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Wizards, Whiskey and Wonderful Things - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2733745" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 74, “The Winning Hand”, Friday, March 17th, 1882, 10:00 P.M.</strong></p><p></p><p>Kate was just returning to the table with drinks when she heard Helen's comment. She bit her tongue. Certainly she was not the best waitress in town but she had waited until between hands as she always did. From now on Helen Barker could just be thirsty. She set the drinks on the table and started to walk away, until she heard Ruby's reply. She suddenly busied herself cleaning a table where she could still hear.</p><p></p><p>Jake tries hard not to laugh, "Helen, I am sure a simple please don't talk to me while I am playing poker to her would have been sufficient. As one of the owners of the Lucky Lady I am sure she would understand and respect your wishes." He holds her gaze with a friendly smile.</p><p></p><p>Helen exclaims, "Fine, be rude to your customers. See how long you stay in business with that attitude. I fold," she states, tossing down the cards on the table. She gets up from the table and walks over to the bar. "Don't be mad at us because you made an error in judgment asking your cousin to come here..." Ruby calls after her. </p><p></p><p>Kate stepped over to Ruby and said very quietly, "Let it go this time, Ruby. I don't know what is going on with her, but you don't need to respond to her insults. If she riles you up, she wins." Jake finishes the hand with the others and says, "Gentlemen, I suggest we take a break to refresh ourselves. We will start up again in fifteen minutes and I will see if anyone else wishes to join us."</p><p></p><p>Helen Barker orders a whiskey from Hoover, downs it in one gulp. She then tells him, "Niles, I'm afraid that you'll have to find yourself a new piano player for Saturday nights. Stanley and I will be spending our time at the Comique instead. And you can tell your partners that they have a lot to learn about who has made an error in judgment." </p><p></p><p>She drops a $ 5 bill on the bar, then turns and walks to the front door. She waits while Harry Rote gets her checked revolver. Harry asks, "Will I still be able to get piano lessons from Stanley?" She smiles and says, "Of course Harry, you're always welcome in our home. However, Stanley will have to start charging you for them." She then walks out the door.</p><p></p><p>Kate slipped her arm around Ruby's waist and said softly, "We knew that was coming the moment she brought George Eastman in here. I'll talk with her tomorrow, if you like, and see if I can't get Mr. Barker back for Saturday nights. Why does she dislike you so?"</p><p></p><p>Ruby answers, "Why would I want you to talk to her? We run a saloon Kate, not a concert hall. We don't need Stanley Barker coming in here to play his classical music on Saturday nights." Ruby looks to Kate, "You play because it makes you happy and that's fine with me. We don't need him to play music that most of our customers could probably care less about. Besides, we have you if they do." </p><p></p><p>"I have no idea why she doesn't like me. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that her husband looked at me and she's jealous. It wouldn't be the first time." Ruby rolls her eyes. "And I was genuinely concerned about George, I don't want him to get hurt. But this whole thing IS her fault."</p><p></p><p>Kate answers, "I was more concerned about her ill will. She's the kind of woman who will bad-mouth the Lucky Lady all over town. But, I suppose with what happened last night people will assume she just has hard feelings about Mr. Eastman being suspected of murder. It's good of you to be concerned about him. Excuse me, I should get back to work." Kate walked back to the piano </p><p></p><p>Jake quickly goes out the door and on to the porch as Helen leaves. "Helen Barker, you don't need to run away. You can tell me off right here on the porch if you have something to say." Helen says, "Mr. Cook, please feel free to ask Mr. Kane about my poker playing as it is usually his table I play at, or ask Mr. Brower as I often play at his saloon as well. I take my game very seriously and will not tolerate interruptions during a serious game. It not only throws off a person's concentration but in less than honest games interruptions are often signals to a participant. I'm not saying that happened just now, but Miss West did have an opportunity to see my cards just now. </p><p></p><p>As for any other discussion. My cousin made a business proposition to you and has been expecting you to stop by our house to finalize it. That proposition is still on the table. I would suggest that you drop by either tomorrow or Sunday while you still have the opportunity to do so."</p><p></p><p>Jake answers, "I'm sorry you are angry with me Helen, I've never treated you with anything but respect here. You are still welcome if you decide you wish to return." Jake looks down at his feet. "I thought you of all people might understand. I'll bet you have had your share of folks who said things about you and Stanley, you playing poker, you being an independent soul. How much would it take for you to sell Stanley? I told your cousin no. He won't take no. I won't be stopping by. Good night Helen, be careful of the rain." Jake's words don't seem to affect Helen Barker. </p><p></p><p>Ruby followed Kate to the piano. "You're right about her ill will, but what can we do? You're right too that as long as I won't marry her cousin we'd lose her as a customer." Ruby gives a small laugh. "Jake will be mad at me for interrupting his game. I didn't even think about it to tell you the truth." </p><p></p><p>Kate sat down to play, sticking to energetic saloon songs. "Kate, don't take what I said in the wrong way. I love it when you play, you're so good at it. You can play anything you want to. All I'm saying is that we don't need Stanley Barker coming in to play piano on Saturday nights. Saturdays we have you and Sonoma, both excellent piano players." "What should I do? Go kiss her ass? She caused me so many problems this week."</p><p></p><p>Kate answers, "I'm not suggesting that. I just thought I might be able to smooth it over. You're right, we don't need Mr. Barker on Saturdays anymore. Maggie and Tom needed him before you came here. There is plenty of other entertainment now. It's your saloon Ruby, I just want it to be successful."</p><p></p><p>Ruby puts on hand on Kate's face while she plays. "You've very sweet Kate. And you're brave to want to go talk with her. You can try to smooth things over if you want to. I'm sure Jake will appreciate not losing a player for the tables. As for the entertainment," Ruby smiles, "That includes you. I couldn't sing every night without a piano player." </p><p></p><p>Ruby stands and winks at Kate before walking over to the bar and pouring herself a whiskey. Then she walks out to the porch where Jake is still standing. "I hope she didn't give it to you too badly out here."</p><p></p><p>When she walks away, Jake turns to go back into the saloon but Ruby is there. "Not that what you said was helpful," Jake says to Ruby with a laugh, "but I think she was just looking for a reason to have words with you. She would have gone off on you no matter what you said."</p><p></p><p>Ruby breathes a sigh of relief. "You think so? What I wanted to do was tell her to get her ass out of here and never come back but I thought you'd be mad at me for losing a player for you." Ruby starts playing with her hair, "It really is her fault all this happened. I don't know why she would want me as a cousin anyhow."</p><p></p><p>Jake laughs hard. When he stops he says, "Probably only to get you married and out of town away from Stanley. She did say that if I wanted to accept Eastman's offer I better stop by the house tomorrow or Sunday or it would be too late. I hope that means he's leaving town and giving up. Perhaps he's too embarrassed to show his face."</p><p></p><p>"He's still on about that? I figured for sure after last night he'd give up." Ruby scrunches her nose. "And I hope it means he's leaving and not planning on kidnapping me or something stupid like that." Ruby moves a little closer to Jake and plays with his belt. "Listen, I've been thinking. I want something, you want to hear what it is?" Jake looks down at her hand on his belt. "You've never had to think very long before wanting that before." He tries unsuccessfully to hide a smile.</p><p></p><p>Ruby looks up at Jake from under her eyelashes. "No silly, not that." Ruby continues quickly, "Well, I do want that but that's for later..." She returns his smile and cocks her head to one side, while continuing to play with his belt. "I want a billiards table for the saloon. It'll be a great addition to the Lucky Lady. Plus I like to play."</p><p></p><p>"Billiards huh. Well we need more room, so we need to be profitable for the expansion, so figure out how to keep customers. Even the ones you don't like." He takes her hands and kisses them. "I'd better get back inside and get the game going and keep an eye on things." </p><p></p><p>As Kate played she kept her eye on Johnny Ringo, drinking at the bar while he waited for Jake's game to resume. She wished there was some way to satisfy him without returning the books. Why she was feeling so stubborn about them was a mystery to her, except that whether or not he'd been part of the rustlers, she was certain he was part of the Cowboy Gang, no matter how cultured he appeared. The thought of giving in, yet again, to someone who wanted something from her grated on her nerves. </p><p></p><p>A few minutes later she managed to catch Harry Rote's eye. She signaled him to come over and said, "I'm sorry about your lessons. I'm not the player Mr. Barker is, but I'd be glad to give you what instruction I can, free of charge."</p><p></p><p>He replies, "Thank you, I'll take you up on that offer. I'd still like to be able to see Mr. Barker at least once a week for lessons. Do you think I might be able to get Miss West to give me a raise so that I can pay for them?" </p><p></p><p>She states, "I'm not certain. Miss West is new at business, and I haven't seen enough to guess. I imagine it won't do any harm to ask. If I were you I'd make myself especially useful for a day or two, then approach her. Remember though, there are three other owners here. You could ask Jake, Mr. Kane, or Mr. Hoover as well."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, I already have Hoover's support. He's been like a father to me. And Mr. Kane knows that Stanley Barker brought in business on Saturday nights, far more than Miss. West realizes. Last week the only one's who showed up once the boxing started at the palace were here to listen to him. If I keep up the lessons we might be able to get him back. He'll listen to me."</p><p></p><p>"I had thought myself to go talk to Mrs. Barker, but I'm afraid I would only make things worse. She's not someone I really understand. Miss West thought if anyone wanted classical music I could play, but I couldn't replace Mr. Barker. I just don't have the skill. I think if you already have the support of two of the owners you should be able to get Miss West's as well."</p><p></p><p>Jake escorts Ruby back inside and does a quick sweep of the room with his eyes looking for anything amiss, his players from tonight and any possible additional players he can invite. He'll gather them all up and get started again.</p><p></p><p>Jake is not able to get any other players, the other patrons in the bar being scared off by Ringo's presence. Jake, Ringo, Cassidy and Brower sit down to play. Before the game begins Al looks at both Jake and Ringo and says, "You two both live dangerously. Intentionally getting Mrs. Barker angry isn't something I'd want to do."</p><p></p><p>Jake replies, "Al, you know me by now. I wasn't trying to be smart with her, I was sincere. She's got a burr under her saddle for another reason. She is a feisty one though. Hopefully she'll cool off and reconsider. It would be a shame not to have her company any more."</p><p></p><p>Johnny Ringo looks at Brower and says, "You said the two of us? What did I do?" Al replies, "You disarmed her, that's probably what threw off her game. She needs everything just so and never goes anywhere without her baby. Trust me, I know, I own the town's gun shop. I've cleaned that gun dozens of times."</p><p></p><p>Ruby was huffy that Jake blew her off. Fine, she thinks, I'll do it on my own. There's plenty of space in here for a billiards table. She stopped at the bar, had another whiskey, then got back on stage for another set. As she sang she thought about what Jake had said, how Helen mentioned the offer to Jake, yet again. The thought again begins to surface that she should try to speak with George. Maybe on my next break...</p><p></p><p>Kate actually began to relax through Ruby's set. Johnny Ringo wasn't making any trouble, and the patrons seemed especially happy to hear Ruby tonight. In hindsight, ridiculous as it might have been it was sweet to see how much the patrons cared about Ruby. Just behind the sound of the music Kate could hear the rain. She was going to get soaked going back to the El Parador. Without Chester here there was no one to escort her back. Hopefully Ringo would be long gone by then.</p><p></p><p>Al Brower does poorly in the next half-hour of play, as is typical when the night wears on. Neil Cassidy had been playing well for a fair amount of the night, but his game is tapering off as well, winning only one small hand. The main action is now between Jake and Ringo, and Jake gets the idea that Ringo had been intentionally playing less than he was capable of earlier in the night. With the exception of the one hand won by Cassidy the two had been alternating wins the whole half hour, with the money in the pot increasing each time.</p><p></p><p>Ruby stops daydreaming and starts really singing. She concentrates as best she can on holding the audience, trying to pass on the emotions she is singing about. She sings with more passion than she has in a while. While she sings, she comes off the stage, wandering around the customers, sitting on laps here and there, tapping on hats, taking sips out of unguarded whiskey glasses, flirting and smiling at everyone. </p><p></p><p>At the end of her long set she makes her way back up on stage. "And one last song, for my Mr. Cook." There are a few grumbles and boos from the crowd. "Sorry boys," Ruby says with a smile, before starting to sing Jake's song for him. Jake takes advantage of the extra focus and edge 'his song' gives him and pushes hard on that hand against Ringo.</p><p></p><p>Jake looks at his current hand. Three Queens - diamonds, spades and clubs, an eight of spades and a four of clubs. He has one last opportunity to throw in and draw more cards before placing bets. Jake holds the queens and draws two.</p><p></p><p>Jake first card drawn is an eight of diamonds, and he realizes that if he had kept the other eight he would have had a full house. He then draws the final card - the Queen of Hearts. Al takes three cards this time while Ringo takes one and Neil opts to keep what he had last time. The betting begins, with Neil starting out with $ 25, the biggest opening hand of the night. Al folds. Ringo calls the $ 25 and then raises it another $ 25. They then turn to Jake.</p><p></p><p>Jake sees his $50 and raises an additional $25. Neil calls the $ 25 and raises the pot another $ 50. Ringo says, "That's more cash than I have with me at the moment, but I'd like to stay in the game. Mr. Cook, perhaps you may be willing to advance me the money needed. I have this to leave as collateral." He reaches into his pocket and removes a wrapped piece of cloth. He unfolds the cloth on the table to reveal a piece of jewelry. Jake immediately recognizes Nanuet's necklace, and the cloth that it was wrapped in as being part of Chester's shirt. </p><p></p><p>"Sure Mr. Ringo, that'll due." Jake keeps his poker face and tries to judge Neil's position. </p><p></p><p>After Ruby finishes her set she wanders over to the bar. She gets Jake a fresh glass of the good whiskey and brings it to him at the table. The players faces look serious, so she leans over and places the glass down in front of Jake. She would ask him later what he thought of his song. As she bent down she saw his hand, 4 Queens. She doesn't give it away but keeps the same smile she walked over with.</p><p></p><p>Jake covers Ringo's call and calls as well. The cards are revealed. Neil Cassidy has four of a kind, four Threes and a King. Ringo shows his hand, a full house with three Aces and a pair of Jacks. Jake shows his hand. Neil looks to Jake and says "Looks like you win Mr. Cook." Jake looks back and forth between Neil and Ringo and says, "I guess it is my night to be lucky."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 2733745, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 74, “The Winning Hand”, Friday, March 17th, 1882, 10:00 P.M.[/B] Kate was just returning to the table with drinks when she heard Helen's comment. She bit her tongue. Certainly she was not the best waitress in town but she had waited until between hands as she always did. From now on Helen Barker could just be thirsty. She set the drinks on the table and started to walk away, until she heard Ruby's reply. She suddenly busied herself cleaning a table where she could still hear. Jake tries hard not to laugh, "Helen, I am sure a simple please don't talk to me while I am playing poker to her would have been sufficient. As one of the owners of the Lucky Lady I am sure she would understand and respect your wishes." He holds her gaze with a friendly smile. Helen exclaims, "Fine, be rude to your customers. See how long you stay in business with that attitude. I fold," she states, tossing down the cards on the table. She gets up from the table and walks over to the bar. "Don't be mad at us because you made an error in judgment asking your cousin to come here..." Ruby calls after her. Kate stepped over to Ruby and said very quietly, "Let it go this time, Ruby. I don't know what is going on with her, but you don't need to respond to her insults. If she riles you up, she wins." Jake finishes the hand with the others and says, "Gentlemen, I suggest we take a break to refresh ourselves. We will start up again in fifteen minutes and I will see if anyone else wishes to join us." Helen Barker orders a whiskey from Hoover, downs it in one gulp. She then tells him, "Niles, I'm afraid that you'll have to find yourself a new piano player for Saturday nights. Stanley and I will be spending our time at the Comique instead. And you can tell your partners that they have a lot to learn about who has made an error in judgment." She drops a $ 5 bill on the bar, then turns and walks to the front door. She waits while Harry Rote gets her checked revolver. Harry asks, "Will I still be able to get piano lessons from Stanley?" She smiles and says, "Of course Harry, you're always welcome in our home. However, Stanley will have to start charging you for them." She then walks out the door. Kate slipped her arm around Ruby's waist and said softly, "We knew that was coming the moment she brought George Eastman in here. I'll talk with her tomorrow, if you like, and see if I can't get Mr. Barker back for Saturday nights. Why does she dislike you so?" Ruby answers, "Why would I want you to talk to her? We run a saloon Kate, not a concert hall. We don't need Stanley Barker coming in here to play his classical music on Saturday nights." Ruby looks to Kate, "You play because it makes you happy and that's fine with me. We don't need him to play music that most of our customers could probably care less about. Besides, we have you if they do." "I have no idea why she doesn't like me. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that her husband looked at me and she's jealous. It wouldn't be the first time." Ruby rolls her eyes. "And I was genuinely concerned about George, I don't want him to get hurt. But this whole thing IS her fault." Kate answers, "I was more concerned about her ill will. She's the kind of woman who will bad-mouth the Lucky Lady all over town. But, I suppose with what happened last night people will assume she just has hard feelings about Mr. Eastman being suspected of murder. It's good of you to be concerned about him. Excuse me, I should get back to work." Kate walked back to the piano Jake quickly goes out the door and on to the porch as Helen leaves. "Helen Barker, you don't need to run away. You can tell me off right here on the porch if you have something to say." Helen says, "Mr. Cook, please feel free to ask Mr. Kane about my poker playing as it is usually his table I play at, or ask Mr. Brower as I often play at his saloon as well. I take my game very seriously and will not tolerate interruptions during a serious game. It not only throws off a person's concentration but in less than honest games interruptions are often signals to a participant. I'm not saying that happened just now, but Miss West did have an opportunity to see my cards just now. As for any other discussion. My cousin made a business proposition to you and has been expecting you to stop by our house to finalize it. That proposition is still on the table. I would suggest that you drop by either tomorrow or Sunday while you still have the opportunity to do so." Jake answers, "I'm sorry you are angry with me Helen, I've never treated you with anything but respect here. You are still welcome if you decide you wish to return." Jake looks down at his feet. "I thought you of all people might understand. I'll bet you have had your share of folks who said things about you and Stanley, you playing poker, you being an independent soul. How much would it take for you to sell Stanley? I told your cousin no. He won't take no. I won't be stopping by. Good night Helen, be careful of the rain." Jake's words don't seem to affect Helen Barker. Ruby followed Kate to the piano. "You're right about her ill will, but what can we do? You're right too that as long as I won't marry her cousin we'd lose her as a customer." Ruby gives a small laugh. "Jake will be mad at me for interrupting his game. I didn't even think about it to tell you the truth." Kate sat down to play, sticking to energetic saloon songs. "Kate, don't take what I said in the wrong way. I love it when you play, you're so good at it. You can play anything you want to. All I'm saying is that we don't need Stanley Barker coming in to play piano on Saturday nights. Saturdays we have you and Sonoma, both excellent piano players." "What should I do? Go kiss her ass? She caused me so many problems this week." Kate answers, "I'm not suggesting that. I just thought I might be able to smooth it over. You're right, we don't need Mr. Barker on Saturdays anymore. Maggie and Tom needed him before you came here. There is plenty of other entertainment now. It's your saloon Ruby, I just want it to be successful." Ruby puts on hand on Kate's face while she plays. "You've very sweet Kate. And you're brave to want to go talk with her. You can try to smooth things over if you want to. I'm sure Jake will appreciate not losing a player for the tables. As for the entertainment," Ruby smiles, "That includes you. I couldn't sing every night without a piano player." Ruby stands and winks at Kate before walking over to the bar and pouring herself a whiskey. Then she walks out to the porch where Jake is still standing. "I hope she didn't give it to you too badly out here." When she walks away, Jake turns to go back into the saloon but Ruby is there. "Not that what you said was helpful," Jake says to Ruby with a laugh, "but I think she was just looking for a reason to have words with you. She would have gone off on you no matter what you said." Ruby breathes a sigh of relief. "You think so? What I wanted to do was tell her to get her ass out of here and never come back but I thought you'd be mad at me for losing a player for you." Ruby starts playing with her hair, "It really is her fault all this happened. I don't know why she would want me as a cousin anyhow." Jake laughs hard. When he stops he says, "Probably only to get you married and out of town away from Stanley. She did say that if I wanted to accept Eastman's offer I better stop by the house tomorrow or Sunday or it would be too late. I hope that means he's leaving town and giving up. Perhaps he's too embarrassed to show his face." "He's still on about that? I figured for sure after last night he'd give up." Ruby scrunches her nose. "And I hope it means he's leaving and not planning on kidnapping me or something stupid like that." Ruby moves a little closer to Jake and plays with his belt. "Listen, I've been thinking. I want something, you want to hear what it is?" Jake looks down at her hand on his belt. "You've never had to think very long before wanting that before." He tries unsuccessfully to hide a smile. Ruby looks up at Jake from under her eyelashes. "No silly, not that." Ruby continues quickly, "Well, I do want that but that's for later..." She returns his smile and cocks her head to one side, while continuing to play with his belt. "I want a billiards table for the saloon. It'll be a great addition to the Lucky Lady. Plus I like to play." "Billiards huh. Well we need more room, so we need to be profitable for the expansion, so figure out how to keep customers. Even the ones you don't like." He takes her hands and kisses them. "I'd better get back inside and get the game going and keep an eye on things." As Kate played she kept her eye on Johnny Ringo, drinking at the bar while he waited for Jake's game to resume. She wished there was some way to satisfy him without returning the books. Why she was feeling so stubborn about them was a mystery to her, except that whether or not he'd been part of the rustlers, she was certain he was part of the Cowboy Gang, no matter how cultured he appeared. The thought of giving in, yet again, to someone who wanted something from her grated on her nerves. A few minutes later she managed to catch Harry Rote's eye. She signaled him to come over and said, "I'm sorry about your lessons. I'm not the player Mr. Barker is, but I'd be glad to give you what instruction I can, free of charge." He replies, "Thank you, I'll take you up on that offer. I'd still like to be able to see Mr. Barker at least once a week for lessons. Do you think I might be able to get Miss West to give me a raise so that I can pay for them?" She states, "I'm not certain. Miss West is new at business, and I haven't seen enough to guess. I imagine it won't do any harm to ask. If I were you I'd make myself especially useful for a day or two, then approach her. Remember though, there are three other owners here. You could ask Jake, Mr. Kane, or Mr. Hoover as well." "Oh, I already have Hoover's support. He's been like a father to me. And Mr. Kane knows that Stanley Barker brought in business on Saturday nights, far more than Miss. West realizes. Last week the only one's who showed up once the boxing started at the palace were here to listen to him. If I keep up the lessons we might be able to get him back. He'll listen to me." "I had thought myself to go talk to Mrs. Barker, but I'm afraid I would only make things worse. She's not someone I really understand. Miss West thought if anyone wanted classical music I could play, but I couldn't replace Mr. Barker. I just don't have the skill. I think if you already have the support of two of the owners you should be able to get Miss West's as well." Jake escorts Ruby back inside and does a quick sweep of the room with his eyes looking for anything amiss, his players from tonight and any possible additional players he can invite. He'll gather them all up and get started again. Jake is not able to get any other players, the other patrons in the bar being scared off by Ringo's presence. Jake, Ringo, Cassidy and Brower sit down to play. Before the game begins Al looks at both Jake and Ringo and says, "You two both live dangerously. Intentionally getting Mrs. Barker angry isn't something I'd want to do." Jake replies, "Al, you know me by now. I wasn't trying to be smart with her, I was sincere. She's got a burr under her saddle for another reason. She is a feisty one though. Hopefully she'll cool off and reconsider. It would be a shame not to have her company any more." Johnny Ringo looks at Brower and says, "You said the two of us? What did I do?" Al replies, "You disarmed her, that's probably what threw off her game. She needs everything just so and never goes anywhere without her baby. Trust me, I know, I own the town's gun shop. I've cleaned that gun dozens of times." Ruby was huffy that Jake blew her off. Fine, she thinks, I'll do it on my own. There's plenty of space in here for a billiards table. She stopped at the bar, had another whiskey, then got back on stage for another set. As she sang she thought about what Jake had said, how Helen mentioned the offer to Jake, yet again. The thought again begins to surface that she should try to speak with George. Maybe on my next break... Kate actually began to relax through Ruby's set. Johnny Ringo wasn't making any trouble, and the patrons seemed especially happy to hear Ruby tonight. In hindsight, ridiculous as it might have been it was sweet to see how much the patrons cared about Ruby. Just behind the sound of the music Kate could hear the rain. She was going to get soaked going back to the El Parador. Without Chester here there was no one to escort her back. Hopefully Ringo would be long gone by then. Al Brower does poorly in the next half-hour of play, as is typical when the night wears on. Neil Cassidy had been playing well for a fair amount of the night, but his game is tapering off as well, winning only one small hand. The main action is now between Jake and Ringo, and Jake gets the idea that Ringo had been intentionally playing less than he was capable of earlier in the night. With the exception of the one hand won by Cassidy the two had been alternating wins the whole half hour, with the money in the pot increasing each time. Ruby stops daydreaming and starts really singing. She concentrates as best she can on holding the audience, trying to pass on the emotions she is singing about. She sings with more passion than she has in a while. While she sings, she comes off the stage, wandering around the customers, sitting on laps here and there, tapping on hats, taking sips out of unguarded whiskey glasses, flirting and smiling at everyone. At the end of her long set she makes her way back up on stage. "And one last song, for my Mr. Cook." There are a few grumbles and boos from the crowd. "Sorry boys," Ruby says with a smile, before starting to sing Jake's song for him. Jake takes advantage of the extra focus and edge 'his song' gives him and pushes hard on that hand against Ringo. Jake looks at his current hand. Three Queens - diamonds, spades and clubs, an eight of spades and a four of clubs. He has one last opportunity to throw in and draw more cards before placing bets. Jake holds the queens and draws two. Jake first card drawn is an eight of diamonds, and he realizes that if he had kept the other eight he would have had a full house. He then draws the final card - the Queen of Hearts. Al takes three cards this time while Ringo takes one and Neil opts to keep what he had last time. The betting begins, with Neil starting out with $ 25, the biggest opening hand of the night. Al folds. Ringo calls the $ 25 and then raises it another $ 25. They then turn to Jake. Jake sees his $50 and raises an additional $25. Neil calls the $ 25 and raises the pot another $ 50. Ringo says, "That's more cash than I have with me at the moment, but I'd like to stay in the game. Mr. Cook, perhaps you may be willing to advance me the money needed. I have this to leave as collateral." He reaches into his pocket and removes a wrapped piece of cloth. He unfolds the cloth on the table to reveal a piece of jewelry. Jake immediately recognizes Nanuet's necklace, and the cloth that it was wrapped in as being part of Chester's shirt. "Sure Mr. Ringo, that'll due." Jake keeps his poker face and tries to judge Neil's position. After Ruby finishes her set she wanders over to the bar. She gets Jake a fresh glass of the good whiskey and brings it to him at the table. The players faces look serious, so she leans over and places the glass down in front of Jake. She would ask him later what he thought of his song. As she bent down she saw his hand, 4 Queens. She doesn't give it away but keeps the same smile she walked over with. Jake covers Ringo's call and calls as well. The cards are revealed. Neil Cassidy has four of a kind, four Threes and a King. Ringo shows his hand, a full house with three Aces and a pair of Jacks. Jake shows his hand. Neil looks to Jake and says "Looks like you win Mr. Cook." Jake looks back and forth between Neil and Ringo and says, "I guess it is my night to be lucky." [/QUOTE]
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