Chapter 3 - Maisie Remembered the First Fountain
The first incident happened three months earlier.
Not at the main fountain.
At the smaller stone basin behind the rose garden.
Callie had attended a family luncheon while Reid was away on business. Maisie was there too, though Callie thought she had been playing near the lawn with other children.
Gavin approached Callie after lunch.
He told her she had embarrassed the family by correcting him in front of several guests.
The disagreement seemed ridiculous now.
Gavin had referred to one of the longtime estate employees as “the help.”
Callie told him the woman had worked for the family for twenty-eight years and had a name.
Gavin did not appreciate being corrected.
“He told me women who marry into families like yours should learn when not to challenge the people who were there first,” Callie said.
Reid stared at her.
“And then?”
“I walked away.”
“Then what?”
“He followed me.”
At the fountain, Gavin stepped into her path.
He said Reid was tired of her creating friction.
He said Reid wanted harmony.
He said Reid had asked Gavin to “make the message clear” because Callie became emotional whenever Reid said it himself.
Reid looked physically ill.
“I never said any of that.”
“I know.”
“But you believed him?”
“For about ten minutes.”
She gave a bitter little laugh.
“Long enough.”
Gavin shoved her shoulder.
Not hard enough to injure.
Hard enough to send her backward into the shallow fountain.
Then he stood over her and said:
“Now maybe you’ll remember which one of us belongs here.”
Callie had not known Maisie saw it.
But Maisie did.
From behind a hedge.
She had watched Gavin leave.
Then she ran to Callie after he was gone.
Callie told her Mommy slipped.
Not because she wanted to protect Gavin.
Because she did not want her daughter frightened.
“That’s why she remembered tonight,” Reid said.
Callie nodded.
“Same man. Same water. Same words.”
Maisie had not confused anything.
She recognized repetition.
Then Reid asked the question he had avoided.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Callie looked at him for a long time.
“Because fifteen minutes later Gavin texted me.”
She handed Reid her phone.
The message was still saved.
You should ask Reid why he never corrected me when I told him you don’t fit here.
Reid read it twice.
“That conversation never happened.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because after that day, I started checking.”
“Checking what?”
“Every time Gavin claimed you said something about me, I wrote it down.”
Callie had kept a list.
Dates.
Words.
Contexts.
Reid saying she was too emotional.
Reid saying she embarrassed him.
Reid wanting her removed from certain family dinners.
Reid wanting Maisie kept away from formal gatherings.
None were true.
Gavin had been impersonating Reid’s judgment.
Not with forged messages.
With words.
That made it harder to prove.
And easier to spread.
Reid looked toward the main terrace again.
May you like
For months, Gavin had been creating a fake version of him inside Callie’s marriage.
The question was why.
