Texas fury (55 page)

"My ears followed your footsteps a short while ago. I thought you had seen the family's latest addition. You did not turn on the light; perhaps that is why you missed it. Here, now we have light!" Cole stared about the room. He had missed it, probably because all the frames were the same. Next to the last picture of Riley was a picture of himself in the Zen garden, his favorite place in all of Japan. He was relaxed in the picture, not realizing Sumi was clicking her Nikon.

Cole sucked in his breath. "Did Sumi do this? I'm sorry. ..."

"No, Coleman san, Sumi did not do this. I myself placed this picture here last night on the eve of your departure. I consider you to be one of my family. I am honored, Coleman san, that you have accepted us as your own."

Cole didn't try to speak; there were no words for this moment. Instead, he wrapped the frail old man in his arms. "It is I, sir, who am honored."

"You will continue to look after my grandson?"

"You bet. He'll be here before you know it."

"Is that a promise, Coleman san?" the old man asked hopefully.

Cole didn't think twice about the lie. "A promise, old friend."

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"Have a safe trip, Coleman san. You have much to live for now."

Cole winked at the old man. "Yes, much to live for. Take care of yourself."

"I will see to it, Cole," Sumi said from the doorway. "Come, it is time to say good-bye to my family."

They were lined up in rows, the men in the back, the women in the middle, and the children in front. When they bowed, he bowed. When they smiled, he smiled. He waved good-bye, and they waved good-bye. Sumi giggled all the way to the Shinto temple.

"Will you see about coming to Texas for Christmas?"

"I will do my best. You will not return here?" she asked dejectedly.

"If I can. I'll call every day, and I'll write. You do the same." Sumi nodded, tears gathering in her eyes.

"I will wait for all eternity, Cole."

At the airfield Sumi cried silently. Cole patted her awkwardly. He wished she were going home with him. "I'll call you as soon as I get home. I swear, I'll write every day."

"I will, too. I want to join you for Christmas. I will do my best. Promise you won't forget about me. Absence... makes one forget...."

"Never. I'll be back as soon as possible. Be sure to tell your father I... enjoyed all the... the moss."

Sumi hiccuped. "I will tell him, Cole. Give my regards to all of your wonderful family."

Sumi watched the Dream Machine till it was nothing more than a dot in the sky.

Cole would not forget her. Their lives were linked. The days from now till Christmas would fly by; she was sure of it. Love had wings, or so said the romantic songs.

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UUHUi CHAPTER NINE!

Pale winter sunshine crept lazily into Tei she'd mistakenly tacked onto the west stuck out at an awkward angle and c around four in the afternoon. The rest o and dreary. She hadn't done much in tl once she discovered her mistake. For filled with odds and ends from the attic longed to her mother and that she hadn't There were several dusty plastic and silk in brass urns—her own contribution. L neral room waiting for a body.

Tess sat alone this afternoon, the latest lap. Not that she was reading it, but it gav the room. She'd felt the need to conte present, and her future today. She knew sto about her past, and the future was up for gr giving her the answers she longed for. Th; and her own ability to figure out what she She rarely soul-searched, because she found. For instance: Her nest egg was se\ hated her, and she detested him. Lacey w of becoming a Coleman through marriag Business was lousy: the matrons and th

into the background: she could become a bag lady, going to look after her? Not Coots. If they went bell head right to the oil fields and hire on like some comi Lacey was in New York. She'd written once and asi things to be sent on. Tess hadn't heard from her i supposed she could have written, but she hadn't. Lac daughter. It was up to her to keep in touch with her gave that girl the best of everything; I never stinted years of my life went to that child, and how does she She slinks off to New York like a thief in the night," Te She'd taught Lacey every trick known to woman, ai couldn't hold on to one of the Colemans. Tears rollec leathery cheeks. Lacey didn't care one whit about h< else did either. Even Billie Coleman with her fancy Washington didn't care. She'd practically promisee she'd be inundated with requests for charts after she the in-depth forecasts Billie ordered. Tess should hz better. All Billie Coleman wanted was information, probably right; they must have laughed at her behinc sniggering was what he said.

Tess blew her nose lustily into a tissue. When sh find a wastebasket, she threw it in the corner. What did it make? She was the only one who ever came into

Ivy stood in the doorway watching her mother < were any kind of a daughter, she'd be in the room c her, wouldn't she? Unbidden, the hurts, the rejec nasty barbs, surfaced. Should she walk past the opei ignore her mother? No, that was wrong.

"Mama, what's the matter?" she asked, entering ium.

"Matter? Everything's the matter! Are you blind,

"How dare you talk to me like that? Didn't I put clothes on your back, feed and house you? Who do you think paid for all those years in college? Ah did! Don't you go spouting that ah don't care."

Ivy's words trembled out against her will. "I'm talking about love, Mama. You never showed any. You were never there when I needed you. I know you called me an ugly duckling behind my back. It was always Lacey this and Lacey that. You didn't even love Lacey. She told me you didn't."

"Ah always nursed you when you were sick. I walked the floor at night with you when you were a baby. Ah breast-fed you because you wouldn't take a formula. Ah changed your shitty diapers. Doesn't that count?" Tess wailed.

"No. Not to me. Lacey either. I don't ever remember you saying a kind word to me. You never praised me. You never encouraged me. You don't know how to love," Ivy said sadly.

"Love? You talk about love! Let me tell you a thing or two, young lady. In this life there isn't a whole lot of room for sappy sentiment. Life is cold, and mercy me, it is hard. Ah did the best ah could for you girls, and this is the thanks ah get. Lacey said the same things you're saying. For shame. Ungrateful snots!"

Ivy bit her tongue. She would not say all the mean, hateful things she wanted to say. She would not. She'd bite her tongue off first. "Both of us can't be wrong, Mama," she said quietly. "You didn't even come to my graduation. All these years I studied hard, never socialized, just keeping my nose to the books so you'd be proud of me. You didn't even come. I kept looking all over. Lacey told me you wouldn't be there, but I kept hoping. Everyone had a parent there. Everyone but me!"

"For heaven's sake, Ivy, if it was that important, why didn't you say something?"

"That's what I'm talking about, Mama. I shouldn't have to ask. I thought you'd come because you were proud of me. Daddy said he wanted to go, but you didn't."

"Ah suppose you're going to throw that in my face for the rest of my life."

"No. I'm moving out after the first of the year. I have a good job now, and I've found an apartment I can afford."

"Thanks to my efforts and sacrifices," Tess sniffed. "Your father and I are probably going to lose Buckalew Big Wells. He'll go off to the oil fields and ah'll become a bag lady. Do

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you care? Does Lacey care? Hell no, you don't, so don't stand there and pretend you do."

Ivy clenched her teeth. She reached for her mother's shoulders. She wanted to shake her till her teeth rattled. She dropped to her knees till they had eye contact. "Mama, I will never let you become a bag lady. I will personally see to it that you are taken care of. Lacey will help, too. Even if we have to sacrifice. There will always be someone to care for you."

"You'll pay someone else to take care of me!" Tess screeched. The meaning of her daughter's words roared through her head. "What if ah have a stroke, what if ah slobber and wet my bloomers? Ah wiped your spit and changed your diapers." She stared up at her daughter as though seeing her for the first time. Ivy was ... pretty.

"If only you'd put your arms around me, just once. If you'd only said something nice instead of bitching and screaming at me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry about all of this. I shouldn't have intruded on you."

"Now you say that. After you destroy me with all those nasty, cruel things you just said to me. I won't even come to your wedding, // you ever get married," Tess said spitefully. "You're a nasty girl."

"It'll be your loss then, Mama. You see, by hook or by crook, I'm going to marry Riley Coleman. He doesn't know it, but he will soon enough."

"You're what?" Tess hissed. She took a second look at her daughter. She was more than pretty. She was fashionable-looking. She'd lost weight, at least thirty pounds. Riley Coleman. Memories of Ivy tagging after Riley, calling him at Yale. She'd paid the telephone bills. It wasn't impossible.

My God, Tess thought. I backed the wrong horse.

Ivy walked out of the room and didn't look back. She knew she wasn't leaving much behind, and it didn't matter anymore. Lacey had survived and so would she.

Billie and Thad arrived at Sunbridge when the Senate recessed for the holidays. For Amelia's sake, Billie said.

The prairie-pink house had been aired and cleaned, but it seemed empty, with Cole not there anymore and Riley off on another probably futile trip to South America. Thad and Billie, with Maggie and Rand's help, trekked out to the fields to select a twelve-foot spruce, hauling it back in the pickup truck. Rand and Thad argued and snapped at each other as they struggled to

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get the monstrous tree into the stand. Billie and Maggie clapped enthusiastically when the tree finally stayed erect.

"Artificial trees are easier to handle," Thad said airily.

Billie hooted. "He says that every year until I threaten to go to the attic and get it. Then he says, let's go chop one down. He dragged me, literally dragged me, one year into a raging blizzard to get one of the nicest trees we ever had. It was one of the best times of my life," Billie said, hugging Thad.

"It never seems quite like Christmas in Hawaii," Maggie confided, "but we do our best. One year we had this awful white thing with paper fans and bows for ornaments. I hated it. Then we had an artificial green one with crooked branches. Rand hated that one. Last year we had a real tree. We paid, if you can believe this, two hundred dollars for it. The day after Christmas all the needles fell off and we took it down."

Billie looked anxiously at her watch. "Cary and Amelia should be here by now. Thad, call and see if they left."

"Mam, Cary said they'd be here, and they will," Maggie said. "He brought all of Amelia's things earlier this afternoon. Her wheelchair is in the hall closet; so is her cane, the one with the prongs, and the walker. Cary felt if the things were here, she might use them. Having Cary carry them in in front of everyone seemed to disturb Amelia. I made up her room and it's waiting. I made up separate rooms. Cary said he's a restless sleeper and Amelia needs her rest."

"Since when? Cary always sleeps like he's dead," Rand joked. The look on Billie and Thad's face stopped him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Obviously, Maggie and I are not in on something that is going on here. If I'm not supposed to put my foot into something, maybe you better tell us what's going on."

"I've had the feeling for a long time that something... wasn't right," Maggie said. "You know what it is, Mam; so do you, Thad. I thought we were family. We're supposed to help one another. We never had secrets before."

Thad's nod prompted Billie to confide in Maggie and Rand. There, in the room with the fragrant Christmas tree and the blazing fire, Billie told them what Amelia had told her. Her eyes implored Rand to understand. She offered up a silent prayer of thanks when he nodded and smiled. She wound up her explanation with "I really feel it was a mistake to invite Julie, much as Thad and I love her, but Amelia insisted on it.

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She was adamant. Cary, of course, doesn't know Julie's coming. Amelia chose not to tell him."

"How are we going to carry this off, Mam?"

"By being ourselves and snowing our love for all of them. It's Christmas and we're together. This.. . this may be Amelia's last Christmas with us, so we must do what she wants. Cary will handle it; he has no other choice. Julie can handle it, too. At first Julie refused our invitation, but when I told her Amelia insisted, she gave in. Cole's picking her up tomorrow at the airport."

Thad changed the subject. As far as he was concerned, things would take care of themselves if left to the parties involved. "I understand Adam and his stepson will be here, and Sawyer has to stay in Japan. Billie, did we get presents for the boy?"

"Darling, we not only got presents for the boy and everyone else, they're all wrapped and in the closet. All you have to do is put them under this tree. Now, if you were awarding efficiency ratings, what would you give me?" Billie teased.

"A ten plus." Thad smiled at his wife. "What's on our menu Christmas Eve?"

"That's been taken care of, too, but it's a secret," Billie said. "Maggie, Jeff and I are cooking it from scratch. We're going to show that boy what a real Texas Christmas is like. It'll cheer Adam up, too. He's patient, but he's chomping at the bit to get married."

"I'm for whatever makes everybody happy. You are looking at one almost happy fella," Thad said exuberantly. "In another ten days I will be Thad Kingsley, private citizen."

"Hear, hear! Hey, I hear a car." Rand peered through the curtains.

While Thad joined Rand at the front door, Maggie whispered in her mother's ear. "Mam, you aren't going to let Cary walk into this cold, are you? It's not fair. I'm sorry, but I don't agree with all of you about that. Julie knows he'll be here, and if she didn't know, I'd want her told, too. It's not right that he should just... find her here. It'll be a shock. Drop it in the course of conversation, please, Mam?"