Sweet Fortune

right, I promise.” The words were out before she had quite realized she was going to say them.
    Hatch nodded once, satisfied. “I'll see you at dinner tonight.” His fist dropped away from the wall. With one last warning glance he swung around on his heel and stalked back toward Vincent Benedict's office.
    Jessie walked toward the elevators on trembling legs. She must have gone crazy there for a minute. She had stood up to him on the matter of the Attwood case. But she'd collapsed completely on this issue. It made no sense.
    She sincerely hoped she was not turning into a wimp.

    Forty-five minutes later, Jessie parked her car in front of the low, modern building that housed the offices of ExCellent Designs. She opened the car door and got out slowly, not particularly looking forward to the meeting that lay ahead.
    Downtown Bellevue was humming with its usual assortment of BMW's and well-dressed suburbanites. Jessie always felt as if she had crossed some sort of international border when she drove over one of the bridges that linked the Eastside with Seattle.
    Over here everything always looked clean and trendy and expensive. In Seattle the high-fashion shops and restaurants competed for space with the gritty elements that had characterized real cities since the dawn of time.
    Connie glanced up from the design plan she was perusing on her desk when Jessie opened the office door. She smiled. “Hello, Jessie. Is this good news or bad news?”
    “A little of both.”
    Connie made a face. “Better save it until your mother gets here, then. She just went out to get us some coffee. Ah, here she is.”
    “Hi, Jessie.” Lilian Benedict walked into the office carrying two cups of latte. “This is a surprise. I assume you've got some news for us?”
    “Dad will give you the money for the expansion,” Jessie said, sinking down into one of the exotically shaped black leather-mesh chairs.
    “Fabulous. I knew you could talk him into it. Any serious catches this time?” Lilian removed the top from her latte.
    “No, but I had a little trouble with Hatch over the arrangement.”
    “With Hatch?” Constance stared at her in astonishment. “Why is Hatch involved in this?”
    “He's not, actually. He just thinks he is. To put it briefly, he got very annoyed that I was doing the asking. I don't think he likes me going to Dad with requests like yours.”
    “But this is a personal matter between us and Vince.” Lilian frowned. “Does he think the money comes directly out of Benedict Fasteners or something?”
    “No, it's not that.” Jessie shifted slightly in the chair, trying to find a comfortable position. Her father was right. Some of this European design stuff looked better than it felt. “It's me being in the middle that bothers him for some reason. I explained to him that I'm used to dealing with Dad, but Hatch doesn't understand exactly how things work, if you see what I mean.”
    Lilian and Constance exchanged glances.
    “I think we see,” Lilian said dryly.
    Constance sighed and sat back in her chair. Her long mauve nails traced the rim of the cup she was holding. “He's quite right, you know. We have all tended to let you handle Vincent for us, by and large. You have a knack for it.”
    “Ummm, true.” Lilian studied her daughter. “I wonder why Hatch is interested in that fact.”
    “I think he believes I'm being used,” Jessie said carefully.
    Lilian's expression tightened into one of deep concern. “Do you feel used, dear?”
    Jessie glanced out the window. “No. I did it of my own free will. It was just the way things were. A pattern, as Aunt Glenna would probably say. I guess I felt that as long as I was running back and forth between everyone else in the family and Dad, we were all still linked, somehow. Still a family.”
    “Well, it worked, after a fashion,” Constance murmured. “We're all living amicably enough in the same region and we're all on speaking terms, except possibly David. Vince has been difficult, but, on the whole, reasonably fair when it comes to money. And if it hadn't been for you, I doubt that Elizabeth would have nearly as much contact with her father as she does have. I think he would have drifted away from her and everyone else if it hadn't been for you, Jessie.”
    Lilian nodded. “Vincent is like a Missouri mule. You have to keep hitting him over the head with a big stick to get his attention. But when you do have it, he's a decent man.”
    “I've been the