My time with Jordan was great but it didn't last. Maybe it was the age gap but more likely the responsibility of being a mother didn't square with staying with me. She took our daughter with her to visit her family in Michigan and didn't come back.
There were the requisite phone calls and I kept asking her when she'd come home and then one day she informed me that she was getting married to one of her father's younger coworkers. He was taking her in and taking my daughter, too. Jordan made clear that she wanted a clean break and that if I left her alone there would be no story for her to tell the police.
I'll admit she had me there but she was also letting me go without a demand for support or all of my stuff which is really fair treatment considering what I'd done to her might not sound so great in court.
So I let it go.
Two years went by and I kept to myself. I didn't bother dating and instead focused on keeping up with my beautiful house. The occasional picture of Jordan and my daughter would show up on my phone and sometimes I'd also get a picture of her husband and the son he'd had with my Jordan. I'll admit to being jealous.
Spring was getting started in Kansas City. The trees were starting to bloom, the cold nights were not so cold. People were starting to be seen out walking every day.
One fine Saturday I'm planting a new row of azaleas when I hear someone coming up the steps into the yard. I figured it was the mail so I didn't pay much mind to the person.
"Excuse me?"
I turned to look and caught my breath.
She was beautiful!
"I'm sorry I scared you, I was looking for Baz?"
I was still taking in the sight. She was about the same petite shape as my Jordan but with raven black hair, that same pale skin, and piercingly beautiful ice blue eyes.
"Um, yeah. I'm Baz, how can I help you?"
She reached out a petite hand to me and I shook it. She was cold.
"I'm Yulia, I know Jordan from Michigan...we went to high school together."
"Okay."
"So Jordan told me all about how you and she met and I was hoping you might want to help me out."
Fuck. I braced myself for the inevitable blackmail. How much was it going to be I wondered? In that moment I felt betrayed by Jordan even though she had no real obligation to be loyal to me anyway.
I stood up and looked down at her. I figured her to be in her late teens or early twenties. The hint of accent told me she was foreign and maybe from Ukraine or Russia. I know they run a bit corrupt over there but I just wasn't expecting it right here, right now.
My voice got a little stern, "What is it you want? Money?"
She held up a hand as if offended, "No! No, not like that, really! She told me about how you held her prisoner and how you took care of her and all that and I was going to ask if you could do the same thing for me!"
Yeah, I wasn't expecting that! I was better prepared to be blackmailed for money!