Chapter 190: Rulo House at St. Charles

By: Emmeran, 13 November 2021

Editor: nnpdad 24 November 2021

We stopped by the Butcher’s shop on our way back down to Mickey’s; it was mid-day and I was craving liverwurst for lunch. I also picked up some nice steaks to dine on tonight and a meaty bone for Brin. There wasn’t a whole lot I needed on top of that. I did pick up enough steaks to feed everyone I wanted to feed steak to and even had two spares in case Dr. Browne showed up this evening.

As soon as Mickey saw those steaks he was out firing up the grill with a grin on his face a mile wide. I gave the steaks to Cook to prep and wandered around the kitchen to see what else we might be having; well that earned me a firm scolding as I was chased out of the kitchen by a mad woman wielding a kitchen rag like it was a flail.

So I ended up in my reluctant rocker, sipping a beer and contemplating the considerations I’d offer the good doctor and his wife. The need for a doctor in our growing town far outweighed my need to preserve capital; you can’t actually grow your capital if your workers are sick and dying. That was a failing of communist socialism, no matter what they espoused from the podium they really didn’t give a shit about the ordinary person.

So I had to have a doctor and I had a good feeling about this one.

The Doctor and his wife showed up about a half hour before supper so we were able to throw steaks on for them also. His wife was taken aback by the location but Sinclaire showed up just in time to gently and politely set her straight on the situation. We served beer and wine and began to discuss the deal while we waited for food.

The biggest sticking point seemed to be her fear of living on the frontier, it turned out to be more of a fear of living simple as up til now she’d always had the finest things ready to hand. At the same time neither of them wanted to go crawling back to family to admit their failure. It was also important to note that she didn’t want to sell all of her fine things at auction just to raise the money for the journey. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I would be there at that auction buying up all of her nice things at a tremendous discount.

I used that as the sweetener for my deal. I offered them an opt-out after five years in which I would pay for their return trip home and all of their fine things could stay in the house, but when they were ready we’d ship them to Rulo for them. I also offered them one of the bedrooms to store their personals and heirlooms under lock and key.

But it also had to be noted that all of the servants stayed and that Sinclaire would be moving in immediately and would need use of the study to run our businesses. If they agreed I would pick them up on my way north after my business was complete downriver.