WHEN
By Julie-Ann S.
*************************************************
“Well
whaddya reckon?”
Joe
Cartwright tipped the front of his hat up and nodded once. “Not bad.
Not bad at all.”
“What
did I tell ya.” Aaron McSween smiled as
he patted the shabby, round seat situated in the middle of the foyer. “You won’t regret it one bit.”
“Looks
like some work will need to be done in order to get it up to scratch.”
“You
know how it was Joe with Pa being sick and all.
Any extra money we had went to his medical bills.”
“Yeah
I know.” Joe smiled reassuringly at the
man who stood opposite him. “Still I can
see the potential it has. Nothing that a
lick of paint and a few sticks of furniture couldn’t fix.”
“So
you’ll buy it then?”
“Are
you sure you still want to sell? You’d
have no problem getting her back in good working condition.”
Aaron
shook his head slowly. “No.” He paused for a moment before he continued. “This hotel was Pa’s dream – not mine. I miss the way
“I
remember. All the hustle and bustle of
all the buildings going up. All those
people comin’ and goin’. It was exciting
but I kinda like the way it is now too.”
As
he sat down on the round bench, Aaron smiled slightly. “Yeah the place is nice and civilised
now. Not much chance of being a pioneer
anymore. I want to go some place where
there’s still a lot of new frontiers to explore.”
“I
guess that’s why you want to sell up in a hurry – you’ve already found
somewhere to go.”
“Yep
sure have.” Aaron grinned. “I heard
Joe
laughed. “I can understand that – being
an enterprising man myself.”
“Then
I take it that we have a deal.” Aaron
stood up and looked at Joe with an expectant look on his face.
“We
have a deal.” Joe held out his hand,
which Aaron grabbed and shook it heartily.
“That’s
great. You won’t regret it one bit,”
Aaron said excitedly.
After
another quick glance around the building, Joe smiled nervously. “I sure hope I won’t.”
*************************************************
A
frown crept upon Joe’s face as he once again started to work out his financial
situation. The most he could muster up
at short notice was about three hundred dollars – a long way short of the two
thousand that Aaron had asked for the hotel.
He glanced over to the clock that was on the chest of drawers in his
room. It was nearly
Joe
thought back to earlier in the day and smirked.
Aaron had been so sure that he was going to say yes that he already had
a contract drawn up in advance. Was he
that predictable? Willing to take
advantage of any opportunity to make money when it came up? If he was truthful with himself the answer
would be yes. He had always had a talent
for finding ways to make money.
Still
his talent wasn’t going to help him right now.
He had to have the money ready one hour before the stage left on Friday
or Aaron would sell the hotel to the bank.
Deep down he knew the hotel would give him an opportunity to stand on
his own two feet financially. He
chuckled at the thought that no matter how old he got, the stigma of all those
other ventures that he had botched up would always come back to haunt him.
As
he got up off his bed, he stretched and walked over to the window. The night was clear and the moon shone
brightly. He snorted as he thought about
that even at his advanced age he still wanted the approval of his family in
everything he did. Sure he had it in
most things like his expertise with horses and the other stuff he did on the ranch. So why, were there times that they still made
him feel like he was the baby of the family?
Maybe this was just the ticket to get himself on an equal footing with
brothers in the financial stakes.
After
a few more moments of deep contemplation, Joe felt that it was time to get some
sleep. He had changed into his night
clothes a few hours ago with that intention but he had become so engrossed that
the time had quickly gone by. As he
cleared his bed of all the paper that was on it, extinguished the lamp and got
into bed, his mind went over the only option that was left. He had to find a willing partner or partners.
Adam
was the first one that had come to mind but Joe immediately quashed that
one. Adam would no doubt want a say in
everything that happened with the hotel.
Joe wanted to run this one on his own.
What he needed was a silent partner.
Candy was out of the question and he couldn’t go to
*************************************************
Hoss
Cartwright lifted his head as soon as he heard the horse approach. He smiled as he put down the leather straps
he had been working on. As he slowly got
up, he stretched a little and then made his way down from the front porch to
greet his brother. “Hey Joe!”
Joe
grinned as he pulled Cochise to a stop.
“Hoss.”
“What
brings you out here?”
“Oh
nothing much,” Joe said casually as he alighted from his horse and walked over
to the hitching rail. After tying up Cochise,
he quickly looked around the yard and then to the front of the house. “Looks like you’ve made some improvements
since the last time I was here.”
“Yup. Brought that there rockin’ chair just
yesterday.” He pointed to the
chair. “Annie also got some new curtains
made up for the front parlour.”
“They
sure look good, “ Joe replied as he leant slightly to his left to see for
himself. “By the way is your good wife
around?”
Hoss
sighed. “’Fraid not. She’s gone to visit her folks for the
day. Won’t be back until near supper
time.”
“So
she’s left you to fend for yourself?”
“Nope. Got some leftovers that I plan on havin’ for
lunch.” Hoss paused for a moment as he
studied his younger brother.
Joe
shifted uncomfortably. He needed to
choose the right moment to bring up the reason why he had come today. One thing he had make sure of was that he
didn’t sound too desperate or too eager – that might put off Hoss straight
away. He smiled nervously as he realised
Hoss had been silent for too long. “You
okay?”
“Yup
I’m okay. I was just wonderin’ if there
was anythin’ wrong with you?”
“Anything
wrong with me,” Joe replied with a hint of caution as he quickly put his hand
to the centre of his chest. “Nope
nothin’ wrong me.”
Hoss’
brows knitted. “You sure?”
“Yeah
I’m sure. What makes you think that
there’s something wrong.”
“Let’s
just call it the ol’ Cartwright intuition.
I gotta feelin’ that you’re here for more than just a friendly visit.”
“I
haven’t said anything to give that impression.”
“You
don’t need to say anythin’. I can tell
by the way you’ve been actin’.”
Joe
looked up as he methodically went through everything that he had done since he
had arrived. After a couple of minutes,
he shrugged his shoulders. There wasn’t
anything he could think of that would make Hoss suspicious. The only conclusion he could come up with was
that Hoss was just joshing. However, a
small part of him knew that there was a remote chance that Hoss did suspect
something.
Seeing
that he had no choice in the matter, Joe nodded. “Alright I did come by for more than just a
visit.”
A
wide grin flashed on Hoss’ face. “So
Adam was right.”
“Adam?”
“Adam
was here a couple of hours ago. He said
that you were up to all hours last night.”
For
a brief moment Joe wondered why Adam had been up so late. He laughed as he realised that the only
reason was probably one of necessity more than anything else. “I should’ve known that someone was bound to
notice.”
“You
got that right little brother. Now how
about we go and sit on the porch and you can tell me all about it.”
Joe
followed Hoss’ lead and as he took his seat, he took a deep breath. “Aaron McSween is leaving to go to
“How
much is he askin’ for it?”
“Two
thousand dollars.”
Hoss
raised an eyebrow. He could see what was
coming. “And how much do you have?”
“Three
hundred dollars.”
“I
suppose you’ve come to ask me for the rest?”
“Yes
and no.” Joe stood up. “I want to ask you come in as my partner – a
silent partner. I need somebody who’d be
content to let me run things as I see fit.”
A
knowing look crept onto Hoss’ face. “And
that’s why you haven’t gone to Adam with this.”
“Yep.” Joe looked at Hoss with an expectant
look. “So how about it?”
Hoss
leant forward as he began to think about it.
He already knew what his answer was going to be but he wanted to Joe to
wait it out for a little while. It still
amazed him that he was so willing to help Joe out in this way despite all those
other times he had lost out in some wild scheme that Joe had dreamt up. A body would think that he would’ve learnt
his lesson by now but family was family.
He turned his head to face Joe and nodded.
“Great.” Joe went over to Hoss, grabbed his hand and
shook it vigorously. “You won’t regret
this Hoss, I promise you. Now after you
give me the rest of the money…”
“Hang
on a minute. There’s somethin’ I think I
ought to tell you.”
Joe
let go of Hoss’ hand and stood back.
This didn’t sound too good.
“What?”
“I’m
still goin’ to help you out but,” Hoss shifted uncomfortably for a moment. “Well you see it’s like this. Most of my money is tied up in investments
and all I have available is about $500.”
A
small exasperated sigh escaped from Joe.
“Well I suppose it’s a start.
Thanks.”
“I’m
real sorry that I couldn’t help you out some more.”
“That’s
okay Hoss. It just means that I’ll have
to be more resourceful than I thought I would have to be.”
“I
have no doubt that when it comes to resourcefulness little brother you’ll have
no problems.”
Joe
smiled. For the rest of his visit, he
and Hoss worked out the particulars of the partnership.
*************************************************
Wednesday
afternoon found Joe walking down the main street of
As
he stopped in front of the Silver Dollar he wondered if it was worth it. Was going into business as a hotel proprietor
the right thing to do? However before he
could answer the question, Candy walked out of the saloon with a huge grin on
his face.
Joe
smiled. “Looks like you’ve hit the
jackpot.”
“You
could say that.” Candy put his hand in his
pocket and drew out a wad of notes. “I
just won myself two hundred dollars in a poker game.”
“Two
hundred dollars, “ Joe said in a slow and even tone. All of a sudden his face lit up. “What do you plan to do with your sudden
windfall?”
“Oh
I don’t know. Might buy myself a new
outfit – hey wait a minute! I know that
look and the answer is no.”
“C’mon
Candy. All I’m offering is a stake in a
very profitable business venture.”
“I
don’t want to go into the hotel business.”
“Now
Candy what sort of attitude is that?
Besides I bet you haven’t even thought of the benefits owning part of a
hotel can bring.”
Candy
eyed his friend suspiciously. It looked
like Joe was about to go in one of his speeches. In order to avoid a long one, he sighed. “Ok what are the benefits?”
“How
about the fact that you would have free room and board every time you stayed
overnight in town?”
“Alright
that’s a good point but other than that I don’t see anything that would make me
want to go into the hotel business.”
“I
can think of plenty of good reasons.”
“Name
three others.”
Joe
frowned. He had to think of something
that would appeal to Candy and convince him to become a partner.
A
smile started to appear on Candy’s face.
He knew that Joe was going to have a hard time trying to find three good
reasons. After a little while, he
decided to speak. “Well having any
luck?”
“Just
give me a few minutes and you’ll have your three reasons.”
Candy
shook his head and placed his hand on Joe’s left shoulder and patted it. “Sorry ol’ buddy but your time is up. Besides I’ve got plans for this.” He held up the hand which held the cash.
“Hey
you didn’t even give me a chance to…”
“I
can’t help it if you’re not quick enough.
It’s a tough game being in business.
Now if you don’t mind, I…”
Candy’s voice trailed off as he stared over Joe’s shoulder. A look of confusion mixed with surprise
quickly replaced the smug look that had just been there moments before.
Not
missing what had just happened, Joe’s demeanour immediately changed to one of
concern. “Candy? You okay?”
After
a brief shake of his head, Candy grabbed Joe’s hands and placed the money
into. “Here take this as my share of the
hotel.”
Before
he could reply, Joe watched in complete amazement as Candy took off down the
street. He looked down at the money in
his hands and then back to Candy. His
eyes continued to follow Candy until the man turned down into one of the side
streets.
For
a moment he was tempted to go after Candy to find out what the problem
was. Then he thought that it would be
wise not to. If Candy wanted help he
would have asked for it. No doubt he
would hear about it at some point. Joe
just shrugged his shoulders and turned his mind to what was in his hands.
Candy’s
two hundred dollars now made the total at one thousand dollars. He was halfway there but getting the rest of
it was going to be a challenge. At least
he still had the rest of today and all day tomorrow to come up with the
difference.
*************************************************
“How
did it go?”
“We
cleared it up and also made sure that it wouldn’t happen again.”
Ben
nodded. “That’s good Adam. Was there any trouble?”
“No,
no trouble,” Joe said slowly as he undid his gun belt. “Adam dealt with Thompson and his bunch. I took care of the others.”
“Thompson
was a handful but after a while he listened to reason.” Adam moved away from the sideboard and then
stretched a little. “I’m starved. How long till dinner’s ready?”
“Not
long. When Hop Sing heard you two ride
up, he went back into the kitchen to finish it off.”
After
he had taken off his gun belt and jacket, Joe made his way over to the settee
and sat down. He leant back and closed
his eyes. That mess up at the timber
camp had taken all day to sort out. It
had been unexpected and had put a big dent in his plans. There would be only a few hours in the
morning to find the rest of the cash he needed to give to Aaron before he left.
Adam
glanced at Joe as he made his way over to one of the red leather chairs. He could see that his brother was in a
quandary about something and he knew exactly what it was. It was only a matter of time before Joe would
have to come to him.
Joe
opened his eyes and looked around the room.
He reminded himself of the reasons why he couldn’t go to his father for
a loan and he definitely didn’t want to ask Adam for it, so he decided to
remain silent as he continued to work out his options.
A
few minutes passed before Ben decided to break the silence. He could see Adam every now and then take a
quick look at his brother as if he was waiting for Joe to speak up at any
minute. Joe’s brows were knitted tightly
as he sat there in what was obviously deep thought. Ben took a deep breath. “Joe.
Hoss tells me that you’re looking at buying a hotel.”
For
a moment, Joe’s face showed mild surprise.
“Umm…that’s right
“Hoss
said as much. He also told me that he
bought a stake in the hotel as well.”
“Yep.” Joe smiled a little. “You know he’s getting to be a pretty astute
business man. There was a time I
could’ve talked him into anything and he’d just accept it with no strings attached.”
Ben
chuckled. “I take it he’s finally learnt
his lesson.”
“He
sure has. He made certain that we’d
signed a partnership agreement before he gave me any cash.”
“Sounds
like a good move to me.” Adam leant back
in his chair a little. “Do you have any
other partners?”
Joe
looked at Adam warily. He knew exactly
where Adam wanted to take this conversation.
“As a matter of fact I do. Candy
bought a share as well.”
“Candy,”
Adam replied in a slightly tensed voice.
“Now where on earth would he get enough money to do that?”
“I
caught him outside the Silver Dollar yesterday.
He’d just won big at a poker game.”
“Well
I’m glad to see that men are using the time I gave them off to good use.” Ben’s face showed the humour his voice had
held.
“They
sure are.” Joe grinned a little. “For a moment I was sure he wasn’t going to
help me out but then something set him off.
He shoved the money into my hands and then took off down the
street. I haven’t heard from him since.”
“I
haven’t seen him around today so he must be still in town.”
“It
must have been big – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him move that fast.”
Tired
of the talk about Candy, Adam decided it was time to steer the subject back to
the issue of the hotel. “So Joe, how much
have you raised so far?”
“Nowhere
near what I was hoping to get to by the end of today.”
“I
take it that you’ve got a lot of money to find but little time to do it.”
“You
got that right big brother.”
Adam
leant forward and clasped both of his hands together. “You do know that I would be willing to help
you out.”
Joe
nodded slowly as he replied in an all-knowing tone. “Oh believe me I do.”
“Then
all you have to do is ask.”
“I
know but that’s not the problem. The
problem that I have is that, and correct me if I’m wrong, that you would want
to have a say in how things are run.”
“Only
in accordance with how much of the hotel I own.”
“And
there lies my problem.” Joe stood up
abruptly. “With the way things are at
the moment, you would own half the hotel.”
“Half
the hotel?” Adam’s eyebrows lifted up in
mild surprise. “I thought you had gotten
more than that.”
As
he walked around to the back of the settee, Joe shook his head. “Unfortunately I haven’t.”
Ben
noted Joe’s disappointment and felt a little sorry for him. “How badly do you
want this hotel?”
Joe
turned to his father and smiled apologetically.
“Bad enough. I wanted to do this
on my own but I didn’t think I would have this much trouble.”
“You
know you can still have it.”
“Yes
I know.” Joe walked over to Adam, who
stood up as he approached and placed his hands on Adam’s shoulders. “You’re my brother and I love you but how
long would it be before we’d be doing things your way?”
A
wide grin appeared on Adam’s face. He
placed lifted his right arm and patted Joe on the back. “I understand perfectly.”
As
he watched his two sons, Ben smiled warmly.
It did his heart good to see that his sons knew and understood each
other. He could also see the admiration
that each had for the other and in the light of recent happenings it was
important that he told them. Life was
too precious to let it go by without telling others how you felt. Going over to his sons, he placed an arm
around each of them. “I’m proud of you
both.”
Adam
and Joe quickly gave each other a brief look of concern before they returned
their gazes to their father. Ever since
that mess with
The
moment was broken by the sound of Tom as he made his way downstairs. He went over to greet his father in his
usual, respectful manner. Adam was glad
to see that Tom had begun to relax over the last few weeks, but it worried him
that his son was still reserved in a lot of ways. As he returned the greeting, Adam
smiled. “Ready for dinner?”
Tom
nodded. “Yes sir.”
Joe
smiled. Perhaps after he got some food
into him, he would be able to think more clearly. “You know dinner sounds mighty good to
me. I hope Hop Sing’s made plenty as
I’ve worked up a powerful bit of a hunger.”
As
if on cue, Hop Sing came out with a platter full of vegetables. The four of them all looked at each other and
grinned as they made their way to the table.
*************************************************
The
next morning Joe found himself seated on the bench outside the post
office. He scratched the back of his
neck in frustration as he contemplated his situation. In less than an hour he had to meet Aaron
outside the Wells Fargo office with the money for the hotel. At this point he had no way of getting the
one thousand dollars he still needed. He
had tried in a vain to convince a couple of other friends to come in as
partners but they weren’t interested as most of their spare cash was tied up in
other ventures.
For
the last twenty minutes he had tried to work out various options that would
allow him to get the money and he soon realised that the only one left to him
was to go to Adam. He shook his
head. Just maybe Adam would let him have
complete control – just maybe. It was
worth one more try anyway.
Just
as he got up from the bench, he heard his name being called out. He turned to the direction where he had the
voice come from and was surprised to see Leslie Whitaker approaching him.
“Joe! I’m glad I caught you in time,” Leslie said
as managed to catch her breath.
“Mrs.
Whitaker what can I do to help you?”
Leslie
shook her head. “No I don’t want your
help. I came here to help you. I had to find you as soon as I heard.”
“Heard
what?” Joe gazed at her questionably.
“It’s
not as bad as it sounds.” She took a
seat on the bench and motioned Joe to join her.
Not
wanting to be disrespectful, Joe sat down next to her. “I’m sorry if I’m being a bit forward but
considering the situation between you and Adam…”
“Adam
is part of the reason why I’ve come to help you.” She smiled a little as she watched the
confusion appear on Joe’s face. “Let me
explain. I was just talking to Myra
Monroe and she tells me that you are looking at buying the McSween hotel.”
“Yes
that’s true. I suppose Clarence told her
that I had approached him.”
“He
did. Clarence also told her that Aaron
McSween was leaving today and that you had to have the money or he was selling
the hotel to the bank.”
“That’s
right.” A slight grin appeared on Joe’s
face. “I guess there are no secrets
between a husband and his wife.”
“Believe
me there can be,” Leslie replied in a tone that wistful but before Joe could
remark upon it, she changed her demeanour.
“Well let’s get to the matter at hand.
I’m here to make you an offer.
I’m willing to give the two thousand dollars you need.”
Joe’s
eyebrows flew up. “You want to give me
the money? I have a hard to believing
that it’s as simple as that.”
“You’re
right, it isn’t that simple. I’m willing
to lend you the money – interest free.
You can pay me back whenever you can afford to do so. All I want in return is some information.”
“Some
information and that’s it?” Joe
scratched the back of head. It sounded
too good be true and that worried him.
What information could he possibly have to warrant such an offer?
Seeing
that Joe was in a pickle, Leslie decided to elaborate some more. “It’s a win-win situation as far as I’m
concerned. I get the information I need
and you get the money. You can use what
you’ve raised so far to do whatever you want.
You could put in back into hotel and fix a few things up before you
re-open.”
“I
suppose I could but,” Joe stood up. She
had mentioned Adam earlier as being the reason for her coming to him. He needed to know exactly what she
meant. “This information you want – does
it have something to do with my brother?”
Leslie
sighed. She had no choice if she wanted
to get the information. “Yes it does.”
“You
expect me to sell my brother for two thousand dollars?”
“No
that’s not what I’m wanting you to do.”
She got up and grabbed Joe by the arm.
“Come with me. We need to talk in
private.”
Confused
by the way Leslie was acting Joe reluctantly decided to let her lead him to an
alley near the post office. As soon as they
got there she let go of his arm and quickly looked around to make sure that
there was nobody else was there. When
she was satisfied, she turned back to Joe.
“What I’m about to tell is to be kept in strict confidence between you
and me. If Adam was to know that I told
you, let just say he wouldn’t be happy.”
“Alright
I’m listening.”
A
few moments passed before Leslie spoke up.
“Before I start I want to say that my offer of the money still
stands. I won’t lie and say that what
you could tell me isn’t that important because it is. I’ll tell you why and what I want to
know. Then you can decide for yourself
if you want to tell me.”
Joe
nodded. “Sounds fair enough.” Curiosity had gotten the better of him. Besides, he was interested in learning more
about what was going on between Leslie and Adam.
“First
of all I know that Adam has asked you for your help in a certain matter
sometime in the future.”
Not
wanting to give away too much, Joe decided to play it safe. “Yeah he’s asked me to help him out on a
number of occasions. He’s family after
all.”
Leslie
stared at Joe. “Is this some sort of
Cartwright trait? You’re playing games
just like your brother.” She let out an
exasperated sigh. “Look - at our last
meeting Adam told me that he had asked you to help out.”
“Your
last meeting with Adam?” Now he was
confused. “As far as I know you and Adam
haven’t been seen within ten feet of each other without going at each other’s
throats.”
“Yes
I know but we do manage to tolerate each other during the meetings we have in
private.”
“Now
why the heck would you be meeting with Adam in private if you can’t stand
him…” A light suddenly went on inside
Joe’s head. “You’re working with Adam.”
“I
am and that’s why I need to know this information.” Leslie took a deep breath. “This mission is very important and a
dangerous one. I can’t go into the
details but the fact is, even though Adam and I don’t get on well with each
other we have trust one another. That
also means we have to keep an eye for any trouble the other may get into.”
“And
you think that Adam could be in trouble?”
“Unfortunately
I do. Living in town you hear a lot of
interesting gossip.”
“I
have no doubt that you do.”
“That
leads me to ask you what I want to know.”
Leslie lowered her head and closed her eyes briefly. She then raised her head and spoke in a clear
and controlled voice. “I want you tell
me everything you know about Adam’s relationship with Jane Talbot.”
“Jane
Talbot? What does she have to do with anything? She left town months ago.”
“She’s
back.”
“What!” A look of utter surprise appeared on Joe’s
face. Jane was back - that would explain
Candy’s behaviour the other day. “I had
no idea.”
Leslie
smiled. “I can see that. I heard things about what happen between her,
Adam and your friend Candy. There’s a
number of interesting stories going around.
That’s why when I heard from
Joe
sighed heavily and went over to Leslie.
He placed his hand on her shoulder.
“The bribe wouldn’t have worked.”
“Deep
down, I know that. You see it’s
important that I know of anything that could jeopardise this mission. I was willing to try anything.” She smiled weakly at Joe and felt a bit of
remorse. One day he would know the full
story and hopefully he would understand why she wasn’t completely honest with
him now. “I’m sorry that I even tried to
do it.”
Satisfied
with what she had told him, Joe leant against the right wall in the alley. He needed a few minutes to think about what
he was going to do next. Leslie was
right in saying that Adam wouldn’t be happy if he knew that they were having
this conversation. With Jane back in
town things between Adam and Candy could heat up again and that could put Adam
in a dangerous position.
If
he told Leslie, he would be safe in the knowledge that it would go no further
but something told him that there was still more to this than met the eye. Maybe it was that ol’ Cartwright intuition
Hoss had mentioned. There definitely had
to be something more to Adam’s feud with Leslie. Every time her name was mentioned a scowl
would appear on his brother’s face.
The
sound of Leslie, as she politely cleared her throat, brought him out his
reverie. There was little time left
before he had to meet Aaron and he had to still decide if he wanted to take up
Leslie’s offer. As he quickly made up
his mind, Joe smiled at Leslie, took her arm gently and escorted her out of the
alley.
*************************************************
As
the stage disappeared around the corner, Joe smiled. Aaron would have the time of his life in
After
he had left the alley, he had told Leslie that he would take her offer of the
money on the condition that they drew up an agreement to keep it on a strictly
business level. He had even insisted on
an interest rate for the loan. He
grinned. Maybe a bit of his family’s
business sense had rubbed off on him.
Initially,
Leslie had been adamant that he didn’t have to pay any interest but after he
had convinced her that it would be for the best, she had relented. It was better to do it this way just in case,
in the future, Adam got the wrong impression.
By the looks of it, it was going to be hard enough to keep things
separate just the way they were.
Upon
their arrival at the Virginia City Bank, they were greeted by Aaron who was
there waiting for him. His friend was
pleasantly surprised to see that Joe had obtained all the money for the
hotel. The three of them had then gone
into the manager’s office and finalised the deal. Now that Aaron was safely on his way, he was
off to Leslie’s lawyer’s office to sign the loan agreement.
He
was about halfway there when he saw Adam coming out of the Lending
Library. A look of dismay came upon
Joe’s face. So big brother knew that
Jane was back.
As
soon as Adam saw Joe he made his way over and smiled. “So did everything go as planned?”
“Yeah
it did. I’m now the new owner of the
McSween Hotel.”
“Congratulations.” Adam patted Joe on the back. “I knew that you would find a way.”
“Thanks,”
Joe replied in a relieved tone. “No hard
feelings that I didn’t involve you?”
“I
have faith in you even though you may not think it at times.”
Joe
smiled. “Thanks again.” He paused for a moment before he
continued. “I have to admit that I’m a
bit surprised to see that you’re in such a good mood considerin’ that you were
just in the Lending Library.”
“And
why shouldn’t I be?”
“Well
I just thought seeing Jane again might not have been a pleasant experience.”
“Jane?”
The
look that had appeared on Adam’s face, threw Joe for a minute. His brother had no idea. “I thought you knew that she was back.”
“No
I didn’t.” Adam’s body had tensed up –
this was definitely not in the plan.
Jane should have never come back so soon. She should’ve stayed away until all this was
over and he had dealt with Leslie. His
voice became calm and controlled as he held his anger in check. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see you at home.” With that, Adam abruptly walked passed Joe
and off down the street.
As
he glanced back, Joe was a bit perplexed by the way Adam had reacted to the
news. It seemed that his brother wasn’t
at all pleased to hear that Jane was back.
He knew that in some way it had to do with the assignment that both Adam
and Leslie were working on but there were other things. Things like what was the true nature of
Adam’s and Leslie’s relationship? Did
Jane’s re-appearance really complicate matters that much to cause his brother
to react in the way he just had? There
were other questions he wanted to ask and only one person who could answer
them.
Originally
he had planned to tell Leslie what he knew about Adam’s relationship with Jane
with no other strings attached. Now it
was vital that he knew the whole story. He
would make sure that Leslie told him it - whether she wanted to or not. Both Leslie and Adam had bought him into this
and therefore he had a right to know.
With the way things were headed, Adam would need someone to be there
just in case it all came apart.
THE
END
SEPTEMBER
2005