Perfect Partners

logical, and well-organized comments.
    He really was good at this sort of thing, Letty thought. He had a flair for business, and he appeared to thrive on it. It was obvious he was in his element.
    For his part, Keith was showing an ambitious and aggressively enthusiastic side that was clearly taking Diana by surprise. Head slightly bent, she toyed with her food and sipped continually at her wine. After a few minutes she looked up and met Letty’s eyes again.
    “I’m going to go upstairs to our room for a minute. Would you mind coming with me?” Diana asked bluntly.
    Letty slid a quick glance at Joel, but he was concentrating on something Keith was saying. She reluctantly placed her napkin on the table. “All right.”
    Diana stood up quickly. “Please excuse us,” she murmured to the men. “We’ll be back in a minute.”
    Keith broke off a comment about finding new suppliers and smiled at his wife. “Sure, honey.”
    Joel raised an inquiring brow at Letty, who gave him a small silent shrug. He turned back to Keith as she left the table with Diana.
    Diana said nothing as Letty accompanied her out of the restaurant and into the large lobby. They walked in silence to the bank of elevators. Letty could feel Diana’s stiff, angry tension all the way up to the twentieth floor, where they got out and started down the hall. She was wondering if she ought to say something to break the charged silence when Diana finally spoke.
    “I know you’re wondering what this is all about.” Diana inserted her key into the lock and moved into the room.
    “I think I have a good idea.” Letty followed her into the room and closed the door. “You’re opposed to Keith taking over the reins of Copeland Marine, aren’t you?”
    “Opposed to it?” Diana whirled around to confront Letty. Her face was tight and drawn. “I’m scared to death. I’m terrified. I’d give anything to stop it. The whole thing is going to be a disaster and yes,
yes
, I’m opposed to it. My God, that’s putting it mildly.”
    Letty eyed her thoughtfully. “Are you that certain Keith can’t pull it off?”
    “I have no idea if Keith can save the company or not. How would I know what he’s capable of doing? He’s never had a chance to prove what he can handle in the three years we’ve been married. That’s not the point.”
    Letty sat down in one of the chairs near the window. “What is the point, Diana?”
    “Daddy.” The single word was spoken in a stark, desperate tone.
    Letty watched her. “Are you telling me you’re really afraid of your father? Of what he’ll do when he finds out that control of Copeland Marine has been taken away from him?”
    “Yes.” Diana’s hands clenched and unclenched. “I’m scared to death of what he’ll do. Keith won’t listen to me, and I know Joel doesn’t give a damn.”
    Letty was silent for a moment, unsure of how to probe further. Then she decided to be blunt. “Do you think your father’s capable of violence?”
    Diana’s eyes snapped to hers and then away again. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “That’s the worst part. I’m not sure if I’m right to be this frightened. But I have seen Daddy get very angry. He loses control, gets almost wild. Lately I’ve had the feeling he’s closer to the edge than ever before.”
    Letty frowned. “How often has this happened?”
    “Not often, thank God. I think he beat my mother a few times. She lied about it. Told me she’d fallen or something, and God help me, I wanted to believe her. It was only when I got older that I realized Daddy had hit her. She never would admit it, though. Until the day she died, she denied it. I think she was trying to protect me from the truth.”
    “How often has he gotten violent since your mother’s death?”
    “The worst time was fifteen years ago when he caught me in that barn with Joel.” Diana’s breathing seemed labored. “I thought he was going to kill him. Daddy had a length of wood, and he kept swinging it, kept trying to crush Joel. If Joel hadn’t been as quick and as strong as he was, I know Daddy would have killed him. I know it.”
    Letty shivered as her imagination painted a vivid picture of the scene in the barn. “Any other instances?”
    “Nothing I’m sure of. I think he punched one of his employees during an argument a few years ago, but it was hushed up. No one said anything about it, and the man left the yard soon afterward. I’m sure that wasn’t the only time that sort