“Adam?”
“What do we have to talk about?” he finally responded, still not looking up at me.
“The baby.” I walked over and sat down in a chair across from his desk.
“What about it?”
“Her,” I said.
“What? Oh, yeah. Her. What about her? I thought all of this was settled,” he answered.
He seemed really preoccupied with whatever he was reading on his desk. Kind of half paying attention to anything I said.
“Not really.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, finally focusing those green eyes right into mine. I had his attention then.
“I mean, I’m having second thoughts about all of this. I don’t know if I can give up my baby.”
I knew it wasn’t fair of me to change my mind, yet again. But I couldn’t help it. She was my baby and I had had a lot of time to think about what I was doing. Since Violet wasn’t around to stick her nose in the middle of it all and confuse me with all of her nonsense, I was having a very hard time sticking to my end of the bargain. Handing my baby over to Sarah would tear me apart.
Adam started turning red and looked really angry. Then I saw him take a deep breath and wait a minute before replying to me. He looked to me as though he was trying very hard not to say something he might regret later.
“Abbey, we made a deal,” he said calmly, letting out his breath slowly.
“I know. But I love her.” I looked down and rubbed my ever increasing belly.
“Of course you do. But, you are so young. What kind of life can you give her? You can’t even afford to take care of yourself. How could you rent a decent place to live, not to mention being able to buy formula, diapers, clothes, and a million other things that babies need?”
“Well, I thought that’s where you would come in. She is your daughter after all,” I answered back.
“No.” That was all he said.
“What do you mean by that? You aren’t going to help support your own child? You are just going to let us live on the streets, with no money for food?” I started getting angry. “You couldn’t possibly do that to your own daughter, could you?” I probably sounded desperate, but that’s exactly how I felt.
“That’s not what I mean at all. I mean that no, I won’t give you money for any of that. My daughter is staying right here with me. You can fight me on this, but I have the means to fight you all the way in court. You will never win. Is that what you want, to have a big legal battle with me?” He wasn’t backing down.
“No. But, you can’t stop me from leaving here and then you’ll never find me. Never find us,” I threatened.
“Really? Well let me tell you a little secret.” He smiled. “Ever since you told us that you were pregnant, we’ve had someone watching you day and night. There is literally nowhere that you can hide. I will always know where you are.” He was still grinning. It was a bit creepy.
“How can you do this?” I asked. “You said you loved me.”
“Loved. As in the past tense. I thought I loved you once, yes. That is no longer the case. I love Sarah and we are going to raise this baby together. Without you.” He was dead serious and a bit scary. “And, if you cause me any trouble, I will make sure that you go to prison for killing my mother. I still don’t know for sure if it was you or not, but I’ll do it anyway, just so I can have that baby. So, don’t you dare even consider trying to leave this house. You will be staying here until my daughter is born and let everyone think Sarah is the mother. Do I make myself clear?”
He succeeded in scaring me. I nodded my head, got up and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I burst out crying before I was even ten feet out the door. I doubt Adam heard me as I ran the rest of the way to my room. I laid on my bed for hours trying to figure a way out of the huge mess I was in. He was right, I had no money to fight him for custody and I had no money to leave and support myself and a baby. What was I thinking? Maybe I could go back and live with my parents? No, that wouldn’t work. I couldn’t bear to face them. After all that I had put them through, how could I possibly show up on their doorstep with a child? Besides, if Adam really did have eyes on me, he could still get the baby no matter where I was. I started looking around my room, expecting to see someone hiding in the closet watching me. I was being ridiculous. No one was in the room with me. But, I really wouldn’t have been surprised to find someone in the hallway keeping an eye on my door.
Suddenly there was a knock on my bedroom door. That was very strange, since no one ever came to my room. I didn’t answer because I was in no mood to have a fight with anyone.
“Abbey, it’s Sarah. Can I come in?” I heard though the door.
Still I said nothing. I didn’t want to deal with her. Maybe if I ignored her, she would go away.
“Abbey, please. Can we talk?” This time she didn’t wait for an answer and just walked in.
“Not now Sarah.” I was still lying on the bed, and I rolled away so my back was facing her. If that didn’t get my point across, nothing would.
“I just want to see how you are doing. Adam told me about your talk.” She sat down on the bed next to me.
“You mean our fight,” I responded without moving.
“He said you had a talk about the baby and you were upset when you left.”
That made me turn around and sit up to face her. “Is that what he told you? That we talked and I was upset? Well, he was right about me being upset. But there was no talk. He demanded that I let you continue pretending to be pregnant and threatened to have me imprisoned if I left with my baby. Is that what you meant by having a talk?” I made sure there was plenty of sarcasm in my voice.
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry. That’s not what he told me.”
“Yeah, right. I don’t believe you. The two of you are constantly working on ways to get me to give you this baby and get out of your lives. I’m not an idiot.” I didn’t have anything to lose, so, I had no problem telling her what was on my mind.
“Look, I don’t think you’re an idiot. We are not working together on this. Well, not on all of what you just told me anyway. I just want a baby and you promised me that. I had no idea Adam was threatening you. I don’t want it to be like that. This needs to be your choice. We can’t and won’t force anything on you.”
“The two of you need to get your stories straight. It seems like every time I have a conversation with one of you, it is completely the opposite of what the other said.”
“I don’t know about that,” Sarah responded.
“Why are you all of a sudden being so nice to me? You’ve been nothing but nasty from the moment I walked in the door, especially after you found out about the affair. You think being nice to me now is going to get you your way?”
“I don’t want to fight with you about this. I’m going to go talk to Adam. Let’s take tonight for everyone to calm down and we can talk later. Please don’t go anywhere until we figure this all out. Okay?” She seemed sincere and stood up to leave.
“How am I going to go anywhere when Adam has someone spying on me 24 hours a day?”
She actually looked confused when I said that. Somehow I was sure that she had no idea that he was spying on me.
Since I couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone, I decided to follow Sarah and find out exactly what was going on. She went directly to their bedroom, and I followed, keeping a safe distance away. She had no idea I was behind her. She was a woman on a mission. When the door slammed behind her, I stuck my ear to it. Eavesdropping was starting to become a way of life for me.
“Did you threaten to have Abbey arrested if she didn’t give us the baby?”
“Who told you that?” he asked sheepishly. He knew perfectly well who told her.
“She did. Arrested for what?”
“For killing my mother. What else could it be? You need to stop talking to her. She is twisting everything up.” He sounded angry.
“That’s pretty much what she sa
id to me. Abbey said that we need to get our stories straight. She’s got a point. We don’t seem to know what each other is doing, or saying.” She was definitely upset with him. “You need to stop threatening her. That is only going to make it worse. If she thinks she is going to get arrested for Violet’s murder, then she is going to run, and there won’t be much we can do about it. And, did you tell Abbey that we have someone watching her around the clock?”
“Yes. I do. I can’t take any chance that she will run off in the middle of the night, taking my daughter with her.”
“Your daughter? I thought she was our daughter.” Sarah sounded a bit hurt by that.
“You know what I mean,” he replied. “Yes, of course she is our daughter. We will be raising her together. We just need to keep Abbey calm until after she gives birth.”
“Well threatening her with imprisonment is not the way to do that,” Sarah told him.
“I guess you are right. I’ll tone it down,” Adam relented. “But I won’t let up on the surveillance. We need to keep an eye on her.”
I figured that was the end of the argument and decided to get away to think about things before I got caught. I went upstairs to our private room on the third floor and locked myself in. I just wanted to be alone. It was unlikely that anyone would find me in there, except Adam, maybe. But, I doubted he would even be looking for me.
The second I walked in, I noticed it. The painting. The Picasso to be exact, was gone. What in the world? Where could it have gone? I think Adam and I were the only ones that even knew about the Picasso. He did have one of the staff clean the room occasionally, but I’m sure she had no idea of the painting’s worth. He made it a point not to talk about it to anyone. He said it made him feel vulnerable that such a priceless thing was in his home. If people knew about it, we could all be in danger.
I searched the room to see if someone just took it off the wall for some reason. It was not in the closet, or anywhere else, that I could find. I started to shiver, not from the cold, but probably from nervousness or fright. Would that cause goosebumps? Anyway, I turned and ran to find Adam.
Obviously his fight with Sarah was over, because I found Adam out in the stables talking to Walter. I smiled and gave Walter a hug when I saw him. He had been my confidant through my ordeal at the ranch and was almost like a father to me. He knew all about the pregnancy, and who the father was, and never judged me. Adam gave me a weird look when I hugged Walter, but didn’t say anything.
“Adam, can I talk to you?” I asked, and Walter just walked away without saying a word.
“What is it?”
“I was just up in the third floor room and the Picasso is gone!” Then I realized I was a bit too loud. Looking around, I lowered my voice. “The Picasso is missing,” I said much more quietly.
“What? What are you talking about? Where is it?” He sounded surprised.
“I have no idea. That’s why I’m here talking to you. I thought maybe you put it somewhere else, or sold it or something.”
“What did you do with it?” he asked me.
“Me? I didn’t do anything with it. It was gone when I got there.” I could not believe he was actually accusing me of taking it.
“Well it was there the last time I was in that room. You are the only one that knows about it. There’s no one else.” He glared at me.
“There obviously is someone else. Don’t you dare accuse me of taking it. I’m not a thief!” I screamed, and I didn’t care who heard me that time. I was furious that he thought I took it. What in the world would I do with it if I did take it? I didn’t have the slightest idea where to sell a painting like that.
“Keep your voice down,” he said, while patting the air to accentuate his seriousness, I guess.
“If I took that stupid painting, why would I still be living and working here? I would be able to sell it for enough money to live the rest of my life on.” I really hoped that I was convincing. He didn’t need to know that I didn’t have a clue what to do with the painting.
“Maybe to keep the heat off of you,” he replied.
“Oh my god, you have lost your damn mind. I’m done with this conversation,” I told him and walked out.
Chapter 26
I ran straight to Walter and asked for a ride into town. Walter obliged without even asking where we were going or why. I spent several minutes in his truck complaining about Adam. Walter did a lot of head nodding and said ‘yep’ a lot. He was not a stupid man. He knew better than to get into a conversation that was all about the boss. I knew that. But it was nice to have someone that would just sit and listen to me. I never felt judged. I can honestly say that, other than Huck, Walter was the only person in that whole town that treated me with any kindness. I loved our long talks. I told him some about my past, without revealing too much about what a loser I used to be. He knew I was now pregnant with Adam’s child. He tried to give me advice here and there. But, he really just let me do the talking for the most part, and that was fine with me. I would like to think that if my daughter did end up being raised on the ranch, that Walter would be there for her. I knew I could trust him with her life.
As soon as we reached Huck’s house, I thanked Walter and got out of the truck. I told him he didn’t have to wait for me, but he said he was not going to leave me until he knew I was safe in the house. They certainly didn’t make ‘em like that anymore.
When I knocked on the door, a beautiful blonde woman answered. I immediately realized that I had never been to his house before. He once pointed it out to me, but we didn’t go in that time. I also realized that I had never met anyone in his family. I guess I had been so caught up in my own little world, that I didn’t get out much. That sounded really selfish and would have to change.
“Hello, can I help you?” she asked me.
“Um, hi. Is Huck home?” I asked nervously.
“Yes, come on in.” She took a good look at my belly as I walked in and her eyes got wide. At that moment I could tell exactly what she was thinking.
“Uh, my boyfriend and I are expecting a baby girl. Huck and I are just friends,” I blurted out.
With a look of relief on her face, she said “I see. You are awful young, aren’t you?”
“Mom. Be nice.”
We both turned to see Huck walking in from the back part of the house. He smiled at me. Those green eyes, just gorgeous. I looked at his mother then. He was right, they had the same beautiful green eyes.
“I was being nice. Wasn’t I?” She turned to me.
“Yes, of course. We were just talking, Huck. It’s fine,” I told him.
“Well, I have some things to do. It was nice meeting you…oh, I just realized I didn’t get your name.” She looked at me, waiting for an answer.
“Abbey.”
“It’s nice to meet you. There’s some cookies and stuff in the kitchen if you two kids would like a snack.” Then we were alone.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “You’ve never come here before.”
“I know. I just wanted to talk to you.” I started walking around the room, looking at the family photos. “You have a nice family,” I said, picking up one of the photos that was sitting on the fireplace mantel. “Is this your sister? She’s cute.” I held up the photo for him to see.
“Yes. Remember, I told you about her? She died a few years ago. She was only six years old.” He looked sad when he said that.
“Oh yeah. That’s right. I’m sorry. Her name was Madeline, right?”
“No, Madison. Her name was Madison.”
“Oh. That’s a pretty name. I like it.”
I put the photo down and continued walking around the room, looking at the photos of a happy family. There were pictures of them at the zoo, at Thanksgiving with a large group of people, at the beach, pretty much everywhere that I could see. I was suddenly very jealous of his perfect life. Yes, I had parents, and I knew they loved me, but my father worked all the time, and we really didn’t go out and
do that much as a family. Besides, I never had a brother or sister to share things with. I know that Huck’s sister died, but he was really lucky that he had her in his life, even for such a short time. That’s something I would never have.
“Abbey, why are you here? Something’s up, isn’t it?”
“Adam and I had a fight.”
“Another one?” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why you put up with him. You don’t need to deal with him.”
“He is the father of my baby. I kind of have to deal with him, whether I like it or not.”
“No you don’t. You can leave anytime you want. You aren’t his prisoner,” he proclaimed, like it was the first time I had heard it.
“Really? With what? You know I don’t have any money.”
“I have a job. I can loan you some money.” He seemed so sincere in his offer.
“No. Definitely not. I can’t take your money.”
“But you can take Adam’s?” he asked me.
“It’s his baby. So, yes, I can take his money.” I didn’t feel one bit guilty about taking money from the father of my child. It was his responsibility after all.
He rolled his eyes again.
“I saw that,” I smiled.
“Well never mind about that right now. I have something I need to tell you.” He looked serious all of a sudden.
“Okay, what?”
“I ran into Teresa yesterday. She was being nice so we hung out for a bit. I didn’t see the harm in it. I did really care for her once. The cafe was dead and we just sat there talking.”
“I see. So why are you telling me?” I was a bit annoyed. I didn’t want Huck as a boyfriend, but Teresa was not the right one for him.
“Because it’s important. Just pay attention.” He folded his arms across his chest, clearly waiting for me to shut up and listen.
“Okay, sorry.” He took my hand and we walked over and sat on the couch to talk.
“I was going to go by your house today after work, but since you are here, I can tell you now. Teresa told me that she was blackmailing Violet.”
“Really? About what?” I was definitely getting more curious.
A Reckless Life Page 15