~~~
Maria’s worst fear was confirmed. There was no sign of life at Louis and Gladys’s cabin. It was fairly late and she was reluctant to knock on the door. She had circled the cabin several times before finally giving up. She would return to her own cabin, wait for him and confront him there.
The pain was unbearable. Maybe she could simply forget it. Leave things as they were. How could she possibly live without him anyway? How could he do this to her? How could she ever trust another soul? Hot tears streamed down her face. She wished she had never met him, that she had never felt love.
She looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. How could their family mean so little to him? Her family was her life. Why didn’t he feel the same way? He used to feel the same way. He loved her so much back then. What did she do wrong?
Maybe it was the way she made love to him. Maybe he didn’t love making love to her. Maybe he didn’t feel the same way. She didn’t know how to make love. Maybe she repulsed him. Why wasn’t she normal? Why wasn’t she real!
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, searching for resolve. She was being ridiculous. She had to pull herself together. She was obviously overreacting, thinking the very worst. She needed to talk to Todd. There had to have been a perfectly good explanation. She had to settle down, give Todd the benefit of the doubt. Todd would explain it all to her and they would have a good laugh.
She turned and struck out towards her cabin, but slowed to a stop after only a few steps. The clinic, she thought. They’re at the clinic.
~~~
Debby handed a manila envelope over to Todd. "This is what we have," she said. "It’s absolutely conclusive."
Todd took the envelope and reached for Debby’s hand. "You’d better deal with that," he said looking at the tip of her reddening index finger. "That looks infected. At least put alcohol on it."
Debby splayed her fingers and inspected her hand. "It’s just an ingrown fingernail; no big deal. I’ve had them all my life, unless…you want to play doctor?"
Todd flashed her a disapproving look and laid the envelope down on the waiting room couch. He moved to the medicine cart in the examination room and found a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol.
"Everything is in place in Salt Lake," Debby said. "You have the documentation. Once we know how your wife feels we can move with it. Do you think she suspects anything?"
Todd went about searching the cart for cotton swabs. "I don’t know, I can tell she’s a tad suspicious of us, maybe even a little jealous. It doesn’t help that we’re out here alone at this time of night."
“Hey,” Debby said smiling seductively. “My rules. That’s what we agreed on, remember?”
Todd grunted. “Your rules are putting me in a bad position. I hate lying to my wife.”
“I’m not the one with secrets. It isn’t my fault your wife isn’t understanding enough to—”
“Stop!” Todd said frowning.
Debby flipped a hand. “I told you, Bob only dropped the papers off a while ago and they need to go back with me tonight.”
“Okay,” Todd said, “but let’s get it over with. I need to get back before Maria starts to worry.”
Debby smiled and looked up at Todd. “Hmm, that could be bad if she caught us out here together all alone.” She ran the tip of her index finger down the sleeve of Todd’s smock.
Todd slowly looked down at the finger before lifting his eyes and glaring at Debby.
"I've been trying to get you alone for a long time, Doctor Riley,” she said. “I'll use any excuse I can."
Todd pulled his arm away and pointed at her. “You’re starting to piss me off.”
“Kidding…I’m only kidding,” she said chuckling. She sighed, scanned the room and returned her attention to Todd. "Why don’t you just tell your wife what's going on?"
"I don’t want her disappointed. If she knew about it and it turned out to be a mistake, it'd hurt her. She’s had enough rides."
"You really think Maria's jealous? She doesn’t strike me as the jealous type...unless…."
"Stop it, damn it." Todd said through his teeth. "Maria and I are just fine."
She raised her eyebrows and lifted a palm."I’m just saying…sounds like she's insecure; maybe she has a reason to be."
"Debby," Todd said. "This is getting a little embarrassing. I appreciate your help with all of this, but I've told you how I feel about these constant innuendoes."
Debby grinned. "Dude, lighten up. It's just a little innocent flirting. I'm a married—"
"No it's uncomfortable. If the situation were reversed, it could be called sexual harassment."
Debby rocked back on her heels. "Sexual harassment? I don't know who the hell you think you are, but … but…let me tell you something…I've known a lot better men than you who would have fought for my attention. You know…" she moved forward, her anger mounting. "You're damn lucky I hang around at all. I'm the only one the Mums will release your precious info to. It had to be from my hand to yours and they don’t want anyone else involved. That’s just the way it is."
"Okay," Todd said showing her the palms of his hands. "I'm sorry. It's not harassment. It's just...getting on my nerves."
He moved towards her, sat on a stool in front of her and reached for her hand. "Let's get that ingrown nail taken care of."
"She doesn't deserve you, you know," Debby said, offering Todd her hand. "You love her too much. It's gonna bite you in the butt someday...It always does."
"Everybody loves Maria."
"How did you meet this...goddess anyway?"
Todd ignored the sarcasm. He tilted the jar of alcohol, dabbed it over a cotton ball, and reached for her hand. "We met at school, UCLA. She was...is a goddess. Everybody loved her, or maybe everyone was just plain ol’ in lust with her, I don’t know. But it was love for me."
"So how did you two finally get together?"
"I know it’s gonna sound a little crazy, but she actually approached me in a library."
"That doesn’t sound crazy at all," she said, softening. "That's one of the things I like about you. You don't know how good looking you really are."
Todd glanced at her and grinned. "Nope, that's not it. She could have had anybody, but she chose ole country boy me… and I still don’t know why."
"Let me ask you this," Debby said rolling her index finger under Todd’s cotton swab. "How do you know her highness didn't choose 'ole country boy you' because she was pregnant?"
Todd pulled away and glared at her.
"Oh boy," she said, "sorry.”
Todd sighed and silently returned his attention to her finger."Maria chose me long after she was pregnant," he said after a time.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Oh, I hate the smell of rubbing alcohol," Debby said, shifting her eyes back to her finger. "It reminds me of when I was little. We went to the doctor… ouch!"
She jerked her hand away in response to the sudden stinging sensation. Her hand swiped across the alcohol jar in Todd’s hand spilling it over the front of his shirt."
"Whoa!" Todd shouted jumping to his feet.
"Sorry," Debby said sheepishly.
Todd leaned forward and pulled the shirt away from his skin. "Not a problem….Ah, but you know…it’s starting to burn."
Debby ran to the examination room and returned with a water soaked towel and fresh smock. "Take your shirt off," she said, "before it burns you."
Todd pulled his smock and shirt off and Debby began wiping his chest with the saturated towel.
The door opened. Todd whirled to see Maria, the baby in her arms, staring at him. Her eyes were wide, her face contorted in pain.
Debby pulled the towel away from Todd’s bare chest. "Hmm…Busted."
Maria spun and disappeared out the door.
Todd rounded on Debby. "What the hell did you say that for?"
"I don't know," Debby said. "It just came out—"
Todd turned and moved t
owards the door, but Debby took hold of his arm. "You can't go out there," she said. "You're not wearing a shirt. You have alcohol all over you. You'll freeze. I'll catch her. You go find something to put on." She quickly moved to her coat on the wall and rushed out the door.
~~~
Maria was running over the frozen snow trail, the baby bouncing gently in her arms. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, unrestrained sobs heaving her chest. She was trying desperately to wipe the vision from her memory, to go back and avoid what she had just seen, to never have gone to the clinic, to have stayed in her warm sweet home and remained blissfully unaware.
Debby's word, "busted," echoed in her head like distant explosions. Memories... conviction...flooded her mind as she ran; how often that had been her...the other woman, looking on callously as she crushed yet another desperate heart. She recognized the look on Debby's face the moment she entered the clinic, the smug look of triumph. She had felt it from the beginning, Debby's undeclared battle for dominance. It was a familiar battleground for beautiful young Maria; a battle she had been thrown into her entire life. But the other woman had won the game this time, a first for Maria. The other woman had achieved alpha. She had wrested from Maria every good thing life had to offer...her family. It was all so familiar.
"Maria!" a voice called out behind her.
She continued to run, ignoring the voice.
The footfalls grew louder. A hand dropped onto her shoulder. She pulled to a stop, whirled and glared at Debby. She could taste the hatred. "If my baby weren't in my arms," Maria sobbed through clenched teeth, "I would tear your eyes out."
She looked up and noticed Todd racing up behind Debby.
Debby glanced behind her and turned back to face Maria. "We didn't want you to find out this way,” she said. “We were going to tell you. It just happened. We didn't mean for it to happen."
Maria instantly recognized the pseudo-remorse. Her anger boiled. She pulled her baby closer to her and whirled to leave.
Todd finally reached them. "Maria," he said breathlessly, “she spilled some alcohol on me and—"
Maria pulled her right arm from under the baby, grabbed the collar of Todd's winter coat and pulled his face down to her own. "You!" she moaned, "will stay away from me and my son. I never want to see your lying bastard face again. Do you understand me?" She shoved Todd back, glared menacingly at him, whirled and moved away. Within moments Todd had caught up with her again. He pulled her to a stop and spun her around to face him. “Maria! For once in your life you are going to do what I tell you! You are going to stop and listen to what I have to—”
Maria soundly brought her right knee up into his crotch.
His eyes widened. He stumbled backwards and folded forward onto the snow covered ground. She turned and disappeared into the dark night.
~~~
Todd lay motionless in the snow rendered helpless by the all consuming ache in the pit of his stomach. He looked up to see Debby standing over him laughing into her hand. “What?” he groaned. “You think this is funny?"
“She caught you good,” Debby said, still laughing.
Todd elbowed himself up from the ground and slowly rose to his feet. He stood bent for a time before finally straitening himself. “Let’s go.”
“What?” Debby said frowning, “go where?”
“We need to explain this to Maria.”
"I already explained it all to her," she said. "I told her what happened before you even got here. She's just not listening right now. Let's give her till morning and we'll both go talk to her. We'll clear it up then.
Todd raised his palm. “No, we’ll go now.”
“Let’s just go back to the clinic for a little while,” Debby said, “make sure you’re all right. She really nailed—"
"I'm not going back to the clinic!" Todd yelled. "I'm gonna go talk to my wife."
"Fine," Debby said pulling away, "but I'm not going with you. She won't believe you unless I back you up, and she’s violent, Todd! She threatened to claw my eyes out. She's too angry. She's not going to listen. Don't you understand? She doesn't want to see you right now."
Todd shook his head, "I don't care, I'm going home!"
Debby flashed Todd an irritated look. "Well, what am I suppose to do? I'm not going back to the clinic by myself."
"Then you'll have to come with me because I'm going home to talk to my wife, with or without you."
Debby clicked her tongue and scowled at Todd. "Whatever! Like I had any say in the matter!"
Chapter_Five
"I’m sorry to wake you," Todd said breathlessly.
Louis was standing at his cabin door dressed in pajamas.
Gladys came up beside him. "What’s the matter?"
Debby rolled her eyes and blew out a sigh. "Maria walked in on us at the clinic. Todd had his shirt off. I spilled alcohol on him and now she's all jealous and jumping to conclusions—"
"Wait," Gladys said, holding her hands up. "Come in, you two, and tell us exactly what happened."
Todd shook his head. "I can’t. I have to find Maria. She’s not at the cabin, and she has the baby."
"Well, she couldn’t have gone far," Louis said. "It’s too late to go banging on doors tonight. Why don’t you come in for a moment? Odds are she’ll show up here."
~~~
Eric Wheeler rolled out of bed and quickly pulled his pants on. Someone was knocking on his door. He stood, moved to the window and looked out. It was still dark.
"That’ll be Todd Riley," Stacey said, still lying in bed. "He’ll be looking for his wife."
Eric looked at her puzzled. "How do you know that?"
She threw her covers off. "Just go to the door. You’ll find out soon enough."
Eric frowned at her and went for the door. He opened it and found Todd standing on his porch. "Todd, what are you doing here? What time is it?"
"I’m sorry," Todd said, "It’s about five thirty. I couldn’t wait any longer. Have you seen Maria? She and the baby are gone."
"Gone?"
"They left last night. They have to be around here. Stacey is her best friend. I was hoping she would know—"
"Come in and close the door, Todd," Stacey said from the living room. "It’s cold and the kids are in the loft."
Todd stepped into the room. He pushed the heavy parka hood away from his head and began pulling his gloves off. "I’m looking for Maria," he said quickly. "Have you seen her?
"Maria? Nope, sorry, can’t say as I have."
Eric turned, looked at Stacey and glanced back at Todd. "What’s this all about?"
"There was a misunderstanding," Todd said. "Maria saw something… but it was nothing, I mean it’s not what she thought it was at all."
"What did she see?" Eric said, still puzzled.
Stacey glared at Todd. "Yes, what did she see?"
"Stacey please, I know you know where she is. If I could only talk to her, I could explain."
"I told you, Todd," she said quickly. "I don’t know where she is, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you."
Todd slowly moved towards her. "Please …I didn’t do what you think I did. You know how much she and the baby mean to me. How could I ever cheat on her—?"
"Cheat on her?" Eric said interrupting. "Who, Maria?" He turned and grinned at Stacey. "Todd wouldn’t cheat on—"
His smile melted with his wife’s scowl. He stood a moment scratching his chest before turning back towards Todd. "I’ll tell you what, buddy, I worked late last night so I don’t have any idea what’s going on. You come back in an hour or so, I’ll get to the bottom of this, but I have to tell you, if you really are cheating on Maria you’ll get little cooperation from us."
"Understood," Todd said. "I promise I’ll make complete sense of this when I finally talk face to face with Maria."
Eric rubbed his chin. "I’ll see what I can do," he said finally.
Todd moved to the door, opened it and turned back to face the living room. "Please tell her I
love her," he said loud enough to be heard in the loft above the living room. "Tell her not to do anything rash. Tell her—" he paused for a moment his voice cracking. He stood staring into the dark loft, turned and moved out the door.
~~~
Gladys left Parktown moments after Todd had arrived at her cabin. She'd dropped Debby off at her car and had driven the Humvee west towards downtown Salt Lake City.
She had scheduled a meeting with her contacts at the Family History Library Building but had been mysteriously summoned to another meeting instead. She was now parked across the street on West Temple in the shadow of the ten foot high granite wall surrounding temple square.
She glanced up at the rear view mirror, fluffed her hair, checked her lipstick and stepped out. She made her way to the massive sectional west gate and stepped through into temple square.
A tall, husky, white haired man wearing a blue suit, dark sunglasses and an earpiece was standing at a guard shack just south of the entrance. He smiled at her and reached for her hand. "Doctor Fasbender, how are you?"
"Hi Brandon," Gladys said. "Is he here?"
"He’s waiting for you in the GA lounge."
Gladys smiled and looked around her. "So this is the famous Mormon temple?"
"Well actually Doctor, this is the famous LDS Tabernacle. That castle-looking building to the east is the temple."
"Of course it is," Gladys said, patting the guard on his arm, "I meant the whole thing. It’s all temple to me." She glanced up at the gleaming metallic domed roof of the tabernacle building. "Pretty impressive architecture," she said, "better than the pictures."
He led her beneath the veranda, through one of the west doors leading into the building, where they were met by two more security guards. They turned left through a short hallway, passed a large logo of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rising behind a vast reception desk and up one of two inversely matching sets of stairs. Another pair of somber looking guards was standing just outside a door at the top of the stairway.
"I hope I’m not expected to find my way back out of here," Gladys said, looking up at Brandon, the security guard.
Johnson, C. W. Page 11
