Chapter 7
The morning after her miraculous day on Patrick’s yacht, Eugenia felt as though she had had a month’s vacation, and was full of energy and bright ideas.
She spent the morning calling factories she knew, and others she had heard of, describing what she had in mind, the kind of garments, and the quantity she wanted for a first run.
It was a small order, but most of the factories weren’t up and running again yet, and she finally found one in New Jersey that was willing to take her project on and said they could produce the order in a week, which seemed amazing, but she wasn’t making wedding gowns, just play clothes for teenagers.
Once they agreed to make the order, she was planning to go to outlets for inexpensive fabrics and see what she could come up with.
She needed miles of pink tulle, lace, ribbon, trimmings, and a truckload of sequins, mainly pink.
She felt like she was making a giant birthday cake, and was having fun doing it.
Eloise was impressed by the progress she had made by late that morning.
And she told them all at lunch that Patrick was coming to dinner on Friday, to thank him for the day they had all spent on his boat.
Everyone was fine with it, and said how nice he’d been to them.
They were sorry not to have a chance to visit him again before they left on Sunday.
It amused Eugenia that they assumed he would be delighted to have nine guests for the day again, and that he had nothing else to do.
She had made a decision that morning that she was going to have a serious talk with Gloria that afternoon.
She couldn’t put it off, since they were leaving in three days, and if Gloria wanted to cancel the wedding, it would be best to decide that now, although Eugenia doubted that any of the suppliers would return her deposits at this late date.
She was past the contract dates for refunds, and if they canceled now, she’d have to pay in full.
But the issue was Gloria’s future, not what it was costing her mother.
She didn’t want to deal with it on the day that Patrick was coming to dinner, nor on the last day of their vacation, which left only today. She was anxious thinking about it.
Minutes before she went to look for Gloria in the late afternoon, she got a call from Austin Wylie, who said that he had reconsidered his offer, in light of what she had said to him, and that he knew how important her business was in better times.
She guessed that Natasha had pushed him to do it, since he had already discussed the project with her.
“I’m thinking that fifteen million should do it, for a forty-five percent ownership for my wife,” he said grandly. The money was improving but the percentage was still way off base.
“That’s kind of you, Austin,” Eugenia said politely, “but the percentage is still too high, and the money too low. I need to speak to my financial people and get back to you. I can’t make a decision like this without them, and you took me by surprise with your first offer.
I wasn’t planning on investors. I’m not opposed to it, but the offer has to make sense.
” He wondered if she was putting personal money into it, which he couldn’t assess.
And if so, he knew his offer wouldn’t stand up.
He had hoped that she was desperate, which clearly she wasn’t.
She had played her hand well. “I’ll get back to you,” she repeated, and called Patrick as soon as she hung up.
She had already sent him a text to thank him that morning, and he had responded warmly that he couldn’t wait to see her and the others on Friday.
She sounded mildly panicked when he answered her call after she spoke to Austin.
“Austin Wylie just called me,” she said, breathless.
“I knew he would. What did he say?”
“He offered me fifteen million for forty-five percent ownership,” she said. “That sounds way off to me.”
“It’s garbage,” he said, “and he knows it. You need twenty million, correct?”
“It would help us hold on until business picks up again and returns to normal. Less than that won’t make much difference.
We’ve had no significant income for eighteen months, and our overhead is still high.
We’ve cut back, but not enough,” she realized now.
Patrick thought about it for a minute. This was small potatoes for him, but he didn’t want to make a mistake that Eugenia would suffer from.
“What do you think your business is worth? A rough guess. Fifty million, a hundred, two hundred? I don’t know your industry well enough to judge.”
“Our accounts receivable are enormous when things are normal. Our price tags are high. I’m not sure, and have to ask my accountant. But I’d say conservatively, the business is worth a hundred million, ready-to-wear and couture.”
“I was guessing around that, or maybe higher. In that case, assuming a hundred, ask him for thirty million for twenty percent ownership. He’ll push you down to twenty or twenty-five million, which is where you want to be, and don’t give an inch on the percentage,” Patrick said smoothly.
This was child’s play for him. He bought and sold in the billions, and he was happy to help her with her negotiation.
“And if you make a deal with him, Eugenia, obviously you’ll have your attorneys look at it, but I want you to get two crucial clauses in the contract.
One, that you can give him back his money, at your sole discretion, at any time, with no penalty.
Two, that you get a morals clause in it, so that if at any time he is involved in any form of prosecution or situation that you deem unseemly, distasteful, immoral, or damaging to your business, the deal is off and dissolves immediately.
I may be wrong, but if my instincts about him are right, that’s important.
I don’t trust him. Promise me you’ll get those two clauses, or no deal. ”
“I promise,” she said, grateful to him again.
“And don’t call him back immediately. Let him sweat for a day or two. You can call him back on Monday. It’s good for him, and for you.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, and got off the phone a few minutes later.
She went to look for Gloria, and found her with Geoff in their guesthouse.
They were avoiding the others most of the time, except for meals.
Gloria’s siblings were easily irritated by Geoff’s arrogance.
They had hardly seen Gloria for the past few days; sometimes she took her and Geoff’s meals to their house, and she ate alone with him.
At dinner, they joined the others for family meals.
But Eugenia was observing increasingly that Geoff was not someone who did well in a family setting and he had trouble getting along with others.
Given the closeness of their family, that did not bode well for the future.
The others were so tired of Geoff’s constant bragging, they had stopped paying attention to him and barely spoke to him at dinner, which didn’t stop him from expounding on the many theories he had opinions about that no one wanted to hear.
He was painful to listen to and share a meal with, and he did his best to isolate Gloria with him to gain control of her.
Gloria opened the door to her mother with a suspicious look, and Eugenia smiled warmly at her from the doorway.
“Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea with me? I’ve been looking for you all afternoon.”
“I was here,” Gloria said primly. “Why were you looking for me?”
“I just wanted to chat. We haven’t seen a lot of you for the past few days.” Gloria didn’t invite her in, and Eugenia was sure that Geoff was listening to them.
“You were in the city yesterday,” Gloria accused her, as though it was a capital offense.
“True, but you two have been keeping to yourselves.” They both knew he wasn’t comfortable with them, but Eugenia didn’t say it. She didn’t want to start an argument before they got to the main issue. “Come on over to the house,” she said breezily, and started to leave.
Gloria hesitated, looked back over her shoulder to check with Geoff and he nodded, out of sight, but approving Gloria’s contact with her mother.
He was controlling her, like a puppet. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said, and closed the door.
Eugenia waited for her on the porch of her house, and Gloria approached cautiously five minutes later and sat down in a chair across from her, and repeated her question.
“Why do you want to talk to me? Is this about Geoff?”
“In part, but it’s really about you,” her mother said gently. “Some things have worried me and I want you to be aware of them.”
“He feels that our family is hard on him.” Gloria was instantly on the defensive.