Chapter 50

We didn't get to Patty's house until almost eight that evening. Cindy had called over there to let her aunt and mother know we were running later than we'd expected, due to some work related delays.

Dale and Eddie were dressed and ready when we walked into the house. Cindy and I just changed our clothes and freshened up a little before heading right back out the door.

I would have to say the evening started out promising. The food was good, and both Patty and Laura went out of their way to try to make Dale and Eddie feel welcomed and among friends.

Patty had been married for about nine years, having two sons during the course of the union. Like all three of her brothers, she had put her own business interests ahead of her marital and family responsibilities.

In her case, her husband had retaliated against her inattentiveness by entering into a long series of extramarital affairs. This behavior kept up until he found someone willing to put him and his sons ahead of her own career ambitions.

Patty believed everything had worked out for the best. Her one sadness was the realization that her relationship with her sons never fully recovered after she and their father had gotten divorced.

Laura was her usual self, acting gracious and charming one minute, and then making some cutting comment the next. She kept all of us laughing by regaling us with some humorous stories of incidents that had occurred during her twenty six year marriage to Gene.

Underneath the humor though, there was a deep undercurrent of sadness that was apparent to us all. We could almost feel the sharp sense of disappointment she felt at having failed to keep her marriage intact.

Patty described for all of us her late father's desperate machinations to try to keep Larry from killing Gene, after the two young people had run off and eloped together.

"It might not have been so bad if Larry had known that Lee had always had strong feelings for Gene. When it happened, he blamed only Gene, believing it had been done from spite alone. It wasn't until much later that he began to believe it hadn't only been Gene that had gone after Lee. You didn't make it any easier either, Lee, by not telling Larry how it really happened."

"I tried to tell him, even before it happened, but he wouldn't listen to a word I told him. He'd made up his mind about us being married, and that was it. I should have stood up to him better, but, honestly, even before Gene came to me, I knew I wasn't going to go through with marrying Larry. I didn't plan on marrying Gene when he and I ran off. I was just trying to escape from being forced into marrying Larry."

You could tell that both Patty and Laura were enjoying themselves. It had been a real shock, and a desperate scandal when it had first happened, but the passage of time had a way of making the near tragic begin to sound humorous.

I doubted that Larry would have laughed. I could only imagine how he felt when he'd first learned the women he planned to marry had run off with his brother. I also knew that Gene didn't recall any of what took place during that period with even a single iota of humor.

"Had you been intimate with Larry? Before you ran off with Gene?" I knew it wasn't a very polite question to ask, especially with her own daughter sitting within two feet of her. Patty gasped when she heard my question. Dale stopped eating and looked over at both Laura and me. Eddie giggled and smiled. Laura finished chewing before answering me.

"Larry and I were never fully intimate, Kenny. Had we been, I'm sure things would have turned out differently. Gene was my first. I'd done some petting, both with Larry and other beau's, but if you were a nice girl back then, you came to your wedding night pure, in the clinical sense, at least. Gene and I didn't quite make it to the justice of the peace before it happened, but that was only because of their ridiculous insistence on a three day waiting period for the marriage license to be issued."

"Do you think what happened is what causes Gene to keep deferring to Larry?" At this point, I wanted to find out as much as I could about Macklinson family dynamics.

"Larry's the oldest. I think that has more to do with it than anything else. Gene and Phil both grew up being dominated by Larry. They're just used to it. Phil less so than Gene." Laura spoke quietly. I felt sure she'd had many occasions to think of the possible reasons for Gene deferring to Larry's wishes.

"Lee, I think you're wrong about that. It wasn't always like it is now, or even how it was when you and Gene first came back home to Birmingham. I think its because Gene still feels so guilty. Guilty about you, but even guiltier because Daddy chose him over Larry, to run the company. All the boys grew up knowing that Larry, as the oldest, would take over running the company, if anything ever happened to Daddy. That all changed when Gene ran off with you. That's when Daddy said he knew that Gene should be the one to run the company. I was there the night he told Larry he'd picked Gene instead of him. He told him not to even think about coming back to work until after Gene came back too."

"Did he tell Larry why he was doing that?" Laura seemed stunned by what Patty had said. When she asked the question, I could see her looking over at Cindy nervously. I think she was afraid of the answer Patty might give her.

"Daddy never gave reasons for what he did. He just did it. Larry asked him why, but Daddy just got up from the dinner table and waved Larry away from him. I remember Phil was almost as upset as Larry, but he knew better than to say anything."

Laura abruptly changed the subject, asking Eddie if she or Dale had encountered any problems when they went out with Cindy and me to restaurants. Eddie laughed and described several incidents that I hadn't even noticed. I guess it was mostly a case of me not having my guard up, looking for any stares or changes in people's conversation as we all walked past them.

"How do all of you work out the details for sharing Kenny? I asked Cindy, but she refuses to discuss it with me." Laura was back on the offensive again. I was actually happy that Gene wasn't there with us. I knew what his reaction would be to her asking me that particular question.

"Do you mean here now, or when we're all back in Kansas?" I could already tell from Eddie's question that she was going to be having some fun with Laura. Cindy and Dale both seemed disquieted, and I knew why. Of all the people Laura might have asked that question of, only Eddie was likely to give her a response, and then only in hopes of shocking both Laura and Patty with the answer.

I think Laura was beginning to realize she was liable to get answers she didn't really care to hear.

"I meant in a general sense, not the actual specifics. Do you draw straws, or does everyone go in turn?" Laura was looking over at Cindy, and she didn't like the expression she was getting from her daughter. I stayed still, not wanting to be part of any of this. If I could have thought of a good reason to do so, I'd have excused myself and left the room. Since I couldn't, I did the next best thing and silently willed myself to be invisible. I don't think it actually worked, but no one was looking over at me right then.

"The competition is fierce. Seven dogs, and only one bone among us. It's a good thing its one of those big, hard, bones. On a good day, as many as four of us get to feed on it. I'm not saying there aren't any fights, or that we don't turn on each other on occasion too. Kenny knows how to keep us content with what he's able to provide. If we get to missing him too much, we console each other until its our time again. For some of us, that's our favorite part of it." Eddie seemed pleased with her answer. I knew it had been milder than it might have been.

The color had drained from both Laura and Cindy's faces. Patty's face had turned a crimson shade, and she'd started having a coughing attack, like she'd swallowed a drink down her wind pipe. I felt slightly uncomfortable as well. I looked over at Dale, hoping she would be able to rein in her sister. Dale sat there with no expression on her face. We might as well have been discussing the weather for all it showed on her facial features.

"I see. There must be jealousy and competition. I know I couldn't do what you do." Laura sounded defeated, only trying to salvage something from the topic, before moving on to safer ground. "I was merely curious as to the methods you might be using."

"Dee and me, we were both on the pill, until we found out that Kenny got himself fixed. Now, we don't use any method at all. Feels better too, not having to worry about anything."

I knew, as did Dale and Cindy, that Eddie was just having fun at Laura's expense. I wanted to help Laura out, but I didn't know how I could accomplish it.

"I did hope to see children from Cindy soon."

My vasectomy, and Cindy's hiding that knowledge from her parents, was still a sore point between Cindy and her mother. She couldn't end the discussion and not comment on her disappointment at Cindy's failure to disclose my unsuitability for fathering grandchildren for her future enjoyment.

"Our mama feels the exact same way about it. Only thing that keeps her from being after us to find another man, one who can give her some grand babies, is knowing how happy we both are with Kenny. Especially Dee, because Kenny is the only man who can ring her chimes. Mama knows how important that is to a woman. Besides, we're all up to our necks in little babies running around underfoot in that big house. I'm thinking about giving that little Derek a kinky little perm, and then rubbing some of that dark tanning cream on him. If I fixed him up to pass, mama would parade him all through Chickasaw, even with all those cute little freckles he has all over his face."

The room was quiet. Laura was embarrassed, and Eddie was getting a look from Dale. I finally thought of something to say.

"Laura, did you get your money back from Gene yet?" I knew that Gene had picked up his check at the lawyer's office, because I'd approved the dispersing of it when the law office had called me.

"I haven't received it yet, but he called to tell me he was ready to pay me off. I understand I have you to thank for making this repayment possible?"

"Cindy more than me. She's the one who used her feminine wiles to talk me into doing it. I have no idea what I'm going to do with so much land down here. Joyce wants to put it in a trust for the children and just sit on it."

"It might take twenty years, but you'll do well with the Underwood holdings. Gene is well rid of that land though. He had no real plan in mind when he bought it. Planning was never his strong suit."

It surprised me to hear her say that about Gene. I was sure that Laura knew him better than anyone, and if she had concerns about his planning abilities, I wanted to know about it.

"What is his strong suit?"

"Implementation, I think. Yes, I'm sure that's it. You give Gene a fully developed idea, and he can implement it for you. Just make sure there are no other conflicting sources to muddy up the water. In the first years after old Tom died, the company flourished. Gene did fine, because he had a well planned strategy, all laid out nice and neat for him. Time destroyed that simple plan. Events and changing economics mandated that Gene's plans change to keep pace with this new economic reality. When things changed, Gene had difficulty adjusting to working without a clear set of instructions. Instead of working a new plan out himself, he started listening to everyone else. That was a sure recipe for disaster."

I wanted to ask her more questions. I wanted to test her theory out with information I'd gathered myself from watching Gene, and from poring over the company's performance records of the past twenty plus years.

I knew then that I needed to look at what had happened with the company in a new light, to determine for myself if what Laura Lee was telling me was consistent with the change in Macklinson's Bakeries operating results.

There had been an impressive period of growth after Gene had taken over for his father. The company's size and sales had more than quadrupled. Gene had explained the slowdown in growth as having been no more than a case of he and his brothers having grown content with leaving what they already had intact.

What if Laura was right? Had Gene been successful in growing the company because he was simply following his father's plan? I had been blaming the stagnant operating results on Larry's interference in decisions outside his own small area of competence, and on Gene not being strong enough to push ahead with his own ideas. Suppose Larry's negativity was only a consequence of his understanding Gene's severe limitations?

"In retrospect, should Tom Macklinson have chosen Gene to take over the company?"

I looked at both Laura and Patty when I asked the question. With her experience in corporate accounting, Patty was in a unique position to answer my question. I was interested in Laura's answer too, because I knew she still loved Gene.

"Of the three sons, Gene was probably best suited, by temperament, to run the company. Larry has too big a temper. He can't stand not having his own way about things. You've seen how intractable he can be." Laura had wanted to be the first to answer. I wondered what she was trying to keep Patty from saying. I looked over at Patty, trying to encourage her to offer an opinion.

"I think Larry would have been a better choice. Not that he was any better suited to running the company, because he wasn't. Gene would have been a better support person for Larry than Larry was for Gene. There was always that emotional component from Larry towards Gene. A lot of it would have been avoided if Daddy had put Larry in charge. Daddy was worried that Gene wouldn't come back if Larry was put in charge, or if he did, that Larry would still do something to harm him because of Gene and Lee, and what they did to Larry."

"Gene didn't do anything to Larry, and neither did I. Larry did most of it to himself by refusing to believe what I had been telling him. Gene was caught right in the middle. Patty, you know Gene didn't do anything to change my mind about marrying Larry. This is why none of you can ever let go of things. You make up your own minds, in spite of evidence that you're wrong, and then you cling to it, just like it were an established truth. I told Larry, three months before the thing with Gene happened, that I'd never marry him."

"Lee, even if you did tell him, you didn't tell anyone else. To everyone else, it looked like you and Gene had decided to run off together and have a fling. Larry was made to look like some jilted bumpkin. You made him appear small in Daddy's eyes. Because it was Gene, his own brother, it made it a hundred times worse."

The two women stared at each other. I saw the rift, and learned how it wasn't just the male Macklinsons who banded together. After almost thirty years, when it came down to it, Laura Lee was still an outsider in Patty's eyes. This was true as long as it concerned any conflict involving one of Patty's brothers, or any of their children. It was a blood thing, and it was a pervasive trait. Laura Lee was family to Patty, but she wasn't blood family.

"Kyle's wife is having a baby, Laura. That should make you happy." I wanted to defuse the tension in the room. Laura Lee didn't impress me as a woman who would back down easily. In a way, she reminded me of Mama. Strong willed and stubborn. I had a definite feeling that I wanted to keep Patty and Laura on the same side of things. I had a need for both of them to be united.

"Trudy and I have never seen eye to eye. I was against Kyle marrying her, and she's never forgiven me for it. Steve's wife and I don't get along well either. Both my boys should have done better for themselves. I doubt I'll be very welcome in either of their homes. Since Gene and I split up, all the children have taken his side of things. I had my highest hopes set on Cindy."

Laura looked like she was on the verge of tears, but I was certain this was just an act. I'd seen my mother use this tactic to control my father and Uncle Bunny in the past. She'd tried it once or twice with me, but I'd ignored her tactics and continued with whatever viewpoint I already held.

"Do you remember "Sissy", Laura? That's my little girl with Emily. You met her when you came to Ridgeline to visit with Mama. Did you notice then that her hair coloring and skin tone was a lot like Cindy's? Joyce and Emily both commented on it to me. Emily says "Sissy" looks more like Cindy than her. Kids can't ever have too many people that love them. You're welcome to be "grandma" to any of our children.

"I also have almost two hundred children in group homes all over Kansas. There isn't one of them that wouldn't be absolutely thrilled to have someone like you come by and show an interest in them. I'll tell you something else too, Kyle and Trudy aren't the kind of people that would stand between you and any children they might have. I don't buy your explanation at all. I think it's you looking down your nose at your daughters in law, not the other way around."

"You don't understand. It's the blood connection, knowing your line is continuing. It isn't just about any child. Do you feel the same way about all children? I doubt it. It's only natural to favor your own. This is true in all cultures."

"There have been cultures where all children were tribal children. Where it didn't matter who your real mother or father were. You're right in thinking that all of my children are special to me. Where you make your mistake is in thinking it matters overmuch to me who the mother or father of my children were. I'll grant you that there's something extra special about the ones that live with me, but there's something special about every child in my care, no matter who the parents might have been."

"You are a product of unique circumstances, Kenny. You can't judge people by your standards."

Laura wasn't going to back down from her earlier assertion. She had this quality of needing to be right. It was difficult to get her to change her viewpoint. Perhaps, impossible. Almost certainly, it wouldn't be worth all the effort I'd need to expend to attempt to change her mind about this.

"We're all products of unique circumstances. As to judging people by my standards, you're probably right. My point was you have access to plenty of young children to lavish your love and affection on. Insisting that they be blood relations only limits the selection. Insisting that their mothers be able to meet your lofty expectations just constricts it even further. Trudy is going to have your first grandchild. How much or how little you interact with that grandchild is going to be dependent on your attitude more than on Kyle's or Trudy's. I'm pointing out some available options to you. You need to make your own decisions."

It was only after we stopped talking about grandchildren, and were focussed on the topic of future company expansion, that Laura allowed me to see another side of her. So many of the questions she asked, and her comments about how certain changes would be necessary for progress to be made, signaled to me that she had a breadth and depth of understanding about the company that I'd never have suspected.

Her wording was studied and precise, too complex and structured to simply be comments springing from any free association of ideas taken from remarks the rest of us had already made. She had obviously put an awful lot of thought into what she was saying. I was impressed. I knew that had been her intention too, to impress me with her sound grasp of the steps necessary to embark on a successful expansion.

"It would never work, Laura. Gene wouldn't sit still for it." I had delayed making any comment until after she had completed her thoughtful presentation.

"What would never work?" Again, she tried to go back to appearing both innocent and confused by my remark. I knew then where Cindy had picked up the trait she used on me so often, and with such disarming success.

"I'm not going to bring you into the company. If I did use you to help us with any part of the expansion, it would never be in any situation where you worked directly with Gene, Larry, or any of the other male Macklinsons."

I could see by her quick facial reaction to my words that I had guessed correctly. I found it interesting that she had hoped to use me in some way to achieve whatever ambitions she had as far as Gene or Larry were concerned. She was certainly more complex and devious than I'd earlier believed her to be. I stole a quick glance over to Cindy too, wondering, not for the first time, what her whole agenda might be. Nothing was ever what it seemed with her. It was the same way with their whole family it seemed. The one constant I had found was their willingness to all stick together against anyone they considered an outsider.

It was also becoming very apparent that Laura Lee was still an outsider to the family, even to her two male children. Only Cindy seemed able to bridge the chasm separating Laura and Gene. She was turning out to be more of her mother's daughter than I would have first believed.

"I could do a lot better job for you than either of them, Kenny. When Gene listened to me, things went a lot better for the company. It was only after he quit listening that things started falling apart." I heard the sincerity, and the desperate need in her voice. I didn't understand it, but I heard and recognized it for what it was. Cindy looked embarrassed after her mother's plea.

Patty too looked unsettled and embarrassed. In her case, I think it was because she didn't care for Laura being a guest in her home, then using our social get together as a forum for undercutting both Gene and Larry. It was pretty obvious that Patty was a true blue Macklinson. She was willing to go against them to further her own desires, but wouldn't be involved as an accomplice against them, not on Laura Lee's behalf.

"There's enough trouble and confusion already. I'm trying to sort things out and make them simpler, not add complications. If you want to hold sway over Gene again, you're going to have to find your own way to get back in a position to do it. I won't intercede by using the company for you to do so."

"That wasn't what I was asking for." Laura bit off her words. She was obviously becoming upset. It would have been much better if she'd come to me, privately, to let me know of her interest, and the ability she possessed to help us with our expansion.