A Year of You (6 page)

One hundred one-hundred-dollar bills.

Ten thousand dollars.


Ten thousand dollars.
Holy shit, ten thousand dollars!

What the heck do I do with ten thousand dollars? I can’t carry this around with me!

She could send five thousand to K, to get him off her back for a little while. The first chance she got, she would do that. Hopefully she could do it today. If she deposited half into the bank account K set up, then that would pacify him for a while.

It took a few minutes of arguing with Emeline to get her to stop at a branch. While she was inside, she made the deposit into K’s account. She considered setting up a second account, but K had the type of connections that would find out and there’d be hell to pay. She didn’t have enough ID to set one up as Evelyn Carruthers yet. Ruth Ellen’s lawyers were working on getting the documentation, but until the DNA results came back, she was stuck as Mattie Smith.

Six hours later, Mattie swore she would never ever in a million years go shopping with Emeline again.
Ever
. West had the right idea, staying in the Navigator with the radio blaring while Em and her friends ran wild in the mall. None of the clothes Mattie preferred were good enough for a night out with ‘the girls.’ Anything that was even moderately decent was scorned and tossed aside.

“I can’t wear stuff like that,” she insisted when the younger women tried to hand her tube tops and mini skirts and other embarrassing articles of clothing. “I’m a size fourteen. Not a—what’s this, a four?”

When the fat jokes started, Mattie rolled her eyes. “I’ll meet ya’ll at the truck in an hour.” She broke away from the group and headed for one of her favorite stores. She had five thousand dollars to spend, no strings attached. New clothes wouldn’t hurt.

***

McKendrick insisted on a family dinner at a posh restaurant when they got back from the hellacious shopping excursion.

“We have important things to talk about, Matilyn and Emeline.” Emeline groaned about having to cancel her plans, but Mattie was utterly relieved.

The gut-gnawing sense of anxiety returned when the sleek Mercedes pulled up in front of the kind of place Mattie had only seen in movies. Once inside the dimly lit, expensively furnished dining room, Mattie felt so out of place. She stuck out like a sore thumb. Felt like everyone was staring at her in her simple black dress, as if they all knew she’d gotten it for three dollars off a clearance rack at an overstock outlet store in the mall. She didn’t know what brand it was since the store ripped the tags out, but she was sure every Chanel-and-Gucci-suited patron knew what brand it wasn’t.

Soft conversation filtered through the low-ceilinged room. Every once in a while, somebody clinked a glass or laughed aloud. Not too loudly, though.

A man impeccably dressed in a formal suit hurried toward McKendrick. Emeline bounced forward and gave the man a hug and a polite little kiss on the cheek.

“The owner,” West whispered in Mattie’s ear. She jumped a little, startled out of her reverie. She nodded in acknowledgement. The owner led them to a table in the back, tastefully shielded from the general view by a low wall topped with flowering green plants.

West frowned and subtly inspected the greens. “Plants are dying,” he remarked to her, even though she really didn’t care. “Damn expensive things, too.”

“Brant, wonderful to see you,” the owner said genially. “Wonderful job on my sister’s lawn, by the way. She loves the roses.”

West grinned. “She’ll have the best lawn on the street. Oh, and you might want to get some fertilizer for these babies here.” He fingered a leaf. “They’re tropical.”

Emeline sighed dramatically. “Come sit down and quit molesting the man’s plants, West.”


The owner shook West’s hand. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’m sure you can help me with that...?”

“Sure. I’ll swing by tomorrow with some.”


Emeline waited until West pulled her chair out before she sat down. McKendrick pulled Justine’s chair out. The maîtres’d was occupied with showing the wine list to McKendrick.

Guess I’m on my own
, Mattie thought. She tugged the heavy chair out from under the table and sat down. The damn thing was too far away from the table.

In the process of scooting the chair closer, she bumped the table and jostled the water glasses. Justine and McKendrick both shot her irritated glances.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

A waiter bustled over and recited a long list of mumbo-jumbo. It took Mattie a second to figure out it was another wine list. The McKendricks and even West ordered, all using flawless accents. The waiter turned expectantly to Mattie.

Her mouth went dry. She didn’t know anything about wine, other than the cheap grocery-store stuff she bought once in while. “Um—uh—”

The waiter’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Smug bastard, Mattie thought. West saved her by ordering for her.
“Way to go, Borat,” Emeline said.


“Bite me,” Mattie replied.

McKendrick cleared his throat. “Girls, please. Mattie, don’t embarrass me.”

“Sorry,” she said again. Having to spend too much time with this family was going to get real old, real fast.

The wine arrived. Serving it was a process that quite possibly could have sent Mattie into an anxiety attack, had she not had West sitting next to her, quietly coaching her on the right way to drink it so she wouldn’t look like a total idiot.

Justine sat on Mattie’s right. She turned toward her and gave her a weak, insincere smile. “So, Matilyn, how has your first day as a McKendrick been?”

“Oh, um, wonderful, Justine. It’s great to be here.”

McKendrick leaned back in his chair, wine held in one hand, reminding Mattie of an insane brooding tyrant. “Just realize that everything isn’t final yet. You aren’t the first woman to claim to be my missing daughter.”

“I understand that. Ruth Ellen told me as much.”

“Grandmother thinks she sees Elaine in dreams,” Emeline scoffed. “She’s always begging me to go dig up West’s orange grove.”


Mattie forced out a laugh along with everyone else, who found it to be the funniest thing in the world. On her left, West pushed out a single half-hearted chuckle and busied himself with his phone until they were done laughing.

File that one away
, Mattie thought. West didn’t hold Ruth Ellen in contempt like her actual family did.

Mattie’s heart flip-flopped when she saw the waiter approaching again. She hadn’t had a chance to look at the menu, although she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway.

Once again, the waiter spoke in French, detailing the specials of the day with a passion in his voice that vaguely made Mattie feel like she should be aroused. Emeline placed her order. A heartbeat later she excused herself. She hurried to a table across the room and fell into the more-than-friendly embrace of another guy.

Scandalized, Mattie wondered why West was letting her do it before she realized he had his back to that table. He’d even adjusted his chair when he sat down so his back was squarely to that table.

Why had he done that?

Emeline sat down at the other table, leaning all over the other guy. The girl sitting across from them had an unhappy expression on her Barbie-like face.

West leaned over and whispered, “Chicken, fish, or steak?”
Relieved, Mattie sighed. “Chicken. As normal as possible.”
He bit back a smile and nodded. It floored her when he spoke French back to the waiter, pointing at the menu, gestured toward her, and back to the menu. When the waiter moved on to take Justine’s order, Mattie poked West in the leg, subtly so she wouldn’t draw attention to herself.

“You don’t seem like the type to speak French,” she said softly.


“I’m a man of many talents,” he replied. “And spending most of my life around this family has forced me to learn certain things.”

McKendrick and Justine made small talk until the first course arrived. Emeline reappeared. Mattie noticed his slight scowl, and her heart went out to the guy. Mattie unrolled her napkin and managed to knock one of the many spoons lined up beside her plate to the plush carpeting.

Emeline giggled and made some inane comment that made Mattie want to smack her. She wasn’t sure whether she should leave the spoon or pick it up. She wasn’t sure what she would do with it once she picked it up, but she didn’t want to look uncouth by leaving it lying there. She decided to compromise and move it under her chair.

As she leaned down to move it over, the table cloth shifted and she saw Justine’s foot rubbing her brother’s ankle, all the way above his sock. Her hand was on his thigh.

Eww. Oh man
. Mattie forgot the spoon and sat up straight, trying her best not to look at Justine, who sat prim and proper, like nothing at all even slightly disgusting was going on under the table.

West gave her a funny look. “You all right? You look a little pale.”


She nodded. “Yeah, just sat up too fast.”
After the main course was finished and cleared, McKendrick steepled his hands on the table top.

“Now, Matilyn. As I said, you aren’t the first woman to claim to be Elaine. Most of them I know right away cannot be Elaine. You, on the other hand, bear a striking resemblance to both my wife and my mother-in-law in her younger years.”

West shifted in his seat and narrowed his eyes at her, studying her. Mattie stuck her tongue out at him. He stifled a laugh and rolled his eyes at her.

McKendrick cleared his throat again. Reluctantly, Mattie broke eye contact with West and turned her attention back to the other man.

“The results of the DNA tests should be in within a day or so, and my private investigators will be researching your background. If you’ve got anything to hide or that you don’t want brought to light, I suggest you reveal it now.”

“I have nothing to hide, Mr. McKendrick.”

“We’ll see. If you do prove to be my daughter, you’ll be awarded three different trust funds from my mother-in-law and her late husband. There are stipulations that must be met before you can have any of them, but I don’t believe any of them will be an issue for you. They total over seventeen million dollars.”
The restaurant dipped to the side and got really dark all of a sudden. Pin pricks of light flashed in front of her eyes.

No, that’s the chandelier over the table. Why am I looking up at it?

West’s face appeared over hers, his eyes wide with concern. Was that his arm under her head?

Crap, she was in his lap!
Mortified, she struggled upright. The entire restaurant was watching her, staring. The waiters gathered by the low wall jut watching. Good thing I wasn’t choking to death. The owner shoved through the bunch. McKendrick was on his feet, mouth open like he was about to yell for help.

“Mattie, are you all right?” West asked, helping her back into her seat.


“I—yeah. I just got lightheaded there for a second. I’m good.”


West handed her a water goblet. It wobbled in her hand, and a few drops splashed out onto her lap. West closed his hand over hers and helped steady it all the way to her lips.


“O-M-G, I swear,” Emeline said. “We just need to start calling you Borat.”


Mattie groaned. “Lay off me for a little while. And calling me Borat makes no sense whatsoever. If you’re going to use pop culture to humiliate me, at least find a character that matches the situation,
Regina
.” There was no way Em would understand the
Mean Girls
reference.

Hmm
. Maybe she did. Emeline sat back in her seat, flashing wounded, reproaching eyes at her father.


“Why don’t I take you to the ladies’ room so you can freshen up,” Justine said, breaking the tension.
Mattie nodded in agreement even though she didn’t want to leave the warm circle of West’s arms.

The fact that he cared enough to help her made her feel hot and woozy inside. It had been a long time since anyone had shown her any consideration.

He helped her to her feet, earning a sharp glare from Emeline. The haughty bitch stared at him with a petulant expression on her face until he shrugged in frustration and demanded, “What?”

With Justine hovering beside her, Mattie hobbled on her too-high heels to the ornate restroom. She didn’t care about her runny mascara as she splashed cold water on her cheeks and forehead.

“Brant seems taken with you,” Justine said. The line of lights over the mirrors was too bright. The play of highs and lows on her chiseled face made the woman into something sinister.

Mattie began to feel halfway human. “He’s a nice guy.”

“Emeline deserves better. Much better. He’s a gardener, for heaven’s sake.” Justine shook her head and adjusted a strand of hair that had come out of the perfect French twist on the back of her head.

“He’s a really nice guy,” Mattie repeated.
”He seems honest and hardworking. I don’t think anybody could ask for anyone better than that.”

“You’re more suited to him,” her aunt said, narrowing her eyes. “Yes, much more suited.”                 “I—okay.” Mattie wasn’t sure if it was an insult or just a badly-phrased statement. Cold, hard hands grabbed her shoulders, and she nearly lost her balance as she tried to twist around as fast as the woman was turning her. Justine’s blazing eyes startled her, and a tendril of fear and unease crept to her heart.

“Do you honestly think yourself to be Elaine McKendrick?” Justine hissed, staring into Mattie’s face. “Do you? Do you know how many other liars and con artists have tried to get money from this family? I will not allow it again.”

“Justine, I am Ruth Ellen’s granddaughter,” Mattie said, extracting herself from Justine’s grip. “I have nothing to hide.”

“Just remember, little girl lost, that this family guards its secrets very well. Blood or not, you would be better off going home.”

Mattie sighed and pulled a paper towel out of the shiny chrome holder. She dampened it, blotted at the dark arcs under her eyes. The action kept her hands from shaking. “Justine, I’m here because Ruth Ellen asked me to come. For now, this is home.”

***

Blindingly loud hip-hop music saturated the air of the club. Stuck together at the back of Emeline’s posse, Mattie glanced at West and raised her eyebrows. She felt self-conscious in her flirty dress, but at the same time, she felt good. More than once she’d caught West gazing at her. His expressions were unreadable, other than the usual suspicious glaze over his eyes every once in a while.