“But only by accusing Dub,” she continued.
David sat up straight. “What?”
She looked at him curiously. “Waneath’s wound had particles of pink marble dust in it,” she said. “I’m willing to bet they’ll match up with the marble from the staircase at Long Pond.”
David froze. Anything he said would only make the situation worse.
Kate narrowed her eyebrows at his expression. “David? What is it?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. Go on.”
“Remember that first day after the bail hearing when you drove me out to Long Pond? You showed the house from across the soybean field. As the crow flies, it’s less than a mile from where Jason and Waneath had their big blowup.”
“So?” David said softly.
“So, she walked across the field barefoot.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Her feet were dirty, but her shoes were clean. She went to Long Pond, David, maybe just to get Dub to drive her home. Something happened, and she died.”
“That’s a big jump, isn’t it? Maybe Dub didn’t even hear her. Didn’t answer the door.”
“Did you know Waneath had an abnormally thin skull?”
He shook his head.
“A blow that might give you or me a mild concussion cracked her temple like an egg.”
“Dub would never hurt a woman on purpose.”
David heard Arnold’s quick intake of breath. That had been a bad slip. He had to watch himself. Time. He had to buy time to think how best to serve both Dub and Jason. He needed to head Kate off, but she’d always been as tenacious as a bulldog.
“Myrlene said something to me this morning, David, something I’d never thought before. She said it was odd that the three most eligible bachelors in town were three generations of the same family—you, Jason and Dub.” She shook her head. “And the
most
eligible is Dub—he’s rich. Waneath told everyone she wasn’t averse to marrying an older man if he was rich and socially prominent. I think it’s possible she seduced him, that he was the father of her baby.”
David felt the breath go out of his lungs. “Kate, it was an accident.”
She sat up. “What?”
“She fell running up the steps. He was taking her to the emergency room in Jackson when he realized she was dead.”
For a moment Kate simply gaped at him. Then she began to shake her head and her forehead creased. “How long have you known?”
He waved a hand. “Not long.”
She stood. “When were you going to tell me? The day before Jason was to be sentenced?”
He surged to his feet. “Kate, it’s not like that.”
She pulled away from him and started down the corridor. “Good grief, David, I thought you’d changed, I really did. If I hadn’t put all this together on my own, would you ever have told me what you knew?”
He followed her, reached for her arm. “You’re Jason’s lawyer. I needed a little time to decide what was best for everyone.”
She shook him off and turned to face him. Her voice was deadly quiet. “A little time? How much?
You
needed to decide. I thought you hired
me
to make those decisions, and you’re supposed to give me the information I need to make them properly. I said my clients lie to me, but you’re more than a client. I’m an officer of the court, David. It is my duty to give this report to the sheriff, and when I do, he’s going to figure out precisely what I did, and he’s going to come arrest Dub for murder.”
“No!” David and Kate both spun at the howl that erupted from Jason. He ran down the hall toward them, the soft drink in the cup in his hand spilling with every step. “You can’t do that!”
“Jason, listen to me,” Kate began.
“My granddaddy didn’t kill Waneath,” he wailed.
“He told your father it was an accident, and maybe it was, but that’s for the sheriff and the courts to decide.”
“He’s sick, he’s been having spells, he didn’t know what he was doing!” Jason cried.
“The autopsy goes to the sheriff,” Kate said. “And he’s going to want to talk to your grandfather.” She avoided David’s eyes. “As for me, I’m going home to Atlanta. I’ve done what you hired me for, David. And I’ve had enough Southern Gothic to last a lifetime.” She walked away. David followed her.
“Kate, Kate, please wait. Listen to me.”
Kate raised her hands. “You did it to me again, didn’t you?” she said, and punched the down button on the elevator savagely. “I thought we were on the way to becoming a team again. You chose not to let me share your problems in New York. You’re doing the same thing now. I can’t live with a man who shuts me out, David, and I can’t go on loving one either.” The elevator doors opened. “I’ll recommend a lawyer for Dub. Arnold can clear up things here. Have a really great Christmas.” The doors closed and she was gone. The three of them, Jason, Arnold and David, stared after her.
“Dad?” Jason put a hand on his father’s shoulder. “You can’t let them arrest Granddaddy. I don’t care what he did. He’s an old man. You’ve got to stop her.”
“I can’t.” He sighed. “Besides, she’s right. That’s exactly what I’m doing—locking her out, locking you and everybody else out.” He leaned against the wall beside the elevator. “Trying to keep everything smooth on the surface for everyone else, fighting everybody’s battles alone. Keeping my own counsel.”
“That’s what men are supposed to do,” Jason said.
David stared at him. “Is that what I’ve taught you?”
“Yeah. I mean, we’re supposed to take the heat, aren’t we? Not let anybody see how we feel about things? Suck it up and keep going. That’s what you always do. ’Cause when you let people see into you, you get creamed.”
David shut his eyes. “Then I’ve made you into a coward,” he said softly.
“A coward? Hell, no, Dad, I respect you. You’re the bravest man I know.”
“No, I’m a coward. So afraid of letting even the people I love most in this life see me vulnerable, see me needing help, support, love. That’s what it’s all about, Jason—not being strong and silent and locking everyone outside for fear if they see the real you they’ll run away and leave you. I’ve done that all my life. My father did it, and if you’re not careful, you’ll do the same thing. It lost me the woman I love once, son, and I’m damned if it’ll lose her for me again.”
“Dad?” Jason looked at his father uncertainly, as though seeing him for the first time. “Dad, you’re scaring me.”
“Good. That’s what growing up is about. I watched my mother damn near destroy my father the moment he let his guard down, and I swore I’d never ever let mine down in front of anyone. I’m scared too, Jason. Scared and so damn lonely for Kate that I’m sick with it. I’m not going to let her go, and if that means walking away from Long Pond, from Dub, and even from you for a little while, then that’s what I’m going to do. It’s all on your shoulders, son. I know you’re strong enough to handle things without me.” He turned to Arnold. “You mind staying here with Jason? I’ve got to find Kate.”
“Go. You two are crazy enough to deserve each other.”
David hugged his son, and when the elevator doors behind him slid open, smiled at the boy as he slid from view.
KATE PULLED ON her gloves as she walked into the parking garage of the hospital.
She’d drop the autopsy report by the sheriffs office, pick up the rental car at the motel and drive straight through to Atlanta. Arnold could bring her clothes.
She and Alec might not have been the world’s greatest lovers, but at least they’d been a team. Alec had shared his problems as well as his triumphs with her. She could no longer accept anything less, especially from the man she loved.
She caught her reflection in the side mirror as she unlocked the car. Her hair was wild and her face looked flushed.
Suddenly, the strength left her legs. She wrenched the door open and sank onto the seat.
Talk about repeating old habits! She’d accused David of doing the same thing he’d done twenty years ago. What was she doing except re-creating her same knee-jerk reaction? Had she given him a chance to explain? To justify his choices? Even to tell her how long he’d known about Dub?
No, she’d simply gotten on her high horse and run screaming from the room, just as she planned to run back to Atlanta with her tail between her legs. From the only man she had ever,
would
ever love.
A small voice from within her spoke then, “And from a man who truly loves you.” Oooh, boy. Talk about responsibility. Talk about scary. Talk about vulnerability.
And what about acceptance?
Yeah,
she thought,
let’s talk about acceptance.
Was that why she ran? Made a mountain out of a molehill? So she wouldn’t have to face the realities of loving him?
Did she love him only when he was strong and perfect and doing precisely the right things? The right things, that is, according to the gospel of Kate. Making the choices she would make? When he lived up to her idea of perfect hero?
Is that the way he loved her?
Or do I love him when he screws up big time? Does he love me when I do?
Damn straight. “Get up off your rear end, Kate Mulholland, and go back upstairs,” she said.
As she stood, David came pelting down the ramp toward her.
She froze.
“Damnation, you’re not leaving before we straighten this out.”
“I’m not leaving, period,” she said.
“What?” He frowned.
She shut the car door and leaned against it.
“I just found out today that if Dub dies I inherit Long Pond,” David said.
Kate blinked. This was not the way she’d envisioned the conversation.
He continued, “You want me to hire another lawyer, fine. But if I have to hog-tie you and keep you a prisoner until this mess is cleared up, I’ll damn well do it, and after that I’ll walk away from Long Pond and go wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do. I’m not losing you again, and if you don’t like it, or like the fact that you don’t always agree with what I decide, you’ll have to adjust. Do I make myself clear?” His chest heaved.
“I thought Long Pond meant everything to you,” she said with more truculence than she felt. Inside, her heart began to lift.
“So did I. I love running the place, but I love you considerably more. If I have to go back to school and learn to be a landscape gardener or a computer programmer, then that’s what I’ll do, but I will not give you up and I won’t let you give me up.”
“And Jason?”
“He’s very close to being a grown man and out on his own living his own life. If Dub has to go to jail, I don’t know how I’ll manage to fulfill my other obligations, but if I have to commute from Atlanta, I will.” He stared at her. “Well, say something, dammit!”
An elderly couple walked up the ramp past them and eyed them suspiciously. For a moment she thought the man would ask if she needed help, but his wife whispered something to him and dragged him along.
“Yes, David,” she said meekly.
He gaped at her. “What?”
“I’m sorry I yelled at you and walked out”
He eyed her suspiciously. “This isn’t like you.”
“Being loved is a darned sight scarier than loving. I’m terrified.”
“Being loved? You actually admit I love you? You’ve never done that before.”
She shook her head. “I never believed it before.”
He reached for her, pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair. Then he raised his head and kissed her, deeply, tenderly and forever.
After a moment she broke the kiss, and said breathlessly, “But if you ever keep anything from me again, I swear I will deck you.”
“And then walk out on me?”
“You should be so lucky. I will not walk out, I’ll get right up in your face and make your life miserable in true lawyerly fashion until you spill your guts. I’m through walking out.”
“Till death do us part?”
She caught her breath. “Are you asking me to marry you again?”
He squeezed her so hard she thought she’d pass out. “On Christmas Eve with holly in your hair.” He sobered an instant later. “But you’ll have to put up with a commuter marriage until this business with Dub is resolved, and he can start running Long Pond again on his own.”
“No way. Do you think it matters one whit to me where I practice law? In some fancy law office in Atlanta or in Jackson, Mississippi, or even in Athena? What matters is the people I represent, not the fees they pay me. I’ve got enough money. What I don’t have is a life or a love.”
“I can’t let you—”
“I beg your pardon? You’re doing it again, David. Knock it off.”
“The logistics are a nightmare,” he said ruefully.