Husband for a Year

“What’s wrong with our son?” Gabe’s mother sounded on the verge of hysteria as she cried to her husband, pulling on his arm.

Stefanie’s mother shook her head in despair. “I can’t believe this has happened. I simply can’t believe it! Stefanie—aside from his despicable actions, whatever possessed you to say yes to such a cold-blooded proposition? Heavens, darling, you could have married any man you wanted!”

A tight band constricted Stefanie’s breathing. “I didn’t want any man, Mom. I wanted Gabe. When I was an adolescent, I developed a painful crush that never went away. After ten years of loving him, I would have married him for any reason,” her voice throbbed.

“Fool that I am, I’d convinced myself that once we lived together, he would tear up that wretched contract and make our marriage real. But I learned that you can’t force someone to fall in love with you. Since we’d made a contract, I didn’t dare try to dissuade him from his plans.”

“What plans?” The senator’s rage was starting to escalate out of control.

“I have no idea,” she answered honestly. “He’ll have to be the one to reveal them—when he’s ready.”

A ruddy color stained his cheeks. “Where is my son?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’m working on it.”

“You mean he’s really gone?” Gabe’s father still couldn’t comprehend it. For that matter, neither could Stefanie.

“Yes. But I—I hired a P.I. to follow him.”

“Thank God you had that much sense!” came the senator’s furious outburst.

Her father shook his head. “The idea of his marrying you to provide a smokescreen for secret activities is preposterous! What kind of a man would use a woman like that? Especially when she’s my precious daughter!”

Before everything exploded in her face, Stefanie needed to get this over with. “Don’t blame Gabe. I’m the one who said yes to his proposition. Think for a minute—

“He could have been selfish and disappeared right in the middle of the reelection campaign. It would have caused you untold grief and pain. But he didn’t do that. Instead he planned everything to ensure his actions would prevent any scandal.

“Don’t you see? No matter how hurt all of you are, no matter how this may look to you, Gabe’s the most honorable man I’ve ever known in my life.”

“Honorable?” her father blurted. “He took advantage of your vulnerability and broke your heart!”

“But he doesn’t know that, Dad.”

“What do you mean?”

“I—I never told him how I felt, not when I realized he wasn’t in love with me. Behind closed doors we lived totally separate lives. He believed I was happy with our arrangement.”

Her mother shook her head. “How could he be so blind?”

“Because I never disabused him of the assumption he made about my wanting a husband who would end up in the Oval Office! Mom—he has no idea he’s the only man I’ll ever love. That’s why I’m not taking the world tour he planned for me.

“As soon as I find out his destination, then I’ll act on that knowledge and go after him with a proposition of my own!”

The senator shot out of his chair. He stopped pacing the floor long enough to blurt, “This is your fault, Stefanie. You should have told me the truth about your marriage months ago so I could have prevented this tragedy from happening. Whatever you have to do, I want him home by the end of the week where he belongs!”

“You don’t want him back as much as I do,” she said, standing her ground. “But it’s not going to be easy. Gabe’s no longer my husband. When he said goodbye this morning, he meant it to be forever. He trusted me…

“What I’m about to do could backfire in ways I don’t even want to contemplate. In fact the thought of facing him terrifies me. But it’s a risk I have to take—” She struggled for breath. “B-because life isn’t worth living without him.”

The senator stood there with his jaw clenched. For the first time since she’d known him, he was powerless to do anything.

But he wouldn’t stay helpless for long. As she knew only too well, his tentacles reached many places. When he wanted something, he was virtually unstoppable. More than ever she understood why Gabe would have reached a total impasse with his father a long time ago. A shiver ran down her spine.

“I’m going to need everyone’s help,” she continued. “For the time being you’ll have to pretend to go along with Gabe’s and my story about our trip. Will you do that for us?”

Her father’s eyes had grown bleak. “If you’re determined about this, it doesn’t look like we have any other choice.”

“Thank you, Dad. I promise to stay in touch with all of you. Now if you’ll excuse me—”

“No, Stefanie!” Her mother knocked over her chair getting up from the table. “You can’t leave yet, darling!”

“I have to go, Mom. The limo is waiting. I told the P.I. to phone me at nine. I want to be home when the call comes through. It may take several days, even longer, before I know exactly where Gabe went. Then I can make my plans. In the meantime, I’m counting on you to pretend everything’s fine. That’s what Gabe wanted.”

The senator pinned her with a withering gaze, the kind he used for intimidating people he didn’t like. He didn’t like her anymore. In placing her loyalty to Gabe above his father, she’d dropped from favor.

It was very sad because there were qualities about him she’d grown to love by virtue of his being her father-in-law. He’d also done a great deal of humanitarian good in the world.

“I’m expecting you to bring my son to his senses, Stefanie.” Though he didn’t add the words “or else,” his warning was unmistakable.

Gabe’s father was afraid. So was she…

Blowing everyone a kiss, she hurried through the club and out the front doors to the limo which was waiting for her.

“Drive me to the Oyster Inn, please. I’m meeting friends there. They’ll take me home later.”

“Very good, Mrs. Wainwright.”

As soon as they reached the popular restaurant in downtown Newport, the chauffeur helped her out, then drove off. Left to her own devices, Stefanie walked to the end of the street and rounded the corner.

Earlier in the day she’d paid cash for a used car, which sat parked at the curb. Her new cell phone was packed in one of the suitcases she’d stashed in the trunk. After retrieving it, plus a wig with short black curls styled like a Gypsy’s, she climbed in behind the wheel of the small blue compact.

With her shoulder-length hair worn up, she could easily slip on the wig. Once it was in place she started the engine, anxious to put as many miles between her and Newport as possible.

The senator might still be at the club with his wife and her parents, but she had no doubts he’d already excused himself long enough to order a surveillance team to set up a watch outside the fabulous Nantucket shingle house Gabe had given her for a wedding present.

Before long there would be a tap on her home phone. Gabe’s father would have her every move scrutinized until she led him to his son.

While she’d been married to Gabe, she’d learned a lot about the senator that hadn’t been apparent when she’d first gone to work for his reelection campaign two years earlier.

Senator Wainwright was a dynasty builder. His sons were his possessions. His word, law. Though he adored his children, he would consider it unconscionable for one of them to defect from the family. Especially Gabe, whom he privately favored.

What his youngest son had done today was tantamount to high treason. Unthinkable. Unforgivable. She’d seen it in his father’s eyes. He would stop at nothing to bring Gabe back to the fold, even if it meant spying on Stefanie in her own home.

But she had the element of surprise on her side. By the time he realized she’d outsmarted him, she would be over state lines and impossible to trace.

The call she’d been waiting for came at 9:00 p.m. exactly. Her heart hammered as she clicked on and said hello.

“Ms. Dawson?”