Echoes of Titanic (32 page)

Rowan took out his pocket watch and flipped it open as they continued to walk. Adele's head was spinning—with excitement, with nervousness, with pride. This was wonderful news, truly wonderful!

“I'm curious, Uncle. What made you change your mind about Tad's judgment on this matter? Is he not as skilled a businessman as you had first thought?”

Rowan looked out at the watery horizon, his face growing unreadable. “I suppose it's just that Tad is…young…and needs to mature. He has much to learn about finance—and about the world in general.

“And about women,” she added with a grimace.

“Speaking of women,” Rowan said as they rounded the corner and saw the same group of chattering females once again coming in their general direction, “I believe this would be a good time to head to tea. We certainly don't want to keep Neville waiting.”

With that they turned and made their way down a flight of stairs to the A deck and the door that divided the first and second classes. After showing their invitation to a steward, they were welcomed into the Verandah Café and Palm Court and escorted to the table of Mr. Williams, who was already there waiting for them.

The room was beautifully appointed, light and airy, with ivy trellises covering the walls and wicker furniture all around. Mr. Williams was at a table near the center and seemed delighted to see them. Soon the three were indulging in a variety of treats, from shortbread cookies to finger sandwiches and more, as they sipped their tea and discussed wireless technology in general and Transatlantic Wireless in particular. Adele didn't know much about wireless, but Mr. Williams was quite knowledgeable about both its current capabilities and its future potential. He said that the equipment aboard
Titanic
was the most powerful on any ship in the world, capable of communicating with stations several hundred miles away during the day and several
thousand
at night. Adele found herself thoroughly encouraged by their conversation and had no doubt that someday her ten bonds would be worth quite a lot more than their original price of a thousand dollars each.

At some point the conversation turned to the world of investment in general. Mr. Williams must have sensed Adele's genuine interest in the topic, because not only did he freely dispense his own advice, but he even began to solicit input from some of his fellow first-class passengers as well. The man was quite popular and seemed to know almost everyone who passed by. More than once, upon making introductions, he would refer to Rowan and Adele as “my newest investors,” and then he would lightheartedly ask the people if they had any investment tips to share.

Most responded with an eye to Rowan, but Adele absorbed every word regardless. She was especially impressed with a Canadian named Mr. Charles Fortune, whom Mr. Williams later explained was a self-made real estate mogul who had been born the son of a farmer. In response to Mr. Williams' request, Mr. Fortune seemed to consider the issue for a long moment. Then, looking toward Rowan, he said, “When investing, never forget the value of the people involved. You may sometimes find a better price elsewhere, but never forget to factor in character and integrity—both of which have tremendous worth. In my opinion, the value of a man's good word is much higher than most investors realize.” Then, with a smile, he turned to Mr. Williams, adding, “And now I suppose I've given away any negotiating advantage I
might have had between us, eh?” With a laugh and a pat to Mr. Williams' back, Mr. Fortune excused himself and kept going.

More than once during their time together, Adele thought of Tad and how much he would have loved meeting the people she was meeting and having the conversations they were having. Though it would be hard to keep quiet about it later, she decided not to mention it at all, lest he become so jealous that he revert to his earlier treatment of her.

Still, she couldn't help but wish he'd been there when she was introduced to the vice president of the Hudson City Hospital in New York. To Adele's amazement, the person in possession of that title was a woman, a Miss Kornelia Andrews, traveling home aboard
Titanic
with her sister and niece.

As exciting as that was, however, Adele's favorite introduction of all was to a woman named Margaret Brown. Though the spirited Mrs. Brown seemed to possess even more American brashness than Tad, she was also quite smart and witty, and Adele took to her instantly. When Mr. Williams solicited the same advice from her that he had been asking of the men, she looked straight at Adele and replied, “If you want to invest, honey, look to the people and places the big boys are ignoring—women's interests, for example. Show me a woman with a good idea and a strong work ethic, and I'll show you somebody who can succeed like the dickens if she's given a proper chance.”

Adele thought about those words for the rest of their time in the Palm Court and even once their wonderful visit with Mr. Williams had drawn to a close and they were back on their own part of the ship. Truly, she felt as if Mrs. Brown had lit a spark inside her brain.

It is one thing to try and break down those barriers that stand in my way
, Adele thought,
and quite another to help other women get started out as well. How fulfilling that would be!

After college, once she joined the staff of Brennan & Tate, she would try to focus her investments on hardworking women with good ideas who wanted to go into business. Not only would she be changing lives for the better, but with all that was going on in the world, she had a feeling there had never been a better time to explore the potential of such an untapped market.

W
alter looked at Kelsey, a frown creasing his brow.

“Wait a minute. You knew Gloria as well as I did. Hidden resentments or not, these are very serious charges. Do you honestly think she was the kind of person who could do something like that?”

“Before this week? No. After all that's happened now? Yes. Needless to say, I've come a long way in a short time.”

He put down his mug and leaned forward to speak in a whisper. “As an employee and a significant stockholder, for her to have acted to facilitate the takeover in this way wouldn't just be unethical, it would also probably be illegal. Hidden resentments or not, do you really think Gloria Poole would have gone outside of the law?”

Kelsey felt a surge of guilt as soon as he asked the question. In truth, she could not. But what other explanation was there for what she'd done?

“Maybe that's why she killed herself,” Kelsey replied. “Maybe she did it, but then her remorse was so great that she ended up taking her own life because of it. Why else would she send her suicide note to me rather than to her husband? She asked
me
to forgive her for what she'd done. Her crimes were primarily against
me.
” Blinking away tears, Kelsey met Walter's eyes, a new thought just coming to her.

“I bet I know what the final nail in this coffin was, so the speak. The thing that tipped her over the edge.”

“What's that?” Walter asked.

Kelsey's mind raced. “All the promoting of ‘Kelsey Tate'—the Quarter
Club and the
Forbes
honor and all of that. What do you want to bet she saw the writing on the wall and realized that five years from now when you retire,
I
would be the one to hop right over her and land in the spot of CEO myself. Everyone knows my father has always intended for me to run the company eventually. I thought I'd be much older before that happened, but maybe she saw me becoming more successful, more well known, and she panicked, realizing that once again the top spot was going to open up and it would be given to someone else instead of to her.”

He nodded, understanding her point. “That makes a lot of sense. I just hope that in five years there will be a company left for you to run.”

Kelsey leaned forward, studying Walter's face. “What are we going to do to fight this takeover?”

“There's not a lot we
can
do at this point. We've turned down their offer, so technically it's now in the hands of the stockholders. I've been contacting all of the ones I know personally and presenting our case, but it's difficult.”

Kelsey puffed out a breath. “I need to speak to Pamela myself.”

“I don't know what good it would do. To be honest, I'm fairly resigned to things at this point. Unless we can come up with some big bucks to save ourselves, I'm afraid the cause is lost.”

She thought for a moment. “What about Strahan Realty Trust? Doesn't Lou have a standing offer on the table for a friendly merger?”

Walter nodded.

“Why not go that route instead? Surely a friendly merger with a smaller company is preferable to a hostile takeover by a mammoth one.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I suppose I could talk to Lou and see if he's still willing to stick to the amount of his previous offer, but I'd rather do neither. With all of Rupert Brennan's talk about Adele's mythical bonds really existing, I just keep thinking, if only those bonds did exist and we had them now…”

He shook his head, his voice trailing off, so she finished his thought for him.

“If only those bonds did exist and we had them now, that would change everything.” She sighed. “Those bonds would save this company.”

Walter needed to leave the restaurant soon after, but before he left, he reached out to shake her hand, thanking her for having insisted that they talk.

“I'm glad we cleared the air,” he told her. “You're a credit to your whole
family, Kelsey. I'm just sorry that I have to keep you away from the company for now. I do hope you see that it's nothing personal.”

She shrugged, releasing her grip. “Personal or not, Walter, I think it's a dumb move. But I'll live with it for now. I'm willing to do whatever I can to help us through this mess.”

“As am I,” he said, but neither his tone nor his expression bore any hope of succeeding in that quest.

Once he was gone, Kelsey ordered herself a big, fattening plate of nachos with extra sour cream, but then she thought better of it and asked for soup and salad instead. She ate alone, looking out at the various people in the restaurant, laughing and chatting and having a good time. For some reason, her mind went to Cole and how much fun they had always had together when they went out to eat.

They had been a good couple, well matched in personality and intellect, with similar upbringings and ideals and goals. The closer they came to the possibility of marriage, the more they had talked about those goals. Together, they dreamed of becoming the modern version of Adele and Edwin Tate, with Kelsey out front and Cole behind the scenes, both of them working hard to make Brennan & Tate even more successful than it already was. She'd even teased him one time, saying that Adele changed the name of the company once her husband came on board.

“A tradition you could repeat, eh? Brennan, Tate, & Thornton,” he had mused, nodding. “Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?” Pinching his nose, he had droned in a high voice, “‘Hello, thank you for calling B & T & T. How may I direct your call?'”

Smiling at the memory now, Kelsey felt a surge of emotion deep in her chest, an aching loneliness, not just for all that she and Cole had shared but for what they would have shared in the future. How could she have destroyed that future simply because of her own ambition? For the past five years she'd been telling herself that Cole was too sensitive, that he should never have allowed their business relationship to affect their personal life. When she was really mad at him, she would even think good riddance, that he was too wimpy for this kind of a job anyway.

The deal he'd offered Lou
had
been pathetically low, considering the man's business plan, his extensive client commitments, and the large amount of his own money that he was willing to put in up front. The offer she had made was far more in line with his prospects than the one Cole had handed him,
especially knowing how gifted and driven Lou was. Poor Lou had ended up getting caught in the crossfire and had felt bad about that for months after—especially when Cole had broken away completely and Kelsey had been so devastated. She always assured Lou that it wasn't his fault, that Cole didn't belong in this business without a thicker skin than that anyway. But looking back now, it struck her that it wasn't just her undercutting of a deal that had ended their relationship.

It had been her stubborn pride. Her unwillingness even to consider that she'd been wrong to do what she did. Her refusal to apologize or even feel bad about it. Now, eating her bowl of chicken noodle soup and her house salad with fat-free ranch dressing, Kelsey finally realized something. It was the aftermath of the event, far more than the event itself, that had driven Cole away.

She put down her spoon, suddenly losing her appetite.

In five years she hadn't once apologized to the man or admitted that she had lived to regret her actions. In five years she hadn't given him a call or sent him a note or even dashed off an email saying
I was wrong and I'm sorry
—not in an attempt at reconciliation but as an act of simple human decency. She had been wrong. She was sorry. But she had allowed the blinders of righteous indignation to keep her from seeing that truth until now, much less admitting it to anyone else.