Texas Sunrise

by Fern Michaels

  “What?” Rand said.

  “That little pat on Lela’s tush. I don’t like it when you do things like that, and I don’t like the way that girl looks at me.”

  “Is that why you told her you didn’t need her the rest of the week? That means, darling Maggie, you will have to cook and make the beds,” Rand said quietly. “Won’t that eat into your routine? Anyway, it didn’t mean anything.”

  “If it didn’t mean anything, then why did you do it?”

  “I don’t know. I just did it. Jesus, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “See that it doesn’t,” Maggie said quietly.

  “I guess I’ll be going,” Rand said stiffly. “Say hello to everyone when you make your calls.”

  “I will,” Maggie called over her shoulder as she headed down the hall to their bedroom.

  Maggie pulled a mint-green muumuu over her head and slipped into thong sandals, her island attire. She walked down to the beach with the portable phone in her hand. She had decided to call Sawyer. There was a smile on her face when she thought about her daughter’s two children, Josie and Katy.

  The connection was clear, Sawyer’s voice crackling with something that sent chills down Maggie’s arms. “I was just going to call you,” Sawyer said.

  “Is everything okay? Adam? The twins?”

  “The girls are eating cookies, Adam is trying to glue a toy together, and I’m . . . I’m pissed to the teeth. Have you heard from Cole?”

  “Last week,” Maggie said with a catch in her voice. “Why?”

  Maggie listened to Sawyer’s story until she heard Adam order his wife to lower her voice.

  “Well, what do you think, Maggie?” Sawyer asked. She had been calling her mother by her first name since childhood.

  “I don’t know what to think. That doesn’t sound like Cole. Do you want me to call him?” Without waiting for a reply, she rushed on, “For the past few days I’ve had this awful feeling that something is wrong somewhere. Your aunt Susan arrived today. At first I thought my uneasiness had something to do with her, but nothing she’s told me explains the feeling I have. I planned on calling Cole anyway. What should I say?”

  “I don’t know,” Sawyer muttered. “Adam says I should call back and apologize for my attitude. He says it sucks. Maybe he’s right. I had no right to assume Cole would be willing to go on the line for us. When you talked to him last, did he act as if anything was wrong? I mean, Sumi is okay. I talked to her a few days ago. It’s Cole, Maggie. If you call him, I’d appreciate it if you’d get back to me. I’m going to start beating the bushes for some financing if he doesn’t come through. And you can reiterate to him for me that I’m not paying loan-shark rates.”

  “All right, Sawyer, I’ll pass the word along. Now tell me about the girls. Are they talking yet?”

  “They’re like magpies. All they do is chatter. They seem to understand each other. Adam says they’re speaking Greek at an early age. He said to give you his love. Oh, God, Adammmm!”

  “What’s wrong?” Maggie demanded when she heard a crash and loud wailing.

  “They just got into the jelly bean jar and broke it. They climbed up on the table. Ellen, the sitter, is in the bathroom. You can’t take your eyes off them for a minute. The terrible twos. And Adam wants to get them a puppy!”

  “I guess I better let you go. Give them a kiss for me. Adam too.”

  “I’ll send some pictures. Give Rand and Chesney our love, Aunt Susan too, okay? And call me if you find out anything from Cole.”

  “I will, Sawyer. Remember now, patience is the name of the game with the girls.”

  “I always do. Oh God, they threw a pillow into the fish tank. ’Bye, Maggie.”

  There was a smile on Maggie’s face when she dialed Cole’s number. She didn’t care what time it was in Japan. She loved talking to her son, and especially now that he and Sumi were expecting.

  It was hard to believe that Cole was going to be a father, and harder still to believe she, Maggie, was going to be a grandmother for a second time. Grandmother Maggie. She liked the sound of that.

  “Cole, how are you?” she asked cheerfully when she heard her son’s deep voice.

  “Fine, Mother, and no, Sumi isn’t ready yet,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s waddling like a duck and has constant heartburn. She says that means the baby has a lot of hair. Is that true?”

  Maggie laughed. “I’ve heard that. Not to change the subject, but guess who came to visit?” Without waiting for her son to reply, she said, “Susan. She’s sleeping right now, so we haven’t had a chance to visit, I mean really visit. I’m so excited. I just love it when family comes. By the way, Ivy sent me a picture of little Moss. I can’t tell you how much he looks like your grandfather. Even Mam says so. Same name, same face. It’s uncanny.”

  “We got a picture too. Sumi says he has her father’s ears.”

  How flat his voice was, Maggie suddenly noticed, how dead-sounding. She felt her heart thump in her chest. “Have you decided what you’re going to call the baby?” Any minute she was going to do what she did best—babble.

  “If it was up to Sumi, it would have seven names. She can’t seem to make up her mind. But I get to name it if it’s a boy.”

  “Sounds fair to me. What’s your choice?”

  “I haven’t decided.” There was an uncomfortable moment of silence, as if he couldn’t think of anything to say. “How’s Chesney?” he finally managed.

  “She’s in Hong Kong. She left this morning on a flight and won’t be back till the end of the week. She calls Rand ‘Dad’ now. He’s going through a bit of anxiety, because she’s getting engaged to that Navy flier. What’s his name? Brian, that’s it. He has six more months to go in the Navy and then he’s out. He said he’s willing to test-fly Sawyer’s plane if she gets it off the ground. That was what convinced Rand he’s an okay guy. Rand flew the test flight for your grandfather’s plane, you know. He says history is repeating itself, that we’re coming full circle, and I think it’s true.”

  “So you’ve talked to Sawyer.” There was a faint sound of accusation in his voice.

  “A little while ago, as a matter of fact. I try to call twice a week. She was . . . upset. Mostly with herself, but she did say she was disappointed in your response. Cole, she loves you so much.”

  “Sawyer came on real strong. I gave her some numbers off the top of my head. I’m the first to admit they were high. As a matter of fact, I was reworking the numbers when you called. I was going to call her back in the middle of the night and give her a dose of her own medicine.”

  Maggie strained to hear the chuckle that was usually in her son’s voice when he spoke of Sawyer. Not only were they sister and brother, they were friends as well. There was no chuckle. “Cole, is something wrong? I mean really wrong? You’ve always said that what was yours was ours. I remember thinking that was the most wonderful thing I’d ever heard,” she said, then added more firmly, “If you didn’t mean it, you shouldn’t have said it. You know your sister better than anyone.”

  “I know that she’s damn pigheaded. If you don’t do things her way, she takes her marbles and goes home.”

  Maggie took a deep breath. God, what was happening to her family?

  Cole snorted. “Look, Mother, don’t worry, okay? I’ll call Sawyer tomorrow and work it out with her. Give everyone my love, and I’ll call in a few days.”

  “All right, Cole. Give my love to Sumi.”

  Maggie clicked off the portable phone. She felt like crying and didn’t know why. The sun was down now, and the moon was rising. From her position on the beach she could see the ocean’s silvery ripples extending to the horizon. Golden by day, silver by night.

  “You feel it too, don’t you?” Susan said, coming up behind her. She squatted on the sand alongside Maggie and reached for her hand. “I feel,” she said, choosing her words carefully, “as if some unseen force is chipping away at the internal workings of this family. You must fee
l it even more than I do. We all dump on you. That’s why I’m here now. I need to do a little dumping. I’m not going to cry, I’m too numb for that. Besides, I’ve done nothing but cry for months. Just listen, okay?”

  “Oh, Suse, I’m sorry. It’s Jessie, isn’t it?”

  “No. A parent isn’t supposed to bury a child, and I’ll grieve every day of my life for Jessie, but life goes on. Mam made me see that. No, it’s that Ferris wants a divorce. He’s found a young woman, one who likes to bake cookies and pies and give back rubs. She’s a nurse at the hospital. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, Maggie. She goes to church and sings in the choir. She has the most beautiful smile, and she’s . . . God, she’s twenty-two. I went to see her. I didn’t want to believe the man I loved would do that to me. But he’s been doing it for two years. I never knew. My God, Maggie, I never knew. What does that say about me? He said . . . he said I was boring, that I play boring music. He wants excitement in his life. Martina, that’s her name, makes him feel young and alive. I guess that means she’s good in the sack. You know, he’s always encouraged me to go on tour twice a year. Now I know why.” Her voice hardened. “He said I could have the house. Do you believe that? He’s keeping the house in the Virgin Islands. I get the Jeep and he gets the SEL. Is that fair or what? He said there’s no money to divide. No money, Maggie. He cleaned out the accounts months ago.”

  “Nothing!” Maggie gasped.

  “Zip,” Susan said bitterly.

  “What happened to the money Aunt Amelia left you, and the money Mam settled on you?” Maggie’s voice betrayed her shock.

  “Gone. If I’m lucky, I might get seventy thousand for the house. The Jeep is four years old. I have six hundred dollars in my personal checking account and eighty dollars in my purse. I was going to ask you for a loan to tide me over. My God, I don’t even have enough to pay the lawyer.” She began sobbing. “I guess I’m the world’s biggest fool. Jerome did the same thing to me. Can I pick ’em or what?”

  “Hey,” Maggie said soothingly, “I walked down that road myself. The money is no problem, so don’t worry about that. We’ll talk to Rand and see what he says. You need a good lawyer, one of those barracudas. We’ll work it out, Suse. That’s what family is for. Go ahead and cry.” Maggie cradled her sister against her breast, patting her shiny blond hair.

  “He moved out of the house last week,” Susan said vehemently. “He took everything that belonged to him and a lot of the treasures I brought back from my tours. All the jade is gone. The bastard even took the pearls Aunt Amelia gave me for my sixteenth birthday. What did I do wrong, Maggie? Is it because I’m almost fifty years old? Do you think I should get a face-lift, a tummy tuck?”

  “I don’t think any such thing. You’re beautiful just the way you are. Fifty is prime, Suse.”

  Susan choked and sputtered, then blew her nose. “Get off it, Maggie, fifty is over the hill. Ferris said it. I can see the wrinkles, the beginning of jowls. My ass looks like cottage cheese. My knees are wrinkled, my hair is thinning. Don’t tell me I’m beautiful. I’ve never even been close to pretty. I’ve always been plain, and you know it.”

  “You’re hurting, Suse, so don’t be so hard on yourself. I don’t see one thing wrong with getting a face-lift if you do it for the right reasons. And if you want to get your gut sucked out, go to it. But you can’t run to a plastic surgeon for every little wrinkle and ounce of fat. I know it sounds corny, but beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, and you’re a beautiful person inside, Suse.”

  “Thanks, Maggie.” Susan sighed. “I just get to feeling so desperate, and I try to come up with things that will make me feel better. God, Maggie, what am I going to do?”

  “You’re going to stay right here with me. I might even have a temporary solution to your problems. Listen to this. Mam turned over Billie Limited to me as of the first of the year. I don’t mean she gave the business to me, but she asked me to run it for her. Rand thinks it’s a wonderful idea, so I thought I would take a crack at it and head for the Orient next month on a buying trip. We could go together. We both have an eye for color. I’ve been working on the colors in my head for the past few weeks. I want to elaborate on Mam’s popsicle-colored silks. I came up with a firecracker-red that will blow your socks off. Are you interested?” My God, Maggie thought, I’ve just made a verbal decision, a commitment. She felt lightheaded.

  “Yes, I’ll do anything! Oh, Maggie, thank you. Just tell me what to do.”

  “Tomorrow morning we can draft up letters to all of Mam’s clients telling them we’re back in business full-time. You can stay here with us. We have so much room, and Chesney is never here for more than a day and a half at any one time. You’re going to love her, Suse,” Maggie gurgled. “Oh, it’s going to be wonderful! See, in some miraculous way, Mam has taken care of you. It’s uncanny the way she’s always been able to ... what’s the word here . . . you know, step in when the going is tough, when we’re at our lowest ebb. She never gives us the answers, but somehow she sends us off in the right direction and we think we did it ourselves. I’ve never quite figured out how she does it. Let’s call her later and give her the good news, okay?”

  Susan groaned. “Oh, Maggie, I don’t want to upset her.”

  “Trust me, she won’t be upset as long as she knows you’re all right. In fact, she’ll be thrilled. She’s always wanted us to work together.”

  Susan sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I don’t want to go back there,” she muttered.

  “Then don’t. We’ll get a lawyer on the mainland. Hey, let’s get in touch with Valentine Mitchell and let her handle the whole thing: the foundation, the sale of your house, the whole ball of wax. You said Ferris took everything of value, so what’s the point in going back?”

  “My piano,” Susan said weakly.

  “There’s a piano in the music room. Rand has had it tuned every month on the off chance you showed up for a visit.” Maggie’s eyes filled with tears. “Wasn’t that wonderful of him?”

  Susan’s eyes also misted. “Rand has always been so good to me. He’s more brother than anything. You’re so lucky, Maggie, so very lucky.”

  “Am I?” Maggie said quietly. “We do have a good life, I suppose. And now that he’s found his daughter after so many years, he’s . . . I don’t know. It must seem like we have it all, if there is such a thing.”

  Susan wiped away her tears. “You’re worried about something. I see it in your eyes. Let’s take a walk on the beach and you can tell me what’s going on.”

  “I guess I’m not very good at hiding it. I wish I were more like Mam. If I could just have her inner serenity, I’d damn well bottle and sell it. She is the most serene, peaceful, loving person I’ve ever met, and it’s just there, she doesn’t have to work at it the way we do. We’re damn lucky, Suse.”

  It was after nine when the lights in the lanai beckoned the sisters. They ran back like young girls, the sand spewing up behind their pounding heels.

  Over crabmeat and pineapple salad Susan told Rand the reason for her visit. “Maggie said I can stay here until I get myself together. I’d like to take her up on her offer, if it’s okay with you.”

  Rand reached across the table in the lanai to take Susan’s hand. “Stay as long as you like. Our home is your home. Forever, if you like. Everyone who comes here says it’s a magical place. Maybe its magic will rub off on you. I don’t want you to worry about anything. Tomorrow morning I’ll call Valentine Mitchell, and the two of us will take a trip to Minnesota. I guarantee you will not be a pauper when we get back. Now promise me you won’t worry.”

  “I promise.”

  “Good. As for your mother’s business, I think it’s wonderful that both of you will run it. It’s too valuable to let it fall by the wayside. Billie is going to be ecstatic when you tell her.” He leered across the table at his wife. “Just don’t neglect me.”

  “Me! Neglect you!” Maggie said in mock horror. “Never happen!”

  Maggie turne
d to Susan. “Billie Limited has very little capital. Mam dug into it to pay off the lawsuits from the plane crash. The lawyers are in the process of settling the last three cases. The Colemans are tapped out, as usual, although Sawyer’s plane could swing our fortunes around if she can get it off the ground.”

  “I never understood why Mam felt she had to pay on top of the insurance company. The final resolution was pilot error, not equipment malfunction,” Susan said sourly.

  “That’s the way Billie is,” Rand said quietly. “She felt that if money could make up in any way for the families’ losses, then she should give the money. It was a Coleman plane. The family agreed. And it wiped you all out.

  “When Billie said the family would start over, Sawyer took her literally and ran with the ball. I can’t explain it any better than that. I’m behind her. It’s a hell of a plane, and I’ve committed a good chunk of cash to the project. So has Riley, but she still needs a damn fortune. Cole is her only hope. She might pick up some financing, but she doesn’t want investors. She wants this to belong to the Colemans. I think she’s right. What did Cole say, Maggie? You did call him, didn’t you?”

  “He said he was going to rework the numbers. He sounded so ... so unlike himself. I see this blowing into a major storm of some kind. Sawyer sounded different too. This is the first major rift between them. Knowing Sawyer as I do, I know she’s taking this personally. And as yet we haven’t heard from Riley. Maybe we should call him.”

  “I’m sure Sawyer already has,” Susan said quietly. “We all know she doesn’t let any grass grow under those Nikes she wears.”

  “Does this mean we kick back and wait, or do we get involved as a family?” Maggie asked, worry creasing her fine features.

  “I don’t recall anyone asking for family help,” Rand said. “I also don’t recall you calling a family meeting when your mother handed Billie Limited over to you back in January. What makes this different?”