by Joan Wolf
He rose too. “I'll walk you to your car.” We walked together through the house out to the porch and down the steps to my Toyota. Kevin put his finger under my chin and tilted my face up. “Goodbye Anne. If ever you need me, just call.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Kevin.” I received his gentle kiss, turned and got into my car and drove away.
Mom was cooking dinner when I got home. As I made salads I told her about our trip to New York and Someday Soon's recovery from colic. Then, as we sat eating, I told her about Liam's invitation to move in with him.
“We're going to get married, Mom. It's not like we haven't made a commitment to each other,” I said.
“You and Liam made a commitment to each other when you were children,” Mom said. “I have no objection to you moving into Wellington, Anne.”
“I just wish I didn't have to desert you.”
Mom smiled. “I have to learn to live alone, honey. It's been wonderful having you, and you've helped me over a bad patch, but I have to do the rest on my own.”
“Are you sure it's okay?”
“I'm sure.”
Tears misted my eyes. “You're such a trooper, Mom.”
Tears sparkled in my mother's eyes. “I know.”
We both sniffled and laughed and blew our noses with our paper napkins.
We were halfway through our chicken when I told my mother about Mrs. Wellington's ignorance of Liam's arrest.
“That's terrible,” Mom said.
“That's what I think. I was even ready to call and tell her, but Kevin talked me out of it. He said that I might push her into a relapse.”
“He's right that it isn't your place to interfere, Anne. But I don't think it's right for her family to keep her in the dark.”
“I don't either.”
“It would look better for Liam too, to have his family around him. To have them staying away like this makes it seem like they think he's guilty.”
“God, Mom. What if they don't come to the Bel-mont?”
“It won't look good.”
“Kevin's lawyer is going to have to talk some sense into the senator, make him understand how it will look if he doesn't show up.”
“When is this lawyer of Kevin's coming on the scene?”
“Soon, I hope. Kevin gave his agent the job of finding ‘the best’.”
We cleared away the dishes, then went inside to the living room and turned on the television. A&E had a rerun of Law and Order.
I used to like watching Law and Order but tonight I found it terribly depressing. All the discussions about plea bargains and murder charges vs. manslaughter charges and jail times … it all made me feel very gloomy. I was very glad when Everybody Loves Raymond came on and I had something to make me laugh.
It was a funny feeling going up to bed, thinking that tomorrow night I would be sleeping with Liam. Poor Mom, I thought. Her future held only emptiness on the other side of the bed.
This business of the murder charge had to be resolved. Liam had to go free. He had to! The alternative was simply unthinkable. I got into bed and thought about it for an hour and a half before I finally fell asleep.
CHAPTER 26
The following morning I had breakfast with Mom and kissed her as she left for work. I sat over another cup of coffee and cried a little because I felt as if I was deserting her. Then I went upstairs to pack.
The wardrobe I had brought with me was not extensive. It consisted mainly of jeans, knit shirts, sweaters, two pairs of nice slacks, my trusty black dress, the suit I had worn to the Derby and the new clothes I had bought for the Preakness Alibi Breakfast and the concert with Kevin. After I had packed, I picked up the phone and dialed my practice in Maryland. Fortunately, the head partner was in the office.
“Hi Doug,” I said. “It's Anne. I have some news for you. I'm getting married.”
“Uh-oh,” he said. “To someone in Virginia?”
“That's right.”
“Damn,” he said. “Does that mean you'll be leaving us?”
“I'm afraid so.”
“How soon?”
“I'll stay until you can hire someone to replace me.”
“You're going to be hard to replace, Anne. The clients love you.”
“Thank you, Doug. That's nice of you to say.”
“Who's the lucky fellow?”
“Someone I've known since I was six years old.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. It took a while, but I finally got my man.”
He laughed. “Are you coming back when you said you would?”
“Yes. I'll be back the week after the Belmont, and I'll stay until you get someone to replace me.”
Doug said suspiciously, “This fellow you're marrying… it isn't by any chance the guy who owns Someday Soon, is it?”
“As a matter of fact, it is.”
“Anne, hasn't he been arrested for murder?”
“He didn't do it, Doug. He'll be acquitted.”
“My God.”
“Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing.”
“I hope so.”
“I'll see you in about ten days.”
“Okay.”
We hung up.
Good God. Even Doug, who never looked at a newspaper, knew about Liam's arrest. How was it possible that his mother didn't know?
I carried my good clothes on hangers down to the car, then I came back and got my suitcase. At the last minute, I sat down at the kitchen table and scribbled a note to my mother. I propped it against the sugar bowl, then I went out to my car.
Sam and Freddy, the two coonhounds, were curled up on the front porch when I arrived at the big house. The front door was unlocked and I went in to see who was inside.
Mary was in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast.
“Anne, honey,” she said. “I hear you're comin’ here to live.” She came to give me a hug.
Mary is a very big woman. I almost disappeared inside her arms and her bosom. When I reappeared I grinned up at her. “I'm glad you're happy.”
“We've been waitin’ for this for years—you and Liam.”
“I've been waiting too. I finally convinced him.”
“Now we jest have to get rid of the po-lice.”
“We will, Mary. I'm sure of it.”
She nodded emphatically and asked if I wanted anything to eat. I declined and went to get my clothes out of the car. I brought them into the house, up the stairs and into Liam's room.
It was a plain room, with that attractive walnut four-poster bed and two walnut end tables. The rug was a faded red and blue oriental and the tall windows had dark wood cornices and pale flowered draperies. Over the bed hung a picture of one of Liam's ancestors. There was a large chest of drawers for Liam's clothes and a bookcase and two chairs.
I wondered where I was going to put my stuff.
Maybe I should just stay packed up until Liam got home, I thought. Maybe this would work better if I moved into one of the guest rooms.
I decided I would go and see how the yearlings were coming along.
When I got back to the house at about four o'clock, Liam was there. “Hey you,” he said as I came up onto the front porch. He put his arms around me, and kissed me deeply.
“Wow,” I said breathlessly when he finally lifted his head. My feet were dangling a few inches short of the floor.
“You're here,” he said. “You're really here.”
“I'm really here, but I think I'd feel better if I was standing on the ground.”
He slid my body along his as he let me down.
“Very sexy,” I said.
“I aim to please.”
“I didn't unpack because I didn't know where to put things.”
“Hmm,” he said. “Let's go upstairs and look.”
We went hand in hand up the stairs and into his bedroom. He looked at my suitcase and at my clothes lying on his bed. “The clothes on the hanger can go in my closet.”
“I didn't know
you had a closet. I didn't see one.”
“It's inside the bathroom.” He opened the door to the old-fashioned bathroom and there was a sliding door on the right that opened to reveal a closet. The sliding door and the closet were obviously a modern addition to the room.
It was not a large closet, but Liam did not have a lot of clothes.
“Goodness, but your wardrobe is sparse,” I said.
“I have a few good suits and a blazer. And I have some shirts. The rest of the time I live in jeans or khakis.”
“Well, it looks like there will be room for my dresses.” He went and got them and hung them up. One item taken care of.
“What about my underwear? And my shirts and my jeans and stuff?”
“That is a problem. My dresser is filled.”
“Maybe it would be better for me to use one of the guest rooms.”
He glared. “You're staying here with me!”
“Oh well. I suppose I can live out of my suitcase.”
“Not at all. We'll just move a dresser from one of the guest rooms in here.”
I looked around. Like all the rooms at Wellington, Liam's bedroom was quite large. “Okay, that would work.”
“Let's go and shop for one.”
We tried three guest rooms and picked a dresser from the red room. The two of us moved it down the hall into Liam's room where we found an open space along the wall to place it. Liam had to move a picture, that was all.
Liam sat in one of the chairs and watched while I unpacked. He told me about his conversation with John Ford as I went back and forth from my suitcase carrying underwear and pajamas and socks and shirts and so forth.
“John was really pleased with this morning's workout. Buster was full of run at the end of it—just what John wanted to see.”
“He doesn't seem to have been affected by the colic then?”
“Not at all.”
“That's great.”
“I thought we'd go up to New York on Wednesday. What do you think?”
“It's fine with me. Do you think you'll have a problem with Chief Brown?”
“I think the residents of Midville would lynch Chief Brown if he tried to keep me home.”
I laughed. “You may be right.”
“What do you want to do about dinner tonight?”
“Why don't we drive into the Safeway, buy a nice juicy steak, and cook it here?”
“That sounds great.”
“I'll check the larder and see what else we might need. Mary only does breakfast and cleaning when your father's not here.”
The phone rang. Liam went out into the hall to answer the upstairs extension. He was gone for a while. I had finished putting my clothes away when he came back.
“That was Kevin. He's found me a lawyer. His name is Abraham Kessler and he'll be calling here at nine tonight.”
“I've never heard of him.”
“Neither have I, but that doesn't mean anything. It's not an area in which I have any expertise. Kevin says he's one of the top ten trial lawyers in the country.”
“Well, that's certainly a good recommendation.”
He sighed and lowered himself into a chair.
I went to him and sat on his lap. “I'm so sorry, Liam. This should be such a happy time for you. You should be thinking of nothing except Buster and his chances for the Triple Crown and instead you have this terrible thing hanging over you—like the sword of Damocles. It just stinks.”
He rested his cheek against my hair. “It does.”
I could feel his heart beating against my face. I said in a muffled voice, “Liam, don't you think you should ask your parents to come home? It doesn't look good for you, their staying away like this. It looks as if they think you're guilty.”
I could feel him stiffen. “We've been over this before, Annie. I don't want them around.”
“I wish you would reconsider. Even my mother said she thought it looked funny not having them here.”
He was silent.
“Will they be coming to the Belmont?”
More silence.
“Liam, if they don't it really won't look good.”
“Maybe they'll come for the race.”
“They have to. Talk to your father and tell him that. Please.”
“Okay. I'll talk to him.”
Tension I didn't even know I was feeling drained out of my body.
“Do you know what might be nice?” Liam asked.
“What?”
“It might be nice to invite your mom to share the steak with us.”
Tears stung my eyes. “Oh, Liam.”
“Is that‘Oh, Liam’ yes, or ‘Oh, Liam’ no?”
I sniffled and blinked. It's ‘Oh, Liam,’ yes.”
So we went into town, bought a steak and a few other groceries at the Safeway and stopped by Mom's. At first she refused to come, but when she realized that we really wanted her, she relented. She insisted on driving her own car, however, so that Liam wouldn't have to drive her home.
Liam grilled out on the back patio and Mom and I cooked rice and green beans inside on Mary's immaculate stove. We had a very enjoyable dinner. Mom told some funny stories about school and Liam filled her in on Buster's progress. We all talked about the Triple Crown and what it would mean if Buster won.
“I wish Pete could be here,” Liam said, voicing the thought that was in all of our minds.
“He would be so proud of you, Liam,” Mom said. “You bred that horse and you bred his sire. You did a brilliant job.”
“Thanks, Nancy. I appreciate that.”
The New York lawyer called at nine o'clock and Liam spoke to him for twenty minutes, then Mom went home. Liam told me about the call as we cleaned up the kitchen and at ten o'clock we went upstairs to bed.
CHAPTER 27
On Saturday evening, exactly one week before the Belmont, Senator and Mrs. Wellington arrived home. Liam and I were having dinner in the kitchen when they walked in.
“How cozy you look,” Mrs. Wellington said as she came to kiss first Liam and then me.
“Would you like something to eat? There's some more chicken in the pot,” I replied.
“No, thank you.” Her eyes went to the wine bottle. “Perhaps a glass of wine.”
Liam and his father shook hands and the senator smiled at me. “How are you, Anne?”
“Fine,” I returned.
Mrs. Wellington fetched a glass from one of the cabinets, turned and asked her husband if he wanted wine as well. When he said he did, she took down another glass.
When both the elder Wellingtons were seated with their wine, Liam's mother turned to him. “I understand that you have been arrested. I cannot believe it, Liam. They have no evidence! It's just ridiculous. Your father tells me that Kevin has found a top lawyer for you and you should be acquitted easily. But still—to have to go through that charade! I don't understand it at all.”
Both men were silent.
I said, “They don't exactly have no evidence, Mrs. Wellington. They have the medal.”
She had been lifting the glass to her lips, but now she went completely still. She looked at me. “Medal? What medal?”
Liam and his father sat like stones.
I looked into her glittering blue eyes. “They found Liam's miraculous medal near Leslie's grave. That's why they arrested him. Didn't you know?”
She put her glass down. She was paper white and her hand was trembling. “No. I didn't know.”
Liam said, “I identified the medal as mine. It's not that big a deal, Mom. Annie is going to testify that we often rode along that path and that I could have lost it anytime. Or, whoever did kill Leslie could have stolen it from me and planted it. It's too fragile a piece of evidence to convict me.”
Mrs. Wellington looked at her husband.
“Liam is right,” he said to her. “There is very little chance that he will be convicted.”
“You never told me about the medal,” she said.
“He w
on't be convicted, Alyssa.”
“But suppose he is?” she whispered.
“He won't be.”
I found it strange that Mrs. Wellington had known about the arrest but not about the medal. I asked, “How did you find out about Liam's arrest, Mrs. Wellington?”
“I heard it on the radio yesterday,” she replied.
She heard it on the radio! I stared at the senator. He did not look back.
Liam said, “Mom, there's nothing you can do. Just let events take their course and everything will be all right. Okay?”
She looked at him, her face stricken. For the first time I thought that she looked old.
“Oh my darling. I am so afraid.”
Well, I could sympathize with that.
“Don't be. It will all work out.”
I said encouragingly, “This lawyer is one of the ten best in the country, Mrs. Wellington. Kevin did a good job.”
“Bless him,” she said.
I said, “We were just going to have tea and dessert. Why don't you join us?”
“That would be very nice,” Senator Wellington said heartily.
“I have some good news for you,” Liam said. “Annie and I are going to get married.”
“That's wonderful!” Mrs. Wellington said. “I'm so happy for you both.”
“Congratulations,” Senator Wellington said to his son. There were kisses and hugs all around.
“And Annie has moved into my room until she has to go back to Maryland to her job.”
“We're delighted to have her as our guest,” the senator said with charming courtesy.
“Have you set a date?” Mrs. Wellington asked.
I said, “I promised my practice that I would stay until they got someone to replace me, so I can't think of dates until they do that.”
“And I can't get married while I have this murder charge hanging over my head,” Liam said.
“Sure you can,” I replied. “These things sometimes drag on forever.”
“I'm not marrying you until my name is cleared.”
I pushed out my lower lip, like a little girl who isn't getting her way. “I wish Daddy was here. He'd tell you to make an honest woman of me.”
“You are an honest woman.”
“Not in the eyes of the Church. I can't go to communion when I go to Mass.”
He scowled.