Chapter 57

TUESDAY AFTERNOON LATE

Jeff walked back to the living room after tucking Joyce and Caitlin in for their impromptu nap. He turned the thermostat down a little and started the already-laid firewood. Relaxing, he sat watching the fire. Shortly, the computer announced that Captain Madison, Kathy and Linda had turned into the driveway. Jeff smiled, glad they were back, hoping that everything had gone well.

A few minutes later, the trio walked into the living room accompanied by all of Jeff's wives, everyone carrying bags. Jeff turned to look, a smile on his face. Suddenly, he had to fight to keep his mouth from dropping open.

Monday afternoon had been tense for Bill Madison and Linda, even though Wainwright was still diverting any would-be passengers to the commercial world. Laughing, he said they would appreciate Bill and Kathy more when the jet was released for executive use again.

At Saint Louis, Frank and Margaret went on to the flight office while Linda stayed with the two pilots as they refueled and secured the plane. Inside the building, Kathy hugged father and daughter. Kissing Bill on the cheek, she wished them luck, wanting desperately to go with them. "I'm off to see my friends. You two call me as soon as you hear something, hear?"

After promising that they would, Madison and Linda continued on to the flight office. When they got there, Margaret was sitting on the couch while Wainwright finished his phone conversation at Bill's desk. Hanging up, he turning to Madison.

"I talked to Grierson (Wainwright's corporate attorney) and he just got off the phone with the others. He says everything is set, and they have prepared for everything the three of them can think of, but I can tell he's a little uptight. He hinted that they are expecting your wife's attorney to try something. So watch yourself, and for God's sake, keep your temper. If this blows up, you can carry her ass to court, and we'll dig up all the crap we can on this doctor of hers. Plus, I've got one... big favor I can call in if all else fails. But I don't want to do it, unless there's no choice."

"I'll call my attorney," Bill said, sighing. "I didn't want to discuss this with the attorneys during the trip. I guess it goes without saying that it isn't good to fly with your mind somewhere else," he tried to joke.

Startling Bill, Wainwright got up and hugged him for a second before turning to Linda and hugging her.

Margaret hugged Bill and lightly kissed him on the lips. "You call us as soon as you're out of that meeting. Promise me."

"I will. I promise."

Turning to Linda, Margaret hugged her hard. "It's going to be fine, Baby. You just hold that pretty chin up, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. By Wednesday, you'll be in a fantastic school on top of that beautiful mountain."

When the two executives were gone, Linda turned to her dad, worried. Before she could say anything, Bill interjected, "Let's go by Wal-Mart and get a bunch of soft bags. We need to pack all our clothes tonight so we can leave right after the meeting. Whatever happens in that meeting tomorrow, you're going to be back at the retreat tomorrow night."

"Oh, Daddy, I'm scared..." Linda started.

"Hush, Kitten. Let's go pack. We'll stop and get a big pizza to go so we won't have to leave once we get home."

At home, they packed — stuffed — everything into the soft suitcases they had purchased to supplement the ones they had. It was a melancholy evening, to understate, but eventually they had every item of clothing that they owned in the bags. "We'll wash everything, or send to the cleaners as need be when we get there," Bill said. "And, we're going to put everything on the plane in the morning before we go to that meeting. I don't know ... I'm just a little uneasy about this. Are you sure you got everything?"

"I've got all my clothes, cosmetics, hair drier, even everything out of the shower, and all the little stuff out of my drawers. Besides, our suitcases and bags are stuffed. If we find anything else, we'll have to buy something to put it in," she tried to tease, but neither of them even grinned.

Suddenly she flung herself into Bills arms, staggering him as she stood with him in the master bedroom. "Oh, Daddy. What's happened to us? We used to be so happy. Why did Momma do this to us?"

"I don't know, Baby. I don't know," Bill kept repeating as he held his daughter tight to him with one hand and stroked her head and hair with the other.

Later, they ate pizza and tried to watch a movie, but both were tired and couldn't get their minds off what was going on in their lives.

"I'm going to my room," Linda said, kissing her dad.

"Okay, Kitten, I'll see you first thing in the morning. We'll go out for a nice breakfast wherever you want, then put our bags on the plane."

After Linda left, Bill tried to focus on the movie, but after a few minutes, gave up. Walking up the stairs and down the hall in his sock feet, he noticed that Linda's door was open. I might as well give her another hug. She's going through Hell right now, to say the least.

As he started to walk into her room, he hesitated at the doorway. Linda was sitting on her bed, her iPod in hand, staring at the screen. The look on her face said it all as she stared lovingly at a picture of Dave. As Bill watched, the picture changed to one of Evie, then a shot of the both of them playing guitars.

For the first time in a while, the father looked objectively at his daughter. I keep saying that she's growing up. Hell that's a cliché — "growing up." The problem is that she has grown up. I'm looking at a young woman. Where has my little Kitten gone? Her breasts are full and proud, and that's a knockout figure she has. Jimmy taking her cherry, in the backseat of his car — no fucking way.

Backing out of the doorway, he quietly made his way down the hall, not wanting to disturb her musing. Inside his bedroom, he glanced at the bed, thinking of his wife. We made love on that a lot of times. Jill used to scream so loud that I worried that the neighbors would hear and call the cops. Smiling, he remembered that it was her idea for him to go outside and listen while she screamed to the top of her lungs. He couldn't hear anything a few feet from the house, so he went back inside — and they made Linda that day.

His eyes welled up and he shook his head, scattering tears. He wasn't sure whether he was sad or angry. How could she do this? I've heard people talk about soul mates. I thought we were. Now this. For the last year, she has treated me like she hates me. What did I do? I haven't messed around on her. Oh, sure, I've looked at a good-looking woman now and again, but it hasn't even crossed my mind to do anything. I was gone a lot of the time, but she knew that I loved her — still love her.

Sighing, he took a shower, then flopped onto the bed.

The phone woke him the next morning.

"Madison," he mumbled, trying to get his mind into gear after having tossed and turned for hours before finally going to sleep.

"Hi, Bill," Kathy said. "Did you hear anything after I left, yesterday?"

"Yeah. But not much. Still scheduled for the same time."

"Why don't I treat you guys to breakfast this morning?"

Bill chuckled. "I've already told Linda we could eat anywhere she wished. Hang on a sec and let me ask her what's she decided, and we'll all eat together."

The company SUV stuffed with their bags, they met Kathy at the IHOP closest to the airport. It was a tossup as to which one of them was the most nervous. Bill sat brooding, hashing old memories, but trying unsuccessfully to project confidence in front of his daughter.

Kathy was both pleased that Bill would probably soon be divorced and sick that his family was breaking up. Torn, she was miserable. She looked at the handsome man sitting across from her and wondered if she would ever be his wife. She felt a flush of happiness for a second, then a flood of guilt.

Beside Kathy, Linda couldn't be still. She swung her leg back and forth, caught herself, then did it again. She wasn't sure her stomach was going to accept her breakfast, but after a little the queasiness slacked off. She looked out the window to see a couple, probably in their late twenties, as they got out of their vehicle with their two kids. They were all laughing as the man picked up the little boy. Putting him on his shoulders, holding onto the child's legs to keep him safe, the father jogged toward the door pretending to be a horsey.

Linda unconsciously sighed aloud as she remembered a picture of her at about that age sitting astride her father's shoulders.

Kathy looked a question at her.

Linda nodded in the direction of the couple as they came into the restaurant. "Just remembering," she quietly said.

"I wish I could go with you," Kathy hinted.

"Not a good idea," Bill replied, "I'm sure my wife would have a field day."

"Well, I'll be at the office. I can't just sit at home and wait. I know I've asked you a half dozen times, but please call me as soon as you know something."

As she got up to leave, Kathy wanted to hug him, but settled for squeezing both their hands.

The attorney's office was on the fourth floor of a smaller building away from the downtown area. As Madison and Linda walked into the waiting room, Jill and the doctor (Bill had found out that his name was Ingels) were sitting together in a corner.

Linda glared at him as they passed, but followed her dad, who leaned over and whispered in the receptionist's ear, "I need to see him right now."

She took one look at Bill's face and said, "Yes, Sir. I'll be right back."

Shortly, Bill and Linda were seated in the attorney's office. Without preamble, Bill snapped, "That son-of-a-bitch is with her. He will not be in the meeting. If he is, there won't be a meeting."

The attorney leaned back in his seat steepling his fingers. "Your wife has asked that he be allowed to be present. It might be better if you didn't antagonize..."

"He's there; I'm not," Bill slowly enunciated as he leaned forward.

The attorney put his hand up in resignation, "Okay. I'll tell her attorney. As I've told you before, you're being more than generous with her. I'm almost positive that she'll settle for less than you're offering. You need to be sure of this before we walk into that meeting."

Madison leaned back, crossed his legs and looked at his daughter sitting beside him. "Problem is, I still have ... feelings for her. We were partners for a long time. I'm not going to look back on this later and think about how I messed over her."

"All right. We'll go forward with it. My receptionist will put you in another office until the meeting. We don't want a scene in the waiting room. As soon as her attorney gets here, I'll tell him what you said."

The meeting didn't go well. Bill's attorneys laid out what he had offered, but now Jill suddenly wanted full custody of Linda, and was willing to go to court for it, despite the abandonment issues. The hour dragged by with Jill unrelenting.

Afterward, Bill and Linda stood in a little alcove at the end of the hallway waiting for the elevator, both of them more than a little depressed. Their hopes had been shattered by the unexpected turnaround about custody.

The office was in an older building that had been redone recently, but it was easy to see that the construction either hadn't been complete, or wasn't done yet. While they looked around, Jill and her doctor walked up.

Jill ignored them, just looked out the window at the end of the hall, but the doctor stood arrogantly leering at Linda. Bill watched his eyes leave Linda's face, then halt on her breasts for an extended period of time, then slowly track down her body to her groin.

Before Bill hardly realized what he was doing, he took the two steps between them, grabbed the guy by the throat and slammed him against the wall. Pushing upward, he raised the 5' 9", one-hundred-and-sixty pound man upward, leaving his feet a couple of inches off the floor.

Jill turned and stared, but otherwise did nothing.

Doctor Ingels frantically grabbed Bill's wrist with both his hands, pulling as hard as he could, but he might as well have been trying to push the building over for all the good it did in breaking Bill's grip. He did, however, manage to get a little air past the big hand, since Bill wasn't actively trying to choke him, just holding him up by his neck.

As Ingels tried to kick Bill in the groin, the pilot slammed him against the wall again, this time smacking his head hard against the unyielding brickwork.

Ingels eyes lost focus. With his face only inches from Ingels', Bill said, his voice deep with emotion, "You perverted bastard. I don't know what my wife sees in you. But I promise you — and check around, I'm a man of my word — I promise you that you won't live out the day that my wife gets custody of Linda. The look on your face just then told it all. You will not have my daughter. That's a promise. I'll see you in Hell first. Try me!" Bill almost shouted. Spitting in Ingels' face, he turned him loose. Ingels slumped in a corner gasping for breath, holding his throat.