“Yes, Maddy, of course.”
I paused my words and took a deep draw of scotch.
“He raped me.”
The room became as silent and still as death.
Evelyn’s expression never changed; it was as if she were frozen in stone. Auggie, however, pulled me to him, and wrapped me in his arms. He stroked my hair and I wished he could hold me like that forever.
“Maddy, dear, I am so sorry.” Evelyn lowered her eyes and leaned forward, placing her glass on the table. “Auggie, refill please?” She went on. “I know this won’t make you feel any better – there is nothing I can say, nor can Auggie – to achieve that. It might interest you to know that this is not the first time he has been accused of that crime. Mr. Waverly is a sick and twisted individual.” Auggie handed her a full glass. “It’s one of the reasons we finally divorced.”
“How did he – how does he – get away with it?” I asked, incredulous.
“I can’t answer that fully. His favorite victims are usually women who are not in a position to fight back – for one reason or another.” She sipped the scotch meditatively. “I listened to the rumors and innuendo for years. However, he and I shared a substantial amount of money. Every time I would bring up the subject of divorce, he would remind me that I was close to retirement age and had no evident suitors. I would cave in to him regularly.”
“I can’t see that, Evelyn. You are the most gracious, beautiful, fascinating woman I have ever known. I would give anything to be like you.”
She smiled that wonderful smile at me, and at Auggie. “You’re a treasure, Maddy. It’s one of the reasons I picked you. But – I am at that age when women find themselves alone, for one reason or another, widowed or abandoned. I have no family left, no means of support besides what Richard and I accumulated together. It’s called making the best of a very bad situation.”
“Evelyn,” commented Auggie, “if my memory serves, I’d just arrived here at the Junction about the time the two of you divorced. I remember thinking how admirably you handled your affairs. Richard, on the other hand, was something less than gracious.”
She laughed, short but sweet. “I like the way you say that, Doctor. I tend to believe that I was a better woman about it than he was a man.”
“Absolutely,” confirmed Auggie.
She continued. “Richard is a man with serious problems. Serious deficiencies. Since we divorced, I’ve made it a point to protect my own interests, stay out of his business, and keep this place running so that my retirement is secure. I have my suspicions as to what goes on in the House. I don’t go there, ever. The day I took you up, Maddy – which I apologize again for, so much – was the first day in a couple of years I’ve actually set foot inside. And, I regret that now.”
“Evelyn, what DO you know of what’s going on around here – and in the House?” Auggie asked.
“Auggie dear, I am a savvy and intelligent woman, even if Richard doubts it. It is my suspicion that he is running some perverted kind of black market adoption scheme.”
Auggie sighed as if the weight of the world sat on his shoulders like Atlas. It was my turn to comfort him, and I scooted as close to him as I could get. “Evelyn, love, that is EXACTLY what he is doing, and most unfortunately, I’m helping him.” Auggie drained his glass and I thought it would crush to bits under the pressure of his hand.
She shook her head sadly. “I’m so sorry, Auggie. I don’t know how he got you involved with it – I’m sure that’s a tale for another time. I only know a little about how you were brought here. Richard can be one of the most charming and persuasive men on the face of the planet when it suits him, unfortunately for his victims.”
“I’d wondered. The girls in the gift shop?” I looked at Auggie.
“Yes love, that’s his cash cow. I’ve tried to calculate, from what I know, how much he’s raked in with this scheme of his. It’s a very large amount of money. Evelyn, you know Tony Lozano. He and Richard are in bed together on this.”
“I suspected, Auggie. Richard and Tony have been joined at the hip many times. This, I believe, is their most profitable endeavor to date.”
“How do they get away with it all?” I was incredulous.
“Maddy love,” Auggie said looking at me, “We are in the middle of nowhere here. There are no nosy neighbors, no watchdogs of any sort. The only eyes keeping watch are turned inward. The local people are so remote, scratching out their own exsistence, they couldn’t care less what goes on here. I am not privy to all of Richard and Tony’s business – he hired me only to deliver babies, and he pays me richly with blood money. I have turned a blind eye and it’s the main reason I stay drunk most of the time. I’m a washed out fool who let money and lack of responsibility ruin his life.” He hung his head and my insides sank as his sadness flooded my being.
“Auggie, we have all done things in our lives that are less than auspicious. There isn’t a human being alive who doesn’t have regrets. Unfortunately most of those less than admirable activities revolve around boredom and money. I myself have many skeletons in my closet. So do you. Maddy does too. There isn’t a person working here who doesn’t.” Evelyn let her head fall back against the chair cushion. “God forgive us.”
Auggie said, “Evelyn, did you know that I lost one of the mothers night before last? Juanita Ojeda?”
She snapped her head back up, eyes wide. “No! I had NOT heard. What happened?”
“She had complications,” he said as he shook his head miserably. “Cora and I were forced to deliver her by Caesarean. I did not have what I needed to be effective. I saved the baby, but lost Juanita. Richard refused my request to send her into the city to a proper hospital. I still feel her blood on my hands.”
Evelyn Waverly leaned forward in her chair. “Oh Auggie, I am sorry. I know that you must have done everything that you could – even if you think you’re just a drunk, I believe that you aren’t. I can feel that you are so much more. I know you were a fine doctor, back East. I remember Richard talking about your qualifications before he hired you – he only surrounds himself with the best talent, unfortunately. You have a good heart, that’s evident to everyone around here. Since you’ve been here you’ve always been ready to help when we needed you.”
She added, “You must not blame yourself for being caught in the web of a master spinner.”
23
As we got ready to leave her apartment that night, she hugged each of us tightly. To Auggie she said, “You’re a brave and good man, Doctor. Never forget that.” He kissed her cheek gently, and went to the bedroom to pick up my sleeping son. She held me to herself, so tightly, so warmly. “Maddy, I love you. Thank you for coming here, to me. And – I think you’ve got a keeper there.” She winked as we parted. “A real gem of a man, and you know I have fabulous taste.” I laughed, heartened.
Auggie came back, Bry asleep in his arms. “I’m giving Maddy the rest of the week off. You two find something fun to do with all that time,” she declared. He kissed her cheek again and winked at me.
As we went out the back door of the Junction building he said, “Let’s go to my house, Maddy. I don’t think you two need to be alone tonight.”
He had an extra bedroom with a futon in it, and he tucked Bry in with a pillow and soft blanket. Bry never even opened his eyes, exhausted.
In the living room I folded myself up in his arms. “God, I’m glad I don’t have to go to work tomorrow. Or the rest of the week.”
He lifted my chin and tilted my face to his. “Me, too.” He kissed me tenderly, lovingly. “Say, let’s do something fun for a change, tomorrow. Let’s take the kids for a “field trip. Get out of Dodge, so to speak.”
He saw a brightness in my eyes. “Really? It is Saturday. You mean, Bry and the girls too?”
“Yes, I do. Kids are great. They’ll help us forget tonight’s misery. They don’t have school, and I’m sure Donna won’t have any objections. We’ll ask her first thing in the morning.”
“Let me worry about that,” he said as he led me to his bed.
I insisted on inspecting every inch of him, to make sure there were no lasting wounds from his struggle with Dale. He inspected me as well, and by that time it was too late. We made sweet, gentle love – and fell asleep instantly from a regretful day that should never have been.
Bry woke up before we did. I was lying wrapped in Auggie’s arms, spooned with his body. I felt something looking at me, and opened my eyes to see my son standing right over me, smiling. “Hi, Mom.”
His voice woke Auggie as well who raised his head and sleepily said, “Good morning, Master Bryan.” His head fell back onto his pillow.
“Hey, honey,” I said as I reached out and touched the side of his little face with my hand. “Auggie didn’t want to take us home last night. He wanted us to stay here with him.”
Bry, my little man. He said casually, “That’s fine with me, Mom. I like it here, and I like Doctor Auggie.” I felt Auggie smiling behind me as he nudged me ever so slightly.
He raised his head again, “I’d like to take you, your mom, and Jessie and Julie for an outing today. Get away from here, have lunch somewhere fun. How would that sound?”
My son straightened up, delighted. “Great!” He thought for a moment. “But Mom, you don’t have to work today?” Worry crossed his features.
“No, hon. Mrs. E gave me the rest of the week off.”
“Yay!” He cried. Do Jessie and Julie know?”
“Not yet,” said Auggie. “Would you like to run over and ask them? See if they’re up?”
“Sure! ah – okay, Mom?”
I nodded. “Be sure to let Donna know, too – I think she’s working this morning in the gift shop.”
“Okay!” He dashed out of the trailer before we could blink.
Auggie rolled me over to him. He kissed me all over my face. “That’s a funny way to wash my face,” I giggled.
“Then you will probably think this a funny kind of shower,” he said.
Auggie drove an older model Chevy Tahoe, and the kids were happy to have the big back seat and the cargo area behind to claim as their own. I made Auggie stop in front of my room so I could go in and throw on a fresh change of clothes, and grab some sweatshirts per his request. The fall weather was clear and bright that day, but in the high desert there is almost always a breeze tending toward wind. We drove out of the Junction parking lot, heading west.
He drove about forty-five minutes, taunting all of us along the way. He was wonderful and engaging with the children – I could tell they were all in love with him. He had that wonderful knack of being able to relate to just about anyone – he was so cheerful and unassuming. And, I’d not failed to notice, he was even more engaging when sober. I suspected he was equally as good with dogs, cats, or any other kind of creature. He attracted life.
We finally pulled off the highway, and headed down a smaller secondary road. Jessie and Julie, who’d lived in this area all their lives, poked him from the back seat. “Doctor Auggie, is this the road to the missions?”
“Dang!” he cried, laughing. “I just can’t keep a secret around you two!”
They giggled. “Mom brought us down here last year. It’s cool!”
There is a fascinating area, now a National Monument, of old Anasazi and Spanish Missions in the desert Southwest. Three seventeenth-century churches are fairly well preserved, given the strength of their hand-built construction and the natural preservative effects of the arid desert. They are remarkable and enigmatic; as you approach their massive walls you can’t help but be filled with wonderment that you are looking at something still standing after five hundred years. Auggie had read brochures and articles about them, knew how to find them but never visited. I suppose he thought we could all encounter this new world together. He was right.
We walked around the ruins hand in hand. The children were free to explore, and although the main structure we toured was incredibly massive, there was a maze of smaller rooms with ruined half-walls that fascinated the kids. Jessie and Julie felt they were the experts since they’d come last year, and they wanted to point out everything to Bry. They couldn’t get lost, as all Auggie had to do was look around for them, easily spotted from his height. He and I had a wonderful time listening to them laugh and play. The cool, bright air was so refreshing, the children’s laughter such welcome balm for weary hearts. I thought he was a genius then and I still do.
He and I found a picnic table beneath a huge Cottonwood tree. We sat on the top of the table with our feet on the bench, listening for the kids, wrapped in each other’s warmth.
The main structure had been built to a dizzying height, the roof long gone but some of its supporting structure – vigas – still intact. I will never forget my amazement at the construction capabilities of workers half a century earlier. I imagined my heart soaring up between the great walls, taking flight and rejoicing. It was a wonderful and memorable feeling.
Auggie took my hand in his. “Wonderful of Evelyn to release you from bondage for the week.”
“Absolutely. I hate bondage.” We laughed together.
“All bondage?” His eyes twinkled with mischief.
“Maybe not all.”
“That’s good to know.”
“What are your feelings about bondage?”
“Depends on who’s doing the bonding, and what kind.” He chuckled.
“I’d like to bond you to me forever.”
“That could be arranged.” We leaned toward each other, lips meeting.
We sat for several minutes, basking.
His voice was softer, serious. “I do want to talk about something, Maddy love.”
“Anything. I think you discovered most of my secrets already.”
He let my hand go, and got down off the table. Instead, he sat on the bench at my feet and laid his arm over my legs, turning halfway on the seat so he could see my face. “Since I’ve met you, everything has changed.” His eyes were deep and clear. “So very much. Suddenly, everything I ever wished for has fallen right into my lap. I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming – a tired cliché, but so true.”
I ran my fingers through his hair, not interrupting with words.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I’m involved in. Before I met you, I didn’t care about much of anything. I don’t even know why I came here. Evelyn mentioned boredom and money last night. She’s absolutely right – they can be two very motivating factors.” He looked in the direction of the children’s voices. We listened to them rise and fall, and saw the kids dashing through a doorway, excited.
“Richard Waverly caught me at a moment in my life when I was totally vulnerable, and he knew it. I’d come off a horrible mistake I made on the job back east. Anthony Lozano is the one who actually discovered me, through his shady network of lawyers. I felt sick and abused and unwanted. Richard has an uncanny sense of seeking and finding the most wounded spot on any human – and reopening the wound to his advantage. What he proposed to me was wrong, and certainly violated my ethics. I didn’t care. I wanted oblivion, but was too cowardly to take my own life. I wanted to stay drunk. And, I could come out here and make money doing it. It seemed like a viable solution.”
I bent over and solemnly kissed his forehead.
“Then, all of that changed. Forever. I met you. I love you.”
He rose up and took my hand, helping me down from the table. As we stood facing each other, he bent down on one knee. Our eyes not only met, they fastened themselves one upon another.
“I want you to marry me, Madeleine. Be with me forever.”
I dropped to my knees in front of him and fell into his arms, kissing him and then burying my face in his neck. “I love you so much, Auggie. I want to be with you forever, too.”
As he kissed me I knew an eternity of lifetimes would never make me forget that moment in this one.
We helped eac
h other stand up, and he wrapped me in his arms, stroking my hair. “There’s just one catch.”
I looked at his face, alarmed.
“We have to figure out how to put an end to Richard Waverly.”
24
I fell asleep in my new love’s arms that night, happier than I could ever remember being. And I dreamed.
My dreams carried me through time, and through space. I was myself, and Auggie himself, but we took many forms and many entities.
I dreamed that Auggie and I were brother and sister in one life, rich in velvet clothing. Our parents were loving members of a royal family, a country and language unrecognized. I loved my little brother with all my heart, and was devastated as he died from a childhood illness.
I dreamed that we were loving parents of a very large family, poor but surviving, raising crops on a farm in an unfamiliar place. Two moons dotted the night sky, and plant and trees were a rich variety of colors. We lived until an ancient age, and died together in the custom of the land, our bodies entwined together on a funeral pyre.
I dreamed that we met as passing wanderers, nomads of different tribes. We connected only with our eyes but could never touch due to cultural ties and restrictions. The abstinence was unadulterated agony.
I dreamed that he was my only offspring, born to me as a very young creature. We lived and died together in a quest for survival.
I dreamed that we stood together as remnants of an ancient forest, two enormous trees that had lived so long they were inextricably interwoven and inseparable.
I dreamed that we were lovers in a time and endless age that would never change, dreamers of such close creation that they could only be created twin souls.
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