by Rikki Dyson
Doesn’t this sound fishy to you or am I tilting at windmills.”
George chortled at Stacey’s reference to Don Quixote and his vivid imagination. “No, I think not Madame,” he said with a smile. “I perceive you to be a formidable young woman with your feet firmly planted on terra firma.”
Later that evening, at Miles’ flat George was making julienne vegetables for dinner when Miles came into the kitchen as he often did while George prepared a meal. He reached for a stick of julienne carrot and asked with a Cheshire smile, “You debonair devil you, who was the young woman with children you were squiring around today on a carousal no less.” George nodded his head and tapped the cake plate that was sitting on the bar just down from Miles. “You were with Stacey and her children again today,” Miles asked as he took the cover off, smelled the lemon cake and sliced himself a generous piece.
“What’s going on with the McLeod’s or is it personal?”
“Quite a bit,” George said, as he squinted at Miles. “I think you might be interested to hear.”
Miles looked at George suspiciously and asked, “To hear, to hear what? I can see you’re agitated what happened?”
“Miles, do you have an employee by the name of Mrs. Longbow?”
Miles frowned and said, “Mrs. Longbow. I’m not sure, the name is not familiar. What does she have to do with Stacey?”
“Yes, you would wonder that wouldn’t you. It has come to my attention that Mrs. Longbow was the person that sent out your invitations for your surprise birthday party. It was to her the RSVP’s were to be sent. Stacey called her for suggestions as to what to purchase for a rich man. Mrs. Longbow was rude to her and informed her you were registered at Harrods.”
“Registered at Harrods. That’s absurd. Shane was with Miranda long enough to know how these things are handled.”
“Yes, he did suggest a donation to Stacey, but she wanted something more personal for you. She and Mrs. Grant went to Harrods too check the registry and were blown away as she put it) by the ridiculous prices. That was when she spied the crystal cake plate and you know the rest. Well, maybe not the entire rest,” George said with an amused smile. “It seems Stacey didn’t appreciate Mrs. Longbow’s attitude and informed her, she was a snooty bitch.”
Both men chortled and Miles asked, “How much longer until we eat. I have a few calls to make.”
The next morning, at Strayhorn Import-Export Industrialist Miles Strayhorn went directly to the personnel department. When the receptionist recognized him, she sprang to her feet. “Good morning, Mr. Strayhorn. May I be of help?”
Miles smiled at the attractive young woman and said with a seductive, husky voice, “I do hope so, uh...Miss Heller. I would like to see the personnel roster if you please.”
Cheryl Heller fell over her feet trying to please this very handsome rich man who owned the company. Personnel employees came to a near stand still full of curiosity as Cheryl brought the roster to Miles. He thanked her and opened the roster. After searching the roster, Miles turned his smile on Cheryl again and asked, “Have you heard of an employee by the name of Mrs. Longbow.”
“No, sir, well yes sir, Cheryl said, a bit confused.
Miles turned his dazzling smile on the young woman again and asked, “Well, Miss Heller, which is it, yes you do or no you do not.”
“I’m so sorry sir,” Cheryl stammered. “No, sir, we don’t have an employee by that name, but I have heard the name before.” Cheryl was so nervous and afraid of saying the wrong thing. “A lovely woman came by last week asking about the same lady. Maybe I was wrong to help her but she was so nice and all.”
“Did she tell you her name?” Miles asked patiently.
Cheryl started shaking, she knew she could kiss her job goodbye. She took a calming deep breath and said, “Yes, sir, she said her name was Stacey...something or other. The reason I remember her name is because my little sister...that’s her name too.”
Miles reached out and patted Cheryl hand, smiled his winning smile and said, “Thank you very much Miss Heller, you have been extremely helpful.” He turned and walked away, Cheryl sat down, took another deep breath and fanned herself.”
Miles went to his office, after signing a few papers he asked his secretary if Miss Cox was in her office. Nora Webster was a fifty-two year old no non-senses sort of person. Nora was devoted to Miles as she had been to his father before him. All of a sudden, her thoughts went to Lester Cox, Miranda’s father. Cox had been a good businessman, however, he was a philanderer. Miranda had known of her fathers many liaisons and had followed his example, so to speak. Each time she had seen her mother crying over her fathers, indiscretion, Miranda had vowed that she would never love a man that deeply. Nora Webster respected Miranda’s business acclaim, but Miranda could be spiteful and vindictive when matters didn’t go her way. Suddenly, she remembered Miles had asked her a question.
“Sorry Miles, I was wool gathering,” she said apologetically. “No, Miranda flew to Barcelona yesterday, remember. She is scheduled to return by the weekend.”
Miles sat back thoughtfully, with his fingers together under his chin then having decided on action he thanked Mrs. Webster. As soon as his office door closed, he picked up the phone and asked Miranda’s private secretary, Kathleen Brown to come to his office please.
Kathleen came straight away. She knocked lightly and came in, “Yes, Mr. Strayhorn, you wanted to see me.”
Miles was sitting behind his desk, as Kathleen came in he stood up and offered her a seat then walked around to the front of his desk and perched himself on the corner of the desk and said, “Does the name Mrs. Longbow mean anything to you.”
“No, sir, I can’t say that it does,” she said.
Miles observed her for a bit with his arms folded across his chest and then said, “I respect your loyalty to Miranda, but loyalty can sometime be misplaced. I’m only going to ask you this once. Was there a special reason why you masqueraded as Mrs. Longbow?”
Kathleen Brown slowly turned her eyes on Miles and said, “I only do what I’m told sir. As to the reason you will need to ask Miss Cox. Will there be anything else sir?”
“Yes, by god Miss Brown, there will be something else. Out of fifty invitation only two shared the RSVP to you, or I should say to your alias, Mrs. Longbow, and I damn well want to know why.”
“Well, sir, you will damn well have to ask Miss Cox because I am not at liberty to say.” Having said that she got up and walked out of his office. Miles stood dumbfounded for a minute then chortled. Now he understood why Stacey told her, ‘she was a snooty bitch.’ He would just have to wait until Miranda returned and have it out with her. And have it out he would, he was tired of Miranda meddling in Shane and Stacey’s lives. For the life of him, he couldn’t see what Miranda hope to gain by this, Longbow subterfuge.
Chapter-69
Challenges
Annie and Hugh had planned a dinner party for close friends and family. They had rented the dining room of the Red horse inn. Annie’s mother, as always, had expensive suggestions as to how things should be done. Stacey could see Annie was about ready to explode so she took Mrs. Gilberts arm and suggested they find their place cards. After much mingling and hand, shaking dinner was served.
Just before dessert, Hugh stood up and asked everyone to raise their glass that he had an announcement to make. Annie stood up beside him and he said, “We, my wife and I want to share our news with our families and our friends. We are expecting another baby in May.” Everyone at the table was laughing and clapping. “We are accepting all congratulations and donations,” Hugh said, as Annie playfully slapped his arm. Dessert was forgotten as everyone was talking, hugging, laughing and congratulating the happy, productive couple. Stacey turned to Shane, he was sitting with a smug smile on his face, “You knew, didn’t you and you didn’t tell me. I’m gonna’ have to hurt you,” Stacey said, jokingly.
Shane took her hand, kissed it and said, “Sorry sweetheart, I was sworn
to secrecy.”
Stacey went to Annie and gave her a hug. “I’m so happy for you and Hugh,” she said.
Thanksgiving week arrived and Mr. Chen came for the holidays. Stacey was able to double up her classes. It was cold and foggy for many days. Stacey took a taxi wherever she went rather than take a chance on having an accident. She had just returned from the market when the house phone rang. She answered it and a muffled voice said, “I know who the father of your son is and you are not going to get away with anything.”
“Who is this and what are you talking about?” The phone was silent but Stacey could hear breathing on the other end. “I asked, who is this, you coward?” Then she heard the phone go dead.
Mr. Chen saw her distress and put his arms around her and asked, “What’s wrong little daughter, you’re shaking.”
The children came from the playroom, Stacey said, “Not now, I’ll tell you in a minute.”
After kissing her children and listening to their stories for a bit, she took the groceries to the kitchen and Mr. Chen followed her. Her hands were shaking as she put the food away.
“Here little daughter, sit down and have a cup of hot tea, I’ll put the supplies away.”
“Yes,” she said, “but first I must check on the kids again.” The children were playing in the playroom. Stacey stood and watched them for a minute or two. She wrapped her arms around herself, and wondered who was the person on the other end of the phone and how could they know anything about Nicky. She went back to the kitchen, drank her tea and told Mr. Chen what the caller had said.
“You must tell Doctor Shane, little daughter. He will know what to do.”
When Shane arrived home, he could tell Stacey was upset. The children were scrambling for his attention, so it was a while before they were free to talk. After the children were snug and safe in bed, Mr. Chen brought in coffee for Stacey and Shane to talk. When Stacey told Shane about the phone call, he sat unable to speak. He took Stacey in his arms reassuring her he would not let anything or anyone harm their son.
“Do you think Jennifer’s brothers could have found out,” Stacey said. “I don’t see them doing this cloak and dagger bit, but you never know.”
Shane sat quietly for a while then said, “I don’t see how they could know sweetheart, Jennifer made sure the adoption was iron clad. This may just be a prank of some sort.”
“Shane, I want to take the kids and go to Texas.”
Shane understood her fright and her need for flight where her children were concerned. Also, his gut feeling was that Miranda was the culprit behind this. Of course, he couldn’t tell Stacey this that would only add fuel to the flame, however, he could talk with Miles as he had more influence with Miranda than anyone else did. Shane knew Stacey was frightened but he had to reason with her. “Sweetheart, you know I can’t get away right now, besides Mr. Chen is here, your parents are coming next month and the most important thing is we don’t want to frighten the children. Let’s hold on and see what happens. It could very well be a hoax.”
The next morning Shane called Miles. He wasn’t in his office so Shane took a cab to his penthouse. There was no answer there either. He called the office again and spoke with Mrs. Webster. “Yes, Doctor McLeod, Mr. Strayhorn is in Manchester, he should be back tonight. Would you care to leave a message?”
“No, no, I’ll see him when he returns to the city. Thank you. Oh, by the way, do you know if Miss Cox is in her office.”
“I have not seen her Doctor, but I believe she is scheduled to be in the office,” she said in a rather cool voice.
Shane called Miranda’s office, but was told she was not available. He left no message. Shane blamed himself for the situation. He didn’t know what Miranda knew, however, he needed to talk to her and get to the bottom of this intrigue. The next day, Shane tried to reach Miranda again and was told she was unavailable until after the first of the year.
Stacey went out to the sanitarium to speak with the director. He assured her that, no person had been around asking questions, and no one there had access to the private files and as a precaution, Jennifer had been admitted under an assumed name. Stacey felt better after speaking with the director. Maybe Shane was right about it being a hoax. Nicky was blond with blue eyes and the twins had dark hair and eyes like Shane.
The weeks flew by with no more sinister phone calls. Shane and Stacey attended a Christmas party at Doctor and Molly Fein’s. Neither Miles nor Miranda appeared at the party. The holidays came and Stacey’s parents arrived. With the excitement of the children and their anticipation of the arrival of Santa Clause, Stacey’s concerns about the phone call was set aside. She had talked with her mom and dad and they too felt it was a hoax since there had been no follow up calls or demands.
Stacey didn’t tell her parents or Mr. Chen about the invitations to Miles birthday party. She had investigated and was now certain that the elusive Mrs. Longbow was no other than Miranda’s private secretary, Kathleen Brown. Stacey had made a few phone calls and deliberately provoked the person on the receiving end to hear the sound of their voice. Stacey vividly remembered the abrupt rudeness in Kathleen Browns voice. There was no mistaking that. Stacey was determined to challenge Miranda on this as to why, but there was no hurry.
The holidays had come and gone as had Stacey and Shane’s parents. Aunt Lora and Richard had taken the children to a puppet show at the library. Stacey had stopped by Annie’s and was having a cup of coffee. Stacey was telling her there had been no more mysterious phone calls, but she was still wary. Stacey had noticed that Annie was unusually quiet and asked, “Are you okay Annie or have I upset you?”
“No, no, Stacey. Don’t think that for a minute. It’s just...well I think it’s only right that you should know something.”
“What is it, Annie? Tell me, please.”
“Hugh told me in confidence, but I feel you should know.” Stacey was mystified and waited for Annie to continue. “It was a run in that Shane had with Miranda at Miles birthday party. She accused you of fostering another mans child off on Shane. I’m so sorry Stacey, Shane didn’t want you to know. He was worried about what you might do.”
The countenance on Stacey’s face changed from mystification to anger, “And well he should be,” Stacey said, in a voice cold as ice as she put her coat on to leave. “Where are you going Stacey? Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, Annie, but thank you for telling me.”
Stacey drove home, changed her clothes, stuffed and object in her boot and made a phone call to Mr. George. After talking with him she asked herself, how many surprises can one day bring. When Stacey rang the doorbell at Miranda’s flat, Miranda opened the door, then tried to close it fast when she saw it was Stacey. She wasn’t fast enough though, Stacey stuck her booted foot in the door so it wouldn’t shut. Miranda ran to the living room yelling, “Get out of my flat. Get out now, you barbaric bitch.”
As Stacey followed Miranda into the living room, there stood Shane and Miles. Stacey shrugged with indifference and said, “Why am I, not surprised?” She then turned back to Miranda, “You and I need to have a talk little lady.”
“I have nothing to say to you, except get out of my flat or I’ll call security.”
Stacey walked over to her and slapped the phone out of her hand. Miranda took a step back from Stacey and said, “If this is about that stupid invitation, well it was blown all out of proportion. My secretary called and confessed what she did. I’m sure she’ll send you a note of apology.”
Stacey frowned at her and said, “Do you really think I would let something that trivial bring me to your doorstep. You know bruja; your first mistake about me was to equate country with stupid. Now I’m going to ask you a question and if you lie to me bruja, I’m gonna’ beat the living shit out of you.”
Surprised at Stacey appearing so unexpectedly, and her strong language had both Shane and Miles rooted to their spot.
“How dare you come into my home and talk to me
this way.”
Stacey took a step closer to Miranda and said, “I dare much where my children are concerned.”
Neither Shane nor Miles had moved, but Shane said, “Stacey, sweetheart.”
Stacey turned and with a cold, hostile look at Shane and Miles and said, “Stay the hell out of this, both of you.” Then she turned back to Miranda and said, “I understand you have questions about my son’s paternity. Not that it’s any of your damn business to start with, but you tell me, if not Shane, who do you think is the father of our son?”
Miranda mustered up false courage and said, “You may be able to fool Shane, however, you don’t fool me not for an instant. I’m sorry Miles, if you don’t know you should. I’m sure he is your child. You’ve only to look at him to know that he is not Shane’s.”
Stacey turned, smiled at Miles and said, “Well, Miles, now that she knows I guess we’re gonna’ have to kill her.”
Miranda’s eyes got bigger as she turned to Shane and said, “Are you not going to do something about this Shane.”
Stacey turned to Shane and asked, “Shane, do you know who the father of our son is?”
“Yes, of course, I do,” he said.
“Do you have any objections to my loving him?” Stacey asked.
“No, I do not,” Shane said.
Miranda shouted at Shane, “I don’t believe this you...you... hypocrite. When I asked you to join in a Ménage a Trois, you acted offended with a holier than thou attitude. Now this...this cretin of a wife of yours’ cock holed you and you accept it. I don’t know you anymore. And you Miles, you’re letting another man claim your son. Your mother is going to be very disappointed.”
Stacey turned back to Miranda and said, “And of course, you plan on telling her. I think you leave me no choice, but to dispose of you.” Stacey shoved her to the sofa, reached in her boot and fast as the strike of a snake, a knife appeared in her hand.
Miranda screamed for Miles as her eyes enlarged with fright. Miles started to go to her, but Shane put his hand on his arm. With words cold as ice, Stacey told her, “If I ever hear of you maligning my family or meddling in our affairs again, I will hurt you badly, on some dark night, I will cut out your tongue and carve up that pretty face of yours. Am I making myself clear? I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding between you and me.” Miranda nodded her head, Stacey patted her cheek and said, “Now that’s a good girl, however, keep in mind, I always keep my promises.”