The Glory Game (59 page)

Her ears strained for some sound, but the crushing silence of the room was all she heard until a key rattled in the lock. Luz swung around to face the door, hope leaping yet half afraid it was Raul. When the door opened, Rob walked in, moving with a jaunty stride. An intense relief flooded through her as she broke from the window.

“Rob. Where have you been? I've been so worried about you. Are you all right?” Anxiously she inspected him for bruises or injuries of some kind.

“I'm fine, really,” he assured her with a laughing smile. His whole demeanor had changed. The anger and bitterness were gone. Instead of returning in a sullen mood as Luz had expected, Rob seemed cheerful.

“You've been drinking, haven't you?”

“I've had one beer.” But he must have noticed her skepticism. “What would you like me to do—recite Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers or stand on one leg and touch my finger to my nose?” His speech was unslurred and his coordination was obviously unimpaired.

“Where have you been all this time? What have you been doing?” Luz demanded in confusion.

“I caught a cab and went to see Tony. I had to autograph the cast on his arm. He's coming to the polo matches tomorrow, so you can see my signature on it for yourself,” he offered as further proof, then moved past her to stroll into the middle of the room. “I did a lot of thinking after I left.” He paused and shot her a bright glance. “It's amazing how clear it all is to me now. I can't understand why I didn't see it before. The same as you have no right to tell me what I should or shouldn't do or who I can see, I shouldn't tell you either. It's none of your business what I do in private, so I guess that what you do is none of mine.”

His complete turnabout threw her. “Rob, do you mean that?”

“Hey, I was way out of line. I admit it. I had no right to
blow up the way I did.” He sounded so sincere it was impossible to doubt him, yet Luz was nagged by a vague feeling that something else had prompted this about-face. Mentally, she shrugged it away, telling herself it didn't matter what had caused his change in his attitude.

“I'm glad you feel that way. I—” She was interrupted by the rattle of another key turning in the lock. A second later, Raul walked in, his expression grim. He checked his stride when he noticed Rob standing with her. “He came back a few minutes ago,” Luz explained.

“Your mother has been worried about you,” Raul stated, his tone faintly accusing.

“She told me.”

Although she watched Rob closely, she noticed little difference in his expression with Raul present. His attitude remained brightly confident. There wasn't a hint of resentment or dislike. If anything Rob acted as if he were an equal to the man who was his mentor as well as her lover.

“Rob went to see Tony,” she explained to Raul, then hesitated. Coming to a decision, she moved to Raul's side and slipped a hand under his arm. “I think you should know, Rob, that when Raul comes to Florida next week, he'll be staying at our house.” She had intended to inform him of the arrangements during their flight home, but it seemed best to have it in the open now.

Something flickered across Rob's face, then he looked at Raul. “I guess that means you'll be staying in Dad's old room.”

“Actually, he's going to share my room,” Luz stated.

“As I said, Luz”—Rob shrugged indifferently—“you have no right to tell me how to run my life and I have no right to tell you how to run yours.” He stuffed his hands in the pocket of his windbreaker. “I think I'll go get cleaned up for dinner.”

She watched him enter his room and shut the door. She turned to Raul, her hand tightening on his arm. He stared after Rob. “It's amazing, isn't it?” she declared, marveling at her son's rapid change in attitude.

“Si
, very amazing.”

“I always knew he would ultimately accept it, but it's such
a relief that he finally has.” Luz wasn't sure what she would have done if she'd encountered opposition from both her children. As it was, she had yet to hear from Trisha since she'd written that letter. That was something she still had to face after she flew back to Florida. At least Rob was on her side now.

A
letter from Trisha awaited Luz's return from Argentina. She hurriedly scanned the short, stilted message, then read it again, slowly. Its tone, more than its wording, was sharply critical and disapproving. Luz tried to tell herself that Trisha's reaction was exactly as she had expected, but that didn't make her feel any better about it. The letter closed with the cold blunt statement: “I intend to come home this weekend.” Luz stared at the last sentence, aware that Raul was arriving on Friday. Sighing, she returned the letter to its envelope and began concentrating on all the things that had to be done between now and then.

Trisha wasn't the only one to be faced. Luz telephoned Audra on her return and managed to postpone confronting her until the end of the week, pleading travel fatigue and a backlog of correspondence and work that required her attention.

When Luz had informed Emma Sanderson that Raul would be staying in the house, in the master suite with her, Emma hadn't so much as flickered an eye. Luz hadn't detected either disapproval or approval. Of course, she had never asked Emma's opinion, and it wasn't likely to be volunteered. Yet Emma had been so faithful to her ex-husband that Luz couldn't help thinking the woman didn't approve of her actions. However, she doubted that her mother would be quite so reticent.

“You are a Kincaid! I should think you would have more sense of propriety than to engage in such a tawdry liaison,” Audra Kincaid declared in shocked disapproval after Luz had finally dropped her little bombshell on her mother. “It is one
thing to engage in a discreet affair with this polo player. But it is entirely another matter to have him living under your roof—sleeping in your bed. A Kincaid, living with a man without the sanctity of marriage! I never!”

“No, Audra, I'm sure you haven't,” Luz agreed dryly. She had precisely anticipated her mother's reaction. It wasn't that Audra's attitudes were outmoded. She could be very liberal in her thinking, except when it concerned the standard of conduct for a Kincaid.

Standing off to one side, Mary applauded her comeback. “I think it's wonderful! The old bold and brassy Luz is back. I can hardly wait to meet him.”

“You'll see him soon. I'll be leaving shortly to pick him up at the airport.” Which was why she hadn't postponed telling Audra again, realizing there never would be a “right” moment. “But don't come barging over tonight, Mary.”

“How can you encourage her, Mary?” Audra demanded indignantly.

“It's her life. She has to live it the way she sees fit, not the way you do, Audra.” It was Mary who sounded like the gentle but firm parent.

“You mark my words—she'll regret it!” The emphatic statement was punctuated by Audra's sharp turn from them. She simultaneously had her say and washed her hands of the matter.

Mary looked at Luz and shrugged a what-else-could-you-expect, then both smiled. But Luz was remembering what Mary had said earlier, “the old bold and brassy Luz” was back. Bold and brassy? Maybe she had acted that way, but this was the first time—at forty-two—that she had ever truly defied her mother.

No mention was made of the subject again. Half an hour later, Luz left her mother's oceanside residence and drove to the airport. At the air freight terminal, she learned that the plane had landed, and she waited outside the customs section for Raul. It had been a week since she'd last seen him, but it had gone by so fast. There had been so much to do and to organize that the time had flown. Now the minutes were dragging. Mixed in with her eagerness to see him was a vague unease. Maybe she was going too far too fast. Maybe she was acting too quickly. Maybe she was jumping from a marriage into an affair without enough time in between to know what
she really wanted. She had never really learned to live with herself.

All her doubts faded when Raul walked through the door, so tall and attractive with those black-lashed blue eyes looking only at her. Luz went into his arms with no hesitation and felt the quick hard pressure of his mouth on her lips. A warm and heady feeling was running through her veins when he finally lifted his head.

“How was the flight? What about the horses? Did they fare all right?”

“Good. We had some turbulence, but nothing serious,” he assured her.

Reluctantly she moved out of his arms. “My car is parked outside if you're ready.”

With all his tack and polo equipment and luggage, it took a while to load the car. Luz was glad she'd driven the station wagon instead of the convertible or there wouldn't have been enough room for everything.

There was an easy run of conversation between them during the drive to the house. They talked about everything from polo, the
estancia
, and Hector to the weather, the flight, and the things Luz had been doing since she came back.

“I had a letter from Trisha. She mentioned she would be coming home this weekend. She'll probably catch the late flight tonight or the first one in the morning,” Luz told him almost as a warning that everything wasn't likely to run smoothly.

“You have not spoken to her since you returned?”

“No.” She flexed her fingers, loosening their tight grip on the steering wheel, and kept her eyes on the steady stream of traffic. “I'm sure this has upset her, but she'll come around in time … the way Rob has. It's bound to be awkward for both of them in the beginning, though. And for you, as well.” She glanced quickly at him, then back to the road.

“Does it worry you that there may be problems?”

“I expect some.” She was trying to be realistic. “I just don't want the children to resent you if it can be avoided. Disagreements are going to occur from time to time between me and Rob or Trisha. I'd rather you didn't become involved with them.”

“They are your children,” Raul said. “I will not interfere.”

Luz smiled, relieved that he agreed with her. “I think that will spare us a lot of misunderstandings in the future.”

“I agree.”

Reaching across the seat, she clasped his hand and held it tightly for an instant. “I'm glad you're here, Raul.”

“So am I.”

When they reached the house, Luz took the road that branched off the front circular driveway and curved behind the large Spanish-style abode to the rear garages and the stables. Rob was on the stick-and-ball field, working one of the ponies they'd purchased from Raul. She slowed the car as they neared the turn into the garage area.

“Do you want to unload your things at the stable first?” In truth, she wanted to keep him to herself a little longer. Going to the stables would entail introducing him to their handler, Jimmy Ray Turnbull, and talking to Rob.

“Later there will be time,” Raul said.

“That's what I thought.” She was conscious of the smile spreading across her face as she swung the car toward the garage.

After she had parked the station wagon, Raul unloaded his suitcases from the back and followed her to the house. Luz took the shortcut across the pool area and entered the living room through the double French doors. After the brilliant sunlight outdoors, the interior seemed dim. Luz was halfway into the room before she noticed Trisha sitting on the couch.

“Trisha.” A smile broke across her face. It had been too long since she'd seen her daughter for her initial reaction to be anything other than gladness. “I thought you'd fly in on tonight's plane. How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.” Trisha stood up, her expression icy-cold as her glance went past Luz to Raul and his luggage. “Long enough to talk to Rob and find out just what's going on here.” Despite that surface air of brittle calm, Luz sensed the violent trembling of hurt and anger inside. “I didn't believe him, so I waited to see for myself whether it's true he's moving in here with you.” She looked again at the luggage he'd set on the floor. “I guess I have, haven't I?”

“Trisha, I'd like to explain.” The words sounded so inadequate to Luz. “I know it's difficult for you to accept.”

“Do you? Do you really?” she challenged. “It's one thing to lose a man to another woman, but to your own mother!”

“I was never yours to lose, Trisha,” Raul inserted quietly.

“You're right. I know you're right.” She rubbed her fingers over the point of her forehead. “But it doesn't make it any easier.”

“Raul, would you mind if I spoke to Trisha alone?” If there was to be any arguing, she didn't want him included.

“I will be at the stables.”

She waited until he'd left by the French doors, then walked over to the sofa. “Let's sit down, Trish, and talk about this.” Grudgingly, Trisha sat back down on the cushion, and Luz curled a leg under her to sit sideways on the sofa facing her daughter. She studied the taut features, so proud and so beautiful. “Trisha, what can I say that I didn't write you in that letter? It just happened. The attraction was there and we had so much in common that …it just grew.” Luz resolved this time to remain calm and not erupt in anger the way she had with Rob.

“And as you pointed out, we had nothing in common.” Trisha shook her head ruefully. “He was too old for me, but he obviously wasn't too young for you.”

“He isn't that much younger, only five years. You're supposed to be the liberated member of this family,” she reminded her. “What's wrong with an older woman and a younger man?”

“Nothing. I—I just can't believe the two of you …” She stopped and picked at the pleat in her skirt. “Yet when I saw you two walking across the patio, laughing and smiling at each other, it looked right. Maybe that's what hurts.”