Chapter 190 – Others Busy Thursday Afternoon
After taking a few minutes to summarize what McGinty had learned about the buildings and land, Wynn and Jacobs spent some time looking at the maps that they had. Jacobs went about filling out the maps so that they all matched. He also added what he could to the one that he had ordered of the area for him to take back to Benson Hills.
"I wish I knew more about this WinStar." Wynn said. "Dee said not to worry about it, but I can't help thinking that if it is another Wilder situation, then we need to get ahead of it. Some of this is valuable land, especially if the railroad comes through."
"Honestly." Jacobs said. "I wouldn't worry about WinStar. I would be more worried about how to get the land that is currently owned by Wilder turned over to the appropriate people. That is the land that we need to worry about that was obtained by illegal means."
Wynn leaned back and looked at Jacobs. Wynn couldn't quite read the look on Jacobs face.
"Now, I am more determined to know about WinStar." Wynn said. "You are the second person in less than an hour to tell me not to worry about it."
Jacobs sighed.
"Start talking." Wynn said, his voice leaving no room to argue.
"Fine." Jacobs said. "But you are going to be disappointed, there is nothing nefarious about the company."
"I am listening." Wynn said.
Jacobs leaned down and pulled out a list from this messenger bag.
"Here is a list of every piece of property that WinStar owns in Alberta." Jacobs said.
Pulling out a folder and setting it before him.
"And this is a list of parcels of land that they own in British Columbia." Jacobs continued. "And in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They also have a few parcels of land in Quebec and Ontario, but I don't have that list in front of me. They are mostly in cities."
"Why were you looking into WinStar if there was nothing nefarious as you say?" Wynn asked.
"I wasn't looking into WinStar." Jacobs said. "I was checking on properties as I traveled. If I was near one of the properties, I would check on it. Several have people living on them and I wanted to make sure everything was alright."
Wynn leveled a glare at Jacobs, not that Jacobs flinched or wilted under Wynn's glare, but that was the scene that Dee walked back in on. For a moment, he thought about retreating, but then his father snapped his fingers and pointed to Dee's chair, all without lessening his glare on Jacobs. Dee sighed, put his head down and walked to his seat. He sat down, but didn't look at his father. He did shoot an 'I am sorry' at Jacobs. Dee was at least happy that he wasn't going to have to break a confidence when speaking now, which Jacobs was apparently sharing about WinStar. At least he hoped that was what this was about, because he could think of no other reason than that his father and Jacobs would be having a staring contest.
"I am waiting for an answer, Sergeant." Wynn said.
Jacobs sighed again. He closed his eyes and wondered how he was going to explain things.
"I told you it was nothing nefarious." Jacobs said. "I meant it. I highly doubt that my grandfather would do anything illegal, he has too much respect for the law that he has been charged with upholding."
"Your grandfather?" Wynn said.
"Yes, my grandfather." Jacobs said.
Wynn's face softened just a bit, but he still wanted an explanation.
"My grandfather created WinStar for his daughter, my aunt." Jacobs said. "Even if he consented to her marriage, it didn't mean that he agreed with her husband. As a way to protect the family wealth from his new son-in-law, my grandfather created a business with all the money and profits going into a trust for any future children. If there were no children, the money would revert back to the MacDonald family."
"I still don't understand." Wynn said.
"The person behind WinStar." Jacobs said. "Is my aunt, Winifred Starling. She changed the name and focus of the trust that her father created. She learned that her husband was more interested in money than taking care of people. Through me, her brother and son, she started buying properties and allowing families displaced by her husband to live on them rent free for five years to start over. After five years, they started paying rent that would go toward purchasing the land.
We have been purchasing land for years. It is held in trust through the company, WinStar. When any of us learn of people displaced by the actions of greedy businessmen, the family is quietly approached and offered a chance to start over. We have worked hard to keep the mission of WinStar quiet. If anyone looked into it, it would just look like a trust protecting land across the country. Aunt Winnie was afraid of what her husband, Teddy Starling, would do if he found out what his wife was doing.
If she could divorce him, she would. She might have loved him at one point, but that has long gone. They currently live in separate houses and she only sees him when he needs to trot out his 'family' to make a show for business. My grandfather and uncle have been looking into Teddy for years, but he stays just this side of legal. If there is illegal activity, it has never been tied back to him. Trust me, when I say, if I could arrest the man myself, I would. He is just too slimy to not be corrupt, but God help us if we have been able to tie anything to him."
Wynn turned to his son.
"And you knew about this?" Wynn asked.
"Yes." Dee said. "I am sorry. I came across it by accident. Jonathan MacDonald, himself, asked me to keep things quiet for the reason Jacobs has laid out. I have even helped them purchase land and referred families to them. It wasn't that I was keeping things from you, I honestly thought you knew. You have spent time with the MacDonald's. It wasn't until you asked me to look into the company, that I realized that you didn't know."
Wynn closed his eyes and let out a harsh breath.
"Fine." Wynn said. "I am not angry, but I don't know how it has not been more widely known what was going on."
"My uncles and Grandfather have worked hard to do just that." Jacobs said. "Since most all the business is done between third parties, it would be hard to make the connections."
"Fine." Wynn said. "I will not have anyone look into WinStar any more. Let's leave it in this room and move on."
"Works for me." Jacobs said.
"Me too." Dee said, with relief.
"Then let's look at those satchels of information that Williams left." Wynn said. "I believe that the missing 1909 ledger is in there. We have this evening to work as the auditors will be taking over the office tomorrow."
"Well hopefully, it will only be a day or two." Jacobs said. "It sounds like Bill is set on getting into the upstairs of the Mountie office. We can organize the cadets to clean and organize things. Maybe by Monday we can be in there working and let Abigail have her office back."
"Let's aim for that." Wynn said.
Dee and Jacobs nodded. Then they went to work going through the papers that Williams had sent.
While Wynn, Jacobs and Dee were busy going through more paperwork in the office, the rest of Hope Valley was bustling. The men from Rock Creek arrived back to spend the weekend with their families. Even the single men who left their children in Hope Valley arrived back. They asked if they could use a Mountie tent and cots for the weekend, and they had their bedrolls. Bill granted them the use of a tent as long as they set it up and took it down before they left. The men agreed. The men set the tent up behind the mining office as Andy had suggested they do if they had gotten permission to use a Mountie tent and promised that the next time they returned to Hope Valley he would have one for them to use, that would be set up behind the mine office. The children were excited to see their dads again. They wanted to show off what they had been doing in school and talk about the upcoming science fair.
The men from Rock Creek weren't the only people to arrive in Hope Valley. Two hours after the stagecoach had been there and left, a group of wagons with fifteen men arrived. The wagons stopped outside of Coulter Enterprises. The men looked around and some of them weren't sure. Lee saw the wagons arrive and went out to greet the men.
"Welcome to Hope Valley men." Lee said. "I have tents for you out near the sawmill. With your help, the bunkhouse should be done soon. There is chili and cornbread at the saloon or there is Abigail's to eat. She has great food and most of my men come in for breakfast. I will take you to the sawmill and let you get settled and tomorrow we will get your paperwork done and get you to work."
As Lee finished speaking, Hickum walked out with Chris Blackman.
"My second in command and mill foreman." Lee said. "Their words carry as much weight as mine. Those that can't do their jobs without me standing there, will not be here long. Go with Chris here and get settled. I will see you gentleman tomorrow morning at seven outside this office to do paperwork."
With that Chris went down the stairs and mounted a horse, indicating for the wagons to follow him. Lee stood there watching the wagons head toward the mill. As he was doing that, Bill walked up.
"What was that?" Bill asked.
"Fifteen of my new employees arrived." Lee said. "They will be staying out near the mill in tents. Their first order of business will be to build the new bunkhouse. By the time that they are done with that and moved in, the next group of men should be here. I have staggered hiring dates by a couple of weeks, so that we won't be overwhelmed all at once."
"How many men did you hire?" Bill asked.
"Including those fifteen men." Lee said. "Forty-five. I have hired them for three months. They will expand the mill and build houses. After three months, they will be offered a one year contract if they want to stay."
"Do we need to add the mill to regular rounds?" Bill asked. "I mean we are already in the saloon most nights. If we keep having to break up the fights there, I am going to start billing you."
"Not a bad idea." Lee said. "At least a couple times a week. Also let me know if you have problems with any of the men. I know. I hope that things get better."
"You know that I will." Bill said.
"I am sure that we both have work to do." Lee said. "I will talk to you later."
Lee and Hickum went back into the office. Bill stood there for a moment looking over the town and realized that it was growing at a faster rate then he was comfortable. He took a moment and then headed to Abigail's. He felt that she needed to know about the men that Lee had hired so that she could get ready. He was more sure than ever that Abigail would need to expand her dining room or she wasn't going to be able to keep up.
The men from Rock Creek arriving back and the new men for Coulter Enterprises coming, weren't the only things going on. It was busy out near the row houses. Not only was there a constant stream of workmen coming and going, but many of the widows had gotten together and were talking about things that they needed for the rowhouse so that they looked better. They agreed that a new coat of paint would be nice and some could use new front steps. They were going to take their list to Abigail and see what they could do.
The mothers were also pooling their resources and trying to help each other. With new families and more coming, they knew that they had to come together so not to lose what has made Hope Valley special. They agreed that they would take turns watching the children, and whoever was watching the children, the others would make sure that she had a meal for her table that night. The ladies, led by Cat Montgomery, got together and planted gardens in their backyards. They were hoping for a large community garden. It was another thing that they had on the list to talk to Abigail about.
As a result of Cat Montgomery bringing all mothers together from the rowhouse, Laurel Miller and Caroline Walker decide instead of competing with each other when it came to laundry and sewing, that they would work together. Laurel was telling Caroline how there had been a laundry in town when they first came there. Mostly it was just the single miners that used it, but it had done well until the woman got too old to handle it. Laurel wanted to see if they could open the laundry back up. She figured that between the two of them and Mona Weaver, it just might work. They would each put in a little money to rent the building and then they would be able to take in more laundry with them working together.
The three ladies sat down and started writing up a business proposal so they could meet with Abigail and the council if needed. They were excited that they would be able to provide for their children. Laurel was in a unique place, as she wasn't a single mother, but they all recognized that here and Adam would struggle again; his leg continued to bother him by the end of the week. Laurel had been trying to encourage Adam to sit more and not spend as much time on his leg, he had been working ten to twelve hours a day for several weeks trying to get his furniture business going and now he was also overseeing the building of the new rowhouses. She thought that it was going to be too much and he was going to work himself to exhaustion.
Laurel was grateful that Adam was feeling useful again, but she was still worried about him. If he wasn't checking on the men building the new houses, he was making furniture out in one of the buildings that Lee had been so gracious to allow him to use to get started. Laurel also knew that the building of the houses was a temporary thing and that things would slow down after that happened. She knew that there was no point in talking to Adam, he was determined to make a living for his family, despite his injury. Laurel knew that the only thing that she could do was pray and make sure that she was taking care of everything else and that they would have money if something were to happen.
The other thing that Cat Montgomery and Florence Blakely had spearheaded was making sure that DeWitt and Mary had everything that they needed. They set up a rotation of who was going to cook for them while Mary was on bed rest. Usually it involved something that could be put in the oven, that didn't require a lot of work. An extra shepherd's pie that Caleb could put in after school or something like that. The ladies were also busy making blankets for the new settlers as well as the coming babies. As the women had the Hayford house that afternoon, all the talk turned to if they thought that their school teacher was expecting and what that would mean for the next school year.
None of the ladies knew for sure, but they all suspected that Elizabeth was pregnant. They had seen her the past few mornings since school had restarted. They also agreed that was probably why she was so willing to let her aunt and mother-in-law teach in the afternoons. Not that some of the ladies were happy about that, but they had realized that there was nothing that they could do as they had tried talking to Charlotte and were told that they should be honored to have three teachers taking care of their children and also helping all the new children. That had been the end of the discussion.
As it got closer to the supper hour, Abigail's picked up. It was nice enough to sit outside, so even the few tables on the patio were full. Pastor Frank came over and saw that it was busy at the cafe, so he jumped in to help the ladies. The first thing that he did was make sure that there was plenty of wood and then he got water going so he could help start on the dishes. About the time that the water was hot, Peters and Harvey had arrived to do the dishes. Frank got them started on dishes while he helped clear and reset tables.
It was steady at the cafe. Captain Cook and Corporal Carlson realized this and held the cadets back until after the biggest rush, but they had thought to send Peters and Harvey to start on dishes. While the cadets were waiting for supper, Cook and Carlson had them make two benches for Abigail's cafe. He knew that they could use them. So then they led the cadets over, they came with the benches. They told Abigail that they would finish them and then also build a long table that she could have outside just off the porch toward the stagecoach office. It would be a nice place to sit over the summer. Abigail was happy, because after Bill had stopped by, she realized that it was going to be a busy summer.
As Abigail was rushing around the kitchen and dining room, making food and dealing with customers, a plan formed in her head. She was going to have to sit down with Bill and Wynn, then with Lee. She decided that if they could expand the dining room, out what essentially is the back of the cafe she wants to do that. She also realized that the kitchen would have to be expanded and potentially a second stove to be added. She stopped and took a deep breath.
"Abigail." Elizabeth Rose said. "Are you alright?"
"Yes." Abigail said, shaking her head. "Please sit down with me at some point over the next few days. I have a couple ideas I need your help with."
"We can do that." Elizabeth Rose said. "It is slowing down, so I am going to go get Wynn, Jacobs and Dee since they have probably lost track of time and are buried in paperwork."
"Go get them." Abigail said. "Bring them back here to sit."
"Okay." Elizabeth Rose said as she headed out the door.
