“No, I will not.”
That included not claiming to love her when he didn’t, but it also meant that his promises? Were written in concrete as far as Viktor Beck was concerned.
CHAPTER NINE
MADDIE WAS SHOCKED when her father called and asked her to come to dinner. Alone.
They ate in the formal dining room. Even with the leaves removed from the table, it would easily seat six.
Maddie sat to her father’s left and swirled her soup with her spoon, pretending to eat.
Her father didn’t seem any more at ease than she felt.
Finally she gave in and asked, “Why am I here?”
“It’s been a long time since we had a family dinner.”
“There’s a two-page magazine spread to prove otherwise.”
He shook his head, an expression she couldn’t quite decipher on his familiar features. “That is not the same.”
“I’m not sure what you mean then.”
“You and me. Family.”
“We stopped being a family when Mom died.” She didn’t say it with accusation, or even anger.
He could thank the therapist he didn’t know about for that, but it was still the truth.
“It was never my intention for that to happen.”
She couldn’t hold back a small scoffing sound. “You sent me to boarding school within months of her death. I’d say your intentions were pretty clear.”
“That was a mistake.”
Something inside Maddie cracked at that admission, but she merely shrugged. What could she say? Yes, it had been a huge, painful mistake.
Somehow agreeing didn’t seem like the thing to do, though. Not least of which because no acknowledgment now could change the consequences of his choice when she was fifteen.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he admitted with a candidness rare for Jeremy Archer. “I failed your mother and I was terrified of failing you, so I sent you away, hoping they could do for you at school what I was so clearly not qualified to do at home.”
Maddie stared at him as an emotional maelstrom swirled inside her. “Who are you and what have you done with my father?”
It was an old joke, but man, was it appropriate.
Her dad barked out a laugh. “I told Viktor this wouldn’t be easy.”
“He wanted you to talk to me?” Why wasn’t she surprised?
“Yes.” Jeremy sighed. “Viktor thinks our relationship is salvageable.”
“He’s an optimist.”
“He is.”
Giving up on the pretense of eating, she set her spoon down. “You sound surprised by that fact.”
“It’s not a side of him I noticed before.”
“You don’t think his business world-domination plans take optimism?” she asked, only partially tongue in cheek.
Her dad laughed again, this time longer and with more real humor. “I suppose they do.”
“I guess that makes you something of an optimist, too.” Which wasn’t something she’d ever acknowledged before.
“Enough of one to believe things could be different for you than Helene.” He sounded like he meant it.
“We all have our demons. I’m learning to cope with mine without jumping out of airplanes.” Maddie could give him that at least.
Her father took a ruminative sip of his wine. “I used to think Helene got into trouble just to get my attention. She seemed to take a perverse pleasure in being written up in the media.”
“She did.”
He looked startled at Maddie’s agreement. “But she was a risk taker before we ever met. You know that, don’t you?”
“She used to tell me stories over her scrapbooks.” It had all sounded so thrilling to a young girl.
Jeremy nodded. “It was one of the things I admired about her.”
“You weren’t the first important man in her life to ignore her.” That was one of the things Maddie had come to realize.
Helene Madison had craved her own father’s attention and only managed to get it when she acted out. By the time she married Jeremy Archer, the attention-seeking behavior was an already established coping mechanism.
“You’re saying Helene wasn’t adventurous by nature, but because her exploits got her father’s attention.”
“Oh, I think Mom was definitely adventurous, she just discovered that in giving in to that side of her personality, she got something she craved.”
“She always said she understood the amount of time I had to give to my company.”
“Would you have listened if she said she didn’t?” He certainly hadn’t responded to Maddie’s verbal pleas for his time, or to return home from boarding school.
“Probably not,” her father admitted with more honesty than she expected.