Moving On Chapter 8 - Home again

 

Chapter 8 - Home again

Papa met me when I arrived and we went to the bank. After the obligatory greeting we adjourned to my office and we spent the next four hours going over the events I dealt with and made plans to keep the bank safe from the family's claims and to protect our assets.

I finally made it home and it took several hours for me to properly greet Mercy. Being gone for to weeks required me to show her how much I missed her… and oh yes the kids also.

It was times like this I remembered how I first saw her on board ship, while on our way to America. How innocent she was and how Mama took to her and protected her.

Now she is a fully matured woman with a mind of her own. I often think about how lucky I am to have her completely.

Too many married men I know only have part of the women they married.  They are holding back part of themselves perhaps for someone else, I don't know. In my case she gave her whole self to me, holding back nothing, she's all mine.

 The End

Moving On -Chapter 7 - Meanwhile back East

Too Much Debt is NOT Good
 

Chapter 7 - Meanwhile back East

Papa and I had no more financial interest back in the farms my brothers still owned but there was still the family connection. Anything that affected the family was of concern for Papa and me. 

Since both of us couldn't be away from the banking business Papa decided I should go and see what could be done to straighten things out.

Mercy got along with papa's new wife although she wasn't very new now because they had been together for a number of years. Given that she had lived in the East all her life and associated with the lower society (people who were not super rich) she had good manners and Mercy helped her to be proper in the higher societal echelons.

This was where the real money was to be made and Papa wanted to fit right in.  He had no trouble mixing with the men for most of them were a bit raunchy.

However with the women it was a bit more difficult because the women of that ilk were quite catty and gossipy.

The idea was to add something to the subject matter and be able to fight off the slings and arrows that were cast at you; All this while remaining friends with the people you were slamming.

Since my step-mother was quite successful in this endeavor Papa always had an open door for conducting business.

Papa was going to be busy going back and forth between Sacramento and San Francisco but he thrived on all the action he was getting. The only thing I didn't like about this arrangement was he would change the way I operated into his style of doing things. When I returned I would have to change things back.

I finally hired three extra employees to setup an extra set of books and when he wanted to see how the business was doing he could look at his books. He found out what I was doing and started to pitch a fit till I told him it was a check and balance way to keep the employees honest.  He never mentioned it again. He liked the idea of keeping the hires’ honest.

Now it was time for me to head back east and deal with whatever the issue was back there.

As I stated before there was no connection between the two businesses. The ranches belong to the part of the family that had remained and the West coast businesses belong to Papa and me.

When I arrived it seemed that no one was happy to see me. Neither of my brothers wanted to see me so I stayed in town instead of going out to one of the ranches.

Another thing, no one wanted to talk to me so I went to the bank and found out what the problem was. It seemed that some of the in-laws had borrowed quite a large sum of money against our holdings on the West coast. They claimed to be partners with Papa and me, putting up our holdings as security. They wasted the money they borrowed and now it was time to pay it back.

The bank told me that if I didn't pay up immediately they would sue. I asked for copies of proof that the in-laws owned or had an interest in our properties.

They produced some papers and documents which were forgeries and I told the bankers that they should have the in-laws arrested for fraud.

I went on and told them they should come against the ranch properties the families owned. The told me that the ranches were up to the hilt with mortgages and there was no equity left in them.
 

Cutting Ties

(This saddened me for before I had love and respect for all four of my brothers, Albert, George, Phillip, and Charles.

I wasn't sure why they shunned me; whether they were ashamed or just lost respect for me. Whatever the reason we were finished and no longer a family.)

Upon hearing that I produced evidence that Papa and I were the only owners of the West coast properties with the history of said properties. The bankers could immediately see that what they loaned against wasn't the same holdings as that which Papa and I owned.

They apologized and said they hoped I understood how the mistake had been made. I told them I would forget the whole matter if they paid my expenses incurred by the travel including a new suit I damaged in a fight with a drunk on the main street. They agreed and as I left, the bankers called for the sheriff.  

By the time I left I knew everything about everything. What they did and why they did it. I understood why they didn't want to see me or talk to me. After making the discoveries I didn't want to see them either.

I contacted Papa and laid everything out for him he said catch the next train and come home. He added let them stew in the mess they made family or not.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Moving On Chapter 6 - A New Bank in Town Opens

14 Year Old Isaac Wanted to Marry the Girl

 

Chapter 6 - A new bank in town opens

A month had passed and much had happened. We bought the building and remodeled it. Our huge safe had arrived and was installed. Our grand opening was near and Papa had made some good contacts in Sacramento and San Francisco.

Papa and I had put our money in the safe so we had assets right off. Papa said there were something called vaults in the works that would be better than the safe and he wanted one when they were perfected.

Right now the huge safe was the center piece of our bank and had a double lock system it was a safe within a safe. The outer safe could be open while the inner safe was still locked. The outer safe was for conducting business and the inner was for the big money.

I must admit papa had a head for business. In six months we had most of the money business in Sacramento and a branch in San Francisco.

Papa had moved to the big city while leaving me to tend the bank in Sacramento. The bank was thriving because of the reputation we had built up. No one ever lost their savings in our bank because of the bank closing up and the bankers absconding with the funds.

There seems there are always some problems waiting in the wings just waiting for the right time to manifest themselves.

Isaac had arrived at the old age of fourteen and was on the courting circuit big time. You have to realize I was really busy because Papa had left me with all the bank business in Sacramento.

He of course was just as busy in San Francisco and didn't have time to come to my aid if I had a situation to deal with. Then it happened. Isaac fell in love with a girl about his age and he wanted to marry her.

This wasn't going to happen but how I was going to stop him wasn't very clear at the moment. On one hand I had Isaac to deal with and then was Mercy having a fit.

She had plans for him to go to college before he married up. Then to top it off his grandfather found out about it. It seemed like I was the only one left that had any common sense.

Then it happened. If things weren’t bad enough another issue complicated the matter. Isaac was supposed to go to a dance with his intended and when he went to pick her up she had already gone with another guy.

He questioned her father and he said he didn't know anything about it. Her mother told him her daughter could go with whomever she wanted to and for him not to bother her anymore and closed the door. Isaac wasn't used to rejection and he didn't take to it very well.

He came home and went directly to his room slamming the door. I never paid any attention to it for the kids were always making a lot of unnecessary noise, but Mercy knew something was up for he was supposed to be at the dance.

Mercy was upset with me because I couldn't talk Isaac out of wanting to marry the girl. I told her the dang boy wouldn't listen to me.

The problem was he was just like his mother and like her he ignored me unless I got really het up. Then there was his grandpa. He had a lot of his traits like wanting his way and flying off the handle if he didn't get it.

I wondered why he wasn't like me in some ways. I couldn't see myself in that boy in any way except my good looks.

Mercy tried to talk to the boy but he had locked her out and turned the light off. The other kids were not making a sound. Mercy retired to the bedroom and I was left alone in the parlor. There wasn't a sound in the house and I didn't want to go to my bed with Mercy in her present mood.

Alone with my thoughts I surmised I have three of these offspring and I don't think I am going to like this part of their raising if there is much of this. I knew this wasn't over with the worse to come. Here Isaac was ready to go to the parson and his intended was courting someone else.

I didn't sleep much sitting in the big chair and was awake when Isaac came down from his room.

I immediately saw some of Grandpa’s nature showing forth because he had his gun in his hand as he went out of the door.

I leaped up to stop him when I saw his grandpa leading him back into the house. I asked Papa, “Where did you come from?”  and he said; "I spent the night here in Sacramento."

Papa said; "Someone has to talk some sense in that moonstruck boy."

I told him, “The job is yours if you want it.”

Our cook was in the kitchen so Papa took Isaac into the kitchen and told the cook to feed the both of them. After a couple of hours they came out and I went in and got some coffee. I didn't want to disturb them so I stayed out until they got finished.

Papa had Isaac's gun, the same one he had taught Isaac how to kill with. He was a crack shot and never missed thanks to his grandpa. He was so much like the old man that he paid attention to everything he said. He went up to his room shutting the door without slamming it which told me he had settled down and the crisis was over.

While I was content with the outcome of the circumstances Papa wasn't for this was his grandson they were messing with.

He had other grandsons back where we came from but Isaac was his favorite and lived nearby. He found out it was a college boy that took the girl away from Isaac. He fumed, “What chance did a fourteen year old boy have with one of those fast talking college boys laying their lies on a gullible young girl.”

There was strong evidence that the college boy had his way with her and that made Papa even madder. The next day it seems the college man was sorely beaten and he and the soiled girl was taken to a parson and was married.

I felt it was the duty of her father to have handled the affair, but apparently he was willing to let things pass.

Papa didn't see it like that and let it slip while talking to me saying: "I reckon he won't be able to enjoy his honeymoon."

That told me everything I wanted to know about what happened. To myself I admitted that Papa knew best how to handle the situation and for that I was glad.

Isaac never confided in me as to how he was feeling but he told his mother everything, and was comforted by her much like when he was younger for after all he was her baby… still.

As I watched, I saw the little boy that was left in him seeking comfort from his mother for the last time.

After that session was over I could tell the man he was to be had his beginning and never again would he look to Mercy for solace. From this point on he would stand on his own till he found a woman he truly loved.

I hoped it would some time before she came into his life for he needed to experience life growing up as a young boy and not be thrust into adulthood before he was actually an adult.

One more talk by Grandpa to Isaac and the issue was put behind him. Grandpa explained how the future was going to unfold as Isaac went forward.

 

Isaac like a knight of old would go forward with armor polished and sword in hand winning every battle forthwith.

 

To Be Continued