Bart – Hurry and Wait

It was the persistent knocking on my door that finally woke me sometime the next morning. "Go away," I called, not that it did any good.

At last I heard a whispered, "Bart," and recognized Bret's voice.

"What do you want? Open the door." He wasn't about to see anything he hadn't seen a thousand times before; me in bed by myself. Danielle had left quietly some hour or two earlier. The troupe's manager had called a nine a.m. bed check for this morning . . . seems some of the girls were too tired at night to perform. He wanted to know who was getting enough rest and who wasn't. I assumed that Collette had already left, too.

The door opened, and Bret came in as soon as he saw me alone. "Pappy's gone." He sounded worried.

"So?"

"He must have gone to tell Olivia what you saw last night."

"I expected him to."

"What do you think she'll do?"

I hadn't thought that far ahead, but now that he'd brought it up . . . I flung the covers back and practically jumped out of bed. "I think we better go find out."

I dressed as fast as I could while Bret waited for me. The idea of taking my gun with me didn't cross my mind until I was about ready to leave the room, but at the last minute I strapped it on. "Just in case?" Bret asked.

"Just in case," I answered.

We went straight to the dining room, where it wasn't hard to locate Pappy and Olivia. They were just finishing breakfast, and once again he had her giggling over some tale he'd told her. It was apparent he hadn't informed her about Martin and the blonde.

Pappy looked up as we approached. "Well, boys, I'd ask you to join us, but as you can see, we're already done. You're welcome to the table if you want breakfast. I'll send the waiter over."

"Pappy, can we borrow you for five minutes?" Bret queried. "Somethin's come up you need to know about."

"It won't wait?"

"No, sir, it won't wait. Just five minutes."

Someone who didn't know Pappy well might not have seen it, but I could tell he wasn't happy with us at that moment. "Will you excuse me, Olivia?"

"Of course, Beauregard. I'll be right here."

We walked fifteen feet away from the table before Pappy said,"What?!"

"You didn't tell her?" Again, from Bret.

Pappy looked indignant. "Not yet, no. She wanted to see the city in the daylight, so we're goin' out on another carriage ride. I'm gonna tell her then, where she can get upset without half the hotel seeing her."

Bret looked like he wasn't sure what to say to that. "Good idea," he finally replied. "We'll . . . be around here today. If you need us."

Pappy raised an eyebrow and I could tell he was wondering why Bret thought he might possibly need us before he went back to the table, and Olivia. My brother and me exchanged glances. "You think there's somethin' goin' on there?" I asked.

"Yes. No. I ain't sure. What about you?"

"I think we better keep an eye on him."

"Him or her?"

"That's the problem, ain't it? Which one don't we trust?"

"Both of 'em," Bret stated unequivocally.

"Think it's about time we started thinkin' about goin' home?"

Bret sighed. "I think we've already passed the time we should have thought about that, but it might not be a bad idea."

"Let's see how today goes."

Bret grunted. After a minute he sighed again. "You thought about what might happen between them if she ends up with a broken heart?"

"Yep. Like I said, let's see how today goes."

"I guess you're right."

I looked around the dining room that Pappy and Olivia had just left. "Want some breakfast?" Bret's usually always open to eating.

Bret shrugged. "Why not? Nothin' else we can do for the moment."

We sat down at an empty table, and I waved the waiter over. One could only hope Bret's fears were just an overreaction. I wasn't totally convinced but I was hoping.