Chapter 1: Damage Control

June 18, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve!” Michelle gasped. “You wouldn’t! You didn’t!”

I turned to see Michelle, who was almost right behind me, wearing a pained expression that told me she believed Samantha’s accusation.

“No, I didn’t!” I said testily. “I swear I didn’t! Lisa Glass put the moves on me and I shut her down, hard. I don’t know why Samantha thinks I did it, but I have a sneaking suspicion.”

“Steve, come inside,” Kara said.

I went into the house with Kara, with Michelle following right behind us.

“Did you see the phone message I told you about? It was from Lisa Glass.”

“No. When did she call?”

“About ten minutes before you arrived home.”

That meant she probably called the office, and they’d said I’d left. I now had a VERY good idea of what had happened.

“That bitch!” I hissed. “I bet you anything she’s behind this.”

“You didn’t?” Kara asked.

“No!” I snapped. “I absolutely did not! As I said to Michelle, I turned Lisa down. Flat. Two times! I need to call Samantha’s house and see if I can get her to call me when she gets home.”

I went to my study with Kara and Michelle tagging along behind me. I dialed Samantha’s number and Les answered.

“Spurgeon Residence,” he said.

“Les, it’s Steve Adams. I need to speak to Samantha right away.”

“Mr. Adams, she left explicit instructions that I was to inform you to never call here again. I’ll need you to return the gate transmitter by mail. It’s been deactivated.”

“Les, she’s been lied to!”

“Apparently so. I have my instructions. Good day.”

He hung up.

“Son of a bitch!” I swore.

“What?” Kara asked.

“He said that Samantha gave instructions that I was to be told to never call there again. The only way I’m going to ever fix this is through Lisa. Which is, of course, what she wants!”

“What do you mean?” Michelle asked.

“She’ll try to extract a price. And if I know her, I know what it will be. It will be a cold day in hell before she gets what she’s after. Two can play the same game, and I’m better at it.”

“What ARE you talking about?” Michelle asked.

“Maybe it would be better if this happened behind closed doors,” Kara said. “Michelle, come with me, please.”

Michelle looked at me. I knew that Kara understood exactly what Lisa was going to ask for and had a good idea how I’d fight back. And it was better if Michelle didn’t have to hear it.

“I think Kara’s right,” I said. “Please?”

Michelle nodded and left with Kara, who closed the door behind them. I took a couple of deep breaths, and then looked up Lisa’s number in my address book. Unsurprisingly, I was put right through when I asked for her.

“Hi, Steve!” she said sweetly.

“Don’t give me that sweet voice, Lisa. I know what you did and you’re going to fix it. Now!”

“Whatever are you talking about?” she asked, in obviously feigned innocence.

“Stop with the bullshit! You told Samantha that we slept together. It’s a lie. You know it. I know it. And you’re going to tell her.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Is that so? Well, then you can call Samantha and tell her that whoever told her we slept together is a liar, which will also resolve the problem.”

“And why would I do that?” she asked.

“Seriously? You have to ask that question?”

“If I do this, I want something in return,” she said, her tone of voice making implication clear.

“The Stanley Cup Finals will be played in hell before you get what you’re angling for.”

“Then I’m sorry to say that your relationship with Samantha is over.”

“No it’s not, and you’re going to fix it.”

“Why would I possibly do that?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll tell John everything we did! In explicit detail! Remember my threat when you came on to me?”

“He’ll never believe it!”

“He doesn’t have to. If you deny it to him, then you’ll deny it to Samantha. Because if you refuse to deny it to Samantha, then John will believe it happened. And when I said detail, I meant detail. Mouth. Pussy. Ass. Cum all over your face and breasts. Like ... a whore!”

At the last second, I’d stopped myself from saying, ‘Like the cheap whore you really are!’

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me! You need to fix this. And you need to fix it now! I don’t care if you have to get on a fucking plane to Monaco, you’re going to solve this problem. And apologize to Samantha in front of me. Or I tell John. Decide. You have thirty seconds.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” she repeated.

“Oh yes I would. If you don’t do what I just said, my next call is to John. And then to your dad to cancel the deal. And then to Jeri, who will believe ME. And then she and I will put an end to this once and for all. Do you hear me? Do not FUCK with me on this, Lisa! Fifteen seconds.”

“You’d cancel the deal over a stupid piece of ass?”

“You just keep digging deeper. Decide. Are you going to fix it or do I call John? Ten seconds until I hang up.”

Silence. I was just about to put the receiver down when she spoke.

“Fine. I’ll tell her I made it up. But this isn’t the end between you and me, you little prick.”

“I think you might want to ask Margaret Lundgren about messing with me. She tried and I wound up on the Board of her Foundation. That should tell you who won. Make the call.”

“OK. OK. I’ll call the silly cunt right now.”

“I expect to hear from her tonight, Lisa. Do you hear me?”

“Shit!” she swore, slamming down the phone.

All I could do now was wait. If Samantha went straight home, it would be another ninety minutes at least before she got home due to rush hour traffic. She was supposed to leave for Monaco in the morning around 11:00am. My family was supposed to leave for Iron Mountain around 7:00am. I knew Samantha and Lisa both had my home and cellular phone numbers, so I could get a call from Samantha even if we’d left for our vacation.

That made me wonder about why Samantha didn’t have a cellular phone, Obviously, money was no objet, and coverage areas had grown significantly. It dawned on me that I didn’t know if any of the ‘society’ types had mobile phones But I pushed that thought out of my mind and got up from my desk and went to find Kara and Michelle. They were in the sunroom and I asked Kara to come to my study with me. Michelle certainly did NOT need to hear what I was going to say to Kara.

“Exactly as I expected. She implied, strongly, that I could solve this by sleeping with her.”

“How does that solve anything?” Kara asked, incredulous. “Doesn’t it just play right into her hands?”

“Of course it does! Then she CAN hold it over me. It’s stupid, but I’m starting to believe Lisa isn’t very smart. But I told her in no uncertain terms that she needed to fix this, and right away. If she doesn’t, then I’m calling her fiancé and telling him that it DID happen. According to Jeri, he has no clue Lisa cheats on him.”

“And here I was worried that Samantha was the problem! This Lisa seems unbalanced!”

“She’s too used to getting her own way. Think Samantha, but without Samantha’s innate sweetness.”

“How did you know that about Samantha?” Kara asked.

“From the time we spent together riding horses that first day before we had sex. She’s spoiled rotten, but inside is a wonderful young woman just waiting to get out. Lisa is what Becky would have become if I hadn’t befriended her again when I came to Chicago. One secondary reason I confessed to you was so Becky couldn’t hold it over my head.”

“An interesting parallel. What do you think would have happened if you hadn’t told me about being with Becky?”

“That forever Becky would have used the threat of telling you about me cheating to get what she wanted from me. And I never would have been able to escape without wrecking everything. That’s what Lisa wants. She’d marry John and have her flings on the side, with me stuck doing everything she wanted or risk her telling you or Jess or Samantha. Or the threat of telling Samantha’s dad, or whomever.

“Lisa’s power comes from the guys cheating and not wanting to risk making her mad and having her tell their wives or girlfriends. That’s why Samantha doesn’t have that kind of power over me. And why Becky would have. It’s cheating that’s the issue. And that’s the reason I tell you and Jessica everything. I will never, ever, be with anyone that I couldn’t tell you about. I did that with Becky, twice. I’m pretty dense, so it took me time to learn that lesson.”

“Yes, you are. But I’m glad you learned. What are you going to do if she doesn’t come back?”

I sighed, “I don’t want to think about that right now.”

The phone on my desk rang and I jumped. I grabbed the handsets.

“Hello?” I said breathlessly.

“Steve? This is Noel Spurgeon.”

He sounded pissed. Extremely pissed.

“I do not know what you did to my daughter, and I probably don’t want to know. Les told you not to call the house and I’m telling you not to try to contact her in any way.”

“Sir, if I could explain.”

“No. I’m saying this directly. You are to have no contact with her of any kind. Is that understood?”

“Sir...”

“IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?”

“Yes.”

The call was disconnected at that point. I slowly returned the receiver to the cradle.

“It just got worse,” I sighed. “That was Samantha’s dad. He forbade me from having any contact with her. She’s only seventeen, so he can probably make that stick.”

“Hopefully Lisa will talk to her,” Kara said. “And fix this.”

“I hope so,” I said, my voice full of the sadness I was feeling.

“Steve, don’t get into one of your depressed moods. Let’s go play with the kids. That always gets you out of the dumps.”

“Sure,” I said, not meaning it.

We went to the sunroom and I did my best to keep from sinking lower but as the minutes wore on and I heard nothing I felt more and more lost. When it was past the time Samantha should have arrived home, I excused myself and went to my study and locked myself in. I sat in one of the leather wingback chairs and stared at the bookshelves. Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door.

“Steve?” Bethany called out. “Let me in, please.”

I sighed deeply and got up and unlocked the door. Bethany came in and shut the door behind her.

“Will you talk to me?” she asked.

“About what?” I sighed. “About some bitch who decided to ruin my life because she doesn’t have one?”

“Kara said it’s only been about two hours. Don’t lose control of yourself. Give it a bit of time. Samantha may not have gone straight home, or not called Lisa back because she’s angry, or a host of other possibilities.”

“And if it can’t be fixed?”

“Then you’ll go on,” Bethany said firmly. “You have wives and children and friends and a Sweetheart who all love you.”

“I know, but...”

“Wait here. I need reinforcements.”

She left and was back a minute later. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Daddy, don’t be sad!” Birgit said.

She came over, climbed in my lap, and put her lips up. I bent down and she kissed my cheek.

“Love Daddy!” she said.

“I love you, too, Pumpkin.”

“Mommy said you have to smile! I want you to smile!”

I didn’t feel like smiling, but Birgit could always cheer me up. I smiled for her.

“Much better,” Bethany said.

“You realize this doesn’t fix anything,” I said.

“No, but I remember what happened the last time you had a serious bout of depression.”

“Nothing good,” I sighed.

We had dinner and celebrated Michael’s third birthday with cake and ice cream. He opened his presents and we cleaned up, but there was still no call from Samantha. I wondered if I should try to call Lisa, but I didn’t have her home number. I had Alec’s, but the last thing I wanted to do was involve him. It was bad enough that Noel Spurgeon was involved. There was one other person I could call. I dialed the number.

“I have a big problem,” I said when Jeri answered.

“What?”

“Lisa lied to Samantha and said that I had sex with her. Samantha came here, made the accusation, and then sped away in her car. When I tried to call her at home, I was told never to call again. Then Samantha’s dad called and told me never to have any contact with her. I confronted Lisa and threatened to tell John if she didn’t make things right with Samantha. I haven’t heard from either of them since.”

“I’m so sorry! Please don’t do anything else. Let me make some calls.”

“Thanks. And I mean it about telling John. I will call him tomorrow if this isn’t resolved.”

“Let me see what I can do,” Jeri said.

“Call me anytime, no matter how late. I’ll be out between 9:40pm and 10:20pm to get Jess, but I’ll have my cell phone with me.”

“OK.”

I didn’t hear from Jeri, Lisa, or Samantha before it was time to go get Jessica. Kara and I walked quietly to the hospital and Jessica came out just as we arrived.

“What’s wrong, Tiger?” Jessica asked immediately.

I told her. And broke down in tears. Jessica and Kara put their arms around me and held me while I cried. The anger and frustration had just overpowered me when I told Jessica. Once again, Fate had messed with me. But this time, Fate had a face. I was angry that I’d lost control of a situation because I wasn’t allowed to give my side of the story. It was maddeningly frustrating.

About five minutes later I stepped back. Jess handed me a tissue from her purse, and I wiped my eyes and blew my nose. I tossed the tissue in the trash and we began a slow walk home.

“Bethany is worried he’s slipping into depression,” Kara said. “Even Birgit couldn’t really cheer him up.”

“Let’s get him home, have a sauna, and get a good night’s sleep,” Jessica replied.

I let them take me home, and lead me to the sauna. It helped me relax, but didn’t improve my mood. After the sauna and a shower, we had some lemon tea. Jeri finally called back just after 11:00pm.

“I couldn’t get in touch with either of them. I tried both their places, as well as John’s apartment and Alec’s house. Nobody was home except Alec and he hasn’t seen Lisa since she left work today.”

“Les didn’t answer the phone at Samantha’s house?”

“No. He drives Samantha’s dad most places, so that might explain it. I’ll try again first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks,” I said.

I hung up and my wives and I went up to bed.

“Now what?” Kara asked as we snuggled.

“If I don’t hear by 9:00am, I call John.”

“And for now, we sleep,” Jessica said.

June 19, 1992, Benton Harbor, Michigan, and beyond

“Are you SURE?” Jessica asked.

“Yes. Get the kids to the restroom while I make two phone calls.”