Chapter 10 #2
“Thank you for sharing that with me,” Charlotte said gently, with her list of questions in hand.
“I really appreciate your talking to me, in spite of that.” She decided to jump into the deep end of the pool to save time.
“The New York Times has called him ruthless and a man without a conscience. Do you think that’s overstated?
Is there a softer side of him people don’t see in their business dealings with him, or is that an accurate description?
” Gabrielle thought for a few seconds, and looked Charlotte in the eyes.
“From my perspective, I’d say that’s accurate.
He’s a brilliant man, capable, reliable, disciplined, bold in his convictions, but there’s something important lacking in his human dealings, a lack of empathy, which could make him appear ruthless.
” She described him well, clinically if not emotionally.
“Is he antiquated or modern in his thinking?” Charlotte watched as Gabrielle answered with a small smile.
“A little of both. My father likes to control things. Everything. Things don’t go well when he can’t.”
“Is he flexible?”
“Never.”
“Honorable?”
“I can’t answer that question.”
“Honest?”
“With money, yes, although he drives a hard bargain, but he’s not generous.”
“Do you admire him?” Charlotte knew it wasn’t a fair question to ask a daughter, but she had to ask, especially in light of what Gabrielle had said. And Gabrielle hesitated on that one again.
“I respect his success. He’s in a hard business with other men as tough as he is.
He’s made a great success of our family business.
I respect him for that. But I don’t admire his personal views in life.
We’re very different, and I’m sure he doesn’t admire me either, if you ask him the same question.
We have opposite views of the world. I’m a healer.
He’s someone who will take a calculated risk knowing there will be collateral damages from the decisions he makes, but he thinks the damage is worthwhile if the benefit is great.
He would have made a great general. He knows that men in the infantry will die, but if he wins the war, he thinks it’s worth it.
My mission in life is to save as many of the infantry as I can.
I fight for lost causes. My father cannot lose. He has to win, whatever the cost.”
“Is that how he’s treated you? As collateral damage?”
“My father has no room in his life for people who don’t see things his way. There is his way, or no way, and nothing in between.”
“It must have been hard to grow up with a father with that kind of point of view,” Charlotte said, and meant it. Her sympathy was all with this beautiful young woman who was trying desperately to be reasonable and just in her assessment of her father.
“I had a wonderful mother who was an angel in my life,” Gabrielle said, her eyes full for an instant. “Unfortunately, we lost her about a year ago. It’s been hard for my father too. She was the bridge between us, the peacemaker. It’s been a big loss for me, and I’m sure for him too.”
“I’m so sorry,” Charlotte said kindly. “Do you think he has compassion for others?” Gabrielle shook her head and didn’t answer, and wiped a tear off her cheek.
“What do you think he could do to improve his reputation with the people he deals with? What could he change?”
“His rigidity. His inability to see another person’s point of view, to put himself in their shoes.
He’s short on empathy, but maybe that’s not possible from where he sits.
He sets industry standards faced with a lot of opposing factions—the seamen, the owners, the government, the unions.
It’s a mammoth job, and people don’t like you for it in the end.
He’s bold and courageous, but someone has to get hurt,” Gabrielle said wisely. “And it’s never him.”
The two women exchanged a look, and Gabrielle looked at her watch again.
“I have an eight-year-old patient waiting to have his broken arm set, and he’s in a lot of pain.
I don’t think I have more to add, unless I get personal, and I don’t think that would benefit my father or me.
I hope this helped you,” she said with a smile, and stood up.
“I’m sure he would hate my talking to you so frankly, but he needs to hear some of these things, and maybe this is the only way he will.
There’s another person you might find interesting to speak to.
She’s in L.A. She’s been my closest friend all my life.
Our parents were best friends, and still are.
Angela Phillips Klein. Her father died ten years ago, and her mother is very loyal to my parents.
I doubt she’ll speak to you. But Angela might.
” Gabrielle jotted down Angela’s name and phone number and handed it to Charlotte, who was deeply grateful for all that she had shared.
She had given her a rich stew of information about her father that was invaluable, and she had been remarkably objective and fair, especially given the strain in their relationship.
There had been nothing vengeful about it. She was clearly a good person.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Charlotte said, very moved by her.
“Call me Gabby,” she said with a warm smile.
“I know there have been a lot of negative things said about him recently. Some of them are true. I do know there is a good side to him, and he tries to do the right things. There is a part of him that many people admire, he just hasn’t shared that side of himself with me.
He’s very hard to please. He’s a hard man. ”
“I hope he’s very proud of you. He should be,” Charlotte said warmly, and they walked out of the office together, and a moment later, Gabby walked into an exam room with a last smile at Charlotte, who continued through the crowded waiting room and back outside.
She took a deep breath of the cold mountain air.
What Gabby had contributed would be the underpinnings of the interview, the meat and potatoes in the stew.
Charlotte felt sorry for her. She was a remarkable young woman and it was obvious her father hadn’t been kind to her.
Charlotte made a hard-and-fast decision that she was not going to reveal her source for the things Gabby Williams had said.
She owed it to her to protect her for the honesty about what she had shared.
—
Charlotte called Angela Klein in Los Angeles from the hotel that night. She didn’t know who she was, other than Gabby’s lifelong friend, and the daughter of John’s closest friends.
She waited until six o’clock on the West Coast, seven Mountain Time, in case Angela was coming home from work.
Charlotte didn’t know anything about her except her name and phone number, and she could hear children in the background when a woman’s voice answered.
Charlotte explained rapidly who she was and why she was calling, and that Gabby had given her Angela’s name and phone number.
She hoped it would encourage her to talk.
It was very telling to Angela, and explained the text she had had from Gabby a few hours before, which said cryptically: “A woman named Charlotte Ramsay from Vanity Fair will call you. I gave her your number. It’s about my dad.
Talk to her. This is your chance. I love you, G.
” Angela was curious what it was about, and Charlotte explained the gist of the article and that she was looking for information, with no bias until then.
It was a fact-finding mission about John Williams, nothing more.
“Gabby was very helpful today,” Charlotte said calmly. “She thought you and I should speak. I got the impression that you have information she didn’t want to share but she thought you might.”
“Would my name appear in the article?” Angela asked in a thoughtful voice. She was thinking of what Gabby had said in her text.
“Not if you don’t want it to. You have my word.
Gabby’s won’t either. I think it would be damaging to her if I quoted her, so I won’t.
Even if for some reason her father sues us, if he doesn’t like what we say about him, I don’t have to reveal my source, if I can show that it would be damaging or dangerous for her.
I can offer you the same protection,” Charlotte said very seriously, and there was a brief silence at Angela’s end of the line.
“I am guaranteeing you anonymity. I’m still trying to form an opinion myself.
It isn’t clear yet. He’s a powerful man, and not a very compassionate one, from what I can tell, which is the only thought I have so far.
But that’s why we’re doing an article about him.
Public opinion is riding high against him. ”