Page 1 of A Family Affair: The Vow
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Rachel Darlington might have grown up in Magdalena, but until Vic Tramont started working with her older sister, he hadn’t known much about her. Why would he when he’d graduated high school and moved out west while she was still in middle school? And when he returned at twenty-two, she was a sixteen-year-old kid with frizzy dark hair and braces. Vic remembered the hair and braces because she’d backed into his truck in the parking lot of Sal’s Market. Put a tiny dent in the rear bumper that sent her into near hysterics. He’d spent three minutes lecturing her onchecking visibilityand the next eight calming her down. When she handed him her insurance information, he didn’t miss the tears in those dark eyes, tears that convinced himnotto file a claim.
He hadn’t thought about the girl or the incident until the year Nate Desantro started training him for the plant manager position at ND Manufacturing. Part of the position entailed working with other businesses, like the metal supply company Gil and Peg Darlington owned, and where the Darlingtons’ oldest daughter, Leah, also worked. She and Vic had become friends, though sometimes she treated him more like a younger brother. Once in a while, she even acted like his mother.
Leah Darlington had a soft side and an easy listening style that made people want to talk to her, share their stories, maybe even share their secrets. Vic guessed she was in her late thirties and knew she lived in the family homestead with her nineteen-year-old son, Josh. The kid was a handful, the product of a college hookup that had zero sustainability. He’d never met his father, probably never would, and that caused Leah and her parents a lot of guilt, which elevated the kid to the only-child position, a.k.a. spoiled pain in the butt.
A few times a week Vic stopped by Darlington Metals to pick up a load of steel and Leah would greet him with a fresh-baked treat and a cup of coffee. Apple Danish, cherry strudel, chocolate donut. Who could resist that? When Nate heard about the coffees and sweets, he just shook his head and muttered something aboutbusiness turning softandlosing perspective. But Vic didn’t miss the humor or the almost smile as though Nate wasn’t exactly against the idea.
But then one day Leah started telling Vic about the issues with her son and how he just needed a chance and maybe a firm hand…one she couldn’t offer.Do you think Nate would give him a job in the machine shop? Anything? It would do him good to see what real work looks like. All he wants to do is tinker on that darn car of his. Please, do you think Nate would give him a chance?
What to say to that? From what he’d heard about the kid, he was a motorhead, obsessed with engines, speed, and troubleshooting a car’s issues. But he wasn’t big on showing up or following rules he didn’t agree with and that had cost him his job at the garage. Vic liked Leah and wanted to give her kid a chance, but there were conditions.Tell your son this place has rules, a time clock, designated lunches, and bathroom breaks. If he doesn’t like the sound of that, don’t waste our time.
Josh showed up two days later—a surprise on its own—sat down in Nate’s office and listened to a talk about integrity, honor, doing the work, and showing up. When Nate Desantro spoke,everybodylistened. The man commanded that kind of respect and with time and hard work, Vic hoped one day people would listen to him the way they listened to Nate, regard him with that same respect.
There was still a lot to learn about the business, and those damnable spreadsheets had been a killer. Nate hadn’t cared about Vic’s struggles with spreadsheets, said that skill could be taught. What couldn’t be taught was how to read a person, how to possess honor, integrity, and the desire to do the right thing. He’d believed Vic possessed those qualities—rare praise from the man—and that’s why Nate picked him to succeed Jack Finnegan as plant manager. As for the financials and the despised spreadsheets? Nate’s wife, Christine, was a whiz in that area and agreed to help him.
It actually took a year and a half to become a full-fledged plant manager with an aptitude for creating and analyzing spreadsheets, but Vic had done it.
Jack Finnegan had been a staunch supporter of placing Vic in the position, though he never came right out and said it, or tossed around praise or atta-boys. Instead, he’d used comments likeIf you take over, I’ll have more time to fishandSomebody’s got to sit in that chair, why not you?
Right, why not him? Vic might not have a college education, but he knew the business, and he loved it. Nate wasn’t wrong about Vic knowing people, especially the employees. Why shouldn’t he understand their motivations, when he’d taught them to run the machines, sharpen the tools, even offered a few tidbits of advice to guide them toward answers to their own questions—business and personal.
Take Tommy Springfield, who wanted to propose to Janice, his girlfriend of eight years, and had decided to pop the question on the front page of theMagdalena Press. When Vic asked if she liked surprises and big displays of affection, Tommy admitted she hated being in the spotlight.My cousin did this three years ago and his fiancée loved it...but...I think Janice will hate it, won’t she?That comment led Vic to shake his head, which made Tommy grin and hold out a hand.Thanks for helping me out, Vic. I knew you’d know what to do.
Teenagers were another area where he got a lot of questions. Not that he had any kids of his own, but people said his clear head and objectivity made him a good choice for the questions.
Should I take the keys away because he didn’t tell me about the ticket?
Should I ground her because she missed curfew?
What do I do about the boyfriend?
Should I take away the phone? The computer?
I don’t know what to do.
What should I do?
What would you do?
If you don’t like the behavior, then they have to know there are consequences. No consequences? The behavior will only get worse.
The kid lost his driving privileges for a month. The girl hadn’t missed her curfew since, and it had been three months. Same with the cell phone and the computer. Test scores improved. How about that?
Vic liked being a problem solver, even though he never straight-out told anyone what to do. He offered a few suggestions, asked them what various scenarios looked like, and how they saw the end goal. They went home, discussed it with their significant other if they had one, and then they talked to the kid, presented the ideaandthe expectation.
It was all about expectation.
People said Vic reminded them a lot of Nate Desantro: the broad shoulders, the muscles, the large hands. The stare that dared a person to mess with him. But they also said there were other similarities, ones you couldn’t see or touch and those were more important, traits like honor, integrity, commitment. Vic didn’t pay much attention to the talk, considered it a privilege to be compared to the man who’d offered him a job and a path to a solid future when Vic returned to Magdalena several years ago.
While the town compared the two men, likening Vic to a younger Nate without the anger or the animosity, there were other differences, too. Big ones. Vic didn’t mind helping people figure out solutions to their predicaments, and he didn’t care who knew about it. Nate didn’t like public acknowledgments of his good deeds and, if confronted, might actually deny them.
Vic studied the man who stood in a corner of Harry’s Folly, facing the door in the event danger walked through. His buddies were next to him, Ben Reed and Cash Casherdon, a cop and a former cop who both scanned the room every few minutes, gazes landing on the booth where their wives sat with Christine Desantro.
Vic took a long pull on his beer, wondered when Rachel Darlington, a.k.a. “Rae,” would make her entrance and when she did, how he’d play it. He’d had ten days to think about it, ever since Leah spilled the details of how her younger sister was heading to their parents’ retirement party.She hasn’t been home in a year. When was the last time you saw her? Oh...you don’t remember?A sly smile and an excitedI think you’ll be surprised and I think you two will have a lot in common.
Leave it to Leah Darlington, the wannabe matchmaker of Magdalena who believed everyone deserved a special someone in their life. Too bad she couldn’t find her own special someone, not that she was looking because she wasn’t. Nope, according to Leah, she’d tried that at eighteen and ended up pregnant, alone, and living at her parents. Not going to risk that particular failure again. Fast forward nineteen years and the kid was grown, but Leah was still alone and still living at her parents. Some might call that sad, but Leah referred to the situation as a risk versus rewards, and she’d opted for the low risk of getting hurt again and the high reward of channeling her energies into her son and Darlington Metals, the family business.
