Chapter 18

Yet Savannah had never been truly alone or even independent for any length of time.Growing up, she attended private schools and then a boarding school for young ladies in Switzerland.Summers were spent in such places as the Hamptons, Coral Gables, Maui, or the south of France and the Italian Riviera.Home base remained in Alexandria, Virginia, where the Winfield family dwelled rather comfortably in a 20-room, antebellum mansion.

At eighteen, Savannah came out as a debutante, able to drink Dom Perignon and dance the night away at her very own fancy ball.She had a half-dozen beaus vying for her attention, but she preferred to remain free and go wherever the money and the good times took her.

Savannah had tried college, but it didn't really suit her, especially since she couldn't decide on a major, or rather the major just didn't fit her requirements.But one good thing came from the experienceshe had met Rhett Baumgard at a party sponsored by her sorority.They became the perfect couple, he the handsome, clean-cut, football hero with a degree in business from George Washington University and a successful future in front of him, and she the pretty, perky, wholesome girl who looked forward to marriage and a familyboth so sweet they dripped pure sugar.They came from good, All-American stock, their families oozing money, prestige and class.It just seemed inevitable that Savannah and Rhett would marry.

Yes, like most young kids in love, they fought, usually over the direction they wished to take as a couple.The future loomed, commitments loomed, a career for Rhett loomed.For Savannah it meant planning the perfect wedding, decorating their perfect house, and eventually raising their perfect family.Unfortunately, too much perfection spoiled their chance to live a fulfilled, secure and unfettered life, and so the couple "took a break" for a few months to evaluate their situation and prioritize their wants and needs.During that time, Savannah became involved with the son of her father's old college roommate, although the relationship hadn't been planned or even wanted.Phillip Gardner had been studying history at Wake Forest University in South Carolina, and since Savannah knew something about American history thanks to her mother's involvement with the Daughters of the American Revolution, she volunteered to serve as Phil Gardner's guide when he visited the Washington, D.C. area.

They became close, close enough to form an intimate liaison.Since Rhett had been Savannah's only sex partner, she craved another man's body to compare lovers.Her affair with Phil provided an exciting adventure, more than she hoped for.

With Rhett, love came at a slow, practical pace, not that Savannah complained when he took his time to please her. Far from it!Savannah had basked in Rhett's adoration and his slavish attentiveness.But with Phil, lovemaking had been spontaneous, daring and thrilling.They did it in the grass under a weeping willow tree while on a picnic, humped in the backseat of his car, slam-dunked against the wall in a restaurant's unisex restroom, and even pummeled in the elevator at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel.Whether he knew it or not, Phil brought her to new, lofty heights of pleasure.Savannah compared it to taking that hotel elevator at breakneck speeds to the top, and then busting through the roof to shatter all records.She knew she shouldn't compare the two men since each had their own superb qualities, but when it came down to the bare, delicious facts, she couldn't help it.

Rhett wanted to make a success of himself as a banker, stock broker and entrepreneurnot just one but all three.Phil wanted to be a high school history teacherperiod.Rhett's father was a respected doctor and philanthropist, although most of his money came from his wife, Lydia, and her Ivy League, Boston blue-blood family.As the sole heir to a banking fortune, Lydia made sure to leave Rhett, her only child, a hefty inheritance so he would never have to worry about scraping together the money for the things he wanted, like his new black Porsche and the best water skis for his boating weekend on the cape.

Phil worked as a part-time manager in his father's fiberglass factory, a job he hated but had to keep in order to meet his basic living expenses.He shared a two-bedroom apartment with three other students, but rent, utilities, gas and insurance for his second-hand Nissan Sentra took their toll on his paycheck.Even though his family offered to help, he wanted to make it entirely on his own.Of course, Phil had plans too, but Savannah considered them mere daydreams, his goal to make history so interesting that it would inspire his students.But did anyone actually survive on a teacher's salary?

Her choice seemed clear enough, money over daydreams.

Twelve weeks later, Rhett called her and asked if she wanted to try again, this time with permanency in mind.Ecstatic, Savannah offered a wholehearted yes.Phil had already returned to school and promised to call, but she would put him off until he got the hint.She couldn't wait to resume her relationship with Rhett.Yet Savannah had been feeling a bit sluggish and off-centered lately, reacting with an overflow of emotions over the slightest provocation.Tears came for no reason and her breasts felt heavy, her nipples sore to the touch.She even developed a nervous twitch when she felt her worse fears might be realized.

Already three weeks late with her period, she forced herself to take a pregnancy test.When it came out positive, she cried her eyes out.She had been so careful to take her birth control pills on schedule, but she slipped up one night, the one night she and Phil had been going at it hot and heavy, three times to be exact.

Now, with a chance to reunite with the love of her life, Savannah was pregnant with another man's baby.She made an appointment at the clinic that Daniel Baumgard ran.She always found the doctor to be kind, considerate and tolerant.He would know what to do while being totally discreet about it.Dr. Baumgard decided to see Savannah himself, and when she told him of her condition, he proved extremely sympathetic and understanding.He even admitted that he always wanted Savannah and Rhett to marry.They seemed destined to be together, although the doctor couldn't blame Savannah for wanting to go on with her life after she and Rhett had agreed on a temporary separation.

But now she couldn't even think what would happen if Rhett found out about Phil Gardner and the baby.After examining all of her options, she decided on an abortion and Dr. Baumgard acquiesced to her request.Of course, the doctor wouldn't perform the procedure himself but assured Savannah that she would be in the competent hands of his colleague, Dr. Clayton Freeley, who often assisted at the clinic while running his own successful OBGYN practice.She kept telling herself that her decision would be best for everyone involved, especially Rhett who would never have to know.

And Rhett never did...thanks to his father's discretion.

Yet, the threat of exposure had been festering as a dark, ugly lump in the back of her mind ever since.Of course, Daniel Baumgard would never have revealed her secret, but Savannah still felt a continual and somewhat uncomfortable anxiety, more like a stubborn toothache that never really went away, one mixed with a low, throbbing guilt for what she had done.Now with the recent breach of confidential files at the clinic, her secret had been discovered by the perpetrator who would use it as a bargaining tool.Why had Daniel kept those old records anyway?

The information would do some harm to Rhett's political career, and certainly stymie his aspirations, so Savannah had to work fast to keep that part of her life buried...and buried deep.Thus, she had to do the only thing possible.

After fortifying herself with another hearty gulp of wine, she took up her smartphone and brought up the number given to her by the blackmailer.He wanted ten thousand dollars for the return of Savannah's confidential files, not a particularly hefty sum.After the initial text, the blackmailer had contacted her by using a digitalized device to disguise his voice.Of course, the phone number that registered on Savannah's screen had to be a temporary one from a pay-as-you-go phone.The blackmailer had covered all of his bases.

For 24 hours, Savannah had agonized over her next move.She wanted to discuss the situation with her father-in-law who would know what to do and advise her discreetly, but her decision had come too late.Someone had killed the good doctor.

Next time they made contact, the blackmailer would expect Savannah's answer.And if she agreed with the price, then the extortionist would offer instructions on how the money was to be handled in unmarked bills.Of course, the blackmailer offered one important caveat:the moment Savannah contacted the police, her information would find its way into scandal-hungry news outlets, to expose the one damnable secret that Rhett must never know.

Initially, Savannah felt totally alone as if she stood perilously naked on a precipice, ready to fall off any moment.Her depressionthat feeling of being so utterly helpless and worthlessincreased with this added anxiety.

More than ever, she wanted to convert her fear into action, to seek revenge against the person or persons who had turned her world so brutally upside down.She was a Winfield after all, the daughter of James and Anna Winfield, descendants of the Mayflower Winfields, and like all Winfields before her, she held her head high, proud of her heritage.But then again what did she have left to fight with except her anger, fear and frustration?

All these years she had kept her feelings neatly bottled inside of her because beauty queens, present and former, never aired their dirty laundry in public.After all, she had been Miss Virginia in the Miss America pageant, earning a runner up placement.Why couldn't life be like a pageant, everything planned and executed neatly and precisely, the contestants in this life perfect and beautiful with nary a nasty thought in their pretty little heads?

Of course, there was always this lovely glass of heaven and a bottle of two of sedatives to keep her precisely and prettily mollified...at least for the time being.After Savannah finished her drink, she went back to fetch the champagne bottle before calling her blackmailer and settling on the terms.