Chapter 14

His parents and Marty were not the only people who cared about Caz. He had become one of those very successful people whose success almost no one begrudged. His long-burning hatred had been unable to kill the basic respect and care for people that had been a trademark of young Carter Calloway.

Within his MLM company, there were literally hundreds of people who thought he walked on water. From the many under him who had earned enough extra to stave off bankruptcy, to those who had substantially augmented their income, to the few who had become multi-millionaires, all gave him credit. He had a reputation for never turning down a three-way call request, and was now the most sought-after voice for conference calls and rallies. Even the majority who came into the business with high hopes but went nowhere did not seem to blame him. An expert would have said he had the makings of a politician.

He and his parents lived well below the standard that their incomes could have supported. It probably all went back to the fateful night, but they did not seem to want anything to do with ostentation or hype. That characteristic did much to endear him to those under him, as well.

There were some women who cared what happened to Caz. There had been no strong love interest, but there had been several dating companions and three relationships that lasted for a number of months. He seemed to have a nose for gold-diggers and they never got a nod. In a couple of cases where they snuck through his defenses, his mother sounded the alarm quickly and loudly and he listened.

With his money and popularity, his bed need never have been empty. Still, over the first ten years since the fateful night, he had only four sexual partners and the nights sleeping alone far outnumbered those when he shared a bed. In the earlier years, there was no time, money, or energy for dating. In the middle years, the necessary connection just did not happen, perhaps still due to his driving need for revenge. In the later years, after his hatred for Rachel died, his growing fascination with her seemed to diminish the appeal of other women.

It was after the Reverend moved to town and after he discovered Rachel's true status that Caz decided that it was time to get his college degree. He was extremely busy with the usual round of rallies for the MLM business, plus he took a very active role in managing his own investments. Taking the time for traditional college classes did not seem to make sense to him. Instead, he enrolled online at the University of Phoenix. He set up his long range schedule so that he would complete his MBA degree on William, Jr.'s sixteenth birthday.

That birthday was significant to Caz because he had chosen it as the start of his full-scale revenge attack. On that date, the boy, who demanded to be called Cy outside of his grandfather's presence, could voluntarily give a legal sample for DNA testing.

With legal proof in hand that he was not Cy's father, Caz would risk the bogus rape charge. With the kind of legal talent that he could afford, he was confident that any attempt to try him would only result in the final proof of the Reverend's incestuous rape. His desire for revenge was so strong that even the humiliation of possible arrest and trial did not deter him.

[Caz] Present day, Late August

Pulling his concentration back from his oft-repeated reverie to his conversation with Frank Waxman about Transformations, Caz attempted to cover his own lapse of attention by redirecting the conversation. "Didn't I read that Lindsey Hall, that country star, was associated with you in some way?"

"That's right," Frank agreed and briefly recounted Lindsey's history with the Tee. "In fact, she has helped us launch a new venture called Lindsey's Place. It is a group home for good kids living in intolerable family situations, just like she once was."

Caz managed to mask his unavoidable excitement at that revelation. The barrage of questions over the next several minutes, however, let Frank know that Caz's interest was far beyond just intellectual.

After determining that Lindsey's Place was a perfect vehicle to assist in his revenge program, Caz said "I am legally prevented from revealing my exact reasons for this request. Would you enroll William Matthews, Jr. in Lindsey's Place if I paid his fees?"

"I almost didn't bring up this request because I am afraid it would look too much like some kind of vendatta?" Frank Waxman objected as he, his wife Julia, Paul Ventri, and Gerald Magnuson met a few hours after Frank's conversation with Caz Calloway.

"Probably," Gerald answered, "but I don't know that that is a bad thing. He was one of the most strident, you know. It's a paying resident, one of too few we have encountered."

"But we don't want the image of striking back, of being punitive, do we?" Frank insisted.

"Honey," Julia responded, "I think you have very valid concerns. They're not the overriding issues, though. We've got a brilliant young man who's life could very well be warped by the straight jacket he lives in."

"I don't mean to seem insensitive, Hon," Frank said. "I'm just afraid that it will look like we are targeting Matthews because of his stand against us."

"Let me repeat," Gerald said. "I, for one, don't mind being seen as fighting back, of being punitive. We are on solid ground here, legally and morally. There is value in looking like a dangerous target for would-be enemies."

"Apparently, it will be difficult to even find a way to make an offer to the boy," Frank said. "Calloway asked that we leave that problem to him."

"Why do you think Calloway is so interested in the boy?" Paul asked.

"My guess is that he is the biological father," Julia answered.

"If that's true, why doesn't he just get the boy out of there?" Frank asked. That met with shrugs from all of the others. "All right, I'm willing to let Calloway make the offer."

[Ted] Early September

Back in May, at the meeting with county officials and others when the Lindsey's concept was discussed, the lawyer for the county had said that he wanted his neighbors' boy to be the first resident. Connie had beaten the boy, but the lawyer was still working to get the boy out of his tough situation.

Ted's situation was not like Connie's. Where she was treated like a slave rather than a daughter, Ted was pampered but mindlessly restricted. Where Connie owned almost nothing worth taking with her, Ted lacked for little materially.

Ted's parents, particularly his mother, watched him and monitored him the way most parents would a four-year-old. All of the attempts at gaining more freedom were met with wailing, crying recitations of the fearful things that could happen to him. That would always be followed by screaming accusations of ingratitude and lack of appreciation of all they had done for him.

Obviously, Ted was an only child. Just as obviously, his mother was not completely whole mentally. His moving out would quite likely trigger a serious psychological crisis for her. The staff and the board had discussed that problem extensively. The consensus was that Ted's life was being seriously warped by the problems and that he should not be made to suffer for his mother's neuroses.

The physical challenge of getting Ted away from the house took some thought and investigation. The Internet was the key. It was Ted's avenue of independence. He had to restrict the time he spent online to avoid too much scrutiny. His parents had heard all of the scare stories about the Net, but they were not technically knowledgeable enough to implement key trackers or other such restrictive measures.

For his own protection, to preserve his right to go online, Ted had his computer set up in an open, well-traveled part of the house. That way, his parents could feel that they knew what he was doing. It was Mark who came up with a way to pop up very small directed messages on Ted's home page. The process took several days after the first contact.

The next challenge was convincing Ted that he should leave. The first step was finding out from Ted when was the safest time to communicate. Then, the process of convincing started. Ted was just fifteen, so the legal ground was less solid, but all of the investigation and discussions indicated that he was an ideal candidate.

Even a few months earlier, Ted could not have been enticed away. His 'prison' was, after all, rather a comfortable one. The swing factor was a girl his age moving in two houses away. That triggered the belated eruption of his sexual urges. When his parents tried to put out that fire in their usual smothering fashion, his feelings toward them deteriorated rapidly. The restrictions that had always been there suddenly were not at all offset by the comforts, as they had been 'pre-awareness'.

The Net exchanges with Ted changed fairly quickly from 'if' to 'how', 'when', and particularly 'what can I bring?' The testosterone invasion seemed to have unleashed some unsuspected inventiveness, also. By the time the pickup was made at 2am one morning, Ted had three suitcases and a couple of boxes hidden in some shrubs beside the garage.

Muriel, Dale, Connie, and Lindsey were all up and waiting for Ted's arrival. Lindsey had determined that unless a resident had to arrive when she was away, she would always greet them. Julia had convinced her that her star status would do a lot to ease the shock of the upheaval for new arrivals. Connie had proven that theory.

Connie had very mixed feelings about Ted's arrival. She knew that she could not be the only resident for long, and after hearing about Ted, she felt genuine sympathy for him.

The selfish part of her hated to give up the skinny-dipping with Muriel and Dale and the others, which had become a nightly occurrence. It had been an unbelievable learning experience for a girl who had been so isolated. She knew, though, that the practice could not continue.

She had gotten along wonderfully with Dale, but she had to admit that having a huge crush on the hunk made getting along very easy. Because of her totally negative experience with her father and brothers, she was worried about having another male living there. Her intelligence told her that she should not apply her bad experience to Ted, and Dale reinforced that. Still, it was intellect versus emotions, and that was never an easy battle.

It took Connie barely a day to discover that Ted was a gentle, courteous, considerate person. He was completely non-aggressive, to the point of seeming to have no will of his own. Although she was only a year older than him, she quickly positioned him in her mind as a younger brother, one who needed her 'mothering'.

Connie's deprivations had toughened her. Ted's life-long smothering had taken much away from him. Connie saw that instinctively and felt it was her role to help him develop a 'self'.

Ted did show one evidence of determination upon his arrival. He insisted that he let his parents know exactly where he was and how they could visit him. "My parents aren't mean or abusive or anything like that. They're just way, way too much parent. They have too much love, or misguided love. I don't want to hurt them. I just want out from under them."

At a management meeting just a few days after Ted's arrival, Julia shook her head dramatically and told the group "I don't know why it is surprising me. I should have seen it coming. Much of the success of the Tee is due to the interaction between the women. That did not seem to work so well for the men, but right from the start, I can see that Connie has become Ted's shrink. Maybe it will work for the kids."

"Couldn't that just be because Connie's pretty special?" asked Muriel, who had been included as management.

"Oh, she is that, I'm sure, Muriel, but you spent time at the Tee, and I know you talk to Dale about the women. There are always a few 'special' ones who do more for the others than I could ever do." The staff chuckled at that. Self-deprecation was not common for Julia, and they all knew how ridiculous that assertion was.

"I think," Julia went on, "that we should expect some pretty exciting things to happen at Lindsey's. Right now, the issue is Ted's mother. I think this is a case where she will never be able to see that they did anything wrong in raising him. Unlike Connie's parents, whom I consider just plain mean, Ted's mother is just woefully misguided. From all indications, she must be at least neurotic.

"Rather than just keeping his parents away, as we have done with Connie's, we need to interact with them. I think our intent should be to get Ted back home at some point. For that reason, we need to take him to his same school, even if it is in the next district."

"Will you take his mother on as a patient?"

"I think before things are resolved, she will have to be a resident," Julia answered. "The problem is to get her in here. She certainly would not come in by herself, and there is no way her husband could force her in."

"Too bad the men's section is gone. It's sounds like the husband needs some serious remaking," someone observed.

Shortly after Ted's arrival, all of the construction work was finished, and more kids started to show up. Plonske agents and lawyers made a lot of money as the rules were hammered out and irate parents were convinced that their children would no longer be living with them.

[Faith] Early September

Julia's decision to try to isolate Faith from any chance of being discovered by her mother was proven to be the correct one. She had been there barely a month when Max told her that Mercedes had filed for a court order to force him to reveal her whereabouts.

Despite the progress that she was making, that news set Faith back quite a bit. Julia had been pondering how to get Faith together with her father, and the little crisis forced her to decide. She told the management group "Having to entertain family members while naked is really only appropriate for residents who are in some sense at fault, or offenders. That is certainly not the case with Faith. I would like to let her meet her father in the spare office, wearing a robe."

The meeting was very emotional, and the improvement in Faith was immediate. Julia met with Max afterward.

"Hopefully, if Mercedes does get the court order, it will take a while longer. Our legals are confident that they have almost completed a 'wall' that will prevent your wife from removing Faith from here."

"I wish you didn't have to refer to her as my wife," Max said glumly, "but that's going to take a long time. What legal steps can I take that might help to protect Faith?"

"That was my next point," Julia said. "We have a draft petition that we would like you to file. It asks the court to invalidate Mercedes' parental rights because of long-term psychological abuse."

"Did they just make that up?"

"Probably. The point is, anything that stalls the legal wheels is in Faith's favor. Her twenty-first is only a few months away."

"The bitch must know that. She's just doing all of this for revenge, isn't she?" Max asked.

"That would be my guess," Julia answered. "If you happen to get a court order to reveal her whereabouts, talk to us first, but I think you will be able to comply without putting her in danger."

"Thank you," he replied. "And thank you for the meeting - and the chance to see her regularly. I can see some improvement, physically. Emotionally, she's like a different girl."

"I think love gets more credit for that than the Tee," Julia said with a chuckle. "I'm happy for it, though."

[Caz] Early September

The next step in Caz's plan could have been extracted from a spy novel. His plant within Matthews' ministry had numerous occasions to encounter Cy, the grandson. The next Sunday at church, the plant slipped a pre-paid phone into the breast pocket of Cy's suit coat while shaking the boy's hand. "Just press '2' and it will dial the right number," the plant instructed in almost a whisper. "Do it when you are completely alone. This is extremely important."