Iola Morton Lives! (An alternate ending to the first Hardy Boys Casefile)—A Hardy Boys Fic
Iola Morton's death shook everyone, but no one more so than her boyfriend Joe Hardy. Joe had loved Iola dearly, sadly however, his last words to her were spoken in anger, he blamed himself for her death and was convinced he could have saved her. She had been blown up in an explosion, caused by a bomb that had been intended for Joe and his brother Frank. Joe now speaks as little as possible, only ever wears black, cries a great deal in private (he refuses to let anyone see him cry), can barely eat, can't sleep, sees Iola everywhere, and all in all is depressed, he appears to be slowly dying of a broken heart.
Frank and Joe are now at their home, mourning Iola's death along with: her parents and her brother Chet, Frank and Joe's parents and Aunt Gertrude, their friends Tony, Biff, Jerry, and Phil, and Iola's best friend; Frank's girlfriend Callie.
"Why did Iola stay with me?" Joe asks his friends "All those other girls, I was always such jerk to her, I'd give up anything to have her alive again."
"She stayed with you because she loved you Joe," Callie speaks up from a little ways away where she has been crying onto Frank's shoulder.
"She couldn't possibly have loved someone as awful as me."
"Callie's right Joe," Chet agrees, "I knew my sister, she loved you very much."
Mrs. Morton walks over to Joe and hands him a small box, "I think Iola would have wanted me to give you this dear," she says softly. Joe opens the box inside are three things. The first is his class ring from Bayport High. The second is an I.D. Bracelet that says "Joe Hardy". And the third, a photo of the convertible, standing in front of it are: Frank with his arm around Callie, Chet holding a burger, and Joe with his arm around Iola, on the back of the picture is written, "Frank, Callie, Chet, Iola, and Joe" Joe's name is encircled by a heart.
Joe sat there as long as he could but now he cannot bring himself to sit there any longer with everyone crying over Iola's death.
Joe walks outside to the driveway, it is dark out, so dark that you can see the stars clearly; the only light comes from the windows of the house. There is a small area of light in the front yard but everywhere else is dark.
Joe wanders slowly though the dark yard having flashbacks of all the time he has spent with Iola, he remembers himself, Frank, Callie, Chet, and Iola when they were small, playing tag when he would run slowly every time Iola was it so she could catch him easily. He evokes the day he first asked Iola out in Jr. High and the way she smiled when she said yes. He reminisces their first date, how excited they both were to be on a date. He recalls their first kiss, they had bumped heads and before he knew what he was doing, he had leaned forward and kissed her. He looks up at the sky and murmurs, "I'm sorry Iola."
Then he hears a voice, a familiar, feminine voice, say "Joe." He turns to look in the direction of the voice, and sees a person step into the light. It is a beautiful, slim, dark haired girl, with blue eyes.
Joe gasps "Iola!" scarcely daring to believe his eyes. He and Iola rush to one another, and embrace, then he kisses her, as they kiss time seems to stand still, all that matters is each other.
When they finally pause to take a breath, Joe remembers that no one else knows she is alive. So he yells "Frank, Callie, Chet, everyone, come here!" First out the door is Frank, with Callie right behind him, then Tony, Biff, Jerry, and Phil, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Hardy with Aunt Gertrude, finally Mr. and Mrs. Morton and Chet. Iola pulls away from Joe long enough to run to her parents and brother and hug them. She then returns to Joe as everyone else takes their turns hugging her, Frank however, hugs Joe first.
They all walk into the house eager to hear Iola's account, before she starts the story, however, Joe runs upstairs, and changes out of his black outfit, into a nice outfit with color in it.
"So what happened to you Iola?" Mrs. Morton asks after Joe has sat down next to Iola and put his arm around her.
"Well," Iola begins "I had started to walk back to the convertible, when a couple of big guys jumped up and grabbed me." Aunt Gertrude stifles a scream and Joe tightens his grip on Iola's waist, as though afraid he will lose her again, as Iola continues.
"I heard them discussing with their boss what to do with me. They almost put me in the car so that when it blew up it would kill me, but they decided they couldn't bring themselves to kill in cold blood. So they decided to kidnap me and make you believe I had died in the bomb. They held me prisoner for quite a while, continually discussing more ways to upset Joe and Frank, once they even discussed kidnapping Callie and faking her death too." At that, Frank puts his arm protectively around Callie.
"Eventually though," Iola continued, "some of the bad guys came and told me that their boss was dead and they weren't going to hold me hostage any longer. Then they released me and I came here."
After Iola finished her story, they were all silent for a moment, and then Chet said, "Well, I'm glad my sister isn't dead, but right now I'm hungry."
"I am too, "said Joe, "in fact, I'm starving, I'd love a cheeseburger, right about now."
"Well how about we have a party," Tony suggested looking around the room, everyone agreed, and Aunt Gertrude got up to start preparing food, especially cheeseburgers.
A bit later after they had all had some food (Joe ate at least six cheeseburgers by himself,) Joe and Iola, and Frank and Callie danced.
"I was so depressed when I thought you were dead," Joe told Iola as they danced, he told her what bad shape he had been in "I had been blaming myself, and Frank, I blamed myself for our argument and I blamed Frank for not letting me try to rescue you from the fire after the bomb. I think that if you had not turned out to be alive, I would have been dead myself in a week. I mean I know better than to shoot myself, but I was dying of a broken heart. I'm so sorry for everything, the car keys, the other girls, everything. From now on, I'll never look at another girl, I promise.
I have something for you," he added as he handed her the box back, she smiled.
Meanwhile, Frank was saying to Callie, "I've been thinking, Iola almost was in the car when it blew up, but it didn't have to be her, it could have been any of us. It could have been Joe, or me, or Chet, or even you. You saw how upset Joe was when we believed Iola was dead, well I would have been in just as bad shape had it been you. You mean so much to me."
Then almost as if it were prearranged, Frank and Joe looked into their girlfriend's eyes and said, "I love you". Callie and Iola smiled up at them and answered, "I love you too."