"Okay, Philip, I'll think about it. That was a wonderful sandwich, I'll see you in the morning. Good night." Sallie kissed the top of his head in passing, something she did every night when they parted at the foot of the stairs.
In her room, Sallie flopped down on a chair, withdrew the contents of the manila folder, and spread the papers out on the floor. She picked up the phone and asked to be connected to Devin Rollins's home. His sleepy voice startled her. "You were sleeping, Mr. Rollins." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"It's two o'clock in the morning. I hope you're calling to whisper sweet nothings in my ear and not to talk about chickens."
"I'm calling on business, not about chickens, and I don't whisper sweet nothings into anyone's ear at this hour of the night unless I'm in bed. No, I am not flirting with you. I read all the information you passed on to me. Pay attention to me. Or would you prefer getting a cup of coffee first. I can call you back."
"I'm wide-awake with pencil in hand, SaUie. Do you do this often, call in the middle of the night?"
"Only when I pay outrageous fees to an attorney. I call it getting my money's worth. I want to buy into that company. Is there anyway I could buy the controlling interest? If not now, down the road? If I can't ever get a controlling interest, then I want other considerations. I want you to bargain, to get me the best deal possible. A voice in the firm would be very good. How are you at negotiating? Oh, one other thing, I want my share in the name of S.P. Thornton. My middle name is Pauline. I do not want you ever to allude to the fact that I am a woman. I suspect Mr. Seth Coleman is my brother. I suspect your uncle thought so, too. My brother doesn't even know I exist. All I'm going to tell you about him is he ran off'and left our family to fend for ourselves. He never looked back, never sent a
138 Fern Michaels
penny home, never inquired if we were alive or dead. Do you get the picture, Mr. Rollins?"
"I'll do what I can, Sallie. Don't expect a miracle, though. I told you I spoke with him several times, and I didn't like him. Right off he tried to bamboozle me. Then when he found out I was an attorney, he pulled in his horns. He wants this firm off the ground and in the air so bad he's willing to do almost anything. For some reason he doesn't seem to be able to get investors in his own home state. I'm looking into that. How much money are you talking about, Sal-lie?"
"Whatever it takes to get me what I want. Use the word cash as often as you need to. You can hand deliver it if necessary."
"What about the chickens?"
Sallie heard the laughter in his voice. "I've taken care of those chickens, Mr. Rollins. Philip is going to give up his teaching job. I told him I was contemplating an affair."
"Jesus Christ!"
Sallie clucked her tongue. "Good night, Mr. Rollins."
The last thing SalHe did before climbing into bed was to drop to her knees and say her nighdy prayers. "Please, God, take care of my sons, don't let anything happen to them. Bless this house and all those I hold dear. Tell Mama and Cotton I'm doing my best down here and forgive me for the vengeance in my heart."
Three momentous things happened to Sallie in the last two months of 1942. The first was an unexpected phone call from Simon, who begged her forgiveness and promised to call once a month whenever possible. The second was the beginning of a twenty-year love affair with Devin Rollins. The third was an unexpected asitor in the early hours of the morning on a bright day.
Packing for a weekend tryst with Devin, Sallie at first ignored the doorbell. When the persistent ringing started to give her a headache she walked downstairs to open the door. She looked around for Tulee but didn't see her. "Yes, can I help you?"
"If you're Mrs. Sallie Thornton, yes, you can help me. I'm Benjamin Vallee. I'd like to talk to you about a business matter."
Sallie stared at the man standing in front of her. His double-breasted dark suit, colored shirt with matching tie, and gray fedora shrieked gangster to Sallie. The bulge on the inside of his suit jacket confirmed her suspicions. "You need to speak with my attorney, Mr.
Vallee. You caught me at a bad time, I was just about to leave town for a long weekend."
Vallee handed over a small white business card. "Why don't I just tell you what I want, you speak to your lawyer, and when you get back, call me. I'll be in town for a few weeks. I'm interested in purchasing some property you own. I'm willing to pay a fair price."
"What do you consider fair?"
"Double what you paid for it. It's desert, Mrs. Thornton."
"Just because it's desert doesn't mean it's worthless. If it was worthless, you wouldn't want to buy it now, would you? I'm not interested in selling, however, I might be interested in leasing the property. A long-term lease. A very long-term lease. Why don't you think about that while I'm away and get back to my attorney or myself early next week?"
"Lease?"
"Yes, lease. It might be advantageous for you to consider leasing as opposed to buying something I cannot legally sell. The property is tied up in a trust account An attorney can explain it better than I can."
"Are you telling me all the property the courthouse records show is in a trust? You own almost the whole desert!"
"That's not quite true, Mr. Vallee. I own a//of the desert. What I don't own is not worth owning."
"But you're a woman!"
"How observant of you. Is there something else you want to say?"
"I don't like doing business with women."
"That's too bad. I'm a very good businesswoman. I'm fair and I'm honest. Are you?"
"^^lat kind of question is that?"
"How does this sound? I'm not thrilled and delighted to be doing any kind of business with a gangster, and yes, you are a gangster, so don't bother trying to deny it. The way I look at it is, business is business. You be fair, and I'll be fair. You look out for your interests, and rU pay someone to look out for mine, like my attorney, or the lieutenant governor, who is going to be marrying my sister very shortly, the police force, and the townspeople themselves. That's another way of saying you can't come into my town—and this is my town—and scare me. I will not allow that. That gun you're carrying doesn't scare me, either."
"I'll be back. We'U talk then. Lease, huh?"
"Yes, lease."
"Good-bye, Mrs. Thornton."
140 Fern Michaels
"Good-bye, Mr. Vallee. Have a nice day and enjoy the dry desert air."
"Yeah, I will." Sallie heard him mutter as he walked down the steps out to the road. The moment ^he closed the door she had to fight to take deep breaths. Devin was going to throw an unholy fit when she told him what had just transpired.
"Where are we going, Devin? Why won't you teU me? What's the big surprise?" Sallie asked as she climbed into the attorney's convertible.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise. Did you miss me this week, Sallie? We haven't seen each other in three days."
"I missed you terribly, Devin. The house here in town is so empty. For some reason I don't even want to go to the bingo palace. I sit curled in a chair and think about you. Where were you, Devin?"
Dedn reached across the seat to take Sallie's hand. "Across the border in Arizona. As you know, my uncle left his estate to me. His ranch was badly in need of repair so I had the work done these past months. The workers were putting the fmishing touches on everything, and I wanted to be there to make sure it all went according to schedule. That's where we're going. I'm going to carry you over the threshold. I know we aren't married, but it makes no difference to me. Along the way you can tell me what Las Vegas was like in years past. I don't think I can even imagine it."
"If you aren't in a hurry, let's take the scenic route. There was nothing here but tents when I first arrived. I was scared out of my wits. I didn't know what I expected. All I could see were tents, sand, cactus, and bubbling water holes. It smelled terrible. Everywhere you looked there was a saloon that served watered-down whiskey. Crooked gambling was the only kind that went on. There were
bust-out joints on every corner. For a while it was a felony to gamble, but the police looked the other way. For the most part the gaming owners went undercover. Operating in the open, the customers played for cigars and drinks. Money changed hands outside, supposedly no more than two dollars a hand. It didn't work that way. I saw what went on because I sang in those saloons. Then came the nickel-in-the-slot, but the gamblers didn't like that. They likened it to playing bingo in the church basement. And, the operators had to be licensed by the local government and they had to pay annual license fees to run their clubs. That caused problems for the state be-
cause no one paid their fees. Then in 1931 the Nevada Legislature passed the wide-open gambling bill.
"Turn here, Devin. This used to be where the Oasis stood. It was the town's leading restaurant. Only the ehte were able to eat there. They had pretty little Mormon girls from the rural areas serving as waitresses. Later in the evening, after theatergoers left the airdrome, they would stop at the Oasis to get an ice-cream sundae.
"This is Second and Fremont. The post office was on the comer, and there were offices on the second floor. I think it was called the Griffith building. Go down two more blocks, Devin, to Seventh and Bridger. That was the high school. I used to walk by, and I waoited to go inside so bad, but I never had the nerve. Later on they made it into the Fifiii Street Grammar School. If you go over a few more blocks you'll see the first service station. I think it was called the Tower Service Station. There it is, between Fremont and Ccurson Street. In the beginning all they had were dnmis with spigots.
"Go over to Eighth and Ogden and you'll see where the old hospital was. Doctor Martin converted the Palace Hotel into the hospital. Then he built a new one later on. When they did surgery they had fans blowing over blocks of ice."
'*Where did you Uve, Sallie?"
'In a rooming house. To me it was the grandest room in the world. It was cozy and warm and it was mine, paid for every week with my own money. To this day I miss that httle square room. It was the one place I could go to and close and lock the door. I never had an inch of space that was my own, growing up."
"And now you own a whole town. It's hard for me to beheve you own almost all the buildings in this town. Those you don't own sit on your leased property. I think I understand you a little better these days. SalHe, are we ever going to talk about Philip?"
"No, Devin, we aren't. I think I've had enough sight-seeing, let's get on with whatever you have planned. One litde hint, a small clue. Please."
She's like a child sometimes, Devin thought. She's so easy to be with, so easy to love. "All good things come to those who wait."
Wait she did, for a fiill hour and thirty minutes, until Devin slowed the car and turned onto a graveled driveway. They drove for another half mile before a house sitting far back in a nest of cotton-woods came into view.
"It's beautifiil, Devin. Are you happy here?*'
"Very much so. I would be a lot happier if I had someone to come
142 Fern Michaels
home to at night." Seeing the tight white line around Sallie's mouth, he hastened to add, "I didn't change anything on the exterior because I happen to love quarry stone. My uncle told me he personally carted most of the rock and stone from Black Mountain on days when business was slow. I like to think of it as my own miniature casde with those turrets on each end. I love going up those killer steps and looking out those littie paned windows. I can actually see Las Vegas from my mountaintop."
"Did your uncle have a name for this place? What do you call it?"
"To my knowledge, no, he didn't. I call it my house."
"Houses should have names. Mine is called Sunrise. My brother calls his ranch Sunbridge. Isn't that strange, Devin?"
"Not really if you stop to think about it. I think both of you, each in your own way, were searching for the sunshine in your life. What's wonderful about it is you both found it. It doesn't matter how it came to you, purchased or inherited, you have it now."
"Still, it should have a name."
"Then let's call it Sallie and Devin's house of happiness. Because . .. when we come here we'll be at our happiest."
Sallie felt her stomach crunch into a knot. What she was doing was wrong. She felt a long sigh escape her lips. Happiness was where you found it, and she'd found hers with Devin Rollins. "Sallie and Devin's house of happiness it is."
Devin put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close. "If I searched the world over, I couldn't find anyone to love more than I love you."
"I feel the same way, Devin."
"Let me give you the grand tour. This is the front door. Note the hand carving. Stained glass in the little panes. Works of art, all done by my uncle. He was very good with his hands as you'll see inside." In the time it took her heart to beat once, SaUie was in his arms and being carried over the threshold. She squealed her pleasure.
"So, what do you think?"
"Oh, Devin, it's beautiful!" She looked around at the lace curtains on the windows, at the hand-carved furniture, which was neither bulky nor manly, at the colorful cushions that matched the hooked rugs on the pine floors. There were vibrant watercolors on all the walls, splashes of brilliant color in silver frames. She stared in awe at the oil painting over a quarry stone fireplace that begged for glowing embers. "That's me!"
"Yes. My uncle had a local artist go to your bingo palace every
night when you were singing. He sketched your likeness first and then painted the picture. My uncle was mesmerized by your eyes. He told me once the eyes are the mirror of one's soul. He swore to me he saw your soul, and it was pure and good. The artist captured that, in my opinion."
"Good heavens, Devin, you're making me sound like an angel."
"My uncle thought you were. Mr. Easter thought you were, and so did your fi-iend Snowball and all his fiiends. Miss Ruby thinks so. It must be true."
"Is this furniture as comfortable as it looks?" Sallie said, flopping down on the nearest chair. "I love the fireplace."
"Will you spend next Christmas here with me? I know it's a long way off, but I'd love to fill this house with evergreens and be here with you."
"Yes, yes, I wiU."
"I want to make love to you in front of the fireplace. Tonight. Believe it or not, it gets downright chiUy here in the evenings once the sun goes down. There's a pile of Indian blankets in that carved chest in the comer. They're softer than feathers."
"You are a wicked, wicked man, Mr. Rollins."
"Only where you're concerned. Come along, I want to show off the rest of my house. This is my dining room. In case I ever have guests. The furniture is store bought. The rugs and the wall hangings are authentic. Note the lace curtains here also. Do they seem out of place to you, SaUie?"
"In a way."
"My uncle told me your greatest joy was seeing curtains billow in the breeze from open windows. He had them hung in case you ever came to visit."
"Truly? I wonder why he never invited me."
"Perhaps his fantasy was all he needed. The windows do open, and the curtains do billow in the breeze. He told me in your heart you're a simple person with simple pleasures. There's nothing pretentious about you, Sallie. I guess that's one of the reasons I love you so much."
"Where's the kitchen. Do you have help?"
"No. I do it all myself. I don't think I could get used to someone living in my house. I like to walk around barefoot and in my underwear."
"I do, too." SaUie giggled.
"Moving right along here, I have a bathroom off the kitchen and
144 Fern Michaels
one upstairs. I had the back porch screened in so I could eat out here when I want to. All those flowers you see in those clay pots I planted from seeds."
"They're beautiful. I love flowers. I like your dual staircases. You can go upstairs from the kitchen or the living room. Were they always here?"
"Yes. Like a kid I go up one set and come down the other."
"Oh, Devin, this
is so gorgeous it takes my breath away," Sallie said as she stepped into the large bedroom.
"It runs the whole length of the house. There is one smaller room at the end of that hallway that leads to the bathroom. For a housekeeper, I guess."
The carpeting was thick and luxurious, soft beige with tiny threads of chocolate yarn woven around the border. Lacy white curtains whispered in the early afternoon breeze, billowing inward in little puffing sounds. Dark earth tone draperies hung at the sides, pulled back with silver pulls. The fireplace, a duplicate of the one in the living room, held a grate filled with logs. The hearth, wide and long, held clay pots filled with plants, whose leaves were shiny and bright. The bed was high and wide enough to hold four people. A wonder-Jul playground, she thought wickedly.
"You didn't say anything about the painting," Devin whispered.
"Only because I don't know what to say. It's hard to believe I ever looked that young." Tears sprang to her eyes. Devin kissed them away.
Hours later, Sallie curled into Devin's arm. In her life she'd never been this content, this happy, this satisfied. Devin was everything a lover was supposed to be. She snuggled deeper into his embrace. "I didn't think I could ever be this happy."
"I think God has blessed us," Devin murmured against her hair. Sallie wiped at a tear forming in the corner of her eye.
All through the evening strange sounds filtered through the house and out the open windows. In the early hours of the morning, the litde house nesded in the cottonwood grove grew quiet as the occupants fell into a deep, satisfying sleep.
Simon Thornton, alias Adamjessup, sat back in his briefing chair, his eyes on the flight trainer doing the briefing. He tried to look calm, detached. He knew he looked as old as the other fighter pilots in the room, but he suddenly felt his real age. His eyes were gritty with lack
Vegas rich Page 17