“Look, I know that you care for me, and probably should’ve called you. I don’t have an excuse for that,” I said.
Tami took a sip of her tea. I think she wasn’t ready for me to not be a total mess. I think she secretly loved it when she could swoop in and fix everything for me.
“How’re you doing?” she asked.
“I’m angry. Pam’s dad has tried every dirty trick he can think of, and if I hadn’t been a little bit lucky and gotten the right people in place, I might have been destroyed. I think we’ll get things resolved shortly and I can move on with my life.”
“David, you’re going to be a father,” Tami said as her eyes teared up.
That was when I got it, and suddenly my defenses came down. I felt my chest tighten up and it became hard to breathe. Throughout this whole debacle, I’d lost focus on what mattered. I would be lying if I said a little part of me didn’t wish that my child was with Tami. That had always been the plan. Tami was supposed to be my one and only, the girl I grew up with and planned to have a life with that was ‘us against the world.’ While I liked Pam, she and I would never be more than friends.
Mom and Dad came downstairs and the timer for the coffee cake went off. Dad went to check it while Mom took one look at me and came over and wrapped me in her arms. This was the first time since this all began that I’d let my guard down and let the full import of what Tami had said sink in.
“Mom, I’m going to be a father. I’m too young,” I said.
“I agree, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. David, you’ll be a wonderful father. You’ll just have to figure it out. Of course, your family will be there to help you. If your dumbass brother can figure out how to raise three kids and go to college, I’m betting you can figure it out, too,” Mom said.
“But he has Angie,” I said.
“He also has you and your mom and me,” Dad said. “David, I think you’re forgetting that Pam will be involved as well. You two might not get married, but you’ll have something that will bind you together in a very special way. Your child will be a blessing that will fill your life with meaning you’ve not had up to this point. Everything will work out, and when you look back on it, you won’t regret having a baby.”
I remembered how I felt when Kyle was born, and the time I spent with him. I loved him, Mac, and Nate with all my heart. I knew my baby would bring even more joy to my life. Yes, my life would change, and I was too young. I had confidence I would make it all work out. I turned to Tami and smiled.
“Yes, I’m going to be a father.”
◊◊◊
As Mom and I went off to church, Tami looked like she had suddenly realized that our someday might not ever happen. I’d come to grips with that over the last several weeks. It seemed to hit her full force, and she quickly left after we’d eaten the coffee cake. I would make it a point to call her later in the week to make sure she was okay. Right now Tami needed time to figure things out on her own.
I was a little worried about how my church would take the news from the week. I shouldn’t have been. Everyone greeted me warmly, and it felt as if they had circled the wagons and let me know I had their support. Some people tend to think that churchgoing people are rigid in their beliefs. While it would have been better if I’d told them that Pam and I were getting married, they didn’t turn their backs on me.
The way they accepted me made me realize how lucky I was to grow up in a small town. Yes, everyone knew you and all your secrets. The thing was, no one was perfect, and we all supported each other. When church was done, I felt ready to face what was to happen this afternoon.
◊◊◊
We met Ms. Dixon at the entrance to Tom and Kendal’s office. She had a large file box attached to a little dolly.
“Let me help,” I said and grabbed the handle.
It must have had rocks in it. It looked like Ms. Dixon had come loaded for bear today. We walked into the lobby, and the receptionist led us to the conference room. I smiled because it wasn’t like I’d never been there before. Ms. Dixon took over the head of the table and began to create different stacks of folders. She had me sit on her right and my parents on her left. Uncle John had taught me the power of sitting at the head of the table. It established dominance, and that was what we needed today. I planned to get this wrapped up by the end of this meeting. What was the saying about your plans and God laughing at them? I hoped that was wrong.
Next to arrive was the contingent from Rigby, Thompson and Associates, quickly followed by Cal and Mr. Fox.
“We can get started,” Don Rigby said.
Ms. Dixon ignored the fact that Pam wasn’t present. She turned her attention to Don Rigby.
“Do you have any preliminary findings on the security issues with David’s files?” she asked.
Roy Thompson pulled out a report and handed it down to Ms. Dixon. She turned to my dad.
“Would you and Kendal please go make copies? Initial the original and copies in different-colored ink, like you did last time.”
Dad and Kendal left the room. While we waited for them to return, Mr. Fox decided to start the negotiations.
“We’ve made some adjustments to our position,” he said as he pulled out some folders.
“I’m sorry, but one of our conditions was that all parties be present today. Where is Miss Bell?” Ms. Dixon asked.
“She wasn’t feeling well,” Cal said.
My mom pulled out her phone and made a call.
“Hey, Lacy, we were wondering when you and Pam would be joining us?”
Cal blanched when he heard that.
“No, the meeting’s today, and everyone’s here. Could you come right over?” Mom asked, and then hung up. “They’ll be here as soon as they can. She didn’t sound happy, because someone told her the meeting was tomorrow.”
“I thought we would spare Pam from sitting through another long meeting, and just bring her in when we were done negotiating,” Cal said as he recovered.
I should hire Cal as my PR agent because he could spin anything to sound reasonable. Heck, I wanted to bail and wait until everything was settled before I had to be involved.
Dad came back in with Kendal, and they initialed the original and the copies. Ms. Dixon handed out the copies and gave the original back to Roy.
“Can you explain what you found?” Ms. Dixon asked.
“It appears that Cal accessed David’s financials,” Don Rigby said.
“Did he access anything else?”
“Not that we’re aware of,” Don said.
Ms. Dixon pulled out the sheet of paper Mr. Fox had given us and slid it over to Kendal.
“Can you explain the annotations at the bottom?”
Kendal looked at it and then looked at Tom. He saw what Ms. Dixon was getting at, and his face flushed red.
“I’ll answer,” Tom said as he glared at Don and Roy. “The ‘CRB’ is Cal Bell’s ID. The ‘three hundred seventy-four of four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight’ indicates this is page three-seventy-four of four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight pages that were printed! The other numbers indicate that this was printed last Sunday. It would appear that all of David’s information was accessed and printed out by Cal!”
“This doesn’t matter, because anything discovered in a settlement discussion is not admissible,” Cal said.
“Oh, there are many, many ways around that rule, as you should well know, especially when I told you yesterday that these discussions were not confidential; that Rigby, Thompson and Associates’ role here is that of an observer, and not as a mediator; and when your lawyer explicitly agreed to those conditions,” Ms. Dixon said.
I was shocked when the conference room became silent. With this many lawyers in one place, I didn’t think that was possible. Ms. Dixon would explain to me later that facts disclosed in the course of settlement negotiations typically were inadmissible to prove liability or to show that someone was lying on the stand. Even though that was the rule, there were several ways to get around it. For example, it wouldn’t prevent discovery of the same documents in the normal course of a lawsuit. Nor would it prevent such facts being used to show improper interference in a police investigation, which one might easily argue Cal had done here. Most important to Rigby, Thompson, Cal, and Mr. Fox, we could disclose everything to the media, because such disclosures would have nothing to do with admissibility in a court of law. They had to realize the media would have a field day with it.