Adrienne spent most of her day in her small room, giving in to bouts of crying and despair. There was no one to confide in, no one to console her. She longed for her mother.

  While she lived in the larger main house, she was surrounded by smaller houses on the compound where the wives of some of the workers lived along with their husbands. Even though she was sure her uncle had money, he did not spend lavishly on her and she led a fairly plain existence. One concession was a maid that came in once a week to help Adrienne with the housework.

  When her uncle returned home he noticed that Adrienne was still sullen and quiet. He retreated to his study and let her be. This behavior continued for another month or so with not so much as a whisper of the events that occurred on that dreadful night. But Adrienne realized she had to do something. She had missed her period and now was having bouts of nausea every morning for the last two weeks.

  “Adrienne, I have had enough of you. You have been morose for weeks and now you are sick each morning. I’m going to bring the town doctor in to see you tomorrow.”

  At this point Adrienne decided to tell her uncle her story. Maybe he would be so angry he would ship her back to her mother. All she could do was hope.

  “Uncle, do you remember the night several weeks ago when you had visitors, I think maybe they were from Russia.”

  He raised his head off his chest and looked directly at her.

  “That night, the man with the steely gray eyes entered my bedroom, and, and,” she gulped back the tears, “and raped me.” She was sobbing, bracing for a blow across the face. He had never physically abused her, but she worried that this would push him to the edge.

  Her uncle sat quietly and then his fingers began drumming on the table.

  “You mean the short man, stocky build?”

  “Yes, he told me to tell you that he expected cooperation and nothing less.”

  By now Adrienne was feeling nauseous and excused herself. She vomited into the toilet and tried not to aspirate into her lungs the acid pouring from her mouth. She gulped for air between sobs. Finally, when her stomach was empty, she rinsed her mouth with cold running water from the tap. She turned the knob to the off position and looked up into the mirror over the sink. Her eyes were red. The whites had tiny red veins exposed like raw nerves and the rims were also red from rubbing. There were dark circles under her eyes reflective of a lack of sleep and an abundance of worry. Oh my God, she thought. There is a baby on the way. I’m an unmarried young woman living in the jungle with my uncle. No, no, I’m a pregnant, young unmarried woman living in the jungle, with… I’m a disgrace.

  She went back into the kitchen and saw that her uncle was still sitting at the table. She knew nothing other than the coffee business, but he knew what this was about. There was no mistake. Intimidation took many forms and initially he had been unwilling to cooperate with the Russians regarding his distribution operation. They wanted in and they wanted to move other drugs using his coffee business as a cover. He had been resistant. He had been trusted to keep this “family” business running. He had managed over the years to keep everything separate, but he knew the market was slowly shifting away from cocaine. It wasn’t so much the heroin the Russians were pushing, it was the fentanyl, the synthetic opioids, and other counterfeit opioid pills that were now available on the black market. His friend, the chemist, knew this trade well. He was the one who had wanted to push the business in this direction, he wanted to work with the Russians, but Alberto had resisted.

  There was no additional blow to her body. Instead her uncle put his hand on her shoulder. She placed her hand on top of his. He quickly pulled his hand away and left the room. Adrienne sobbed quietly and moved through her day as if the morning had never happened.

  * * *

  The months passed and Adrienne’s belly began to grow, and it was clear to everyone who saw her that she was with child. Her uncle had arranged for a midwife to be present at the birth and seven and a half months later she gave birth to a little girl. Finally, Adrienne had someone with her whom she could love and cherish. She named her child Bella, Italian for beautiful to honor her mother and her heritage. She begged her uncle to let her fly home to France, to her mother to show her, her grandchild. Her uncle had already sent his men to France to help run the vineyard for his sister and without her knowledge, used the champagne operation as another cover for his drug trade. This was seen as a strategic distribution point for getting drugs into Europe, and one he would not relinquish. He debated in his mind whether to let Adrienne go and in the end decided he would keep her with him in Colombia.

  The child grew up with only Adrienne’s stories of her life in Reims, her wonderful grandparents she would never meet, the champagne vineyards with its legendary climbing grapes, and the endless rose gardens which Adrienne had tended with love.

  Little Bella seemed a happy child and quite content to stay with her mother on the coffee plantation. Adrienne’s uncle had arranged for Bella to have a personal tutor so she could be home schooled. Adrienne had been fluent in both French and Italian, the native languages of her parents, as well as in English which she had learned in school. While living in Colombia she had mastered Spanish like her uncle. He too spoke a variety of languages having gone to university in America and having lived in both Europe and South America. Little Bella was exposed to such a rich linguistic environment that at a very early age she clearly had an aptitude for languages and had been verbal before most babies speak their single words. This gift delighted her mother, and even Adrienne’s hardened uncle Alberto took delight in speaking with the child. For the most part, life on the plantation carried on until one summer day when Bella was about three years old and the balance of favor changed.

  Chapter 18

  Colombia

  Something had happened deep in the jungle. One very hot summer day her uncle and some of his men returned to the Compound covered in blood and agitated by adrenaline. Adrienne could only look through the curtains. She could see their lips moving and arms flailing, but could not hear their words. These were not the regular coffee plantation workers who were yelling and waving automatic rifles in the air. These were men who accompanied her uncle from time to time. She thought they were probably the security team, the branch of men from the Compound that protected the coffee plantation from criminals, and kept everyone and anyone on the Compound in their place. These men seemed to increase in number after the incident with the Russians some years back and her uncle would not venture far from the Compound without one or two of these men in his company.

  “Do you think the operation has been compromised?” asked one of these men of Alberto.

  “I don’t think so. It was only one person who wandered too close to the cocoa sheds, and it was only an outlying storage shed at that. However, the idiot who followed him back to his research camp should be shot,” Alberto said angrily. “There was no need to kill all those people. It will only bring the authorities out here. We are going to have to slow down the cocaine operation for a while until this passes. Make sure everything is well hidden and that the focus is at the coffee plantation.”

  Just at that moment, one of the men who had been out in the jungle reached the outskirts of the group. He looked as though he were carrying a small bundle over his shoulder, but on further inspection, the bundle turned out to be a child. The child had a bandana covering its head and eyes, and was motionless.

  “What have you got there?” one of the men yelled across the Compound. “Is it dead?” said another.

  When the man reached the huddle, he laid the child on the ground in front of them.

  “I think she passed out. I couldn’t leave her there. Everyone else in the camp was dead, and, and I just couldn’t kill a small child,” he said, obviously revealing his weakness.

  “Now what are we going to do? Everyone will be looking for her. There will be a huge search,” cried one of the men.

  “Quiet!” yelled Alberto. “Everyone keep quiet. Let me rethink this. We agree that this is the only survivor of the camp. Correct? Everyone else has been killed. Well, researchers get lost in the jungle all the time. It is a brutal, unforgiving place for those who are not familiar with its dangers. Yes, they will be missed after some time if they don’t report home, but we can go back and cover up our mess. So, let the authorities look. What they will find is that the jungle swallowed them whole,” he said with confidence.

  At this time the little bundle began to stir. It was a soft moaning at first and then a little cry. Her tiny hands struggled to remove the bandana tied around her eyes. Adrienne, who had been watching out the window, saw the child move and something inside her propelled her into action. It was her motherly instinct. She quickly opened the door and ran toward the group of burly men. Alarmed at this sudden movement, the men turned in her direction and raised their guns. Alberto shot his hand up into the air.

  “Halt!” he yelled. “Everyone stay where you are.” By now the little bundle was crying softly, curled in a ball with her knees to her chest.

  “Mommy, mommy,” she cried in soft, almost inaudible tones.

  “What happened to the child’s mother?” asked Alberto.

  “I killed her with the machete, when I pulled her out of the tent. I didn’t know at the time there was a baby in there. Who brings a little child to the jungle? Who does that?” he said defensively.

  Adrienne heard this last exchange and trembled. She was appalled and moved gently toward the little girl.

  “Come here little one,” she said quietly in Spanish opening up her arms. She wasn’t sure where this child came from or who she was, or what language she spoke.

  The little girl looked into Adrienne’s kind face and said in very clear English, “I want my mommy. Where is my mommy?”

  Adrienne bent down so she was eye level with the child. She looked into her jewel green eyes rimmed with tears, and stroked her dark silky hair.

  “It’s okay, little one,” Adrienne said in English. “You can come with me.”

  Adrienne looked hard at her uncle Alberto. “I will take care of this,” and carried the little girl off to the house.

  Once inside Adrienne ran a washcloth under the cold tap and wrung out the excess water. She washed the dirt off the little girl’s face and stroked her hair.

  “You’re safe now. You’re with me.” She looked at her carefully and thought she was probably the same age as Bella. Yet they looked so different. Bella had fair hair and steel gray eyes, while this child had dark hair and green eyes with a pale ivory complexion. Adrienne thought she was a very pretty little girl and was curious to know about her.

  “Can you tell me your name, little one?”

  The little girl was frightened and cried again for her mother.

  “Tell me your name, please, it’s okay.”

  “My name is Rose,” the little girl said. “I’m Rose and I’m three years old. Where is mommy, where is Maggie?”

  Adrienne pulled the child into her arms and hugged her. She began to cry thinking of her own mother whom she missed every day, and her own daughter who lived with her in virtual isolation.

  All this noise woke Bella who called out for her mother. Carrying Rose in her arms, Adrienne went into the bedroom to see Bella.

  “Bella, look we have a new member of our family. You have a new playmate. Her name is Rose.”

  Even at three Bella was uncertain how she felt about this situation. Suddenly she folded her arms, stomped one foot and made a face. Bella had been doted on, was the apple of her mother’s eye, and the singular attraction for all her mother’s attention, until Rose.

  Rose on the other hand, kept crying and asking for her mother. She was tired and hungry, as well as frightened.

  Adrienne brought the girls into the kitchen and sat them around the table. They could barely sit in the chairs since the girls were so small. Adrienne had a small children’s table set up in the kitchen but it only had one chair at the moment. She would have to fix that. She went to the refrigerator and took out an apple, cut it into several small pieces and fed it to the girls. She filled two small plastic cups with orange juice. Both of the girls were quiet while they ate and drank. Adrienne was not certain what the plan was. In her own mind she wanted to keep little Rose. Rose would be a regular playmate for Bella and it would be fun to have another daughter. She could say that it was a distant cousin’s child that had come to live with them. Or maybe people would think she just had another child.

  She would probably have to keep her hidden for a while just in case the authorities came around asking questions. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened in the jungle, and truly didn’t want to know. There was nothing better than plausible deniability.

  About two days later, the local police came to the coffee plantation. Alberto met with them and offered to show them around the Compound. Adrienne could see them talking and walking while she looked out the window. She turned her attention to the girls and moved Rose into her bedroom with some toys to occupy her for a few moments. Then she took Bella by the hand and walked outside to greet the officer.

  “Hello,” she said sweetly, “I’m Adrienne, Alberto’s niece and this is my little girl Bella. May I ask what is happening here?”

  The officer looked at her and smiled. “We have a report that some researchers are missing in this area. We have a band of men out looking for them, but so far we haven’t had much luck.”

  “Oh,” said Adrienne with a tone of concern in her voice. “I do hope you find them soon. The jungle is an unforgiving place with many dangers. Where did they come from?”

  “They were from the United States. Some university-sponsored research project. If they are to be found, we will find them. It won’t be the first time students have been lost in the jungle.”

  “Who reported them missing? Did you find anyone from their party?” Adrienne asked as Bella clung to her lower leg.

  “We were contacted by the University who let us know that their group had not checked in at the designated time, and they still haven’t heard from them. I have no further information at this time. Ah,” he said looking at his watch, “I have to get going now. Thank you both for your time.”

  He abruptly turned his back to her and walked away. Adrienne shot Alberto a knowing look. Maybe no one knew about the child after all. She would still keep everything quiet for several months before she let Rose have more exposure in the Compound. It was clear that the security detail knew of her, but they had every reason to keep things quiet. Adrienne didn’t know all the facts, but she knew enough, and had seen the guns and blood on the men’s shirts. She shuddered to think of this child’s poor mother, was it Maggie, having been struck on the head with a machete. Little Rose must never know the truth. It was too traumatic. Adrienne would soothe her and comfort her until Rose had no past but the one Adrienne created for her.

  Adrienne kept her eye on the newspapers every day hoping to read a story about the lost research party. The first week there was a small article, just a paragraph about some missing university researchers who had gotten lost in the jungle. Then months later there was a follow-up article saying that they have never been found. There were never any specifics of the research expedition in the article other than the number in the party. No mention of names or even a child. This gave Adrienne a sense of relief. She would now work to reshape Rose’s memory and help her forget her early tragic life.

  For the most part, the two girls got along. They had each other for sharing chores, keeping their mother company and trading secrets. When Adrienne looked at both of them, she couldn’t help but think of their violent beginnings. Bella was the product of a brutal rape, and when she stared into Bella’s face she could see the steely eyes of her father. As Bella got older, she looked less like her mother’s side of the family. Adrienne didn’t know much about the Russian. Her uncle never spoke of him again. Bella felt this unease in her mother when they looked at each other. She had asked many times who her father was, but Adrienne would only answer that she had a brief love interest as a young woman and the man had died in a tragic accident on the coffee plantation. Bella never accepted this explanation and often asked her great-uncle Alberto. He was less forthcoming than her mother.

  Rose, on the other hand was viewed with more compassion by Adrienne. Since she had no idea who her parents were other than they were American, Adrienne made up an entire fantasy in her mind of where Rose came from and who she came from. In her mind she felt more protective of Rose knowing that she was an orphan.

  The girls sensed these differences, although subtle, in their mother’s reaction to them, and as they got older they began to pull apart. Bella spent more time studying her languages and Rose showed a surprising interest in the healing arts. Initially she demonstrated an aptitude for taking care of sick animals, spending much of her time with the plantation horses, riding them and grooming them. Later, she expressed an interest in medicine and science. Adrienne wondered if Rose would be interested in becoming a veterinarian, but knew that this would be impossible as long as they were trapped on the coffee plantation.

  Adrienne always celebrated both girls’ birthday on Bella’s birthday since she didn’t know when Rose’s birthday was. For their 13th birthday, Adrienne asked her uncle if she could take them to the town.

  “Uncle Alberto. I’d like to take the girls into town for their birthday this year. They are growing into young ladies and need more than what the plantation can give them. It’s time. Things have been going smoothly here and I see no reason we can’t go.”

  Alberto thought for a moment and finally said, “Adrienne, you have spent most of your adult life on the plantation. I think you could go to town as long as there are some of my men to go with you.”

  “Agreed!” said Adrienne excitedly. “Thank you, Uncle,” and with that she wrapped her arms around his stout body and gave him a hug.

 

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