Authors: Stacy Eaton,Dominque Agnew
G
loria was a whirlwind
. There was no better word to describe her.
Standing back and watching her give out orders, while still being sweet as a sleeping kitten, was like watching a force of nature come through and uproot a town—which was kind of what she was doing to me.
The moment I had accepted her job proposal, she had shaken my hand, and we had returned to the house. During breakfast, we had talked about the design for the rocking chairs. She asked questions about the materials I would want to use, and we even discussed the stain colors.
The moment breakfast was over, Gloria was calling in all her staff, and things got rolling. She had people meeting me at my apartment in thirty minutes to help me pack and bring my items back. She’d asked me how much my rent was for the place, and I’d told her seven hundred a month. She had handed me fourteen hundred in cash and told me to get out of my lease with it.
I held the cash in my hand and stared at it. That was a lot of cash, and she hadn’t even batted an eye. I peered around the house; I guessed the amount was nothing for someone of her wealth.
Amelia had shown me to the garage and handed me a set of keys. “She must really trust you to allow you to take Mr. Withers’s truck out.”
She looked embarrassed that she had voiced her opinion.
“I hope that she does trust me, and I hope you all know that I would never do anything to hurt her or take advantage of her. She is an incredible woman, and I will do everything I can to help her.”
Amelia scrutinized me carefully. “I’m glad to hear that. There is not a person in this house that would not die to protect her.”
I smiled down at her, “I have only known her for two days, and I already feel the same.”
Amelia left me then, and I wandered around the garage. There were three cars inside: the Lincoln Town Car that I had seen the day before, a light blue 1965 Ford Mustang convertible in mint condition, and a deep burgundy Ford F250 pickup truck with an extended cab that was probably a couple years old, but looked brand new.
I whistled as I looked it over. She trusted me to drive this? A few years ago I had peered at the sticker of one of these only to learn it cost more than I made in a year.
I heard a noise behind me and turned. “I thought you would have been on your way already,” Gloria remarked as Tom escorted her out of the house and toward her Town Car.
“Are you sure you trust me to drive this? What if I get in an accident?”
Gloria laughed and waved her hand, “That is what insurance is for,” Tom held the door open for her, “and if you ever want to take out Ms. Lucy, just let me know.”
“Ms. Lucy?” I inquired.
She pointed at the Mustang, “Yes, that was my car, but I quit driving a few years ago. She probably needs a tune up, but you are welcome to take her out for a spin some time. My home is your home, Grey.”
I was humbled by her comment, and my voice came out lower than I had expected, “Thank you, Gloria.”
“Get moving, you have work to do,” she commanded warmly and climbed into the car.
Tom smiled at me as he came around the side of the car. “I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time, Mr. Bloodstone,” he said softly enough that Gloria wouldn’t hear from inside the car.
“I’m glad to hear that, Tom, and, please, call me Grey.”
“Grey it is then. Good luck with your move today.” He climbed into the car and they were on their way.
My landlord had no problem accepting the money I gave him, but pronounced that since I was breaking my lease, I wasn’t getting my security deposit back. At first I was concerned about that, but then I remembered that I was going to be getting paid fifty thousand dollars, and would be able to get a slightly better place and pay off a lot of my debt.
It only took a few hours to pack my meager possessions and load them into the small truck that showed up. Brett, the guy driving the truck asked which items I wanted in storage, and which ones I wanted taken to the house. We separated them on the two sides of the truck, and by four that afternoon, we were pulling up the long driveway at the Withers Estate.
I looked at the house as I stopped in front of the garage. If yesterday I had been told that I would be moving onto this property, I would have laughed hysterically.
Now, I was not only moving onto the property, but I had a job—one that was going to help me pay off a chunk of my debt by doing what I loved to do.
I parked the truck in the garage bay and walked out the back door toward my workshop. Just the thought of being able to work in there put a grin on my face like the one you’d see on a three-year-old on Christmas morning.
That thought caused my step to falter slightly as I thought about Nate, but I forced myself not to be sad. Nate was gone, and I would always love him, but I had to move on with my life. I owed it to him. I owed it to myself.
I stepped over the threshold of the workshop and the sight of it took my breath away. I had always dreamed of having a place like this in which to work. Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would actually get to do it, if only for a short time.
The reminder that this was only temporary dulled the excitement a tad, but I reminded myself that beggars can’t be choosers, so if I had been blessed enough to have the opportunity to work with these tools while staying in this house as a guest and employee of Gloria Withers, I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Hadn’t Gloria said it was time to take control of my life? This was the first step. Maybe while I was here, I could work on a few more designs and find a buyer or two.
The creative juices started flowing already, and I wanted to jump right in and start working on the designs for the rocking chairs, but first I had to help Brett unload my things from the truck.
I lifted the garage door and found that he was backing in. I hadn’t even checked the upstairs to find out what the living arrangements were, but I didn’t care. It could have an air mattress for all I cared, and I would be happy.
While Brett was parking and getting ready, I took the stairs two at time. At the top was a landing and a door with a standard door lock. I tested it and found it unlocked.
I stepped into the room and stared wide-eyed around me. The house I had lived in during my marriage hadn’t been this nice.
There was a living room area with a leather sofa, chair, and ottoman that would have taken up every inch of my living space in my apartment. A sliding glass door led to a deck off the living room that gave a clear view of the main house. Past the sliding door there was a full kitchen with a breakfast nook that could seat four. The stainless steel appliances gleamed, but the woodwork on the cabinet commanded my attention.
My feet moved without thought as I stared at the intricate scroll work along the edges of the dark wood cabinets.
“Walter did all the woodwork in this place,” Gloria’s voice came from behind me.
“It’s beautiful.” I ran my fingers over the design. “He was very talented.”
“Yes, he was,” she said wistfully. “He loved to come out here in the shop and work.”
“Are you sure you are alright with me working with all his tools? I can’t imagine it is easy to see someone else in his space.”
Her smile remained on her lips, but her eyes held the sadness of loss that I understood too well. “Walter would have wanted someone with talent and his passion to use this space. I know he would approve.”
She ran her hand over the arm of the leather chair. “In fact, the day I met you, I was sitting on the bench thinking about him. Thinking about what I was going to do, and how it wouldn’t be long before I joined him.”
“Gloria—” I started to speak but she held her hand up.
“I know what you’re going to say, but let me finish. I think that somehow Walter knew what I needed: a friend. He led me to that bench at that time to find you so that you could help me finish this project.”
I blinked back tears. I already cared about this woman as much as I had ever cared for my own grandmother, and to think about her not being here much longer tugged fiercely at my heartstrings.
“Well, then I guess I should thank Walter,” I winked at her, “or you could tell him when you see him.”
That got a chuckle from her and broke the solemn mood. “So is this place acceptable? Is there anything you might need?”
“No, this is more than I could have asked for.” I glanced around the kitchen. “I’ll need to borrow the truck again later to get some groceries.”
“Nonsense, you will eat with me up at the house, or I can have Amelia pick up some things for you.” She glanced around the room once more, “You are going to be too busy downstairs working to worry about cooking food.”
“Okay,” I laughed, “as long as it doesn’t cause any problems.”
“It will be nice to have company. I’ll let you get settled. Dinner will be around six. I’ll see you up at the house then.”
“Alright.” Gloria turned to leave. “Gloria,” I called out to stop her and walked over to her, “thank you.”
She patted my arm tenderly, “You’re welcome, Grey. Welcome home.”
I
found
Gloria in the conservatory a few minutes before six. She was sitting at a desk I hadn’t noticed earlier, reading over some papers.
“Evening, Gloria, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
She peeled her glasses off her face and laid them down, “Not at all.” She stacked up the papers, “I’m ready for a break.”
“Mr. Bloodstone,” Amelia’s voice had me turning toward the hallway, “would you care for a drink?”
“I’ll take a beer if you have one,” I replied.
“What kind? We have domestic or imported.”
“Um, I’m not picky, whatever is handy.” She smiled and left the room. “Did you want something, Gloria? I can call Amelia back.”
“No, I’ll have iced tea with dinner, maybe a glass of wine after.”
I suddenly remembered that I had something I wanted to show her. “Here, I made a few sketches before I came over.” I handed her three sheets of paper with rough drafts. I bit my lower lip, wondering if she would like any of them or suddenly decide that she had made a grave mistake.
She sat down at the end of one of the sofas and paged through the designs. I couldn’t tell by her expression what she was thinking, and my knees practically shook. I sat on the opposite sofa so I wouldn’t embarrass myself by falling over.
She looked over the drawings for a full four minutes before she held one up. “This one.”
“You like that one?”
“Yes, I like this one, but I want to see if you can add words to that.”
“Words, what words do you want added?” I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees.
“Words like, Hope, Faith, Believe, words that are strong. I could do that. I could scroll the words into the border of the design.” I paused, “You never said what this project is—why those words.”
She set the papers on the table between us, “It’s for a new wing at the hospital, a wing for cancer patients.”
I stared at the paper for a moment longer and then up at her. Maybe Walter really did bring us together.
“Then those words are perfect,” I pronounced as Amelia handed me my beer bottle. I held it up to Gloria in a salute, “Here’s to our work.”
I
didn’t get
any sleep the night before and was up pacing the floor at five A.M.
Today was the day.
The other night, after I had woken up, beaten and bloody, I’d found that Todd had already packed for his trip and left. That was the best news I could have asked for. There had been no word from him since.
If I had it my way, I would never hear a word from him ever again.
At six, I took a shower and carefully applied makeup to hide the bruises along my neck and cheekbones the best that I could. It was hard, they were darker than any I had ever received before. I didn’t care about the bruises, they would fade, but I needed to be as invisible as possible, without marks for people to remember.
Today, I had to slip into the shadows and disappear.
At seven, I woke Allie and dressed her like I would any other day. By seven forty-five, she was fed and we were in the car to the baby sitter’s. Her diaper bag beside me held three days’ worth of clothing, a thousand dollars in cash, and a pre-paid cellphone.
I had kept the money hidden under her crib mattress this last week. The one place I knew he would never look.
I kissed Allie goodbye and gave Donna a pointed look before I left. No words needed to be spoken; she was in on the plan.
As I drove back to my house, I ran the details of the plan through my mind over and over again. The first step was the transportation to the airport. My company had hired a car to pick me up and deliver me to the terminal. I glanced at my watch, in twenty minutes it would all begin.
I pulled my car into the garage and looked around the inside. I felt there was something I was leaving behind that would be a clue, yet I found nothing. My car was spotless.
By the front door sat my rolling garment bag. Inside were my standard dress suits for business meetings. My makeup and personal care items were also inside. I would never see any of that again.
I stood in the kitchen one last time, taking a moment to remember the horrible memories that had occurred within its confines. Those memories would make this easier. They would calm me for what I had to do.
The doorbell rang and I allowed my eyes to pass over the room one final time. Everything was neat as a pin, nothing out of place—not that it mattered. I wouldn’t be here to be punished anymore.
I pasted a smile on my face and pulled open the door. It was show time.
The driver loaded my bag into the trunk, and I sat in the back seat. I kept my eyes averted; my hair was down around my neck to hide the bruises. The swelling on my face had receded; even my nose hadn’t looked all that horrible in the reflection of the mirror.
The drive to the airport was quiet. With each mile that passed, my heart thumped harder in my chest. I ran over the plans time and time again. I had a bad feeling that something was going to go wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what we hadn’t covered. Oh, I know, I thought to myself wryly, I’m just not lucky enough for it to go off without a hitch.
I clenched my eyes and prayed, Please, God, let me be able to do this. Let it all work out.
The driver stopped outside the terminal and removed my bag from the trunk while I waited on the curb. I handed him a twenty and thanked him before I turned and slipped into the crowd.
At the kiosk I turned my bag over to an employee. He checked the tag I had slipped around the handle and tossed it onto the conveyer belt. It disappeared, just as I was about to.
As I approached security, I kept my gaze low and didn’t make eye contact with anyone. My hands shook, and my stomach felt queasy. The adrenaline coursing through me had me on edge.
With no hang-ups in security, I went to the gate. Roberta was there, and I realized this was the one thing we hadn’t considered. Michele said she had put her on another flight. I forced a smile and approached her, “Roberta, did you get on this flight?”
“I did.” She grinned up at me, “I had Michele check again early this morning and a seat opened up. I thought it would be fun for us to travel together.”
Oh, Jesus, was she Todd’s spy? My hands began to sweat, and I rubbed them down over my black slacks. How was I going to be able to do this?
My stomach heaved, and I glanced at my watch, about twenty minutes until they called the flight. It was time.
“Whoa, I’m not feeling too well.” I placed my hand on my stomach and knew that was an honest statement, “I’ll be right back.”
Roberta made a comment, but my blood was pounding in my head so loudly that I didn’t hear her. I walked at a brisk speed to the bathroom and rushed to the opposite side. Standing in the corner was another woman; she was brushing her long blond hair. From the back, we could be the same person.
I stopped and stared at her reflection in the mirror over her shoulder. From the front we could almost be twins, too.
That’s what we were counting on. She turned my way, “You look like you’re about to panic, take a deep breath.”
I nodded jerkily and tried to inhale deeply to calm down. She might look enough like me to fool a camera, but Roberta would never be fooled.
“I think we have a problem,” I began.
“Barbara, are you alright?” I spun around. It wasn’t my lookalike that had spoken, but Roberta. She had followed me into the restroom.
Roberta looked between the two of us, eyeing our exact outfits and shoes.
“What’s going on?” she asked uneasily.
I either had to trust her or this plan was over. “Roberta,” I took a step closer, “can I trust you with a secret?”
“You have a twin sister?” she asked nervously.
“No, she is not my sister, but,” I glanced over my shoulder at Tina, the woman I had paid to be me, “but she could be me.”
“What’s going on, Barb? You’re kind of freaking me out here.” Roberta took a step back. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
Tina took that moment to step forward, “Barb, you have to get changed. Here, go in the stall.”
I took the backpack she handed me and turned back to Roberta. “Do you know my husband?” I asked her.
She shook her head, “No.”
“Have you ever spoken to him or spied on me for him?” I asked her quietly, looking around to make sure we were alone on this side of the room.
“What? No! I have no clue who your husband is. Why would I?”
“I don’t have much time, and neither do you. My husband has beaten me for years, the other night he beat me so badly, I wasn’t sure I would live.” I pulled my hair back, “Do you see these bruises? These are from his hands as he choked me.”
Her eyes were huge, and her hand flew to her mouth, “Oh, my God. I heard rumors, but I didn’t think they were true. Oh, Barb, what are you going to do?”
“This is the only thing I am going to tell you, but you have to promise me you won’t ever tell anyone. Do you promise? When you get off that plane in San Diego, you will walk away from my lookalike as if you are going to different hotels, and you will have no idea where I disappeared to.” I watched her carefully, “Can you promise me that?”
“Barb, you have to get changed.” Tina pushed me toward the stall.
“I will,” I said to Tina. “Do you promise me, Roberta? If you don’t, he will find me and kill me.”
She nodded her head, “I swear, I won’t say a word.”
“I’m not getting on that plane, Roberta, and after you walk out of this restroom with the temporary Barb, no one will know where I went.”
She threw her arms around me, pulling me close to her. “My sister was killed by her boyfriend. I will take this information to my grave. I swear.”
When she pulled back, she had tears in her eyes, and I could only nod.
I stepped into the stall and began to shed my clothes. From the backpack, I pulled out a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a thin high-neck sweater. I traded my high heels for a pair of hiking boots. After shoving all my clothes back into the backpack, I stepped out of the cubicle.
Roberta and Tina eyed me carefully. Tina stepped behind me and twisted my hair up in a messy bun, “Peggy said you had bruises on your neck, the sweater will hide them, but you need your hair different. Now, go!” She pushed me toward the exit on the opposite side from where I had entered.
“Wait,” I handed her my purse, “my cellphone is inside. Make sure it gets destroyed.”
Tina nodded, “Got it.”
“Go!” Roberta said and waved me off. Tina turned and took Roberta’s arm.
“Come on, I just heard them call for boarding of our flight.” I shared one last long with look Roberta and Tina.
“Thank you,” I said as I spun around and fled the bathroom. Once out in the open, I was a nervous wreck. I slipped the reading glasses out of my bag that Tina had added and put them on my face, keeping my eyes low. I skirted around people and walked as quickly as I could without running to avoid drawing attention to myself.
I had just exited security when I heard the final boarding call for Flight 249 bound to San Diego. I stepped out of the airport and found a white van sitting at the curb. The door slid open, and I climbed inside.
In the back seat, Allie giggled when she saw me. I leaned over and inhaled her sweet scent, trying to control the quaking in my body.
“How did everything go?” Donna asked from the front seat.
“One little glitch, but I think it will be alright.” Please, God, let Roberta have told the truth.
“Good,” Donna said as she pulled away from the curb. I glanced over the seat and saw two suitcases in the back, one for me and one for Allie.
We drove for four hours, only stopping once to get gas. Donna pulled up at the Las Vegas Airport and put the car in park. She turned in her seat and smiled.
“You ready for the next part?”
“Yeah, I’m ready for this to be over with.”
Donna laughed and reached over for a folder, “You will find your identification in there, along with your tickets and bank information. There is a car rented for you already, you will only need to use the credit card inside here to get the keys from the kiosk. Everything is all set.”
She handed me the papers, and I felt my throat tightening, “Donna, I don’t know how to thank you all.”
“Stay alive, that will be thanks enough.” She winked and opened her door to help me get the suitcases out. She handed them right off to the porter and then gave me Allie’s diaper bag. “You still have the phone, right?”
“Yeah, I left it in the bottom of the diaper bag. I knew he would never look in there.”
“Okay, call us when you get there. Let us know you made it.” She hugged me, “You’re almost there.”
“I know,” tears stung my eyes, “but I won’t believe it until I’m there.”
I removed a squirming Allie out of her car seat and, with a final hug, said goodbye to another woman who had possibly helped to save my life.
Allie and I entered the airport and headed to the ticket kiosk. Using the credit card from inside the folder, I checked us in.
For the second time that day, I went through security, but this time, I had Allie in my arms.
I glanced behind me as I picked up the backpack Tina had given me and realized there was no looking back. Now I had to look forward. Cuddling Allie close to me, I turned and headed toward the gate.
The flight was uneventful except for Allie not wanting to sit still. She was tense and tired, but so was I.
We arrived in New York to find it was already eight at night there. I picked up the car with no troubles and could have fallen to my knees and cried when I saw a car seat strapped into the back. Peggy had thought of everything.
An hour later, thirteen hours after the adventure had begun, I pulled into the long driveway and stared up at the house I had remembered visiting as a child.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I realized I’d made it.