Chapter Thirty-Two

THE FIRST SECTION:
Richard was at work the next morning just as the sun was beginning to rise over the harbor. He walked to the window and watched as three large schooners sailed from open waters and into the bay. He wondered if there would be any others coming in that day because he was looking for something out of the ordinary to do. The daily business of running a struggling town had taken a toll on him the past few days. He tried everything he could to put past the thought of Emily not coming to see him for a random lunch or simple conversation. The mundane tasks were now not having the same effect that he desired and so he wanted to take a step back and look at the aspects of his responsibility that he had put off for more pressing matters. But that would take time as the ships were still at least an hour or two from settling in harbor. Instead, he decided to look over Reginald’s plans once more before he finalized the structure of the project for Charlton itself. It was at least the fifth time in the past two days that he had sat down to this.
FOR FULL TEXT CLICK READ MORE BELOW
Ordinarily, Richard preferred that the curtain on the east side of the room remain opened to allow the sunlight to brighten the room. But this morning he could not stand the thought of waiting for the ships to sail in. It is like waiting for water to boil, he muttered to himself and threw the cloth to one side, covering the entire window. Instead, he took a seat near a northern window, just off the corner of the east side and used the bending rays as they cascaded off the edges of the flung-open window’s glass. The air was fresh that morning and not a cloud could be seen in the sky. It looked as though the rain had passed for the time being. We can begin to prepare for spring for certain now, he said to no one in particular. His voice was loud enough, however, for his assistant to walk in and ask if anything was needed. Richard dismissed him and turned to the contract that Reginald was proposing. It called for a selling price that was higher than what Richard had bought the warehouses from Coleman for, and a steady stream of ships plowing between Charlton and Massachusetts as well. If Reginald could pull it off, every ship that he had tradable goods on coming from the east would land first in Charlton and unload before heading off to its next destination. From there, smaller ships would make regular runs from Charlton to Salem and Boston and back. If he was lucky, then he could send those easterly ships back with supplies from the lower states. Charlton could finally become the hub that it was always meant to be.

But the problem of retaining power was haunting Richard more than he was willing to admit. It was a great gamble to cross Edward and move behind Montgomery’s back. Even if the deal with Reginald was signed in good faith and it produced results, there was no guarantee that Richard would be able to hold on to power and reap the benefits. Reginald has still not found a way to round up an alternative powerbase that was willing to stand up to the current one. It was, in fact, that very effort that concerned Richard the most. He was certain that someone who Reginald had spoken to had spoken to someone else and so on. The grapevine had to be filled with enough gossip to put Edward’s wine trade out of business completely, he thought as he stared blankly at the contracts in front of him.

Just then, a knock came at the door and Richard’s assistant announced that Edward Montague was there to see him.

“So early in the morning?” he asked. The assistant only nodded in return and fetched the visitor on Richard’s orders. The mayor quickly stashed the contracts in the top drawer of a nearby desk and hurried over to his own desk before Edward walked in. He hope that his anxiety was not noticeable and tried to compose himself but Edward came in much more quickly than Richard was prepared for.

“So early in the morning Edward,” Richard said extending his hand to his visitor. That was an odd gesture for Richard to make, as the two rarely shook hands anymore. As Richard realized his mistake, he withdrew his hand and immediately stared down at this desk as though he were looking for a piece of paper or document of some sorts to give to Edward. He did not notice that Edward had extended his own hand to shake Richard’s, and, in his phony search for documents, he had left Edward’s hand hanging in mid air.

“It is not so early for me these days,” Montgomery replied. “I am busy trying to finish communications with my partners west of here. I prefer to be up first thing to see if any messages have come in for me.”

“I see,” Richard replied. “Have a seat. What can I do for you today?”

“Today?” Edward’s face turned cross as he sat down across from the trembling Mayor. “It is less about today and more about the future Richard. It might start today, but it surely does not finish today.”

Richard was left without words. Instead, he gazed at Edward as he sat halfway between sitting back and sitting forward. His hands were firmly gripping the bottom of the seat of the chair. He was certain that he looked as shocked as any man could despite his complete inability to understand what Edward meant.

“The future? Today?” Richard asked, throwing out references in an attempt to comprehend. “I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t,” Edward replied. “That is why I am here right now. And there will be little discussion, are we clear?”

Richard shook his head to signal that he did not understand. His eyes were wide in disbelief. He could not understand why he was even behaving this way. It was as though he were guilty and trying to get away with something. And then it dawned on him. He must know about my deal with Reginald, he thought to himself. Recognizing that he had to deal with a substantial political decision, Richard calmly leaned back into his chair and put his hands together. All the years of managing crises and negotiating with difficult merchants had allowed him to instinctively become poised at a moment’s notice. He wanted to hear what Edward had to say before he admitted to his potentially scandalous activities.

“You know very well what I am talking about,” Edward said as he leaned forward. “And there is no excuse for what you have done. If you were not the figurehead of this town I would have you run out by the end of the week.”

“Would it be that easy?” Richard asked.

“I’m astounded at your arrogance,” Edward shouted. “You are not the man that you once were. The Richard I knew was a calm man who knew how to steady the ship in troubled waters. But now you are a reckless and violent man who will stop at nothing to destroy the foundation that has been built here. You have everything that you need here, why take on your own allies?”

“Maybe my allies are behaving recklessly themselves,” Richard snapped.

Edward immediately stood up and slammed his cane across Richard’s desk. He leaned over the desk until he was six inches from the mayor’s face and asked, “How was Coleman behaving so recklessly that he deserved to be leveled to the floor? Hmmm? What was it that he had done that would have created such a preposterous response? A response that I assume would want me to hit my own son based on my past experience with the calming mayor? What was it Richard?”

Richard was surprised by this twist of fate. Certainly, if Edward had known about the contract with Reginald then he would be spouting mad about that, not about Coleman. This is personal, Richard thought. I’ve never known Edward to get personal about business.

“Edward,” Richard said, “I am terribly sorry about what happened with Coleman. I admit, I behaved inappropriately, it will…”

“Never mind your apologies,” Edward interrupted. “I could care less about how much sympathy you have toward my son. The issue at hand here is how you have handled your relationship him and everyone else around here lately.”

“What do you mean?” Richard asked.

“I mean that you have known for a while that Coleman was to take over for me in Charlton,” Edward explained. “Even if I were not moving west, I would certainly prefer to hand this dump of a place off to him anyway. And you have taken advantage of him while you should have been mentoring him and helping him to find his way.”

“Find his way?” Richard laughed. “Aren’t you the businessman in this town? Is that not your job?”

“It’s difficult to lead him the way when you are out there trying to push him over at every chance you get,” Edward snapped.

“I am only trying to build up the port Edward,” Richard argued. “You have left it in disrepair and not a soul has been paid down there in weeks. Don’t accuse me of taking advantage of your poor son. It is you, and especially he, that are taking advantage of the situation here in Charlton. You speak to me as though I am the man who changed. Well, I believe that man is actually you. Unless of course you lied with your intentions twenty years ago. Then maybe it is me that has changed.”

“I’ve had enough of this,” Edward growled. “You are going to sell those warehouses back to us and you are going to give us a fifteen percent discount on the original sale price. This will happen by the end of the week and I fully expect the public to not hear a thing about this transaction. Until then, no ships of mine will dock in Charlton. Every day that you delay will cut into your duties. And I promise if one more inappropriate decision is made then I will never bring my ships back here again. And I will personally find a way to ruin you from afar if that is what I need to do. Do we understand each other?”

Richard stared at Edward and did not know what to do or say next. He figured that there was no need to chase him off as it would hasten his downfall as mayor, and possibly increase Reginald’s bargaining power. At the same time, he wanted to fight back more than ever. The punch that he landed across Coleman’s jaw had made him feel like a man for the first time in a long time. Even during the famine of 1816, when riots destroyed the only prosperous farmlands around Charlton, Richard never felt the need to fight back. All he ever wanted to do was to build a consensus and make people work through compromise. And all of those compromises were really deals to secure the business practices of the elite against the public good; the poor people of Marnie never had a chance with him as mayor. That guilt was burning inside of him and he felt more than obligated to fight back now.

But his political instincts fought back to the front of his mind and deviously replied, “I hope that we can work something out Edward. It has always been my way to work things out instead of fight over them. You can have your warehouses back. I will confirm the transaction with Coleman after the trial tomorrow.”

“At the agreed price,” Edward insisted.

“At the agreed price,” Richard confirmed. “I don’t blame you for not allowing your ships to dock here. I will accept that as punishment. They should dock elsewhere for the time being, until the deal is set. That should hasten the discussion.”

“And remember,” Edward threatened, “one more move and I am out of this town for good.”

“Understood,” Richard nodded and then watched Edward storm out of the room. Just as the door was being slammed shut he muttered with a smile, It will only take one?