Signed Sealed Delivered
Excerpt
_ Dion watched the waiter escort the small, golden-brown haired woman to his table. This was Terri Micklewright? Mechanic? No way. The woman was Elegance with a capital E to the nth degree. Her hair beautifully coiffured; make-up expertly and discreetly applied; and nails manicured and well buffed. Her svelte body was clad in a dress that was elegant and classic; slender legs encased in shimmery skin toned nylon, and polished court shoes with killer heels graced her feet. Her jewellery was simple and exquisite; and a simple elegant clutch bag to match the shoes completed the ensemble. He got to his feet and waited as the waiter seated her, spread her napkin over her lap, and handed them both a menu.
Terri cast the menu a quick glance. “The seafood chowder, with a fruit and cheese plate to finish please.”
“Wine?”
“Mineral water, sparkling.”
“Very abstemious” Dion remarked.
“Driving,” Terri retorted. “So you are Dion.” Seize the initiative; be proactive was her father’s motto. “You look like Phillip.” A younger version admittedly. No wonder Helen had her socks knocked off – her description of her first meeting with Phillip.
“And you are Therese” Dion remarked. My, she is composed. She was not easily impressed by wealth and its trappings. If he did not know better, he would say she was from the upper strata of society, and accustomed to being waited on hand and foot, and feted by princes.
“Terri, please. Only Phillip calls me Therese.”
Dion felt as if he was a six-year-old being put in his place. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why is my father so privileged to call you Therese?”
Terri shrugged. “I was introduced to him as Therese?” And I like the way he pronounces it, she thought. However, Phillip called everyone by their proper given name. While everyone else called Theos ‘Theos’, he called him Theodore. If Dion’s name was Dionysius, then that is what Phillip would call him. No one dared to call Phillip ‘Phil’. “Has something dreadful happened to him and Helen?” She smiled up at the waiter as her bowl of chowder was placed before her.
That smile rocked Dion. Her greeting smile to him had been perfunctory, with little warmth. “Now why would you think that?” he asked curiously, spearing a prawn from his own starter of a prawn cocktail.
“You’ve never come to Brisbane on business before. The few times Theos mentioned you visiting, they were so brief they may as well have been non-existent.”
“My last visit was not – happy.” His gaze became riveted on her mouth as she daintily sipped the chowder from the spoon. Damn, she never spilt a drop, and her lipstick was still firmly in place.
“No it wasn’t” Terri replied serenely, knowing he spoke of the accident. At least he had a chance to say goodbye to his brother. The first she knew of the accident was when Rick called her into his office. “I understand you have recovered fully from your injuries.”
“Yes. And you?” Those days after the accident were a blank as he was unconscious. He hated not being able to attend Theos’ funeral.
“I wasn’t injured.”
“Your parents were killed in the same accident.”
“So they were,” Terri replied calmly. “However, I was not involved in the accident.”
“You do not seem to be upset about losing three people you supposedly loved.” My stars, she is a cold bitch.
“Two years is a long time” Terri replied. If he had seen her that night, he wouldn’t be so cool. It was the only time she had to cry, and stars, had she shed tears. “I’ve been told I have a very odd outlook on death – and life.”
“Tell me more” he invited. He leant forward and topped up her glass with mineral water from the decanter the waiter had placed in the wine bucket. He topped his own glass of juice up. The tablets he was taking for his injuries prohibited alcohol consumption. He would be glad when he was finally able to stop taking tablets. He enjoyed a glass of red at night. As he sat back, he caught the fleeting glimpse of memory and devastating loss in her eyes. It was gone before he could identify it.
“About what?” She moved slightly to allow the waiter to remove the empty dish and place the fruit and cheese platter before her.
Dion nodded his thanks to the waiter as his meal was placed before him. “Oh your thoughts on death” he encouraged. Perhaps she would let something slip that he could use. He took up his knife and fork and sliced into the succulent steak.
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. No one knows when Death will call and very few have a choice in the way they die. It is as inevitable as the sun’s rising and a part of life.”
“Very catholic.” Being Italian, she would be Catholic. “Philosophical even.”
“How about this? The angst we have about death is not about what death means to the person but what it means to ourselves. We really are selfish.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning the angst you have over Theos’ death is because of what it means to you. What you have lost personally. Not that Theos is free from pain, is at peace, is free from the worry of not matching your and Phillip’s achievements and the fear of sending the Perides empire into a decline.”
Dion was surprised at the depth of her knowledge of Theos. He himself was aware that Theos had suffered some indecision as to following their father into business or Helen into physiotherapy. “And what did Theos’ death mean to you?”
“The loss of a valued friend” Terri replied simply.
The depth of her sincerity left Dion reeling. “How long had you known him?” he asked, breaking the taut silence.
“We met at school” Terri responded easily. She drew a deep breath. This was getting morbid and going nowhere. “So, what brings you to Brisbane, Dion?”
“You actually.”
“I doubt it” Terri remarked dryly. “Theos’ friends have never figured much in your life.”
“Normally I would agree with you,” Dion returned. He watched fascinated as she dextrously speared a small cube of melon and carried it to her mouth. Lord she was a dainty eater. Not finicky, for she had a healthy appetite, just dainty. “However, I find I must make an exception for you.”
“Please don’t” Terri retorted. Dion did not inspire any thought of friendship within her.
“Oh I must, considering you are also friends with my father and stepmother.”
“Have you always treated Helen as a fringe member of your family?” Terri asked curiously. With less than ten years between them, Helen regarded Dion more as a younger brother than a son. A wise decision.
“Pardon?” Dion was startled as well as puzzled. Helen a fringe member of the family? What was she talking about?
“From what I understand from Phillip, Helen and Theos, you never knew your mother. She died shortly after your birth. Phillip raised you alone until he met and married Helen. Now I know the age difference between you and Helen is not great, in fact, it is less than that between you and Theos, but she is the only mother figure you’ve known. You make a definite distinction and delineation when you call her ‘stepmother’.”
“It is fact” he interpolated.
“’My father and stepmother’ is shoving her to the side – a barely tolerated intruder into the magic circle.”
“Helen is aware of her importance to my father and his life.”
“So what happens when Phillip dies?” Terri asked curiously. “Oh I know you’ll see to it that she lives out her life in comfort and never worry for monetary concerns, but will you share her grief, ease her loneliness, help her go on living?”
“You have a biting tongue” Dion remarked. When was the last time anyone took me to task? I must have been all of fourteen.
“You don’t like the image you see in the mirror?”
“Your mirror.”
“One of many.” She paused and sipped her mineral water. “So why else would you make me an exception among Theos’ friends?”
“You have something of his that I want” Dion remarked.
“I doubt it. The only thing Theos gave me was a neck chain for a birthday.” She could not see him wearing a delicate golden rose pendant.
“And his son, Therese. Alexander.”
“Alexander is a person, Perides, not a thing” Terri bit out. Her hazel green eyes flashed. He saw anger, scorn, pity and determination among the myriad of emotions that flashed through their depths. “As to Theos being his father, what would you say if I said he isn’t?”
“I would call you a bare faced liar.”
“Would you now? On what grounds?”
“I can show you photographs of me and Dad at the same age. Even experts would be hard pressed to tell us apart.”
“Really? How interesting” Terri returned ruminatively. “It doesn’t alter the fact that on Alexander’s birth certificate there is a blank space where the father’s name should appear.”
“What?” Of all the moves he expected her to make, denying Theos his parenthood was not one. He would have expected her to name Theos as the father if only to have a claim on the family inheritance when Alexander was older.
“You heard” Terri replied calmly. “Alexander is my son.”
“DNA would prove Theos’ as the father.”
“Could it? To my understanding DNA testing is only accurate to ninety-nine percent – not one hundred percent.”
“How much?” he asked bluntly.
“How much what for what?” Terri asked puzzled.
“Money… Alexander”
“The buying and selling of humans is slavery and outlawed in Australia” Terri remarked softly, expressionlessly, emotionlessly.
“One million? Two million?”
“Alexander is my son, Perides,” Terri ground out. “Not a race horse.”
“Oh I’m not buying him” Dion hastened to reassure her.
“Oh? That is exactly what it appears to me. What are you trying to buy then?”
“You… Out.”
“You know, Perides” Terri remarked conversationally, “I’ve had this conversation or its cousin, before. Then I could understand the reason and motives behind Helen and Phillip’s actions: the attempt and desire to cling to a tiny bit of themselves, to hold onto a piece of their son. Theos did not contain any bit of you; therefore, Alexander could not either - even if DNA proved he is Theos’ son.
“I am willing to adopt him as my son.”
“You know Perides, Helen and Phillip said the same thing and they stood a far better chance than you for gaining custody and guardianship of my son. A stable married couple with a proven track record, one might say. You, now, are a single male and working full time. A similar situation to that of myself.”
Dion grimaced. She had a point there. Alexander would be placed in the care of nannies and carers. He could afford to hire the best. “As Theos’ son, he has a right to his share of inheritance.”
“Theos predeceased Phillip. There is no inheritance. Even if you agree that a child of Theos’ is entitled to a share of Phillip’s wealth, your own children may disagree. Phillip too tried that tack. In the end he saw sense and discretion won out.”
“I do not have children.”
“Yet. Of course, the possibility of children does become non-existent when one’s natural sexual proclivity and inclination is towards the same, and not opposite, sex. Something the law courts have some difficulty with in adoption cases.”
Dion blinked. In fact, he decided he needed to see a hearing specialist first thing in the morning. Had she really implied he was homosexual? He didn’t know whether to laugh in amusement, cry in frustration, or shout in anger. “So what will it cost me to get you out of Alexander’s life and him into mine? Five million?”
A look of sheer pity crossed Terri’s face. Without a word, she stood up to leave the table.
Dion’s hand snaked out to catch hers only to lose grip as she twisted her hand free. The movement pulled him off balance and he toppled from his chair. “Can’t hold his wine” he heard Terri mutter to the solicitous waiter helping him up. He was glad the waiter cast a calculating glance at his glass and the wine cooler: barely two glasses drunk, and since when had grape juice contained alcohol?
“If you say so,” the waiter murmured to thin air. Dion got to his feet—damn his leg hurt—and hurried to the restaurant entrance but Terri had disappeared.
******
Dion entered the apartment and immediately the telephone started ringing. With a soft impatient curse, he answered it. Only two people knew he was here: Helen and Phillip.
“So how did dinner with Therese go?” his father asked without preamble and the customary greeting.
“Dinner was no different to a thousand other restaurants.” Now how did his father know he had dinner with Terri?
“Of course not” Phillip retorted urbanely. “You only order prawns as a starter, lamb or beef for mains and chocolate Bavarian for dessert” Phillip retorted. “Next time order the same as Therese. You will be surprised. What else happened?”
“I got stood up and have just earned the label of a drunkard, a two pot screamer at that, and am a closet homosexual into the bargain.”
There was a choked gurgle of laughter from Phillip’s end. He guessed Helen was listening in.
“And are you?” Helen asked tongue in cheek. Hooray for Terri!
“Am I what?” Dion demanded.
“A closet homosexual drunkard” Phillip’s voice was bland. Secretly he applauded Therese’s shot. There was more life in Dion’s voice tonight then there had been for two years.
“No” he snapped. As if his father didn’t know that.
“What else did you discuss?” Phillip queried blithely.
“Death, Family… Did you know your Therese lost both parents in the same accident that killed Theos?”
“Yes” Phillip replied.
“From the beginning?”
“No. It came out at the inquest.”
“Is that why you’ve been careful around her?”
“No. It merely helped me to understand her better.” Phillip drew Helen to rest against his chest. At least they had had each other and Dion to cling to. Therese had no one. It was one reason why she was insistent on them being part of Alexander’s life. She really was a generous and far-thinking person. It was her innate knowledge of human frailties that made her seem cold, even deliberate, and calculating, when in effect she was warm and protective. It was odd but she appeared to protect him as well as Helen. “What else?”
“Besides being put in my place like a six-year-old?”
“How did she do that?” Phillip asked curiously. My! It appears Dion has gotten on Therese’s bad side well and truly.
“When I called her Therese she informed me only you called her that. Why?”
“It is a pretty name. Theodore introduced her to me as ‘Therese but called Terri’. What else?”
“What did you offer her?” Helen interrupted abruptly. She knew her stepson well enough to know that Terri was outside his experience.
“At two million she called me an outlaw and slaver. At five million she walked out” Dion gritted out.
Phillip and Helen exchanged glances that spoke a thousand words. “What came first? From the beginning” Phillip told Dion.
Dion sighed. He may as well just tell the whole story. His father would only nag until he had it. “I told her she had something of Theos’ that I wanted. She informed me all he had given her was a neck chain for a birthday. When I told her, she had his son she informed me that Theos’ name isn’t on the birth certificate. She even cast doubt on the probable success of DNA testing. When I offered money she called me an outlaw and a slaver.” He was still grappling with that insult. “Then I said I wanted to adopt him, and she said you and Helen would have a better chance since I was single. When I mentioned Theos’ inheritance, she informed me that there was none since Theos predeceased you and my children may dispute Alexander’s right to Theos’ share. That’s when she suggested I was homosexual.” That insult was still rankling. “Then I offered five million and she stood up. When I caught her hand she toppled me…” He was still working out how she had managed that. Phillip’s mouth twitched as he heard the bewilderment in his son’s voice. “…and suggested I couldn’t hold my wine.” Was that a chuckle he heard from Helen? Helen grinned up at Phillip at the affront in Dion’s voice. Three cheers for Terri! She was bringing Dion back to the land of the living and with a vengeance. “When I got to the restaurant door she was nowhere to be seen.”
Phillip was silent. There was a life in Dion’s voice he had not heard for many a year. Social sophisticates had lost their appeal shortly after he turned twenty-one. No mistress lasted longer than a month and possible contenders to the throne rarely lasted three months. To his knowledge, Dion had had neither mistress nor possible girlfriend since before the accident. Terri may be just what Dion needed. She was not on the hunt for a husband, was independent to a fault, had pride to match Dion, and the courage to stand up to him.
“Papa?”
“Yes, son?”
“Is it true that Theos’ name is not on Alexander’s birth certificate?”
“Yes. Therese insisted on DNA testing as soon as it was safe to be performed. She gave me the reports unopened.”
“And?”
“Alexander is Theodore’s son. You only have to look at him to know he is a Perides. However, by not putting his name to the birth certificate she has virtually stomped anyone who wished to make mileage out of it, thus protecting Alexander and us. The report would enable me to validate the setting up of a Trust, should I need to in the future.”
“Dion” Helen said gently. “Why are you making Terri out to be someone to despise? She is a loving, caring mother. It is not her fault Theos died in a car accident. If Theos were alive, would you be acting this way? And if Theos had died when Alexander was ten years old, would you be acting like this?”
Dion was silent. He hated it when Helen posed questions like that. If Theos had lived to see his son born, he and Terri would have come to some arrangement, possibly including marriage, even if divorce followed the birth.
“Good night, Dion,” Phillip said gently and carefully placed the receiver in its cradle.
“Well? What do you think?” Helen asked, nibbling the line of his jaw.
“I think we are witnessing a clash of David and Goliath” he replied, tilting his head slightly to allow her access to his throat.
“And?” She could have told him that on Wednesday. Her mouth nibbled and walked its way down along the strong column of his throat.
“And I think Dion will walk the first mile before Christmas.”
“With Terri?” His collarbone always fascinated her.
“With Therese” Phillip concurred, settling her in his arms. “Of course the courtship will be unusual.”
“Of course” Helen interpolated in a soft murmur. What else would it be? Dion would have to court Alexander too.
“And the fights will be spectacular” he told her, his mouth caressing her forehead as his hands slid up and down her arms and shoulders caressingly.
“What else would they be?” Helen teased, her tongue stabbing the corner of his mouth.
“Exactly. Now enough of Dion and Therese. Do you realise you have missed something?”
“No!” Helen said dramatically in exaggerated disbelief. “What could it be?” she pondered in the same vein.
“Your monthly” Phillip said smugly.
Helen sat up in shock. A man of lesser assurance would have shattered into a million pieces at the look of sheer horror on her face. He drew her down and covered her mouth with his.
Terri cast the menu a quick glance. “The seafood chowder, with a fruit and cheese plate to finish please.”
“Wine?”
“Mineral water, sparkling.”
“Very abstemious” Dion remarked.
“Driving,” Terri retorted. “So you are Dion.” Seize the initiative; be proactive was her father’s motto. “You look like Phillip.” A younger version admittedly. No wonder Helen had her socks knocked off – her description of her first meeting with Phillip.
“And you are Therese” Dion remarked. My, she is composed. She was not easily impressed by wealth and its trappings. If he did not know better, he would say she was from the upper strata of society, and accustomed to being waited on hand and foot, and feted by princes.
“Terri, please. Only Phillip calls me Therese.”
Dion felt as if he was a six-year-old being put in his place. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why is my father so privileged to call you Therese?”
Terri shrugged. “I was introduced to him as Therese?” And I like the way he pronounces it, she thought. However, Phillip called everyone by their proper given name. While everyone else called Theos ‘Theos’, he called him Theodore. If Dion’s name was Dionysius, then that is what Phillip would call him. No one dared to call Phillip ‘Phil’. “Has something dreadful happened to him and Helen?” She smiled up at the waiter as her bowl of chowder was placed before her.
That smile rocked Dion. Her greeting smile to him had been perfunctory, with little warmth. “Now why would you think that?” he asked curiously, spearing a prawn from his own starter of a prawn cocktail.
“You’ve never come to Brisbane on business before. The few times Theos mentioned you visiting, they were so brief they may as well have been non-existent.”
“My last visit was not – happy.” His gaze became riveted on her mouth as she daintily sipped the chowder from the spoon. Damn, she never spilt a drop, and her lipstick was still firmly in place.
“No it wasn’t” Terri replied serenely, knowing he spoke of the accident. At least he had a chance to say goodbye to his brother. The first she knew of the accident was when Rick called her into his office. “I understand you have recovered fully from your injuries.”
“Yes. And you?” Those days after the accident were a blank as he was unconscious. He hated not being able to attend Theos’ funeral.
“I wasn’t injured.”
“Your parents were killed in the same accident.”
“So they were,” Terri replied calmly. “However, I was not involved in the accident.”
“You do not seem to be upset about losing three people you supposedly loved.” My stars, she is a cold bitch.
“Two years is a long time” Terri replied. If he had seen her that night, he wouldn’t be so cool. It was the only time she had to cry, and stars, had she shed tears. “I’ve been told I have a very odd outlook on death – and life.”
“Tell me more” he invited. He leant forward and topped up her glass with mineral water from the decanter the waiter had placed in the wine bucket. He topped his own glass of juice up. The tablets he was taking for his injuries prohibited alcohol consumption. He would be glad when he was finally able to stop taking tablets. He enjoyed a glass of red at night. As he sat back, he caught the fleeting glimpse of memory and devastating loss in her eyes. It was gone before he could identify it.
“About what?” She moved slightly to allow the waiter to remove the empty dish and place the fruit and cheese platter before her.
Dion nodded his thanks to the waiter as his meal was placed before him. “Oh your thoughts on death” he encouraged. Perhaps she would let something slip that he could use. He took up his knife and fork and sliced into the succulent steak.
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. No one knows when Death will call and very few have a choice in the way they die. It is as inevitable as the sun’s rising and a part of life.”
“Very catholic.” Being Italian, she would be Catholic. “Philosophical even.”
“How about this? The angst we have about death is not about what death means to the person but what it means to ourselves. We really are selfish.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning the angst you have over Theos’ death is because of what it means to you. What you have lost personally. Not that Theos is free from pain, is at peace, is free from the worry of not matching your and Phillip’s achievements and the fear of sending the Perides empire into a decline.”
Dion was surprised at the depth of her knowledge of Theos. He himself was aware that Theos had suffered some indecision as to following their father into business or Helen into physiotherapy. “And what did Theos’ death mean to you?”
“The loss of a valued friend” Terri replied simply.
The depth of her sincerity left Dion reeling. “How long had you known him?” he asked, breaking the taut silence.
“We met at school” Terri responded easily. She drew a deep breath. This was getting morbid and going nowhere. “So, what brings you to Brisbane, Dion?”
“You actually.”
“I doubt it” Terri remarked dryly. “Theos’ friends have never figured much in your life.”
“Normally I would agree with you,” Dion returned. He watched fascinated as she dextrously speared a small cube of melon and carried it to her mouth. Lord she was a dainty eater. Not finicky, for she had a healthy appetite, just dainty. “However, I find I must make an exception for you.”
“Please don’t” Terri retorted. Dion did not inspire any thought of friendship within her.
“Oh I must, considering you are also friends with my father and stepmother.”
“Have you always treated Helen as a fringe member of your family?” Terri asked curiously. With less than ten years between them, Helen regarded Dion more as a younger brother than a son. A wise decision.
“Pardon?” Dion was startled as well as puzzled. Helen a fringe member of the family? What was she talking about?
“From what I understand from Phillip, Helen and Theos, you never knew your mother. She died shortly after your birth. Phillip raised you alone until he met and married Helen. Now I know the age difference between you and Helen is not great, in fact, it is less than that between you and Theos, but she is the only mother figure you’ve known. You make a definite distinction and delineation when you call her ‘stepmother’.”
“It is fact” he interpolated.
“’My father and stepmother’ is shoving her to the side – a barely tolerated intruder into the magic circle.”
“Helen is aware of her importance to my father and his life.”
“So what happens when Phillip dies?” Terri asked curiously. “Oh I know you’ll see to it that she lives out her life in comfort and never worry for monetary concerns, but will you share her grief, ease her loneliness, help her go on living?”
“You have a biting tongue” Dion remarked. When was the last time anyone took me to task? I must have been all of fourteen.
“You don’t like the image you see in the mirror?”
“Your mirror.”
“One of many.” She paused and sipped her mineral water. “So why else would you make me an exception among Theos’ friends?”
“You have something of his that I want” Dion remarked.
“I doubt it. The only thing Theos gave me was a neck chain for a birthday.” She could not see him wearing a delicate golden rose pendant.
“And his son, Therese. Alexander.”
“Alexander is a person, Perides, not a thing” Terri bit out. Her hazel green eyes flashed. He saw anger, scorn, pity and determination among the myriad of emotions that flashed through their depths. “As to Theos being his father, what would you say if I said he isn’t?”
“I would call you a bare faced liar.”
“Would you now? On what grounds?”
“I can show you photographs of me and Dad at the same age. Even experts would be hard pressed to tell us apart.”
“Really? How interesting” Terri returned ruminatively. “It doesn’t alter the fact that on Alexander’s birth certificate there is a blank space where the father’s name should appear.”
“What?” Of all the moves he expected her to make, denying Theos his parenthood was not one. He would have expected her to name Theos as the father if only to have a claim on the family inheritance when Alexander was older.
“You heard” Terri replied calmly. “Alexander is my son.”
“DNA would prove Theos’ as the father.”
“Could it? To my understanding DNA testing is only accurate to ninety-nine percent – not one hundred percent.”
“How much?” he asked bluntly.
“How much what for what?” Terri asked puzzled.
“Money… Alexander”
“The buying and selling of humans is slavery and outlawed in Australia” Terri remarked softly, expressionlessly, emotionlessly.
“One million? Two million?”
“Alexander is my son, Perides,” Terri ground out. “Not a race horse.”
“Oh I’m not buying him” Dion hastened to reassure her.
“Oh? That is exactly what it appears to me. What are you trying to buy then?”
“You… Out.”
“You know, Perides” Terri remarked conversationally, “I’ve had this conversation or its cousin, before. Then I could understand the reason and motives behind Helen and Phillip’s actions: the attempt and desire to cling to a tiny bit of themselves, to hold onto a piece of their son. Theos did not contain any bit of you; therefore, Alexander could not either - even if DNA proved he is Theos’ son.
“I am willing to adopt him as my son.”
“You know Perides, Helen and Phillip said the same thing and they stood a far better chance than you for gaining custody and guardianship of my son. A stable married couple with a proven track record, one might say. You, now, are a single male and working full time. A similar situation to that of myself.”
Dion grimaced. She had a point there. Alexander would be placed in the care of nannies and carers. He could afford to hire the best. “As Theos’ son, he has a right to his share of inheritance.”
“Theos predeceased Phillip. There is no inheritance. Even if you agree that a child of Theos’ is entitled to a share of Phillip’s wealth, your own children may disagree. Phillip too tried that tack. In the end he saw sense and discretion won out.”
“I do not have children.”
“Yet. Of course, the possibility of children does become non-existent when one’s natural sexual proclivity and inclination is towards the same, and not opposite, sex. Something the law courts have some difficulty with in adoption cases.”
Dion blinked. In fact, he decided he needed to see a hearing specialist first thing in the morning. Had she really implied he was homosexual? He didn’t know whether to laugh in amusement, cry in frustration, or shout in anger. “So what will it cost me to get you out of Alexander’s life and him into mine? Five million?”
A look of sheer pity crossed Terri’s face. Without a word, she stood up to leave the table.
Dion’s hand snaked out to catch hers only to lose grip as she twisted her hand free. The movement pulled him off balance and he toppled from his chair. “Can’t hold his wine” he heard Terri mutter to the solicitous waiter helping him up. He was glad the waiter cast a calculating glance at his glass and the wine cooler: barely two glasses drunk, and since when had grape juice contained alcohol?
“If you say so,” the waiter murmured to thin air. Dion got to his feet—damn his leg hurt—and hurried to the restaurant entrance but Terri had disappeared.
******
Dion entered the apartment and immediately the telephone started ringing. With a soft impatient curse, he answered it. Only two people knew he was here: Helen and Phillip.
“So how did dinner with Therese go?” his father asked without preamble and the customary greeting.
“Dinner was no different to a thousand other restaurants.” Now how did his father know he had dinner with Terri?
“Of course not” Phillip retorted urbanely. “You only order prawns as a starter, lamb or beef for mains and chocolate Bavarian for dessert” Phillip retorted. “Next time order the same as Therese. You will be surprised. What else happened?”
“I got stood up and have just earned the label of a drunkard, a two pot screamer at that, and am a closet homosexual into the bargain.”
There was a choked gurgle of laughter from Phillip’s end. He guessed Helen was listening in.
“And are you?” Helen asked tongue in cheek. Hooray for Terri!
“Am I what?” Dion demanded.
“A closet homosexual drunkard” Phillip’s voice was bland. Secretly he applauded Therese’s shot. There was more life in Dion’s voice tonight then there had been for two years.
“No” he snapped. As if his father didn’t know that.
“What else did you discuss?” Phillip queried blithely.
“Death, Family… Did you know your Therese lost both parents in the same accident that killed Theos?”
“Yes” Phillip replied.
“From the beginning?”
“No. It came out at the inquest.”
“Is that why you’ve been careful around her?”
“No. It merely helped me to understand her better.” Phillip drew Helen to rest against his chest. At least they had had each other and Dion to cling to. Therese had no one. It was one reason why she was insistent on them being part of Alexander’s life. She really was a generous and far-thinking person. It was her innate knowledge of human frailties that made her seem cold, even deliberate, and calculating, when in effect she was warm and protective. It was odd but she appeared to protect him as well as Helen. “What else?”
“Besides being put in my place like a six-year-old?”
“How did she do that?” Phillip asked curiously. My! It appears Dion has gotten on Therese’s bad side well and truly.
“When I called her Therese she informed me only you called her that. Why?”
“It is a pretty name. Theodore introduced her to me as ‘Therese but called Terri’. What else?”
“What did you offer her?” Helen interrupted abruptly. She knew her stepson well enough to know that Terri was outside his experience.
“At two million she called me an outlaw and slaver. At five million she walked out” Dion gritted out.
Phillip and Helen exchanged glances that spoke a thousand words. “What came first? From the beginning” Phillip told Dion.
Dion sighed. He may as well just tell the whole story. His father would only nag until he had it. “I told her she had something of Theos’ that I wanted. She informed me all he had given her was a neck chain for a birthday. When I told her, she had his son she informed me that Theos’ name isn’t on the birth certificate. She even cast doubt on the probable success of DNA testing. When I offered money she called me an outlaw and a slaver.” He was still grappling with that insult. “Then I said I wanted to adopt him, and she said you and Helen would have a better chance since I was single. When I mentioned Theos’ inheritance, she informed me that there was none since Theos predeceased you and my children may dispute Alexander’s right to Theos’ share. That’s when she suggested I was homosexual.” That insult was still rankling. “Then I offered five million and she stood up. When I caught her hand she toppled me…” He was still working out how she had managed that. Phillip’s mouth twitched as he heard the bewilderment in his son’s voice. “…and suggested I couldn’t hold my wine.” Was that a chuckle he heard from Helen? Helen grinned up at Phillip at the affront in Dion’s voice. Three cheers for Terri! She was bringing Dion back to the land of the living and with a vengeance. “When I got to the restaurant door she was nowhere to be seen.”
Phillip was silent. There was a life in Dion’s voice he had not heard for many a year. Social sophisticates had lost their appeal shortly after he turned twenty-one. No mistress lasted longer than a month and possible contenders to the throne rarely lasted three months. To his knowledge, Dion had had neither mistress nor possible girlfriend since before the accident. Terri may be just what Dion needed. She was not on the hunt for a husband, was independent to a fault, had pride to match Dion, and the courage to stand up to him.
“Papa?”
“Yes, son?”
“Is it true that Theos’ name is not on Alexander’s birth certificate?”
“Yes. Therese insisted on DNA testing as soon as it was safe to be performed. She gave me the reports unopened.”
“And?”
“Alexander is Theodore’s son. You only have to look at him to know he is a Perides. However, by not putting his name to the birth certificate she has virtually stomped anyone who wished to make mileage out of it, thus protecting Alexander and us. The report would enable me to validate the setting up of a Trust, should I need to in the future.”
“Dion” Helen said gently. “Why are you making Terri out to be someone to despise? She is a loving, caring mother. It is not her fault Theos died in a car accident. If Theos were alive, would you be acting this way? And if Theos had died when Alexander was ten years old, would you be acting like this?”
Dion was silent. He hated it when Helen posed questions like that. If Theos had lived to see his son born, he and Terri would have come to some arrangement, possibly including marriage, even if divorce followed the birth.
“Good night, Dion,” Phillip said gently and carefully placed the receiver in its cradle.
“Well? What do you think?” Helen asked, nibbling the line of his jaw.
“I think we are witnessing a clash of David and Goliath” he replied, tilting his head slightly to allow her access to his throat.
“And?” She could have told him that on Wednesday. Her mouth nibbled and walked its way down along the strong column of his throat.
“And I think Dion will walk the first mile before Christmas.”
“With Terri?” His collarbone always fascinated her.
“With Therese” Phillip concurred, settling her in his arms. “Of course the courtship will be unusual.”
“Of course” Helen interpolated in a soft murmur. What else would it be? Dion would have to court Alexander too.
“And the fights will be spectacular” he told her, his mouth caressing her forehead as his hands slid up and down her arms and shoulders caressingly.
“What else would they be?” Helen teased, her tongue stabbing the corner of his mouth.
“Exactly. Now enough of Dion and Therese. Do you realise you have missed something?”
“No!” Helen said dramatically in exaggerated disbelief. “What could it be?” she pondered in the same vein.
“Your monthly” Phillip said smugly.
Helen sat up in shock. A man of lesser assurance would have shattered into a million pieces at the look of sheer horror on her face. He drew her down and covered her mouth with his.
