Twenty-Dollar Rag (Tales of Dunham by Moriah Jovan

Author:Moriah Jovan [Jovan, Moriah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9827812-6-5
Publisher: Moriah Jovan
Published: 2012-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

5.

VACHEL SAT IN HIS CHAIR, his feet up against the glass as he looked out over the field behind the factory. He chewed on his lip, trying to figure out what he was going to do. He’d talked to Bryce about it and still couldn’t decide. He knew what Eilis would do, though, so with nothing to lose, he went to do that.

“Bill,” he said as he knocked on the doorjamb of Emasculated Dad’s office. Regardless what he thought about Bill Jones’s inability to deal with the women in his life, he was an excellent CFO. But this— This was beyond Vachel’s experience or ken, even after five years as CEO. “Walk with me.”

Neither spoke until they were out on the path that meandered through the grounds.

“I want to hear your side of it,” Vachel said finally. “Don’t leave anything out.”

Bill sucked in a deep breath. “Regina—my stepdaughter … ”

Vachel nodded, having heard that name ad nauseam over the last six weeks. Interesting. She didn’t look like a Regina.

“Regina was twelve years old when I married Carol. She was already spoiled, completely out of control. I tried to implement some discipline, but Carol wouldn’t let me and Regina flouted whatever I did actually threaten, which of course—” He sighed. “Anyway, there was one incident—I don’t even remember what it was about—where Regina was arguing with Carol and, well, I didn’t think Regina was being treated fairly, so I stepped in.

“Carol said, ‘I know you’ve had a hard-on for her since you married me.’ And I knew that if she whispered that just one time to anybody, it would ruin my life. I had never touched Regina and Regina was just as shocked as I was.” He shrugged. “Carol used that against both of us for years. Regina would be humiliated. I would be ruined at best, jailed at worst. It only takes the accusation.

“The night you were Regina’s escort, Carol screamed at her for wearing what she called a ‘twenty-dollar rag.’ I remember that as clearly as if it were yesterday. I said it looked nice on her and I wasn’t the only one who noticed, and out came the threat. Regina left that night and hasn’t been back home.”

Now that was a surprise. Vachel remembered that night as clearly as Bill did, but for a different reason. He kept seeing the shy smile she’d given him at the end of the evening, the look of longing when her mother had dragged her off.

“She left? Why? To do what? I can’t imagine that was the first time her mother had screamed at her for something.”

“She left to get a job.”

Vachel covered his shock well.

“She came to me in my office that night and asked me how to find a job. I wrote out some instructions, some other things she needed to know. I gave her about five hundred dollars and said good luck.”

“Where is she now?”

“I have no idea. She had a little place in Valentine; I’d go check on her about every three, four months.

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