One More Dance

by Roxanne Rustand

  She turned back to Jared. “I appreciate the invitation to have Thanksgiving dinner with your family. Honestly, I do. But I need to stay here. I’ve got that parasitology paper due, and an exam on equine musculature Monday.”

  “It’s not that far, and we’d come back in the evening. Wayzata’s an hour, tops. There won’t be any rush hour traffic on a holiday, and even with the snow—”

  “I just can’t.” The weight on her heart made it seem harder to breathe. Why hadn’t she fessed up already? Told him the truth? Waiting had only made the issue loom larger, compounding her guilt and her sense of shame.

  It would look all the worse when she finally got up her nerve to tell him.

  He leaned back in his chair, studying her, his expression losing its warmth. “I don’t get it.”

  She’d been falling deeper and deeper in love. An impossible relationship, because once she was honest with him, it would all be over. “I...haven’t exactly told you everything. About my family.”

  “Easy guess. Single mom. Not exactly wealthy, right? A pretty tough childhood?” He raised his hands, palm up, his voice tinged with reproach. “None of that matters. I’m kind of disappointed that you think I’m that shallow.”

  “But—”

  He rocked forward in his chair, slanted a glance at the darkening twilight and grabbed his backpack from the floor as he rose. “Look, I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Say, eleven o’clock. We can go out to my mom’s for dinner, and I’ll have you back here by seven.” He pulled on his heavy jacket, swung his backpack over one shoulder and gave her a one-armed hug and a kiss. “It won’t seem like a holiday if you can’t be with me.”

  She stood in the open doorway of the apartment and waved to him when he reached the stairway at the end of the hall.

  Chicken, she muttered to herself. You are so gutless. You could have told him.

  Still, she now had one more day. A chance to see his home and to meet his mother and younger sister. A chance to make some more memories. A chance to spend the whole day with him. And how perfect was that? She wanted to make every minute count.

  THE TWIN CITIES WERE beautiful year-round to a girl from the far northern plains of the Dakotas.

  At every turn, lakes were tucked like jewels in unexpected places, and during the warmer weather, the endless parks and tree-shaded streets beckoned to hikers and dog-walkers and families pushing strollers. Now, the city lakes abounded with skating rinks and children dressed in bright colors skimming across the ice ,and cross country skiers glided along the park trails.

  Jared had promised to take a "scenic route," and so they'd driven out to Excelsior, then followed Shoreline Drive along the edge of Lake Minnetonka towards Wayzata. The stunning, snow-frosted pines reminded Kate of her grandmother’s snow globe.

  But with every passing mile, her initial uneasiness descended deeper into a serious case of nerves.

  Lovely suburban homes had long since given way to what looked like million dollar lakeshore properties, followed by one gated estate after another.

  Stone walls and dense stands of pine hid most of the homes, but here and there she glimpsed multiple chimneys signifying a palatial house, or caught a peek of a stone dwelling that could’ve been a British castle for all of its many turrets and massive scale.

  “Tell me that we’ve got a long way to go to your mother’s home,” Kate whispered, staring at an ostentatious set of iron gates and pillars marking the driveway of yet another expensive property.

  Jared glanced at her as he hit a remote button on his visor that made the gates swing open, then he flipped on the turn signal.

  “Here? You live here?”

  He shrugged. “My family does."

  She swallowed hard.

  "Nervous?”

  “Um...a little.”

  “Don’t be. It’s just a house.” He turned into a long lane flanked with white fencing that wound up a hill, past stands of pine and a forest of winter-bare oaks. At the top of the hill, the lane opened into a wide, circular drive that arced under the portico of a two-story redbrick home easily the size of her small-town high school.

  Her mouth dropped open and she quickly snapped it shut, hoping he hadn’t noticed. “You...grew up here?” she managed to ask.

  “From tenth grade on.” He lifted a shoulder. “My father inherited it from my grandmother.”

  “I-it’s beautiful.” She stepped out of his car and turned around to find that the hill offered an impressive view of Lake Minnetonka. “You must love this place.”

  “It’s nice, I guess, but it’s way too expensive for my mother to maintain. You wouldn’t believe how the real estate taxes, care of the grounds, and heating bills add up.”

  She managed a polite nod, well aware that he was diplomatically minimizing the astounding family wealth that had to be behind a home like this, just to make her more comfortable. Jared didn’t flaunt his family’s money—he drove an older Mustang and mostly dressed like any other college guy.

  But now she knew his Rolex was real, and if they’d just landed on Mars, she couldn’t have felt more out of place than she did arriving at his home.

  “Come on, let’s go inside,” he said, taking her hand when she lingered by the car. “It’s cold out here, and I promise you that my mom doesn’t bite.”

  “I’m sure she’s lovely.” Kate followed him up the broad front steps to the double doors, each set with mullioned windows. “Will this just be...um...the immediate family?”

  “Just my sister, mom, and us. My uncle Dexter and his family are with his wife’s relatives in Chicago. You can call my mother by her first name, by the way. Sylvia.”

  “I wouldn’t dare.”

  Inside, the entry gave way to a two-story reception area flanked by a sweeping, curved staircase leading to the second floor. Jared took her jacket and his and tossed them on a velvet fainting couch set in front of the windows.

  Imagining butlers and cooks scurrying around behind the scenes, Kate expected to see Mrs. Mathers glide down the staircase in a formal gown, but Jared motioned for Kate to follow, leading the way to the kitchen, where a slender, elegant woman stood at a butcher-block island, eyeing a golden turkey with a measure of distaste.

  She looked up and smiled at Jared, offering her cheek for a quick kiss, gave Kate a dismissive glance, then continued to study the offending bird. “I’m not sure it’s big enough. Do you think so, dear?”

  “It looks fantastic. This is Kate, by the way.”

  Kate moved forward, extending her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

  Sylvia nodded politely without accepting the handshake, her face expressionless. “I’ll make sure we have lots of time to talk a little later.”

  “When can we eat?” Jared peered around her to an open doorway. “Is the table set? Can we help?”

  His mother’s light laugh was silvery, as elegant as she was in her slim black dress and pearls. “I had dinner delivered just minutes ago, and everything else is on the sideboard. If you’ll carry in this platter and help me carve, we can start.”

  “Where’s Julia?”

  “Your sister insisted on going with your uncle Dex, so she could spend the weekend with her cousins. So I’m afraid it’s just the three of us.”

  Outside, the wind picked up, slamming crystalline snow against the windows. Inside, Kate felt a similar chill. Was it her imagination...or had Jared’s mother just taken an instant dislike to her?

  “THIS WAS A WONDERFUL meal,” Jared said as he folded his napkin and placed it next to his plate. “The caterers did a terrific job.”

  “As always,” Sylvia murmured. She tipped her head at Kate. “I’m sure your family has a big get-together and everyone helps out with the cooking, but now it’s my children and me for holidays. I’ve never been particularly gifted in the kitchen, at any rate. So I naturally have everything catered.”

  “That makes perfect sense,” Kate murmured.

  Throughout the meal, Sylvia had spoken to
her only twice, and that had been to request the salt or pepper. Still, the woman had emanated a strange sense of satisfaction when Kate surreptitiously watched Jared for cues on the proper forks and spoons to pick up for each course.

  Apparently oblivious to the uncomfortable undercurrents in the room, Jared had remained his usual congenial self, talking to both of them, regaling them with stories about some of his more challenging moments in law school. If he noticed his mother’s frosty behavior, he gave no sign.

  Sylvia looked over her wineglass at her son. “If you’re done, darling, could you possibly bring in some firewood? We can lay a fire in the living room and have our dessert there.”

  Kate rose to gather the plates when Jared left the table, but Sylvia motioned her to sit back with a dismissive flick of her hand. “The caterers will send staff to deal with this later. I’d rather have a chance to talk.”

  A premonition wrapped icy tentacles around Kate’s stomach. “It was a lovely dinner. Thanks so much for the invitation, Mrs. Mathers.”

  “I’m afraid it wasn’t my idea. It was Jared’s, of course, but perhaps it’s just as well.” Sylvia bared her teeth in a wintry smile. “You see, my dear, you seem to have a very troubling past, and I want you out of his life. So now I’m just wondering. How much do you want him to know?”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  KATE JERKED HER GAZE to the windows, wishing she could see past the reflections to the darkness outside.

  “It will be a while before Jared comes back,” Sylvia said mildly. “The storage building is at the far end of the backyard. There’s plenty of time for us to work through these little details.”

  “I—I don’t know what you mean.” Kate’s heart pounded as if it were trying to break free of her chest.

  “Perhaps you’d like to take Jared to Charlesburg to meet your mother? Or to catch up on some of the local gossip?” Sylvia pursed her lips. “I’m sure Francine Mathers is still quite a hot topic these days. She is your mother, right?”

  “Yes,” Kate whispered, closing her eyes.

  “I’m sorry—I didn’t quite hear you.”

  “Yes. Yes, she is.”

  Sylvia shook her head sadly. “It must have been quite awkward for her, killing your father like that. Murder is such an ugly word.”

  “It was an accident.” Kate gripped the back of a chair with both hands. “He came into the kitchen. They were arguing...and he stumbled into the knife she held in her hand. Accidentally.”

  “A pity that the judge and jury didn’t think so, dear. But perhaps you don’t remember all the facts quite right. You were what—in eighth grade? And the stress of testifying surely must have been something you wanted to forget.”

  “It’s something I think about every day.”

  “Then you must understand my concerns.”

  Kate looked down at her white knuckles. Even now that she was an adult, the shame and fear and panic sometimes came rushing back in vivid images, leaving her in a cold sweat and breathing hard. “I lost my dad, and then I lost my mom, too, for the long years she was incarcerated. Wrongly incarcerated.”

  Sylvia flipped a hand dismissively. “Wrongly or not, I’m afraid you have quite a past...and I’m very afraid of what that could do to Jared’s future if you two ever, well...”

  “We’re barely dating!”

  “But things can happen.” Her mouth formed a moue of distaste. “A girl is careless—perhaps even on purpose. There’s a necessary marriage, and then there you have it. An alliance that could destroy Jared’s future.”

  Kate had already felt self-conscious and out of place in this grand home. But now she felt a flare of outraged anger at the woman’s assumptions. “I’m hardly wanting to trap your son, Mrs. Mathers. I’m in vet school, and I have career goals, too. Marriage and parenthood—in whatever order they occur—have no place in my plans for the next decade.”

  “Things happen all the same.”

  “Not with me.” Kate glanced again at the darkened windows, wishing she could leave this place without making a scene.

  Sylvia toyed with her wineglass, took a sip and studied the sparkling cut of the crystal. “Let me put this another way. What do you see when you look around this house?”

  Caught off guard, Kate darted a quick glance at the towering wall of windows that probably faced a manicured back lawn. The heavy antique dining-room table that could easily seat twenty. A massive, gilt-framed painting of an Edwardian lady, undoubtedly an original.

  “I...I guess I see an elegant home,” she ventured. “You have beautiful taste.”

  “What you see, my dear, is a house of cards.” Sylvia waved a hand toward the glass-fronted hutch, with its backlit display of fine crystal, then up at the glittering chandelier. “This place will belong to Jared and Julia someday. It’s a home for entertaining, for impressing people who must be impressed. My late husband and I hosted many a political fundraiser here. Dinners and festive parties that helped him move forward with his career.”

  She stood and paced the room, then stopped by Kate’s chair. “You are a lovely girl. I can see why Jared is attracted to you. But can you imagine him graduating law, then trying to follow his father’s footsteps with a wife from such a...difficult background?”

  “I have no plans—”

  “The tabloids would have a field day, believe me. These days they’re like ravenous sharks. His chances for the prestigious law firms, the most influential positions, might be seriously damaged.” Sylvia slid into the chair next to Kate and took her hand. “I’ve held on to this place since Ellsworth died because of my children. There’s no way they’d be able to hang on to it if Jared’s career wasn’t a shining success. Do you love him?”

  Kate felt heat rise up her neck and into her cheeks. “No...well...we haven’t really been together that long, and...”

  “If you care at all about him, step away. Don’t let things go any further.”

  “But I’m not like my parents.”

  “Look, I know about the child abuse charges against your father, and that he was an alcoholic. Your mom, too. Is that why she failed to protect your brother?” Sylvia’s voice hardened. “Do you want all of that history splashed across the newspapers and magazines again? Isn’t Kyle a first grade teacher now? What would that humiliation do to his new career? And to Jared’s political future, if he were to marry into such a family? If he runs for the senate, as his father did, your life will be an open book.”

  Kate felt her stomach twist. Kyle had suffered, protecting her from their father. How could she fail to protect him now, in return?

  Apparently satisfied, Sylvia sat back in her chair. “I won’t make a scene over this, as long as you stay away from my son. He never even needs to know we had this talk.”

  Her stomach tightened even more, and all Kate could do was stare silently back at Sylvia in disbelief.

  “Honestly,” Sylvia continued, “the past will probably never come back to haunt you if you’re not in the limelight. Please, I beg you—don’t ruin Jared’s life.”

  “YOU’RE AWFULLY QUIET,” Jared said reaching for Kate’s hand as they came out of a small neighborhood movie theater near the campus. “Didn’t you like the movie?”

  “Loved it. The hero’s acting was amazing. The woman who played his mom, too.” Kate breathed easier, thankful for an innocuous topic.

  It was now two weeks after Thanksgiving, and she still hadn’t been able to walk away from him, though Sylvia’s threat was never far from her thoughts. The knowledge that she was a potential liability for Jared was even more unsettling.

  If she told Jared why she was leaving, she knew he’d stick by her no matter what. But if she selfishly remained silent and stayed, how could she hurt the man she’d come to love?

  “I’ve been thinking,” she said slowly.

  “Sounds like trouble,” he teased, giving her hand an extra squeeze.

  This was so difficult. “You and I are both incredibly busy. Maybe we should
just back off for a while.”

  “Bad idea.” He playfully bumped his upper arm against her shoulder. “Bad, bad, bad.”

  “I mean it.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t afford to think about anything else except school. I’ve been distracted these past couple months, and if I don’t keep my GPA up, it could ruin everything. Just look at how much time we spend going between the two campuses to see each other.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” He slowed to a stop, his gaze riveted on hers. “This is just a joke.”

  “No. It’s not.” She had to look away, because otherwise she would cave in.

  “Sorry, I don’t buy it. Look, if you’re feeling pressured right now, we can just talk on the phone, and you can live at that library of yours. A whole month, if that’s what it takes.”

  “It’s bigger than that, Jared.” He fell silent, and she knew how much she was hurting him. “This next year or two are going to be overwhelming for me. I hear all of the upper-level students talking about it. I just need my space.”

  “It doesn’t have to be this way. I don’t want to lose you, Kate.”

  “Ending this relationship is the best thing you could do for the both of us. Don’t you see that? Look at where you come from. What your plans are. Do you have any idea how badly things could work out? We need to end this now.”

  He rocked back on his heels and swore under his breath. “It’s about that house. My so-called ‘family heritage.’”

  “And your future,” she blurted out, desperate to make him see the truth. If he took her into his arms, she would never have the strength to walk away.

  “My future,” he repeated flatly.

  “Your dad was an influential senator. You can be one, too, if you want. But if you’re saddled with me, what chances would you have? Can you see the headlines?”