Mail Ordered Deception

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

They stared at each other frozen. Monica was petrified by fear but did not want to show it. So she broke the trance and turned on her heel, walking away from the scene. She silently hoped he would not go after her in order to not cause a scene, but it was in vain. She felt his hand grip onto her arm, so she swung around and with as much force as she could muster, slapped her hand across his cheek. It did not have the desired effect however and he simply glowered in anger at her. Wrapping his other arm around her and then placing his hand tightly over her mouth, he dragged Monica back into the barn. She tried to scream but it was too muffled under his palm.

When they got inside, he locked them into one of the empty stalls, allowing her to move away from him. Nowhere to go, she put her fists up, ready to fight.

“Now now m’lady. There’s no need for that.” he chuckled at her.

“Want to bet?” Monica spat back at him. He remained unfazed at her actions.

“Absolutely. I’m not gonna hurt you. Instead, we are going to reach an agreement.” Monica laughed at his words.

“An agreement? Somehow, I don’t see that happening. I am going to tell Jackson everything!” He laughed, throwing his head back, causing her to falter.

“And who is he going to believe? His childhood best friend, or some gold digging b***h?” Monica panicked, trying to deny it.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Oh really?” Terrance reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. “I check the mail every day you see, and when I saw this one yesterday addressed to you, I just couldn’t resist.” Monica balked in horror as he proceeded to read the letter aloud.

“My dearest daughter,

I don’t wanna rush you, but the hospital is saying they will kick your daddy out of the hospital soon if we don’t pay. Send more money right away. It doesn’t matter what you gotta do. Charm him, sneak it from him. He can afford it. Remember, if you can last us until your daddy is better, you can come home. Just hurry!”

All my love, momma.

“Imagine my surprise to find sweet, innocent Monica is nothing more than a lying wench.” Monica leaned back against the wall, too afraid to speak. “So, you can try to tell Jackson his horses aren’t dying. He won’t believe you, and I’ll come forward with this letter and Jackson will throw your worthless self out onto the streets.” She scrambled for a solution but seeing none, she had no choice but to listen to his offer. “My idea is simple. My silence for yours. You don’t say anything, I won’t say anything. Deal?”

Unable to swallow the lump in her throat, she stood there frozen solid. Terrance closed the distance between them, putting his hand under her chin to force her to look at him.

“I said, ‘deal?’” Monica nodded as much has his grip allowed and he looked at her triumphantly. “That’s what I thought you’d say.” A single tear fell down her cheek. She wondered how Jackson could not see the evil in the man he called friend. “Seal it with a kiss?” He hissed menacingly. Monica could not move away, and saw his eyes staring at her mouth. Without another moment passing, he crushed his lips to hers, rough and painful. He attempted to gain access to her mouth but that, she would not allow. All Monica could think was how different this kiss was to Jackson’s on the day they were married. Even drunk, he was gentle and sweet, whereas Terrance’s goal was humiliation, pain and submission. Finally, not gaining any further ground, he stepped back and released her face.

Terrance left her alone in the barn as he got in the wagon and drove it away. It disappeared quickly into the night and so she sank down into the straw, her body heaving with sobs. How could this have gone so wrong? She wondered. Would Terrance keep his word? Was she safe? What if she was found out before she could save her father? After she was sure her eyes were dry, Monica stood back up and ran back to the manor. She was positive that she looked a mess so once inside, she stood on her toes, trying to be as silent as possible. The only goal was to make it to her room without being seen.

Getting up the stairs was easy enough as they were carpeted and hid most of the sound under her shoes. Bethany was fast asleep, which made getting past the second floor not difficult either. Breathing a sigh of relief, Monica got to the third floor and made it to her door. Turning the knob, she went to open the door when she heard Jackson come up as well.

“There you are. I wondered where you had gone after supper.” Jackson seemed a little tense when he spoke, so she forced a smile and turned to face him.

“I went outside to see Prince.” she said shakily. Try as she might, Monica could not stop her voice from trembling slightly. He looked at her with concern and walked towards her.

“Then why is there straw in your hair?” He plucked a single piece from her hair and held it in front of her face. She attempted to cover her nervousness with a giggle.

“Oh, well after I went to see Prince, I went into the barn to see the mares. Without the light, I tripped and fell into the straw.” He looked at her for a moment, before putting the straw above his ear.

“I see. Well, then I guess a hot bath is in order. I will leave you to it. Goodnight.” Jackson said curtly before walking quickly to his own room. Monica hoped he believed her story but found it unlikely.

Jackson’s Point of View

As he closed the door behind him, Jackson pulled the straw out from behind his ear and twirled it between his fingers. True she must have been in the barn, but her hair was askew and her eyes were red and puffy that made it seem like she had been crying. He could not understand. Overall, they seemed to have a pleasant day together. Jackson felt like they had gotten to know each other a little better and were growing closer. A number of things could have happened. She could have been attacked, but then why would she try to hide it. She could have really just been seeing the horses and fell into the straw, but somehow, her explanation seemed unlikely. The only other thing he could think of was that she was with someone. That would be a likely reason why she was being so elusive.

Jackson could not help but feel saddened that she would dishonor their marriage in that way. Even though it was not an arrangement of love, Monica never struck him as someone to take wedding vows so lightly. He only hoped that he was wrong about this assumption, and chose to ignore it for the time being. He dropped the straw into the wastebasket and climbed into bed to sleep.

The next morning, Jackson went to the balcony and waited with his coffee, expecting to see Monica there. It had almost become a comfort to enjoy their coffee together. As he waited however, the sun rising over the ridge, he noted that she would not be out this morning. Giving up, he headed inside and dressed, ready for the day. He discarded the now cold cup of coffee, the bitter taste not to his liking at the moment. He walked down the stairs and heard Bethany was awake. When he saw her, she was dancing with Monica. They made their own music by singing and they twirled around each other gracefully. Bethany was not the greatest singer, Jackson admitted to himself, but Monica still encouraged her to sing along and have as much fun as possible.

Not wanting to interrupt their game, he continued down to the first floor and went straight to his office. Sitting down he opened his books again, seeing the note from the night before. He set it aside and went to work. Unfortunately, there was not much room left in the budget and the last thing he wanted to do was let go of any of his staff. They relied on the income he gave them and so, decided to dip into the family savings again. Jackson marked it in the books, but knew this was only a short term solution. He decided then to go to the barns himself and see the foals.

When he arrived at his destination, he saw the mares and their foals. There was only two left that were ready to wean and sell. The rest were still too young. Sure enough, in this age group, there were six mares whose foals were missing. Jackson went to stroke their necks and then noticed the prints in the dirt. It seemed as though a large object was dragged out of the barn and taken away. Jackson figured it was the foals that passed the day before and sighed sadly. In the next barn, he saw the younger foals and they seemed in perfect health. As he continued, his workers began to fill the barns, attending to their chores. When they saw Jackson, they kept their heads down and worked silently. Jackson noticed they would occasionally look his way, checking to see what he was doing there.

When he finished his inspection of the barns, Jackson called out for Terry. It took a while to find him, but eventually, he came running.

“How’s it goin boss?” he asked with a joking salute on his forehead. Jackson rolled his eyes at Terry’s games and got right to the point.

“We have to figure out what is going on with these horses, Terry. This has gone way too far. Has the vet even been out to inspect these horses?”

“Of course he has, but he couldn’t find anything.” Terry looked shocked that Jackson could even ask such a thing.

“Well, we need to send for him again. I will head into town myself and bring him and see if he will come back with me.” Jackson said determidley. Terry held out a hand to get his attention.

“That won’t be necessary, sir. I’ll fetch him for you. Why don’t you just head back to your office and treat yourself to a libation?” Jackson narrowed his eyes on his old friend. Just a short time ago, Terry was chastising him for drinking, and now he was encouraging him to go and do so?”

“I will handle it, Terrance. Is that understood?” Terry nodded his head and marched away towards the manor in a huff. Not understanding what that particular piece of drama was about, he simply hailed his driver and proceeded to go into town.

Monica’s Point of View

After playing with Bethany for a while and attending to some of her studies, Monica went to the kitchen looking for a snack. Inside, the cooks were off on a break and so she searched on her own. Coming quickly upon an apple, she munched away on it, contemplating the events of the night before. Overall it seemed simple enough. She simply needed to turn a blind eye and Terrance would do the same, or so she hoped. The only problem was, this was what was causing the ranch to fail. Should she allow this to continue, then Jackson would surely lose everything. That would mean Little Beth would too. But if she outed Terrance, and Jackson did not believe her, then her father could die.

As if called by her own mind, she heard the kitchen doors open and Terrance stood there angrily staring her down. Having dealt with him the night before, she had decided not to let him intimidate her again. She rolled her eyes at him and nonchalantly waved at him.

“What do you want? I believe you said your piece last night.” Monica took another bite out of her apple, pretending not to care about his response.

“You said something, didn’t you?!” He yelled though in a whisper. Now that they were not for sure alone, he dared not to raise his voice to her. The daylight played in her favor and Monica planned to capitalize on that.

“I have no idea what you could be talking about.” Finishing her apple, she wiped her hands on her skirt.

“You told Jackson about,” he paused, making sure no one was listening, “about last night.”

“I did not,” Monica began, then raised her voice louder, “however, should you ever kiss me again, I will see to it that you are relieved of your duties, sir.” Terrance whipped his head around to the door, checking to see if someone heard her outburst. When no one came in the door, he visibly looked relieved.

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have to check the mail.” Monica pushed past him and congratulated herself for keeping the upper ground. She realized that was only because of the time of day and that they were indoors. She had to be careful not to cross him again at night.