Page 14 of Audon

“What the hell does that mean?” He told him about the upcoming show that he had in Europe in a few months. “So he has some talents. That doesn’t mean I’m going to back away from this deal with Banton. She’s going to be marrying Peter if it’s the last thing I do. I picked her out, and she’ll come to reason when I knock her around a bit. See that I’m not right.”

The butler didn’t have to say anything. Just the look in his eyes made him see that he didn’t approve of his methods. Not that he cared. Pete ran a tight ship, and if a few times to the face got him that, he was going to use it.

“He told me that they were getting married in the morning. I’ll be there. Find out what time and which judge is going to be presiding over it, and I’ll get him in my pockets too.” He did worry about trying to bribe a judge; he’d gotten in trouble once before about that. But this was for his son, and what man wouldn’t want to have his son in the right position for marriage? “You’ll go with me. I might need some backup.”

“I’m afraid I can’t condone you knocking around a woman, sir. I’ll do most anything else, but I won’t hit a woman. They’re delicate creatures, sir, and I just can’t bring myself to hit one of them. Besides, I think you’ll be surprised that some of them will hit back. The Banton woman strikes me as the type of woman that would do so.” He waved the man off. There was no way that she’d hit him. “I’m sorry. I’ll go with you, but I won’t have anything to do with you harming Trinity. She’s a good woman and treats her staff well.”

“That right there tells me what sort of woman she is. Someone that treats her staff well is code for they run the house and she’s the one that foots the bill. No. She’ll marry my son, and that’s final. Even if I have to kidnap her away from that other man. What was his name?” He was told. “Yes, that’s right. Hathaway. He’ll see reason. My son isn’t like most people. He needs a guiding hand, and once I have that Banton woman trained in what I need, she’ll be the perfect person to keep Peter in line with things. She’ll be the bad guy, and I’ll be there to make sure he knows it too.”

“What will you do if she gets away from you? Marry’s Hathaway anyway? She might well love him and what will you do then?” He said that love isn’t real. Every man in his position knew that. “I believe you’re wrong and you’re going to regret messing with the two of them. Hathaways are said to be powerful men and not ones to mess with. I think you’ll regret your actions if you go through with the things you have in mind.”

“I know things you don’t. Money talks. I’ve heard that they have more money than sense. Well, I have my money too, and they’ll not be able to do anything that I don’t want. I’m a man of power. You just back me up today and learn a lesson in getting a job done. You’ll see. They’ll be bowing down before me before the end of the day.” His butler said something, but he didn’t hear what. Instead of asking him to repeat himself, Pete decided it wasn’t worth it and began his plan. “She’ll be under my thumb in no time. It only took me six weeks to get my wife where she belonged, and I’ve learned a great deal since then. Yes, sir. She’ll be right where I want her and Peter’s wife tomorrow.”

Pete wasn’t an early riser. But in order to get to the courthouse in time, he was going to have to change up his schedule so that he could be there before them. The nerve of some people making him change things around when he had a schedule to keep. Setting his alarm for nine instead of the usual time that he got up at noon, he was going to make sure things went his way, or he’d have heads rolling. He wasn’t above making sure that he had a few more people in his pockets either, like the judge.

He didn’t get to sleep until the sun was rising. It was his usual way to do things, and his body and mind wouldn’t shut down no matter what he tried. As soon as he was able to get a few winks in, just an hour, he told himself, he’d be up and going so that he would get his way. Just as he was checking his phone to make sure that the alarm was set correctly, he rolled over and went to sleep. By damn, he was going to make heads roll, he told himself. This wasn’t the way things went for him.

~*~

They were married by eight-thirty. Even Lizzy was part of the marriage festivities. His entire family came to the event, and he couldn’t have been happier. By the time they were back at his parents’ house, Lizzy had taken a nap and was ready for her midmorning bottle. He sat in a quiet living room and fed it to her.

“I’m going to see about adopting you soon. What do you think about that?” He’d been talking to Lizzy when he fed her bottles to her. She usually just looked up at him, but today, their wedding day, she reached up and put her hand on his cheek. “Oh, Lizzy. What am I going to do when you’re older and have boys coming around all the time? You can bet I’m going to be keeping them away until you’re thirty or older.”

After giving her the bottle, he laid her down on the bed in his parents’ room. After surrounding her with pillows so she’d not roll off, he stood in the doorway and watched her. She’d become a big part of him since she’d come into his life. And he couldn’t wait to make her his by way of adoption.

His family threw them a big bash. Not only was there food for everyone, but there was a large three-tier cake as well. He and Trinity both enjoyed the afternoon, and when he was ready to take his little family home, his mom and dad gave him a gift to take a cruise. They’d done the same for his brothers, but he’d not expected it for himself. Not with a small baby to care for.

The three of them would leave on Friday morning and return the following Friday. It was a short cruise but perfect for the three of them. Trinity had never been on a cruise before, so this one was going to be even more special. They’d learn things about each other and not have to worry about Lizzy being left with strangers. Not that his family was strangers to her, but she’d got used to the two of them, he and Trinity, and she wasn’t keen on other people feeding her the bottles she had during the day.

Going home, he was greeted by the police. He told Trinity to go inside with the baby, but the police were there for them both. They said they only had some questions and then they’d be on their way. Instead of doing it in the front yard, they invited them into the house to find out what was going on.

“Mr. Jacobson is filing charges against you, Mrs. Hathaway, for breach of promise. He said that you were to marry his son this morning, but you snuck around and married Audon here instead. Not that I believe that’s the way things went, but at any time did you promise to marry Peter Jacobson?” She said that she’d told him no on so many occasions that she couldn’t count them. “I figured as much. Peter seems to think that marrying you would be close to death for him. He goes on about how you just popped—his words, not mine—popped out a baby and wouldn’t be fit for anything that he has going on. Again, we didn’t say that to him, but he’s in the mindset that you’ve become this large woman that had no sense in getting dressed in the morning. It was kind of funny to listen to if you can guess.”

“Why is Pete Jacobson filing charges and not Peter?” The officer, Joey Vance, said he didn’t know that Pete had shown up at the office and was making all kinds of accusations about how you’d snuck around and got married.

“I guess he was going to be there at the courthouse and stop it from happening. But he overslept.” Audon was confused about what was going on and told Joey that. “I don’t know. We just came here to see if you guys could shed some light on what’s going on with him and his son.”

“So what happens now?” That was a good question, and he was glad that Trinity asked. “I mean, we’re married as of eight-thirty this morning. We have witnesses if you need them. The entire Hathaway family was there with us when we said our I do’s.”

“No, ma’am, that won’t be necessary. We’ll just tell Pete that things are a done deal and that he’s going to have to move on.” As Joey started to leave, he turned back. “Something that he said might make you pay attention when he’s around is that he’s going to knock you both around if he has to. I’m not sure what that will mean now that you’re married, but you might want to watch out for him.”

“Do you really think that he’ll be violent towards us?” He said that he didn’t know the man well enough to know that. But he’d threatened, and that was enough for him to be watching out for him. “We’ll do that. If he gives us any trouble, we’ll press charges against him and see where that gets him. Is Peter out of jail yet?”

“This morning. His father paid his fine, and he’s out.” Good to know, he thought. Now they’d have to watch out for the two of them. Not that he thought that either one of them would be that much trouble, but he just didn’t know. “Peter isn’t looking for a wife, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll not do what his father wants of him if he decides to cut him off. He’s been paying for his stupidity for a long time, and I don’t know how this is going to work with him.”

“You think he’ll come around just so he can have the money his father is dangling in front of him.” It wasn’t a question, but Joey answered it anyway. He said that money would be a big factor in both their lives. “All right, then we’ll keep an eye out for him. But I want you to know that if either of them comes around with evil in their hearts, it’s going to be terrible for the two of them. I won’t allow them to hurt my family. Any of them.”

Joey left after that. As soon as he was out the door, he and Trinity sat on the couch and talked about what would happen if they did come around. It was going to be all right so long as they played nicely. But he had a feeling that they weren’t going to do anything nice at all and be shitty towards them.

It was nearly six when they decided to have dinner. The two of them had been flirting all day, and he was hard as stone just thinking about it being his wedding night. The doorbell rang just as they were sitting down to dinner. The butler, Burno, went to the door and came to tell them that it was the misters Jacobson. He said that he’d bring in tea and scones for the visit, and Trinity said no. They weren’t guests, and she didn’t want them there. As they got to the room where they were being seated, he overheard the argument between the two men that sent shivers up his spine. Yes, they were going to need watching from now on, he realized.

“Hello.” Trinity sat down on the opposite couch from the two men, and when Pete stood up, she did as well. “There will be no violence in our home, or I’ll call the police right now.”

“You lied to me.” She asked what he was talking about. Pete sputtered around and said that she was to marry his son. “You said that you’d marry him to calm him down so that he’d be a good man.”

“I did no such thing. And if you remember correctly, I told you that I wouldn’t marry him if he was the last man on earth. Besides, I’m already married to the man that I love, and I don’t want anything to do with either one of you.” Again, Pete acted like she had no right to talk to him that way, especially when she wasn’t doing as he told. “You’re a guest in our home right now, but I won’t hesitate to call the police if I have to and have you both removed.” Peter came to stand next to Trinity, and she backed away from him.

“You look good. I thought that you’d be all frumpy and fat after popping out a brat. By the way, you’re going to have to get rid of that thing. I won’t have a kid hanging on me when I want to party.” Peter looked around the room. “I think this is better than my dad’s. I’m going to enjoy having parties and shit here. You might just do after all.”