Angels Landing

by Rochelle Alers

  “Oliver’s up, so I’m going in now.”

  “I’ll wait here until you go in and activate the alarm.”

  He eased Kara up off the chair, kissing her again; he watched as she walked into the house and closed the door. He waited a full two minutes before returning to his car and driving back to the Cove.

  Jeff hadn’t wanted to believe that he’d managed to take vacation for the first time since becoming sheriff; he’d planned to surprise Kara and spend the time with her, but the unexpected arrival of her ex-roommate had ruined it, at least for him. But if Kara did accept his suggestion to come and live with him, then he would get to see her every day for the next fifty-nine months.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jeannette walked into the formal dining room, stopping short. “The table looks spectacular.”

  Kara’s head popped up. She’d just finished setting the table with the silver, crystal, and bone china that she and Dawn had spent hours polishing and cleaning.

  “Thank you. Mama, please turn on the chandelier. Wow,” she crooned when the prisms in the chandelier reflected off the faceted fully leaded stemware. “It does look nice.” Looping her arm through her mother’s, Kara led her back to the kitchen. Dawn sat at a small round table in a corner with Corrine while Jeff and Austin were perched on high stools talking about the corps.

  Kara had gotten up early to season and stuff the turkey and score the ham she’d studded with cloves and topped with crushed pineapple. Her mother had joined her, and together they’d made potato salad, collard greens with smoked turkey, macaroni and cheese, and corn bread. She’d never perfected making gravy from pan drippings and enlisted her mother to make the giblet turkey gravy. Corrine had volunteered to bring dessert, and sweet potato pie, lemon coconut cake, and peach cobbler sat on a serving cart. And when she’d spoken to Corrine, Kara also invited her and Jeff to spend the night so everyone could be in one place, and much to her surprise the former schoolteacher had accepted because she wanted to spend more time with Jeannette.

  The doorbell chimed, followed by Oliver’s barking. Kara had locked him in the crate to keep him from being underfoot. He seemed to understand what she was saying when she told him she would let him out after dinner was over.

  “Are you expecting anyone else?” Jeannette asked.

  Kara shook her head. “No. Jeff, could you please get the door?”

  “Sure, babe.”

  They shared a smile as he left the kitchen to answer the door. Her gaze shifted to her father who smiled and winked at her. Austin had put on a few pounds since she’d seen him at Christmas. Either he was eating too much of her mother’s cooking or he was spending too much time sitting in front of the television in his newly converted mancave. Jeff had taken him into Charleston the night before to meet some of his buddies, and it was close to dawn when they returned to the island.

  Austin came over and kissed her cheek. “You picked a fine young man,” he whispered in her ear.

  Kara patted her father’s shoulder. He’d affected a short beard since his retirement, and the neatly barbered white hair gave his nut-brown face character. He’d begun losing his hair in his midthirties and now shaved his head like so many other men. Austin wasn’t tall but appeared much taller because of his ramrod-straight posture. “I like him, Daddy.”

  “And he likes you, too, baby girl.”

  “Kara, someone would like to see you,” Jeff said when he returned to the kitchen.

  “Excuse me, Daddy.” She walked out of the kitchen, Jeff following her. “Who is it?” she asked him.

  “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.”

  “I guess I’ll find out soon enough.” Jeff had left the front door half open, and when Kara opened it wider, she saw a tall, slender man with cropped light brown hair standing on the porch. He wore jeans, running shoes, and a College of Charleston sweatshirt. “May I help you?”

  “Are you Kara Newell?”

  She felt the heat from Jeff’s body as he moved closer. “Yes, I am.”

  The young man reached under his sweatshirt and handed her a sheet of paper. “I was told to give this to you.” That said, he loped off the porch and got into an updated Volkswagen Beetle and drove away.

  Kara opened the sheet of paper, scanning it before she handed it to Jeff. “I don’t believe it,” she whispered. “They waited for Easter Sunday to serve me with a summons to submit to a DNA test.”

  Jeff shook his head as if in disbelief. “The Pattons just won’t leave it alone.”

  Her eyes met his. “That’s because they refuse to believe Taylor is my biological father.” She let out a groan of exasperation. “Please don’t say anything to my parents about this.”

  Jeff folded the single sheet of paper and handed it to Kara. “Don’t you think they should know?”

  “No, Jeff. I’ll handle this by myself. I’ll go to the lab and give them a sample along with something that has Taylor’s DNA.”

  “Do you have anything?” he questioned.

  “Yes. Mrs. Todd packed away all of his clothes and personal items in a closet on the third floor. There’s an engraved silver-backed comb and brush set that belonged to him. I’m certain the technician will be able to lift some strands of hair from the brush.”

  “I’ll go with you to the lab. I’ll also call someone I know at the Charleston PD lab to conduct their own test just in case your relatives decided to bribe someone to say it’s not a match. Meanwhile, you should call David and let him know what they’re up to.”

  Wrapping her arms around Jeff’s waist, Kara leaned into him. “Thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  He ran a hand over her hair. “You would do just fine. I don’t think you realize how strong you are.”

  Leaning back, she smiled. “It takes a great deal of energy trying to stay strong. Promise me you won’t mention any of this to my folks.”

  “I promise.”

  Kara left the summons under a hand-painted bowl on the fireplace mantelpiece where she would retrieve it later. When she’d gotten up earlier that morning, it was to look forward to sharing a festive dinner with her family and friends, not being served with a summons from a bunch of spiteful relatives with whom she shared blood ties. Mrs. Todd, who at first had been reluctant to talk about her former employers, now felt comfortable enough to reveal that Theodora had raised her children to be as malicious as she was.

  What the Pattons didn’t know was that the more they pushed, the harder Kara would push back. If they wanted a fight, then they were going to get one. When she walked back into the kitchen, she saw four pairs of eyes looking at her.

  “It was some college kid looking for work,” Kara lied smoothly.

  “On Easter Sunday?” Dawn asked.

  “I guess he figured it was the best day to find folks at home,” she replied. She affected a smile she didn’t quite feel at that moment. “Daddy, could you and Jeff bring the turkey and ham into the dining room? Mama and I will bring the side dishes.”

  Dawn jumped up. “I’ll help with something.”

  “So will I,” Corrine volunteered.

  Kara gave her a pointed look. “No, Miss Corrine. We’ve got everything covered here. You and Dawn please have a seat at the dining room table.” Corrine mumbled something under her breath about not being an invalid as she left the kitchen. An hour later, Kara covered her wineglass with her hand when Jeff went to refill it. “No more.”

  Dawn extended her glass. “I’ll take a little more, please.”

  “So will I,” Jeannette said.

  Kara had filled crystal decanters with red and white wine to accompany the meal, and after her second glass, she was beginning to feel the effects. Picking up her water goblet, she took a sip while peering at Jeff over the rim. She’d removed several leaves from the table that seated fourteen to accommodate six. Her parents were at either end, Jeff with his grandmother, and she and Dawn sitting opposite them. Thankfully she hadn’t lost any of her cooking
skills. The turkey was moist, the ham tender, and the side dishes savory.

  “Not only do I miss my roomie,” Dawn admitted, “but I also miss our Sunday dinners.”

  “I told Dawn I’d teach her to cook, but she said why should she learn when I did all of the cooking.”

  Corrine wagged a finger at Dawn. “How do you expect to get a husband if you can’t cook?”

  Dawn blushed a bright red color as she lowered her gaze. “I’ve dated men who didn’t care if I could cook or not.”

  “Did any of them ask you to marry them?” Corrine asked.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Gram,” Jeff warned in a quiet voice.

  “Stay out of this, Jeffrey. I’m trying to school the young woman so she can get a husband. You do want to get married don’t you?”

  Dawn gave Corrine a direct stare. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You spend a couple of days and nights with me, and I’ll teach you how to make rice, bake a chicken so tender that the meat will literally fall off the bone, and a few other side dishes. I know you say you’re a dancer, but you’re nothing but skin and bones. And no man wants a bone. Don’t look at Kara because she knows how to cook.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Yes, ma’am, what?” Corrine asked.

  “Yes, I’ll spend a couple of nights with you.”

  Corrine smiled as if she’d just negotiated a peace treaty. “Jeannette, could you please pass me the collards?”

  Kara stared across the table at Jeff, wondering if he was thinking what she was thinking. His grandmother suggesting Dawn spend several nights at her house would give her and Jeff time alone together. She had to have known Jeff would never stay over at Angels Landing with someone else in the house. He smiled at her, and she returned it, glorying in the shared moment, knowing in a few days they would reunite in the most intimate way possible.

  The conversations around the table turned to sports with Jeff and Austin debating who would make it to the World Series. It segued to a discussion about a young actress who purportedly had slept with her leading man and a supporting actor and didn’t know which one had fathered her baby.

  “That is so grimy,” Kara stated.

  “It’s worse than grimy,” Dawn quipped. “It’s downright stink. And why did she have to make that public?”

  Austin dabbed his mouth with a linen napkin. “The real question is how much did she sell the story for? It has to be about money.”

  The topic segued again, this time to reality television. Everyone agreed that even though exhibiting bad behavior translated into big bucks, it also sent the wrong message to young impressionable people. Dinner stretched into more than two hours, and no one seemed ready to leave the table to retreat to the parlor where Kara had planned to serve dessert and coffee.

  “Are you all right?” Kara asked Corrine when Jeff stood up and pulled back her chair.

  “I’m fine. I just need to get up and walk off some of this food. Jeannette, will you please walk with me?”

  “Of course.” Jeannette looked at her husband. “Honey, you need to get up and walk, too. You keep saying you have to exercise.”

  “She’s right, Daddy,” Kara agreed. “You’re getting a little round in the middle.”

  Austin patted his belly. “I wouldn’t be round if your mama’s cooking wasn’t so good.” Pushing back his chair, he rose to his feet. “We’ll be back later to help you clean up.”

  “I’ll help with the cleanup,” Jeff volunteered. “By the time you get back it’ll be time for dessert.”

  Kara, Dawn, and Jeff made short work of clearing the table and putting away leftovers. Kara turned on the radio on a countertop, tuning in to a station with R & B and old school jams. Dawn rinsed while Kara stacked pots in the dishwasher. They alternated hand washing and drying china, crystal, and silver; they sang along with some of the songs made popular in the ’90s.

  “The downside of setting a formal table is that the good stuff has to be hand washed,” Dawn said as she held up a water goblet checking it for water spots.

  Drying her hands on a dish towel, Kara nodded in agreement. “We only had to wash place settings for six. Can you imagine hosting a dinner with twenty or thirty people?”

  Dawn pushed out her lips. “That’s lunacy. I can barely put together a meal for myself, and you’re talking about thirty people.”

  “That’s when you hire a chef and have him bring everything. That way they’re responsible for cleaning up.”

  Dawn’s eyes sparkled like polished blue topaz. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  “I hope you didn’t let my grandmother intimidate you,” Jeff said when he reentered the kitchen with the tablecloth.

  “Of course not. She’s right. I should know how to cook, but whenever my mother tried to teach me, I always found something else to do,” Dawn admitted. “Eating out isn’t always the healthiest because some of my friends have really put on weight. Their funds are limited, so they’re forced to eat fast food.”

  Jeff nodded. “You hang out with Corrine for a couple of days, and she’ll teach you enough so that you can put together a palatable meal that will cost no more than a few dollars a day. Even though she grew up during the Depression, the folks here never went hungry. They grew their own vegetables, owned milk cows, and raised their own hogs and chickens.”

  “Do you cook, Jeff?”

  He smiled. “Just say I cook enough not to starve to death or give someone food poisoning.”

  Dawn waved a hand. “Well, it doesn’t matter because you have Kara to cook for you.”

  “She can cook for me anytime,” Jeff said with a smile. “Everything was delicious.”

  Kara opened her mouth to tell Dawn that she’d never cooked for Jeff before preparing Easter dinner, then held her tongue. She still hadn’t revealed that she and Jeff were sleeping together. She took the tablecloth from him, folding it. “I’ll take this to the dry cleaner next week.”

  “Do you think anyone is going to want dessert?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ll play it by ear. I’m going to let Oliver out so he can get some exercise.” Forty-five minutes later Corrine, Jeannette and Austin returned from their walk, and Kara sat back with a satisfied grin on her face. She knew this Easter would remain with her always. Angels Landing was filled with the sound of laughter for the first time in years. After everyone had dessert and coffee in the parlor, Miss Corrine and Dawn sat out on the porch until midnight talking to each other. Her parents had bedded down in a third-floor suite, and Jeff had selected a room on the second floor that doubled as a study/bedroom with a connecting door to what had been Teddy’s office. Once Dawn and Jeff’s grandmother came in for the night, Miss Corrine retired to a first-floor room so she wouldn’t have to climb the staircase.

  The house was still quiet when Kara got up at seven to see after Oliver before making preparations for breakfast. Her parents had mentioned they wanted to be on the road before noon. She didn’t find Oliver in his cage but found fresh food and clean water. When she did find Oliver, he was in bed, the puppy curled up against Jeff’s back, asleep.

  Kara was tempted to pummel Jeff with a pillow for doing what she’d told him she didn’t want to do: have the dog sleep in the bed. She closed the door and went into the kitchen.

  Mrs. Todd was already there. The woman and her husband had celebrated the holiday with his cousins in Haven Creek. “Good morning, Kara. I didn’t expect you to be up this early.”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Todd. How was your Easter?” Kara didn’t want her to know that she’d slept fitfully because she couldn’t stop thinking about the summons requesting a sample of her DNA.

  “It was nice, but Willie knows I only tolerate his family. After all these years I still can’t get used to the folks in his family talking over one another. It’s a wonder they hear what the other is saying. Enough about Willie’s folks. How did your dinner turn out?”

  “It was wonderful. Thanks to m
y mother and Miss Corrine’s desserts.”

  Mrs. Todd smoothed down the front of her crisp gray uniform. “Miss Corrine’s desserts are as good as those Mabel and Lester sell at the Muffin Corner.”

  “You may be right. I think I’m going to fix a buffet breakfast.”

  “I’ll get the warming dishes,” Mrs. Todd volunteered. “Where do you want me to set them up?”

  Kara glanced around the kitchen. The oversized table in the middle of the kitchen doubled as a dining and preparation table. “Put them on the table. We’ll eat in the breakfast nook.” The table in the corner of the kitchen was hewn from the same oak as the larger one and bore initials and dates going as far back as 1886. She’d had the portraits of Shipley and Oakes Patton taken down from the wall, put into slipcases, and stored in a third-floor closet. The canvases would have to be cleaned before they could be restored to their original vibrancy.

  “After breakfast I have to take Willie to the VA hospital,” Mrs. Todd announced. “He’s been complaining about headaches and pain in his legs, so the doctors want to keep him for a few days to give him some tests. He still has shrapnel in his head from when he was in Vietnam. I’m going to stay at a hotel, so I can be available to him if he wants me.”

  Kara patted the older woman’s back. “Do whatever you need to take care of your husband.”

  She’d just finished chopping ingredients for omelets when Dawn walked into the kitchen. Her short hair was pasted to her scalp from her shower. “Good morning, Miss Dee.”

  Dawn smiled. “Morning, Miss Kay. Yesterday was awesome. I’m glad I decided to come down, but I don’t want you to get mad at me.”

  “Get angry with you for what?”

  “I told Miss Corrine that I would go home with her today for cooking lessons. It’s not that I really need to cook to land a husband, but I need it for myself. I grew up with a lot of sisters and brothers, and after that I always had roommates. This is the first time I’ve really lived alone, and it’s made me realize I have to take care of myself, and that includes cooking for myself. So I hope you don’t mind if we don’t see each other for a few days.”