Bret – The Catch

Pappy seemed to thrive off his having caught a cheater in the salon. As soon as we started back to our stateroom, he lit a cigar, and there was an extra skip in his step as we walked along. Meanwhile, my brother looked . . . Irritated was the best way I could describe it. I was starting to wonder how serious he'd been about going home.

When we got back to the room Pappy crushed out what was left of his cigar and turned to us with a grin. "Not bad for a night's work."

"Starting a little early, aren't you, Pappy?" Bart asked.

Pappy scoffed. "What else was I supposed to do? Pretend I didn't see him?"

Pappy had that tone that said he wasn't expecting an answer so Bart just gave me a look and rolled his eyes. I shrugged and fought a smile. I knew Bart wasn't happy with what had happened. I wasn't thrilled with it, but Pappy had a point. Maybe he could have handled it differently but it was Pappy, and he only handed things one way, Pappy's way. Hopefully, this wasn't a precursor to the way the rest of the trip was going to go.

"Well, goodnight, boys."

"Night, Pappy," I replied and heard the same come from Bart. Once Pappy disappeared into his suite, I turned to Bart. "He certainly started things off with a bang, didn't he?"

Bart sighed. "Only Pappy. I still think maybe we should consider goin' back home."

I laughed. "Forget it, Brother Bart. He's havin' the time of his life; we wouldn't be able to drag him back to Little Bend now if we had to."

"Yeah, I know," Bart answered as we started undressing. "But I've got a bad feeling about this."

"What?"

"All this. We just got on the boat and he's already gotten into a fight."

I couldn't help but wonder why Bart was so aggravated. There were a dozen different ways I could think of that the night could have been better, but there were also a hundred ways it could have been worse. "Come on, Bart, you can't really blame him for the fight. He confronted a cheater the way any of us would have."

"I know, but don't you think he's gettin' a little old to go around throwin' punches?"

"You better not let him hear you say he's gettin' old." That almost got a smile out of Bart. "Besides," I went on. "He didn't swing first. You didn't want him to stand there and get hit did you?"

"Of course not, it's just . . . ." Bart scrubbed his face with his hands before throwing them up in a gesture of surrender. "So far this trip hasn't gone the way I expected it to."

I saw Bart's eyes shift to the sofa for a split second and I started to understand the problem. The missing room had grated Bart a little more than he'd let on, then there was Pappy's fight . . . I guess I couldn't blame him for being a little put out. Truth was I wasn't happy about the fight either, but what I'd told Bart was true. What else was he supposed to do? "You sure you don't want the bed?" I asked. The last thing I wanted to do was give up my bed, but if it put Bart in a better mood it would be a worthwhile trade. "I'll flip you for it," I added lest he think I was being too nice.

Bart couldn't stop the smile this time. "With your double-headed coin? No, thanks. Besides, you are the older brother. Your old bones probably need the extra padding."

"Older and wiser," I said throwing my shirt at him. "Come on, let's get some sleep. Things'll look better in the morning."

XXXXXXXX

A good night's sleep seemed to sooth Bart's frayed nerves, and when we got up later that morning he was more like himself. It was past noon and I decided the first order of business, after getting dressed, was to find something to eat. Bart agreed and we made ourselves presentable as quickly as we could. By the time I was ready to go we hadn't heard a sound from Pappy's room.

"Do you think he's alright?" I asked as I slipped my jacket on.

"Do you think he's in there?" Bart replied.

"Where else would he be?"

Bart shrugged. "Who knows? He could have gotten up before either one of us and is already out there chasing a woman around."

While what Bart was saying wasn't impossible, it wasn't likely. Pappy still holds a great appreciation of the opposite sex, but he's not that bad. "He's in there," I told my brother confidently, knowing Bart's attitude was due to him still being marginally annoyed by last night. "You almost ready to go?" I then asked him as he sat down on the bed to put his boots on.

Bart turned and gave me a look. "Yes."

"You always were kinda slow in the mornings," I said sitting down on the settee and smirking when I saw Bart gave me another look.

When you play poker for a living, you keep rather unconventional hours. That was as true when me and Bart were growing up as it is now. When we were younger, Pappy would stay out most of the night and sleep while we were at school. For a while, it had been up to me to see that both Bart and I got to school. Well, as a general rule, Mavericks aren't morning people, but Bart was particularly hard to get up and moving back then and I used to fuss at him constantly about how long it took him to get dressed. Given that we'd gotten up about the same time this morning and he wasn't ready yet, I couldn't help but point out the similarities. Especially since Bart was a little cranky today.

Bart pulled his boots on and stood. "I'm ready."

I got up with a grin. "About time." I'll admit it was childish, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Before we left I looked back to Pappy's door. "You think we should wake him up?"

Bart had been putting his jacket on but paused with it half-on and followed my line of sight. "Why?"

"I don't know. What if he wants to eat too?"

Bart raised an eyebrow and looked at me questioningly. His confusion soon turned to triumph. "You don't think he's really in there, do you?"

It wasn't as simple as a yes or no. Honestly, there wasn't any reason for me to think Pappy wasn't still asleep. We'd all turned in pretty late, and me and Bart were just now getting up. Still, given the mood he'd been in last night, anything was possible, and for all I knew he had run off hours ago and found some sweet, young thing to woo during our trip. Or some other type of trouble that would cause me and Bart some kind of heartache before we got to New Orleans. I guess I would just feel better if I knew for sure where he was. "I just thought he might like to join us."

It's not as if Pappy can't take care of himself. He's been doing it for longer than either one of us have been alive, and it's not like me or Bart have any right to tell him what he can or can't do, but I couldn't quite shake the sudden feeling that something was going on. Probably just Bart's earlier doubts rubbing off on me

"Uh-huh," Bart said as he finished slipping on his coat. "Whatever you say."

I was already at the door of our suite and Bart by the settee, making him closer to Pappy's door than I was. "Just open the door and look in on him, will ya?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Why should I?"

"Still afraid to go into Pappy's room?" I asked. Right after Mama died, Bart had spent a good year-and-a-half, if not two years, all but refusing to go into Pappy's room, for pretty much any reason.

Bart grinned. "Yep."

At that moment I knew Bart was paying me back for my earlier teasing. He wasn't going to help me out on this one bit. He may be just as worried as I was that Pappy was up to something, but he wasn't going to open that door. I guess he has a right to be childish sometimes too.

We looked at each other for close to a full minute before I finally broke. Sighing I walked around Bart and over to Pappy's door. I eased the door open and found Pappy still fast asleep. I shut the door feeling ridiculous.

"He in there?"

"Of course, he's in there. Let's just go eat."

We didn't say much on the way to the dining room, but I thought the whole walk. By the time we were seated, I decided we needed to talk about this trip. We couldn't spend all our time on this boat worrying about Pappy. Maybe we were making this trip in honor of Pappy's birthday, but Bart and I intended to enjoy ourselves too. There was no way we'd be able to do that if we spent all out time either riding herd on Pappy or thinking we needed to be riding herd on Pappy.

"We need to talk about Pappy, Bart," I told my brother after we'd ordered.

Bart nodded. "I agree."

"We can't spend this entire trip worried about what he might or might not do."

"I know, and if we spend the whole trip acting the way we did this morning we're both gonna be crazy by the time we reach New Orleans."

My turn to nod. "Right. After all, he's a grown man and he got by more than thirty years without either one of us around."

"More than forty," Bart added. "Even after we came along it was still awhile before we went into a saloon with him."

"Right."

Bart sighed. "Look, I know I was upset last night, even this morning, but you were right. I was just hoping things would go smoother than they did, but I guess I'd be disappointed if Pappy hadn't acted the way he did."

"Probably so," I agreed, knowing he would have been. Letting an incident like that slide would worry me far more than any fight ever would. "Maybe we should . . . ." I trailed off suddenly getting the feeling someone was staring at me. I looked over to my right and found a man a couple of tables away watching me. He looked away when he saw me turn his way, but he wasn't fast enough for me not to catch him. Whoever he was, he'd definitely been watching me. I tried to get a look at his face, but I couldn't tell much from where I was sitting. He looked pretty average, slim, early-twenties, sandy colored hair, clean shaven, and completely unfamiliar.

"What is it?" Bart finally asked.

I turned back to my brother. "I'm not sure. I get the feeling that man over there is watching me, brown suit and sandy colored hair."

Bart looked over to where I indicated, but he could see even less of the man than I could. "Know him?"

"Nope."

Bart watched him for another minute then shrugged. "Probably nothing. What were you saying?"

I took a minute to get my train of thought back. "I was just saying that we agree that Pappy's a grown man. He can do what he wants when he wants, and he doesn't need our permission. And if he finds himself playing with a cheater, he doesn't have much choice but to confront them. Right?"

Bart nodded. "Right."

"Good."

Bart suddenly broke into a grin. "So what do you think Pappy would say if we told him he has our permission to do what he wants to on this trip?"

I couldn't stop a grin of my own. "I think he might just forget all about ages and remind us who's the pappy and who's the children."

"That's sort of what I thought."

About that time our food arrived, and we decided to talk about something besides Pappy. We settled on New Orleans and the plans we had once we landed there. It had been some time since either of us had seen the city and we were both eager to see how it had changed over the last few years.

A couple of more times during our meal that feeling of being watched returned and every time my new friend was looking my way. Frankly, it was more annoying than anything, and by the time I'd finished eating, I was ready to get out of the dining room and away from his prying eyes. I half-expected him to follow me out, but I kept my eye on him and he didn't look my way again after me and Bart got up.

"Worried?" Bart asked as we stepped back out onto the deck.

"Nah, not really. Annoyed more than anything. He needs to find him a lady friend so he'll stop looking at me."

Bart laughed and offered me a cigar. I took it, and we strolled around the deck as we smoked. It had been a while since I'd been on a riverboat too, and I'd forgotten just how relaxing the river could be. I'd almost finished my cigar when I saw Pappy leaning against the railing.

"Pappy made it up," I told Bart. Pappy took a step back about then, and I saw he wasn't alone. A young lady, a very young lady was by his side.

"Looks like he found some company too," Bart commented dryly, a touch of his previous annoyance coming back to his voice.

"Remember what we agreed on," I told him. Bart just nodded. "Do you think we should go over there?" I asked. I didn't want to butt in, Pappy was with a lady, but I was curious about the girl.

Before Bart could answer Pappy looked up and saw us. The grin he was already wearing grew, and he waved us over. "I guess so," Bart said.

"Boys," Pappy said as soon as we were close enough for him to talk to us without yelling. "We were just talking about you."

"We were?" I asked.

Pappy either didn't hear or choose to ignore the question. "Boys, allow me to present Miss Olivia Ames. Olivia, these are my sons, Bret and Bart."

"Ma'am," I said tipping my hat. I heard Bart give a similar greeting from behind me.

Olivia latched on to Pappy's arm and beamed at both of us. "Your father's told me so much about you I feel as though I already know you both."

"He has?" That came from Bart, only because he got it out before I did. I couldn't recall ever hearing about an Olivia Ames before, but she certainly seemed to know Pappy very well, too.

She nodded. "Mmm-hmm. He just can't stop talking about you. Although, Beauregard, I don't think you did them justice. They're much better looking than you said." She looked up at him. "Of course, it's easy to see where they get their looks from."

Pappy patted her arm. "I can't take all the credit for that. Their mama was the prettiest thing you ever saw."

They both laughed and continued talking like old friends. I edged closer to Bart, who looked a little peaked. "Do we know an Olivia Ames?" I asked him softly.

He shook his head. "Never heard of her."

"We were just about to go to the dining room for some coffee," Pappy said. "Care to join us?"

"We just ate," Bart told him.

"That's right. We thought about taking a walk then maybe finding a game," I added.

"Suit yourselves," Pappy replied. He looked at Olivia. "Come along, my dear."

I watched the two of them walk off together, Miss Ames still chatting up a storm and Pappy smiling indulgently at her. Meanwhile, Bart was giving me a what-is-he-doing look. "Let's get back to the room before you say anything," I told him.

Bart sighed heavily and promptly headed for the room. We didn't say anything during the walk but as soon as we were inside Bart tossed his hat on the settee and ran his hands through his hair.

"What was that?" he asked me.

I flopped down in one of the chairs. "I don't know, but remember, he's a grown man . . . ."

"I know. I know," Bart said nodding irritably. "And I knew he'd find him a woman or two on this trip, but I was expecting them to be . . . ."

"Closer to his age?" I offered.

"Exactly. How old do you think she is?"

I shrugged. "Closer to your age than his, I'd say."

Bart finally sat down and snorted a laugh. "Oh, what are we gonna do with him?"

"There's not a thing we can do. Except do our best to keep him out of trouble."

"Given what he's already gotten into, that may be a tall order."

I was afraid Bart was more right than he knew. Not that I was troubled Pappy was serious about Miss Ames, I've never known Pappy to be serious about anyone, but something told me this girl was going to spell trouble for us. One way or another. "Maybe so," I told my brother. "But there's nothin' we can do about it now."

"So what do we do?"

"Wait for Pappy to come back. I think he does owe us more of an explanation concerning Miss Ames. Until then, how about some poker?"

"Maverick style?" Maverick style is what Bart and I have come to call the poker we play when it's just the two of us. Basically, it means the dealer gets to cheat. We started doing it when we were young and we wanted to practice the tricks Pappy taught us. For some reason, it's stayed with us all these years.

"Sure," I said passing a deck over. "I'll even let you deal."

We'd been playing a little over an hour when Pappy came back to the room. He raised a questioning eyebrow when he saw us. "When you said a game I thought you meant real poker."

"We decided to save that for tonight," I said. "Care to join us?"

"The way you two play? No thanks." Pappy's never understood or particularly enjoyed Maverick style poker. "Go on and enjoy yourselves," he said settling into an overstuffed chair and lighting a cigar.

"Enjoy your coffee?" I asked.

"Indeed I did. Olivia's a charming young lady."

"And just who is Olivia, Pappy?"

"The young lady you met out on the deck."

Bart rolled his eyes. "But who is she?"

"A young lady traveling from Houston to New Orleans. I can't tell you much more than that because I only met the girl last night."

"A little young for you isn't she?" Bart asked.

Pappy's eyes narrowed just a bit. "She's of age."

"How'd you meet her?" I broke in trying to keep my tone conversational. "I didn't see her last night."

"Well, you wouldn't have. I didn't meet her until the two of you were in bed."

"You went back out after we were asleep?" Bart asked.

"I didn't realize I had a bedtime, Bartley."

"That's not what he meant, Pappy," I said giving Bart a let-me-do-the-talking look. Knowing those two the way I do, I knew it wouldn't take much for a disagreement to break out. "It was just late when we turned in. It's surprising you went back out is all."

Pappy looked a little disgruntled for a minute but soon was back to his normal self. "I couldn't fall asleep right away, so I went out to have a smoke. I heard what sounded like an argument and went to see what it was about. A man was making some trouble for Olivia so I stepped in. We talked for a few minutes and she seemed like an interesting young lady so I walked her to her room and asked her if she'd like to have coffee today. She agreed, we went, and had a nice talk."

"That's good, Pappy."

Bart nodded. "Yeah, Pappy, real good."

Pappy leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Don't neither one of you start to worrying. I don't plan on giving the two of you a stepmother in the near future."

"Nobody's worried about that," I said with a smile. I figured the best thing to do was to let Pappy get this, whatever this was, out of his system before we got to New Orleans.

Pappy grunted noncommittally before he stood up. "Well, you boys have fun. I'm going to freshen up for supper."

"Little early for that, ain't it?" I asked pulling out my watch. It was only a little after four.

"Maybe for the two of you, but I'm escorting Olivia to dinner tonight and told her I'd pick her up around five."

With that, Pappy went into his room and shut the door behind him. Bart gave me a long look before he sighed. "Well, what do you think about that?"

"I don't know." I gave him a wan smile. "Is it too late to go home?"

Apparently, the answer to my question was yes, and we stayed right where we were, but things settled down after that night and the next two days passed pretty quietly. Pappy spent most of his waking hours either at a poker table or in the company of Miss Ames, but no trouble came from either one. My mysterious friend did show up several more times, but he never said a word or offered to start anything, so I did my best to ignore him. As long as there wasn't any trouble from him, I couldn't see that he was hurting anything even if his presence and stares were mildly annoying. Overall, the atmosphere on the boat was calm, and that had an effect on Bart. Slowly the irritation that had plagued him immediately following Pappy's fight faded, and by the time we were ready to dock he was back to his normal, cheerful self. If only things had stayed that way.