Dangerous Obsession

by Natasha Peters

  I couldn’t listen to any more of his fatuous explanations. They turned my stomach. I stormed out into the hall, shouting for my horse. Outside the Golden Gypsy I ran into Black Jack MacDaniel.

  “Mornin’, Baroness,” he said politely. “You asked me to tell you if a certain party appeared in town—”

  “I know very well who has come and what he’s doing,” I fumed. “And I won’t let him get away with it!”

  But what could I do? From that day on the Golden Gypsy didn’t belong to me. He took over. It wasn’t fun for me any longer. All I had to do was appear at the tables in the evenings and look beautiful. He took, care of the rest: hiring and firing staff, paying bills, remodeling the lounge. ordering supplies, dividing the evening’s take. I was so angry with him, so upset at the shape things were taking, that I could hardly bring myself to speak to him except when I couldn’t avoid it. Then he talked and I listened in silence. I didn’t even quarrel with most of his decisions because he was right: the bookkeeping was a mess and it really wasn’t fair to the staff to forget to pay them, and I knew that I couldn’t depend on my whiskey suppliers to deliver if they weren’t paid.

  One day he said, “We’re hiring more girls.”

  I jerked my head up. We were getting ready to open and I was pulling on a pair of long white gloves. My costumes changed with my moods: some nights I wore lavish finery, beautiful gowns, lots of jewels. Other times I appeared in dazzling Gypsy garb; colorful skirts, boots, a low-cut blouse, lots of noisy gewgaws.

  “What do you mean, more girls? There aren’t any to hire.”

  “A ship arrived today from France. I hired three. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “You—hired—French—whores!” I rasped in a strangled voice. “To work here, in my place?” My voice grew stronger. “To live under my roof?” I shouted.

  “No,” he said calmly, “they’re living at the Palmer House for the time being. There’s no room for them here. And whatever kind of business they engage in after hours is their affair, not yours, not mine.”

  I tore off my gloves. “Well, that’s that. If you have them you won’t need me.” I threw the gloves at his feet and unpinned the swaying plume from my hair. “I’ll be leaving tonight. You can run this place into Hell, for all I care. Just be sure and set aside half of everything for me.”

  “As you please,” he shrugged. “But you won’t get a nickel that you don’t earn.

  “Earn?” I squawked. “What do you mean, earn? I don’t have to earn. I’m a partner here, remember? Not a worker. I get half—”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” he informed me. “You’re the main attraction, Rhawnie. The Golden Gypsy in person. If you don’t show up, we lose customers. If you share the profits, it’s only fair that you share the losses as well. And I’ll deduct that percentage of loss from—” He saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and he stopped and said in a different, placating tone, “I had to hire them, Rhawnie. If I didn’t, MacDaniel would have. Now I want you to train them—”

  You train them to do your devil’s work,” I spat. “After all, you taught me! So you train your whores to cheat and steal. Oh, I will not endure this. I will not!”

  But I had to endure it. The three French girls brought in even more business, and I found that Seth was true to his threat: when I stayed in my rooms and sulked and didn’t show up at the tables, my share of the take shrank drastically. Suddenly, I had no money to spend. And I needed that money, for the farm. For Gabrielle and Adam. For Juan and his wife and his brother and their squad of children. I had dependents now. Lots of them.

  I had no choice. I steeled myself and presided over faro while the girls ran roulette and blackjack and Seth played poker. The money poured in. Seth took money out of our profits and bought the lot in back of the casino, and he began to work on a design for expansion.

  I began to use the farm as my escape, my haven. I didn’t care if I lost money because of my visits there; I couldn’t bear life at the Golden Gypsy any longer. The sight of those French doxies made me white with anger. I never spoke to them, never even acknowledged them. I thought, just let one of those jades try anything other than gambling on my time and I’ll break her hands. And I couldn’t stand the smug look on Seth’s face. I needed to get away, and my visits grew longer and more frequent.

  Gabrielle sensed that I was disturbed about something and asked me about it. I lied and told her that the Sydney Ducks were making life in San Francisco rather difficult and that I was a little worried about the danger to the city.

  “Why don’t you leave?” she said. “Come and live here with us, forever. I know you can find a buyer for the Golden Gypsy. Mr. Mac Daniel—”

  “It’s not so easy as that,” I said smiling. “But don’t you worry. Things will work out. They always do. I got us this place, didn’t I? It’s so quiet here, so calm. And how big our Adam is getting! He will be tall, eh? You see, if I measure him against my forearm, as Lyubov measured me—.”

  We laughed and I hugged the baby, who squirmed and giggled.

  “You love him, don’t you?” Gabrielle smiled.

  “Of course I love him! As if he were my own son. And I love you, too.” I kissed her pale cheek. “You are my dear sister.”

  They were wonderful days. I loved the baby and passed the time of day with Gabrielle, and I planted roses and watched the women at their work and made trouble in the kitchen. Juan taught me about wine culture and olive culture. Our grapes never did well, Juan told me. But Mr. Mendoza never gave up trying to produce a good wine like Spanish sherry, and neither would I. I was happy at my, little hacienda. I dreaded going back to the Golden Gypsy, and to Seth.

  One night I heard feminine laughter coming from his room. In the morning I confronted him.

  “You had one of those women in your room last night,” I said evenly, trying not to fly off the handle. “I cannot allow that. You can bed your whores someplace else, but not here, not under my roof.”

  “It’s my roof, too, remember?” he said. “And I’ll bed whomever I please, wherever I please. On the faro table, under the bar—”

  “You are disgusting,” I said in a low voice. “’No better than an animal.”

  He stroked my arm. I jumped a foot and glared at him. He laughed. “You’re a bundle of nerves, Rhawnie. Your little trips out of town don’t seem to be doing you much good. You might as well stay here and earn some money instead of running off. Where do you go? To ply your trade in the gold fields?”

  “That’s my business. And as for plying trade, those girls are out, as of now! You said you wouldn’t let them carry on their profession here!”

  “There’s no commerce going on,” he said innocently. “I’ve never paid for it in my life, dear heart, and I certainly don’t have to start now. My free time is my own, and so is Yvette’s.”

  “You and Yvette can go to the devil!” I snapped.

  “If you really don’t want her around,” he suggested, “I know what you can do. Take her place in my bed.”

  I flushed, and I was annoyed at the sharp stab I felt under my ribs. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I sneered. “You’d like to start that all over again, making me your mistress and your slave. But I tell you, Seth, the very sight of you makes me ill. If you try to lay a hand on me, just once. I’ll cut your throat. I swear it!”

  He tried his tricks—light kisses, tender caresses, whispered endearments—but for once I felt immune to his approaches. Was it possible that I was really cured of him? Free of him at last?

  I was under a terrible strain. Life at the Golden Gypsy was bad enough, but the burden of my knowledge of Gabrielle weighed on me like a stone. I couldn’t tell him about her, and I couldn’t tell her about him, because I knew it would upset her. Yet as her brother, he had a right to know. Whatever he was, whatever he had done to me, he loved her. I had seen that. And yet I kept silent, because of my promise to her, and because my anger towards him.

  Whenever I
rode down to San Mateo, I left the casino very early, just after dawn. I generally slept very late, until eleven o’clock most mornings because we stayed open until three in the morning or even later. But I liked to get an early start so I could have a long day to spend with Gabrielle and Adam, to walk in the hills and forget about my problems.

  The morning after our argument. I left the Golden Gypsy at about seven o’clock, just as the sun was coming up over the sleeping city. I wasn’t aware of it, but I was followed.

  I was sitting with Gabrielle in her room when we heard sounds of arguing in another part of the house. I went out to investigate, and I saw Maria, all four feet ten inches of her, trying to keep Seth from coming in the front door. She was doing a pretty fair job of it, too.

  “It’s all right, Maria,” I said. “I’ll handle this.”

  “He break in! I cannot stop him!” she cried.

  “I don’t blame you, Maria. He’s very hard to resist sometimes, and he has no manners.” She went back to her kitchen, casting black looks over her shoulder. “Well, what do you want?” I asked him when we were alone. “Is there trouble at the Golden Gypsy?”

  “No trouble except what you stir up,” he grinned. He leaned on his cane and looked around at the cool interior with its arched doorways, woven rugs, sturdy furnishings.

  Nice,” he said. “Very nice, indeed. I wondered what was the big attraction that kept pulling you away from San Francisco.”

  “So you’ve discovered my little home away from home,” I shrugged. “My dreadful, guilty secret. Can you blame me for wanting to get away from you and your whores? Well, now that you’ve seen where I go, you can just turn right around and leave. It’s a long ride back to the city. I don’t want to detain you.”

  He tossed his hat onto a chair. ‘‘I wouldn’t want to leave before I see the rest of our house. Why don’t you give me a tour?”

  “What do you mean, our house? This house is mine!”

  “You won it at the Golden Gypsy, playing faro. That’s right, isn’t it? I found the deed, among others, in that pile of rubbish you call a filing system. And, if you recall, part of your original agreement with the Professor was that you share equally in all profits and losses. Just as we do now. So, my darling, this beautiful place is half mine.”

  “Are you so selfish, so grasping that you won’t let me have my island of peace?” I cried.

  “It takes two to make a desert island a really attractive place,” he remarked. “Where is he?”

  “Where is who?”

  “Your lover, of course. The real attraction. You can’t blame me for being curious. I’m not a fool, Rhawnie. There’s something else. There’s got to be—you’re not interested in me any more. I wonder where he’s hiding.” He walked through the living room and dining room, through the kitchens, into the central courtyard. I skipped around in front of him and said breathlessly, “Listen, Seth, I’ll go back to the city with you if that’s what you want. I’ll limit my stays here to three days, no more. You’re angry because I’ve been neglecting the business, aren’t you?”

  “No,” he said, easing himself down on the low wall around the fountain and resting his hands on the knob of his cane. “Business is better than ever. Profits are so good that you might even have a little money waiting for you when you get back. Why are you trying to rush me out of here, Rhawnie? Just tell me who he is. You’re not ashamed of him, are you?”

  Just then in another part of the house little Adam started to cry. Seth watched my face carefully.

  “Ah, a baby, eh? Is he ours? Come on, out with it. I won’t hold it against you.”

  I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even move. He got up and started toward the doors on the courtyard, the bedroom doors. I ran to stop him.

  “He’s not my baby,” I said hastily. “He’s—Maria’s! You met Maria, at the door, remember? Little and fat? Oh, why don’t you go, Seth? A baby is a baby. They all look the same. Please, just go away and leave me in peace!” He opened the door to my bedroom. He knew it was mine because of the riding habit thrown on the bed. He backed out of the room—without checking for a stray lover under the bed—and went on to the next door. Another empty bedroom. The next would be Gabrielle’s room. I had to stop him.

  I put my arms around him. “Please, Seth,” I begged, “don’t look any more. There is nothing for you to see here, I swear it. Just go, now. If you ever had any feeling for me at all, you will do as I ask. Don’t—”

  He picked me up as if I were a piece of lint and set me aside. He opened the door to Gabrielle’s sickroom. “Who is that?” I heard her ask. He walked to the bed. I watched from the doorway. “I’m sorry, darling,” I said dully. “I didn’t tell him, honestly. He followed me. I couldn’t keep him out.”

  “Gaby,” he said. Her name caught in his throat. He sank down on the edge of her bed and took her hand. “Oh, Gaby. Oh, my God.” He dropped his head and she whispered his name and stroked his hair, her white hand looking like a white bird against the background of his darkness. After a moment Seth lifted his head and turned dazing eyes on me. “You knew,” he said accusingly. You knew all the time, and you didn’t tell me.”

  “Oh, no, Seth,” said Gabrielle. “No, it wasn’t Rhawnie’s fault! I made her promise never to tell any of you. I made her swear it on the Bible. I made her. Don’t be angry with her. She’s been so good to me, so good. I love her so much, like a sister. Please, don’t be angry with her,” she pleaded again.

  I couldn’t listen to any more. I backed out of the room and closed the door. I sat on the edge of the fountain. After a minute I called to Maria and told her to take Adam in to his mother.

  “That man is gone?” she asked.

  “No, the man is still here. He is the baby’s uncle. And he might as well know the worst, all at once.”

  Maria carried Adam, still squalling, into Gabrielle’s room and closed the door behind her. I stared at the three fat goldfish in the pool under the fountain. Lucky creatures who didn’t have a care in the world. Then I heard Seth limping towards me. I didn’t look up.

  “You had no right to keep it from me,” he said.

  “I wanted to tell you,” I said. “But I gave her my word.”

  “I’m her brother,” he said. “No matter what you think of me, you should have told me. For Gaby’s sake.”

  “She’s not supposed to have any excitement,“ I said lamely. Finally I met his eyes, as cold as flint. I wanted to tell you, I really did. But I haven’t had a very easy time communicating with you lately.”

  “She’s very sick,” he said.

  “She’s consumptive. She probably won’t live through the winter,” I said brutally.

  He raked his fingers through his thick hair. “She needs care, the best of care!” he muttered frantically. “We’ve got to call in a specialist—”

  I looked at him pityingly. “This isn’t London or New York,” I said. “There are no specialists around here. I was lucky to find the doctor when he was sober. And as for care,” I stood up and faced him squarely, “she and Adam have everything they need. I’ve seen to that. She had the best care, right here. Don’t think I’m doing it for you. I’m doing it for them. I love them, both of them, as if they were my own flesh.”

  “This is your idea of revenge, isn’t it?” he rasped. “You wouldn’t even have told me if she had died. You wanted to keep me wondering—”

  Just then Maria came out of Gabrielle’s room. She was carrying Adam, whose cries had stopped.

  “If your way of wondering was to buy out the Professor and install yourself in my casino, then you weren’t wondering about her very hard. I would have told you when she died, because then my word to her wouldn’t have mattered. And don’t try and make me feel guilty for any of this. You can’t. I have done what I could for her, but I’m not the one who seduced her and stole her away from her family. I’m not the one who raped her and beat her and turned her into the pathetic creature she is now. Men did that to her. Men
like you, Seth, without hearts and souls, who think they can use a girl and leave her and break her heart because she’s just a woman. You’d like to kill them, wouldn’t you? The men who did this to her? Because she’s your sister, your precious Gabrielle. But what about the women you've used, Seth? What about me? I was sixteen once, as fresh and as green as Gabrielle, remember? Did you have any more compassion for me than they had for her?”

  Maria came through the courtyard again. She was carrying a basin this time. I heard the door slam as she went into the sickroom.

  “What’s the use of talking to you?” I sighed wearily. “The only person who’s important now is Gabrielle, and we must use the time she has left to make her happy. You may stay, now that you are here. She needs to have her family close to her. It isn’t going to be easy for her. She’s afraid to die. But you can give her courage. You can help her. She thinks you’re wonderful; she thinks you can do no wrong. She didn’t want me to tell anyone about her, but especially not you. She felt you would be ashamed about her. She can take her illusions about you to the grave. I don’t care.

  “But I tell you this: if you upset or distress her in any way, I’ll drive you away from here and I won’t let you come back. I won’t let you undo any of the good I’ve done for her.”

  He didn’t say a word, just scowled at me under his black brows. He was so shaken by his discovery and by what he considered my treachery that he couldn’t even speak.

  “Well, I’ve said enough, I guess.” I stood up. “Except that there are some rules I expect you to observe while you’re here. You are not to touch the baby or anything else after you have touched her unless you have washed your hands thoroughly. There is a basin in that room for that purpose. You may not smoke in her room, and I cannot allow you to take your meals with her. Also—”

  “I know all that,” he growled.

  I left him alone at the fountain and went in to see if Gaby needed anything. Maria left the room when I entered. I didn’t say anything right off. She didn’t speak while I stoked the fire, plumped her pillows, and opened the shutters to admit the warm afternoon sun. She just lay there, watching me through her big dark eyes.