High Meadow

by Joan Wolf

  "No. I want your mother to make room for me. You need to make room for Daniel."

  Color stained Kate's cheeks. "I have been very nice to Daniel."

  Alberto smiled. "Yes, you have. And I know it has been hard for you to accept such a change in your life. But life is change, Kate. If we don't change, we die."

  "Mommy!" It was Ben in the doorway. "We've finished. Come and see my space station."

  Kate tried to disguise her relief at the interruption as she turned to welcome Ben. "That's great, sweetheart. I'm coming."

  Alberto's dinner of roast beef, roasted potatoes, broccoli, and buttered carrots was delicious. Over dinner, Daniel broke the news to Ben that they were going to Disney World the next day.

  The little boy was ecstatic. "Can I call Connor and tell him, Mommy?"

  "After dinner," Kate replied.

  Once Alberto's dinner had been eaten, and the dishes cleared and packed into the dishwasher, Kate let Daniel and Alberto have one more cup of coffee, then she sent them home.

  "I have to pack, and Mom has had enough excitement for the day. Go home."

  "Are you always this tactless, Kata, or is it just with me?" Daniel complained, as she handed him his jacket.

  "I believe in saying what I mean."

  "So I have noticed."

  "What is the weather likely to be at Disney? Should I pack summer clothes?"

  "Pack a little bit of both."

  "You're a help."

  He shrugged. "The weather could go either way."

  Alberto kissed Molly's cheek. "I will talk to you tomorrow."

  Kate closed the door behind the men and turned to her mother. "That was certainly an exciting Christmas. Ben and I are going to Disney, and you didn't have to cook dinner."

  'Alberto did a good job, didn't he?"

  "Dinner was great." Kate looked at Ben, and said, "You can read for half an hour, then it's bed for you, chum. We have to get up early tomorrow to catch a plane."

  Ben's brown eyes were sparkling. "This was the best Christmas—even though I didn't believe in Santa Claus."

  Kate gave him a hug. "You certainly did all right for yourself."

  "When can we put the computer up?"

  "When we get a desk to put it on."

  "When can we do that?"

  "You and I are going to be busy for the next few days, remember?"

  "Nana can buy the desk. Can't you, Nana?"

  Kate said, "Your father said he would pick up the desk, Ben, so you're going to have to wait until you get home from Florida."

  Molly said, 'Alberto can pick it up. That way the computer will be all ready when you get home."

  "Forget it," Kate said. "You've got enough to keep you occupied without setting the computer up."

  Ben looked at her anxiously. "But you are going to put it up, aren't you, Mommy?"

  "Yes."

  The worry cleared away from his face. "I think I'll start to read one of my new Captain Underpants books."

  "Good idea. And you can take it on the plane with you tomorrow."

  "I've never been on a plane," Ben said. "Do you think I'll be scared?"

  "There's nothing to be scared about."

  "There was that plane that crashed into the building, Mommy."

  "That was a terrible thing, but there's little likelihood of that happening to us, Ben. In fact, it's been proven that it's more dangerous to get in a car than it is to get on a plane."

  After Ben had gone upstairs, Kate turned to Molly. "I have a bone to pick with you. You conspired with Daniel behind my back."

  Molly smiled. "I know I did. And it was wonderful how willing people were to help out. You're completely covered through the thirtieth."

  "I want to see the list of people you've got lined up."

  "I will be happy to show you. Jean Stewart is doing most of the work, with Amy Sanderson and Beth Hendricks coming in second and third."

  "They're all good kids."

  "You should bring something back for Jean. She's actually the one who made the schedule and got the people."

  "I will."

  Molly sat down on the sofa. "You should go and pack, dear. I'm going to start the book that Alberto gave me."

  Kate said, "I didn't want to go, you know. I told Daniel to go with Ben, and he said that he wouldn't go unless I went too."

  "He knows how stubborn you are, and he also knows that you wouldn't want to deprive Ben of such a treat."

  "When did the idea for this vacation come up?"

  "Two weeks ago, a few days before I went for my first chemo treatment."

  "Are you all right going with Alberto to the next treatment, Mom? I feel as if I'm deserting you."

  "I'm fine with it, and Alberto assures me that he is fine with it, too. His wife did not have breast cancer—she had pancreatic cancer, and she went too quickly for them even to start chemo treatments—so coming with me will not bring back sad memories."

  "He said he would sleep here the night of your treatment. Do you really want that?"

  "It's completely unnecessary, but he insisted. I don't mind having him, if that's what you mean. I'll probably be sleeping most of the time anyway."

  "I just feel badly about being away."

  "Kate, if you stayed home because of me, I would be very upset. When Daniel broached the subject of the Disney trip to me, I jumped for joy. You haven't had a vacation in over ten years. It's more than time for you to take some time for yourself."

  "You haven't had a vacation in ten years either."

  "When this cancer treatment is finished with, I plan to take one."

  "That's a great idea."

  "Instead of talking about this vacation, dear, you should be packing for it."

  "I know, I know. I'm going to have to rout out the bathing suits. Will it be warm enough to swim?"

  "I have no idea, but you most certainly should take them. Now get moving. Daniel is picking you up at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

  "It will seem strange not to be feeding the horses."

  "Don't even think about the horses. Jean is feeding them in the morning, and Beth and Amy are sharing the evening feeding. They'll manage to exist without you for a few days, believe me. And so will the dogs."

  Kate smiled. "Okay, ma'am. I'll go and pack."

  She went up the stairs, and Molly picked up her book.

  * * *

  26

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  When Daniel, Kate, and Ben stepped off the plane in Orlando, it was seventy degrees. Daniel smiled as he felt the balmy air touch his face. "Ah, now this feels good."

  "Coming from Colombia, you must be used to warm weather," Kate said.

  "Bogota is not that warm. It's near the equator, but it's also eight thousand feet high. We get cold enough for a coat in the winter, and the summer is cooler than it is in Connecticut."

  "Wow. I always assumed Colombia was warm."

  "Colombia's weather depends upon what altitude you are at. At the beach, it is very warm indeed."

  Between them, Ben gave a little skip. "How long does it take to fly to Colombia?"

  "It's another couple of hours from here."

  "Someday can I go and see it?"

  "Someday."

  They picked up the car Daniel had rented, a modest Ford Taurus, and drove to the resort hotel on the Disney property where they were staying. The style of the hotel was Spanish, and it was located next to a small but scenic lake.

  Their lakefront town house unit was lovely. The living room had French doors looking out on the lake, and there was a fully equipped kitchen on the first floor as well. Upstairs were two bedrooms, one with a view of the lake and the other with a view of a gorgeous garden. The lake-front room had a king-sized bed and the other one had two twins. Each bedroom had its own bathroom, although the king-sized room's bathroom was larger.

  "Do you and Ben want to share the bigger bedroom, Kata?" Daniel asked. "The bed is as large as two twins put together."
/>   "No thank you, we'll take the other room."

  "Daddy's bedroom has a television," Ben pointed out.

  "A good reason for us not to take it," Kate replied.

  "When can we go to Disney?" Ben asked.

  "As soon as we have unpacked and had some lunch," Daniel said.

  Kate asked, "Do we need passes to get into the park?"

  "We have Ultimate Park Hopper tickets," Daniel informed her. "We can go anywhere."

  "Where shall we start?"

  "I recommend that we start with the Magic Kingdom."

  They unpacked and had lunch within their complex, then they got on the tram and went to the Magic Kingdom.

  The two adults got their greatest pleasure from watching Ben. Most of his friends had been to Disney, some of them twice, and he was so excited to be there himself, going on the rides he had heard about and getting the various characters to sign his autograph book, that his feet scarcely seemed to touch the ground.

  He adored Splash Mountain, and Kate and Daniel got exceedingly wet from having to go on it twice.

  They ate dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant and didn't get home until eight o'clock. Ben stayed up until nine, then Kate put him to bed. "This was the best day of my life," he confided to her as she kissed him good night.

  "I'm glad you had such a good time, sweetheart."

  "It makes it even funner that Daddy is here."

  "Yes, it does."

  "Can I go swimming in the pool tomorrow?"

  "If the weather is good enough. Now go to sleep. You've had a very exciting day, and you must be tired."

  "Good night, Mommy."

  "Good night, Ben."

  Daniel was sitting in the living room when Kate came down the stairs. Unself-consciously, she went to sit next to him on the flowered sofa. "He said that this was the best day of his life. Wasn't that sweet?"

  He lowered the newspaper he had been reading. "I'm glad he had a good time."

  "What's on the program for tomorrow?"

  "How about Epcot?"

  "You seem to know your way around. Have you been here before?"

  "My parents took me a few times when I was a kid. I gather you never got here?"

  "My mother took Colleen once. I didn't want to go because I had a horse show to ride in."

  He smiled faintly, and murmured, "Why am I not surprised?"

  "He did mention that he wanted to go swimming in the pool."

  Daniel put his folded newspaper on the table next to him. "We could come back to the hotel in the middle of the day, when it's warmest. He could swim then."

  "That sounds good." She looked at the blank TV screen. "Is there anything you want to watch?"

  "The Knicks are playing Miami. Do you like basketball?"

  "Sure."

  Daniel switched on the TV and found the right channel just as Alan Houston sank a three-pointer. "Good going," Daniel said, as the two teams raced back up the floor.

  Daniel quickly became absorbed by the game, and Kate gradually became absorbed by Daniel's closeness. It had seemed so natural to choose a seat next to him on the sofa, but now she wished that she had sat in the matching chair.

  The game continued, with Daniel occasionally muttering comments about the play. Kate was silent. He was so close that she could feel the warmth from his body. I'm sexually attracted to him, she realized with dismay. My God. This is terrible.

  Daniel said a word in Spanish that Kate suspected wasn't very nice. "They have a genius for giving up leads," he said. "They have no toughness anymore."

  Kate looked at the men in basketball shorts passing the ball around and thought, This is so awkward. How am I ever going to behave normally around him now?

  Halftime came, and Daniel turned down the sound on the TV He turned to look at her. "We don't have to watch the second half if there's something else you would enjoy more. You'd have to be a masochist to enjoy the Knicks this season."

  "The basketball game is fine," Kate said in a subdued voice.

  With the sound turned down on the TV, everything suddenly seemed very quiet. Kate's heart was beating so loudly that she was afraid it would be audible to Daniel. She forced a smile. "Or maybe there's a comedy that we could watch."

  He had pushed the coffee table forward to accommodate his long legs, and now he turned to look at her. His knit shirt was open at the throat, and the light from the lamp shone on the smoothness of his hair. Suddenly he seemed very big. "What do you usually do in the evening, Kata?"

  "I finish up at the barn at a little before eight, then I go home and eat dinner, then I spend some time with Ben before he goes to bed."

  "And after he goes to bed?"

  "Sometimes I work on barn business, sometimes I read a book, sometimes I watch TV It all depends on how tired I am."

  He nodded as if that was the answer he had expected. Then, without warning, he reached out and took her hand into his. "Kata darling," he said, "do you think it could ever work between you and me?"

  Her heart gave a single loud thump. "I don't know."

  He smiled wryly. "Every other woman in the world would have said, 'What do you mean?' But not you."

  "I assumed you meant would it ever work romantically between us two. Was I right?"

  "You were exactly right."

  Kate made no move to pull her hand away. "We're friends, and it's good for Ben that we're friends. I'm afraid that we might spoil that."

  He said gravely, "I don't want to be just your friend."

  "I don't know what I want," she confessed. "This is all so new to me, Daniel."

  "I know." He smiled tenderly. "You never had time for romance."

  "I never had the inclination, either."

  "Do you have the inclination with me?"

  "I don't know."

  "Kiss me and find out."

  Her eyes clung to his, and she took a deep steadying breath. "All right."

  "You are so brave, Kata," he said softly. Using the hand he held, he drew her toward him. "I think you are the bravest person that I know."

  "Because I said I would kiss you? Is it going to be that bad?"

  He laughed deep in his throat. "You tell me." And then his mouth was coming down on hers.

  It was the sweetest thing he had ever known, the feel of her mouth under his. Her lips were soft, and he increased the pressure of his mouth. Slowly, hesitantly, her mouth opened, yielding, unsure of what he wanted, but trusting him. When he found her tongue she stiffened for a moment then relaxed against him. He could feel the swell of her breast against his chest. He reached up to cup and support the back of her head. Her hair felt like silk under his fingers. He fought his desire to push her down on the sofa and make love to her, and lifted his face. "Well?" he said huskily. "Was it bad?"

  Her aquamarine eyes looked dazed. "My goodness," she said. "My prom dates both kissed me, and I didn't like it at all. This was very different."

  He smiled with genuine amusement. "I'm glad I'm better than your prom dates."

  "I've never had sex, Daniel. I think you should know that."

  "I already know. You never had the time."

  She smiled back at him. "I never had the time for a vacation either, yet here I am. You are making an awful lot of changes in my life."

  "Some change is necessary, Kata. All living things change."

  "Alberto said the same thing to me yesterday."

  "Alberto is a very wise man."

  She frowned. "I think he's after Mom."

  "And you don't approve?"

  "It's not that I don't approve, it's that I don't want to see Mom get hurt. She would never leave Ben to marry Alberto and go back to Colombia."

  "She might if you and I married."

  The blue-green eyes searched his. 'Are you thinking along those lines?"

  "After that kiss? I most certainly am."

  He could see the conflict on her face. "It would probably be the best thing for Ben ..."

  "Kata," he said strongly,
"if you ever marry me for Ben's sake, I will be furious with you. If we marry, it has to be for our sakes, not Ben's."

  She looked uncertain. But she kissed me back, he thought. She most definitely kissed me back,

  "Think about it," he said.

  "A-all right. I will."

  * * *

  Later that night, Daniel lay in his enormous king-sized bed and listened to the rustle of palm trees outside the open sliding-glass door that led to his balcony. He could not exorcise the tension from his body. He could not banish Kate from his mind.

  Daniel was in what was for him an unusual situation. Women had been chasing him ever since he was a teenager, and sex had been a part of most of his relationships. It had taken a heroic act of self-discipline to back away from Kate tonight, but he had been afraid that if he didn't break the kiss, he wouldn't be able to stop. He wondered how long he could exist on kisses alone. He wanted her so badly.

  And yet. . . alongside his carnal passion for Kate there bloomed the softer emotions of protectiveness and care. There was a gallantry about her that stirred him profoundly. He thought it was unspeakably courageous the way she had shouldered the load of her father's business and her sister's child.

  He thought of the way her lips had felt under his tonight, the way her breast had pressed against his chest, and he groaned and rolled over in bed.

  This is a perfect chance for us to be together. Ben is so tired when he goes to bed that he sleeps like the dead. It's a perfect chance for Kata and me. But mil Kata be willing?

  He finally went to sleep and dreamed that he was making love to her in a grassy meadow where horses were grazing.

  Kate also lay awake, listening to the wind in the palms. In the other bed, Ben slept soundly.

  Daniel's kiss this evening had been as different from what she thought of as the wet sloppiness of her prom dates' kisses as sunlight was from darkness.

  I was sorry when Daniel let me go, she thought in wonder. I wanted him to go on kissing me. I wanted him to go on holding me. I wanted him to make love to me.

  She thought about what he had said about Ben. He's right. I can't think of anything more terrible than to be locked in the intimacy of marriage with someone you don't love. But do I love Daniel? Or is it just a physical attraction?