Chapter 4

The phone rang, "Papa, Jimmy is making Warwicks. Are you coming for breakfast?"

"Yes Sandy, we'll be there in a few minutes." It was a wonderful lover's night we had shared. Now it was time to return to the normal.

It was a scramble with everyone leaving. This included Elizabeth who was following Madie and Will home. Shelly and I promised we would get around and visit everyone as time and the kids in school permitted. By noon, the house was empty of all but the John Rheingold family. The kids had school lessons to do to make up for being absent on Friday.

Shelly was curled up across the room in one recliner. I was in a corner of the couch. I guess I dropped off. I roused once and Kathy had stretched out on the couch with her head in my lap. Jimmy and Sandy were in the other recliner, both asleep cuddled together. It is wonderful how the kids got along so well with each other.

Monday in the evening, Neil Fortier called asking to speak to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth returned to the east, yesterday. I thought she called to tell you before she left. She tried to reach you at least three times."

"Um, yes, well I was busy and not available. Maybe she will call me later." I wondered why he didn't ask for her phone number and call her. I did not want to get involved, as it wasn't any of my business.

Days and weeks of contentment melded together. Of concern was a call that Shelly received from Pam Johnson, Ronnie's girlfriend. "Shelly, I'm afraid Ronnie is going to get laid off from work soon. It always seems to happen in the fall. If he does, then you won't be getting any support money for Kathy and Sandy. I wish he could find something that would pay him a steady year-round wage. I'm really sorry about this."

"I well know all about this cycle he is in. I was married to him. I suppose we will make out all right. John seems to be able to keep going. It will slow his plans considerably. He had plans in place to expand his business. Thanks Pam, for the heads up."

"Hey, big man, any answers on how we are going to get our support money for the kids?"

"Shelly, we aren't that bad off. We'll make out okay."

"Oh, I know we will. I hate it that Ronnie is always saying he is sorry because he can't pay for what are clearly his responsibilities. It makes me feel as if I married you under false pretenses."

"Shelly, if Ronnie gets laid off, I'll think of something. Give your ex some credit. He always goes after a job. Maybe he didn't used to, but since he got together with Pam, he has."

"You like Pam don't you?"

"Yes I do. I would like to see her and Ronnie married. I think she would like to start a family with him, but she knows she can't when he can't even pay for the kids he has. Of course her own work is only spotty and isn't that steady. She does some writing, I understand.

"I feel bad about the whole situation. I do feel good about a man who opened a door a few months ago and saw something he liked enough to marry her." Shelly came over, climbed onto my lap, and kissed me.

"I have an itch that needs scratching. Any ideas?" I didn't make a comment. Action always speaks louder than words.

We settled into married life easily. Both of us had been married before, but this was much better than either of us had experienced the first time out. I was making changes in my business and busy, but it was great coming home at night.

I sold my interest in the convenience store for six thousand more than I had paid for it. This gave me the chance to expand the equipment and my workforce in the warehouse. What I took in from the sale of day-old goods at the discount bakery as I expanded almost made up for what I derived from the convenience store.

I also convinced my partner at the pig farm that it would be cheaper to move the pellet making operation and machinery to my warehouse. I had the room, the power, and the people to operate the machinery. It only took a couple of days to move equipment. Within a week, we were in production at that location.

I hadn't heard from Neil until one day he came into my warehouse and barged into my office.

"Do you keep in touch with your ex-wife?"

"No, I don't. Jimmy talks to her at least once every week. Why?"

"Did you know she is selling her house and moving out here?"

"I didn't, but it doesn't surprise me. Have you been talking to her?"

"No damn it. I have a friend who is a realtor. He told me. He got onto the fact when she asked if he knew you and where your business was. Seems she is thinking of relocating here. I've called and left messages on her phone and I have talked to her housekeeper once. I never get a call back, though. I can't figure out why she won't take my call. Any ideas."

"Let's think this through. I know she tried to call you before she left the weekend Shelly and I were married. Knowing what happened to her just before that, I would guess she thought you were a player and for some reason you were trifling with her. Where were you that weekend and what were you doing?"

"I was doing a favor for mother. She asked me to take an old friend of hers out to dinner and then deliver the woman back to the rest home where she lives. It tied me up most all of that Sunday."

I grinned. "And what would Molly say if Elizabeth got through to her on the phone? Look, I know your mother was worried about the divorcée who her son had escorted out several times after just meeting him."

"The interfering bitch. What right does she have? I'm twenty-six for God's sake."

"Hey calm down. She is protecting you. You may not want to hear this, but she is worried about you. You are living on a trust fund your father set up for you. I don't know how much it started out as, but it must have been a lot. She said you only had a couple of million left and just played at living. She as much as called you a playboy."

"I am, but she doesn't know it all. Sure, I am a playboy, but I have been moving some of my trust fund into investments with better returns. The two million she talks about is what she sees. It started out as seven million. I've added about a million dollars a year in the five years I've had control of the fund. Between my investments and the original it now totals about twelve million."

"I can't even imagine having that amount. I know I was married to money at one time, but I never considered it mine."

"Was she willing to share? I mean you were married to her."

"I guess she would have."

"I'd say you screwed up."

"You might think that, but I wouldn't swap what I have now for any amount of money. I'd say to call your mother and find out if she talked to Elizabeth about what she said to her."

"Thanks, John. You know I didn't know your wife very long, but I was really taken with her."

"Ex-wife."

"Yeah, I forgot. Thanks for divorcing her." He couldn't get it right. She divorced me. He hung around watching the women who were stripping cellophane off bread loaves and finally said, "Guess I should talk to my mother."

"Good luck." I immediately made a call to Molly. "Molly, John Rheingold. You should have a little more faith in Neil. I have."

"Hi, John. What do you mean?"

"Not saying. On a different subject, have you thought anymore about what we talked about a few weeks ago?"

"It's on my mind constantly. I want to do something with those buildings. Kind of like a monument or something to Frank. I've been talking to Ted Theobold, the man Frank left in charge of them. Trouble is the man is getting almost ready to cut out. Unless you want to go through each building, why don't you come over, talk to him, and have him tell you all about each one."

"He is living with you?"

"No, he won't stay overnight or sleep in the same bed as Frank did when he was alive. He lives alone in the smallest of these three houses. The one that looks as if it was falling down. Actually, it is the one that has had the interior updated and is the most modern. He does come over and tries to keep my fires banked. It is a losing battle though, his age and all."

I was silent running through my mind what she had just said. "John, I'm in my forties and don't go out unless I absolutely have to. What do you expect?"

"I don't know. What I mean is I don't know you well enough yet to know what to expect."

"You will eventually. For now, I'll expect you at three this afternoon." I didn't leave the office. I sat in my chair and thought about Molly. Something did not seem right about her. She swore like a trooper. She was acting now as if she was no different from when her future husband picked her off the streets. In addition, I suspected she wasn't above fabricating a few untruths.

Frank had to have been in his late forties or early fifties when he found Molly. I couldn't believe a pillar of the community like him would appear anywhere with her acting as she was acting now. She had to have left her streetwalker image behind her at some point. Molly apparently wanted me to become involved with her. The question was why?

I arrived right at 3 p.m. Molly met me at the door and ushered me into the same area where we were seated before. Sitting there was a nice looking man I estimated to be in his late fifties. Molly said he was getting old, but he looked virile enough. "Ted Theobold, meet John Rheingold." We shook hands.

"The Missus tells me you have some crazy idea about renovating and turning the old factories into something useful. What is it you wish to know about the buildings?"

"I don't know what she told you, but she is the one who brought it up. I'm from the east and have seen this accomplished in several of the old mill towns. That is if the buildings are solid and not too far from the public and transportation. I chose to lease the warehouse because the beltway is close by. That takes care of getting material in and out and the people as well. To me there are enough buildings to make a nice complex of varied businesses and housing."

"I have the original blueprints and all of the old notes from the architects who saw to the construction. Frank had some idea of what you are talking about before he died. I've overseen these buildings since he passed on. They are just as solid today as when they were built more than a century ago. One reason is what they are set on. The foundations are set on a granite plate that extends under this whole area.

"They all have one level below the street, but that is as far down as they can go. You notice all of the windows are boarded up on the first two stories. That is just to protect them from vandals and squatters getting in. I have two men who patrol the area once a week and check to see if everything is secure."

"I know I've become acquainted with them. I have them keep an eye on the warehouse."

"That still goes with the rest of the buildings and you don't own it. You only have a lease."

Ted was sitting across the table from me. Molly was on the side where I didn't directly look at her. She hadn't uttered a word since I was introduced. Ted though, had glanced at her several times. I was seeing something I think he was hiding and for all she said I would be surprised if they were ever intimate.

"What do these buildings have for heating plants?"

"There are three boilers for high pressure steam in the center structure. There is one smoke stack as you can see coming from that one. Your warehouse is heated by its own small hot water boiler. Once a year they are fired up and started. All of the piping is examined and checked for leaks. That is for the first floor. The piping would have to be replaced on the other floors if they are used for housing or offices.

"Of course years ago, the boilers were fired with coal, but it was dirty and it took a lot more manpower to keep the boilers going. It will be damned expensive with what the price of oil is now."

"All the price of doing business."

"So what are you doing with Missus Fortier?"

"I have no idea. She is the one who keeps contacting me. I talked to Neil one time and they seem to think I have some kind of vision. I cannot say I have much knowledge other than I have been associating with a number of rich industrial businessmen. I listened to them discuss what they were doing in their lives. They were all getting richer as I listened.

"I will say with the right consortium the properties these buildings are sitting on are worth millions. If these buildings are destroyed, a good bit of our history is destroyed at the same time."

I was silent for a minute. Molly and Ted felt I wasn't finished. "With the economy as it is right now, the state and the federal government would jump all over themselves to lend, or grant money to a group that would do the rehab and put so many unemployed workers back to work. You not only have the construction jobs that are short term, but the long-term jobs of the people employed when the new businesses come in.

"Plus, if you put a couple of these buildings into housing, that gives you a ready available work force."

"God, you've thought this thing through. You sound a lot like Frank did when he got excited about doing something."

Molly rose and came around behind me, resting her hand on my shoulder. "I told you Ted, this man had vision."

Ted put a question to me. "What are you looking to get out of this?"

"I didn't know I was even into getting anything. I have just been giving out a few of my thoughts. I've rented one building to run a business. I have an option and a lease that is ironclad, which is something that upsets Molly. She has said so because it would cost her a bundle to buy me out of the option. I'm pretty happy with what I'm doing and I don't know as I would want to change anything."

"You can't help yourself. I'll bet this is the subject you think about most of the time. I will go get some of the drawings and blueprints I have collected concerning the buildings. I will be back in a half hour. That is if you are interested." He stood there grinning at me. I shrugged and nodded.

He walked out the front door and headed toward his house. "John we have time for a quicky. I bet you'd like to try out this old lady."

I had got up to watch Ted leave. I was disgusted. I sat down in my chair and looked at Molly. "Molly, what you need is a spanking. You come around talking dirty and making suggestions. I notice you don't talk that way to the man who loves you."

"What do you mean? Who loves me?"

"Ted loves you. You said on the phone he comes over and banks your fires, but you have never said a thing out of line to him have you? You want me to think you are still a fifteen year old prostitute, but it is all an act. Shelly noticed it and you are so obvious. If you really want someone to cherish you again, let Ted know what you want."

"He has never indicated to me he would be interested."

"He is. His problem is that he worked for your husband all of his life and Frank charged him to look after the property when he died. Frank didn't go far enough. He should have charged Ted to look after you as well. One other thing, you twitch your butt around in front of me and you know it is safe because I have a new wife and I love her. You are just getting your jollies and it just makes you look cheap.

"I suspect you and Ted want me to become a consultant to further your dream of creating some kind of a monument to your husband. I won't, if you do not stop your foolishness and start playing straight. I don't like being played."

Molly peered at me intensely. "Okay, you've passed a test of sorts. I had to know how serious you were about implementing your vision. I have a check for your services to date working in my behalf as a consultant. Do you want to say anything more before Ted gets back with the drawings of the buildings?"

"Yes. First, if I continue, give Neil some respect. I am going to want him involved with this. He is an attorney and I need him as another consultant. He loved his father and he will work his heart out to help. Be a mother when you are having him in for dinner or when he takes you out. The women he goes out with are his choice and it is not a mother's job at his age to control his choice of women. You'd feel terrible if he tried to interfere with your love life."

"But I don't have a love life."

"I told you a little bit ago what and where yours is." I grinned. "I can tell you, but that isn't Neil's place either. With me, it is just a suggestion. You could start by inviting Ted tonight to a home-cooked dinner to discuss me. Take it from there. I can't believe you have forgotten all of your enticing ways."

Ted came back with the blueprints and as he handed them to me, I said, "Molly has hired me to be a consultant and explore this project enough to see if it is feasible. I suggested that Neil become involved. He can get answers as an attorney that I can't. We also should find an architect to talk with. We need to talk to a financial planner to see where the financing could come from. Molly, you decide how much money you are willing to put into this. Neil might want to put some of his in as well."

"He's spent most of his inheritance already."

"Well you might not want to admit you know that. Make the suggestion anyway."

"Okay, I guess I can do that. I'm going to need someone to get my figures in order. Didn't I hear your wife say she was an accountant?"

"She was and she is considering returning to work part time. If you feel as if you want another Rheingold involved, call and talk to her."

"You do it."

"Nope. This is your personal business. I'll want to see how much money you come up with for the project, but I don't need to know more than that."