Daughters (28 page)

During the weeks following her Alaska trip, Marie allowed her work to save her from dwelling too much on whether Richard would appeal the divorce proceedings.

With few exceptions, Atchison local businesses were owned and managed by men, and more than a few eyebrows had been raised when she had opened her interior design business doors two years earlier. But not about to have her goals and aspirations diminished by that fact, and not afraid to go against the grain, Marie forged ahead as if she were one of them. And it worked.

Earlier that year, Marie had been elected president of a floundering group of local business owners she had joined when she had first opened her business. She eagerly accepted the challenge and grew the group from fifteen members to close to forty. Karen was voted secretary, and they renamed the group TABOO (The Atchison Business Owners Organization). When word about the group spread to neighboring towns, similar groups, all modeled after theirs, were formed.

Marie was honored when the American Institute of Decorators asked her to create a committee and forum that would award national prizes for best interior designs. After a few months of brainstorming, she and her committee members determined prizes for best-designed furniture, fabric, and wallpaper. The AID board liked their proposal, but when Marie suggested that the award-winning pieces be displayed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the AID president, who was originally from Chicago, suggested the Chicago Art Institute instead.

Since Marie was the committee member who lived closest to Chicago, she was asked to work with the Art Institute when the winning designs were to go on display, requiring her to make two trips to Chicago. The initial trip went well. The second trip was scheduled for the middle of September.

It was a pleasant walk from Chicago’s Union Station to the Blackstone Hotel on Michigan Avenue where Marie was staying. The morning clouds were gradually shooed away by a gentle breeze, warming her face as she strolled down the avenue. She thought it odd not to see streetcars. When Marie had lived in Chicago, the Green Hornets, as they were called, ran on almost every downtown street. Now cars and buses had replaced them.

As she got closer to her hotel, Marie saw that a crowd of people had formed outside of it and was told Governor Adlai Stevenson was inside the hotel meeting with some Chicago bureaucrats and businessmen. Stevenson was someone many Chicagoans wanted to see run for president in 1952. Marie pushed her way through the crowd into the hotel lobby and to the front desk.

After getting settled in her room, she headed out for her meeting at the Art Institute. Afterward, near the end of her five-block walk back to her hotel, she saw him standing outside the main entrance. It was too late to turn back.

He wore a feral grin of triumph. “Hello, Marie. How was your meeting?”

“What are you doing here, Richard?”

“I live here. Remember?”

She tried to get past him, but he took a step sideways to block her. “Can we stop inside for a drink?” he asked.

She looked him in the eye and held her head high. “I see no purpose in that.”

His face was calm, including his eyes. “You don’t think you at least owe me that?” he asked in a soft voice.

Marie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay.” Richard led her across the lobby to a sitting area farthest from the groups of people still wanting to get a glimpse of the governor.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’m fine, and you?”

“Not so fine. As you know, I was served with divorce papers.”

She didn’t say anything.

“I want you to withdraw it.” His gaze didn’t leave her face.

“Why, Richard? We’ll never have a life together again. You know that.”

“You know something? I
do
know that. I know that now. But that’s not why I’m asking you to withdraw it.”

“Why then?”

“I’m doing it for you. My felony conviction was expunged from my record, and so your grounds for divorce won’t hold any water in court.”

Her heart sank.

“So why let it go through the court process when it will obviously be denied?”

“How did you get that expunged?”

Richard raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry. Stupid question.” She peered deep into his eyes. “So now what?”

“My lawyer tells me I have all sorts of grounds to divorce you.”

Marie gulped and hoped he didn’t notice. She held her breath waiting for him to continue.

“And while this still isn’t what I want, I’m willing to file…to make things easy for you.”

“Why would you do that if it isn’t what you want?”

He gave her a weak smile. “When you took that little road trip to South Carolina with your father, I knew I had lost you for good. I know you too well, sweetheart, and while I can’t say I understand it, I can’t compete with that. So…I may as well let you off the hook, let you go.” He leaned in closer. “And believe me when I tell you, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Because, despite whatever you think of me, whatever you think you know about me, I have never loved anyone like I loved you, and I don’t think I ever will.”

Richard stood up and turned away from her. He took one step and then hesitated. After a brief moment, he continued his stride through the lobby and out the front door of the hotel.

Marie remained in her chair, staring straight ahead, trying to remain calm, and trying not to cry. It almost didn’t matter that he knew about the trip with her father, that he knew she was staying at the Blackstone right now, and that she was in town for a meeting. What she couldn’t get over was what Richard had said about not being able to compete with Jonathan.

It didn’t sink in at first. Here was a man who had been telling her for three years in one way or another that he still loved her and wanted her to come home. And now, because she took a trip with her father to his hometown, the town where he grew up, the town where he became the man he was today, Richard gives up.

He said he knew her too well. Maybe he knew her better than she knew herself.

CHAPTER 20

Compassion

Nearing the end of an early morning ride on J.B. one balmy fall day, Marie spotted Ted and several of the ranch hands gathered near one of the stables. Ted walked in front of Marie’s horse, forcing her to stop. “Don’t go in there just yet.”

“How come?”

“One of our mares just had a stillborn birth in the stall next to J.B.’s.” He took the reins from Marie and led her to the next barn. “We can put him in here until things settle down. Mama’s pretty upset and won’t let anyone near her dead colt.”

She dismounted and walked next to Ted as he led J.B. to the last stall. Marie reached for the brush hanging on the nail outside the stall, but before she could start rubbing the horse down, Ted took the brush from her hand. “I’ll ask one of the hands to do that. Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?”

Over coffee, Marie found out Ted had been married—twice. His first wife had run off with their next door neighbor, and his second wife had died in a riding accident. That had been two years ago.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. How awful that must have been for you.”

“It was. I was the one who found her. I don’t know what caused that horse to be so aggressive. And he wasn’t any crow-bait horse. He’d never shown any sign of bad behavior before, nor since. Just goes to show you how unpredictable animals are. Say, would you like to have dinner with me sometime?”

She liked his smile. “Only if you allow me to tell you about myself. And then, if you want to back out, I’ll understand.” She told him about her father and Richard.

“Your father sounds like someone I’d like to get to know, but that husband of yours, well, that’s a different story.”

“So who my father is doesn’t bother you? I’ll understand if you want to back out. Really.”

“I ain’t backing out.” He laughed. “My great-grandfather was a Cherokee Indian. Does that bother you?”

“No. Not in the least.”

The next evening, while they sipped wine on Marie’s porch, Marie told Karen about her talk with Ted.

Karen’s face lit up. “He’s so handsome, in a rugged sort of way. Is he single?”

“Of course he’s single. I wouldn’t go out with him if he wasn’t.”

Karen gave her a peculiar look and then smiled. “Well,
you’re
not.”

“Right. Well, you got me there.”

“Any word on the divorce?”

“Not yet. I guess Richard hasn’t filed yet.”

Karen smiled. “I can just see the two of you riding off into the sunset together…”

“It’s just dinner, Karen. And I’m not even sure if he’s my type.”

“Oh really? And what exactly is your type?”

Marie’s mouth went into an instant smile. Both women knew she didn’t have an answer to that question. “For one thing, when I told him I was separated but still married, he referred to me as a California widow.”

“What does that mean?”

“I have no idea. I was afraid to ask. And when I described Richard to him, he called him a regular flannel mouth.”

“Huh?”

“It must be a whole other language.”

“A real cowboy then?”

“I guess.”

“Well, it doesn’t take away from that handsome face of his, and those tight jeans. Whew!”

“Cool down, Karen.”

“Well, I just can’t stand to see you alone. You have so much to offer someone. And that someone is out there. I just know it. Someone who will accept you for all that you are, including who your father is. Maybe that’s Ted.”

“Tell me, why do you think Paul was interested in me even after I told him about my father?”

“Honestly? I think he had never met anyone like you before—college-educated, gorgeous, and secretly colored—and that was exciting for him.”

“Really?” Marie pondered Karen’s rationale. “What do you think the odds are of meeting the true love of your life? And just how many frogs do you think you have to kiss before you find him?”

“Who knows? Maybe hundreds. Or maybe he’s right under your nose, and you don’t even know it. My mother used to say, ‘What’s meant to be will always find its way.’ I think she was right.”

“Maybe. How are things going with you and Maurice these days?”

A vivid red blush crept up Karen’s neck. She smiled.

“Okay, tell me. What’s going on?”

“He told me he loved me.”

“And you said?”

“I told him back.”

“I knew there was something different about you today! I’m so happy for you. What about his wacky mother?”

“I’m trying to ignore that. Makes things a lot easier. And he told me if it ever came down to it, he would choose me over his mother.”

“You two make a great couple, you know that? So how much chocolate have you eaten this past month?”

“Shut up, Marie.”

Ted picked Marie up the following Friday in his pickup truck. He was wearing jeans, boots, and a cowboy shirt. She came to the door in a silk dress and three-inch heels. As soon as they saw each other, they both laughed.

“I’ll go change,” she said. Ted waited in his truck.

They went to a restaurant/bar on the outskirts of Hiawatha where everyone seemed to know Ted. He led Marie to a table in the middle of the room, near the bar, where he promptly sat down. Used to a man pulling out the chair for her, she tried to overlook it. Maybe it wasn’t a cowboy thing to do.