Chapter 4

"You know I've been thinking," Lynnette told Dave once they were snuggled, into bed that night.

"About?" Dave inquired, even as he kissed his mate's neck where it was exposed to his sight and not covered by her long blond hair.

"I was thinking that I could do some concerts overseas if that man keeps persisting on meeting me. I'm sure that all of the family would take great delight in telling him that I was performing in Europe or somewhere very remote and wasn't expected back for months."

"That's not a bad idea," Dave mused. "That would mean, leaving the kids with Spencer and Michelle and the nannies however and it's not really fair to them to leave for that long. Derrick might understand why we're doing it, since he's the oldest and most mature but as for the others…"

"Yeah, I didn't think about the fact that they don't really know about our problem," Lynnette said, as she and Dave cuddled together. "We couldn't exactly take them with us as they'd end up missing school if we really were gone for months. I now realize I probably shouldn't have agreed to play that concert in Las Vegas."

"You did it because it was for charity and it's not your fault that the father that never knew about you found out and is now being such a pain," Dave soothed her.

"The whole family knows how important it is to you to get musical instruments into the hands of children that have the talent, but not the money for lessons or instruments. It's for a worthy cause, so you have no reason to feel guilty," Dave told her. "That this charity just happened to take place in Las Vegas, where you were born and where your father still lives was just an unfortunate coincidence."

"Yeah, you're right, though I do wish it could've taken place in New York or even another big city like Los Angeles or San Francisco, even New Orleans," Lynnette sighed. "I can't help feeling guilty that I might've caused William Reid to be such a pest. It's down to pure luck that mom wasn't home when he decided to visit and that might not be the case next time."

"True," Dave admitted. "I'm certainly very glad that Diana wasn't home when her ex-husband paid her a visit and that her neighbors saw it, as their duty to inform her about his visit."

"Oh, Mom and the neighbors are great friends," Lynnette said, "The ones to the right and left of her mostly. She's even friendly with Mrs. Parsons who lives across the street mostly because she has no one else, I think. I know you've visited my old childhood home, but you've never met the neighbors Betty Hoffman that lives on the right side of Mom or Seana McGillicuddy that lives on the left and of course there's Alberta Parsons that lives right across the street."

"So, Mrs. Parson's children don't live in the area?" Dave questioned and Lynnette shook her head.

"I believe one lives in California and another in Ohio," Lynnette said. "I believe that they come to visit once or twice a year at least from what I remember mom saying. From what I understand, the children aren't that close with their mother and their father is long dead."

"That is so sad, though I know it happens far too often," Dave said. "For the children to only visit a couple of times a year…"

"I know, but a lot of parents aren't close to their kids or those kids deliberately distance themselves from those parents once they're grown and not because they were abused in anyway. A lot of children are embarrassed by their elderly parents in what they see as acting out when those parents do something to embarrass them and usually not on purpose. A lot of the elderly after all, lose a lot when they get old and so do things like wandering away from whoever is looking after them or something else that is embarrassing," Lynnette said. "We, however, are close to our kids and Spencer's and Michelle's plus Roxie's and Dan's

"Let's not forget about Rocky's daughter, Myrna," Dave reminded, his mate with a smile.

"I could never forget Myrna, as I never imagined Rocky would have a kid, as he just doesn't seem the type you know?" Lynnette chuckled.

"I know he doesn't seem like the type that would make a good father, but that doesn't mean he's not doing a fantastic job raising her basically on his own," Dave said.

"He does have mom and Roxie as back up," Lynnette said.

"They do help out where they can, like babysitting when Rocky is at work or something, but still he's mostly doing it on his own with only a little help from family," Dave said.

"True, I'm quite proud of my brother," Lynnette said. "I always knew that Spencer and Roxie would make fantastic parents someday, as they're both a lot like mom, but as for Rocky, well, I think you were right when you said years ago that he's more like William Reid, though he's certainly proving to be a better father than that man was."

"Unlike the Senior Reid, Rocky has compassion, patience and kindness. His mother's influence, which is how he's raising his daughter," Dave said. "I truly believe that Myrna will turn out just fine."

"Yeah, she will," Lynnette agreed. "It'll seem like no time it has passed when she's off to college."

"We'll still have a kid at home when that happens as Myrna is not the youngest of our family. The little girl you're carrying now will be the youngest," Dave said patting Lynnette's tummy lovingly.

"Not if Michelle and Spencer have another kid, she won't be, as Mellie was talking about that in the baby store the other day," Lynnette told Dave.

"Well, this is great news," Dave said enthusiastically. "I didn't realize that Michelle and Spencer were talking about having a fourth kid before they stop for this generation."

"Yeah, Michelle did mention that they had been talking about it, and Dana overheard her mother telling us that and didn't look too happy," Lynnette chuckled.

"I'm not surprised that she was not happy with what she overheard," Dave chuckled right along with his wife. "Dana is simply one of those kids that believes she should be an only child."

"Even though everybody explained to her years ago, that she was not meant to be an only child," Lynnette said. "I know some children are like that, but I certainly wasn't as I was always happy to have siblings, but then again, I am the baby and Dana is the oldest of my brother's kids, so I'm sure that makes a difference."

"It does," Dave agreed. "So did Spencer ever want to be an only child?"

"No, Spencer was never like that," Lynnette said. "I suppose it's possible before I came along he once wished he was an only child, but that's really not like my brother at all so probably not."

"Not every child is and you're right Spencer isn't the type to want to be an only child as he doesn't have to be the center of attention. Those that want to be only children have the personality of wanting to be at the center of everything that's happening," Dave agreed. "Those types of children don't like to be ignored, and if they feel like they are then they get into trouble to get that attention back, like Dana," Dave agreed.

"She has gotten better, you have to admit that," Lynnette said and Dave nodded because his granddaughter had gotten a lot better about pitching a fit when she felt like she was being ignored.

"She has, but she still has a lot of maturing to do, but then, she is only nine," Dave said.

"But we love her anyway," Lynnette said, "even when she's acting like a brat."

"Of course we do, as our love isn't dependent on how she acts," Dave said. "If there's one thing I know is that love isn't finite, it's infinite. We might get upset with her, even be furious at her on occasion, but that doesn't mean we don't love her at the same time, just not the way she acts.

"Spencer and Michelle are doing a good job of raising out of her drama queen tendencies, but she'll always be dramatic, even when she's grown up," Dave added.

"I'm sure Spencer is right that she'll go on to be a movie star, as she certainly has the acting down pat," Lynnette said smiling as she thought about her oldest granddaughter.

"Now, as much as I hate to disrupt this pleasant conversation, we need to decide what to do about that man."

"I don't know what we can do, Lyn," Dave said heaving a sigh. "If he doesn't see or ignores the signs that everybody is giving him. Slamming doors in his face for instance and also recording the interactions that any of the family has with him, but other than that, I really don't know what we can do. I'll sue him as soon as we have enough for my lawyers, but other than that, there's nothing we can legally do while he makes a pest of himself. So far hasn't gotten physical, as all he's done is demanded that he meet you, which while rude but not against the law unfortunately."

"What really galls me, is he didn't even bother to be polite and ask if I was willing to meet with him," Lynnette said. "He was arrogant, rude and condensing. That type of attitude is not the way you get somebody to cooperate. You would think he could've been polite and asked if I wanted to meet with him, but no he goes straight into being demanding as soon as we tell Clyde to tell him that we don't want anything to do with him."

"I believe he just assumes that Diana told you about him and that you'd be eager to meet the father, you've never known," Dave guessed very accurately.

"I suppose that would be true for a lot of people," Lynnette agreed, "but not for me. I think what we should do is send any recordings to the partners at the law firm along with a letter explaining what are on them and why we sent them. At the very least, it will put that man on even shakier ground at the firm, even though I figure he's close to retirement."

"He doesn't know that you don't want to get to know him though, as he really doesn't know anything about you except what the background check he likely did tells him. A background check only gives you basic information, age birth date, who your parents are, siblings, that type of thing.

"A background check can't give out any personal information, as it's simply not there in the system to be gotten. It can't give you the personality of the child you've never known for example or what they've been told by their mother or their father about them. As for your idea, it's a pretty good one, because professionals like lawyers don't have a set retirement age, unlike if you work for the government."

"True, but I don't believe that its occurred to that man that I have no interest in ever meeting him and getting to know him," Lynnette said with contempt in her voice.

"It wouldn't surprise me if it hadn't, as he's simply that type of man. He's one that doesn't think about the fact that you might not want to meet him because of the way he treated your siblings, as to him his other three children would be unimportant." Dave said. "I won't claim he's not intelligent, because he never could've become a lawyer if he wasn't, but then there are different types of intelligence. Just because your intelligent doesn't mean you're good with a certain type of people like children. He might want to get to know his daughter, but if that's the case, he's going about it in the wrong way."

"I definitely agree with that," Lynnette said, even as she kissed Dave passionately.

"I have a feeling and I'm going to have to sit down with him somewhere private and explain the facts of life to him," Dave sighed, "and if he doesn't back off after that, that's not my problem."

"And if he starts to insult his other three children, as he certainly did that when he was still married, according to both Spencer and mom when he was present in the home before I was born," Lynnette asked

"Then he might not realize it, but then he would've dug himself an even deeper hole then he's in at present," Dave said looking fiercely protective.

"Your father might not think much of his children and probably still thinks that they never succeeded in life, but if he did do that background check, he's got to at least know that Spencer has married my adoptive daughter and has given him three grandchildren. If that's the case, I'm sure he's wondering how I could've allowed it since he considers both his sons as useless."

"You're right, it probably never would have occurred to him that just because he thought his sons would never succeed in life didn't mean that they didn't, despite his predictions," Lynnette agreed.

"Considering how young they were when he divorced Diana, he really had no way of knowing how any of his children, the three he knew about anyway, would turn out," Dave snorted in contempt.

"I mean, children change practically every day, as they grow and learn, by exploring their boundaries, which is all part of growing up. Just because they didn't act like chips off the old block made him come up with an excuse to abandon him. That just proved to me that he never loved Spencer, Roxie or Rocky at all, as no one that really loved, their children would abandon them like he did or the very least if he did divorce, Diana, he would've kept in contact with his children. I mean, Rocky would barely have been really young when he left and how the man could tell that his youngest son was going to be useless is beyond me."

"People like him should never get married or at least never have children, but on the other hand, I'm glad that he didn't choose that option, because you never would've been born."

Dave shook his head at that last sentence and held Lynnette closer.

"I simply think that Rocky was already starting to develop his lighthearted personality at a young age, something I'm sure that that man didn't approve of. It was as if fun and laughter were forbidden when that man was married to mom and that children weren't allowed to just be children."

"Some people are like that though," Dave said. "You and your siblings were just unlucky to get a father that didn't appreciate you for the talents you did have. Really, he didn't stay around long enough to see you develop any talents except for maybe Spencer."

"Yeah, I know, just as I know that if you change one small thing then you're likely to change everything," Lynnette said. "I'm certainly glad I was born too, even if I still think that man is a first class ass hat."

"Yeah, he is," Dave chuckled at the irony.

"In any case, let's hope you don't have to meet with him to explain the facts of life and how you can make his life ever more miserable if he keeps on persisting," Lynnette said. "I would hate to see you interact with that man for even an hour, as you'd probably need to take a shower because he's so slimy that he's bound to rub off on you."

"Probably true," Dave chuckled again, as he kissed Lynnette tenderly. "I hope I don't ever have to officially meet him, but I'm willing to so that he'll stop being a pest. Spencer is right when he said he could follow us back to New York if we don't come to an understanding before then."

"Here's to hoping," Lynnette said.

~~~Dave and Lynnette~~~

One week later

It had finally become apparent that the only way they were going to get rid of William Reid was to explain the facts of life to him like Dave had told his mate that he might have to do. The Senior Reid had made numerous attempts at convincing various members of the family that all he wanted to do was meet and get to know his daughter, but every single one of them had basically slammed the door in his face, even if that wasn't literally.

Lynnette's father had even approached the son he thought was useless, and Spencer had told him flatly that Lynnette didn't want anything to do with him, and she had made her wishes plain to everyone in the family.

Spencer had told him bluntly that, "While I could probably convince Lynnette to meet with you to tell you to your face that she doesn't want to meet you or want to know you, but give me one good reason why I should do you any favors?

My sister doesn't appreciate the way you abandoned your family, leaving us to struggle and don't even try to claim you paid child support because while that might be true, $400 a month per child is nothing and it barely covered clothes and school supplies. Everything else that was bought was on mom's money she got from the university.

"You left us to struggle along on our own, so it is any wonder my sister doesn't want anything to do with the father that played no major role in our lives and didn't even know she existed until you realized that she was a famous musician.

"That is the only reason you want to know her, because you believe she is the only one that you see is a success and it certainly has nothing to do with being a caring, loving father.

This confrontation had taken place in public at a restaurant that Spencer and Michelle had been at for lunch for just the two of them while they had left the kids with the rest of the family.

Michelle had then put in her two cents and told the Senior Reid that she thought it was deployable how he had left his family for really no reason whatsoever other than his children weren't turning into chips off the old block.

She had been gone on to say that Spencer had a very successful career in one of her father's companies and so did Roxie and Rocky the three children he claimed would never amount to anything.

After that, the employees of the restaurant had ordered him to leave before he caused, even more of a scene and said they would be contacting the owners about having him banned if necessary.

Will had left then feeling frustrated and angry knowing he was beaten and that he'd be lucky if word didn't get back to his law firm.

It was then that Dave had decided it was time for William Reid to get a reality check once he had heard about the incident, so here he was waiting for the man to arrive, as he had set up an appointment with him just this morning.

Dave really wasn't looking forward to explaining the facts of life to Spencer's and Lynnette's father, but it was apparently necessary since there had been several such incidents, though mostly not in public.

William Reid finally approached the table right on time, and Dave immediately went from relaxed to a stiffer demeanor.

"You wished to see me, Mr. Rossi?" William asked, as he studied the man that was sitting very comfortably in one of the chairs in the private room that had been arranged for this meeting.

David Rossi was a very handsome man though he didn't look his supposed age, which was close to 70 but there were numerous ways to look younger in this century so William wasn't curious as to why the man before him looked so young.

His daughter had chosen well when she had married David Rossi, even though the age gap was at least 15 years.

Still older men married younger women all the time in this century, so it was in the least abnormal.

"Yes, I did request this meeting Mr. Reid if you would take a seat," Dave said politely indicating the chair across the table from him. "Would you like a beverage before we get started on why I requested this meeting?"

"A beer will be fine thank you," William answered, as he studied the man he was now sitting across one again.

Once the server had left with their orders, Dave began with why he had requested this meeting.

"I requested this meeting for one reason only Mr. Reid and that is to tell you that if you keep being a pest trying to get my wife to meet with you when she wants nothing to do with you, I will sue you to where you are soon broke. This is the only warning you will receive."

"Is that a threat?" William growled but Dave sat back in his chair, unconcerned at William's tone of voice.

"It's a promise," Dave told him his anger barely controlled. "My wife does not need the added stress of having you trying to force her to meet you. She's pregnant and if she loses the baby due to stress, you'll be in so much shit you'll be buried in it," Dave threatened.

His daughter was pregnant at her age, William thought. But then he reconsidered his previous thinking and thought that being just over 40 wasn't really that old in this day and age. Really though, his daughter and her husband already had four children, so why would they want more?

Will never considered the fact that some people just loved children and so wanted more than one or two. He and Diana had had three after all, and apparently Diana had been pregnant when he left, so that made four technically.

"But she's my daughter, and I would like to meet her and get to know her," William protested.

"I don't believe that for a minute," Dave told William staring him down unflinchingly.

"I believe the only reason you really want to know my wife, is you realized that she has a successful musical career. It has nothing to do with you wanting to really get to know your daughter. You just want to hang onto her coattails. You want to be able to brag to your friends that your daughter is a famous musician, so you can puff up your own ego, and claim you're the reason she's so successful instead of all of her hard work. You want her to help you with your flagging career. In other words, you want her to prop you up."

William Reid sat there, stunned at having his intentions so easily read.

"Let me be clear," Dave continued, ignoring William's look of stunned astonishment. "You will either leave my family alone or you'll soon be broke. I can have you hemmed in so many lawsuits that you'll be buried under them. You will not contact my wife, my son-in-law or your ex-wife. You will also leave your other children and their families alone."

"And if I don't?" William asked.

"Then I contact my lawyers about those lawsuits, as soon as I leave here. I will not have my wife put under even more stress than she currently has on her shoulders due to her career and the fact that she has to travel a great deal even while she's pregnant. If you cause my wife, even one more second of worry or heartache, you will regret it later. Her being pregnant again should be a joyous occasion for the whole family, and it will be even if I have to deal with you myself to make sure that Lynnette doesn't have one second of worry, where you are concerned," Dave told him in a deadly serious voice.

"You lost any opportunity in getting to know Lynnette when you were abandoned your family for no real reason and left them to struggle. The little bit of child support you paid hardly mounted to anything at all and was basically scraps from your table. Scraps you could've used for a new suit or a new electronic toy. You hardly gave Diana anything to help support the children you had produced together. Doing so is in poor taste at the very least, since as a lawyer, you made far more than she did as a university professor."

"Did you ever think about the fact that the three children you knew about wouldn't be cheap to support and that you made the bigger salary? Of course you didn't. I'm sure it didn't occur to you that you were leaving your family to struggle along without your much bigger paycheck," Dave said, shaking his head in disgust.

"You proved decades ago that you don't care about anyone except yourself. You never really loved Diana, who's a wonderful lady and an excellent mother, because if you did, you never would have left her and your children the way you did.

"Your children have basically disowned you and want nothing to do with you as you left them with a ton of emotional and mental scars, all except for my wife since she wasn't born when you left for the last time.

"Lynnette hates you for everything you did to her siblings and her mother. You're subtle little insults towards your children and for abandoning your family. Her siblings adore her and she adores them right back, which means that she hates you for what you did to them.

"She has no wish to ever meet you and you're only lucky that I convinced her to stay behind, because she's already told me, that if she actually meets you, she'll probably end up punching you in the mouth for what you did to your family."

That his daughter would actually hit him had never occurred to Will as a possibility, but now he realized he had been willfully blind. The way he had handled the whole situation with his ex-wife and his children was coming back to bite him in the butt decades later.

"Every single one of the children that you abandoned is successful in what they chose to do with their lives. Spencer is doing very well at one of my many company and he and Michelle are very happy with each other and their children.

"This is the son that you claimed would never amount to anything because he was too intelligent," Dave said emphasizing the last two words.

"You thought of his intelligence as a disease instead of the wonderful thing it is. You cared so little about your children that you didn't even send Spencer to a special school for those with above average intelligence, simply because your idea was, he should attend the same school you did.

"You ignored the fact that he was and is a genius and needed a different curriculum. One more advanced than you get in a public school. If you hadn't been able to afford to send him, that would've been one thing, but that wasn't the case, as you could easily have afforded the fees, you just didn't love your son enough in order to do what was best for him, to see that his intelligence was nurtured."

He had considered his children useless, but he had apparently been wrong about that. He had forgotten that children changed every day when they were young, and there was no way to really tell if they were useless or not until they were adults.

"Such extraordinary intelligence should be nurtured, not disdained. Because of your lack of positive influence on the lives of any of your children, you gave your oldest son all kinds of twisted ideas about his self-worth.

"Basically, his self-worth was in the toilet thanks to a father who made nasty untrue comments within his children's hearing, as a regular thing. It took Michelle to make him see that what you had told him as a child was not the truth, as he was going through life, not reaching his full potential because of your crappy parenting.

"You grumbled about the bills so much that Spencer considered having wealth as a disease as he didn't want to become as greedy as his father who couldn't even pay the bills without complaining about it.

"He was working a job that bored him to tears, but he didn't care if his work was recognized because of his poor experiences in a public school.

"Also, the fact, that you abandoned your family, something I would never do for all the money in the world, is another reason that they don't want anything to do with you. You have so many black marks against you that there is no way anyone in the family will ever forgive you for what you did.

"It took Michelle forever to convince Spencer that he was worthy of love and all because you told him a bunch of lies about how no woman would ever want him for anything permanent, because he was nothing but an emotionless, plain, walking dictionary with more brains then any person should have," Dave said repeating what Spencer had told him just before the meeting.

William winced at what Dave said because he did remember saying that to his very young son before he left.

"It also took forever to convince him that having more than just enough money to live on was not a sin and that he wouldn't turn into you, someone who was greedy and selfish. Someone who resented it when Diana spent any of your money on your children, even for special occasions, like birthdays and Christmas. I'm sure if you'd had your way you would have forgotten about Christmas or birthdays entirely, because to you, your children weren't important in the grand scheme of what William Reid wanted.

"Spencer remembers every hateful thing you ever said to him, and in that way, your other two children are lucky that they don't remember your hatefulness and your untrue remarks."

"Now, do you see why my family wants nothing to do with you?" Dave finally asked William once he had run down.

William listened and realized that he had indeed abandoned his family, but at the time he had wanted out of his marriage, as he had considered his children waste of spaces, but apparently from the way Rossi was talking, they were all quite successful, not just the daughter he had never known about. Their careers just weren't public like his youngest daughter's musical career.

William knew that it was too late to mend his fences as he had made his bed and none of his children, including the daughter he hadn't known about, wanted anything to do with him, and he had only himself to blame.

He had made the classic mistake of wanting his children to be just like him, and when Spencer had turned out to be more intelligent, even as a little boy, than any three people put together, he had immediately started throwing little insults, his way, forgetting about his son's eidetic memory.

He hadn't actually cared at the time about his son's memory, but now he realized it was a 2 edged sword and that Spencer remembered every insult and insensitive thing he had thrown at the then small boy.

"I see you understand," Dave said finally, as he studied the man's expression. "This will be our only meeting Mr. Reid. My family is perfectly content without you in their lives, and my only regret is that our children will not get to know their grandfather from the Reid side of the family. However, you have made your bed you must lie in it," Dave told William firmly.

"I have no doubt they will not miss having a grandfather in their lives, because my parents are dead and you are not welcome anywhere near my family. They have enough people that love them for who they are and would never abandon them for anything like you did your own family decades ago.

"Don't contact any member of my family again," Dave added as he rose. "Also, just so you are aware Michelle and Spencer recounted the public scene you caused when they were having a private meal for two and just happened to be sitting in a window seat, so you saw them and immediately confronted Spencer not caring, of course that he was sharing a romantic meal with his wife, which you ruined."

William had never realized that his son and his wife were having a private meal for just the two of them when he had seen his son with a very pretty woman in the window of the restaurant where they were sharing a meal.

Michelle Rossi Reid was a stunningly, gorgeous woman and William wondered what such a beautiful woman saw in his son. It wasn't like his son was a handsome man, so what could this Michelle possibly see in him?

William never thought about the fact that Spencer was a very handsome man in his own quiet way, and that while he wasn't the most gorgeous man in the world, he made up for it in brains and personality.

Beauty after all was in the eye of the beholder and some women didn't want a drop dead, gorgeous man with the arrogance of someone who knew they were attractive to the female of the species and therefore, were more likely to cheat on their spouse if they happened to be married.

"By the way, did you ever think that its karma, as to why your career is stalled? Karma can be a bitch to those that commit many sins and don't pay for them within the legal system, so maybe she felt like you deserved you're comeuppance for the way you conducted your life," Dave added, as if an afterthought before he headed for the door of the private room where the meeting had been held.

"Karma? I don't believe in karma," William muttered to himself.

Well, maybe you should start, his conscience told him, as it could explain why your life has turned to crap lately.

William thought about the short meeting that had lasted less than an hour and knew that he had to back off, trying to get his daughter to meet with him, as he had been warned that if he didn't, he would soon have more trouble than he could handle and he definitely knew that David Rossi could back up his threats.

Apparently, Lynnette was close to her siblings and didn't appreciate how he had abandoned them.

William heaved a heartfelt sigh after Rossi had left realizing he had fucked up big time with the way he had abandoned his wife and children decades ago, but he also knew it was his own fault and no one else's.

~~~Dave and Lynnette~~~

"So, is it all taken care of?" Lynnette asked Dave after he had returned to the hotel before he could head for the shower.

"If you mean the situation with William Reid, then yes, it's all handled," Dave said, giving his mate a passionate kiss. "I'm pretty sure that he now understands that because of his actions decades ago that none of his family want anything to do with him. I think he's finally realized that he made his decision a long time ago and now he has to live with the consequences.

"I would say it's more than deserved and I feel absolutely no sympathy for him," Lynnette said, even as she cuddled into Dave's arms.

"Neither do I, even though I know many humans make the sort of mistakes that William Reid did," Dave said with a sigh, kissing Lynnette again. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm heading for the shower as I feel all dirty after having to deal with him."

"Didn't I tell you probably would if you had to interact with him?" Lynnette asked her mate with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, you did, when you're right, you're right," Dave agreed with a little laugh, as he walked to the bathroom, leaving his clothes in the hamper so that he was bucked naked by the time he got there.

Lynnette sat on the edge of the bed and waited on Dave to finish his shower, knowing he wouldn't be long. It had more to do with the fact that Dave had been dealing with her father as it had made him feel dirty in having to explain the facts of life to him then Dave actually being physically dirty.

Since her mate had already had one shower today, this was simply his way to remove the feeling of slime, which he likely felt just from interacting with the man that was her father.

It was only five minutes later when the shower cut off and Dave emerged from the bathroom with his hair, dripping wet and headed for the master bedroom to choose a fresh outfit, even though his clothes were hardly dirty.

Still, Lynnette could hardly blame Dave for not wanting to get dressed in the same clothes that he had been in when he'd had his short meeting with William Reid.

Lynnette understood why Dave wanted to change clothes as he would still feel dirty after having to deal with that man if he didn't. It was purely a mental thing not a physical thing that made Dave feel dirty after dealing with that man, but if he wanted get a second shower and change clothes to get rid of that slimy feeling then Lynette wasn't about to object.

Lynnette watched as Dave redressed in a fresh outfit and moved over to kiss him just after he pulled his pants up and button them.

"I love you, Dave and I'm sorry that you had to deal with that man," Lynnette told her mate.

"It's hardly your fault, sweetie," Dave told her tenderly. "You know that he needed the facts of life explained to him about why the family doesn't want anything to do with him."

"So, what precisely did you tell him?" Lynnette asked with an inquiring eyebrow raised.

"I simply explained why you or any of the rest of the family wanted nothing to do with him, and that he had made his bed when he had abandoned the three children he was aware of.

"I also told him that you adored your siblings and they adored you right back, which was why you wanted nothing to do with him, even though he is technically your father," Dave continued.

"He might be technically but sharing someone's DNA doesn't make someone a father," Lynnette said.

"I know. Believe me I agree with you," Dave said, as Lynnette hugged and kissed him again once Dave had pulled his clean shirt over his head, Pulling his arms through the sleeves.

"I also brought up the fact that he had given his oldest son all kinds of twisted ideas because of all the little insults that he threw Spencer's way when he was still part of the family.

"And I also explained the fact that my daughter had a heck of a time getting Spencer to see himself as he really was instead of the image that that he, William Reid, input into his head.

"I believe I said something about the fact that Spencer had trouble with his self-worth because of the Senior Reid's crappy parenting skills and that his other kids were lucky that they didn't really remember their father's crappy attitude.

"I also covered that Spencer had a real problem with having more than enough money to live on, because he had always been complaining about bills and while no one likes paying them there was plenty money in the coffers to do so.

"I also asked him didn't he realize that it was him that made the bigger paycheck and yet he had only sent the bare minimum in child support which was barely enough to buy clothes and pay basic expenses before the money was gone. I then told him that he'd left his family to struggle along on their own with finances that were very tight for four children, even if I realize that he had no idea about you."

"That's very good, and I believe you covered everything," Lynnette said.

"So, you think he'll take your words to heart?"

"Yes, believe me he now understands why the family doesn't want anything to do with him," Dave promised taking his mate into his arms and giving her a passionate kiss. "I also mentioned that he gave up any chance of meeting his grandchildren, and that our children wouldn't miss not having a grandfather in their lives.

"When I told him that I could see him lose every cent of his hard earned money, if he didn't quit pestering you to meet him through various family members, he finally saw my point of view. I also warned him about bothering anybody else in the family his other children, their husbands or wives or his grandchildren. I told him he was basically up a creek without a paddle because of his actions when his children were young."

"That's very good and I'm only sorry you actually had to explain these things to him," Lynnette said.

"That's OK sweetie," Dave waved away his mate's apology, as it was hardly her fault that her father was such a crappy human being. No child got to choose who their parents were, as it was up to chance.

"Now to change the subject, you mentioned about wanting to endow a scholarship for those that show strong, musical talent."

"Yeah, it was just an idea I had out of the blue," Lynnette admitted.

"It's a great idea and I'll be happy to help you and that scholarship," Dave offered.

"I think this is something I should do on my own with my own earnings," Lynnette told Dave turning down his generous offer. "It's not that I don't appreciate it mind you, just that this was my idea and I feel that is my responsibility. I've made more than enough ever since my music career took off that I can afford this, and it won't affect my standard of living in the slightest, even if I wasn't married to the richest man probably in the world."

"All right, then I'll just endow a second scholarship for musical students then," Dave said. "It is a great idea after all and in this way more students from poor families can go to Juilliard. We'll worry about that though, once we get back to New York, as there is no rush."

"That would be great," Lynnette said, brightening that her mate was going to endow a second scholarship for even more students too intend, to be able to realize their musical talent. That those students would come from those families that couldn't afford to send their children to somewhere like Juilliard went without saying.

"Now I believe it's time we rejoin the rest of the family, now that that rather unpleasant business with William Reid has been dealt with," Dave suggested, and Lynnette nodded.

"Is it unkind for me to repeat what I said a few minutes ago at the beginning of our conversation that I feel absolutely no sympathy for him?" Lynnette wanted to know.

"No, it's not unkind when it's the truth," Dave said. "Believe me, I feel no sympathy for him either, as he's the one that created his own problems decades ago, and now his sins are simply coming home to roost. I told him just before I left that did he ever think that karma was coming back to bite him because of all the sin he had committed?"

"And what did he say to that?" Lynnette wanted to know with a smile.

"He claimed he didn't believe in karma. He muttered it almost under his breath, but I've always had excellent hearing so I heard what he said," Dave said smiling ruefully.

"I'm not surprised he said that, even if he didn't mean for you to hear his muttered words, as most people don't believe that their actions have any consequences unless they are caught by the cops or another law-enforcement agency because they break the law," Lynnette said.

"What that man did by abandoning his family didn't break any laws, but it was certainly in poor taste at the very least. Still, it's no wonder that that man doesn't believe that actions have consequences, as I'm sure he's never had to answer for any of his actions and I'm not talking about from a law breaking standpoint."

"In other words, he's never had anything bad happen to him where it's apparent that karma doesn't appreciate what he's done," Dave said, and Lynnette nodded.

"Or maybe it did and that man just didn't realize that the bad things that kept happening to him is because of something he did that, karma felt he needed to be paid back for. Most people don't believe something like karma exists after all."

"True enough and it's definitely a possibility," Dave agreed. "Let's quit talking about it though, and head back downstairs. Shall we?" Dave added offering his mate his hand.

"Yes, let's," Lynnette agreed taking Dave's offer of hand. Lynnette was well aware that everything that needed to be said on the subject had been so she accepted Dave's hand and the two walked out of their hotel suite together, hand-in-hand, and headed for the elevator to meet the others.

~~~Dave and Lynnette~~~