‘You must be real proud then.” The man said.
“We are.” Ceci said, aware of the sarcasm but answering at face value. “You always hope for the best for your kids, but to have Dar become the very successful and stand up person she is makes me very gratified, as a parent.”
Beakman regarded her. “So you don’t care she’s gay?”
Right to the point. Ceci rather liked that. “No. Why would I?” She responded. “I don’t want to sleep with her. She’s my daughter. That would be horrific and probably immoral and perhaps even illegal in Broward County.”
Andrew chuckled.
“You really don’t care?” He turned his attention to Andrew. “Bet you would care if she was a boy.”
Andrew chewed his pizza thoughtfully. “No point in wondering, cause she ain't’.” He said. “But ah probably woulda gotten into a half ton more fights over it if Dar’d been a boy.” He added. “Ain't’ so bad the way it turned out. “
The construction manager shrugged. “So what did you want to talk to me about? She ready to back down on the threat she made against me?”
Now it was Ceci’s turn to dryly chuckle and she did. “Dar never backs down. My reason for wanting to talk to you is to ask you what the hell you thought you were doing threatening her, and Kerry, with eviction.”
He studied her warily.
“Because while my husband here is not a legally inclined man, I come from a family with a very very long history of litigation who holds very long grudges.” Ceci said, leaning on one elbow and regarding him with a cold eye. “And I know just how illegal what you said to her was, even here.”
“I don’t care what’s legal or not.” He responded frankly. “I just care about protecting my family.”
“Wall.” Andrew put down the bit of crust he’d been chewing and dusted his hands off. “Now that there’s something you and I can see eye to eye on.” He focused his attention on the man. “Cause Dar’s my child. There ain't nothing at all in the world I won’t do to keep her safe, and defend her from jackasses making threats at her.” He paused. “Buddy.”
They stared at each other in silence.
Ceci cleared her throat. “Let me part the machismo for a moment.” She said. “This is an idiotic conversation. It’s idiotic that you want to evict my kid because she’s gay, and it’s idiotic that my husband is having to state the fact that he’s ready to shoot you in the head if you keep on doing that.”
Beakman sat up straight and looked over at her. “What?”
“That is what he was just saying.” Ceci advised him. “We do not play games in this family and we’re more nuts than otherwise. Really. So look.” She leaned towards him again. “I don't know what you think that either my daughter or the daughter of the late Roger Stuart is going to do to your kid, but just stop it. It wont’ happen.”
Andrew looked at her, then back at Beakman.”That what you all think?” His voice lifted in surprise. “Dar didn’t say that.”
“I read between the lines.” Ceci muttered.
The ex-seal snorted. “Boy, let me tell you, Dar ain't’ got eyes for nobody else but who she’s married to. She ain't’ made that way.” He shook his head. “If that all was what this here thing was about, nothing but a big old waste of evr’body’s time.
He got up. “Let em go take these here dogs walking.” With another shake of his head he collected both leashes and headed off down the patio, both animals trotting eagerly after him.
Ceci finished her soup and set it aside. “So.” She said, to the silently watching Beakman. “What’s your real problem? Since Dar’s been living here for a bunch of years and she hasn’t molested anyone yet, and you apparently didn’t care about her lifestyle all that time.”
“That’s right I didn’t.” He said, after a long pause. “Kept to herself, didn’t make much trouble. But now she’s got my daughter all interested in things she has no business being interested in.”
“Huh?”
“Since that other night, now she’s some kind of hero. I don’t want my kid thinking no pervert is a hero.” He said. “It's got my wife upset, and we’re not going to risk her running off and getting herself into trouble.”
Ceci blinked at him for a long moment. “Oh.” She finally said. “So the problem isn’t Dar, it’s her.”
“This is my patch.” Beakman said. “You get that? She belongs here. “
“I get it.” Ceci said, who did. “So the fact that Dar saved your kid from being raped or worse doesn’t matter.”
He shook his head. “You can call me a shithead for that and I probably am.” He admitted. “But I’m not having her think something like that should make her turn into a freak.” He got up “I’m not afraid of you people. I’m not going to have my family chased off my patch. You understand?”
“Better than you could possibly imagine.” Ceci responded. “Had a great great great grand something who fought with Washington at Valley Forge, and Andy’s great great grand something was a Confederate general in a place that war hasn’t quite ended yet. I get it.”
He paused and regarded her somberly.
“That’s what Dar’s heritage is.” Ceci said. “So while I do get it, and on some level as a parent myself I have a sympathy for wanting to protect your family, think about evils and the lesser of them before you do anything.”
They looked at each other in silence.
“We’re better friends than enemies” Ceci concluded, lifting her glass of wine and raising it in his direction.
He nodded briefly, then turned and walked away, around the corner of the porch and out of sight.
Ceci sighed. “Well, mother goddess, I tried.” She went back to her plate, shaking her head. “Complete and utter waste of my time, and a pizza I think.”
**
“Is that all of them?” Kerry was lying on her stomach on the bed, her head resting on her arms. “It’s almost five am, Dar.”
“Couple more pecks.” Dar glanced at a page on the desk, then back at her screen. “I think I’m getting too old for this all night crap anymore.”
Kerry opened one eye and regarded her partner drolly. “Let me go order you a bowl of prunes, grandma.”
Dar chuckled and finished her amendments, running her eyes over the scripts one last time. “What a pain in the ass this has been.” She saved the last changes and lifted her hands off the keyboard, flexing them and then cracking her knuckles.
“Done?”
Dar assembled the group of new files into an archive and then opened up her email program. “Let me just send these to Mark.” She attached the archive and sent it on it’s way. “That is, I hope, the end of that.” She announced with a relatively satisfied tone.
Kerry snorted softly.
The light in the room altered as Dar shut off the lamp, and got up from the desk, moving over to join her partner on the bed. “Ugh.”
“Alarm set?” Kerry mumbled indistinctly.
“Yeah.” Dar got the covers over them and Kerry wrapped up in her arms all in the same unlikely motion. “Let’s hope tomorrow is short and easy.”
“Like me?” Kerry started chuckling silently as she felt Dar do the same. “Let’s get through your demo and come back here and take a nap.”
“Sounds good to me.”
**
Dar toweled her hair dry, and regarded her reflection, making a face at herself and sticking her tongue out after a moment. “I’m not a morning person today.”
Kerry edged in next to her, dressed in only a towel. “I’m never a morning person.” She leaned both hands on the sink basin and eyed Dar through damp, very disheveled pale hair. “I definitely am too old for all this all night crap.”