Keesha
had not finished tipping the taxi driver before she heard the relieved voice of
Jenny, the assistant she had ‘inherited’ at her cousin Justus’ death.
Jenny, a native of Mississippi, had come to Port Charles to attend the
University there. The small upstate
school had been the only one to offer the young woman financial assistance.
And with six younger siblings still in school back home, Jenny was
grateful for the help.
“You
don’t know how glad I am that you came home early,” Jenny exclaimed.
Her thick southern twang was more pronounced than ever.
“What’s
wrong?” Keesha followed her into
the front hallway of Ward House. The
two young women were only months apart in age.
Keesha had come to rely on Jenny’s calm demeanor and down-home common
sense. It was easy to see just why
Justus had chosen her as an assistant in the first place.
“It’s
a good thing my mama can’t see me now,” Jenny cried, waving off Keesha’s
question. “Where in the world are
my manners?” She stepped up and
warmly embraced the other young woman. “Welcome
home.”
Keesha
smiled. Some things never changed.
It was a running joke among the Ward House staff that even if she were
taken hostage by a crazed gunman, Jenny would neither lose her cool nor forget
her manners. “Thank you.
But we can talk about that later. What
is wrong?”
“A
health inspector came by yesterday morning.”
“That’s
okay,” Keesha replied. “I mean,
we just had an inspection a couple of weeks ago, but Ward House is in perfect
condition.”
Jenny
nodded vigorously. “That’s
exactly what I told the inspector. But
he said that from just glancing about the room he could cite a list of health
code violations two miles long. Enough
to close Ward House for a while.”
“That’s
not possible!”
“I
know!” Jenny’s expression
became blank. “Our conversation got interrupted when Mr. Quartermaine happened
to drop by with a few of his friends from the board.”
“Edward
Quartermaine?” Keesha asked slowly. “He
just happened to stop by here right when there was a crisis going on?”
“Yes.
And you weren’t anywhere around to handle it, so he offered to step
in.” Jenny grinned quietly.
“You should have seen Mr. Quartermaine’s face when A.J. came out of
the kitchen with the health inspector and a clean bill of health.”
She replayed the scene in her mind.
“If I didn’t know any better,” Jenny added pointedly, “I’d have
sworn that he was upset that Ward House had passed the inspection.”
Keesha
just shook her head. She couldn’t
believe that Edward Quartermaine was playing games with the future of Ward
House. “Wait,” she demanded.
“How did A.J. get into this?”
Jenny
smirked, “I called him.”
