Claiming Amelia

by Jessica Blake

  “Be wary, Liane.”

  “I will, promise,” I acknowledged and turned back to begin a piece by Bach. It was a driven, emotional piece and served to release the restlessness that kept me awake. Instead of returning to my apartment, I followed Dad into the vicarage and crept up to my bedroom there; the place I’d slept since I was a young child. It had comforting, simple energy and I was soon asleep.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Auggie

  I waved goodbye to Dad and took my seat in the corporate jet Worth had sent to pick me up. I hated to leave Dad even though he assured me he was doing just fine and needed to get used to the idea of being alone. He said he and Margaret had many friends who were still there for him, and he’d never be lonely. I’m not sure if I wanted to believe him so I could get home to Worth and the kids, or whether I truly did. Regardless, there was only so much I could do for him there. Time would have to take care of the rest.

  I buckled myself in, and the attendant brought me a pillow and cover. “As soon as we’re off the ground and leveled out, I’ll bring you a pot of tea and some sandwiches,” she said with a kind smile. I liked the way she looked and thought she was perfect for her job. She was professional, yet had a soft and loving face with eyes that seemed to invite confidence.

  True to her word, once we were leveled out, she emerged from the galley with a pot of tea, beautiful china, linen napkins and a tempting selection of bite-size sandwiches on a small platter. Another platter held tiny cakes. She’d clearly gone to a lot of trouble.

  “How lovely,” I commented and gratefully accepted the short cart of goodies. “You went to a lot of trouble for just me.”

  “No trouble at all, Mrs. LaViere.”

  “Oh, call me Auggie,” I urged her and she nodded in appreciation. I read her name badge. “Lily, why don’t you sit here with me and share this food? I’m not the world’s best flyer, and it would make me far more comfortable if I had someone to talk to.”

  She hesitated, looking over her shoulder and then realized that I was her boss, not the captain. “I’d love to,” she finally said and took a small plate and selected a couple of the sandwiches. She poured our tea and handed me one of the linen napkins before taking one herself and settling into the seat opposite me.

  “Have you always worked on private jets, Lily?” I asked, looking for something to talk about.

  “Oh, no. Actually, I’m fairly new at it. Believe it or not, I’ve worked with horses all my life.”

  My ears pricked up. “Really? Tell me about it.”

  “Nothing very romantic, I’m afraid,” she began, “just a girl who grew up on a Thoroughbred farm in California. My dad had about thirty horses on the place. Some we owned and some we boarded or trained for others.”

  “Why did you change careers?” I asked, curious.

  She dabbed at the corner of her mouth with the napkin. “Dad died last year. He had medical bills, the farm was all we had… well, you get the idea,” she finished.

  “Do you miss it?” I asked, knowing that I would feel as though my leg had been cut off if I couldn’t be with horses.

  “Oh, you betcha, I do,” she sighed. “I tried to find a job on one of the other farms we knew, but as you know, the industry is getting smaller and smaller, and I just didn’t have the resources to keep ours going, and no one else needed more help. So…” she waved her arm around the cabin, “here I am.”

  I nodded and was instantly thoughtful. “May I ask how old you are, Lily?”

  “Thirty-four. I know, I know, that’s kind of old for a new career. But that’s how it goes.”

  “No, wasn’t thinking of you as being too old for anything. Do you have a husband? Children?”

  She shook her head and frowned a bit, the glints in her blonde hair reflecting the sunlight streaming through the clouds into the smallish cabin. “Divorced and we never had children. Actually, I’m not sure I can. Riding accident as a teen. Until now it wasn’t an issue, so I’m fine with it.”

  “Lily, I wonder if you have a break between flights coming up?”

  She was confused. “You mean today?”

  “Well, I meant like a couple of days’ layover before you leave again. Doesn’t matter when.”

  Lily answered immediately. “Well, once we deliver you to Louisville, we’ll head to Cincinnati for our annual inspection on the jet, giving me four days off. Why? Do you need me to schedule you another flight somewhere?”

  “No, nothing like that. You see, I have a Thoroughbred breeding, boarding and training facility, and I’m looking for a farm manager. I handle it myself right now. Well, with my children’s help, but they’ll be going to college in a couple of years, and I need to train someone to help and eventually replace me. I’m wondering if you’d like to come and be my guest for a couple of days and take a look around. No promises, mind you, but I have a guest cottage as well as a small hotel, and you would, of course, be my guest. Interested?”

  Lily’s face brightened. “Interested? Are you kidding? It would be like going home again. How kind you are. Thank you and yes, I accept. As a matter of fact, I don’t have to ride along to Cincy. If you’re okay with my coming right away, I could accompany you to your house today.”

  “Perfect!” I had a good feeling about Lily. We spent the remainder of the two-hour flight talking about horses and Thoroughbreds in particular. I was very impressed with her extensive knowledge. In many ways, her past mimicked mine, and although she was no longer in the industry, I could tell she wanted back in.

  We landed and a limo was waiting. Lily joined me, and we drove from Standiford Field out to Oldham County to Carlos Acres. It was late, and I was tired. I took her directly to the hotel. They got her checked in, and I went home to see my family.

  Worth greeted me at the door, having seen the limo leaving the hotel. “You bring home a lover?” I loved the smile that played on his lips when he teased me.

  “You weren’t supposed to see that,” was my cocky response.

  “He better than me?”

  “I don’t know, let’s do a comparison.” I took his hand to go up to our bedroom. Once there, I collapsed on the bed, arms outspread and kicked off my shoes.

  “You look like you could use a foot rub.” Worth wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

  “I sure could. Are you offering?”

  Worth kicked off his own shoes and slid beneath my legs on the bed, taking my feet in his big hands. He began massaging my toes, his strong fingers rubbing each joint. It felt like heaven.

  “Your dad?” he prompted.

  “Ahh, well, as you can imagine. He waved me off, but I could tell he would be lonely. I don’t like the way lonely looks, Worth. Promise you’ll let me die first so I’ll never feel it?”

  “Sweetheart, what a selfish thing to say.” He lifted my foot to bite my big toe. “What do you say we jump off a cliff in tandem. That way, the last guy who hits the bottom only suffers a split second?”

  “Oh, don’t tease me. You know what I’m saying.”

  “Yes, yes, I do, but you’re always so dramatic.”

  “I’m dramatic? I would have settled for a subtle poison in our morning coffee, but nooooo, you want to pack up a car and drive until we find just the right cliff.”

  We were silent a few moments as I enjoyed his strong fingers pressing into my arch. “Did you get along okay without me?”

  “What would be the best answer for that?” he said. “I feel like it’s a trap. If I say we got along fine, you’ll feel unneeded. If I answer that we missed you, you’ll complain that you never get a day to yourself.”

  My eyebrow lifted high. “My, my, my, aren’t we in a cynical mood.”

  “Yes, indeed, my dear. That we are. Both of us. So, who did you drop at the hotel?”

  “Oh, yes, about that. The attendant on the plane and I had a nice sit down to keep me a bit more relaxed. We shared a cup of tea and sandwiches. Turns out that Lily, that’s her name, well, Lily and I have quite
a bit in common.”

  “You both are overly dramatic?”

  “Cute. Actually, she also grew up in the equine industry on her family’s farm, except her family lived in California. They’re gone now, and she lost the farm. So, she chose a new career but misses her old world.”

  He stopped massaging my foot. “And this has to do with us how?”

  “It has to do with us,” I explained in a careful tone, “because with the kids heading off to college in a couple of years, I’d like to have a backup so I can take some time off when I want to. I need a farm manager. Sort of like Bernie used to be, but this time, they would really be a farm manager more than a personal assistant.”

  We were both silent long enough to think about Bernie and wonder where he was and why he no longer stayed in touch or collected the money Worth sent.

  “So, you made her quit her job and follow you home like a newly adopted puppy?” Worth’s tone was a bit sarcastic.

  “Of course not. I’d never hire someone without your approval, you know that.”

  “I do?”

  I ran a hand down his arm, feeling the muscles flex and relax. “Well, now I wouldn’t. Those were different times. You were being sneaky, and I had to do the same.”

  He nodded as though this made perfect sense. “I see.”

  I nodded and shifted so he could massage my other foot. “The company she works for is putting that jet in for a routine inspection, and she has a few days off. I invited her here as our guest. At worst, I thought she’d have a nice little vacation in a place that seems like home. At best, she might be that manager.”

  “You always have things worked out so neatly. Did you mention your plans to her yet?” He was teasing me. I didn’t take the bait.

  “Worth, you’ve said you’d like me to spend more time with you. This is the only way I could possibly do it.”

  “Not really, Auggie. You know, we won’t exactly starve if you don’t muck stalls every day. We could sell this place and move to town, or to China, for that matter.”

  “Worth! You know how I feel about this place, and the kids need a home to come to on weekends and holidays. If you took horses away from me, I’d go crazy. I’m not exactly the tea cakes and bridge type, you know.”

  “I’m quite aware of that. But, at the same time, you recognize that eventually working with horses will be too much to handle, especially at the rate your business is growing.”

  “I was sort of hoping that one or both of the twins would take over,” I mentioned casually.

  He turned to me, serious now. “Auggie, you can’t do that, and you know it. You didn’t like your mother making plans for your future, and it’s not fair that you try to do that for them. If one or both of them choose to do it of their own volition, that’s one thing. But don’t push. Promise me?”

  I nodded. I knew what he was afraid of. For years now, ever since Ford had been sent away, we silently held our breath that nothing would go wrong with either of the twins. It almost felt as precarious as parents whose pregnancies miscarry over and over. You don’t know what you did wrong, but you try very hard not to repeat those mistakes. There was no logic to it, but there was no logic to life overall.

  I whispered, “You think he’s still out there?”

  Worth didn’t hesitate. “I know he is. I’d feel it if he weren’t.”

  I nodded in agreement. I had to let it go at that. There was no other choice.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Hawk

  The time had come to expand my business by hiring personnel. This didn’t appeal to me, but things were at the point of either expansion or go bust. I couldn’t continue at the pace I was working, nor did I particularly want to. I wanted to spend time with Liane. She was all I could think of. No matter how often I saw her.

  I decided to offload much of my work to another company and become the contractor. It was the smart move, but any time I reached out to depend on a relationship, it always exploded. That sort of insecurity underwrote much of my life. I knew better than to let it ruin my business. It wasn’t about wealth. I’d already accumulated fortunes enough to last several lifetimes. This was about proving to myself, or so I wanted to believe, that I could succeed on my own. I understood enough about myself to know it was the driving force behind everything I did.

  I dreamed of marching into Father’s study one day and throwing bags of gold and accolades upon his desk, proving that I didn’t need his love in order to be a whole person. Sometimes I almost succeeded in actually believing myself.

  I flew out to California and looked up a few college friends who had stayed in the tech world. They put together some meetings and by the week’s end, I’d inked a deal with a very quiet, very deep firm who had cultivated a reputation for their discretion and caution. They didn’t even have a name, just an email address and a phone with voice mail. These were rare in the tech world. Most of the tech guys, including women, were in it for bragging rights. They were generally the ugly kid who never got invited to parties and had something to prove. Their money made their dicks or tits bigger, as the case may be. That’s not what I was looking for, and the only way to weed those out was face to face.

  I didn’t mention to Liane that I’d be gone. It would take too much explanation, and I wasn’t ready for that. She really didn’t know a great deal about my personal life, and I think much of what she knew, she assumed. She was so different from other women I’d known. She never pried into my life. Never stalked me online or slyly suggested that she come out and see my place. Perhaps it was the British restraint, but I didn’t think so. It felt more like she had no need to do these things. She already knew what she needed to know. It was the most liberated I’d felt in my life, and I couldn’t believe it had taken a quiet church mouse to pierce my veneer.

  I was in a dilemma, though. I was falling too fast, too easily. My guard was down. As good as she was, I knew there must be danger somewhere, and my brakes were off. That could prove fatal to me.

  I did what came naturally. I panicked. And trolled.

  Women looking for sugar daddies in California were thicker than oranges on their trees. I ambled down to the hotel bar and set up shop at a corner table. I put the bait in the water and waited, but it didn’t take long.

  The waitress brought me a drink and nodded toward a blonde at the bar. I tipped my head in thanks but let it sit on the table, untouched. She turned on her stool from time to time, contemplating why I didn’t touch the drink. Women and cats share that characteristic — curiosity.

  She sent over a bottle of expensive wine, thinking I just didn’t care for her first choice. Again, I told the waitress to leave it unopened but acknowledged the gift. This was making her crazy. Now, she was on a mission. She probably expected another woman to walk in shortly, which was why I wasn’t accepting her overtures. I sat quietly and didn’t look at her, but focused on making scribbles on a napkin.

  For all she knew, I was sketching out a new app or a miracle invention. Tech people were like that. It never occurred to them that you might have ordinary thoughts and even weaknesses. They were a culture of challenge and triumph. Why else would someone live there if not to be in the ongoing tech laboratory that lay along the coast? It was crammed into unkempt ranch houses pocking neighborhoods where the rent was cheap, and no one had to take out the trash if they were deep in a key line of code.

  The bar stool babe had all she could take. As I watched from the corner of my eye, she picked up her drink and wound her way between the tables to arrive at my side.

  “Not like the drink?” she asked. I knew that would be her line. She was just like all the others.

  “Don’t like drinking alone.” I played out a bit more line and then tightened the reel to wait.

  She smiled now, on familiar ground and pulled out the chair. “Mind if I join you?” she asked although she’d already answered herself. I barely motioned to the chair with the tip of my finger, making it obvious that it didn’t matter to me
one way or another.

  “Why the sunglasses?” She swirled her words within a current of drugstore perfume and cheap whiskey. I’d seen it before. She was on the skids and had pulled together her last cent to get out of the hole.

  I didn’t answer her question but asked one of my own. “You staying here?”

  That caught her off guard, and I knew it. She couldn’t afford a broom closet in this place and would probably starve for a week due to the wine that now sat unappreciated on the table between us. She thought a moment and then replied slyly, “I’d like to.”

  Oh, yeah, she was just my type. Stupid, predictable and entirely and completely forgettable. I stood up, threw a hundred on the table, picked up the wine and offered her my hand. I saw her glance at the hundred. It would have gone a long way toward eating that next week. She wasn’t sure if there was money in my invitation, but she was greedy and gambled it would pay off. She accepted my hand and followed me out of the bar and into the elevator.

  We emerged at the penthouse, and I watched from behind my lenses as she tried to behave as though this was normal. I saw her sneak glances at the expensive art on the walls, the counter holding baskets of fruit, cheese, imported wines and platters of caviar and sushi that had just been refreshed by the staff. She walked toward the windows and then quickly turned away.

  “What’s the matter? Afraid of heights?” I couldn’t help but poke at her.

  She nodded and closed her eyes, putting her hand on her stomach as though she were queasy.

  “If you’re gonna throw up, there’s the bathroom. There’s a toothbrush on the vanity. Brush before you come back.” She blinked at me, then fled. She must have recuperated because I didn’t hear any gagging and moments later, she emerged, her blouse opened to her waist.

  I pointed at an opened doorway, and she trotted off in that direction, pulling off heels as she walked. She was so, so classic; so pathetically classic. I gave her a few minutes and poured myself a whiskey before presenting myself in the doorway. She was waiting for me, naked and shivering beneath the satin, quilted bedspread. I kicked off my shoes and socks but took my time removing the rest of my clothes. Naked, I stood next to the bed and looked down at her before ripping back the covers and inspecting her naked form as though she was a biology class mouse about to be dissected. She attempted a half smile and looked up from beneath a phony eyelash that had come half unglued. I rolled my eyes and dove onto the bed.