Love's Paradise

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  Halbrook looked at the tattered diary. After a while he sighed heavily. “It’s pretty thin. Granted, there are several precedents that warrant an emergency injunction and perhaps in this case it would give all parties involved enough time to work this out amicably,” he said to her pointedly. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

  She agreed reluctantly. “Yes, I need to work this through outside of the legal system.”

  “Exactly, I’m gonna process a seventy-two-hour protective order. That’s three days to do what you need to do.” He grabbed his phone and called Lynnette and then the sheriff’s office. He made the necessary arrangements. The paperwork would be delivered to the sheriff’s office immediately, and the actual petition would be served first thing in the morning. The whole procedure took about twenty minutes. When he was done he addressed Sheri. “Okay, you have your emergency injunction for the Hamilton Development building site at Crescent Point.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Hal.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. It’s thin and I’m sure his attorneys will be all over this first thing tomorrow morning. But for right now you have three days to do what you have to do. Make the best of them.”

  “I understand. I will,” she said, standing to leave.

  “I hope so,” he said. Then he saw her heading for the office door. “Whoa, hold on a minute, young lady. This meeting isn’t over. A favor such as this is going to come with a few contingency requirements attached.” She stopped walking and turned back around.

  “What kind of contingency requirements?” she asked cautiously, knowing her uncle’s flair for the theatric.

  He smiled. “First, I want you to contact Mr. Hamilton as soon as possible and get this worked out.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Uncle Hal, he won’t listen, I know it. I tried.”

  “Then try harder. I would think that if you have time to come talk to me about getting a protective order, than you have time to talk to him about making this work.”

  She paused a moment, seeing he wasn’t going to let her off that easily. “Okay, I will.”

  “Good, that’s what I want to hear. Are you headed home now?” he asked.

  “No, I need to get back to the museum. I have a lot of work to do, tons of research to dig out, and three days to make this work.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you later.”

  “See you later, Uncle Hal.” Sheri smiled as she left the office. She was relieved. She’d done it. The petition would be delivered tomorrow. She intended to be at the site getting all the samples and information she needed soon after. But right now she needed to get back to the museum and prepare. She had arrangements to plan and phone calls to make. She also needed to gather more information on the Crescent. She had three days to make this work.

  The rest of Jordan’s day was just as insane. They had people trying to sneak in all day. From sunup to sundown they came in droves. They tried to slip over the fence, dig under, cut through. Some dressed like construction workers to sneak in, and still others tried to bribe their way beyond the gate. Nothing got done. It was madness. They came on foot, by car, by bike and even by boat. Jordan spent the day rebuffing reports and talking to his brothers and Kenneth while reassuring the workers that everything would get back to normal soon.

  Nolan called to offer his full cooperation, for a perk of course. Jamie’s father called, referring to the actions of his twenty-two-year-old son as a kid’s prank. He threatened to sue since pictures of his son crying like a baby, trapped in a hole and covered with mud, surfaced everywhere and he looked like a fool. There was also a video circulating on YouTube. It was a three-ring circus complete with clowns and jokers.

  Later, he called Sheri to hear a voice of sanity, but she never picked up. He left a message and realized she hadn’t returned any of his calls all day. His heart told him something was wrong, but he dismissed it. After all, he’d just spent the weekend with the woman he loved, how could anything possibly be wrong?

  He was very wrong.

  Chapter 20

  Tuesday morning the sun tipped over the horizon. The day promised to be bright and sunny. At dawn two sheriff’s cars pulled back into the parking lot. The deputies got out and served the paperwork. Five minutes later the Hamilton Development Corporation site was shut down by order of the Honorable Judge Halbrook T. Summers.

  All hell broke loose soon after. The security guards on duty called Cleveland. He picked up the phone and started a tsunami of phone calls. Jordan got the call. His brothers got the call. Kenneth got the call. Fifty men and woman were locked out and all work came to a screeching halt. It was all over the local news by seven o’clock that morning.

  Jordan went to the site, grabbed the paperwork and headed to the airport. The private plane arrived on time. It coasted down the runway, turned and stopped. The hatch opened and three men stepped up to depart. Jordan walked across the tarmac to meet them. Darius was the first one off the plane. “Hey, how you doing?” he said sternly, shaking his hand and hugging. “You look good.” Although he resembled Jordan, there was still an air of authority and privileged power surrounding him.

  Darius was the older brother by two years. A very successful stockbroker with a portfolio that would put most hedge funds to shame. He was the more serious and levelheaded of the three. It was his idea they all take over their father’s construction business. And due to his savvy business know-how, they had yet to make a misstep.

  Julian stepped down next. “Bro, no worries, we got this. Treasure, I like it, nice PR save.” They shook hands and hugged. Julian was the middle brother and the only one married. He’d been a doctor before giving up his practice to join Hamilton Development. He always said it was the best decision he ever made. His specialty was negotiations. His deals were brilliant. He could psyche out the competition and potential client using only his charm and guile.

  The last off the plane was Kenneth Fields. He was their brother in every way except blood. A few months ago the Hamiltons even added his name to the board of directors. He was now part of the corporation. “Jordan, my man,” he said, seeming happy to be on the offensive. “Let’s do this.” He was a shark in the courtroom and had contacts all the way to the Supreme Court and beyond. Jordan handed him the court order. He started reading immediately.

  Jordan followed them to the car. He hoped Crescent Island was ready to contend with Hamilton Development, but he doubted it. He got in and drove into town.

  “Game plan, we keep the artifacts on site,” Darius said. “Is Cleveland still shooing away reporters and trespassers?”

  “No, I have him guarding the two items we pulled out the other night. They’re already off-site,” Jordan said.

  “Good.”

  “Where are they?” Julian asked.

  “No, we don’t need to know at this point,” Kenneth interjected then continued texting. “Okay, we have an appointment with Judge Halbrook T. Summers in thirty minutes.”

  “Last name, Summers?” Jordan said.

  “Yeah, he signed the order. Do you know him?”

  “No, but I might know his relative, Sheri Summers, the woman from the video. Art museum, the woman I told you about.”

  “Okay, that might be a problem,” Kenneth said.

  “Yep, it’s personal,” Julian said. Kenneth nodded.

  “We need a new game plan,” Darius said.

  “What’s the background story with this ship?” Julian asked.

  Jordan told them what he learned about the Crescent and its importance to the island. “Proving its existence here after all these years could change the history books. It’s widely assumed the ship made it back to Africa. If it didn’t, there will be a lot of people interested in knowing that.”

  “Excellent, so our role in this brings very positive publicity and a hell of a Hamilton Development historical footnote.”

  “Okay, so the plan is to make it work with Sheri Summers.”

  They all nodded. Jordan didn’t. He was outvoted
, so it didn’t matter, but still they each looked at him. “Can you make this work, Jordan? You’re the key,” Darius asked. He nodded.

  “One more thing, are we talking about remains? That could change everything.” They all went silent.

  “I don’t think so,” Jordan finally said. “Sheri mentioned a woman who swam to shore and how everyone was saved, but the ship and her belongings were lost.”

  “We need confirmation. Get a team out here and go through every square inch of the site. We need whatever’s there properly documented.”

  Jordan parked beside the Rantone Building and turned the engine off. They got out of the car and walked to the front door. “So what are you going to do?” Julian asked.

  Jordan looked at him, confused. Darius and Kenneth were staring at him, too. “About what?” he asked.

  “About Sheri,” Julian said.

  “I don’t understand,” Jordan said.

  “Told you he’d say that,” Darius said, holding his hand out.

  Julian groaned and placed a ten-dollar bill in Darius’s hand. “Do you love her?” Darius asked.

  “No,” he lied. Julian laughed and received the money back. “Yes,” he said, confessing. Darius took the wager back still laughing.

  “Did you ask her to marry you yet?” Kenneth asked.

  “Yes,” Jordan said. Julian and Darius groaned and each pulled a hundred-dollar bill out of their pocket and handed it to Kenneth. He chuckled as they entered the building, “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Sheri walked into the museum already feeling exhausted. Her plan was all set to go. She had planned on Genie helping out. But thanks to Jamie blaming her, she had a lot of questions to answer in the next few days. Several of her Smithsonian colleagues, including forensics and pathology archaeologists, would be coming in the following day to fully examine the site for human remains and other anomalies. Right now she needed to grab her samples kit, camera and backpack and get out there to begin preparations as soon as possible.

  “Hey, Sheri, did you hear what happened up at the Hamilton construction site this morning?”

  “Yeah, I know,” she said, hurrying to her office.

  “A shame, huh, all those people out of a job. That’s sad, especially in this economy.”

  She stopped and backtracked. “Wait, what do you mean?”

  “Didn’t you hear? They closed the site this morning?”

  “What, no, they closed down the secondary site.”

  “Nah, I don’t know anything about a secondary site. I know my brothers work out there and they got the day off. But hey, the Hamiltons are all right with me. It’s gonna be considered paid leave, plus bonus.”

  “Oh, no.” Her heart dropped instantly. She ran up the steps, dialing at the same time. She got to her office and scrambled to her desk. The phone on the other end picked up. “Hi, Aunt Lynnette, is Uncle Hal available?”

  “I’m sorry, dear, he’s in a closed-door meeting right now. You sound rushed—are you okay?”

  “No, Aunt Lynnette, I’m not. I made a mistake when I was talking to Uncle Hal yesterday. I didn’t specify that I only meant the secondary site might have remnants of the Crescent, not the whole construction site. All those people didn’t have to be out of work today.”

  “Oh, dear, that is a problem.”

  “I’m so sorry. Is Uncle Hal in major trouble?”

  “Actually he’s meeting with the Hamilton Development representatives in about half an hour. Hal’s in with Nolan and another member of the board of supervisors right now. Apparently his son caused a bit of trouble on the site and daddy can’t get him out of it this time.”

  “I know Jordan’s furious. He and his brothers are gonna want Uncle Hal’s head.”

  She chuckled. “Sweetheart, your uncle’s a sitting judge. He can take care of himself and his head. He’ll make sure everything will be fine.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Trust me. I’ll work it from this end and text you when we’re all straight, okay?”

  “Thank you, Aunt Lynnette.”

  “No worries. Let me get started here. I’m sure it will be cleared up within the next few hours.”

  As soon as she hung up, her phone rang. It was her mother. “Mom, I know, I know. It was a mistake. I’ll call you back. My other line is ringing…. Sheri Summers.”

  “Ms. Summers, I’m calling from the Crescent Online Dispatch. Can you tell me anything about the discovery up at Crescent Point?”

  “What?”

  “The site was closed this morning because valuable artifacts were found on the site. If you could give me a quote for this afternoon’s internet post that would be great. About how much is it worth exactly?”

  “Um, I’m sorry, no comment.” She hung up and stared at the phone. “Everyone thinks there’s some kind of treasure,” she muttered.

  “Yes, they do.” Sheri looked up to see Jordan standing in the doorway. “That’s what I told them. You see, how could I tell them the truth? That the woman I love shut the site down and put more than fifty men and woman out of work to hurt me and to make a point. And of course to dig up a few scattered relics, most of which are sitting in a box in your living room. This is for you.” He handed her the envelope Cleveland had given him.

  She took it then remembered the box he had brought over Friday night. She never looked inside. “Jordan, no, it was a mistake.”

  “What part? Going to the judge, spending the weekend with me or pretending to love me? Or was it having your assistant and her boyfriend repeatedly break into the site to dig through dirt with a flashlight and destroy property while you distracted me? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Anything could have happened to them out there and it would have been our fault.”

  “No, it’s not like that. I didn’t…” Her phone rang again. She grabbed it, hitting the intercom button.

  “Sheri, there’s a problem down on the loading dock.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

  “No, it’s an emergency. You need to come now.”

  “I’m on my way.” As soon as she hung up, her phone rang again. She let the call go to voice mail then turned to continue her conversation. “Jordan…” He was gone.

  She hurried into the hall. He was nowhere in sight. She grabbed her cell and ran downstairs to the front desk. “Where’s the man who came to see me?” she asked breathlessly.

  “He just left.”

  She put the envelope on the desk and ran out front, in time to see Jordan’s truck drive away She went back inside. “Sheri, they need you out back right now. Don’t forget your phone.” She nodded woefully. He’d just walked out. She headed to the loading dock. As soon as she stepped out onto the platform she saw that a large chunk of wall had fallen from the side of the building. She stared at the rubble on the ground. This was her life. She shook her head, reminded security to take pictures for their report and went back to her desk. She called the maintenance crew then listened to a half-dozen messages she had just missed. Four were from newspapers, one from a television station and one from her supervisor. She pressed the button for speaker.

  “Sheri, it’s Jack. What the hell is going on there? The Hamilton Development attorney called my bosses’ bosses and they’re all over me. They also received calls from a member of the board and the chair of the Smithsonian. I’m on my way. What treasure? We need to talk.”

  She sat down and shook her head. It was all wrong. Hopefully her aunt and uncle could fix things. There was no sense in going to the work site. She couldn’t get in. The whole place had been shut down. She turned on her computer and tried to work, but it was no use. She just stared at the monitor.

  “Knock, knock.”

  She looked up seeing Mamma Lou and her grandmother Camille in the doorway. They were exactly who she needed to see. “Hi, come in please. Have a seat.” She got up and kissed each woman as she sat down. “I guess you heard. It was my fault. I was so obsessed with the idea that Jordan had destr
oyed precious artifacts that I didn’t clarify which site I meant when I talked to Uncle Hal.”

  “That’s easily resolved,” Louise said.

  “Sheri,” her grandmother began. “History is one thing. Your future is another. Don’t spend so much time looking back that you can’t see what’s right in front of you.”

  “Yes, love,” Louise said.

  The word instantly pierced her heart. He had said it and she didn’t hear it until now. “How could I tell them the truth. That the woman I love…” He had said it again and she didn’t even hear him. “He loves me,” she whispered. Camille and Louise nodded in unison. “He loves me and I love him.”

  “Go to him, tell him.”

  “How can I, after everything that’s happened?”

  “This is when he needs to know,” Camille said. “Go, now.”

  Sheri grabbed her backpack and cell phone as Louise and Camille stood up. They walked to the elevators talking about the party and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Louise planned a huge family meal and of course everyone was expected to come.

  The security guard looked up as they approached. “Sheri, I was just about to call you. You have a delivery to sign for.”

  “A delivery? I’m not expecting anything today.”

  “It’s from Gates Antiques,” he said. She looked confused. There was no reason Tony would be sending anything to her.

  “Goodbye, dear,” Louise said.

  Sheri hugged and kissed them again. “Thank you so much for coming by to see me. I’ll call you later.” She watched them leave then turned in the opposite direction, and headed to the loading dock again. There was a Gates truck open and two large crates waiting. “Where’s the paperwork on this delivery?” The security guard pointed to the man standing beside the truck. Sheri recognized him instantly. “Cleveland,” she said. He nodded. “What is this?”

  “Jordan wanted it delivered to you.”

  “The anchor and chest,” she said. He handed her the paperwork. She signed off on it and had the men move the crates into the museum storage area. “Thank you.” Sheri headed back to the front just as Jack McDonald walked in. “Jack, I just got your message. I’m on my way out.”