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 house. 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.”
“I know,” I said. “It always felt that way to me too. I thought it was just me.”
“No,” she shook her head. “Please, help me figure out a way that I don’t have to go back there.”
I sat there, deep in thought while Auggie made her dad and me a cup of coffee and fed Ford. Mr. Langford finally came up with the only possible solution. “Auggie, you’ll have to get hurt.”
“What?” I cried out and she looked at him in alarm.
“Auggie, do you still have that friend, Todd Green, the police officer?”
“Yes,” she answered. “He’s with the state police now, I think.”
“Do you think he’d do you a favor?” He was thinking over a plan.
“He always has,” she said and quickly looked at me for a reaction.
“See if you can get hold of him. We need to manufacture an accident. You’ll need to be hurt and flown out of state for special care. We won’t need Todd unless Linc gets nosy and checks with the authorities. I’ll keep the baby while you supposedly leave and have an auto accident. We’ll hide your car and you’ll stay here with me. Worth will take Ford home to Betsy to look after. In fact, Worth, you hire an additional nanny. Worth can bring the baby to me every once in a great while, but it has to be secret. It’s the only way I can see it clear.”
Auggie and I considered it and finally she nodded. She had big tears in her eyes and held Ford to her chest. “I can’t stand the idea of being separated from him,” she said. “Are you sure it’s the only option?”
“It could keep him from getting hurt, Auggie,” I told her in what I hoped was a soothing voice. “Linc’s after us both. I know I started this mess—”
“No!” she broke in. “He started this mess. We’re just trying to deal with it.”
“If we take you out of the picture for a while, he’ll get attracted to Jessie Klinger. They’re made for each other and with any luck, she’ll coerce him into going to Cincinnati with her and he’ll leave the farm, and our lives, for good.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” her dad put in.
“It’s the only one we have,” Auggie said in a small voice. “But how will this get Worth off the hook for introducing him around?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I’ll just have to make sure Jessie leads him out of town.”
Auggie twisted around. “I wish there was a better way,” she said, “but for now, let me call Todd. Thank God I trained Bernie. He can cover for me.”
“No!” I stopped her. “You might trust him but consider this. First, there’s no telling what Linc would threaten him with if he thought something was fishy. Secondly, things can’t go forward as planned. It would be too obvious that you’re pulling strings from somewhere and Linc will track you down. We have to keep this as quiet as possible. The story will be that Auggie brought the baby to see you, Mr. Langford and then she went to the store for something and the accident happened. The authorities contact me and she’s stat-flighted out of state. I will supposedly call you because the baby was left with you and because you’re her father. If you’ll call and let her mother know… Auggie, would she want to fly to your side?”
Auggie looked at me with some incredulity. “Mother? Are you kidding?”
“No, I suppose not,” I agreed. “Okay, so I’ll arrange to be out of town, supposedly by Auggie’s side and return frequent updates. I’ll have an agency send over a nanny for additional backup if you’ll drive him to my house? I’ll need to be at Auggie’s side.”
“Why can’t the baby and Betsy just stay here with me?” Auggie asked, looking hopeful. “If you’re supposed to be by my side, then no one would give it a second thought that he stays with dad.”
I gave it some thought, knowing how desperate she would want to be with Ford. Finally, I shook my head. “It’s too risky and puts Betsy in danger. I can’t do that to her, or her sister, or another nanny. Plus, if they stay at our house, it gives me additional reasons to go back and forth as needed.” I placed my hand over hers. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
She clasped my hand back and only nodded.
“We’ll go now and put Auggie’s car in storage somewhere that it can’t be found,” I went on. “Auggie, we’ll have to find you some clothes, but you can order those in, as well as anything else you might need. Be careful not to use your normal email or go onto social media. No one can find out you’re here. Mr. Langford, is it possible for me to get my car into one of the barns so I can visit Auggie at night?”
“They’re empty right now — take your pick.”
I nodded. “Auggie, you have to stay inside. No one, not even the farm hands or a neighbor can know you’re here. I’ll have Bernie take care of Carlos and the other horses and work with Beverly, but it has to be on a limited basis. Enough to keep him employed but not so much as to require decisions from you.”
“How long will this take?” Auggie whined.
“Sweetheart, I have no idea. I’ll do my best to push Jessie toward Linc, but I have to be careful about doing it. If they don’t develop the right chemistry, the whole thing will fall apart.”
Mr. Langford spoke up. “I’ll call Caren and get her riled up about the new woman in the house. She’ll feel her power slipping away and become more and more difficult to live with. When she gets desperate, her bitchiness comes out.”
“Dad!” Auggie was amazed. “I’ve never heard you refer to her that way!”
“Well?” he held out his hands for definition.
“Yes, you’re right. She will. She’ll become impossible to live with and Linc will want her out.”
Auggie interrupted. “Worth, what about your mother? Won’t she want to know what’s going on? Or insist on visiting me in the hospital?”
Mr. Langford chuckled. “Leave her to me. We see each other from time to time and I’ll gently push her in the other direction. In fact, I’ll suggest that maybe Linc would like to sell the farm and she could help things by buying it back from him. He’ll get the money he wants and an exit.”
Auggie clapped her hands together. “Other than the part about not seeing the baby, this is going to be fun!”
“Not so fast, Auggie,” I cautioned her. “It could backfire and then we will have lost our only chance. Linc is dangerous. No one can afford to screw up. Promise?”
They both nodded as they thought through their respective roles. I felt a lump in the pit of my stomach. Everyone I loved was at stake. Could I play my role?