Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [33]
“Ah, it’s Mona. I don’t want my kids having a stepfather. Guys never treat other guy’s kids the way they’d treat their own. Ben’s immature, and he’s sensitive. Jack is mouthy and going through a phase. Mandy is growing up so fast. She wants to be like Mona. Mona is too permissive. I was the disciplinarian. If Mona and the guy she’s seeing decide to get married, where does that leave my kids? Even if I lived in California in a house two doors away, Mona would only let me see them on the days the court agreed on. She says I can have them. That’s just the way she said it—you can have them if you give me a hundred thousand dollars. Do you believe that! She’d sell her own kids for a hundred grand. I must have been deaf, dumb, and stupid when I married her. Even if I had the money, I wouldn’t be a part of that. I know Ben heard her that day on the phone when she said it, because he asked me to buy him. I had to do some fast talking to convince the kid he heard wrong.”
“That’s terrible, Tom.”
“Tell me about it. Right isn’t always might as they say. If it’s meant to work out, it will. If it isn’t, it won’t. That’s the way I have to look at it. You know, Annie, that’s a damn good-looking Christmas tree. What’s on our agenda for tomorrow?”
“I think I’m going to go clothes shopping in case I decide to go to Hawaii. You need to meet with Elmo and, if you have the time, take a ride up to Clemson and look it over. Elmo knows the area and will be glad to go with you. Tops, it’s a two-hour ride.”
“Sounds good. I guess I’ll say good night again. I love you, Annie. I really do. If there were times when it didn’t seem like I did, I’m sorry. I just had too much on my plate back then.”
“I know that, Tom. Sleep tight.”
“Where’s Rosie?”
“Sleeping on my bed. That long walk before dinner knocked her out. She slept through Daniel’s visit.”
“That will never happen when she’s full-grown. See you in the morning.”
“Okay, it’s your turn to make breakfast.”
“Not a problem.”
Annie waited, hardly daring to breathe until she heard Tom’s door close, before she beelined to the laundry room. She stared down at the bulging soggy pillowcase full of money. She could buy her niece and nephews from Mona if she wanted to. All she had to do was count out one hundred thousand dollars and hand it over to Tom’s soon-to-be-ex-wife, and the kids would be his. There was something so barbaric about the thought she slammed the top of the machine so loud she winced. Then she crossed her fingers that Tom didn’t hear the sound. She took a deep breath and held it. When she was satisfied Tom would stay upstairs, she expelled the air in her lungs in a loud swoosh.
Using every muscle in her body, Annie struggled with the wet pillowcase until she had it on top of the machine. Her heart pounding with the effort, she managed to get it into the dryer with a loud thump. Huffing and puffing, she turned the knob to high heat and waited to see if the drum would turn. She sighed her relief as the dryer tumbled and turned.
With nothing to occupy her, Annie cleaned the kitchen while she waited for the money to dry. Maybe she should have tried to dry smaller amounts in the microwave. But, to do that, she would have had to handle the money. This way all she had to do was dump the money in a box along with the bearer bonds and mail it back to the bank.
An hour later she cried her frustration when she opened the dryer to find the money almost as wet as when she put it in. She opened the pillowcase to see clumps of bills stuck together. It was obvious that she needed a bigger pillowcase. She turned the dryer back on and sat down on the floor, Indian fashion, to wait, tears dripping down her cheeks. Being a thief wasn’t easy.
Three hours later the money was finally dry.
Annie slung the pillowcase over her shoulder and made her way to the second floor, where she tossed it into the closet. She fell into bed and was asleep in minutes, the tears still on her cheeks.
Annie woke slowly,