Chapter 12

The crack of dawn came early, my ribs still hurt, so with a sigh I rolled out of bed and into the shower. Rewrapping my ribs by myself afterwards was a bitch, but I managed, and after a quick bite, I headed for Hardesy's. I was almost there when I realized that Mr. Hardesy might be able to shed some light on things. His family had been the grocers in Ridgemont for generations.

I was a few minutes early, but I didn't have to wait long till I saw Mr. Hardesy give me a wave as he turned the corner to park his car. A few minutes later and he was there. "Morning, John," he said as he unlocked the door. "How are the ribs?"

I stared at Mr. Hardesy. I had no idea how he always seemed to know what was going on in town.

"What? You didn't think I'd find out about the antics at the dance last night?"

"Well, at least not that quickly, Mr. Hardesy," I replied. "My ribs will be fine, though, thanks. The doctor said they're just bruised."

"You sure stuck your nose in a hornet's nest, John," Mr. Hardesy said as he guided me into his office. "Sit a moment."

I sat and looked at my boss. I knew he was in his sixties and was getting ready to retire. He looked tired this morning.

"Are you okay, Mr. Hardesy? You look tired."

Mr. Hardesy waved my concern off. "Tom's finally back from Houston. We were up late talking."

I knew that Mr. Hardesy wanted Tom to take over the store, but that Tom had resisted and they'd fought. It sounded like things were better between them.

I took a deep breath. "It seems like you know everything that goes on in this town, Mr. Hardesy. I heard some things last night that have been bothering me. I was hoping you could clear some of them up."

"Well, I don't know, John. What I know and what I tell can be entirely different. What exactly do you want to know?"

"Well, I'm not asking you to break any confidences, Mr. Hardesy, but I was wondering about Harmon-Morris. Last night, I overheard Charles Langley talking to Junior Bishop about taking back control of some company. Mr. Langley also said that marrying Missy's mom wouldn't get them control, but that Junior getting Missy pregnant would. Tracey said that it had to be the Factory they were talking about, but she didn't know how the Langleys and Bishops fit into the picture."

Mr. Hardesy smiled and leaned back in his chair.

"Okay," he said slowly. "You've stumbled into Ridgemont's version of the Hatfields and the McCoys, or maybe it should be Montagues and the Capulets. As best I can tell the feud has been going on for four or five generations."

"It all started back in the mid-1800s when Andrew Jackson Harmon and George Washington Morris got together and built a bakery here in Ridgemont. Andrew's son John married George's daughter Theresa. Andrew also had a daughter, and she married Ethan Bishop, the son of the local preacher. Ethan came to work in the bakery and he and John Harmon took over when the two founders retired.

"The problems started when Ethan's son Andrew tried to woo John's daughter Theresa. They were first cousins and Andrew put the kibosh on the relationship. Depending on whose version of the story you hear, Theresa wasn't really interested in Andrew anyway and was glad that Daddy stepped in. She had her eye on your great-great granddad, apparently.

"However, if you believe the Bishops, it was more like Romeo and Juliet, and Andrew and Theresa were deeply, madly in love. Regardless, whichever way it went, Theresa got pregnant. Your great-great-grandfather was off at college, so John assumed it was Andrew Bishop. Things were mighty intense for a while. Theresa died shortly after her son, John was born. Andrew Bishop claimed the child and raised him as his own. This just added fuel to the fire and when John Harmon wrote his will, he left Theresa and any of her offspring out of it. Ethan Bishop was forced out of Harmon-Morris. The Bishops cried foul, but they had no leg to stand on legally. For the past seventy or so years, the Bishops have tried to get back into Harmon-Morris. They nearly had an in twenty years ago when Robert Langley moved here from the West. He joined Harmon-Morris and moved up the ladder quickly, becoming a vice president and hoping for more. He married Susan Bishop and the Harmon's immediately shut him out. Robert was quite vocal about the unfairness of his dismissal, but then he had a heart attack about two months later and it became a moot point."