Except that Mary Millicent possessed a passkey left over from the days when she was the chatelaine of Hartmann Ranch and had come tiptoeing into Jamie’s corner of the castle. And the things Mary Millicent had told her made her afraid.
But Mary Millicent was a crazy old woman who disliked her own children, Jamie reminded herself. How could she possibly put any credence in her tales?
She remembered Lenora’s warning that powerful people have methods of getting their own way and that if Jamie signed the contract, she must be absolutely committed to upholding her end of the bargain and never looking back.
Just have the baby and leave. That was the only safe and sensible thing to do.
She tried to imagine what would happen following the baby’s birth. After she had signed away her legal rights to the child, Miss Montgomery or Freda probably would take him to Amanda.
How would she receive the money owed to her, Jamie wondered. And how soon after the delivery would she feel well enough and strong enough to leave? Not days. No way was she waiting around here for days. Jamie wanted to have her car packed, gassed up, and waiting for her in front of the clinic. With Ralph waiting in Freda’s office.
She imagined herself telling Miss Montgomery that she had decided to leave. Now. This very afternoon. After all, the housekeeper had no legal jurisdiction over her. She couldn’t lock her up in the tower and chain her to a bed until she delivered the child.
Except that was exactly what Jamie was afraid of.
Just have the baby and leave, she told herself once again as she arrived at the security gate. Ralph darted under it and stood waiting on the opposite side. Lester slowed as he approached and pointed the opener at the gate.
As soon as the gate had swung open a few feet, Jamie strode through. When she reached the portico, she climbed the steps and went inside without bothering to wave at Lester.
It was well past lunchtime. Her tray would be waiting for her. But instead of returning to her apartment, she marched down the corridor to Miss Montgomery’s apartment, where the housekeeper usually spent the early part of the afternoon.
Jamie knocked on the door and waited.
The housekeeper opened the door. Jamie could hear the voices of soap-opera characters dealing with their daily allotment of crises.
“What is it, Jamie?” Miss Montgomery asked in a reasonably pleasant tone.
“How will I be paid after the baby is born?”
Miss Montgomery frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, I need to know,” Jamie demanded. “I want it taken care of as soon as the baby is born. I don’t plan to stay very long afterward.”
“I will inquire and let you know,” Miss Montgomery said, already pushing the door closed.
Jamie put her hand on the door. “And I want my car brought back over here. I want to start packing things and loading them into the car.”
“Isn’t it a little early for that?” the housekeeper asked.
“I want to be ready to leave when the time comes.”
“I will see if that is possible,” Miss Montgomery said.
Jamie shook her head. “I want the car brought over here this afternoon,” she said, making her point by carefully enunciating each word.
Miss Montgomery’s eyes narrowed.
“I would like to know about the money by tomorrow,” Jamie continued. “I want it wired to my bank in Austin as soon as I give birth, and I need official documentation that arrangements have been made for the payment and also for the annual stipend I am to receive.”
“I will see what I can do,” the housekeeper said curtly.
Jamie turned and headed back down the hallway, Ralph hurrying along behind her. She waited until she was halfway up the back stairs before allowing herself to breathe.
As she ate her lunch, she went over her conversation with the housekeeper. Maybe Miss Montgomery didn’t know how or when Jamie would be paid because no arrangements had yet been made. Maybe arrangements were never going to be made.
And what if Amanda wasn’t pregnant at all?
“Stop it!” Jamie yelled at herself.
Ralph jerked awake and began whimpering. Jamie opened her arms, and he jumped up beside her on the sofa then crawled onto what was left of her lap. She put her arms around him and buried her face against his neck. “Everything’s okay,” she lied. “We’ll always be together, you and me. I’ll always take care of you.”
Once she had terminated the conversation with Jamie, Ann Montgomery went back to her soap opera. But even though her favorite character was trapped in an abandoned mine shaft, she found herself wondering if she should call Gus and tell him about Jamie’s demands.
Gus depended on her to manage things, though. She decided that she would call Amanda instead, and tell her to call the girl and reassure her about the money. As for the business about the car, she would stall Jamie along for a time. After all, it was a very old car and could plausibly have all sorts of mechanical ills. That decided, she gave herself over to the life-or-death situation being played out on the television screen. The mine shaft was filling with water. And Pamela was losing consciousness.
Chapter Twenty
LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Miss Montgomery called Jamie to report that the mechanics at the motor pool had not been able to get her car started. The fuel pump needed to be replaced. A replacement had been ordered from Amarillo, but it would be several days before it would arrive-perhaps longer what with a winter storm on the way.
It began snowing that evening. The weather reporter on the evening news warned that both the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles could expect blizzard conditions. Jamie groaned. “Looks like there will be no walks for us tomorrow,” she told Ralph.
By the following evening, the drifts on the north side of the house had buried the back door. Miss Montgomery escorted Jamie and Ralph on brief forays in front of the house. The housekeeper would wait on the top step while Jamie-fighting the wind with every step-walked the dog down the driveway and back. “Like she thinks I’m going to run off in a snowstorm,” Jamie would mutter under her breath.
After one of the outings, Jamie asked the housekeeper if she’d found out about the money.
“Amanda said that she would call you and explain about the arrangements,” Miss Montgomery said.
“I want something in writing,” Jamie said. “And I want it signed and notarized.”
The snow continued off and on for three days, and even when it was not actually snowing, daylight was reduced to a flat gunmetal gray. The snowdrifts on the north side of the ranch house were so high that the first-floor windows were completely covered. Even though the furnace continued to function, Jamie wore her coat all day long and wore long johns day and night. There would be no mail deliveries, she realized. No fuel pump for her car.
She waited until a thaw had set in before asking Miss Montgomery if the repairs had been made.
“It’s such an old car,” Miss Montgomery said. “The head mechanic said he hasn’t been able to locate the right part.”
Jamie thought of all those afternoons helping Joe work on his Jeep and Granny’s Chevy. She wasn’t an ignoramus when it came to cars. The small-block V-8 engine used in Chevys of that era was probably the most popular engine in automotive history. A fuel pump for such an engine would be quite easy to locate in a city the size of Amarillo.
But she said nothing.
That night she made sure her set of car keys was still under the lining in her grandmother’s sewing stand. They were-along with her stash of cash, ATM card, grandmother’s ring, and the remote-control gate opener she had taken from Lester’s truck.
She put the ring on her finger for a minute and admired it. Someday maybe she would wear it on a special date with a nice normal boy. But would she ever be a nice normal girl? The “nice” part she could handle, but would she ever feel normal again?