"DADDY!?"
Yes, there he stood, Greg Canaday, member of the Boston elite, bastion of conservatism, respected member of the bar. Staring at his, muddy, bedraggled daughter, clad only in an oversized tee shirt.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was invited. Someone named Hildy called, told me how well you were doing, how proud I should be of you, how much you missed me. So. I thought I would come down, visit, maybe get my fill of Southern cooking and hospitality."
"Daddy, it's not what it looks like. I..."
"How would you know what I think it looks like?
It looks like my daughter attacked one of my employees. A true cat fight, over a man."
"It really wasn't that bad. I just..."
"Not that bad? You two were rolling around in the water and mud in front of at least a hundred people, without the benefit of many clothes. It looked like a Jerry Springer episode."
"Daddy, I'm so sorry."
"SORRY? Is that how..snort...a well brought up...snort...member of Boston society...snort...oh hell!"
He burst out laughing, shaking his whole body in mirth, unable to contain it any longer. Hildy had reentered the room, smiling at first but soon laughing along with him.
"Damn child, I send you down here and[another fit of laughing]you go native on me. Your grandmother would be proud."
She was very, very confused.
"What would my grandmother have to do with it?"
"Your esteemed grandmother is from here, Jefferson County . You're one fourth Alabamian. Virginia Howe of the Birmingham Howes, to be exact. Your grandfather did his required work in our office here and fell head over heels in love with her. Her parents were not amused. 'A Yankee! How dare her!'"
"But they loved each other until the day he died, twenty seven years later. And she was never the same after he passed."
That's where your trust fund comes from, old steel money. She would have been proud of you today, no doubt."
"Why would she be proud? I made a spectacle of myself, drove Hardy even farther away. I've made a bad situation worse."
"Maybe not, girl" interjected Hildy. "Hardy just called to make sure you're all right. And to send word if any video shows up anywhere someone will pay, dearly. I would imagine there's a lot of cells being erased as we speak."
Gwens' hand flew to her mouth. Her shining moment, immortalized forever. It just couldn't get anymore complicated.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
.................................................
Her dad spent four days with her, watching her in court, taking her to lunch and dinner. He spent a few hours with his old friend Paul, talking about things neither would discuss with anyone else.
Privately, he had to admit she had grown up some.
It was very gratifying. The only sore spot between them was Hardy. He couldn't understand why she wanted him back, in his eyes she had betrayed him twice, regardless of the circumstances.
"Look at it like this, baby. Have you ever heard the old African parable about the woman and the snake?"
She shook her head no.
"In the parable, the woman finds a snake fallen from a wall. It's cold, and the snake can't survive, so he begs the woman to take him in.
He talks so eloquently, and is so beautiful she picks him up and takes him home. She puts him by the fire for warmth. She feeds him. She holds and pets him, telling him how beautiful he is."
"Finally, summer comes. The sun is shining, it's warm, and the snake no longer needs her. One day as she holds him he bites her neck. As she lies on the ground dying she looks at the snake, and says 'Why? I saved you. I kept you alive. Why would you bite me?'"
"The snake just looks at her before he slithers off."
"Woman, you knew damn well I was a snake before you picked me up."
He paused.
"Do you understand? You knew Allan was a snake, but you still did coke with him in Paris. You still let him in your house, even as you tried to get Hardy back. What happened to you was wrong, but you knew how he was before you let him in. So please, bear a little responsibility."
"And, that's exactly how Hardy views it. You let a snake in your home, knowing what he was."
She sighed.
"Am I going to get him back?"
He hated to tell her, but she needed the truth.
"I don't think so, baby. You hurt him in the worst way possible. True, you didn't know his background and how badly he would react, but you still cheated on him. And be honest, your treatment of him for the time before the 'incident' wasn't exactly that of a loving wife. Tell me, when did you stop respecting him?"
"I never stopped respecting him!" she flared out,
"but I did take him for granted. I guess I felt the love he had for me would see us through anything."
"Including cheating on him?"
"NO! You know I didn't mean for that to happen. You know that. And, I was never going to let him find out."
"Regardless, it DID happen, and he did find out. Tell the truth, you had to think, somewhere in the back of your mind, that even if he found out you could convince him to forgive you."
She couldn't look him in the eye. That told him all he needed to know.
He sighed.
"There's more news. Hardy has finally had enough of dragging the divorce out. He made it clear to his attorney if things didn't start happening, he was fired. Ivan is doing all he can, but he can't delay much longer."
She felt like fainting. It was finally about to be over. She just hung her head and cried.
Greg left the next day. He stopped by to see Hardy on the way out.
"How are you?"
Hardy more or less grunted.
"As well as can be expected. Lots of cases to look over, lot of people needing help."
"That's not what I meant and you know it. Are you still going to divorce her?"
"You know I am."
"Nothing anyone can do to change that? She's grown up a lot this last eight months. I really believe she loves you."
"I still love her, maybe I always will. But you know as well as I love is not enough sometimes. I have to be able to trust her, and that'll never happen again. And I'm not talking about just the cheating. I really feel she was lying from the day we wed. She never wanted what I wanted, even after we discussed it at length and she agreed."
"She never wanted to settle down, and I really feel now she never wanted children. No, the best thing I can do is move on. I still want a family, and time is wasting."
"I understand. But tell me, son, was all you really wanted a brood sow? In my opinion, you both started the marriage based on lies and half truths. You should have told her about you, your upbringing and history. She should have told you how she felt about a family and her history of drug use and infidelity. She did wrong, really wrong, but you need to shoulder some of the responsibility. If you had both been honest you most likely would never have married, and wouldn't be where you are now."
Hardy started to speak but he waved him off.
"Stop. I shouldn't have said what I did, but you're both family to me. You're the son I never had, and I regret losing you. But enough about that, I should never had brought it up. What I really wanted to talk to you about was the new case Gwen is on."
He described the Escobar case in detail, stressing the danger she may be in.
"Paul promised me protection, but you know as well as I how stretched law enforcement is these days. As a personal favor to me, will you keep an eye on her? I know now you have resources they can never equal. Gwen told me about your little discussion with your cousin Roy."
Hardy actually smiled, remembering.
................................................
He did call the following week, and little June nearly talked his ear off. Her mother promised him an unending string of pies in gratitude for making Roy see the importance of a happy home life.
"I'm not an idiot, and I grew up on stories about you. All I have to say when he's getting a little neglectful is it's time to bake you a pie, and he perks right up. Thank you. Now, do you like peaches?"
Cousin Ronnie was another matter. He had heard his brags, and caught him in one of those sawdust on the floor, no air conditioning, coolers run on ice instead of electricity type of juke joints you can still find scattered throughout the state.
Ronnie saw him and made a huge mistake. He started bragging about how hard he was going to kick his ass. Hardy responded by slapping him, hard. Then he turned his back on him and went outside, calling out behind him.
"Come on out you loudmouth cunt! I won't hit you, but I will slap you like the little bitch you are until you cry. I may just spank your ass like a young'un before I'm done. You might even piss your panties."
Ronnie had just enough beer in him to cloud his judgement. He rushed Hardy screaming at the top of his lungs.
"I'm gonna kill you, asshole!"
Hardy actually looked bored as he stepped aside and slapped him on his way past, pushing him with his other hand. He went down face first in the gravel parking lot. He sprang up with a roar, angered beyond reason. Hardy didn't dodge, but stepped in and gave him a wicked 'Liverpool kiss', a head butt with all his momentum behind it. Ronnie's nose immediately flattened and blood flew. Stunned he stood with his arms hanging and Hardy took full advantage, raking slaps back and forth across his face. His body's natural reaction to the pain caused tears to fall.
"Lord almighty" one onlooker yelled, "he is crying like a bitch."
That only enraged Ronnie more. He was skilled, you didn't do what he did without them, but he just wasn't up to Hardys' level. He did manage to get a few good blows in. Hardy paid no more attention to them than he would a fly buzzing round him.
