“No,” she shook her head. “Please, help me figure out a way that I don’t have to go back there.”
I sat there, deep in thought while Auggie made her dad and me a cup of coffee and fed Ford. Mr. Langford finally came up with the only possible solution. “Auggie, you’ll have to get hurt.”
“What?” I cried out and she looked at him in alarm.
“Auggie, do you still have that friend, Todd Green, the police officer?”
“Yes,” she answered. “He’s with the state police now, I think.”
“Do you think he’d do you a favor?” He was thinking over a plan.
“He always has,” she said and quickly looked at me for a reaction.
“See if you can get hold of him. We need to manufacture an accident. You’ll need to be hurt and flown out of state for special care. We won’t need Todd unless Linc gets nosy and checks with the authorities. I’ll keep the baby while you supposedly leave and have an auto accident. We’ll hide your car and you’ll stay here with me. Worth will take Ford home to Betsy to look after. In fact, Worth, you hire an additional nanny. Worth can bring the baby to me every once in a great while, but it has to be secret. It’s the only way I can see it clear.”
Auggie and I considered it and finally she nodded. She had big tears in her eyes and held Ford to her chest. “I can’t stand the idea of being separated from him,” she said. “Are you sure it’s the only option?”
“It could keep him from getting hurt, Auggie,” I told her in what I hoped was a soothing voice. “Linc’s after us both. I know I started this mess—”
“No!” she broke in. “He started this mess. We’re just trying to deal with it.”
“If we take you out of the picture for a while, he’ll get attracted to Jessie Klinger. They’re made for each other and with any luck, she’ll coerce him into going to Cincinnati with her and he’ll leave the farm, and our lives, for good.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” her dad put in.
“It’s the only one we have,” Auggie said in a small voice. “But how will this get Worth off the hook for introducing him around?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I’ll just have to make sure Jessie leads him out of town.”
Auggie twisted around. “I wish there was a better way,” she said, “but for now, let me call Todd. Thank God I trained Bernie. He can cover for me.”
“No!” I stopped her. “You might trust him but consider this. First, there’s no telling what Linc would threaten him with if he thought something was fishy. Secondly, things can’t go forward as planned. It would be too obvious that you’re pulling strings from somewhere and Linc will track you down. We have to keep this as quiet as possible. The story will be that Auggie brought the baby to see you, Mr. Langford and then she went to the store for something and the accident happened. The authorities contact me and she’s stat-flighted out of state. I will supposedly call you because the baby was left with you and because you’re her father. If you’ll call and let her mother know… Auggie, would she want to fly to your side?”
Auggie looked at me with some incredulity. “Mother? Are you kidding?”
“No, I suppose not,” I agreed. “Okay, so I’ll arrange to be out of town, supposedly by Auggie’s side and return frequent updates. I’ll have an agency send over a nanny for additional backup if you’ll drive him to my house? I’ll need to be at Auggie’s side.”
“Why can’t the baby and Betsy just stay here with me?” Auggie asked, looking hopeful. “If you’re supposed to be by my side, then no one would give it a second thought that he stays with dad.”
I gave it some thought, knowing how desperate she would want to be with Ford. Finally, I shook my head. “It’s too risky and puts Betsy in danger. I can’t do that to her, or her sister, or another nanny. Plus, if they stay at our house, it gives me additional reasons to go back and forth as needed.” I placed my hand over hers. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
She clasped my hand back and only nodded.
“We’ll go now and put Auggie’s car in storage somewhere that it can’t be found,” I went on. “Auggie, we’ll have to find you some clothes, but you can order those in, as well as anything else you might need. Be careful not to use your normal email or go onto social media. No one can find out you’re here. Mr. Langford, is it possible for me to get my car into one of the barns so I can visit Auggie at night?”
“They’re empty right now — take your pick.”
I nodded. “Auggie, you have to stay inside. No one, not even the farm hands or a neighbor can know you’re here. I’ll have Bernie take care of Carlos and the other horses and work with Beverly, but it has to be on a limited basis. Enough to keep him employed but not so much as to require decisions from you.”
“How long will this take?” Auggie whined.
“Sweetheart, I have no idea. I’ll do my best to push Jessie toward Linc, but I have to be careful about doing it. If they don’t develop the right chemistry, the whole thing will fall apart.”
Mr. Langford spoke up. “I’ll call Caren and get her riled up about the new woman in the house. She’ll feel her power slipping away and become more and more difficult to live with. When she gets desperate, her bitchiness comes out.”
“Dad!” Auggie was amazed. “I’ve never heard you refer to her that way!”
“Well?” he held out his hands for definition.
“Yes, you’re right. She will. She’ll become impossible to live with and Linc will want her out.”
Auggie interrupted. “Worth, what about your mother? Won’t she want to know what’s going on? Or insist on visiting me in the hospital?”
Mr. Langford chuckled. “Leave her to me. We see each other from time to time and I’ll gently push her in the other direction. In fact, I’ll suggest that maybe Linc would like to sell the farm and she could help things by buying it back from him. He’ll get the money he wants and an exit.”
Auggie clapped her hands together. “Other than the part about not seeing the baby, this is going to be fun!”
“Not so fast, Auggie,” I cautioned her. “It could backfire and then we will have lost our only chance. Linc is dangerous. No one can afford to screw up. Promise?”
They both nodded as they thought through their respective roles. I felt a lump in the pit of my stomach. Everyone I loved was at stake. Could I play my role?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Worth