Chapter 8

Cliff didn’t see Sandy at her desk when he got to the office Monday morning. He smiled to himself, figuring he had worn her out. He felt very tired but wonderful. Sunday had been a physically exhausting day. She had been variously joyful, impish, questing, loving, funny, romantic, and, it seemed, all possible combinations of them. The one thing she had never done was take herself seriously after her first disclosures. He had returned to his own apartment late Sunday night.

Going into his office he found Sandy sitting with her coffee, waiting for him. There was a steaming cup of coffee waiting for him on his desk. He stopped abruptly when he saw her. “How did you know I would be here right now?” he asked in surprise.

“A bird at the gate told me,” she answered with a warm smile. “Cliff, I’m worried about you. You look worn out. I was reading an article last night that said girls reach their peak of sexuality in their late thirties, while men do at nineteen. Now I’ve been saving up for nearly ten years and have years to go. You, on the other hand, are over thirty! Honey, are you sure I’m not too much for you? I would hate to see anything happen to you.” While the tone of her voice was very serious, he could see the impish laughter in her eyes.

Cliff rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “As if it isn’t bad enough in a planning session, now I have to get it in the bedroom, too! These damned kids get one thing right and it goes to their heads. Everybody’s got to be an expert!” He grinned at her. “Seriously, honey, how do you feel? You look absolutely fabulous. But how in hell can you look so good with so little sleep?”

“I feel so great, it’s sinful! Now I know why Jane reacts the way she does when I kid her about never getting any sleep when Steve Muller’s around.”

She changed the subject. “I’ve got a couple of bankers coming in today. May I bring them by to give them the thrill of meeting our new president? It would really make their whole day, I’m sure. I’m starting to talk with our major banks as we discussed, so I wanted to check with you to be sure we’re both on the same page. We intend to pick a single major bank to be our primary bank. It will get essentially all of our business. We’re going to combine the five or six relationships into a single one.

“Cliff, I thought I would explain the idea to each of them, spell out what specific services we require, then leave the rest up to them. I’ll ask them to get back to us with a specific proposal laying out what they expect from us, and what they propose to provide to us, most particularly including a line of credit. How does that sound?”

He looked at her thoughtfully and responded in his most serious voice, “About what I would expect from the girl I love who’s going to be the mother of my children. Speaking of which, might that process have started yesterday?”

Her face saddened, “No, worse luck! I heard somewhere that birth control pills help in bust development, and I’ve been trying! I hope you noticed that the dress I wore Saturday night didn’t fall off even once!”

The phone on Cliff’s desk rang, and Sandy picked it up. “Mr. Fitzpatrick’s office, Miss Donnell speaking.” She listened for a moment and grinned. “He’s in his office. You may put Miss Simpson on.”

She was making excited motions, obviously relishing the telephone one-upmanship Cliff hated. “Just a moment, Miss Simpson. Mr. Fitzpatrick will take your call.”

It was all Cliff could do to control his laughter. Not only was Sandy speaking in her haughtiest voice, but she was going the full route, putting Stephanie on hold.

He picked up the phone and punched the line button. Quickly he held the phone out at arms length as Stephanie screamed into her instrument, “Clifford Fitzpatrick, don’t you dare do that to me again! You be on the phone when I pick it up, do you hear?”

Cliff ignored the outburst. “Hi, Steph. What’s on your mind so early Monday morning? I’m surprised you’re in the office so early.”

Her voice tone abruptly changed. Now she sounded like a little girl. “Cliffie, I missed you! Didn’t you miss me? I was thinking about keeping you warm Saturday night, but you didn’t even call. What were you doing?”

“Steph, I’m glad you called. I was out Saturday night with the young lady I’m planning to marry. Obviously, it wasn’t you. I’m sorry to have to tell it to you this way, but I guess I don’t know an easy way to do it.” He yanked the instrument away from his ear, prepared for the explosion to follow. He wasn’t disappointed.

“You what!” she screamed. “You can’t do that to me! I won’t allow it! Daddy won’t allow it! Why that’s ... that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. No one leaves me! No one! I won’t stand for it!” They could both hear her start to cry — and they were obviously tears of rage.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Stephanie. I was hoping we could remain friends.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he said the last words, and Sandy almost choked trying to control her laughter. “There’s nothing more to say except goodbye. So goodbye.” He hung up the phone before she had a chance to respond.

A few moments later the phone rang again. Sandy picked it up. After identifying herself, she listened for a moment and then said, “I’m sorry. Mr. Fitzpatrick is in conference. He is not available to Miss Simpson. Goodbye.”

She looked at Cliff fondly. “Am I to interpret that statement as a proposal of marriage? When you said you were out with the girl you intend to marry? If so, I accept. These days, where proposals are concerned, a girl has to take whatever she can get!”

“Sandy, will you marry me?” he asked. “My God! I can’t believe it! Do you realize I only met you two weeks ago today, and yet I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life as I am about wanting you to be my wife?”

She got up from the chair and went to him. He took her in his arms and kissed her softly. At least it was intended to be soft. Their love for each other just flowed between them. “Of course I’ll marry you, Cliff. You have made me the happiest person alive. But I don’t think we should make it official until after October 1, if that’s all right with you.

“I’m a little concerned about that girl, though. She went berserk! Is she in any position to cause you trouble? I mean, can she sue you for breach of promise, or palimony or something?”

“Sandy, I give you my solemn word — even though you don’t need it — I have never spoken of marriage to that girl in my life! I think I told you that she introduced me to some of her friends as her fiancé, but I never talked marriage to her and never used the term. I can honestly say I thought I loved her until I met you. Then she just went in the tank.

“And as for you, young lady, I have some bones to pick. First, it was nasty to play telephone games with her. It hurt her feelings. Although the way you did it was as good as I’ve ever seen. The other thing is, how did you know I didn’t want to speak to her when she called the second time?”

Sandy held her head up and spoke in the same haughty tone she had used with Stephanie. “I beg your pardon? A wife is certainly within her rights not taking calls for her husband from his former mistress. I mean ... really!”

Sandy left for the ladies room to change into her “treasurer’s suit.”

Twice during the morning she brought in bank calling officers. Cliff noted that one of the major Chicago banks had sent both a senior vice president and a vice president and it was obvious they were impressed with Sandy. When the senior vice president asked if he could speak with Mr. Fitzpatrick alone, Sandy and his associate went back to her office.

“Mr. Fitzpatrick, I just wanted to tell you how impressed I am with your new treasurer. I understand she’s new in the job, but you certainly couldn’t prove it by me. She’s as knowledgeable as any treasurer I’ve ever met. My bank intends to make a major commitment to Murphy to get your business. Had your former treasurer, Mr. Purcell, still been in that position it would have been out of the question.

“We like to think we offer superior banking services to superior corporations. Obviously, there are limited avenues available to us to form such judgments, but one is the quality of the treasurer. If the treasurer is not handling his company’s money wisely, you can appreciate why we’re not very interested in giving him some of ours to mishandle, too. We are very impressed with what Miss Donnell has accomplished in just a couple of weeks.

“I hope you will select us as your primary bank. We want your business and my colleagues and I are going to put together what we expect to be a very attractive proposal to get it.”

Cliff saw from his business card that he represented Bank of Chicago, one of the nation’s largest banks, and his name was Thomas P. Morris. “Mr. Morris, thank you for your very kind comments about Miss Donnell. With your permission, I would like to tell her what you said. I’m sure she will be very pleased to receive such praise from a senior executive of a bank such as yours.

“Beyond that, I can’t make any promises. I will say two things, however: First, it’s clear you understand what we’re looking for in a primary banking relationship. There are some bankers who don’t seem to understand the concept. Second, I appreciate your comment about preparing a very competitive proposal for us. Knowing your reputation, I’m sure it will be a very good one. I’m looking forward to seeing it, and thank you for saying what you did.”

After showing them out, Sandy changed again and came into his office. “Sandy, that was great!” He told her what Morris had said, particularly stressing the importance of the quality of the treasurer to the bank. “Honey, you hit a home run! You were brilliant!”

They were about to go down to eat when they heard a commotion out front. Suddenly, the door burst open. It was Stephanie. “Clifford, you bastard!” she screamed. “Who do you think you are? You can’t just tell me it’s all over! I decide when it’s over!”

Sandy started to leave, when Stephanie grabbed her by her blouse and ripped as hard as she could. The cotton blouse was shredded from her body. “I’ll just bet this is the little bitch,” she sneered.

She swung on Sandy, but that was as far as it went. Sandy ducked, and the force of her swing caused the bigger girl to lose her balance and fall on her face. As she hit the floor, a security officer ran in followed closely by two Milwaukee police officers. They had seen Stephanie swing at the taller girl as they came in.

One of the police officers was a woman who took Stephanie in hand, putting her in handcuffs with her hands cuffed behind her back. If anything, this enraged Stephanie even more.

The officer escorted the girl out of the office, screaming obscenities, while her partner shook his head. “What was that all about?” he asked.

Sandy was standing wearing only her bra and shreds of her blouse. It didn’t appear to bother her in the slightest. “Officer, that was Mr. Fitzpatrick’s former girl friend. She’s from Chicago. This morning she called Mr. Fitzpatrick who told her their ... relationship ... was at an end. Clearly, she’s not used to taking no for an answer.

“She appeared a few moments ago, stormed into the office screaming at Mr. Fitzpatrick and then swung at me. I think you saw her try to hit me as you arrived. One thing you should know, officer, for your own protection: She’s the daughter of the chairman of Ajax Industries. I wish to press charges for assault and battery and anything else I can cool her off with. I am Sandra Donnell, by the way. I am Mr. Fitzpatrick’s assistant and treasurer of the company.”

“Miss Donnell, how long have you known the other woman? What’s her name, by the way?”

“This is the first time I’ve ever laid eyes on her. I’m not sure if I’ve ever spoken to her. Wait! I spoke about five words to her on the phone this morning. I think that’s all. Her name is Stephanie Simpson.”

The officer took down the information and took statements from other people in the office. Sandy left, changed clothes and returned to Cliff’s office.

He looked concerned. “Sandy, I’m sorry about that. It was totally uncalled for. And I just sat there like a lump while she swung at you. Are you okay?”

She smiled and said, “I’m fine, except she owes me a new blouse. Good heavens! I just realized I was standing there with just my bra and some shreds of blouse. What will people think!?”

“Several things,” he said, seeming to be thoughtful. “First, don’t mess with you ... you’re too quick. Second, you have a beautiful body. But anyone with eyes knew that, too. Third, they would see more of you in a bathing suit. Okay?

“What do you think we should do now? About Stephanie, I mean. Are you going to prosecute? I think you should, and I think we should ask for a restraining order. It should serve to keep her away from us.”

“I guess I will prosecute,” Sandy said. “I’m curious about one thing, though: How many guys has she gone through, do you suppose?”

Cliff was startled by the question. “I don’t have a clue,” he finally answered, “but why do you ask?”

“Darling, there’s one thing about that girl that worries me. I think she has always gotten whatever she wanted. Always! Today she really went berserk. I’ve never seen anyone so totally out of control. You may have been the first person ever to tell her to buzz off.”

Then she smiled, “With me it’s different. I’ve been told to buzz off, drop dead, go play with someone else, make way for a real woman, etc., etc., more times than I can count. Maybe that’s why I am the way I am with you. I love you so damned much I’ll do anything to keep you. I think you’re making a big mistake, but I’m working as hard as I can to keep you from opening your eyes.”

He realized she was deadly serious. He was awed. She was such a wonderful person, yet she refused to believe it. He decided he was one of the luckiest guys in the world. “And you’re doing a good job. If you keep it up, my eyes will never open. Whenever I’m away from you, I’ll be sound asleep. Wench, you are insatiable!”

“Can I change the subject?” Sandy asked. “What about the sessions with the stores? We’re supposed to start on Wednesday. Incidentally, you’ve got a rare treat in store. You’ll meet JL Wilson. He’s from Charlotte, and is really one of the good ol’ boys.

“The best way I can describe him is to say John Flood hated his guts, and JL didn’t like Flood nearly that much. Incidentally, he really is a true Southern boy. His name is ‘J’ ‘L’. If he were in the service, it would be written in quotes. It’s ‘J’ for nothing and ‘L’ for nothing. There’s a lesson here, someplace. He started work for my uncle ... or my father, I guess. JL is a guy with intense personal loyalties. Whenever I see him, which isn’t very often, I am reminded that his ancestors — commonly referred to as poor white trash — were the backbone of the Confederate army. If you are their friend, they can’t ever do enough for you. On the other hand, don’t ever cross ‘em. They can be implacable enemies.