Forbidden Entry

by Sylvia Nobel

  When everyone chimed in, echoing my sentiments, Tally grinned with pleasure, then said, “Let’s head over to the house so everybody can wash up and then we’ll get this party started.”

  My parents were still marveling at the idea that an outdoor party was even possible during the month of December when the first guests began to arrive. When we reached the front door, Tally and I paused to trade an anxious look. I knew we were thinking the same thing. “Might as well get it over with,” he whispered in my ear as we entered the warm kitchen, which bustled with activity. Gloria, the family’s treasured Hispanic housekeeper, and her younger sisters, Moya and Brisa, greeted us with genial smiles. Stomach clenched nervously, I looked around for Ruth, but she was nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t decide whether I was disappointed or relieved.

  “Oh, my goodness! Will you look at this!” my mother marveled, staring in disbelief at the long kitchen table overflowing with plates of appetizers, bowls of tossed greens, potato and macaroni salads, cowboy beans, huge trays of marinating ribs, steaks and chicken plus an impressive variety of pies, sheet cakes and several platters of cookies.

  Overcome by the divine aroma and array of mouth-watering dishes spread out before me, I couldn’t resist sampling a few bites as Tally made the round of introductions and then escorted my family to the back of the house to freshen up. He returned moments later, gave me a quick kiss and headed for the door, saying he’d see me later. I was washing my hands in the kitchen sink when Ronda breezed in moments later, looking more dressed up than I’d ever seen her, all decked out in black jeans, gold-fringed shirt and black vest. When I complimented her on the outfit and praised her organizational skills her normally sullen expression brightened perceptibly. After she had given instructions to the staff on where to transport the food, I ventured, “So, ah, where is your mother?”

  She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “Probably still holed up in her room. She’s been sort of belligerent all day.”

  “About what?”

  “The barbeque. She’s been bitching about all the commotion and stuff. I guess it’s stressing her out.”

  My jaw tightened. “So, I gather the new medication isn’t working.”

  “It might if she’d take it once in a while.”

  Great. Was it really too much to ask that just this one time she come out of her room, or smoking lair, as I called it, and act like a normal human being for a few hours? Spiteful old bitch.

  Ronda’s cell phone rang and she put it to her ear, listened intently, then said, “Okay, be right out,” shoved it in her back pocket, grabbed up a covered dish and called over her shoulder smiling, “Lucy’s here with her yummy biscuits,” before rushing outside.

  Lucinda was bringing biscuits? That frosted me.

  “All this fresh air has fired up my appetite!” my dad announced with a winning smile, clomping back into the kitchen with my mom and Sean close behind. “I’m so hungry, I could eat an entire cow right now.”

  With effort, I suppressed my aggravation and put on a happy face. “I think that can be arranged.”

  Outside in the cold night air once more, we were caught up in the festive atmosphere, listening to foot-stomping country music and lively conversations as we threaded our way through the crowd of guests. It seemed as though I’d introduced them to half the townspeople and a fair number of neighboring ranch owners by the time we got to the bar and ordered margaritas from Ginger’s boyfriend, Doug, who was bartending. I wanted to ask him how she was doing, but could tell he was too busy to talk. Sudden guilt grabbed me. Damn! I still hadn’t had time to call her. Instead, I sent her a quick text telling her I was thinking about her and would talk to her soon.

  Sean opted for beer and within minutes, had hooked up with Jim Sykes and his girlfriend Sheryl, plus several other men and a couple of young women I didn’t recognize. As I helped myself to chicken wings, I noticed that the Hinkle twins, well known in the community as troublemakers, had also joined Sean’s group. Meanwhile, Morton Tuggs and his wife Mary arrived and were soon engaged in an animated discussion with my parents regarding all the sightseeing destinations we planned to visit.

  The smoky air was thick with the delicious aroma of grilling steaks by the time I finished my second drink and had a nice buzz going. My earlier irritation had all but vanished when I heard a familiar throaty laugh behind me. Turning my head, I spotted Lucinda talking with Tally and standing waaaay too close. Her hot pink western shirt, unbuttoned practically to her waist, blazed with what looked like a gazillion rhinestones and her cream-colored jeans were so tight they looked like they’d been sprayed on. In fact, they were so snug no one could possibly question her gender. Her blatantly flirtatious behavior spawned a sudden rush of jealousy. What a total slut!

  The tap on my shoulder made me flinch. “Kendall, how are you, my dear?” Still fuming, I dragged my gaze away and swung around to see Walter Zipp’s hefty wife smiling at me with her great, big rabbit teeth. “Oh hi, Lavelle. I’m…just…perfect.”

  “Well, that’s good. Listen, Walter wanted me to give you his apology for not being here tonight,” she announced, gripping a platter of food piled in a dangerously high pyramid. “He was feeling so rotten he came home from work an hour early and he’s been either in bed or in the bathroom ever since.”

  That didn’t sound promising. “Sorry to hear that. Did you call Dr. Garcia?”

  She popped a cherry tomato into her mouth and chewed. “Yes, he phoned something in to the drug store, but I can’t get it until they open tomorrow morning.”

  My spirits wilted. “I see. Well, tell him I hope he feels better soon.” And what if he didn’t? Tugg was going to be in one a hell of a mess next week. Could the timing possibly be worse? “Thanks for coming, Lavelle. I hope you enjoy yourself anyway.”

  “Oh, I intend to. This is quite a party! Oh, hey there, Mavis!” she shouted over the music to an elderly, white-haired woman waving to her. She excused herself, waddled away, miraculously balancing the tower of food, and left me standing there wondering if I should mention her news to Tugg, who was engaged in lively conversation with my parents and two other couples. No. I’d wait. Walter might be fine by Monday. Why worry him unnecessarily?

  I looked around again and Tally was no longer there. Relief flowed through me at the sight of Vernon leading Lucinda onto the dance floor where her suggestive moves captured the attention of every man, while the women glared daggers at her. I had to smile. At least I wasn’t the only one who found her conduct thoroughly distasteful.

  I went in search of Tally and bumped into Ronda carrying a tray of biscuits. “I got Ma to come out,” she informed me, inclining her head towards the big canopy. “She’s in there having supper with Dot.”

  I pulled a blank. “Dot?”

  “You know her,” she explained with an impatient sigh. “You met her right here at the barbeque last summer.” I must have still looked blank because she added, “She brought all those great apple pies everyone raved about, remember? I think you ate three pieces.”

  “Oh, yes!” I remembered the melt-in-your mouth pies and also that the woman’s face was so incredibly sun-weathered it looked like a wrinkled old work glove. “Thanks, Ronda.”

  She started to walk away and then swiveled around. “If you still want her to meet your family, I’d suggest getting over there before she has any more to drink.”

  I frowned at her. “Really? Should she be mixing booze with prescription drugs?”

  “Hey, I don’t have time to babysit her tonight. I’m just telling it like it is.” With that, she hurried away as I pulled out my cell phone to dial Tally’s number. It was vital that he be present to act as a referee should any problems arise. His number rang and rang and went to voicemail. Why wasn’t he answering? Did he even have his phone turned on?

  I left him a terse message asking him to please be there for the long-awaited, long-d
readed introduction to Ruth and then went looking for my folks. It took me several minutes to locate them and they had no idea where Sean was, so I sent him a text as well. After promising Tugg and Mary that we’d catch up with them later, I escorted my parents towards the big tent. Once inside, we worked our way between the tables crowded with families eating, drinking and generally having a great time. We had to stop repeatedly for more introductions. Another ten minutes passed before I noticed Ruth seated at a small table in the furthest corner, deep in conversation with Dot Mullen. I took a measured breath. Show time! The closer we got, the more my agitation increased. Apparently meeting my family was so unimportant that not only had Ruth declined to dress for the occasion, she had not even bothered to comb her stringy, oily-looking salt and pepper hair. In fact, she looked like she’d just crawled out of a dumpster. Dressed in her usual ratty, old sheepskin coat, faded jeans and scuffed boots, she had a cigarette going and a drink in her hand. She was facing away from me and I was poised to call her name when she stated in a loud voice, “All I can say is I hope my son has better luck with this redhead than the last one. That dumb bitch was a huge pain in the ass and this one isn’t much of an improvement.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Dot asked, just seconds before she spotted me.

  “I asked her to do me one tiny favor and what does she do? Runs around all over town spilling the family secrets and spreading vicious lies to try and ruin my good reputation.”

  Her face red with embarrassment, Dot lowered her eyes and the look of stunned disbelief on my parent’s faces was classic. Me? I felt like the top of my head was going to blow off. I could not think of a polite response and wondered if it was even worth the effort to rebut her lies. I had a sneaking suspicion that she’d seen us coming and planned that we would overhear her disparaging remarks. Oh, how I would love to wring her scrawny neck. But, in an attempt to maintain peace, I decided to ignore her. Summoning what little patience I possessed, I forced a cordial tone. “Hello, Ruth. I’d like you to meet my parents, Bill and Alana O’Dell.”

  She sat perfectly still for a few seconds before slowly turning her head in our direction. Her mouth pursed tightly shut, she gave my parents a cursory glance, then fastened her fathomless dark eyes on me and said nothing. My dad finally broke the silence. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he said, “Mrs. Talverson, we’ve…ah…been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.”

  “Have you now?” She took another long sip of her drink and sucked deeply on her cigarette before adding gruffly, “I hope you’re enjoying…all of this,” she said waving her hand in a wide arc. “My children have gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to impress you people.” Her gaunt face turned crafty. “So tell me, are you impressed?”

  You people? Could the old bat be more insulting? Their faces frozen in shock, my folks leveled a questioning look at me as if to ask, ‘What do you want us to say?’ which only increased my sense of regret that I had not told them the truth about her condition.

  “Actually, we are very impressed,” my mother answered coldly, her eyes hard with dislike, “and doubly so that your son had the good sense to choose this very talented, exceptionally beautiful redhead to be his bride. Aren’t you?”

  Way to go, Mom! I tossed her an appreciative glance and absorbed my dad’s disconcerted stare. Not one to be outfoxed, Ruth casually stubbed out her cigarette. “Oh, I can hardly wait.” Her cynical half-smile disturbed me, but I reminded myself that her hostility was indicative of her ongoing mental and emotional issues. And alcohol could also be a contributing factor.

  Refusing to be drawn into a heated verbal exchange she was so obviously spoiling for, I clapped my hands together in mock glee. “Well, hasn’t this been fun?” I almost laughed out loud at Ruth’s startled expression. “Mom, Dad, what do you say we go get some of those super-expensive steaks that have been provided to impress you?”

  They both stared at me as if I’d lost my mind before realization dawned in my dad’s eyes. “Great idea, Pumpkin! I’m hungry enough to eat two or three at least. Let’s go, Alana.” He positioned his crutches firmly, nodded curtly to Ruth, and as we walked away, I turned back and fired her a challenging look. “We both know the truth, don’t we? You and I will talk later.” The nasty old bitch had better get used to the idea that the new Mrs. Talverson wasn’t going to put up with her shit.

  Once we were out of earshot, my mother grabbed my arm and gave me a penetrating look. “What a thoroughly obnoxious woman. What’s her problem anyway?”

  “No wonder you want to live a mile away from her,” my dad chimed in, shaking his head with obvious concern. “In fact, I don’t think that’s nearly far enough.”

  I broke eye contact for a few seconds then looked back at them. “I should have told you sooner, but...here’s the deal. Ruth is bipolar and God knows what else. She’s on quite a few medications, when she chooses to take them. She can be bearable at times and unpleasant and hard to live with at others, as you saw. Unfortunately, she’s part of the family package.”

  Worry lines creased my mother’s forehead. “Honey, this is going to be really rough on you. Why didn’t you tell us?”

  I stared up at the stars for several seconds before answering. “Because I know you haven’t been happy about my decision to stay here in Arizona and marry Tally and, well, I didn’t want to add one more reason for you to be critical of him.”

  Looking contrite, she said, “I’m sorry. I should have known better than to rush to judgment. Now that I’ve met him, he seems…like a truly fine man.” She paused as if searching for the right words. “I honestly didn’t think this would be a way of life that you would…I mean I didn’t think you’d want to stay here forever and live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. I thought you’d want to come home again…” her voice trailed off when Tally suddenly pushed through the crowd and strode to my side, holding his cell phone. I noticed the odd expression on his face and he no doubt saw the look of exasperation on mine. Even though I was glad to see him, I couldn’t help but be a little ticked off that he’d left me hanging out to dry with his mother.

  “Yes, I got your message. Sorry about the delay. I’ve been tied up with a rather ticklish problem—”

  “Yeah,” I interrupted him, “and speaking of ticklish, your mother was in rare form tonight. I would say rude was the operative word.”

  He glanced at my parents. “I apologize. I had planned to be here but ah…listen, would you excuse us for a few minutes?” He took my hand. “We’ll be right back.”

  I stared at him, unable to decipher the strange message in his eyes.

  “Sure thing,” my dad said quickly, both of them casting me a curious look. “We were just about to get some dinner.” As they moved towards the grill, Tally steered me into the shadows away from the noisy crowd of people. There was just enough ambient light playing across his rugged features to reveal his serious expression. “Tally, what’s going on?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “I’ll say. First, you owe me an apology for leaving me in such a bind tonight. Your mother was just awful! It was unbelievably embarrassing! And secondly, why the hell did you invite Lucinda here tonight? You know very well that I cannot stand her!”

  “What? Why are we talking about Lucinda?”

  “Because, she told me you begged her to come here. Really? You begged her to bring biscuits?”

  “Biscuits? I didn’t beg her to bring biscuits.” He sounded incredulous.

  “Ah ha! I knew she was lying! And I saw her flaunting her giant—”

  He broke in harshly, “Kendall, calm down! This is not important—”

  I cut in, “It is to me.”

  His growl of frustration sounded like one of the dogs. “Damn it! What do I have to do? Arrange a duel for you two or maybe you ladies would rather duke it out?”

  “Only one of us is a lad
y and yes, that sounds agreeable to me. I’d love to punch her lights out.” Only after the words escaped my mouth did I realize how ridiculously childish I sounded.

  He grabbed my shoulders, his face only inches from mine. “Listen to me, my incredibly adorable, but exceedingly pig-headed lady. You’re going to have to get over Lucinda. In fact, instead of badmouthing her, you ought to be thanking her.”

  I was so incensed, I could hardly breathe. “Thank her! For what?”

  “We’d have no live music tonight if it wasn’t for her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Apparently she’s buds with Randall and somehow sweet-talked him into playing here tonight. Now will you please shut up and let me speak?”

  His explanation left me feeling foolish and deflated. I was glad the light was low enough that he couldn’t see my flushed cheeks. “Sure. What’s up?”

  He lifted his hat, combed his fingers through his thick hair and replaced it before answering. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of your folks because I knew it would get them all riled up, but Jake caught Sean with Danny and Daryl Hinkle, plus a couple of girls I don’t know, all smoking pot behind the barn.”

  “I had a bad feeling when I saw him with them earlier. Why did you invite those boys anyway?” I called them boys but they were actually only two years younger than me. I’d yet to meet them in person, but learned their history of school bullying and scrapes with the law as juveniles while writing a piece on Daryl’s arrest for a DUI last summer. The record also showed they had been arrested two years earlier for disorderly conduct and assault after their alleged involvement in a nightclub brawl in Scottsdale. The charges had subsequently been dropped due to lack of evidence and witnesses refusing to come forward.

  “I didn’t,” Tally informed me crisply. “Apparently, they piggybacked on our invitation to Elizabeth. She’s had a pretty rough year since John died. It would have been cruel not to invite her, don’t you think?”