Winter Hearts

by A. E. Radley

  CHAPTER 22

  Thursday Evening, December 15th

  “What’s wrong?” Cass asked.

  Emmie gave her a sidelong glance. She didn’t even know where to begin. She opened her mouth to speak, but before the words could come, Jimmy tromped up on the porch and poked his head through the screen door.

  “Gran’s car is coming up the driveway,” he announced. “Looks like she’s driving.”

  “Oh,” Cass said, “this can’t be good.”

  They all went out to the porch. When Rosa Lute stopped her car behind Jimmy’s pickup, Cass rushed to her and opened her door. “Gran, what’s wrong? You know you’re not supposed to be driving right now with your leg…your hip…everything. Are you hurt?”

  Rosa waved her granddaughter off. “Everything is fine and I’m perfectly capable of driving a car three miles on back country roads. Been doing it since I was ten.”

  When she shifted around in the seat, Cass instinctively reached out to help her out of the car. Rosa slapped at her outstretched hand. “I got myself in here. I can get myself out.”

  As she ambled slowly to the porch with Cass trailing close behind, she called out to Emmie. “Hello there! It was you I came to see.”

  “Me?”

  “Aren’t you the chief party planner for this shindig we’re going to have?”

  “Umm, yes…yes ma’am.”

  “Well then, we have a lot of work to do and a week to get it done. I’ll do the paperwork; you all do the leg work.”

  Emmie dipped her head in acknowledgment at the old woman.

  While Jimmy pulled a disappearing act, Emmie turned and led the way into the house, smiling to herself. She started toward the living room, but Rosa had other ideas.

  “Let’s do this here in the kitchen. This isn’t going to be chit chat. This is going to be serious planning.”

  “Yes ma’am,” both women said, in unison.

  “Cass, we’re going to need some paper and pens.”

  The stocky brunette turned and strode toward her home office.

  Emmie was nervous, being alone with Rosa. “Can I get you anything Mrs. Lute? A glass of tea? Some coffee?”

  “You best start calling me Rosa…or even Gran, like those two do.” She waved a hand about, indicating Cass and Jimmy.

  “Okay…alright, Rosa.” Em wasn’t too sure she was ready to call her Gran just yet.

  Rosa worked herself into the seat at the head of the table that Cass usually took. Emmie moved off to her usual side.

  “I admit, I didn’t care for the idea when Cass came over and first brought it up but, when it comes down to it, I’ve never been one to miss a good party. Since this is supposed to be at my place, I want to make sure it’s a good one; not something just slapped together.”

  Emmie wasn’t sure if she should feel offended, but then admitted to herself that, since they’d first talked about it, they’d done little to plan it.

  When Cass returned, she took Jimmy’s usual spot across from Emmie without even a glance at her Grandmother. She passed out the paper and pens without a word, then looked at Rosa Lute expectantly.

  Rosa started right in. “We are still in agreement that this will be at my ranch, right?”

  The other two women nodded.

  “So, what have you two accomplished since that time? Quite frankly, I see no evidence of any sort of party planning, from my perspective.” She sat back in her chair and looked at each of them in turn.

  Cass grimaced. “I’ve, uh told a few people. Pam knows. A few people at school. They all say they’ll come. I’ve been kind of busy to do much else.”

  Rosa pointed a thin finger at Emmie. “And you?”

  “I’ve invited my family, of course. A teacher I work with…that’s about it. Nothing formal, I’m afraid.”

  “We need to get some real invitations out there right away. Tomorrow even. Let’s start a guest list.” She looked at Cass. “Take these names down. I’m going to leave it up to you to get the invites out.”

  “But, there’s school and…”

  Rosa held up a hand. “You want to have this party or not?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Then no excuses.” She looked at Emmie, “You good with a computer?”

  Em nodded.

  “Good. I’m not and neither is she,” she said, as she jerked a finger at Cass. “Print up something nice but simple that gives the date and time.”

  “For mailing?” Emmie asked.

  The Lute matriarch shook her head. “There’s no time for that. Much as I hate the thought, it’s going to have to be some type of flier or some such thing.”

  She proceeded to throw a bunch of names at Cass for her to write down. When they were finished wracking their own brains, Rosa took the paper from her Granddaughter and slid it over to Emmie. “Add all your family and such on there. Everybody you can think of.”

  “Uh…okay.” Whoo boo! There’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down. When she realized she was being watched, she started to add names to the list.

  “We’ll need a proper Christmas tree,” she said to Cass. “You and Jimmy go out Saturday and cut down one of those Loblolly’s your Pap planted.”

  Cass’s eyes widened. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “I don’t say what I don’t mean. You know that.”

  “They’re growing fast Gram. Some of them are over twenty feet high.”

  “All the more reason to cut one down. We have 18 feet to work with in the great room, so keep that in mind. Besides, most of them will have to come down, when we put in the wind farm. Can’t have them shielding the wind as they grow.” She was on a roll. “Write this down somewhere else. Look into relocating the rest of those trees on or off my ranch. Donate ‘em. Whatever we need to do.”

  Cass dutifully made a note.

  “How are you coming with that list?” Rosa asked Emmie. She looked over the paper and scoffed, “Surely you know more people than that?”

  “I was just thinking that it’s so close to Christmas,” Emmie began, “and people will already have plans…”

  Rosa interrupted her. “I know what this is really about. First off, this time around, the party is at my house. You two can make your relationship known or you can try and keep it private. Eventually, people are going to figure it out. They’ll come because they were invited. If they leave because they disapprove of the two of you, then that’s their problem, not ours.”

  When you put it that way…” I’ll print up something tonight and we can pass mine and some of yours out at the tailgate tomorrow in Arlington. Most of Sweetwater will be there.” Emmie bent her head back to her task and started scribbling names on the list as fast as she could think of them.

  “Now then,” Rosa said, focusing back on Cass, “we need to talk about food. There will be brisket, of course.”

  “Of course,” Cass and Emmie both echoed in response.

  “We have to have that,” Rosa continued. “That’s tradition.”

  Em nodded. “In my family too. My mother might be annoyed if we upstage her Christmas Eve spread, however.”

  “Then upstage we shall,” Rosa responded, raising an arm high.

  Emmie couldn’t help but laugh.

  Cass didn’t. She wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. “It’s not a competition Gran. Things are…” She eyed Emmie. “Let’s just say her mother isn’t taking her moving in here very well. For that matter, neither did you.”

  Rosa Lute nodded. “Fair enough. You’re right, but I am coming around. This woman over here has been good for you.” She glanced at Emmie and smiled. “Anyone can see that. Maybe we can help her mama see it too.”

  “Probably not by upstaging their Christmas Eve celebration.”

  “Okay, okay! We’ll do it your way.” She shook her head at Cass and then turned back to Emmie. “You tell us what else your mother makes, and we won’t do a bit of that!”

  They all laughed and got down to the b
usiness of planning the menu.

  An hour later, as Cass walked her Grandmother out to her car, Emmie sat back in her chair and listened to the sounds of Jimmy’s footfalls as he paced the floor overhead. With the state championship on the line in less than 24 hours, she knew the teenager was a bundle of nervous energy. Cass was keeping him on a short leash for the evening. In the morning, he’d board a bus for Arlington. A win tomorrow would make for one heck of a party all week.

  She let her mind wander then and thought back fondly to Christmas Eve’s on the Oakes’ ranch. It was always a big to do affair with her brothers and their families and her grandparents when they were alive. Food traditions were big in her family too. There was brisket, turkey and ham. Of course, with the brisket there were plenty of her mother’s homemade pickles and onions one of the hands grew on a plot on the south range.

  She and Seth usually stayed at the ranch on Christmas Eve, after the party, because Seth Senior stayed away from their home, in town, in Sweetwater, more than he was home after the first couple of years. He might come in for Christmas, he might phone it in. Those weren’t good memories for her, but she did her best to make Christmas fun for Seth and to put on a good face in front of her family.

  She did miss the little house they had in town. When they first married, she’d stepped away from the confines of the family. She enjoyed having her own place. She felt a little freer there, especially when Seth Senior was away. She moved back to the ranch after his death only for her son’s sake. Though his father hadn’t been around very much, he’d looked up to the man and looked forward to the times when he was home. Seth Sr. seemed to have a soft spot in his heart for his son, allowing him more time than he had Emmie in the last couple of years of his life. Young Seth started missing that immediately. At least at the ranch, he had another man he revered and looked up to in her father and her brothers were around often too, to let the boy just be a boy.

  CHAPTER 23

  Friday, December 16th

  Emmie was glad she’d printed a stack of invitations. She and Seth met up with Cass, so she could pass a third to her. She kept the rest for herself. They split up again and worked the parking lot from opposite corners. She ran into several families she hadn’t thought of when she was making her list the previous evening, and when she added to it as she sat in her nearly empty classroom for the half day session.

  People were in high spirits, looking forward to the game. Their enthusiasm buoyed her own spirits as she walked along, stopping at each vehicle decorated in Mustang red and white. People took her hand, took an invitation and ruffled Seth’s hair as he stood behind her at each stop, eying the spread of food that was invariably on display. By the time they’d turned the corner to work their second row, he’d already had a hot chocolate and three Christmas cookies.

  Half way down the row, a murmur rose in the lot. Em looked around then pulled Seth in front of her and pointed. “Look, the marching band is forming up.” They watched as the band director got his charges lined up and began to run them through their tune-up exercises. The thump of the drums and the blare of the horns added a little extra bounce to her step as she continued along on her mission.

  When she arrived back at their own tailgate party, things were in full swing. Her mother looked her up and down. “You look a little winded. Where did the two of you get off too? No, never mind. Don’t tell me. I’m sure she’s here too.”

  “We was passing out…”

  “Were, Seth,” she corrected him. She looked at her mother and explained, “We were passing out invitations to the party next week.”

  Trudy Oakes leaned back and put a hand to her chest, striking a disapproving pose. “You’re still going ahead with that?”

  “We’ll be there; don’t you worry,” Dusty said, as he stepped between the two women.

  It was quiet on the long ride back to Merkel. Jimmy rode shotgun beside Cass as she drove. He’d had to get permission from his coach to ride back with them instead of on the team bus. Now, he stared out the window, sullen.

  Emmie sat in the back seat, tucked into the corner on the passenger side. Seth Jr. Slept, his head in his mother’s lap. She knew Jimmie was thinking about the loss. There’s no shame in being the state runner’s up, she thought, but she kept her thoughts to herself. She figured Cass was probably thinking about all the chores that needed to be done, at first light.

  It’s been a long day. It will be a short night. Em tried to focus her mind on the party and everything that needed done for that, but she couldn’t get the image of her mother’s scorn out of her head. No rest for the wicked.

  CHAPTER 24

  Friday Evening, December 23rd

  Rosa Lute directed traffic as Cass, Emmie, Jimmy and Cass’s sister Pam ran about, doing her bidding. Pam’s daughter Hailey, a 14-year-old, feminine version of Jimmy, entertained Seth Junior and kept him out of the way. The smell of smoked brisket, wafting through the outside air punctuated everything they did as they moved about the Lute ranch house and in and out. It was making Emmie hungry but there wasn’t time to stop and eat.

  “We’ve got less than an hour until folks start rolling in,” Gran called out. “Let’s start getting the food laid on.”

  They did as they were told, moving mountains of bread and rolls, a dozen jars of homemade pickles, and Cass’s homemade barbecue sauces to the long row of serving tables.

  Emmie shook her head, dazed. There was all the refrigerated food still to come, too. “There’s way too much food, don’t you think?” She looked between Cass and Gran.

  Jimmy answered. “Nah. I’m so hungry, I’ll eat a whole brisket by myself. A couple of my teammates said they’d come by too.”

  “There you go then,” Gran said.

  Emmie was skeptical. “Do you really think we’ll have a lot of people here?”

  Rosa started to tick off the names of everyone she knew was coming when they all heard gravel crunch in the driveway.

  “That better be Aunt Alice,” Cass said. “She promised to be here early to help set up.”

  “But, we’re almost done, right?” Jimmy asked.

  Gran wagged a finger at him. “Not even close.”

  The knock on the door signified that it wasn’t Alice. Cass looked out, then turned to Emmie. “Not someone I know. You?”

  Emmie went to the door too. “It’s Patrice, from school…the elementary school. She looks mad.”

  Emmie stepped out on the porch and greeted her friend.

  Patrice waved her off. “I’ve been messaging and trying to call you for the last hour. The school board secretary’s been trying to reach you too. When she couldn’t, she called me and gave me a heads up.”

  “What? Why?”

  The Superintendent called an ‘emergency’ closed door meeting of the school board. You probably have messages from Sue Ellen and from him. Lord knows, you’ve got a couple from me!”

  Emmie beckoned Patrice to follow her into the house. She found her purse and dug out her phone. “We’ve been setting up for the party. I haven’t checked this for hours.” She saw multiple missed calls from Patrice and others from unfamiliar numbers. There were several texts from her friend, too.

  “You’re the guest of honor, so to speak, Em. It starts at 7:00. You need to get over there.”

  “There are voice mails.” Emmie listened to one each from the secretary and the board President, Samuel Leto and two from Patrice. Leto advised her to call him back right away.

  “You need to be here,” Leto said moments later, when Emmie called him back. “This is just a hearing. We hope to keep it brief, so come alone. No need to bring a whole entourage with you.”

  “What about my union rep?”

  He stifled a snort. “I hardly think that will be necessary. Again, this is just a hearing, at this stage.”

  You said that already, but I’m not convinced. “But, I’ve got a family party starting in 45 minutes.”

  Sam Leto wasn’t swayed. “We all have thi
ngs we’d rather be doing tonight. If you value your standing with this school, you need to be here.”

  Cass looked on, concerning etching her features, as Emmie tried in vain to get in touch with the state representative she’d briefly spoken with after Patrice had recommended she do so a couple of weeks prior.

  “No answer. Everyone has something better to do tonight than to be on call.”

  “What about your local rep?” Cass asked.

  “No, no, no,” Patrice responded, as she shook her head vigorously. “She’s better off going it alone than taking him with her. They’ll drum her out tonight and it won’t even be a fair fight.”

  “They’re going to drum me out anyway,” Em said.

  Cass looked over at her sister, who had been standing by silently, taking it all in. “Will you go with her?”

  Pam nodded. “I’m not exactly up on school board policy and procedure but I can give them a run for their money; keep them honest.”

  Emmie shook her head, at that. “No, no. I know you have a legal background but that isn’t necessary. I don’t want to put you out.”

  Pam raised an eyebrow and looked at Cass, “How much have you told her?”

  “Um…we never really got that deep about you. She knows you work as a paralegal.”

  “Yes,” Emmie said, “she’s told me that. Am I missing something?”

  Pam gave her a small smile. “I went to law school Emmie. I’m a licensed attorney and I keep my license current. I don’t practice law for reasons that would take too long to explain right here, right now. We don’t have the time. We need to get you to that so-called hearing.”

  “But what about the party…all this work?”

  Cass pulled Emmie into a hug. “Go and knock ‘em dead. The party will be here when you get back. I only wish I could go with you.”

  “Probably not the best idea,” Pam said.

  Patrice, standing by, forgotten in the flurry of calls and discussion, piped up; “I’m going. Let them try and stop me.”