Chapter 113

Hailey christened the fortnight following her engagement as “The Weeks from Hell.”

She had been hounded by photographers each time she stepped onto the street and she was positive that she had spent more time with Barton’s PR people than she had with her new fiancé. The questions they asked had ranged from insipid to intrusive.

Many of the newspapers had focused on the strained relationship she had with her parents for much of her life. Her mother hadn’t contacted Hailey to offer congratulations or condolences but Hannah Kramer had made it a point to offer a comment to one of the city’s television gossip shows. Hailey had spent much of Tuesday trying to counter her mother’s unflattering assessment of the engagement and finally gave up when she realized that the reporters were just using her mother’s statement to goad her.

Hailey’s frustration extended past those posing questions to her and she took her irritation out on those closest to her.

The mayor’s late-week resignation (to focus her attention on defending herself from “scurrilous accusations,” she claimed) took some of the attention off Hailey but it she was still short with Phil after a newspaper called her office line on Friday morning to try to ascertain how much Phil’s engagement had to do with Melissa Hopkins’ downfall.

“As much as the mayor’s pending divorce has to do with the price of rice in China,” Hailey replied tartly before she slammed the phone down.

Indeed, the mayor’s resignation had been preceded by the news that her husband of 22 years had filed for divorce in light of her marital indiscretions. Left unsaid in the newspapers and TV stations, which were still controlled by men and women who had bought in fully to the mayor’s plans, was that Tom Hopkins was the one with the money – particularly since state and federal regulators had moved to freeze Melissa Hopkins’ bank accounts in the wake of the allegations.

“Don’t let them rattle you,” Phil offered with a smile.

“Fuck you,” Hailey said with anger in her voice. “They’re not calling you at all hours of the day to ask you stupid shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Phil began but Hailey cut him off.

“Save it,” she said as she left their shared office, leaving only a slammed door in her wake.

Phil watched her go with a frown. He knew she was heading either to talk to Bonnie or his mother – or perhaps down to visit with Katelyn or Tiffany on a lower floor. It had never occurred to Phil that anyone would be interested in his relationships.

They never had been before. Oh, certainly, his photo had appeared in the newspaper or on the Internet when he accompanied his parents to social events but the intense focus was new to him. And Hailey was correct. The focus wasn’t on Phil. The spotlight had landed on Hailey with all of its force. He wondered if this was the first time that Hailey had considered that a life with him wouldn’t be all peaches and cream.

When Phil took over his mother’s chair, the scrutiny would be even greater. The week had started with the revelation of Hailey’s arrest the year before for underage consumption of alcohol. She had not been fingerprinted and there had been no booking photo taken but the citation was there. The TV station that had found the arrest had noted that two others had been arrested, too. A little research showed that both were employed at Barton Holdings Group, which led a blogger to surmise that Hailey was the leader of a “Bad Girls Club” at the corporation.

The fact that none of the women worked at Barton when they were arrested didn’t make any difference – nor did the news that all three had successfully completed their probation and that their arrests would be expunged in 10 months if they stayed out of trouble.

The TV stations backed off of their unfounded analysis but it didn’t stop the anonymous local blogger from continuing the assault. It took Ron Farragut’s invading the man’s computer to get the message across that lying about people because someone paid you to do it was a bad idea.

The problem was that the truth was bad enough.

Other media outlets had spoken to Hailey’s prep school friends who had painted a less-than-flattering picture of her teenage years. The worst part was that Phil suspected the description the young women offered had been accurate. It mirrored his impressions of Hailey Warren during the first semester of his freshman year at Heilman.

With blood in the water, the sharks circled their prey. The TV stations loyal to Mayor Hopkins tracked down old boyfriends, some of whom had nothing good to say about Hailey. One, granted anonymity by the station, relayed stories of Hailey’s sexual escapades in prep school in vivid, lurid detail. A series of pictures of Hailey in a very small bikini suddenly found their way to Internet sites that covered Calder City and its social scene and onto the same TV gossip shows that only days earlier had been begging Hailey for an exclusive interview.

Strangely, no one from Heilman would comment – even anonymously. That meant that the worst of Hailey’s transgressions were untold. Phil suspected his destruction of Courtney Hollings had produced the desired effect: no one with any sense was willing to risk earning his enmity – not even Hailey’s former friends, Alexandra Wilshire and Chelsea Norris, neither of whom raced forward to find a camera and offer any tidbit that she recalled.

Hailey was well aware of the things she’d done before she met Phil. That fact didn’t mean she wanted to hear them described by people she had once considered friends. Her true friends had laughed things off – Phil and his parents included. After all, Tiffany pointed out, it wasn’t like the bloggers were telling them things they didn’t already know. That didn’t make Hailey feel any better.

Beth found Hailey in the executive bathroom, leaning against a sink and crying. She put her arm around her future daughter-in-law and commiserated. Beth had not always been a paragon of virtue in her youth.

“I hate that you and Phil have to hear all this,” Hailey lamented. “They’re going to start asking you questions about the stuff I did. I just know they are.”

“And I will tell them the truth,” Beth said after she kissed Hailey softly on the forehead. “I am willing to compare the mistakes you made as a teenager against the ones they made. If they want to make an issue of things from the past, then everyone’s past becomes fair game.”

Hailey’s tears intensified. She knew that she had proven to be the weak link in Beth’s battle with Melissa Hopkins.

“Hailey, we haven’t heard or read anything we didn’t already know about how you used to act,” Beth continued. “Yes, you treated people badly when you were younger; you don’t treat them badly now. Yes, you used your beauty to gain material gain in the past; you don’t do that now. Phil doesn’t love you because of who you were. But he isn’t disappointed in you and he isn’t unhappy about anything more than how you’re being treated.”

“How will anyone ever take me seriously?” Hailey asked in a choked voice.

“The same way they take me seriously,” Beth answered. “Honey, I did almost everything you did when I was younger. I was pretty free with my affections; I drank a great deal; I took illegal drugs. The only difference is that my family was already wealthy so I was able to keep everything covered up. I was already well known in business by the time anyone thought I was worth writing about. That gave them something to fall back upon. You simply need to bear up for a few days. Now that the mayor is out, the stations will have to move their attention to Joe Pepper. I’m sorry to say that his mistakes will give them a lot to work with. It also creates a free-for-all for the U.S. Senate. The reporters in this town can’t ignore things forever.”

“But what about Phil?” Hailey wondered. “How will anyone take him seriously? They will think he’s just some dumb kid who married the first girl to f- ... kiss him.”

Beth laughed, not only at Hailey’s attempt to cover up what she planned to say but also by the notion that Hailey would cause people to think differently about Phil.

“Honey,” Beth said as she put her arm around Hailey, “think about last summer. I know you saw the men checking you out during our meetings. Some of those guys head up multi-national corporations and others are on the rise to some pretty big things. I can think of only one who is still married to his first wife. At least Philip is with someone his age. Christ, a couple of those guys are married to women 40 years younger than they are. It might even work to your advantage. First off, if they believe everything they hear they pretty well get what they deserve. Secondly, if they underestimate you or Philip you can bet they won’t do it a second time. Have you talked to Philip about your concerns?”

Hailey nodded as she blew her nose.

“What did he say?” Beth wondered.

“He said the same thing you did,” Hailey admitted. “But you know how he is: he doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks about him.”

Again, Beth laughed.

“He gets that from his parents,” Beth said in a serious tone. She put her hands on Hailey’s shoulders and looked into the younger woman’s eyes. “Hailey, my son loves you; my husband and I adore you; my father and mother would trade me for you even up and my brother and sister-in-law would offer their daughters two-for-one if they could adopt you. Your father is proud of you and so are we. Do not let small-minded people make you second-guess yourself. David and I will not permit that and neither will Philip. My father and mother will not permit it and neither would Mark and Stephanie. You should have learned a lesson when Danielle and Madison flew up for your tete-a-tete with DeeDee’s niece. This family looks out for each other and you are a member.

“I meant what I said. When I go back to my office, I’m going to make some calls. The people who want to drag you through the mud better have lived pristine lives because I will put all their secrets on display just like they have yours. The late, lamented mayor isn’t the only one I’m willing to ruin if they make a run at someone I love.”

“I guess you won’t be throwing a gala to celebrate the engagement,” Tiffany said with a wink. She was surprised when Phil’s eyes lit up and he got a smile on his face.

“That is exactly what we will do!” he declared. “We’ll rent a ballroom at the Plaza and invite everyone we know. I’ll bring in my family from Charlotte. You get your Dad to come up when Stacy and Emma come. We’ll invite Bob’s parents and his sister and Joe and Annette Pepper. Mom can call the CEOs from all of our conglomerates and anyone we do business with.”

A feral smile crossed Phil’s face.

“I’m going to call Courtney Hollings and invite her to come along with some of her Hollywood friends,” he said. “The only media representative we’ll invite is the lifestyle editor from Rory Rolenson’s paper. I will make a very clear statement about where my priorities lie and what sort of cooperation the media in Calder City can count on from Phil Warner in the future.”

Tiffany blinked at the anger that had crept into Phil’s voice. He was willing to go to the mat for Hailey – for any of the group, she decided. The thought made her smile. She was picturing the scene in her head when Phil pulled out his telephone and started dialing. She heard him make arrangements with the Plaza and then talk to Courtney Hollings. He was smiling when he hung up.

“Don’t you have some calls to make?” he asked with a grin. “I’m serious. We are going to throw a fucking party that sets Calder City on its ear and we are going to freeze out every single person who carries a microphone or writes a column or hosts a blog in this city. The people who want to take a run at Hailey better understand they are taking a run at me, too. You know how I deal with people who try to harm those I care about. Well, the rest of the world is about to get that lesson, too. They will hear rumors about what’s coming and wild stories about what happened but not a single person who has taken a shot at Hailey will get within a mile of the Plaza that night. I will have our security team shoot on sight.”

Tiffany laughed but she wasn’t certain that Phil was joking.

It took Phil only an hour to enlist a party planner – but it took him six full days before the guest list was compiled to his satisfaction. His mother had signed on immediately and since it was summer it hadn’t been difficult to enlist their friends from Heilman.