John Kahn, a Vietnam War Veteran, is a wealthy businessman with political ambitions. He expends time and energy, not his money, on the pursuit of the Mayoralty of New York but he chooses the hard way; he decides to stand as an Independence Party candidate. His family, with its origins in The Netherlands, is well connected and New York has been their home for over one hundred eventful years. From modest beginnings the Kahn’s have built a business empire that now encompasses property, retail stores, medicines and beauty products. America, to John Kahn’s forebears, was the land of opportunity and they have prospered.
The passing of the years has softened the hurt of a divided family, in the United States. Only, the broad sweep of the Atlantic Ocean and a distant family’s apparent indifference to a stolen bequest, the foundation of all that the Kahns of New York now enjoy, is no defence when relatives from Amsterdam, strangers until one eventful moment, come knocking at his door.
Jan Vivian was born to Dutch parents, in Caracas, Venezuela and now lives near Stratford upon Avon with his wife and son.. He draws upon his travels, personal experience, newspapers, and what he sees as life around him for the inspiration to write both full length novels and short stories.
Payment Deferred is his third published work.
Marie stared at him and John relaxed his embrace, moving to lean against the wall watching silently as Marie stepped into her skirt and buttoned the jacket, adjusting the fit against her breasts, the cut like a waiter’s jacket, longer, and tapered gently at the front, down onto her belly. She moved to the ornate dressing table and put on his engagement ring, given before he left for South East Asia, and the wedding band, a reworked idea from her grand mother’s bequest, some of the gold melted into the making of John’s ring. It was wedlock, as she had always intended her life to be with him, through good and bad times.
Their marriage had survived; she had kept him in spite of the occasional wounding betrayal. She also knew of the secret that drove him in pursuit of a political career, forged out of the business that he had inherited as the eldest son and which he ran as a CEO and the family holding the controlling shares.
“You’re my darling wife, the one who has helped me get this far, channelled the Kahn’s ambition and the Hudson’s influence.”
“Yes,” she brushed her hair with busy, almost rough strokes and feeling anxious for him. Ambition was what made John attractive, powerful, but its realisation made her withdraw, into herself. There was so much that he had come to do without her; the Kahn’s had a history and from tonight, as in years before, she could only help him with what was in the public domain.
“I still love you, Marie.” He took her hand as they walked to the bedroom door, for the last private moments before an evening in the full glare of the media.
“I know – but are you in love with me?” She felt his grip tighten only for an instant.
Marie didn’t know how the evening would end, if he would return with her or whether Henry, their private and the company’s lawyer, would take him away for meetings or some other celebratory diversion. John carried a small leather bag, with a few toiletry items, a clean shirt like he had on now and a brighter tie; anything could happen and John was always one-step ahead, always prepared it seemed. He kept himself mentally and physically sharp, a legacy from his military service away that had never quite deserted him.