The Seduction Of Claudia

by Chauvet, Antoinette

  Andrew cocked his head, pondering what Gates had said. He wasn't completely satisfied with the answer because it didn't explain the tension that had gripped them when he'd entered the room. He decided to play along with them for the time being. He'd figure out what was going on soon enough.

  Claudia stood stock still on the stairs, her eyes wide with disbelief. This is so surreal, she thought, I can't believe this guy. Patrick Gates and my mother were tailor-made for each other! What are the odds that two such soulless, conniving people would find each other? she mused.

  "Come on down and have breakfast, Legs. I got your favorite - pain au chocolat. You must be starving. Paddy, would you like to join us?" Andrew asked, harboring hope that if he could get Claudia to sit down and talk to Paddy, she would realize that she had been wrong about him.

  "Unfortunately, I've got a meeting. I'll stop by again, when I have more time," Gates said smoothly. With a mocking bow, he said to Claudia, "Until we meet again, Ms. Beaumont. I'll leave your check on the table – just fill in the amount yourself," he said, implying that they had reached an agreement. "See you later, Andrew."

  Claudia watched Gates leave the apartment from her vantage point on the stairs. When the door had closed behind him, she slowly descended. Andrew was waiting for her with open arms when she reached the bottom. He closed his arms around her, kissed her.

  "I love the way you look in my shirt," he murmured against her neck. "But I'd hoped you would still be in bed when I got back. I had planned to bring you your breakfast in bed and then keep you there all day."

  Claudia stood in the circle of his arms, her head resting against his shoulder. She had awoken a short time earlier with optimism and happiness in her heart that there might be some way for her to continue her relationship with Andrew, convinced that everything would somehow be okay. He had been right when he'd said that they would belong to each other after the previous night's passion. Andrew was in her blood. Parting from him, which she now knew she must do, would be like cutting off one of her own limbs.

  Tears welled in her eyes as she realized that there was no hope for them. The visit from Gates showed her that he would stop at nothing to see her and Andrew broken up. He would feed poisonous lies about her to the Conals and they would think she was some sort of gold-digger. Andrew would be forced to choose between his family and her when they found out and she didn't want him placed in such an impossible situation, didn't want him to be hurt. She couldn't tell him the truth of her parentage after all. It would cause everyone too much pain.

  She had only recently learned to accept Andrew's presence and status in her life. She had given herself over to his keeping, given her heart to him. She had begun feeling comfortable with the fact that she needed him. And now, after scarcely an hour of accepting the inevitable and before she was truly accustomed to all of the changes in herself, she had to unlearn what it meant to be in love with and loved by Andrew.

  She swallowed against the lump in her throat, blinked back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. If she let them fall, she knew she would never stop crying.Crying will do no good, Claudia, she admonished herself. Pull yourself together and get through this. Act normally, eat your breakfast and then escape as soon as conceivably possible.

  Feeling stronger now that she had some semblance of a plan in place, she leaned back in Andrew's arms. Pasting a smile on her face, she beamed up at him. She almost broke when she saw his adoring gaze. She wished for a future with him where he would always look at her that way.

  "I figured you had a diabolical plan in that head of yours," producing the teasing tone took an enormous amount of effort. "I noticed that my clothes were curiously absent from the apartment this morning."

  "You caught me. I wanted to serve you breakfast in bed. And then... Well, let's just say that you wouldn't have been needing your clothes any time soon."

  Andrew led her to the couch and refused her help with putting together a breakfast tray. They ate chocolate croissants and drank coffee as they read the morning papers and chatted idly about what they read. Claudia managed to make it through the meal without suffering a crack in her façade. If Andrew noticed that her good cheer and broad smiles were a little forced, he didn't let on.

  They were still lounging around when Maggie called. Claudia groaned inwardly when she realized who was on the phone. Andrew told her that Paddy had dropped by and teased her for being a mother hen. From the one side of the conversation she heard, Claudia gleaned that Maggie denied having sent Gates to Andrew's house. Andrew cast a glance at Claudia and cocked a questioning eyebrow as he listened to Maggie. Claudia shrugged, feigning complete ignorance as to what Gates's motives for coming to see them may have been. Andrew finished the call, telling his mother that he and Claudia were doing just fine and not to worry.

  "Huh. That was weird. Mom said she didn't ask Paddy to come here. I wonder what he wanted?"

  "I have no idea," she lied. "Imagine my surprise when I came downstairs expecting to see you making coffee only to find Patrick Gates. He's got a key to this place?"

  "Well, yeah. He used to own this apartment and when I bought it from him, he kept a key. He stays here sometimes when he has late meetings or gets in late from business trips."

  "I see," Claudia paused. Standing up, she went on, "I should be going Andrew. I've got things to do. Could you get my things from the car, please?"

  "Ummmm, I don't think so. I want to know what you and Paddy were talking about when I came in. I know I heard him right. What's this about him wanting you gone?"

  Claudia's heart sank. It was beyond hope that Andrew, observant Andrew, would be fooled by Gates's easy lies and her false bonhomie. And once he'd spoken with Maggie and determined for certain that she hadn't sent Gates to his house, she knew he would have begun piecing things together. He was clearly suspicious and wanted answers.

  "It's like he said. He wants to hire the quintet for his wife's birthday. That's all," Claudia fidgeted and avoided looking him in the eye as she spoke.

  "You're lying. What are you hiding?"

  "Nothing! Stop accusing me. I'm not the one you can't trust, Andrew!"

  "Why can't you be honest with me?"

  "I am being honest! It's Patrick Gates you need to be concerned with – not me! He's a lying snake," Claudia retorted.

  Andrew pushed her back into her seat on the sofa and stood in front of her. Crossing his arms, he said, "You're not going anywhere until you tell me the truth about whatever is going on with you and Paddy. You know that I can keep you here for as long as I want to, so don't even think about trying to escape. Not that you'd get very far with no clothes or shoes."

  "Andrew, there's nothing going on. Just bad vibes, that's all," Claudia protested, trying to strike a casual tone.

  "Bullshit. Talk."

  Chapter Eight

  Andrew jogged through the Public Garden, across Boston Common, then up and down the streets of Beacon Hill, pushing himself to run faster. There had been a break in the bitterly cold weather, but it was still only in the low to mid-thirties and the air sliced into his lungs with every breath. It was rough going, but he had needed the run in order to clear his head. In a way, he had escaped in the same way he accused Claudia of doing. He understood her need for escape, her need to avoid dealing with things, a little better now. She accomplished escape through building walls around herself; he had escaped by running.

  He had just had to get out, had needed time to think about what she had told him. It would have been impossible to do that with Claudia screeching at him. He smirked to himself, thinking that she would kill him if she knew he thought she'd been screeching. Truthfully, he'd been about to lose it himself and had thought it better to remove himself than give in to the urge to punch something. He'd dressed in his running clothes that morning, thinking that later in the day, once it warmed up outside, he and Claudia would go running together or at the very least for a walk. Neither of them was used to inactivity for more t
han a couple of days in a row and he knew they'd both be nursing a case of cabin fever after being indoors for several days leading up to and including Christmas. Lucky for him that he'd been dressed and had been able to walk out and hit the ground running, he thought. As he ran, he replayed their conversation in his head.

  "Bullshit. Talk," he had said.

  "Andrew, I'm telling you the truth. There is nothing going on," Claudia had protested. The fact that she refused to meet his eyes and was fidgeting nervously had given lie to the words.

  "Hello?" he'd said, waving a hand in front of her face, "I know you're lying. I can always tell when you're lying, you know."

  "Andrew, just let it go. Trust me when I tell you that you need to just let it go."

  "Let what go? You're starting to annoy me, Legs."

  "Heaven forbid that you get annoyed." she'd flared.

  "Stop trying to pick a fight," he'd told her, calling her out on what he knew was one of her avoidance tactics: picking a fight in order to avoid a difficult discussion.

  "OK. Fine. You asked for it. The problem is that I cannot imagine that the day willever come when I will be able to tolerate Patrick Gates. He is the worst excuse for a human being I've ever seen. He apparently feels the same way about me, thus the check he wrote. He wants me out of your life for good and is willing to pay me handsomely to see me gone. I know how important the Gatess are to your family, Andrew. So, I think maybe we should just call it quits. Find someone else, someone your family, including the great Paddy Gates, will approve of; it's probably the most sensible thing to do."

  "You're not serious. Is this about the money? Please don't tell me you're going to take the money, Claudia."

  "Damn it, Andrew, I don't want Gates's money! I don't have – nor have I ever had – any intention of taking it. I'm insulted that you think I would! In all honesty, I was planning to call it quits with you today anyway. There's no way we could work – we're too different. Insurmountably different."

  She had made her grand pronouncement with such bravado and sanctimony that he had wanted to choke her. He had almost been convinced that she meant it, except that she totally overdid it. It was too grand a statement, too simplistic, too illogical, too calm. Too everything. If he had accused her of taking the money under normal circumstances, she would have taken his head off. She hadn't and thus he didn't believe her. So he had played along, pressed her for more information, knew that eventually he'd trip her up.

  "Claudia, our relationship would work just fine if you'd let it! But that's an issue we can discuss later. You're a grown woman, Paddy's a grown man. Both of you should be able to contain your dislike for each other. Your suggestion to break up with me in order to avoid him is ludicrous! Think of how long we've been together without you seeing him. It could very well be that long again. There's no reason for us to break up. Give this some time."

  "Andrew, the man offered me money – lots of money – to leave you. Do you honestly think that he's just going to fade into the background? He wants me gone. I'm sure he'll make up a scandalous, salacious tale to tell your parents in order to turn them against me. How are you going to explain that to them?"

  "My parents are not idiots. They met you themselves; they can make up their own minds about you. They already have. They like you. Hearsay, even from Paddy, isn't going to change what they think of you."

  Claudia's face had blanked with surprise. She hadn't known what to say to that, hadn't been able to come up with a reasonable rebuttal. She had seemed to be having an internal struggle about what to say next. He'd watched her face and seen the wheels turning in her mind. Finally, she reached her decision. She took a deep breath and said,

  "Andrew, Patrick Gates is my biological father." She had said it simply. She may as well have been saying, 'Andrew we're having roast chicken for dinner' there was so little emotion in her tone.

  "What?" he'd asked, shaking his head as though to clear away cobwebs that were keeping him from hearing her properly. Whatever he'd expected to hear, it certainly wasn't that.

  "He's my father. Patrick Gates is my father."

  "He can't be. He's got Paddy Jr, Pierce and Paige..."

  "Don't you dare mention their names to me!" came her fierce reply. She didn't want to hear anything about her half-siblings.

  "But, Claudia, I don't understand. Paddy would never..." he was at an utter loss for words.

  "I assure you, Andrew, 'Paddy' would and he did," she said angrily through gritted teeth.

  "Are you serious? How can this be possible?"

  "Let me break it down for you, because you seem to be confused," she said, then continued in a singsong voice, "Gates is a man. Maman is a woman. They fucked," she said, trying to shock him with the foulness of her word choice and also because, in truth, that was all it had been. It hadn't been making love, it hadn't even been sex between two adults who had respected each other, were attracted to one another and sought pleasure together. No, it had been fucking, pure and simple. Each of the parties involved had been using the other to get something they wanted.

  "They fucked," she said again, "et voilà, nine months later, baby Claudia made her world debut."

  "Stop patronizing me. I'm asking how this is possible because Patrick Jr. is the same age as you, maybe..." he trailed off and did the math in his head, " two months older. How could you be Paddy's daughter?"

  "Andrew, I know you believe that everything is always exactly as it should be, but that statement's a little naïve, even for you. Gates obviously cheated on his wife with my mother." Her voice had been laden with sarcasm and disdain that he had thought was totally uncalled for.

  "Goddamn it, Claudia, stop it! You've just dropped an enormous pile of shit in my lap; let me think!" he'd ground out. But he couldn't think; his mind was one great, big giant blank.

  He had turned his back to her, walked a little distance away and stared out of his living room window, seeing nothing of the city landscape that spread out in front of him. He was having difficulty wrapping his mind around what Claudia had told him. Paddy was her father. It just didn't compute. Paddy, the avuncular man he had known his entire life was her father?! Paddy was a fixture in Andrew's life. His earliest memories included Paddy. Holidays, vacations, graduations, births, deaths and every other of life's special occasions. Paddy had always just been there. It was inconceivable to Andrew that the man he thought he knew so well could have harbored such a secret. How could Paddy have known that he had a daughter somewhere and not want to be a part of her life?

  "Did he – does he know?" Andrew asked.

  "Yes, he did and he does. He paid my mother child support – or should I call it hush money? – for years. It wasn't much, but it was always on time. I'll give the guy that," came her bitter reply. "In fact, he owned the house I grew up in, deeded it over to Maman when I was a kid."

  Oh God, it just kept getting worse. Paddy had known exactly where to find his daughter and had never gone to see her, had never taken any interest in her whatsoever? Jesus. Paddy wasn't the type of man who could do something like that. Paddy was a wonderful father. He had always been just as devoted to his wife and family as Iain was to Maggie, Brian and him. Paddy was the friend, the surrogate father – a confidant, the guy he'd been able to talk to about things he had foolishly been unwilling to go to his own father about.

  Andrew remembered going to Paddy when he had had his first wet dream. Paddy had laughed and thrown an arm around his shoulder. He had assured young Andrew that it was all entirely normal; he'd gone so far as to suggest that with the occurrence of a wet dream, Andrew had become a man and was eligible for entry to an exclusive club. He'd given Andrew the old 'wink wink nudge nudge'. It wasn't that Andrew couldn't have gone to his dad about it, but that Paddy had always seemed a little more openly sexual than Iain was. Andrew had been naive enough to want to talk to a man's man, one who wouldn't discuss the responsibilities that came along with manhood; Iain, on the other hand, definitely would have treated the
situation with the solemnity required to convey the consequences of sex to a young boy. Not so with Paddy. He had had a love 'em and leave 'em attitude and thought that a guy should get as many notches on his bedpost as he could. He'd been the type who took what he wanted and to hell with the consequences.

  Andrew had thought that Paddy's theories about women and sex had been just that. Theories. Because the real Paddy – the one he had thought he'd known – didn't actually behave in that way. What he knew of Paddy just didn't jibe with the version of him that Claudia had presented. They were two entirely different people. Paddy was loyal and faithful; a true blue husband, father and friend. Gates - as he'd come to think of the dark side of Paddy - was a cruel manipulator. How could two such opposite personas be contained in one person? Andrew had trouble believing that anyone could perpetrate such a farce for thirty or so years. At some point, there would have been a crack, something small that gave him away.

  "Yoo-hoo? Andrew?" Claudia called him back to the here and now.

  "I'm sorry," he'd said abstractedly. "I'm having a little trouble synthesizing this."

  "Ha. You're having trouble. Imagine my utter delight when I met him in your parents' driveway last night!"

  "Paddy would never do that..." No, Paddy wouldn't – couldn't – but, Gates could. Andrew believed that Paddy or Gates – hell, whoever – had probably compartmentalized his life to such a degree that he had no trouble living with what he did.

  "Andrew, he did! He is my father!" Claudia insisted, misunderstanding what Andrew had meant by his last statement of denial. "Goddamn it! I knew this would happen. You just go right ahead and defend your precious Paddy. Go right ahead; see if I care! But you can do it without me. I don't want to hear another fucking word about Patrick Gates!"

  "Claudia, wait -," Andrew tried to stop her.