Sweet Fortune

wanted to be here. I'd planned on it. You know that. It was just that we ran into problems down in Portland.”
    “I know, Dad. Forget it. Like I said, you're here.”
    “Only because you sicced Hatch on me.”
    “I didn't sic him on you. He took it upon himself to make you show today.”
    “Hell, you got what you wanted. I can understand why you're a little upset with me, but why don't you sound more thrilled with Hatch?”
    Jessie watched the robot roll to the edge of the table and halt as if by magic. “Probably because I know how his mind works. He'll figure I owe him for this.”
    “Maybe you do. There's a price tag attached to everything in this world.” Vincent followed her gaze as she watched the robot make a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and scoot to the other side of the table. “Tell me the truth, Jessie. How do you really feel about the man?”
    “What have my feelings got to do with it? All you care about is marrying me off to him so you can keep the company in the family and watch Hatch take it big-time, right? Don't go all paternal and concerned on me now, Dad. We know each other too well for that kind of nonsense.”
    “Goddammit, you may not believe this, but I want you to be happy, Jessie. The thing is, I think you and Hatch can make a go of it. There's something about the two of you. When you're in the same room together I can almost see the sparks.”
    “That's probably just the two of us sharpening our knives for battle.”
    “Come on, Jessie. This is your old man, remember? I know you well enough to be sure you aren't exactly indifferent to Hatch. I'll never forget the day he fired you. You came out of that office looking shell-shocked, like you'd just done ten rounds with a lion.”
    “Shark,” Jessie corrected. “And it wasn't that big a deal. I've been fired before, Dad.”
    “Hell, I know that. You've made a career out of getting fired. But somehow in the past you've always come out of it looking as if you were the one who had fired your boss, instead of vice versa. This was the first time I'd ever seen you look like you'd actually lost a battle. That's when I knew for sure it could work between you and Hatch.”
    Jessie gritted her teeth. “You're not exactly the world's leading authority on what it takes to create a successful long-term relationship, Dad.”
    “You don't have to spell it out. I know damn well I haven't been a good role model in the husband-and-father department. Who knows how I would have turned out if Lilian or Connie had been more like you? They both gave up on me, you know. Lost patience somewhere along the line. But you, you're a fighter. You keep after what you want. And you've got Hatch while he's still young. You can work on him, can't you?”
    “Young? The man's thirty-seven years old.”
    “Prime of life. I'll tell you something, Jessie. From where I stand these days, thirty-seven looks damn young. And he's got the guts and the brains it takes to make Benedict Fasteners very, very big.”
    “What makes you so sure he's got what it takes?”
    Vincent grinned. “Partly my own instincts and partly his track record.”
    “I figure the instinct part is based on the fact that he's a lot like you.”
    “Now, Jessie, that's not true. Fact is, our management styles are damn different. Hatch has got all kinds of ideas for the company I'd never have approved if he hadn't talked me into them. He's got what they like to call vision , if you know what I mean.”
    “Vision?”
    “Yeah, you know. He's aware of new management stuff like concurrent engineering and design. He knows how to deal with foreign markets. He thinks big. Me, I'm a more basic kind of guy. Hatch says I get bogged down in the details, and he's right. Takes vision to pull a company into the big time.”
    Jessie gave him a speculative glance. “So what makes his track record so impressive?”
    “Well, for one thing, he's come up the hard way. No one ever gave him a handout. He's tough. A real fighter. The kind of guy you like to have at your back in a barroom brawl, if you know what I mean. Should have seen what he did to a company called Patterson-Finley a few years back.”
    Jessie got an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach, although she had never heard of Patterson-Finley. “What, exactly, did he do to it?”
    “He was a consultant to one of its smaller rivals. Engineered a takeover bid for them designed to gain controlling interest in Patterson-Finley. It was brilliantly