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The Quintessential Q
Chapter One
Family Loyalty.
Dawn at the Quartermaine Mansion. Emily rises and grabs a quick shower and heads downstairs. Pouring herself a glass of juice she grabs a croissant and the business section of the paper. She quickly scans what her portfolio is doing and looks over the rest of the business news and then slides the section back into the paper. She quickly grabs the living section and checks out the comics and the movie section. Phantom Menace was still raking it in after 10 weeks. She looks at the announcements with the great picture of Cook and JD just married. That Missy Anderson was a great photographer but JD and Cook had been so happy they couldn't have taken a bad picture. She rolls her eyes at the advertisement for Wyndams. She'd felt like hell that day, a horrible cold and the photographer on that shoot had been a total ass. Thank goodness their money was good; she'd bitched to her agent about the photographer but she was still too new to the business to make demands. Maybe she could connect Ms Anderson with her agent. Emily bites her lip as her eyes narrow figuring a way to set it up.
"What are you thinking about so hard? Perhaps that paperwork on the project for ELQ I gave you? hmm Emily?" Edward pours himself a cup of coffee and grabs some sliced fruit and sits down next to Emily grabbing the business section.
"I didn't read the paperwork you gave me, Grandfather." Emily lies. "I'm not a shareholder and it was inappropriate for you to give it to me."
Edward pats her hand. "We'll take care of that at the next meeting."
"Oh no we won't. Since you should know by now that I'd vote the way I want and not the way that you want. In fact, I'd be your worst nightmare-- especially when you start blustering about me being grounded."
"The difference between you and me, young lady..."
"Oh there are too many to count..." Emily rolls her eyes.
"Is that once upon a time I was one of those young bucks; I know EXACTLY what they were thinking. Now today you look exactly like what you are... a young girl, don't be growing up too fast and don't let those fast fellows talk you into anything. I told Reggie to go out and buy a shotgun and fill it with rocksalt. I catch any of those randy rovers near your window I'll pepper their backsides."
"Grandfather, you are starting to sound like something out of the Beverly Hillbilly's. And I'm no Ellie Mae." Emily looks down at herself dressed in jeans, boots and a short sleeve button down shirt. "Even if I'm dressed like one today."
"Yes, I wasn't going to mention it but in my day... ladies wore dresses."
"Not if they are going to horse auctions with their sister-in-law with a blank check from their grandfather." Emily reminds.
Edward winces. "That is today, isn't it?"
"Yep, you promised." Emily holds out her hand. Edward rises and going over to the desk writes out the promised check leaving the amount blank. Emily folds the check and tucks it into her back pocket. Emily gives Edward a kiss on the cheek. "And remember this bribe in no way obligates Carly to be nice to you. Just to not be mean to you for awhile. Afterall she did go to bat with the DA for you so that you wouldn't get charged with Burglary."
"The whole thing was a farce. How can I get charged with Burglary at my own grandson's house?" Edward blusters.
"It's Carly's house. AJ gave it to her." Emily reminds. Edward growls.
"What is it about the men in this family? Setting a damn poor precedent with that. First Alan and then your brother."
"Think positive-- maybe the man of my dreams will buy me a really great house." Emily sees Edward's eyes narrow as he considers the prospect. "GRANDFATHER! I was kidding." Emily takes a bite of her croissant then sets it down. "I miss Cook already."
Edward looks at the fare before him and sighs. "Well at least it was served on time and the coffee is good."
"We probably shouldn't discuss the coffee." Emily says diplomatically then looks down at her watch.
"I thought you were going out with Carly? Why are you looking at your watch? The girl won't be up for hours yet." Edward dismisses. Just then there is the sound of a hoot of a horn out on the drive.
"There is an exception to every rule, Grandfather. We're going shopping." Emily picks up her jacket and purse. She strides out the front door. Carly is out of the 4 wheel drive and going around to the passenger side of the vehicle. Rita and Michael are buckled into the back seat. "I take it I'm driving?" Emily asks amused.
"Yeah, I'll navigate." Carly insists. She might have finally learned how to drive but she knows that Emily is better at it.
"Where is Jordan?" Emily asks about Carly's security.
"There was a security problem at the ELQ building so Jordan went in with AJ. Things have settled down at the house since Foster bit that paparrazzi guy that was trying to scale the fence."
"Yeah, Dad laughed the guy out of court when he tried to sue. It would have been one thing if Foster had nailed him on the outside of the fence but Foster got him on private, posted, property." Rita inserts from the back seat.
"Well I didn't appreciate your father telling the guy that it was a good thing that he ran into Foster instead of me or he'd be still be in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound." Carly sniffs.
"Did the dog really eat the film?" Rita asks curiously.
Emily looks back in the rear view mirror after buckling up and making all the adjustments to the drivers seat. "This is Foster we're talking about. He'll eat anything." Emily relents slightly. "Actually he just crunched the camera and it exposed all the film. He much prefers the photographers themselves." The trio entertain themselves with stories of the wedding, what people wore, and how jealous Lucas was going to be about Rita getting to ride Carly's horse. Soon they are at the place where the auction is going to take place. Emily parks along the side of the graveled road and turns off the engine.
"Okay here is the rule, " Carly says very seriously turning in her seat so that she can see both Rita and Emily, "no matter how much you love one of the horses you can't let on: no gushing, no exclaiming-- nothing."
"Because that will raise the price." Emily says her Q coming out where money was concerned.
"Exactly, and we might have a blank check here from Edward but I'm not going to get screwed over just so he can get screwed over. And Rita, keep an eye out not only on the horse but on the people there. They are going to be your competition once you get in the ring-- if they're from around here. You can tell a lot about a person by how they act around the animals, and around the other people."
"Another reason why you don't want to get screwed over. You don't want these people to see you as a patsy."
"No thank you, I get enough of that from the rest of Port Charles." Carly says grimly. Since Carly and Rita are the ones that are going to be examining the horses, Emily carries Michael in his backpack up to the building that is already swarming with people there inspecting the horses. Carly signs in and gets three programs handing one to Rita and one to Emily. "Make any notes in these and we'll compare later privately." The trio split up and make their way down the stalls making notes as they go. Carly finds him first and is struck dumb. She doesn't move. Rita is next. She moves slowly to the stall gate and extends a hand. The 15 hand black horse nuzzles against her hand, his big brown eyes looking kindly on the little girl. Emily and Michael come up on the gathering. Carly breaks all the rules right then and right there. "That's my horse." Rita nods her head enthusiastically looking over her shoulder at Carly.
Emily attempts to be the voice of reason. She looks around to see if anyone had overheard Carly's comment and breathes a little easier. "Come on-- we passed a soda stand a ways back and I think that Michael needs a break from the carrier." The mention of Michael breaks the horse's spell on Carly. She takes in Michael's tired little face. "Not another word until we get outside." Emily insists.
Carly hands Rita money to get the sodas and follows Emily out of the barn. "I blew it, didn't I?"
"Nobody was listening." Emily reassures sitting down at one of the picnic benches that had been set up outside. "He's beautiful."
Carly looks the horse up in the catalogue then laughs. "I knew it."
"Knew what?" Emily frees Michael from the carrier and sets him on the ground so that he can stretch his legs. Rita comes back with the sodas and hands one to Emily. Emily takes a quick sip.
"He's a full blooded..." Carly laughs again. "Morgan."
Emily spews soda and then starts coughing and laughing. "It doesn't matter if he costs a dollar or a million dollars-- Grandfather is going to have a cow. But what about AJ?"
Carly looks at the horses statistics, lineage and winning record all in the catalogue. "Oh AJ won't mind."
"How can you be so sure?"
"'Cause the horse is a gelding."
Emily spews again. "Will you please warn me when you say things like that? Or are you trying to get my to get me to pass soda through my nose?"
"What's a gelding?" Rita asks curiously.
"That's a boy horse that can't make babies." Carly says diplomatically not going into detail. She looks over at Emily and grins.
"There were lots of Morgans back in Arizona." Emily remembers. "They're considered the best by the people that owned them. A quarterhorse might be faster, and an Arabian flashier but..."
"Yeah," Rita concentrates hard. "And I read up on them. It was a Morgan that was the only thing that survived the Battle of Little Big Horn-- his name was Comanche. And they are called Morgan's after the guy that owned the first one-- Justin Morgan. Everyone made fun of his horse cause it wasn't as big as the draft horses or as fancy as what people were riding but he proved them all wrong cause his horse had a heart as big as a clysdale and whatever task was set for him he got it done."
"Rita, we are going to kick ass on that horse." Carly says elatedly. "He's going home with us today."
Emily interjects practically, "Then you had better make arrangements to get him up to the property." Carly looks at Rita and Michael and bites her lip. "Go, Rita and I will keep and eye on my godson."
"Thanks." Carly rises and makes her way over to the business office to find out about trailors and hiring someone to drive a horse up to her property above the Deception Spa. On the way back she is pulled into a conversation with some other people. Here no one "knew" her, and no one was judging. The love of horses had brought everyone together and the stress was off. She might as a rule pull some really stupid stunts with people but horses were another thing and horse people were an exception to the rule.
Meanwhile Emily plays with Michael and makes sure that he gets his snack. Michael is the drawing card as he always is drawing a crowd with his laughter and enthusiasm. Emily takes the compliments as Michael's due-- he is afterall adorable. Rita finds some kids her own age and plays with them and follows them around as they point out the horses that they like. It is so hard but she bites her lip to keep from blurting out which is the horse that will be going home with them today. Carly looks over at Emily from the friends that she was making and sees that Emily has tensed up. She looks over to where Emily's gaze is focused-- a photographer was there. Carly makes her way over to her son and quietly says to Emily. "I don't know who he is. Do you recognize him?"
"Yeah, he's a society photographer. I've seen him around some shoots I did in New York. He's attached to one of the tabloids there." Emily says barely moving her lips. "There are some mucky mucks here for the sale."
"Yeah, including a rising model, an infamous wacko and the heir to the Quartermaine fortune. DAMN." Carly puts on Michael's baseball cap and sunglasses. She slides on her own sunglasses.
"You stick with Michael and Rita. I'll go distract him. Models are suppose to be eager for the press coverage." Emily grimaces. "I'll try to meet up with you inside. If I can't lose him, I'll meet you at the car after the sale."
"Thanks Emily," Carly says relieved. "I know I'm being paranoid but I don't want any pictures of Michael in the press." Carly calls Rita over. "We're playing lets pretend." Carly tells Rita. "I know that I'm not old enough to be your mother but that guy over there isn't looking for a woman with two kids. So for the rest of the day consider me mama, okay?" Rita looks at a grim faced Carly and Emily and nods. Rita grabs Michael's necessary bag and Carly grabs Michael and they quickly walk into the auction area finding seats in the middle of everything and surrounded by other people. Emily runs her hands through her hair,putting it into a casual disarray and then putting on a smile walks over to the photographer.
"I know you. Or at least I know your work." Emily flatters blocking the photographer from seeing Carly's exit. "You were at a shoot I did in New York last month."
The photographer studies the girl before him and the face clicks. "Cover of Seventeen, right?"
Emily shrugs. "Who knows, I just show up. The magazine seemed happy." She extends her hand to the photographer. "Emily Quartermaine. What brings you to the sale?"
"Got some inside dope that there was going to be a few people here." The photo hound says cagely. "Looks like they were right."
"I'm flattered. I think that we should get better aquainted. Why don't you show me some horses? And you can tell me about some of the people here." Emily winks at him.
"Don't you have to get inside?"
"Oh I'm not buying a horse. I just drove a friend of mine up here."
"Would this be a male friend or female?" The photographer inquires. Emily just smiles and walks away back toward the barns and away from the arena. The photographer follows her.
Later Carly looks down at her watch and scans the crowd yet again. The auction was half over. The Morgan was the next one up. She turns abruptly when she senses someone sliding into the seat next to her. "Where is your new "friend"?"
"On a deadline thank goodness. He's on his way back to the city. My agent will be happy and we're safe for now." Carly sighs in relief and gives Emily a one armed hug.
"Thank you."
"When it comes to Michael you and I are in complete agreement--no pictures, it's too dangerous. Only next time you can be the one that distracts the predators."
"Deal. And a dip in the Deception Spa with a massage thrown in will hopefully make up for some of this." Carly is distracted as the Morgan's number is called. She looks on with barely contained longing but waits to see how the bidding is going before she jumps in. Having already decided that Edward's money was no object she could afford to sit back and wait for the bidding to slow before jumping in with the final bid. As the gavel comes down and she is the proud owner of the beautiful black morgan gelding. Carly high fives first Rita and then Emily. "Let's go pay for a horse."
"Your horse." Emily grins.
"My horse." Carly grins. "I finally own a Morgan."