by Alice Ward
“The baby?”
“Well, of course, the baby.”
“Don’t you have a nurse?”
“Mother, this is a part of a bigger plan. I’m going to have my work cut out for me to get you back into society with even a shred of respect. It would help tremendously if you showed some sort of maternal feelings toward your only grandson. After all, you have a history of abandonment.”
She said nothing, but her lips were drawn in a hard line. I knew she was fighting her natural instinct to say something dismissive and make a dramatic exit. That might have worked when Dad was around, but here she had no audience. She finally nodded and held out her arms. “Bring him here,” she ordered me.
Overlooking her tone, I carried him to her and was amazed to see she didn’t even know how to hold him. I realized in that instant that I’d given her even more credit than she deserved. She had given up Linc because she wasn’t able to love anyone but herself. The only reason I escaped the hatchet was my dad. I was sure of it.
I had sudden reservations about allowing her to influence Ford. Indeed, he began to cry. “Take it away, take it away,” she ordered and handed him back to me as if he was a bag of feed. There have been few times in my life that I’d ever met anyone who was totally unredeemable, but she was one. Sadly, I turned and left her audience, intent upon the other aspects of my plan. I would find a nanny to look after Ford.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Worth
I had no idea why Auggie was behaving the way she was. Maybe it was some sort of hormonal response after giving birth. I made a mental note to call one of my former associates, an OB/GYN from medical school. Maybe he could shed some light on things. In the meantime, I had more imminent problems on my mind.
Linc was continuing to impersonate me. What began with the shopping spree at the men’s clothing store was now extending to bar bills all over town and even a few gambling casinos. I realized that he was probably wearing contacts to cover the give-away green eyes and if he dressed like me, could easily pass. It would only be when we were side by side that someone would suspect anything.
I visited each of my banks and had additional security added to my accounts using my fingerprint. I did the same with my electronic devices and changed passwords on everything I owned. I wouldn’t even tell Auggie about this. It would be too dangerous for her if he knew she had that information.
I thought about calling Bill and having some sort of restraining order put on Linc, but that would call attention to the entire mess, which wouldn’t help in the least.
I felt as though I was being hunted and the perimeter was closing around me. It was important not to lose my cool. He’d be able to sense this and get even more and more erratic in his behavior. So far it only involved money, and I had plenty of that. It was time for more drastic measures.
I decided to add a new counseling service at my main clinic in Louisville. It was aimed at singles who wanted to find companionship without the use of the Internet or matchmakers. It had to do with pairing their psychological radars; those subliminal markers of attraction between people. I knew this would be very popular if handled well and my office location in Louisville was perfect. There was an overwhelming number of single professionals who were ready to settle down.
I told Jessie I wanted her on hand to help and observe, then promoted it broadly. It would be a tasteful affair set up as a preliminary open lecture explaining how the program worked before letting guests mingle and try out what they learned. I also knew it would be catnip to Linc.
Auggie had been gone for several days, texting me that her dad wasn’t feeling well and she was staying with him to look after him and the farm. I didn’t look any deeper into her story because I knew Ford was safely with her and she was going through something… whatever it was, and distance might help the issue. I also didn’t need her interfering in what I was trying to set up.
It was scheduled for a Thursday evening and people began arriving two hours beforehand. I had suspected it would be popular, but this was overwhelming. As expected, Linc showed up. To mock me, he wore one of the sport coats he’d “stolen” from the men’s store using my identity. Beneath it, he wore a white shirt open at the neck. I had to admit how much he resembled me.
I kept Jessie close by and Linc was watching us, just as I’d hoped. Once the lecture broke up, I sent her to the opposite side of the room to answer questions while I stayed on my side to observe. Sure enough, within minutes, Linc was monopolizing her and she seemed to be swayed by his charm. Perhaps it was the fact that he looked so much like me but had the bad boy demeanor that women seemed to like.
I avoided watching them, not wanting to give anything away, but saw them leave from the corner of my eye before the evening had concluded. The bait had been set. I felt tremendous relief and hurried home, hoping Auggie would be there, but she was nowhere to be found.
I called her cell but there was no answer, then tried her dad’s. He said she wasn’t there and he hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks.
Sinking into my chair, it was like a fist had closed around my throat. Where was she? Who was she with?
I decided to wait things out one more day. If she didn’t come home on Friday, I’d be free over the weekend to find her and get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
Saturday morning dawned and still no Auggie. No answer on her phone and no response to my texts. She was obviously avoiding me.
I dressed and grabbed toast on my way out. Not knowing where to start, I headed toward her dad’s to have a talk with him first. He seemed to know her mind better than anyone, and I thought he would at least be rational. As I drove, I passed by my father’s farm and felt faint when I spotted Auggie’s Escalade parked out front. I kept going, even though my heart was beating so hard I thought it would burst through my chest. When I reached her dad’s farm, I pulled in and as usual, he was sitting on his patio enjoying a cup of coffee. He must have recognized the look on my face because he put down his paper and rose to shake my hand.
“I take it you found her,” he began and I nodded. “I had a strange feeling about it after you called and checked. I saw it too.”
“What’s she doing there?” I was hoarse with incredulity.
“Well,” he began, crossing his legs and sighing deeply as one does before you’re about to speculate about something you’d rather not talk about. “Her mother is there, you know.”
“Auggie hates her mother,” I reminded him, trying to be logical.
“Yes, she thinks she does,” he agreed, “but Auggie is a stubborn young woman. She will form an alliance with the devil if it gets her closer to her goal.”
“What kind of goal could she have?” I asked. “I’m really out of the loop here. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t spent much time with her and really don’t know what’s going on. She hired an assistant. Bernie – something.”
“Yes, Bernie Livingston. Nice young man. I recommended him as a matter of fact,” he elaborated. “He comes from a good family and has the right combination of skills to be a real help to her.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but I think there’s more to it than that.”
He lifted a brow. “Oh? What makes you say that?”
“He’s very, very good-looking,” I pointed out, a little surprised that I had to bring up something so obvious. There was a silence that was filled only with the buzz of bees searching the flowers that climbed the trellis next to me.
“Worth, he’s not like that,” Mr. Langford said in what sounded like an uncomfortable voice.
“Oh, that I know. I saw him at the park with his friend and it was clear that he wasn’t interested in female companionship for anything other than friendship. I still say there’s more to it than that.” I was trying to make a point.
“Such as?”
“Such as I think Auggie hired him to make me jealous.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, that damn eyebrow still raised. “Why would she nee
d to do that, Worth?”
“Shit,” I uttered as I realized I’d walked into my own trap. Auggie’s dad was no fool. He never interfered but waited patiently for the guilty to come to him in confession. That’s how he dispensed his wisdom and I had to admire him for not only his patience but for the inevitably good advice he had to offer.
“What is it?” he asked, patiently as I’d predicted.
“Okay. You know about this mess with Linc, right?”
He nodded.
“So, I was trying to come up with some way to get him to leave. I couldn’t defy him face to face or the law would come down on me, and consequently Auggie and everyone else involved. That includes some very unwelcomed associates from Chicago that I don’t care to meet.”
His eyes were stern, but he said nothing.
I continued on. “So, I realized that Linc was after everything he thought he’d been cheated of. In other words, everything I had. It was his birthright, but he’d been cast off and it all came to me. I know that’s why he turned wild and that makes him dangerous.”
“Go on,” he urged me.
I ran my hand through my hair in a gesture of frustration. “Sometimes I’m too smart for my own good, I know. I knew that Linc would systematically try to take everything of mine he could, or ruin it. I had to protect Auggie and Ford. Of course he couldn’t take her from me; she’s his sister. So, I had to throw out a decoy. I hired this good-looking, smart psychologist to work at my Cincinnati clinic and made sure to make a lot over her when he was looking. That’s why I let him attend the Derby party and he was at a function I held Thursday night. Linc thinks I’m having an affair with her and he went after her like a fish after a June bug. Well, it worked. They left together Thursday night. With any luck, he’ll give up on this local scheme and move up there to be with her.”
Walter Langford looked at me with something akin to pity in his eyes. He shook his head a bit and looked out over the yard before answering me. I noticed he had aged. There were deep wrinkles from frowning I’d never seen before. “Son, you sure don’t know Auggie very well, I can tell that. What makes you think she didn’t pick up on the hints you were leaving for Linc? I’ll bet she’s up to something to get back at you. The fact that she’s at his place should tell you that much.”
It hit me like a bucket of ice water. Of course! That explained so much. The feigned illnesses, the stunt with dinner and the suggestion of poison. The disappearance now and refusal to answer my calls. Auggie was jealous! I remembered then that I’d had those pictures of Jessie and myself posted on social media for Linc to see. How stupid was I to think that Auggie wouldn’t see them too? Naturally, she had hired Bernie because of his looks; well, at least those didn’t hurt. I knew how her mind worked. She was trying to make me jealous.
On one hand, I was furious with her for so little trust and on the other hand, I couldn’t blame her one bit. I’d given her ever reason to be jealous. I’d let it be there like breadcrumbs leading to the natural assumption. I was the fool here, not her.
“You’re absolutely right, sir. I’ve done this to myself. I didn’t give her credit for who she was. That’s the part she’s really going to be pissed at me for. You know how she hates condescension.”
He was nodding, brushing a fly off his thigh as he took another sip of his now luke warm coffee. “You’re in for it, son. All I can do is wish you good luck.”
“Jesus Christ!” I cursed. “How the hell am I going to bail myself out of this one without tipping off Linc. He’s got her genes and mine; he’s no dummy. Even if I get to her and straighten this out, her sudden reunion with me is going to tip him off and all my planning will be for nothing.”
“Helluva mess, son, helluva mess.” I heard his words of consolation but knew he really didn’t pity me. After all, Auggie was his primary concern, as well as Ford. At this very moment, due to my meager attempts at manipulation, the people I loved most were in the hands of the people who stood to do them the greatest harm. It was my fault.
“Sir, would you do me a favor?”
“What’s that, Worth?”
“Would you call her? Would you ask her to come here and bring the baby to see you? Then just let me talk to her? Please? I have to get her alone. I need to explain what I was doing. I can’t let her just leave there for no reason. He’ll get suspicious. Hell, for all I know, he might try and hurt her or the baby.”
Mr. Langford considered my request at length, looking at the problem from all angles. Finally, he agreed it was probably the best shot. He went inside and came out shortly thereafter. “She’s on her way. Pull your car around to the back of the barn or she’ll just keep on going. I don’t like ambushing her like this, but I don’t see any way around it.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Worth
Auggie was not long in coming. She and her dad had a special relationship and if he needed her, she never hesitated to come. He met her outdoors and took the baby, telling her to go inside.
She walked into the room and saw me sitting there. Like a doe on high alert, she began to turn on her toes to leave.
“Auggie, wait! It’s not what you think.”
“How do you know what I think?” she asked, her tone hateful.
“I know you’re hurt. I’m pretty sure I know what you think is going on and you have every right to be pissed. But it’s not true, and if you’ll just give me five minutes to explain, I’ll settle for whatever you want to do after that.”
She just stared at me.
“Please, Auggie?” I’d never begged her before and she knew that. She looked over her shoulder through the window to see her dad sitting comfortably on the patio with Ford bouncing on his lap. She looked down at the hardwood floor, bare now that her mother’s Aubusson rugs had been removed. She nodded, finally, and took a seat near me on the high back sofa. The light made her hair glow as if it were an entity unto itself.
I began my explanation and to her credit, she sat silently and heard me out. “I had to figure out some way to get Linc out of the picture. I know he’s jealous of me and all that we have together. I think that’s his main purpose in being here. The story about the syndicate was just to scare me. He’s really here to break us up and to take what he considers his birthright.”
“I agree,” she said quietly, lifting her hair and nervously twisting it into a pony tail over her shoulder.
“I was reaching, Auggie. I had to figure out a plan. The only thing I could think of was to create a distraction and have him latch onto something else that appeared to appeal to me, to lure him like a moth to a brighter light. I know it was a shitty plan.”
“You’re talking about Jessie Klinger?” she asked in a hopeful voice.
“Yes, sweetheart. I don’t care anything about her. It’s all been a set-up. I pretended to be crazy about her and the only way to make him fall for it was if you were jealous. It would be hard for you to pretend — you’re not the phony I am — but I never thought it would go so far as for you to find out and get hurt by it. It was never, ever my intention to hurt you.”
“I’m not a fool!” she said in an angry, hurt voice. She slammed a sofa pillow down and I couldn’t blame her if she threw it at me.
“That’s my fault, for underestimating you. I’m so sorry, Auggie.”
“So?”
“So…? What?” I asked her, puzzled.
“Did it work?”
“Oh, that. Yes, he bit. I staged an event at the clinic on Thursday night and he showed up, just like I expected. I made a show of having her at my side and before the event was even over, they sneaked out together. Actually, they’re well suited. They’re two of a kind.”
“I know.”
“How did you know?”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “Because she’s in his room at the farm right now.”
“You mean, he brought her home?”
“Yes. Mother is fit to be tied. It takes away from her power to have another female in the ho
use. I couldn’t figure out how she got there. Eventually, it made sense. I didn’t realize you were behind it. I just thought Linc had stolen her away from you.”
“I’m glad. That is, I’m glad the plan worked, even if it was really unfair to you. I’m sorry you got hurt, sweetheart. I just didn’t think.”
“We talked about this, Worth. This habit of yours to manipulate people. I told you I wouldn’t support your doing that any more. You agreed, remember?”
“I know. I know.” I was abashed. “I just couldn’t think of any other way to get this accomplished and I fell back on what I knew best.”
She was silent.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, fearing the worst
“I can’t get angry with you because I did the same thing.”
“Oh?” I relaxed just a bit, thinking she was finally coming clean.
“I decided to beat you at your own game. I went to Linc and convinced him I wanted to teach you a lesson. I promised to get him connected to the inner circle around here and convinced Mother to help. I told him I’d turn his farm into a breeding center and make him rich. He thinks he’s taking me away from you by getting me invested in his business. He figures he’s ruining you, and it was my plan. So, I’m not any better than you are.”
We sat in silence for a long time, thinking about what each of us had done and what that meant now that we were privy to the same information. I realized that she and I would always be a united team, no matter how many arguments we had. She was my equal and I deserved to be horsewhipped. So did she.
“Where do we go from here?” she asked finally. “If I don’t go back to his farm, he’ll know something is up and eventually will figure out the Jessie Klinger part of the plan too. Then we’ll both be out of ammunition and Mother will be added to his stockpile.”
“I can’t imagine him enjoying living with her,” I speculated.
“He doesn’t,” she supplied, grinning for the first time. “It sort of backfired on him.” I had to grin at this. “Worth, I don’t want to go back to that farm. It’s an evil place. The baby hated it there, crying the whole time. There’s too much bad history; it emanates from the walls.”
