Misfortune: Christmas With Scrooge (9 page)

“Yes, I do, but that's not the point. Even if
I didn't have the slightest influence, I could never be accused for
not giving all my heart. I try, Dexter O'Reilly, and you can never
falt me for not trying.”

She opened the door and sailed out of his
office, unaware he had followed her. “Stop trying to save the
world, Laura, and try saving yourself instead. Because, believe me,
you're going under, and fast.”

“I'm not trying to save the world! Just my
shelter!”

“Ah.” He became sarcastic as he raised his
arms, saying, “The patron saint for runaway girls.”

They had progressed into the outer office,
facing each other with angry daggers flaring between them,
oblivious to a silent Cara Henderson observing.

“At least you can call me a saint, that's a
word far from describing you!”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do amuse
me, Miss Witherow, what word are you thinking?”

Easily, she responded, “Serpent.” He most
definitely was a coldblooded snake.

Behind her, someone gasped, drawing Laura and
Dexter's attention at last. Cara Henderson's eyes were huge and
rounded in shock over a hand covering her mouth.

For a second, Laura almost thought she
appeared comical, which was until she followed the direction of the
girl's gaze and realized the horrified gasp hadn't come from Cara,
but from Adell Cameron standing in the entrance of the small
office.

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 well 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?”