by Stacy Eaton
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.”
Chapter Eight
Barbara
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, “C
an 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.
Chapter Nine
Grey
I had been living at the Withers Estate for a week now. It was amazing how much more relaxed I was when I didn’t have to worry about whether my electricity was going to be turned off, or if I had enough money left after paying bills to buy food.
Gloria had paid me five thousand dollars to get started, and almost all of that I sent out immediately to start paying off the medical bills. I had a long way to go, but at least for now, the noose seemed to have loosened a bit.
Gloria and I were having coffee in the library. We’d had a late dinner because she had a meeting for her hospital wing that had run late. Amelia had just brought us pie, and we were settled back in the leather couches talking about the designs we had finalized.
I had already started working on the template for the rocking chairs, and we were still tossing around ideas for the toy boxes she was going to donate to a children’s center.
Headlights slashed across the room briefly, and Gloria turned toward the window. “Who could be coming to my house this late?” she wondered aloud.
The phone on her desk began to ring. This particular phone was her private line. I had learned that last night when it had rung while we were having dessert, no one but her was to answer it.
“How about I go check to see who is here while you answer that?”
She nodded in agreement and got up slowly.
In this last week, I had already noticed she was slowing down and looked more tired than she had when we’d first met. The disease was progressing quickly.
I sighed as I walked toward the foyer. I hated the fact that someone else I cared about was going to die from cancer, yet I couldn’t walk away from her, not when she needed someone in her life.
She had told me that she had two sons, one with whom she had been very close, the other not so much. Her younger son, Don, had passed away a few years ago from a heart attack while playing golf. The older one lived down south someplace, and she never spoke to him.
Somewhere out there she had four grandchildren, but only one of them stayed in contact with her, and he lived in Michigan.
It was a shame that such an amazing woman was relatively alone. Not anymore, I thought, she has me. I’ll do whatever I can for her while I’m here—and I’ll start by finding out who is in her driveway.
I pulled open the door and found the car parked out front, the silhouette of someone in the front seat, head bent over the steering wheel. I squinted as I tried to see what he was doing. The light from the porch shined out just enough that I could distinguish long blond hair.
I stepped out the door and waited for the driver to look up. The head was shaking up and down. Was it a she? Was she crying?
I walked down the three steps and began to cross the driveway to the car. The woman never looked up, but the closer I got, the better I could see, and she was indeed crying.
I tapped a knuckle gently on the window, and she jumped, turning a tear-stained face my way, the most beautiful tear-stained and emotional face I had ever seen. The stark pain in her eyes forced me back a step. She swiped her hands over her face quickly as she tried to gather herself
, then she reached for the door handle.
She looked up at me before she opened it, and instead of pulling the lever, lowered the window. “Who are you?” she asked.
I stared down at her. “Who am I? Who are you?”
She glanced at the house. “I asked you first.”
“My name is Grey Bloodstone.”
She quirked her eyebrows and laughed, “That’s your name?” Even though I should have been insulted at her question, the sound of her laugh touched something deep inside of me.
“Yes, that’s my name, and what is yours?”
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes were dark, and I couldn’t make out the color, but I could tell they were wide and alert.
“I live here,” I answered.
“Oh, you’re hired help. Okay, fine.” She put the window up and opened the door, pushing a button on the dashboard. “You can grab the suitcases in the back and bring them in.” She stepped out and didn’t make eye contact with me again.
“Wait a second,” I said as she opened the back door and climbed half inside. I peered through the window to see what she was getting from the back and saw her taking a sleeping child from a car seat.
Okay, maybe Gloria was expecting them and she forgot to tell me. I went around the back and lifted the lid. There were two small suitcases in the back. Obviously, this was a short visit. I picked them up as she came around the back of the car.
“You didn’t tell me what your name was,” I said as I closed the trunk.
“Grey, honey, whom is that you’re talking to?” The area where we were standing was barely lit.
“Grandma?” The woman’s voice cracked with emotion. She stepped around me to see Gloria.
“Barbie? Is that you?”
Barbie? She laughs at my name and hers is Barbie? I shook my head and followed her to the steps. Gloria had thrown her arms around Barbie, and what I assumed was her great grandchild while I sidestepped them and placed their bags inside the house.