Which was zero, but I was willing to let him have something.
“Richard...” Dad said weakly.
“Dad, you've built an empire on rational, methodical decision making—”
“And that time has passed.” Dad rapped his wedding ring against the glass window. The sharp sound split the air with authority.
I went silent and patiently waited for him to continue. I had a tendency toward over-talking when I had a point to make, but that was because I was practically raised in a board room.
He turned back to us with a half smile, then touched something on the door frame and the glass door beside it opened effortlessly. “Walk with me. It's too nice a day to spend cooped up inside the house.”
It was too much money to be discussing with such an informal air. We were talking about billions of dollars. And what happened if he died before either of us got a woman pregnant? This was all such a bad idea. Lucas and I gave each other a wary look, then followed to either side of him. This might've been the only time we ever saw eye-to-eye on anything.
The back patio was antique blue marble that abutted an invisible edge swimming pool. It wasn't all that wide, but ran the length of the house. Beyond that was all of Caldwell Hope. It was probably the most expansive and gorgeous view in all of Colorado.
It was amazing that as beautiful as this valley was, you only truly appreciated it when you didn't see it every day. We truly were spoiled kids...
“What's the difference between two billion dollars and five billion dollars?” Dad asked, walking over the short bridge that went over the pool. There was a small sitting area just on the other side that brought us to the end of the estate and the valley's edge.
“I don't know, Dad. The GDP gap between Greece and Kazakhstan?”
Lucas snorted behind me, incredulously. He tossed a pebble down the cliff that began a few dozen feet away. “Christ... he's obviously gearing up for a metaphor, Dick. Keep up.”
“As always you're both so right in all the wrong ways.” Dad smiled, then sat down on the stone bench. “There is no difference. It's just a number. A man can't spend that money in one or even several lifetimes.
“When numbers control your life it's easy to lose perspective and in the end you wonder if it was all worth the cost.”
“C'mon, Dad, you've done great things. Look.” Lucas pointed down the valley at the bustling main drag of downtown. “I've seen pictures of this place in the fifties from before you moved here.
“The place was a shit hole; a dying mining town. Now look at it. Tourism, industry, expansion, and urban development; it’s all thriving. You've literally breathed life into Caldwell Hope!”
“I originally came to here to meet with yet another potential investor. It was the first assignment my father ever gave me. 'To be your own man,' he told me, 'you have to able to make something out of nothing.'
“It was supposed to be the first step in building my own branch of King Industries.” Dad squinted, but we were too far away to make out the individual building's signs.
I'd heard this story before. It was what he told me when he sent me out into the world after I finished college.
“Long story short, no matter what I tried the guy wasn't interested. I failed. I'd have left town and gone back East that very day if I hadn't met your mom. Maggie was my waitress. She wore this blue-dotted apron.” Dad smiled warmly remembering the way his wife looked when they met. “Here I was, looking miserable and she brought me an ice cream sundae on the house.”
This part I hadn't heard... It struck me that I never knew how my parents met. That seemed like something every child should intrinsically know.
“I didn't know you met Mom in a restaurant,” I said.
“Yup, it was Cindy's Diner at the corner of Main and Marshall Long Avenue. It's long gone.”
“It's a place called Black Rocket Records now.” I chuckled quietly to myself in disbelief, thinking of the pretty and rude barista I'd met there this morning. I think Mom would’ve liked her, actually.
“We hit it off and I decided to stay for a little while. She helped me through a real low point in my life. I was fresh out of college with almost two dozen failed attempts at finding investors already under my belt. It would've been impressive if it wasn't so damn disappointing.” Dad wore a soft, light expression, finding the levity in even bad times.
“Your mother was the most incredible person I’d ever met. She loved good people and good books. She lived her whole life in this small town. She never went to college, but she was such a smart cookie and she loved children. That's why she spoiled you so damn much.” Dad bent forward and lightly slapped our thighs.
“Anyways… I was about to abandon the idea of being an entrepreneur altogether, and go back to my father with my tail between my legs and beg for a job. Maggie talked me out of it. When I told her what happened with the investor and my track record thus far she said something I'll never forget.
“She said, 'So what?'”
He let that linger for a moment before continuing.
“It didn't matter that I failed. It wasn't the first or even the hundredth failure that mattered. It was the last failure that mattered; the one that stopped you from trying again.”
“I get that.” I crossed my arms, swishing the statement around my mind like a fine wine. “Never give up, keep trying until you—”
“No you don't.” Dad put a hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes victory itself is a form of failure. You're too much like me to really understand.”
OK, now I was confused. The man was a self made billionaire and philanthropist, how could being like him be a bad thing?
Lucas was strangely quiet. Did he actually know what Dad was talking about?
Sometimes it frustrated me that everything came so easy to Lucas. I had to pour my blood, sweat and tears into all that I’d achieved. Lucas was just naturally talented and floated through life like a breeze.
“The reason I've never told you that story before was because I was always too busy with work. I was too busy winning to see what I’d lost. Even after the empire was created there was always more work to do, always more reasons not to enjoy what I already had. I might've never failed my business, but I certainly failed my family.
“Your mother especially…”
Mom cheated on him once when he was too busy to make time for her. It had been a dark moment in our family. The King family dealt with the quiet repercussions of that affair for years. In some ways we were still dealing with it.
“I won't do that again,” Dad said, somberly.
He was speaking of her spirit and how he would honor it. That part I got. The rest though… How do you get defeated by constantly winning?
“You're right,” I said. “I don't understand.”
Dad sighed and stood up. “I've given this a great deal of thought. My decision is final and legally binding. I want a grandchild.”
There was a long silence as he let that last statement sink in. All of this was so he could get a grandson or granddaughter?
“There are a few rules,” he said. “No bribes in any capacity. You can't give a woman any money or incentives to do anything she normally wouldn't do.”