Chapter 47

When Dan reached the country club in Metarie, he found Ken and Edgar Bradley waiting for him. A few minutes later they were joined by Bill Clifford. Ed Bradley looked at him in amazement and shook his head. He said, "Bill, excuse me for asking, but how old are you?"

"I'm fifty-one," he replied with a smile. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought you were," Ed replied. "But you look like you're in your early thirties."

Just then the Cartwright brothers joined them. Bill had overheard Ed's remark and said with a grin, "If you saw him nude, you would swear he's in his twenties. And all he does is bitch about Ali interfering with his sleep. I guess it's just as well, though, because his wife looks like she's about twenty."

Looking at Bill he asked, "How is my mother-in-law, by the way?"

Bill Clifford just shook his head and introduced the men to the Bradleys. Then he picked up on the question and shook his head. "Ed, I'm sure you'll meet my wife, Ali, later today. I guess I should warn you about her. You see, she does look like she's about twenty. Hell, the first time Jan Stewart met her she was certain that Ali was younger than she was ... and wait until you see my daughter, Janice Stewart! She looks like a dream come true and is only twenty-five.

"Anyway, Ali is now expecting a baby, so if I seem to float around the course today it's only because I am. I can't tell you how happy she's made me! You'll soon see how happy she is herself. She's positively joyous, and when Allison Clifford is joyous she can light up a whole city by herself."

They were soon joined by Peter Stewart and went to the locker room to change. Bill Cartwright made a point of the fact that his brother, Chip, was paying for everything that day for the whole group. He pointed out that Chip's loyalty to his home team, the Los Angeles Raiders, had gotten the better of his good sense, so the expenses of the golf outing were on him.

Chip looked sad and said, "Thanks one hell of a lot, Brother. Look, I'm poor! And my wife will be losing her job when our baby arrives. Then what am I going to do? How will we live? Bill, you and Kathy both have jobs, not to mention the fact that you have more money than I, anyway. Hell, that doesn't even count your military pension! You're rich! You pay."

"I'd love to, Chip, and I would, but your sister-in-law, Kathy, vetoed the idea. She asked me how else will you ever learn if you aren't made to pay for your mistakes? I didn't have an answer for her. And Chip, you know her! Nothing can get Kathy Cartwright to change direction when she makes up her mind!"

They continued to joke and went out to the first tee. The foursome with the Bradleys went off first. Ken Bradley, who was a very good golfer, whistled softly as he watched Bill and Dan tee off. Both hit tee shots that were very long and right down the center of the fairway. He said softly, "Dad, I hope you brought a lot of money with you. Seeing those two suggests we're about to get a very expensive education in the game of golf."

As they walked the course, Ed asked Bill about the Cartwrights. Bill told him about the money that Chip had made from investments after their parents died while Bill was still imprisoned in Vietnam. He said, "You heard the byplay involving Kathy? That's Bill's wife, of course. When she was ten years old she was enslaved and used to help in torturing Bill. She saved his life. They met again after fourteen years apart last September and were married almost instantly."

He grinned and said, "And don't pay a lot of attention to Chip's bleating about money. I guess he's down to his last half-billion dollars or so. I think his income is in the range of a million dollars — a week! He'll manage to cover the expenses today ... somehow."

The golf match was the best Ken had ever played in. Bill Clifford was a near-scratch player and Dan Burke was also very good. He couldn't help teasing Dan, though. "When do you ever have a chance to play golf, Dan?" he asked. "Cathy tells me you spend all the time away from work in bed with Cindy. How can you maintain your game?"

Dan grinned and replied, "That may be so, because that woman is insatiable. The result is I get a lot of exercise. Hell, the power of a golf swing is all in the body turn, right? With Cindy, I get all kinds of lower-body exercise." When the match was over, the Clifford-Burke team had won, 3 and 2. They went into the grill to wait for the other foursome.

When they were seated, Ken asked, "Dad, if you'll pardon my saying so, you've changed. I think you're a lot nicer now. What happened? You seem so much more ... relaxed. As an example, last night when you remembered you didn't have a place to stay, you asked Vangie to join you on a park bench. Before, you would have blown your stack. The fact that it might have been your own fault would have been beside the point.

"There's more, though. I really think you would have slept in the park and she would have been with you. What happened?"

"You're right, son," Ed replied. "Too right, in fact. I have been a shit virtually all my life. What happened? I guess I met Vangie. The truth is I really don't know what did happen. She claims to be a bitch, and I guess she may have been. But do you know what? The two of us together seem to neutralize each other's poisons somehow. Under all of that camouflage she's really a wonderful person."

He looked at Ken and put out his hand. Ken was puzzled but extended his own and his father took it in a strong grip. "Son," he said, "I can't tell you how proud you make me feel. Not that I had a damned thing to do with it except for providing some genes, I guess.

"And Cathy! She's an utter dream! You're the luckiest man alive to get her, and I'm sure you know I would say the same thing if she didn't have ten cents! You really do love her, don't you?"

"More than life itself, Dad. By the way, did you know she's a virgin? She really is." Ed Bradley's jaw dropped.

Just then the others came in from the course and they all ordered drinks and then had lunch. Ed and Ken Bradley really enjoyed themselves. They found that the men were among the most interesting group of people they had ever encountered. And except for kidding about money, you would never know they had any at all, let alone being among the richest men in the country.

Ken started to tease Pete Stewart about Harvard and MIT. Pete raised an eyebrow and said, "You better knock off that shit! From what I hear, I may be having your mother-in-law staying with me as a hostage."