Gents & Dames
Seventeen: Sue Me
Nathan had only just managed to doze off on the hard wooden bench when a dour-looking man in a suit stepped into view, an equally dour-looking police officer with him. On the bench next to Nathan, Jack stretched and stood. "Mr. Dawes," he said.
"Mr. Kelly." Mr. Dawes did not sound amused or entertained. "I've paid the fines for you and your... Friend." He said the word as if it tasted bad.
"Thanks kindly," Jack said. The officer unlocked the door and Jack stepped out, then waited for Nathan, who hurried after him. "And I'll see you this afternoon," Jack added to the man.
"A word before you go traipsing off, Mr. Kelly?"
"Does it have to be a word in here? Let's go get some coffee and eggs. Nathan, you coming?"
"Sure, I guess," Nathan said.
"Good man." Jack slapped him on the back and stepped jovially out of the station and into the daylight. Nathan winced and squinted for a second, but Jack practically had a spring in his step.
"Mr. Kelly," the suit said disapprovingly, "public brawling is generally frowned upon by the board."
"No kidding," Jack answered, then, "Ah ha!" He led the way into a small corner restaurant, a greasy-looking diner that was packed elbow-to-elbow with customers.
"Mr. Kelly!"
"What?" Jack demanded.
"Does the fact that I just had to sign forms to get you released from jail mean nothing to you?"
Nathan examined the menu, printed largely and hanging on one of the walls, while he listened. He wondered who this guy Jack had called was, since they didn't seem to like each other very much.
"Well, I appreciate it. But that wasn't really jail, Mr. Dawes. That was just..." He shrugged.
"Perhaps it matters less to someone who has been to jail," Mr. Dawes said darkly.
"Yeah, that's probably it," Jack answered. "And since the board already knows about that—and the pardon—and that it came from President Roosevelt—I'm not too worried."
Nathan decided how he wanted his eggs and looked up to watch the conversation. Mr. Dawes was glaring at Jack. Nathan noticed that their suits were almost identical—except that Jack's was rumpled from being worn overnight, and somehow, on Jack it looked like he might pull off the jacket, roll up the sleeves, and get to work in the restaurant at any second. Maybe it was something about the way he carried himself; he was as at home here as any of the rest of the morning crowd trying to elbow their way up to the counter, where Dawes was completely out of place and seemed to be looking very much down his nose.
"I don't think you understand. The board is very concerned about your conduct, as your behavior has been less than becoming for someone of your... social standing."
"Ah, I see, then," Jack said, then called above the din, "Hey, can we get some coffee over here while we wait?" A waiter gave them a quick wave and Jack nodded back to him. "See, thing is, Mr. Dawes, I own 40 percent of the company; if the board doesn't like me, well, there ain't a damn thing they can do about it, is there?"
"Their concerns are understandable, Mr. Kelly! You laugh off a night in jail; you spend money like water, giving it to god only knows what kind of—"
"Hey, that reminds me, Nathan. We going to the bank after this? Twenty grand, wasn't it?"
"That's it, yeah," Nathan answered. He would have chafed at it, but he got the feeling that, at least at that moment, Jack was offering not so much to do him a favor, but more to irritate Mr. Dawes. And that was a cause Nathan found himself willing to help with.
"Excuse me?" Dawes said. "What is this?"
"I'm loaning a friend some money," Jack said.
"Who you met in jail?"
"No, we grew up together on the streets." Jack gave him a smirk. "Honestly, that's what I don't understand about the board or—or any of the rest of the people of my 'social standing.' You have all this money; why the hell don't you spend it? What good is it doing, just sitting there?"
"Responsible financial—"
"Yeah, responsible is good. I'm perfectly responsible. Loaning Nathan twenty grand is what—a drop in the bucket? I grew up with nothing, now that I've got money I'm not going to take it for granted. I'm going to spread it around. I'm going to help people. And I don't give a damn what the board of California Oil thinks. And if you don't like that, well... Remember that you work for me, and not the other way around."
Mr. Dawes gaped and Nathan didn't bother to hide his grin. That sounded like the Cowboy he'd grown up with—the Cowboy he hadn't even known he'd missed.
A waiter with a carafe of coffee and three mugs cleared his throat. The people near them had also gone pretty quiet. Jack's rant had been angry, and pitched to be heard; people had heard it. Jack turned his smile on at the waiter and accepted his coffee with a quick thanks, and Nathan did the same. Mr. Dawes declined the offer and said, "Well, that was quite a scene. Proud of yourself?"
"Extremely." Jack raised his mug in a mocking salute.
"I do not have to stand for this. I am here as a favor to you!"
"No, you're here as a favor to the rest of the board. They want me to prove myself on this trip—but I don't need to prove myself, to them or anyone. Everyone else had better get used to me."
Mr. Dawes clearly didn't like that at all, but all he said was, "Don't be late for your morning appointments. A night in jail is not the sort of excuse one uses in polite company."
"Noted," Jack answered.
Mr. Dawes turned and strode out. Doubtlessly, Nathan decided, back to a section of the town that was less crowded. "You gonna be in trouble for that?" he asked.
Jack shrugged. "He'll probably give me an earful the whole way back to California. The board sent him to keep an eye on me... Keep me out of trouble."
"What a success that's been," Nathan said dryly. "So what kinda meetings you got?"
"A lot of oil men are in town. The board is hoping I'll hit it off with all of them; I ain't been to school, but the one thing I'm good at is charming people." He gave Nathan a raised eyebrow and Nathan gave him a wry smile in return. Jack Kelly had always been charming. "And I think he's hoping that one of them will offer to take me under his wing—show me the ropes of the business for a year or two. It gets me out of California Oil's hair for awhile, and they'd like to think I'd come back a respectable businessman."
"You planning to do that?"
"Maybe." Jack shrugged. "But to tell you the truth, Nathan, sometimes I think respectable is a dirty word."
*
Sarah was glad her family was close, but honestly, she was going to kill her mother. Esther would not stop hovering, pestering her about why she wasn't wearing that other, nicer dress, telling her she'd made her face up too strongly (and after she washed it off and redid it, that she'd not made it up correctly), how she should do her hair, whether her hem was straight...
When someone knocked on the door of the room she was dressing in, Sarah let out a sigh of relief and called for the knocker to enter, not caring who it was. Though she was a little surprised when Adelaide, clad in a fairly conservative, pale pink dress poked her—his—head in. His wig was the long blonde one, and styled tastefully; it was obvious Adelaide wasn't trying to grab attention, just walk around.
Walk around. In a dress. Sarah gave him an amused smile and said, "Miss Adelaide, hello. Come on in."
"Who is this, Sarah?" her mother asked suspiciously.
"A friend of David's, Mother," Sarah answered.
"Oh!" Her face lit up, as if the notion that David actually spoke to someone of the female gender made her day. Which it probably did. Sarah bit down a smirk at the thought of what her mother didn't know about Adelaide and David.
"I just came to pay my respects," Adelaide said, his voice high and girlish. Sarah was actually very impressed that Thomas was able to carry his stage act into real life so well; on stage, Adelaide had seemed a bit over-the-top, but here he was calm and quiet.
"You're welcome to stay," Sarah said, "but I haven't changed my mind about Nathan."
"I have," Adelaide said softly.
Sarah blinked in surprise, then said, "Mother, could you please go check on Ari? I... Need to know he's there."
"Of course, dear." She let herself out, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. It probably would have been a more blatant excuse to ask her to leave if she hadn't been left at the altar once already.
Sarah looked at Adelaide, who was staring away, at a window. "I'm sorry, Sarah, I didn't come here to—I just don't know many people anymore."
"No, please," Sarah said. Something about Adelaide fascinated her; his relationship with Nathan was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. He still looked nervous, hesitant, so Sarah gestured to the table in front of the mirror, where her rouge was still sitting and said, "Maybe you can help me with my face while we chat. My mother... Well, she's got notions. Which are rather old-fashioned."
"Pinching your cheeks for that more natural red?" Adelaide suggested, and gestured her to the chair. "I have a little experience. And hair—if you'd like the help."
She breathed a sigh of relief. "You are a godsend, Adelaide."
He smiled modestly. "My pleasure. And congratulations, Sarah—I know we haven't been in touch until recently, but David speaks of you often. He's so pleased for you."
"He's pleased I've found a man who wants me for what I am," Sarah interpreted. "Slightly sullied and sharp-tongued. Ari loves me, regardless." She smiled, even as Adelaide began to dab the makeup off her face with a damp towel, presumably so he could then redo it.
"Believe me, you are hardly sullied, my dear. You haven't met many of the ladies I work with. Your virtue, by comparison, is unquestionable."
"Now that's a perspective I hadn't considered." She clasped her hands together in her lap. "So what happened between you and Nathan?"
Adelaide turned away to reach for the rouge and put down the cloth. "I ended it last night. Oh, darling—the dress. You ought to wear the nicer one. I'll tell you the truth; Nathan and Nicholas don't have a dollar between them, most of the time. It was my present, Sarah. Their good intentions, but my money."
Sarah hesitated, then sighed. "Well. I suppose only a fool would give up that kind of a deal." She glanced at a clock, realized David wasn't due for over an hour yet (and they wouldn't be starting without him) and decided, "There's certainly enough time to have someone go get it. One moment." She strode over to the door, opened it, and called for her mother, who was more than happy to find someone to go get the dress. After all, no one had understood why she'd refused to wear it in the first place; she hadn't really found a way to explain what had happened with David and Jack and Nathan. With her mother sent off to take care of things, she turned back to Adelaide. "Now... About Nathan?" she prompted.
"Well, you know, I hope," Adelaide answered. "From... From what David's said, you aren't always—or often—the one to get left."
Sarah considered. True enough. "But in my case," she said, "there were plenty of men looking for a good time—and no one wants to marry a good time; people want to marry a good girl."
"You think I'm that different?" Adelaide sighed. He picked up a brush and began working the aborted style attempt out of Sarah's hair. "I was Nathan's good time—and a ready source of money. And it isn't like I asked for a lot in return! Just for..." He trailed off. "He said he loves me. But anyone can say it. Doesn't make it true."
"Oh," Sarah said. "I'm sorry."
Adelaide shrugged and began working on restyling Sarah's hair. "It's just pathetic how long it took me to come to terms with it, is all. I had to see him behind bars—asking for money, of course—to realize."
"It's not pathetic," Sarah assured him quickly. "Lots of people... I mean, you meet someone, and you think he's amazing. And you don't want to see anything else... If Jack hadn't run off..." She glanced up at Adelaide. "If he hadn't run off, I'd be miserable. The idea I had of him was perfect, but no one is really perfect. Least of all Jack. At least no one expected you and Nathan to get married. At least you had the option to leave him."
"You say that like it's a good thing," Adelaide murmured. "Honest to god—I love him, Sarah, and if I thought... If we could have been normal, you know, if I'd been an actual woman... I'd have married him. In a heartbeat, I'd marry that man." He straightened up and took a deep breath, dabbed at his eye for a moment and finally said, "My eyes are going to run, oh, damn..."
"You're welcome to use anything here," Sarah said, nodding towards the jumble of powder tins on the table. "But, Adelaide, what...?"
"It's the worst part of this whole mess, honey. I may have walked away, and I'm sure it was the right thing to do...but god help me, I love him."