High Meadow

by Joan Wolf

  "This will be the first year that he doesn't believe in Santa Claus," Kate said as she came into the living room where Molly was reading a book. "I was hoping to get another year, but the kids on the bus put a period to that."

  Molly looked up. "Everything has its season, dear. It will be fun having Daniel and Alberto here. I think they'll both get a lot of enjoyment out of watching Ben."

  "I'm surprised that Alberto didn't go back to Colombia."

  Molly raised an eyebrow. "I could say the same thing about Daniel."

  "He usually goes to Colombia for Christmas, but he said that this year he wanted to spend Christmas with Ben."

  "It will be nice for Ben to have him here."

  Kate perched on the sofa arm. "Mom, I'm afraid we're becoming too dependent on Daniel. He's around so much. Good grief, he even fixed the broken microwave for us."

  "It wasn't broken. The circuit breaker had just flipped."

  "We didn't know that. We would have called a repair service."

  "True."

  "And Alberto is over a lot, too. Is there something serious between you two?"

  Molly parried, "I could ask the same thing about you and Daniel."

  "Daniel comes to see Ben."

  "Does he?"

  "Yes."

  "He's asked you out without Ben."

  "He asks me out because I'm Ben's mom." There was a note of finality in Kate's voice. "But Alberto doesn't ask you out because of Ben."

  "As I believe I told you once before, Alberto and I have a lot in common. We both love books and music. We just have a lot to talk about."

  "Dad mostly read news magazines and things like Equus."

  Molly thought for a minute, then answered quietly, "I loved your father dearly, but we did not share many interests outside you children."

  "Do you think you might marry Alberto?"

  "I have no plans to marry anyone, Kate. I'm simply enjoying Alberto's company. I'm sure he feels the same way about me."

  "Well, if you have a good time with him, Mom, then go ahead. You deserve to have some fun."

  "So do you, Kate. I'm glad to see you getting out a little. Daniel has been good for you."

  "It's amazing, but we seem to have a lot to talk about, too. And it's not just Ben and horses."

  Molly smiled. "That's nice."

  "Do you think we can put Ben's presents out now? It's going to take a while to get them up from the basement. I told him he was not to come downstairs on pain of death."

  Molly laughed and closed her book. "Okay, let's get started then."

  It snowed during the night, and the world was glistening white when Daniel awoke on Christmas morning. He looked at his bedside clock, turned off the alarm he would not need, and got out of bed. After he had dressed he went along to the kitchen for breakfast. Alberto was there before him and had made coffee.

  "Feliz Navidad" he said to Daniel, and held out his arms. The two men embraced. "Do you want to eat breakfast here or go over to the Foleys' first?" Alberto asked.

  "Let's have a cup of coffee and then go over to see Ben. Kata said to come at eight, and it's almost seven-thirty now."

  "All right."

  It was still snowing lightly when they were leaving, and Daniel drove his Lexus SUV with the four-wheel drive, a car he had bought for just such occasions as this. The plows had been out, and the main roads were clear, although the road to High Meadow was still clogged with snow. Daniel needed his SUV to get down it, and to get up the Foleys' driveway. They arrived at eight-fifteen.

  Daniel could hear Ben's voice as he rang the bell. "They're here! They're here! I'll get the door, Mommy. They're here."

  Daniel smiled. "Is he so joyful to see us, or is it that now he gets to open his presents?"

  "A little bit of both perhaps," Alberto replied tactfully.

  The door swung open, and Ben stood there in his blue pajamas. "Daddy!" He looked at the shopping bag Daniel was carrying. "More presents?"

  Daniel laughed. "Yes, more presents."

  "Come in," Molly said as she came out into the hall from the living room. "Let me take your coats."

  "I still have one more present in the car, Molly," Daniel said. "I'll just get it now." He came back in carrying an enormous box wrapped in holiday paper.

  "Is that for me?" Ben asked in awe.

  "It's for you."

  "Wow."

  The coats were disposed of, and they all made their way into the living room, where Kate was sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee. She got up when they came in and Daniel went to kiss her cheek. Her skin felt like a flower petal under his lips. "Feliz Navidad, Kata," he said.

  She looked up at him with those beautiful aquamarine eyes, "Merry Christmas, Daniel. You're fifteen minutes late. Ben has been having heart failure."

  "It took us a little longer because of the snow."

  "Your tree is beautiful with all the presents under it," Alberto said.

  The tree was the largest the Foleys had had since Kate's father died. Daniel and Alberto had gone with Kate, Ben, and Molly to cut it down and, since they had the men to carry it, they were able to get a big tree. When they had finished decorating it, it took up almost a quarter of the room.

  "Can we open the presents now?" Ben asked.

  All of the adults looked at his eager face. "Pick a present and open it," Kate said.

  "Can I open Daddy's present first? It's the biggest."

  "Go ahead," Kate said. She was wearing her usual uniform of jeans and a sweater, but she had moccasins on her feet instead of shoes.

  Ben began to rip at the wrapping paper, peeling it off and throwing it. Molly said, "I'd better get a garbage bag before we have paper all over the living room."

  "What is it?" Ben said, as he looked at the huge cardboard box that was revealed to him.

  "Is it a computer?" Kate asked.

  "Yes," Daniel said. "It's a computer, Ben."

  Ben's eyes were huge. "You mean I have my very own computer? Like Connor?"

  "I'm sure you'll be glad to share it with your mother and grandmother."

  "Is it like the computers we have in school?"

  Daniel looked at Kate, "It's a standard PC from Gateway. I hope it's okay."

  "It's fine." He couldn't quite read the expression on her face.

  "Can I open it up so I can see it?" Ben asked.

  "I will help you, Ben," Alberto said.

  Daniel said to Kate in a low voice, "Perhaps I should have consulted you first, but I knew you didn't have a computer in the house, and in this day and age . . ."

  "It's a great present," she said. She wrinkled her nose. He wondered if she knew how charming she looked when she did that. "It's just... all his friends at school are into video games and I've been able to stave him off because we didn't have a computer. Now we do."

  "Surely some video games are acceptable. And the computer has an encyclopedia on it as well as a dictionary, a thesaurus, and an assortment of other things that will help with his schoolwork."

  She smiled. Did she know how gorgeous she was when she smiled? "Thanks, Daniel. It was a thoughtful gift."

  The computer had been unveiled, and Daniel said, "If there's time later on, I'll set it up for you."

  Kate looked at Molly. "Where can we put it?"

  Molly said, "In the spare bedroom. But we'll have to get a computer desk."

  Kate, who did not want it in Ben's bedroom, nodded her approval.

  The next hour was spent in an orgy of gift opening. Daniel gave Kate a silver necklace set with a single aquamarine. It was very lovely, very simple, and the kind of gift she could accept without worrying about the cost.

  "Thank you," she said. "It's beautiful."

  "It matches your eyes," he said lightly.

  "It's lovely, dear," Molly said.

  Kate gave Daniel the Bach recording that Alberto had suggested, and he seemed very pleased with it. Molly and Alberto exchanged books. Ben also got some books from the Captain
Underpants series.

  Daniel was incredulous. "Captain Underpants?"

  "They're all the rage," Kate assured him. "Ben loves them."

  But clearly what Ben loved the most were the Bionicle Legos. He quickly became absorbed in looking at the designs and the kinds of things he could build with them.

  "Well, we've all had quite a haul," Molly said, when all the wrapping paper had been stuffed into a plastic trash bag. "How about breakfast?"

  "Sounds good to me," Daniel said.

  "Pancakes?"

  "Delicious."

  Molly started for the kitchen, and Alberto said, "I will help you, Molly," and went with her.

  Daniel, who had been sitting on the other end of the sofa from Kate, turned to her, and said softly, "Thank you, Kata, for having us this morning. This was one of the best Christmases of my life."

  "I'm glad. He's a wonderful little boy, isn't he?"

  "He is. Would you give me your hand?" With a puzzled look, she held it out to him. He took it, raised it to his lips, kissed the palm, then folded her fingers over the kiss. "It was one of the best Christmases because I spent it with my son, but also because I spent it with you."

  Kate looked at him uncertainly as she took back her hand.

  "I have one more present for Ben, but I don't want to announce it until I clear it with you."

  "What is it?"

  "I have booked a trip to Disney World for Ben, you, and me. We leave tomorrow and come back Sunday— we'll be there four nights."

  "I can't go," Kate said immediately. "I can't leave the horses."

  "Yes, you can. I worked this all out with Molly. It's vacation week, and we have got a roster of your students who are going to muck out stalls and bring the horses in and out from turnout. Jean Stewart is going to do your beginner lessons, and your advanced lessons will get a day off."

  Kate closed her mouth. "Did you talk to all these people behind my back?"

  "I'm afraid that we did."

  She shook her head decisively. "Well, I can't do it. I have Sebastian to look after, as well as George's two Morgans."

  "Ken is sending the Morgans to a sale barn to be sold."

  She said carefully, "Daniel, this was very kind of you, but I can't go. Ben would love to go, however. Why don't you take him?"

  "You'd trust me with him by myself?"

  "Yes."

  "That makes me glad, but if you won't go, then we won't go either."

  "Don't be silly, Daniel. You would adore to have Ben to yourself for five days."

  "I would adore to have Ben and you to myself for five days. I mean it, Kata, if you won't come, then I'll call the trip off."

  She frowned at him. "That isn't fair."

  "It's why I told you before I told Ben. I knew you would make trouble about coming. But think, Kata. I've booked us into the Villas, into a two-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen. You and Ben can have one bedroom, and I'll take the other. You're fully covered on all farm chores—your students were more than happy to work for you. They all seemed to think that you needed a vacation. Why not just do it?"

  "We would leave tomorrow?" She appeared to be weakening.

  "Yes. Just throw some things in a suitcase—if you forget something we can buy it there. It will be fun."

  "It would be fun." Then her great light eyes clouded. "I can't. Mom has her second chemo treatment on Friday. I have to be here for her."

  "Alberto will take her to her treatment, and he said he would spend the night here with her to make certain everything is all right."

  "You cleared this with Mom?"

  "Yes. She will be very upset if you make her an excuse for not going. She wants you to go on this vacation."

  Kate said a little breathlessly, "It's a conspiracy."

  "That it is. We wanted to back you into a corner where you couldn't say no without looking churlish."

  She laughed. "Well, you were successful. And, since I don't want to sound churlish, I'll have to say yes. Thank you, Daniel. Ben and I will go to Disney World with you."

  * * *

  25

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  After breakfast, Daniel took Ben outside to build a snowman while Kate did her barn chores. Then he sat with Ben and helped him build with his Legos. When Kate came in from the barn, she found the two of them on the floor beside the Christmas tree, intent on what they were doing. She stopped in the doorway, and the sight of those two dark heads bent close together caused something to turn over in her heart.

  It was Daniel who first sensed her presence in the doorway. "Kata, these Legos are terrific. We didn't have anything like this when we were kids."

  He was so genuinely enthusiastic that she had to smile. "I always thought I'd be an architect if I wasn't a baseball player," he confessed. "I loved building stuff when I was a child."

  "Well you can't be a baseball player forever," she said practically. "Maybe you can be an architect in the next part of your life."

  "What's an architect?" Ben wanted to know.

  "An architect designs buildings," Daniel explained.

  "I'd like to be an architect, too. I'm real good at building, aren't I, Mommy?"

  "Yes, you are." Then, to Daniel, "What did you major in in college?"

  "Political science."

  "That's a long way from architecture."

  "My father wanted me to be a lawyer."

  "Just what this country needs," Kate said ironically "Another lawyer."

  "If people didn't sue so much in the United States, there wouldn't be enough work for all the lawyers, and their numbers would drop."

  "This is true."

  "What did you major in, Kata?"

  "I never finished college."

  "Well, what did you major in?"

  "I was going to major in animal science at UConn, but when Dad died I decided to stay at home and commute to Southern Connecticut. They didn't have animal science so I majored in business."

  Ben looked up from his Legos. "Do you want to sit with us, Mommy?"

  "No thank you, sweetheart. I'm going to rout Nana out of the kitchen and finish cooking the dinner."

  "Tell Nana to take a nap," Ben said.

  Kate and Daniel exchanged a tenderly amused look.

  "I will," Kate said, and went along the hallway to the kitchen.

  Molly was sitting at the table with a glass of eggnog in front of her, and Alberto was at the stove.

  "My goodness," Kate said. "Are you cooking, Alberto?"

  "I learned to cook when my wife died, and I discovered that I was a very good cook. I told your mother to rest and that I would do the dinner."

  "I was going to tell her the same thing."

  "He won't turn over the stove," Molly said. Her eyes looked bluer than usual. "The man is a tyrant."

  "It is kind of you to offer to help, but I don't need you," Alberto said. "It will be another hour at least until dinner is ready, and I think you should convince your mother to take a nap."

  Kate stiffened. That was precisely what she was about to do, but she wasn't sure she liked this man giving Molly and her orders. After a second's pause, she said, "Yes, why don't you lie down for a while, Mom? You were up early this morning."

  "It's a conspiracy," Molly said. Her eyes were still looking very blue.

  "Go ahead," Kate said.

  Molly stood up. "All right. I will go and take a nap. But this dinner had better be good, Alberto."

  He replied in a mild voice, "It will be."

  After Molly had left the room, Kate said, "Really, Alberto, you're the guest. You don't have to cook the dinner. I was planning to do it."

  "I like to cook," Alberto said, "and I get very little opportunity at Daniel's. Maria, his housekeeper, is a wonderful cook, and she won't let me near her kitchen."

  Kate sat down at the table and took a sip of Molly's half-finished eggnog. "I would have thought you'd go home for Christmas. Mom says you have a daughter and grandchildren in Colombia."

>   "I decided that I would spend Christmas here."

  Kate, who only knew how to be direct, asked, "Why?"

  He turned from the stove to look at her. Even with a wooden spoon in his hand, he was a distinguished-looking man, slim and elegant with brown eyes the color of sherry wine. He was very different from her big, broad-shouldered father.

  He said, "I wanted to spend Christmas with your mother."

  Kate scowled.

  "Is there a reason for that horrible frown?"

  "I just don't want to see Mom hurt. She likes you, Alberto, but she would never leave Ben to go and live in Colombia. I think you should know that."

  "I had already figured that out for myself, but thank you for the advice."

  His voice was perfectly pleasant, perfectly courteous, but Kate heard the warning. She said, "It is my business, you know. Mom and I have worked out our lives to suit Ben and to suit us. We've done just fine for eight years. We don't need anyone else to help us."

  Alberto put down the wooden spoon he had been holding. "You are right that you have worked out your lives to suit Ben. And you have done a splendid job with Ben. He is a healthy, happy child, and you are to be congratulated for that. But, as women, you and your mother have needs beyond those satisfied by caring for Ben."

  Kate said defensively, "I have my barn and my horses; Mom has her teaching. We are doing just fine."

  "Are you saying that there is no room in your life for anyone beyond the three of you?"

  Kate's scowl returned. "I don't mean that."

  "It seems to me that that is what you are saying."

  "It's not that there's no room; it's that there's no need."

  There was a little silence as he contemplated her face.

  Then he said gently, "How many people do you love, Kate?"

  She blinked, surprised by the question. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean just what I said. How many people do you love?"

  "Ben and Mom."

  "And that is all the room you have in your heart— room for two people? There is no place to add someone else? You are going to go through your life loving two people only?"

  "I loved George, too."

  "George is dead. You're down to two people. It seems to me that you could make room for more."

  Kate did not like the way this conversation was going. Alberto had managed to put her on the defensive. "Are you saying you want me to make room for you?"