Olivia's Mine (21 page)

The initial stock of wares for the store came
up by a private barge hired by Aaron Bower, leaving Frenchie out of
the picture on that one, and quite frankly, relieved. Catalogues he
could hide, but not an entire store of goods. Aaron’s men unloaded
the crates into the building in the wee hours of the morning to
keep the prying to a minimum. William Bower had paid the big burly
longshoreman handsomely for the job, and there was just one more
thing he had to do now that dawn had broken. There was another
letter to deliver to Frank Fitzpatrick.

William glanced out the window watching the
rain come down, turning his back to the man in his office. His
attention had been somewhat wanting of late, as he was concerned
for the well being of his daughter in Canada, he told his
guest.

“It can be quite un-settling, having your
children away from you, even if they are grown,” the man
agreed.

“Maybe there’s something to be said for
arranged marriages after all,” William admitted.

“Married herself a bit of a challenge, did
she?” the man asked politely.

“You could say that. He’s not a bad man per
sé, at least not in the beginning, but the wrong man, I knew it
from the start, but her heart was set on it. And now it seems my
initial lack of enthusiasm was justified.”

“The hearts of our daughters we never want to
break,” the man agreed.

“My first daughter married God. I know that
is a hard act to follow.”

“And your youngest?”

“My youngest married a professional man who
owns acres of farmland. A veterinarian.”

“But the middle one?”

“The middle one I worry about. I never
thought I would.”

“In some regards, I’m lucky,” the man said.
“I only have two daughters, no middle one.”

William smiled. He turned back around to face
his guest.

“I’m sorry you had to come all the way down
here to see me and that my secretary couldn’t fit you in until
today. I’ve just been rather busy. Now what can I do for you
John?”

“I was hoping you would be able to entice
your government to put more pressure on the CPR,” the man said.
“I’ve been talking to the officials on my side of the border but
they’re asking for numbers on the amount of trade that would be
done as a result of a north-south extension.”

“And can’t your government come up with some
numbers? I would think that would be obvious.”

“They have all the Canadian figures, but they
are Canadian after all. You know Canadians. We never want to be the
first ones in. They want to see some American figures for a
comparison.”

“I think John, that the economic benefits
would be greatest shipping south, America being the largest market
potential for them. It stands to reason they’ll be able to export
Canadian goods to the lucrative U.S. of A, and that some measure of
goods will also be imported back. Surely they realize that?”

“They do indeed. But in order to justify the
expenditures, they would like to see an estimate of revenue
potential flowing both north and south.”

“And revenue for your personal interests?”
William asked.

“Of course,” John agreed. “That goes without
saying. But my industry is certainly not the only industry that
would benefit from a more efficient transportation route. We’ve
seen how the east-west link has entered both countries into a new
industrial revolution. This will by no means be on the same scale,
but yes, there is money to be made William, and better you and I
have some of it than others.”

“Well John,” William said, “we tried this
before the war but obviously each country had its own concerns
going. Perhaps it is time to make a few calls and see how the rails
are lying, so to speak. I don’t know how tied to your own job you
are, but if this goes through, we could use a few good men
assisting with the building of the railroad. They will be lands to
acquire and men to employ and money to be raised and spent. I
admire your entrepreneurship, I’ll give you that. Too bad the
middle child is married. She’s a beauty.”

John laughed.

“I’m afraid I’m not quite ready to take the
plunge again William. Arranged marriages aside.”

William smiled.

“I would be forever indebted to you William,”
the man said, shaking William’s hand. “If there’s anything I can do
for you in return, you only have to ask.”

“You may live to regret that remark. Give me
a couple of weeks John, and I’ll come up and we can discuss it
further.”

“I’ll have a room at the hotel prepared for
you. It will be wonderful to have you back again. Nice seeing you
William.”

William watched as John Wesley McMichael left
his office.

The curious were lined up outside the new
Beachcomber Market long before Olivia was ready to open the doors.
She heaved a big sigh. It had not been a good morning so far. Frank
had been speechless when he learned of her new enterprise. He
reacted like she had betrayed him, and in reality she had. The only
thing he said to her in the hours since he read the letter from her
father, was that she would never receive a cent from him again, and
he would never step foot inside the store.

There were two knocks on the back door, and
Olivia hurried to let Lucy in. She had brought along a bottle of
champagne just for the occasion.

“If you think I’m going to smash this bottle
over a piece of furniture to christen the store, you’re crazy,”
Lucy said. “The bubbly is for us Olivia, let’s toast to our
success.”

Olivia warily took a glass from Lucy’s
hand.

“Tough night?” Lucy asked.

“You could say that, yes. But it’s not like I
didn’t know it was coming.”

“I’m proud of you Olivia,” Lucy said. “Aside
from providing me with a wonderful source of employment, I’m proud
of you for standing up for yourself.”

She raised her glass.

“To you, to your father, your uncle, your
brother and the rest of your wonderful family.”

The first few hours had been incredibly busy.
As word of mouth spread, more and more people, mostly the women,
came by to take a look at what was being offered. They were already
almost sold out of the silk stockings they had brought in, in a
variety of sizes and colours. Some costume jewellery on consignment
from the city was also almost sold out. It appeared the ladies of
Britannia wanted to spoil themselves a little. Lucy and Olivia
closed the store at five o’clock that night. It had been a good
day.

The night had been eerily quiet at home,
Frank working until midnight and then sleeping on the couch. Just
as well, Olivia thought. The silence was better than the
fighting.

The doors at the Beachcomber opened again at
nine a.m. the next day. Lucy had arrived right on time.

Olivia saw Jimmy Yada standing beside the
counter.

“Can I help you Jimmy?” she asked.

A customer was a customer no matter what
age.

“My friend old Mr. Li would like to know if
you could bring in some dried goods for him. He would like some
dried mushrooms, and also asked if you could bring in some green
Chinese tea, because he says his is getting old like him. I don’t
know why he wants it, he’s got a ton of the stuff in his
kitchen.”

“How old is Mr. Li, Jimmy? Do you know?”

“He told me he is eighty-three.”

“Eighty-three! That’s remarkable. You talk to
Mr Li a lot do you Jimmy? I didn’t know you could speak
Chinese.”

“I can’t, but he actually speaks English to
me. He just pretends he doesn’t know any. There’s a lot of that
going on.”

Olivia looked over the list.

“Do you spend a lot of time with him
Jimmy?”

“Yes. He is teaching me about the things in
my father’s Chinese Medicine book. He told me that when he was
younger, he too ran a store just like you’re doing now. A store
with herbs and teas and things. My dad said it was an
apothecary.”

Jimmy stumbled a bit over the last word.

“I want to be a doctor some day, so I find
his knowledge very valuable.”

“Very valuable indeed,” Olivia smiled. She
found Jimmy’s vocabulary amazing for a boy of his age. “You tell
Mr. Li that I think I will be able to help him out, but it may take
a little time, maybe a couple of months, to get some of the items
on this list. And tell him to come in and say hello sometime, if he
feels comfortable.”

“Okay Mrs. Fitzpatrick, I will,” Jimmy said,
leaving the store.

“Lucy, why don’t you put the kettle on?” she
said, turning her back to the door momentarily. She could hear the
door chimes indicating someone else was coming in. She turned and
smiled.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing
at?”

J.W. McMichael stood in front of Olivia.

“Ah, you’re back. Don’t yell at me Mr.
McMichael, or I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

McMichael was flabbergasted.

“You, ask me, to leave? Need I remind you who
owns the lease on this property?”

“Well actually, the government does, Mr.
McMichael. At least that’s what it says on the tenancy papers. You
might run the town but you don’t own it. At least not this
building.”

Lucy, still in the back, was concerned about
the loud voices she was hearing.

“Are you all right Olivia?” her voice rang
out.

“Quite,” Olivia replied.

“Oh, that’s just perfect. You have Lucy
working here too? Well, it will be a shame to have to put you both
out of business.”

Lucy came back into the store, carrying two
cups of tea.

“I gather you won’t be joining us, Mr.
McMichael?”

McMichael came up close to Olivia. She could
feel the fire within him raging, as their eyes met defiantly.

“Who gave you the money to do this?” he
sneered. “Apparently I am paying that husband of yours far too
much. That will soon change.”

Olivia laughed aloud.

“Frank? Frank doesn’t have the money or the
gumption to open this store, Mr. McMichael. You weren’t the only
one who was kept in the dark about this. I can keep quite a secret,
can’t I?”

McMichael face turned a dark crimson. It was
the first time Olivia had seen the man embarrassed.

“Don’t tell me you were foolish enough to
squander your insurance money on this venture Lucy,” he said. “I
thought you had more brains that that.”

“Evidently she does Mr. McMichael, as Lucy is
an employee of the store, not one of the owners. No offence to
Lucy.”

“None taken Olivia,” Lucy replied.

“Lucy, will you leave Olivia and me alone for
a minute?” McMichael asked.

Olivia nodded to her friend, who went back
into the staff room, her ear pressed against the door, just in
case.

“If you were so determined to open a store in
this town, you should have come to me. I’m sure we could have made
an arrangement.”

Olivia could see Akiko outside, waiting to
come in. Akiko could also see what was going on inside, and made a
hasty retreat.

“I did make an arrangement, Mr. Michael. Just
not with you. Now if you don’t mind, you are scaring my customers
away.”

“Oh, Mrs. Fitzpatrick. I have not yet begun
to scare your customers away. I am making you an offer again. Come
to me at the end of the month when you can’t pay your lease and
I’ll see if I can take some of your stock off your hands. Or didn’t
you know I dabbled in liquidation as well?”

“I think it’s time you left, Mr. McMichael,”
Olivia said flatly. “Good day.”

McMichael paused as he opened the door.

“How could you do this to me?” he asked, the
door slamming behind him.

The question sounded so personal that for a
moment Olivia was taken aback.

“You can come out now Lucy,” she called to
her friend.

“Is the war over?” Lucy asked.

“Not by a long shot,” Olivia replied. “The
battle has just begun.”

The door chimes tinkled announcing a new
customer, but Olivia barely noticed. She was packing some of the
stock back into the original packaging, hoping they could be
returned.

“May I ask what you are doing?” the customer
asked.

Olivia looked up to see William standing
before her.

“Dad!” she squealed, her face lighting up
immediately.

“Good, then that despair on your face is a
fleeting thing,” he said, giving her a hug.

“Well not exactly,” she sighed.

“Where’s Lucy?” he asked, noticing she was
not in sight.

Olivia sighed deeper. It had been a month and
a half since she opened the store.

“Olivia,” William said sternly, “what exactly
is going on?”

“He’s won, I’m afraid,” she said. “I have no
customers. It started with Akiko, she’s McMichael’s cleaning lady.
Sarah told me he saw her come in here and told her if she ever set
foot in here again, he’d fire her. I had a special order for a
friend of her young son come in one day, and her Jimmy came to pick
it up. McMichael he saw him leaving the store with the bag in his
arms. Akiko got fired because he said he meant her whole family
dare not enter the store, and that if the boy came in again, he’d
fire her husband, the mine’s assayer next. Word spread through the
Oriental community and they stopped coming in first. But then it
spread to the other townsfolk and let’s just say very few have had
the gumption to cross him. I had to lay Lucy off after only two
weeks. I’m hoping I can return some of these things to get your and
Uncle Aaron’s money back.”

“And Frank?” William asked.

“Frank’s fine. I have no idea why McMichael
hasn’t fired him, but he hasn’t. I guess he really is good at his
job.”

“How are the two of you getting along through
all this?”

“We’re not, I’m afraid.”

“Then Olivia,” William pleaded, “why don’t
you just pack you bags and come home?”