted the phone number on a pad next to the phone on the night table. “I left you a set of house keys on the kitchen counter. We'll go over the alarm system tonight. That's it for domestic, honey. I'll see you in the office at ten to prep for the meeting.”

  “No, I'll be there at eleven. The Vanderberg's will show up at eleven thirty; that's plenty of time, Tom.”

  He looked at her. “Honey, you don't know how these things can go. We need to figure out fallback positions, walk away numbers, and set up a strategy. To tell you the truth, this kind of stuff is what we would have four or five meetings on, at two hours each, before meeting the principles.”

  “Tom, I know you've got a lot more experience than me in this sort of thing, okay? But I know Helen and Barry. We'll get this together, trust me.”

  He looked at her. “Okay, it is your deal. But we haven't talked about my numbers. So you have to know, baby, I'm not into it for more than two mil. That's my limit for purchase. And I have a budget of another mil for renovations. You okay with that?”

  “With my two hundred thousand on top?”

  “Well, yeah. What did you think?”

  “Tom, you're putting three million dollars in this?”

  “Yeah. I wish it was more. But that's what the numbers show is the max, honey.”

  “Three million? Are you kidding me?” She jumped up and hugged him. “I was only looking for a little less than two.”

  “Baby, that's not my number. I had my guys look at your plan, and they came up with three.” He held her close. “My heart says 'the sky's the limit', okay? If we're shy, I'll make up the difference, so don't sweat it.”

  “It's not going to get close to the three, Tom.” I hope, I hope, I hope…

  “Don't sweat it kiddo,” he said, again doing his really, really bad Bogart, “but let me ask you—what else would love do, eh?”

  Still holding his waist, she stepped back and looked into his eyes. He wasn't kidding. He came up with that all by himself. She caught up a lot right then. “Well,” she said slowly, “if it's love, then what ever it would take, I suppose.”

  “Bingo.” He knotted his tie. “Now I gotta go 'ramify' honey. I'll see you later.” He kissed her and headed out the door of the bedroom. There was the sound of his footsteps on the stairs and then the muffled sound of the front door closing.

  The next hour passed slowly. She tidied up the kitchen and decided what she would wear to the meeting. She was a little limited as she had only packed for the weekend and it was now Monday. But that didn’t matter. She was going to go in casual mode to this meeting. Probably the Vanderberg's would too, and she didn't want them to feel uncomfortable at the table.

  After dressing, she called Marco. He arrived twenty minutes later. The ride down to Tom's office was spent in silence. Her fingers drummed on her briefcase. She didn't have to look into it—she had reviewed these files so many times she knew the contents by heart.

  When she entered Tom's office, his secretary ushered her right in. He was at his desk, jacket off and sleeves rolled up. He had two other men with him, who he introduced to her. Almost immediately she couldn't tell, for the life of her, what their names were. They sat in the office making light chit chat.

  “And now we wait for the Vanderbergs to show up. To find the price we all can agree on,” Tom said. Annik was perched on the edge of her chair, hands clasped in her lap to still them. Her heart was pounding fast. Taking long deep breaths, she was able to gain better control and focus.

  Tom's phone beeped on the intercom, announcing the arrival of Barry and Helen Vanderberg. Her eyes opened wide. This was it.

  “Bring them right in!” Tom said enthusiastically. He turned to Annik, “Ready, Ms. Dandridge?”

  She could only nod.

  Barry and Helen Vanderberg were ushered in by Tom's secretary. Barry was wearing a three piece suit and carrying a briefcase. He was holding Helen's hand. Helen, on the other hand, was wearing jeans, a turtleneck pullover, tweed blazer and sneakers. They greeted Annik as soon as they saw her.

  “Annik! Hello. It's good to see you.” Helen walked to Annik and gave her a hug. “I just won five bucks from Barry.” she said, holding Annik. “I told him that all the men would be wearing 'power suits' like he's got on,” she eyed Annik up and down, “but I also bet that you would dress casually. Just in case we arrived in casual clothes.” She cocked her head at Annik, “Because you wanted us to be comfortable, wasn't that the reason?”

  Annik nodded.

  “Nervous dear?” asked Helen.

  Annik’s voice squeaked. “Yes.”

  “This is important for you, we know,” Helen said, looking over to Barry. “It's important to us too.” Helen held an arm around Annik’s shoulders and led her to the conference table which had been set up. “Let's sit down, and chat about this, what do you say?” She guided Annik to a chair, and sat down next to her, tucking her own chair in close. “Would it be too much trouble, Mr. Eldon,” she said, looking up at Tom. They had never met, but she knew him by the way he was watching the interchange, “if we could have a cup of tea?”

  “Sure, no problem, Mrs. Vanderberg-”

  “Helen's fine, if I may call you Tom.”

  “No problem, Helen.” Tom n
odded to his secretary who left the room for the tea and coffee service that they had waiting in the staff kitchen—just in case. “Now I'd like to introduce you to the rest of the team, Helen. This is…”

  Helen looked over Tom's associates, “I'm sure you're very nice people, and I'll enjoy meeting you formally when we're done. Right now,” and she turned to Annik, “I know all the people of your team I need to know, Tom. Why don't you all take a seat, and we girls can take care of business?”

  Barry chuckled and he took his seat. His eyes twinkled at his wife. “That’s my Helen. She’s got some chutzpah taking over this meeting.” he muttered in a voice barely above a whisper.

  Helen took Annik's hand. “Well, were you able to get the financing, Annik?”

  “Why yes, Helen--that's why Tom—Mister Eldon and his team are here.” Annik gestured to the men at the table, who nodded.

  “And how much are you able to offer?”

  “Well, you said one point five to two million, and we'd be able to purchase Pandora’s, right?”

  Helen nodded.

  “Then, all we need to do, is find just what the final number is.”

  “Well now. It looks like we're going to do some business then, doesn't it.”

  “Oh God, I hope so.”

  “Me too.” said Helen, laughing.

  The ladies met on a price, and Pandora's was sold for one point six million dollars. The Vanderberg's held back three hundred thousand in exchange for a ten percent partnership stake that they could cash in if they wanted in five years. Tom had offered twenty percent, but Helen said that they just wanted to keep their feet in, ten percent was fine. Helen and Annik shook on the deal.

  “Okay then, we'll draw up a letter of intent, and you can give us your lawyer's name, and we'll set up the contract,” Tom said.

  “No, let's go to contract as long as we're all here,” Barry said. He reached into his briefcase and took out a file. Flipping it open, he said, “we just have to fill in some blanks, sign and notarize, and we're done.”

  Tom’s face looked aghast. Sure, he had his lawyer here—he was sitting over at the end of the table watching this deal silently. Jeremy hadn't taken his eyes off Barry since they entered the room. Tom shot a look over to Jeremy, “Hey, Jerry, I don't feel right with Helen and Barry doing this without representation, what do you think?”

  Jerry turned to Barry. “Barry Vanderberg, right?”

  “Hmm. Mm…” Barry nodded.

  “As in Barimore W. H. Vanderberg IV?”

  “Hmm..Mm.”

  “I thought so. You son of a gun. Coming in here, flying solo, doing the 'Ma and Pa Kettle routine.” Jeremy started laughing. Hard. He sat back in his chair and pulled out his handkerchief, “oh man!” He kept laughing and dabbed his eyes. When he got control of himself, he turned to Tom. “I'm very sorry, Tom, that was indiscrete, I know. But I've never been so sandbagged in a meeting before.”

  “What are you talking about, Jerry?”

  Jerry leaned forward, “That contract. Well, I'm gonna read it, don't worry,” he said, pointing at it, “I'm pretty sure that oh,” he looked at Barry, “three partners, and probably four paralegals, Barry, put this together for you?”

  Barry scrunched his shoulders and held his hands palm up in front of him, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, “Well… yeah, pretty much.”

  “Yeah,” said Jerry. “Tom, I'd like you to meet, Mister Barimore Wallace Hill-Vanderberg IV, Managing Partner of one of Toronto's oldest and most esteemed law firms.” He laughed again, “There are ringers at this table, Tom.” He turned to Helen, “Helen A. Vanderberg, I assume? The… what did my prof say, 'the living doll who got William Hill to take her name before she'd marry him'? You're a legend, ma'am.”

  “Oh, you're just a charmer, Jeremy.” said Helen. “We're just a couple of old coots now.”

  “I don’t think so.” Jerry said. He took the pages of the contract and turned to Barry. “This is a fair one?”

  Barry nodded.

  “Any surprises?”

  “No. I had it written thinking of her,” he said gesturing to Annik. “It's not a lot of legalese, Jerry. I was going to go over it with her step by step. Should take you just a few minutes to review it.”

  “Okay.” Jerry went back to his seat and read through the few pages. The rest of the table watched him.

  As he was reading, Helen turned to Annik. “I guess we're outed now, Annik,” she said with a smile.

  “What do you mean, Helen?” Annik had barely followed the exchange that Barry was one of the oldest legal firms in Toronto, her mind was still wheeling from the fact that Pandora’s was going to be hers.

  “Well, we really don't need the money for our kids—that was a white lie.”

  “Oh.”

  Helen took Annik's hand. “We just wanted someone with… Barry, what's that phrase?”

  Barry said “Uh… um….?”

  “You wanted someone with some skin in the game, Helen,” Tom said.

  “Yes. That's it.” Helen turned back to Annik. “An appropriate phrase for Pandora's, don't you think?” The women laughed.

  After a few minutes Jerry looked up, “Tom, I couldn't have protected your interests any better,” he turned to Annik, “or yours, Ms. Dandridge. Let's close.”

  The other person Tom had in the room was his Controller. He went to his office to cut the check. After a few minutes, he returned with the check, a bottle of champagne and glasses. Forms went around the table. Barry had all of the title information, lot survey, and all the other mass of paperwork lawyer’s love.

  An hour later, a check was handed over to the Vanderbergs, and Pandora's was Annik's. Possession in ten days.

  “Oh. I almost forgot.” exclaimed Helen. She took her purse and reached into it. “Barry thought I was being too optimistic, but I didn't,” she said as she rummaged. She pulled out a business envelope. “Annik,” she said, as she ripped it open, spilling the contents in her hand, “these are yours now.” She handed over a set of keys to Pandora's. They were all new keys, shining brass. They were attached to a key ring that had a cloisonné image of a young woman kneeling before an open box, looking up at a fairy. The fairy, representing Hope.

  Annik accepted the key ring silently. With what could be described as reverence, she fingered each one, and stared at the image on the fob. She looked up at Helen, and then to Barry, and lastly to Tom. Tears welled in her eyes. This was almost too much.

  “Thank you. Thank you all, so much.”

  “Pandora's is in the best hands it could be, Annik,” said Helen, Barry nodding in the background.

  “You betcha'.” Tom exclaimed.

  “Champagne for everyone.” Jerry popped the cork beginning the celebration.

  The meeting ended after a few more stories from 'back in the day' from Barry and Helen. All legal stories, of course. After two rounds of champagne, and many toasts, the meeting broke up with promises to stay in touch. Barry gave Jerry his card and asked for Jerry to call him.

  And the room was now Tom and Annik's alone. They were silent for a few moments, the impact of this deal being done so readily, and so completely still washing over them. What a day of days…

  Tom took Annik in his arms and they kissed. “I think I'm taking you out to dinner to celebrate. How does The Lighthouse sound to you?”

  Not yet, buster.”

  “What?”

  Annik went to her purse and drew out an envelope. She handed it to Tom. “Open it, partner.”

  Tom tore the envelope open. Peering inside, he drew out a manila rectangle of paper. He glanced at it, and quickly looked at her. “You don't have to do this, you know…”

  “Really? I think I do, Tom.”

  He held the certified check in his hand. It was made out to Thomas Eldon in the amount of two hundred and twelve thousand dollars. “This… this amount…” he hesitated, “it's everything you got, isn't it?”

  She nodded, her lips firm.

  �
�But--”

  She cut him off. “No way, Jose. It's not nearly as much as you're putting in--”

  “Annik, I'm not putting my life's work in.”

  “It's not your dream Tom.”

  “But--”

  “No, Tom… no buts about it. I'm putting skin in the game.”

  He pursed his lips thinking.

  “And I want your promise, that when the accounts are all set up and the incorporation is drawn up, you deposit that into Pandora's. This way we're all in the game, okay?”

  Holding the check, he looked at her. “Yeah, I understand, honey. But I want you to realize—I threw some serious bucks in; you're putting your future on the line here. And you don't have to-”

  “Thank you Tom; but I think that for us, and for me, I better. When my father bought his first place, he put everything he had on the line. When you struck out on your own, didn't you do the same?”

  “Yeah, every nickel I had… and my Dad did the same when he opened his own garage too…”

  “Well, with that kind of tradition, what else could you expect me to do?”

  Annik was totally committed. Nobody could accuse her of being a gold digger playing with his money now.

  “Yeah, honey, I understand. Completely, I think.” He folded the check and put it in the breast pocket of his suit coat. “I'll give this to Jeremy to put in the file. He'll get it into the account.”

  She burst out laughing.

  “What the hell's so funny now?” His face was puzzled and smiling.

  Still laughing, she sat down in one of the chairs at the table. “It's the irony Tom.”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, for all the time we’ve known each other, you always gave me money. And now, here we are, with things so changed,” she looked up at him, love in her eyes, “so wonderfully changed. And, what's one of the first things that happens? I give YOU a ton of money!” She started laughing again, and he burst out laughing too.

  “Yeah, honey, you're right. Right on the money. Yeah, things have changed.” He walked over to where she sat and cradled her head to his hip. “Changed for the better.” Her arm encircled his waist.

  With a sigh, she stood up. “I’m afraid our dinner celebration will have to wait until tomorrow evening. Remember you’re watching the ballgame with Bill Grant? And actually I promised to get together with Jessica to finish the interview.”