Passions of Chelsea Kane Part 3

"Sometimes," she said, "you have to spend a penny to make a penny."

"If you don't got the penny to start with, you can't spend it."

"You can take out a loan." Oliver shook his head. "George won't do it.

Gov'ment's on his back about too many loans as '."

"George?" Chelsea asked. Hunter said, "Jamieson. His bank's the one on the green. "He's the only banker in town?"

"You got it."

"Why can't you go out of town to a different, bank?"

"Good question. Not new, though." Hunter gave Oliver a look. "Plum Granite banks with Jamieson," Oliver vowed. "Always has, always will." "So we'll all go down together," Hunter warned. "No one's goin' down.

Norwich Notch is solid as a rock."

"Oh, yeah."

"Because we stick together." Oliver faced Hunter and lectured, "There's three things that touch everyone in this town-the Farrs, the Jairdesons, and the Plums. Someone in every family here works for the Plums, someone in every family here banks with the Jamiesons, and someone in every family here trades with the 76 Tarrs. There's tradition in that, and stability and trust and a whole lot of other things that you'd a picked up in that fancy school you went to, only you were too busy puttin' jewelry in your ears to use Aem for hearin'. You're no good, Hunter Love. Got no brains at all. Don't know why I even bother to keep you around." Chelsea didn't miss the familiarity of the words and waited for Hunter to lash back.

Instead he relaxed against the window frame with his hands tucked under his arms and a small smiled tugging at his mouth. Recalling what he'd said about guilt, she suspected that he found satisfaction in goading Oliver. Whether he was right or wrong, she couldn't say until she knew more. Then it hit her that she had no business knowing even as much as she did. Looking back, she couldn't quite believe the conversation. She was here to inspect granite, not to tell the owner of the company how to run his affairs. She fingered her watch. "I hate to say this, gentlemen, but if I don't take a look at that granite soon, I won't make it to my other appointments." "Who're they with?" Oliver asked, s.h.i.+fting disgruntled eyes from Hunter to her. Chelsea held no secrets. "Tocci in Amherst, and Petersen in Concord."

"Tocci isn't in granite."

"No, he specializes in fieldstone, but I use a lot of that, too. I wouldn't have come all this way for just one appointment." Yes, she was interested in Norwich Notch, but it wasn't the be all and end all of her life. By nightfall she planned to be in Wisca.s.set, on the coast of Maine, visiting. her college roommate. 77 notem Demmaw "Busy lady," Oliver muttered. "Take her outta here, Judd," he said with a wave of his hand, and for a split second, with Oliver regarding her as though she were the bane of his existence, Chelsea felt an odd bonding with Hunter. Then she turned to the third man Jn the room and forgot about the first two.

"Judd Streeter," Oliver grumbled by way of introduction. "He's my foreman. He'll take you to the quarry and show you what you want to see." Up until that moment, Judd Streeter had lounged silently against the bookcase. Now, slowly, he straightened. He was taller than Oliver, darker than Hunter, and while Chelsea doubted he bore an ounce of fat, there was a solidity to him that the other men lacked. His hair was thick, cut so that it looked good even disheveled. Wearing jeans that were damp from the knees down, a blue works.h.i.+rt, and dirty boots, he appeared to have come from the quarry, but there was nothing tired about his carriage. His movements were fluid as he came forward, the hand he extended strong and callused, and if all that weren't potent enough, his eyes were dark, deep, and direct in a way that shook Chelsea. She had expected a visceral spark when she arrived in the Notch, and that was just what she felt, but with a totally unexpected twist. Judd Streeter was, very simply, the most attractive man she had ever seen. Not necessarily the most handsome or polished or cultured. But startlingly, stunningly male. 78 HELSEA HADN'T INTENDED TO PHONE CARL while she was gone, since one of the purposes of her trip was to give their relations.h.i.+p a break. Then she had a change of plans and began to worry that if something happened to Kevin, Carl wouldn't know where she was.

She also felt a need to hear his voice. It was rea.s.suringly familiar. it was amicably predictable. It didn't unsettle her the way Judd Streeter's had. She let the phone ring ten times before hanging up and trying the office, but if Carl was there working late, he was letting the answering service take the calls. That was at nine. At nine-thirty she tried again, then again at ten. At ten-fifteen he finally answered. "Carl," she breathed in relief, "are you okay?"

"Hey, Chels, how are you?"

"I was worried. I've been calling since nine."

"I played squash. You said you [email protected] call."

"I know. But I just wanted to tell you that I'm still in Norwich Notch. I won't be going on to Glynnis's until tomorrow." 79 Bmtkam DCHAMW There was a short silence, then a too casual, "What kept you there?"

"Actually, I left and came back. I met with Tocci and Petersen, but it's been raining here, so I couldn't see the granite as well as I wanted. It's supposed to clear up by morning. I thought I'd have another look before I head for the coast. Amazing, but the quarrymen keep working in weather like this. It was a mess.

Everything was wet and slippery. Apparently the only time they stop is in really cold weather, and then only because the stone doesn't cleave well."

"You felt something, didn't you?" Carl said with barely a pause.

She thought of Judd Streeter-of the stomach fluttering she'd felt sitting with him in the cab of his truck, following him into the quarry office, moving beside him from ledge to ledge to examine huge blocks of granite. It was absurd, she knew. Pure fantasy. Of course, Carl was asking ab6ut her reaction to Norwich Notch. "I don't know," she said, trying to be nonchalant. She felt something for the town, but she wasn't sure what. "It's hard to feel something for a place that's so wet."

"What's it like, besides wet?"

"Small. Quiet. There's a great general store. I'm at Ahe inn now. It's in the center of town, overlooking the green. It's been a stopover for travelers for two hundred years. You'd like it. There's lots of dark wood and antique furniture." She looked around as she talked. The place had been nearly as much of a surprise as Farr's. "The rooms were done over a few years ago. Mine is blue and white with matching wallpaper and drapes. Everything has lots of little flowers, I think the whole town has lots, of little flow- 80 Ike Faswons of Cbehma KWW The bed's a four-poster. It's Colonial, like the ,-ers rest of the furniture. There's a blanket chest and a rolltop desk.

There's even a cheval gla.s.s."

"Sounds pretty."

"Uh-huh."

"How about the people? Anyone look familiar?"

"Of course not."

"Anyone stare at you?"

"Only because I'm a stranger. I had dinner in the restaurant downstairs.

I put a pair of slacks on instead of my skirt, and I still felt overdressed." He chuckled at that, seeming to relax. "How was the granite?"

"Nice, from what I could see of it. I'll see more tomorrow.

I'm also stopping at the plant in Nashua that polishes the stone from the Plum quarries. The color may be just right for my job, but I want to be sure. White with a touch of gray is okay. Not so, white with a, touch of pink."

"What about the cost?"

"it may be negotiable. They're hungry for business."

"Can they produce in quant.i.ty and on deadline?" She hesitated. "I'm not sure. There are money problems. The company hasn't kept pace with the times in terms of equipment or output."

"Do you think they'll fold?" If so, they wouldn't be the first. That was one of the things Chelsea had picked up from her waitress at dinner-not Matthew Farr's Shelby, but a girl named Jenny, who looked to be no more than nineteen and had a way of rounding her eyes for emphasis when she talked. And talk she did. Chelsea, who was a slow riser in the morning and needed silence through two cups of coffee, prayed 81 Barbara Definsfw that the girl didn't work the breakfast s.h.i.+ft. This being dinner, she had absorbed all the girl said with interest. Now she told Carl, "Two other granite producers in the state have folded in the last five years, so there's plenty of work for Plum Granite if it can win the contracts. Unfortunately, the owner is a cantankerous old man. He turns most people off."

"But not you."

"He's just another challenge."

"Like learning who your birth parents are." Chelsea could have sworn she heard sarcasm. She wondered if she'd imagined it, if she was simply feeling guilty. But she refused to lie. "Yes. Like that." "Have you asked around?" She had driven by the Norwich Notch Community Hospital. No matter that Kevin had said she'd been delivered at home by a midwife, there was always the possibility that her mother had seen a doctor before or after the birth. The hospital was in a big, old Victorian, past a covered bridge west of town. She had stopped the car and looked, then driven on. Likewise, she had noted the names of the town's five lawyers but hadn't called a one. "I told you, Carl. I didn't come for that."

"Come on, Chels. It's me."

"I didn't come for that."

"But I bet you'll like that granite," he teased. "By rights I should hate it," she grumbled. "Someone in this town didn't want me enough to keep me. It'd be fair play if I rejected the town's granite." Strangely her anger died there, leaving her as curious as ever about Norwich Notch. Using granite from the town could give her a reason to return until her curiosity was appeased. "If the 82 The Pa.s.sions of Chelsea Kane color looks right, it might be worth considering."

"Even if the company is shaky?"

"No. But I don't know that for sure. That's why I want you to call Bob Mahoney."

Bob was a lawyer who'd done work for Harper, Kane, Koo in the past.

"He'll be able to get information on the financial situation here." He was also an acquisitions specialist, which Carl knew only too well.

Quietly he said, "You're not seriously thinking of that."

"Not until I know more about the company."

"Not even then," he declared in disbelief.

"We can't buy a granite company." It was the wrong thing to say to Chelsea, who had spent her life doing the improbable. "Why not?" she asked. "Because we know nothing about quarrying-"

"We knew nothing about soccer until we designed a stadium. We're still making money on that one, Carl."

"But granite?"

"It's right up our alley. We use it all the time. Just think of the bargains we'd get for our clients."

"Uh-huh, which would be money out of our pockets if we're the suppliers, but that's beside the point. You just said that the company is behind the times in terms of equipment. Do you have any idea how much money would be involved updating the operation?"

"No. That's another thing I want Bob to find out."

"Don't you think he ought to find out if the company's for sale?"

"Uh-huh. That, too." Carl sighed. "You're incredible." She grinned. "I love you, too, babe." 83 badmra Defiamw "Not incredibly good. Incredibly bad We're not buying into a company in rural New Hamps.h.i.+re."

"We've bought into companies in worse places," she reminded him in a good-natured way. "We don't have to live here to own a piece of the action."

"We're not buying into a granite company."

"Why not?" Her grin faded. "Because it's in Norwich Notch? Are you as threatened by this place as my father is?" "No," he said calmly. "I just don't think it's a wise business move."

"How can you say that before you know the facts?"

"It'll cost us money to get the facts."

"I'll pay. Just me." "But why?" he asked, agitated again. Chelsea had no answers. She didn't know what she'd do with a granite company. She didn't know what she'd do with Norwich Notch. All she knew was that she was drawn to the town and that the thought of having a material connection to it gave her comfort.

There were people here, some pleasant, some not so, but all different from the people at home. If she was affiliated with the granite company, she might come to know them better. In time she might even produce the silver key on its frayed ribbon. Someone might recognize it, even claim it. There was more, a thought that lingered In her mind long after she'd mollified Carl with a few light words, blown him a kiss good night, and hung up the phone. If she owned the granite company, she would be the town's major employer, in and of itself a position of power. If she rebuilt the company so that it brought a new prosperity to 84 The Pa.s.sions of Cheisea Kane the town, she would be the local hero. rrt, at would be a switch from the infant who'd been given away. She would be in a position to learn whatever she wanted and do whatever she wanted with what she learned. For all she knew, she might simply turn around, sell the company for a profit, and walk away without a single look back. By mid-April Bob Mahoney had enough information to tell Chelsea that although Plum Granite wasn't shaky to the point of impending demise, there had been no growth for nearly a decade. According to his sources, the company might have been in more dire straights had it not been for the high quality of the granite, the care with which it was quarried, and the fact that every order was filled and delivered on time. "Then the company isn't in debt?" she asked as they walked leisurely around the Inner Harbor. Carl hadn't come along. Since her return their' relations.h.i.+p had grown more rocky. There were highs and lows now.

Inevitably the lows had to do with Chelsea's feelings about herself and Norwich Notch. They were critical issues for her, and there was no resolution in sight. Carl couldn't understand-and she couldn't explain-her compulsion to do something for, about, or with Plum Granite.

But the compulsion was there, which was why she listened closely to Bob's answer. "The company is in debt," he said, "but only to the local bank. Oliver Plum is ultraconservative. He won't go to another bank, and maybe that's good. His debt is manageable. But the banker, Jamieson, is conservative, too. He won't advance Plum any more 85 Barbara Deunsky money. Plum will have an increasingly tough time meeting his expenses unless he makes a change of some kind."

"Does your source think he will?" Bob shrugged. "He's not imaginative. He'll start with layoffs.- Chelsea thought of the parents who couldn't afford to keep her, perhaps because one or both of them had been out of work. "There has to be another way."

"Not without money, and where that's concerned, the guy's backed himself into a corner. He has to modernize. He needs new equipment and new facilities. He has to go looking for work, rather than waiting for it to come looking for him. From what I understand, his men are good. He's the one who's the problem. He resists change, and that includes looking beyond Norwich Notch for the money he needs."

"How much?" Chelsea asked, squinting up at him. The sun was bright and full of promise. It was a perfect day to discuss a challenge. "How much to update equipment, build an on-site prep shed, and establish a system of delivery?" Bob slipped a piece of paper from his blazer, unfolded it, and pa.s.sed it to her. "This list is crude." She looked at the bottom line. The figure was high, though not prohibitive. "What did your source think of the potential for a company like this?"

"He didn't think you'd lose money on the deal. Prudently done, there could be a profit. With luck, the profit could be a nice one." Chelsea liked the sound of that, but there was a more immediate issue. "And Oliver Plum? Will he sell?"

86 Me Pa.s.sions Of Mamm KMW Bob scratched his head. "That's a hard one to call. The company's been in his family for a long time. He takes pride in that. The whole town does. Plum Granite is an inst.i.tution there. But he has four daughters, all married, none of whose husbands want anything to do with the business, so in essence he has no "Why can't one of the daughters take over the business?"

"Women don't do that in places like Norwich Notch."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a patriarchal society.

Women follow their husbands." Chelsea made a sound that gave her opinion of that. Walking on, she said, "Suppose I wanted to buy the company.

What would be the best way to approach it? Since it isn't a public company, there aren't any stockholders to buy out. It's just Oliver Plum. How would we get him to sell?"

"For starters, we ask him outright.

It may be as simple as that. He knows the company's in trouble. He's not stupid." "And if he says no?"

"We ask ourselves if it's worth the effort trying to change his mind."

"It's worth the effort," Chelsea said. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was. "I can do something with that company, Bob, I know I can. I have money, and I have know-how."

"What know-how? You're an architect, not an entrepreneur."

"I have contacts. I can drum up the clients that Oliver Plum can't, and I can do it with phone calls, that's all. Do you know how many architects I know, 87 Bal'bam Deffasky all as hungry as I am for high-quality stone? Same with contractors. And talk of national monuments and war memorials and government buildings, all made of granite, do you know how many congressmen I know?" She had her parents to thank for that. True, Kevin would be furious if she used those contacts to make a go of a business in Norwich Notch. But Abby had been the one responsible for her learning about Norwich Notch, and if she turned a failing business into a profitable one, who could fault her? "What about your own work?" Bob asked. "I can do both." Hadn't Carl said as much when he'd made an argument for her investing in marriage and motherhood? "So. If Oliver Plum refuses to sell, what do we do?" Bob gave her a chiding look but said, "Up our offer." "And if he still says no?"

"We thank him for his time and leave." But Chelsea didn't want to do that. "What if I want a piece of that company any way I can get it?" She didn't care whether Carl did call her obsessed. She wanted into Plum Granite. "Come on, Bob," she coaxed. "This is your thing. If Oliver Plum digs in his heels, what do we do?" He sniffed in a breath. "We try some creative compromising. We wheel and deal. We give him an incentive to go for our plan."

"Like what?"

"Like leaving his family name on the company. Like buying him out but letting him stay on as t.i.tular head with a specified salary for X number of years. like paying him off, plus giving him an interest in the company. There are all kinds of possibilities." 88 The Pa.s.sions of Chelaw Kmw uand if he still refuses?" Bob stopped walking and turned to face her. "Then we drop it. And I mean that, Chelsea. I know you have a special reason for wanting the company. I don't know what it is. That's your business. And its your money that you're spending, both on Plum --Granite and on me. But I'm no Don Quixote. If we give it our all and still Oliver Plum refuses, that's it. 11 won't go tilting at windmills. You'll just have to find another outlet for that pa.s.sion of yours."

Chelsea heard him, but she wouldn't consider failure.

Tucking the shopping list he had made into her pocket, she squeezed his arm and grinned. "Oliver Plum will sell. I feel it in my bones. You'll have him in the palm of your hand in no time." She took a deep breath.

"So." She steepled her fingers in antic.i.p.ation. "When do you make the first call?" "He's a tough guy," Chelsea told Cydra as they ran, one early morning, two weeks later. '@He hung up on Bob the first time. The second time, he said no before he hung up. The third time, he said no, then listened to Bob's arguments, then hung up."

"Sweet."

"But we're making progress. Bob and I are going up there next week."

"He's willing to talk?"

"I don't know talk. Listen. That's something."

"How about Carl? Will he listen?" Chelsea brushed sweat from her forehead with her wristband. "Not yet. I'm not pus.h.i.+ng it. Things are too indefinite."

"But he knows you're going to Norwich Notch." 89 Bwbam DCHUSAW "Yup.

And he knows why, vaguely- We don't discuss specifies. He gets uptight."

"What's his problem?" Chelsea had been asking herself that a lot lately.