DO NOT TELL MOTHER

CHAPTER 1

Nick blew up. "What do you mean, you're going to New York City?!"

"Just that," Jarrod said. "Heath and I are going on a little vacation to New York City."

"How long are you gonna be gone?!"

Jarrod shrugged. "Couple weeks."

"A couple of WEEKS?!"

His reaction was so over the top that everyone except him was laughing.

"This is a working ranch!" Nick blasted out again. "How can you take Heath off across the whole darned country and – and – and – "

"And not take you?" Audra said with a smirk.

Nick fumbled for a way out of the hole he'd dug himself into. "And expect this ranch to function!" he finally came up with.

"Nick, you ran this ranch just fine for years before I came along," Heath reminded him.

Nick was backed into another corner. He looked at the floor for an answer, but it wasn't there. "Well, when are you gonna be leaving?"

"Next week," Jarrod said.

"NEXT WEEK?!"

"Nicholas," Victoria stepped in, "if you can't complain in a lower tone of voice, please stop complaining." Then she smirked. "Someday Pappy will take you on a little trip, too."

Nick grumbled, but everyone else laughed. Jarrod gave Nick a slap on the back. "I promise," he said.

XXXXXXXXX

So the adventure began. A long train ride left Heath amazed that the country he lived in was so large. It had never occurred to him that once you got over the Mississippi you still had nearly a thousand miles to go before you even saw New York City from a distance. It had never occurred to him that as they went further east everything would become a deeper and deeper shade of green and trees would become so thick you couldn't see a river only a hundred feet away.

It was all a completely new world to his younger brother, and Jarrod was enjoying watching him discover it. It reminded him of his first trip east, except, of course, there was a war waiting for him at the end of it, not an adventure like the one waiting for Heath. And it was going to be a great adventure. Jarrod was going to make sure of that.

After the long train trip, they came onto ferry boats on the western shore of the Hudson River. From the train to the boat, there was not a bit of daylight and no way to see the city Heath knew was not far away, but as the ferry took off from the shore of the Hudson River, Jarrod took him forward so he could get his first look at Manhattan.

It's just like San Francisco – only bigger, Heath had always been told, and boy howdy, it was.

He stood staring open-mouthed, like someone who had just been dropped in from another planet. Jarrod couldn't help smiling at him. It made him remember himself the first time he had come to New York, years ago when he was in law school. He himself could see some changes in the big city, even from this distance, event though he was approaching it from a different direction this time. The city was becoming more impressive all the time.

The ferry put them ashore before very long, and Heath whistled at the long line of hacks waiting there to take passengers wherever they wanted to go. It took a few minutes for them to get one, but soon a driver loaded their bags into the back of his cab. As they climbed in, Jarrod said, "Fifth Avenue Hotel, please," and soon they were off.

There was nothing like the expression on Heath's face as he looked up and down the streets and avenues and, as far as he could see, there were buildings, several stories high, some higher than any he'd ever seen. And people – people everywhere, on sidewalks, in the streets, some people even hanging out the windows of the buildings. There were horses and carriages and noise – so much noise! When the cab turned onto Fifth Avenue and they began to ride down the bottom of that artificial canyon, Heath began to smile.

He looked at his older brother. "You weren't just whistling Dixie."

Jarrod laughed. "I got us rooms at the best hotel in town, pretty new when I was here last but still the best place in town. Now, there's one thing I better warn you about. The ladies around here who – shall we say, ply their trade in the evening – can be pretty aggressive. They don't forage for customers in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, but the hotel does allow men to bring ladies in if they are escorted and once they're in, well - . The point is, be careful about a woman who might be paying a lot of attention to you, no matter where you find her."

"Oh, I know," Heath said. "I am just one country hick, prime for the pickin'."

Jarrod said, "There are a lot of diseases running around here, too."

Heath nodded, "I hear you, big brother. You gonna tell me what neighborhoods to stay out of, too?"

"I could stand to review that situation myself," Jarrod laughed. "It's been a long time. Things change. The concierges in town are usually pretty good at keeping up with things like that, and I still have a few other connections."

The cab pulled up to the hotel and Heath whistled again. It was six stories high and as big as a city block. It looked like it was made of pure marble. Hacks were lined up in front, letting passengers off and taking them on. Jarrod and Heath got out of their cab and Jarrod tipped the driver as young men in very fancy garb from the hotel took their bags from the hack. Jarrod spoke to them and tipped them as well. He gave Heath an easy slap on the arm to get his attention away from gawking, and they went inside.

The hotel lobby was bigger and more ornate than any Heath had ever seen. He looked all around while Jarrod checked them in. So many pillars and sofas in velvet and gilded carved woodwork everywhere. And there was a funny looking little room across the way that had a door like a cage and something solid in the middle of it. People were going in but different people came out.

Jarrod saw that Heath was fixated on that. "Come on," he said. "You're in for an interesting ride."

Jarrod took him over to that funny little room. A man inside, dressed similarly to the young men outside who had taken their bags, soon opened the door that looked like a cage. Jarrod ushered Heath inside, and he got a good look at that solid thing in the middle. It looked like a giant screw. The man closed the cage door, and suddenly that screw began to turn and the room began to move – up!

Heath looked at Jarrod as if he were being lifted to the moon. Jarrod laughed again. They hadn't been here an hour yet, and Jarrod had smiled and laughed more in that hour than he had in the entire year before. Fun, he thought to himself. This is going to be fun.

The young man with their bags met them when the cage door opened again. Jarrod ushered Heath out in front of him, and Heath looked astonished to see he was in a completely different place than when he went into the little room.

"Welcome to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, gentlemen," the young man with their bags said. Heath noted it was about the fifth time somebody had welcomed them to this place. "Come right this way," the young man said.

He led them down a long hallway to a room at the very end, where he unlocked the door and ushered them in. As he followed with the bags, Heath found himself gawking again. This hotel room was HUGE, with rich wood paneling and more velvet sofas and chairs, and a desk, and doors standing open that led to two bedrooms.

Another door was closed. Curious, Heath opened it. "Holy - !"

There was a sink, a bathtub, and a privy in there! The sink and the bathtub Heath could accept – they had that at the ranch – but a privy! And everything was sparkling white, even the walls and the floor.

Jarrod tipped the young man who brought the bags again and asked for a bottle of champagne on ice to be sent up. The young man nodded and left. Jarrod went to a window and said, "Heath, come on over here. Have a look."

Heath joined him there. They were clearly on one of the top floors, because he could see for miles and what he saw were miles of buildings. He couldn't see an end to all the buildings. Some were almost as high as the hotel. Heath shook his head.

"Does it live up to your expectations?" Jarrod asked.

"I've never felt more like a hick in my life," Heath said.

Jarrod laughed and slapped him on the back.

Half an hour later, they were sharing chilled champagne, their ties untied and their vests unbuttoned and their feet up on the coffee table in front of the sofa where they sat side by side.

"I've made reservations for us at Delmonico's tonight," Jarrod said. "We'll talk about what you want to do in the next couple days."

"Come down off my cloud," Heath said.

"Oh, you'll come down," Jarrod said. "I can't let you leave here thinking it's all sunshine and roses. You wanted to see New York – well, I'll show it to you, the good and the bad, at least as I've seen it."

"When did you come here before?" Heath asked.

"After the war, on a break from law school – a lotta years ago now."

"How'd you avoid getting into trouble?"

"I didn't. Don't ever tell Mother, but I spent one night of my little vacation in jail."

Heath began to laugh. "In jail?"

"I was a bad, bad boy."

Heath laughed so hard he nearly fell off the sofa. "What did you do?"

"Well, I was stupid and when some character tried to pick my pocket, I hauled off and slugged him. He pulled a knife on me, we got to fighting it out. Since he never actually picked my pocket, I had no way of proving he was in the wrong and I was in the right, so they arrested me for assault and battery."

"They didn't get him for pulling a knife?"

"Heath, my boy, in some neighborhoods around here, pulling a knife on someone is as common as shaking hands."

"How did you get out of that mess?"

"They took me to be arraigned the next morning. The man I slugged didn't show up. The judge knew him by name and reputation, and he dismissed the charge. That jail is where I met some of the more – shall we say colorful – characters I've ever met. But I mean it, DO NOT TELL MOTHER about any of this!"

Heath kept laughing, but said, "I won't. Can I count on you to bail me out if I slug somebody?"

"If I'm not in there with you."

They both roared with laughter. The champagne made the laughter roar louder and last longer. And this time, Heath actually did fall off the sofa.