Double trouble 43; Conversations with Alistair
by Cariad
 

Double Trouble
~Forty Three~
“You do not need me to remind you,” Alistair’s disembodied voice emitted from the speaker on the phone, “that I am greatly disappointed in the goings on from that New Year’s Eve Ball. Now please, before I continue, fetch my other grandson, and his current playmate.” The line paused while those in the living room, Holly, Julia and Ivy Crane, Gwen and Jonathan Hotchkiss, looked at each other. “NOW!” Alistair ordered.

Julia hopped up and ran to the nearest door. Quickly finding a passing servant, she ordered the domestic to go and find Aidan and Theresa, and bring them down to the living room. Grandfather Crane’s orders!

“Pour me another drink,” Ivy ordered Jonathan.

“This is not the time to be getting drunk!” Alistair’s voice boomed over the line.

Ivy rolled her eyes. “Please,” she said, her tone dripping with boredom. “I’ve lived with your son for a very long time now, Alistair. I can hold more alcohol than a single glass of brandy. Pour me another, please” she said politely to Jonathan. “If I have to deal with that backstabbing little bitch, I’ll need more than a shot.”

“Be that as it may,” Alistair said coolly, “At present we will await the arrival of my grandson and this ‘backstabbing little bitch.’”

Soon enough, the two errant people entered the living room and took their seats together. “I am quite displeased with all of you,” Alistair began. “Not all,” He amended in a gentler tone. “I am informed that the Crane-Hotchkiss merger is proceeding along quite well.”

Holly glanced at Jonathan across the room.

“Holly Katherine,” Alistair continued, “You brought an old man joy when you accepted Jonathan’s proposal. You know your duty to this family and to me.”

Holly bowed her head. “Yes, Grandfather Crane,” she said quietly. “I know my duty.”

“I am informed that you made quite a scene just before midnight—in a good way of course. You, Jonathan, did all I asked and more. I have the greatest joy in knowing that this time the merger will go off as planned.” Alistair’s voice darkened to an implied threat both to Holly and Jonathan as well as to Theresa. “I have taken the liberty of sending out the announcements. You should have seen them in this morning’s paper.

“As for the rest of you,” Alistair continued. “None of you should even bear the names your father’s gave you! Aidan, you were barely seen at all last night, and when you were, you were often seen in the company of several young women of questionable backgrounds. It is becoming clearer to me with each passing day that you will never prove your worth as a Crane. If you do not shape up your attitude, you will be disowned, Crane-by-blood or no.”

Aidan stood. “Grandfather, no!” he protested. “I was only doing what any other blue-blooded Crane male would be doing at that time!”

“But you lack discretion, Aidan. Until you learn discretion, you are useless. Why even your worthless sisters have more discretion than you!”

Ivy stood. “My daughters are not worthless!” she snarled.

“Sit down, Ivy!” Alistair barked. “You are still a Crane, and if your daughters learned discretion, it was not from you!”

Ivy fumed.

Theresa smiled at the thought of one of her opponents being talked down to.

“I would not smile, Theresa,” Alistair warned. “Ivy is the soul of discretion when compared to you. You may have considered yourself Mrs. Julian Crane for a short while, but in that time, you have taken both Ethan and Aidan as lovers. Haven’t you?”

Theresa’s mouth hung open.

“Close that, please,” Alistair sneered. “It is unbecoming of one who aspires to be a Crane. But I will get back to you in a moment. Julia, you disobeyed my wishes. You spent a large portion of the evening in questionable company as well. And very little with the gentlemen which I had arranged to meet you. They are very wroth with me, child.”

“Can I help it if other people kept interrupting? I did have a nice conversation with Chuck Wilson at dinner,” Julia said with a glance at Gwen.

“He is the only one who has not yet called to complain of your behavior last night. Not forgetting those who were promised a meeting and received nothing. Cranes do not go back on their promises.”

Julia bit her lower lip. “I’m sorry, Grandfather Crane,” she said in a small voice. “I thought things were going well until the announcement, and then Father did not have a chance to introduce me to the rest of those nice men you had selected.” She almost choked on her own words.

“Sorry is not good enough!” Alistair yelled. “Cranes do not settle for failure. This will be corrected in the future, but there are other more pressing matters now.” Alistair did not pause for a reply. “Gwen, why did you bring Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald to the Ball. That was in very poor taste.”

Gwen’s head shot up. “My mother is dead, and you’re worried about my date?” she asked, shutting her mouth as soon as she realized what she said.

“But you learned your lesson, didn’t you, Gwenevere. I would advice being more circumspect in the future.”

Jonathan coughed. “Not to be disrespectful,” he ventured, “but Gwen is not a Crane.”

“I also have concerns with the appearances of the Hotchkisses. Jonathan, you should keep your sister in better line. Women need firm guidance, else they begin to stray. With your father as ill as he is…” Alistiar’s voice trailed off in an implicit threat. “You understand what I am speaking of, don’t you, Jonathan?” Alistair asked.

“I know of which you speak, sir,” Jonathan said crisply, squeezing Gwen’s shoulder.

“Don’t you smile, Miss Theresa!” Alistair snarled again, catching Theresa in another smirk. “You have always had aspirations of being a Crane, haven’t you? If it weren’t for that child you carry, you would certainly be of no more concern to me. But my idiot son has gone public with his Mistake, and now I have to deal with this too. As of this instant, you will cease your affair with my grandson. If you have any desire to see that child after it is born—even if Julian does further his Mistake by attempting to divorce Ivy and marry you—you will do as I say. You will conduct yourself at all times as a figure above reproach. You will follow any instructions from the other people in this room. But under no circumstances are you to lead anything but a perfectly celibate life.”

“But!” Theresa protested, her eyes filling with tears.

“No buts, Theresa,” Alistair drawled. “You will do as I say or you will not see that child again. Now Ivy…” Alistair began.

“I’m still divorcing Julian,” she said cutting him off. “I was just as shocked as you when Ethan came up with his big announcement. Up until that time, I was happily contesting the divorce settlement and resuming my old life.”

“With your old lover.”

“Yes,” Ivy answered. “With my old lover. We are both consenting adults, and to our knowledge, neither one of us was doing a damn thing wrong or illegal!”

“You are a Crane still, Ivy, and until you are no longer a Crane, you will follow the family on our position concerning Julian’s Debacle.”

“Of course, Alistair,” Ivy answered sweetly, but said nothing else, keeping all her thoughts to herself.

“Grandfather!” Aidan called before the conversation ended. “Father wrote some orders putting Hotchkiss in charge. Don’t you think it best if a Crane were in charge of Crane Industries?”

“Idiot!” Alistair barked. “That was the first intelligent thing Julian did in the past six months! And don’t you forget that I am still in charge of Crane Industries! If I ever had any doubts that you were Julian’s son, I have none now. No, Aidan, you will not be put even nominally in charge of overseeing the scrubbing of the toilets at Crane Industries. You are even more incompetent than your father! Don’t bother me again!”

The line went dead.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where are you going, Johnny?” Julia asked as Jonathan passed her bedroom door. Holly had her hallway door closed and locked.
“I have some things to take care of,” he replied smoothly.

“What things?”

“Things!” he snapped, then gave a debonair smile. “Private things.”

“Sorry,” Julia apologized. “I didn’t mean to pry. Do they have to do with Daddy’s orders?”

Jonathan gave her a level gaze. “What was that you just said about prying?” he asked pointedly.

“Sorry. Did you really propose because Grandfather told you to?”

Jonathan sighed and leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. “Do you understand what pry means?” he asked patiently.

“Yes,” Julia replied blithely. “I wasn’t asking you about those mysterious things you have to do. I was asking about your proposal to Holly.”

“Does it matter?” Jonathan asked, leaning his head back.

“It matters to Holly and therefore it matters to me. I know I was chasing you pretty hard there…”

“I remember,” Jonathan interrupted.

“Well, none of that matters if you end up hurting my sister.”

“I don’t intend to.”

“She believes in love,” Julia said.

“She also believes in duty, and that’s enough for now. Now I still have some things to attend to.” He straightened.

“I know you’re not taking me seriously. But nice as you have been to me, I won’t stand for anyone hurting Holly.”

“Then why don’t you take it up with that local astronomy boy.”

“When I get a spare moment, I will. Who’s with Gwen right now?”

“She’s by herself, why?”

“With Theresa in the house?” Julia asked. “I better go keep an eye on her until you get back.”

“I’m not coming back tonight.”

“All night mysterious business?” Julia asked. “I’m going to take your word that you’re not betraying my sister. I will not see her hurt any more than she is already.”

“For me to hurt her,” Jonathan explained, “she has to actually have feelings towards me. She knows her duty.”

“Don’t push her, Johnny,” Julia warned. “She knows her duty, but scorning her the night after you were supposedly engaged will not make her happy.”

“To make you feel better, Julie, my business is not concerning a woman. I wouldn’t dream of making Holly angry.”

“Too late,” Julia responded quickly. “You best count on not making her angrier!” She smiled at him. “I’m still going to stay with Gwen for awhile.”

“Suit yourself. Gwennie will be all right. She’s a tough girl.”

“But that doesn’t mean she’s all right now. Plus that, Theresa’s in the house.”

“Gwennie won’t take a bat to her again,” Jonathan replied with a relaxing smile. “I can’t believe it when Gwennie told me about it. I wish I had known and come earlier. I would have taken a bat to both Ethan and Theresa.”

Julia laughed. “I would have too, even though the idiot is my brother. I don’t understand all their fascination with Theresa.”

“I can understand Aidan’s,” Jonathan ventured.

“What, she’s female and breathing?”

Jonathan laughed. “Thanks for stopping me, Julie. You really cheered me up some. But I have to go attend to my… things…”

Julia slipped out of bed after he left. Somehow, everyone seemed more and more suspicious lately. Calm yourself, Jules, she told herself. You’re just jumpy because of what happened to Rebecca. What a terrible way to go! Julia shuddered. The death was sure to gain lots of publicity, and Rebecca would have wanted that. She padded softly down the halls of Crane Mansion until she arrived at Gwen’s door. Knocking softly, she called, “It’s Julie, can I come in?”

Julia had never seen Gwen cry before in her life. Gwen never cried. She did not cry when Ethan dumped her. She did not cry when he chose Theresa in the church before the entire town, making an utter fool of her again. Gwen did not cry when she heard the news of her father’s strokes. Gwen never cried. She got angry, and she got violent, lashing out verbally and physically, venting her emotions in a flurry of exhausting activity.

Characteristically, Gwen’s room in the Crane Mansion was torn to pieces, furniture broken, linens shredded, and a spiked shoe stuck into the wall by the heel. Gwen herself was buried in a pile of half-ripped blankets, tears streaming down her face, her body heaving with wracking sobs. She clutched an old wedding photo of her mother and father.

“I can’t believe she’s gone!” Gwen sobbed.

Tears started rolling down Julia’s face. Not tears for Rebecca, the gold-digging bitch, but tears for Gwen’s loss.

“She’s the only one who stood with me after Ethan left me,” Gwen continued. “God, I know she was conniving and cruel, but she was my mother!”

Julia sat down next to her older friend and leaned her head on Gwen’s shoulder.