What's Past Is Prologue, page 11
“I suspect that decision has already been made,” Taylor said wryly.
“Of course it has,” Charlie said. “The ten to eleven block of our show is going to be wall-to-wall Jared and Eden.” He ran his fingers through his wavy hair. “Isn’t that just fucking A?” he said, and his anger and misery were palpable.
Taylor reached across the table and covered both Charlie’s hands with hers. “There’s another jar of rhubarb marmalade in the cupboard,” she said. “I’ll pour you a glass of milk and make toast.”
Chapter Eight
Zack, Taylor and I listened to the 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. block of Charlie D in the Morning together in the kitchen. At Libby Hogarth’s urging, Charlie mentioned that her Mellohawk Lecture the following night would deal with the issues around abuse that caused such grief to Jared Delio, Eden Sass and an untold number of other people. Charlie said that after Libby’s speech, there would be a Q and A and that all questions would be answered fully and honestly.
Charlie’s final summing up of the hour was graceful. He had spent eleven years as the host of a late-night call-in radio show in a major city, and he had become fluent in the language of pain and suffering. The words he chose to end the segment were few but powerful. “We travel this journey together,” he said. “Jared Delio was a human being with great talent and a turbulent soul. I hope that he finds the peace that eluded him and that Eden Sass will find her way to a purposeful and joyous life.”
As soon as the hour was over, Zack stretched his arms above his head. “I’m going to the office for a couple of hours. I’ll call Eden to check on her as soon as I get there.”
Taylor knit her brow. “Dad, you’re working too hard.”
“True,” Zack said, “but our three-day weekend at Lawyers Bay with Gracie is just the beginning. I’ve already told my partners that as of Thursday afternoon, I’m away from the office for a couple of weeks. By Thursday, I will have wrapped up everything that needs in-person attention, and whatever else crops up can be dealt with online.”
I was surprised. Zack and I hadn’t talked about this. “Seriously?”
Zack nodded. “Seriously. Jo, I know I’ve been spending more time than I should at Falconer Shreve, but by Thursday at noon, everything should be in order, so we can focus on Taylor’s opening, head out to the lake the next morning and return to the city when you want to.”
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“Neither can I,” Taylor said. “But there’s no turning back, Dad. I heard the offer too, and it made me very happy.”
“I have a witness,” I said. “Now, let’s get on with our day.”
“I’m outta here,” Zack said. “What time is Ed and Barry’s shindig tomorrow?”
“Early,” I said. “Five because the lecture starts at seven.”
“Excellent,” Zack said. “So the Mellohawk starts at seven, is over by eight thirty, and by nine o’clock, you and I will be in the family room, watching the fire and making whoopee on the couch.”
Taylor groaned. “Dad, I’m sitting right here!”
“So you are,” Zack said and he wheeled over and held out his arms to her. “And it’s still way too much fun to get a rise out of you.”
After Taylor hugged her father, she and I went to the door to wave goodbye to him. “I like that we always wave goodbye,” Taylor said. “Gracie and I do that too.”
“You’ve found the right rhythm for your life, haven’t you?” I said. It was great to see our daughter so at peace because the breakup with her girlfriend, Vale, had been hard on Taylor.
“I have. Gracie and I both work hard doing what we love, and then whenever we can manage, we have dinner together. Sharing a condo, especially one with that view of the river, is pretty cool. Speaking of Gracie, I should give her a call to see how the studying is going, and if Bruce, Benny and Bob Marley are missing me.”
“Ask Gracie to say hi to the cats for your dad and me, and tell her that we can’t wait to see her.”
After Taylor headed down the hall to her room, I texted Kam Chau and asked about the audience reaction to the first hour of the show.
Kam texted back, “Control room in bedlam.”
We exchanged a flurry of texts and he said that he and two of the assistant producers were handling the tsunami of calls, tweets and texts, but they were counting the seconds until the show would be over, and Kam was looking forward to seeing us tomorrow night.
I was on the floor consoling Pantera for the fact that Zack had gone and consoling Esme for the fact that I was paying more attention to Pantera than to her, when my phone rang. It was Margot, and she was clearly exasperated.
“Jo, I hate to ask but the kids both have sniffles, so I kept them home from school. My looney-tunes brother just called to say he’s coming over to my condo and he’s not leaving until I agree to keep Libby Hogarth from delivering the Mellohawk Lecture.
“Kokum Bea is on her way back from a wake at Flying Dust Nation, but she won’t be in Regina until mid-afternoon, and I don’t want the kids to hear their uncle threatening their mother.”
“I’m on my way,” I said, “and Taylor’s here. She’s great with kids, and the fact that I’m in the room may deescalate the situation.” I paused. “But Margot, I’m not getting this. I’ve met your brothers. They’d walk on broken glass to keep anyone from hurting you.”
“You haven’t met all my brothers, Jo,” Margot said, and I could hear the weariness in her voice. “My brother Seth is an outlier. He’s younger than me, and we’ve never been close. Seth has never been close to any of us — not to our parents and not to any of his siblings. We’ve all tried.”
I was taken aback. “Seth Wright? I didn’t realize he was your brother, Margot. Yesterday when we saw Seth at MediaNation, Zack and I had the sense that we’d met him before, and it must have been because his eyes are the same intense blue as your eyes and your sister’s.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to Seth.” Margot’s voice was tight with frustration. “My sister, Laurie, says Seth severed his ties with the Wright family the moment they cut the umbilical cord, and the estrangement hurts her. She’s tried everything with Seth, but our brother is the classic riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Anyway, enough of this family history. We have an immediate problem.”
“Taylor and I can be there in fifteen minutes. If Seth gets there before we do, keep him downstairs in the lobby.”
* * *
I gave Taylor the broad strokes of the situation and told her I’d fill in the details as we drove to Margot’s.
When we turned onto Albert Street, Taylor said, “Okay, we’re on our way, so what’s going on?”
“There are a lot of gaps, but I’ll tell you what I know. When Libby Hogarth agreed to deliver the Mellohawk Lecture, Ed Mariani was over the moon. Libby was, as Charlie would say, ‘a great get’: famous, brilliant, controversial. But when Ed made the announcement, there was backlash and the backlash turned ugly very quickly. Everything centred on the Delio trial. People castigated Libby for defending Delio by tearing apart the accounts of the three women who brought the charges. Margot went on social media and gave a rational and instructive explanation of how the law worked, and it quelled the hysteria, at least for a while. Then as you know, Eden publicly recanted her testimony yesterday.
“Taylor, I didn’t say anything about this earlier because I wanted you and Gracie to enjoy your opening without dark clouds hovering, but since Eden’s interview, everything is blowing up again. This time the target is all the women who make false charges against innocent men.”
Taylor was clearly exasperated. “Unbelievable,” she said. “How could anyone listen to that interview and totally miss the point of what Eden was saying? She made two things absolutely clear. First, that although the charges she made were false, the majority of charges brought against sexual partners are not false. Second, that her lie should not detract from the significance of the message about law and the community Libby would deliver in the Mellohawk.”
“I don’t imagine many haters listen to Charlie’s program,” I said. “They get their information from lies posted on social media by other haters. For them, the news that Jared Delio died from a heroin overdose was a gift because now they can say that Eden’s false charges not only ruined Jared Delio’s career, they drove him to heroin.”
“So where does Margot’s brother fit in all this?”
“He’s on his way to tell Margot that she has to stop Libby Hogarth’s speech tomorrow night.”
“So Margot’s brother is one of the haters.”
“No, Seth is not a hater.”
“Then why is he so desperate to stop Libby Hogarth’s speech?”
“I think he’s in love with Eden.”
“Is she in love with him?”
“No. MediaNation is interested in a podcast Eden proposed about the long-term effects suffered by children who never felt they truly belonged in their family. I heard Eden’s episode about her own experience. She mentions Seth Wright several times but only as a friend who had been supportive when she moved back to Regina after the Delio trial.”
“So Seth is hoping that Eden’s feelings towards him will change if he can stop Libby Hogarth from delivering her lecture.”
“That’s probably as good a conjecture as any,” I said. “All I know is that Margot wants Lexi and Kai out of the way when her brother comes.”
“They’re such nice little people. I’m glad I can help.”
“I am too. Let’s go through the service entrance. I don’t want to run into Seth in the lobby.”
* * *
When Taylor and I stepped out of the elevator, Margot was waiting for us. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you. Seth is in the lobby playing ‘how much leaning on the buzzer does it take to drive my sister crazy?’ so we have to move fast.” Margot started down the hall. “Taylor, you used to live in this condo so you know where everything is. Lexi and Kai are in bed with Rosie watching Amazing Animals. I know — two demerits: mother uses TV as a babysitter; mother allows children to bring their puppy into bed. But I get a pass because the alternative is worse. So Taylor, is everything okay with you?”
“Everything will be fine,” Taylor said. “I haven’t met Rosie yet, and I’ve never seen Amazing Animals. Take as long as you need with your brother. Good luck!”
“Thanks,” Margot said. She turned to me. “Well, Jo, time to face the raging bull.”
“Take a deep breath,” I said. “This meeting might not turn out to be as bad as you think. When I saw Seth, he thanked me for staying in the control room to support Eden during her interview. Then he said that maybe he’d been too quick to give up on the human race.”
Margot groaned. “See! What kind of person says something like that?”
I put my arm around her shoulder. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
Margot buzzed Seth up, opened the front door to her condo and waited to greet him when he got off the elevator. It was a hospitable gesture, but Seth didn’t acknowledge the welcome. He was wearing the same outfit he had on when I met him at MediaNation: silvery-grey closely fitted down jacket, blue jeans and black winter workboots.
Devi Sass had told me Seth was forty-five, but as Eden had approached him at the MediaNation information desk, his yearning for her had made him seem both young and vulnerable.
The Seth Wright who strode into Margot’s living room, without removing his jacket or outdoor boots, was not the man who honoured the vision of an architect that, a century ago, realized that each of us needs a small room where we can be alone. Seth’s face had hardened, and when he recognized me and took a step towards me, I felt a stab of fear.
“So I was wrong about you,” he said, and his mouth twisted in disdain. His focus shifted quickly: I was a peripheral figure in his quest, and he was not about to lose sight of his real target. He turned to Margot. “You have to stop Libby Hogarth from delivering that speech. Eden has been through enough. She can’t take much more.”
Margot’s voice was steady. “This isn’t about Eden and the late Jared Delio. The lecture Libby will deliver is about changing the law by changing community attitudes to sexual abuse.”
Seth was scathing. “If Libby gave a damn about changing the atmosphere around abused women, she wouldn’t be abusing Eden by putting her through this.”
“You’re missing the point,” Margot said.
“No. I’m not. You’re the smart one in the family, but even I realize that Libby Hogarth’s speech tomorrow night will be just another way for her to raise her profile and her hourly rate for billing clients.”
“Seth, you may know how to renovate houses, but you don’t know anything about Libby Hogarth. She is already known as one of the top three trial lawyers in Canada. She has nothing to gain by delivering the Mellohawk. She’s donating her fee, which is considerable, to the School of Journalism to make it possible for students from low-income homes to become journalists.” Margot took a deep breath. “I know Eden is your friend, but she lied under oath. She perjured herself and perjury is a criminal act.”
“She had her reasons,” Seth said, his voice quivering with rage. “And Eden revealed those reasons to Charlie’s listeners. I read that Charlie D in the Morning is now heard by well over one hundred thousand people, and that the number is growing. Eden does not know and will never know most of those people, but at this moment, those strangers are judging her on the basis of her behaviour during a few hours on a summer evening years ago.” Seth formed his right hand into a fist and punched his left palm. “Damn it, Margot, how much of Eden’s blood will it take to satisfy you. You and Laurie are supposed to be the most empathetic members of our already perfect family. Couldn’t you hear the pain in Eden’s voice on the radio? I may be the Wright family’s write-off, the runt in the perfect litter, but even I can recognize pain, and I certainly would never use the mistake Eden has already confessed to against her.”
I had been watching Margot’s face, and I knew Seth’s references to his place in their family had touched a nerve. I had seen Margot in a courtroom, and I knew how quickly she could move to tear apart a point that had been scored against her client. Seth’s words had shaken her, and she took an uncharacteristically lengthy time to respond. I knew Margot well, and I knew she was mentally assessing the value of the arguments she might raise to convince Seth that Libby’s speech was not driven by self-interest, but by her commitment to the community that shaped the law and to the law itself.
When she finally spoke, Margot’s tone was conciliatory. “Seth, like many lawyers, Libby is working to create a system where experienced lawyers can guide victims, like Eden, through the facts of their case so that they themselves can see the risk involved in testifying and putting their reputation and their freedom in jeopardy. The trial lawyers Libby has organized would have had the time and the experience to walk Eden through her case and make her understand that she was unwise to pursue it.” She paused. “Like you, Seth, they would have been on Eden’s side. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but you and I are on the same side too.”
When Seth lowered his eyes, Margot went to him. “I want Eden to come out of this unscathed. She has suffered enough, and she deserves a fresh start.” For a long moment, they stood side by side, silent and motionless. Finally, Margot said, “Your niece and nephew are across the hall. Would you like to meet them?”
The fact that Seth had never met his niece and nephew surprised and saddened me. Lexi was six, and Kai was five. The Wrights were an exceptionally close family who always celebrated birthdays and holidays together. Seth had missed out on all of that. Margot was asking him to take the first step in becoming part of his family again, and I found myself holding my breath and hoping.
Seth didn’t raise his head. “Yeah, I would,” he said, and his voice was rough with emotion.
“Then let’s go across the hall together,” Margot said, and she reached out and took his arm.
For a heartbeat, Seth didn’t move, then he shook his head. “No, not when I’m like this.”
“Another time?” Margot said.
He tried a smile. “I hope so,” he said, and then he walked out of the condo and shut the door behind him.
When she turned to me, Margot’s face was ineffably sad. “For a moment there, I thought it was going to work out.”
“So did I.”
“Somewhere beneath all those layers of hurt and resentment and anger, there’s a good person,” Margot said. “Why does Seth do the things he does?”
“Albert Ellis would say it’s because he’s ‘a fallible, fucked-up human being just like everyone else.’”
“Albert sounds like my kind of guy,” Margot said. “Does he make house calls?”
“Not anymore,” I said. “He died about fifteen years ago.”
“Was he a shrink?”
“Close, he was a psychologist, and a sensible one. Albert Ellis believed that people should accept themselves simply because they are alive and they are unique, and that the rest of us could judge their behaviour, but we should accept the person.”
“I should have tried harder with Seth.”
“Albert Ellis also coined the phrase ‘don’t should yourself.’”
Margot rolled her eyes. “Another empty feel-good phrase,” she said. “But it is something I can pass along to my sister. Laurie spends a lot of time agonizing over what she should have done to keep Seth in the fold.”
