A New Foundation

by Rochelle Alers

  Taylor counted off the days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was now Sunday and Sonja hadn’t come back or returned any of his calls, but he didn’t want to believe he’d lost her. His apprehension increased knowing it wasn’t the first time she’d walked away from a relationship.

  He’d become a detective when he accessed the credit card he’d given her and discovered she hadn’t used it for gas, food or lodging. He thought about calling her uncle before realizing that wasn’t a good idea. If Nelson didn’t know where she was and he had to explain what had happened, the situation could possibly turn hostile between him and the retired police officer.

  Taking the cell phone off the bedside table, he called the one person he could talk to without prejudice. “What’s up, Taylor?”

  “You don’t want to know, Viola.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  He registered the apprehension in his sister’s voice. “I need to talk to you about Sonja.”

  “What did you do to her?”

  “Is she there with you?”

  “No. I spoke to her a couple of days ago to let her know I’m planning to leave The Cellar at the end of the summer and then hang out with you until the mansion’s kitchen is up and running.”

  The news rendered Taylor speechless. “When were you going to tell me?” he asked, recovering his voice.

  “I just told you.”

  “Stop playing games.”

  “And don’t take that tone with me, Taylor Williamson. I am not responsible for what went down between you and Sonja.”

  Taylor knew he had to tell his sister about his relationship with her friend; he had no one else to talk to. “We had a disagreement and she left, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since Thursday.”

  “What did you do to her?”

  “It wasn’t what I did but what I said.”

  “Tell me everything, Taylor, and don’t leave anything out.”

  Taylor was forthcoming when he told his sister about his relationship with Sonja and their agreement to live together and the importance of trust. “I violated that trust when I saw her with another man and accused her of being unfaithful. That’s when she told me I was just like her ex-husband.”

  “She’s right, Taylor. The only difference is your ages. Her ex was more than twenty years older than Sonja and a predator. He loved younger women, and as a college professor he preyed on his female students. Sonja told me he was handsome, charming and erudite, and she fell hard for him. When he noticed younger men staring at her he suspected she was flirting with them. The one time he spotted her hugging one of his male students he went into a jealous rage and accused her of sleeping with the innocent boy. She denied it, and he begged her to forgive him and that it would never happen again. But it did happen again over and over, and that’s when Sonja knew she’d made a mistake marrying Hugh Davies.

  “She moved out of their bedroom and refused to host his parties. He turned on her. He placed a tracking device on her car and stopped giving her money. She looked so ashamed, Taylor, when she admitted to me that she’d begun stealing from her husband whenever he put down his wallet. Two dollars here and five dollars at another time. After a while she had enough money to buy a prepaid phone and hid it where she knew he would never find it.

  “Then the monster made her a prisoner in her own home after he changed the locks on the doors in the house and refused to give her a set of keys. It was a double cylinder lock where you needed a key to unlock the door from the inside to get out. She waited two months before she began pilfering again. This time it was tens and twenties because she was planning to escape. She gave the SOB four years of her life because she’d hoped it would get better, but it never got better.

  “There were times when she wanted to call her father to tell him what she had been going through but knew he would’ve murdered Hugh. She finally was able to escape after she found a second set of keys. She walked away when he went out of town for a conference. She never asked her husband to love her. All she wanted was for him to trust her. I was the only one who knew what her ex did to her, and now you know.”

  Taylor felt an icy shiver eddy down his back as if doused by cold water. Sonja had told him about feeling smothered but hadn’t given him any details of what she’d endured with her ex-husband. Now he knew why she’d insisted he trust her. “I’m sorry, Viola.”

  “Don’t tell me, Taylor! Tell your girlfriend.”

  “I’ve called and left voice mail messages for her to call me. She hasn’t returned any of them.”

  “I’m going to do this one favor for you, brother, and if you mess it up then you’re on your own. I’m going to call her and let her know I’ve spoken to you. I’m also going to tell her to send you a text to let you know she’s safe. And you’re going to text her back that you’re willing to give her as much time as she needs to get her head straight. That can be either two days, two weeks or even two months. I’m warning you, Taylor. If you put pressure on her to come back, you will lose her—for good.”

  “Okay, Viola.”

  “Say it like you mean it, Taylor.”

  “I promise not to put any pressure on her.”

  “That’s better, brother love. I’ll talk to you at another time about why I’ve decided to become executive chef for Bainbridge House.”

  “Thank you, baby sis.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m on vacation for the next two weeks, so if you need a shoulder I’ll rent a car, drive up and hang out with you.”

  Taylor smiled for the first time in days. “I’d like that. We’ve just begun working on the house and I’d like to show you the plans for the restoration.”

  “That’s a bet. I’ll contact you before I come. Now hang up so I can call my friend.”

  Taylor ended the call and pressed his head against a mound of pillows under his back and shoulders. His conversation with Viola had left him shaken. He could not imagine a young woman becoming so intimidated that she feared telling her parents that her husband had made her a virtual prisoner in her own home.

  It was like a rerun with Sonja and Dom. He’d asked the caretaker to stay away from Sonja. However, it was obvious Dom had misconstrued it as a threat, not a request. Taylor hadn’t said anything to Sonja once he’d noticed Dom lingering outside the library waiting for her to open the door. It wasn’t until he spied them embracing that he began to wonder if it wasn’t the first time Sonja and Dom had been together whenever the door was closed. He sucked in a lungful of air and held it for several seconds before he exhaled an audible sigh. Viola had asked him to wait and he would.

  Sonja was sitting on a rocker on the porch, enjoying her second cup of coffee, when her cell phone rang. Taylor had left several voice mail messages asking her to call him. She wasn’t ready to listen to anything he had to say. And she was going through her own self-examination once she realized she’d waited almost ten years to become involved with a man who had the same personality trait as the one she’d married: distrust.

  The phone continued to ring and when she reached over to silence it she saw the name and number on the screen. The caller wasn’t Taylor.

  “Hi, Viola.”

  “How are you doing?”

  Sonja smiled. “I’m better.”

  “Good. I’m calling to let you know I spoke to my brother. I don’t want you to bite my head off, but I had to tell him everything you’d gone through with your ex-husband.”

  Sonja closed her eyes. “It’s okay, Viola. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “Yes, it does matter because my brother is in love with you. I’m not going to interfere any more, but I want you to text him that you’re okay. Will you please do that for me?”

  “Yes, Viola.”

  “Yes, what?”

  “I’ll text him.” Sonja stared at the calm surface of the lake. “I love T
aylor.”

  “You love Taylor, and he loves you. As two mature adults you should be able to work through your differences because I’ve always wanted a sister.”

  Sonja shook her head, smiling. “What you want is a sister-in-law.”

  “That, too,” Viola drawled. “Since graduating culinary school, I’ve always wanted to run my own kitchen and prepare a wedding banquet. That definitely can become a reality if you marry my brother at Bainbridge House.”

  Sonja wanted to tell her friend that wasn’t going to happen. Not when the man she had fallen for did not trust her to be a faithful wife. “I’m going to text Taylor to let him know I’m okay,” she said instead.

  “I’m not going to ask where you are, because if Taylor asks me I don’t want to lie to him. When are you going back?”

  “Probably in a couple of days. Originally I’d planned to spend the weekend here, but when I got up this morning I knew I needed more time to get my head together.” What she didn’t tell her friend was that she had to decide whether to move out of the condo, lease a car in her name and find a rental within the vicinity of Bainbridge House or stay where she was. She had no intention of living with Taylor after their breakup.

  “Good. I’ll call you again in a couple of days.”

  “Okay, Viola.” Sonja ended the call and sent a text to Taylor.

  Viola: I’m okay. Need some time to myself. Will be in touch.

  She did not have to wait for his reply.

  Taylor: Take all the time you need. I’ll be here if or when you decide to come back.

  If or when. The three words were branded into her head. Had he believed she would walk away from her work? That she was so unprofessional that she would abandon a project she’d sought since becoming an architectural historian? Bainbridge House wasn’t just a structure some celebrity had erected because they were obsessed with all things French. Not only was it listed on National Register of Historic Places, it was originally commissioned in 1803 by a French nobleman who had fled to France during the Haitian Revolution as a gift to his new bride. And it wasn’t until 1883 that Charles Bainbridge spotted the château and offered to purchase it from the then-impoverished owners who were hard-pressed to make the necessary repairs to the mansion. The Bainbridge House had an illustrious history, and Sonja wanted her name included in the restoration narrative once she listed it on her résumé. And she would follow Taylor’s advice and take the time needed to sort out the next phase of her life.

  Sonja was still at the lake house when her parents returned two weeks later, and she told them she was on holiday and needed a place to stay because she’d been working nonstop on the project. She knew her mother didn’t believe her when she motioned with her head that they should go outside where James Martin couldn’t overhear their conversation.

  Rather than sit, she suggested they walk. Then Sonja told her mother everything from the time she’d gone out with Hugh for the first time, what he’d accused her of and why she’d had to plan her escape. She felt as if she’d been stabbed in the heart when she saw Maria cry.

  “Why didn’t you say something, chica?”

  Sonja bit her lip in attempt not to lose her composure. It had been a long time since her mother had called her little girl, and in that instant she felt like an innocent, trusting little girl who had surrendered her will to someone so undeserving. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want Dad to kill him. And you know your husband would’ve done it, Mami.”

  “No, he wouldn’t. He would’ve told your brother to get one of his buddies to take him out and make it look like an accident.”

  “See! That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

  “I know you didn’t come here because of your psycho ex. Should I assume you’ve fallen in love with someone and you need your mama’s advice as to how to proceed?”

  “How did you know?”

  Maria shook her head. “I don’t know why kids believe their parents are oblivious. The last time we spoke I could hear something in your voice that told me you were happy, and that joy had come from you being in love. When you didn’t tell me who he was I decided not to pry. But that was then, and this is now because I want to know everything.”

  Sonja was forthcoming about her relationship with Taylor. She admitted she was in love with him and wanted to marry him, yet that wasn’t possible if he did not trust her.

  They stopped in front of a boathouse and Maria turned to face her. “Can you put yourself in his situation and imagine you saw him hugging another woman. Wouldn’t your first impulse be to accuse him of cheating on you?”

  Sonja stomped her foot. “Why are you taking his side?”

  Maria glared at her. “I’m not taking sides, Sonja. I just want you to think about what this man has done for you. You claim he doesn’t want to live with a woman unless he is married to her, yet he’s done just that. Did you ask him why? There must be good reason why he doesn’t believe in shacking up. The man appears to be everything that good-for-nothing you married wasn’t for you to walk away without listening to him. He’s jealous because he loves you, chica. And you’ve told me he’s willing to give you all the time you need to get your head together.”

  Sonja nodded. “Yes.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “A little more than two weeks.”

  “That’s more than enough time. Now, when we get back to the house I want you to pack your stuff and be ready to leave in the morning.”

  “Mami!”

  “Don’t Mami me, Sonja Mariana Rios-Martin! You’re a thirty-four-year-old woman not a little girl running to her parents when things don’t work out the way you want. Then you must ask yourself when you need to stop running and deal with your problems head-on. Your Taylor may not be perfect, but neither are you.”

  “What went on between me and Dominic was innocent, Mami. He’d disclosed something to me that I’d promised never to tell anyone, and he’d hugged me in appreciation.”

  “Wouldn’t a handshake have been better?”

  “I suppose it would, but what’s done can’t be undone.”

  “What’s going to be done is you leaving my house tomorrow morning and going back to Jersey to handle your business.”

  Sonja knew by Maria’s expression and tone that she was serious about her not staying. “Okay. I’ll leave in the morning.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Taylor waited for the arm to go up to drive into the gated community. It had been more than two weeks since Sonja left, and he hadn’t realized how much he missed her until it was time for him to come home. As promised, Viola had driven up to spend two days with him, and it was the distraction he’d needed not to dwell on Sonja.

  Viola had toured the kitchen, jotting down notes as to what she needed to update the space. She hadn’t told anyone she was leaving The Cellar in mid-September and vacating her Greenwich Village apartment at the same time. She’d planned to move back to New Jersey and stay in their mother’s condo while Elise was away. His sister did not bring up the topic of Sonja and for that he was grateful.

  His foot hit the brake hard, causing the SUV to screech to a stop when he spied Sonja’s vehicle parked in the driveway. Taylor wondered if she’d come back to pick up the rest of her clothes because she always parked in the garage.

  Maneuvering in behind her car, he got out and opened the outer door. He smiled. Sonja always left that door unlocked to save him having to open two. He unlocked the inner one and walked in. Then he saw her. She looked the same, yet there was something different about her, and it wasn’t only the curly hair falling over her shoulders. And it wasn’t that she’d lost weight. It was her eyes when she stared at him.

  “Hello, Sonja.”

  Her impassive expression did not change. “Hello, Taylor.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”
r />   She blinked once. “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “I must say I am shocked and surprised.”

  “We have to talk.”

  Taylor did not want to believe they were talking to each other like strangers. “Okay. Have you eaten?”

  “No.”

  “Then we’ll talk in the kitchen while I put something together.”

  Taylor tossed his keys in a straw basket on the table in the entryway. He waited for Sonja to precede him and then followed her into the kitchen. She sat at the breakfast bar as he washed his hands in the half bath off the kitchen. He stared at his reflection in the mirror over the sink. He hadn’t shaved in over a week, and there were tiny gray hairs in the stubble.

  He returned to the kitchen and opened the fridge. “I made meat loaf using your recipe, so I hope you don’t mind eating leftovers. I’ll bake some potatoes and put together a salad to go with it.”

  Sonja wanted to scream at Taylor to stop, stop acting as if she was someone he’d met a few days ago and didn’t know what she’d like. “I don’t mind. What I do mind is you being overly polite and acting as if you don’t know what I like to eat.”

  Taylor rested both hands, palms down, on the countertop. “I’ve been trying to be polite and patient while you got, as you said, your head together. Well, my head is totally together, and I want and need to know what you want from me.”

  Sonja closed her eyes and sighed. “I need you to be honest with me, Taylor.”

  “What about trust, Sonja? Weren’t you the one who declared that trust is more important than love, or maybe even honesty?”

  “Yes. And I’m being honest when I tell you that nothing happened between me and Dominic. I went to Bainbridge House to ask him about something I’d discovered in one of the trunks. He told me what I needed to know, and then made me promise never to tell anyone. It’s when I promised him his secret was safe with me that he hugged me. End of story. It had been more than ten years since I’d allowed a man to touch my body or make love to me because I didn’t trust them not to go from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. You were that man, Taylor, and when you accused me of cheating on you with Dominic it was as if I were reliving what I’d gone through with my ex. He accused me of sleeping with any and every man that glanced at me, so many that I lost count after the four or fifth one. And that was something I did not want to experience with you.”