Chapter Two.
“I’m fine!” groused James as Gabe and Marshall maneuvered his frail seventy-seven-year-old frame onto a chair in a private room of the funeral parlor. “It’s all the drugs the doctor has me on. Every time I go for a checkup, he puts me on another set of pills. The man is a quack.”
“Your doctor is fine,” countered Dorothy as she followed Parker into the room and shut the door. “Why don’t you just tell the truth?”
“What do you mean tell the truth?” asked Gabe with a frown. “What is going on Mom?”
Dorothy took a seat in the chair Marshall provided beside James. She turned to her husband before narrowing her eyes. “It’s past time to tell them James.”
“Now Dotty,” he muttered before capitulating with a sigh after being on the receiving end of her significant gaze. “You all might as well sit down, boys. It’s not good.”
Gabe tried not to scowl over the fact their father still called him and his brothers boys despite the fact they had been managing the family business for years and were quite grown adults. It was something which still annoyed him even after years of hearing James refer to them that way. The old man never seemed to realize his kids weren’t children anymore. Parker lined up some chairs and they took a seat, waiting to hear what their family patriarch would have to say.
“I’m dying,” stated James badly. “It’s the cancer. The doctors have done everything they have been able to do and now it’s a done deal. I don’t have much time left so I suppose the next funeral will be mine if one of my fool brothers don’t beat me to it.”
“How long have you known?” a stunned Gabe questioned as Dotty slipped her hand into James’ pale and gnarled one.
“Eight years,” Dotty’s reply was quiet. “We’ve been battling it eight years.”
“The disease has won,” James cleared his throat. “It has spread everywhere.”
“Are you absolutely certain?” asked Parker. “Perhaps one of the cancer centers can do something. Have you checked with them?”
“We own the best doctors,” James declared hotly. “We run hospitals. Or at least your brothers and I do. Maybe you do some work when you’re not surfing.”
Parker snapped his mouth shut with an audible click. He leaned back in his chair, resolutely saying nothing to be drawn into the old argument which existed between father and son.
“How long?” Marshall tried to deflect James’ ire from Parker. “Did the doctors give you an estimate?”
“They did. I was supposed to croak four years ago,” James had a cynical laugh. “I guess you could say I’m past my expiration date.”
“That’s not funny Dad,” Gabe automatically responded to the joke made in bad taste.
“No one said it was,” he snapped back.
Parker muttered something under his breath as Gabe ran a hand through his hair in frustration. James was a prickly man and today he was angrier than his usual self. While Gabe understood it was likely from his embarrassment at collapsing in front of a crowd of people, it didn’t excuse his father’s behavior. James had never liked to be seen as weak.
“I have talked to the lawyers,” suddenly announced James. “I have had Ramesly Hospital and Medical Corporation cleared of investigation with the FBI. We’ve paid our fine for the initial money laundering I did when I was young and stupid before I told David I wouldn’t put the company at risk anymore. It has all been dealt with so none of you will have to worry about it after I’m gone.”
“When did this happen? You were involved?” wondered Gabe. This was the first he had heard about the matter and it bothered him that his dad hadn’t confided in him before. Gabe was the head of operations for the company chain and should have been informed.
“When you boys were born and Dotty put her foot down,” James had a wracking cough. “I married a good woman. She knew David was a time bomb and we needed to distance ourselves from the mess he was making.”
“Doesn’t the FBI want to charge you for the money laundering of drug money?” asked Marshall.
“They already have. I’ll plead guilty when the time comes and pay the applicable penalties,” replied James. “I went to them and turned myself in shortly after I learned the cancer had won. I’m going to my grave with a clear conscience. In return I have a reduced sentence in a minimum security prison that also has a good palliative care program. I regret I’ll have to leave your mother and that I had to destroy my brothers’ lives in the process of coming clean. Perhaps they will learn from their mistakes and be better men.”
“You started this whole investigation,” surmised a grim Gabe, wondering how the other Rameslys were going to react once they learned the truth.
“Yes. To keep Ramesly Hospital and Medical Corporation intact. To save your boys’ inheritance if you can manage to inherit it,” nodded James in satisfaction.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Parker frowned over James’ wording. “‘Ifwe can manage to inherit it?’”
“I have instructed the lawyers to cut you off,” James informed them with some satisfaction. “Each of you pull a salary from the company. That’s done. Your lavish lifestyles are done. Your net worth is essentially less than middle class now. You no longer can count on inheriting part of my kingdom. I’m kicking each of you out of the condos I bought for you. You have thirty days to vacate. Good luck on those ridiculous car payments of yours, Parker.”
The three men stared at their father in astonishment.
“Why?” Gabe privately wondered if the cancer had gotten to the old man’s brain. None of this made any sense to him.
