As we near the dock, we have a welcoming committee and my heart somersaults when I see Chester and Madelaine waiting hand in hand. Nate whispers, “It’s ok, I’m right beside you.”
Clutching my bag to my chest, I smile nervously and as we pull alongside them, Chester reaches in and offers me a helping hand from the boat.
Madelaine looks wary and I say nervously, “I’m so sorry. I escaped as soon as I could.”
“Escaped?” Madelaine looks at me sharply and Nate says quickly, “Katrina has suffered a terrible ordeal. Adam kidnapped her at gunpoint, and she has run from him, all the time fearing that he will follow her and finish the job.”
Madelaine shares a look with Chester, and I say in a tremulous voice, “I took this while he was sleeping and ran. I hope it’s all there.”
Reaching inside my bag, I pull out the folder and leather pouch and then the large wad of dollar bills and see the relief in their eyes. Chester quickly pockets the cash and clutches the rest tightly against him with a thankful look in his eye as Madelaine sighs and pulls me close, stroking my hair like a doting mother, whispering, “Thank you, darling. Thank God you made it back.”
I tremble in her arms for many reasons, and I doubt she would believe what is currently running through my mind. Just imagining her being the cause of my parents’ death makes me want to scream and end her own miserable life, but I need to be clever about this, so I sag against her and say in a small, weak voice, “I’m just glad I could help. I’ll understand if you want me to go, but I owe you so much I couldn’t leave without trying to pay you back for your kindness.”
Chester speaks up, saying gruffly, “You have done the right thing, Katrina. We always knew you were the perfect fit for life on Catalina and struggled to accept you betrayed us. Come, we’ll talk at the house and arrange some food and drink for you. You look exhausted.”
They walk on either side of me with Nate behind us and it feels as if I’ve passed the first test, at least. I know not to underestimate these people, though, because their lives are surrounded by smoke and mirrors, and it takes a brave person to play them at their own game in order to win against them.
We make it back to the bungalow and I look around, surprised that I made it back here at all. So much has happened since I was last here and yet you wouldn’t know it. Madelaine guides me to sit on the comfortable white settee and Nate drops down beside me, placing his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. Then he surprises me by saying gruffly, “Tell her.”
I jerk my head up in surprise and see Madelaine and Chester sharing a look as if deciding between them.
Chester nods and Madelaine smiles sadly. “While we wait for refreshment, we need to come clean.”
My ears prick up because surely, it’s not going to be this easy.
She sits down opposite me and smiles sadly. “Did Adam tell you what he found in that folder?”
I nod, the tears sparkling in my eyes when I think of the reason I’m here.
“He told me it was concerning The Green Valley Foundation. The one I asked you about. The organisation responsible for stealing my inheritance.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this, Katrina…” Her eyes are brimming with sympathy. “But your parents owed the foundation more than they left in their wills.”
“For what?” My senses are heightened as I sense the full story looming and Madelaine looks at me with a kind expression.
“Your parents came to me several years ago. I was a young college graduate who had fallen on hard times.” She sighs and looks at Chester, who says with a smile, “It’s ok, honey; she needs to know.”
Brushing a tear from her eye, she says, “I was much like you were. Alone and afraid, but with one added complication. I was pregnant.”
I say nothing and just stare at her as if I don’t know what she’s about to say.
“I confided in your mother, and she offered to help. She told me she would deal with it, but it would require a huge sacrifice on my behalf.”
It doesn’t sound like my mother, but I keep a blank look on my face as Madelaine says sadly, “They offered to buy my child from me. As you can imagine, I was shocked and then they explained there was an organisation they heard of called The Green Valley Foundation. They would put me in touch with it and they would take care of all the legal stuff. If I went through with my pregnancy, the foundation would reimburse me and make sure I was cared for.”
Her lower lip trembles and Chester reaches across and takes her hand, saying gently, “It’s ok, honey, now is the right time.”
I hold my breath as she looks me directly in the eye and whispers, “You were that child, Katrina. You are the daughter I sold and the only way I would agree to that was because they promised to send you back to me when you were old enough to understand and could make your own decisions.”
Nate squeezes my shoulder tightly in a show of solidarity and I expect if anyone knows how I’m feeling, it’s him. However, I’m surprised to realise I feel nothing at all but hatred towards this woman who is begging me to understand. It’s in her eyes and she thinks it will be so easy to forgive and forget. The moment I met her, I felt as if I knew her from somewhere and now I know why. She’s part of me. Shared DNA that I subconsciously recognised the moment we met.
She shakes her head sadly. “On your eighteenth birthday, I flew to England to meet with your parents. I was going to be with them when they explained everything. The trouble is, they never made it because on the way to meet me, they were in the accident that cost them their lives.”
I am so angry listening to her because if that was true, why was she driving in the opposite direction at the time? She has obviously thought this out and fabricated the perfect cover story and I hate her more than ever now.
I blink back the tears as she says in a sad voice, “I’m so sorry, my darling, you must hate me.”
Chester interrupts, “Give her time, honey.” He turns to me and smiles sympathetically. “Think on it. Madelaine wants to be in your life, be the mother to you she always wanted to be. Try to imagine yourself in her position all those years ago. She had nothing, and it was only when your parents gave her a way out of her situation that she survived. She was young, vulnerable, and scared and didn’t know what she was agreeing to and as soon as she legally could, she was on that plane heading to your side.”
I don’t know how I manage it, but I look down and say, “I’ll need time to think about this. It’s too much.”
A sharp knock on the door saves me, and Madelaine jumps up. “That will be Joseph. Come and eat, darling. Take all the time you need, but know we are here for you. We are your family now and want to welcome you home and provide a safe and loving life for you in our family business.”
Chester nods to Nate. “Go and let Joseph in, son.”
His words jar against my emotions as they try to paint a picture of a happy family. His son and Madelaine’s daughter, uniting to follow in their wicked footsteps.
Nate whispers, “Are you ok?”
“I’m not sure.”
I’m grateful for his support and wish we were alone. More than anything, I want someone to confide in, but how can I even trust him? It could all be an act to get me on their side.
My mind is scrambled, and I’m standing on quicksand and wonder if it will drag me under because now I’m back, I’m starting to doubt everything. Were my parents so innocent? Did they ‘help’ Madelaine and set her on this path? Surely, they weren’t much older than she was and how did they know about The Green Valley Foundation in the first place?
We take our seats at the table and if I’ve missed anything about this island, it’s the food and despite how sick I’m feeling, I pick at a salad that ordinarily would have me drooling and requesting more. Instead, I take a sip of the cool sparkling wine to gain some courage from somewhere.
Madelaine seems on edge, and I’m not surprised because she has delivered a bombshell this afternoon. Chester takes charge of the conversation and says in his customary deep voice, “Nate knows how you’re feeling because we had a similar conversation a couple of years ago. Different circumstances, but it was along the same lines. My story was much the same as Nate’s and I was adjusting to finding my father who I thought had died many years ago. You know how things work here and I was partnered with a girl called Rosemary. Despite how careful we were, she became pregnant and threatened to terminate it. Luckily, Grady, my father, stepped in and told her about The Green Valley Foundation and offered to pair her with a suitable family who were looking for a child.”
Nate is silent beside me, but I feel his pain from here and wonder why they are speaking so casually about our lives like this.
Chester exhales sharply. “She gave her baby up in return for money and a new life away from the island. I had no say in the matter but like your parents, the ones who adopted Nate had no cash to pay the fee required, so they put up their home as collateral and if they hadn’t paid in full by his eighteenth birthday, the house would revert to the holding company, and they would be evicted. The only way to stop that happening was to send their son to Catalina to work off their debt.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing, and Nate says quickly, “I don’t think…”
Chester’s voice is hard with a cruel edge surrounding it and cuts him off with a terse, “She needs to know the facts before we can proceed.”
He looks at me with a hard expression. “The truth is, we supply children to childless couples. People with money who have no other choice. In return, they pay us well, everyone is happy, and nobody ever finds out. If they can’t pay, it becomes a little messier and their children are sent to repay their debts on their eighteenth birthday unless they have paid in full. Nate has fathered three children himself and has repaid his own family’s debts, but as my child, he is now a major shareholder of The Green Valley Foundation. He is now able to take up his position as my successor and make sure the business thrives in the future. Your debt was paid on your parent’s death and as Madelaine’s daughter, you now also have a major stake in this company, so take a good look around you, Katrina, because this is your inheritance.”
Madelaine says quickly, “Join us, Katrina. Work with Nate and let Catalina blossom and make so many childless couples happy. I will teach you everything I know, and you can take over, leaving us to enjoy our retirement and travel. This could be your life knowing you are spreading love to caring people who have no other option. Join us because if you don’t…” She shakes her head. “I’m not sure we can help you.”
“What do you mean, help me?”
Nate tightens his grip on me as Chester says darkly, “There are no room for passengers in our organisation and we can’t help those who choose to leave.”
“So, I can leave.”
“Of course.” Madelaine laughs in disbelief. ‘Of course, you can leave, honey, you’re not a prisoner here. People leave all the time, isn’t that right, Nate?”
Nate nods, looking so miserable I know something is wrong and Madelaine’s voice rips through the tense atmosphere as she says, “I think the last one who decided this life wasn’t for her was Jenny. Such a lovely girl too, with such a promising future.” She shakes her head. “I wonder where she is now.”
The fact Nate looks uncomfortable, and Chester leans back with a slightly disturbing look in his eye, makes me shake inside. I get the message loud and clear. The only way I can refuse their kind offer is to leave, but I may not make it back to mainland.