Augusta looked hard at Randall. “And what part do you play in all this, Gordon?”
“What part do I play?”
“Yes. You see, I have no one here who has...shall we say, the professional expertise to handle this situation. I will need you to manage it for me.”
Randall frowned. “I am available for this kind of operation, but the fee is extremely high. If you can meet my price, I’ll come back in two days.”
Randall wrote a number on a page in his notebook, tore off the page, and passed it across the desk.
Augusta’s eyes widened. “One hundred thousand dollars!” She swallowed and then nodded.
Randall made another note in his book. “I will need a deposit today—say, half of the amount. The rest will be made available to me before I leave. You can tell your staff that you have had a few threatening calls, and you have brought in a security expert. Set me up in a nice suite somewhere out of the way. I’ll be bringing a few of my special ops guys to put up a security shield around the operation. So I’ll need a place for them also. I’m going to clamp a tight lid on this place, so order a week’s worth of supplies out here. Anything else?”
“Gerald will help you.”
“Gerald?”
“Yes. If my grandson is so eager to be a billionaire, he can get his hands dirty. He’s a very bright boy and very willing to participate. I understand he’s not too happy with his wife at the moment. All you need to do is ‘train’ him. I want his fingerprints all over this...operation. Do you understand?”
Randall stood and picked up his briefcase. He shook his head and laughed. “Forgive me for underestimating you, Augusta. You cover all the bases, don’t you?”
“Yes, Randall, I cover all the bases. You and your men can use the old caretaker cottage at the back of the estate. Follow this driveway about a quarter of a mile when you return. You’ll see an overgrown road on the right. Turn in there and the cottage is straight ahead. There is a bunkroom and it’s heated. Bring your own supplies. I don’t want anyone to know you are there. Oh, there’s one more thing.”
Augusta held out her hand. “Leave the notebook with me, Gordon. I’m sure a man of your skills has a perfect memory, and I don’t want any incriminating evidence hanging around that might cause me embarrassment in the future.”
Randall smiled. “If we’re partners, shouldn’t we trust each other?”
Augusta’s face turned to flint. She reached in her desk and pulled out her checkbook. She wrote out a check, tore it off, and held it up. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Gordon. It’s just that I don’t really trust you. I’ll trade you this check for that notebook.”
Randall shrugged, took the check, and handed over the small book. Augusta stood up and led him to the door.
“Down the hall to the right and out the door you came in. I’ll see you in two days.”
Randall nodded and left. As he walked down the hall, he squeezed the handle of his briefcase again. He felt the recording device inside vibrate and click off. Randall smiled to himself. He went out the door, climbed into his car, and drove away.
*****
Rachel awoke the morning after she had seen Gerald with Monique. Her heart was filled with shame at what she had become. She lay in her bed for a long time, wondering what to do. Finally, a thought came to her.
I haven’t prayed in a long time.
She slipped off her bed onto her knees. She felt strange and disconnected and awkward, but there was no one else to talk to. She bowed her head and tried to pray, but for some reason, the words would not come. She just did not know where to start. And then she remembered a scripture her mother kept on a little hand-stitched plaque on the kitchen wall in their home in Paradise.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Another picture came into her mind. She was five years old and she was sitting on the grass under the old apple tree in their back yard. Her papa was sitting next to her and they were both munching the crispy last bites of a McIntosh apple from the tree over their heads. Her papa’s arm was around her and they were enjoying the bright sun and warmth of an Indian summer day in Pennsylvania. All around them the trees were clothed in a riot of fall colors; orange, red, yellow, golden. White, fluffy clouds sailed the azure sky above. Rachel turned to her papa.
“Papa, what are the Ordnung? I hear the other kids talking about them and they sound scary.”
Jonathan pulled his girl closer. “Ah, the Ordnung. Well, my darling girl, the Ordnung are something very special to the Amish people. Sometimes it is hard to understand why we are so different from everyone else, but here is why that is. We live differently than most of the other people in the world because we want to separate ourselves from the things of life that hurt us. So we have the Ordnung to guide us if we ever have questions about how we should behave when something happens and we need help to know what to do. I guess the best way to think of them is that the Ordnung are a way to arrange everything about the way we live so we have boundaries and guidelines to help us behave the way God wants us to.”
Rachel remembered being puzzled. “What are bounaries, Papa?”
Jonathan pointed at the field where their sheep were grazing. “Boundaries, little one.” He smiled. “Do you see the sheep in the field, Rachel?”
Rachel nodded.
“Well, the sheep need to stay in that field because they belong to us. If they got into someone else’s field, they might eat their garden or wreck something. So what is it that keeps our sheep in our field?”
“The fence, Papa.”
“That’s right, Rachel, the fence. The fence is a boundary. It keeps the sheep where they belong. The Bible says that we are God’s sheep. Now, God does not put us in a field and put a fence that we can see around us, but He does give us His Word and when we read the Bible, we learn how God wants us to behave and in that way, He sets a fence around our hearts. If we go outside that fence, we end up somewhere that God knows we do not belong.”
“Is the Bible the Ordnung, Papa?
“No, little one. The Ordnung are not written down. Over the years, the men who lead our church have read the Bible and then they have decided on a way to behave that the church follows by learning it from those who go before, like grossdaadis and grossmutters.”
Rachel pondered that for a moment. “Then, when we stay inside the boundaries, does that make God like us better?”
Jonathan laughed. “So many questions, my little curious one! No, Rachel, keeping the rules does not make God like us better. What makes God so very happy is when we let His Son, Jesus, come into our hearts. The boundaries, the Ordnung, are like a sign-post that tells us the right way to go. But they don’t get us to where we are going. We need Jesus to do that for us. Let me explain...”
And so, for the first time in her life, Rachel heard the wonderful story of salvation from her beloved papa as they sat in the grass eating apples. And when Jonathan was finished, Rachel took his hand and looked up at him shyly.
“Papa, I want Jesus to live in my heart and help me to be good always.”
And then her beloved daed held Rachel in his arms and helped her to pray the prayer of salvation.
And then came the “gone” years when her papa disappeared and they thought he was dead. Then he came home, but somehow he wasn’t really her papa anymore. And he didn’t talk about Jesus so much, but he mostly talked about the Ordnung and how Rachel was not keeping the Ordnung the right way. And something in Rachel broke, and she forgot about the boundaries and the Savior who had been in her heart since that day so long ago. And she began to live her life for herself.
And now she was kneeling beside a strange bed in a strange house, married to a man that hated God, and she was pregnant with his child. As she knelt beside the bed, she laid her head in her arms and began to weep. And she called on the name of her Savior, and for the first time in many years, she felt the sweet presence
of the Lamb of God. As she opened her heart and told Him all of her troubles. The tears flowed from her eyes, and something inside her started to thaw.
Then, like the frozen streams of the Northland that feel the warmth of the spring sun, throw off the steel grip of winter and break free of the ice that holds them motionless and still, the river of life slowly began to make its way through her broken heart, and Rachel felt the love of her Lord and the soft touch of His nail-scarred hand.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Plot
Rachel got up from beside her bed. She didn’t know how long she had been kneeling there. Her legs were stiff and her back ached, but, for the first time in years, her mind was at peace. As for her problem with Gerald and Monique, she knew what she had to do. She went to her closet and found a plain skirt and a blue cotton blouse. In the bathroom, she washed her face but did not put on any makeup. When she was finished, she went back into the bedroom and dialed the kitchen. Collins, Augusta’s butler, answered the phone.
“Yes, Ms. Rachel.”
“Collins, I want you to send Monique to my room.”
“She’ll be right up, ma’am.”
Rachel waited until the knock sounded on the door. “Come in, Monique.”
The maid peeked around the door with a puzzled look on her face. “You are up early, madam. I usually don’t come up until 7:00 o’clock Can I get you something?”
Rachel shook her head and pointed to a chair. “Sit down, Monique.”
The girl sank into the chair across from Rachel. She started to say something, but Rachel put up her hand and the words died on Monique’s lips.
“Monique, it’s hard for me to say this. I am very angry with you.”
Monique squirmed in her chair. “But why, madam?”
Rachel sighed and looked down at her hands.
What has happened to me? I used to live a peaceful life on a farm...
Then she looked back at her maid. “I know about you and Gerald. I was at the cottage last night and saw the two of you after you...well, after you were...together.”
Monique’s face turned pale. She started to say something, and again Rachel stopped her.
“There is nothing to say, Monique. I understand why you could be led astray by Mr. Gerald’s persuasive ways, but the truth is, you didn’t have to let him. You didn’t have to...”
Rachel felt her face burning with embarrassment. “I want you to leave this house. Today!”
Tears welled up in Monique’s eyes. “Leave this house? But madam, I have no place to go.”
In spite of her anger and shame, Rachel’s heart went out to the girl. She hated Gerald for what he had done. “Monique, this is for your own good. Gerald will only use you and then throw you away.”
The girl couldn’t meet Rachel’s gaze.
“Monique, you need to leave immediately. Collins will drive you into town. I will ask Augusta to arrange for a hotel room in the city for you until you find work.”
Monique wiped her eyes and then gave Rachel a haughty look. “But Mr. Gerald, he will be so angry. He will find me. He loves me.”
Rachel’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Monique stood up and pointed a finger at Rachel, and then acid-laced words spilled out of her.
“Maybe you are the one who should leave. Mr. Gerald is right. He says you are very mean to him and will not do what a wife should do. He will divorce you and marry me. I give Mr. Gerald what he needs. He loves me, not you. I will be his wife and make him happy.”
Monique stood there with a smug, self-satisfied look on her face.
Rachel put her face in her hands for a minute. Then she looked up. “Monique, you’re a foolish, gullible girl. Gerald doesn’t love you and he never will. You are just one in a long parade of women that he has used for his own satisfaction over the years. And there is something that Gerald obviously did not explain to you. He has no money. The money is all mine. This house belongs to me, the house in New York belongs to me—it’s all mine, Monique. If Mr. Gerald divorces me and marries you, he will have nothing. You will live in poverty.”
Monique drew herself up. “That is a lie! Gerald is rich, he told me—”
“Monique! Listen to me! Gerald has some money from his trust, but it’s not very much and he will run out in a few years. He told you he was rich to get you into his bed. Don’t you see? Gerald will never divorce me because I am his ticket to the lifestyle he loves.”
Rachel stood up. She was trembling. “Monique, I want you out of this house in an hour. It may be true that I am not a good wife, but that does not give you an excuse to be Gerald’s plaything behind my back. We’ll find you a place to stay. Once you’re gone, you might keep sneaking around and seeing Gerald, but you won’t do it under this roof. Now go!”
The girl spun around and marched toward the door. Before she left she turned to Rachel. There was a challenge in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. “We will see what Mr. Gerald says when he hears you are sending me away.”
Then Monique flounced out of the room. Rachel sank back down in her chair. She was shaking like a leaf and the room was spinning.
This can’t be happening to me...
*****
After a long time, Rachel pulled herself together and called Gerald’s room. When he answered the phone, his patronizing voice grated on her like a carrot on a metal scraper.
“Well, good morning, Rachel. How’s my darling wife?”
Rachel could almost see the smirk on his face. She got right to the point. “Gerald, I know all about you and Monique.”
There was indifference in his answer. “So I heard. She came tearing in here like a nor’easter off the sound. It was most upsetting. I will probably have to take a valium to settle down.”
“You don’t sound too upset, Gerald.”
There was a laugh from Gerald’s end. “The truth is, I’m not. Actually, you did me a big favor in kicking her out. Monique was getting a little...clingy. Pressing me, and all that.”
Rachel could hardly believe what she was hearing. “But, Gerald, you seduced her. You made promises to her...”
“Oh, those. Sometimes you have to stretch things a bit to get what you want.”
“But that poor girl thinks you are in love with her. You used her, like you used me, just to satisfy your own lust. You’re unbelievable!”
Rachel blinked back her tears. She felt trapped. Gerald’s voice was hard, grinding into her like a dentist’s drill.
“Don’t play so high and mighty, Rachel. You didn’t have to marry me, but you did. You didn’t have to sleep with me, but you did. You could have stayed a good girl and passed on the whole deal. You could have lived out your life in your plain black dress, riding around in your rickety old buggy, but you wanted the money, so we made a bargain. You lusted after the money the same way I lusted after Monique. There’s really no difference between you and me, now is there?”
Rachel took a deep breath. Rage rose inside her; rage at Gerald’s indifference, rage at her own foolishness. Suddenly, she was screaming at him over the phone. “You are right. I’m no better than you, but I’m going to do something about it. Gerald, I’m divorcing you and I’m going home. I’m not going to raise my baby in this horrible place!”
There was a gasp of surprise from the other end of the line. “Your what?”
“My baby! I’m pregnant. I’m having your baby. It happened that night in Capri.”
Rachel began sobbing. “I thought you loved me, but you just wanted sex. I was so foolish. I feel like a prostitute. My mama and papa were right. The world is a horrible place.”
There was a long silence and then Gerald spoke. “Calm down, Rachel. Give me a minute...”
Rachel heard Gerald take a deep breath.
“This is a bit of a mind blow, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. You being pregnant changes things. I may be a jerk, but I do have some feelings. After all, it’s my child, too, and it is a St. Clair. Can we talk about this when we calm d
own a bit? I don’t really want you to divorce me. I...well, you might not believe this, but I do have feelings for you. Maybe I can change.”
Rachel was caught off-guard. It was the first honest thing she had ever heard him say. She didn’t trust Gerald, but he was right about the baby. She hesitated and then replied.
“All right, Gerald, we can talk, but don’t expect much to change. I don’t trust you at all.”
Gerald’s voice was soothing and contrite.
“I totally understand, Rachel. Give it a day or two and then let’s talk this over like sensible people.”
*****
Augusta was in the barn, looking over her Arabian horses when Gerald caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.
“Grandmother, I have to talk with you...privately!”
Augusta could tell her grandson was upset. She handed the reins of her stallion over to the young man who was helping her. She waved her hand imperiously.
“Take this horse back to his stall and make sure he’s fed and watered.”
The young, bearded man nodded in the affirmative. “Yes, Mrs. St. Clair, right away.”
Augusta stopped the stable boy. “I haven’t seen you around here before? What’s your name?”
“I’m David, ma’am. David Kaufman. Benny hired me a few days ago.”
Augusta scrutinized the bearded face. The young man looked familiar but she could not place him. “Well, if Benny hired you, you must be good with horses.”
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”
Gerald was standing there, obviously fuming. Augusta loved letting him know who was in charge. Finally, she let the young man leave and turned to Gerald. “Now, dear, what is it that seems to be troubling you?”
Gerald pulled her arm again. “Not here, Grandmother. Someone might hear us.”
He pulled her into one of the empty stalls and then lowered his voice. “Grandmother, I have some disturbing news. Rachel says she is divorcing me.”
The Amish Heiress (The Paradise Chronicles Book 1) Page 18
