Serendipity By Rocky

CHAPTER 19

"Dr. York."

"Huh?" Rory looked up from buttoning her shirt frowning. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said…" Amy crossed the room to the bed where the dark woman was seated and straightened her collar. "Doc-tor York. Sounds good, doesn't it?"

Rory smiled warmly up at Amy. "Sure honey, it sounds real fine. …Why now?"

"Well it's the name of the two people who cared about the real me, and Stafford is the name of the people who've hurt me the most." The blonde dropped her head and leaned in to touch brows with the seated woman. "I even thought about sharing your name, but frankly Baby, after meeting 'Hardly' I don't want that either." They shared a grin and a kiss. Then the blonde woman giggled. "Although I get the feeling that Sherri wouldn't mind."

"Um… I hate to bring it up but you haven't finished your doctorate yet Honey."

"I know, I know… But I've decided that when I do finish it, and all this brouhaha is over--I want to be Doctor Amanda York… 'Crime fighter' and writer of children's books …and you can be my side-kick."

Rory chuckled and shook her head. "You nut."

"Uh huh, but I'm 'your' nut." The blonde woman grinned and bent to put on her shoes, only to squawk when she was goosed by a large, warm, hand. She spun around to find her lover trying to grin and not look guilty at the same time. "Hey!" She said with a half-hearted reproach. "Be good, or I won't let you see what's in this safety deposit box that Aunt Christen left me." Amy dangled the key in front of Rory's nose and walked out of the bedroom.

The offices of State Unity Banks were a sterling example of the days of bygone business. If it weren't for the ATM's in the front alcove and the computers on the desks, a customer could easily think they had stepped back in time. Greta waited for the elevator and looked around with approval at the lobby with its oak paneling and polished brass inlay, and nodded to herself; she could almost smell the money.

This was as good a place as any to start her search for Rory Winters, since she only knew where Robert's plane had landed, not where he had gone from there. She had tried to access his computer, to see if she could find an itinerary, only to have the entire thing shut down and lock her out. Undaunted she knew this was where she had to start.

Emerging from the elevator Greta moved with an uncommon grace for a large woman, like a zeppelin dropping into its moorings. She made her way to the reception desk and waited patiently for the young woman to finish transferring the call she had been answering when Greta walked up.

Greta fingered the business card she had picked up off of the desk. "Is it possible to see Mr. Stafford, or will I have to make an appointment?" She asked pleasantly, with a smile that said that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

The young woman shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stafford is ill and will not be back in the office for an indeterminate period."

The big woman frowned. She hadn't foreseen this complication and her mind quickly ran through all her limited options. "Is there someone else here that I can speak to?"

"There's Mr. Skylar or Mr. Mackie, but they're both in meetings for the rest of the day." She flipped through the daybook on the desk. "Mr. Skylar is free at ten tomorrow. Can I pencil you in Ms…"

"Heinz, from Intercorp," Greta pulled one of her cards from the pocket on the side of her bag, "…yes you can, thank you," she glanced down at the name plate on the corner of the reception desk, "…Edna."

On her way back to the elevators, she passed a short little red headed woman who was hurrying the other way. Her ears perked up when she heard the receptionist call the woman 'Mrs. Stafford'. Although it was hard to hear the conversation from across the room, she heard the words 'hospital', 'lost keys' and 'ride home'. A lazy smile lifted the corner of her lip and she turned and walked back to the desk; something in the back of her mind said that she might learn more if she endeared herself to the Regional Manager's wife.

Coming up beside the short woman, Greta stepped back up to the desk. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. May I offer you a lift?" She asked.

Eleanor looked up at the large woman, unconsciously trying to smooth away the myriad of wrinkles in the material of her suit. "Do I know you?"

Greta held out one large pasty hand, complete with a hundred dollar manicure, and grasped the smaller one in her own. "I'm Greta Heinz, I was here trying to set up an appointment to see your husband, when I found out that he is ill. I'm so sorry. Nothing too serious I hope?"

Stella's hand hovered over the touch pad, giggling like an elderly schoolgirl, as she played with the morphing program on the huge screen of her computer. She was currently indulging her twisted side by combining the features of Tom Selleck and Paul Reubens. "Magnum Peewee-Eye," She snorted to herself and changed the bushy moustache to electric blue. The door alarm sounded and she flipped a switch that connected her monitor to the closed circuit camera in the front foyer. She grinned when she saw Robert walking up to the office door and happily buzzed him in.

"Hey Stella," the young man said as he walked into Stella's 'cubby' and then grimaced when he saw her creation up on the screen, "Yuck! What have you been drinking?"

A blue, magnified, critical eye looked back at the screen, and Stella laughed. "I guess it is a bit much, isn't it?" Her hands clattered and clicked over the keys and the image disappeared. She turned her chair back towards the young man and pointed to the tall stool he'd used on his last visit. "I thought you and Mrs. Winters would be on a plane by now."

"So did I. Rory seems to have other ideas about that though. She says that she's got some things to settle here first and the bigwigs can go blow until she's ready." He smiled and rubbed his hands together. "So I found myself with a few hours to kill so I thought I'd go see my new best girlfriend."

Stella cackled and slapped at the young man's arm. "That's what I get for showing just anybody my tag."

Robert chuckled and pulled up the stool. "And what a beautiful tag it is too."

A sheepish grin washed over Stella's face and she turned to her machine, a file called tag log came up on the screen and she pointed to a throbbing red line of text that announced 'Intercorp: 3:02am'. The grin widened. "So there whiz kid!" She laughed and stuck out her tongue in a raspberry. "I tagged your system last night!"

Rather than being upset, Robert was delighted. "No shit! The system is supposed to page my phone if it's breeched." He shook his head in amazement. "You have to show me how you did that!"

Tiny hands flew over her weird and wonderful custom keyboard. "I didn't breach it, I went around it. Watch." She said, nodding her head toward the screen. "I have to admit that at first I tried to cheat by accessing your personal system but it was locked up tighter than the larder during lent..."

Robert scowled. "It was already locked… are you sure you didn't trigger my lock out?"

"Does it use the same system as the company server?"

"No… I have it set to drop a curtain and leave a sleeper on the remote access. Only the main server has to be reset at the source." He cocked his head to one side frowning. "So if you didn't do it; I wonder who did?" His laptop was back at Amy's house and this mystery had him puzzled. "Stella would you bring up my system so I can check something?" Scooting forward on his stool, he guided his friend through the entrance sequence of his personal server at the home office. Within minutes, he was on the phone.

"Intercorp, Western Sales office, Linda speaking."

"Hey Linda, it's Robert."

"Robert… Hi! What can I do for you?"

"Admin wouldn't happen to be missing its Chief would it?"

"What! …Gee, I don't know. Can you hold for a second?"

"Sure."

Several minutes passed as Robert quietly chatted with Stella while he waited.

"Robert?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry it took so long, I had to convince someone to go look in her office to see if she was there. Apparently everybody was scared stiff of even going near her today."

Robert laughed, "So where is she?"

"That's the weird part, she's not in her office and no one's seen her all morning. I swear, as soon as someone told me she wasn't in her office I'm sure I heard cheering!"

The young man ran one hand through his hair and sighed. "Thanks Linda, I think I know where she went. Can you transfer me to Personnel, I guess I'd better talk to Harland about this before this gets too far out of hand." He waited patiently while the line rang through to his own office.

"Bobby? Where the hell are you?" Harland Winters growled over the phone.

"Actually Harland, I'm in the computer lab of Hodgekiss Investigations at the moment."

"What the hell are you doing there and why aren't you on a plane with Rory roped into the seat beside you?"

Robert laughed out loud. "Harland, think about what you just said… me and what army?" He waited a moment for what he said to sink in. "She says she has some business here before we fly back."

The personnel manager had to chuckle when he tried to envision his PA trying to tie his ex wife into the seat of a plane. He found himself nodding until he realized that Robert wouldn't be able to see him over the phone. "Bobby, this is too important, I'm coming out there."

Robert tried to interrupt, "um… Harland the reason I called…"

"I understand completely, I'll be on the next plane. Be sure to pick me up."

"…But…"

"No buts Bobby, I'll see you in a couple of hours." Harland hung up, leaving Robert looking at his cell phone and shaking his head.

The young man knew he should call his boss back but he also knew it probably wouldn't do any good, sometimes the personnel manager could be as thick as a New York Phone book. He dialed Rory's cell phone instead.

Eleanor played with her pearls and looked blankly out of the car window. "All gone, all gone, all gone…" She muttered to her reflection in the window.

Looking at the woman seated beside her, Greta frowned. "What did you say Mrs. Stafford, …did I take a wrong turn?"

Blinking, Eleanor turned to the large woman crammed behind the wheel of the rental. "They're taking it all away… Sherri-Louise, Carson, Amanda and that Winters woman…"

If the smaller woman hadn't been wearing her seat belt, she would have most certainly gotten up close and personal with the dashboard as the car came to a screeching halt. Traffic was forced to detour around the stopped car as Greta's nostrils flared. Taking several deep breaths, she ignored the blaring horns of the angry drivers behind them. Finally, her eyes turned to search Eleanor's face. "Winters, …Do you mean Rochelle Winters?"

Looking puzzled for a moment, Eleanor realized that the large woman was asking her a question. Various shattered parts of her mind recognized the words, put them together and she scowled. "Amanda calls her 'Rory', I wondered what kind of a name that was for a woman. She made Carson live! He shouldn't live. …And then, there's that-- that-- WOMAN, …she wants my pearls. All the rest is gone--she can't have my pearls." She turned back to the window and degraded back to mumbling, "all gone, all gone, all gone…"

Rory hung up her cell phone, tucking it back in her case, and then let a gust of air out from her lower lip to disturb her bangs. 'Damn!' This was just great. According to Robert, Ajax was here in town looking for her and Hardly was on a plane as they spoke. She looked up from her chair to see Amy gesturing to her that the Security area was ready and they could go open the box. ‘Well they have to find me first.’ She decided, consoling herself, and reached for her crutches.

They followed the young man to a small room with a table and he set the long metal box on the table. "Just press the buzzer when you're done," he said, pointing to a button on the wall beside the door as he left.

For a handful of heartbeats, they sat staring at the table.

Rory reached out a squeezed the blonde's hand. "Go ahead… open it. Something tells me it will be okay."

Sliding the key into the slot, it turned with a click, and Amy folded the long lid away from the body of the box. Nestled inside was a sheaf of papers and a long velvet box. Lifting each item out on to the table, she paused and looked over to Rory, who smiled and gestured for her carry on. Amy lifted the now empty box, to set it aside, when she detected a slight rattle. Peeking back inside, she saw a small brass key.

"What do you want to bet that this fits Grammy’s trunk?" She asked holding it up for the other woman’s inspection.

"Hmm… Looks like the right kind of key, I guess your Aunt meant for you to see the stuff in the trunk after all." She handed the key back to Amy. "What’s the rest of this stuff?"

Opening the long velvet box next, Amy gasped. Inside was a long strand of perfectly matched pearls. "Oh my God… Look at this, they have to be the Soul Mate pearls!" She pulled them free of their case, stunned to see how long the strand was; it had to have been designed to be worn looped several times around the wearer’s neck. "Rory, Baby, they’re beautiful. They make Mom’s look like something you’d get out of a gumball machine."

Rory took the strand gently from her lover’s hands and placed the long necklace lovingly around Amy’s neck several times, arranging them so they hung in glowing arcs across her breasts, and then sat back to admire her handiwork. "They’re even more beautiful on you." ‘And they’d look glorious if they were all you were wearing.’ She decided with a grin.

"Even with this shiner?" Amy teased not expecting an answer.

Rory simply smiled, still slightly caught up in the fantasy of her lover naked except for the pearls. She shook her head to clear it after a couple of seconds and fingered the small pile of documents that had been in the box. "I wonder what other surprises are in here."

They sorted through the papers; most of them turned out to be stocks, bonds, and the deed to the house and the property it sat on. However, at the bottom of the pile lay a small, crisp, white envelope marked in a smooth flowing hand, ‘Amy Paul’.

The younger woman ran her fingertips over the name and then brought them to her lips; waiting a second for the sorrow she thought for sure would follow. It didn’t. Instead, she felt a strange euphoria, so she smiled quietly instead and sighed. Folding back the flap, she extracted a sheet of ivory linen paper, and softly began to read out loud.

Amy looked up and grinned sheepishly. "I guess we jumped the gun a little."

Amy snickered. "You’re right Aunt Christen, he is a turd!"

Amy looked up for a second and shared a look of surprise with the tall woman seated beside her.

Amy sat staring at the letter. She looked up to see Rory trying to hold back tears that threatened to spill from her shining eyes.

"That was beautiful honey." She dug out a tissue from a pocket and wiped her eyes. "I wish I could have met her."

Surprisingly, for first time in weeks, Amy didn’t feel like crying; instead, she felt validated, ‘important’, and all the little qualms that had been eating away at her self-confidence had been banished from her soul. The trueness of it took her breath away, and she embraced the feeling with unfettered joy. Rather than say anything, she simply crawled into he lover’s lap and held her close, humming softly in her contentment.

They had been sitting there for long enough that the clerk tapped gently on the door. "Ma’am, is everything all right?" He asked cautiously.

Amy snickered into the warm neck she was hugging and then cleared her throat, "Ahem! Yes, as a matter of fact, we were just about to call you. She got up and gathered the papers, preferring to return them to the safety box, saving aside the velvet box and the envelope containing Christen’s letter. She then unlocked the door so that the young man could take the safety deposit box back to the vault.

Amy helped her lover into the car and then slid behind the wheel, pausing a moment to finger the pearls. She turned and to give Rory a wide smile. "I guess I shouldn’t wear these when we go to see Mom, Huh?"

The tall woman chuckled, "No, I don’t suppose you should." Then she nervously rubbed at the end of her nose. "…Speaking of crazy people, I got a call from Robert. Ajax is in town looking for me and Robert is picking up my Ex at the airport in a couple of hours."

Amy only laughed and started the car.

(c) 2001 S. Day

Back *** To Be Continued