Misfortune: Christmas With Scrooge Read online

  CHAPTER 4

  Dexter's mother quickly composed herself, planting a friendly smile upon her face. “Laura Witherow, isn't it? From the Christmas party?”

  Startled that not only her face but her name was recalled, Laura accepted the warm hand being offered. She was immediately engulfed in a floral fragrance of sweet-smelling lilacs. “How do you do, Mrs. Cameron?”

  “As a matter of fact, I'm rather surprised to see you here.” Her eyes, identical to her son's, inclined in his direction. “I wasn't aware you had kept an acquaintance with my son.”

  “We haven't mother.”

  “That's right,” Laura agreed. “We just met up again a short while ago. I was looking for some business advice and your son was so generous as to give me some.”

  “Really?” Again, his mother slanted him a look. “You never told me, Dexter.”

  “I don’t usually make it a habit of informing you of my business acquaintances, mother.”

  Adell Cameron looked back at Laura. “I do hope he was able to steer you straight. Dexter is, after all, a genius in his field.”

  “I'm afraid Miss Witherow doesn't share your sentiments. She has decided to ignore my advice.”

  “It's not his business sentiments I have opposed. As a matter of fact, he gave me some sound advice which I have taken action upon.”

  Dexter groaned. “Please, stop professing me the ring leader of such an absurd idea. I had no part in this ridiculous project of yours.”

  “What project?” His mother intervened to ask.

  Still holding the flyer he had tossed back at her, Laura held it out to Adell Cameron. “I'm attempting to raise money for a homeless shelter I operate for teenage girls.”

  The woman's elegantly shaped brows rose intriguingly. “Dexter, I had no idea you dealt with charity organization's financial accounts.”

  “I don't,” he hastily snarled.

  Holding up the flyer, she inquired, “Then?”

  “As I said, that has nothing to do with me.”

  “Why? I think it's a wonderful idea,” Mrs. Cameron surprised them by saying. “I'll be happy to attend your charity night, Laura. As a matter of fact, hand me more of those flyers and I'll be happy to post them down at the store, if you like.”

  Taken aback, Laura floundered before finding her voice. “I would be grateful.”

  “Mother,” Dexter growled, “I don't think that's a good idea.”

  “And why not?”

  His scowl shifted to Laura's face. “Because the whole idea is ludicrous.”

  “Nonsense.” Adell smiled encouragingly. “We'll have a marvelous time.”

  “We?” he sneered contemptuously. “You can count me out. I'm not giving you a cent, Laura Witherow, to help feed an irrational fancy. If you want to go under, fine, but I'll be damned if I'll give you a hand.”

  “I'm quite aware of your lack of desire to help.” The anger inside had her adding, “You won't be missed.”

  His eyes burned of fire, but he remained silent.

  Behind them a telephone rang, and Cara Henderson interrupted his stony stare to say, “Excuse me, Mr. O'Reilly? There's a call on line two.”

  With an uttered curse, he turned from Laura and stalked off to his office. At the door he stopped and looked back.

  “Our meeting is over. I don't want to see you back in this office until you have faced reality and want to discuss some sound business practices.” Then he slammed the door to any retort Laura may have had.

  She turned away seething with annoyance, when she came face to face with Adell Cameron's congenial smile. Immediately, she felt utterly ashamed. No matter how much the man was despicable, he was after all, the woman's son.

  As she opened her mouth to apologize, the insufferable pig's sweet mother interrupted. “No need to apologize. I'm fully aware of my son's ill-mannerism. So is Cara.”

  The woman's presence was once again acknowledged as she gave a small snort. “That's putting it mildly Mrs. C. I should know, I spend a lot of time with him, being his personal secretary, almost as much as a wife would. I pity the poor girl he eventually does marry.”

  Laura found herself searching out the secretary's left hand and upon discovering a glittering set of wedding bands, smiled. For some reason, it appeased her knowing the man in the pictures cluttered across the woman's desk, was her husband.

  “What I wouldn't give to say half the things you said to him.”

  Laura felt horrified. “I shouldn't have said—”

  “Nonsense.” Adell touched her arm. “You were just being yourself. It won't hurt Dexter to receive a bit of his own medicine. Now, do you have more of those flyers?”

  “Yes.” She proceeded to retrieve some from her envelope.

  “Good. Cara, be a dear and post these somewhere visible throughout the building.”

  “Oh no! Dexter said—” Laura began, but was interrupted once again by Adell.

  “If you want a good turnout, you'll need to advertise as much as possible.”

  “But—”

  “The clientele you'll receive from Britten alone will certainly help enrich your pocket book.”

  “I don't know.” Even as she said it, she watched her flyer being exchanged between the man's mother and his secretary.

  “You can count on me and Jake coming.” Mrs. Henderson informed her as she gestured to one of the pictures. “That's my husband.”

  “I appreciate it. But if you really don't think it's appropriate to post the flyer, I certainly won't be offended.”

  The girl simply brushed her off and got to her feet to carry out the task. Laura thanked her before turning to Adell and offering her gratitude as well.

  “No need to thank me. Come now, Laura, I'll walk you out.”

  They talked on the mundane topic of the weather until they reached the privacy of the elevator. It was while they were confined securely inside when Adell Cameron turned to her. “I know my son appears to be a bit-er-primitive but I hope you don't take it personally. Unfortunately, he behaves this way with most everyone. When you fought him back, well, it surprised me. It is something someone should have done years before. Being his mother, I just didn't have the heart. I feared I would lose my son, and I couldn't bear for that to happen twice.”

  Laura frowned. Twice? How was it she lost him in the first place? She wasn't sure, but observing the woman's face she recognized anguish and automatically reached out to touch her shoulder. Adell reached up and patted her comforting hand, giving her a grateful smile. At that moment the elevator doors opened and the tender moment was gone.

  Two men, nodding a greeting to the women and an acknowledging nod toward Adell, joined them for the remainder of the ride to the ground floor and occupied most of the conversation, which returned to the weather.

  At the front foyer, as Laura began to open the heavy glass door and bid her farewell, Adell stopped her. “Just promise me one thing, Laura.”

  “What's that?”

  “Don't give up on him.” Then with that she smiled goodbye and retraced her steps back down the marble diamond floor, her florid perfume drifting after her.

  Laura waited, momentarily perplexed, across the threshold, until she realized she was allowing the late August’s sticky climate to filter through the air-conditioned foyer of Britten Investments. Turning, she walked towards the parking lot where she left her van and drowned out the sound of the midday traffic hurrying past her.

  What exactly had Adell meant? Was she in fact humoring Laura with the Bingo Night? Did she believe Dexter was right, she would fail and be back begging for his help? Laura vowed fervently she would sell her soul before she would ever ask for his help again.

  She hadn't much time to contemplate the idea further, for the next couple of days before the Bingo Night left her busy with planning and organizing. When the actual night arrived, Laura found herself relaxed and looking forward to the evening. As promised, Cara Henderson along with her husband made an appearance as w
ell as Adell and Norton Cameron. As a pleasant surprise, she brought along Harris and Lydia O'Reilly. It was delightful to see the entire O'Reilly family once more. An irksome feeling of sorrow tugged on her conscious, forcing her awareness of a certain bullheaded and missing O'Reilly.

  She allowed the vexing notion to remain only temporarily, however, as she easily lost herself in the enthusiasm and excitement of the game. Laughter and screeches of “bingo” filled the hall throughout the evening. Spirits were high and contagious and more than once, Laura watched with amusement as faces grew with anticipation and exhilaration to win one of the many prizes. Most consisted of baking and crafts the teenagers had spent many hours working on, but it was the thrill and joy of winning which brought the glee to the individual faces.

  Around nine o’clock Adell and her O'Reilly crew served the buffet provided by Sunny Meadows Food Market. They each helped, bringing forth from the kitchen bowl after bowl, platter after platter. There was an abundance of salads and meat trays as well as rich saturating desserts. Laura couldn't have been more surprised. When Adell had said she intended to provide the buffet, she pictured something small and minimal.

  Taking leave of her position at the front table, she went and searched out the woman's arm. “Adell, it looks lovely. You shouldn't have gone to the trouble. It must have cost a fortune.”

  “No trouble, dear.” Adell grinned, obviously pleased with Laura's approval. “Besides, its tax deductible as Dexter made sure we retained all receipts.”

  Laura's smile faltered momentarily at the mention of his name. It always seemed affiliated with money.

  The older woman noticed the brief shadow cross the younger girl's face and hastened to add, “Nothing's too good for our favorite charity.”

  “Believe me, it is a good cause,” Laura added.

  “No need to sell me, Laura. Save it for my son.” Then she smiled, and turned to help dish out some salad.

  Now there was a hard sell. No matter what she said or did, Dexter could not see past dollars and cents to see faces and lives. It seemed he preferred to remain immune to any human attachment associated with his business transactions. Was it this character distinction which allowed him to remain cold and hard? Had years of continually putting the face of the dollar before the face of the client, made him the man he was?

  “Excuse me, are you Laura Witherow?” A touch on her arm drew her attention away from her thoughts.

  She turned and noticed a handsome man about the age of thirty with thick dark hair, dressed rather formerly for a bingo game. He pushed a set of glasses up the bridge of his nose, and offered her an uncertain smile.

  “Yes?”

  “My name is Daniel Keller. I own a computer engineering firm and wanted to offer a charity donation to the center.” He clumsily withdrew a black rectangular pocket book from the inside of a breast pocket. “I was sent here tonight by—”

  The pocket book fell out of his hands as he ineptly searched for a pen inside the same pocket.

  They both went to pick up the book, realized the other had the same intentions, retracted, then attempted to retrieve the book once more. Laura laughed, while Daniel Keller mumbled an apology and swiftly grabbed the booklet off the floor before they repeated the same little dance once again.

  Grinning awkwardly, he said, “A case of the trajectory of the essence of mirror neurons.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Mirror neurons,” he repeated, gesturing between the two of them. “The arbitrary non-verbal behavior of human interpretations—”

  She looked at him in confusion, completely loss on his train of thought. He noticed her blank look and abruptly stopped talking.

  “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m afraid I’m not very scientifically intellect.” She smiled, glad to see her words eased some of the embarrassment out of his expression. “But I hope that doesn’t deter your interest in the shelter?”

  He actually grinned, and stood slightly taller. “Of course not. Don’t mind me, I have an inapt case of blubbering useless information around pretty girls.”

  His eyes rounded, realizing he’d spoken his thoughts out loud. She grinned. “Then I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  He returned her grin smiling at her subconsciously beneath his thick glasses. Removing his pen from his breast pocket with success this time, he poised it over the open book and asked, “To whom do I make the check out to?”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to sound like I was expecting a donation!”

  He eased even more and laughed outright. “I’m happy to oblige.”

  Laura mumbled her thanks, embarrassed at her lack of following his conversation, but nevertheless took a liking to the man immediately. His smile was friendly and his personality almost came off shy-like, which was unusual but oddly very attractive.

  She spelled her name for him and watched as he scribbled an amount on the check. Her jaw dropped, stunned at the large figure, her hand shaking even as she reached out and accepted it. “That's very generous of you.”

  He smiled but shifted his eyes, avoiding eye contact. “My address is on the check, if you wouldn’t mind sending the receipt there.”

  “Yes, of course.” Still in a state of shock at the dollar amount, she quickly collected herself and said, “Thank you, thank you very much.”

  “Good night, then.” He tipped his head in farewell, then was gone.

  Laura stood staring after the man completely perplexed, then down at the check, not sure if she was dreaming or if it was reality. She looked up, urgently needing to share her wonderful news. Her eyes fell upon Cara Henderson who was lavishly enjoying her meal with her husband.

  “Mrs. Henderson, it must be you I should thank for this.”

  The girl looked up and noticed the check in Laura's hand, and didn't blink an eye. “Call me Cara. What great deed have I done to deserve your gratitude?”

  “I just received an over generous donation. Obviously from one of the companies associated with your firm.”

  Cara's hand stilled in its route to feed a forkful of food into her mouth, her voice sounding slightly alarmed. “What makes you say that?”

  “The flyer you posted in your office. It must have worked and I have you to thank for it.”

  Cara let out a sigh, as if relieved. “No need to thank me. I really didn't do anything. You're the one who put this together. Take full credit.”

  “Still, if you hadn't posted the flyer I wouldn't have received this wonderful donation. I'm grateful, truly.”

  The girl again shrugged her off with a wave of her hand. “If you're to be dishing out thanks, make sure you give one to Mrs. C. This meal is fantastic.”

  “I'll repeat your compliment. I'm on my way over there now.”

  She left them to finish their food and went to search out Adell once again. She hadn't covered a few yards when a graceful hand stopped her.

  An elegant woman, certainly out of her element in the present surroundings, stood looking at her inquisitively. “Are you Laura Witherow?”

  “Yes.”

  “I represent Lazer Technology Incorporation, founded out of Ottawa, and would be pleased if you would accept a charitable donation to your organization.”

  Laura was too stunned to speak she simply stared dumbfounded at the woman who began to frown amusingly at her. Immediately, Laura snapped herself out of it and quickly placed a gracious smile upon her face. “That would be much appreciated. Thank you.”

  As the woman wrote out a check for a dollar amount Laura felt was far too generous, she couldn't help but concede the success of the flyers and the effect they had on the evening. Especially, it appeared, the ones posted at Britten Investments.

  If Dexter only knew, he would fly into a frenzied fury, she grinned mischievously to herself. Particularly since he had been headstrong about posting flyers in his building in the first place. Her grin widened. What a wonderful thrill it will be to rub the success of the evening in his stiff-necked, fickle opini
onated face.

  By the time the evening came to a close, Laura's cash box was filled with checks from various companies and organizations whose appearances that night were for the sole purpose of donating money to the shelter. She was thrilled, not in a million years would she have believed the bingo night could have been so successful. Her excitement was shared with Adell who stayed behind after the last guest left and helped clean up.

  “I'm sure your shelter will have no problem getting back on its feet now. It was a wonderfully successful night.”

  “I'm truly stunned at the enormous success. I had no idea I would receive such an overwhelming response.” She talked eagerly, paying no mind to her words as they flowed off her tongue. “Not only will I be able to run my shelter properly, but I'll be able to return my father's home back to its original splendor. Though I can't be foolish with the money, I'll have to take some responsibility and invest it properly. I'm sure Dexter will know exactly where—”

  Adell looked up from wiping a table, pretending not to notice Laura's abrupt halt in words. “Yes, Dexter will be able to help you there. As I said before, he's a genius in his field. You couldn't trust your money more with anyone else.”

  Without a doubt, Laura didn't deny the woman's words. What Dexter lacked in every other characteristic, he made up in his astuteness regarding money matters. Maybe, for the first time in their acquaintance, they would share a topic of enjoyment and be able to sit down and have a congenial conversation.

  Folding a chair, she stacked it against the wall as she felt an unexpected wave of joy. It had been a long time since she allowed herself the pure feeling of utter happiness. Tonight, since before her father's death, she felt just that and would allow absolutely nothing to interpose.

  * * *

  Later, if asked why she returned to Britten Investments, she would have explained it easily as the need to gloat. But, truth being, it wasn't in her character to be so shallow and display such egotistic smugness. Though if she knew what was she was about to confront, she would have gladly stayed away.