Читать книгу Shadows from the Past - Lindsay McKenna - Страница 11

IRIS OFFICIALLY DECIDED to hire Kam as her caregiver. It was a relief. Kam had overcome one obstacle, one of many. The tension leading up to the family dinner became her focus. Her upbringing as a Trayhern hadn’t prepared her for this family, which seemed built on politics, intrigue and power struggles. Where was the love between them?

Kam sat at Iris’s elbow while Rudd was at the head. The rectangular maple table was covered with an old-fashioned hand-crocheted white cloth across its gleaming surface. Hazel, their chef, had her assistant, Becky Long, a smiling young woman, help serve the meal. The plates were blue and white and Iris told Kam that she and Trevor had bought them shortly after their wedding. They were used to this day, a sign of her love for him.

Above the table hung a massive elkhorn display with lights. No matter where she looked, there were elkhorn tables, chairs and lamps. Soft classical music, the same kind that her mother Laura loved, played softly in the background. That was Iris’s doing, too. She proudly informed Kam that at one time, she’d played classical piano. After trying to break a horse, she’d broken her hand and had suffered a fracture that prevented her from going on to a career in piano. Kam wondered how such things would steer a person’s life. If not for the finger fracture, Iris would have never stayed in the Wyoming area to meet Trevor several months later. They had met, fallen in love and begun this ranching empire. Kam’s respect for the elder Mason grew by the hour as Iris let her into her inner world of business and personal information.

The crystal water and wineglasses were old and hand-cut. Kam felt as if she’d stepped back into the 1870s of Western America. It was comforting to her in one way because she loved antiques. The rug on the blond oak floor beneath the massive table was from Turkey, Iris had told her. It had been bought by Trevor on a business trip to the Middle East shortly after their were married.

Everything that Kam could see had a history. Had importance to the Mason family. Her heart swelled with incredible emotion as she sat with her hands in her lap quietly waiting for the rest of the family. There were three empty chairs. Becky stood near the kitchen door, a frown on her round face.

Rudd kept looking up from his place at the head of the table toward the entrance.

Kam could see annoyance in his features although she suspected that he was trying to hide it. Iris, however, was not so cloaked.

“I’m eating, Rudd. I’m hungry.” Iris took a soft, warm sourdough biscuit from the basket at the center of the table. “If they can’t be on time, I’m not waiting for them!”

Giving her a pained look, Rudd said nothing. He tried to smile but failed. “Kamaria, if you want to start eating, go right ahead. Sometimes, my family arrives late. We don’t want the food to go cold.”

Kam nodded and took a biscuit. She slathered butter, hand-churned from their dairy-cow herd, across the fragrant, steaming surface. Iris proudly told her they had sourdough starter a hundred years old. Kam knew her mother Laura just loved baking with sourdough starter. She made a mental note to ask for a jar of it and transport it back to Laura, who would be thrilled.

“Starting without us?”

Kam looked up at the dripping, husky voice at the entrance. A woman in her mid-forties, her hair dyed blond, stood there with her hands resting imperiously on her thick hips. She was dressed like a Hollywood goddess, Kam thought as she put the biscuit down on her plate. This had to be Allison Dubois-Mason. She was short and shapely, her breasts as ample as her hips and thin-waisted. She had the coveted hourglass figure from a bygone era. Her blond hair was coifed and swept up on her head and glittering diamond earrings and necklace set it all off. Her green eyes were heavily made up and Kam thought the false eyelashes looked more like caterpillars crawling across them. Her rouge was too bright, making her resemble one of those Kewpie dolls at carnivals.

“Come in,” Rudd said, standing. He moved around to the chair at the opposite end of the table. Pulling it out, he waited for his wife to approach. “Allison, I want you to meet Kamaria Trayhern. We’ve just hired her as caregiver to Iris. Kamaria, this is my wife, Allison.”

Kam nodded in the woman’s direction. She walked like a queen gliding down an invisible red carpet. The dress she wore was out of place for this rugged Western setting. It was a ball gown made of gleaming gold silk that showed off her considerable cleavage and swathed around her ankles. Her heels were a good three inches high and Kam winced inwardly. The woman obviously didn’t care about her feet.

Kam felt the glare from the mascara-framed green eyes. It was not a welcoming gaze at all and her gut tightened.

Halting at the chair, Allison flashed daggers at Rudd.

“And just what is she doing at our table? Hired help does not eat with us. Ever.”

The venom seemed to drip from her mouth like acid. Kam started to rise.

Iris clamped a hand over her arm and stopped her.

“Stay right where you are, Kam,” Iris growled. And then, the senior shot a poisonous look at her daughter-in-law. “Since when do you care who sits at this table, Allison? On most nights, we wait a half hour for you to appear. Your children never show up. Regan’s too busy to sit down with us, and Zach has his head in computer games. So don’t go getting high and mighty saying who can or can’t be at our dinner table.”

Laughing liltingly, Allison waved her bejeweled hand toward Iris. She batted her eyes at Rudd and smiled. “And here I thought you were the boss, Rudd.” She sat down with aplomb and Rudd pushed the chair toward the table.

Iris glared at Allison. “Maybe you need reminding that I’m the owner of this ranch, Allison, and I’m not dead yet. Until I am, I’m the one who decides who will have dinner with us or not. Rudd has nothing to say about this and you know it.”

Allison took her white linen napkin and smiled fully. Becky came over and poured her some red wine. “Oh, you never allow me to forget that you’re the boss, Iris.”

Kam watched the maid pour the red wine and thought that blood had been drawn symbolically between Iris, the matriarch, and Allison, the upstart. What a group! She couldn’t believe the rage behind the words of the two women. It made her evening meals with her parents in Montana look alien in comparison to this family.

Iris said nothing. Becky gave her a pained look.

“Miss Iris? Should I serve dinner? Or wait?”

Iris addressed Allison. “Are Zach and Regan comin’ or not?”

Shrugging, Allison said, “They’re busy.”

“Would have been nice to let Hazel and Becky know ahead of time,” Iris growled. “They aren’t slaves to do our bidding around here.”

Kam couldn’t believe the drama around Allison. Gulping, she realized that if Rudd was her father, this woman was her stepmother. Not exactly a great package. And nothing like Laura, who was the epitome of grace, good manners and kindness. Kam searched the woman’s heavily made-up oval face to see if she could find generosity or kindness. She could not.

“Please serve the meal,” Rudd requested of Becky. “And thank Hazel in advance for her help in makin’ our dinner.”

Kam found Rudd’s sensitivity toward others positive. Becky rushed out of the room, through the swinging oak door. Shortly, she came back with squash soup, which smelled wonderful.

“Now this,” Iris told her, pointing to the yellow soup in front of her, “is from my garden last year, Kamaria. Hubbard squash from last fall’s crop. The best squash in the world to give a nutlike flavor to soup. Hazel always puts on bacon bits and tops it with a tad of sour cream. Makes for a wonderful beginning to our meal.”

Kam waited until Rudd picked up his soupspoon and then she followed suit. “Are you going to plant Hubbard squash in your garden this year?” she asked Iris. The soup tasted heavenly. The salty bacon enhanced the nutty flavor of the squash. The sour cream melted and swirled in the golden contents and reminded her of an abstract painting. It was a beautiful presentation.

“Absolutely,” Iris gushed, excitement in her voice. “In fact, I’m going to add another squash this year, a Lakota squash. This kind has orange and green vertical stripes. Some of my friends tell me it has the same firm consistency as Hubbard. You need a good, meaty flesh for a good squash soup.”

“Good to know,” Kam said, finishing off her soup. She glanced over at Allison who seemed bored, her soup untouched.

“Just because Ms. Trayhern is here you trotted out your squash soup. You know I hate squash, Iris,” Allison said defiantly.

Rudd sighed. “Allison, Hazel always cooks one soup a day and you know that. And we have squash soup at least once every two weeks.”

Kam could feel Rudd’s concern that his wife’s petulance would ruin the festive atmosphere. Iris slurped down the soup with relish and seemed content, her appetite clearly in place. Kam felt she had to speak up. “I thought the soup was wonderful, Becky. Thank Hazel for me. I’d love to get this recipe.” She almost added that her mother would love to have it. She certainly didn’t want them to get entangled in her family background. At least not until the time was right.

“Thank you, Kamaria,” Becky said, adroitly moving around the table and removing soup bowls. “Hazel loves to have feedback on her meals. She wants to make people smile over her creations.”

Iris smacked her lips, drank a bit of her red wine and patted her mouth with the white linen napkin. “Now, that’s a great start to a great meal, Kamaria. You see? Food like this is a special treat and I can see you appreciate it.”

“I do,” Kam said. “At home, my mother uses all the veggies from her garden to cook with, too.”

“Oh,” Allison groaned, shooting a look at Kam. “Don’t tell me you’re into gardening, too?”

“Yes, ma’am, I am.” Kam felt the only way to deal with Allison, who wanted to be queen bee, was to treat her with respect.

Allison sighed. “Well, Iris, this will be your first caregiver who loves gardening.” Then she looked at Kam. “You know, every caregiver we’ve hired has left a month after arriving here.”

Iris gave Allison a narrow-eyed look. “And I wonder why?”

Kam felt the tension sizzle between the two women.

“No, Iris,” Rudd rumbled, “let’s not go there. I want a peaceful meal for once. Kamaria is our guest. Can we table some of our conversations at least for tonight?”

Kam saw the faces of the three players. Iris looked incensed. Allison became smug. Rudd appeared frazzled, as if playing the referee between two boxers. Of course, with the dissension here between Allison and Iris, Kam could see how the family dynamic drove off previous employees.

Becky brought out a small garden salad drizzled with buttermilk dressing. The portions were small and she was glad.

“I’m leaving for L.A. tomorrow, Rudd. My friends are throwing a party at the Beverly Hills Hotel and they want me to attend.” Allison smoothed her hair and affected a matter-of-fact tone. “I’ll be gone for five days.”

Rudd nodded and handed Becky his emptied salad bowl. “Is Regan going along?”

“Probably. She hasn’t made up her mind yet. You know she has that Goth boyfriend in Jackson Hole.” She smirked. “I’m trying to pull her away from that slovenly thing. I checked on him and his parents are truckers. Trash, Rudd. Regan needs to understand she has to get into her own class and not go to the belly of the whale for friends or relationships. It’s so frustrating!”

Kam glanced over to Iris, who shook her head in dismay.

“No one is trash, Allison,” Iris shot back. “Classism didn’t build this ranch, you know. A lot of people worked untold hours. Truckers are very important people to us. And I’ve found them to be more than honorable folks. Charlie and Rose Burger do a lot for the poor of that town. He’s with the Elks and she’s with the Soroptomist Club. They raise a lot of money for the needy. I don’t see them bein’ called trash by the likes of you.”

Kam gritted her teeth and stared down at her salad bowl. Did they spar like this at every meal? Iris took no prisoners, but then, Allison seem to delight in dropping bombs to goad the old woman. Conversation like this was murderous to sit through, Kam decided.

“Regan’s boyfriend, Justin, is a good enough boy,” Rudd said. “He’s hard-working, Allison. Charlie and Rose raised him right.”

Allison sniffed. “I just don’t want our daughter hanging around with the likes of him. She’s better than that. I’m hoping she’ll meet an actor to marry.”

Iris snickered. “Oh, yeah, that’s right—marry an egotistical monster who can’t do without bright lights, fawning people and a bunch of hangers-on. Right.”

Allison glared at Iris, then looked down the table at Rudd, as if to say silently that he should protect her from his mother’s acidic comments.

Rudd did nothing but scowl, and spread butter across a warm biscuit.

Kam remained silent. How lucky she had been to have Morgan and Laura as parents! Their dinner table was full of lively conversation, searching talks, excitement about things each family member was doing—never this kind of nastiness. First of all, they would not have allowed these types of personal attacks at the dinner table. Secondly, this was a place to meet and talk and catch up on what everyone else was doing. She wiped her mouth with the linen napkin and thanked Becky as she came by to pick up the bowl.

“Hollywood is much more than that, Iris,” Allison sniffed. She saw Becky coming with the main course and halted her tirade.

A delicious stew was placed in front of Kam, along with some freshly steamed asparagus bathed in cheese sauce.

“Now, Kamaria, this is our own buffalo meat,” Iris crowed proudly. She swept her hand down toward her plate. “Do you know I’ve got a Web site where we sell our bison products? Allison said going online was a bust but I proved her wrong,” Iris gloated and grinned over at Allison, who pointedly ignored her. “We make five hundred thousand dollars a year off Internet orders from folks around the world. Isn’t that something? I might be old, but I sure like the gizmos we have at our disposal for marketing and advertising on the Net. You on the Net at all?”

Smiling, Kam swallowed her food. “Yes, I am. I’d love to see what you’ve done with your Web site, Iris.”

“My geek guy, Tom Courtland, takes care of my server in Jackson Hole. He’s a peach. I give him fresh veggies and fruit from our orchard every year. Of course, he’s well paid for what he does and he’s endlessly creative. I’ve asked Tom to bring a computer into your suite tomorrow. Then you and I can have some fun.”

Kam warmed to Iris even more. She was passionate, unafraid to try out new things and was obviously inventive in her businesses. “I’d love to sit down with you, Iris.”

“She’s the geek in our family,” Rudd said, smiling. “I don’t care for the darned things. Never could warm up to them. Can’t hardly use my cell phone, but I’m forced to in today’s world.”

Kam understood his complaint. “A lot of people are turned off by computers.”

“It’s the e-mails,” Rudd complained.

“Well, I told you to hire an office assistant who could field all the e-mail requests for information on our dude ranch,” Iris chastised him. “But you won’t do it. Sometimes I think you like to be miserable, Rudd. Just getting a young person in there for at least the summer dude-ranch time to help you seems like a better way to go. Instead, you sit in that office fuming and cursing under your breath as you use two fingers to try and type out a message.”

Kam tried to squelch her chuckle but couldn’t. “Hey, my sympathy is with Mr. Mason,” she teased Iris. “A lot of people are ham-handed when it comes to computers. Not that I’m a geek, but I practically grew up using a computer.”

Giggling, Iris nodded. “And some people just don’t want to learn new tricks. My son has a stubborn streak. One of these days when he’s bald after pulling out what’s left of his hair, he’ll see the wisdom of hiring an office assistant.”

Rudd grinned. “I don’t want to go bald, Iris.”

“Well, then, let me put out feelers to the employment office in Jackson and let’s see what I can scare up for you.”

“Maybe it’s time,” he agreed. “Besides, I’m better served dealing with daily ranch life. I hate the office.”

“Not much of a saddle to sit in, is it?” Iris quipped with a laugh.

Shrugging his broad shoulders, Rudd smiled sheepishly. “No, it isn’t.”

Allison shook her head and rolled her eyes again. She’d played with the food on her plate. “If you’ll excuse me…”

“You’ve barely eaten a thing,” Iris said.

“I like keeping my svelte figure. If Hollywood calls asking me to fly in to try out for a part, I can’t look fat.”

“Hazel made a special dessert tonight,” Iris said, ignoring her response. “Your favorite.”

Groaning, Allison rose with grace and placed her napkin on her plate. “Thank you, Hazel, but I simply can’t do it.” She turned and left the room.

Kam took note that Allison didn’t deign to look at her or say, “It was nice to meet you,” or anything else. She had a gut feeling that the woman didn’t like her and would just as soon see her leave the ranch in a month.

“Son? I think you hit pure gold when you hired Kamaria. I’m pleased as punch.”

“I’m glad, Iris. She seems a good fit for you. I just hope she wants to stay for more than a month.”

“Why would I ever want to leave after a month?” Kam asked politely. Based on the family drama, she knew the answer.

“Your predecessors just didn’t seem to fit into our laid-back ranch lifestyle,” he said uncomfortably.

“Actually,” Iris said darkly, “Allison chased all of ’em off. She’d just as soon see me die of a stroke and be out of the picture so she can take over.”

“Iris…” Rudd protested, frowning. “That’s not so. Allison does not want to see you die. And I really don’t think she chased off the other caregivers.”

Snorting, Iris said, “Well, I know better, son. And you’re just gonna have to take my word for it.” She cut Kam a sharp look. “You seem pretty smart. And you seem to see through people quickly. I’m sure you’ll ask questions before jumping to conclusions if Allison starts stirring the pot again.”

“Of course I would,” Kam reassured her. She saw Becky coming around to pick up their emptied plates. “I work for you. My only focus is you, Iris. You and your health. That’s why I’m here. Mr. Mason made it clear that I was to be with you most of the time.”

“And you’ll help me plant and weed the garden?”

Grinning, Kam said, “Wild horses wouldn’t stop me from helping you do that.”

“Music to my ears,” Iris sighed, giving her son a beaming smile of pure pleasure.

Rudd smiled. “Mine, too,” he told Kam, gratitude in his tone. “I think you’re going to fit in well here, Kamaria.”

“Call me Kam, if you want,” she told them. “Most people do.”

“Kam it is,” Rudd said, raising his head to see Becky coming out with dessert.

Patting her arm, Iris said, “Tomorrow is a bright new day around here with you being on board. I have a nice feeling about you, Kam. You’re fun to be around, you’re prudent and you’re a good judge of character, unlike some of the family.”

“Thanks, Iris. I’m really looking forward to being here.” Kam felt a warmth in her heart toward the older woman. Iris was a kick-butt, take-names-and-no-prisoners kind of lady, but she had values, morals and integrity, too. In contrast, Allison was a woman in a mask, playing a part. At least Rudd and Iris were real, down-to-earth people who weren’t narcissistic. Kam figured she could avoid Rudd’s wife most of the time. Or, at least she hoped she could.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Iris told her, “I want you to take a ride with Wes and start familiarizing yourself with the Elkhorn Ranch. Sound exciting?”

“Yes, it does. I love riding horses.”

“Ah,” Iris sighed, “yet another plus in your column with me. I have a black Morgan mare that I ride almost daily. I’ll tell Wes to assign you a nice horse that you can use as your own. I often ride out into the hills to gather my flower essences and you can tag along.”

“Sounds great,” Kam murmured. Her heart skipped a beat. Wes. She gazed at Iris whose features looked perfectly innocent. And yet, Kam knew this woman had acumen when it came to evaluating people. Did she see something between her and Wes? Could she be aware of how Kam’s heart beat a little harder when she saw that lanky, wolflike cowboy? Tomorrow was going to be an exciting day for her in many ways, Kam suspected.