Save the Last Dance (8 page)

Inside, the entry gave way to a two-story reception area flanked by a sweeping, curved staircase leading to the second floor. Jared took her jacket and his and tossed them on a velvet fainting couch set in front of the windows.

Imagining butlers and cooks scurrying around behind the scenes, Kate expected to see Mrs. Mathers glide down the staircase in a formal gown, but Jared motioned for Kate to follow, leading the way to the kitchen, where a slender, elegant woman stood at a butcher-block island, eyeing a golden turkey with a measure of distaste.

She looked up and smiled at Jared, offering her cheek for a quick kiss, gave Kate a dismissive glance, then continued to study the offending bird. “I’m not sure it’s big enough. Do you think so, dear?”

“It looks fantastic. This is Kate, by the way.”

Kate moved forward, extending her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

Sylvia nodded politely without accepting the handshake, her face expressionless. “I’ll make sure we have
lots
of time to talk a little later.”

“When can we eat?” Jared peered around her to an open doorway. “Is the table set? Can we help?”

His mother’s light laugh was silvery, as elegant as she was in her slim black dress and pearls. “I had dinner delivered just minutes ago, and every
thing else is on the sideboard. If you’ll carry in this platter and help me carve, we can start.”

“Where’s Julia?”

“Your sister
insisted
on going with your Uncle Dex, so she could spend the weekend with her cousins. So I’m afraid it’s just the three of us.”

Outside, the wind picked up, slamming crystalline snow against the windows. Inside, Kate felt a similar chill. Was it her imagination…or had Jared’s mother just taken an instant dislike to her?

“T
HIS WAS A WONDERFUL MEAL
,” Jared said as he folded his napkin and placed it next to his plate. “The caterers did a terrific job.”

“As always,” Sylvia murmured. She tipped her head at Kate. “I’m sure your family has a big get-together and everyone helps out with the cooking, but it’s just three of us for holidays. I’ve never been particularly gifted in the kitchen, at any rate. So I have everything catered.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Kate murmured.

Throughout the meal, Sylvia had spoken to her only twice, and that had been to request the salt or pepper. Still, the woman had emanated a strange sense of satisfaction when Kate surreptitiously watched Jared for cues on the proper forks and spoons to pick up for each course.

Apparently oblivious to the uncomfortable undercurrents in the room, Jared had remained his usual congenial self, talking to both of them, regaling them with stories about some of his more challenging moments in law school. If he noticed his mother’s frosty behavior, he gave no sign.

Sylvia looked over her wineglass at her son. “If you’re done, darling, could you possibly bring in some firewood? We can lay a fire in the living room and have our dessert there.”

Kate rose to gather the plates when Jared left the table, but Sylvia motioned her to sit back with a dismissive flick of her hand. “We’ll get these things later. I’d rather have a chance to talk.”

A premonition wrapped icy tentacles around Kate’s stomach. “It was a lovely dinner. Thanks so much for the invitation, Mrs. Mathers.”

“I’m afraid it wasn’t my idea. It was Jared’s, of course, but perhaps it’s just as well.” Sylvia bared her teeth in a wintry smile. “You see, my dear, you seem to have a very troubling past, and I want you out of his life. So now I’m just wondering…How much do you want him to know?”

K
ATE JERKED HER GAZE
to the windows, wishing she could see past the reflections to the darkness outside.

“It will be a while before Jared comes back,” Sylvia said mildly. “The storage building is at the far end of the backyard. There’s plenty of time for us to work through these little details.”

“I—I don’t know what you mean.” Kate’s heart pounded as if it were trying to break free of her chest.

“Perhaps you’d like to take Jared to Charlesburg to meet your mother? Or to catch up on some of the local gossip?” Sylvia pursed her lips. “I’m sure Francine Becker is still quite a hot topic these days. She
is
your mother, right?”

“Yes,” Kate whispered, closing her eyes.

“I’m sorry—I didn’t quite hear you.”

“
Yes.
Yes, she is.”

Sylvia shook her head sadly. “It must have been quite awkward for her, killing your father like that. Murder is such an ugly word.”

“It was an accident.” Kate gripped the back of a chair with both hands. “He came into the kitchen. They were arguing…and he stumbled into the knife she held in her hand.
Accidentally.
”

“A pity that the judge and jury didn’t think so, dear. But perhaps you don’t remember all the facts quite right. You were what—in third grade? And the stress of testifying surely must have been something you wanted to forget.”

“It’s something I think about every day.”

“Then you must understand my concerns.”

Kate looked down at her white knuckles. Even now that she was an adult, the shame and fear and panic sometimes came rushing back in vivid images, leaving her in a cold sweat and breathing hard. “I lost my dad, and then I lost my mom, too, for the six long years she was incarcerated.
Wrongly
incarcerated.”

Sylvia flipped a hand dismissively. “Wrongly or not, I’m afraid you have quite a past…and I’m very afraid of what that could do to Jared’s future if you two ever, well…”

“We’re barely
dating!
”

“But things can happen.” She made a moue of distaste. “A girl is careless—perhaps even on purpose. There’s a necessary marriage, and then there you have it. An alliance that could destroy Jared’s future.”

Until now Kate had felt self-conscious and out of place in this grand home. But she felt a flare of outraged anger at the woman’s assumptions. “I’m hardly wanting to trap your son, Mrs. Mathers. I’m in vet school, and I have career goals, too. Marriage and parenthood—in whatever order they occur—have no place in my plans for the next
decade.
”

“Things happen all the same.”

“Not with me.” Kate glanced again at the darkened windows, wishing she could leave this place without making a scene.

Sylvia toyed with her wineglass, took a sip and studied the sparkling cut of the crystal. “Let me put this another way. What do you see, when you look around this house?”

Caught off guard, Kate darted a quick glance at the towering wall of windows that probably faced a manicured back lawn. The heavy antique dining-room table that could easily seat twenty. A massive, gilt-framed painting of an Edwardian lady, undoubtedly an original.

“I…guess I see an elegant home,” she ventured. “You have beautiful taste.”

“What you see, my dear, is a house of cards.” Sylvia waved a hand toward the glass-fronted hutch, where backlight displayed the fine crystal, then at the glittering chandelier. “This place will
belong to Jared and Julia someday. It’s a home for entertaining, for impressing people who must be impressed. My late husband and I hosted many a political fundraiser here. Dinners and festive parties that helped him move forward with his career.”

She stood and paced the room, then stopped by Kate’s chair. “You are a lovely girl. I can see why Jared is attracted to you. But can you imagine him graduating law, then trying to follow his father’s footsteps with a wife from such a…difficult background?”

“I have no plans—”

“The tabloids would have a field day, believe me. These days they’re like ravenous sharks. His chances for the prestigious law firms, the most influential positions, might be seriously damaged.” Sylvia slid into the chair next to Kate and took her hand. “I’ve held on to this place since Ellsworth died because of my children. There’s no way they’d be able to hang on to it if Jared’s career wasn’t a shining success. Do you love him?”

Kate felt heat rise up her neck and into her cheeks. “No…well…we haven’t really been together that long, and…”

“If you care at all about him, step away. Don’t let things go any further.”

“But I’m not like my parents.”

“Look, I know about the child abuse charges against your father, and that he was an alcoholic. Your mom, too. Is that why she failed to protect your brother?” Sylvia’s voice hardened. “Do you want all of that history splashed across the magazines? Isn’t Kyle a first grade teacher now? What would that humiliation do to his new career? And to Jared’s political future, if he were to marry into such a family? If he runs for the senate, as his father did, your life will be an open book.”

Kate felt her stomach twist. Kyle had suffered, protecting her from their father. How could she fail to protect him now, in return?

Apparently satisfied, Sylvia sat back in her chair. “I won’t make a scene over this, as long as you stay away from my son. He never even needs to know we had this talk.”

Her stomach tightened even more, and all Kate could do was stare silently back at Sylvia in disbelief.

“Honestly,” Sylvia continued, “the past will probably never come back to haunt any of you if you’re not in the limelight. Please, I beg you—don’t ruin Jared’s life.”

“Y
OU’RE AWFULLY QUIET
,” Jared said reaching for Kate’s hand as they came out of a small neighbor
hood movie theater near the campus. “Didn’t you like the movie?”

“Loved it. Daniel Day-Lewis is
amazing.
The woman who played his mom, too.” Kate breathed easier, thankful for an innocuous topic. “
My Left Foot
ought to earn them some major awards.”

Two weeks after Thanksgiving, and she still hadn’t been able to walk away from him, though Sylvia’s threat was never far from her thoughts. The knowledge that she was a potential liability for Jared was even more unsettling.

If she told him why she was leaving, she knew he’d stick by her no matter what. But if she selfishly remained silent and stayed, how could she hurt the man she’d come to love?

“I’ve been thinking,” she said slowly.

“Sounds like trouble,” he teased, giving her hand an extra squeeze.

This was so difficult. “You and I are both incredibly busy. Maybe we should just back off for a while.”

“Bad idea.” He playfully bumped his upper arm against her shoulder. “Bad, bad, bad.”

“I mean it.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t afford to think about anything else except school. I’ve been distracted these past couple months, and if I don’t keep my GPA up, it could
ruin everything. Just look at how much time we spend going between the two campuses to see each other.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He slowed to a stop, his gaze riveted on hers. “This is just a joke.”

“No. It’s not.” She had to look away, because otherwise she would cave in.

“Sorry, I don’t buy it. Look, if you’re feeling pressured right now, we can just talk on the phone, and you can live at that library of yours. A whole month, if that’s what it takes.”

“It’s bigger than that, Jared.” He fell silent, and she knew how much she was hurting him. “This next year or two are going to be overwhelming for me. I hear all of the upper level students talking about it. I just need my space.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way. I don’t want to lose you, Kate.”

“Ending this relationship is the best thing you could do for the both of us. Don’t you see that? Look at where you come from. What your plans are. Do you have any idea how badly things could work out? We need to end this now.”

He rocked back on his heels and swore under his breath. “It’s about that house. My so-called ‘family heritage.’”

“And your future,” she blurted out, desperate to
make him see the truth. If he took her into his arms, she would never have the strength to walk away.

“My future,” he repeated flatly.

“Your dad was an influential senator. You can be one, too, if you want. But if you’re saddled with me, what chances would you have? Can you see the headlines?”

“What would they be, Kate?” he asked evenly, his eyes growing colder. “Got any secrets you need to share?”

“More dirty laundry than you can even imagine.” She took a few steps away and sank onto a bus stop bench. “But the more I think about it, the more I realize that I really don’t want to share the kind of future you’ll have, anyway.”

“Even if I end up as some lowly small-town lawyer, instead of a senatorial hotshot?” He stood in front of her and managed a faint smile that didn’t begin to reach his eyes. “In case you’re at all curious, I’ve never thought about politics. Not even once.”

“I guess I’m just saying that we should stop seeing each other. It’s been nice, but I don’t think it was meant to be.”

“Nice?”
He lingered for a long moment, then slowly shook his head. “You surprise me, Kate. I never thought we’d end up like this.”

Guilt made it impossible for her to answer, though the pain in his voice tore at her heart.

“My father is gone, along with his money. The unspoken assumption was that I’d do my duty and marry well to rescue the family fortunes.” Jared gave a short, cynical laugh. “I would have given up anything to be with you.
Anything.
But I guess we’re all in luck, because love won’t be standing in the way of duty now.”

And then he walked away.

D
ECEMBER DRAGGED
on into January, snowfall upon snowfall, then the endless rain and mud of a very wet spring…one exam, paper and difficult lab after another.

Kate’s initial excitement over her admission to vet school was now replaced by a quieter sense of accomplishment and the thrill of meeting every challenge head-on…until it came to dealing with the parakeets.

“I had a little trouble yesterday,” she admitted to Deanna. “Two of ’em got loose in the room and took forever to catch, and then I had a problem drawing a blood sample. Thanks for coming with me today.”

“I owe you, after you helped me review for the bovine dystocia test.” Deanna looked across the exam table and grinned. “You’ve never had birds?”

“I wanted them when I was in grade school. My mom said she was allergic. My dad said they smelled like chickens, and he wouldn’t allow them in the house.” Kate laughed. “Come to think of it, they gave the same excuses for hedgehogs, guinea pigs and gerbils.”

“You poor, deprived baby.”

“I had all sorts of reptiles and rodents in cages out in the barn, and the usual cats and dogs, plus the livestock on my uncle’s farm. Just never had any experience with birds. And,” Kate added with a grin, “I think birds can sense that a mile off.”

“Well, we’re the only ones here, so it’s a good time to practice.” Deanna opened the cage door and deftly corralled a hapless bird within her cupped hands. A wild rustling of feathers ensued, and she flinched. “Pecked me, the little bugger.”

When the bird calmed, they started working from the lab instruction sheet on the table between them, listening to the creature’s rapid heartbeat. Examining it for psittacosis, BPFD and overall health, followed by a blood draw and fecal exam.

“Your turn,” Deanna said after replacing the bird in the cage. “Let’s see…Try for that green-and-yellow one.”

The bird apparently had excellent hearing,
because it promptly flapped and clawed its way to the topmost bar of the cage.

Kate nearly had it, when it scrambled away in a flurry of airborne feathers. She finally snared the struggling bird—only to have it shoot out of her grasp like a wet bar of soap.

“These birds haven’t been socialized, so we’ve got a bigger challenge.” Deanna chuckled. “It’s a trick, all right. Hold them too tight and they’ll keel over dead. Too loose, and they’re gone.”

When Kate finally managed to capture the bird, she let it rest for a few minutes within her cupped hands before bringing it out. She started going through each step of the exam under Deanna’s watchful eye.

But after a few minutes, she realized Deanna had fallen silent, her expression distracted. “What’s wrong?”

Deanna bit her lower lip. “Nothing…probably.”

“Nothing.”

“Well, not anything that should matter. You know, when a person breaks up with someone, they don’t mind when they hear some news about them, right?”

“This is confusing.”

Deanna shifted her weight, clearly uneasy. “Though I’d guess these things can hurt, even if you aren’t supposed to care anymore.”

Kate stilled. “Tell me.”

“I figured you should maybe hear it first from me, so it won’t be a surprise at some really awkward time.”

If she hadn’t been holding a bird, Kate might have succumbed to the temptation to grab Deanna’s shoulders and shake her.
“What?”

Deanna looked down at the table. “Jared.”

A chill gripped Kate’s heart as she imagined the terrible things that could’ve happened. “Is he…Is he all right?”

“I heard he’s…um…engaged.”

Speechless, Kate stared at her.

“To some really wealthy girl—and they aren’t waiting around for a long engagement, either. What a jerk, right? I mean, it’s been, what—six months? How shallow is that? He never did deserve you, that’s for sure. Not when he could go off like this and…”

Deanna’s voice vibrated with loyalty and indignation, but her tirade faded into the distance as Kate processed the news and felt the empty chasm in her chest grow until it pressed against her ribs.