Forever, Alabama

by Susan Sands

“Mom.” Both girls chorused.

  “Okay, fine. I was only kidding. He’s the kindest, most sensible and loving man I’ve ever known. He’s been a widower for seven years now. His wife died of cancer, poor dear. He’s got one son, who is Ben’s twin sister’s husband.”

  “Nothing like a small town, huh?” Rachel said. “Norman sounds terrific. Does Dad know you’re dating?”

  Mom’s face fell. “No. He doesn’t. And I don’t want him to until his parole is settled and he’s released from prison. I want to move on with my life with as little drama as possible from your father.”

  “Well, I’m not going to tell him if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy and floats your boat in bed.”

  Mom giggled. “Oh, he does.”

  “But I still don’t want to hear about that.” Rachel made a face.

  “Fine, but you should find someone who makes you feel like I do with Norman. Then you’d want to share all your juicy details too.”

  “Like I said, I can’t find someone I like or trust enough to hold the door for me, much less spend time with. I’ll just blame Dad for that and move on.”

  “For sure we’ve got reason for serious ‘daddy issues,’” Sabine said, only half-joking.

  But it wasn’t a joke. She figured she’d put up with Richard’s poor treatment of her far too long due to her own unresolved issues stemming from their father’s bizarre parenting that left a hole Richard filled at the right time and place. She’d met him when they were in high school. He was ridiculously good-looking, with such confidence and a bright future. They’d shared his bright future. Both had pursued advanced degrees at Tulane, she in psychology and counseling, he in law.

  But his saving of her had been what she’d most been attracted to. Even in high school and college, Sabine held resentment toward her father because of James’s shenanigans and Dad’s lack of willingness to put his foot down. Richard had stepped in as her supporter and protector.

  To say that Richard had always been untrustworthy or bad wasn’t true. He’d lost his way somewhere on their life’s journey together. She couldn’t and didn’t hate him, but he’d changed so much that Sabine simply didn’t recognize him as the man she loved and would certainly never trust him again after he’d so carelessly and blatantly abused her loyalty and their vows to one another. It was a broken thing that couldn’t be fixed. Just like her parents’ marriage.

  The snapping of fingers in front of her face brought her back to the present. Sabine’s head snapped up, and her eyes refocused.

  “Hello? Earth to Sabine. Looked like you were in a trance,” Rachel said.

  Sabine shook her head. “Just thinking about Richard and how much he’s changed since we met.”

  “Maybe he’s changed and maybe you’re just seeing him in a clearer light. He was who you wanted him to be for a long, long time, in my opinion,” Rachel said.

  Of course, Rachel hadn’t ever hidden her opinion of Richard.

  “Why didn’t you like Richard early on, Rach?” Sabine finally found the courage to ask the question.

  Rachel shrugged. “He creeped me out, even as a teen.”

  Something stirred up Sabine’s spidey senses about the way Rachel didn’t meet her eyes. “Did he ever touch you or hit on you inappropriately when we were young?”

  Rachel shrugged again, clearly not wanting to have this conversation. “Look, Sabine, nothing happened. There’s no sense in dragging all this up now.”

  Sabine heard Mom’s swift intake of breath. “Did Richard do something, Rachel? Something you didn’t tell your sister or me about?”

  “Look, it was no big deal. Guys are shits. Richard was more of a shit than normal. He made a play for me when I was in high school. Maybe it was eighth grade. I don’t remember. But I kicked him in the ’nads and threatened to tell you if he ever tried it again. He never did, so I pretended it never happened.”

  Sabine was shaking. She covered her face with her hands. How could she have misjudged Richard so completely? Clearly his perversions had begun well before and gone far beyond her catching him during their marriage.

  “Honey, you know this isn’t your fault. Richard’s wrongs don’t lie on your shoulders.” Her mother moved close and laid a hand on her shoulder.

  “But she’s my sister—my baby sister. He tried to abuse her and I didn’t protect her from him. Was I ignoring a problem that was right in front of my face all along? Were there signs? How many other young girls did he prey upon who were innocent? I mean, they’re all innocent, aren’t they? They’re children, for heaven’s sake.”

  “You told me he cheated with prostitutes. Were they underage?” Rachel asked.

  “I’m—not sure. I have a video as insurance in case he refused to give me a divorce, but I’ve never looked at it. I was told the girls were young, but no one mentioned they were below the age of consent. I was so upset that he’d done such a terrible thing that I stuffed it away and didn’t consider the other possibilities, like his being a true predator to young girls.”

  “He can’t be allowed to walk free from this. I imagine there are plenty other girls out there who Richard has made advances toward. If you have a video, it would prove whether the girls were young, certainly it would give us some idea how young,” Rachel said.

  “I don’t think I have the stomach to watch it,” Sabine said.

  “I do. And I’ll bet your lawyer boyfriend does,” Rachel said.

  “Richard will still expose me as a liar and bring the media circus to town if I threaten him with this. In fact, it will be even worse if what he’s done is found out. It will seem as if I’ve condoned it.”

  “How about this? You go tomorrow with Ben and do your best to get the divorce. Act like you don’t know anything about his being a pervert and try to get your papers signed.”

  “But how can I stand up and endorse him at a public fundraiser knowing what I do about him?”

  “You can’t if we find out he’s been with underage girls. But you can go and try to get his signature on divorce papers before this blows up. And you can call it part of your plan to bring him down. Get the divorce first,” Rachel said. “Otherwise, if it all hits the fan, it may be impossible to avoid being blamed for turning a blind eye if you’re still his wife. And then, it may take forever to get the process completed if he’s tied up in court should this all come out in the meantime. I guarantee it will come out eventually. Best to be as legally and physically far away from Richard as possible when it all happens.”

  “Shouldn’t you tell Ben about this, honey? He should know what the two of you are getting in to. The stakes have risen significantly, haven’t they? And Richard’s staff must know about some of the things he has done, and if the prostitutes were underage. Does Richard know you have a recording of his—activities?” Mom asked.

  The light went on in Sabine’s foggy brain. “Yes. I believe that’s what has kept him away while I’ve been gone all this time. That makes more sense, now that I realize those girls might likely be below legal age of consent. It makes what he did a felony, instead of just a huge political hit and a fault in divorce.” She thought for a moment. “Yes. I’ll let Ben know as soon as we’re sure.” Sabine winced, still certain she didn’t have the stomach to watch the video.

  “Might you be walking into a trap?” Mom asked, clearly concerned.

  “I didn’t think so, but now I’m getting a little paranoid,” Sabine said.

  “Just don’t go anywhere without Ben,” Rachel said.

  “The only place I’ll be without him is while I’m actually speaking with Richard and his attorneys about the divorce, and when I’m inside the governor’s ball. But he’ll be right outside waiting. And we’re going to be wired with listening devices that Howard is providing. Ben’s posing as my driver while I’m in New Orleans.”

  Mom laughed. “What a fantastic idea. It gives him a legitimate reason to be at your beck and call constantly the
entire time.”

  “Who’s Howard?” Rachel asked.

  “He’s Ben’s new stepfather. Retired spy of some sort, but he doesn’t tell anyone specifically what sort of work he did for the government. Very highly classified stuff, we’re led to understand,” Sabine said.

  “Sounds suspenseful. Can’t wait to meet him, and I’m thrilled he’s on your team,” Rachel said. “So, when do I get to meet the new men in your lives?” She looked back and forth between Sabine and Mom.

  “Well, you’ll be around for a while, so I can’t imagine you won’t see Norman within the next day or so. And Ben is picking up Sabine in the morning. But you’ll need to get up early, or you’ll miss them,” Mom said.

  “I’ll be up; don’t worry. I’m not planning to let Sabine leave with this guy without my stamp of approval. Especially knowing what we do now about Richard. Of course, I’ve known all along, but I thought it might have been just a fluke. By the way, Sabine, do you have the video here of Richard doing the bad things?” Rachel asked.

  Sabine frowned. She wasn’t entirely certain she was ready for this. Not that she still loved Richard, but it was all so sudden and unexpected. But she supposed it was necessary.

  She stood. “I’ll get it. It’s on a memory stick, so we’ll need a computer to play it.”

  “And we’ll need to make a few copies, just in case,” Rachel said. “Do you have any other sticks or discs lying around that we can use? Or we can just upload it onto the cloud.”

  “I’ll bring my computer. I’ve got plenty of storage,” Sabine said as she headed toward her bedroom where the device and her laptop were stored.

  “I’ve got a USB stick too that I haven’t used. I was going to store some recipes on it,” Sabine heard Mom say.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Howard led Ben upstairs to the small study he’d remember his father using when he’d been a child. Beside the fireplace, Howard pulled out a book and pressed a button. A panel literally slid open. Ben blinked. “What the—”

  “We’re family son; I’m showing you this in case anything ever happens to me. You’ll know it’s here. The contents of this room aren’t to be shown to anyone. I’ll leave a contact in the event of my demise.”

  “The contents of the room—oh.” Ben had stepped inside behind Howard as he’d been speaking. The contents were right out of a James Bond movie. Everything was carefully displayed. Guns of every size and caliber, and devices that Ben didn’t recognize.

  “These items are mine, but some are still considered on the low level of classification. Upon my discretion, I can reveal the contents to you. I trust you. But I ask that you not show these items to others as it might cause mild worry to those who don’t understand.”

  Ben again wondered at Howard’s life of espionage and who knew what else. “I hope you’re writing your memoirs.”

  “Might do it one day, son. Might do it. Would have to be a PG version with lots of information left out, and certainly anonymous. Wouldn’t want to put the family in danger, you know.”

  Ben chuckled. He honestly loved his new stepdad. “So, what have you got for us?”

  “Wires. And earpieces. You can never have too much information. I’ve put out my feelers for the senator’s activities, so I should get something back tomorrow or the next day.”

  “Do you really think there’s more here than meets the eye?” Ben asked.

  Howard gave him a deadpan look. “There’s always more with politicians, son. Never met one I could trust, or who didn’t have a cold, dirty underbelly.”

  “Okay. So, tell me how to use this stuff. Oh, and one more thing, Howard...”

  “What’s that, son?”

  “I’ll need two more sets of wires and earpieces if you have them.”

  “Sure thing.” He reached into the cabinet and grabbed more supplies. “You got backup for the trip?”

  Ben nodded. “Sabine doesn’t know about them though.”

  “Boy after my own heart. She won’t hear it from me.”

  Howard went into professional spy versus spy mode and showed him all the ins and outs of the equipment they would have for their trip.

  When Ben was downstairs ready to leave, Mom came out to see him off. “Hi, honey. Do you want anything to eat before you leave?”

  “No, thanks, Mom. I need to get home and do some packing for the trip. I’ve got some last-minute paperwork on one of my cases to finish up too. It’s tough to carve out being gone for a couple days.”

  “I know how busy you always are, so I can only imagine.”

  Ben turned to Howard. “Thanks for everything, Howard. I appreciate your help.”

  Howard nodded. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I get that information from my source.”

  “Be careful, okay?” Mom said.

  He hugged his mother. “I promise. We’ll be back before you know it.”

  “Oh, and Ben—take care of our girl.”

  Ben smiled at his mother’s reference to Sabine. “You can count on it.”

  As he drove away from Evangeline House, he called Steve and Lisa. They were all set as well. He planned to stop by and share the equipment with them so they would all be on the same page.

  “Oh, hi, you must be Rachel. I’m here to pick up Sabine.” Rachel answered the door the next morning on purpose when Ben arrived.

  She’d been looking for him to drive up while Sabine was gathering her things to leave.

  “Well, hello there, Ben. I’ve heard a lot about you. Yes, I’m Sabine’s sister, Rachel. Great to meet you.” Rachel stuck out her hand for Ben to shake.

  He seemed genuinely glad to meet her but his eyes showed no gleam of interest in her as a woman. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. Ben had passed the test. If Ben had shown even the slightest attraction to her, she’d have likely punched him in the nose at this point, so great was her disgust and distaste with men, in general.

  “Sabine, Ben’s here,” she called.

  After watching that god-awful video of Richard with those obviously underage prostitutes last night, Rachel wondered if she could ever truly trust a man again. Richard was so much viler than even she’d believed him to be. And he’d been elected to represent a large portion of Louisiana’s citizens’ interests in the state senate in all means of issues, from education to laws protecting innocent children from being exploited. It made her sick.

  Rachel would personally take Richard down if all else failed. She could certainly come forward and prevent his reelection with her story. Because it was worse than she’d told her mother and sister. How could she have known he was more than just a drunk asshole when that had happened? And she’d been really young back then and believed no one would really take her seriously. Now she knew better.

  “So, will you be here when we get home?” Ben asked.

  “Seems so. I’m planning to hang with my family for a while. I hear we’ve got a parole hearing to attend next week.”

  Ben nodded. “Hopefully this trip will go well first.”

  “Yeah. Richard’s a real piece of work. Sabine’ll have to fill you in on what we figured out last night.”

  Ben raised his eyebrows in question just as Sabine entered the room.

  “Good morning.” Sabine rolled in a carry-on sized suitcase and a large duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

  As usual, she blew him away with her beauty and sex appeal. Her sister, Rachel was pretty, and there was a strong family resemblance, but Sabine outshone Rachel in Ben’s eyes.

  He took the luggage from her, and asked, “Anything else?”

  “Just my purse and laptop case,” Sabine said.

  “Rachel tells me y’all found out some new info on Richard last night?” he asked.

  Sabine suddenly looked ill. “You told him?” She didn’t sound happy with her sister.

  “I didn’t tell him what it was. I figured you would fill him in on the way.” Rachel shrugged, her body language slightly defensive.

  Ben knew body la
nguage. Something serious was happening here.

  “Okay. We’ll get on the road and discuss it. Rachel, it was great to meet you. We’ll be in close contact while we’re away. Try not to worry,” Ben said.

  “Where’s Mom?” Sabine asked, looking around.

  “I’m here.” Elizabeth came in, sleepy-eyed, in her navy robe and slippers. “Sorry, darling; I overslept.”

  “No problem. I just wanted to say goodbye before we left,” Sabine said.

  “Please be careful, and keep us posted as often as possible. I won’t sleep a wink if I don’t know what’s happening.”

  “Of course we’ll keep you updated. Love you, Mom. We’ll be fine,” Sabine reassured her mother.

  Elizabeth looked over at Ben. “These two are my whole life, so you’ve got half my life right there, you understand.”

  “I understand.”

  “Thank you for going with her on this trip. I don’t trust Richard, especially now, the bastard.”

  “He doesn’t know about it yet,” Sabine said.

  Elizabeth frowned, but didn’t say anything else, though it appeared she wanted to.

  “Do you have your cell phone charger?” Ben asked.

  “Got it.” Sabine nodded.

  “Okay, then I think we’re all set.”

  Sabine hugged her mom and sister and said another round of goodbyes before they finally settled the luggage into his truck and climbed inside.

  “Did you think we wouldn’t ever get to leave?” Sabine asked once they were finally driving away.

  “I figured we’d make it out of there eventually.” He understood how it was with family. “Do you recall how many sisters I have? So, times your situation by four, plus a mom. I can’t get anything accomplished unless I plan two hours ahead of time when they’re around.”

  She laughed. “Oh, yeah. I wasn’t thinking about that. At least you’re used to it.”

  “So, are you going to tell me what this new, earth-shattering information regarding Richard is, or am I going to have to call your mom and sister to get it?”

  Sabine looked away for a second. Clearly this wasn’t something she looked forward to sharing with him. “Remember the prostitutes I found out about?”