Sweeten the Swindler

by Adams, Dallis

  "I can't believe it. I— I lost everything," she replied as she blinked, her mouth open in disbelief.

  "What do you mean, you lost everything?"

  "I mean the money I was going to use to buy the confectionery shop as well as the funds I'd saved for part of the startup costs." She swayed and Maxine had a tough time holding onto her taller friend.

  "Come inside Coco's and sit."

  "No. Not Coco's. Not yet." Her hand shook as she pressed her fingers against her forehead.

  Maxine wanted to ask why not because they were all friends, but she supposed Roxanne felt too vulnerable, too raw. She knew how much Roxanne had wanted the shop. She led Roxanne toward the back of the establishments, to where the woods began and where there was a stump that Roxanne could sit and compose herself a little.

  Roxanne's lips were bloodless, her breathing shallow and fast. So Maxine had her put her head down low close to her knees to help with circulation.

  "Maxine, it happened so fast. I was winning. I had nearly five thousand more dollars, which would have been enough to buy the shelving, the jars and tins, and the goods I needed to make more confectionery ... plus some of the candy presses I've been wanting. But all of a sudden I lost ... a lot. Then won again. Then, it was all just ... gone."

  "Who were you playing with?"

  "Some stranger by the name of Theo something or other. As well as Bart. Oh, and Wilbur. We all lost to Theo. But nobody lost as much as me." Face wet with tears of frustration, she cried out and slapped herself against the side of the head. "I'm such an idiot! I should have known that I should try to take shortcuts. I was just so close to getting my dream."

  "Do you think this Theo fellow was cheating?" She thought of her conversation with Jake the other day and how he described the tricks of a card sharp.

  "Why ... I don't know. Maybe. But how could I recognize any tricks?"

  She ignored Roxie's question and asked her own instead. "Did you watch him? Did you keep your eyes on his hands at all times?"

  "I— I never thought about it. I can't remember. I remember he was quite good at shuffling cards."

  "Do you remember if he was restless? Fiddled with anything? Did he ever put his hands under the table?"

  As she suggested each tell, with Roxanne answering in a bewildering I don't know mantra, she became more determined to get Roxanne the help she needed. And that assistance could only come from one man. "Don't worry. I know somebody who will win your money back."

  "Who?"

  "Jake Stark."

  As if her thoughts caused him to materialize, he stepped off the boardwalk between the Carl's Cuts barbershop and the bank. He halted when he saw her leaning over Roxanne, and then walked toward them. She waved him over.

  "Good day, Miss Sweeten, Miss Boone."

  "I'm afraid it isn't such a good day, Mr. Stark," Maxine answered.

  That was when Roxanne looked up and exposed her tear-streaked face..

  He stiffened, and his eyes widened. "Are you alright, Miss Boone?"

  Since Roxanne could barely talk without bursting into tears, Maxine explained. The longer she talked the darker Jake's scowl became.

  "Don't worry about a thing, Miss Boone. I will take care of it."

  "Are you sure, Mr. Stark? He might take all of your money, too."

  "I assure you that won't happen. Because you haven't seen me play."

  FOUR HOURS LATER, MAXINE wished she wasn't watching him play. She sat in The Pearly Gates saloon at a nearby table and watched with dread. What happened to the Jake she'd known yesterday—the one with whom she'd spent nearly the whole day? What was once dexterous fingers were now fumbling to even hold onto the cards. He could barely do a simple overhand shuffle. And he'd lost the first three hands. Granted, he'd explained how important it was to lose a few, to mix losing hands with winning ones. But this? He wasn't inspiring confidence.

  "Are you sure Mr. Stark knows what he's doing?" Roxanne whispered from her seat at the adjacent table.

  "Of course," she replied. "Everything will be fine." Liar. "It's all an act." At least, she prayed it was.

  Just as she defended Jake, he dropped another card on the floor. "Sorry, but I'm all thumbs tonight," he said as he leaned over and swept up the card, glancing at the player next to him who gave him an irritated glare. He returned the scowl with a grin. "Bear with me. I just need to get into the rhythm."

  The man who complained had bug-like eyes and a balding head of red hair. "Have you even played poker before?" the irritated man next to him asked.

  "Of course," Jake replied as he pounded the deck against the table to straighten out the deck. "I know that a full house beats four of a kind."

  "Uh, nooo. It doesn't." The player shook his head. "Four of a kind beats a full house." The man leaned over and looked at Jake, his expression serious. "Listen to me. A royal flush is tops. It beats all hands. Then there's a straight flush. Next is four of a kind. Then the full house. Then a flush, straight, three of a kind, and last is two pair."

  "Oops, I always get that mixed up," he said as he dealt everybody at the table a hand.

  The bids went round, then the discards, with the card sharp calling the highest bid. Maxine watched Jake throw away a nine of diamonds and a jack of clubs. She couldn't see the other cards he held in his hand.

  When he pushed all of his money into the middle to add to the pile, her heart lodged in her throat. Mr. Caper called and exposed his jack-high straight club flush.

  "Is this a royal straight flush?" Jake asked and laid his hand face up on the table.

  It was a king-high straight heart flush.

  "Close," Bug Eyes said, who had folded earlier with the other players. "If you had an ace-high straight flush that is considered a royal flush. But what you have is good enough. You win," Bug Eyes announced.

  Mr. Caper muttered something that sounded like a gypsy curse. Suddenly the sound of little claws sounded on the wooden floor. Maxine glanced down to see Varney. The little terrier growled at Mr. Caper then jumped into Jake's lap.

  With a shake of his head, Mr. Caper muttered something that sounded like deserter but instead with a zinging z sound for the s. Then the card sharp gave Jake a hard, angry stare. Jake gave the man a shrug, scooped his winnings into the bowl of his rather careworn hat, and then stood. What he'd won was more than enough to recoup Roxanne's losses. And, since Maxine was very good at accounting, she calculated that at least sixty-five percent of the money had been won from Mr. Caper, who had bid heavily.

  He held out his hat full of coins and bills. "Here you go, Miss Boone. Take it. But I want my hat back."

  "Of course," Roxanne exclaimed accepting the hat by grasping the bill. "Oh, Mr. Stark, how can I ever repay you?"

  "Jake, please. And don't you dare part with this money so easily by offering to pay me," he said with a wink. "If you do, I'll just have to win it back again."

  Roxanne giggled. Her cheeks turned pink as she glanced up at Jake's handsome face, who returned her smile. Maxine had to squash an unpleasant twist in her gut, not about to admit she was experiencing a touch of jealousy.

  "I wish I knew some of the tells that card sharps use when playing poker," Roxanne said. "That's it. Why don't you come to Coco's Chapeaus tomorrow for our Women's Circle. We would all benefit from knowing the tricks of con artists." She shuddered. "If not for you, I would have lost years of savings."

  Jake turned to Maxine and took her hand in his, his fingers warm, intimate as they entwined with hers. "Maxine? I mean, Miss Sweeten? What do you think? I defer to your judgment."

  "I agree with Roxanne. I don't want anybody to be swindled again," she said in the firmest tone she could muster.

  Chapter Nine

  Maxine left Pasley's business office and headed toward Coco's Chapeaus where the Ladies' Circle members met every week. She'd gone into the miner's hat shop to get Florida Crow so they could walk together to the meeting, but Florida had already left.

  Jake had yet anoth
er admirer—Roxanne. That he'd won all of her money back from the card sharp, plus at least a thousand dollars more to give to Roxanne, made him Roxanne's hero—and, of course, hers. Not that he wasn't already her hero. As a result, Roxanne invited him to their Women's Circle to teach the other ladies how to recognize a card cheater.

  Since she was running late, she took the back alley behind the businesses. She started to turn the corner between Laws Firearms and the Saloon when she hear Jake's voice.

  "Good job with Roxanne. Here's your money."

  "Did our ruse work?" This from the man that Maxine recognized as the card sharp that won all of Roxanne's savings.

  "I think it did. Too, I helped Mary Price in Calderon. Eventually Maxine will hear about how I conned back the money that Mary's ex-fiance stole from her."

  "How did you do that?"

  "Sold the numskull Whisper Railroad stock."

  Theo chuckled. "You're good."

  "I hope. That is, as far as Maxine's concerned. I'm doing all this in the hopes that maybe she'll forgive me when I uncover her uncle's criminal ways."

  "One can only pray," Theo said. Although Maxine didn't know the card sharp, she could hear wryness in the man's tone. "Because I've never seen you work so hard for a woman's affections. You've got the love sickness bad."

  "Shut it, Theo," Jake growled when his accomplice laughed.

  But Maxine was stuck on Theo's last statement. Was Jake really lovesick? For her? Her heart skipped a beat. She had to lean against the back side of Pearly Gates. She realized she was smiling and getting all teary-eyed. Oh, Jake was turning out to be a convenience man, a rascal. But to run a con in order to help her friends so that she would appreciate him? Oh, alright. He didn't necessarily help Roxanne. In fact, he scared her to death by setting Theo, the card sharp on her. But he did win it back, and he obviously gave Roxanne money of his own. And Mary. He had nothing to do with her fiance running off with her funds. But he managed to apparently hunt the man down and somehow get her money back. That did shout of desperation ... but his overt actions were romantic, too, she decided.

  "Hey, what about my dog?" Theo asked.

  "Get yourself another one. Varney's mine now."

  "Don't know if I'll find another like Attila."

  "Varney."

  "Alright. Varney. Stay out of trouble, friend."

  She heard a muffled slap, and realized the pair must be patting each other on the backs and a one-armed embrace with the other, as men were wont to do.

  "Me?" Theo exclaimed. "I should be saying that to you. See you later."

  She waited as both sets of footsteps faded into the distance. Good grief, another eavesdropping escapade. It wasn't like she skulked around, sleuthing for information, hoping to overhear something useful.

  And what was all that about Varney? Obviously, Theo used to own the dog, but now the dog claimed Jake, as well as the other way around. As she slowly walked toward Coco's to give Jake plenty of time to arrive before she did, she decided that she wouldn't leave learning about either her uncle or Jake to chance encounters. She would corner Florida after the meeting to ask pertinent questions about how she was instructed to handle cash and inventory. Uncle Geary was gone on a supposed business trip, and would be out of town for the next couple of days. In truth, she didn't know why he'd left town, nor did she care.

  She stepped into Coco's Chapeaus and, like always, felt as if she'd walked into another dimension.

  The walls were papered with deep burgundy and gold damask. Hats of different sizes and shapes and styles adorned the walls, and display counters. Some had fluffy feathers. Some of the head gear was plainer, more elegant. Others were more military-looking. Two large, Victorian cameo-backed sofas, with deep mahogany wood outlining the gold and silver fabric, faced each other, separated by a low oblong table, topped with a slab of marble. A silver tea and coffee set, created by Messrs Barnard, set on top. Cameo-back chairs with stuffed arms with small side tables completed the cozy setting. The sitting area had been arranged in the center of the spacious room.

  The group members were already there, including Jake, who sat in the middle of the cameo-back sofa facing the door with freshly-bathed looking Varney in his lap.

  Roxanne sat on one side; Coco on the other. Roxanne laughed at something Jake had said and bumped him playfully with her shoulder against his. The unpleasant squirm of heat that rippled through her tummy surprised her. She had no claim to him, nor did she want to. Even as she denied it in her head, she knew she was lying to herself.

  Just as she was wondering where Florida was, in she came with her baby— which made Maxine realize the reason Florida had left the shop early; to get her son, Sinclair. Florida hired another mother with three offspring to care for Sinclair, and she usually had the caregiver continue watching him while Florida was at the meeting.

  Briefly, Maxine wondered why Florida had brought the baby with her. Not that she minded. Little Sinclair Crow was a beautiful baby. He'd inherited his mother's turquoise-colored eyes and smooth, chocolate skin. Florida, herself, was exotic. With those high, well-defined cheekbones, heart-shaped coral lips and eyes that tilted upward, Maxine could imagine her as a princess from some foreign land. And when she spoke with that Creole French accent—well, she could have easily listened to Florida all day.

  Varney barked and then jumped down from Jake's lap to rub against her skirts. She bent over to pick him up while everybody greeted her, which she returned.

  "I'll swan to goodness," Coco exclaimed, "that boy has grown over two inches in the five days since I've seen him." She scooped the baby from his mother's arms. "So is Mrs. Fletcher still giving our little Sinclair all the care he needs?"

  "Well, I wanted to talk to you about that." Suddenly, Florida's beautiful voice warbled.

  "What is is, sweetie?" Coco asked as she patted Sinclair's back.

  "What's happened, Florida?" added Roxanne, who'd jumped up from her seat next to Jake and moved to another chair, her obvious intention to let Maxine sit next to him.

  Florida blinked several times as if to keep the moisture at bay. "Mrs. Fletcher sent her ten-year-old son to the shop to tell me to retrieve Sinclair. When I got there, she yelled at me. Said my son was a devil baby and that she refused to care for him anymore."

  "That's ridiculous," Maxine declared. "Why would she say such a thing?"

  "She said something about Sinclair's eyes glowing before all of the gold nuggets that Mr. Fletcher had discovered in the river turned into pyrite."

  Coco huffed. "Is she demented? Why would anybody believe a baby—or anybody else for that matter— could perform magic?"

  "Her husband probably thought the pyrite was gold and was embarrassed when he took it to the bank only to discover it was fools gold."

  "So he blames a helpless baby for his mistake?" Maxine realized she was staring open-mouthed at Florida and snapped her lips closed. She'd always considered the Fletchers as strict and close-minded. However, for them to believe a baby could transmute metal from one organic material to another made her realize something else. They were strict, close-minded and superstitious. Which meant they were bigots. They probably had relatives from Salem who burned witches at the stake.

  "What am I going to do now?" Florida sniffed. "Gerald doesn't get home until late for the next three evenings because he is transporting shipments for Mr. Pasley, which is how our weeks usually are. And I need my cashiering job." She sucked in her lower lip, biting it.

  "We'll help out, won't we, ladies?" Coco looked at all the members.

  Maxine nodded, and so did Roxanne, Dessie Angel ... and Jake?

  At Maxine's raised brows he held up his hands. "What? You don't think I can take care of baby Sinclair? You know I love little Varney." He patted the terrier's little back and the canine rubbed against him in return. "And, I'll have you know, I love babies."

  Maxine shook her head, not believing Jake for one moment. "Don't tell me you'll change diapers."

  He
stiffened and widened his eyes at her. "Of course I will."

  "Do you cook, too?" Maxine asked, still not quite believing he would care for a toddler. "Will you rub my feet after a long day?"

  "I'll do anything that you wish," he murmured, sending sparks of pleasure down er spine.

  "How wonderful," Coco said with a clap of her hands. "Good looking, prosperous, single, loves children. Maxine! He's the epitome of the perfect man. When do you tie the knot?"

  Maxine scowled at her friend and then turned toward Jake. She tapped her chin and pretended to study him when she looked him up and down. Well, maybe it wasn't a pretense. What she saw made her pulse quicken and her breath catch. And she knew something secret ... he was lovesick for her. "Which makes me wonder ... what's wrong with him?"

  Her breathy question obviously didn't fool anyone, especially Jake, who chuckled and stroked her hand, the one that began petting Varney, too. His touch caused a river of warmth to flood through her.

  Coco slapped Maxine's forearm with the pad of paper she'd retrieved. "Oh, quit looking a gift-horse in the mouth. If you won't have him, then he's mine," Coco replied with a wink at Jake.

  "I'm flattered, ma'am," Jake responded with an easy smile. "Unfortunately, I only have eyes for Maxine." He glanced toward Maxine. She felt as if the floor dipped to swallow her whole. Her face burned as hot as the embers in Uncle Geary's hearth.

  Coco glanced at Maxine's hot face and then chuckled. "I'll say no more."

  "What's the writing pad for, Coco?" Roxie quickly asked, obviously to change the subject.

  "We're going to plan out baby Sinclair's day so Florida will know where he is at all times." She picked up the pen that was distinctly Coco with a fluffy pink feather on top, and made columns, then wrote the word time at the top of column one. "I'm thinking two-hour shifts should be easy enough for everybody." Then she wrote name at the top of column two, then place for column three. "Florida, what time do you need to be at Pasley's Miner Hats?"