Shield got up and found a towel in the bathroom she could fashion into a sling. “This will help take the weight off your arm,” she said as she helped Wagner into it. Then she grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around Wagner’s shoulders. “I’ll wash these,” she said, picking up the soiled clothes, “and get a fire started.”
She could feel Wagner watch her as she tended to her tasks. Once the fire was blazing, she scrubbed the shirt and hoodie and laid them to dry across a chair set by the fireplace. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for something to eat,” she said as she rejoined Wagner on the couch. “I’ll go into town early in the morning, but we should lie low for a day at least.”
“What’s going to happen to me after we leave here?”
“I don’t know. What you did is—”
“I know.” Wagner watched the flames with a resigned, defeated expression. “Looks like I’m going to jail, after all.”
Shield wanted to say anything to comfort her, but the law was clear and unforgiving when it came to the president’s safety. “There’s always a chance Thomas doesn’t talk.”
“That’s what they planned on. Her silence.”
“We’ll see.”
“Your people will have me arrested even if Thomas doesn’t.”
“Only if they’re asked to,” Shield said. “We don’t take jobs unless we’re hired.”
Wagner’s eyes met hers. “I disgust you, don’t I?”
“No. I guess most people in your position would have done what you did.”
“I’m so sorry I got you involved,” Wagner said quietly, and looked away again. “I never meant for any of this to happen, and I never knew they were going to kill innocent people. They told me very little about their plans except what involved me directly.”
Shield nodded in understanding.
“I wanted to tell you so many times, but…”
“Yes, you said. You were afraid.”
“I wanted to trust you.”
“But you didn’t. What bothers me are not your reasons for doing what you did but your lies. I could have gotten us both out.”
“I didn’t believe you could,” Wagner said. “This woman is so dangerous. I’d never be able to live with it if something had happened to you because of me.”
“It almost did anyway.”
“I just hope you can one day forgive me.”
“Why does it matter?”
Wagner shrugged. “I…just do.”
“The worst thing about being lied to,” Shield said, not bothering to hide the hurt in her voice, “is knowing you weren’t worth the truth.”
“You asked me why I kissed you.”
Shield turned to look at her.
“I did it because it was the only way I could tell you how much I trusted you.”
“Are you in the habit of kissing everyone you trust?”
“Probably not, although I wouldn’t know. I’ve never trusted anyone.”
Shield got up to poke the wood in the fireplace. Sometimes, she wished she could say those same words, but her blind faith had once almost destroyed her and everything she cared about. “You’re lucky.”
“I thought so, too.” Wagner bit her lip. “Until you made me realize how lonely and alone I was. How lacking in happiness.”
Shield was confused. “I did that?”
“You made me feel beautiful, special, and respected. You…” Wagner swiped at a lone tear running down her cheek. “You made me feel something new, and I finally understood what it was like to be wanted.”
Shield went back to the couch. She wanted to be the one to wipe away that tear but couldn’t. She didn’t know how to let go of the imposter and embrace this other woman.
Wagner apparently could sense her ambivalence. “You can’t even say my name,” she said. “You’ve avoided using it since you found out I wasn’t Thomas.”
“I’m sorry. I just don’t know how to deal with you.”
“With a florist?”
“Yes…I mean, no.” Shield rubbed her tired eyes. “It’s not that you’re a florist. If nothing else, it’s a more honest occupation than politics. I don’t know how to handle Ryden when she looks so much like Elizabeth.”
“I can hardly deal with it,” Wagner replied. “But I assure you, the resemblance is superficial.”
“I’ll say.”
“Yes, okay.” Wagner shifted farther away on the couch with a scowl. “I know I don’t have her education, wealth, or power. I’m a nobody with a rap sheet, wanted for murder, and God forbid someone of your caliber would ever…” She got up. “Regardless of what you think of me,” she said, cringing from the pain, “I’m pretty damn happy with myself. I’m a decent, hardworking individual who’s never harmed a fly. If you can’t understand that, then too bad.”
Shield got up as well and stood in front of her. “Someone of my caliber would what? What do you think my caliber is?” She was tired of people measuring her worth by her money.
“You have a name, money, stature.”
“So?”
“So, I’m not Carmen or Thomas. I can’t measure up to them.”
“Carmen was a lying, deceiving bitch who was with me for my money and vineyard,” she explained, a bitter taste in her mouth from the memory. “I met her in her uncle’s restaurant, where she worked as a waitress. She and her husband—who I knew nothing about, but was the master of their twisted game—tried to make me give up half my property.”
“What? How?”
“She never said she was married. She said she’d always been straight but had fallen in love with me. I believed her and fell hard for her and her stories. We lived together for four years, and I loved her, trusted her, and never had any reasons to look further. The next year, she started talking about signing over half of my property, putting the vineyards in her name because we’d been together for five years and she felt she deserved half of everything as my partner for her support.”
“And you did it.”
“Almost. I came home one day and found her in my bed with some guy who turned out to be her husband. Both of them had been living on my money for years. Every cent I gave to Carmen—all the money she’d ever asked for, for trips while I was away for work, expensive clothes, you name it—she used to support her husband and build up a pretty good savings.”
“What did you do?”
“I told them to keep the money, but if I ever saw them anywhere near my property I’d shoot them. Haven’t seen them since. That was three years ago.”
“So, aside from being an evil conspirator out to help a villain take over the world…you also think I want to use you for your money.”
Shield looked away.
“Well, that’s just great. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll soon be going off to jail and will never see you again.” Wagner walked over to the chair with her clothes and felt to see if the T-shirt was dry. “I need to get some sleep. My shoulder hurts and I’m exhausted, as I’m sure you are.”
Ryden flipped the shirt to let the other side dry, then did the same with the hoodie. Then she stared into the fireplace, opening the blanket slightly to let the heat reach her skin. Although she felt safe with Kennedy there, she wished more than ever she could be alone. She could understand and accept Kennedy’s anger when it had to do with lying about who she was and what she had been asked to do. But she refused to deal with the accusation of being a gold digger.
Money had never been important to her. She’d spent just about every extra dime she’d ever made on shelters and animals. Ryden figured they needed it more than she did, and half the time she wasted what money she did have on her. She either lost it somewhere between cushions or cab seats or forgot and left it in a pocket and the washing machine destroyed it. What mattered were her wax creations and privacy. “We should stay in here with the fire. You can have the couch. I’ll sleep on the floor,” Ryden said, without turning around.