Chapter 12: Revelation

It surprised me when we had our first argument. The surprise was because I had automatically assumed that Kim would want to put our two households together right away. I was wrong.

"I think it sends the wrong message to our children, Norm. Until we are properly married we should at least keep up appearances."

"But Kim, I want our family together at Christmas time especially. Our girls and Brandon are almost adults now. Surely they'll understand. In fact, why don't we ask them?"

"Firstly, my mother would be extremely upset and it would guarantee she would not come to our wedding. Secondly, I don't think the children are really mature enough to understand the appearances for someone as important in the community as you are."

"For Pete's sake, Kim, I'm not a politician. This is the twenty-first century and we have a right to live our private lives the way we see fit. If it costs me a bit of business, then I can live with it."

"And what about my mother?" she asked, raising her eyebrow and looking at me sternly.

I was beaten ... and I knew it.

"Okay ... that one I can't ignore. I just hate the thought of having to wait for weeks before I can wake up next to you every morning and start my day with some loving."

"I know," she said, coming to me and taking me in her arms. "I'm looking forward to that too. You'll just have to be a bit patient and we'll steal all the time we can together. Maybe we should sneak away for some naughty lunches during the week."

"Oh ... I don't know," I kidded. "The boss won't approve of that if he catches us."

"We'll just have to extra careful then."

The argument didn't last long and there was never any rancor in it. I was disappointed but I yielded to her because she was probably right and I would just have to bide my time. I would be pushing for an early wedding date, however. Valentine's Day might be appropriate.

There wasn't any point in my making any plans. When Mom and Kim got together it was taken out of my hands. They would set the date, location and all the details. As I expected, my mother was delighted with our decision to marry and Dad wasn't any less enthusiastic. Kim's father was also on board, but her mother was a whole other matter.

"I talked to Mother today," she told me the next Saturday afternoon. "She's quite upset that I'm marrying someone she's never met."

"That's easy to fix," I said. "We'll just go over and see her and we can get to know each other."

"I hope it's that easy. She doesn't know you're divorced and that could be a big stumbling block."

"Why? Half the population is divorced it seems. It's hardly unique."

"Since she had this conversion to God she's become very 'old school.' Her values are almost Victorian to my mind. I have to be honest here, Norm. I'm not going to bend over backwards to have her at the wedding and I'm not going to apologize for falling in love with a divorced man. You've done nothing wrong and I refuse to say sorry for my choice. She's already broken up my family, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for her."

"Why don't you let me talk to her, Kim? She's your mother. I assume she was at your wedding to Tom, so I'm hoping she'll want to be with us when we get married. It's supposed to be a happy occasion."

"It will be a happy occasion. We're going to have a wonderful day and a wonderful life together. My mother didn't give me much support when I was a teenager and I don't really expect she'll be any different now."

"When were they divorced?"

"When I was twelve. I guess I was too young to understand why she changed and drove Poppa away. I just know I had to live with her until I was sixteen. She was driving me crazy and I was rebelling. I'm sure I wasn't any fun to live with for those years. Anyway, somehow Poppa talked her into giving him custody of me. That was the best day of my life as far as I was concerned."

"You've hinted that you were pretty wild when you were young," I said, wondering if that would provoke more of her past to be revealed.

She looked at me with a glassy-eyed stare, lost in her thoughts I assumed.

"I lost my virginity when I was fifteen," she began again. "I wasn't very pretty, but I wasn't really fat ... just big. I had some girl friends but no boyfriends. I wanted to be liked and I though sex was a way to get that. It didn't take long to get a reputation. If you wanted a good time, call Kim. She'll do anything."

"And did you?"

She nodded. "I was willing to do just about anything to be popular. I just never realized what kind of popularity I was going to have. I was smart enough not to rub my father's nose in my antics and I'm sure neither my mother nor my father knew just what a ... slut I'd become."

"When did it change?"

"In college. I was smart enough to get good grades even though I wasn't working very hard. I met Tom when he was a senior and I was a sophomore. We clicked almost right away and I decided I needed to behave if I wanted to have a relationship with a nice guy. Tom was that nice guy. He graduated and got a job with a computer company in sales.

"I quit school and got the job with the packaging company. We were living together and decided to get married. My mother approved, amazingly, and so did my father. I thought she would be upset that I was 'living in sin' but she never said a word about it."

"If she didn't react to your living with Tom then, why would she react now?"

"As time has gone on, she's become more ... I don't know ... hard-line I guess. Besides, for whatever reason she liked Tom. She thought he was good husband material."

"It sounds like it was a good marriage," I suggested.

"It was. What it lacked in passion it made up for in friendship and respect. Tom was a good husband and a good father. He made me want to be a good wife and mother. I give him a lot of credit for changing my outlook and helping me succeed."

"And now?"

She smiled that brilliant, beaming smile.

"I get everything, especially the passion."

I gathered her into my arms and held her closely to me. I was getting everything too.

The meeting with her mother did not go well. Helen Rampling was nothing like her daughter. She was a slightly built woman of medium height and graying brown hair. Her pinched features accentuated her attitude and I knew almost right away that it was going to be a challenge to bring her onside.

"My daughter tells me you are divorced, Mr. Tyler."

"That's right. My wife was seeing another man. It wasn't the first time and it had been going on for some months."

"Did you not consider seeing your pastor or priest and taking counsel from him?"

"I don't think that would have been worthwhile. She had already decided she wanted the divorce and I had decided I didn't want to fight it."

"Are you a God-fearing man, Mr. Tyler?"

"I can't say that I am, ma'am. Not in the traditional sense, that is."

"Well, at least you're honest. I don't think you're right for my daughter. I won't approve of this marriage."

Kim interrupted at that point. "I don't think you understand, Mother. Norman and I are getting married and we are here to invite you to the wedding. Both of us hope you will attend. If you choose not to, the wedding will still go ahead as planned. I love Norman and he loves me and that's all that matters. Your granddaughter accepts him and his son and daughter accept me. We will be a family once more. I was hoping you would understand that."

"I was hoping when you remarried that you would marry a man of faith. I see that hope was in vain," she said sourly. "I don't think you should count on me to attend, Kimberly. I may change my mind, but right now I doubt it."

"I hope you will change your mind, ma'am," I said. "The invitation will always be open."

That was as far as we got with Helen. It was hard to believe she was Kim's mother. They were so different in both physical appearance and attitude that it caused me to wonder. I felt I had done my best to persuade her and I hoped that Kim wasn't too disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Kim. I guess I could have lied and said something about believing in God or whatever, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

"I know. Her world is very black and white. I don't know why she changed so much, but she did. I've often wondered if Poppa knew why. He's so different from her -- happy and full of fun. The women all love him."

"He never remarried though."

"No. He's had a couple of long term lady friends, but nothing permanent. Even so, he seems very happy with his life."

"That's really what matters, I suppose," I said.

I was looking forward to meeting Charles Rampling. It was clear from Kim's comments about him that she loved him and wished that he lived nearby instead of the other side of the country.

As Christmas approached, Kim really dug into her new job. I seldom saw her around the store. She was out calling on contractors, developers, architects and others in an attempt to get herself recognized quickly and associated closely with Highland Home Center.

It wasn't uncommon for her to drop into my office late in the afternoon when she had finished her calls to let me know who she had seen and what the response was. I couldn't tell just how well she was doing from her comments. She wasn't assuming she would have instant success or that one contact with a potential client would be enough. What pleased me most was that she used all the resources at her disposal.

She had added a "Kim Page" to our website featuring her responsibilities. She was also calling on City Hall to determine which projects might be up for council approval in the near future. She would track those back to the potential developer and make her call. She was bringing all the successful tools she used in her previous job to get her new career launched.

It was a little over a week before our Christmas break when she bounced into my office one afternoon, came around the desk and plopped herself in my lap. Two arms wrapped around my neck told me that she was in a good mood and had some news for me.

"Have a look at this," she beamed. "It's your early Christmas present."

I took the folded paper from her and opened it. It was on Cameron Development letterhead and it was titled Letter of Intent. Cameron were proposing a thirty-six unit townhouse development and the letter stated they would be purchasing all kitchen and laundry appliances from Highland. It was her first committed order.

"Fantastic, Kim." I gave her a big kiss. "That's wonderful. Congratulations."

"We have to get this framed. It's my first order. The good news is they already have council approval and are going ahead with construction in February. We'll need the appliances in May, he thinks."

I shook my head in wonder. It hadn't taken her a month to get a sizeable order.

"By the way," she said, now adopting a sterner look. "I just had a look at my bank statement for November and there are two deposits of fifteen-hundred dollars on the fifteenth and thirtieth. I thought we agreed I would work on commission only?"

"No one works for free here, Kim. You spent a good deal of time in training and support when we were busy at Thanksgiving. Consider it a draw against future earnings."

"I told you I don't need the money, I just wanted a good job that would make me feel useful and that's what you gave me. I still have to prove myself."

"I don't think so, Sweetheart. That order you just brought in will earn you a commission of something like ten thousand dollars since it will bring in more than two hundred thousand dollars in new business. It will also entitle us to a reduced price from our supplier for increasing our volume purchases. We both win when you win," I smiled.