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Contents:
Prologue
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Epilogue
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Prologue
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The springtime sunshine shimmered through the stained-glass windows in the old Congregational church. Built in 1834 by Prospect, Alabama's wealthiest families, the magnificent brick structure had withstood the ravages of time, even the War Between the States, and with loving care and several restorations, stood today as not only a house of worship, but a historical treasure. Although she often felt out of place in the church her husband's family had helped establish, Kate attended services every Sunday with Trent and his aunt Mary Belle, Prospect's social grande dame and the bane of Kate's existence. It wasn't that Aunt Mary Belle was ever openly rude to Kate; the exact opposite was true. She smiled at her nephew's wife, patted her affectionately on the back and sung her praises to everyone within earshot. But in subtle ways the woman never let Kate forget that she wasn't quite worthy of Trenton Bayard Winston IV and took it upon herself to continuously tutor Kate on the proper way to do absolutely everything.
Kate refused to allow Aunt Mary Belle to ruin this glorious Easter Sunday—Mary Kate's first Easter. She wanted the day to be perfect for her two-month-old daughter, the joy of her life. Despite the fact that Aunt Mary Belle had chosen both Kate's and Mary Kate's Easter frocks and decided on the luncheon menu, at least Kate had been allowed to put together her child's first Easter basket. Whenever she complained to Trent, asking him why they couldn't move out of the family mansion—another Prospect historical landmark that dated to the early part of the nineteenth century—he'd kiss and hug her and plead with her to be patient and understanding with his aunt.
"I know Aunt Mary Belle can be overbearing, but she means well," Trent had said numerous times. "This is my home—our home—as well as hers. She's like a mother to me. How could I ask her to leave? After all, she was born in this house and has lived here all her life. I grew up here and want to raise my children here, too."
So for nearly two years Kate had endured Aunt Mary Belle's overbearing guidance, but since Mary Kate's birth, the situation had grown worse. Although she never came right out and said as much, it was obvious that Aunt Mary Belle believed she and she alone should have the last word on how her great-niece was raised. For over two months now, Kate had smiled when she wanted to cry. She'd bitten her tongue to keep from lashing out and she'd agreed to things she hated, in order to keep peace in the family. But she had decided things simply had to change—and soon. She wanted a home of her own and this time when she told Trent she wanted them to move, she wouldn't let him sweet-talk her into staying. As much as she loved Trent—and she all but worshiped the ground he walked on—she could not live the rest of her life being treated at best like an ignorant child and at worst like a servant.
"Why don't we walk home from church today?" Kate suggested to Trent. "It's only a few blocks and it's such a beautiful day." She wanted time alone with her husband this afternoon so she could lead him by the cottage on Madison Avenue. The house had been empty for several years and although it needed some repairs, it was still a lovely home. The place consisted of a huge lot and the house itself was probably a good three-thousand square feet, large by most standards, although much smaller than Winston Hall, which boasted over ten-thousand square feet.
"Not today, Kate. You know Aunt Mary Belle has invited the minister and his family to dinner with us and—"
"Please, Trent. We won't be late for dinner. I promise."
"But we have the car here, today. Remember, you didn't want to ride with Aunt Mary Belle today, so we—"
"Send Guthrie back later this afternoon for your car. Please. This is important to me."
Trent grinned at her—his sexy smile always turned her inside out—then he slipped his arm around her waist. "Here, let me take Mary Kate. She'll get too heavy for you on the walk home."
Smiling, laughter bubbling up inside her, Kate snuggled close to Trent. Keeping Mary Kate secure on her hip, she stood on tiptoe and kissed her husband's cheek. If only talking him into purchasing the old Kirkendall House on Madison proved half as easy as persuading him to walk home from church, all her dreams just might come true. Dreams of having a home of her own, a place that didn't make her feel as if she were living in a museum.
Just as Kate turned to hand Mary Kate to Trent, Aunt Mary Belle cleared her throat. "Public displays of affection aren't in good taste," she said quietly so only Trent and Kate could hear her.
Ignoring his aunt's comment, Trent turned to her and said, "Kate and I thought we'd walk home from church today. And you needn't worry about our being late for lunch. We won't keep Reverend and Mrs. Faulkner waiting."
"If you intend to walk, then how do you plan for me to get home. I have no desire to walk." Mary Belle laid her ring-adorned left hand over her heart and sighed dramatically.
"Why would you have to walk?" Kate asked. "Guthrie can—"
"I told Guthrie not to bother picking me up, that I'd ride home with y'all." Mary Belle smiled triumphantly.
Trent squeezed Kate around the waist. "We can't ask Aunt Mary Belle to walk, can we? She doesn't approve of ladies perspiring."
"I do not perspire," his aunt corrected him. "Ladies glow or glisten. They never perspire."
"Give Aunt Mary Belle the keys to your car," Kate suggested. "She can drive—"
"I'm unaccustomed to Trent's car and I do so hate to drive any vehicle, but when I'm forced to drive myself I prefer my own Lincoln."
"You could make an exception, just this once, couldn't you?" Kate had no intention of losing this battle. She had lost far too many during her marriage. Maybe she was being silly to make such a big deal out of this, but damn it—oh, yes, excuse me, ladies don't curse, either, do they?—she was sick and tired of Aunt Mary Belle running every aspect of her life.
"My dear Kate, is it so much to ask that an old lady, wearing high heels, not be forced to walk endless blocks on a warm Sunday afternoon? Or to be made uncomfortable by driving an unfamiliar car?"
Kate cringed. Trent chuckled. He adored his stuffy, snobby aunt and accepted everything she said and did with good humor. He'd once told Kate that he knew Aunt Mary Belle's many faults only too well and never took her too seriously. But he loved her. She had been both mother and father to him since his parents' untimely deaths when he was twelve.
Trent took his aunt's gloved hand. "Come along. We'll all ride home together. No need to fret." He glanced at Kate, who glared at him. "You and I will find time later today for a walk."
No we won't, Kate wanted to shout. I will not compromise this time. Just this once, take my side. Please, Trent, don't let her win. Not again.
"By all means, you go ahead and drive Aunt Mary Belle home. We certainly don't want to do anything that might displease her." Kate looked her husband square in the eyes, tilted her chin and gave him a tense smile. "Mary Kate and I are going to walk home." With that said, she turned and headed down the sidewalk.
"Kate," Trent called to her.
Ignoring him, she increased her pace and hurried away from him.
"Kate!"
Don't shout, dear, it's so unbecoming, Kate could almost hear Aunt Mary Belle scolding Trent. But she was too far away from them to actually hear their conversation. Various church members spoke to her, some nodded, and several, who had probably heard Trent calling her name, looked at her peculiarly. She nodded and smiled and kept on walking. Faster and faster.
Mary Kate whimpered. Kate slowed her pace, then halted to check on her daughter. "What's the matter, sweetheart?" Her baby girl looked up at her with big brown eyes identical to Trent's. "Is Mommy walking
too fast? Or do you realize I'm upset?"
Mary Kate gurgled and cooed. Kate adjusted her child's hand-smocked pink bonnet. A large blond curl popped out from under the brim to lay against her forehead.
Kate walked down Third Street
. Only two blocks until Madison. If she couldn't show her husband her dream house, at least she could show her daughter. And they'd take as long as they liked. She didn't care if they were late for lunch. Let Aunt Mary Belle gripe and grumble. Let Reverend and Mrs. Faulkner wait. And if Trent was upset with her, she didn't care.
The Kirkendall house was on a corner lot at the end of the four-hundred block of Madison. According to the Realtor Kate had spoken to about the property, the house was a Sears Roebuck structure built in 1924. Painted white, with green shutters, a gabled roof and a wide, wraparound porch, it wasn't anything fancy, just homey. A white picket fence encased the front yard. This was the kind of house Kate had always wanted.
"Look at that big front porch," Kate said to her baby. "We'll put a swing on that end and a couple of big rocking chairs. We can come out here and I'll rock you to sleep for your afternoon naps." Kate reached down, unlatched the front gate and walked down the brick sidewalk. "Look, sweetheart, there's a huge backyard. We'll get you a swing set and a playhouse and—"
"How'd do, ma'am," a woman's voice called out behind her.
Gasping at the sound of the unexpected voice, Kate whirled around and stared wide-eyed at the tall, rather gangly young woman not more than fifteen feet behind her. "Who—who are you?"
"Oh, dear, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. But I'm new to Prospect. My husband and I are moving here from Birmingham and I happened to notice the For Sale sign."
Kate let out a relieved sigh. How silly of her to have overreacted, to have been momentarily frightened. Then the woman's comment registered in Kate's mind. This person was interested in the Kirkendall house. No, please, this is my house. My husband and daughter and I are going to live here and be so very happy. You'll have to find yourself another house.
"This house is really old and needs a lot of repairs. I'm sure you can find something you'd like much better," Kate said.
The woman wore jeans, a nondescript white blouse and white sneakers. Her hair was short and dark. And she wore sunglasses, which she didn't remove even when she walked into the shade as she approached Kate.
"Perhaps you're right. My husband would prefer something that we can move into without having to do any work." The woman reached out and touched Mary Kate's cheek. "She's beautiful. How old is she?"
"She'll be three months old the fourth of next month."
"We're trying to have a baby, but…" The woman paused, then swallowed as if trying not to cry. "Would you mind if I hold her?"
Kate felt so sorry for this poor woman. What would it be like, she wondered, to want a child and be unable to have one? She'd gotten pregnant immediately as soon as she and Trent started trying.
"She's a bit of a mommy's girl," Kate said as she handed her daughter to the friendly stranger. "I'm Kate Winston and this is Mary Kate."
The woman took Mary Kate into her arms. "Sweet baby. Your mommy is so lucky to have you." She smiled at Kate. "I'm Ann Smith." She glanced at the house. "Are you the owner?"
"No, I'm not, but I have to admit that I'm interested in buying this house." Kate surveyed the house from the flight of concrete steps leading up to the porch, to the welcoming front door flanked by window panels and all the way up to the dormer roofline. "I'd hoped to show this house to my husband today and—"
Mary Kate whimpered loudly. Kate turned. The stranger was walking down the brick sidewalk toward the street. What did she think she was doing? Where was she going?
"Hey, you, come back here." Kate ran down the sidewalk. "Stop! Stop right this minute!" Was this poor woman trying to steal Mary Kate?
With her heart pounding like mad, Kate caught up with the woman just as she walked through the gateway. When she clamped her hand down on the woman's shoulder and reached out for Mary Kate, a large, strong hand grabbed her from behind and jerked her backward, away from the woman. Fighting fiercely, Kate was no match for the man who shoved her to the ground, then kicked her in the ribs. Kate balled up in pain and screamed.
"Get the kid in the car," the man shouted.
Yelling for help, crying out for her baby, Kate tried to stand, but the man knotted his hand into a fist and hit her several times, knocking her to her knees with the final punch. Her mouth and nose bled profusely. Pain radiated through her body, but she crawled up the sidewalk and watched helplessly as the woman got in the car with Mary Kate and the man jumped behind the wheel and sped off. Unable to maintain her balance, she fell over on her side.
"Oh, God, help me! Please, please!"
It didn't happen, she told herself. It couldn't possibly have happened. Not in Prospect, Alabama. And not to her. She was Mrs. Trenton Bayard Winston IV.
"Mary Kate…" Tears poured down her cheeks as she struggled to stand.
She heard people running, coming toward her. Then she heard voices. As she looked up from where she lay, unable to do more than lift her hand in a plea for help, she recognized Portia and Robert Meyer, who lived two houses down from the Kirkendall place.
"Mary Kate!" Kate called out her daughter's name. "They—they took my baby!"
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Chapter 1
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"How long will you be staying, ma'am?" the hotel clerk, whose name tag read B. Walding, asked, a wide smile on his boyish face.
"I'm not sure," Kate replied. "A few days, possibly longer. I'm sorry I can't be more specific. Will it be a problem?"
"We aren't overbooked by any means," Mr. Walding told her. "We have more vacancies here at Magnolia House during the winter months and this being January, we're practically empty. Of course we fill up pretty quick over the holidays and in May, during Pilgrimage Week, we're always booked solid."
Oh, yes, she remembered Pilgrimage Week, one of Mary Belle Winston's favorite times, when Prospect's Junior League and the various garden clubs joined forces with the historical society to act as hostesses at the historical places in the little town and surrounding county. Aunt Mary Belle opened up Winston Hall to tourists and excelled in her role as mistress of the grand old estate. During her two-year marriage to Trent, Kate had been allowed to dress in costume, too, and assist Trent's aunt as a hostess. Kate had always felt out of place in the pantaloons and hoop skirt. Since she knew for a fact that her family had been poor dirt farmers for generations, she doubted any of her ancestresses had ever owned anything half so fine.
Kate shook off the memories, unsnapped her shoulder bag and removed her wallet. "I don't suppose y'all have room service, do you?"
The freckle-faced clerk grinned and shook his head. "No, ma'am, we don't. But if you want a plate lunch or a sandwich, I can run over to McGuire's and get something for you."
McGuire's. Best barbecue and ribs in southeast Alabama. She and Trent had often eaten at McGuire's when they'd been dating. "Is that place still open?"
"Sure is." Mr. Walding studied her closely. "You been to Prospect before, have you?"
"Yes. Years ago."
"Well, we're glad to have you back, Miss—?"
"Ms. Malone." Kate handed him her credit card. "Kate Malone."
"Ms. Malone, we're glad you're back in Prospect for a visit. You got folks hereabouts?"
"No, I— No I don't have any relatives here in Prospect." Not unless you counted an ex-husband and his aunt. Or a few of her stepfather's distant cousins.
"I can run over to McGuire's for you, if you'd like."
"Thanks, Mr. Walding, but I'll just pick up something later."
"Please, call me Brian." He zipped her credit card quickly and returned it to her, then handed her a key. A real key. "Room one-oh-four. Want me to carry your bag for you?"
"No, thanks," Kate told him. "I travel light." She hoisted the vinyl carryall over her shoulder and gla
nced around the lobby.
"One-oh-four is to your right."
Kate smiled at the clerk. "Oh, by the way, Brian, does the Winston family still live at Winston Hall?"
"Do you know the family?"
"I knew Trent Winston."
Brian grinned. "I guess that Trent Winston knows every pretty girl who's ever lived in Prospect and at least half who've just passed through."
"Is that right?"
"Well, Ms. Malone, if you ever knew him … of course that depends on how long ago you knew him. But for the past ten years, he's been quite the man about town, if you know what I mean. Ever since his wife up and left him…" Brian leaned over the reception desk and lowered his voice. "Do you know about his wife and daughter?"
Kate's stomach knotted painfully. She shook her head, falsely denying any knowledge.
"I wasn't living here, then, mind you. I came here from Dothan about seven years ago. But it seems Trent Winston's baby daughter was kidnapped and his wife left him. Folks say his wife went kind of funny in the head after—"
"That's terrible about his wife and child," Kate said, not wanting to hear the local gossip about how she went crazy after Mary Kate was abducted. She knew only too well how close she came to a complete nervous breakdown. "Does Trent … does Mr. Winston and his aunt still live at Winston Hall?"
"Yes, ma'am. Miss Mary Belle still lives there and despite the stroke she had last year, she manages to oversee what little real society there is left in Prospect. And Mr. Trent's a circuit court judge now. Got elected by a landslide. Heck, every female in the county voted for him."
Keeping her smile in place, Kate quickly escaped from the chatty Mr. Walding and hurried down the corridor toward one-oh-four. After unlocking the door, she entered the small but rather elegant room. Magnolia House had been built at the turn of the century, and except for a dozen years in the early sixties to mid-seventies, had been open for business. Over thirty years ago the town had purchased the building and statewide investors, with a penchant for preserving history, had restored the old place. Most buildings and houses in Prospect were steeped in history, and keeping the past alive was important to a lot of people, but the only part of the past that mattered to Kate was eleven years and nine months ago. One particular Easter Sunday when Mary Kate Winston had been stolen from her mother's arms.
LAYING HIS CLAIM Page 1