Altering Authority (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

As the phone reached its third ring, Donna grew hopeful. Maybe today wasn’t the day she’d have to confess everything to Phil. She hadn’t spoken to him in twenty six years. He probably wouldn’t even remember her.

              As she pulled the phone from her ear to locate the ‘call end’ button she heard him. His voice was groggy, as if he was still asleep. His deep Scottish accent hung in the air for a moment before she could speak.

              “Hello?”He repeated.

              Donna cleared her throat, “Phil?” she said eventually.

              “Who’s asking?”

              She laughed then. A small, breathy laugh that was almost nonexistent. If his voice didn’t give it away that it truly was him, his paranoia did.

              “Um, it’s Donna. You probably don’t remember…”

              “-Donna…. The only Donna I remember disappeared off the face of the earth a few decades ago darlin’.”

              She felt him shift the phone to hang up. “That’s me!” she yelled, hoping to catch him. The line was silent. “Hello? Phil?” She said after a few seconds.

              “Ain’t this a blast from the past then,” he said kind of bitterly.

              Donna took a deep breath to ease her nerves. She was sitting in her living room, on her overstuffed couch. Legs folded beneath her, cup of coffee in her other hand. The log cabin was the epitome of calmness. No sounds to hear beside the occasional bird chirping outside. The large stone fire place warmed the room. The smell of wood and pine permeated the air.

“I need to talk to you,” she said finally.

              It was Phils turn to go silent.

              “It’s important Phil. I know this is unexpected.”

              “Anything I could have said to you lovey, or you to me, has been said. I’ve got nothing left. It’s been years.”  Donna shivered when he spoke. The ‘R’ in ‘years’ rolling off his tongue. His accent always did it for her. The fact that her husband was still fresh in his grave mattered little. Theirs was a marriage of convenience, probably more so than he knew. She and Phil had
something
. It was brief but passionate.

              “I promise you it’s important” she said, her nerves beginning to take over. Phil
was
a dangerous man. He loved his family fiercely, but when someone crossed him, he was both jury and executioner. Donna wondered if she’d made a bigger mistake than she knew she had.

              “Out with it then Donna.” He said growing impatient.

              “I think we should do this in person.”

              “Not going to happen. You’ve got five seconds before I end this conversation.”

              Donna inhaled deeply. Her head was swimming.
This was happening
.

              “I um… After we were together. When I left…” She struggled for words. She could
feel
Phil rolling his eyes on the other end. Another deep breath, “I was pregnant Phil. I have a daughter. She’s yours.”

              Phil was silent. She couldn’t even hear him breathing. He and Tatum were alike in more than one way apparently.

              “I told her yesterday. She wants a paternity test to prove it, so you both know it’s the truth.”

              A few more seconds of silence. “What do I even say to you Donna? She’s what? 26 years old? What’s her name? Where does she live...? Do you think you could have told me sooner?” He said quietly, numbly.

              “I’m sorry. I didn’t want that life for her. You know how it is.”

              “She’s my daughter!” Phil yelled into the phone, his voice growing distorted. Donna jumped, nearly dropping the phone and spilling her coffee onto her lap.

              “I’m sorry Phil… I’ll send you the information for the test” quickly, shakily, she ended the call.

              As she dabbed at the mess she’d made with a Kleenex, the memories from their time together flooded back. She and Bill were having some problems. She wanted a baby. They had tried for months without success and she realized it wasn’t going to happen.

Back then she’d helped out with the businesses, a lot. Her husband had sent her to Nevada to close a deal with one of the showgirls who was looking to make some extra cash. She sat in the restaurant of the hotel, waiting on the girl when a group of rowdy men walked in behind her.

Phil pulled up a chair next to her at the bar and smiled. That little gesture melted her heart and made it race at the same time. He was so,
so
good looking. Up until then, Bill had been the only man in her life. All other men knew she was his and stayed away. No one dared flirt with her.

Until Phil.

She couldn’t remember what he first said, but it was obvious he was interested. He had no idea Donna was married or even involved with anyone, but he couldn’t avoid the attraction he felt for her. Donna knew it was wrong. She was
married
for God sake but she couldn’t say no when he asked her up to his room.

The dancer didn’t show up that night and so Donna rescheduled for a few days from then. She was in Nevada for a total of five nights and each one was spent with Phil. Every moment together was bliss and she felt herself begin to fall for him. Unfortunately, she knew she couldn’t continue a double life, and if Bill had found out about their affair it wouldn’t have ended well for either of them. She had no choice but to abruptly end it and leave for the east coast with no explanation. A month after returning she found out she was pregnant. She and Bill haven’t had sex since long before she left for Nevada.

There was no doubt Tatum wasn’t her husband’s.

CHAPTER THREE

Phil dropped the phone next to his bed. He had slept at the club last night. One of his brothers had been released from the pen so it was a bit of a wild party. He rubbed his hand over his face, across his lips. Part of him was hoping he was still drunk, and dreaming.

              Family was the most important thing in the world to him. Donna knew this. He would have helped her out. Visited her, and yes, for God sake, she could have taken her away. Given her a better life. Phil knew that this wasn’t the place for a baby to grow up. He’d agreed to it with his first wife. Their daughter, Kieran, had been raised back in his hometown of Glasgow and lived a relatively normal life. But she knew Phil, called him daddy. How would she react, knowing she had an older sister?

              Phil wondered if she looked like him or resembled any of his family’s traits. Kieran didn’t, she looked just like her mother; had her personality and character too. She was better off raised away from this lifestyle, and not knowing the extent of his work.

              As the day wore on, the guys noticed Phil’s distraction. He tried to keep it light, unnoticeable, but having such a bombshell dropped on him was hard to put off or hide. His boss, for all intents and purposes, Jager (or as he was called in their world, the ‘Authority’) had enough on his plate. He didn’t need to have anything else to worry about. Not that he would have cared, thought Phil. He’d been a shell of his former self as of late. His brothers were growing worried. The only thing keeping him somewhat sane was his two little boys.

              He imagined meeting Tatum and flying there when his probation was lifted with his guys.
This might be a good chance to get away from it all
, Phil thought looking at his friend, whom he helped raise himself
.
This
family needs to catch a break.

CHAPTER FOUR

The club and the girls kept Tatum busy. She threw herself into her work, maybe to prove that it was, in fact, her business. Or maybe it was just to keep her mind off of her biological father. She found herself thinking about the disastrous parts of not knowing about him all these years; her entire upbringing being a lie for her and the two men. Right now it was difficult to look at potential positives such as the fact that she did have a father and possibly siblings with nieces and nephews. She loved the idea of having small children in the family, but all she could think about was, ‘
What if he had a load of children? What if she ended up dating a man who turned out to be her brother? What if she’d gotten married, had kids of her own, only to discover that down the road they were related?’

             
The books and screenings seemed to be the most time consuming and brain numbing aspect of her job. She didn’t accept just any girl to work for her. These girls had to be smart, in good shape and clean. The clientele who purchased time with them also had to stand up to certain standards: no serious criminal offences and STD free.

              The process from booking to spending the night was a lengthy one. Tatum was intent on keeping the girls safe but also providing something that no one else could, pristine girls that typical men didn’t stand a chance with. They ranged from dancers to porn stars. You paid for what you got and business was booming.

It was about two weeks after her mother told her the news. The paternity test results had come back quickly and Tatum found herself scared to receive them. She’d decided that she was glad that she had a new father. She was anticipating meeting him, learning more about her heritage. If the results said that she
wasn’t
his, she would have been devastated, almost like losing a father all over again.

While she was unloading the dishwasher in the kitchen, the phone rang. She checked the number, didn’t recognize it and clicked ignore. Turning on the electric broom, she began making her way around the kitchen when she felt it buzzing again five minutes later. She answered, wiping her hair out of her eyes.

              The line was silent for a moment before she heard a man’s voice. “Is this Tatum?” he said and she thought she detected an accent.

              “Who’s asking?”

              She heard him take a deep breath and then it registered to her. Her knees grew tingly and she had to sit. Folding her legs and sitting right on the floor she said, “Hello…?”

              He laughed quietly. “I believe it’s your father speaking.”

             
Scottish. Definitely Scottish
she thought. She knew he was waiting for a response. “I um… I don’t know what the protocol is in these situations,” she laughed, “I don’t know what to say.”

              He laughed back. “Me either darlin’. How are you? Tell me something to distract from all this awkwardness. What are you doing? What do you look like…? Tell me that you know I had no idea about you.”

              Tatum swallowed hard. His voice quivered at the last sentence and Tatum felt a longing that she didn’t know she had since finding out about him.

              “I’m ok, given the circumstance I suppose. Right now I’m doing housework. I look like my mother apparently, but maybe I look like you too? I don’t know. I haven’t seen any pictures. And um… I know that she didn’t tell you either.” The sound of a motorcycle in the background had Tatum trying to picture where he was right now. She thought it must be warm, given he was in San Francisco. It was raining where she was, in Atlantic City.

              “Should we send pictures?” he asked. “I’m not great with this texting bit but one of my boys here can help me. I’d love to see you.”

              Tatum laughed. “That would be nice.”

              He told her about his club, which sounded more like a pub than anything. Donna had told her about it as well. They operated an intense, illegal gambling ring out of the basement. Sports, black jack, poker, horse racing. Basically anything you could bet on. The local drug dealers used it as a hub for selling. Phil and his guys took a cut of everyone’s profits but of course he didn’t tell her that, leaving out the details that are best not spoken over the phone. He told her that he and a couple of his guys drove motorcycles, although he was fairly new at it. They were restoring an old Harley.

She did the same, telling him about herself. He knew Bill from past business dealings but had no idea he was married to Donna.
His
Donna. He knew about Bill’s daughter, heard stories about her ‘work ethic’ for lack of a better word.

              Phil talked about his other daughter. Tatum’s new half sister named Kieran.
A sister
she thought.
What would she do with one of those?
She’d never really gotten along with females, ironically.

              When they finally hung up, an hour had passed. Tatum felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but there was still something nagging at her. She dialed the number and he answered before it had rung once.

              “I want you to come out here and meet me,” she said before she had a chance to think things through. “Bring your guys if you want, I have fourteen rooms here.”

              Phil was quiet for a moment, trying to hide his relief and excitement that she wanted to see him so soon. “I’d thought you’d never ask.”

              She could hear the smile in his voice but also a hint of something else. Wariness?

              “There’s a slight problem though lovey. I was in a bit of trouble. We all were and we’ve got the feds tagging us like we’re terrorists. We aren’t allowed to leave the state.”

              Tatum’s heart sank. She shouldn’t leave yet either, not with the ink still wet on her inheritance. She thought for a moment. “I know people who will fly you out. If you don’t want to come, I understand. Just say so, but if you do, it won’t be a problem,” she said feeling hopeful since the first time she’d learned about him.

              Phil thought it over for a minute. He didn’t want to meet her with the entire gang watching. He’d want at least a few days to himself. He’d have a little time to get to know her, be sure she could be trusted.

              “They couldn’t keep me here if they tried then,” he replied.

Immediately Tatum called their ride.

              Edgar manufactured and distributed cocaine from as far down as Colombia all the way up to the North West Territories. He was able to do so because he owned his own fleet of private jets and half of the police force from there to Canada.  He was about as shady as they came, but he’d had a stiffy for Tatum since she was about fifteen years old. Besides that, her buyers were his best customers and he
loved
her girls.

              When all was said and done, Phil was filling his guys in on the situation, telling them about his new found daughter and his plans for them to go in two weeks, if they wanted to.

Tatum began calling in her cleaning ladies to give the unoccupied rooms a good run through. It has been a while since this house was full.