Family Bonds

Chapter 5, Episode 1

Richard Barton reached for the whiskey bottle and took a double pull. He raked a hand through his thinning hair and sighed. Why couldn't he handle Chet, make him do right? His older son had rarely defied him, not like Chet.

When had the kid begun to go wrong? Because Richard hadn't curbed the boy's behavior when he first started noticing girls? Richard had enjoyed his own escapades in high school. But most of the time, he'd dated girls his parents approved of. His pulse quickened as he recalled when he was sixteen or seventeen. He and Larry Redstone had started looking for girls to have sex with, for the sport of it, girls he would never bring home to meet his parents. It was a game, the danger of getting caught making the sexual high more exciting.

Through his university years, he'd continued his conquests—including his first wife, who died within months of Eddie's birth. The cancer had surprised them. He shuddered whenever he thought back to those difficult years when he was juggling baby Eddie's needs and Richard's career, going through babysitters almost as often as the kid needed diapers. His sexual appetites made it difficult to keep nannies. None stayed longer than a few months. After the fact, he always regretted taking them to his bed.

But then he'd met Trish, herself a struggling single parent. He was sure she'd fallen in love with Eddie first, a sad and sullen nine-year-old, so eager for a woman's approval, a woman who wouldn't leave after a few weeks. Chet was a beautiful toddler who blossomed into a child with a winning smile and intelligence—so obvious even before the boy began school. Chet had thrilled Richard, made him proud to call him his son.

Trish was happy to mother both boys. His late parents would have approved of her. Chet's father had been lost at sea, his boat having capsized in a storm. But even after their wedding, Richard suspected Trish still carried a torch for Chet's father.

Genteel Trish with her impeccable social skills at parties had charmed his business partners and his clients. She'd played a large part in his rise in the business community. But he wondered if she loved him for himself. He'd brought stability to her and Chet, even in the face of her own parents' disapproval, all because they'd somehow got wind of one of his business deals gone bad.

For nearly a year after their wedding, he was faithful to Trish, until he met a woman at an out-of-town business conference. She was from someplace back East, and as eager as he to keep their affair private. They met several times when business brought them to the same city.

He suspected his wife knew he enjoyed other women's company when he traveled, but she never asked questions, and he was careful to have his fun elsewhere. All in all, their marriage had been smooth enough. He slapped his paunch, something his father would have said was a sign of his success.

But Trish hinted, especially lately. She wanted him to lose weight. The only thing she complained about, other than his treatment of Chet. He and the boy began to clash when Chet hit his teens. He'd put on height and muscle, no longer the skinny kid who hid under the bed whenever Richard raised his voice or pulled out the belt. Now it took fists to keep him in line.

Because Richard wasn't the boy's biological father? But he loved the kid, recalling what an endearing, busy little boy he had been, always following around after his big brother, Eddie.

Fully grown, Chet took after Trish's family—in darkly-handsome looks, well over six feet tall, and interests, too—damn it! In everything except his actions with women, and his temper. Chet was Richard's son in that regard.

The boy was smart, always got top grades in school, even after he was sent off to a private prep school after the trouble at Evergreen High. Chet had had no trouble getting into Whitman. But then, he'd declared a psychology major instead of something having to do with business or finance. What was that about? Maybe the kid's way of saying he wanted nothing to do with whatever Richard liked, was interested in.