Hi everyone!
Since Chapter 25 is a little long, I'm splitting it up. I'm posting the first half today and will post the second half tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your supportive emails and your patience :)
Chapter Twenty-five (Part I)
Clay walked towards the main house, rushing trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He'd been in the middle of tending to a foal when one of the field hands informed him that Chief Deputy Brunson was there to see him. What could he possibly want? Clay anxiously thought. Hoping that their pa was okay. Hoping that whatever the issue, he could resolve it before Sean returned from wherever he'd gone. He didn't want to give his brother any more reason to think he wasn't capable of handling any and all issues that might arise in pa's absence. He thought as he rounded the corner of the main house and saw not only Chief Deputy Brunson, a Junior Deputy, Mayor Jackson and Councilman Rhodes, which befuddled and worried him more...
"Gentleman, how can I help you?" Clay asked as he walked up to the gentlemen, removing his work gloves.
"We're here to serve a warrant." Deputy Brunson smugly announced as he handed Clay the legal paper work.
"A warrant? For what?" Clay stiffly questioned, after glancing over the paper he'd been handed.
"We're here to seize your father's personal ledgers from the past three quarters." Mayor Jackson seriously revealed.
"I ask again what for?" Clay irritably requested.
"Son you don't need to worry ab…"
"The hell if I don't!" Clay exclaimed, interrupting the Mayor's response. "And you're not seizing anything until you tell me what's going on."
"Son you don't have a choice in this." Deputy Brunson harshly stated. "We have a warrant, and if you don't allow us to execute that warrant I will happily arrest you."
"I don't care what you do." Clay retorted. "You are not going into my pa's house!"
"I guess an arrest it'll be!" The Deputy severely replied, then grabbed the young man by the arm and attempted to secure it behind his back as Clay yelled in protest fighting the man's attempt to restrain him.
"What's going on?" Alice asserted with alarm as she rushed upon the scene after seeing what was happening while on her way to the garden.
"That's enough!" Mayor Jackson ordered in an attempt to stop Deputy Brunson. "I said that's enough!" The Mayor shouted, once more now grabbing the Deputy's arm, forcing him to cease his struggle with Clay who instantly yanked himself from the man.
"This is not how I wanted this to take place." The Mayor declared with frustration, eying Clay and Deputy Brunson as Alice went to her brother's side, asking him if he was okay. "And I apologize for this situation turning so chaotic." He said, turning his gaze exclusively to Clay. "Your father is a man whom I still respect and trust." The man admitted again turning his eyes to everyone around him. "And no matter the charges against Ned Logan, he is innocent until proven otherwise, and therefore we should treat him and his family with respect."
"You're apology is sweet." Clay scoffed. "But you should've thought of that before you showed up with your lynch mob to take my pa's stuff."
"What is going on?" Alice uttered in shock. "What stuff are you here to take?" She questioned as she looked to the Deputies and the Mayor for answers.
"Give us a moment." The Mayor then requested of Councilman Rhodes, Deputy Brunson and his junior deputy who resentfully stepped away.
"We're not trying to take your pa's stuff. We just need those ledgers." The Mayor carefully explained to Alice before turning his gaze to Clay.
"Why do you..."
"And you'll be waiting forever to get those ledgers unless you tell me what you need them for." Clay countered, interrupting Alice, causing the Mayor to awkwardly shift his footing and glance towards the young woman who stood up straighter, her confusion shifting to annoyance, properly deciphering the man's gaze that he didn't feel comfortable discussing business in front of her.
"There've been some discrepancies with the city ledgers." The man then reluctantly disclosed.
"What kind of discrepancies?" Alice asked before Clay could, causing the Mayor to give her a quick glare.
"We think your father may have misappropriated some funds." The man honestly continued.
"That's absurd!" "You have got to be kidding me!" Alice and Clay both exclaimed.
"Where would you get such an absurd idea?" Alice persisted in disbelief.
"One of the Councilmembers brought it to our attention." Mayor Jackson grudgingly answered the young woman.
"Who?" Alice inquired with distress. "Who would accuse pa of stealing?"
"I'm not at liberty to disclose who."
"So anybody can just accuse our pa of stealing, but we aren't allowed to ask who it is?" Clay challenged.
"That's not what I said." The man denied.
"You said you weren't at liberty to disclose who accused him." Clay argued.
"Son I'm not going to go in circles over this." The Mayor firmly stated. "It doesn't matter who brought it to my attention, the fact is when the ledgers were checked we found the discrepancy." He said. "Your father is the city's Financial Manager. Therefore any discrepancies that might occur are his responsibility." He said. "Now if you don't allow us into your father's office to seize those records, I won't have any choice but to have Deputy Brunson arrest you."
Flustered Clay turned his angry eyes from the man and to the land around him. He couldn't believe that after all the horrible things that had happened that things could get worse, that his pa could be accused of something just as ridiculous as the murder charge, stealing. Clay shook his head in disgust, then skimmed over the search and seize warrant again, that was now a bit crumbled due to his scuffle with Deputy Brunson, wondering who'd made such accusations against his pa, wondering what he could do to stop them from seizing his pa's ledgers, but failing to determine an answer on either account.
"Alright." Clay bitterly conceded.
"What? Clay you can't let them in pa's office to go rifling through his things." Alice protested.
"THEY'RE not going anywhere." Clay sternly clarified as he briefly turned his eyes to Alice. "I will take you and only you to my pa's office." He stated to the Mayor, now turning his stare to him. "And I will pull the ledgers you need." He said.
"Fair enough." The Mayor agreed before he, Alice and Clay walked back to Deputy Brunson and the others to tell them what they planned to do.
Sean patiently waited at the door, gazing at the floor of the porch counting the cracks in the planks in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. His thoughts having helplessly abandoned the true intention of his visit for what he really wanted and needed. What was he going to say to her? He anxiously questioned as he now moved on to noting the walls with chipped paint and the planks that looked a bit loose. Well first he would apologize for his behavior the day before. He decided, again kicking himself for treating her that way, for believing she'd be so cruel as to end things with a letter and her ring, but things had been so messed up back then, so much had happened, he couldn't decipher the truth from the lies, his anger at his pa erupting at the thought. But what would he say after the apology, he now pondered, pushing his anger aside. He'd dreamed of this moment for so long. His heart panged, but things were so different than he'd imagined he mused, when he heard the footsteps finally stop behind the door, giving him a minute to take a breath and center his thoughts before the door then opened…
"Isaac." Sean uttered, for a moment disappointed and surprised, before his temper spiked at the thought of the pain the man's lies had caused.
"If you were expecting to pay a call on Marita, she's not here." Isaac replied, his tone resentful and hard, not at all surprised to see the young man at his door.
"Well then I'll come back when she is." Sean quipped, then turned to go, unable to tolerate the man, who he hadn't got along with since he'd confessed to him his love for Marita.
"No, you won't." Isaac snapped, causing Sean to stop and return his attention to him.
"Excuse me?" Sean retorted.
"I said you won't be coming back here." Isaac strongly repeated. "Because you're not welcome."
"And I'm saying that I'm not here to see you, but Marita." Sean tartly replied.
"My daughter is no longer your concern." Isaac staunchly countered. "She hasn't been for three years."
"Is that what you told her? That she's no longer a concern to me?" Sean shot back, piqued by the man's words, that he'd actually think the lies of the past three years would be enough for him to forget Marita and walk away, stay away forever. "Oh wait!" He continued. " I forgot. She has no idea about me, about what we shared because for the past three years you've deceived her into living a lie."
"Her life is anything but a lie!" Isaac angrily denied, but couldn't help but think about why Marita was there, seemingly searching for something, searching for her past, he thought with guilt and fear. "You have no idea what her life has been like these past three years." He then stiffly contended, rejecting his unwanted thoughts, refusing to let them get the better of him.
"Well then why don't you tell me?" Sean severely asserted, holding the man's fierce stare. "Why don't you tell me how you explained to her why she was living in Chicago? And why being in Toronto away from everything and everyone that made her who she was, was good for her recovery?"
"I don't have to tell you anything about the choices I made for Marita." Isaac rebuked with fury. "She is MY daughter…"
"And she was my life!" Sean fumed.
"She was never your life!" Isaac bitterly contested. "You might've felt like playing house with her constituted a commitment akin to marriage but it didn't." He argued, now walking beyond the door to come closer to Sean. "You were nothing more than another white man ruining a Negro woman's life to satisfy your own selfish desires!"
"You can't really believe that me leaving Lexington, leaving a successful tobacco business, risking my pa's rejection and societies wrath was selfish?" Sean heatedly questioned, seething at the man's insulting claims. "I gave up everything to be with Marita. I loved her!" He fiercely proclaimed, his heart panging at the fact that he still did, that he'd risk it all again to have a chance with her.
"And what good did that love do?" Isaac challenged with ire. "It nearly got her killed!" He indignantly pointed out, ripping Sean with guilt and pain. "If you truly loved my daughter you would've walked away!" He blasted. "You would walk away right now, considering all the trouble your 'love' for her has caused!" He continued. "But just like I expected, here you are, selfishly at my door, trying to see her, trying to rekindle what you had." Isaac uttered with disgust. "Well that's not going to happen." He vowed. "Because I won't let it." He said. "Marita doesn't remember her life with you. She'll never remember, and I'm not going to allow you to upset her life and her health…"
"What do you mean her health?" Sean interjected with vexation and concern.
"That's none of your concern." Isaac irately replied. "I will not allow you to upset her new life and risk her health with your need for a stroll down memory lane."
"You expect me to believe that after all the deceitful things you've done to try and keep her from remembering, keep us apart, that I'm going to believe that Marita being told about her past will somehow damage her health?"Sean questioned in anger and disbelief.
"Son I don't care what you believe about my daughter's health, but you will stay away from her." Isaac ordered.
"And if I don't." Sean defiantly scoffed. "After all you are living on my family's ranch, and she's assisting Clay with ranch business." He sharply pointed out.
"If you don't, I won't be responsible for what I might do." He warned, now seething at the young man's valid point.
"Are you threatening me?"
"You can take it any way you like." Isaac harshly answered. "Just know that I will do anything to protect my daughter." He vowed, holding the Sean's angry gaze, before he then turned away from the young man and returned to the inside of his home, breathing a worried sigh as he slammed the door behind him, knowing that he had to do something and quick, otherwise his worst nightmare would indeed come to fruition.