Who's Taming Who? Page 18

  “They thought you were just using your pregnancy to try and get your hands on our family money,” Cal offered by way of an explanation.

  “What family money?” Lanie was truly puzzled. “Your parents are as poor as church mice.”

  “My grandfather is rich, really rich,” Frank told her, “but the old goat doesn’t think much of my folks or of me either, for that matter. He always complains that I never grew up. He wants me to stop drinking and settle down. He thinks I should get a job, get married and become what he calls respectable. I think he might put me in his will if I followed his advice and got married and had a family. He seemed to hint at it when I went to him last month to ask him for a small loan.”

  “You want me to marry you?” Lanie was incredulous. “You must be nuts!”

  “Of course not, why the hell would I marry you?” Cal looked her over contemptuously then laughed heartily. “I have a girlfriend, Doreen. She makes you look like a boy.”

  “Then make a baby with Doreen and leave Cassie and me alone,” Lanie ordered.

  “Doreen can’t have children,” Cal admitted, “she’s infertile.”

  “Then adopt or find another girlfriend, but you will never get your hands on Cassie,” Lanie told him. “In fact, I want you to sign over your rights to Cassie so that my fiancé, Frank, can adopt her.”

  “Of course if you wanted, I guess we could get married,” Cal suggested as though he hadn’t heard Lanie. “That way, I could share some of the old goat’s money with you, and you could help me take care of Cassie. Of course both of us could keep our real lovers on the side.”

  “Get off my land, you disgust me.” Lanie shuttered. “When I realize that you’re Cassie’s father, I feel ill.”

  “I’ll let you think it over. In fact I’ll give you a whole month to decide, and then I’ll sue you for custody,” Cal threatened. “And I’ll win.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you in court.” Lanie turned her back on him mainly to stop him from seeing the anger in her eyes. After Cal left she sat down on the steps.

  Tina came over to find Lanie sitting on the doorstep, clearly agitated.

  “What’s up, Sis?” Tina asked.

  Lanie told her about the demands Cal had made. “The creep. He claims I hid his daughter from him, that I denied him the joy of knowing her, and refused his parental rights. He wants us to get back together so that we can raise Cassie as a real family or else he’ll sue for custody claiming I never told him he had a daughter. Of course, we each get to keep our lovers.”

  “Do you think he means it?” Tina asked.

  “Sure, in his own twisted way. He means to harass me and make it difficult for me to get married, that’s why he picked a one month deadline since my wedding is six weeks away. I suspect that he wants me to pay him off to make up for what he thinks he might inherit from his grandfather. Then maybe he’ll consider surrendering his parental rights to Cassie and letting Frank adopt her.”

  “The strange thing is, I didn’t even know that he knew you’d had the baby, let alone that you’d had a girl. I just thought he’d figured that you would have given in to his demands and had the abortion, especially when he’d left you high and dry,” Tina said. “How did he find out that you’d gone through with the pregnancy?”

  “Even rats have parents. Parent rats. I can’t understand why Cassie’s paternal grandparents have never even asked to see or meet Cassie, much less sent her a birthday card or a gift. They must have seen her around town with me but they’ve never even walked over to say hello to either of us.” Lanie had worried about Cal’s family for a long time. “Somehow, I always knew that if they thought they had anything to gain from Cassie they’d turn up with their hands out.”

  “So what are you going to do?” Tina worried.

  “I’m not the scared teenager I was when Cal and I were together,” Lanie reminded her. “I’ve changed, I’ve grown up. Now I fight. I’m going to hire a lawyer and get all the proof I can that he abandoned me and surrendered his parental rights long ago, and I’m going to fight. I plan to sue him for nine years of back child support. The only way I will surrender my right to the back child support he owes me--is if he allows Cassie to be adopted by Frank. But there’s one thing I want to try first.”

  “What’s that?” Even Tina was impressed by the determination in Lanie’s eyes.

  “I’m going to try scaring him off,” Lanie grinned, “and let him know just how much I’ve changed since we were together.”

  “How?” Tina knew there would be a plan.

  “You’ll see.” Lanie kept grinning. “Just wait and you’ll see.”

  The next day she met with Frank and one of his co-workers, a man named John Wilson, head of the Loss Prevention department of the company that Frank worked for. John was a tall, good-looking black man. Together the three of them formulated a plan. Almost three weeks later she called Cal and invited him over for a special dinner. As she issued the invitation she told him it was time to talk. Cal was only too happy to accept.

  He took the bait just like a rat takes the cheese, Lanie thought. When he arrived that night Lanie opened the door and he walked in. Snap!

  Chapter Seventeen

  “So?” Cal asked as soon as he entered Lanie’s house. “Have you used your pea-brain and thought about what you’re going to do? Are you going to give in and marry me or will you just give me outright custody of Cassie? Those are your only choices because I know you’re not going to put up a fight. You don’t have the guts to stand up to me.”

  Lanie noted that he had dressed up for the occasion. For once he’d shed his usual faded jeans and torn t-shirt for pressed black trousers and a pin-striped shirt with a sedate print tie. He’d evidently left his tact at home, however, if he had any.

  His arrogance astounded Lanie but she struggled to keep her cool. “Cal, this isn’t easy for me. We need to talk more before I give you my final decision. Let’s relax and eat our dinner before we have this discussion,” Lanie told him, forcing a smile.

  Her struggle to hold her temper in and her nervousness made her seem to be the timid creature Cal expected. It was a false impression.

  Despite his preference for casual attire, Cal was a real stickler for having good food and a nicely set table at dinner, as long as he didn’t have to do the cooking or set the table. Lanie, knowing this, had put extra effort into the dinner. She had fixed his favorite meal: spaghetti, garlic bread, a fresh salad, and red wine.

  The table was just how he liked it, the good china, Lanie’s best crystal, the candles lit, and the flatware shining. She had made a floral centerpiece. Lanie herself was in a black dress with a modest neckline, and her hair was piled high on top of her head. Cassie was staying with Tina for the evening. The funny thing was however, Cal never even asked where Cassie, the little girl he claimed to want so much, was.

  After dinner, Lanie and Cal sat side by side on the living room sofa and sipped the rest of their wine. Lanie was tense, every nerve stretched to the breaking point, waiting for Cal to make his move. She tried to keep Frank and John’s instructions firmly in her mind.

  Finally, sounding impatient, Cal repeated the same question he’d asked when Lanie had opened the door. “Well, is it marriage or will you just give me custody of the girl? I won’t even ask you for child support.” He sneered, “At least, not much child support.”

  “You want me to pay you for taking my child away!” Lanie’s temper flared, but with tremendous effort she reined it in. Her obvious reluctance to get angry with Cal only reinforced his mental image of her as being a cowed victim. “You’ve never paid me any child support at all and your daughter is nine years old!” Lanie was indignant. “If you took Cassie away from me right now, I could still sue you for the back child support and interest.”

  “So giving me custody is out, it’s marriage then?” Cal prodded, ignoring her outburst.

  “How can I come back to you? Marry you?” Lanie retorted bitterly. “I wasn’t the
one who left in the first place. You did. I would have stayed with you no matter how abusive you were because I thought I loved you. You don’t know how hard it was going on without you, going through the pregnancy without you. I had to face childbirth alone.”

  “So what?” Cal snorted, “What’s the big deal about that? Women have babies all the time.”

  “You see?” Lanie was getting frustrated. “You just don’t get it. I needed you and you weren’t there. That’s why I had to find someone else. I needed someone’s love and support.”

  “You’re just like me then, for all your protests; all you’re after is someone else to support you,” Cal gloated. “And you have the nerve to act so smug and superior.”

  “Emotional support, you idiot, I pay my own way with money I’ve earned myself. I work hard and I always have. I can prove that in court if I have to.” She enunciated slowly, as if she was speaking to an idiot, “I wanted someone to give me the love and emotional support I needed.”

  Lanie glossed over the fact that it had taken her nine years to find that someone. She skipped the details that she had, in fact, gone on without him and proved herself successful. She had paid the hospital bills when Cassie was born. She had completed her education and made a career for herself. She was a full partner in her own business. She had bought a house and made it into a home for Cassie and herself. She looked at Cal silently and realized just how shallow his shell was.

  “So are you going to give me Cassie?” He pushed, “Or do I have to take you to court?”

  “Why should I give her to you? What’s in it for Cassie? What’s in it for me?” Her chin raised, she tried to meet greed with greed. “She’s mine. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She’s my angel. She’s the only truly good thing that ever came out of my relationship with a pathetic loser like you.” Inside her stomach twisted in agony as she uttered these words. “She’s so sweet and loving, it’s hard to believe there’s any of your blood in her veins.”

  “You’re going to give her to me because I need her to get any inheritance from my grandfather,” Cal shot back. “The old coot doesn’t think much of me, he even said that I should just work for a living like everyone else. But if I get married and give him a grandchild, he’ll come around, especially if she’s as lovable as you say she is.”

  “That’s your problem,” Lanie said coldly, her act completely forgotten, “what has it got to do with me? I don’t even know your grandfather but he sounds like he has good judgment. Besides, you don’t love Cassie; you don’t even know her, not really. I’ll bet that if you saw her on a playground full of little girls you couldn’t even pick her out from the crowd. You just want to use her for your personal gain. That’s the difference between us, Cal. I love Cassie. I really love her. I’ll never give her up.”

  “So why don’t you and I just get married, that way we’ll both have Cassie? I can still have Doreen on the side and you can have this guy you claim you’re in love with, whoever he is.” Cal leered at her. “Who knows? Maybe once in a while, I can take care of you, too. In bed. You’re not as sexy as Doreen is but if I remember right, you’re not too bad in the sack.” Cal started to stroke Lanie’s cheek.

  “Cal, don’t even think it!” Lanie slid away from him, pushing against the side of the sofa. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

  “Babe, I can make you so hot for me, just like I did when you were a teenager.” Cal followed her using the end of the sofa to trap her, leaning over her to force a kiss on her. One of his hands was grabbing at the neckline of her dress. She slapped him across the face, hard. “In fact, you want me. That’s why you had everything so perfect here tonight.”

  “I do not want you,” Lanie said clearly. “The thought makes me sick to my stomach.”

  “I can change your mind, I always could.” He sneered.

  Suddenly he got nasty, really nasty. Even knowing that she was not really alone with Cal, a chill of panic ran through Lanie. He had been an abusive bully when they were young, and now she realized that he had never grown up at all. His passion could turn to rage in an instant.

  He was the type of man who would rape a woman, leaving her bruised and battered, then boast to his friends and claim that he had only given her what she wanted. Deep inside his twisted mind he might even really believe it, and that was truly frightening.

  Lanie had learned a few tricks in the intervening years, however. Even as he ripped at her clothes she fought back, scratching his face before her knee found a vital spot between his legs. When he doubled over in pain, she scrambled off the sofa and dug her can of pepper spray out of her purse. She stood her ground with him, the nozzle aimed directly at his face, and then let him have it.

  “I’ll never let you have Cassie.” In her anger she practically screamed at him as Cal cried out and covered his eyes with his hands. “In fact, I’ll never let you see her again.”

  “Then I’ll take her.” Cal’s voice was strained but was still threatening, even with tears streaming down his face. “I’ll sue for custody and claim that you refused to let me have any visitation with her, and of course, that you’re an unfit mother.”

  “Unfit? Compared to an abusive bully like you? Compared to a man who refused to be there when I was pregnant? A man who said he was out of there if I didn’t have an abortion? A man who never even called to ask me how the pregnancy ended? Much less ever paid one penny of support? How, just exactly how do you think you can do that?” Lanie tried to control her breathing. “You’re not even a father; you’re just a sperm donor.”

  “First, you lied to me and told me you had aborted my baby,” Cal said snidely.

  “That’s not true!” Lanie shouted. “I told you I would never abort.”

  “Who cares? It’ll be your word against mine in court. My parents will back me up.” Cal sneered. “Besides that, you’re carrying on with several men around town and you drink way too much. I can get witnesses. I already have some. My parents have said they will testify that you lied about the abortion, and some of my old friends will swear they’ve slept and partied with you. They’ll say whatever I want them to.” Cal smiled wickedly. “Hell, I’ll even find a way to plant some marijuana somewhere in one of your nurseries or groves. You’d never know where or when. Then I’ll make an anonymous tip to the police and voila! You’d have a record for using, maybe even dealing drugs. Heck, it’d be real easy.”

  “And just how will you prove that I refused to give you visitation with Cassie?” she asked.

  “Hell, even the kid can say that she never saw me until she was nine,” Cal jeered, “and I can make sure she likes me, enough toys and candy will take care of that. She only has your word for it that we never met because I never wanted to see her.”

  “What if all that doesn’t work?” Lanie prodded, fighting the urge to use the pepper spray on him again. “What then?”

  “If I have to, I’ll just take her and we’ll disappear.” Cal bragged, “You’ll never find either one of us.”

  “If you ever take her, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth and I will kill you,” Lanie whispered, her throat tight. “I swear it.”

  “And if you did, that would cost you custody of Cassie forever,” Cal taunted her.

  “But at least she wouldn’t be with you!” Lanie’s blood ran cold. “I’d rather face a lifetime in prison than let you have her.”

  Feigning a calm she could not possibly feel, she said in a steady voice, “Cal, I have to think about this a bit longer, so please leave.” She quickly hustled him out of her house.

  No sooner had he left than Frank and John came in her back door. Suddenly shaking, Lanie turned to Frank. He wrapped her in a bear hug, murmuring to her while she sobbed. John walked over to the video camera he had hidden on Lanie’s crowded bookshelf and pulled out the videotape. Hooking his VCR up to Lanie’s, they all watched the tape while John made a duplicate.

  “I’ll kill him!” Frank said as he saw the end of the tape
.

  “You don’t have to, we got him!” John was confident. “He’s said everything we need. He admitted that he knew and didn’t care that Lanie never had an abortion. He admitted he never supported Cassie. He said that he only wanted Cassie to help him get an inheritance from his grandfather so that he wouldn’t have to work for a living. He threatened Lanie and listed how he could frame her in court with false witnesses and planted evidence. He also threatened to kidnap Cassie. He’s on record for all of it.”

  “I threatened him, too,” Lanie admitted. “That’s on the tape.”

  “But only in defense of Cassie,” John said, “no one will criticize you for that, in fact they’ll cheer you on. The difference between his threats and yours come across clearly on the video.”

  “He really scares me,” Lanie admitted. “What if he still tries to take Cassie?”

  “He only wants her for the money. If we use the tape wisely we can eliminate the profit motive, and in turn the threat. We have to find a way to do it without pushing him to act out of anger or revenge.” John was thinking even as he spoke. “And, of course, we can have him charged with sexual assault.”

  “Will the tape stand up in court?” Frank asked.

  “Probably not. I’m not sure. Case law is weird,” John explained, “since the tape was made without Cal’s knowledge or consent but it may be possible to use it to impeach his witnesses. We can definitely use it to let the police know about his threats, especially the threat to take Cassie.”

  “So?” Lanie asked. “What do we do next?”

  “We press charges. Then we make enough copies of this tape to send a copy to Cal, his parents, his lawyers, our lawyers, and to his rich grandfather. We show a copy to the police. And we keep the original safely in a bank vault,” John explained. “Of course we’ll install a security system in your house and also put some protection around both you and Cassie at least until he gives up and provides his consent for Frank to adopt Cassie.”