K. Janssen - Hampton Manor

Chapter 19

Adam paced his bedroom deciding what to do about the information that Chuck had just given him . 3 a.m.? What the hell were they doing until 3 a.m.? Is she having an affair with Masterson ? Is that why she ’s given me the cold shoulder for the last few weeks ? I knew there was something peculiar in the way she was acting .I can’t let on that I know anything. I need her for this merger deal. Why did I ever accept Masterson’s offer? If he wasn’t around I ‘d stand a much better chance with Marcia.

His cell phone rang. Marcia’s name appeared on the screen. He hurriedly pressed the talk button. “Marcia, what did you find out?”

“I worked on the figures all night. I have some good news and some bad news.”

“Give me the bad news first.”

“All five customers have irrevocable agreements with a European consortium. They negotiated a fifteen percent cost reduction. Unless we make certain strategic moves in the next month the hit on us is going to be twenty percent of our projected sales for the combined companies and lower our margins by up to twenty percent.

Adam appeared to be unmoved by the figures. “What about Masterson? Did he know this was going to happen?”

“I received assurances from all the companies that the agreements were negotiated in private at secret meetings in Italy. There is no chance that any outside party could have learned the details prior to the announcement.”

“So, what’s the good news?” His voice took on a sarcastic tone.

“Well, actually, it’s the effect that this will have on our bottom line. Unfortunately, Preston has the highest margins, so projected profits will only be impacted by slightly more than twenty-eight percent.”

“You call that good news?”

“Well, yeah, considering that it could have been significantly higher. I’m proposing that Hampton switch two-thirds of their sportswear production to Preston’s newer and faster machines, immediately. According to our three year projections, we’ll recoup the loss mid-way through the third year. Sportswear will benefit the most since the defecting companies were only marginal buyers.”

“Our three year projections?”

“Yes, Kane and I worked on these projections until 3 a.m. this morning. We had to re-do the work we’ve done over the last four weeks. I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Adam was quiet for a few minutes. At least she’s admitting they were together. Finally he said, “You better meet me in my office at ten o‘clock. I want to go over those figures. There must be a better way to limit our losses. Bring Masterson with you.”

Adam went down to breakfast at his usual time. As he sipped his coffee, Milton came to the table to tell him that John wanted to speak to him, privately.

“I’ll go over there now. Hold my breakfast.”

“Yes, sir.”

John escorted Adam into his office.

“What’s so important, John?”

“Well, Mister Hampton, It may be nothing, but I thought I should tell you this in person. We had a specialist in to check your father yesterday. Being new, he went through the usual litany of questions for his records. He asked your father how many children he had. Your father answered that he had two grown sons.”

“Are you certain?”

“It’s right here in his report and I checked the transcript. That is exactly what he said.”

Adam skimmed through the papers until he located the “Personal Information” section. He stared at the paper for a few minutes.

“There must be some mistake. Perhaps he heard wrong.”

“That’s certainly possible, but he was very accurate about the rest of the information and the transcript is also very clear. I just thought you would want to know.”

“You did right, John. I tell you what, I want to ask my father about this. Would you let me into his bedroom, and do me a favor and turn off all the recording devices.”

“Certainly, Mister Hampton.” John went to the monitoring desk and flipped several switches. The screen for Adam’s room turned black. “Everything’s off.” John ushered Adam to his father’s bedroom. He unlocked the door and stepped aside.

“I want to see him alone.”

“Of course, sir,” he said. He closed the door behind Adam and returned to his office.

Adam II’s bedroom was dimly lit. Adam could see that his father was awake but lying quietly in his bed. He flipped a wall switch and the room became illuminated with the soft glow of the recessed lighting.

His father reacted by sitting up in his bed. “Who’s there?”

Adam stepped closer to the bed hoping that his father would recognize him.

“It’s me, dad. I need to talk to you.”

Adam II squinted to see his visitor more clearly. “Adam? Is that you, son? Is something the matter?” he asked in a halting voice.

Adam smiled at his father’s recognition of him. That was an important breakthrough attributed to the new medicine and far better than the last time. He pulled a side chair up close to the bed. “I have to ask you a really important question. Take your time answering.”

“Of course son. You can ask me anything, like you always did as a young child. You always wanted to know about everything. I couldn’t keep up with you. We used to spend hours in my library as I showed you pictures or read to you.” He smiled as he briefly recalled some of these memories.

“Yesterday, during your exam you told the doctor that you had two sons. Why did you say that?”

He was hoping that his father would tell him that he had made a mistake, or that he had misunderstood the question, but apparently that wasn’t going to be the case.

Adam II sat stoically. His eyes locked on his son.

“Did you hear what I said?”

Finally his father answered. He looked remorseful. “I heard you. I just don’t know how to say this. You know that I wasn’t always faithful to your mother. Over the years I was with a lot of whores and I kept several mistresses. It was the early seventies and everything was different then. Your mother knew about them, but she didn’t care as long as I provided for you and her. This is hazy, now, but I recall that back in ’74 I had an affair with a married woman. She got pregnant and had a boy. She said it was mine and somehow I knew she wasn’t lying. I broke things off and made her promise never to tell anyone about our affair or try to contact me again. I paid for the expenses through my lawyer. She never contacted me after that and I let the matter go. She gave the boy her husband’s name. I was really fortunate that it didn’t turn into a scandal.” His eyes filled with tears and his voice quivered. “I’m not very proud of those years, son.”

“I’m not judging you, dad, but I think that after all these years it would be all right to talk about it. I don’t give a rat’s ass about your infidelities. I screwed around when I was young too. What I do care about is that you’re saying that I have a half-brother. Who is he and who is his mother?”

Adam II was slow to answer his son. “It was such a long time ago. There were so many I can’t remember all their names. I still have trouble remembering simple things.”

“Try, dad. This is important. Surely you can remember the name of a woman who had your son.”

His father began to tremble. His face turned ashen and saliva began bubbling in the corner of his mouth. His body was shaking uncontrollably as he fell back against the pillows.

Adam reached for the call button.

Seconds later John and another nurse entered the room with a cart. “I called Dr. Seagrams, he’ll be here in five minutes. I’m going to give him a sedative for now.”