Thank you for your continued support. A special thank you to Samcedes. I'm happy you like the story.
Standard disclaimer.
A few days later, Mercedes was at the train station early in the morning.
As the train pulled in, she noticed two well-dressed gentlemen, step onto the platform. One of them smiled and approached her.
"Excuse me, Miss, we're from New York and in town on business. Can you direct us to a hotel?"
She hesitated for a bit.
Now that four girls had gone, there were plenty of empty rooms, upstairs at the Lily. Carmen was a great cook and they needed the money.
"Well, I believe you can stay at the Texas Lily. That's my car over there. You can take your luggage to it. I'm just going to pick up a few things at the store."
They nodded, all smiles and did as told.
Mercedes went into Pug's store.
"Mr. Pugsley, can I have those tablecloths I asked about?" He nodded and got out a package from under the counter.
"Who are those men standing by your car, Miss?"
"New York businessmen. They need a place to stay and the Lily now has plenty of extra rooms." Pug frowned.
"You turning the Lily into a hotel, while Sam is down? He ain't gonna like that."
"We need the money and it seems like a sensible solution to me," she said.
"But Sam won't like that."
"You just leave Mr. Evans to me. I can handle him," she said, with more assurance than she felt.
"We'll see," Pug said.
He wiped his hands on his apron and picked up the package. He opened the door for her and the two went outside.
On the sidewalk, Luke stood talking to Will Shuester. Both men gave a friendly wave.
"Morning Miss Jones," Luke grinned. "How's that new lock working for you. You want me to take it off."
"Of course not!" she snapped. "Does this town have nothing to preoccupy itself with, except the lock on my door?"
"Don't pay him any mind, Miss Jones, there ain't much in a small town like this, to amuse folks," Will said.
"I suppose not," she conceded.
She walked to her car, followed by Pug with her parcel.
The two gentlemen from New York stood there. One asked,
"Miss, would you like me to drive?"
"Get in," she ground out. "I'm perfectly capable of driving a car. Besides, you don't even know where the hotel is."
The two sheepishly got into the back seat, as Pug helped her into the front.
"Let me know what Sam says," he said.
"I imagine, you'll hear him yelling all the way down the hill," she said and took off.
"This seems to be a very prosperous town. No wonder there's a shortage of places to stay," one of the men said.
'Should I tell him, the Lily used to be a whorehouse?'
"That's the Lily up ahead, gentlemen."
"What a beautiful place," one said.
"I suppose for such accommodations, the price will be higher than most," the other threw in. Mercedes hadn't the least idea what to charge.
"Of course, but I can tell you're both gentlemen of quality, so anything around ninety dollars a day, including meals, shouldn't be too much."
"Well, for such a lovely place, that's probably about right. I presume the meals are good?"
"Gentlemen, this is Texas. How much steak can you eat?"
"No idea," one said, and all laughed.
Sherwin raised his head and shook his horns at them, as they pulled up close to the bird bath.
"Is that goat wandering free?" one asked.
"Yes, and he's not very good-tempered. He keeps everyone out of the lily bed," Mercedes warned. Sam's errand boy, Josiah came around to meet her.
"Josiah," she started, smiling. "These gentlemen will be boarding with us for a few days. Get my packages and their luggage, please."
He helped her out of the car and timidly asked,
"Miss, does Sam know about this?"
"He's about to," Mercedes said with determination. And then,
"Come on, gentlemen, I imagine our piano player…I mean, our check in clerk, Len, will be happy to fix you a mint julep."
Carmen met them at the door, looking baffled. Before she could say anything, Mercedes said,
"Here are our new guests. You should tell Len to fix them a drink. And please tell them what time you'll be serving dinner, will you?"
"What is Mr. Sam gonna say?" Carmen asked and shook her head. Mercedes smiled.
"I don't know, but I'm about to find out."
She turned to the two New Yorkers, who were looking about and nodding with satisfaction, at the piano, the bar and the red velvet drapes.
"Gentlemen, Carmen will show you to your rooms."
"This looks just like a…" one of the men started.
"But it's not," Mercedes assured him. "The girls on the premises are waitresses." The men were staring at the poker tables. She picked up on it.
"Uh…sometimes in the evenings, the local ladies' clubs host a domino, or whist party, complete with tea and sugar cookies."
The men's faces fell.
Carmen was already leading them up the stairs.
"Dinner's at six, and lunch is at noon," she said, as she trudged up the stairs in front of them.
Mercedes stood in the hall, gathering courage to face Sam.
At the moment, she didn't feel nearly as brave as she had, a few minutes ago.
Carmen looked down the stairs and shook her head at her.
Just then, Mercedes heard Sam's crutch, as he hobbled out of his room.
She hurried to intercept him before he saw the new boarders. They met in his doorway.
"Well, this is a nice surprise." He grinned. He looked pale and a little thin, but still devastatingly handsome.
She was almost rude to him. She was about to tell him, don't waste his time flirting with her, but she remembered, she had to be charming. She smiled back at him.
"You really shouldn't be up, you know." He looked surprised.
"I'll be damned. You're friendlier than usual."
"You probably will be...damned, I mean," she tossed playfully at him, as she took his arm, led him into his room and closed the door.
She leaned against the door and folded her arms across her chest. Sam grinned and paused for a beat.
"If I'd known you wanted to have your way with me…"
"Can it!"
"O...kay. What's on your mind?"
"We need to talk."
She motioned to a chair.
She didn't want him to faint in surprise, or whack her with his crutch.
She helped him to the chair and took the crutch, leaning it against the wall. She leaned over him and smiled.
"You know, you're really not bad-looking when you smile," he said.
"Thanks a bunch. You really know how to make a lady's day." He shook his head in bewilderment.
"You're the one who keeps calling for honesty." He was right.
"Uh…Sam…"
"Sam? You really are getting familiar." He grinned and winked at her and she stifled the urge to smack him.
"Mr. Evans," she said in a voice that could cut ice. "You know that there's no money coming in, with you laid up…and the girls…"
"I can't help it about the poker, but you're the one who's keeping the girls from working."
"Well, a couple of them might make pretty good waitresses…and that's respectable."
"What are you on about?" She paced up and down.
"We've got all these empty rooms…and Carmen is a good cook…"
"Not as good as me…but then, I can't barbecue much leaning on a crutch," he said.
"Humility is not your strong point."
"Who? Me?"
"Never mind. It occured to me, that this town could use another proper hotel. And it could prosper more, if visiting businessmen, had a nice place to stay and eat, besides some of the other places and that greasy café, over by the Bucket O' Blood Saloon."
He shrugged.
"Maybe so."
"You know it's true." She paused and took a deep breath. "Uh…what would you say to ninety dollars a day."
"For what? Our girls generally get…"
"Not for that." She hurried to cut him off. "We could rent out rooms and take in boarders for a while."
There, she said it.
There was a split-second pause before her words sunk in. He blinked.
"What?"
"The Lily could be a great hotel and make a ton of money that way and…"
"No!" he roared. "N-O. This is the best whorehouse and gambling joint in east Texas, and you want to turn it into some prissy hotel."
"Think about it," she said. "I've already got two customers…businessmen from New York."
"Yanks? Yanks are living in my house?" His voice rose. But she would not be intimidated.
"You have been doing business with New Yorkers all this time. It's the perfect answer."
He let that sit for a minute, as the wheels in his head turned. An idea crossed his mind and he asked,
"Do these gentlemen play poker?"
"None of that," she said and then, "I told them, the only entertainment was dominoes or whist, now and then."
"Lady, you sure know how to take the fun out of life."
"Stop whining. I'm just trying to keep things going."
"Do I need to remind you, that the Texas Lily was a very profitable business only weeks ago, then you arrived and started turning everything…including my life, upside down?"
"Someday, you'll thank me for taking you out of this disreputable life of sin."
"I doubt that very much." He tried to get up.
"That just shows what a wastrel you are. Now take a nap or play solitaire. You don't have anything else to do."
"Ain't that the truth."
She closed the door and left, her mind busy with her project and smiling at how easy things went with Sam.
Mercedes spoke to the girls and asked them to wax the wood floors and dust everything.
After that, she went out into the big room and for the first time, she noticed some big, pretty brass vases, Josiah had gathered to clean.
"Josiah, give them an extra polish and then go pick me some lilies."
"Okay. Is Sherwin in his pen?" the boy asked, looking a bit uncertain.
"I'm not sure. If he isn't, I'll get Carmen to lock him up."
She called Michele to help her with the tablecloths.
It was nearing dinner time, and Carmen's eyes grew into saucers, as she came out of the kitchen, to ring the bell.
"I don't know what Mr. Sam's gonna say about this."
"He'll love it." Mercedes assured her, but she wasn't sure. She'd have to be extra charming to the rascal, until he got over this surprise.
She went down the hall and knocked on his door.
"Come in," his voice sounded. He was sitting in a chair.
"Where's your crutch?"
"I don't do so well, with those type of things…why don't you give me a hand?"
It seemed churlish to refuse.
As he hobbled to his feet, she hurried to get his arm over her shoulder.
Once again, his face was so close, she could see his prominent jawline. as he smiled and smell his aftershave.
For a moment, they stood there looking into each other's eyes. His were a warm, beautiful green, with crinkles at the corners.
His arm around her shoulder was warm, strong and heavy. Something about him, made her take a deep breath and pull away.
"I…I think you'd better use your crutch," she stammered. She reached to get it for him.
Taking a deep breath, she walked out the door ahead of him.
"I've made a few changes. I hope you like them."
"Everything was just fine the way it was. Women always want to change things and people...especially men," he grumbled, as he hobbled down the hall behind her.
They reached the main room and he paused, wordless in surprise.
There were white tablecloths on every poker table. The floor had been waxed. The billiard table was gone, and Len had his hair neatly combed and wore a jacket.
He blinked in shock.
A shiny brass spittoon was in the centre of each table, full of orange day lilies.
"What do you think?" she asked. "I found the vases and decided to use them. I've really made everything pretty, don't you think?"
Sam almost cried.
If she were a man, for just a second, he'd punch her, and he'd enjoy doing it. What could he do?
"Mercy," he said, shaking his head in defeat. "It don't look like a whorehouse no more."
"Good," she said smiling. "Come and have dinner with our guests from New York."
He counted to ten in his head and then backwards, to calm his nerves, and then pasted a smile on his handsome face, and sat for dinner.
Poor Sam, Mercedes is going to drive him batty.