The Price (10 page)

“One Cabernet for who must be Kate’s sister,” he stated, as he set the wine glass in front of Marnie St. Claire. She barely gave him a nod much less a thank you. “Who gets the shots?”

“We all do,” said Kate, smiling fondly at her friend.

“How’s the new addition doing?” he asked her.

“He’s growing so fast,” she beamed. “I want to thank you again for the beautiful children’s book of poems.”

“I’m glad you like it,” said Kyle. “I couldn’t resist when I saw it had your favorite poem from Robert Louis Stevenson.”

“She reads it all the time to Jesse,” interjected Jack.

“What poem is that?” Marnie’s ears perked up. So there was culture after all in this God-forsaken town.

“You know it Mother,” said Kate. “It’s The Swing!”

“That was always your favorite poem as a child,” she fondly remembered. “I used to read it to her over and over again.”

“Oh, how I love to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue,” Kyle recited the words by memory.

Marnie’s ear perked up. “How surprising to find a bartender who can recite poetry,” she stated.

“Kyle was a history major with a minor in lit at Chico University,” informed Kate.

“That was your school, Kathryn,” said Marnie, doing a double take to her daughter and her friend.

“I know,” Kate smiled. “Crazy isn’t it? Kyle’s family also owns the little café in Santa Cruz around the corner from where I used to live.”

“I guess it is a small world after all,” she smiled and took notice to the average looking gent, standing between she and her daughter. “Pray tell, may I ask what a history major is doing bar-keeping at an inconsequential tavern?”

“Not much call for a history major in these parts,” said Kyle. “Besides, I like it here. I get to meet all types of people and become friends with some of them, your daughter being one of them.”

“Kyle and I are in a poetry group, together,” stated Kate.

“Oh, thank God.” Marnie breathed a sigh of relief. “There’s hope for you yet, Kathryn. And to think I thought you abandoned your education altogether.”

“I haven’t abandoned my education. Kate rolled her eyes.

“Kate teaches at the Virginia City Elementary School,” interjected Kyle. “She’s an excellent teacher and a credit to her profession.”

“It’s nice to see someone appreciates your talents,” said Marnie, and looked over at Jack.

Jack continued his fake grin as he lifted his beer and took a drink, but on the inside he felt his back prick.

“Mother, Jack is very supportive,” stated Kate. “As a matter of fact, he built my class a reading nook this past year.”

“Well it’s good to see your skilled labor is good for something other than ranching.” She gave him her own plastered smile and took a sip of her cheap wine.

“Ma’am, it takes more than labor to keep a ranch running,” Mark chimed, in his boss’s defense. “Jack’s a fine businessman and has worked hard to build a successful, working ranch.”

“Oh I see,” said Marnie. “Tell me, Jack, did you major in business?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “But I have completed my education, thanks to Kate.”

Kate’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. They danced in nervous anticipation of what hell would break loose if he disclosed more.

“Mother, how do you like your wine?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“It will suffice,” said Marnie. “So Kate was your inspiration? What was your major?”

Jack went to answer, but Kate kicked him under the table. He bolted back in his chair, feeling a shooting pain slap-dab on his kneecap.

“We haven’t done our shots,” said Kate, and Jack shot her a cross look. She raised her glass in spite of his evil stares. “To our newborn son, Jesse!”

“To Jesse,” exclaimed Mark, and lifted his glass to toast.

Kate threw her head back and downed the shot.

“Kathryn, are you to be drinking if you’re nursing?” her mother questioned her.

“It’s fine,” said Kate. “Besides, whiskey cures everything.”

“You’re drinking whiskey?” her mother blinked.

“Trust me, it helps in times like this,” she mumbled. “Kyle, how about another round?”

“Coming right up, Kate!” He nodded and returned to the bar.

“So Jack, you never answered my question,” said Marnie, getting back to their previous discussion. “What was your major?”

Jack looked at Kate and saw her shaking her head
no
.

“It wasn’t college I went back to school for,” stated Jack, ignoring Kate’s silent pleas. “I got my GED.”

“Your …
GED
?!” Marnie almost choked on her wine. She looked over at Kate and saw her melting into the chair, as if she wanted to disappear. “My daughter has a
master’s
in education and is working on her Ph.D., and she is with a man who just got his
GED
?”

The thought was obviously unfathomable to Marnie St. Claire.

“I am more successful than most college graduates,” he informed her, with an air of arrogance in his tone.

“You got lucky, that’s all.” Marnie crossed her arms over her chest. “It was nothing more than plain dumb luck.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it!” His temper flared. “I worked six long years at the rodeo and I saved every dime. I bought this ranch and turned it into a profit during the summer months. In the winter, I have the sole contract for snow removal for Virginia City’s roads and businesses.
That ain’t luck, lady, that’s smart thinking!
”

“My daughter married a rodeo cowboy?” Marnie exclaimed, and fell back in her chair. “I think I am going to be faint.”

“Oh Mother, stop being so dramatic,” exclaimed Kate.

“And you, what about
you
?” Marnie glared at her daughter. “Have you thrown away your education for this cowboy?”

“I haven’t thrown away anything,” she replied.

“But you are not in school going for your Ph.D.?” surmised Marnie, in total disgust.

“I put it on hold for a while.” She shrugged.

In truth, she placed her classes on hold when she left Santa Cruz and moved out to Virginia City.

“You’re throwing your life away,” said Marnie, shaking her head.

“Mother, right now school is not my focus. My son and Jack are my priority.”

“What about teaching?” Marnie questioned, though she was afraid of the answer.

“I’m still teaching,” said Kate. “I haven’t quit. I plan on going back in the fall.”

Kate regretted it the minute the words came spilling out of her mouth.

“What do you mean
you
plan on going back in the fall?” Jack broke into the conversation, staring at his wife with a tightened jaw. “When were you going to tell
me
this?”

“Jack, I was going to talk to you about it,” said Kate, feeling his scrutiny ooze all over her. She could kick herself right now for shooting off her mouth before discussing it with him in private.

“When were you going to talk to me about it?” He did not seem happy. “When school started?”

“Jack, please,” she whispered. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“No, we’ll talk about it now,” he bellowed. “What about Jesse? I thought we decided you were going to stay home and take care of our son?”

“My daughter is an educator first.” Marnie interrupted. “If she wants to teach rather than stay home and play housewife, you need to respect that. I know Paul would have.”

“You stay out of this!” Jack shot her a look of warning. “This is between me and my wife.”

“Kathryn is my daughter.” Her back straightened. “I have a right to put my two cents in since she obviously is too afraid to.”

“Mother, that’s enough,” said Kate, feeling like she was in a tug of war between the two of them.

“No Kate, let her talk.” Jack raised his voice in angry opposition. “Ever since you came here you have been needling me. What is it exactly that you don’t like about me?”

“I don’t like your arrogant nature and the way you control my daughter!” Marnie’s temper flared.

“You know what I think?” said Jack, as he sat straight up in his chair and leaned his hands on the table. “I think you can’t stand it that you no longer have your daughter under your thumb.”

“Jack, that’s enough,” said Kate, and she blushed as if embarrassed that Mark had to be privy to their family dispute.

“You’re going to take her side on this?” Jack glared at her.

“No, baby.” Kate reached out and placed her hand on his. “This isn’t the time or place to get into this.”

“Kathryn, let the man speak his peace,” said Marnie with a slow grin. “Maybe it’s time you see
the real
Jack McBride.”

“Kate knows who I am.” He glared at Marnie. “I’ve never been nothing but upfront and honest with your daughter, but you on the other hand are a conniving, meddling bitch!”

“Be careful. You don’t want your
ugly colors
showing,” said Marnie, as cool as ever. “See Kathryn, this is what I was talking about.”

Jack saw red.

“I GIVE UP!” He flung his hands up in the air.

He shoved his seat back away from the table and stood. Kate never saw Jack so mad in all her life, not even after releasing Black Thunder into the wild. She watched him leave the table and strode toward the door.

“Jack, where are you going?” Kate called to him.

“I need some air,” he growled, then flung open the door and left the bar.

“What have you done, Mother?”

Kate stood and ran after him. She left the bar and searched the small street for Jack. She found him walking along a side street leading up to the old Dayton Cemetery.

“Jack, are you okay?” she asked as she approached him.

“Not now, Kate,” he hissed. “I’m so mad that I’m afraid I might say something that I can’t take back.”

He leaned against the iron gate of the cemetery and ran his fingers through his hair. Kate lingered beside him, waiting for him to cool down. She didn’t utter a word, watching him try to make sense of what just happened tonight.

Jack stared at the ground, following a line of cobblestone with his eyes. He looked out along the foothills and got lost in the black backdrop of Nevada sky. He sighed, gazing at the mountains silhouetted by the fading lights of Reno.

“When were you going to tell me you were going back to teaching?” He broke his silence and looked at her.

“I was waiting for the right time to discuss it with you,” she said in a soft tone.

“I thought we decided you were going to stay home?” He needed to understand why she felt the need to work.

“Jack, I know you think I should quit my job and stay home with Jesse but I love teaching.”

“So you had no intentions of staying home?” he stated matter-of-factly.

It was Kate’s turn to stare at the ground. “I didn’t want you to be upset with me.”

“What I’m upset about is that you were not truthful with me.”

Kate saw the hurt in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Jack just shook his head. “I don’t understand why teaching is so important to you?”

He was trying to make sense of something that made no sense to him.

“Jack, I have wanted to be a teacher all my life. It’s all I ever wanted to do. It’s part of who I am.”

“What about Jesse?” he asked. “He’s part of you too.”

“I know he is,” she sighed. “It’s going to be the hardest thing to leave him when I go to work every morning. As a mother, I’m struggling with that.”

Jack looked up at her and saw the tears in her eyes. He reached out and took her hand, folding it into his.

“It’s that important to you?”

“Yes, it is.”

Jack nodded. “Then you should teach,” he said, and lifted her hand to his lips and kissed them.

“Thank you, Jack.” She folded into his arms.

“I love you, Kate,” he said, holding her tight. “There isn’t anything in the world I wouldn’t do for you.”

“I know that,” she said. “That’s why I love you so much.”

“No more holding back from me,” said Jack, lifting her chin and looking into a vastness of blue. “I know I can be stubborn and overbearing at times, but you have to be straight with me.”

“I will, I promise,” she sniffled.

“No more crying, baby.” He wiped the tears from her eyes. “I hate it when I’ve upset you.”

“No more crying,” Kate gave him a sweet smile. “And it’s not exactly all you’re doing.”

She had a point, and like a dark cloud, his irritation returned.

“What are we going to do about your mother?”

“I don’t know,” she heavily sighed.

“She’s got to go!” said Jack, shaking his head.

“She’s leaving tomorrow.”

“I don’t know if I can stand another night with her under our roof,” he growled.

“It’s one more night, Jack,” said Kate, and she stroked his arm with her finger, running it up and down soothingly against his skin.

A cool breeze echoed a haunting whistle in the graveyard behind them, like a whisper, signaling his own unrest.

“I know it ain’t right to ask, but I’m asking anyway,” said Jack. “I need you to keep that woman away from me. She’s poison and I’m ready to explode.”

“I’ll take care of my mother.” She nodded. “But I think for the time being, we should go back inside and rescue Mark from her scrutiny. We’ll make up some kind of excuse and call it an early night.”

“I think that’s best,” Jack agreed. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Jack took Kate’s hand and together they walked back to
The Wild Horse Saloon
. He cringed at the thought of holding his temper. It wasn’t going to be easy, but for Kate he would do it. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, including spending another few waking hours dealing with her difficult mother. Jack reigned in his temper and together they returned to their guests.

SEVEN

MELTDOWN WITH A CHERRY ON TOP

“I thought the old battle axe would never leave!”

Jack slammed the front door closed after personally witnessing his mother-in-law get into her car and drive away down the dirt road.

“Good riddance,” he said, following Kate into the kitchen. “This calls for a celebration.”

“I don’t feel much like celebrating,” sighed Kate, and she began cleaning the dishes from breakfast, putting them into the dishwasher.