Deep in the Heart (18 page)

Patty Ann stepped into the hallway, and Maggie’s uh-oh meter went off the charts. Still she followed her out with only a quick “You two be good.”

“
Ms. Montgomery. Three things. First, Mrs. Ayer wanted to extend her appreciation for your job performance last night. The children were there for the appropriate impact at just the right moments and not seen other than that. Very well done.”

That surprised Maggie. “Thank you.”

“
Second of all, here is your paycheck for the first two weeks of your service. You will be receiving payment from here on out on the fifteenth and the first. There are no advances, so budget accordingly.”

Maggie accepted the little envelope. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“
And finally, you are being given tomorrow off.”

“
Off?” The word smashed into Maggie. “Why?”

“
So you can go into town and deposit that or do errands or whatever it is you do on a day off.”

Maggie’s thoughts went into the room behind her. “What about the kids?”

“
Not to worry, they shall be taken care of.”

“
Keith, I talked with Lee Ferrell of Devonshire, Inc. last week,” Mr. Henderson said as they sat around the table eating brunch. “He is really interested in talking with you about your future in Houston.”

Dallas elbowed him and smiled.

“
Oh, really?” Keith asked. He cleared his throat because the roll went down the wrong pipe.

“
With your background in your father’s company and your degree, Lee thinks you would be a natural to run their Midland assets.”

Midland? He cleared his throat again. He glanced at Dallas. “Umm, we had planned to live in Houston.”

“
Oh, of course. Running things in Midland doesn’t mean you have to live there.” He laughed as if it was the most absurd thing he’d ever heard. “You’d just have to go out there once or twice a week. Day trips for the most part.”

How much had Mr. Henderson talked with Mr. Ferrell? It sounded like suicide to accept the offer. His father-in-law knowing the everyday details of his job and presumably his home life as well? He already had one watchdog. He didn’t need two. “Sounds interesting.”

“
I was telling Keith yesterday there is a nice little starter place in the Woodlands,” Dallas said. “It’s perfect distance from Hayden & Elliott. We’re going to go look at it this week. Right, honey?” She snaked her arm through his, and Keith had to fight not to remove his arm from the encroachment.

“
Well, I can’t say how pleased I am with the foundation the two of you are building,” his father said, and he really did look proud. “Years ago when I started out, it was with a five dollar bill and a dream. I can’t imagine where I would be now if I had the start you two are getting.”

Dallas beamed her appreciation. “We’re so lucky.”

“
There’s a phone call for you in the kitchen,” Inez said, standing at the door to the playroom. For as many hours as they had spent with no one seeming to notice they were still on the planet, Maggie wondered why suddenly today everyone seemed to be showing up.

“
K. I’ll be right there.” She stood, pulled her top down, and leveled her gaze at Peter. “You be good and take care of your sister. Got it?”

Peter’s eyes widened in fear.

“
Don’t worry.” She winked at him. “I trust you.”

After a moment he smiled and nodded. With that she went down, wondering who in the world would be calling her. Mrs. Malowinski was the only one she could think of, and that made no sense because she didn’t have the number, which Maggie assumed was unlisted, and unless it was a tragedy, her foster parent would never call anyway.

She picked the phone off the cabinet like it was a bomb that might explode. “Hello?” It was laced with uncertainty.

“
Maggie. Oh, good. I’m glad I caught you.”

How a telemarketer had tracked her down here, she would never know. “I’m not interested in whatever you’re selling.”

He laughed. “No. No, Maggie. This is Greg… Parker. Remember? From the party last night?”

Maggie glanced over at Inez who she was sure was listening. “Oh, hi, Greg. Umm… if you’re looking for Keith…”

“
No. I’m not looking for Keith. I’m looking for you.”

Awkwardness twined through her as she pulled her arm up over her middle. “Me? What…? Why?”

“
Listen, Keith and Dallas are having a little get together tomorrow night. Nothing fancy. Just some old friends. I was wondering if you might want to go with me.”

The question knocked her backward. “With… I… Umm… Well…”

“
Please say yes. I know. I shouldn’t beg, but please say yes. Everybody else is going to be coupled off, and I don’t want to go alone. I just broke up with my girlfriend last month, and well, I haven’t had much of a chance to meet anyone new… But I don’t want to pressure you. If you don’t want to go with me, I’ll understand.”

Ugh. Why did he have to sound so nice? Why couldn’t she just be a little more cruel? A little more selfish? It would’ve solved a lot of problems.

“
Please, Maggie. We can go late, leave early. You’ll never even have to know I’m in the room.”

She laughed a little laugh at that. “Well, maybe I want to know you’re in the room.”

He seemed to breathe in that statement. “Cool. So you’ll go with me?”

“
Yes, Greg. I’ll go with you.”

“
Tomorrow I’m going to need to run into Houston for awhile,” Dallas said as Keith’s dad and Vivian monitored the conversation from the other side of the limo on their way back to the estate. “I need to get a few things for the party, and several things for your place.” She angled her attention to his parents. “Bachelors. They live on such a bare minimum.”

His father laughed. “Keith never was one to need much.”

“
Tell me about it. His place is positively minimalist.”

Keith wanted to tell her that he hadn’t touched a single decoration nor furnishing in five years. Each and every piece was handpicked and put there by Vivian before she knew he would be using the place. However, even at this moment he couldn’t be that cruel. So he accepted the jab and lowered his head to the proper level of embarrassment.

“
So, you’re having a party tomorrow night,” his father asked, smiling at Dallas while he simultaneously glared at Keith. How he could pull that off with them sitting right next to each other, Keith wasn’t sure, but he felt it just the same.

Dallas shrugged. “Just a few friends. Nothing big. We’ll start with hors d’oeuvres on the patio. I’m thinking paté with a nice red wine, and then for the meal something light. Lamb or duck.”

“
I didn’t know you were such a chef,” Vivian said, clearly impressed with the menu. The limousine rolled into the turn and then through the gate.

“
Oh, no. I’m not. I thought either we could have it catered or we could just use your staff.”

Keith noticed Vivian nearly swallow her teeth, and it was all he could do to keep from laughing. Instead, he simply leaned over to Dallas and kissed her cheek. “Whatever you want, baby. I’ll be there by 6:30.”

Instantly the color drained from Dallas’s face. “6:30? Where are you going to be?”

“
Working of course. We’ve got to get Dragnet ready for Oak Tree. Isn’t that right, Dad?”

“
Hrumph.” It wasn’t really an answer at all, but Keith liked the sound of his father’s awkwardness just the same.

Dallas was having trouble putting two words together. Vivian was clearly holding back a fit of anxiety, and his father was puffed and as red as a lobster.

“
Well,” his father finally managed. “I will be going into Houston tomorrow and then up to Amarillo Tuesday for meetings.”

“
Amarillo?” Vivian asked, her world spinning around her. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“
I’ve been busy with other things.”

The car pulled up to the mansion and stopped. If he hadn’t known better, Keith would’ve sworn his father and Vivian were racing to get out. However, Dallas never so much as moved. He looked at her. “Ladies first.”

Her eyes widened. “We’re getting out here? Why can’t they take us to the guesthouse?”

“
It’s only a half mile walk,” Keith said, teasing her. “What? Are you afraid you’re going to melt?”

She didn’t look happy. In fact, she looked downright mad. “No.” But she got out anyway.

On the trail, Keith tried to take her hand, but she anchored her arms over her middle. He didn’t fight it. After all that’s what he’d wanted for 24-hours, for her to stop hanging all over him. He put his hand in his pocket and absorbed the beauty of the day. The trees rustled above them, bringing him back to center. “So, what do you think about riding out to the falls on Wednesday? I think I should be able to get the afternoon off.”

“
The falls?” she asked, and there was a note of panic. “On horses?”

“
Well, yeah. I mean we could take the Dodge, but the horses let us take the slow way.”

For as much as Dallas had hinted around the subject of being with him in the last day, she suddenly looked pale at the prospect. “Isn’t it kind of hot to be riding?”

“
You think it’s hot now, wait until July.” But his own comment knocked the words away from him. July. Everything would be different come July.

“
Maybe we can go see the house in the Woodlands on Wednesday, put down an offer. I’d like to get that checked off the list as soon as possible. And Tracy and I are going to go in and finalize everything with the florist on Thursday. I wanted to do a final fitting on my dress before I leave. That would have to be Friday. I don’t want to wait until the last minute on that. Mom and Vivian have the guest lists all ready on-line so I’ll be putting the invitations together at school. I’d wanted to do it this weekend, but Mom was waiting on a few from her side. It’s such a nightmare to get 600 guests in-sync for something like this.”

The thought of 600 guests almost overwhelmed every other thing she’d just said. Keith inhaled to stop his thoughts from swimming through all the details. Finally it struck upon something that had to be taken care of immediately.

He rubbed his thumb across the bottom of his nose as the nerves tingled there. “Listen, about tomorrow night. I know the staff at the mansion would be glad to do the party, but I think it would be better if we hired someone on our own.”

Her face fell. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Well, it’s our party, and they’re not our staff.”

It took a long minute for that information to wind through her. At the turn for the front door she shook her head. “It sure is hot out here.”

“
Yeah, it is.”

Dallas spent most of the evening on the phone with Tracy making plans for the next day, and Keith spent it getting the place ready for a party. It wasn’t that bad, but still. He wanted it nice for Dallas not to mention the other guests he wasn’t even sure were coming. Some deep, demented part of him wanted to call Greg to find out if he’d asked Maggie, but that was playing with fire. He was sure to find out soon enough, and to him, seeing her again couldn’t come soon enough.

“
I think I’m going to turn in,” Dallas said when the phone call ended. “I’m supposed to meet Tracy at her place in Houston at eight, which means leaving here at what?”

“
Six-thirty,” Keith said. “If you want to miss at least some of the traffic.”

“
Huh.” That deflated her even further.

“
And you need to call a caterer first thing,” he said, infinitely more into the actual details of having a party than she was.

“
Okay. Fine.” She slumped onto a chair and watched him pull out the vacuum. “Are you going to do that now?”

“
Unless you want to do it tomorrow. I’ve got to be at the stables at eight, and I won’t be back until at least six or six-thirty.”

“
But I told everyone to be here at six-thirty.”

“
Thus I’m vacuuming now.” He was getting tired of this conversation.

“
But I wanted to spend some time with you.”

“
What do you call this?”

She pursed her lips. “Vacuuming? Come on, Keith. This was supposed to be fun.”

“
Yes, but it can’t always be fun. There’s work involved too.” With that he started the vacuum and pushed it over the carpet. Dallas watched him for only a couple of seconds, then with a huff, she launched out of the chair and stalked down the hallway. Keith exhaled and rolled his eyes. If he was lucky, she would be asleep before he got the rest cleaned because one thing was for sure, she wasn’t coming back to help.

Maggie had meant to be gone before nine. She had to get to the bank and cash her more-money-than-she’d-ever-seen-in-her-life check. Then she had a little shopping to do. With the white silk pants back to their original owner and everything from Wal-Mart on its second go-round, she decided to get something nice for tonight. Something that didn’t scream poverty.

Where she would get this outfit, she had no clue, but that was part of the excitement. The two biggest problems were the kids and her car. When she went to leave, you would’ve thought someone had died. Both kids looked completely abandoned and then started wailing. She tried to calm them down, but when that didn’t work, Inez shooed her away. Reluctantly she left, not seeing that she had much other choice.