The Denver Cereal (33 page)

“
It was your photos that
finally woke me to my life,” Sam said.

“
My photos?” Valerie
asked. “But . . .”

“
I was approached by
someone saying they had naked photos of you. I
paid . . . a lot of money for them. Originals. When
I saw them, I knew what they were. I called Patrick Hargreaves. You
know, Alex and Max’s dad? I knew he was in the military before he
was a senator. I figured he’d know what to do.”

Valerie nodded her
head.

“
He confirmed that Mike
was missing. He took the photos, saying he’d look into it,” Sam
said. “The next time I had lunch with Tiffanie, we decided that I
would move in. We would try it as a married couple. Everyone
believed my trophy wife and I were happily married.”

“
And?”

“
It didn’t go very well. I
had loved your mother for more than half my life. I couldn’t
imagine even sleeping in the same bed with another woman. I moved
into one of the spare bedrooms in Tiffanie’s show home.”

Sam fell silent. Not sure
what to do, Valerie changed into another outfit. She was zipping
the skirt when Sam said,

“
I thought about killing
myself every moment of every day.”

Valerie gasped.

“
My children were gone. My
Celia was gone. I . . . I don’t know how long we
went on like that. One night, Tiffanie came in
and . . . “

“
She was pregnant
already,” Delphie said. She came into the living room from the
kitchen. Her crossed arms and pursed lips betrayed her indignation.
“She wanted to pretend that Becky was Sam’s child. But Sam
can’t . . . and . . .”

“
That didn’t go very well
either,” Sam said. “I moved back here the next day.”

“
God, I hate that woman. I
just . . .”

“
Delphinium, please. For
me. Let’s not do that today,” Sam said. “I just have one more
day.”

“
Sorry, Sam.” Delphie
smiled.

“
Would you mind telling
Val the rest? I have to find my tux.”

“
I had it cleaned,”
Delphie said. “It’s in your closet.”

“
And the
shirt?”

“
Of course.”

Sam smiled his
thanks.

“
You have to find the
cufflinks yourself. I couldn’t find them.”

“
The cufflinks? It’s going
to be a long day.”

“
Why don’t you shower?
I’ll tell Val the rest.”

Sam nodded. He was half
way out of the room when Valerie said, “Dad?”

Sam turned and Valerie ran
into his arms. They held each other and cried. After a moment, Sam
kissed her cheek and went down the hall to his room.

“
He lives in the birch
room, the one Celia died in. He’s happiest there, I think,” Delphie
said.

“
Is it hard for you?”
Valerie asked.

“
That Sam is hung up on
Celia?”

Valerie nodded.

“
I’m hung up on Celia. No,
it’s not hard.” Delphie smiled slightly. “After all these years of
knowing him, it’s nice to have a deeper relationship. Does it
bother you?”

“
No, I used to say to Mike
that I didn’t know why he was with Tiffanie and not
you.”

Delphie smiled. “Would you
like to hear the rest of this?”

“
I think I need to,”
Valerie said.

Delphie nodded her head
toward the couch. They sat next to each other.

“
For whatever reason, we
still don’t know why, your naked photos arrived in the mail the day
after he moved out. So Sam leaves the house and the next day the
photos arrive. They were in a brown envelope addressed to Sam. We
were told that a clerk sent them without realizing what they were.
Well, the envelope was intercepted
by . . .”

“
The step-whore.”
Valerie’s lip curled.

“
Exactly. So this thing
happens with Tiffanie. Sam moves out and plans to divorce her when
he finds out she’s pregnant with Becky. The photos are stolen,
which he doesn’t know anything about until they show up in the
press. Then she . . .”

“
The
step-whore.”

“
Yes, honey. I wish you
wouldn’t call her that. It’s not good for you to hold so much
anger.”

“
It’s what she is,”
Valerie said.

“
Let’s not argue. Your
stepsister had just graduated from high school. Sam offered her a
job. Like everyone who starts at Lipson, she worked the
roads.”

“
Work the roads until we
see if you fit. If you fit, the roads will show you where you fit,”
Valerie repeated a Lipson Construction motto.

“
Exactly, except she
didn’t like it much. She told everyone that she owned the company.
She . . . Anyway, Sam flew to Maine and asked Jake
to buy the rest of Lipson. I think Sam planned to sell the company
and then kill himself. Jake and Sam argued for . . .
days. The third day into it, Jake called me. I flew to
Maine.”

“
You flew? In a
plane?”

“
Yes. Like all psychics,
plane trips are hard on me, but Jake was desperate. Sam and I
weren’t, well, together then. I think Jake didn’t know what else to
do. Sam was a mess . . . a complete mess.” Delphie
sighed. “I had no idea he was so bad.”

“
Please tell me what
happened,” Valerie said. “I’ve asked Jake and he won’t tell
me.”

“
I don’t really know what
happened between them. I was able to convince Sam it was all right
to trust Jake. That was my part.”

“
Dad didn’t trust Jake?”
Valerie’s voice reflected her disbelief. Sam and Jake were always
two peas in a pod.

“
Sam wasn’t really
himself.” Delphie shook her head at the memory. “The upshot was
that Jake bought the company. He made you buy some of
it.”

“
He tricked me into buying
four percent,” Valerie said. She imitated Jake’s voice. “Please,
Val! I have to borrow some money. I need to get this property and I
can’t afford it.” Valerie returned to her own voice. “All
bullshit.”

“
I’m not surprised. He was
on a tear. His way or forget it. Sam was such a wreck he couldn’t
see that Jake’s way was really the best.”

“
What did Jake
do?”

“
For starters, he put an
end to the bullshit. Your stepsister was escorted off Lipson
grounds. The lawyers went after the publications that published
your photos. Money was no object. The publications couldn’t prove
it was you and they didn’t have releases. I don’t know how much it
cost, but Jake won reparations from everyone who published the
photos. Blocked from these two avenues of cash, your stepsister
started selling your details to the press. Jake pulled no punches.
She was arrested and spent time in jail until she took a plea
bargain. I think she’s still on probation.”

“
Wow.”

“
Jake was done with the
entire mess. He bought the fishing cabin in Dexter and made Sam
live there. That was another round of . . . Well,
Sam was at the cabin a week before he came to his senses. Sam
needed to fish, breathe fresh air, and live in peace. He was all
but destroyed by all this . . . turmoil.”

“
But Tiffanie was pregnant
and . . .” Valerie said.

“
He wouldn’t divorce her,”
Delphie finished.

They sat contemplating Sam
Lipson for a moment.

“
It’s not really Becky’s
fault that her mother is . . .” Delphie sighed.
“That’s pretty much it. Jake came home. This place was literally
falling down. Sam was in Dexter and I was camped out here. Mike
showed up the day after Jake came back to Denver. Jake and Mike
went to work on the Castle. By the time your stepsister was out of
jail, and Becky was born, the Castle was almost livable. Sam
returned from his sabbatical ready to start living
again.”

“
Why didn’t Tiffanie
divorce Dad?”

“
Jake worried that
Tiffanie would use a divorce to destroy Sam. Sam was very fragile.
More public drama would have ruined him. So Jake set up those
trusts. If Tiffanie files for divorce, she voids everything. He and
Tiffanie are meeting on Monday to sign the divorce papers Jake set
up four years ago.”

“
Why is Dad going to the
wedding?”

“
He promised he would.
Your father keeps his word. It’s important to him.” Delphie
shrugged. “Since Becky and all of that, Tiffanie has been on her
best behavior. She knows she screwed up. I personally think she’s
horrified by the monster her daughter has become.”

“
I’m horrified at what her
daughter has become,” Valerie said.

“
Your publicist will be
here in a few minutes,” Delphie said. “She’s at Starbucks with some
little person.”

“
Thanks,” Valerie said.
“Why do you think the step-whore went after Trevor?”

“
Birds of a feather? I
don’t know. She did it with deliberate purpose. I think she wanted
to hurt Jake, or maybe Sam. But what they did to Jill? To
Katy?”

Valerie
shuddered.

“
Let’s just be glad our
Jill is free,” Delphie said. “I’ll get the door.”

Delphie was standing next
to the door when there was a knock.

“
Oooh, honey, what
are
you wearing?” Ramon
flew across the threshold to Valerie. He squealed. “This
is . . . NO. Don’t say it.”

“
Claire
Martins.”

“
I told you
not
to say it.” Ramon
twirled around the room until he saw the gowns. He fluttered over
to the gowns. “Oh. Oh. Oh.”

“
She wants me to be the
spokesmodel for a new off-the-rack line. This
is . . .”

“
NO! Claire Martins has a
new line! You’re the look of a Martins line?” Ramon fell on the
floor in a mock faint. “I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

“
I thought we were
dressing the troglodyte,” Jen whispered to Val.

“
Mike? My
husband?”

“
Right, your
husband.”

“
They’ve done that as
well,” Valerie said. “Or they are going to. Frederic, Claire’s son,
is working with men. Mike’s one of his first men. Did you book
Oprah?”

“
Thursday,” Jen
said.

“
I think Frederic said
Thursday would work. He’s creating a special tux for Friday,”
Valerie said. “You should see Mike. He’s been waxed. He even got a
haircut. He’s drop-dead gorgeous.”

Jen fell to the floor in
an imitation of Ramon’s mock faint. Valerie stood over Jen and
Ramon laughing. Jen opened one eye.

“
Is this Mike as good in
bed as he is at coming up with miracles?”

“
Yeah,” Valerie
laughed.

Ramon opened one eye.
“Does he have a brother?”

Valerie fell on the floor
next to them.

A gradual unveiling

“
Oooh, that looks fun,”
Valerie said. She pointed to a red bite mark above Sandy’s left
breast.

Valerie, Jill, and Sandy
were looking at dresses in the second floor of Mike’s art studio.
The entire floor had been converted to Valerie’s designer dress
storage. Since Jill was going to wear one of Claire’s gowns,
Valerie was acting as personal shopper for Sandy. Jill was zipping
Sandy into a royal blue silk Dior gown.

“
Sandy is dating Aden,”
Jill said.

“
Aden
!” Valerie squealed. “Really!”

“
Yeah, why?” Sandy asked.
“Am I too fat for this dress?”

“
The zipper’s jammed,”
Jill said.

“
Mike’s fault,” Valerie
said. “He drives me to all these events then . . .
well . . .”

She lifted and dropped her
eyebrows to indicate how Mike had jammed the zipper. The women
laughed.

“
I had it cleaned, but
they didn’t unstick the zipper.” Valerie held the fabric so Jill
could work loose the zipper.

“
Wait. Why did you react
like that about Aden?” Sandy asked.

Sandy’s natural mistrust
had returned full force at church. She already told Jill she was
not going to see Aden again. Jill worked to keep her friend open to
the possibility of Aden, but was losing the battle.

“
He’s one of your
men.”

“
Aden?” Valerie was so
surprised she stepped back. “I’ve never been with Aden. I don’t
know anyone who has.”

“
So why did you
squeal?”

Sandy felt an overwhelming
desire to run away, get out of the warm closet of this spoiled rich
girl. Before she could run away, Valerie put her hands on Sandy’s
shoulders and looked into her eyes. While Valerie never had an
ounce of psychic capacity, she was very emotionally intuitive. She
felt Sandy’s aching, frightened heart as if it were her
own.

“
I squealed because he
seems like he would be very fun. I’ve known him a long, long time.
I’m excited for him to find someone great. Mom used to
say . . .”