“I was just asking,” Leilani says turning away, “I don’t want to go with you,”
“I’ll be back soon,” Waylen promises.
Leilani can’t tell if he means the words as a promise or a threat. She crosses the room and looks out the window, watching Waylen and Robert talk as they cross the lawn to the waiting helicopter. She can tell that the problem must be severe if Waylen insists on handling it in person.
“If there’s something wrong, it’s none of my business,” she thinks, “Why do I suddenly care about his problems? He’s nothing to me. I need to be more careful. I can’t let myself become attached again.”
She sighs sadly. Waylen doesn’t turn back once as he boards the helicopter. In the last few days, she’s become accustomed to his presence and she feels a sudden, painful twinge as she watches him go.
“Mr. Bamford, I apologize,” Robert said, “It was my mistake.”
Waylen gives a snort of contempt. Robert’s apology means nothing to him.
“I’ve asked people to search, and I’m confident we’ll find him soon,” Robert promises.
“It’s because his heart is on the right side of his body,” Waylen suddenly says.
“How does Waylen know that?” Robert wonders, feeling his mind race, “If he’s right and Dr. Meyers does indeed have a rare condition that results in his internal organs being on the opposite sides of his body, then Waylen didn’t shoot him in the heart. Even though Dr. Meyers had feelings for Leilani and made her secret medicines, Waylen wasn’t trying to kill him. And if Waylen wasn’t trying to kill him, it’s entirely possible that Dr. Meyer is still alive.”
“Mr. Bamford, are you telling me that there’s a possibility that Charles is still alive?” Robert asks.
Waylen glares at Charles and nods. Even though he wasn’t trying to kill Charles, he wanted to seriously wound the man. The bullet to his chest caused serious damage, and Waylen knows that the man was already close to death when he ordered the bodyguards to move him.
“It’s my mistake,” Robert apologizes again, “If I’d been more attentive, we never would have lost the body or uh, he never would have gotten away from us.”
“I don’t want to hear it anymore,” Waylen hisses, “Send speedboats to search the ocean and monitor all of the local hospitals. This happened at sea, and there’s no way he could’ve gotten far in his condition.”
Leilani stands in front of the window long after the helicopter takes off and vanishes into the sky. Eventually, she sees her father surrounded by maids and servants on the lawn. Her father gestures and talks to them excitedly.
“What’s happening down there?” Leilani asks one of the maids.
“Mr. Bamford said that the villa is too small, so he bought some of the surrounding lands to expand the property,” a maid answers.
Leilani purses her lips.
“The house is indeed quite small by the Bamford’s standards, and it’ll be rather crowded if Anthony continues to insist on hosting a huge party,” Leilani thinks, “Buying land and having new houses built is as easy for Waylen as playing with Legos. It’s no wonder, my father, fawns all over him—Waylen’s money is a powerful thing.”
Leilani is about to turn away from the window when shes sees movement from the corner of her eye. In the pavilion below, Katherine and Vanessa are walking arm in arm. Katherine has been pregnant for four months, and she wearing loose-fitting maternity clothes. She also naturally has a rounder figure so it’s difficult to tell that she’s pregnant. Vanessa helps her mother onto a wooden bench.
“Mom, why has Mr. Bamford left?” Vanessa asks, “Does he want to leave Leilani?”
Katherine Peter touches her belly gently and says, “Haven’t you heard your father say that he will come back? Your father is quite worried: clearly, Mr. Bamford is ashamed to be seen in such a small house, and to be honest, the villa is much too small for such a party. If Mr. Clifford comes too, we won’t be able to fit all the people in the house. Everyone wants to be seen with Mr. Bamford and one of the founding father’s descendants. “
“Is he really descended from one of the founding fathers?” Vanessa asks, “Which one?”
A sudden wind blew dust onto the women, and Katherine pauses and covers her nose with a silk scarf.
“He’s descended from George Washington,” she says, “It’s such a pity! Mr. Bamford wants Gabrielle to be the star of the party, and if he has his way everyone will pay attention to her. Clearly, Leilani has done something to make him smitten with her, and if Mr. Clifford falls love with Gabrielle, it will be terrible for you girls. Imagine—the two most influential men in the city married off to the bastard daughters of your father’s mistress!”
“No man like Andrew Clifford would fall in love with Gabrielle,” Vanessa disagrees, “She’s not beautiful.”
“Although she’s not beautiful, Mr. Bamford will bring Josiah here and he’ll make her beautiful,” Katherine says, “We both know that man can work miracles.”
“What should we do?” Vanessa asks anxiously, “Maybe I should go discuss this with Janetta.”
Leilani asks the maids to leave and starts to unpack her suitcase. She looks around the room as she works and notices the care her family has taken in redecorating the room: most of the furnishing is new and the decorations are arranged meticulously. She opens the closet and starts to put her clothes and pajamas away, and she notices that several of Waylen’s custom-made suits are already hanging.
She sighs. She had forgotten how good her father is at handling details and pleasing more important men. Her father offered to have the maids unpack her things, but Leilani refused. She hangs her clothing piece by piece. When she’s sure that all the maids have left the room she pulls a doc.u.ment from the bottom of her suitcase.
Leilani examines the divorce agreement and pages through it. She was in a hurry when she signed it, and she didn’t have time to pay attention to all of the details. For the first time, she sees that the divorce agreement offers her a large financial settlement after the divorce. She sighs—she doesn’t want anything from the Bamford, and if she gets the opportunity she will refuse their money.
She turns the page again and reads another clause: “As soon as the divorce takes effect, the undersigned will cut all contact with the Bamford.”
Leilani nods. She knows that the Bamford is very severe and often cut people out of their lives entirely. This suits her just fine, though—the sooner she can get away from them, the better.
Suddenly her fingers begin to shake, and she feels her breathing accelerate out of control.
“What’s wrong with me?” Leilani wonders, “I should be happy that I’ll soon be free from the Bamford. Why does it feel like a knife is stabbing me in the chest?”
She takes several deep breaths and begins to laugh at herself.
“I’m being stupid and ridiculous,” she thinks, “Waylen won’t care a bit when I leave. I need to remember that he’s probably looking forward to it. As soon as I’m out of the picture, he’s free to marry Diana Summers.”
“What are you looking at?” Janetta’s voice calls from the door.
Leilani folds the agreement in half to hide the words and tries to look calm.
“What are you doing here?” she asks her sister.
Janetta Peters plays with her hair and leans against the closet doorway.
“The maid said you were here, and I knocked on the door but you didn’t answer,” Janetta says, “What are you doing in there anyway?”
“Can’t you tell?” Leilani asks, hoping her sister will reveal whether or not she saw her reading the divorce agreement.
She glances at Janetta’s hand to see if the ring is still there.
“No, I can’t see anything,” Janetta snaps, “Anyway, I’m curious about what you’re doing. Can I help with anything?”
Leaning against the closet doorway, Janetta looks lean and gentle. She smiles encouragingly at her sister.
“What are you going on about?” Leilani asks, “I’m just trying to unpack my luggage, and I have no time to play your games or cater to your whims.”
Janetta pulls her hair to one side, covering part of her face in the process.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply