UNAUTHORED LETTERS - Chapter Two

[An imaginary happening]

*Late Autumn - 1989*

On a magnificent sunny day, six years later, Milton Haight's Lexus once
again wound its way up the Brownell's drive. The phone call from Rick
Downley had been a great surprise, but Milton accepted this due to his
growing success. The last several years had been good to him, especially
recently. Ever since Wagnall's wife had been diagnosed with terminal cancer,
Wagnall had been absent more causing Milton's duties to increase. Still
wading through education debt, Milton appreciated the increased
opportunities, especially since someday he too would enjoy greater luxuries,
some perhaps even as great as those which surrounded the Brownell estate.

On this particular day, the view was stunning. As Milton parked his Lexus,
at the top of the Brownell's drive, he could see the Peninsula jetting out
into the Pacific ocean. This magnificent site made Milton pause. Clearly,
any person could see why long ago Robert Brownell had chosen this home.

Milton exited the car and felt the warmth of the sun on his face. Even
though winter was close at hand, the season's warm weather had stayed true
to the sunny California claim.

On the doorstep, Milton ran his hands through his hair and straightened his
tie. Then he rang the doorbell. Within seconds, a beautiful woman in her
twenties greeted him.

"Hello. I'm here to see Richard Downley." Milton announced.

"Yes, I remember you." Her charming smile made Milton grin, yet he had no
recollection of the beauty. She glanced at the tightly rolled blue blanket
tucked into her left arm. Then her green eyes dropped their gaze to the
ground, and the shadow of shyness returned. "You're the attorney," she said.

"Becca?" he said a bit shocked. She truly had become a lovely woman.

Her eyes remained focused on the ground while she nodded.

"Yes, Becca Brownell," he stammered. "Or should I say...Becca Downley.
Should I be saying Congratulations? I'd heard that the two of you...well, it
was a rumor, but..." He moved his hands in an awkward motion.
"Congratulations," he stammered again, "On your marriage, if it's true."

Her eyes shot back at him. "You're here to make our divorce legal."

"Oh....oh," his stammering increased. "I didn't know. Rick just said it was
to go over some paperwork."

"I divorced him this week, on Monday, after I had my baby." She twisted the
tightly wrapped bundle toward Milton.

"Oh." Suddenly he remembered that fog from years past "Congratulations," he
said again, while seeing nothing in the bundle. He stepped closer. "Where's
your baby?" His fingers toyed with the idea of touching the fabric, pulling
the corners down, and reviling the odd couple's offspring.

Instead Becca stepped away. "My baby was born not last night but the night
before." Her hands tightened around the bundle.

Milton looked at the blanket again. No swaddled infant was there. He peered
closer, only to watch Becca turn the bundle from his view. Helplessly he
asked, "Boy or girl?"

"I named him Robert, after his grandfather."

"Milt" a booming voice echoed down the hall. Milton cringed. Only his arch
nemesis and cousin, Carter, referred to him as 'Milt'. He slowly turned to
see Rick striding closer, circling round him, clearly blocking him from the
exit.

"Sweetness," Rick turned to Becca and grinned. "Milt's here to provide you
with your request."

A scowl crossed her face, and her beauty transformed into an immature, yet
submissive child.

"So I ask you to be a dear, and leave us men alone. Do you understand me?"
he asked slowly.

"Of course. I need to feed Robert." She turned, tightened her grip around
the blanket, and marched through an open door.

Rick watched her leave and exhaled a defeated moan. "That girl." Then he
turned back to Milton. "Thank you for coming, especially on such short
notice. Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Good." Rick laughed. "I'd have had to call Becca back."

Milton looked around. "Is your help not here?"

"We get along fine without them these days . . . well, we did."

"Should I say congrats on the baby?"

Rick shot Milton an odd look. "There's no baby. She's just crazy. You see
that, right?" Before Milton could answer, Rick turned and motioned down the
hall. "Come. Let's talk in the study."

When the two men entered the expansive study, Milton noted how little had
changed. Only this time, the sun shone brightly through the windows and
illuminated the room's fine pieces of grandeur. Milton glanced at the hole
that Rick had created years ago, but it was gone. He glanced at the curio
cabinet to see that the stone statue had regained its occupancy. No trace of
that moment remained.

"Here, sit." Rick motioned for Milton to sit in one of the seats opposite
the grand desk, while Rick placed himself in the exquisite master's chair.
"You're probably wondering why I asked you here."

"Yes, I am." Milton sat.

"It's Becca who requested you here."

"Well, she mentioned the...the...," he struggled for words.

"The arrangement," Rick stated.

"I'm not a divorce attorney," Milton blurted out. "We deal with finances and
estates."

"Yes, well...she certainly makes my life easy." For a moment, the two men
stared at each other, neither saying anything. Then Rick continued. "Well,
glad she explained the circumstances. So yes, due to her condition, we're
both requesting that you help us with some legalities here."

"I can't."

"I'm sure you have your resources."

"I can provide you with a referral."

For a moment, Rick stared at Milton. Then he stood. He stepped around the
desk, until he towered directly above Milton. His arm rested on the leather
chair and touched Milton's back. He leaned down close to Milton's ear.
"Milt, I know you can find a way." A long sigh expelled from his lips,
followed by a strong whiff of garlic. "Everyone's knows that when you want
something enough, you find a way. Becca's done here, she wants out of her
comfortable life, so she requested this divorce. She wants a new life, and
so I expect you to help me give that to her."

"I can't" Milton did not appreciate the sudden undue pressure.

"Milt. I need your help." The hand lifted and suddenly Rick was sitting next
to him. "I promised her father I'd care for her, but she's crazy. You saw
that. You can't deny that. She told you she'd had a baby two nights ago.
Believe me that's absurd, especially since I haven't touched her in years."

"I don't need to hear any of this."

"No, listen. Things were once really good between us. But lives change. You
know how it is. She changes. I change. Other people come into our lives,
It's part of life."

"Others in her life, or just yours?" As soon as the words were out, Milton
regretted them.

At that same instance, Rick's face transformed back to its cold presence
from years before. "What do you want?" he asked.

"What do I want?"

"Name your price," Rick stated.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone has a price. What's yours?"

"I don't understand."

Rick sighed again, stood up, and turned his back on Milton. "I was afraid of
this, so I made the terms clear." He walked over to a briefcase and played
with the lock until the latch's pop echoed through the room. Then he
reappeared. His hand once again rested against Milton's back, while he
thrust a form into Milton's hand. "You sign here," he pointed at the
designated spot on the form. "And I'll sign here. We could make this verbal,
but since you're an attorney, I figured you'd appreciate this if we made it
official." Milton began scanning the document, but Rick distracted him.
"With us in agreement, you'll get adequate pay. Do you understand?" Rick
held out a check, and Milton's eyes swayed from the document to the slip
before him. Suddenly Milton's eyes got stuck on the zeros.

"Milton Haight," Rick spoke as if chiding a small child. "Nullify this
marriage. Do everything in your power to break this, and after the marriage
is annulled, and you have eliminated any documentation of that union, I need
you to remember that this marriage never existed. Do you understand?"

Milton still stared at the check. Although Rick's fingers had covered up
some of the zeros, he was pushing the check closer, straight into Milton's
hands. Once the check grazed Milton's pinky finger, the rest of his fingers
hungered for it. Instead Rick dropped the check directly into Milton's lap.

Now with no obstructed view, Milton recounted, verifying in fact that all
the zeros were truly there. Yes, there were five lovely looped zeros with
one incredibly important numeral one starting off this valuable sequence.

"This is the first installment," Rick pointed at the document. "Just the
beginning, all I ask in return is a clean slate for both Becca and me. Give
us each the freedom to move on; don't tie us down with the legalities of
divorce, the long paperwork, the battle over the estate, the minute
details."

"What details?" The thick fog had seeped back, this time fogging up Milton's
understanding of moral agency. Something tasted incredibly right. His eyes
wandered responsibly over to the document, but the flirtatious check kept
enamoring his innocent fingers and eyes.

"Don't worry, I don't want visitation rights with her baby." Rick bellowed a
long laugh while he once again sat down directly next to his guest.

Milton shifted suddenly in his seat. His eyes left the offer and instead
stared at Rick which caused Rick's voice to shift back to a stern tone.
"She's crazy, Milt. Just within the seconds you saw her, you sensed that.
The woman needs help . . . and I have move on. Consider this your ability to
serve two people, to give each a chance at a new start. A beginning we both
need." Rick pointed at the check tightly held in Milton's hands. "It's
yours, if you annual the marriage."

Milton attempted to return back to professional reason."And what about the
estate?"

"She doesn't want it; she doesn't want any of it."

Milton raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Ask her yourself. All she wants is that baby. She's extremely happy in her
delusional life."

"So you get it all." The pieces now fell into place. So, Milton placed the
contract on the desk, and the check directly on top of the contract. But his
eyes kept glancing back at the line of zeros.

"Of course not," Rick patted Milton's hand, which had remained glued to the
desk, and close to the check. "I promised Rob I'd care for her. He could
break promises, but I can't. She's in no shape to manage finances, but I
can. I'll use these funds to provide her with the optimum clinical care. She
needs help, and I've the means to provide her with the best. So you don't
need to worry about how the funds are addressed. She wants none of it at the
moment, which is why I need to still manage her inheritance, so I've figured
out the manner in which I can do that and best suit her needs. Do you
understand that?" Like a gentle figure skater, Rick's finger slid the check
back closer to Milton's grasp.

With its new proximity, the check held an even greater weight.
1-0-0-0-0-0-those long numbers stretched out, making Milton think of all the
freedoms to be enjoyed once he provided this simply service. Just for ending
a marriage, making it no longer exist, and giving both partners exactly what
they wished for; what harm was there in granting those wishes?

Milton drew in a breath, hoping to push past the clouds stuck in his mind.

"She'll be taking care of?" he asked.

"Absolutely." Rick clicked the ballpoint pen into place. "What kind of
person do you think I am?"

Milton nodded, accepting that answer.

"This is the first installment. You eliminate the traces of this marriage,
prove to me that it never existed, and once you can verify this fact to me,
you get the next installment. Got it?"

Milton looked at the check and smiled. The request really was quite simple,
surely something he could find a way to address. Since all parties gained,
and no one lost, this made complete sense. Milton looked at Rick and nodded.

Rick's hand squeezed Milton's shoulder. "Excellent." He handed over the pen
and Milton Haight scribbled his signature across a form that no other person
would ever see. Then he slipped the first installment into his suit coat
pocket and smiled--a simple gift for a simple favor.