Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

me a target. He was a judge by then and considering a run for Congress. But I think Nadine just wanted me observed. My college classes, shopping, PTA meetings, even the Junior League – I was chaperoned everywhere. The only time I ever really got alone time was when I was riding or when I went to the doctor. I was the only woman I knew who looked forward to her annual physical. Until the day I got sick, anyway.’
    ‘Which was the day you discovered Travis with his secretary.’ He shrugged. ‘Maggie told me.’
    ‘Well, I guess I never told her not to. I was so distraught that day . . . I went to Scott’s barn to brush the horse he boarded for me and Scott was there. He just held me while I cried. Kissed my forehead, like a brother. That’s the “evidence” Travis used to say I’d been unfaithful, plus he added a lot of innuendo that I’d been having an affair with Scott the entire time I’d known him. Nadine told me I had to be gone by morning. In the middle of the night I snuck out, grabbed Ford, stole the keys to the Bentley, and went to a hotel.’
    She smiled ruefully. ‘Nadine had cancelled my credit cards, which I found out when I tried to check into the first hotel.’
    ‘What a peach.’ Joseph hoped he never had to meet Nadine. ‘What did you do?’
    ‘Panicked. I’d been free to spend with the credit cards before, but my cash advances were minuscule. What I had in my wallet was enough to cover one night at the Motel 6.’ She shook her head. ‘It must have been the first time they had a Bentley parked out front. I needed cash, but couldn’t call Scott. He’d been through enough because he was my friend. I couldn’t let Travis go after him anymore.
    ‘I didn’t want to call my mother. I hadn’t yet figured out how to tell her I had cancer. To tell her I’d been dumped by Travis, too? Oh, and by the way, I need money? But I didn’t know what else to do, so I called her, but she and Maggie weren’t home. The whole cancer, divorce thing isn’t really something you leave on an answering machine.’
    ‘No, it’s not. So you called Hal?’
    ‘Yes, and he met me at the Motel 6. Gave me a hug, said everything would be fine, to not bother checking in, that he had a property in Baltimore that was unoccupied. He said I could live there until I got my settlement from Travis. I needed a safe place for Ford to live. There was a science and math charter school nearby that fit him to a T. And I knew I’d be going through cancer treatments soon, so I said yes.’
    ‘So . . . what happened the night you met his wife?’ Joseph asked ponderously.
    ‘I’m getting there,’ she snapped, then sighed. ‘I need you to understand that I’m not a cheat. I had no idea what would happen.’
    ‘I know you’re not a cheat. You’d had the rug pulled out from under you. So . . . ?’
    She sighed again. ‘The second night I was at Hal’s house, I got a visit from his wife. I was stunned. She was angry, saying I was a bitch, that I wasn’t satisfied with the heir to the Elkhart fortune, that I had to steal her husband too.’
    ‘What did you say?’
    ‘You know, it was one of those moments you look back at and cringe.’ She shrugged. ‘I laughed. Not at her, of course, but that’s how she took it. I had just been diagnosed with cancer, given a fifty-fifty shot of survival. I’d seen my husband doing his secretary, for God’s sake, yet I’d been accused of cheating with married men – twice in the same week. It struck me as funny. Until she told me I was living in her house. She and Hal had lived there when they were first married. Now it was rented, but not to me.’
    ‘What did you say to that?’
    ‘Nothing. She wouldn’t give me a chance. She got in my face, told me to get out or she was calling the cops to throw me out. She had her cell phone out, ready to dial. So I took Ford back to the Motel 6. I hadn’t told him about the cancer either. He just thought his father had finally thrown us out. I went outside the room to call Mama so Ford wouldn’t hear and I spilled out everything. I asked her if I could borrow whatever money she could scrape together. She said she was coming out that night.’
    She exhaled slowly. ‘Then I turned around and saw that Ford had opened the door a crack and was listening. He’d heard every word. And in that moment I wanted to kill Travis Elkhart. Wasn’t terribly happy with God, either. Ford was in shock. Reminded me of how I looked when