Convince Me (Holton Series #1) (8 page)

They drove silently through the
deserted streets.  Even on a Saturday, Holton shut down early.  There
would be some high school kids over by the one movie theater in town or at the
all night diner near the highway but most of the other inhabitants were already
safe at home.

When they arrived at Anna’s
apartment, she turned to thank him for the ride but Steven forestalled
her.  He quickly opened his door and rounded the car.  She gave him a
silent look but allowed him to escort her to the door.

“Thanks for the ride, Steven, it
was very nice of you,” she said politely, not opening her door.

Steven struggled to control his
grin.  She was so obvious but he wasn’t letting her off the hook so
easily.  He hadn’t imagined the look she had given him at Julie’s. 
“Aren’t you going to invite me in for a cup of coffee?”

“You had coffee at Julie’s,” she
reminded him.

“You promised me you would show me
your apartment.”

She gave him a slow measured look
but to his relief she nodded once and then unlocked her door.  Steven
followed her in and looked around.  It was a nice apartment but rather
small.  The living room contained a couch, one chair and a television
stand.  In one corner, Anna had a large plant stand that was full of an
assortment of plants.  From where he was standing, Steven could see the
kitchen and a small dining table.  There was another door to his right
which he assumed lead to the bedroom.

His body reacted to the thought of
Anna lying in bed just a few feet from where he stood.  He imagined her
lying naked on top of the covers waiting for him.  Her face flushed and
eyes sparkling.  Steven suddenly shifted and turned away from Anna so she
wouldn’t see his obvious need for her.  In an attempt to get his mind away
from the bedroom, Steven continued looking around.

Dominating the room were two large
prints hanging over the couch.  The first was a picture of a woman with a
small child in her arms and another standing by her side.  In the
background, there was a rundown building and a withered field.  They stared
out from the canvas with sad, haunted eyes.  The second print contained a
group of women gathered around a kitchen talking and laughing.  One woman
was at the sink, another by the stove and the rest gathered around a
table.  There was laughter and joy in the picture.  Steven was struck
by the contrast between the two prints.  He walked closer and saw that
both were by the same artist. 

The artist was a little known but
rising star.  Steven had seen some of her work at a private exhibit in
Dallas.  Experts believed that it would not be long before her work would
be known worldwide.  The paintings of African American daily life were
well done and starting to be in high demand.

“I love Keshia Jackson,” Steven
commented.  “Her work is very moving.”

“Yes, it is,” Anna replied. 
“My mother loved these two prints.”

“Your mother was African American,
wasn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“And your father?”

There was a pause.  Steven
turned to see her watching him.  She walked over to join him in front of
the prints.  She nodded at the pictures.  “The two sides of a black
woman’s life.”

“What do you mean?” he asked
cautiously.  There was a stillness about Anna that disturbed him. 
She was trying to tell him something.

“This one,” she said pointing to
the first print.  “It shows her sorrow.  Her children aren’t
privileged.  They have a struggle before them and she knows they may not
survive.”

She walked around him to stand on
the other side and pointed at the second print.  “This shows her
joy.  The friendships she shares with other women and the love of her
family life.”

Steven knew he was missing some
major point she was trying to make but he waited patiently.  Anna
continued.  “My mother missed out on both.”

“How?” he asked softly.

“How do you feel about Nick?”

Steven blinked at the sudden change
in conversation and started to make a flippant remark but when he looked at her
face he realized the conversation hadn’t changed at all.  He still didn’t
know what she was trying to say but he answered her honestly.

“I love Nick.  He is a good
man.  He treats Julie well and has been a good friend to me.  Why?”

“And the Moores?  How do they
feel about having a minority in the family?”

All at once, everything fell into
place.  To give himself a moment to gather his thoughts, Steven walked
over to the chair and sat down.  He studied her a moment before answering.

“They don’t think of him as a
minority.  To them, he is simply Nick.”

She also sat down.  She was
seated as far away from him as possible.  She wasn’t ready to trust him
yet.  Steven resisted the urge to go to her.

“And the rest of the people in
town?  How do they feel about Julie being married to Nick?”

“Anna, what is it?” he asked, tired
of the game she was playing.  “What is it you really want to know?”

She looked away then and stared out
the small window.  Steven knew she wasn’t really looking at
anything.  It was too dark to see but it gave her something to focus on.

“You asked about my father. 
No, he wasn’t African American.  He was from a rich, white family and my
mother a poor, black one.  She was the help.  You might say their
marriage was doomed from the start.”

Her eyes travelled around the room,
looking everywhere except at him.  Steven sat perfectly still knowing what
she had to say was very important to their relationship.  He hadn’t
realized she had a problem with their race difference.  He was angry with
himself for not seeing it sooner.

“My mother was beautiful,” she
continued in a small voice.  “And my father wanted her.  Wanted her
until she became pregnant, that is.  Mayville is larger than Holton but
word gets around.  I’ve been told my grandfather was an honorable
man.  He forced his son to marry my mother.  I believe he was trying
to do the right thing but it would have been better if he had left things
alone.  I remember him vaguely.  He died when I was five.”

Anna paused and then rose from her
chair to walk over to the window.  Steven wanted to go to her, hold her
close, and ease her pain but she had to do this on her own.  If they had
any future together, he needed to know what her fears were and why she had
them.

“That’s when the trouble
started.  My father inherited all my grandfather’s wealth without ever
having to work for it.  My mother didn’t fit in with his society friends
and after my grandfather died, the rest of the family quit pretending to accept
her.  Things went from bad to worse.  My mother’s family disowned her
when she married and she had no friends of her own.  She was totally dependent
on him and had no way of supporting herself and me.  My father spent money
quickly and without thought for the future.  When he died, we had
nothing.  One small insurance policy, which barely covered the bills.”

“Anna, what does this have to do
with Nick?” Steven knew she had left out a great deal of the story but he
needed to know what she was trying to tell him.

She turned to look at him. 
“Holton is as WASP a town as I have ever seen.  Even more than
Mayville.  Do you know other than Jake Carr I haven’t met another black
person?  And he doesn’t even live here.”

“Nick seems to fit in so well and I
have heard nothing but good things about him.  Is Holton really so
different?”

“People are people, Anna. 
There are people in Holton that are prejudice.  Just like there are people
in Mayville that are prejudice.  Or Dallas.  Or New York.  It
doesn’t matter where you go.  You just have to look beyond them. 
They don’t matter.”

“Are you sure, Steve?”

He rose from his chair and walked
toward her.  It was the first time she had called him Steve and not
Steven.  He saw it as a sign.  He reached out to hold her arms. 
Looking into her eyes, he answered with utter conviction, “Very sure.”

She sighed softly and rested her
head on his chest.  He gathered her close and held her to him. 
Stroking her hair, he asked, “Is this why you have been keeping me at arm’s
length?”

She jumped out of his arms and
Steven shook his head.  She still wasn’t ready.  He had pushed too
hard again.

Her eyes blazing she said, “I
haven’t been doing anything of the sort.  I don’t know where you get these
crazy ideas.”

“Okay, if that is true then you
should have no problem having dinner with me tomorrow night in Dallas.”

She looked momentarily confused and
Steven took advantage of the situation.  He walked quickly over to her and
kissed her lightly on the forehead before turning and walking to the door.

“You should get some rest,
Anna.  I’ll pick you tomorrow around six.  Don’t forget to lock the
door behind me.  Goodnight, sweetheart.”

Steven closed the door behind him
and ran lightly down the stairs.  He felt better than he had all
week.  Anna had finally opened up to him she was beginning to trust
him.  He just had to be patient.

Smiling, Steven drove home,
planning a romantic evening in his mind.  Flowers, candlelight, the
works.  Suddenly the smile turned into a grin.  Victoria, he
thought.  She would know how to make the evening perfect.  He would
call her when he got home.  It was still early enough with the time
difference.  Anna would have a night she would never forget.

Overcoming her fears wouldn’t be
easy but now that he knew what they were, Steven could plan his strategy. 
With any luck, in a few weeks, he and Victoria would be planning more than a
romantic evening.  They would be planning a wedding.

The bright sunlight of late morning
crept across the bedroom to shine on Anna’s face.  She slowly opened her
eyes before quickly raising a hand to cover them.  Groaning she rolled
over, burying her face in the pillows.  The movement drew a protest from
Sophie who was curled up at the foot of the bed.  The cat stretched and
then jumped to the floor.  Anna looked at her, peering out from the bed
covers with one eye.  Disgusted, she flung back the covers and sat up.

“I hate that you are so energetic
first thing in the morning,” she said to the cat.  “It’s simply not fair.”

Once again, she had not slept
well.  The evening before had taken its toll and she had been up half the
night worrying about Steven.  She had revealed a great deal about her life
and her feelings.  Anna was a very private person and did not usually talk
about her past.  She wondered if she had left herself open to pain. 
Her views did not seem to bother Steven and he certainly had no issue with her
race.

Her biggest worry though was the
discovery that she was in love with him.  Once she was alone, Anna had
tried to analyze her feelings.  She still found it hard to believe. 
She barely knew the man and had spent most of her life avoiding love.  She
still wasn’t sure how it happened.

Rising from the bed, Anna walked to
the bathroom to wash her face.  She looked in the mirror and saw a
stranger looking back at her.  Who was this woman with those sad, confused
eyes?  She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them she saw her
mother looking back at her.

“No!” Anna said sharply.  “I
won’t allow that to happen.  I won’t fall into the same trap.”

She quickly washed her face and
brushed her teeth before heading into the kitchen.  After feeding Sophie,
she made some coffee and sat at the table thinking about Steven.

Could she really be in love with
the man after just a handful of meetings?  Anna recalled her mother
telling her about the first time she met Anna’s father.

“I knew in an instant,” her mother
had said.  “I knew that he was the only man for me.”

“How can you say that, Mama?” Anna
had demanded.  “After the way he treated you?”

Her mother had looked at her with
sad, gentle eyes.  “Love can’t be explained and doesn’t change just
because it is not returned.  Some day you will understand.”

Well, she understood now but she
also knew that she wouldn’t allow the same ending to happen to her.  She
knew Steven wasn’t her father.  It was wrong to paint him with the same
brush so she would go slowly.  She would try to get to know him better and
maybe they could build a relationship she could handle.

The phone rang, shattering her
thoughts.  Anna rose from the table to answer it and a smile lit her face
when she heard Steven’s voice.  A feeling of warmth and pleasure invaded her
and for the first time in months Anna felt truly happy.

“I wanted to call and let you know
where we would be eating tonight.  I made reservations at the restaurant
in Reunion Tower.  Only we will need to leave a little earlier.  Can
you be ready at five-thirty?”

Anna leaned against
the wall. 
Reunion Tower was
one of the most
recognizable landmarks in Dallas.  The restaurant in the sphere had been
opened by celebrity chef and the building itself was one of the tallest in
Dallas.

“Reunion Tower? 
That place is pretty expensive, isn’t Steve?”

There was a pause at
the other end of the line.  Anna wondered what he was thinking and waited
somewhat impatiently for his answer.

“Does it matter?” he
asked.

Anna wasn’t sure how
to respond to that.  Did it matter?  She wasn’t sure. 

“Anna?” Steven
prompted.  “Look, tonight is on me.  Don’t worry about the cost.”

The anger came so quickly, Anna had
to clamp her mouth shut.  She had spent most of her adult life trying to
achieve financial independence.  She wasn’t about to let any man take that
away from her.  Her father had used money as a tool to keep her mother in
line and Anna wasn’t ever going to be in that situation.