She flung herself down on the couch and began sobbing. Jerod stood helplessly, awkwardly, watching her. Finally her sobs slowed and she looked up at him.
“New York society is not very kind to girls who get in trouble. I expect...I mean, I’ll have to leave here, find one of those homes for unwed mothers. When the baby is born, I’ll have to give it up for adoption.”
She choked back a sob.
Jerod pulled her up gently from the couch and held her tight against him. “Oh, no you won’t!”
Augusta smiled with her face buried in his shoulder, but there was no smile in her voice, only fear. “I won’t?”
Jerod took her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Of course not! Don’t you see, darling? I’m wild about you. I love you madly. I’ve loved you since the day we met. My only regret is that I truly don’t remember that night, but if you will do as I ask, I’ll make it up to you.”
Jerod dropped to one knee. “I know this is not how it’s supposed to be done, but, Augusta, will you marry me? You must marry me. I love you and I won’t let our baby go without a name. Please, Augusta, say you will marry me.”
Augusta looked down at the trembling young man. “Do you really mean it, Jerod? You want to marry me, even after...”
“Yes, my love, I’ll marry you today if you want.”
Augusta took Jerod by the hand and pulled him up. She pulled herself into his arms and clung to him. “Oh, yes, my love, yes, I will marry you. Oh, thank you. I was so afraid that you would hate me.”
“Hate you? Augusta, you’re the most incredible girl. You’re beautiful and intelligent, and... Well, I just have to be with you always. I love you so.”
Augusta sprang the final piece of the trap. She looked into his eyes, her lips parted, and her voice pitched slightly lower. “Jerod, darling, there’s one more thing.”
What, my love?”
“Ever since that night, I can’t get you out of my mind. Your kisses, your strength, I’m obsessed with you and I don’t know what to do.”
Jerod looked at her again and she could almost feel the heat rise in his body. His face turned red and she could see passion in his eyes. “Do you mean...I mean, do you want me like I want you?”
“Yes, Jerod, I’m crazy about you, and I want to show you how much I love you.”
“Oh, Augusta, I’ve dreamed of this.”
Augusta dropped her eyes. “Please, Jerod, I need you, want you. Can we, I mean... Oh, I’m burning up. If we are going to be married, and I’m already... Well, won’t it be all right? I love you so. I want to give you something, and this time you’ll remember.”
She pulled him after her as she turned toward her bedroom. Jerod followed her like a lamb to the slaughter. There was a slight smile on her face as she walked before him to her bed.
February 24, 1945
Augusta put the telegram from the war department down on the table. Outside the half-snow, half-rain turned to slush against her window. She felt the baby move inside her. She held up her hand, and the huge diamond ring sparkled in the light from the chandelier above her head. She smiled. This was perfect. She was a St. Clair, a bereaved war widow, another woman sacrificing her husband for the good of the country. Pity and compassion would solidify her position in New York society. And now she could make her plans to win Robert back. She looked down at the telegram. She would have to tell Max and Margaret, of course. They would be devastated, and then the baby would bond them all together so tightly. Perfect!
With my blonde hair, black should be most becoming.
She smiled. She couldn’t have planned it better herself.
Randall read through more entries. Most of them detailed Augusta’s attempts to see Robert or entice him to come back to New York. After the baby was born in June, Augusta tried mightily to use the boy as a lever to bring Robert home, but Robert was steadfast in his refusal to see her or the boy, citing the pressing work of converting his father’s wartime tank manufacturing plant into one that produced parts for automobiles. Augusta even tried to go to Lancaster to see him, but Robert arranged to be out of town. A year passed. And then Augusta received a surprising note from Robert asking her to meet him.
July 4, 1946
Augusta took one more look in the mirror. Yes, everything was perfect. Her long blonde hair framed her perfect face and the dress she was wearing was just the right mixture of modest and sultry. Her eyes, her strongest feature, were large, luminous pools of deep, almost-indigo blue. She smiled, and the effect was dramatic. Augusta St. Clair was a beautiful woman. She went to the phone and called a taxi. She mustn’t be late, Robert was waiting.
When the taxi arrived at the Stork Club, Augusta went inside. The maître d’ saw her right away. “Mrs. St. Clair, how nice to see you. Mr. Robert is waiting for you.”
“How long has he been here, Angelo?”
“About twenty minutes. He seems a bit impatient to see you.”
“That’s fine, Angelo. A woman must always keep a gentleman a bit on edge, don’t you think?”
Angelo smiled. “Yes, ma’am. Right this way.”
Augusta followed Angelo through the tables to one of the small booths in the back. Her heart leaped. Robert was waiting for her, his red hair like a flash of fire even across the room. Robert saw Augusta coming and stood. He did not smile, but motioned her to a seat. Angelo nodded and left. Robert reached out his hand to greet her.
“What, no kiss or hug, Robert? After all, we are family.”
Robert ignored her rather pointed remark. “Augusta, I need to talk to you about that. I chose this place because it is neutral ground, and I don’t want a scene.”
“Why, Robert, what could be so serious that it would cause me to be upset?”
“Augusta, I want to talk to you about Francis.”
Augusta leaned closer. “You mean your son?”
“That is a debatable point. I spoke to my physician and paternity blood tests are unreliable when it comes to brothers. Jerod and I have the same blood type, O negative. So even a paternity test will not prove which one of us fathered the child.”
Augusta stiffened in her chair. “And I’m telling you, Robert, that you are the father of my son. I never slept with Jerod before I got pregnant.”
Robert sighed. “Look, Augusta, I’m going to be very blunt. I have come to know you as a manipulating, greedy woman who will do or say anything to get what you want. My brother wasn’t three days in his grave before you were writing me, calling me, wanting to see me. You didn’t even mourn him for a month. What kind of woman are you?”
Augusta’s face flushed. “I’m that way because I love you, and I never loved Jerod. I only married him so I would have a name for my baby, and that’s your fault. Obviously, it doesn’t matter to you what happens to girls with no money who get into trouble. They are flushed down the drain like garbage. You weren’t man enough to take responsibility and Jerod was. So I married him. Now I can take care of my child without having to take a waitress job or some other kind of work...”
“...not fitting to the style of life to which you have become accustomed? Augusta, I pity you. I believe that Jerod fathered your baby and I always will. You have his money now so you don’t need me to support you. I think we should just go our own ways. You’ll be fine.”
Augusta lowered her voice and put a pleading tone in it. “But, Robert! I love you. I want to be with you. I don’t even care if you don’t marry me. I just want to see you, be with you.”
Robert swallowed hard. He took a conciliatory tone. “Augusta, that will never happen. The truth is, I’ve met someone. She’s carrying my baby and we’re going to be married.”
Augusta felt as though Robert had punched her right in the face. She gasped and struggled to catch her breath. “Who...who is she?”
Robert looked down. “She’s an Amish girl I met in Lancaster. She’s a wonderful, beautiful girl, honest and true.”
“You mean unlike me, Robert?”
“Y
es, Augusta, she’s not like you at all. Her name is Rachel. I love her. I’ll marry her as soon as she says yes. She moved in with me last week.”
Augusta stared at Robert. She could tell he was not lying. A dead feeling began to creep into her heart, and at the same time a rage rose up and almost choked her. After a minute, she leaned close to Robert and her words were like icy daggers. “You will rue the day you ever set eyes on her. You and all the St. Clairs will learn that I am a woman who never forgets. You bastard! You get me pregnant and then you leave me for some country bumpkin? I don’t think so. You think that you’ll have a wonderful life with your Rachel. Well, I’m telling you that you and Rachel and your child will have nothing but sorrow for the rest of your miserable lives. I will personally see to it. You proud, arrogant St. Clairs! I will destroy you all.”
She stood up, picked up her water glass, and threw the contents in Robert’s face. Then she turned and marched out of the room, followed by the murmur of voices and curious stares.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Plan
Gerald St. Clair sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. Fear gripped him. He knew that his grandmother had been deadly serious when she threatened his life. And what did she mean when she said she had taken care of other St. Clairs? He thought about Rachel and the plan to kill her. He hated his part in it, but he was deeply afraid of his grandmother.
Gerald stood up and went to the bathroom. The mirror told him he needed to clean himself up. He was about to begin shaving when there was a knock on his door. When he answered it, Gordon Randall was waiting.
“Good morning, Mr. St. Clair. May I come in?”
Gerald hesitated and then opened the door. There was something creepy about Randall that frightened Gerald. Randall walked in and shut the door behind him. Then he handed Gerald a small plastic vial filled with oval pills.
“These are for your wife, Mr. St. Clair. These are the pills Dr. Newberry prescribed for your wife’s pregnancy. They are fifty-milligram vitamin B6 tablets. For our purposes however, they’ve been dipped in an arsenic solution. The arsenic is tasteless. These will help her morning sickness for a few days. But then she will start going downhill. It will look like she has a bad case of the flu. At that point, we will start giving her the poison in liquid form because she won’t be able to keep these down. Give them to her with a glass of ginger ale about an hour after she gets up. Simple, tasteless, and painless... at first.”
Gerald stared down at the bottle. Suddenly he knew that he couldn’t go through with this. He looked at Randall. The man’s face was expressionless.
“How long will this take, Mr. Randall?”
“About ten days.”
“Will she suffer much?”
“In the last few days, she will be very sick, but she will sink into a coma and be unconscious most of the time. Does that bother you, Mr. St. Clair?”
“Not exactly. It’s just that I have never done anything like this and I’m a little nervous, that’s all.”
“You’re not backing out, are you?”
Gerald felt sick. He wanted to run away, go anywhere, get out from under his dominating grandmother and this dangerous man. His hand trembled and the pills made a slight rattle in the bottle. Randall noticed. He stepped close to Gerald.
“I want to tell you something, Mr. St. Clair. When I was in Vietnam, there was a village in Quang Ngai Province that we had reason to believe was supplying the Vietcong with food and weapons. I was a CIA dark ops advisor embedded with a small group of hand-picked mercenaries in a company of US soldiers. I had orders from Langley to make an example of the village, so we went in and massacred everyone—men, women, and children.”
Gerald tried to move away but Randall blocked him. Gerald could feel his hands shaking.
“What’s your point, Mr. Randall?”
“My point is that we massacred those people on my orders. The regular soldiers were uncertain about killing civilians, because they were mostly old people, women, and children—even babies. But I was not uncertain. I had my orders and I carried them out. Those soldiers knew that my men and I would kill the first soldier who balked. And this situation is no different. I have a job to do here and you are in this up to your ears. Don’t balk at any of this or your life won’t be worth a dime. Do I make myself clear?”
Gerald felt that Randall was telling the truth, but he had to make sure. “My grandmother is paying you. She wouldn’t let you do anything to me. I’m her grandson, her own flesh and blood. I’m her lottery ticket.”
Randall smiled. “You just don’t understand, do you, son? If you don’t play this the right way, you will become expendable. Your grandmother will do anything to accomplish what she wants. She’s like a black, evil, monstrous old spider—spinning her web. She has planned this and she has covered all the bases. I’m here to see that her plans are carried out. And believe me when I say that, to me, there is no difference between the operation in Vietnam and this one.”
Randall smiled, but there was no warmth, only cold steel. Then he turned and left. Gerald stared after him, the bottle of pills held in nerveless fingers. He shut the door and leaned against the wall, his heart pounding.
How am I going to get out of this?
*****
Rachel knelt beside the toilet. The paroxysm of retching had passed, but she still felt weak and disoriented. Augusta’s doctor had visited the day before, and after a cursory examination, he told her that some women respond to pregnancy more intensely than others, and she just needed to get some rest. He wrote a prescription for some medicine for the morning sickness and left. Rachel rolled off her knees and leaned against the wall. She really did feel terrible. There was a knock on her door. She dragged herself to her feet, wiped off her chin, and went out into her room. The knock came again.
“I’m coming!”
Rachel opened the door to find Gerald standing there with a tray.
“Can I come in?”
Rachel stepped aside and Gerald entered. He set the tray down and turned to Rachel. There were two white pills and a glass of golden-colored liquid on the tray. “I brought your pills. The glass has ginger ale in it. The bubbles will settle your stomach and the ginger will help, too.”
Rachel stared at Gerald suspiciously. He seemed kind and solicitous, but she didn’t know what he was up to. Her thoughts went back to Capri.
He just wants to keep me from divorcing him, so he’s pouring on the charm. I’ve seen this before.
“Thank you, Gerald.”
Gerald paused a moment and then he took her hand. There was a strange, troubled expression on his face. “Rachel, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I have been so callous and hard. It’s just that I never met anyone like you. I mean, a girl who was real and not just some tramp that was there to gratify me. You’re real and honest and good, and I don’t know how to deal with honesty and goodness. I...well, I’m sorry.”
He turned to go, but Rachel took his arm.
“I’m sorry, too, Gerald.”
“Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry for the way I’ve used you to get what I wanted. I was so certain I wanted to get away from my papa, that when this chance came to do what I wanted with my life, I took it, no matter what the cost. Now I see that the cost has been terrible.”
A tear ran down her face. “I’m supposed to be a Christian, but I threw all that away for the money. I forgot that nothing is worth more than a relationship with God. In the last few days, I’ve been praying again, and the Lord has really helped me to see what a fool I’ve been. Now I’m pregnant and I’ve hurt you and... Oh, Gerald, please forgive me.”
Gerald stared at her with a troubled look on his face. He turned away. “Rachel, I don’t know much about God. I know that when I was a kid I always liked church and the music and the stained glass windows. Somehow being there made me feel peaceful and safe, especially after my parents died. But I don’t know what you mean when you say you can have a re
lationship with God. That just sounds so strange to me. And shouldn’t you be the one forgiving me? After all, I seduced you under false pretenses and now...well, you are in real trouble.”
“Trouble?”
A sense of nameless dread came over her, and she could feel her heart begin to pound.
Gerald turned back to her and took her arm in a powerful grip. “Yes, Rachel, trouble. I mean like dangerous trouble. You need to—”
Just then there was a knock on the door.
“Rachel, it’s Augusta. Can I come in?”
Rachel stared up at Gerald. A terrified look had come over his face.
“I need to what, Gerald?”
Gerald looked at the door. “Ah...nothing, Rachel, never mind.”
The knock came again, more insistent.
“Rachel?”
Gerald went to the door and let Augusta in. “Hello, Grandmother. I was just bringing Rachel her pills.”
Augusta looked at Gerald curiously and then walked over and put her hands on Rachel’s shoulders.
“How are you feeling this morning, my dear? Ever since Gerald told me the wonderful news I’ve been so excited for you and for us. Another generation of St. Clairs, and I get to see it. I really never thought I’d be a great-grandmother. How delightful!”
Then she scowled. “Gerald also told me that he’s been a very naughty boy and that you’re thinking of leaving us. Is that true?”
Behind Augusta she could see Gerald shaking his head. His face was pale. Rachel played along. “Well, I’m willing to at least talk about it.”
Rachel could see the relief on Gerald’s face.
Augusta smiled. “Excellent, Rachel, that’s excellent. Now be a good girl and take your pills. You’ll feel much better. The doctor told me you are a very healthy young woman.”
She turned to go. “Come, Gerald, we must let Rachel get her rest. I’ll have cook send up something that will be very soothing on your stomach, Rachel.”
Augusta and Gerald went out. Before he closed the door, Gerald turned and gave Rachel another strange look. Rachel picked up the pills and took them with the ginger ale. In a moment, her churning stomach seemed to settle down. She went back to her bed to lie down.
The Amish Heiress (The Paradise Chronicles Book 1) Page 22
