“Actions speak louder than words. Donna preached that to me after the breakup a year ago. I was such an emotional mess.”
“And were you practicing that sound advice on me?”
Nodding, Katie felt her body still glowing in the aftermath of their lovemaking. “Yes, I did.”
“Do you think Iris and Rudd missed you coming back to the ranch last night?”
She smiled. “Iris misses nothing. I’m sure she put things together. I called her this morning after I got up. I left her a message and told her I was over at your house.”
“Good, we wouldn’t want her to worry.” Joe forced himself to eat. His stomach was in turmoil and his emotions tore him up. He hated not telling Katie the truth. At some point, he’d have to. And then what? Joe didn’t want to lose what they had. Oh, it was more than just sex. There had to be a helluva lot more to a relationship to get his interest. Katie was the opposite of him, otherworldly. She appealed to him on so many levels. He liked her romantic view of life, her idealism, intact despite her painful past.
And Janet Bergstrom was probably manipulating her, whether she knew it or not.
* * *
JANET WATCHED HER DAUGHTER come in the front door of the newly opened Mercury Courier Service. She’d called her in midafternoon and asked if she could come and celebrate the opening. Eduardo, who was one of Xavier’s trusted men, manned the front desk. There were five people waiting in line to use the services.
“Hi, Janet,” Katie greeted, breathless. “Your store looks great from the outside!” Her mother was in a dark green business suit. This time, it fitted her well and Katie liked the tasteful gold jewelry Janet wore. As she drew close, she could smell cigarette smoke clinging to the woman.
“Come with me,” Janet said, and gestured for her to walk around the curved desk to the door behind it.
Katie followed. “Wow, the walls are up, painted and this looks terrific.” She walked into another smaller office area.
“Like it?” Janet turned and said, “You’ll be working the counter as well as this office area. Your desk is on the left. There’s a computer, a phone and anything else you might need to take orders and type them into our system.” She pointed to a window above the desk. “You can see a customer come in from here and go help them.”
The small oak desk was in the corner. It was not a large area but Katie saw everything she might need. Even a coffee mug. “Looks nice, Janet.”
“On the other side is our coffee machine.” She turned and pointed to another door with a sign reading: Shipping, Do Not Enter. “This is the shipping area, Katie. Eduardo will take any packages or boxes you receive and move them to shipping.” She drilled Katie with a dark look. “Your only job here is to man the front desk or work here in this little office. I never want you to go into shipping. It’s off-limits to you. Understand?”
Frowning, Katie stared at the door. It was a heavy one, made of metal, and there was no window in it. “But...why? I’m sure I can carry packages into the shipping area to help Eduardo.”
Mouth compressing, Janet said, “That’s not your job. You are to work the front area only. Got it? Eduardo does all the heavy lifting. I worry about some of the boxes being too heavy for you. You’re such a skinny thing, Katie. I don’t need you injuring your back or straining a muscle. Okay?”
Hearing the steeliness in her mother’s tone, Katie said, “Okay. I’ll let Eduardo do it.”
“There is one other thing I want you to do for me. After Eduardo has loaded up one of our three company vans, you will drive it to another city.” Janet opened up a map of the region and spread it out on the desk. “Come here, let me show you what I’m talking about.”
Katie drew close and looked over her mother’s shoulder. “I see the red marks you’ve put on it. Are those the routes I’ll drive?” She’d had no idea she’d be actually driving a van. Katie had thought her work would only be clerical.
“Yes, I need you to drive the van to Idaho Falls, Idaho.” She traced it with her index finger, the bright red nail polish outlining the highway system. Twisting her head to the left, Janet looked up at her daughter. “Think you can do this?”
“Sure.”
“You’re so skinny.”
Laughing, Katie shrugged and said, “Skinny people drive trucks and vans just fine.” She longed to call her Mother or Mom. The challenging look in Janet’s eyes, however, made Katie swallow those haunting words.
Janet folded up the map and slipped it into a file organizer on the desk. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Will I be driving often?”
“Maybe once a week, if that. I’ve got Eduardo, but sometimes I might need a second driver.”
“How many do you employ at your original business in Cheyenne?”
“I have five men.”
“No women?”
“No women. They’re trouble. Men, when you tell ’em to do something, they do it. There’s no whining or complaining.”
Katie wondered if Janet felt the same about her, but didn’t have the courage to ask. Her mother seemed upbeat, even happy and she had no desire to ruin the opening day of her courier service. “I see,” was all she managed to say.
“I’ve got Kyle, my geek guy, comin’ over from Cheyenne tomorrow. Will you be available to come in at one o’clock and sit down and learn how to use the computer system with him? He’s a pretty decent teacher.”
“Sure. I can have Joe take care of things at the raptor facility. How many hours?”
“Three. There’s no manual on this stuff.” She jabbed her finger at the computer sitting on the desk.
“No manual?”
“No.” Janet said it swiftly. In her business, the codes she used were sent to a computer in Guatemala. Xavier needed the information in order to follow the progress of shipments to specific cities. “We aren’t so large we need manuals. There’s a notebook there on the desk. You can take notes and then when you get them memorized, you give me what you wrote. I’ll throw it away.”
Katie looked over at her. Her mother’s face, heavily made up, looked like that of a bulldog who would always get her way. “Well...okay. I’m pretty good at memorization.”
“There’s not much to it. If my guys over in Cheyenne can log it into their thick brains, you can, too.”
“Okay.” It seemed like a strange office procedure to Katie. She had written a manual for the raptor facility. There were feeding schedules for each raptor, another schedule for daily weight recording and management. Maybe her mother wasn’t keen on manuals. Who knew? Just getting to see Janet happy thrilled her. The other two meetings had been grim in comparison. And she desperately wanted Janet to count on her.
“Sit down, see if the chair is comfortable for you.” Janet jabbed her index finger toward it.
“I’m sure it is,” Katie said, moving behind the desk and pulling out the chair.
“I bought it specifically for you, Katie. The guy over at the office store said it was ergonomic and you’d like it. Sit down. Tell me how it feels.” Above all, Janet wanted to manipulate Katie into thinking she was special. Her daughter would then do as she asked without question. Janet saw the girl’s face go soft and a trembling smile come to her lips. Good, she was hooked. Having Katie trained to work the front end of her business, she could then move Xavier’s man to the shipping department where the real business went on.
A small tendril curled within Janet’s heart as she watched her slender daughter sit down and move her fingers across the arms of the black-and-chrome chair. The smile on Katie’s face did something unexpected within her and she didn’t quite understand the feeling. Touching her mint-green blouse in nervousness, she then realized with shock that she felt happiness.
“This...feels very nice, Janet.”
“The salesman said it w
as state-of-the-art. I didn’t want your back going out on a lousy chair.”
Katie’s heart warmed. For the first time, she saw care and concern on Janet’s face—for her. She wanted her mother to like her...love her...
“It feels wonderful. Wish I had a chair like this at my raptor facility.” Katie managed an awkward laugh. “I’d probably sit in it a lot more.”
Pleased, Janet felt that vinelike joy wrapping around her heart. Her daughter’s cheeks were flushed and her eyes shone with pleasure. The strange, happy sensation continued. Was this what it felt like to love one’s child? Janet wasn’t sure. “Well, I want you happy,” she said in a gruff tone. Looking at her watch, she added, “I got a lot to do. You’ll be here when Kyle comes to train you?”
Katie stood up and then rolled the fancy chair under the desk. “Yes, I’ll be here.”
“Good, good. See you then.” Janet felt the urge to take those few steps and throw her arms around her daughter. Again, it was unbidden and she wasn’t sure what was happening. Instead, she fought the need and turned on her heel, marching out to the front where patrons were lined up.
Katie sighed, pulled her purse strap a little higher on her shoulder. Happiness swirled around her. She stopped and turned around to gaze at the chair. Janet had bought it especially for her. Closing her eyes for a moment, Katie savored the new feelings of hope in her heart. Her mother loved her. It was obvious. She cared enough to buy what appeared to be a very expensive chair for her. Care. Oh, God, how long had she been wishing her mother would care for her? Now, Janet had shown her in her own way—she did care for Katie.
Katie left Mercury, barely aware of her feet touching the wooden porch along the plaza. The afternoon sunlight felt delicious on her face and bare arms as she walked around the corner to her truck. The sky was a deep blue and she relished the cobalt color. Hand on the strap of her purse, Katie decided that two dreams had come true in the past two days. Her skin tingled as she replayed kissing and loving Joe Gannon last night. And the happiness continued today like a new beginning in her life with her mother. She had expected Janet to be gruff and frowning, but this time, she was completely different.
Once she reached her truck, she opened it and slipped inside. Suddenly, life had opened up in amazing and surprising ways and Katie felt like the puffy white clouds in the sky above—floating. Was it possible to have love come to her all at once? In two different ways? As she drove out of the main plaza area and turned onto the main highway leading out of town, Katie felt overwhelmed by her sudden good fortune. She could hardly wait to reach the ranch and tell Joe and Iris. Tonight, she would call Donna and tell her about the amazing shifts in her life.
* * *
JOE WAS FLYING SAM, the golden eagle, about a quarter-mile from the facility when Katie drove into the parking lot. She saw him lift his long, thick gauntlet. Sam flapped his large wings, the two Xs of white visible beneath each wing.
She left the truck and focused on man and eagle in the distance. Sam’s wings made broad sweeps in an arc as he fought to gain altitude in the warm summer sky. Katie’s heart took off as she witnessed the magnificent eagle owning the world. And then her gaze moved from eagle to man. Joe stood with his legs apart to balance himself when he’d released the eagle. Most people wouldn’t think an eagle—at sixteen pounds—would be that powerful on takeoff, but they were. It was the seven-foot wingspan that made the weight of the eagle increase exponentially. Literally, a falconer could lose his balance when the eagle pushed off from the fist.
She smiled softly as the eagle climbed in large, lazy circles to the west of Joe. Her gaze went to Joe’s clean profile. She recalled his hands moving slowly, as if he were memorizing every inch of her. Katie realized she had never had a man worship her as Joe had last night.
“Aren’t they a pair?”
Startled, Katie turned and saw Iris walking up. Smiling, she said, “I wish I had my video camera.”
Iris halted at Katie’s side. “I’ve been watching Joe work with Sam. I was out back in one of my iris beds earlier when he brought the eagle out to the training oval.” Iris studied her. “Joe said you got a call from your mother. Everything go okay?”
Hearing the concern in Iris’s voice, Katie reached out and hugged her. “I’m fine. It went really well, Iris. My mother bought me a special chair to sit in at my desk in her office. Can you believe it? I was blown away. It looked expensive. She said it was ergonomic and she wanted me comfortable when I worked for her.”
Nodding, Iris watched Sam flying higher and higher. The eagle was probably about five thousand feet and sailing toward the Tetons, not far away. “That’s nice of her, Katie. So,” and she turned and studied her, “it sounds like Janet is thawing a little toward you?”
“Fingers crossed,” Katie said, holding up her right hand. “Yes, she was all business but this time, when she showed me the office behind the counter wall, she seemed very pleasant. It’s a real change from before.”
“Maybe she was stressed about getting this business off the ground.”
Katie watched Iris shift the big, floppy straw hat on her silver hair. There were days when Iris’s hair literally looked like a messy hen’s nest, sticking out in all directions under the capture of the hat. “Probably so. I really loved being around her. She seemed so relaxed today. And I just can’t get over the fact she bought me the special chair!”
“Maybe it’s her way of letting you know she loves you,” Iris murmured. “Twenty-six years without a daughter and suddenly, she has you pop into her life. She’s probably as emotionally confused as you.”
“Mmm, I think you’re right. Janet just seemed, well...” she sighed “...pleased? Well, I wouldn’t say happy because I’ve never seen her smile. Maybe she will now.”
“Take it a day at a time,” Iris gently counseled. “Both of you need time and space to adjust to one another. Is Janet going to be living in Jackson Hole from now on or is she dividing time between here and Cheyenne?”
“I don’t know. I’m really afraid to ask her questions. Isn’t that silly?” Katie said, shading her eyes to follow Sam, who was now gliding and circling far to the west.
“No, because you want her to love you. And I think you sense Janet doesn’t like a lot of questions.”
“She’s definitely in charge. And she’s good at giving directions and orders,” Katie admitted. “I guess I’m just afraid if I say the wrong thing, she’ll get angry and tell me to walk out of her life.”
Iris patted Katie’s shoulder and said in a soothing tone, “Listen, what you’re feeling is normal. I remember when we told Rudd at a certain age that he was adopted, he went through a spell of the same emotions. I think it’s natural to worry if you’ve been abandoned once by a parent that it could happen again.”
The happiness Katie felt was somewhat doused as she considered Iris’s words of wisdom. “You’re right. I’m walking on eggshells with Janet. And deep down, I’m dying to call her Mom or Mother. It almost leaps out of my mouth sometimes. I’m afraid if it does, she’ll get angry and send me away.”
Iris nodded. “Listen, this is the hard part. What’s good about it is your mother runs a business and has asked you to help her. You need to let go of the anxiety over getting sent away. She’s embraced you into her business. That’s not a bad sign, it’s a good one. Don’t you think?”
“As always, you’re right, Iris.” Katie laughed. “I just feel like a little seven-year-old girl in front of Janet. I just so desperately want her to love me like I love her.”
“You have to be patient, Katie. You can’t rush into anything. I’m sure Janet feels guilt over giving you up. And she probably thinks you’re beautiful and intelligent. In her own way, she may be afraid of you.”
Tilting her head, Katie asked, “What do you mean?”
“She may see you as smart, accomplished and b
eautiful. You may remind her of her own growing-up years, which we know were stressful. She may look upon you as a positive in her life. And, because she was abandoned by her mother, you may seem amazing in comparison.” She smiled at Katie. “You have to try and walk in her shoes. She was abandoned, too. And if Janet didn’t have the help of her foster home, then she had no one to support her when she got pregnant with you. It could be, in the end, Janet may someday tell you why she gave you up. Maybe she didn’t want you to suffer like she did. She probably thinks, at this point, she made the right decision, because you are successful. I can’t think of any parent who doesn’t want something better for their child than they had. Can you?”
Katie considered her words for a long time. She saw Sam circling and descending toward Joe. “You know, I never thought of it that way.”
“It’s a lot to think about,” Iris said. “Just continue to give your mother and yourself a lot of space. Don’t think you know her or her reasons. In time, I hope you two will learn to trust one another to open up and talk honestly. Right now, Janet is very defensive, and you can’t blame her. At the same time, she’s made room for you in her life by asking you to help her with her new business.”
Katie turned to hug Iris. “What would I do without you and Donna? You two always help me see things in a far more realistic way!”
Chuckling, Iris embraced Katie, kissed her cheek and released her. She held the younger woman at arm’s length, her eyes sparkling, and whispered, “Okay, now ’fess up. What’s going on between you and Joe? It looks serious. Tell me about it.”
Katie laughed joyfully. “Iris, all of a sudden my life has been turned upside down. I’ve met Joe and then my mother.” She pressed her hand to her heart. With the lively look in Iris’s expression, Katie had no fear of telling her anything. “Joe is wonderful, Iris. When I first met him, I felt we had a connection. It wasn’t anything like bells ringing, but over the last couple of weeks, we’ve just grown closer. It’s the only way I can describe it. I like being around him. He’s open and sensible. He respects me and he asks my opinion. He’s not bossy or arrogant like the men in my other relationships.”
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