His Rainbow After the Rain

by Grace Clemens

  “You should keep her on a leash,” the deputy said when Mary left.

  It took everything Philip had not to slug the man.

  “You should keep your opinions to yourself,” he responded coldly. “That badge doesn’t give you the authority to do and say whatever you want. A fool is a fool, no matter what clothes he wears.”

  The deputy’s face turned red but he didn’t say anything else.

  Philip narrowed his eyes. “Get your men out of my building. You’ve done enough damage. I’ll talk to the mayor and get this straightened out.”

  He didn’t know how he was going to do that. According to the paper the sheriff handed him as soon as he got to the building, Hanover had tacked on a ton of money to the back taxes in “fees and penalties” and jacking the price up to a number so high it gave Philip chills.

  The only way to get his business back, he suspected, was to get rid of Hanover and hope the new mayor would show him mercy. Since it was Paul Ranyard, he felt he had a good chance of succeeding. Paul was a regular customer and had come in several times to submit an article or summarization of events in Glenwood.

  Philip stayed behind, waiting for the men to leave. Once they were gone, giving him sneering looks, as if they had some personal vendetta against him, he scanned the printing room with dismay. They had gone out of their way to make it a mess, pouring ink from the bottles all over the floor, destroying an entire roll of paper, leaving press parts scattered around the room.

  He couldn’t stand the quiet disarray. He turned away, his heart hurting from the pointless destruction of his business.

  The only thing he could think of was to go to see John. It looked like he wouldn’t have any business to take care of until this situation was resolved and Hanover was removed from office. He could ask John to appeal to his father, even though he knew John had no real sway over the man. Philip knew John would try. But he didn’t expect him to succeed.

  Either way, without any business to conduct, he had nothing to do and bothering Mary at work was probably not a good idea, though he wouldn’t mind seeing the children again.

  He grabbed his hat from the rack by the door and went out, plopping it on his head. He turned to go down the street toward John’s house. It was close enough to walk to; no need to take his horse. Plus, it was another bright, sunny day and he wasn’t in a hurry.

  What else did he have to do?

  As he passed the barber shop, Philip glanced in and saw Paul Ranyard in the chair, getting a shave and a haircut. He stopped short and went in, the little bell above his head tinkling to signal his arrival. The barber, Henry, looked up at him and Paul swiveled his eyes in Philip’s direction.

  “Mornin’, Philip!” Henry said enthusiastically. “Good to see you! I’ll be right with you after I finish up here.”

  Philip shook his head. “No need to hurry, Henry. I just stopped in to talk to Paul. I don’t need another cut yet. I was just in here, remember?”

  Henry grinned, nodding. “Yeah, I do. Wasn’t that long ago and you still look good, if I do say so myself.”

  Philip chuckled. “I agree.”

  “Excellent paper yesterday, Jenkins,” Paul said through the soap caked around his mouth. He was quiet for a moment while Henry finished up. Philip waited patiently until Henry handed Paul a heated towel, which he pressed against his face while he sat up. “You did a good thing sending Mary to me. She is easy to talk to and smart as a whip. I was impressed with the questions she asked. Maybe teaching isn’t what she should be doing for a living.”

  Philip nodded. “She’s very talented, I agree. She might have to come work for me eventually. When I get my business back.”

  Both Henry and Paul looked at him with confusion. He lifted his shoulders.

  “Looks like Hanover shut me down. I guess he didn’t like having his competition featured in my paper.”

  “That’s outrageous!” Paul said, his face contorting into a deep, angry frown. “What gives him the authority to do that? Being mayor doesn’t let you just shut down businesses you don’t like.”

  “I was levied with back taxes when I took the press business over,” Philip replied. “I’ve been making payments to it but it was quite a hefty sum and this morning, Hanover tacked on a bunch of fees and penalties, so it’s out of my reach at the moment.”

  Paul and Henry were both shaking their heads. “This is ridiculous,” Paul mumbled under his breath. He looked at both his companions. “We’ve got a good town that’s thriving here. A clinic, a couple of saloons, a couple churches to make up for the saloons, a newspaper, a schoolhouse… Hanover doesn’t care about any of these townsfolk. It’s more and more clear. We need to have an emergency vote and get him out of office. I say we call a town meeting, with or without him, get the council together, and let everyone know. But how will we get the word out without your paper, Philip?”

  Philip was amused, interested and then intrigued by Paul’s words. He thought for a moment.

  “Can you print out some flyers to hand out?” Henry asked.

  Philip shook his head, his eyes still on the floor. “Hanover had the deputies take my machine apart so I couldn’t sneak in any printing.”

  “Disgusting!” Paul exclaimed, jumping up from the chair and throwing the towel on it in frustration. “He has no right to do that to you, no matter how much money you owe the government. How are you supposed to pay back taxes if you can’t run your business? We have to do something about this, gentlemen. We can’t let this stand. Hanover has gone too far.”

  Philip was glad he’d stepped in. Paul would definitely be a better mayor than Hanover; that was clear. And not just for Philip. He was well-liked and for good reason. Paul would win the election easily, if it was possible to get the word out.

  “I’m going to John’s to see if he can think of anything. I planned to ask him to talk to his pa but you know Hanover isn’t going to listen to his son any more than he listens to anyone else. John will do it but it won’t do any good, I’m sure.”

  “We have to get word out.” Paul said the words in a low voice, as if talking to himself. “There must be a way. I’m going to have to go out and visit everyone, talk to everyone, in the next few days. This is just a delay. It won’t stop us. We’re going to get rid of that tyrant.”

  “You’ll be a much better mayor, Paul,” Philip said. “I know I’m voting for you.”

  Henry nodded. “You’ve got my vote, too. I think it will be a landslide for you.”

  “All right, well, let’s just start talking then.”

  Philip grinned at Paul. “You need any help with your business while you’re out talking to anyone? I don’t have anything to do right now.”

  Paul smiled back, nodding. “I think we can find something for you to do, Philip. In the meantime, you and I can collaborate and Henry, you start telling all your customers about this. Let them know Hanover shut down the newspaper. Lots of people are gonna be upset about that. It’s a point of pride for a lot of men and women here in Glenwood. He just took away one of the most important things about our town.”

  Paul gave Philip a direct look that made confidence slide through Philip.

  “We’re gonna get you that paper back, Philip. Don’t you worry about that. There’s not enough people in Glenwood that want Hanover as mayor. He can’t even pay off enough people. When I’m in office, you’ll be back up and running in no time.”

  “When should we have this election?” Philip was anxious about it. He wished they could have the election that afternoon. But they needed to do some campaigning first. People needed to know what kind of man Hanover was, so they would know why Paul was ousting him from his position.

  Paul was quiet for a moment. “Let’s shoot for next Monday. How does that sound? One week.”

  Philip nodded. “Sounds good.”

  Chapter 41

  John opened the door. He was moving slower than usual as he hadn’t fully recovered from the fall he’d taken the previous we
ek.

  Philip gave him a surprised look. “How you doin, buddy?” he asked as he stepped inside, removing his hat and hanging it by the door on the rack nailed to the wall. “You look like you’re in pain.”

  John nodded. “It’s been a tough morning. Think I slept wrong. Woke up stiff as a board.” He placed one hand on his lower back to emphasize where the pain was coming from. “Right here. Feels like I slept on the hard ground, to be frank with ya. What’s going on? How come you’re not at the press?”

  Philip shook his head, taking a seat across from John as his friend lowered himself carefully onto a cushioned chair. “Your pa closed me down, John. Pulled the rug out from under my feet.”

  John gave him a knowing, disgusted look as he settled into the chair. “Because of the paper yesterday?”

  Philip nodded. John did the same and then immediately shook his head back and forth. “I knew he was going to pull a stunt like this. I’m sorry, Philip. I’ll talk to him but you know he doesn’t listen to me. He will just barrage me with a load of insults. He doesn’t listen to me at all about anything. Don’t know why he would start now.”

  Philip turned when he heard a soft shuffling coming from the hallway that led to the back of the house. His eyes opened wide and his eyebrows shot up when he saw Emma come into the room, carrying a tiny baby in her arms, her stomach flat.

  “Well, I’ll be! When did this happen?”

  “Saturday morning,” John said, chuckling. “I know you’ve been so busy with that issue you wanted to put out, so I didn’t send you a message. I knew you’d be by eventually.”

  Philip stood up as Emma approached him slowly.

  “How are you, Emma?” he asked, concern lacing his words. “You look very strong for just having had this baby.”

  Emma grinned up at him. He smiled back, thinking John was a lucky man to have a woman like her. “You silly man,” she said, proving his thoughts to be true. “Women were made to have babies. Here, you hold him.”

  A chill of fear struck Philip and he stepped back, holding his hands up. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ve never held a two day old baby before. I will hurt him.” He glanced over his shoulder at John. “It is a boy, isn’t it?”

  John nodded. “Yep. That’s my boy. And you should hold him, Philip. At your age, you’ll be lucky if you’re strong enough to hold your own child, should you ever have any.”

  Philip and Emma both laughed softly. “Don’t tease him, honey. You know he’s working on that right now.”

  Philip’s eyebrows shot up as he stared at his two friends. Both were giving him big grins.

  “What’s going on with you two?” he asked in an amused and suspicious voice. “Are you planning something?”

  Emma laughed again, shaking her head. “No, we just know that you and Mary are at the beginning of something and, you know, we are really hopeful for you. Now here, hold this baby so you can get some practice.”

  “But… but what about… what if I…”

  “Hush!” Emma ordered, moving closer to him to transfer the tiny human being into his arms. “Hold his head. There you go. See? You’re a natural.”

  Philip gazed down at the boy, noting how tiny and innocent he looked. He wondered what it would feel like to have his own child to love, his own wife, his own family. He was beginning to want that more than anything else in the world. It had never been his passion before. But since getting to know Mary, all his priorities had changed. For the first time in his life, he wanted to marry and settle down.

  “So, sit down and tell me about the reception to the paper yesterday,” John said, beckoning him to return to his seat. Philip did so, still holding the baby tightly but gently at the same time.

  “The reception was unbelievable,” Philip said. “Those papers sold like that last quick, big sell we had. That issue about the women’s theater coming through town. And they didn’t have a single seat in the building when they were here. It’s the only way to get the word out.”

  “From what I read, things aren’t looking good for Pa to be reelected. Paul is a good man and a lot of people know him and know what he’s like. Those same people know Pa and know what he’s like. There’s a big difference between them and I think Paul’s got him beat. Hate to say it about my own father but he’s made a lot of enemies in this town and that’s not my fault.”

  “It sure isn’t,” Philip agreed. “He made that bed. Now he’s gotta lie in it.”

  “Likely he’ll be doin’ a lot of lyin’ in bed after he loses the election. When is that taking place anyway?”

  “We gotta have a town meeting first,” Philip said. “Was just talking to Paul and we thought we’d set it up for next Monday. Men can vote anytime during the day, whatever is convenient for them. Paul was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to get the word out so we’re trying to think of a way to let 4000 people know there will be an election in a week.”

  “Why don’t you print up some posters?” Emma asked, coming close to Philip and bending to take the baby back from him. “That seems like the most logical thing to do.”

  “He can’t.” Emma looked at her husband when John responded to the question. “Pa shut him down this morning.”

  Emma frowned. “What? How can he do that? Why would he do that?”

  John shrugged. “That’s the way he is. You ought to know that by now. He didn’t like that Phil put Ranyard in the paper yesterday and let everyone know he’s being challenged for mayor.”

  “But I read it and you put in all of his information, too. I thought you went a little gentle on him, to be quite frank.” She directed her words to Philip, who nodded.

  “It was my hope that if he liked what he read about himself, he would not mind having his opponent’s message in there too. I was wrong. He added more fees, tacked on more money to some back taxes I inherited with the business, and used that to shut the doors. He also had the deputies dismantle my printing press.”

  Emma’s frown deepened. She turned her angry eyes to her husband. “John! There must be something you can do about this! Can’t you make the man stop all this nonsense?”

  John pinched his face together in a sarcastic look. “Since when have you been under the impression I have any say at all in what my father does? Have you ever seen him take my advice? That would be a no, because I don’t give him advice. I won’t waste my breath. For this…” He turned his eyes to his friend. “For this, I would try to give him advice. But just be aware, success is not much of a possibility. And if you plan to oust him as mayor next week, I’m not sure I should even say anything to him about this.”

  “He’s got to know you’ll have questions, though,” Philip responded. “After all, you work there. You’re a friend of mine.”

  John nodded. “I will talk to him, Philip. Just don’t expect anything. I’ll think of a way to get the word out but in the meantime, I reckon we should all start talking to as many people as we can.”

  “I’ll tell Annette at the beauty parlor,” Emma said. “She likes to talk to anyone and everyone. She might even be willing to go around door to door for you, letting everyone know about next Monday.”

  “I’ll stop in at the saloon.” Philip glanced from John to Emma and back again. “Henry at the barber shop is on board and will tell his customers. Paul, of course, will speak to as many people as he can this week.”

  “Don’t you worry, Philip,” Emma said softly. She was still standing near him, swaying back and forth to comfort the tiny child in her arms. She reached out with one hand and rested it on his shoulder briefly. “We’re going to get your printing press back to you. Everything is going to work out just fine.”