The Pressure Game: An Alternate Ending
By
K.K. Shaulis
Oh, Will…Will…Will, Laura Dayton thought as she draped her arm on the back of Adam Cartwright’s chair and listened intently to the words that K. K. Shaulis was reading out loud.
Adam reached up and gently squeezed the blonde’s hand. Laura’s aunt’s death was a real shock to both of them. Who would have thought that she would have been run down in the streets of Virginia City by Adam’s old drunken buddies from his wilder, younger days? If he and she hadn’t stopped to be evasive with the two old biddies who were nosing into their … er … situation … at the mercantile, Laura could have been flatter than a pancake instead of her vivacious aunt Lil. What a shame too because Lil was wearing the new blue dress she just bought the day before. He sighed deeply considering how fickle fate could be.
Adam shifted his gaze to Laura’s young daughter Peggy who sat in the chair opposite her mother fidgeting slightly. She wasn’t really listening to the adults but was studying all of the diplomas, plaques and pictures on the office wall.
He then tried to focus once again on K.K. who was still reading Lil’s Will. “…To the Ladies Aid Society, San Francisco chapter, I leave the sum of $200 and finally to my favorite niece Laura I leave my house in San Francisco and the rest, residue and remainder of my estate in a trust which shall be administered by K. K. Shaulis. There are two provisions to this bequest however that be followed to the letter. First, my niece Laura and my grandniece Margaret must move to San Francisco immediately after the reading of this my Last Will and Testament….”
Thank you, Will…thank you, Adam tried hard not to show his emotions.
“Yippee!” Peggy jumped to her feet and clapped her hands. “I love San Francisco!
When do we leave?”
“Peggy!” Laura sounded mortified. “What about Adam?” she glanced over at him in a concerned way, expecting to see a look of anguish on his handsome face and hurt in his thickly lashed hazel brown eyes. To her surprise, his expression remained unchanged.
“Don’t worry about me,” Adam said nonchalantly standing up. “I’ll be fine…”
“Adam, you don’t have to noble,” Laura insisted taking his hand. “I can
understand if you’re …”
“Uh-hm,” Shaulis interrupted, “I’m afraid there is this other provision
that you have to hear… Second, in the event that my niece Laura remarries,
she forfeits the house and the trust fund to the Ladies Aid Society.”
“What?” Laura looked stunned, “But Aunt Lil was helping me…” try to trap a husband, she thought to herself.
“How much is this worth to Laura in round numbers, K. K.?” Adam put his hands on the desk, leaned forward and looked K.K. in the eye.
“Exactly half a million minus my ten per cent fee, of course, Adam,” Shaulis looked up from scribbling a note on a piece of paper.
“Half a million dollars?” Laura’s eyes became as round as the red and white transferware saucers back at the Ponderosa. She suddenly looked at Adam in a whole new light. After all, with this inheritance, no longer would she need a man all the time for financial purposes. And if she needed one on occasion for other purposes…hmmm… this might work after all, she rolled her eyes considering the possibilities. “Maybe that wouldn’t be too bad…” she said out loud then put her hand over her mouth realizing that she did say it out loud.
“Well, there you go, Laura,” Adam jammed his hat on his head. “I can’t ask you to give all that up just for me. It wouldn’t be fair. I’ll tell the rest of the family goodbye for you,” he kissed her cheek and then Peggy’s, tipped his hat to K. K. and then left the office where he immediately bumped into...
“Everything work out okay?” Will Cartwright who was waiting around the corner snagged Adam by the arm.
Adam grinned. “Like a charm.”
“Laura believed the “no marriage clause” tactic?”
“Absolutely,” Adam nodded. “It’s safe to say that thanks to K. K. Shaulis, everything turned out great.”
“Well, that’s an attorney’s job, isn’t it?” Will put his arm around his cousin’s shoulders and steered him out the door.
“Oh, K. K.’s not an attorney,” Adam glanced sideways at Will as they strolled down the boardwalk to the Bucket of Blood.
“Huh?” Will was surprised. “Well, then what…”
“She’s better than an attorney. She’s a fanfiction writer,” Adam laughed, opening the swinging door for Will to enter. “Everything always works out well for us Cartwrights in the end when we’ve got a fanfiction writer on our side.”
“Okay,” Will nodded like he understood what Adam was talking about despite the fact that he really didn’t. “Fanfiction, huh? You mean like “Zorro” and “Lost in Space?””
“In your dreams,” Adam chuckled as they disappeared inside.
THE END
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© July 15, 2006, “The Pressure Game - Alternative Ending” by K.K. Shaulis.
All international rights reserved to the story by the author. I do not claim
any ownership or copyright in the Cartwright characters created by David
Dortort or Frank Cleaver, writer of “The Pressure Game.”