“He’s not like any other man I’ve ever met. Except maybe for you, Greg.” Jessica said it with a wink and then got up and slipped on her shoes. She zipped up her garment bag and looped her purse over her shoulder.
“Let me at least carry that for you,” Greg said, picking up the bulging bag. “Good grief! What are you doing, Jess, stealing the family silver?”
“Just a few photos,” she said. “I asked dad.”
“You said your good-byes with him already?”
“Yes.” Jessica snagged one last strawberry and took one last sweeping glance at her old room before following Greg out the door. “We had a long talk this afternoon. I apologized for the way I left two months ago. At the time, I couldn’t think of any other way to break free from the leash he had on my life. No, I’m leaving openly and with everything in order. But he still won’t give me his blessing. To my dad, there’s only one way, and that’s his way. I can’t live like that. Or should I say, I won’t live like that.”
Greg led her down the wide, sweeping staircase to the main entryway. All the staff were lined up in their neatly pressed black and white uniforms, prepared to say farewell to Jessica. She said good-bye to each of them and waved again from the front seat of her rental car before pulling out of the driveway.
She thought of how no one had noticed her early morning departure the last time she had left. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she noticed a solitary figure standing at the window of her father’s upstairs bedroom. Jessica bit her lip and whispered, “Good-bye, Daddy. Please, please try to understand.”
The autumn wind whipped Jessica’s hair as she drove to the airport. To get her mind off her dad, she thought about Kyle and how she would explain all this to him. He might not believe her.
She could always have Greg call him, and he could tell Kyle the truth—that Jessica Morgan was the daughter of a multi-millionaire and of her own free will, she chose to step down from the vice president position of Morgan Enterprises, a position which legally became hers on her twenty-fifth birthday.
Jessica played over a dozen other scenarios in her exhausted mind during the flight back to Portland. What if Charlotte had found a way to fire her? Or what if the school board sided with Charlotte and agreed Jessica was out of line in asking Kyle to be a guest speaker without first sending home a letter to the parents? It occurred to Jessica that she might have resigned as vice president only to find herself fired from her teaching job.
The plane landed at midnight, and Jessica entered the terminal, eager to see Kyle. There he stood, waiting for her with a bouquet of mixed flowers in his hand. Jessica walked right into his arms.
“Welcome home,” Kyle said, holding her close. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Jessica said, her cheek pressed against his chest.
“How did everything go?” Kyle handed her the flowers, and looping his arm around her shoulders, he started walking with her toward the baggage claim.
“It went about the way I thought it would.”
“And is that good?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, I think it turned out well.” Jessica realized she could hardly give Kyle a straight answer when he was unaware of any of the details of her situation. She thought of what a trusting man he was to send her on this journey, not knowing what issues she was trying to resolve.
As soon as they were in his truck headed back to Glenbrooke, Jessica started to fill in the details for him. “I talked a lot with my dad. He’s not very much in favor of my staying here, or of my choosing teaching as my career. I don’t know if he’ll ever fully understand or support me, but I know this is the best thing for me.”
“Good,” Kyle said. “I think your staying in Glenbrooke is the best thing, too. But then, I have my personal reasons.” He turned to Jessica and winked.
“My relationship with my father has always been distant and strained,” she continued. “I didn’t expect him to respond any differently from how he has in the past.”
“It must have made it hard then to trust God,” Kyle said.
“Why do you say that?”
“I think we tend to view our heavenly Father the same way we view our earthly fathers. He’s not like that at all, you know. God, I mean. He’s loving, forgiving, and merciful toward us. There’s nothing we can ever do to make him stop loving us. All he wants is for us to trust him and love him. That’s where it becomes hard when our human fathers aren’t trustworthy or loving.”
Jessica thought of her dad’s aloofness and his fierce anger. Kyle had a point. That was how she had pictured God. Until last week, that is.
Then Jessica had another thought. Kyle would make an incredible father. I wonder how many children he wants?
She shook herself out of the future and back to the present. “I’m glad you urged me to face him, Kyle. I don’t know why I thought I could let things continue in limbo, the way they were. I needed to go back, just like you said, and make some decisions and set a few things in order. Thanks for making me go.”
“Then I suppose I should thank you for making me bring my secret about Lindsey’s death out in the open. This morning at church, four different sets of parents came up to me and said their kids came home and told them about my speaking in your class.”
“Uh-oh. Were they upset about not receiving letters?”
“Not at all. They said it was the first time they were able to sit down with their teens and talk openly about sex. Their kids had decided in your class that the only way for them was abstinence.”
“Kyle, that’s great! I hope the school board hears about it.”
Kyle smiled. “They have. Three of the parents I spoke to are on the school board, and one of them just happens to be superintendent of schools.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. Oh, one other thing. It just so happens that there’s one school board member I don’t think Charlotte intended to have to deal with. It’ll be pretty tough trying to convince this board member that you should be reprimanded for your actions.”
“Who is it?”
“Me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kyle and Jessica arrived back at her home at about two-thirty in the morning. They had spent most of the trip from the airport discussing the situation at school with Charlotte. The school board meeting was scheduled for that night, and Kyle coached Jessica on how to present her position when and if the board called on her.
They had become so caught up with the Charlotte problem that Jessica hadn’t filled Kyle in on some of the vital information she had planned to tell him. He parked the truck, carried in her luggage, and was about to go when she said, “I wanted to give you this.” Jessica filed through the papers in her purse until she came to a check written out to Kyle.
When he saw the check, he put up both his hands and said, “I don’t want you to pay me back for the plane ticket.”
“Then take this as gas money for the ride to the airport and back.” She held out the check to him, but he still refused to take it.
“Kyle, please take it. For two months I’ve had nothing to give to anyone. Please accept this from me. It’s offered from my heart.”
Kyle smiled at her and accepted the check. He casually glanced at it before he began to stuff it in his pocket. Then he did a double take and burst out laughing.
“That’s what I enjoy about you,” Kyle said, waving the check in the air, “your great sense of humor. Five hundred thousand dollars! That’s a good one, Jess.”
Jessica’s facial expression didn’t change.
“What?” Kyle said. He seemed to be trying to read her serious look. “Did I miss something? Was it supposed to be one of those coupons good for half a million hugs or something?” He studied the check, then looked up with a punchy expression on his face.
“It’s good, Kyle.”
“What do you mean it’s good? You’re saying I could take this to the bank tomorrow and cash it?”
“No, you could d
eposit it. Banks don’t usually give out more than ten thousand in cash.”
Kyle looked confused and as though he were about to burst out laughing at the same time.
“I haven’t told you something important,” Jessica said. “Besides my father being aloof and all that, he’s also a millionaire. A multi-millionaire, to be exact.”
Kyle sobered.
“When I turned twenty-five last month, my trust fund became available to me, and I was automatically given the position of vice president of Morgan Enterprises.”
“As in Morgan Electronics?” Kyle said, his face turning pale.
Jessica nodded. “That’s what I was running away from. I wanted a new life away from my dominating father and his money and all the cutthroat negotiating I’d grown up with. I felt imprisoned by the power and the money and the lifestyle. Starting over with a new identity was the only way I thought I could leave all that behind. You showed me I could come out of hiding, face my responsibilities, and then legally walk away from them.”
Kyle sat down hard on the bottom step, staring at the check.
“I resigned my position,” Jessica said, sitting down next to him. “I had to sign over my trust fund to the corporation. But my dad’s lawyer found a way I could come away with some money by selling my shares of the company. I basically cashed out. I’m free to live my life the way I want. Or maybe I should say, the way God wants me to.”
Kyle looked at Jessica, his eyes still wide with disbelief. “I can’t take this,” he said hoarsely.
“Of course you can!” Jessica felt relieved to finally let out her secret. “You’re holding a check in your hand that’s good for half a million dollars. You said that’s all you needed. Only a half a million. You can build your orphanage now.” She tried to make contact through his glazed eyes with the man inside. “Or start your fund to send kids to college.” Jessica waved a hand in front of his vacant expression. “Hello in there!”
Kyle didn’t respond.
“It’s not that much, Kyle. I have more than $47 million, so don’t feel as if you’re cutting into my profit or anything.” He still sat stupefied.
Jessica tried to think of something to make him laugh. “I know, what about Kenya? We could try to buy Kenya, if you still wanted to.”
Kyle shot up as if he had been electrocuted. His arm snapped toward Jessica, and he held the check as far away from him as he could. “I can’t take this!” he said, sounding frantic. “I don’t want your money!”
When Jessica wouldn’t take it back, Kyle ripped the check into a dozen pieces and tossed it at her. Without saying a word, he left.
She was stunned. She’d never expected this kind of reaction from him. All her life men had chased her because of her money. She never knew if any of them were sincerely interested in her or only in what they would gain by marrying her. Kyle was the opposite of those other men, yet she’d never expected him to reject her because of her money. The thought that she had lost him came as a sharp and bitter blow.
“I don’t know what I was thinking he would say,” Jessica said to Teri after school the next day. When Teri drove her home as usual, Jessica had invited her in for a soda and cautiously proceeded to confide in her. “The people in this town are the first people in my whole life who have treated me normally, like an average person. But now I’m starting to think I really am a sort of freak. I don’t want people to know about the money if it means everyone is going to change around me. I feel as if I’m losing everything I desperately desired to have here in Glenbrooke. Teri, it’s awful.”
Teri blew a long breath of air out through her mouth. A funny, clown-like smile lit up her face. “Yeah, I bet it’s awful.”
“It is. You don’t understand. People think all their problems would be solved if they had a million dollars. Well, I do, and they’re not. I only have more problems. Complex problems.”
Teri looked as if she were trying her best to understand. Jessica reached across the couch and squeezed Teri’s arm. “Will you still be my friend? I’m not good at making friends because I’ve always been kind of isolated. Ingrown. This is so pathetic, but I can honestly say that you are the first true friend I’ve ever had. Except for maybe Greg, my dad’s lawyer.”
A look of recognition spread across Teri’s face. “Greg Fletcher? That man who called here awhile back?”
Jessica nodded.
“No wonder you looked so rattled when I hung up on him. Oh, Jessica, I can’t even begin to imagine what you’ve gone through. You really were completely out of food the day the groceries came, weren’t you?”
Jessica nodded. “I didn’t plan my escape very well. I only had twelve dollars to last for about three weeks.”
“Oh, Jessica!” Teri reached over and hugged her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have done anything I could have for you.”
“I know,” Jessica said. “Actually, could I ask you to do a favor for me now?”
“Sure. Anything.”
Jessica went to her secretary and pulled out a torn corner of a grocery store bag. “Do you know a little boy named Adam Kelsey?”
“Sure. He has a cousin, Laura, in one of my classes.”
“Could you see that he somehow gets this, anonymously?” Jessica handed Teri a hundred dollar bill. “One day at the grocery store, when I used the last of my twelve dollars and came up a nickel short, this little angel gave me one of his pop can nickels. I promised I’d pay him back.”
Teri took the money and a mischievous look crossed her face. “You know what? Nobody around here needs to know about the money, unless Kyle says anything, which I doubt he would. You said you wanted to use it to help people. We could set it up so that you can give to your heart’s content and nobody would know where it was coming from.”
“I like it,” Jessica said, feeling relieved that Teri was warming up to the idea of Jessica being a millionaire.
“And don’t worry about Kyle. I think he’ll come around once the shock wears off. He fell in love with you hard and fast when he thought you were a poverty case. He loves you, not your money.”
Jessica felt encouraged by Teri’s words and hoped with everything inside her that Teri was right. Tonight at the school board meeting Jessica would find out.
Teri suggested they run over to the Wallflower for dinner before going to the meeting. Jessica ordered a bowl of soup and sipped at it, barely tasting the beef and vegetables. She was nervous about seeing Kyle and being prepared for the accusations that would come at her from Charlotte.
Teri chatted on about her sister in Hawaii and wolfed down a tuna melt and cottage fries. When the bill came, Jessica reached for it before Teri could and said, “You paid last time. I have this one covered.”
Teri started to laugh. She laughed until she had tears in her eyes and was holding onto her side. People were looking at them, and still Teri couldn’t stop laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Jessica leaned forward and tried to get Teri to come back to earth.
“You said,” Teri gasped for air, “you said you had this one covered.”
“Right. What’s so funny about that?”
Teri broke into another spasm, trying to swallow the laughter. She waved her hand in front of her face, fanning herself. “I’m sorry, Jess. It’s just that when you said that, I realized you could pay for dinner for everyone in this restaurant.” She kept her voice low and leaned forward with her eyes glistening. “You could cover this whole town—the whole state of Oregon—and still have money left over.”
Jessica didn’t understand why that was so funny and tried her best to force a smile.
“I’m sorry,” Teri said, calming down. “I’m sorry. It’s just a shock when you think about it. It’s not really funny, I guess.”
Teri composed herself and apologized again on the way to the school. “I don’t know why I reacted like that. I hope I didn’t embarrass you.”
“No, that’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Jessica didn’t understa
nd. However, it did make her wonder if Kyle’s reaction stemmed from the same kind of emotional well that Teri had drawn from tonight. The expectations that had been placed on Jessica and her inheritance money for so many years had created a wealth of painful feelings in her. All she’d ever wanted was a simple life. Now that she had it, she was trying to think of how the people around her would respond to her suddenly having all this money. If she had kept her position as vice president, her assets would have been more than four hundred million, and when her father died, it would have all been hers. So what? She had more than she needed, and she had the life she wanted. Now, if she could only be sure she had Kyle.
The meeting began on time, and Jessica watched Kyle carefully from where she and Teri sat toward the back of the room. She was certain that he had noticed her when she walked in, but Kyle wouldn’t make eye contact with her. It made her nervous.
About ten minutes into the meeting, Dawn and her father, Dr. Laughlin, slipped into the back of the room. A few more of Jessica’s students and their parents entered the room. By the time the agenda reached item six, “Ms. Morgan-Fenton: Violation of Parental Notification,” all the seats at the back of the room were filled with parents and students. Jessica hoped these were the supportive ones Kyle had mentioned. Or they might be a gathering of those who had complained to Charlotte.
Charlotte seemed to delight in describing the way Jessica had let a guest speaker in her class without first clearing it and how that speaker had discussed AIDS, without the parents receiving notice ahead of time.
“I also must add that this particular teacher has been in continual violation of a number of district policies,” Charlotte continued. “Her files are not complete, even after repeated requests. She went to great lengths to deceive the school district regarding her identity. I was concerned about her blatant lies, such as masquerading under the false name of Fenton, when her real last name was Morgan.”
A faint whispering spread across the room. Jessica couldn’t deny any of Charlotte’s accusations. She had been deceitful. It hadn’t bothered Jessica in the beginning, since she felt the end would justify the means for her false identity. Now she felt sick to her stomach over it. Perhaps growing closer to the Lord made the truth more apparent to her. She felt as if she had stepped out of the shadows into the light and found all kinds of flaws blaring in the light that were invisible in the shadows.