Chapter 20

ERIN FOUND HERSELF at the center of the family confab, being interviewed in a way she had not anticipated. She thought it would be simple to have Mr. Jerico and Mrs. Carver agree to the plan to keep Preston as the head of the company.

“So, why do you think Preston should stay at the head of the table?” Lawrence asked.

“Are you doubting it, Mr. Jerico?”

“You have declared yourself willing to go before the board of directors and fight to have Preston retained as chairman and CEO. I want to know your rationale and how you will present that to the board. My rationale is obvious. He is my grandson and heir to the Jerico business and fortune. Why do you think he should stay at the head of the table?”

“I’ve worked with Mr. Carver for three months. In that time, I have had a more intense look inside an extremely creative mind than I believe anyone else in the company has had in the past ten years. He is not just creative, though. He is a problem-solver. He can look at a very large dataset and reduce it to actionable items. That’s the basis of a good manager. My experience with Mr. Duval, on the other hand, is that he is...” Erin cut herself off before blasting the company president.

“Go ahead and say it, Ms. Scott,” Jacqueline said.

“Mr. Duval is a valuable component in the corporate culture,” Erin said carefully. “He is a salesman and is capable of taking Mr. Carver’s ideas and selling them. But in my opinion, he is a vacuous imbecile who gets along on his smile and his backslap. He’s a womanizer, and he attempts to seduce his clients the same way he seduces women. But as far as the business is concerned, he hasn’t an idea in his head.”

“What about the idea for the golf course at the resort?” Lawrence asked.

“Something I am certain will be brought up at the board meeting,” Erin said. “Ms. Dirksen has already been vocal about what amazing foresight he had in spotting the weakness in the prospectus. But after looking into the matter further, I have arrived at the conclusion that the idea was actually Mrs. Duval’s, and that she arranged the meeting between her husband and the golf course developers to form a consortium. While a golf course will certainly be a draw for some people, it wouldn’t have been considered a first phase project if the consortium hadn’t proposed developing it themselves. There were other suitable plots in Cloudhaven that would have made equally good golf courses if developed later in the process. The payback Mr. Duval is expecting on his investment is overinflated. I do hope none of you gave him money for his project.”

“Ooh. I like that. Do you think any of the other board members have invested in it?” Preston asked.

“Possibly as a token. It’s hard to believe people at that level, who deal with money on a regular basis, could be so taken in by Mr. Duval. However, it also would explain why they are enthused about the idea of upscaling the project and trying to draw a more affluent clientele than we have projected,” Erin said, making a note to herself.

“How would you approach this differently than Duval would if the decision was thrust upon you?” Jacqueline asked.

“Well, the initial prospectus was good. The destination conceived by Mr. Carver suits the location perfectly. It does not overtax resources, for example—either natural resources or financial resources. The current prospectus represents years of planning and research. It would be foolhardy to change directions when we are about to break ground and throw the entire proposal back into early planning stages again. While I am always aware that new information can alter the execution of plans, I do not see any such new information on the table.”

“Very well,” Lawrence said. “I’ll give you my proxy. Jacqueline?”

“Yes. I’m in. However, Ms. Scott, I believe you should be prepared for a heated contest and you might need to make compromises you would not normally consider to accomplish the larger goals,” Jacqueline said. “Most especially, you need to be prepared for a personal attack on your character. Duval will try to position you as a mere secretary and will undercut your arguments, dismissing you as inexperienced and uninformed. Good luck.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

That’s a strange family, Erin mused at the end of the day. Even after they’d given her their proxies, they continued to quiz her on every aspect of the business. She had gone to the mansion to convince the three family members to attend the meeting and cast their votes. Instead, they had drawn up proxies and given her power of attorney to negotiate on their behalf. Even Preston had worked with her on areas of the project that could be compromised in order to make it look like they were giving ground to Duval and his cronies.

She wasn’t expecting that kind of authority, but it was in keeping with the responsibilities Preston had given her in his absence. She’d stopped on her way out to take another look at the dragon staircase. It was impossible not to. Somehow, the dragon seemed to represent the family’s mystery and adventure. One day, she would like to know more about it.

Once she was back in the office the next day, she took care of the usual daily tasks and settled in to compose her arguments to the board. While she had four votes in her hand, she was only one voice among six who would be in the room. She needed to win Hathaway over quickly and her arguments for how the voting should be done needed to be firm enough that Dirksen, the corporate counsel, had to abide by them. She could expect Reinholdt and Duval to be vocal in attempting to drown her out.

Hathaway was not only of her generation, but he had also been Carver’s best friend all the way back in high school or possibly before. It was odd to think of Mr. Carver as having friends. He seemed to be such a recluse. But she could certainly see Jerry having a select group of very good friends and was sure that more closely matched the man’s real personality.

She allowed herself a few minutes to think about her lunch with ‘the hoodie man,’ as her fellow waitresses had called him. She and Jerry had so easily suspended their office roles and simply enjoyed having lunch as friends. He was a good friend, and she was determined to be a good friend to him.

Erin was nervous and skipped lunch before the meeting. Her stomach did not want to settle down. This was more nerve-wracking than making the presentation to sell the resort concept. She knew why. She was alone. It would be so much easier if Mr. Carver would be sitting next to her. Or even if he’d been in the office this morning. Instead, she’d received four email messages from the four people she held proxies for, wishing her good luck.

She stood outside the boardroom door a minute before entering. She could see the other board members gathering, coffee cups in hand, acting as if the vote were a done deal. She squared her shoulders and went into the room.

The five board members in the room stopped to stare at her as she took her seat in Preston’s chair at the head of the table.

“Ms. Scott, this is a board meeting. Are you here to make a presentation like you did last month?” Ms. Dirksen asked.

“No, Madam Vice Chairman. I bear Mr. Carver’s proxy for the vote. It is necessary to keep him at the helm as he is the chief architect of the corporation. We have no design for Cloudhaven and no future projects without him.”

“Well, it’s not likely to do you much good, but we have to keep the business record clean anyway. Shall we vote to accept the slate of candidates for executive positions?” Dirksen said.

“No,” Erin spoke up. “The Corporate Bylaws dictate that election of officers and approval of senior executives must be individually nominated and voted upon. Mr. Carver pointed that out and insists that the board abide by the bylaws.”

“Are you really going to sort this out and make each individual make his preference known?” Duval asked.

“Yes, Mr. Duval. As there is an alternate slate of candidates submitted here by Mr. Carver, which holds discrepancies with the slate presented by Vice Chairman Dirksen, the vote must be tallied for each position. This will give shareholders the opportunity to express their preferences at the annual meeting when it comes to approving the slate of candidates for the board of directors.”