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Ms. Jones departed 14 years ago with high hopes and dreams of becoming a doctor, only to fade into obscurity after relinquishing her crown to runner-up Bethany Davis. Bethany Davis went on to represent this great state in the Miss America pageant, coming in third place. Although we couldn’t be prouder of Bethany Davis, would Savannah Jones have won if she hadn’t disappeared? Or was there a more nefarious reason behind the last-minute switch?
There was speculation that Ms. Jones stepped down after pictures surfaced of her on the arm of Senator Bruce Maxwell, who was married at the time and a father of three. Three months later, the Senator’s divorce from his wife of 27 years made front-page news, stunning us all. Was Ms. Jones the catalyst for the Senator’s fall from grace?
Since the tender age of 16, the homewrecker has been photographed smiling with elite and wealthy men from all over the country, hoping to hitch a ride on the gravy train. We can now add Aiden Shaw to a long list of suckers that have been caught in her spell. What kind of magic does Ms. Jones weave that allows her to enthrall our most moral and upstanding citizen in a mere four days?
That’s right, folks! Four days is all it took from the time they met to the time Mr. Shaw put a ring on it!...”
I hand Roger back the tablet, having read enough. “This is going to ruin my reputation! Roger, I need to know who leaked the information.”
Roger frowns, “It’s not your reputation that’s in question. It’s Anna’s. Other than being bewitched by her beauty, there is nothing negative about you in the article.”
“You’ve known Anna for years, Roger. Is any of what I read true?”
He shrugs. “I met Anna when she was 22, well after any of this.” He gestures to the pad, which is now dark. “What I can tell you is that the woman I know would never date a married man or even look at him. Heck, she hardly dates at all. She’s as upstanding as they come, Aiden, and I doubt you’ll find a woman with more moral integrity than Anna. But let me ask you this: if it is true, does that change your mind about her? Will you look at her differently?”
“It might.”
Roger seems to appreciate my honest answer, even if he doesn’t care for it. “As I said before, I met Anna when she was 22. It was at her last pageant, and her mother was there. I had actually been to several pageants in the area because my best friend’s daughter often competed and lived in the vicinity. I had seen Anna on more than one occasion and watched her throw knives, twirl nunchucks, and even wield a sword. She was magnificent and a sight to behold. But Anna was also very unhappy despite her beautiful smile. I can recognize when someone puts on a front from a mile away.
“I approached Anna to recruit her for the FBI after she lost to Harper Finnegan, my friend’s daughter. Anna should have won—hands down—and I think she lost on purpose simply because her mother was present.”
“What makes you say that?” I ask. Gretchen had told me how horribly she had treated her daughter, but would Anna lose just for spite?
“Just before I approached Anna, she was engaged in a heated argument with her mother. Gretchen Jones berated Anna for losing and called her ‘ungrateful,’ along with other adjectives that I don’t care to repeat. She slapped Anna across the face and stormed away, mumbling something about going home penniless and her daughter being ‘dead’ to her. When Gretchen turned her back on Anna, Anna smiled. Aiden, it was the first genuine smile I had seen come from Anna. That’s when I knew for sure that the loss was calculated and that Anna would make a great undercover agent.”
I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. “Why would you tell me all of this, Roger?”
“I guess I wanted you to know that Anna is a light that shines even in the darkest of places, Aiden. I’d bet my life that there is much more to the story, so before you jump to conclusions, talk to her and get her side of it. Anna won’t lie to you if you ask her point blank, but please be kind and understanding when she answers. You might not like what you hear.” He waits a beat before continuing. “Can I ask you something?”
I nod.
Roger takes a moment to formulate his words, then lowers the boom. “Why would Anna’s past make you feel any differently about her now? You’ve met her mother and consider her to be a close friend despite the vile and reprehensible things she has done. How is it that you can see past all of Gretchen’s misdeeds but don’t know if you can overlook Anna’s, especially if what you read turns out to be true?”
“What’s that old adage, ‘what you don’t know can’t hurt you?’ Gretchen never shared the details of her ‘misdeeds’ with me, which makes it easier to accept, I guess.”
Roger purses his lips in consternation. “Will you view Gretchen differently if Anna confides in you about her past and you learn what her mother had done?”
I shake my head, “No.”
Roger looks at me quizzically. “Why not? If what you said is true, then knowing will taint the lens through which you view Gretchen.”
“Because I already know who Gretchen is now. I never knew the woman she was,” I say a little defensively.
Roger leans back in his seat, smiling. “And you’ve just made my point.”
Frustrated, I ask, “What point is that?”
He clasps his hands over his stomach and closes his eyes. “You know the woman Anna is today, not the woman she was before. Why would it be different for one over the other?”
“Because I’m falling in love with Anna, and it would hurt more,” I explain. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but now that I did, I don’t want to take it back.
His eyes open, and he glares at me. “That’s all the more reason you should trust Anna and have a little faith in her, Aiden. If you want to turn your charade into something real and everlasting, it starts with trust.”
I have no idea how Roger knows my plan, and I begin to stutter my response. “How, um...what…uh.”
Roger holds up his hand to stop my rambling. “Don’t try to deny it. Not much gets by me, especially the way you look at her.”
I don’t say anything because what is there to say? I’m falling head over heels in love with my fiancée.
