So sorry, as usual, for the delay. So much has happened in the last six months, not least buying my first home and getting engaged! But I stuck the DVD in the other week and here's the next chapter.
To be honest, a lot of the Deadwood diagloue between Al and Hearst went right over my head. Call me thick...so I've just made up my own to fit in with my own story arc.
Please read and review!
"Thank you for helping me with this," Catherine turned to Silas as they walked along the thoroughfare later that evening, carrying what few possessions she had. After informing Al that she would no longer be residing at the Gem, she had wasted no time in gathering together what little she had and enlisting Silas to help her transport it. "I'm sure Al would prefer to see me struggling alone. A final humiliation."
"I doubt that," Silas replied, sidestepping a large puddle of mud whilst attempting to balance a box full of clothes in his arms. "He cares about you more than you give him credit for."
"That's why he's divorcing me then," she said acidly, "because he cares so much." She immediately inwardly chided herself for her words. The last thing she wanted to do was air her dirty laundry in public any more so than it possibly had been already. Given the sight of the pair of them, it wasn't too much of a leap to assume that most of the camp would now have knowledge of what was transpiring. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't mean to take this out on you. Not when you've been so good to me."
"I ain't done nothing."
"You've offered me your counsel...you haven't judged me..." she sighed heavily. "I wish I could have foreseen all of this."
"You would have acted differently?"
"Possibly. I might have been content to be Al's whore as opposed to being his wife. We could have satisfied each other physically and I could have pursued my own true feelings with another, whoever he might have been."
"That's why you ain't a whore," Silas opined. "You ain't never struck me as the kind of woman who could separate the two. Love and fucking that is," he added, in case she had missed his meaning.
"Maybe not," she said softly. "But I know now that he never loved me, even if he implied that he did, and I was a fool to think that he ever would."
"Anyways, if you want my opinion, I think this is a stupid idea," Silas said. "You moving all the way over here when you've got a perfectly good home at the Gem makes no fucking sense."
"I'm not welcome there anymore."
"That's bullshit and you know it. Regardless of what's happening between you and Al, it's still half your joint. You belong there. You got just as much right to be there as he does."
Catherine stopped and turned to look at him. "No I don't, Silas. I can still work there, run the girls, make sure everything's all right for them but as for living there..." she shook her head. "I can't stay there and watch while things return to the way they were before Al and I...it's...it's for the best that I do this."
"Running away ain't going to make things any better."
"I ain't running away," she replied angrily, as they approached Shaughnessy's makeshift office at the boarding house. "I'm doing what I need to do for myself." She gratefully put her bags down onto the ground and smiled at the boarding house owner in spite of herself. "I'm here for my room."
"Room seven. Over there," he replied, practically throwing the key at her, a look of suspicion on his face. "No noise, no mess and no male visitors are permitted at any time. I won't stand for it."
Catherine lifted the key from the counter. "I'll be sure to remember those rules. I don't know how long I'm going to be staying, but how much do I owe you in advance?"
Shaughnessy glanced at Silas, "It has already been taken care of."
"But I haven't paid you anything yet," she said, holding her purse aloft. She watched as he glanced at her companion again and rounded on Silas as realisation dawned.
"Al asked me to come by earlier and pay your lodgings for the next month," Silas said, before she could say anything.
"Did he now?" Catherine replied acerbically. "Well you can just get his fucking money back from Shaughnessy and take it back to Al. I can look after myself! I don't need him paying my fucking way!"
"The money has already been paid," Shaughnessy chipped in. "No refunds."
"You heard the man," Silas said. "Just accept it and think of it as Al trying to make amends for the wrong you believe he's done you."
"Fine," she said, lifting her bags again. "But he'll get every cent back and more. I don't want to owe him fucking anything."
XXXX
"You sure this is a good idea, boss?" Johnny asked, watching as Al readied himself for the meeting with Hearst. "Going over there yourself, I mean? Don't you think we ought to come with you?"
"This meeting is between me and fucking Hearst and us alone," Al replied, smoothing his jacket down. "I don't need you hanging around us like week old meat."
"I'm with Johnny on this one, boss," Dan added. "I know it ain't often as I would say that, but on this occasion I reckon you should have at least one of us there as back up, especially if he's got that Captain with him."
"No."
"But..."
"Dan, if I go over there, mob-handed, Hearst is going to think that I've got something to fear by meeting with him. Now that ain't the fucking impression I'd be inclined to give at this stage. This is merely a cordial meeting between two businessmen and a chance for me to learn what Hearst's true purpose here is. Christ knows Catherine's brought me fucking nothing on the subject." He looked around as Silas came into the room. "Speaking of Catherine, you see her settled?"
"Yes. Mind you, she wasn't exactly jumping for joy when she found out you'd paid for her lodgings."
"She'll accept it and be grateful for it," Al replied. "If she's determined to strike out on her own, she'll soon find out the true cost of things, starting with bed and fucking board. I wager that she will be back here within the week, horror struck at the things she has witnessed living at his shithole."
"If you say so."
"You got another fucking opinion you'd like to share on the subject, Adams?"
Silas looked away. "No."
"Perhaps you'd like to regale me further with marital advice?" The other man said nothing. "Good, then I'll thank you to simply do as I ask." Al turned from the mirror to the three men standing before him. "Do I look ready for a good ass-fucking?"
"Yes you do, boss," Johnny replied in a mistaken display of loyalty. "You surely do."
"Reckon if anyone's going to be getting an ass-fucking, it's Hearst," Dan said.
"Thank you, Dan," Al replied. "Thankfully I can count on someone to talk some fucking sense around here." Opening his desk drawer, he lifted his knife and secreted it in his waistband. "If I fail to return within the hour, one of you venturing to the hotel on a make believe quest for something other than a validation of my welfare, would not fucking go amiss."
"Sure thing, boss," Dan said.
"And Adams?" Silas turned as he was about to leave the room. "As forceful as you are with your opinion as to whether my actions towards Catherine are right or wrong, I appreciate you looking to her and hope I needn't ask for that to continue."
Silas nodded, "No problem."
XXXX
Catherine lifted the lamp from the table by the window and carried it over to sit beside the bed. The room was small, but even with her few meagre possessions on display, it still appeared cavernous. It was quiet too, so much quieter than she was used to. As she sat on the bed and lifted the book she had brought with her, she longed for the noise of the Gem...the tinkling of the piano, the shrieking of the girls, the hollering of the men.
She longed for Al, for the feel of his presence, for the knowledge that if she only turned her head he would be there, watching. How she missed that, in this strange place. Then she reminded herself of all that had happened and reassured herself that she had done the right thing by absenting herself from the Gem. Working there would be difficult enough without knowing that he lay only a few feet away from her, a different person from the one she had thought she knew. A person so clearly desperate to remove her from his life.
Carefully she prised the document from between the pages of her book and, opening it up, read the words neatly placed in Al's handwriting. Her half share of the Gem, in black and white before her. Tomorrow she would show it to Robert Finch so that he may no longer doubt her word. Tomorrow, Sol Star would begin his valuation of the Gem. Tomorrow would be the first step towards her own independence and the start of a brand new life.
XXXX
"I'm pleased that you agreed to meet with me this evening, Mr Swearengen," Hearst greeted Al at the door of the hotel. "As I said before, I see no reason why we two cannot converse as amiably as our spouses appear able." He gestured to a table in the far corner of the dining room, already busy with other patrons. "I thought you might appreciate the public nature of our meeting in the first instance."
"You think me mistrusting?" Al asked.
"Practical is the term I would use. Shall we?" Hearst led the way to the table and waited until both men were seated before resuming the conversation. "I must reiterate my thanks to your wife for befriending mine so ably. When I was considering whether she would be a suitable companion for Mrs Hearst, I could not have foreseen how well the venture would turn out."
"My own opinion on the situation would be that you indeed had a reasonable idea of how well the venture would turn out or you would not have asked Catherine in the first instance. I would even go so far as to say, that you had already formed an opinion of my wife to the extent that you felt there was little need for recourse to my own fucking feelings on the proposition before offering her the role in the manner that you did."
Hearst's gaze flickered slightly. "You're referring to my calling to Mrs Swearengen in the thoroughfare?"
"I am."
"You found it...offensive?"
"Catherine is her own woman, free to make her own choices. However..." Al sat forward. "Consider your own feelings on the matter if it had been myself calling to your wife from my balcony and inviting her into my establishment to discuss employment terms, bearing in mind that you know me no better than I know you and might be set to take fucking advantage of the lady."
"I take your point. I can only apologise if you feel that I acted out of turn. I assure you that my dealings with Mrs Swearengen on this matter had no nefarious purpose. Though she is a handsome woman, I find my attentions firmly focused on that of my own."
"And I accept your assurance, Mr Hearst. Had I cause to be further irked by the manner of your proposition, you would have seen evidence of it by now." Al sat back, satisfied that he had made his point. The other man might believe himself master of all he surveyed, but there was no harm in a gentle reminder that not everything, or everyone, could be bought and sold without recourse.
"Do you come armed to our meeting?" Hearst asked.
"No more to meet with you than to meet with any other," Al replied. "And I am glad that, given your apology, I will have no need to resort to use."
"I'm glad that we have managed to put that particular issue to rest," Hearst said as Richard on scuttled over to the table with two cups of coffee, planted them down and scuttled away again. "Does coffee suffice or would something harder meet more with your approval?"
"Coffee's fine."
"I would hate for us to start our relationship off on the wrong foot when I am so grateful to Mrs Swearengen. Though...I do admit to a certain curiosity."
"Pertaining to what?" Al asked, lifted his cup.
"Pertaining to the sight I believe I witnessed earlier this evening as your man assisted Mrs Swearengen in the removal of what I would have considered many personal items from the Gem and the conveyance of them to the nearby boarding house." Al paused, cup halfway to his mouth. "When I mentioned the same to Mrs Hearst she was most distressed. I do hope all is well."
"I thank you for your interest, Mr Hearst, but all is very well. Notwithstanding the sweet natures of our respective spouses however, I assume the purpose of this meeting was to discuss more than the comfort of our own hearths?"
"Indeed," Hearst replied. "Though I must say I find this camp and its inhabitants most intriguing. Beyond those closely aligned with yourself, I mean."
"In what sense?"
"Take the Mrs Ellsworth as example," he continued. "A most fortunate position she has found herself in due, in no small measure, to her first husband's untimely demise."
"She operates one hell of a gold claim, I'll give her that," Al replied, grateful that the conversation had steered itself away from Catherine. "Some people have a great deal of luck."
"I don't believe in luck, Mr Swearengen. I believe in hard work and the success which that work breeds," Hearst replied, his expression hardening. "I have not built up my operations in the Comstock on the basis of luck."
"Nor I mine."
"You indeed strike me as a man capable of appreciating the hard work required for success," Hearst acknowledged. "Which is why I hope for your assistance in the task I find before me.
"With regards to...?"
"My securing the Ellsworth claim."
Al paused, surprised at how unsurprised he was at finally learning of the other man's purpose. Though there had been no real reason to suspect it, it had seemed the most obvious conclusion to draw. Why else would George Hearst have seen fit to visit the camp?
"You do not appear surprised," Hearst commented.
"I suppose I don't."
"I have not had the pleasure of meeting with Mrs Ellsworth yet on this matter, nor her husband, and therefore I must confess to being ignorant as to how she may receive my advances to her. I had hoped that the companionship afforded to my wife by yours might have led to an introduction."
"Catherine has few dealings with Mrs Ellsworth as I understand it," Al replied, a germ of realisation beginning to grow at the back of his mind. "She may have occasion to meet with her if she were to frequent the bank but they ain't exactly comparative socialites."
"Such a pity that your wife hasn't had the foresight that I suspect you might have shared with me had you been in my position and had an interest in securing the claim."
"I would question your knowing me well enough to be able to judge whether I would have had the foresight of which you speak, or indeed whether or not interest in the claim may have, at one time, been my own intention."
Hearst stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Without you saying the words, Mr Swearengen, I can see that we do indeed share a common interest."
"I have no interest in the woman's claim," Al said.
"I'm referring to the advantages that the companionship between our respective spouses might have brought each of us. My interest in securing a way to the Ellsworth claim and your interest in securing the knowledge of my purpose in the camp. I would reiterate how sorrowful it is that I have gained no such advantage while you..."
"Have merely deduced the reason for your being in camp with no recourse to my wife in any way," Al interrupted hurriedly, lest the other man have cause to lay some form of blame at Catherine's door. It was becoming all too clear that his purpose in securing her as companion had had little to do with his wife's comfort and everything to do with his business intentions. "In any event, I fail to see how you consider I could assist you in your advances to Mrs Ellsworth. She and I are little but passing acquaintances."
"I often find in business that a practical approach is not often the best way to secure what I want. Matters can become confused and long-winded when really all that is required is a straightforward yes to any offer made."
"You assume that she would agree to any offer you would make."
"I assume nothing, Mr Swearengen, and expect everything," Hearst sat back in his chair. "I am not a man who takes kindly to being told that I cannot acquire that which I am seeking. Therefore, as I have said, the practical approach is not favoured. I wish the claim as part of my holdings and I shall have the claim as part of my holdings."
Hearst's intention was becoming all too clear to Al, and he wasn't sure that he altogether supported it. Offering the woman money, as he himself had once done, was one thing, but a veiled threat if she did not agree to sell without impunity, was another. As a younger man, he might have favoured the approach put forward but now, older and wiser and with considerations for those other than himself, he found the suggestion somewhat unpalatable.
"Then I wish you the very best in your endeavours," he said finally. "But as to assistance in executing a plan such as I would wager has already been formulated in your own mind, I must confess to being more suited to the sidelines, observing the action from afar."
Hearst's brow furrowed, "I need not commend to you the advantages that my securing of the claim would bring to you and to this camp. Many more so than could ever be achieved without it?"
"I have no interest in what you consider could be brought to the camp," Al replied. "I plough my own furrow, Mr Hearst, and am content to leave you to plough yours."
"Is it to be your final word that you will not assist me in the securing of the claim held by Mrs Ellsworth?" Hearst asked.
"It is my final word," Al confirmed. "You wish to discuss proper business with the woman, you have my support. In wishing the camp to prosper I would not stand in the way of commerce. But threats, idly issued against a resident of the camp purely on the basis that you hold yourself out as having greater entitlement to the gold to be found in these hills than any other, are likely to meet with resistance not only from my quarter, but others also."
"You seek to threaten me in return?"
"I seek to simply advise you on the consequences that might befall such aggressive actions carried out on your part by you or those in your employ." Al drained his glass. "And if that will be all, I believe that our meeting has concluded for the evening. I thank you for your hospitality, Mr Hearst, and bid you goodnight." He got to his feet and began threading his way through the tables towards the door, when Hearst's voice caused him to pause.
"Such a beautiful sky this afternoon, wouldn't you have said?"
Al glanced back before continuing walking, "Can't say as I noticed."
"I did. A wonderful colour...a most dazzling blue."
"I'll have to take your word for that."
"Reminded me very much of the blue of Mrs Swearengen's eyes."
Al stopped at the door and turned slowly back to look at the other man, sat comfortably as he was in the chair, his hands behind his head, his gaze unwavering. He waited for the punch line of the joke, the dismissal of the comment as pure ridicule meant in good taste. But it didn't come. Hearst continued to watch him, the only flicker of emotion on his face being the slight upturning of the corners of his mouth. It was not a mirthful smile, but rather one that held the promise of danger. A danger that no other customer in the hotel that evening would have recognised, except himself.
"I'll be sure to pass on your compliment to her," Al replied, before stepping out into the night and taking a deep lungful of air. He made his way hurriedly back over into the Gem where Dan was waiting at the bar, a glass of whisky already poured. Without speaking, Al drank it whole, his mind going over and over what had just transpired.
"Well?" Dan asked.
"Well what?"
"How did it go? "
Al paused, torn between telling the other man of Hearst's last words and the implications they held and remaining silent. To have spoken of Catherine so admiringly at first meeting and then ended same with a thinly veiled threat on her safety...he wished he had pulled out his knife then and there and gutted him. Instinctively, he lifted his gaze upwards to the closed door of his office, imagining her within, where he could go to her, tell her of what had been said and reassure her that her protection was guaranteed. But she wasn't there. She was ensconced at Shaughnessy's, alone and with little regard left for him.
"Boss?" Dan broke into his thoughts again.
"I'm going to pay a call," he advised, downing another glass and then purposefully heading for the door. "Anyone needs me, I'll be at Shaughnessy's."
