“I’m standing right here, sir. I’m happy to have a chat with you.”
He followed Clark into the sitting room, and he noticed all the pictures of Raven, Miranda, and Clark. The happiness shone in the pictures. “You’re a lucky man for Raven to be looking at you.”
“I know, sir. I’m the luckiest man alive. Yes, I do intend to marry your daughter. Right now, I’ve got to show her I’m the right kind of man she wants.”
“Right kind of man doesn’t go around screwing other women.”
Drew took a seat opposite him. “I get what you have to do. I really do. I love your daughter, and I’ve loved her for a long time. Touching those women, it was a mistake. I wish I hadn’t done it, but I did.”
“Well, that’s good to know.”
“I was hoping I could ask you for advice.”
“Advice. What advice do you think I could give you?” Clark asked.
“The kind of man who had my reputation who has been married to a woman for many years.”
Clark sighed. “I’m still not done with you.”
“I know. You’ve got to make my life miserable. I accept that, and I’ll jump through all the hoops I can. Tell me how to handle it.”
“You could ask your own mother. She had to deal with your father’s reputation as well.”
“You called them all out, the women?”
Clark looked away. “I didn’t know how bad Miranda was getting it. I was a looker, all right. I was even hotter than you. What was worse, I was cocky with it. I thought screwing the girls, and the women, made me all big and powerful. Then Miranda came to town. She was a seamstress, and highly respected. Every other woman faded in comparison. She’d heard about me. At first, she told me no. Point blank no. I stopped screwing the women, and after a few months of me showing I’d changed, I got her. She was mine, and I knew in one date I had met the woman I was going to love for the rest of my life.”
Drew smiled. It was how he felt around Raven.
He saw their future, growing old together.
“Anyway, we got married, moved in together. We were so damn happy, and Miranda never once told me the crap they were saying. Calling her a city whore, telling people I was only with her because she was pregnant. Making up vicious rumors saying she did something that no other woman would do, and crap like that.” Clark ran a hand down his face. “It still makes me so fucking mad right now, thinking about what they did. I was in town, and I was heading toward the diner. I was going to meet up with Miranda for lunch. I happened to be behind her when I watched some guy I didn’t recognize try to convince my woman to go with him. I’m not going to tell you exactly what, but once Miranda made it to the diner, I grabbed that bastard, and made him tell me who was spreading those rumors. I also let him know who Miranda belonged to. I met Miranda at the diner, and got her to tell me exactly what crap she’d been dealing with.”
“What did you do?” Drew asked.
“I went around each of the women I’d been with, called them out, and made sure everyone knew the lies they were spilling. In front of their husbands, their friends, even their parents, I made sure it was known they were lying bitches, and my woman was never hurt again.”
Drew thought about Francine, and decided to tell him about the encounter.
“Luderman is a bitch. I’d be careful with her. It’s probably a good thing you kept hold of those videos. Why did you?”
He felt his cheeks start to blush. “Partly as leverage because I knew she was a bitch.” He looked toward the kitchen. “Also, I didn’t know how to delete them.”
Clark burst out laughing. “Technology will kill us all.”
****
“So, how did it go with the parents?” Cathy asked, Monday morning.
“After Dad was really embarrassing, and trying to pretend he was a saint, they went back, talked some, and then they both seemed to be kind of … cool with each other.”
“That must be something, right?”
“It’s something. Dad wants me to take him back home with me next week.”
“What did Drew say?”
“He’s happy about it. Before we went to my parents, we had a horrible run-in with Francine.” Raven explained everything that had happened, including the threats, and the fact Drew had video evidence of their time together. “Do you think I should be a little grossed out?”