Well, I finished it! Not quite sure how I feel about it as it took some twists as I was writing but the most I can hope for is that it was interesting and entertaining. Thanks to any readers and especially to those qho encouraged me and gave me feedback!

9

The door was partially open and when I pushed it open, I saw a man leaning over Greer and slapping her between asking, "Where is my money?" I grabbed his arm and swung him around. I had the element of surprise and hit him squarely on the jaw feeling pain radiate up my hand to the wrist. He toppled back into the wall and slid down while grabbing at the drapes. He reached inside his jacket but even as sore as my hand was, I quickly pulled my gun, pointing it at him.

"Go ahead…try," I said. He removed his hand and held them both up, shoulder-height. I leaned over and pushed aside his jacket and pulled out a small derringer, tossing it aside.

Greer had recovered enough to stand up and hiss, "Kill him, Adam. Shoot him! I want him gone forever!" I looked at her. Her face was twisted in anger, her cheeks red where she had been slapped and blood stained her lower lip where she must have cut it on a tooth. Her hair had come loose from the pins and the strand of glass pearls she had woven through them, was hanging drunkenly off the dark strands. She pushed a section off hair off her face.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" He said with a sneer. "You'd have all that money to yourself then, our agreement be damned. You are one slimy bitch."

Rollo rushed in, the woman behind him, and stopped, taking in the scene. "It's all right, Rollo," Greer said, adjusting her dress as she regained her composure. "You can go back down. Mr. Cartwright handled it." She pushed her hair back and noticed one of her earrings was missing. "Beatrice, see if you can find my other earring."

Beatrice started looking about, getting on her knees to peer under the furniture and I stepped back, returning my gun to its holster. The man asked if he could stand and I nodded so he did and adjusted his clothes. The room was in disarray, drawers rifled, the closet contents tossed about and the mattress turned over and half off the bed. "I'm warning you, Greer," he said, stabbing the air with his finger, "if you don't hand over my share, I'll get lawyers involved. You forget, I have a contract that states if our partnership ends, I get back not only my initial investment but half the profits. But it seems the bank account is almost cleaned out so you must have most of the money hidden somewhere; I'm guessing a strongbox or in another bank somewhere, maybe in another state. But I'll find it. I'll get back what's mine. I'll take legal action, hire a Pinkerton man if I have to. You forget, money isn't as easy to hide as it used to be with the new governmental regulations. I'll bring this whole damn place down around your lovely ears, have the treasury agents trace your money; they'll find it no matter where you've hidden it. After I'm through with you, you'll be lucky if you can make a living selling your cunt on the street; you'll be right back where you came from."

He picked up his hat from the floor, put it on and looked at me. "If you're her new partner, be warned. She may be a good fuck but she's also a conniving, manipulative bitch who'll twist your balls right off you and smile while she does it." He looked at Greer. "Goodnight, Greer. But it isn't goodbye. See you in court, and when I win, I promise to visit you in jail." He left and Beatrice handed the found earring to Greer.

"Good," Greer said, taking off the other earring and putting both on the vanity. "You can go, Beatrice. Make sure everyone downstairs gets what they want." Beatrice left and Greer sat in front of the mirror and wiped the blood off her mouth. She stared at me in the mirror as I stood behind her. Then she began to fix her hair.

"So, that was Colson, your former business partner." I watched her face but she had composed it into lines of complacency.

"Yes," she said. "We'll have to find a way to…diffuse him before he involves us in an investigation. I've done a good job of hiding the accounts but with time, he'll be able to find them."

"Or the Treasury Department will," I added.

"Even more reason to stop him quickly." She held her hairbrush and spoke to my reflection. Fury twisted her face and she said "You should have killed him! If he goes on, we're done!" Greer threw her hairbrush at the mirror and a crack snaked across the pain while small shards fell to the vanity top. Greer knocked the bench over to escape any small pieces and looked at the mess.

I smirked and quietly said, The mirror crack'd from side to side;

'The curse is come upon me,' cried the Lady of Shalott.

"What the hell is that?" Greer asked, swinging about.

"A poem about a woman who lived in the shadows and never faced the actual world, only seeing it as a reflection in her mirror."

"We're being threatened by Colson and you recite poetry! Can't you understand what's happening?"

I set the bench upright. "I'm not accepting your offer, Greer, and I'd already decided before all this happened. I suggest you pay Colson what you owe him and consider yourself lucky."

"But I need the money. You said you'd help me!"

"No, I never said that. I said I'd come here tonight and I did but I've finally decided I want nothing to do with it." Greer's chest heaved and then she slapped me. Hard. I chose to ignore it.

"You bastard! I'll never get Colson back now! What am I supposed to do?" She was breathing heavily.

"You could close this place down. You must have enough money by now, especially considering what you've hidden from Colson, to live comfortably the rest of your life."

"There's never enough money," she said, gong to look out the window. It was a dark night, clouds covering the moon. "Never. Never." She covered her face with her hands.

I went over and put an arm about her shoulder, turning her to face me. "Greer, you can come back with me to Virginia City, or go anywhere else you want. You didn't have to choose this way to make a living, live this type of life. You can change things any time you want."

She stared at me and then shook her head. "You're a damn fool if you think I didn't make the best choice. What" Was I going to become a meek store clerk helping fat old women buy spools of thread and selling dungarees to men who want to chuck my chin and make eyes at me. Or should I have been a waitress in some restaurant refilling coffee cups and serving slices of apple pie or perhaps, a saloon girl dealing with stinking drunks who want to dandle me on their knees and pinch my breasts? Or should I have become a seamstress sitting hunched over all day stitching hems and tatting lace on other women's dresses. No, thank you. I'm in charge here and say what goes; I'll never give that up."

"Greer, those weren't your only choices. Here, you have to drug your people so they'll comply and perform sex acts for others to watch. Don't you have any compassion for them?"

She laughed as she moved closer. "Compassion? You're a man, Adam, and don't understand what it's like to be a woman, always dependent on others to survive; I give my 'people' what they want—opium and money—because I found a way to make money, lots of money, by exploiting people's perversions. Everyone has them and will pay a great deal to fulfill them. And I found your weakness, didn't I, Adam?" She cupped my balls again and gave a light squeeze while I felt myself become hard. "Like most men, all you want is a good fuck but you, well, Adam, you also want intimacy as well; it's a little pathetic, isn't it? So, I took advantage of it and listened to you, also revealing a few things about myself, about what I wanted. It didn't even matter that most of them weren't true because it made you feel closer to me. And that's what you really want, isn't it? For someone to go through life with you sharing your miseries and happiness. So provincial."

She released me and smiled while she stepped away. "I can't say I didn't enjoy sex with you, because I did; you're more endowed than Colson and know quite a few techniques that surprised me. I tried to teach Colson a thing or two but he didn't care enough to learn; I always had to feign enthusiasm with him. But other than that, our partnership was perfect until he had financial problems, lost quite a bit of money in a bad investment and wanted out. But Providence stepped in and provided you. Or so I thought."

I shook my head at realizing she'd used my weaknesses against me. "I don't know why I'm surprised; you are who you are. Now I'll leave you to your business." I headed to the bedroom door but Greer called out.

"Adam, you said you kept a woman in Virginia City." Her face was blank, revealing no emotion.

"What of it?" I asked.

Greer swallowed before she asked, "Are you going to marry her?" She tilted up her chin, waiting.

"Why should you care?" I replied and closed the door behind me. I was angry. Greer had used me shamelessly and I had been duped like a goddamn greenhorn in his first brothel. But worst of all, she had seen into my soul and twisted it to her benefit. I turned and put my hand back on the doorknob to say more, but before opening the door, I stopped. Even over the noise from the people downstairs, I swore I heard Greer crying.

~ 0 ~

On the train returning to Carson City, I thought about Greer, wondering what she would do now that she had neither Colson nor me. But then Greer seemed to have a way to rise to the top and another man was probably waiting in the wings. I did wonder what had been a lie about her and what hadn't. Or had they all been lies? It made no difference now. And then I considered Lorriane.

I had no plans of marrying Lorriane and never pretended I did; she and I never brought up the subject of marriage although I'm sure she and Mei discussed it. Once, while I lay under the sheet, satisfied after a rousing romp with Lorraine, Mei came in with a damp towel for me. Lorraine was in the washhouse, and Mei asked with a cunning look, "If Mistah Cartwright marry Missy Lorraine, him keep Mei too? Mei be good woman number two for Mistah Cartwright; learn many things watching. Chinese men have wife and pínfēi,,many pínfēi if him rich like you." I had merely chuckled and told her not to concern herself with such matters. "Mei help Mistah Cartwright clean himself?" she asked while holding the towel teasingly out of my reach. I really looked at her for the first time. She was about 20 years old, slim with short legs and long, sleek black hair. "Mister Cartwright doesn't need any help. Now, give." I snapped my fingers and she reluctantly handed over the towel and slowly left, glancing back before she closed the door behind her.

But considering, Lorraine had a right to a life beyond simply being my whore. I decided to let her start a life anywhere shoe chose with a few thousand I would give her; she had certainly earned it and if she was frugal and the monetary system remained stable, Lorraine could live comfortably on it for the rest of her life. As for Mei, well that was up to Lorraine.

I wanted a respectable woman as my life; I know it seems a double standard, that I could enjoy a whore but would never consider one as my wife but that wasn't true. Lorraine satisfied my sexual needs but I had other needs that cried out for sustenance. I longed for a clever, intelligent companion who would listen to me and grow old alongside me and love me but most important, I didn't want to die alone but with a wife or companion at my bedside. I couldn't see Lorraine being that person, but I would search. Maybe I'd even take up again with Martha, that is, if she would have me. But if not Martha, someone new would eventually come along; Mrs. Morrisey, my clerk, saw to that.

Hoss was waiting at the Carson City depot and drove me home; I relaxed in his company. "I tell you what, Adam, Hop Sing don't know what to with himself. That Mrs. Holland, she does practically ever'thin' for Pa. And I think he even enjoys them baths she gives him. Joe was teasin' 'im about 'em and asked if she scrubbed his balls nice and good so they's shiny. Pa got so mad," Hoss said laughing, "that I thought he'd jump outta that bed to get at Joe."

I laughed at the idea but I did wonder if he enjoyed the smooth sponge going over him, the soaping and the rinsing. And what did she do about his privates? Did she just give them a swipe without looking or really clean him up good? After all, she wiped his ass. Made me wonder about the relationship. So, after hearing that Mrs. Holland still played cards and cribbage with our father, I changed the subject to the Yolo-Sacramento Bridge, the contract and our contribution to the westward expansion.

"Well," Hoss said. "That'll be good news for Pa. Cindy's at the Ponderosa waitin' for us and dinner and now it'll be somethin' to celebrate, all right." But Hoss' voice dropped, his enthusiasm, false.

"Worried about our meeting the deadline?" I asked.

"What? No, Adam, ain't nothin' like that. It's just that, what you said about expansion and all that." He looked about as we were on the Ponderosa and the mountain range was stretching to the sky, the trees thick and green like giants surrounding us as we rode. "I ain't sure that's such a good thing, Adam, having all them people from back east headin' out here thinkin' life'll be grand and trompin' over ever'thin' and ever'one to get what they want."

"I kinda agree, Hoss, but there's no stopping them now. It's going on with or without us. Just be glad we're not Indian; it'll be twenty times worse for them."

"Worsen what we already done to 'em?"

"Worse, far worse." We rode the rest of the way in silence.

~ 0 ~

Hop Sing was happy to have me back at his table. Mrs. Holland also sat at the table with us and our father. Although his legs were still weak and he admitted to feeling unpleasant pains in them, he was able to sit comfortably and handle a fork and knife and handle a coffee cup—something he took extra pleasure in doing. Hoss had carried him down and wrapped in his robe and wearing slippers, my father once more sat at the head of the table, hair combed and freshly shaved. Hop Sing, standing at me father's right, bowed his head with the rest of us and listened to my father's rich voice filling the house with prayer. Then we ate roast pig and boiled greens with fried potatoes, crabapple jelly, biscuits and maple syrup for Hoss to anoint his roasted pork slices. Cindy ate almost as much as Hoss but it was Mrs. Holland who ate the most with gusto; I'm assuming that's how she won Hop Sing's heart.

My father asked endless questions about the contract for railroad ties and we discussed—or should I say, I told him how we were going to meet the deadline; I'd have to cut my hours at the office to three days a week in order to be on site to ensure we met the timeline; we may even have to hire more loggers. The evening passed pleasantly until I felt weariness overcome me. Hoss and Cindy left but not until Hoss caried our father back up to his bedroom and "tucked him in," as Hoss put it. So, while Mrs. Holland insisted on helping Hop Sing with clearing the table and washing the dishes which he politely refused but smiling, allowed, I went up to see my father.

"Glad you're home, Adam, and glad things went your way." He smiled but I could see the dark circles under his eyes and hear the exhaustion in his voice. It must have taken a great deal of fortitude to sit up for so long and pretend to be hearty and hale.

"Well, I'm glad to be home." I sat on the chair by his bed, not comfortably, but on the edge. "You seem tired so I'll let you rest…"

"No, no, Adam. I'm…you're right, I am tired. But are you all right? There seems to be something bothering you, something you're keeping from me. Is there a problem with the railroad or money?"

"No, none of that. I'm just tired too but while I was gone, I wondered how you were getting on. Everything working out with Nurse Holland? I can send for someone else, if you want."

He reached out and patted my hand, smiling. "Everything's fine, Adam, well, as fine as it can be in my situation. She's bossy and dictatorial but with her wiping my ass and all, it's better that way. If she was sweet and pretty, well, I wouldn't be comfortable with that. I'm not so sick that I don't give a damn who looks under my nightshirt." I chuckled. "You know, Adam, I do wonder how things would be if Marie had lived. Would she have stayed with me, taken care of me? We don't marry—well, we're not supposed to marry for that reason, but it's always there. Who will take care of me, be with me, at the end."

"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be," I softly said, gazing at nothing.

"Yes, that's the promise when a man marries—she'll stay with him. From a poem?"

I chuckled. "Yes. Robert Browning. I prefer others he wrote but those lines capture a touching sentiment." I felt better about having left him the past week and told him goodnight. Monday I'd take care of the situation with Lorraine; she'd be glad to catch a train anywhere with two thousand dollars rolled and tucked between her breasts.

~ 0 ~

"That's an awful lot of money to withdraw, Mister Cartwright," Davy Bartles, the teller said looking at my withdrawal slip. I said nothing, just leaned against the counter. "And you want a bearer check for $1,500 and $500 in cash, right?"

"Right."

"Well, it's your money." He sighed and shook his head looking at the slip. "Well, I don't have enough in my drawer—have to get it from the vault and set Miss Orville to filling out the draft. How do you want the cash?"

With the draft and cash in my wallet, I walked to Lorriane's. The days were getting warmer. As I started up the porch stairs, I heard moans of pleasure coming from the open bedroom window. I realized I wasn't angry, just annoyed. But at least I could redeposit the $2,000 and set her and Mei on their way. After all, as I'd said earlier, I wasn't paying for her house and that soft bed just so she could fuck other men and make money on the side. Or had she fallen in love with some young swain who carried her groceries and sat in the dark waiting for me to leave evenings so he could crawl into her bed? That hit me as worse. The door was open and stepping in, I heard Lorraine's moans become words of encouragement for the man to not stop, and then, "Oh, yes, oh yes!"

I pushed the door open all the way and stood watching the two people on the bed. There was no man but Lorraine on her back, her legs spread and Mei, her face between Lorriane's legs, bringing her mistress to the heights of delight. I told you men like to watch, so I did just that and watched Lorraine arch her back and shudder and cry out while gripping Mei's black hair. Finally, Lorraine went limp, recovering her breath while Mei crawled up over Lorraine and started sucking her pinching her nipples. Lorraine smiled and opened her eyes and then pushed Mei away, sitting up, her mouth open in surprise. Mei turned and looked, wide-eyed, and scurried to sit beside Lorraine.

"Well, Adam," Lorriane said, the small fingers of one hand slipping between her legs, the other hand moving between Mei's, "are you going to just watch or join us?"

I tossed my hat on a chair and proceeded to shuck my clothes, both women smiling and giggling while moving to make me welcome between them. Oh, I was still going to send Lorraine and Mei on their way with the $2,000 and still planned on finding a wife to be my life's companion, but I'm no fool.

~ Finis ~