Call of the Canyon (18 page)

“Of course, we can do anything you want. I
wired ahead that we’re coming. A car will be waiting for us.”

Kate loved the idea of shopping in old New
York City. She kissed Drew on the cheek and he returned the kiss.
She dissolved into his arms. The magazines could wait.

* * * *

Although it was still afternoon, Kate
slipped on her silk nightgown with matching robe. It was dark
purple, almost black in color. She felt so grown-up and glamorous
in it. Drew had given it to her on their wedding night. Now she
felt they could act like a married couple with no interruptions.
She could wear a nightgown in the middle of the afternoon if she
felt like it.

“Mmm, I like that,” Drew said drowsily.

“Hope you always will because we’ll be
married for a long time.”

“I like having you as my wife and my
girlfriend. Makes life interesting.” Drew rolled over in the bed
and leaned on his elbows gazing at her.

“Stop it, you’re making me blush.” Kate
tossed a pillow at him. Drew tossed it back. “Drew, why can’t we be
like this back in Ohio? We can have it all there, too.”

“It’s not the same. I feel like you’re my
wife here, but not in Ohio. The times are different, I realize that
now. I like having both lives, don’t you?”

Kate had to admit she did. “I hate when
you’re right!” She threw the pillow back at him. There was a knock
at the door which interrupted their fun. Drew jumped from the bed
and opened the door just a crack.

“Dinner menu, sir.” A voice came from the
other side of the door.

“Thank you, I’ll take it.” When Drew turned
around, Kate was dressed and sitting in one of the lounge chairs.
“Wow, you’re fast, Mrs. Martin. I thought you might be embarrassed
to be seen in your nightclothes. I’m sure he’s seen his share of
women in various stages of undress.” He chuckled. “Would you like
to read the menu and order dinner?”

Kate nodded and took the menu from his hand,
loving the train ride to New York City.

The dinner they ordered turned out to be
wonderful. It was romantic to be just the two of them at their
table. She loved hearing the clanking of the train on the rails and
watching daylight turn to night. She slept well and looked forward
to another whole day before arriving at Grand Central Station.

* * * *

“We’ll be arriving later today.” Drew
reminded her as they got ready for the day. They’d left Ohio a day
earlier than planned so they could arrive on Friday and have the
whole weekend with Drew’s family. Kate’s heart skipped a beat. She
was a little nervous about seeing Nicolas again. Ilene had been
sweet to her and Kate hoped they would get along. It was just that
Nicolas was so scary...

“Did you hear me, Kate?” Drew took her by
her shoulders.

“Yes, I did.”

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

Kate brought herself back to reality. “Oh,
yes I do.” She was doing it for him. He needed to see his family
and make things right. This would be the last time they’d see him.
She had no plans to ruin it.

As they pulled into the terminal, Kate
couldn’t help notice the multitudes of people and how old-fashioned
everything seemed. She had to pinch herself to see if it was real.
“Ouch!” she said aloud.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine, just checking to see if I’m really
here.” She giggled because she’d done that once a long time ago
when she’d first arrived at the Grand Canyon. She thought she was
dreaming so she had pinched herself then, too.

“I see him.” Drew pointed out the window.
“See that man holding the sign? That’s our chauffeur, Salvatore.
Stay here and I’ll be right back.”

Did Drew just say our chauffeur? The
Martins have their own chauffeur?
When Drew said someone would
pick them up Kate assumed it would be a taxi service. The porter
came into the car, took their luggage to the landing and was
greeted by Salvatore and Drew.

“Sal, this is my wife, Kathryn.” Drew took
Kate’s hand as she stepped forward and helped her down the
steps.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Martin.” Sal
gave a slight bow.

“Thank you, Sal.” She noticed he had an
Italian accent and wondered how long he had worked for the Martins.
She’d ask Drew later.

“Sal, we’d like to go shopping before
heading home. Would you please take us to Saks Fifth Avenue?” He
put his arm around Kate. “This will be fun. I can’t wait for you to
see all the stores on Fifth Avenue.”

Kate had been in New York with her mother a
few times and they’d shopped along the Avenue. She was familiar
with Saks and was surprised it existed in 1927. Again, Kate felt
she’d better brush up on her history.

Sal pulled the Cadillac in front of the
department store. Jumping out, he ran around to the passenger side
of the car and helped them out. “I’ll be waiting, sir.”

“Thanks, Sal, we won’t be long.”

They entered the store and a man, looking
very official, came scurrying up to them. “Mr. Martin, it’s a
pleasure to see you again. Anything I can do for you today? And
this must be your lovely bride.” He looked at Kate for a brief
moment, but all of his attention was on Drew.

“Yes, Jonathan, this is my wife, Kathryn.
We’d like to purchase a gift for my parents, something in
Waterford.”

“Good choice, sir. Come right this way. Fern
will be most willing to help you. Fern!” He darted away as quickly
as he appeared.

“Drew, you’ve got to be kidding me. People
are fawning all over you.”

“Are they?”

She so wanted to give him a little push and
bring him back to his senses but realized that was his way of life
in the past. It had no effect on the way he treated people. She
would never guess he was a rich snob. Kate chuckled to herself.
Snob was not a word she associated with Drew.

A lovely, young girl approached and Kate
guessed she must be Fern. She led them to the crystal department on
the second floor and took them to the Waterford section, leaving
them to make a choice.

“A decanter would be nice.” Drew pointed to
a few he liked. Kate had no idea what to pick so she let him make
the final choice. After talking to Fern, Drew turned and took
Kate’s hand, heading for the elevator.

“Drew, we don’t have the gift! Where are we
going?” Kate kept looking back at the crystal department as the
elevator doors opened.

“It will be wrapped and delivered tonight,”
he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” Again she felt overwhelmed.

Sal was waiting for them as promised and
whisked them down Fifth Avenue toward Drew’s home. Kate tried to
take everything in as they drove along, but she was so overcome by
the train ride, the chauffeured car and buying the gift, it was all
going by in a blur. Then she saw trees and greenery and realized
they were driving by Central Park. She remembered her trip to the
zoo with her parents.

“We’re almost there.” Drew pointed to a
street as Sal turned. Kate quickly looked at the street sign...East
74
^th
Street. She should have guessed he lived in the
upscale part of town. Didn’t she just read all of New York’s rich
lived on 68
^th
and beyond? The car rolled to a stop in
front of a huge four story townhouse of neo-Italian Renaissance
design. Drew kissed her on the cheek, “Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”
Kate took Drew’s hand and they headed up the stairs to the
round-arched double doors which were quickly opened by the
maid.

“Mr. Andrew, welcome home. Everyone’s
waiting for you in the study.” The maid took their coats and
disappeared.

Standing in the large foyer, Kate began to
feel a little queasy. She held onto Drew’s hand tightly. Artwork
lined the long hallway looming in front of her and Kate tried to
catch a glimpse of it as they walked toward the study. Nicolas rose
from his seat behind a large desk when they stepped into the
room.

“I didn’t think we’d see the newlyweds until
Christmas. Andrew, you said you were going back to school to finish
the semester and the same for Kathryn.” His steely eyes burned
right through her and she squeezed Drew’s hand harder.

“Father, we thought you’d enjoy a visit
before we both headed back to school.”

“Then you
are
returning to
school.”

“That was our intention all along. We’d love
for everyone to join us at the canyon for Thanksgiving, but we know
that’s asking too much.” Kate was glad Drew held his ground about
having the holiday there. “Kathryn, I’d like you to meet my sister,
Maria.”

A lovely girl of fifteen stood up and came
over to shake Kate’s hand. Her hair was dark like Drew’s, but after
looking again, Kate saw it shone with red highlights so it almost
appeared a dark auburn. Maria’s eyes met Kate’s and they were
definitely the eyes of her father. The dark brown eyes penetrated
through her, but were more quizzical than judgmental. Kate took her
hand and said, “Lovely to meet you, Maria. Sorry you missed the
wedding.”

Maria just made a strange noise and sat
down. Ilene was the next to greet her. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
She hugged Kate tightly and it felt like she meant what she just
said. “Federico is not home yet. You’ll have time to meet him later
at dinner. Maria, would you show Kathryn to her room so your father
and I can talk to your brother? She’d probably like to get
freshened up for dinner.”

Maria slowly got up, acting like any
disgruntled teen. “Come on.” She waved her hand at Kate.

Kate had barely had time to take in the room
and now she was being ushered out. Glancing at the high wall filled
with books, she thought it was a place she’d love to have a few
hours to explore. The rest of the room was dark oak and the
furniture was fine Italian leather. Choosing a book and curling up
in one of those huge, overstuffed chairs in front of the fireplace
sounded very appealing.

As they ascended the stairs Kate decided to
reach out to Maria. “You know, Maria, I really meant it when I said
I was sorry you missed the wedding. Andrew said your parents would
never take you out of school to come.”

“You mean we were invited?” Maria seemed
surprised.

“Of course, you were. You would have been
one of my bridesmaids.” Kate was astonished by this information.
Drew’s siblings were never told they were invited to the wedding.
That was one thing she could fix and make better.

Kate put her arm around Maria and felt the
girl stiffen and then relax. They stopped on the landing before
turning to go up the second set of steps. Kate hoped it was a good
sign and that Maria wanted to talk. She decided to wait and let her
speak first.

She stared out at 74th street through the
large front windows. A car pulled up in front of a residence and
its passengers disembarked. They entered one of the homes across
the way. Kate tried to guess if they were the homeowners or guests.
Such a different world compared to living at the canyon. Everyone
seemed to have to follow so many rules of society. Kate wasn’t sure
she would like that. Maria’s voice suddenly broke through her
thoughts.

“I could have been in the wedding? It
would’ve been my first time. Oh, I hate my parents sometimes!”
Maria stomped her foot like a little girl.

“We all hate our parents at times.” The two
girls giggled as they started up the next set of stairs and entered
a very large bedroom to the right of the hallway.

“This is Andrew’s room. I guess you’ll be
staying here, too. Father argued for a guest bedroom...” Maria
covered her mouth. “Sorry, I have a big mouth.”

“That’s quite alright. I like truthfulness.”
She sat on the bed and motioned for Maria to join her. “Now I want
to hear all about you—your studies, if you like any boys, what you
do for fun...”

Maria cut her off. “Really? My parents don’t
even care what I’m doing.”

“Well, I do. So please, tell me anything
you’d like.”

Maria told her about boarding school and how
the girls sneak off on weekends to meet the boys across campus at
the boys’ boarding school. She even told stories of Andrew playing
baseball with the family in the backyard when he was younger. She
said she missed him when he was sent away to boarding school at the
age of twelve. “I really miss him. We could talk for hours. He gave
me good advice and never judged.” Maria sighed. “Freddie should be
home soon and I know he will love you, too.”

Kate was relieved to see her attitude
change. “Freddie?” She assumed she meant Federico, but decided to
check.

“Well, his name is Federico Nicolas, but we
all call him Freddie, except my parents. He likes Freddie better,
makes him fit in with his friends.”

“How did Andrew get his name when you two
seem to have such Italian names?” Kate was curious.

“Mother said she got to name the first child
and then Father could name the rest. So that’s how he got his
name—actually it’s Andrew Kelly Martin. I’m Maria Katerina, named
for Father’s mother and grandmother. Then there’s Freddie who got
the longest Italian name in the family.”

“So I will call Federico, Freddie,” Kate
said.

“He’ll like that very much. He should be
home from his violin lesson soon.”

“Wow! He plays the violin.”

“Badly! He hates it. Father insisted we all
play a musical instrument. When Freddie wouldn’t pick one, father
did it for him.”

“Let me guess, you play the piano.” Kate
looked at Maria as she nodded in agreement. “I can’t picture Drew
playing anything. Let me think...”

“Drew, is that what you call him? That’s so
cute.” Maria smiled brightly. “He also played the piano...badly!
Please don’t ask him to play.”

Loud stomping could be heard out in the
hallway. Maria began to chuckle. “Freddie’s home and not too
happy.”

A red-haired boy with freckles and green
eyes appeared in the doorway. “Mother said I had to meet Kathryn
and she’d better not ask me to play this thing!” He lifted the
violin case in the air with one hand. “Death to the violin!”