That Summer (19 page)
I said, “Do you think they'll put a sign up saying that Midville is the home of the Preakness winner?”
“I bet they will.”
“I think there will be one already there.”
Liam continued to drive and I closed my eyes and waited for the Excedrin to kick in.
T
here was indeed a sign on Washington Street when we drove into town. “In three weeks time that sign will read
TRIPLE CROWN WINNER,
” I said to Liam as we drove by it.
“God, I hope so.”
He dropped me at my house and came in to see Mom. She met us at the door. “You won!” She hugged Liam and then she hugged me. “I'm so thrilled for you.”
“We're pretty thrilled ourselves,” Liam replied.
I wondered if he noticed how he always seemed to refer to the two of us as a couple.
“I have a carrot cake in the fridge,” she said. “How about a slice to celebrate?”
“You don't have to ask me twice,” Liam said. He put my suitcase down in the hall and we all went back to the kitchen. Mom put the kettle on for tea.
“Do you have anything cold to drink?” Liam asked.
“I have iced tea.”
“That would be fine.”
“I'll have some too,” I said. I was very thirsty. I thought it must be part of the hangover.
“You don't look well, honey,” Mom said to me. “You're so pale!”
“She celebrated a little too much last night,” Liam said casually.
It took Mom a moment to get it. Then she said, “Oh, you mean she drank too much.”
“You got it,” I said. “And I can assure you that I'm never going to do it again.” I drank my iced tea thirstily.
Mom took out the carrot cake and cut us generous slices. My stomach looked at it and stayed quiet. I accepted a plate. Before I took a bite, I got up and poured myself another glass of iced tea.
“So tell me all about it,” she said. “I saw the race on television, of course, but tell me about the stuff I didn't see.”
So we told her all about the Alibi Breakfast and the lack of respect shown to Someday Soon by the press and the bettors.
“I bet it will be a different thing for the Belmont,” Mom said.
“It's going to be crazy for the Belmont,” Liam said. He had some icing on his upper lip, which I pointed out to him. He licked it off.
“Where is Buster going to train?” Mom asked next.
“We're going to ship him to Belmont. John said he'd like to gallop him over the nice wide track there. I think that's what he's going to work on: endurance. He says the speed will take care of itself.”
“The Belmont is a very long race for a three-year-old,” I said.
“It's a long race for any thoroughbred, no matter what his age is,” Liam said.
“That's true.”
“What's been going on here?” Liam asked my mother. “Anything new?”
He didn't say it, but we knew he was talking about the case.
“Not that I've heard. I know they've had crime scene people out in the woods where Leslie was found. I don't know what they're looking for.”
“They're looking for something that might finger the killer,” Liam said soberly. “I hope they find something. I'm sick of being a suspect.”
I said hotly, “It's such a shame this had to happen right now, when you're in the middle of a campaign for the Triple Crown. It takes some of the fun out of it.”
“The timing could be better,” Liam agreed.
“Michael Bates called looking for you, honey,” Mom said. “And so did Brent Walker.”
I saw Liam's hand go rigid on the table. “Ah,” he said sarcastically, “the boyfriends.”
“They're not my boyfriends,” I said mildly.
“You go out with them.”
“I like them both. They're good company.”
“You're leading them on, Annie. I never thought you'd be like that.”
“Can you believe this, Mom? I go out for a couple of dinners and this is what I get!”
“I think you're overreacting, Liam,” Mom said.
“I'm surprised that Kevin didn't call,” he remarked next.
I replied smoothly, “Kevin knew I was in Maryland with you. He said he'd call me when I got back.”
Liam put down his fork and stood up. “Well, I'd better get out of here before the phone rings again.”
I smiled sweetly. “Thanks for taking me, Liam. It was wonderful.”
“You're welcome.” He stormed to the kitchen door, went out then came back in. “I left your suitcase in the hallway. Do you want me to carry it upstairs for you?”
“No, I'll do it later.”
“Okay.”
We heard the door close behind him.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said. “It was great of you to mention Michael and Brent.”
“Anything to help the cause,” she said lightly.
“What do you think? Do you think Liam seems jealous?”
“Yes, I certainly do.”
“We had such a great time together. I wish he would forget this silly bias he has and see what's right before his nose. We were meant for each other.”
“If he can't, though, Anne, you have to be prepared to accept it,” Mom said gravely. “You have to be prepared to cut the tie completely if it's necessary.”
I sighed. “My brain knows that, Mom. It's my heart that won't accept it.”
The phone rang and Mom picked it up. “Hello? Oh, yes, she's here. Just a moment, Kevin.”
Too bad he didn't call five minutes earlier,
I thought.
Liam would have been here.
“Hi Kevin,” I said brightly into the phone. We talked for a few minutes and then I accepted an invitation to have dinner with him. I said to my mother when I hung up, “Now I just hope Kevin tells Liam that we're going out.”
She frowned. “I'm still uncomfortable with you going out with Kevin like this, Anne. Those two boys have been in competition with each other all their lives. It could be dangerous.”
I hooted. “Dangerous! You're kidding, Mom.”
“No, I'm not.”
“I know they were in competition, but brothers are often like that. There was nothing abnormal about their relationship.”
“Kevin is very self-centered. He always resented the attention Liam got as the senator's son.”
“I know Kevin is self-involved. That's why I'm not worried he'll fall in love with me. The only person Kevin will ever be in love with is himself.”
“I don't know, Anne. I just have a very uneasy feeling about you getting in the middle of Kevin and Liam.”
“I'll watch it, Mom. If I think Kevin is getting serious with me, I'll back off.”
She frowned.
I said, “Liam doesn't like me going out with Michael Bates or Brent Walker but he purely
hates
the idea of me going out with Kevin. Kevin is the one who best fits my purpose.”
“Your purpose of making Liam jealous?”
“My purpose of helping him to discover that he loves me.”
“He already knows that he loves you.”
“That he loves me sexually, I should say.”
“Do you think he does?”
I thought of the way he had looked at my breasts. “I think he's on his way.”
Mom sighed. “Well, I can't think of anyone I'd rather see you married to than Liam. He's a good boy.”
“Then you don't think he killed Leslie?”
“I can imagine Kevin doing that more easily than I can imagine Liam.”
“But Kevin has no motive.”
“I know.”
I frowned. “Do you know what? I don't think it was a good idea for me to eat that carrot cake.”
“Why don't you go upstairs and rest. You really do look dreadfully pale.”
“I think I'll do that.”
I picked up my suitcase and took it up to my new small bedroom. I laid down on top of the quilt in my jeans and knit shirt and in minutes I was asleep.
Kevin called again late in the afternoon to say that he had a reservation at a very nice Washington restaurant and that I should dress up a little. I wore the suit I had bought for the Alibi Breakfast and when he picked me up he looked me over with approval. “Nice suit.”
“I bought it in Nordstrom for the Alibi Breakfast. A lot of photographers took my picture.”
“I saw you on television with Liam. You were dressed more conservatively.”
“My good old pink suit. Liam insisted that I wear the same clothes I wore to the Kentucky Derby. I'm sure I'll have to wear them for the Belmont Stakes as well.”
“Including the hat?”
“Including the hat.”
“I never knew that Liam was superstitious.”
“I'm not superstitious either, but I probably would have done the same on my own. We don't want anything to change. We want everything to be the way it was in the races Buster won.”
“Is Liam wearing the same clothes?”
I blinked. “I suppose that he is. He's wearing his blue blazer. I don't know if he's wearing the same tie. He must be.”
The drive into Washington took about an hour and the restaurant had valet parking. “This is very nice,” I said to Kevin as we came in. It was one of those restaurants that
looks
expensive: the tablecloths were snowy white; there were fresh flowers on each table; there was a setting of elegant china at each place; the chairs looked comfortable. A waiter greeted Kevin by name and showed us to a private table in the corner.
The restaurant was half full and everybody looked at Kevin as he crossed the room. Even in Washington, which was filled with famous people, Kevin commanded attention.
I said, “At least in a place like this people know enough not to come looking for autographs.”
“That's one of the reasons I chose it; it also has good food.”
I looked at my elegant menu. It was made of parchment and the offerings were in script. I wear glasses for reading, but I can usually see if I need to. I squinted at the menu and it didn't become any clearer.
“Oh dear,” I said. “I didn't bring my glasses, Kevin, and this menu is so fancy I can't read it.”
“Since when did you start to wear glasses?”
“I got them in college. All of the reading did a job on my eyes. I only need them to read, though, which is why you haven't seen them yet.” I looked at him. He was wearing a perfectly tailored gray suit and his hair was neatly brushed. I said, “I bet you don't need glasses.”
He looked amused. “I don't, actually.”
“Just like you never needed braces.”
“I've been lucky.”
I nodded. “Do you think you could read me the menu?”
“Sure.”
We had a very pleasant dinner. Kevin could be a very amusing companion, and if most of the conversation seemed to revolve around him, I didn't mind. We were drinking our coffee when he said, “Liam doesn't like our going out.”
I looked at him warily. “I know.”
“I think he's carrying this big brother thing a little far myself.”
“I'm not paying any attention to him, Kevin. I hope he didn't upset you.”
“Upset me? Of course he didn't upset me. It's just like Liam, though. The minute I have something, he wants it for himself.”
This was not how I had read their relationship.
“You and Liam have always been in competition,” I said to him lightly. “A lot of brothers are like that.”
Kevin's face looked suddenly white, his eyes hard. “Liam and I are not brothers.” On the surface his tone was pleasant but the undercurrent was not.
“You were brought up as brothers.”
“No. We weren't. Liam was always the son of the owner; I was merely a cousin.”
“Kevin, that's not true!”
“Yes it is. Granted I got along better with Uncle Lawrence, but I still wasn't his son, and everyone else on the farm favored Liam.”
“That's not true,” I repeated, but less certainly than before.
“Liam's mother favored him, your father favored him, you favored him. True or not?”
“Daddy spent more time with Liam, but that was because Liam was horse crazy. You weren't.”
“I liked horses well enough.”
“Of course you did. And you were great on a hunt. But you didn't live for horses, the way Liam and I did. That's the bond that drew us together, Kevin. Not the fact that Liam was the owner's son.”
“I'm not accusing you or your father of sucking up to him, Anne.”
“I understand that.”
And I did understand—suddenly I understood a lot of things. Kevin was so beautiful and so self possessed that you forgot he had been abandoned by his parents and left with an aunt who drank and an uncle whose life was his political career. Evidently his childhood had left some scars.
He gave me a wry smile. “How did we ever get on this depressing topic?”
“I don't know. Let's talk about something else.”
“I had an interesting discussion with my agent the other day. He wants me to do a different kind of movie.”
I expressed interest and he spent the rest of the dinner telling me about it. We drove home and Kevin walked me to my door.
“This was very nice,” I said to him. “Thank you for the dinner.”
“It's like a breath of fresh air, being with you,” he said. “You don't have any issues.”
I took this to mean that he appreciated my not trying to talk about myself instead of about him. But I didn't want to think unkind thoughts about Kevin. He was what his childhood had made him. I patted him on the arm. “Goodnight.”
“Don't I even get a kiss?”
“Sure,” I said and put my hands on his shoulders and tilted my face toward his.
He was a very good kisser, but I didn't have that hungry reaction to him that I had had to Liam. Kevin's kiss was pleasant, and I wasn't a bit disappointed when he broke it off.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” he said.
“Goodnight.” And I walked into the house.
Mom was watching the news and I talked to her for a few minutes, then I went upstairs to bed.
J
acko and I had started to teach our young pupils to stand in the starting gate and to run straight once they left it. A horse's inclination is to swerve and turn and in general have a good time while running. The young horse has to be taught to run straight. To do this we had three of Liam's grooms, as well as Jacko, riding as we put the horses into sets of four each and had them go down the track.
It was always amusing to watch the youngsters as they tried to master the trick of staying out of each other's way. I was watching four of them coming down the track when Liam appeared beside me. Together we watched as one of the horses swerved in and another veered out, their shoulders colliding as both jockeys used their reins, waved their whips and tried to steer a straight line. Then they all ran in a bunch, bumping into each other, until one of the horses pulled away. He got so excited to be by himself that he started curving left and then right, tacking like a sailboat. The other horses caught up to him of course and then passed him and he bucked and ran after them.
