Violet stood staring at the man who just looked back over a smirk, every inch of her body was riled, she wanted nothing more than to slap his face, but this was a busy and expensive restaurant, and she'd been brought up to know better.
Eventually she had to break the silence, "I presume you are Hendrick Kaiser?"
He nodded his head and gestured to a seat opposite him, reluctantly she pulled back the chair, all the time glaring at him, in her head screaming 'a real gentleman would have at least pulled the chair out for you', she scoffed as she sat, when had she ever met a real gentleman? He was lounging, almost lying in the chair, his eyes hooded as he watched her like a hawk.
"Something amuses you?" he asked, and for a moment she swooned, his voice was deep, his pronunciation perfect, but his intonation was clipped, a sign that he was possibly native to South African, or maybe Dutch or German?
She shook her head, "not amused Mr Kaiser, not even slightly." She gave him what she hoped was an icy glare, then looked around for a waiter, finally ordering a black coffee once she caught someone's attention.
She sat back in her chair, blatantly sussing out the man opposite. He was everything she remembered from the other evening, chiseled features, the signs of five o'clock shadow well before midday, the rest was how she imagined her father's business partner should be, impeccably dressed, the pin stripe suit looked expensive, his dark thick hair was groomed, she stifled a laugh, there was an attempt at being groomed.
Then she glanced down at herself. Old jeans, a fraying jumper and her oldest yet thickest winter coat. She never normally cared about how she looked, but today she felt distinctly under dressed.
Raising her chin she looked back at Hendrick Kaiser and his knowing look informed her that he was more than aware of her thought patterns. And now he was back to laughing at her.
Her coffee arrived and she was sipping it slowly in the same level of awkward tension when Mr Hodgson dashed in.
"Sorry I'm late!" he gushed, reaching out to shake Violet's hand, at the same time Kaiser stood in the correct manner of etiquette and reached across to shake the man's hand. She was wrong-footed again; he was purposely treating her with contempt, looking down that rather masculine and elegant nose at her, yet schmoozing around Hodgson like they were in some sort of boys club. Her blood started to boil, but she would win this battle.
Mr Hodgson sat and ordered them all brunch, before turning to Violet, "Sorry my dear, I did intend to be here to introduce you to Mr Kaiser."
She shrugged, not mentioning their 'meeting' on Saturday evening, "we've introduced ourselves Mr Hodgson, not to worry."
Hendrick raised an eyebrow, surprised at her not taking the chance to discredit him, to badmouth what she saw as his underhand tactics. She merely smiled sweetly, she was no walk over, he may want her inheritance to further his share portfolio, but she had two desperate children to defend and she was ready to fight him.
"So," Nathaniel turned to her, "Mr Kaiser wants to buy your father's portion of the business from you." He rifled in his briefcase for some documents, then handed her a proposal, "this is the offer he has laid on the table. As you'll see there are a variety of payment options, depending on various factors....."
She took the paper and read it diligently, pausing to sip her coffee every now and again. It took several minutes to digest every nuance of the legalese. All the while she could feel two pairs of eyes observing her intently.
Eventually, she shuffled the papers, laid them beside her and took another drink of her coffee. As the waiter arrived with fruit, pancakes, bacon and eggs, she paused and watched him laden the table with goodies, then reached for some fruit and placed it on her plate.
When she looked up she was tempted to laugh, Mr Hodgson was trying to hide a smile, Hendrick Kaiser was fit to burst, he was struggling to control his temper, she almost laughed, but didn't.
Cutting up a kiwi fruit more elegantly than she ever had before she finally looked at the two men.
"I need to see more from you Mr Kaiser." Reaching for her own bag, she pulled her own papers out of her bag, and selected the top one then handed it to Nathaniel. "You see Mr Hodgson; the company is worth THIS amount." He took the paper she handed him, "and that means that Mr Kaiser here, for 40 percent of the company should be adding a few extra zeroes!" She smiled sweetly at the aforementioned Hendrick Kaiser, "and I would like to see the last two years worth of accounts, oh and if someone can get me information on my new property as well as MY portion of the company I would be really grateful. Now if that's all gentlemen, I really do have a lot to do."
With that she stood and exited the restaurant her heart racing in exhilaration, she'd loved seeing the shock on Hendrick Kaiser's face, that coupled with the humor and almost pride on the face of Mr Hodgson meant this was a high that would last awhile. Feeling like she was floating, she sailed out into the street, and smiled, this was a great day to start Christmas shopping, and boy were those two kids going to be spoilt.....they deserved it!
Violet shopped hard, Barbie and Ben 10 had never had it so good. Matt and Jo had offered their home as a store for anything she bought, and she took them up on it. Letting herself in using her key, she was their cat feeder for holidays too; she dumped the bags in their spare room, then almost ran to the school.
Both twins were bouncing from foot to foot as she approached, stood either side of their teacher. As she got closer, she could see that the teacher was looking anything but happy.
"Is there a problem Miss Hughes?"
She teacher was about the same age as Violet, but looked stressed.
"There was an incident today in the yard. Mr Edison would like for us to discuss it with you."
Violet's heart sank, looking down at the twins she saw that Emma was almost neurotic in her behavior, worried, frightened, Ethan however was sullen, angry and kicking at the floor with his scuffed shoes, averting any eye contact.
She squatted down beside them, "hey guys, what's going on?"
Emma started to cry and Violet immediately comforted her, pulling her into her arms, "hey cherub, it's ok. I'm here now." She kissed the top of her head as she looked to Ethan.
"Hey Ethan, you ok?"
He shrugged, his head still lowered. Violet looked up at the teacher, "can I talk to them somewhere first? I'd like to hear their story about what happened?"
The teacher nodded and gestured to the classroom behind. Inside sat on half size chairs, she looked at the twins, Emma was still crying.
"Ethan, what happened today? I've got to go and speak to the headmaster about this. I'd like to know what happened from you first."
Ethan looked up with a scowl, "he started it!"
"You had a fight?" his reply was a shrug, "who was the other kid?" He shrugged again. "Emz, help me out here, did you see it?
Emma started to cry, "Daniel Medford said that it was Ethan's fault that Mum died, that we smelled and that was why. So Ethan hit him."
Violet felt physical pain as she hugged the sobbing little girl, she tried to reach Ethan, but he evaded her.
"He's wrong Ethan, you know that? Your Mum loved you, she loved us all. She would do ANYTHING to be here now."
Ethan shrugged, "don't care."
"Hey," she finally managed to grab his hand, "we all care, and we all miss her sweetheart, you know that don't you? It's ok to still be sad, you can be sad whenever we want, there's no shame in that. It seems that Daniel Medford is jealous of what a great mother you had. That's all."
As she looked at him, he tried to fight tears, but failed, finally six months worth of grief seemed to be deposited on her very wet shoulder.
They were in the room for at least an hour, talking and trying to work out what the children wanted to do. Ethan admitted that he couldn't remember their mother anymore, he couldn't see her face when he closed his eyes, through a veil of tears, Violet promised to print of lots of photos and out them into frames all over the house. Emma wanted to have a special party on their mothers' birthday, Violet agreed.
And as they were all sat in a cuddle, Violet also added, "after Christmas I promise we'll go on a holiday. Anywhere you want. How does that sound?"
"Disneyland?" Ethan asked hopefully. "I can see Buzz, Brian Michaels went last year and had breakfast with Woody and Buzz."
She mentally calculated how much that would cost, then nodded, "y'know what, that sounds really possible. Let's see."
As they exited the classroom, Miss Hughes was hovering nearby; she smiled compassionately, "I think that this can be dealt with tomorrow. Can you stay when you bring them in the morning?"
Violet smiled, realizing the teacher had probably heard most of what went on, "of course, thanks you Miss Hughes."
After an uneventful meal, the three of them sat down and watched Toy Story, laughing and joking. Ethan cuddled into Violet, and she sighed at last she was getting somewhere.
They'd been in bed an hour when the door bell rang. Groaning at the invasion to her quiet evening in front of the TV, she swung back the door and then gasped; leaning against the door frame was the last person she expected to see. Hendrick Kaiser, wearing a scowl that spoke volumes.
Hendrick held up a brief case, "you want figures, I bring you figures."
Violet rubbed her eyes, "what?"
He shrugged, "you want to know all about the business I have built up from the ground? I am here to show you."
"It's half past eight!"
Sighing he stepped backwards, "I didn't think you were serious, Hodgson said you were...." He could barely hide his delight as the spark of indignation lit behind her eyes.
"Mr Kaiser, I can assure you that I am deadly serious about wanting to investigate the legacy that my bastard of a father left me. He owes me that. And I will not have some jumped up suit waltz in and take the piss out of me! You want to discuss business at this hour?" She stepped back and swung an arm gesturing into the hallway, "then come on in!"
Dwarfing the house, he followed her through to the lounge. A soap opera blared from the TV, reaching for the remote control, she turned the volume down.
"I suppose my decent upbringing means I should offer you a beer?"
He nodded, "one of your weak English beers would suffice!"
She huffed in anger as she opened a bottle and almost threw it at him. He laughed as she sat opposite him and looked at him expectantly.
"So?"
Hendrick clicked open the brief case and handed her a wad of paper.
"Last year's accounts." He grabbed another wad, "this year's to date." Pulling a third set out, he handed her a dossier of photos, "and this is Mbunda. The ranch your father built a few miles from the main mine. He was looking to start tours of the mines, and possibly some safari trips. The house is empty at the moment, and as that can be risky, I have instructed our mine manager to live there until you have decided what to do with it."
She nodded, "that sounds reasonable."
"I have also prepared this dossier on the history of the company. If you are to be an active part...."
She held up a hand stopping him, "I have never mentioned being an active part of your business Mr Kaiser."
"That may be so Miss Parker, but your father was CEO of the company, he leaves a void..."
"I am interested in what is mine. I have no intention of becoming an executive for your business."
"So you will sell?"
She laughed, "not at your price! And even if you add to the price, I still have to consider my options, the income would be very helpful, and I also have to think about what my father would want me to do!"
He laughed, "the desires of a man you haven't seen for decades are more important than what you want from life."
Shaking her head, Violet stood up and met his gaze, "the stranger you describe was my father, so he may have abandoned me, may have been a bastard, but he was still my father. And as for my intentions....the important word here is the first one 'MY'. I will do what I see fit Mr Kaiser, and I will do that with no influence from someone who is frankly out to fleece me of what little luxury my father was finally able to offer me. You have no idea about my life or anything in it and I'd appreciate you holding your thoughts to yourself. Now if you don't mind, I have a busy day tomorrow, and I really need you to leave."
At the front door, he turned to her with a false smile, and bared teeth, "Miss Parker I ask you to remember that the 60 percent opposing you is managed by me, you would do well to accommodate my views and opinions. It would serve you well."
"Am I honestly hearing this bullshit? Get out of my house and take your sexist views and over dominant male ego with you. Mr Kaiser I will contact you if, or when I need to."
With that she slammed the door in his face. Hendrick was reeling, never had someone looked down their nose at him in such a repulsed manner, and never had he been so livid, in his thirty five years he had never had such a dressing down. Whilst most of him was furious, a sliver of him was intrigued; he loved a battle and couldn't wait to bring her to her knees. The only question in his mind was how hard did he make her fall?