Chương 13
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Both men looked at her.
“Call counsel now.”
Ethan frowned.
“You just told me not to contaminate anything.”
“I told you not to call Melissa angry.”
She pointed at the screen.
“Melissa called you.”
“That changes the situation.”
Ray nodded.
“It may.”
Ethan looked at the time.
“Jonathan is probably asleep.”
“He bills enough to wake up.”
Margaret sat again.
“And if he complains, remind him who paid for his wine cellar.”
Ethan almost smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“Wait.”
He opened the text again.
“What?”
Margaret asked.
“She says Vanessa may destroy records.”
“Yes.”
“How would she know?”
Ray’s attention sharpened.
Ethan scrolled.
“There’s another message.”
It had arrived while they were talking.
Patricia called me ten minutes ago.
She asked whether I still had copies.
Margaret stared at the screen.
Ray’s face went flat.
“That is no longer a family conversation.”
Ethan called Jonathan.
The attorney answered on the fourth ring with a hoarse voice.
“Someone better be dead.”
“No.”
“Then I reserve the right to be unpleasant.”
“You’ll manage.”
“Ethan?”
“Yes.”
Jonathan became awake immediately.
“What happened?”
Ethan looked at Margaret.
Then at the phone.
“My engagement party went badly.”
There was a pause.
“How badly?”
Ethan sat down.
“Start writing.”
For the next fifteen minutes, he spoke in short sentences.
The video.
The household payment.
Melissa.
The LLC.
The introductions.
Patricia’s involvement.
He did not dramatize.
He did not protect anyone either.
Margaret listened and felt something painful and proud move through her.
Ethan was finally taking control of the problem.
Not as a wounded fiancé.
Not as her son.
As himself.
Jonathan interrupted twice.
Once to ask whether foundation money had been used.
No one knew yet.
Once to ask whether any records had been altered.
Again, unknown.
When Ethan mentioned Patricia’s call to Melissa, Jonathan went silent.
Then he said, “Nobody contacts anybody.”
Ethan nodded even though Jonathan could not see him.
“Understood.”
“I mean nobody.”
“Yes.”
“Not your mother.”
Margaret rolled her eyes.
Jonathan heard the silence.
“Especially your mother.”
“I am sitting right here,” Margaret said.
“I assumed so.”
“Charming.”
“Mrs. Carter, please do not investigate this yourself.”
“I am offended you think I would.”
“You once followed a CFO to Memphis because you thought he was lying about a supplier.”
“He was lying.”
“That is not the point.”
“He also had two families.”
“Again, not the point.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
Ray looked at the ceiling.
For a moment, the ridiculousness of old history eased the room.
Then Jonathan’s voice became serious.
“Preserve everything.”
“No deletions.”
“No calls to Melissa.”
“No calls to Vanessa about records.”
“No public statement about the financial issue.”
Ethan asked, “What about the hose video?”
“You can say nothing.”
“Or?”
“You can acknowledge the incident without discussing anything else.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I do not want my name used.”
Jonathan paused.
“Why?”
“Because then everyone stops seeing the woman on the ground and starts seeing Margaret Carter.”
Another silence.
Jonathan understood.
“Fair.”
Ethan looked at her.
Margaret met his eyes.
For the first time that evening, he did not look angry with her.
Only tired.
Jonathan continued.
“Then let the video stand on its own tonight.”
“Tomorrow we assess.”
The call ended.
Ray checked the hallway.
“Driver is here.”
Margaret stood carefully.
Ethan reached for her arm again.
She allowed it this time.
They walked toward the door.
At the entrance hall, the mansion felt enormous and empty.
Half the flowers remained.
Several unopened gifts sat beneath a console table.
A silver frame displayed a photograph of Ethan and Vanessa laughing on a beach in North Carolina.
Margaret stopped beside it.
Ethan followed her gaze.
Neither spoke.
He picked up the frame.
For a second, Margaret thought he might throw it.
Instead he turned it facedown.
Then he looked at his mother.
“Urgent care.”
She sighed.
“Yes.”
“And after that?”
“Home.”
“Your house or mine?”
Margaret hesitated.
“My house.”
He nodded.
“I’m coming with you.”
“You do not have to.”
“I know.”
That answer warmed her more than the chef’s jacket.
Ray opened the front door.
Cold flashes from cameras immediately flickered beyond the gate.
Margaret could barely see the reporters from that distance.
They could not see her clearly either.
Ethan offered his arm.
She took it.
Together they walked toward the waiting car while the engagement flowers wilted behind them in a house that had been prepared for celebration and was now holding evidence.
At urgent care, the physician told Margaret she had a deep contusion, no fracture, and an impressive ability to turn a family celebration into paperwork.
Margaret liked her immediately.
Ethan did not laugh.
He sat beside the examination table answering messages from counsel while a nurse wrapped Margaret’s knee and reminded her to use ice.
By the time they reached Margaret’s house outside Franklin, it was nearly two in the morning.
Neither of them mentioned the reporters parked beyond the gate.
Margaret changed into flannel pajamas and found Ethan in her kitchen making toast badly.
“You own six restaurants,” she said.
“I own shares in six restaurants.”
“The distinction is becoming obvious.”
He looked at the blackened bread.
“Your toaster is hostile.”
“It is twenty years old.”
“That is not a defense.”
Margaret sat at the kitchen table with an ice pack over her knee.
Ethan made another piece.
This one survived.
He put it in front of her without asking whether she wanted it.
She ate half.
For a while they listened to the refrigerator hum.
Then Ethan said, “I’m going to end the engagement.”
Margaret did not answer immediately.
He looked at her.
“You have nothing to say?”
“I have several things to say.”
“That’s never stopped you before.”
She gave him a tired look.
“I’m deciding which ones belong to me.”
He leaned against the counter.
The admission unsettled him more than advice would have.
May you like
Finally Margaret said, “If you end it, do it because you cannot marry her.”
“I can’t.”
