Chapter 24: Confrontation

January 5, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“I don’t see how that’s our problem,” Jessica said, leaning against the sink while I showered.

“Our daughter’s instincts are good,” I countered. “And honestly, somebody needs to tell that kid the truth. She’s nine, and she thinks I’m her dad and I’m ignoring her. Think about how you felt growing up.”

“Then what’s your plan?”

“I don’t have one,” I said. “Carla isn’t going to be any help unless we basically force her hand.”

“By telling Rachel?”

“I don’t see any alternative,” I said.

“Could you get in legal trouble?”

“For what? I have the truth on my side. Carla could pitch a fit, but so what?”

“What happens when Carla says you’re lying?” Kara asked.

“She can only get away with that for so long,” I said. “Eventually Rachel will learn enough science to know that a DNA test is conclusive, and at nine she can at least grasp the basic concept of a court ruling. When Rachel was five, this wouldn’t have worked. Now? It’s probably time. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I’m sure it’s time.”

“What about trying to find more information?” Jessica asked.

“We ran into a dead-end over the photos. The one thing Patrick suggested was appealing to Carla for help. Maybe now’s the time to do that.”

“You think she might get his family to release the photos?” Kara asked.

“Who knows? Maybe. I mean, after all, she worked with him. It’s different from a newspaper or magazine reporter.”

“Carla is going to react badly.”

“Yes,” I nodded, getting out of the shower so Jessica could go in.

Kara handed me a towel and I dried myself, then leaned against the sink.

“But what are her alternatives? Ban Rachel from talking to the very kids she claims are Rachel’s half-siblings? Ban her from talking to the man who is allegedly her father? Think about the message that sends after nine years of Carla insisting we’re Rachel’s family. And think what happens when Rachel understands DNA testing, at least in a High School science kind of way? And reads the court papers? And checks out books on DNA from the library. Carla is basically sunk.”

“She really can’t cause you legal trouble?” Jessica asked.

“Of what kind? I’ll talk to Gwen if you wish, but I think I’m on safe ground.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Let Birgit talk with Rachel and be her friend. Birgit knows the truth and will make sure Rachel hears it. We just have to wait for the fallout.”

“It could get ugly,” Kara said.

“Uglier than lying to that little girl for all these years? I know Carla doesn’t think it’s a lie, but what else will Rachel think?”

“What a mess,” Kara sighed.

I nodded my agreement. Jess got out of the shower and Kara handed her a towel to dry off, then we went into the bedroom to dress. Kara wasn’t going in until much later, and she’d shower and dress after we left for work. Once we dressed, we went downstairs and I went to the sunroom to get Birgit and bring her to my study.

“You can be Rachel’s friend,” I said. “But you need to tell her I’m not her daddy and you’re not her sister.”

“OK. Thank you, Daddy!”

“You’re welcome, Pumpkin. Now, I need a hug before I go to work!”

She smiled and hugged me tightly. I put her down, and then Jessica, Elyse, and I walked out to the car. The two of them had talked late into the night the previous night and Jessica had said things were OK when she came to bed. I certainly hoped so, as I didn’t want another frosty ride to the office as we’d had the previous morning.

“Don’t forget our appointment with Doctor Green tonight,” I reminded Jessica when we got out of the car at Cook County.

“I remember. I have my counseling session at lunch. Are you coming?”

“No, I reconsidered. I have to trust you. If I don’t, we’re right back where we started.”

“I suppose that’s true. You start your physical therapy today, right?”

“Yes. My very own Torquemada will come to the office at 1:30pm to go over the exercises and do an evaluation. I’ll meet with her every Wednesday for an evaluation. And you can be sure Penny will remind me to do my exercises every day if for no other reason than to see me suffer!”

At the door to the ER Jessica and I hugged, and I quickly walked back to the car to drive to the NIKA offices.

My first order of business was to call the school and let them know it was OK for Birgit and Rachel to be together. I spoke to the principal for several minutes, explaining the situation. I liked the new principal, Mrs. Ahern, much more than Principal Monroe, who had left at the end of the previous school year. Mrs. Ahern was much friendlier and far more reasonable.

My next call was to Alec Glass to make arrangements to see Lisa. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea, but I was going to do it for him, as a friend. She was at Logan Correctional Center, which was in the central part of the state, and several hours’ drive from Chicago. We agreed to drive down together on the morning of January 14th. I made a note on my desk blotter so I could put it in Lotus Organizer once I finished my phone calls.

My third call was to Stan Jakes. He’d left a couple of messages wishing me a speedy recovery, and I still owed him a meeting to talk about technology. We agreed to meet for lunch on the 19th, and I moved on to my next three calls. I called Ben Jackson, Ben van Hoek, and Ned Jenkins to let them know I was back to work full time. All of them were happy to hear from me and reminded me to let them know when I’d be in town.

My last call of the morning was to Dante. Our projects with him had gone well and generated quite a bit of revenue for both companies, so he was relatively happy, at least as far as Dante could ever be happy! He did say he was happy to see me back full time and asked me to join him for dinner. I put him off until February given my crazy schedule and trying to catch up. He was amenable and we agreed to talk in early February to set a date.

I spent the rest of the morning catching up with everyone and by lunch I felt I was reasonably back in the swing of things. It had only taken the better part of two-and-a-half days to get there. Kimmy brought me my lunch at my desk and I admired her sexy butt as she left the room.

“Well, I’d say you’re healthy again,” Penny teased.

“Don’t you have work to do, Penelope?”

“I’ve written more code this morning than you have in the past year, you dope!”

“Oh sure, rub it in!” I chuckled.

“No, that’s what YOU should do!” she giggled. “Lock the door! Nobody will bother us!”

“Behave, Penelope, or I’ll have the physical therapist torture you!”

I finished my lunch and worked for about forty minutes before the therapist arrived. She was probably around 45, and probably could have been a prison guard in Germany in WWII. She was all business, and very brusque. I saw Penny laughing quietly out of the corner of my eye as I went through the exercises, which included squeezing a ball, flexing my wrists, and rotating them. I’d need to do the exercises three times a day, every day, for at least a month. Everything was fine until the end, when she did some range of motion tests and the shooting pain nearly caused me to leap from my chair.

“The pain is normal,” she said. “We need to stretch those ligaments and get your range of motion back.”

“Thanks, I think,” I said.

“Do your exercises each day. I’ll be able to tell next week Wednesday if you aren’t doing them.”

I suppressed an urge to say, ‘«Jawohl!»’ and snap to attention.

“I’ll do them,” I said instead.

She nodded and left and I rubbed my aching wrist.

“I KNOW that’s not from masturbation!” Penny teased. “If anyone gets enough sex, it’s you!”

“And just what do you know about THAT?” I asked.

She smirked, “I know the man!”

“Don’t you have work to do?”

“I’m sure there’s a JOB I could do,” she teased, licking her lips.

“Penny...” I warned.

She turned back to her keyboard, “No fun; just no fun.”

I kissed her cheek and picked up some contracts to review. Just before 4:00pm Lucas buzzed me.

“There’s a very irate woman in the lobby. She’s demanding to see you.”

“Carla Rizzi?” I asked.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“I was expecting a reaction,” I said. “I’ll be right down.”

I hung up and Penny looked at me with an arched eyebrow, clearly about to ask something, but I stared her down. I walked down the hall and asked Elyse to join me in the ‘Tretiak’ room to talk with Carla.

“That was fast,” she said.

“I’m sure Birgit talked to Rachel today and Rachel went home and told Carla.”

We walked down the stairs and then through the door to the reception area. Lucas pointed to the conference room and I nodded my thanks. Elyse and I went in to find Carla, her arms crossed, and glaring at us.

“You just had to lie to her, didn’t you!” she growled angrily.

“Carla, I’m not here to debate this with you. I have DNA tests and a court order. Rachel isn’t my daughter. I told Birgit, Jesse, and Matthew the truth. They can be friends with Rachel, but they aren’t siblings. Somebody had to tell her.”

“If you’re so damned smart, you tell me how she can’t be yours if I never had sex with anyone else until two years after she was born!”

Elyse touched my arm, “Steve, would you step out for a moment.”

I had a very good idea what was going to happen, and decided that if someone was going to spell it out to Carla, Elyse was probably the best one to do it.

“Sure,” I said.

Carla’s cold stare followed me out the door, which I closed behind me. I walked over to Lucas to talk with him.

“Did she say anything?” I asked.

“No. She stormed in here and demanded to see you. She was barely coherent. I thought about calling the police, but decided she wasn’t dangerous, so I called you instead. I know it’s not my business, but may I ask what’s going on?”

I considered what to say, but remembered I’d been served papers at the office and ultimately almost everyone had found out about it. And it probably didn’t hurt for Lucas to have some context, given he was on the ‘front line’, so to speak.

“She’s an ex-girlfriend from about ten years ago. She got pregnant and sued me for paternity. Two separate DNA tests proved I’m not the little girl’s father. Carla insists I am, and has been telling her daughter I’m her dad.”

“Ouch. But aren’t DNA tests conclusive?”

“It depends on what you mean. If it’s an A-B kind of test, yes. It’ll confirm one man is the father and confirm the other isn’t. But in a one-person against everyone situation such as this, you only get a 99.999% accuracy, which means a thousand or so males in Chicago could conceivably match based on genetic markers. But I had no markers in common with the little girl which Carla didn’t also have, and even then, it was only a couple. The courts deny paternity if there is no DNA match and no other evidence like being married, or living together, or having your name on a birth certificate.”

“So what’s her problem?”

“She is convinced she never had sex with anyone else until the girl was two.”

“Uhm, I know a story like that, but that chick was a virgin when the baby was born!”

I chuckled, “And I’m no angel, or Holy Spirit, or anything like that!”

Lucas laughed, “So I hear!”

“Quit talking to Penny!” I chuckled.

“You two have the weirdest relationship for people who are married but not to each other!”

“Penny and I dated for about a year before I married,” I said.

“She’s a LOT younger than you are.”

“Gee, thanks,” I deadpanned. “How much do you like your job?”

“I mean, she’s a few years younger than you are!” he said quickly.

“Better!” I said with a smile. “She is, and that’s all ancient history. But it does give her a bit of freedom to tease me and talk about me behind my back.”

The door to the conference room opened and Carla stomped out the main doors and disappeared down the street. Elyse and I went back into the main offices, and then upstairs. I followed her, pulling the door to her office shut behind me.

“Well?” I asked.

“I told her we suspected that Dustin drugged and raped her. She reacted viscerally and denied that was even possible. I repeated what I said, pointing out the back stairs, and so on. She got even more upset, then bolted. You saw her leave.”

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Her eyes told me she knows what I said could be true, or that she actually knows what happened. I’d advise waiting.”

“That is pretty much the only thing I can do at this point. I’ll be very curious to see if Rachel is in school tomorrow and if she is, if she’s allowed any contact with my kids.”

“You know that little girl is going to be hurt badly no matter what happens.”

“Carla did that when she started telling Rachel I was her father.”

Elyse smiled, “And you didn’t once blame yourself. Progress!”

“I have half-a-mind to turn you over my knee!” I chuckled.

“The first part is right - half-a-mind!” she smirked.

“I’m going back to Penny. At least HER teasing is interesting!”

Elyse smiled, I gave her a quick kiss, and I went back to my office to finish out the day.

That evening, Jessica, Kara, and I went to Doctor Green’s office for our first counseling session since my post-concussion syndrome had reared its ugly head.

“I’m glad to see you three back,” he said as we sat down in his office.

We traded pleasantries and he inquired about my health. I’d already filled him in on what had happened and what had led us to this point, though I was careful to simply provide facts. Everything else would have to come out during these sessions.

“Steve gave me a limited report as to what’s happened over the last couple of months, and even though we had one session, I’d like to start with what caused this most recent split. Jessica, you should go first.”

“I’m not even sure where to begin,” she sighed. “I suppose the short version is that I sacrificed everything at the altar of ‘Doctor Jessica’.”

Which was exactly the problem we’d talked about the first time we’d done counseling with Doctor Green. And the second.

“Doctor,” I said. “May I?”

“If Jessica’s OK with it.”

She nodded.

“I think it’s a combination of two things - her risk aversion and her inability to trust anyone but herself. Add in the fact that she doesn’t feel worthy of our love, and I think you can see why we are where we are.”

Doctor Green smiled, “I’m not sure why I’m here!”

“As our umpire or referee!” I chuckled. “And I’ve learned the hard way that identifying the issue is only the beginning. Figuring out how to solve it is a very different thing, and certainly needs input from a third party who doesn’t have a vested interest in the situation.”

“I’m not sure that’s quite accurate,” he said.