A stormy Saturday morning blew in with heavy pouring rain.
Thunder and lightning boomed and sliced through the atmosphere.
Rochelle took advantage of the storm to sleep late. With her energy divided between college classes, studying, and time spent with Tobias, she was exhausted most the time. Last night, she made every excuse to avoid another late night out with him and his associates and their wives, but he wouldn't hear of it. Instead, he demanded she give up her classes. “You won't need college classes after you marry me,” he stated offhandedly.
His subtlety didn't escape her. “Is that supposed to be a proposal?” she inquired with a saucy tilt to her head.
“If it were, would you say yes and give up your classes?”
“I like the idea of getting an education. Why should I give it up?”
“Because when you become my wife, you belong to me and I don't want you involved in other activities that take you away from me.”
Tobias's possessiveness thrilled her, making her feel extremely special and important in his life. It made her feel wanted and cared for by him. She thought of all the hard work spent in keeping up with her studies, and privately agreed that she didn't need to continue her education. If she married Tobias an education wouldn't benefit her anyway since he wouldn't want her to work.
A clap of thunder cut through her restful sleep, causing her to turn over and glance at the clock. Ten o'clock. God, she was certain she could sleep the whole day through if she didn't have class assignments.
She recalled Tobias's proposal, what he said about giving up her college courses. With a groan, of indecision, she rolled over and went back to sleep for another couple of hours.
“Chelle, darling, its nearly noon. Aren't you going to get up?
You're not sick are you?” Angela asked, all too aware of the busy pace her daughter had been keeping with classes, assignments, and Tobias Chandler.
“Ohhhh,” she groaned, rubbing her eyes, “I'd like to sleep all day.”
“Then why don't you, darling? You look tired. I'll bring some juice and toast up to you in a little while.”
“No, I think I'd better get up.” She pushed herself to a sitting position, and slung her legs off the side of the bed. Like a zombie, she slid her feet heavily across the floor to the bathroom. Half asleep, she went through all the motions routinely followed for the past several years, showering, brushing her teeth, putting on makeup, combing her hair, and then dressing for the day. Finally satisfied with her image in the mirror, she went downstairs where her father finished his lunch and lingered over a cup of coffee.
“Sweetheart, you look tired,” Joshua said, glancing up as she came into the breakfast room. He and Angela both had made concessions in their feelings about Rochelle seeing Chandler. They feared she might follow through on her threat to move in with him unless they took a tolerant position. They loved her and wanted to protect her, but their frustration at not being able to do so caused a low undercurrent of anger at her defiance.
Rochelle yawned, covering her mouth while she pulled out a chair across from her father. “Just trying to wake up,” she said. The truth was, she was weighted down and tormented by the prospect of telling her parents that Tobias proposed to her.
Perhaps she would wait until dinnertime.
ROCHELLE RUSHED THROUGH her assignments so she could linger over dinner with her parents. She waited half way through the meal before gaining the nerve to break the news about Tobias's proposal. She tensed in readiness for another unpleasant scene.
“Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you,” she said, lowering her head in a thoughtful pose.
Joshua and Angela glanced at each other, looking suddenly anxious. They gazed quietly at Rochelle, waiting for the shattering news neither expected.
Perhaps her nerves were acting up, Rochelle thought, but she could swear the air crackled with electrical currents.
Best to get right to the point, she thought. She blurted out her news in one long breath. “Tobias asked me to marry him.”
Angela dropped her fork. It clattered against the plate. Joshua's fork stopped midway to his mouth. He sat frozen in that position for several seconds in pure shock while he stared non-blinking at Rochelle's young face.
Angela's mouth flew open and she gasped, “Oh my God!”
Joshua's hand fell, and the fork hit the edge of the plate, bounced on the table, and fell to the floor. “No, Rochelle. You can't do this.” His unusually quiet voice was a plea as the words quivered in his throat. He swallowed spasmodically, his Adam's apple bobbing from the effort.
“Dad, I love you,” she said persuasively, “and I would never do anything intentionally to hurt you or mama, but this is my life. This is what I want to do with it. I want to be Tobias's wife. You have to try to understand.”
“Dear God, Rochelle, what is wrong with you?” Angela cried.
“Joshua, please talk some sense into her?”
Before Joshua could say anything, Angela continued in a desperate plea. “Why are you doing this, Chelle? Why, for God's sake, do you want to ruin your life? There will be other men, young men your own age.” Sobbing, she added, “You can't do this. You can't!”
“Mama, why can't I make you and Dad understand how I feel?
Can't you understand this is my life, not yours? I don't want anyone else except Tobias. I beg you to understand. Your blessings are important to me.”
“Our blessings! Good God, do you seriously think we could ever offer our blessings for you to marry a criminal?” Joshua's emotional control, learned from years of being at the center of public observation in the courtroom, was steadfast for the moment.
“When?” he asked solemnly, realizing the futility in attempting to argue the point. His daughter's determination defied everything he might say to her against her decision.
“We haven't decided yet. I'd like to finish my sophomore year first.”
“And your junior and senior years—what about those?” Angela cried heartbrokenly.
“Tobias said he wants me to give up my classes after we're married.” She hung her head, feeling shame now when considering how much her education meant to both her parents. They had never doubted she would complete college. She had even thought at one time of becoming a lawyer like her father, but that would be out now if she gave up college.
“Chelle, I beg you not to do this? You're going to destroy your life if you marry that man.” Her mother swallowed salty tears, her shoulders slumping like an old woman's instead of the elegant forty-five year old lady she actually was.
“I'm sorry, mom. I never meant to hurt either of you,” she whispered with a guilty woebegone look.
The lovely dinner was ruined. Joshua pushed his plate back, unable to eat another bite.
Angela's whole body seemed to cave in, as if swallowed by the chair in which she sat. Wringing her hands nervously, she shook her head back and forth, her eyes suddenly tired and dazed.
Rochelle stared at her food, her appetite gone like her father's was.
I've broken their hearts, she thought, suddenly feeling undeserving of all they had done for her. Learning of her affair with Tobias was shock enough for them, but hearing of her plan to marry him must surely feel like downright betrayal. Quietly, she got up and left the table.
Joshua and Angela took every opportunity in the coming days to talk Rochelle out of making the worst mistake of her life. They begged, pleaded, implored, demanded and threatened. Through it all, Rochelle stood her ground, declaring, “I'm not going to listen to any more of your arguments, so you might as well stop them.”
Tortured by the very idea of his daughter married to a man like Tobias Chandler, Joshua went into Rochelle's room when she wasn't home, and rifled through her nightstand drawer until he found Tobias Chandler's phone number. Joshua called him.
JOSHUA AND TOBIAS MET EARLY one morning at a small diner, that was on the way to Joshua's office. Both drove into the parking lot only a minute apart. They exited their cars simultaneously. Stepping forward, both men moved toward the front of their vehicles.
Silently, they sized each other up. Tobias spoke first.
“Rathbone, I sure as hell hope you have a good reason for dragging me out here. What can I do for you?”
“I'll cut to the chase, Chandler. I'm here to ask you to stop seeing my daughter.” Joshua didn't know what reaction to expect.
He knew enough about Tobias Chandler to know he was not especially versed in PR skills. His power lay in command and control, and the expertise to get things done quickly and stealthily so no trails would lead back to him.
Tobias chuckled arrogantly. “What's wrong, Rathbone? Did you fail to convince Rochelle to break off with me, and now hope to convince me to do the deed myself?”
“Chandler you and I both know that a marriage between my daughter and a man your age will never work.”
Tobias leaned against the hood of the car. A sickening grin spread across his face. “I know that it will work as long as I want it to,” he answered with implied insinuations.
Joshua sucked in a deep breath of air. “I just hoped you would be honorable enough to do the right thing.”
Tobias laughed, the sound boiling out of his throat jeeringly. He reached in his front shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
Pulling one from the pack, he stuck it between his lips, put the pack back in his pocket, and then searched his pants pockets for his lighter. Staring Joshua in the eyes, he flicked the lighter and put the flame to the end of the cigarette, taking all the time in the world before voicing his answer.
Finally, after taking a big puff of his cigarette and blowing the smoke in Joshua's face, Tobias replied, chuckling. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I'm making an honest woman out of her.”
Blood rushed to Joshua's face. He seethed inside, but he held his temper. “What will it take, Chandler, to get you to leave my daughter alone?”
“You don't have what it takes to get me to do anything, Rathbone. I never liked you in or out of the courtroom, and frankly, I like you even less now for wasting my time.”
“She's my daughter, Chandler. You must have plenty of women friends. Why do you need Rochelle?”
Tobias laughed throatily. “I like her in bed. Does that answer your question, Mr. Rathbone?” He grinned offensively.
Joshua cringed internally at Chandler's crude remark. Blood pumped up to his face in scalding hot disgust. He sucked in his breath, and then let it out slowly, doing his damnedest not to let Chandler provoke him. It took all his will power to keep control. “I'd appreciate a show of respect,” he said curtly through partly clenched lips.
“Let's get something straight, future father-in-law. I want your daughter and I am going to marry her—simple as that. If you know what's best for you, you'll just back off and leave the two of us alone.” He looked Joshua in the eyes with a mercury stare that was very serious now.
Such words coming from a man like Tobias Chandler was a threat. A strange sensation of caution and dread slid over Joshua when he realized what a depraved and perverted individual Chandler truly was.
“I'll pay you. I'll pay whatever you ask to break off with my daughter.”
Tobias threw back his head and laughed. “Do you think I need your money? Rathbone, when I am through with her, I will serve her up to you on a platter. In the meantime, you're wasting my time.”
Joshua could feel the heat in his face. Nothing would stop this man outside a bullet. “She's just a kid, Chandler. You have to be nearly the same age as me. You are old enough to be her father. In another ten years, you will be an old man, and she will still be a young woman. Surely, you see the irony in marrying someone young enough to be your daughter.”
“You miss the point, Rathbone. That's what makes her so interesting,” he grinned through a disgusting twist of his lips.
Joshua reacted. All his carefully tended control was gone. He swung a hard fist at Tobias, hitting his jaw, and then following with a punch to his lip.
Thrown off balance, Chandler spun awkwardly, reaching out to grab hold of the car in an effort to keep from sprawling like a sack of potatoes on the pavement.
Joshua clinched his fist to keep from hitting him again. “You sick bastard, I'll not rest until you're behind bars for your illegal activities. I'll expose you if it's the last thing I ever do.”
Tobias rubbed his jaw and touched a swollen lip that oozed with blood. He flung aside the cigarette, its red tip searing his fingers. His eyes were dark with rage, but his words were deadly quiet as he regained his balance and locked gazes with Joshua.
“It will likely be the last thing you ever do, you stupid son of a bitch. You will pay for this, Rathbone. If you attempt to come up against me, I'll see you in hell!”
“There's ways to stop people like you,” Joshua threatened. In the back of his mind, a slight nudge warned him that his threats posed danger for him.
Tobias leaned heavily toward him, his face blood red with rage.
“You stupid bastard, you have no idea who you're dealing with. You've just signed your death warrant, old man!”
Joshua's strength crumbled where he stood, and he backed toward his car. Pulling the door open, he slid behind the wheel.
Never would he take Chandler's threat lightly. The man's history spoke for itself. He made people disappear, and nothing was beyond his sick capability. Pure terror washed over Joshua.
Turning the key in the ignition, he backed up, and then steered the car out to the street, wishing all the while he and his family never had to lay eyes on Tobias Chandler again. Outside of simply killing him, Joshua was determined to do what he could to put Chandler out of commission. He knew he was putting his life on the line, but he could never live with himself to sit idly by and do nothing when his daughter's future was at peril.
Having represented enough criminals through the court system to know better than take a threat lightly, Joshua knew the risks of what he planned. To pursue attempts against Tobias to bring him to justice would present a direct challenge. He had no doubt that Chandler would not hesitate to follow through with the threat he made if he was provoked.
Joshua knew the risks of what he was up against, but his child meant too much to him to stand by and do nothing while she made the biggest mistake of her life. If it were in his power, he would put Tobias Chandler behind bars where he belonged.