Box Clever
Steve and Daniel had gone home, packed what they would need for the weekend and then headed into town. Rae and Jesse hadn't planned to join them until the Saturday lunchtime so that they could spend some time alone as a family. Even though Jesse had been off all week, Rae hadn't seen that much of him and she missed him.
Rae had told him what had happened in the impound yard, and Jesse insisted on checking her over and making her lie down for a while. She must have been far more tired than she thought because it was past seven before Jesse came back into their bedroom to wake her up.
"Rae, Sweetheart, if you stay here any longer you won't be able to sleep tonight." Jesse kissed her gently on the lips and then watched as she smiled and began to wake up.
"Mmm, what time is it?" Rae stretched her hands out above her head as far as they would go and her whole body was taut just for a moment and then she relaxed back down into the bed.
"Ten past seven, I'm just gonna bathe the girls, and I could use a hand." Jesse stroked the hair back from her forehead and looked into her eyes. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever known, and he still couldn't believe that she loved and wanted him.
"Hey." Rae blew a gentle breath into his face. "Where were you?"
"Oh, sorry, I was just looking at you, I love you, Rae."
Rae put her arms up and pulled him down towards her and began to kiss him tenderly, and then they both felt the bed move and looking towards the door saw Eliana trying her hardest to climb up and join them.
"Mommy, Daddy, aii. Yana, 'ere." The little girl beamed as her chubby legs finally did as she wanted them to, and then she fell onto the bed next to them.
"And you left her where?" Rae smiled at her husband, seeing the horrified look on his face.
"Downstairs in the … what did we decide to call it? The playroom? But I shut the door, I know I did."
"Jess, she's almost two and a half, doors are no problem, stairs aren't either, short of chaining her up she will now be able to follow you everywhere and you will just have to get used to it."
"But she could have gone anywhere in the house, fallen down the stairs, the bath already has the water in it she could have drowned!"
"But she didn't, we were lucky this time, now go and get Anneya and I will get this little adventuress ready for her bath." Rae smiled as Eliana crawled up the bed so that she could put her arms around her mommy's neck, and then began to cry as Jesse picked her up so that Rae could get off the bed.
Three hours later Rae was sitting at her dressing table, a piece of newspaper spread out before her, polishing her silver jewellery ready for the ball the following evening, and Jesse was laying on the bed reading what was left of the paper.
"Oh, dammit!" Rae's voice suddenly split the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the room.
"What's the matter? You don't usually swear." Jesse sat up on the bed and looked at his wife's reflection in the mirror.
"You know that little silver ring I bought? The one that matches the bracelet and watch, well it just skittered across and down the back of the dressing table…. And I can't see it on the floor." Rae's voice became muffled as she bent down and peered in through the space for her legs.
Jesse got down off the bed and moved across to where his wife was partially hidden by furniture. He knew how pleased she had been to find the ring in a jewellery store when they were out shopping one day. It matched her bracelet almost exactly, and as it was her silver jewellery that had shown the police that she hadn't committed murder, Rae had decided to treat herself to the piece to complete her set. She had been wearing all three items when they lost the house, and, apart from her wedding and engagement rings, it was the only jewellery she now owned. Jesse knew that leaving it where it had fallen wasn't an option.
"Look, maybe we can just move the dressing table out and it will fall to the floor. You take one side and I'll take the other."
Rae extricated herself from the little well where she usually put her knees, brushed herself down and nodded. "Ok, hold on then." Carefully moving herself down the side of the piece of furniture they took a firm grasp of the table and pulled. Nothing happened, so they tried again, and still nothing.
"It must be screwed to the wall or something, it won't budge." Jesse pulled out the top drawer and peered inside. "No, it's on hooks; we need to lift it up. Atishoo." Jesse sneezed as he moved away from the dusty gap. "I don't think this has been cleaned out in years."
"Another little job to add to my list. Ok, then, on the count of three, lift."
"Hold on, Rae, are you alright to do this, what about your shoulders and your arms?" Jesse looked across at his wife, the concern evident in his eyes.
"If it hurts I'll stop, I promise. Now, one, two, three." The piece of furniture rose up in their hands and they both took four steps out into the room before putting it down. As they had lifted it they heard a light clanging sound and knew that the ring had found its way to the floor.
Rae moved over and crouched down to pick up the offending piece of jewellery and then turned round, as she did so, something else caught her eye. "There's a package on the back of the dressing table, look."
Jesse came round to where Rae was now standing, and could see, attached to the back of the fitment, a brown parcel. "What do you think it is?"
"I have no idea. It's quite big, what A4 size, maybe a little bigger? It looks like it has a lot of stuff in it. Whoever left it there must have forgotten all about it. I guess we should really go and get Jo, but she isn't home. We could take it off and give it to her tomorrow. I don't like to leave it there now we know about it." Rae reached out and touched the paper, almost as if she was afraid it would disappear.
The brown sticky tape that was holding it to the back of the table gave under her touch and Rae just managed to get both hands under it before it fell to the floor. Carefully she laid it on the bed, and they could both see that in beautifully ornate writing on the side which had been hidden to them were the words For the Attention of Josephine Walters.
They put the dressing table back it its place and then moved over to the package again. "Well, I guess there is no problem finding out who it's for then! Put it in the nightstand and we can go to bed."
"What, already? I'm not a bit tired yet." Rae looked over at her husband.
"Good, neither am I." Jesse beamed at her and took her by the hand.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Saturday morning was one of frantic activity for both the Sloans and the Travises. Jo picked up her gown, had her hair done and then spent a very relaxing hour and a half with the manicurist. Steve and Daniel headed off to the hotel pool and spent the entire morning either in the water or sitting on the side watching the other swimmers, just enjoying each other's company.
Jesse and Rae packed up their things early and took Eliana and Anneya over to Sally. Once that was done they too booked into the hotel and, without any real enthusiasm on the part of either of them, headed downtown to shop for evening clothes.
It had been arranged beforehand that Jo, Steve and Daniel would meet up with Rae and Jesse at three, they would then spend an afternoon together just doing nothing very much before the final preparations for the evening began.
Rae was just hanging her new dress in the closet next to the deep blue tux that she had persuaded Jesse to buy instead of black when she felt the presence of someone behind her and turned to find Jo smiling and waving her fingers at her.
"Hey, you look wonderful; I love your hair and your nails, wow!"
Jo's nails were always long and painted but now they had just a French polish on them, but the white at the top of the nails had a small diamante on the left edge of each one. "I felt like goin' a little bit overboard, what do you think?"
"I think they look just stunning, mine will look ordinary by comparison, but then it is your night." Rae smiled at her friend, and then suddenly leant over and kissed her gently on the cheek. "You have worked so hard for this, and I know it will be a big success. Mark and Steve will be just thrilled."
"Thank you. I uh, I changed the seatin' arrangements, Debs said that the way we had it before reminded her of her boardin' school, which was probably a reform school, but she had a point." Jo couldn't help her sarcasm, but Rae just laughed.
"You're a wicked woman; you need to give her a chance. It's difficult to join a ready made group, and we are a bit cliquey you know."
"Mmm." Jo didn't seem at all impressed, but then she remembered something. "Ooh, I got you that glittery hairspray you wanted."
"Thank you. When your hair is this short there isn't much you can do to it, well, apart from dying it purple, or making it glisten, and I think that Jess might have something to say if I did the first thing."
"Yeah, I think he just might. So, I have the cucumber, the face pack, the chocolate, an' I even have a Michael Ball CD, so we can just chill out for an hour or two, an' let the world pass us by, what do you say?"
"I think it sounds wonderful, but what are the men going to do?" Rae smiled and linked hands with her friend.
"Steve has the steam room booked; he, Daniel an' Jess can go an' make sure their suits fit."
"Did you show Daniel his yet?" Rae smiled again; they had raided the boy's closets to get his size and then bought him a smart suit for the occasion.
"Last night, Steve showed him as they packed to come here, an' he said that I could introduce him an' tell everybody who he is… They had a long talk yesterday, an' I need to thank you for gettin' Steve to listen. I think Daniel will be a permanent fixture now. He, … he asked Steve if he could call him Dad, an' this mornin' he asked me if I wouldn't mind him callin' me Mom." Jo's eyes were suddenly bright with tears and she hugged her friend.
"Oh, Texas, I am just so pleased. And I didn't do anything, you have worked wonders with the boy, he is so much more open and likeable than when he first came. He'll be just fine, you'll see." Rae returned the hug, and then, arm in arm, they went off to get themselves settled for their relaxation time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dad?"
"Yeah, Daniel, what is it?" Steve smiled, he didn't think he would ever tire of hearing his son call him that.
"How long did you say we had to stay in here?" Daniel wiped his brow with the back of his hand, he had been delighted to be included in Steve's whole day, but now he was wishing that he was in the games arcade and not the sauna.
"Until we don't think we can stand it any longer, but if you want to go off and do other things that's fine, just make sure you're back in the room by six thirty or your mom's gonna start worrying."
"Ok, see ya later, Jesse, you too." Daniel let out a sigh of relief, and then, making sure that his towel was firmly around his waist, moved over towards the door.
"Don't lose all your allowance." Jesse smiled; he knew just where the boy was going.
"Jess?"
"Mmm." Jesse had his eyes closed and was leaning back against the wall. He hadn't done this in a long time, but it was good, and he needed to switch off for a while.
"Does it still give you a thrill when Eliana calls you daddy?"
"Oh yeah, I love it. It's so good, it makes your toes curl, if you know what I mean."
Steve laughed, "I do know what you mean, I'm feeling the same way right now."
"I noticed that he's calling you Dad. Rae told me you and he were gonna have a talk yesterday, I guess it worked out ok, huh?"
"Better than ok, but he's having trouble at school, and I need to sit down with Jo and sort out what we are gonna to do. I plan to talk to his principal when he goes back to school next week, he was excluded when he shouldn't have been, and I don't want that on his permanent record."
"Well, you can't do anything about it this weekend, so put it out of your mind. We have to wander around all evening with a mask over our faces, bid on auction items and then dance the night away, I don't think you have time to concentrate on anything else."
"Mmm, I guess you're right." The room descended into a comfortable and friendly silence, as the two men let their thoughts wander away in different directions, knowing that, for the next hour at least, the world couldn't touch them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Texas?"
"Yeah, Rae, what is it?" Jo and Rae had finished their pampering and were setting out their make up and having a light snack when Rae began to speak.
"I had to move the dressing table in our bedroom last night, and I found a package taped to the back of it. It's addressed to you, I brought it with me. You don't have to look at it now, but I just want to hand it over to you."
Rae had the package in the bottom of her suitcase and she took it out and gave it to her friend.
"That's my grandmamma's handwritin'. I wonder what's in it? It's kinda excitin' isn't it, should we open it d'you think?" Jo looked at it turning it over and over as she did so.
"Honey, it's up to you, you have so much on your mind right now, I'm sure another day won't matter… She's been dead a long time."
"True, but if I don't open it I'll be wonderin' all evenin' what it is." Jo looked at the package and then she shook it, it made no sound, but it was heavy and she knew she just had to know what was in it.
Carefully, Jo peeled the tape back and then began to cut into the paper with the letter opener from the desk in front of her. Once the outside covering had been removed they could both see that inside were three or four individual envelopes.
"This one has my momma and pappa's name on the front, this is me, an' David, an' this one … this one doesn't have anythin' written on it. It's intruigin' isn't it?"
"Oh yeah, I love a mystery, so, what are you going to do?"
"I think I will open the one with my name on it an' see what it says."
Carefully, using the letter opener once again, Jo began to open an envelope that had been closed for many years.
"Hey, Mom, look I what I won." Daniel came bursting into the room, and Jo put the envelope down on the dressing table and turned to see the enjoyment lighting up the face of her foster son as he handed her a wristwatch.
"Ok, an' you can win these in a sauna can you?"
For a moment his face clouded but then Daniel realised that Jo wasn't angry with him and he smiled again. "I uh, I got kinda bored and Dad said I could go and play the machines. I thought that this was pretty and you would like it, so I won it for you." He handed over a dainty, if inexpensive, woman's watch. It had an oval face with a diamante where the 12 should have been, and a black patent leather-look band.
"Honey, thank you so much, it matches my nails, I will wear it tonight." Jo leant over and kissed him quickly on the cheek, and then laughed as he blushed. "I guess at fourteen kissin' is out, huh?"
"Well, Rae's here." Daniel's blush deepened and then he gaped as Rae stuck her tongue out at him.
"I have an eighteen year old son and a married son of almost twenty-one, and they won't let me kiss them either."
"Twenty-one, wow, you must be way older than Mom … oh, sorry, I guess that's rude."
"I was a teenage bride, and I may just bide my time, but revenge will be mine young man!" Rae darted at him and Daniel backed away, the enjoyment still radiating from his face, and she laughed out loud. As the horseplay continued the door opened again and Jesse and Steve entered the room.
"Hey, what's all this? I thought you had to be respectful in the presidential suite." Jesse could see that Rae was chasing Daniel and so when he got closer to him he just grabbed him round the waist and held him fast. "So, what's it worth, do I keep you or let you go?"
"Let me go, Jesse, please." Daniel was laughing as he spoke, and squirming in the doctor's grip.
"Keep him, Jess, he thinks I'm old." Rae advanced on the boy her hands out in front of her and just as she got there Jesse released him and Daniel darted away again.
As everybody laughed and played around her Jo gathered up the envelopes that Rae had given her and quietly put them into her suitcase. Rae was right, there would be another time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The fund raising ball for Community General hospital and the Los Angeles Police Foundation had become, much to Steve and Jo's amazement and delight, one of the highlights of the social calendar, and the tickets had been going for the amazing price, at least to Steve, of $250.00 apiece. There had been 400 tickets and so already, before the evening began, $100,000.00 had been raised.
The dressmaker that Jo had used was the one that she would have gone to had she had the wedding she had originally envisaged. The dress that she had made for her was, in Rae's opinion exquisite, and she knew that it would make her look even more stunningly radiant that she normally did, now that she was Mrs. Steve Sloan.
The dress was a very soft dusky pink silk, and fell in deep waves from a tight waist. There were no sleeves, the dress was boned and without straps. The top was embroidered in very delicate gold thread and the patterns followed the natural contours of her body, and accentuated her figure. She had her hair up in a French pleat, but there were tendrils falling softly around her face and down her back all in naturally curling ringlets.
Jo wore a beautiful necklace that looked as if it was a branch that wound its way around her neck. No one except herself and Steve knew the significance of the piece. It was made of rose coloured gold, and every now and again the gold branched off into small blunt thorns, there was a violet coloured jewel here and there, and deep red rubies as well. The violet jewels were to remind her of the flowers in her glade, the thorns were from the roses, which hadn't been in bloom when they were there, but would be the next time they visited, and the rubies were for her beloved Scarlet. Steve had given it to her when they returned from their honeymoon and she knew that it was something he had designed himself and had made especially for her.
The day that they had spent in the glade together had been one of Jo's happiest memories of her life with Steve. She had realised the significance of the necklace as soon as she saw it, the ride across the fields, the picnic, the way they had opened up and talked to each other, now she knew just how important it had been to her husband as well, and although she didn't get the chance to wear it very often she adored it.
The temptation to have a costume ball had been one that was easily dismissed; instead they had decided to have a masked ball. Each guest had a lorgnette, which had either a plain black winged mask on it for the men, or a sequinned or glittering mask for the women. Jo's mask was far more ornate than all the rest, as befitted her position as organiser and hostess.
All of the food had the masked theme running through it. There was a salmon mousse, which had been masked by strips of smoked salmon. Followed by a Boueff en Croute which was a beautiful piece of beef, masked with puff pastry, and for desert they had Baked Alaska, wonderfully cold ice-cream, masked by the meringue. Although both Rae and Jo had thought that the menu would be one of the most difficult things to organise it had been sorted out remarkably quickly, with the two of them and Michael only spending an afternoon planning it. The requirements of the vegetarian, vegan and other dietary restricted guests had been catered for by Michael alone, he loved a challenge, and all their food was also masked in some way or other. However, the guest who had called to say that she would be half way through a cabbage and water diet had been told they would be unable to cater for her.
"For goodness sakes," Jo had said, "One night, she could come off the darn thing for one night, but I have to say I wouldn't want to be sittin' next to someone who had only been eatin' cabbage for a week, mask or no mask!"
The pre-dinner drinks and conversation had been buzzing for just under the hour when a large gong was sounded in the ballroom and Michael's voice could be heard booming across the room. "My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served."
The general buzz heightened for a moment and then reduced as people found their partners and made their way through to the elegant and beautifully decorated dining room. All the tables were covered in pure white damask tablecloths, with deep burgundy diamonds placed across the middle. At each place setting was a mask shaped menu and name card.
Rae, knowing that Texas had changed the seating arrangements found, to her utmost relief, that she was sitting with Alex beside her one side, and Ron the other. Across the table Jesse was sitting with Amanda and Shannon. Rae had turned with a big smile and said "Well, Agent Wagner, how do you feel now you are mixing with the rich and famous of Los Angeles?"
"A little bit out of my depth, but it's fun isn't it?" He had smiled at her, and Rae knew that he really was enjoying himself.
"Oh yeah, and she is just having a wonderful time herself." Rae turned in her seat and looked at her friend, Jo and Steve were sitting on the top table, Mark to one side of Jo and, Mrs Baardsdatter was next to Steve. To everyone's delight Madison was sitting next to Mark. When Mark had asked if he could invite the previous dean to be his guest at Steve and Jo's wedding they had all been so pleased that he wanted to do that. Unfortunately she had been unable to come but the friendship seemed to have been re-kindled between them, and Rae knew that they spoke on the phone regularly, and had met a number of times since the wedding. David was sitting beside Madison and they seemed to be getting on well too. Next to Steve the other side was Debs, and Jo seemed to have gotten over her initial animosity, at least for tonight anyway.
Rae turned to Alex and smiled at him, she had always thought that he looked very handsome in his tux, but he had blossomed since he had started going out with Shannon. She looked across the table and could see her husband deep in conversation with Alex's girlfriend. Shannon had been very concerned about coming to the ball, even though the tickets had been given to her, Alex, Amanda, Ron and themselves by Steve and Jo. She had worried and worried about the type of dress to wear, and in the end Jo had taken her shopping and they had found a gold coloured dress which was tight fitting and showed off her figure and made her black hair look even more stunning than usual.
All of her friends had great figures, and Rae was delighted to be able to have a chance to show her own off for a change. The first dress she had bought had been just beautiful, but it was gone and so she'd had to settle for second best. The gown she had chosen earlier in the day was tightly fitting, but trailed across the floor a little at the back. It was black in colour and although almost perfectly plain on the front had intricate strap work across the back of it. There was a sprinkling of glitter running from just above one breast and up and over the shoulder on a thin strap, and then the glitter was used again to highlight the split up the side of the dress almost to the hip, and Rae knew that without the split she wouldn't have been able to move at all. It wasn't as gorgeous as the first dress that she had bought, which had made her feel like a million dollars, and look about the same, and although Jesse had told her he thought she looked really sexy in everything she wore, somehow it would have meant more if he hadn't been married to her.
After the meal was finished the top table was cleared, and the people sitting there moved over to two new smaller tables that were added at the top of the room. Jo would now be sitting near to Alex, and before she sat down she moved over to speak with Rae, waggling her lorgnette as she did so.
"Well, Honey, so far I think you an' I pulled this off. What d'you say?"
"I agree, the food was wonderful, the conversation before dinner was very complimentary, and I heard people commenting on the décor as they came in." Rae put her hand over her friend's, which was resting on the table and turned to smile at her. "I am just so sorry that I couldn't help with the organisation right through to the end."
"Don't you worry none about that, I know that work has to come first, I was just delighted that the reason you had to cut back on this was because you were back to bein' a cop… What?"
"I think they're waiting for you." Rae let her gaze move over Jo's shoulder, and Jo turned round to see that the replacement table had been put up where she had been sitting, and so she moved back across to where Michael was standing, and took the microphone she was handed.
"Ladies an' gentlemen, I can't thank y'all enough for comin' to this fund raisin' occasion, an' I just know that this part of the evenin' is gonna be just as much fun as everythin' else has been so far. This is our auction, some are promises of services, others are actual items, an' some are things that, no matter how much money you have, normally you just can't buy."
"Now, before I hand over to Michael, who is going to be our auctioneer, and Daniel, our foster son, who is his gopher, I just want to mention a few people. This auction is for Community General Hospital an' the Police Benevolent Society. I would like to thank all the people who work in the hospital an' on our streets helpin' to make them a safer place to be, some of whom are here tonight, for the job that they do. We live in a violent city, an' they are the people who have to sweep up after us. I would like to thank everyone who has donated to this auction, there is a booklet bein' handed round right now, an' all our generous friends will have their names in it." Jo paused for a minute as she checked in front of her, and sure enough she could see the books being given to the guests. "I have to say that although this evenin' seems to have been a success, it is a long time since I organised anythin' like this, an' I have never done so on this scale. Without the encouragement of my wonderful husband, Steve, I wouldn't have had the confidence to start, an' without the help of my best friend, Rae, well, start is all I would have done, an' now I have finished hoggin' the mic, an' I am gonna leave the evenin' to Michael an' the first auction item."
Jo gave the microphone to her butler, and then went and sat back down, she smiled across at Steve who was sitting opposite her, and at Jesse, then as Michael hit his gavel to begin the auction the room fell silent.
As the first item was introduced Rae noticed the Chief come into the room, and to her surprise he had with him Mrs Davenport. One of the ushers at the entrance to the ballroom showed him to his table, and he raised his mask to his face as he began to join in with the evening's entertainment.
Rae leant over towards her husband and he listened carefully as she lowered her voice before speaking. "Remember the lady who was a friend of the Chief?" Jesse shook his head and so Rae continued. "The one who wanted me to vouch for Steve and made us take our shoes off?" This time Jesse nodded. "Well, she wasn't lying, she must be either a very good friend or his grandma, she's his guest for tonight … no, don't look, just do it casually later." Rae almost hissed as her husband went to turn round in his chair.
There had been some wonderful items finding new homes for just over two hours before one that Rae knew Texas had her eye on came up and she wondered whether it would stay at a low enough level for her to buy it for her friend. Texas had decided that she wouldn't bid on any of the items, in case people would hold back so that she got what she wanted.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Lot number seventy-two is a set of the complete works of one of our newer and extremely popular authors, going under the pen name of S.A. Lee, each story is signed and numbered 'two'. The author herself has all the issues numbered 'one'. This is a set of books that would be impossible to buy anywhere but here tonight. I will start the bidding at twenty-five dollars."
Giving herself a limit of $150 Rae raised her hand into the air, a feeling of anticipation coursing through her as she did so.
Ten minutes later Rae was the proud owner of the set of stories, and her bank account was down $200. She knew that she had spent more than she had planned, but she really didn't mind and it had been really exciting.
"The next item, Ladies and Gentlemen isn't in your brochure. This was a late donation by an anonymous donor. As you can see it is a beautiful box, hexagonal in shape with an intricate marquetry inlay." Daniel picked up the box and began to move between the tables, making sure that he went past the table containing Mr. Louis Mabriant on his outward and inward journey. Michael had pointed the man out to him and mentioned that he was likely to bid very highly for the box. Once Daniel had returned to the front Michael began to speak again. "There is a note that comes with this box, Ladies and Gentlemen, stating that the instructions for opening it will be left with the hotel later in the week. We will start the bidding on this item at $100."
Rae had sat and watched in amazement as the price for the box had risen steadily until finally Mr. Mabriant was the exuberant winner, parting with $800 for his prize.
"Why would anybody want that?" Alex leant over and spoke to her and she smiled at him.
"I have no idea, but I'm glad they do. It helps the price to go up and up if you have two people willing to battle it out. I wonder if there is anything in the box." Rae watched as Daniel delivered it to its new owner and received a cheque in its place.
The rest of the auction proceeded as planned, although Rae had to laugh when Steve and Mark both began bidding on the same item until they realised what they were doing. As she had expected Mark was gracious and let his son carry on bidding, not wanting to do him out of something he so obviously wanted.
The item had been a movie poster of 'Way Out West' starring Laurel and Hardy, and both stars of the movie had signed it. Rae looked across at Jesse and raised her eyebrows as her partner finally won the item for a little over $1,200. She guessed that in some things they were worlds apart now.
By the time all the items and promises had been auctioned off, and the tables removed so that the guests could dance the rest of the night away, a little over $500,000 had been raised, to be added to the $100,000 from the ticket sales and another $175,000 in donations from invited guests unable to attend, and in place of auction items. Jo was ecstatic, and as the band began to play its first number she swept Steve onto the dance floor, not caring that he would want it to be the other way around.
As Rae and Jesse danced close to them they heard Jo speaking in an excited but slightly cross manner.
"All I'm sayin' is, that if you had told me you wanted it I would have given it to you, an' found somethin' else for the auction."
"Honey, if I had known it was yours I might well have done, but the money is going to a good cause, and it isn't for me anyway, it's for Dad."
Rae looked at her husband, and whispered to him. "He spent all that money, and Texas owned it in the first place. Oh my."
"It bothers you, doesn't it, that he spent over a thousand dollars on that picture?" Jesse looked at his wife, and he could see that he was right.
"Yeah, it does, a little… do you think that the money will ever come between us? I mean they have so much of it, and, well, we will never have anything like as much as them. It didn't bother me before, but, well, I spent two hundred dollars on those books for Texas, and Steve spends twelve hundred on his Dad, I guess we are the poor relations."
They were close to two empty chairs, and so Jesse stopped dancing and guided Rae to the seats. Once they were sitting down he looked at her. "Now listen to me. There is nothing that breaks up marriages and friendships like the power of money. If you think that way then that is what will happen to us and Jo and Steve. They don't care how much money we have, and I really didn't think that you did either. I'm surprised at you, Rae, and I have to say a little disappointed too. It's the thought that counts." Jesse watched Rae pull a face, but he wouldn't be distracted. "Ok, it's a cliché, but it's true. Jo is gonna be just delighted that you bought the books for her, it doesn't matter how much they cost, you did that for her, just as Steve bought the poster for Mark, neither of them are gonna think about the size of the gift, but the love that goes with it."
Rae felt ashamed of her thoughts and was about to reply when she saw Mr. Mabriant making his way across the dance floor towards Steve, the mystical box in his hands. After making what was clearly, to anyone watching, an embarrassed apology he began to talk, after a moment Steve looked around until his eyes rested on Rae, and he nodded in her direction in a way that she knew meant that he wanted her, now.
"Jesse, I have to go see what Steve wants." Rae looked at her husband, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Then she got up and moved away before Jesse could say anything else.
Steve had moved into the room that had housed all the auction items and was waiting for Rae to join him. As soon as she did so he shut the door and indicated for her to watch him.
"This is that box, the one that was donated anonymously."
"Yeah, I know, it cost that guy $800. I am guessing that there is something a little, unusual about it."
"You could say that. It has the foot letter in it."
"What? Oh, you're joking, ok, I know you're not, but …" Rae stopped talking, her mind though was working, hard, and she still couldn't process what Steve had just told her. "It has a letter from S. Todd in it?"
"That's what I said. Do you want to hear it? It has fingerprints all over it I would imagine, but, I never leave home without them." Steve held up his hands and Rae was amazed to see that there was a set of gloves on them.
"You have latex gloves in your tux? Wow."
"Don't ask. Ok, now the box is open, but obviously when it was purchased it was shut. Apparently Mr. Mabriant found it extremely challenging and it took him just over an hour to open. Once he had done so there was this letter. The box will be covered with his prints, and he took the letter out to read, hoping, no doubt, that it led to buried treasure, unfortunately he was disappointed, and not a little disgusted."
"So, what does it say?" Rae smiled at her partner, and the feeling of guilt at what she had been thinking about him just a few minutes earlier was almost tangible.
"It says …
So, Stevie,
How is the evening going? Did you raise a lot of money? Maybe I already know how much you made. As you can see this was a little harder to find than the other letters, but it was just so much fun. By the way the box never was a family heirloom; I paid fifty dollars cash for it. Did I get a good deal? Did you make a killing on it? Ha ha. Are you laughing? No, probably not.
So, did your partner like what I left in her car? I so wanted it to be on the accelerator, but it just kept falling off.
What will be next? Well, I have another confession to make to you. The tramp that was sleeping with Crosier, I loved her once, and I am finding it hard to cut her up. Maybe I'll send you all of her; I guess you had better watch out for the postman.
Take care, Stevie,
I'll be seeing you.
S. Todd.