Proud Mary

by Bette McNicholas

  While they waited for their dinner to be served, they shared a couple bottles of champagne and Carolina joined them with a glass of sparkling cider and toasted their success. When their meals arrived, they were all tired and hungry and didn’t talk about anything except finalize their plans for the next day.

  They agreed to get up around five in the morning. The men would get the stock loaded on the trucks and Jenny and Carolina said they would get the truck and trailer and motor home ready. They aimed to be on the road by eight in order to reach Dallas by dinnertime.

  ****

  The next morning there was a chill in the air and they all appeared to move around like zombies, drinking coffee as though they wouldn’t get another cup for ages and grabbing donuts out of the box for a sugar fix.

  Carolina took all the bedding and towels to the Laundromat located in the trailer park, while Jenny got the mangers ready for their two horses. When Carolina returned, she and Jenny tackled Stede’s trailer and truck and then moved on to clean the motor home.

  When that was clean and ready for the trip, they showered and dressed, and left the men a note that they had gone to the Jiffy Shop to stock up on supplies.

  By eight-fifteen, they were on the road headed toward Dallas. Time had come for Carolina to make some decisions about what would happen if they were successful and found her mother and sister. Getting involved in the rodeo competition gave her mind a reprieve on the subject. But whatever she said to them could change her life significantly. She hoped she’d be better at this attempted reconciliation than she had been with Carl, if she wanted different results.

  Stede asked her a lot of questions about what she expected would happen when she came face to face with her sister. She told him she truthfully didn’t know. Deep down, she was hurt and angry and sometimes when she thought about all the years she was left to deal with Carl, she filled with resentment.

  He reached over and held her hand. “I can’t say that I blame you, Carolina. And maybe you’d like to take a couple of days to relax first to make sure you’re prepared to meet them. I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t be happy to see you. But the question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to see them again?”

  She sighed deeply and glanced out the window at the dry, empty desert scenery, a match for her energy level at the moment. “I think I am at least entitled to an explanation. After all, how much can an, ‘I’m sorry,’ erase? You’re fortunate not to have had to suffer the feeling of rejection. Maybe if they even show a little remorse for what they did…”

  “Make sure you’re not looking for more than they can offer in the way of an explanation. I’d hate to see you hurt more than you’ve already been.”

  “I’ll never know what the outcome will be unless I confront them.”

  “Well then, I’m going with you in case you need me.”

  “Honest?”

  “You have my word, unless you don’t want me to be with you.”

  She leaned her head on her shoulder and looked at him, letting the warmth of the emotions she felt run through her body. “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have with me. Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You’re not going to go soft on me are you?” He raised his hand and wiped away a tear on her cheek. She shook her head.

  The rest of the trip went by quickly but mostly without a lot of conversation. They recapped the rodeo, talked about meeting with her mother and sister, made short stops along the way, met with Jenny and Manny at a road stop and fixed lunch in the motor home and were back on the road in no time.

  They traveled through Dallas along the highway in rush hour traffic and honked at Manny and Jenny as they exited and waved at them. They were headed to visit Jenny’s family and would meet up with them later at the Foster ranch.

  Carolina felt her nerves come to life the minute they left the highway and were on a country road that appeared deserted. She had no idea what to expect, and worried about whether or not his parents would like her.

  Stede had called them when they stopped for lunch and they said they’d wait dinner for them. The sun dipped in the sky, bright and orange as they traveled through ranch country, passing miles of fence.

  The landscape was dotted with wildflowers and flowering weeds along fences that housed horses and cattle, until finally, Stede took a sharp turn through a wrought iron archway that spelled out Foster’s Ranch and continued down a tree-lined driveway that ended at a fountain anchored circle in front of a beige weeping-brick, u-shaped mansard roofed home.

  A slate walk replete with stone benches on either side, landscape lush with Sabal palm trees and vibrant ground cover plantings at the home’s recessed entrance way, led to wide mahogany double doors fit for a castle, framed by floor to ceiling windows on either side and an elaborate beveled glass and lead transom.

  Carolina sat and stared at the magnificent home until King started barking to be let out of the truck. Stede had come to the rescue and opened both doors at the same time. King went running off into the garden and Stede took her hand and helped her down from the truck.

  Before they reached the front step, the door opened and his parents rushed out to meet them, his father Texas-tall with a full head of white hair and a dapper David Niven mustache, his mother slim and commanding beside him with her elegant upswept coifed black hair that had a trace of gray in the widow’s peak, dressed in tailored white silk slacks and a sweater, wearing Mobe pearl earrings and necklace. Tears threatened to fill Carolina’s eyes as she watched his mother and father hug him with great enthusiasm.

  His father turned toward Carolina first and she reached out her hand, but was caught in a bear hug instead. “Oh, we hug here in Texas,” his father said, easing all the tensions she held inside. “It’s not often our son brings home a lovely lady.”

  Stede said, placing an arm around her shoulder, “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Carolina Palmer.”

  “We are happy to have you visit us, Carolina,” his mother said.

  “My parents, Nancy and Jay.”

  Carolina smiled and told his parents she had looked forward to meeting them and Stede’s mother said, “Come on inside and get settled. Dinner will be in about an hour.”

  “Chance called and said they’d be arriving sometime after dark. He’ll go straight home to see Tracey and the kids and they’ll come over tomorrow,” his dad added.

  Stede grabbed their bags and when they entered the house, Carolina looked around in awe at the wide circular tiled floor inlaid in the center with a big Texas star, giving the impression the design was three-dimensional.

  Off to the right she glimpsed a cherry paneled library, a short hall presumably leading to a powder room, a large living room with a huge fireplace at one end and a wall of windows through which she could see a patio furnished much like a room and a softly lit Olympic size pool that seemed to have no edge but simply flowed into the horizon.

  Lamps came on as if on cue, and lit up the rooms. Two Persian cats came running to greet them and one rubbed against Carolina’s leg. She reached down and scooped the cat up and smiled into its green eyes.

  “She likes you,” Nancy said. “That’s Khayyam and Omar’s the one with the amber eyes.”

  “What about King? Are they afraid of him?”

  “Oh, heavens, no. The cats are used to him,” Jay said, going back to open the front door. “Here he comes now. Hey, King, how are you doing, boy?”

  Carolina was then introduced to Lottie, one of the housekeepers who took the overnight bag from Stede and led her away to her bedroom.

  Carolina smiled and hurried to keep up, as they wound through one long hallway after another and into a bedroom suite of her own, complete with a private bath and a sitting area with a chaise lounge and a small flat screen television.

  “When you’re finished, Miss, put all your laundry that you wore on the road in the clothes basket and we’ll take of that for you,” she said.

  “Thanks, but that isn’t n
ecessary.”

  Lottie smiled, “Yes, Miss, Mrs. Foster wants you to enjoy your visit.”

  “Well, thank you, Lottie. The yellow roses are lovely,” she said, leaning to smell them in the cut crystal vase that sat on the mirrored nightstand.

  “I’ll tell Mrs. Foster. They’re from her rose garden.”

  After Lottie left the room, Carolina, quickly unpacked her clean clothes and put the soiled ones in the laundry basket. She wiggled her toes in the thick white carpet, ran her hand across the beautiful green and white flowered quilt, and longed to hop into bed; she felt exhausted from the inside out.

  Instead, she took a quick shower, washed and dried her hair, sweeping it back into a sleek chignon that exposed her flawless complexion. With deft strokes she defined her eyebrows with pencil, used eyeliner she smudged with her finger to soften the effect, then added a touch of mocha brown eye shadow and mascara with a wand that separated each lash.

  She applied a fragrant lotion to her shoulders, slipped into her black halter dress with the red poppies and her espadrilles and put on her black earrings as her only adornment. Lip-gloss in barest of pink was topped with a swipe of sparkle sugar.

  Ready at last, she was hesitant to leave her room because she didn’t want to be alone with the Foster’s unless Stede was also in the room, not to mention she worried about getting lost.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Carolina made her way through the hallways to the front of the house, peeking in the other rooms as she passed. There were several bedrooms on that side of the house, each with their own private bath.

  As she neared the foyer, an elaborately furnished den piqued her interest as she looked inside. Decorated in an old-world motif, housed a large ornately decorated dark desk and matching cabinets with a hutch that had glass inserts in the doors filled with books. A black and gold Oriental carpet handsomely complemented a yellow and green tapestry covered desk chair. Under the hutch sat a computer and a monitor. A lone book and a pair of reading glasses rested on the desk’s leather blotter, next to a telephone and a pencil holder.

  The bay window had sheers hanging under a valance covered with a rich green material and draperies tied back with heavy gold tassels. A long brass planter filled with dry flowers sat on top of the hutch. There were two live ficus trees planted in yellow and green Chinese fish pots sitting in the corners on either side of the window. Definitely feminine and probably Mrs. Foster’s office, she gathered, as she tiptoed backward out of the room and continued on her way.

  When she neared the living area, she smiled with relief the moment she heard Stede’s voice. He and his dad were laughing together, standing near a glass cart with crystal decanters filled with liquors, a silver ice bucket and a wine cooler. She noticed that both men had changed out of their jeans and cowboy boots into slacks, shirts and tasseled loafers and smiled since she had decided to wear a dress to dinner.

  “Ah, there you are,” Stede said, with a wide and welcoming smile, giving her approach an appreciative once over and laying a possessive hand on the small of her back when she came to stand by him. She noticed his father didn’t miss the familiarity. “I thought maybe you might have fallen asleep.”

  “I was tempted; the four-poster bed is inviting with downy soft-looking pillows.”

  “What can I fix you to drink?” his dad asked.

  “A glass of water with lemon will be fine.”

  “Coming right up,” he said.

  Stede’s mother entered the room wearing a black georgette pantsuit with a flowing sheer jacket hand painted with gold Japanese hand fans. She wore cinnabar colored earrings that matched the expensive looking ornate Oriental pendant at her throat. “Carolina,” she said, “I hope you found everything to your liking.”

  “Everything is perfect. Thank you for having me as your guest. Your home is truly beautiful.”

  “Thank you, dear. Tomorrow, after you’ve had time to rest, Stede can take you on a tour, if you’d like.”

  Carolina nodded and smiled.

  With a dramatic little turn that fanned her flowing sleeves, Mrs. Foster gestured toward the couches. “Dinner will be ready shortly; let’s have a seat.”

  Carolina sat in a white French provincial reading chair that was turned toward what she considered the conversation area—matching loveseats facing one another and two fireside chairs at the other end of the room. The coffee table and end tables had hand-painted flowers in blues and pinks painted under the glass inserts. If she sat on one of the loveseats she knew Stede would sit next to her and she wasn’t certain he would keep his hand off her knee. Plus, he really liked her halter dress, especially the bow at the nape of her neck.

  She felt her chest tighten, like a heartburn attack, when she realized that eventually the conversation might turn personal. She wasn’t looking forward to playing Twenty Questions. Where do your parents live? Where do you live? How did you and Stede meet? What made you decide to come to Dallas?

  Fortunately, for the moment anyway, they talked about the rodeo, and his mother wanted to hear all about how her mother, Mrs. Dugan, had adjusted to life in the assisted living facility.

  “I think your dad and I will come out for Thanksgiving, if that’s all right with you, Stede.”

  “Perfect. You can stay with me and Jenny and Manny and I will fix dinner and Grandma can stay for the weekend if she’d like. This way we won’t have to go back and forth every day to pick her up and take her home again at the end of the day.”

  “Thank you. I know she’d enjoy being there with us. You know she hates to miss anything.”

  A maid dressed in a black uniform, white cap and apron, interrupted them to announce that dinner was ready. Stede flashed Carolina a look with his eyes, while he stifled his grin, as if to say this formality was part of the reason why he moved to Arizona. She couldn’t blame him; she knew she was definitely out of his mother’s league.

  When they entered the dining room, they were seated at a table that easily could have accommodated twelve. A male servant held hers and Nancy’s chair. Stede’s parents sat at either end, and Stede sat across from her, which seemed fine to Carolina because she was certain Stede would place his hand on her knee if he sat next to her and she wouldn’t be able to control blushing.

  An antique epergne filled with artificial vines and grapes, sat in the middle of the table on top of a lace cloth. Fortunately, Stede was tall enough that she could at least see his eyes above the centerpiece. Carolina bowed her head, straightening her napkin on her lap, smiling. Her travels abroad had at least educated her on fine dining and mannerisms.

  The entire house reminded her of the Decorator Showcase homes she had toured in Washington. Every room spoke interior decorator with no personal or individual input, not even a magazine out of place. She was certain every piece of furniture was quite expensive, albeit a bit too nouveau riche for her tastes, and the dining room was no exception.

  The wood had a shellac finish the color of amber with black markings running through the grain. A large china closet covered one wall, displaying ceramic birds and the walls were covered with Audubon prints. Carolina asked, “Who’s the bird enthusiast?”

  “Do you like them, Carolina?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes, they’re lovely. There’s a room in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., that’s full of china cabinets filled with Boehm porcelain birds on display, as well as Audubon prints.” She shrugged, “Well, for all I know, they could be original watercolors. Mrs. Kennedy had lavish tastes.”

  “Thank you, Carolina, I take that as a compliment,” his mother drawled. “Jay and I will have to visit the Kennedy Center the next time we’re in Washington, to look at the room. I take it then, that you’re from D.C.?”

  “I’ve been living there for the past couple of years,” hastily adding, “I lived in South Carolina before taking this new job.”

  “What do you do, Carolina?” Stede’s dad asked.

  She explained what her job was and talked a
bout the places of interest she had visited around the world, while they were being served dinner. She discovered his parents were well traveled, too, and less reserved with her since they shared their experiences with the places they had visited in common.

  Carolina smiled at the roast beef that with a horseradish sauce, redskin potatoes, green beans, salad and rolls since Stede warned her she’d eat a lot of beef on this trip. She corrected her posture and did her best to keep her left hand on her lap, except to hold her fork while she cut her meat with her right hand, eating Continental style, when actually she preferred to be sitting on a sofa Indian style, dressed in a pair of shorts and a tee, eating out of a Chinese takeout box.

  Nancy leaned a little toward Carolina and asked, “What brings you to Dallas and how did you meet our son?”

  Stede quickly intervened. “Mother, let Carolina enjoy her meal. She was in Arizona giving a seminar on genealogy, that’s where Jenny met her and she mentioned she had a sister who had moved to the Dallas area and we, meaning Jenny and I, invited her to join us since she had never seen a rodeo before…”

  “What did you think of the rodeo?” Jay asked.

  Between bites, Carolina told them about her experience, thankful Stede ran interference for her. She mentioned the upsetting incident with the calf, that she admitted disturbed her, even though the animal had survived, thanks to their son.

  Stede kept the conversation flowing with talk about the oil industry, immigration and other political topics, for which she was grateful. When you lived in Washington, you became politically astute, if only through osmosis. She was never comfortable being the center of attention and his mother made her nervous. She reminded her of an annoying journalist—nosey and in your face.

  After dinner they went outside to sit on the patio for coffee and dessert. The light inside the pool and spotlights hidden in the ground covering lit up the landscaping. A stone waterfall was refreshing to watch and listen to as the water rushed down the rocks into the pool.