Double Trouble: Chapter 49
 by Cariad
 
 
 

Double Trouble
*Forty Nine*

Holly wore the engagement ring when she visited the prison. Julia came for moral support, but waited while Holly visited with Jonathan. Holly dressed impeccably, with help from Julia in the make-up department to make sure she looked like a professional woman instead of a silly young girl. Her calm exterior belied her nerves as she was escorted into the booth. She tried to ignore the other visitors. One would think the Crane name would earn a private audience. What other good did the name do?

Jonathan sat down opposite her, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Calmly, Holly picked up the phone allowing her to speak to him.

“I’m glad you came, Holly,” Jonathan began. “I’m glad to see you wore the ring.”

“My duty is to my family and to you, Jonathan,” Holly said stiffly. “They supported Father when he was arrested, they should support you.”

“I’m surprised the prison let you visit. Thus far, I’ve only seen my lawyer.”

“Who is?”

“Ethan. I don’t have the clout to involve the corporate lawyers of Hotchkiss Enterprises. And I don’t want to tell my father about this. It will be over and done with soon enough.”

“And what if they convict you?” Holly asked.

“Is that a touch of sentiment?” he countered.

Holly shook her head in vehement denial. “I was thinking only of your fashion sense. Orange is not your color. It clashes with your hair and makes your skin look sallow. And with Ethan as your lawyer, you run a good risk of being convicted regardless.”

“Do you have that little faith in your brother?”

“I know my brother.”

“Think of it as a calculated business risk, Holly,” Jonathan explained. “He’ll have a higher profile and can repay his debt to my sister much faster.”

Holly shrugged, her face openly doubtful.

“Just promise me one thing,” he added.

“What,” she replied flatly, wary of promises to him.

“None of what I told you the other day can come out yet.”

“Don’t make me do this, Jonathan,” Holly pleaded.

“Not even Julia.”

“Please.”

“No one, Holly. It can’t come out yet. Not until Father has…”

“I know when you’re waiting for,” Holly snapped. “I still don’t understand why, but I guess it’s your decision.”

“Thank you, Holly. I knew I could trust you.”

Holly hung up the phone and gathered her purse. Jonathan put his hand up against the window. Holly looked down at her own in comparison. His hands were much bigger with long graceful fingers. She glanced up at his unshaven face and saw his last silent message. She prayed he was only making an inventive curse about elephant shoes.
 

**********************

Julia put down the magazine as she saw Holly come out. The prison gave her the creeps. Part of it was of course due to the creeps inside. Her skin crawled the entire time she waited for Holly’s interview with Johnny. “You ok Hollis?” Julia asked, joining her sister and taking Holly’s outstretched hand.
“He’s gonna hang,” Holly murmured mournfully.

“What do you mean?” Julia asked. “He didn’t do it, he said so!”

“He hired Ethan as his lawyer.”

“He’s gonna hang,” Julia conceded. She whipped out her cell phone and called for the limo to be brought around.

Hand in hand, they walked out of the prison, unsurprised to find some of the media waiting outside, praying on the family’s grief.

“Ms. Crane! Ms. Crane!” One reporter called as they walked towards the limo. “Will Mr. Hotchkiss’s imprisonment change the status of your engagement?”

“I stand by my fiancé,” Holly stated coldly outside the limousine. “He is innocent.”

Julia entered the limo after her sister. “Grandfather Crane will be upset. We’re not supposed to make public statements,” Julia cautioned.

“Let him be,” Holly replied with exhaustion. “No matter what else I dislike about him, Jonathan is honest. He said he was innocent, I believe him.”

Julia watched with fear as her sister retreated into her own private world. She felt as if they were worlds away. What happened to the team? What happened to their rock? Julia sighed and watched her sister struggle to hide her inner torment. What did Johnny do to her? Or was her distance Reese’s fault? “To the hospital,” Julia told the driver.

Holly did not even comment on their change of course. Julia rested her head on her sister’s shoulder “No person is an island,” Julia whispered, “but if you and I stick together, we can survive the storm.”

“But what if we’re ripped apart?” Holly asked in a small voice.

“Then I’ll find you and you’ll find me.”

“The hospital,” the driver interrupted. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

Both girls alighted from the back of the limo. “What are we dong at the hospital?” Holly asked.

“Visiting Adele,” Julia replied. “You go up to room 534, I’ll be up in just a moment.”

Holly gave her an odd look but complied. Julia swallowed and went to an inlet near the elevators. She stared at the machines. It looked like a phone, she noted. Come on, Jules, she told herself. It’s just a pay phone, you can figure it out. She faced down the mechanical enemy, digging in her purse for a quarter, examining the directions on the bottom of the phone. She lifted the phone off the hook, deposited her coin and dialed a familiar number.
 

*********************

Holly edged her way inside the room, unsure how to begin a conversation with the random woman Julia had her friendship with.
“Julie Crane?” Adele asked from her bed, “Back so soon? Couldn’t stay away from your lover that long, huh?”

Holly came closer. “No ma’am, I’m not Julie.”

“Then buzz off!”

“I’m her sister, Holly. She asked me to visit with you. She’ll be right up.”

“Sister, huh?” Adele asked, examining the elder twin. “I suppose you could pass for sisters.”

“You are good at understatement,” Holly observed.

“Who’s the guy?” Adele asked.

Holly looked behind her. “Pardon?” she asked when she saw no one there.

“The rock. I can see it from here. Who’s the guy?”

Holly glanced at the offending ring. “Jonathan Hotchkiss,” she said with resignation.

“Hotchkiss,” Adele mused. “I know that name. I’ve heard of it before. I remember now. Jonathan Hotchkiss is the bastard that took my Lizzy!”

“He didn’t do it!” Holly protested immediately.

“Bah!” Adele countered. “I know what I know.”

“I know he dated her once, but he did nothing!”

“He knocked her up and left her alone!”

Holly paled, and glanced at her ring. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Aren’t you a bit young to be going after him?”

“I’m eighteen,” Holly declared with a stiff back. “And I didn’t go after him. It was at the request of my family that I entered into this engagement.”

“Leave me alone, you moral-less chit!”

Holly’s eyes widened. “That’s what I get for trying to be nice!” Holly stormed out of the room, meeting her sister on the way in. “How can you stand such a bitter old woman?” Holly asked.

“But she’s not bitter!” Julia said, her eyes innocent.

Holly tossed her head. “I’ll be in the lounge.” She pushed past her sister and into the hallway. She wished now she had allowed Julia to tell that last part about Adele. And to think she had almost decided that Jonathan was not so bad. He admitted Lizzy was his first. She wasn’t jealous. She couldn’t be jealous. But to get her pregnant and abandon her. She glanced at the sparkling diamond on her finger. With a smooth yank, she removed it and tucked it into her purse. See if she stood by him in the future. She sighed and drew her knees up to her chin. Why couldn’t New Year’s Eve be done over? Rebecca would still be alive, and Reese would leave Kay and meet her out on the balcony. And she would have had enough nerve to refuse Jonathan’s proposal in the spotlight.
 

********************

“Your sister’s panties are too tight and they’re all in a bundle,” Adele said as Julia entered the room.
“She’s not that high strung!” Julia protested, knowing it to be true though.

“Hah! High strung is putting it mildly.”

“She has reason to be,” Julia said quietly.

“So when’s that Noah fellow stopping by? I can’t believe that you would choose to visit me without some other incentive.”

“I really hate using you like this…”

“Don’t,” Adele said. “I haven’t had this much fun in years. I don’t even need to turn on the television when you two are in the room. It’s like having my own private soap opera!” She laughed as Julia turned several shades of red. “Let me give you a word of warning. The same lesson I taught my daughter. Don’t ever put out until you’ve got a wedding band on your finger.”

Julia blanched. “I wasn’t even considering it! First of all, Grandfather Crane would have a cow!”

“I’ve seen the way that Noah fellow looks at you. And the way you look at him.” She paused while there was a knock on the door. “That must be him now. You did tell him to meet you here, didn’t you?”

“Well yes, but…” Julia’s lame protestations belied her actions as she ran to the door to meet the newcomer.

“Juliet!” Noah breathed as she met him in the doorway and swept her up in his arms. He held her close to him, trying to both kiss her and be as close to her as possible. His lips found hers and Julia’s problems disappeared for the moment.

The kiss was painfully short as Noah was conscious of the patient in the room.

“Don’t mind me,” Adele called, “At least you both have the decency to act ashamed. So tell me, what’s going on in current events?”

“Oh, it’s a mess,” Noah said. “One of our friends got arrest for something he didn’t do.”

“He’s a dead man, Noah,” Julia said, hanging her head. “Ethan’s representing him.”

“I’m pre-law. Maybe I could help,” he added, looking past their joined hands to Julia. “I could do some research or something.”

“That would be wonderful, Noah!” Julia said with relief.

“Wait, who’s this Ethan person?” Adele asked.

“My half-brother,” both Julia and Noah answered at the same time.

“The soap gets better and better!” Adele laughed.

Noah looked at Julia with a question in his eyes. Julia shook her head. “Later,” she promised.
 
 
 
 

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