Down The River
By Thomas Mc

Chapter 3: The Second Date

Adam picked up the phone and dialed the number that the Nancy had given them.

A deep, slightly raspy, male voice answered. "Chandler residence." . . .

"Um, may I speak to Nancy or Brigit?" . . .

"One moment." . . .

After about a minute, a female voice answered. "This is Nancy speaking." . . .

"Hi Nancy, this is Adam from the river. Justin and I are thinking of coming down to New York this next weekend and we would like to see you and Brigit while we are there. Maybe we could take you out to dinner and a movie or something." . . .

"That sounds interesting. Can you hold for a moment?" . . .

"Sure." . . .

After a short pause, Nancy returned. "Brigit says that she is available and I have no plans for this weekend. We would both be pleased to see you this Saturday." . . .

They made plans for dinner and a movie for next Saturday night. Nancy gave him her home address and Adam's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He knew just enough about New York to understand what an address on Central Park West near the park said about the girls' family. They talked a bit more and laughed a little bit about the river trip then hung up. Adam faced Justin with a shrug. "Well cousin, we're set. I just hope those two girls don't turn out to be too rich for our blood."

"What do you mean?" Justin asked him.

Adam shrugged. "Central Park West next to the park is a very high class neighborhood. Housing there ain't cheap by anyone's definition." He shook his head. "Mom and Dad would have to work a whole year just to cover one month's rent."

Justin shrugged. "I guess that explains the car they were in."

"They probably thought that car was cheep considering where they live." Adam responded.

~ x x x x x ~

Saturday afternoon, a week later, the boys drove to New York. Adam had been to New York a few times so he knew his way around somewhat. His father had recommended a restaurant that would be within their budget without embarrassing them or their dates, assuming it was still there.

Justin pulled the truck up in front of the address that Brigit had given them. He glanced over at Adam. "You're sure about that address?"

The two young men gazed up at the elegant white stone facade of the old upscale brownstone. They both were very impressed and just a tiny bit intimidated.

"It's the address that she gave me." Adam replied. "This place is even more upscale than I thought."

Adam and Justin approached the front door, a bit uncertainly. They both glanced up at the front of the group of brownstones then they both glanced back at Justin's old pick-up truck. They then looked at each other and Adam shrugged. "We may be in way over our heads here cousin." He shrugged again and pressed the doorbell. They could just barely hear the sound of the doorbell chimes coming from inside.

After a short nervous wait, the door opened and an elegant well-dressed woman stood there smiling at them. Both of them were very surprised when they immediately recognized her as Catherine Chandler. Had they been given the wrong address after all?

Despite being notoriously publicity shy, Catherine Chandler just couldn't avoid occasionally getting her name and picture in the newspapers. Not when she was a wealthy socialite heiress and lawyer who vanishes and returns ten days later with her face badly cut up with no explanation; then becomes a crusading District Attorney that is prominently involved with cleaning up the largest corruption scandal in the city's history; all the while giving birth to three daughters while steadfastly refusing to identify the father; then topping it off by adopting the daughter of a slain mobster informant.

Adam and Justin were very impressed and just the tiniest bit intimidated by this formidable woman. "May I help you?" Catherine inquired of them politely.

After a moment's delay, Adam responded a bit hesitantly. "I'm Adam and this is Justin. We're here to see Nancy and Brigit?" Inside he was thinking that this just couldn't be the right address.

She studied them for a moment then smiled. "You must be the two boys from the river." She glanced quickly over her shoulder then stepped back from the door. "Please come in. The girls should be down in just a minute."

A very pretty young woman that was sitting on the sofa stood up as the boys entered. She smiled at them. "Hi, my name is Linda, ah, Gains."

"Adam Smith and this is my cousin Justin Masters." Adam stepped up and extended his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Just as she took his hand, another stunning young woman with golden blond hair and eyes the same startlingly sapphire blue as Brigit, came around from beyond the wall behind a large elegant spiral stairway. "You ready to go Linda?" She glanced at the boys. "Oh, hi." Then she disappeared back the way she came.

"I'm coming, Jennifer. Keep your shirt on." Linda responded then turned back to the boys. "Gotta go. It was nice to meet you, both." Then she quickly followed the other girl out of the room.

Catherine shook her head then shrugged. "That bundle of mercury was my daughter Jennifer."

Justin and Adam glanced at each other then back at the stairway as Brigit and Nancy came into view descending the stairs. Both boys smiled at the appearance of their dates. Brigit came over to link arms with Justin and Nancy joined Adam.

Catherine smiled at the two couples. "You kids have fun and don't stay out too late."

Brigit glanced at the others then remarked. "We'll be home by eleven, Mom."

~ o ~

The restaurant, that Adam's father had recommended, was still in business and the food was great. The four of them were getting along very well together. Adam and Justin split the bill and then they headed for the movie theatre that was located across the street. The movie was good but it fell a little bit short of expectations. They were discussing the movie as they headed into the parking lot.

Adam was commenting. ". . . I just don't know. The Phillips character was well acted but he just did not feel right to me. In the book Phillips is a lot more, aahh, self-possessed. He was . . ."

Three rather tough looking men stepped out from between two trucks and blocked their way. They stopped. Then three more toughs stepped out behind them. Four of the toughs were carrying short lengths of pipe. The other two had knives.

Several very rude comments were directed at the girls as the six gang members closed in on them. The gang members started jostling the four of them and making threatening comments.

Almost simultaneously, Adam, Nancy and Brigit launched to the attack. A half-second later Justin joined the fray. Within seconds, the battle was fully joined. Justin and Nancy ended up fighting back to back against three of the attackers. They both had collected a few bad bruises and Justin had received a gash along his forearm.

Two of their three attackers charged at the same time. Justin and Nancy each grabbed one of the two charging attackers and swung them both around throwing them simultaneously at the third attacker. All three went down in a stunned tangled heap. Justin grabbed up the weapons before the attackers could untangle themselves.

Two more of the attackers had isolated Adam and attacked him simultaneously from each side. He blocked the attack from the one with the knife and managed to get a good solid telling strike in against that same attacker, dropping him and sending the knife skittering under a car. The next instant Adam went down when the other attacker clobbered him from behind.

Adam sprawled on the ground looking dazedly up at the second attacker as he raised the pipe for another strike. At that instant, another body sailed past from behind Adam and struck the attacker, sending him tumbling backwards. An instant later, Brigit shot past him and dived into the tangled mass of the two attackers, arms flailing furiously. In seconds, the fight had completely gone out of those two attackers.

Adam looked up as Brigit reached down to him. "Are you OK?" She asked with concern as she tried to help him up.

Adam shrugged off her help angrily. "I'm fine." He growled out as he struggled to his feet. He stood swaying unsteadily as he gazed at the six downed thugs around them.

"You're bleeding." Brigit announced as she again reached out to help him.

"I said I'm fine." Adam repeated as he again shrugged off her offer of help.

Nancy and Justin approached. "I'm taking you both to the Emergency Room." Nancy announced then turned to Justin. "And I'm driving. Gimme your keys." She held her hand out to Justin.

It was a short very quiet drive to the nearest emergency room, during which Brigit called her mother. Justin required ten stitches along his forearm. Adam had a concussion and required three stitches in his scalp. All four of them had bruises and minor scrapes.

Fifteen minutes later Catherine showed up at the emergency room. The four of them filled her in on what had happened. Justin's answers were short and terse, his mind distracted in his own thoughts. Adam's attitude was verging on surly. After she had talked to them, Catherine called the police and reported the incident. Catherine insisted on taking the girls straight home.

Brigit and Nancy sat quietly in the back seat of their mother's car feeling depressed. Both girls had seen the signs before and had begun shoring up their armor against the inevitable break-up.

~ o ~

Once the doctor released them an hour later, Justin and Adam got in the truck and started for home. Adam held the cold compress to the side of his head and wrestled with his conscious. He had been angry since the fight with the gang members and he had taken it out on everybody else, especially Brigit who had saved him from a very bad situation.

"Justin, pull over for a minute." Adam requested.

Justin glanced over at him then after several seconds pulled off the road into a supermarket parking lot. He then turned to face his cousin, wondering what Adam was up to. "What's wrong?"

After a few seconds, Adam pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number for the Chandler home. "Hello, Nancy? It's Adam. Would it be all right if Justin and I stopped by for a few minutes just to talk?" . . .

"OK thanks. We'll be there in about half an hour." He closed his phone. "We're going to Nancy and Brigit's place."

Justin pulled out of the parking lot and headed back the way they had come

~ o ~

Nancy hung up the phone and called out. "Mom, Brigit . . . Justin and Adam are coming over for a few minutes. They want to talk." Everything had been going so well with Adam until the attack had happened. She continued shoring up her emotional armor as she walked back to the kitchen.

"Great." Brigit mumbled under her breath. "Here it comes." She had begun to pace the dining room as she continued to grumble. "I didn't think it would happen so soon." She shook her head. "What did he expect me to do; let the guy bash his head in?" A little more loudly she commented to the world. "Boys and their egos!"

Nancy watched her sister pace with a sense of resigned sympathy. Then she shook her head. At least these two boys were willing to face them when they broke it off. Most guys tended to just stop calling and disappear.

~ o ~

Justin pulled up in front of the brownstone and, after a few seconds, the boys got out and approached the front door. Nancy was waiting and let them in. Brigit was standing over by the fireplace. There was an, almost cold, closed expression on her face. Adam walked straight over to her. "I think I owe you an apology for the way I behaved after we were attacked. I guess I let my male ego get the better of me."

Brigit was taken by surprise. This was not exactly what she had been expecting and it took her a few seconds to respond. "It's nothing. I'm just glad you're OK."

Adam continued talking. "Being a guy means my male ego will probably get its hackles up now and then but that doesn't change how I feel about Nancy . . . and you." He shrugged and glanced over at Justin and Nancy. "I'm not quite sure what was bothering Justin but I know he feels the same as me about both of you." He paused then smiled. "Well thanks for your help. I really enjoyed the evening regardless of how it ended." He gingerly rubbed the side of his head and wobbled a bit, feeling a little off balance, and Brigit reached out to steady him. "I think the pain killer the doctor gave me is really starting to kick in."

Brigit guided him over to the sofa and, after easing him down, sat next to him.

~ o ~

Meanwhile Justin and Nancy had retreated to the dining room to talk. Justin spoke first. "Adam felt bad about the way he acted to Brigit after the fight. I guess you could say it was a guy thing. He really does like you and he wanted to come back and make things right with you and Brigit." Justin paused a moment a little bit embarrassed. "You know, we made a pretty good team out there tonight. The way we double teamed those three apes was pretty awesome."

Nancy was suddenly at a loss for words. Instead of the 'this just isn't going to work' speech she had been expecting from Adam, she was faced with Justin who was actually talking about how awesome it had been. She glanced over at Brigit as she helped Adam over to the sofa. Brigit looked concerned rather than hurt or angry.

Justin followed her gaze. "Don't worry about Adam. He has always been a very competitive type and he didn't like coming out on the short end like he did tonight. It made him a bit more prickly than normal."

Nancy watched Adam and Brigit for a moment. "Yea, Brigit is also a little bit . . . prickly sometimes. She's had more than her fair share of disastrous dates." She looked back at Justin. "Most guys seem to have a problem with our, ah, abilities."

Justin shrugged. "Their loss." He glanced at Adam then back at Nancy and grinned. "Is our gain."

~ o ~

Adam ended up talking about the evening's battle with Brigit while Justin and Nancy talked about Adam and Brigit. After a short time, the four of them rejoined up at the main parlor sofa set.

Adam noticed that Justin and Nancy were holding hands then glanced down at Brigit's hand in his.

Justin noticed that Adam and Brigit were holding hands then glanced down at Nancy's hand in his.

All four of the young people became aware of the apparently reorganized coupling arrangement at the same time. Brigit and Adam glanced at each other while Justin and Nancy glanced at each other. Adam and Justin both shrugged then again the couples were looking at each other. With nods and smiles of understanding both couples recognized, and demonstrated their acceptance of, the altered situation.

The four of them approached the front door. Nancy opened the front door then the two couples kissed goodnight and the boys left. Nancy closed the door and both girls stared at each other for a moment then they were both talking simultaneously. They broke off then they both broke into giggles. Soon they were deep into discussion about what had happened that evening.

Both boys were deep in their own thoughts as they started for home. The events and resolution of this evening had left a lasting impression on both of them as well as cementing their interest in the sisters.

Continued in Part 4

'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.