Well Made and Enduring

Chapter 12: The New Normal

The remainder of the morning passed quickly. Dr. Richards had Elspeth researching several issues concerning the neighborhood. Elspeth's subscription to the Boston Globe helped, but her family tree helped more. Elspeth thought she was getting a grip on things when Dr. Richards dropped the bomb―they were going to meet Veronica.

Stories about Veronica made her seem almost superhuman. Dr. Richards freely admitted that the first ring in her nose came from Veronica. Symbolism rarely gets more clear. Yet, the actual person was a disappointment. Veronica was a sober alcoholic, trying hard to balance business and the thought of the next vodka martini.

Fortunately, Elspeth had notes to take, so it was easy to hide her reaction. The meeting was in a bar, but it was as official as any boardroom and almost as staged. Like many board meetings, much was discussed but little was decided. Afterward, Dr. Richards called Syd Rice at MBC&L, telling him that she had established contact with the objective. When Syd demanded more details, Elspeth asked for the phone. She told L. Sydney Rice JD that Dr. Richards was on a first name basis with Adele Cabot, to give Dr. Richards the respect she had earned, and to respect his elders.

With a satisfied smirk, Elspeth returned the cell phone. Dr. Richards' smile was more affectionate. An hour later, over dinner, Dr. Richards laid out her plan for the coming month―Elspeth would go north and babysit the Concord office while keeping an eye on the Manchester bridge project. Dr. Richards had an apartment in Hooksett, halfway between Concord and Manchester. She gave Elspeth a key to the apartment for the duration. Elspeth already kept a change in the guest room, but it was a nice formality.

What began as a plan for a month became the new normal. Dr. Richards spent half her time on the road between Boston and Concord, while ran the business in Concord. Elspeth moved out of her sublet apartment, into the larger one in Hookset and seriously considered taking over the lease. However, things again changed when Dr. Richards stopped over in Nashua. In addition to a tank of gas, she picked up several real estate listing books. Hooksett was halfway between Concord and Manchester, but Nashua was halfway between Concord and Boston. Elspeth could read the writing on the wall.

Sure enough, Dr. Richards started investigating Nashua, first the real estate market and then the community at large. Before long, Elspeth was introduced to a number of the important ladies of Nashua, a small but noticeable fraction of which were relatives. This was not unexpected, since Nashua served as a bedroom community for greater Boston, but Elspeth was surprised by the comfort she drew from the familiarity. It did not hurt that the ladies treated Elspeth like royalty.

Elspeth was already spending more time in the Hooksett apartment than Dr. Richards. Soon, Dr. Richards would only stop for a shower and change of clothing, while en route from Boston to Concord or vice versa. Elspeth took over running so much of the Concord business so that Dr. Richards could get by with an occasional personal appearance while focusing on Boston. Underneath it all, both were spending more and more time in Nashua―Dr. Richards in person, Elspeth electronically.

Despite the neglect, the Concord business was flourishing. FD Consulting had a solid reputation on both sides of the Paroles and Pardons (P&P) table. During the summer, the Governor quietly asked if Dr. Richards wished a seat on the P&P board. The implied honor thrilled Elspeth, though she was certain Dr. Richards would refuse, which she did. None-the-less, September marked their tenth P&P client and October finally saw the completion of the Manchester project. That check turned the first profit, even though the staff had grown to seven. Elspeth would have felt better if she were not certain more change was coming.

A clear sign was Dr. Richards renting an apartment in Nashua. Elspeth let her Concord sublease end in June and moved the rest of her things to Hooksett or storage. For the moment, Elspeth could sit the remainder of the Hooksett lease and plan to find a new place when things began to resettle. In the meantime, Elspeth focused on work and tried not to worry about the amount of time Dr. Richards was spending near her old flame, Veronica van Kampen.

That was the point when Lars Gunter chose to reappear. Dr. Richards' fiancé had been stationed in Japan for over two years. He came to the United States to pay tribute to Georg Karl. The longtime manager of Siemens' North American interests was retiring, triggering changes that marked the end of Lars' tour of the Far East. After the formalities, Herr Gunter would transfer to the Siemens home office in Berlin. While her fiancé was available, Dr. Richards tried hard to get pregnant, with no success. That may have figured into her decision to accept an offer from Nashua County.

As in any other sphere, money made Nashua politics function. The County owned some land that it wanted to sell. The problem was three-fold. First, a covenant required the land to be sold as a unit. Second, there was a large hose that had to be included and could not be removed. Finally, the property was quite difficult to approach except by boat. Although the value was excellent, so far no one even seriously nibbled. After one look, Elspeth knew that Dr. Richards would grab the opportunity with both hands.

The acreage was nice, and the County pledged to cut a road to the boundary as part of the deal. This had been true in offers to various real estate developers. However, the developers looked at the commercial potential of the land. The house made the property improved land, which meant a higher tax value. Since the house and land were an indivisible unit, developers concluded the commercial value of the property was not worth the complications. Elspeth believed that Dr. Richards would pay the asking price for the house and consider all the land to be a bonus.

So it proved. Dr. Richards hiked out to the site, returning with a ream of pictures and a name―Cloudrest. A picture provided the reason. At first glance, it simply showed the house with the second floor covered by a cloud. After a moment, the perspective shifted so that it appeared the cloud was sitting on the house, resting. In a similar shift of perspective, Elspeth saw that Cloudrest would be a central part of the rest of her life. She might have felt dizzy if Dr. Richards did not have a pile of new work to get done.

The South Boston job was complete. Their employer, MBC&L, was pleased enough to recommend FD Consulting to the City of Boston for a statistical analysis project, which covered all of South Boston. Dr. Richards gave Elspeth the job, then left to play with her new toy. Elspeth fumed for a full hour, then opened her contact page and called Vivian Wright. There was a moment of

deja vu,

as

Elspeth remembered the Friday before the wedding when Dr. Richards was away for final fittings. There were a thousand questions and the answer to almost all was, "You know how Dr. Richards wants it done. Just do it."

So it proved, yet again. Vivian was an MIT trained number cruncher, who only needed to know the starting point. This was as simple as introducing Vivian to Veronica. Elspeth had a Dr. Richards moment while she watched the other two women sort their respective roles. Considering Vivian was a PhD and Veronica had dropped out of secretarial school, they got on well. Veronica would run the office, deal with people, and acquire the necessary numbers. Vivian would do everything else. Add $13,000 worth of computer equipment and they were good to go.

Elspeth went back to Concord to oversee a series of relocations. FD Consulting had expanded from the original storefront into two adjacent locations and needed to grow further. Rather than stay in a strip mall, FDC would move into a converted residence―as soon a law firm vacated. Evaine Schaeffelker would move Beacon Light Foundation to its permanent facility near Manchester, once it was ready. Elspeth would move out of Hooksett so that one of Evaine's assistants could take over the apartment. Elspeth became well acquainted with moving firms, storage fees, rental agreements, security deposits, lease deadlines, and hair-pulling frustration. Mark Twain said that two moves were as bad as one fire. Elspeth spent weeks juggled three.

Even the worst things end. By Thanksgiving, everyone but Elspeth was settled into their new location. She was in Nashua, putting a few things in Dr. Richards' guest room. While in town, she had tea with several of Dr. Richards' ladies, many of whom she had never met face-to-face. Elspeth was shocked to discover that the women were pushing Dr. Richards to run for Nashua Alderman. She also, finally, had the chance to see Cloudrest.

The ladies made an event of it. While nearly inaccessible by land, the property had river frontage. A Boy Scout project had installed a small boat dock and one of the women had access to a suitable boat. Four of the ladies and Elspeth braved the weather to see the house. It was worth the effort. Elspeth was very familiar with Federal period construction and this was even older. Everything was hand cut, yet the house was huge.

Rooms were sized almost to 20th-century norms, easily larger than the rooms in Elspeth's childhood home on Beacon Hill. Though difficult to see through a century of grime, Elspeth could make out some deliberate patterning. The house would clean up well, which was important because Dr. Richards wanted to document the restoration.

As the women were leaving, a group of people with cameras and equipment came up. They were from Yale University School of Architecture and were very excited about a previously unknown colonial mansion. Seeing writing already on the wall, Elspeth exchanged contact information and warned them to expect cable TV crews before long. That was the way Dr. Richards would handle things. As soon as cell reception improved, Elspeth called Evaine Schaeffelker. Beacon House could provide workers and their website could link to the Cloudrest webpage. Creating the webpage would be Elspeth's next project.

Elspeth had a serious itch. Until she could get Dr. Richards to scratch it, she had work.

Chapter 13: Or Was It?

Christmas found Elspeth back on Beacon Hill. Dr. Richards was in New Jersey having Christmas with her toddler niece. Though Cindy would not remember it, she was born prematurely and barely survived her first few weeks. Now at her second Christmas, Cindy was evidently into everything. Dr. Richards wanted to spend time with her and Elspeth felt it would be intruding for her to crash the family gathering.

If not for that, Elspeth had things she wanted to discuss. Days before, and barely a week before the filing deadline, Allan Morton announced that he had lung cancer. He wanted Dr. Richards to take over his bid for Nashua Alderman. Elspeth did not need to guess which way that decision would go. Had she stayed in Nashua, she could have organized the beginnings of Dr. Richards' campaign.

Still, there was one bright spot. Both Richard Willingham and Dr. Richards were coming to Boston to ring in the New Year. As she sat on the floor, opening an alpaca wool sweater, Elspeth wondered if her shirttail cousin knew ballroom dance. Dancing with Dr. Richards was not the thrill it had been the week of the big wedding. Later, as she sipped her mother's famous mulled cider, Elspeth wondered if there would ever be a true partner for her to dance with.

The New Year's party did nothing to shake her ennui. As expected, she and Dr. Richards did several dances, but Ro was hopeless. In self-defense, Elspeth sought out a couple of men to lure onto the floor. If they were gay, that was not an issue for her and it made for good selfies. Dr. Richards spent most of her time talking to Ro. Though Elspeth envied her ease and poise, she recognized that Dr. Richards also felt the lack of dance partners. It was an uncomfortable event all around.

The next day was surreal. Grandmother had invited Elspeth and Dr. Richards over for tea. As was her habit, Elspeth poured for everyone. Neither Grandmother nor Dr. Richards dropped a word of their conversation as they accepted their cups. Were it not for the nods of recognition, Elspeth felt she could have been a coat rack. To make things worse, the subject of the long conversation was family and the continuity of generations. Elspeth felt like a chain of one link.

After the depressing holidays, Elspeth was looking forward to New Hampshire and the circle of ladies. She and Dr. Richards barely made it back before a blizzard hit. So began a cycle of bad weather and work snatched from any opportunity. Elspeth had the easy part, being able to run the campaign, such as it was, from Nashua. Dr. Richards spent two days out of three driving either north or south, regardless of the conditions. Elspeth worried.

In this, she was not alone. Dr. Richards became stuck in a snowbank near Boston. As she waited for the tow truck, Dr. Richards informed Elspeth that she planned to hire a driver. Finally, Elspeth had something interesting to relate to her circle of ladies.

Dr. Richards had interned in an outreach center in Roxbury. She returned to the center and announced try-outs. Out of a pool of hundreds, three finalists were chosen. The three and Dr. Richards drove to the Residence in New Jersey. There, Johnson Lee was named the winner and new addition to the team. All the ladies found Elspeth's descriptions to be great fun.

What was not fun was the need for new living arrangements. Fortunately, Dr. Richards was able to trade up apartments in the same building, though once again Elspeth had a move to organize. At least it was to a three-bedroom penthouse apartment, so something truly suitable for an aspiring politician. Elspeth found that she liked the view from the patio, though the unchecked wind was usually stiff and biting cold. The campaign almost became an afterthought.

Soon it passed from afterthought to achievement. Dr. Richards managed to get the candidates together and intimidated them all. Technically, it was a debate, but the real action was backstage beforehand. The previous front runner stumbled onto the stage, already red-faced. This brought laughter from the high school students providing the audience. Within a week he resigned and the other two never put up a struggle.

Suddenly, it was over. During the first spring thaw, Dr. Richards was elected with a convincing 57%. Elspeth spent the next week arranging a virtual office since Dr. Richards would rarely be available in person. Elspeth found it ironic that the tiny physical office had a steel desk almost identical to the one she had loved in Concord. She even had Dr. Richards tie her up and spank her on it, but you can never go back.

That said, going forward was not looking as grim as before. While Elspeth's personal life was unchanged, everything in her work life was different. Though the pay for her position was token, Dr. Richards' commitment was set in stone. If Dr. Richards was committed, then so was Elspeth. The upshot, since Dr. Richards was still on the road more days than not, was that Elspeth needed to do all the grunt work. That, at least, was nothing new.

Elspeth quickly discovered that Dr. Richards' official Alderman secretary essentially worked full time for Paul Dean and James Dowd, two of the at-large Aldermen. A few questions to Dr. Richards' ladies lay everything bare. Dean and Dowd were trying to take over Nashua's political structure. The reason was purely financial.

During the last general election, a bond issue for a large water treatment facility passed. With $11 Million coming into the economy, local businesses, spearheaded by Dean and Dowd, staked their claims for as much of the work as possible. To that end, the last Alderman election with Dean and Dowd people, simultaneously cutting out the bulk of the mayor's support.

That was old news. The scuttlebutt had Dean and Dowd pressuring Alan Morton to drop out since he would not play ball. This was supported by the fact that Mr. Morton was not looking sick or undergoing treatment. With the ladies' wholehearted support, Elspeth dove into the web of gossip, to separate truth from rumor. The first thing she learned was Dean and Dowd wanted to keep Dr. Richards ignorant.

Elspeth loved puzzles and badly needed a challenge. While the records room was effectively blocked, no one cared about tapes of old City Council meetings. Elspeth copied over 200 hours and shipped them to California. Dr. Richards arranged for George, her eldest brother, to have access to the software movie studios used to recover damaged recordings.

The video came back on six disks, so Elspeth formed the ladies into six groups. Each watched a disk and made note of the time stamp for any important, semi-important, or even interesting event. The college-aged grandson of one of the ladies transferred these bits onto two more disks. It was Elspeth's first contact with Leon L. "Trip" Lusk. As with Dr. Richards, she disliked him on sight.

Aside from being a fountain source of juicy gossip, the whole endeavor proved useful. Though the ladies could not make out many of the things said in private conversations, Dr. Richards lip-reading skills were more successful. She went to her first biweekly meeting with a detailed map of the political terrain. Though she said hardly a word and passed on every vote, Dr. Richards considered the meeting a success. She commended Elspeth with an orgasm-inducing spanking and a pile of new work.

In the morning, Dr. Richards headed to Concord for the biannual meeting of the General Court (the NH state legislature). Elspeth watched the Infiniti pull away with mixed emotions. The success of the meeting and the time afterward made Elspeth feel capable and desirable. The morning's parting made her feel abandoned. Dr. Richards had a life partner, even though he was in Germany. Elspeth wondered if she would ever have one for her own.

Fortunately, the feeling did not last. There was work to be done and it involved Hollywood. Soon, Elspeth was remembering her first meeting with Francine Martel. It embarrassed her, in hindsight, to think how starstruck she had been. By the end of the month, she was on a first-name basis with three producers and half a dozen reality TV stars.

One interesting thing was that Schwartz-Richards was an even bigger name than Martel. It started with an innocent question. One of the producers wanted to know who had done the image work for the website and in the proposals.

Elspeth's reply was unguarded, "That was done by Dr. Richards' sister-in-law, Sheila."

The producer said, "Well, tell her that... Wait. Richards. Sheila Richards. Are you saying Sheila Schwartz-Richards is related to the owner of this house? This changes everything."

The phone was dead before Elspeth had a chance to reply, but there were four calls that afternoon asking for confirmation. By the end of the week, it was clear that having an Academy-Award winning image editor in-house would be a major asset. In passing, Elspeth learned that Sheila was turning down five Hollywood pictures for every one she accepted, at fees that made Elspeth blanch. Regardless of the motive, money started moving and soon crews would start arriving.

That was only one side of the project. Elspeth also needed to deal with the fundraising aspects. This meant that Elspeth was once again interacting with an old college friend, Evaine Schaeffelker. Now the Director of Beacon Light Foundation, Evaine was coordinating the fundraising for the projected renovations. In return, Elspeth expected Cloudrest to provide a continuing source of employment for the Foundation's clients