Unforgettable ~ Chapter One
Title: Unforgettable ~ Chapter 1
Authors: aussie and bugs
Genre: A/U, Romance, Drama
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,400
Summary: Bill and Laura pack for their honeymoon; friends prepare for their own journeys.
A/N: Surprise lacklusterfic ! You can't even know how hard it was to not mention this installment to you. Nor will you know how this fic's construction has been a true tribute to your nature. (authors nursing wounds and wiping away tears in background)
Chapter One:
Bill glanced up from his book, his glasses balanced on the end of his nose. He lounged on the butter-yellow leather sofa by the window in the Adams' bedroom. Like a leaf caught in a whirlpool, a small knot of people swirled around the room, moving between open, huge steamer trunks, the dressing room and the vanity table.
Laura was in the lead, pointing at various things she wanted to bring on their honeymoon. Elosha snatched them up or rejected them, leading to squabbles. Emily took notes on her stenopad and offered her opinion. Tom brought up the rear, his deeper voice thundering over the women as he harangued Laura with last-minute business details.
Sensing danger for his long, fluffy tail, Jake slid under the couch.
Laura spotted a new target. "Bill! You cannot possibly be packed. We must leave in half an hour!"
He slowly closed his book around the bookmark. "I'm ready." He nodded toward his trusty old battered leather valise sitting by the door.
"That's all?" Laura cried. "We will be gone for three weeks to the tropics!"
"That's why you're packing all those furs?" he commented.
"We'll be in cooler climes for a few days each direction," she blustered, then, "don't try to change the subject."
Fear struck Bill's heart when her eyes turned to cold, grey steel. She announced, "Elosha, let's pack for Mr Adams as well," and her group marched into the dressing room.
He wasn't spry enough to be off the couch and beat them to the dressing room, now shared by all their clothing. Laura was already plucking at hanging garments, opening drawers, when he made it to the doorway.
"He'll need all his light suits, perhaps this seersucker--"
"Oh god, not that thing," he grumbled. "I look like the ice cream truck man in that!"
She ignored him. "These shoes, his Panama hat--"
Tom interrupted: "Mrs Adams, I must know what you want done about the Turner account--"
"Sell," Bill advised. "I've looked over that account, and it's going nowhere but down. Cut your losses."
The General Manager's jaw clenched. "Sell? But--"
"Sell all the shares, Tom," Laura said without even looking at him.
"As you say," Zarek muttered, giving Bill a venomous look.
Emily scratched the order on her pad.
Noting how distracted Laura was, Emily came beside her. "Mrs Adams, there's some checks to be signed before you go--" She produced a checking account ledger book from under her arm.
Laura scribbled her signature on the checks, balancing the ledger book on a cabinet but she was still giving orders, "Those linen shirts--."
Wetting her lips, Emily waited nervously as Laura worked her way through the pages. She released a relieved sigh when Laura finished without comment. "I'll send these out," she murmured, accepting the ledger and hurrying from the dressing room. Tom watched her go with narrowed eyes.
As Elosha stuffed Bill's clothing into what little room remained in the trunks, Laura paced the bedroom, giving it one more look-over. Bill was reminded of a field general surveying the battlefield. He swallowed any protests. Soon enough, they would be on his turf, a sailing ship, and he would start ordering her around!
Down in the office, Emily tore out the last signed check from the book and slipped it into her handbag with shaking fingers. She just wasn't made for this sort of duplicity...Finding her resolve, she picked up the phone and dialed a now familiar number.
"Yes, please connect me with Detective Laird." She twirled her pencil nervously. "Hello. It's me. Everything's set. I have the money." She looked to the doorway, expecting Tom Zarek at any moment. "I'll see you at the Shady Trees Motel at four o'clock--"
She heard footfall approaching. "I have to go," she said quickly and hung up.
Zarek entered the office. "You'll have your notes typed up and ready for my review in thirty minutes, Emily," he said sharply, yanking the phone off the handle to call Roslin Industries' stockbroker.
"Yes, sir," she murmured and sitting at her typewriter, quickly flipped through her stenopad to find the first page of notes.
*
"Sesha! What in the world is going on?"
A woman with faded beauty and dead eyes, seated in a wheelchair, looked to her bedroom's doorway. Her husband stood with his hands on his hips. Waving her hand laggardly, she dismissed the team of maids packing her steamer trunks. The maids filed out quickly, closing the door behind the slight man.
"What is it, Aaron?" the woman said in her low, husky voice.
He pointed at the trunks. "This!"
"We're going on a cruise to Hawaii," his wife said. "Your man is packing your things now."
Aaron began to pace before her chair. Her gaze drifted to the window.
"I know he's packing! That's why I'm here--"
"You would not be visiting your wife to see how she is doing," Sesha said dryly.
"Why must you turn everything around to be a disagreement?" he whined.
"Because you are a disagreeable person, Aaron."
"Then why must I come on this cruise?" he asked, exasperated. He tried to soften his manner. "Darling, go on this holiday, enjoy yourself--"
"You're coming. You make an excellent prop--the devoted husband." She chuckled to herself.
He scooted a footstool over to sit before her. He attempted to take her hand, but she folded them in her lap.
“Please, Sesha. Don’t be like this. Can’t you see what a bitter old woman you’re becoming?”
Sesha finally devoted her full attention to her insipid husband. “Old woman,” she drawled. “That was such a great attraction when I noticed you in my stables, Aaron--your youth. What a disappointment it all proved to be.”
He tried to intercede. "We had such good times before--"
She ignored him. “It’s so sad, darling,” she snarled the endearment until it sounded like an obscenity. “You no longer have that benefit of youth, do you? Imagine what you’d be without me. Aaron Doral with no money, no connections, no fast cars or dapper attire. You think anyone would look twice at an aging stable hand?”
He tried to calm her. As much as he loathed her flat, unemotional manner, this was worse. "Dearest, let me fetch your nurse. You need some medication--"
"Joan is no longer with us," Sesha said, her voice toneless again.
"But I just saw her at breakfast," Aaron said, confused.
"She has given her resignation for some reason."
"Who will attend you on this cruise..." he queried.. "Surely you don't expect me?" He couldn't hide his revulsion.
"And why shouldn't you?" she asked through shaking, white lips. “You put me in this thing!” She banged her hands down on the wheelchair’s arms.
Taking a deep breath, she leveled her tone again. “And now you have to pay,” she told him clearly.
“Sesha, you’re being ridiculous. There was no way I could have known that horse--”
She turned to stare back out the window at the lush green fields of her private estate before he could give his feeble explanations for her accident again. She’d heard them all before.
"I'm so tired of this," he said, his voice cracking. "You belittle me, the accusations--"
"They're only accusations because I can't prove you tried to kill me," she said. "But for the next time, my lawyers know to cut you off..." She glanced below the waistband of his pants. "--and make certain you are properly disposed of in the electric chair." Her smile was real for once, and a frightening thing.
"I could have left you after the accident--" His smooth features contorted into a cruel mask. "You wanted a dutiful husband by your wheelchair's side--" He looked the heavy chair over with contempt. "And damn you, I've lived up to my side of the bargain!"
"But then you would have had to leave all this money, Aaron," she reminded him.
She looked out the window again. Today would have been perfect weather to take a long ride. Instead, the closest she could get to exhilaration was provoking her weakling second husband. How could she have ever thought Aaron was worthy enough to take her dear Ray’s place? And he thought she didn't know he'd found replacements for her useless body?
"You needn't worry about addressing my needs on this cruise. I called the Delphi Clinic..." Her mouth became a thin line. "Where I hoped yet again for a cure. There was a nurse there who seemed suitable. She shall be joining us this afternoon."
He sighed in relief.
There was a low knock on the door. "What is it!?" Doral yelled.
"Aaron," said his wife, "don't be so common."
He stormed to the door and yanked it open. "Oh!" he said. "Sorry."
A young woman, dressed in the white, utilitarian uniform of a nurse, her dull brown hair pulled back in a bun at the base of her neck, stood outside. Her blushing face was downcast as she stared at the square toes of her thick-soled white shoes. "Excuse me," she said with a thin voice, "but the butler said I should come up..."
"Ah yes, Nurse Schaffer," said Sesha. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Leave, Mrs Doral?" Nurse Schaffer asked, confused. "I just got here."
"We're going on a Hawaiian cruise," Aaron said, forcing on another smile.
"My goodness," the nurse breathed.
"I don't know if we met at the clinic, but I am Mr Doral," Aaron said, when it was obvious no introduction was forthcoming.
The nurse did not offer her hand, only nodded while continuing to focus on the floor.
Doral gave his wife a scathing look and she smiled thinly in response.
"Aaron, I must complete my packing. Please ask the maids to return," Sesha said, dismissing him like he was a servant as well.
"Of course, my dear," he ground out. "Why don't I see about finding Nurse Schaffer some refreshment."
Sesha didn't reply, but returned to looking out the window.
Closing the bedroom door behind them, Aaron led the nurse down the dim hallway. "I realize this must be a great surprise, but the cruise will be delightful," he said, but his tone was depressed.
Nurse Schaffer voice was much gayer. "I think we'll have a wonderful time."
Suddenly, she pushed Doral into an alcove containing a potted palm tree. He gasped in shock, but she covered his mouth with hers, kissing him deeply. He finally struggled loose.
"Dammit, Paulla," he hissed, "we cannot do this in the house!"
"Then we shall do it on that ship, while that bitch is trapped in her bed," chortled the young woman.
He cradled her cheek, looking at her with wonder. "How did you convince her to hire you?"
"I sent her notes, asking how she was doing after she left the clinic. Flattering her--I had to see you again! These three months apart have been torture!"
He smiled and she grinned in return. "Yes, we shall be together," he mused.
"You better get those maids for her. I'll find the kitchen myself," she ordered him. "Let's get this show on the road."
Straightening her white cap and pushing her hairpins back in place, she shuffled away with the demure gait of a dutiful servant.
Doral disentangled himself from the plant then straightened his tie. He allowed himself a confident smirk before hurrying off to do his wife's bidding.
*
Emily slipped on her coat and checked the room's clock. She was behind schedule, but hopefully he would wait for her--
"Good, Emily, you're ready to go," Laura said from behind her.
"Ready?" Confused, Emily finished putting on her hat.
Laura nodded toward her alligator leather travel case. "Tom took up so much of my time, I didn't tell you about everything I want done with my charity work while I'm gone. You'll have to come with us to the ship."
"Come with you to the ship?"
Laura didn't see her check the clock again. "Of course!" Her employer said gaily. "You'll have fun! There'll be cocktails, hors d'oeuvres--"
Emily lifted the heavy case as she hid her frustration. "Of course, Mrs Adams."
In the foyer, they joined Bill. He gathered his wife to his side. "Young Jaffee's got all those trunks loaded into a moving truck--"
Laura slapped his chest lightly. "Darling, don't be silly!"
Bill grinned at her and couldn't resist sneaking a quick kiss before protesting: "He did have to hire a truck for all those trunks! And he's ready to drive us to the boat. Just needs to know which car to take--"
"Let's see, Emily has to come, Elosha wants to unpack--" Laura smiled at her maid. "She doesn't trust me with my unmentionables--"
"I can take care of those," insisted Bill. "I'm getting real good--"
Elosha snorted, her sad expression lightening for a brief moment. Laura just rolled her eyes. "And we have to pick up the Franklins; their automobile is in the shop--"
"Make it the Rolls," Bill said, resigned, herding the group toward the door to the garage.
Tom watched through the office windows as the large black automobile pulled out the garage and turned down the hill. He moved back to the telephone.
"Meier? It's me. What's the latest?" A smile spread across his face for the first time that afternoon. He chuckled deeply. "Excellent news. By the time Mrs Adams returns, everything will be in place."
The end ~ Chapter 1
Authors: aussie and bugs
Genre: A/U, Romance, Drama
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,400
Summary: Bill and Laura pack for their honeymoon; friends prepare for their own journeys.
A/N: Surprise lacklusterfic ! You can't even know how hard it was to not mention this installment to you. Nor will you know how this fic's construction has been a true tribute to your nature. (authors nursing wounds and wiping away tears in background)
Chapter One:
Bill glanced up from his book, his glasses balanced on the end of his nose. He lounged on the butter-yellow leather sofa by the window in the Adams' bedroom. Like a leaf caught in a whirlpool, a small knot of people swirled around the room, moving between open, huge steamer trunks, the dressing room and the vanity table.
Laura was in the lead, pointing at various things she wanted to bring on their honeymoon. Elosha snatched them up or rejected them, leading to squabbles. Emily took notes on her stenopad and offered her opinion. Tom brought up the rear, his deeper voice thundering over the women as he harangued Laura with last-minute business details.
Sensing danger for his long, fluffy tail, Jake slid under the couch.
Laura spotted a new target. "Bill! You cannot possibly be packed. We must leave in half an hour!"
He slowly closed his book around the bookmark. "I'm ready." He nodded toward his trusty old battered leather valise sitting by the door.
"That's all?" Laura cried. "We will be gone for three weeks to the tropics!"
"That's why you're packing all those furs?" he commented.
"We'll be in cooler climes for a few days each direction," she blustered, then, "don't try to change the subject."
Fear struck Bill's heart when her eyes turned to cold, grey steel. She announced, "Elosha, let's pack for Mr Adams as well," and her group marched into the dressing room.
He wasn't spry enough to be off the couch and beat them to the dressing room, now shared by all their clothing. Laura was already plucking at hanging garments, opening drawers, when he made it to the doorway.
"He'll need all his light suits, perhaps this seersucker--"
"Oh god, not that thing," he grumbled. "I look like the ice cream truck man in that!"
She ignored him. "These shoes, his Panama hat--"
Tom interrupted: "Mrs Adams, I must know what you want done about the Turner account--"
"Sell," Bill advised. "I've looked over that account, and it's going nowhere but down. Cut your losses."
The General Manager's jaw clenched. "Sell? But--"
"Sell all the shares, Tom," Laura said without even looking at him.
"As you say," Zarek muttered, giving Bill a venomous look.
Emily scratched the order on her pad.
Noting how distracted Laura was, Emily came beside her. "Mrs Adams, there's some checks to be signed before you go--" She produced a checking account ledger book from under her arm.
Laura scribbled her signature on the checks, balancing the ledger book on a cabinet but she was still giving orders, "Those linen shirts--."
Wetting her lips, Emily waited nervously as Laura worked her way through the pages. She released a relieved sigh when Laura finished without comment. "I'll send these out," she murmured, accepting the ledger and hurrying from the dressing room. Tom watched her go with narrowed eyes.
As Elosha stuffed Bill's clothing into what little room remained in the trunks, Laura paced the bedroom, giving it one more look-over. Bill was reminded of a field general surveying the battlefield. He swallowed any protests. Soon enough, they would be on his turf, a sailing ship, and he would start ordering her around!
Down in the office, Emily tore out the last signed check from the book and slipped it into her handbag with shaking fingers. She just wasn't made for this sort of duplicity...Finding her resolve, she picked up the phone and dialed a now familiar number.
"Yes, please connect me with Detective Laird." She twirled her pencil nervously. "Hello. It's me. Everything's set. I have the money." She looked to the doorway, expecting Tom Zarek at any moment. "I'll see you at the Shady Trees Motel at four o'clock--"
She heard footfall approaching. "I have to go," she said quickly and hung up.
Zarek entered the office. "You'll have your notes typed up and ready for my review in thirty minutes, Emily," he said sharply, yanking the phone off the handle to call Roslin Industries' stockbroker.
"Yes, sir," she murmured and sitting at her typewriter, quickly flipped through her stenopad to find the first page of notes.
*
"Sesha! What in the world is going on?"
A woman with faded beauty and dead eyes, seated in a wheelchair, looked to her bedroom's doorway. Her husband stood with his hands on his hips. Waving her hand laggardly, she dismissed the team of maids packing her steamer trunks. The maids filed out quickly, closing the door behind the slight man.
"What is it, Aaron?" the woman said in her low, husky voice.
He pointed at the trunks. "This!"
"We're going on a cruise to Hawaii," his wife said. "Your man is packing your things now."
Aaron began to pace before her chair. Her gaze drifted to the window.
"I know he's packing! That's why I'm here--"
"You would not be visiting your wife to see how she is doing," Sesha said dryly.
"Why must you turn everything around to be a disagreement?" he whined.
"Because you are a disagreeable person, Aaron."
"Then why must I come on this cruise?" he asked, exasperated. He tried to soften his manner. "Darling, go on this holiday, enjoy yourself--"
"You're coming. You make an excellent prop--the devoted husband." She chuckled to herself.
He scooted a footstool over to sit before her. He attempted to take her hand, but she folded them in her lap.
“Please, Sesha. Don’t be like this. Can’t you see what a bitter old woman you’re becoming?”
Sesha finally devoted her full attention to her insipid husband. “Old woman,” she drawled. “That was such a great attraction when I noticed you in my stables, Aaron--your youth. What a disappointment it all proved to be.”
He tried to intercede. "We had such good times before--"
She ignored him. “It’s so sad, darling,” she snarled the endearment until it sounded like an obscenity. “You no longer have that benefit of youth, do you? Imagine what you’d be without me. Aaron Doral with no money, no connections, no fast cars or dapper attire. You think anyone would look twice at an aging stable hand?”
He tried to calm her. As much as he loathed her flat, unemotional manner, this was worse. "Dearest, let me fetch your nurse. You need some medication--"
"Joan is no longer with us," Sesha said, her voice toneless again.
"But I just saw her at breakfast," Aaron said, confused.
"She has given her resignation for some reason."
"Who will attend you on this cruise..." he queried.. "Surely you don't expect me?" He couldn't hide his revulsion.
"And why shouldn't you?" she asked through shaking, white lips. “You put me in this thing!” She banged her hands down on the wheelchair’s arms.
Taking a deep breath, she leveled her tone again. “And now you have to pay,” she told him clearly.
“Sesha, you’re being ridiculous. There was no way I could have known that horse--”
She turned to stare back out the window at the lush green fields of her private estate before he could give his feeble explanations for her accident again. She’d heard them all before.
"I'm so tired of this," he said, his voice cracking. "You belittle me, the accusations--"
"They're only accusations because I can't prove you tried to kill me," she said. "But for the next time, my lawyers know to cut you off..." She glanced below the waistband of his pants. "--and make certain you are properly disposed of in the electric chair." Her smile was real for once, and a frightening thing.
"I could have left you after the accident--" His smooth features contorted into a cruel mask. "You wanted a dutiful husband by your wheelchair's side--" He looked the heavy chair over with contempt. "And damn you, I've lived up to my side of the bargain!"
"But then you would have had to leave all this money, Aaron," she reminded him.
She looked out the window again. Today would have been perfect weather to take a long ride. Instead, the closest she could get to exhilaration was provoking her weakling second husband. How could she have ever thought Aaron was worthy enough to take her dear Ray’s place? And he thought she didn't know he'd found replacements for her useless body?
"You needn't worry about addressing my needs on this cruise. I called the Delphi Clinic..." Her mouth became a thin line. "Where I hoped yet again for a cure. There was a nurse there who seemed suitable. She shall be joining us this afternoon."
He sighed in relief.
There was a low knock on the door. "What is it!?" Doral yelled.
"Aaron," said his wife, "don't be so common."
He stormed to the door and yanked it open. "Oh!" he said. "Sorry."
A young woman, dressed in the white, utilitarian uniform of a nurse, her dull brown hair pulled back in a bun at the base of her neck, stood outside. Her blushing face was downcast as she stared at the square toes of her thick-soled white shoes. "Excuse me," she said with a thin voice, "but the butler said I should come up..."
"Ah yes, Nurse Schaffer," said Sesha. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Leave, Mrs Doral?" Nurse Schaffer asked, confused. "I just got here."
"We're going on a Hawaiian cruise," Aaron said, forcing on another smile.
"My goodness," the nurse breathed.
"I don't know if we met at the clinic, but I am Mr Doral," Aaron said, when it was obvious no introduction was forthcoming.
The nurse did not offer her hand, only nodded while continuing to focus on the floor.
Doral gave his wife a scathing look and she smiled thinly in response.
"Aaron, I must complete my packing. Please ask the maids to return," Sesha said, dismissing him like he was a servant as well.
"Of course, my dear," he ground out. "Why don't I see about finding Nurse Schaffer some refreshment."
Sesha didn't reply, but returned to looking out the window.
Closing the bedroom door behind them, Aaron led the nurse down the dim hallway. "I realize this must be a great surprise, but the cruise will be delightful," he said, but his tone was depressed.
Nurse Schaffer voice was much gayer. "I think we'll have a wonderful time."
Suddenly, she pushed Doral into an alcove containing a potted palm tree. He gasped in shock, but she covered his mouth with hers, kissing him deeply. He finally struggled loose.
"Dammit, Paulla," he hissed, "we cannot do this in the house!"
"Then we shall do it on that ship, while that bitch is trapped in her bed," chortled the young woman.
He cradled her cheek, looking at her with wonder. "How did you convince her to hire you?"
"I sent her notes, asking how she was doing after she left the clinic. Flattering her--I had to see you again! These three months apart have been torture!"
He smiled and she grinned in return. "Yes, we shall be together," he mused.
"You better get those maids for her. I'll find the kitchen myself," she ordered him. "Let's get this show on the road."
Straightening her white cap and pushing her hairpins back in place, she shuffled away with the demure gait of a dutiful servant.
Doral disentangled himself from the plant then straightened his tie. He allowed himself a confident smirk before hurrying off to do his wife's bidding.
*
Emily slipped on her coat and checked the room's clock. She was behind schedule, but hopefully he would wait for her--
"Good, Emily, you're ready to go," Laura said from behind her.
"Ready?" Confused, Emily finished putting on her hat.
Laura nodded toward her alligator leather travel case. "Tom took up so much of my time, I didn't tell you about everything I want done with my charity work while I'm gone. You'll have to come with us to the ship."
"Come with you to the ship?"
Laura didn't see her check the clock again. "Of course!" Her employer said gaily. "You'll have fun! There'll be cocktails, hors d'oeuvres--"
Emily lifted the heavy case as she hid her frustration. "Of course, Mrs Adams."
In the foyer, they joined Bill. He gathered his wife to his side. "Young Jaffee's got all those trunks loaded into a moving truck--"
Laura slapped his chest lightly. "Darling, don't be silly!"
Bill grinned at her and couldn't resist sneaking a quick kiss before protesting: "He did have to hire a truck for all those trunks! And he's ready to drive us to the boat. Just needs to know which car to take--"
"Let's see, Emily has to come, Elosha wants to unpack--" Laura smiled at her maid. "She doesn't trust me with my unmentionables--"
"I can take care of those," insisted Bill. "I'm getting real good--"
Elosha snorted, her sad expression lightening for a brief moment. Laura just rolled her eyes. "And we have to pick up the Franklins; their automobile is in the shop--"
"Make it the Rolls," Bill said, resigned, herding the group toward the door to the garage.
Tom watched through the office windows as the large black automobile pulled out the garage and turned down the hill. He moved back to the telephone.
"Meier? It's me. What's the latest?" A smile spread across his face for the first time that afternoon. He chuckled deeply. "Excellent news. By the time Mrs Adams returns, everything will be in place."
The end ~ Chapter 1