by Madyson Grey
“No, I didn’t think about it. But don’t worry. I fix things with Marian. In fact, I’ll text her right now and tell her that I’m taking you out to lunch and I don’t know when we’ll be home. That way she won’t get upset when she gets home and finds us gone. I told her I had some things I wanted to do this afternoon anyway.”
While Lena called her folks, Victoria texted her mother. When Lena hung up, she said that her folks were delighted with the invitation and would be there as soon as they could. Marian texted back her thanks for letting her know.
While they waited in the car for Lena’s parents to arrive, Victoria told Lena what all the bank manager had told her. Which was nothing more than she had already known, except for the fact that she was now a beneficiary on the Rivera Holdings account. They were both mystified about that one. She also told about her dad’s demeanor when he would come into the bank for the cash withdrawals, and the fact that they just went into other accounts there in the bank.
They discussed the whys, wherefores, and possibilities until they realized they were just going around in circles. Lena told Victoria all that she knew, heard, and saw the day of David’s death. Which was nothing more than Victoria had already heard. His death appeared to be just a suicide, as it was purported to be. Yet, there were just some odd little details that didn’t quite cut it for Victoria. She just had the funny feeling that everything wasn’t what it seemed to be.
About twenty minutes went by before Lena’s parents drove in. They all got out of the cars and greeted one another. When Victoria was little and would be sent to Lena’s apartment in the evening while her parents were gone out, sometimes Lena’s parents would come to visit her. They treated Victoria as a grandchild and even invited her at one point to call them grandma and grandpa. She rarely saw her own grandparents, so she thought of Lena’s folks as grandparents, too.
“It’s so good to see you, Victoria,” Signe Ericksen said, giving her a hug. “My, what a beautiful woman you’ve grown to be.”
“You certainly have,” agreed Erik Ericksen, also hugging her.
“Thank you, it’s so good to see you both, too,” Victoria said.
The foursome walked into the café and waited to be seated. They didn’t wait long, and soon they were perusing the menu. After they had placed their orders, the Ericksens expressed their sympathy for Victoria’s loss. They asked all about her life in Seattle, which she was more than happy to talk about. It was much more pleasant than talking about her father. Although, in just the couple of days she’d been gone, it was beginning to seem as though Seattle was just a memory, and she was back home in LA. That was a scary thought. But as she described her little house, her job at the art gallery, and her college experiences, it all came back into focus much better. She had gotten so wrapped up in her dad’s death, and meeting Rafael, that home had faded into the background. She needed to pull it back out. Talking about it to Lena and her folks helped a great deal.
The food was delicious, just as Lena had promised. And the company was so delightful. It was good to be among friends. She hadn’t realized until then how much she had missed having old friends. She had some new friends in Seattle, but there is nothing like old friends who have known you forever and know your life story.
It was almost tempting to come back to LA for. There were art galleries and museums here, too, where she could surely find a job. She didn’t have to live with her mother any more, that’s for sure. The weather was definitely better in southern California that in Seattle. She wasn’t fond of the gray and the rain. But her freedom had been worth the bad weather. Well, she’d shelve that thought until it was time to examine it again. For now, she’d concentrate on enjoying a meal with old friends.
All too soon, the meal was finished, and Lena thought she needed to get back to work. She didn’t want to push her luck with Marian. She had often been on the receiving end of Marian’s caustic tongue, and she didn’t want to hear it again today. So reluctantly, Victoria agreed it was time to get back to the house. They walked back to their cars together, then exchanged hugs all around before driving away.
On the way back to the house, Victoria’s phone rang. Rafael’s name came up on caller ID, so she answered it.
“Hi, Victoria,” he said, his smooth baritone voice caressing her ear.
“Hi,” she replied, suddenly at a loss for anything clever or polite to say.
“Are you free this afternoon and evening?” he asked.
“Uh, well, yeah, as far as I know I am,” she said, racking her brain for anything her mother might have said about evening plans.
Finding nothing, she wondered what Rafael had in mind and what in the world she would do to try to get the goods on him—if there were any to get.
“Good, then you’re free to go out with me, right?”
“You’re mighty sure of yourself, aren’t you?” Victoria teased.
“Well, if I can’t be sure of myself, whom can I be sure of?” Rafael countered.
“You’ve got a point there,” Victoria conceded. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well, since you’re in to art, there’s an art show just started today at a convention center nearby, and I thought you might like to go to it. Then we can find someplace to have dinner. What do you say?”
“That sounds wonderful! I’d like that a lot,” Victoria said enthusiastically. “What time?”
“How about half an hour from now?”
“Uh, make it forty-five minutes and I’ll be ready. Do you know if this is a formal or informal show? I need to know what to wear.”
“Informal.”
“OK.”
“I’ll see you at four-fifteen then,” Rafael said.
“See you then,” Victoria replied.
She disconnected the call and looked over at Lena who was looking curiously at her.
“Rafael Rivera,” Victoria said.
“I figured as much,” Lena said. “You know your mother blames him for your dad’s death.”
“I know,” Victoria said with a sigh. “What do you think?”
“I think there’s more to it than meets the eye,” she said. “A lot more.”
“So do I. I just can’t figure out what, though. Do you have any bright ideas?”
Lena stopped for a red light, and then looked over at Victoria. She wondered just how all the pieces did fit together. She felt like she knew some of the puzzle, but not all of it. The missing pieces were what baffled her. She hadn’t lived with the Thorntons for nigh on to thirty years for nothing. She knew a lot of their secrets—where some of the bodies were buried, so to speak. But she was becoming aware that there were some other pieces to the puzzle that she didn’t know. Nor did she know how they fit into the rest of the puzzle.
“Well, honey, I don’t know this for certain, but I have a feeling that Rafael Rivera had a lot less to do with your dad’s death than your mother wants you to believe. I don’t want to speak ill of your mother, but I think that she is desperate to regain control of the company more because she is greedy than out of loyalty to your daddy,” Lena said gently.
“I have a hunch that the trust fund her daddy left her has about petered out and she is desperate to find a way to have the income from your daddy’s company back again.”
“Trust me, Lena, I know my mother is greedy. And it wouldn’t surprise me in the least that her money is gone. She spends it like there’s no tomorrow. And it wouldn’t really surprise me to learn that she would stop at nothing to get the company back. However, how do you get a company back from someone who has purchased it fair and square, other than buying it back? I just don’t get what I’m supposed to be doing to take Rafael down?
“I found the sale documents. They are squeaky clean as far as I can tell. I know he sold the company for far less than I would have thought it to be worth, based on what he always said. But then again, the outstanding debts were paid off by the buyer, Rafael Rivera. So that would have taken the price down some.
/> “But there’s another mystery. He wasn’t nearly as deep in debt as I have been led to believe. It appears to me from examining the bank statements that he likely paid off some of the debt over the past several years. I could see payments going to a certain outfit for a year or so, and then stop, as if the debt were paid.
“Now the only thing I can see where Mother might think that Rafael ripped him off is in the sale price. She seems to think that he did something to force Daddy to sell so cheaply. Something that I’m supposed to find out about, and then use against him to get the company back. But I still can’t figure out how all that should work. Can you?”
“Not really, honey,” Lena said. “I don’t have the business head that your daddy does … did. I don’t know how you’re supposed to get the company back either. It’s not like you’re just going to walk up to him and say, ‘give me back my daddy’s company right now or I’ll sock you one!’”
Victoria laughed. “Yeah, like that would work! Well, I guess I’ll just have to get him drunk and pump him for answers.” She laughed again.
“Going out with him this afternoon?” Lena asked.
“Yes, he’ll be over at four-fifteen to pick me up and take me to an art show at the convention center, and then out to dinner.”
“That’ll be nice for you,” Lena said. “You do love your art, don’t you?”
She had known of Victoria’s love for art far more than Marian had. Lena actually paid attention to the girl and cared about her likes, dislikes, and feelings. Marian just tried to train her like a puppy dog to follow in her footsteps, not caring at all whether or not Victoria fit in to her footsteps.
“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it,” Victoria answered.
“It doesn’t hurt a thing that he’s quite gorgeous, either, does it?” Lena said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Not a thing.” Victoria grinned.
“Why haven’t you ever married, Lena?” Victoria asked suddenly. “I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about it before. You’ve just always belonged to our family. But you should have been married long ago.”
A slight cloud passed across Lena’s face before she answered.
“I loved someone once and thought he loved me,” Lena said pensively. “But then it didn’t work out. I think he did love me, but then there was someone else. Someone whom he loved even more. After that, it just seemed like there was no one for me. So I just made your family my family.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Victoria said sympathetically. “But I’m so glad you have been part of my family. I don’t know what I’ve have done without you all those years growing up. Or right now. Tell you what. You can come back to Seattle with me, live with me, and I’ll help you find a nice man who’s just right for you. How about that?”
“Silly girl!” Lena said with a laugh. “I don’t think I could leave California. My roots run too deep here. Seriously, though, I may have to find another place to live and work if your mother has to sell the house. I don’t know what she’s going to do.”
“Yeah, me, either. She’s counting on me getting Daddy’s company back for the income, but I have serious doubts that that will ever happen. I just don’t see how it can.”
“Well, you never know. Stranger things have happened.”
“True.”
“Well, here we are. You scoot into the house and get ready for your date,” Lena said as she parked the car in the garage. “Thanks so much for lunch. I’ve had a great time with you.”
“Me, too,” Victoria said, giving Lena’s shoulder an affectionate squeeze. “Let’s do something nice together again before I leave, OK?”
“Sounds nice,” Lena said.
Victoria dashed into the house to change her clothes, thankful that Marian wasn’t back yet. She didn’t need her mother slowing her down. She had exactly nine minutes to be ready and back downstairs before Rafael arrived.
Chapter Twelve
Victoria shucked the jeans she had on and the top, and pulled on a pair of white cotton slacks. She put on a turquoise button-down shirt and tucked it into the waistband of the slacks. She traded her sneakers for a pair of low-heeled sandals, ran a comb through her hair, and checked her teeth for remnants of lunch. She swished some mouthwash around in her mouth, spit it out, and then took a drink of water. So much for personal hygiene. She grabbed her purse and was descending the stairs when the doorbell rang.
Lena beat her to the door, and opened it to admit Rafael Rivera.
“Hi there, you gorgeous hunk of man,” Lena teased. “You’re lucky I’m an old woman, or I’d have to beat up Miss Victoria to get to you. And she’s taller than I am.”
Rafael grinned down at Lena’s twinkling eyes. He swept her off her feet and planted a kiss right on her cheek. Lena gasped, and then lightly smacked his face.
“Don’t you get fresh with me, young man,” she scolded, merriment lighting her eyes. “Just because you’re handsome doesn’t mean you can take advantage of a poor innocent girl like me.”
She laughed at his expression.
“Now just which is it—old woman or innocent young girl? Who are you anyway?” Rafael said with a perplexed expression that turned into a grin. “And furthermore, I will kiss any beautiful woman I please, and that includes you,” he said.
“Aw, pshaw,” Lena said. “You’re all talk.”
“Lena, are you flirting with my date?” Victoria asked with a giggle as she walked up to them.
“I think your date is flirting with me,” Lena said with a mock huff. “I’d keep a very close eye on this one, if I were you. He’s liable to kiss the waitress at the restaurant this evening, right in front of you, if you don’t keep a handle on him. He’s a wild thing, he is.”
The three laughed at their own antics, and then Lena admonished them to have a good time and stay out late.
“You’ll tell Marian where I went?” Victoria asked Lena.
“Either that, or I’ll let her fret about you,” Lena said mischievously.
“Thanks. You’re a dear,” Victoria said, giving Lena a quick hug. “See you later.”
“Bye, kids,” Lena said.
Out in the driveway, Rafael opened the car door for Victoria, and then closed it on her. He walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and fired the engine. Putting it in gear, he let the car roll down the driveway to the street.
“So what have you been up to today,” Rafael asked by way of starting a conversation.
“Oh, not a lot,” Victoria said casually. “I went through some of Daddy’s papers trying to sort some things out in my mind. Then I took Lena out for lunch, and her parents came, too. We just got back a little bit ago. I barely had time to change clothes before you showed up.”
“Her parents, huh? Do they live around here?”
“Yeah, not too far away. We went to a nice little café that is Lena’s favorite and met them there.”
“Sounds nice,” Rafael said. “You and Lena seem close, for a rich kid and the maid.”
“We are,” Victoria said, bristling somewhat at the designation. “She was my nanny from the time I was born. She did more to raise me than Marian did. She’s like a mother to me. No, like a mama. Marian is my mother, but Lena is my mama.”
“There’s a difference?” Rafael raised his eyebrows in question.
“To me there is,” Victoria said. “Mother is so cold and stand-offish. Sure, she did things for me, took me shopping for clothes, and to get my hair done, and the like. But Lena is the one who kissed my boo-boos, who hugged me when I cried, and who spanked me when I needed it. Mother yelled and screamed and slapped my face when things didn’t go her way, but Lena disciplined me. You know that word ‘discipline’ really means to disciple. We tend to think of it in terms of punishment. But the root of discipline is disciple, or to teach. That’s what Lena did for me.”
“I see,” Rafael said thoughtfully. “I guess I was lucky to have a loving mother. Am lucky. She’s still a great mom. She worked hard
to provide for Mateo and me after our dad died.”
“I guess I’m lucky to have had my dad for as long as I did,” Victoria said wistfully. “You were much younger when your dad died, weren’t you?”
“I was five and Mateo was eight,” he said. “For years and years I hated your dad because I blamed him for my dad’s death. You know my dad committed suicide, too.”
“No, I didn’t realize that,” Victoria said. “I’m so sorry. Now I know what it feels like.”
“Yeah, I guess you do,” he said. “About ten years ago I would have been glad. I’d have said you had it coming, but not now. Now I just ache for you, because I know how it feels.”
“Why did you hate my dad?” Victoria wanted to know. “He was such a kind, thoughtful man. Everyone that knew him loved him. As far as I ever knew, anyway.”
“I came to learn that,” Rafael said. “But I didn’t know that when I was growing up. All I ever heard was that after my dad got a job working as a janitor in your dad’s building, my dad asked your dad for a raise. He’d been there for over a year, and our rent had just been raised. So Papa got brave and asked Mr. Thornton for a raise. Your dad just flat said no.
“About a month later, he asked again. This time he told Papa that if he gave him a raise, he’d have to give everyone else in the building a raise, too, and he couldn’t afford to do that. Then a few weeks later, Papa got fired. He told Mom that he figured it was because he asked for a raise. It was just a few days later than he stepped in front of a train.”
“I’m so sorry,” Victoria said, laying a hand on Rafael’s arm. “I don’t know what to say. Daddy was usually so generous with people.”
“It’s OK, Vic,” he said. “That’s not the whole story. Several years after I went to work for your dad, he told me what really happened. He told me that my dad was an alcoholic and that he frequently showed up for work with alcohol on his breath. Your dad tried to work with him. Offered to send him to AA meetings, covered for him when the other employees complained, and did give him raises. Three of them, in fact. He said that when Dad was sober, he did a really good job. Your dad thought that if he rewarded him for his good work that he would lay off the bottle and do his job well. That didn’t work.
