Chapter 110

Deirdre Coleman-Jennings was almost to her townhouse when the obvious settled into her brain. The bimbo that Philip Warner had firmly attached to his arm had the same last name as the attorney who had lambasted the group and threatened to contact the authorities.

The discontent she had felt at the meeting at being overrun by the mayor turned into a full panic. She couldn’t believe the mayor had invited the father of a woman she was trying to destroy. The mayor had brushed off Deirdre’s assertion that Elizabeth Barton-Warner had plans to destroy her and she had interrupted each time Deirdre had tried to bring it up at the meeting.

She had to get out in front of things but she wasn’t sure how. Her niece had refused to speak to her for the entire week and had avoided her parents while they were in Calder City. Cooper was insane if he thought the Bartons would let him back in politics. He was lucky that he was so far under the radar now that they left him alone. If he popped his head up, it would be like a broken game of Whack-A-Mole and Elizabeth Barton-Warner would be wielding the hammer.

Then she would take aim at Deirdre’s mother and father. It was no secret that the Colemans had used some underhanded dealings to gain prominence in the late 1950s. Her father had been a protégé of the Kennedy regime and had benefitted from a few contracts passed down for favors rendered. It was even rumored that her mother once spent the weekend at the White House while the First Lady was out of town but Deirdre didn’t know if that was true.

She bet Elizabeth Barton-Warner knew, though.

She decided that she would document the meeting in an email and try to visit the Barton CEO first thing Monday morning. Her first decision was to alert her new friend, Bonita Nejara, about the meeting. Bonnie answered on the second ring but didn’t get a word in past “hello.”

“It was a disaster!” Deirdre spat. “That woman at City Hall is either stupid or insane. You have to help me. If word gets out that I was there, I’ll be fired. If Elizabeth asks, tell her I was with you this weekend. Will you do that? I’m begging you!”

“I don’t think that will work,” Bonnie said, smiling to herself. “Elizabeth got back in town earlier today. The first thing she did was to book a romantic weekend for my husband and me at a bed and breakfast near Griffin Lake. I somehow doubt that she’ll believe that I invited you up here for a threesome with me and Manny.”

“Oh, God,” Deirdre lamented.

“No one is going to say anything,” Bonnie assured her. She didn’t add the “except me” that she thought.

“That awful girl’s father was there!” Deirdre spat. “One of those idiots invited him and didn’t even know who he was.”

“I’m not sure how close they are,” Bonnie told her. “He left the family when she was just a girl and I know that as of last summer, she hadn’t seen him since.”

“Oh, that’s good then,” Deirdre said, relaxing slightly.

Bonnie couldn’t figure out how growing up without a father could be good but she didn’t mention it.

“Who was there?” she asked instead.

Deirdre’s list was a Who’s Who of Calder City politics and business, Bonnie noted as she wrote the names down.

“Look, Manny’s back from his whipped cream run,” Bonnie said, glancing over at her husband sleeping in his recliner at their home. “Just play it cool. Don’t panic until I get the chance to talk to Elizabeth Monday. We can always tell her that you had no idea of what was going to be discussed, only that the mayor asked you to come. She thinks Melissa Hopkins is Satan Incarnate so she’ll believe it. Just relax and don’t go crazy this weekend. OK?”

“OK,” Deirdre said, letting out a long breath. “Thanks, Bonnie. I’m glad I have someone with a level head on my side.”

“Oh, don’t mention it,” Bonnie said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “You just keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll make sure it turns out just like it should.”

Hailey didn’t get to enjoy the most exciting night of her young life for as long as she liked. She felt her telephone vibrating in her purse several times during the musical at the theatre. She ignored it until the intermission then frowned when she looked at it in the lobby.

“My Dad has called seven times,” she said. “That’s odd. I mean, we always go to lunch on Saturdays. Does he know about tonight?”

“Uh, no,” Phil admitted. He had debated discussing the engagement with Michael but had decided against it. He and Hailey were still getting to know each other and hadn’t developed the closeness that Phil enjoyed with his father.

Hailey wasn’t put off by the fact that Michael was in the dark. In fact, she was happy about it. It gave her one more person to tell as soon as she got the chance. She decided that chance should be immediately. She hit the button for Michael’s number and the phone was answered almost before it rang.

“Thank God!” Michael said, almost breathless with relief. Hailey was too excited to even notice.

“I have great news!” Hailey told him happily. “Phil and I are getting married.”

Michael wasn’t sure how to react. He was happy that she was happy. He also thought that 20 was too young to get married and he knew that an engagement to one of the city’s most sought-after bachelors would paint a fresh bull’s eye on his daughter’s back. When he added in the things he had heard that evening, he wasn’t as thrilled as he knew he should be. Still, he made his voice as light as possible.

“That’s wonderful,” he told the little girl he’d lost and hadn’t quite found again. Now he never would. She would be Phil’s wife instead of his daughter. “Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?”

“Absolutely,” Hailey said. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I can’t wait to show you my ring. It’s beautiful, Dad. I saw it at a jewelry store last summer. He remembered that I liked the style and the cut of the diamond. He is always doing things like that. I’ll say or do something completely innocuous and he’ll pick up on it.”

Michael smiled almost in spite of himself.

“He loves you, Sweetheart,” he said. “And he knows how lucky he is to have you. Uh, do you mind if I talk to Phil for a minute?”

He wasn’t going to ruin Hailey’s big night. He would pass his information on to Phil.

“Sure, Dad,” Hailey said.

“Congratulations,” Michael said when Phil answered.

“Thank you,” Phil replied. “I’ve been trying to get to this for a few months but something always got in the way. I’m glad it was still a surprise.”

“She sounds very happy, Phil,” Michael added.

“I hope she always sounds that happy,” Phil answered. “She deserves it.”

“Uh, look, the reason I called is pretty likely to put a damper on that happiness,” Michael admitted.

“Oh?” Phil wondered. He tried to slide away from Hailey but she followed him, smiling all the time. “What’s up?”

“I was asked this afternoon to attend a meeting,” Michael said. “That meeting was a group of people with designs on ruining Barton Holdings.”

“Deirdre Coleman-Jennings,” Phil said. “Yeah, Hailey is on it. She knows everything that’s going on.”

“Hailey?” Michael asked with alarm. He sometimes still saw his daughter as a six-year-old with cake frosting on her nose. “Shouldn’t Elizabeth be handling this?”

“This is probably the more humane solution,” Phil hedged. Hailey was looking at him carefully.

“Well, I tried to call Elizabeth but only got voicemail,” Michael admitted.

“We just got back from Los Angeles this afternoon,” Phil told him – even though Michael already knew of it from his phone calls to Hailey during the week. “I think she and Dad were going out and she always shuts down her phone. Don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried about it!” Michael said. He wasn’t going to discuss particulars until Elizabeth was alerted. “If you see your mother or father, would you ask them to contact me?”

“Sure,” Phil said. “Here’s Hailey back.”

Hailey put the phone to her ear again, still eying Phil.

“Promise me you’ll be careful tonight,” Michael said.

“Oh, Dad,” Hailey said. “We’re always careful. We know all about the drunks on the road on Friday nights.”

“Promise me you’ll be extra careful tonight,” Michael pushed.

“What’s going on?” Hailey asked. “I heard Phil mention DeeDee. I know she’s got something going on to undermine me or Phil or Beth. Do you know something about it?”

“I’ll explain it all tomorrow,” Michael said. “Why don’t you see if Phil can join us for lunch?”

“He has a baseball game in the morning,” Hailey informed her father. “He usually goes back to get a shower and go over reports while I hang out with you.”

“I’d like to congratulate my future son-in-law in person,” Michael tried. “I’m willing to push lunch back to accomplish that. In fact, I’d like to invite Beth and David, too. It’ll be nice to celebrate together, don’t you think?”