I hoped I wouldn’t cross any lines that would hurt her, but there was a great deal at stake. “Why did you stay with Worth’s father after the way he cheated on you?”
“Right on target, I like that,” she smiled. “Worth, and now I’m referring to your husband’s father, was a powerful man with an even more powerful vision of himself. He was born into money and felt entitled to everything and anything the world could provide. He didn’t care if it was legal or moral; if he wanted it, he got it. He simply took it. Apparently, he saw me at the Fillies Ball one Derby and decided I would make good breeding stock, as he called it. He set his mind to win me and he was an awesome force to be reckoned with if he truly wanted his way.”
She circled a finger around the rim of her cup, seeming to be lost in her memories.
“My father didn’t like Worth,” she continued, lines creasing her forehead. “He thought he was spoiled, willful and unprincipled; a lethal combination. As it turned out, that’s exactly what he was. He was lethal, on more than one occasion, but had the strings and contacts that got him out of mess after mess. Once I agreed to marry him, I was done for. There was no way I could be free of him. So, I did what all wives in that position must do. I made the best of things.”
“That must have been very difficult,” I said
She sighed. “When he left for long periods and was with other women, I considered it a relief. He was out of my hair and I, when out from beneath his supervision, could do as I pleased. Then he would return and the world became his again. I smiled at the right times, submitted as I needed to for children and otherwise stayed out of the way without him realizing how invisible I’d made myself. It was survival, Auggie, nothing more.”
“How did you stand it?”
“You see, being Mrs. Worthington LaViere afforded me a certain lifestyle. It wasn’t just the money; it was the fear of God that he put into others. No one crossed me. I was always invited to the best events, always recognized for the events I hosted and always mentioned first in the guest list. No one dared to do otherwise. That’s the privileges of being married to the devil, dear. No one, absolutely no one, crosses you.”
“Wasn’t that frightening?”
“Of course it was! I had problems with him. He drank too much and wasn’t above backhanding me or throwing me to the floor. When he wanted sex, he had sex, whether I was in the mood or not. There was no romancing, no consideration for my sensibilities. I was his possession. Nothing more than the livestock in the barn, and in many cases, probably worth even less in his opinion.”
“So, he had no enemies?”
“Oh, I won’t say that. He got tangled up in some nasty business out on the coast and some gentlemen in the Midwest wanted to see his headstone. But he got out of it — he always did. Then there was Linc.”
“Linc?”
“My dear… have you not gotten around to remembering that yet?”
I searched my mind, willing a face to appear in connection. “No, I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“Well, then we need to straighten this out. You see, my Worth had an affair, dear, with your mother.”
My hand went to my throat. “My mother?”
“Yes, dear. I sorry if that pains you, but it’s the truth you’re seeking so you need to hear it all.”
“Go ahead.” I gave her permission.
“Your mother was beautiful. You resemble her when she was young, as a matter of fact. She had a thing for Worth Sr. and he returned it once or twice. She ended up pregnant and when your father learned of this, he married her and took her south to stay with her aunt until the birth of the child. Your father had always held a soft spot for her and saw this as the only way he’d ever be in her life. Well, the child was born and taken from her before she saw it. Worth had arranged for the baby to come and live with us, telling me he’d adopted a deceased friend’s baby.”
I gasped and she paused, reaching over to pat my knee. “How did you discover the truth?”
She sighed. “I knew it was a lie from the beginning, but what choice did I have? Well, the men from the Midwest switched babies and kept Linc as a precaution to keep Worth in line. He brought home the switched baby and we raised him as though he was ours, when in truth, he had not one drop of blood from either one of us. Our baby, your Worth, was born then but was contentious from the very beginning. He had a lot of his father in him, but Linc was the golden child. He was wonderful in sports, good looking, smart, charming — everything Worth wanted his father to think he was, but there was no pleasing him.”
“Why haven’t I met him?”
Margaret looked down at her cup, pain striking her features for the briefest moment. “Linc was killed in an auto accident at the age of sixteen and Worth became the heir. He and his father battled constantly and there wasn’t any relief until Worth went off to college. Even then, when he was home on vacations, they were at one another’s throats. There was nothing I could do but stand back and watch.”
My mouth was open as I listened to her story. There were tiny tidbits of what she said that I could remember, but for the most part, it was all new to me. “Go on,” I encouraged her.
“Well, after you and your Worth married, there was a confrontation at the farm. After you both left, taking me with you, his father shot himself in the head.”
“Oh!” How could he not have told me? Then I realized he had no idea what I did and did not remember.
“That’s when I came to live here in this very condo. I never set foot back on the farm. Then, one day a man showed up and said his name was Linc LaViere and had the papers to prove it. It seemed he was here to get what he believed was his inheritance and needless to say, he and Worth did not get along. Linc accused a great many people of bad things and that didn’t endear him to anyone. He was blackmailing Worth to cooperate in a race-fixing scheme, or he would blow the lid off everything.”
I shook my head. This was like the plot of an action movie. “What happened next?”
Margaret sighed. “Well, one thing led to another and eventually Worth used his power of persuasion to set up a liaison between Linc and Worth’s clinic director, Jessie Klinger. They both thought they were thwarting Worth, and putting one over on him. You and he had a falling out over it and finally put that behind you. Linc left with Jessie and the two of them went to the east coast. We believe that Linc’s past finally caught up with him and the men from the Midwest saw to it that their car turned over. Jessie was collateral damage.”
“My god!”
“That’s putting it mildly, Auggie. You and Worth were both in very real danger and he protected you. You and Ford. He faced his career being ruined and being killed himself in order to protect you.”
“I had no idea,” I began.
“No, I didn’t think so.”