Their Double Blessing

Chapter 6

Patricia couldn’t believe that Ronald was back. After everything that happened she never thought he would return, much less have the audacity to come to her apartment. Why hadn’t he waited downstairs? Probably was hoping for a confrontation that would push Mary into defending him. In a sense she played right into that con artist’s hands. But she hadn’t been prepared to see him there acting cocky. It took everything in her not to commit serious bodily harm to the man who broke her sister’s heart, leaving the young woman broke and alone.

But Mary had danced right back into his arms as if nothing had happened. She’d heard stories of women returning to bad relationships, Patricia had done similar herself in the past. But this was her sister and it was awful to watch. Especially when she had no idea on how to get rid of him without losing Mary too. She’d immediately gone online to see if he had any outstanding warrants. There were none and he’d done a short stint in prison after getting early parole for only heavens know why since he was a known ex-con.

Ronald had always been a bad egg. When Mary moved in her sister admitted she should have known better. That word on the street was he dealt with undesirables. But he claimed that wasn’t true and she was in love. Patricia had felt bad for her sister getting conned so badly. Now she wondered just who really got conned. The way that Mary just ran back to him was troubling. Her sister could be naive but deep down she knew Mary wasn’t stupid. Worse, there was no doubt she would quit her job with all the money Ronald was giving out.

Promises of him earning his way back were empty. In Patricia’s mind he was irredeemable and only around to perform another con. Worst case scenario this time Mary also went to prison. If that happened she would hunt down that piece of trash and end him herself. That man hadn’t returned for anything good and she had no way of getting rid of Ronald without landing in jail herself. Just as things were going well this had to happen. She prayed it wasn’t a sign of worse things to come. The last thing she needed was more problems.

She wondered about asking George but didn’t want to bother him. After just meeting her sister it would be embarrassing to beg him to find dirt on Ronald. Plus, Mary would never forgive her for telling a popular billionaire that her boyfriend was a con artist and ex con. The shame alone might break their relationship beyond repair. The last thing she wanted was to lose her little sister forever. No matter how different they were, the power of sisterhood was still there. Her parents were already in the rear view mirror. It would be sad if Mary was too.

Patricia tried to talk to Mary about leaving Ronald but her sister wasn’t having it. He was throwing around money and Mary had already started using up her sick days at work to be with him more. There was no question who was going to get fired soon. As long as someone was footing the tab, Mary didn’t want to earn anything. It was frustrating going back to square one. Coming to live here was supposed to teach Mary to be responsible. But that barely happened and with her worthless boyfriend back it was almost pointless to try.

Instead she had to stay firm on Mary not bringing him over, letting her landlord know that living parasite wasn’t to come near her apartment. After hearing about the man’s criminal record there was agreement there. No one wanted a con man in their building. If that guy started conning tenants that could lead to them leaving or filing complaints with the cops. Apartments were meant to house people and make money not the opposite. Mary didn’t like that she warned the landlord but that was one thing Patricia was never going to feel bad about.

Worse, Mary kept trying to give her some of Ronald’s ill-gotten money. Every refusal made her sister angrier, even going as far as stating Patricia thought she was better for having a rich boyfriend. That was untrue but the damage had been done. There was no way to stomach taking that money knowing it wasn’t earned honestly. Working hard and earning what you had was imprinted in the mall guard’s DNA. Accepting bad money was giving the signal that it was okay to do the wrong thing as long as it was beneficial. That was not the kind of person she was and never intended to be for anyone.

For weeks Mary gave Patricia the cold shoulder, as if their broken relationship was her fault. She was quickly reminded why their sister bond was always fractured. Mary had no interest in listening to the hard truth. Always wanting the easy way out of any problem and not earning anything. As long as someone was willing to give you stuff, why bother getting anything yourself. It was a mentality that disgusted Patricia but her sister embraced it. After all these years she doubted anyone could get Mary to truly change her ways.

Dates with George continued and despite the voice in Patricia’s head stating he should know she refused to tell him about her predicament with Ronald. As long as things didn’t go crazy she could handle that clown. Worst case scenario the cops got involved and he was carted away. Another stint in prison might just be enough for Mary to finally lose her rose colored glasses when it came to that jerk. However, if George got involved and Mary found out there was nothing she could do to get her sister to forgive that act in a million years.

Mary still got along with George and pretended everything was business as usual. During a Skype call he surprised them by having Cynthia say hi and revealed he was soon going to go overseas for a while on business. Patricia was disappointed but her sister was excited, asking a million questions and even begging to chat with Cynthia, telling the woman she was an icon. By the time the call was over Patricia wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Every time the publicist tried to question her on current events she got it wrong. Worse, Mary would chime in with the right answer.

Patricia decided to just let things go and finally accepted the money from Mary. Hiding it away so that Mary didn’t know she wasn’t spending a penny. Using the one place that Mary never went; the bottom of the cleaning supplies cupboard. Keeping the money in an empty paint tin in the back covered by dirty rags. Not even the zombie apocalypse could make her sister put hands on anything like that. Shortly after moving in Mary had screamed to high heaven over seeing a discolored cloth used to clean the furniture.

When she had the stomach for it every cent was going to charity. At least the cash could do good there and she would keep notes so that when the police did come around she could show them where the illicit funds went. That con artist couldn’t stay out of trouble forever. Sooner or later the law would catch up. Hopefully before he skipped town. In the end, her sister was important and Ronald was only trying to drive a wedge between them. No doubt to get Mary to leave with him to some far off place so he could have full control of her.

Mary opened up and told her about meeting up with Ronald, that he was staying at a friend’s house now in the suburbs that had a hot tub. That her boyfriend was working as a freelance accountant and bookie for a few important people. Swearing he was doing everything legit so he didn’t get locked up again. Mary claimed this union was for Patricia too: Both of them had great relationships now with men of means to care for them. She told her that Ronald thought she was burning the money instead of spending it but Mary told him off saying that was a lie.

Patricia played it off but knew Mary could never find out the truth. Ronald wasn’t stupid and knew well enough that she wouldn’t spend that money on herself. That betrayal might just be enough to send Mary running off with that charlatan. Exactly like he wanted to happen. She’d played into his hands once but had no intent on doing so a second time. All she had to do was wait for Ronald to make a mistake and go down in flames before he could drag Mary down with him into the muck where that trickster belonged.