Disclaimer-I don't own the Ocean's crowd nor do I profit from my writings.
AN-I think the ending got to be a little sappier than needed. Mind you it starts with a fifteen year old and finishes with the a fully grown man so I guess my interpretation is that teenagers have a harder time understanding and expressing their emotions than adults do. Also, there's basically no plot. Sorry.
The Caldwells were not rich.
Ha.
They were dirt floor poor, literally. As the son stuck in the middle, three sisters older and two younger, Robert couldn't wait to get out.
His father was fond of drink while his mother and older sisters flooded the house with cigarette smoke. That didn't mean much, everyone and everywhere was equipped with an ashtray in this day and age, but Robert couldn't stand it when it all mixed together. He couldn't understand how they could be so blind to what it did to them. The pigs and chickens in the backyard. The liquor bottles and cigarette cartons in the garbage. It made them look so…trashy.
Their whole town was that way. The world was bigger than farms and one man shops. Not everyone was born and lived and married and died in the same place.
Robert had dreams about the city. The fancy cars and women with fur coats like the ones in the movies shown the next town over. When he was young and silly enough to give them voice, his sisters scoffed at his dreams. It frustrated him so much and it wasn't until years later that he managed to let it go. They had hurt him but as an adult, successful and long removed from that town and those people, he knew they were just scared. Some couldn't risk the fear and wonder that came with daring to hope for more.
But at the time he had lain awake countless nights in anger or in thought, knowing that they were closed-minded and he would one day show them how right he was. He was fast with cards and good with people. He knew how to work and how to give in order to get. He had potential where this town was stagnant. One day he'd be gone and it would be nothing but bad memories.
But, god, he couldn't wait to turn eighteen. And at only fifteen that was a long ways away. It was so long that he realized that he literally could not wait. He sold off his knick knacks and some of his clothes to the boys at school. He made himself a few sandwiches and packed a cloth bag with some shirts and things. He shoved a pack of cards in his pocket, then he snuck out the window and made his way to the train station by light of the moon.
That was the end of Robert and the start of Bobby Caldwell.
Milwaukee was big. Robert hadn't known that but Bobby could make it work. He could adapt. He got a job as a shop assistant which came with a sliver of a wage and a cot in the back room. He ran with some local boys in his free time and through them he spread his influence.
He dealt cards, he swindled pedestrians with ball and cup games, he haggled supplies until they gave his boss the best deal out there. Then he got invited to a small part in a con.
It was a stepping stone in the long run, pocket change compared to what he raked in now, but at the time it had been free money and it glittered like gold.
He excelled. Little lies grew to big lies, big lies donned disguises and he wore them boldly. He brought in cash like a squirrel would acorns and he stored it away for the future.
Then he got caught.
Edward Moseley was an FBI agent with ten years on Bobby and his operation had come close to jeopardy because of one kid's interfering. Ed locked Bobby in his hotel room until the job was over and the only reason Bobby didn't escape was because he was rotten at picking locks. That was the first thing Ed helped him with.
Ed also coached him in disguises and mannerisms. Bobby had played around with hats and jackets but to Ed that was barely the beginning. He swept Bobby through agency training into a cramped office filled with paperwork. Again, Bobby excelled.
Bureau work was something he understood and his push and pull attitude lifted him through the ranks until he reached where he really belonged. People respected him. People envied him. This was what he had been looking for when he left home. This was his place in the world.
On March 27th, 1966 Bobby Caldwell began a project with the CIA. He walked into the boardroom at 0900, ready to give a brief and get down to business. When he saw a woman sitting among his colleagues he was thrown for a loop.
Yes, the women's lib movement was making itself heard. Yes, Bobby considered women perfectly capable workers. But he had never yet met one who was ranked his equal and been expected to work with her. Not that he didn't enjoy working with Molly.
She was as professional and intelligent as any man he'd dealt with and plenty of his coworkers made mention that her sense of humor might be good for his stoic all-business attitude.
He'd been prepared to ignore any physical differences Molly had in order to treat her as he did his other respected colleagues. Slowly but surely, he failed horribly. Her hair was constantly distracting him. It was well cared for and looked soft enough to touch. Her eyes were quietly amused and warm and, despite himself, she could always make him smile.
Out of line though it was, when the case closed he asked her to dinner.
She smiled at him with one brow quirked teasingly.
"Really, Mr. Caldwell? Are you sure it won't get in the way of your paperwork?"
At any moment of the day, Bobby could call up that memory of her standing there in the lobby, smiling and teasing him. He never mentioned it to a soul, but that moment was one of the best in his life. Right then and there he had dropped head over heels for Molly McClain and he never got up.
She was a woman like no other and he loved the life they made together. She was fascinated when he told her about his 'other vocation'. She wanted to know everything, to understand every aspect. He could hardly believe it when she asked to go on a job with him. He could barely trust it.
But he put his heart in her hands and she was careful with it. They became a pair, much to Ed's annoyance and amusement. It seemed like his entire life had become an undeserved success. Work at the Bureau, time with friends, time with Molly. Five years they spent together, training her and having fun and sometimes almost getting caught. But then he planned out a job, a small one but with high security, down at a jeweler in Minnesota and it took on a twist.
He had considered asking Ed to go with him instead but his old friend talked him out of it. "This is a big moment for you. I'll sit it out and you can tell me how it goes."
Bobby thanked him and promised he would.
The whole night his nerves were on fire. He couldn't help but watch the way Molly swept her hair into a tie before she began picking the lock or the almost reverent way she trailed her gloves over the glass displays. It was amazing to see her work.
He didn't waste time admiring the necklaces or bracelets with their ruby insets and silver chains. There was a specific diamond he wanted and he had to make sure Molly didn't get her hands on it first, more so because he wanted to put it on her hand. He cut the glass protecting it from thieves like him and pocketed it before holding open the bag for Molly to have her pick of goodies. They stole out quickly, giggling to themselves like children.
The ring in his pocket was unbearably light. He kept checking to make sure it hadn't fallen out or got lost. Molly never noticed, not even as she but the bag of goods in the safe of his apartment and wrapped her arms around his neck lovingly.
"I think we should keep some of these, Robert."
She was the only person he knew who called him that anymore. Robert. He'd grown to hate that name and yet when she said it he had stopped feeling that way.
"That's not exactly wise," he murmured. "Some of those are signature pieces."
She pouted, trailing a hand through his hair gently. "Not all of them, just the pretty ones. I like the bracelet with the emeralds. It matches that dress my mother bought me."
He pretended to think about it but they both knew he would say no. He surprised her though, by being lenient. "Why don't we think about it? Maybe just one. You choose which, I don't care."
Her eyes sparkled and he laughed to know that such a little thing would please her. She took the bag out of the safe again and began to trail her fingers over the jewelry with adoring intent. She found the bracelet but she also put aside a pair of earrings and a brooch. "I don't think this was a good idea. How am I going to choose just one?"
He kissed her neck and placed the ring along with the others. "You'll have to be picky then."
Her gasp echoed through his ears. She turned to him with eyes wide, those warm pretty eyes that he loved. "Robert! That is a diamond ring. You had better not be playing games with me or I swear-"
He began to laugh. "Molly, when have I ever been the type for games?"
Her eyes stared up at him and suddenly he realized she was starting to cry. "Molly. Would it be too much trouble if I asked you to please do me the honor of marrying me?"
The tears started to flow. Molly nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her head in his chest. "That sounds like a very good plan."
He laughed and held her, enjoying the feel of her arms around him and knowing he would have that for the rest of his life. He'd come incredibly far since leaving home. He'd found exactly what he'd always looked for and just when he thought he had it all the thing he hadn't been looking for walked in and introduced herself. Molly was calm and laid back and he loved her like he hadn't loved anyone before. And even if he never made another dime in all his days, when he held her hand and slid that diamond ring over her finger he felt as rich as he could be.