Texas Lawman (24 page)

“Thomas, on a sea cruise,” Mae said, shaking her head.

Harriet laughed, still reading from the card. “Darlene says Thomas won the captain’s costume contest—he dressed up like a gangster. Can you believe it?”

Mae was speechless. All she could do was continue to shake her head.

Harriet looked at Jodie and Shannon and winked. The morning so far had not been easy. Everyone else had decided to put the incident behind them, particularly when they found out that Jodie didn’t care that Rio had gone back to Colorado. But it still rankled Mae. She’d said less than ten words to Jodie since first seeing her, having gone out of her way not to say more.

It had been Shannon’s idea that they pay a call on Mae to try to smooth the way to reconciliation. The attempt didn’t seem to be working. That was why it was so surprising when, in the early afternoon, Mae called Jodie over to request that she drive her to Little

Springs to visit Christine and the new baby. She’d ceived word only a short time before that Morgan had brought them home.

“Daddy’s available,” Jodie said, unsure if Mae aware of it.

“Of course he is, but I’m asking’ you. Are you going to turn me down?”

“No.”

“Then be back here in an hour with the Cadillac.” Jodie nodded. Her great-aunt hadn’t cracked a smile.

Instead, she’d worn her fierce matriarchal look and carried herself with distant dignity.

An hour later Jodie waited outside Mac’s house, the Cadillac’s engine running. Her father had told her often enough that Mae didn’t like to be kept waiting.

Had only two days gone by since she’d rushed Christine into town in this car? It seemed longer.

Mae emerged from the house and what Jodie saw made her eyes widen. Her great-aunt had taken a great deal of care with her appearance, wearing a soft pink linen dress, short white gloves, black dress shoes and a narrow-brimmed straw hat with a matching pink band. She came directly to the car and slid into the back seat, pointedly maintaining her distance.

“Aunt Mae,” Jodie said, “I really wish you’d” — “I’d rather not talk about it,” Mae said shortly. “But we can’t go on like this!”

“Shouldn’t you have thought about that before you did what you did?” She tapped the floorboard with the tip of her cane, signaling her impatience to be off.

“I did think about it,” Jodie said, putting the car into drive.

“I said I don’t want to talk.”

Her great-aunt’s intransigence was becoming irritating. “Aren’t you the person who told me to pick a direction and stick’ to it? Well, I did, I decided to help Rio—and I was right!”

“Only a child needs to be right all the time.” Jodie gritted her teeth. She had a mind to stop the car and refuse to go on until her father agreed to switch places. Obviously Mae had asked her to drive so she could take potshots at her. Talk about a person who always needed to be right!

“Anyway,” Mae continued, her jaw jutting, “this isn’t the appropriate setting. This is little Eiisabeth’s official welcome to the ranch and I’d like it to be special.”

So she was playing the role of Queen on an official visit! That really made Jodie want to stop the car and get out, but instead, she turned toward Little Springs and kept her mouth tightly shut.

Everyone at Little Springs was delighted to see them. Delores and Dub greeted them at the car, and Morgan came out on his porch to invite them inside.

Christine was on the sofa, smiling softly as Erin, seated next to her, cuddled the baby in her arms. After accepting the newcomers’ hugs, Christine murmured warmly, “Isn’t this the most beautiful sight? I wish I’d had a little sister to love or a big one to look up to.”

“I always wished that myself,” Mae said gruffly. “I had to make do with two older brothers. When I was born, they thought I should’ve been another boy.”

Mae waggled a finger inside the baby’s tiny fingers. And Elisabeth

instantly latched on. Mae’s face brightened with a huge smile. “Look at that! This little girl’s already showin’ some spunk.” t

Mae settled in a nearby chail’, and after the usual niceties were exchanged and Delores had served coffee, she dug in her purse for a box covered in velvet. It looked old, an antique, and when she handed it to Christine and Christine opened it, she said, “That belonged to me when I was a child. I was told it was my mother’s. I thought maybe little Elisabeth might like to have it now, to welcome her into the family.”

The diminutive gold bracelet gleamed. “Oh, Mae,/ that’s so sweet,” Christine said.

Mae withdrew another small green box. “And this is for you, Erin,” she said, again handing the box to Christine, who opened it for her daughter. It was a narrow gold ring that matched the bracelet. “They’re a set,” Mae said. “One for you, one for your new sister. I thought maybe you could wear it on your little finger.”

Erin said, “Thank you,” very politely, and maneuvered her hand so that Christine could put the ring in place. It fit perfectly.

“One day you can pass it on to your daughter, just like Elisabeth can pass her bracelet on to hers. That’s what’s so special about being part of a family like ours. The past generations are never far away. All you have to do to feel close to them is look outside or, in your case, look at your ring and your bracelet.”

Erin nodded solemnly and again offered her thanks. Jodie watched the gift-giving with a mix of feelings. It touched her, as it did everyone else, that Mae was being so thoughtful. But it also gave her the answer

she’d been searching forB the real reason Mae had wanted her along. It was another push to get her to see the importance of family.

Christine and Erii had been on their own for years before arriving at the Parker Ranch. Now they were no longer alone. They were Parkers. An accepted part of the family.

Jodie wondered if Mae’s message had been received with as much enthusiasm by Christine as it had by her daughter. She glanced at her and caught her gazing at Morgan. All the love Christine felt for her husband was there in her eyes, increased by the addition of their child.

Would she ever look at a man with that same degree of feeling? At Tate . if they were to have a baby together?

A shiver of presentiment passed over her. She and Tate? A child?

Jodie took a quick sip of coffee and tried to pretend she hadn’t just thought that, hadn’t just felt it. But she wasn’t at all successful. Each time she looked at Christine and Morgan, she thought of Tate.

A short time later Mae went to the other house with Florence. Dub and Morgan disappeared, and Erin hurried to answer the telephone, which it turned out, was a friend calling her. So Jodie and Christine were left alone with the baby, who was sleeping soundly in a portable bassinet a few feet away. Voices didn’t seem to bother her yet.

“Did I ever thank you for getting us to the hospital so quickly?” Christine asked.

“I’m only glad we made it!” Jodie returned.

“Me too. I was worried there for a while.” glanced at the bass! net “But she’s worth every ounce of trouble it took.” Her gaze swung back to Jodie. “I heard what happened at the ranch yesterday. The whole town knows. Jodie—you took such a gamble!”

Jodie frowned. It stood to reason that word would spread. What had happened wasn’t the sort of thing that could be kept secret. And who’d want it to? Practically the whole county had been alerted to watch Out for Rio. It was only to be expected that the whole county would be interested in the result.

She shrugged. “It came out tight in the end.”

“I know, but”

“Mac’s still mad at me. Do you see how she’s ig-noting me?”

“I did notice a certain coolness. But that’s just the way Mae is sometimes. Sbet”

“She’s made it part of her family-loyalty campaign. She can’t understand why I don’t fall into step. I wonder if that’s the way it is in other families. I doubt it. But then, I don’t know. Being a Parker is so much like being a part of this huge beast that devours everything in its path.”

Jodie began to pace, making no pretense that she was doing anything else.

“Does this have something to do with the way you were feeling the other day?” Christine asked. “I thought it was ” Fate, butt”

“It is ‘rate! And it’s Aunt Mae! And it’s … oh, I don’t know, everything! Ever since I’ve gotten back it’s been one thing after another.”

The baby made a fretful sound and Jodie guiltily lowered her voice. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Christine patted little Elisabeth’s back and smiled as she resumed her seat. “No harm done.”

“I wish I could say that,” Jodie murmured miserably.

Christine said, “Come on. Sit down. Let’s talk.” Jodie hesitated. She felt too much on edge to relax. But Christine was the person she most wanted to talk to, besides her father, and this was her opportunity. “Are you sure you’re up to this?” she asked, uneasily taking a seat.

“I’m so happy I’m up to anything,” Christine assured her. “And I’d like to see you happy, too. From the first time we met I knew we had a lot in common. Me not knowing my father, you not knowing your mother. It’s not something other people understand unless they’ve experienced it. How it leaves you feeling somehow..” incomplete. “

Jodie was silent a moment, then said, “Do you remember when you first came here? How you had to stand up for what you thought was your and Erin’s rightful share of the ranch, and how, later, it made all the difference in the world to Aunt Mae because you truly were a Parker?”

Christine nodded. “Yes.”

“And how you didn’t want the share then but finally accepted it because of Erin?”

Christine nodded again.

Jodie rubbed her arms. “Well, that’s the way I feel sometimes. I wish I could give my share back. That I wasn’t a Parker.”

“And what would you do then?” Christine asked. Jodie shrugged. “I have a legree. I could get a job.”

“And be all on your ownS”

“Yes”

Christine watched her levelly. “And what does that have to do with Tate Connelly?”

“He thinks I’m a spoiled brat. At least, he used to think that. Now, I’m not sure. But I do kn w one thing—like a lot of other people, he thinks We use our name and influence to get what we want around here.

That we have too much power. “

” He said that? “

” He as good as. “

Christine murmured, “I used to think that, too. But I’ve learned a few things along the way, Jodie. The Parkers have power and prestige because of who they are, more than how much money and land they have. Think about Rafe for a second. Do you believe he needs the Parker Ranch behind him to have people listen? No. People listen because they sense he knows what he’s talking about and because he’s willing to back it up. So’s Mae. Morgan’s the same, and he’s not a Parker. No one from the ranch throws their weight around.” She paused. “There’s something subtle that happens, though, and I bet that’s what you’re talking about more than anything else. The Parkers may not ask for preferential treatment, but they don’t have to ask. It’s simply given to them. There’s this natural hauteur you all have—yes, you, too! It’s part of your personality, and people respond with deference. I saw it then, I see it now.” She laughed “I’ve even caught

myself acting haughty on occasion before I make myself stop. “

Jodie remembered the incident at Tate’s house—how she realized that’ she couldn’t let herself cry because she was a Parker and how aghast she’d been at her behavior. She nodded in recognition. “What can we do about it?” she asked.

“Just be aware of it, I guess. Try not to take advantage.”

“But I do that all the time. I do!”

“Jodie.” — Christine smiled “—you’re as forceful in your own way as Rare and Mae are in theirs. You’re a Parker. It comes with the territory. It’s part of who you are.”

“But”

“Stop fighting it. Stop trying not to be something that oozes out of your every pore. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. And if Tate loves you, he’ll love you for who you are. Not for what you’re not. Does that make sense to you?”

Jodie nodded, but still wasn’t convinced.

“Just remember,” Christine continued, “I was on my own for most of my life before I came here. And, Jodie, it’s hard having no one to fall back on. No one to help you when you need it. No one to give you even a simple pat of encouragemenL I may still have disagreements with some of what it means to be a Parker, but I wouldn’t trade the support I have here for anything. Morgan, Delores and Dub, Rafe and Shannon, Harriet and LeRoy, your father, Darlene and Thomas, even Mae. We’re a family, warts and all. And most times you ignore the warts.”

Whilodriving Mae back to ranch thought about what Christiqe had said. She seemed to have adjusted well to what atone time had been anathema to her. Christine had had such a huge chip on her shoulder when she arrived at the ranch, defying Rafe and Mae and rejecting Morgan. Her views certainly had changed.

Now Jodie was going through changes of her own. And it wasn’t easy. Sometimes it hurt. SOmetimes it was difficult to tell which way to turn, which way to look, what to say or do. f

She glanced at Mae in the rearvieTM mirror, willing her to say something. But not a word had passed her lips since leaving Little Springs.

“Pull off the road up here,” Mae directed a few minutes later, making Jodie jump. The order was so unexpected.

“What for?” Jodie asked.

“Because I said to,” Mae replied coolly. “Right here.”

Jodie braked and cut the engine. Then she watched her great-aunt step outside.

“Come with me,” Mae ordered again, and Jodie scrambled to follow.

Her aunt had some difficulty with the uneven ground and, afraid she was going to fall, Jodie took her arm. Mae stiffened at first, but didn’t draw away. “Where are we going?” Jodie asked. “What’s…” And then she knew. The Parker cemetery. Located on a small rise that gave a nice view of the wide valley, it was only a moderate walk from the compound if you

cut across an open field. Jodie hadn’t been up here in years, not since she was a child.

A wrought-iron bench was set among a natural grouping of tres, encouraging a visitor to linger. Across the way, near the edge of the slope, was a fenced off area containing numerous tombstones.