“You ought to meet the new associate,” her mother added. “He’s about your age, good looking—and not married.”
“I’ll have to do that, Mom.” Katherine laughed. She looked at Mary and Tommy. “How about the two of you? Mom and Dad call me every week. You two might be dead, though, for all I hear from you.”
“Well, school starts on Wednesday, so I’ll be heading back to Charlottesville this week.” Mary turned to her mother. “If Katherine doesn’t want to meet Dad’s new associate, you can introduce him to me.”
Everyone laughed.
“What? I’d like to meet a young, handsome, unmarried attorney. I’ll be around a lot more than Katherine will be, too. Charlottesville is a lot closer than New York.”
“I’m sure that you will meet him, Mary,” her mother said, “but we’re hoping that Katherine will move back to Hamilton before too long and—”
“Mother, we agreed not to argue this weekend.”
“I know, I know. I was just saying—”
“Let’s stop now,” Katherine said firmly. “Please.”
No one spoke for several seconds.
“Football season is starting,” Tommy said. “I’m a senior this year, and I’m starting at right tackle. There was a scout from UVA at practice this week. He wants me to go over for a visit.”
“Good for you,” Katherine exclaimed. “I hope I can get back to see at least one game this fall. Tell me, are you still dating Rebecca Talbot?”
“Yes.” Tommy blushed.
“They’re inseparable,” Mary said. “And it’s driving Mom crazy.”
“That’s not true.”
Mary ignored her mother. “But let’s talk about you, TV star. Tell us about New York.”
Mary laughed as Katherine’s mouth dropped open.
“What do you mean, ‘TV star’?”
“You know what I mean. We all saw you this morning, hugging that good-looking guy. You were so into him, you didn’t even hear the host ask your name. Everyone in town saw you.”
“That’s true,” her mother added. “I know at least six people stopped me this morning to tell me about it.”
Her father laughed. “Everyone at work too, Katherine.”
“I ran into Bill Wilson in town this morning,” Mary said. “Mrs. Howard said something to him about it, and gosh, you should have seen his face. Looked like a thundercloud.”
“Why would he care?”
“Well, he tells everyone you’re going to marry him. I guess he doesn’t like hearing about you with another guy.”
“I’m going to marry Bill Wilson? I’ve seen him three times in the last two years. He’d better watch himself.” Katherine’s voice rose.
She was going to say more about Bill, but Mary interrupted. “So tell us. Who is he? Who’s the guy?”
“Not much to tell. He’s an old friend.” Katherine wasn’t ready to talk about Steven. She had not decided how to tell her family about him and she wanted some time to consider her strategy. But clearly, she wouldn’t get that. It was her mother’s turn now.
“What’s his name,” her mother asked. “He’s not from Hamilton, I’m sure. A friend from college?”
“I met him in England, you know, the summer before college. There were a lot of kids bumming around that summer. Steven, his name is Steven, was one of them. We traveled together in Scotland.”
“You kept up with him all of this time? I don’t recall your ever talking about him.”
“Um, no, we haven’t kept up. We reconnected not long ago.” Katherine took a sip of tea. “You didn’t receive a letter from him, looking for me? He said he wrote.”
Her mother’s face turned red and she looked away. “I never did want you to take that trip. It wasn’t decent! A young girl running around with all sorts of people.” She held up her hand to stop Katherine’s protest. “Not that I think you misbehaved, darling! You never gave me any cause to worry about that. I was just concerned about your safety.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Katherine decided not to pursue the fate of Steven’s letters. “I really enjoyed that summer.”
“You can thank your father. He thought it would be good for you to try being on your own, managing your money and all. You did well, I will say. I expected a frantic call after the first month, asking for more.”
They ate in silence for a few seconds until Mary shouted. “Twenty after the hour!”
“What?”
“It’s twenty after seven. Conversation always stops at twenty after the hour. Everyone knows that. It’s a true fact.”
“A true fact? Is there any other kind?” Katherine teased.
Mary laughed. “You know what I mean.”
“Mom, dinner is certainly delicious.” Katherine did not want the conversation to return to Steven just yet.
“Well, Clara outdid herself, for sure. She said that it had to be special for her Katie.” Her mother chuckled. “You’ve gone by Katherine since you could say your own name, but Clara still insists on calling you Katie. She’s the only one who calls you that now, isn’t she?”
“That guy she was with on TV, he called her Katie,” Mary jumped in.
Katherine chose to ignore both comments and tried to divert the conversation away from Steven again. “Now, Mom, Clara didn’t do everything—you know that you did a lot of the work, too.”
“Yes, but Clara had everything started before she went home this afternoon.”
“I hope I can have a cook when I finish school,” Mary said.
Katherine’s mother began to collect the dishes. “Let’s have dessert on the patio,” she said.
***
The covered patio stretched across the rear of the house and they gathered around the wrought iron table that stood in the center. Katherine’s mother brought out a chocolate layer cake with twenty-eight candles.
“We thought we would celebrate your birthday tonight, since you weren’t home last weekend. Blow them out!”
“Don’t let Mary help,” Tommy exclaimed as both Mary and Katherine took deep breaths.
Katherine blew, holding up her hand to deflect anything that Mary might add. Everyone clapped as the candles went dark.
“That gets harder to do every year.” Katherine laughed.
Mary pouted. “Why didn’t you let me help you?”
“If you don’t blow them out yourself then your wish won’t come true.”
“What was your wish?”
“If you tell your wish, it won’t come true. Don’t you know any of the rules?”
Mary laughed. “Fine. So what did you do on your birthday?”
“I actually worked most of the day.”
“On Saturday?” Her mother frowned. “On your birthday?”
“Becky and Sara were both out of town, so we celebrated on Thursday. One of the other doctors, Kelly Fisher, you met her in June, her little girl had a party to go to and so we traded shifts. I had dinner out, though.”
“Not all by yourself?”
“No, I had dinner with an old friend.” Katherine looked away.
“Steven?” Mary almost shouted.
Katherine laughed. “Yes, with Steven. I told you that we had not seen each other in years. Well, he found my address early last week. He sent flowers and asked me out.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet!” Mary said.
“Enough about me. What’s going on in Hamilton?”
No one spoke for a moment.
“A couple of guys went deep sea fishing last weekend,” Tommy said. “I hear they caught enough fish to feed an army.”
“Really?” Katherine asked. “So many? Must have been some trip.”
“Really,” her father replied. “Bill Wilson is going to fry his catch at the picnic tomorrow. I hear that it will take him a couple of hours to cook it all. I don’t know how he plans to keep the cooked fish warm.”
Tommy laughed. “In this weather he could just set it out and it would stay warm!”
Everyone laughed.
“Wait.” Katherine’s head snapped up and her fork rattled as she put it on her plate. “Bill went fishing last weekend?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, let me tell you, he wrote me about two weeks ago. Out of the clear blue. I had not talked with him, heard from him, since last Christmas. Said he would be in New York. Wanted to see me, take me to dinner on Saturday.” She shook her head. “Never heard another word from him. Does that sound like a man I’m going to marry? Like someone who wants to marry me? Bill Wilson is full of manure. Tell him I said so the next time he discusses his marriage plans.”
Everyone was quiet.
“Mrs. Johnson’s roses are still blooming,” Mary said and everyone burst out laughing again. “Such an exciting town we live in.”
“That’s how I like it,” Katherine’s mother said, still chuckling. “Nice and quiet. No shootings, no one mugged, no purses snatched. All the police officers do is write up parking tickets. A good place to live and raise a family.”
***
Dinner over, Katherine rinsed the dishes, while Mary loaded them into the dishwasher. Katherine turned around when she heard the clang of the iron frying pan bumping against a large dutch oven.
“Mom, I’ll get those. You rest.”
Ignoring her protest, her mother carried the pans across the kitchen. “I can at least collect them for you.” She placed the load in the sink.
“Katherine,” she asked, “how well do you know this Steven?” She stared down at the pots. “What’s his last name?”
“Richardson. Steven Richardson. We met in England. I hadn’t heard from him in ten years. What else do you want to know?”
“She wants to know where he’s from, where he goes to church, what his daddy does, and who his mama’s people are.” Mary laughed. “The things every girl should know about any man she dates. Don’t you know the rules?”
Katherine smiled. “He’s from Atlanta, he’s an Episcopalian, his father passed away a few years ago, and I don’t know his mother’s family. I’ve never met his mother.”
“I just worry about you, sweetie,” her mother said.
“What about Steven worries you? You don’t know him.”
Her mother sighed. “Maybe that’s what worries me. I don’t want you to do anything foolish.”
“Like what?”
“She doesn’t want you to fall in love, run off, and get married,” Mary said. A dreamy look crossed her face. “It would be so romantic though.”
“You sound like my roommate, Sara.”
“Mom wants you to marry some guy from Hamilton—like Bill—and move home. She’s afraid that Steven will keep you from doing that.”
“Mother?” Katherine’s voice rose.
“Well, wasn’t there an understanding? Bill tells me…”
“Not on my part.” Katherine slapped the dishtowel on the counter. “I haven’t dated him since high school, and you remember what happened then. There’s no way that I’m in love with Bill Wilson!”
“Katherine, Mary, you need to understand something,” her mother said. “There is more to marriage than falling in love and living happily ever after.” She held up her hand. “Don’t start! Yes, I love your father. Since the day we met. But not everyone is so lucky.”
She was quiet as she dried a serving bowl.
“You have to use your head as well as your heart. Is he a good person? Will he take care of you? Will he give you the kind of life you want?”
“What do you mean?”
“Would I be happy in a tract house outside Richmond, serving dinner on paper plates? Working sixty hours a week to help us live? I would still love your father—but do you think I would be happy? That’s what I mean. Before you pick up and marry someone, you need to think about what your life will be like after the wedding.”
“And you think Bill is good person?” Katherine couldn’t imagine that her mother could think such a thing. “You think he will give me the kind of life I want?”
“Katherine, I’m not a big fan of Bill’s, but he is a known entity. I just worry that you’ll take off with someone who you don’t really know.”
“Because I never think things through?” She put her towel on the counter and crossed her arms.
“That’s not what I mean. I would never accuse you of that. Not you, of all people. It’s just that people get lonely. They meet someone who is exciting, and then they rush into things. Senior panic, you know?”
The three women worked in silence. Mary started the washer. Katherine washed the pots and put them out to dry.
As they finished, Katherine turned to her mother. “Dinner was delicious, Mom. Thank you.”
“Yes, Mom,” Mary said. “It was so good.”
“I’m glad.” She hugged them both.
“It’s always nice to have the entire family here. It happens so seldom, anymore.”
“Mom, please don’t start,” Katherine begged. “We are both adults.”
Her mother sighed. “I know that you are both adults. Tommy almost is too. You have your own lives. But I still enjoy having all of you at home.” She glanced at Katherine’s neck. “That’s a beautiful necklace. My grandmother had one that looked so very similar. I think she inherited it. Did you find it in New York?”
“It was a gift. A birthday present.” Katherine glanced at Mary. “Yes, it was from Steven.”
The Picnic
Katherine’s family arrived at the James River Club shortly after noon. The Labor Day Picnic was a big event, and it looked to Katherine as if three hundred people or more had already arrived.
Her father and Tommy had come early to commandeer the Hamilton Pavilion, one of the large shelters that dotted the grounds. Folks from Hamilton, many of them related to Katherine in some way, would gather there to eat and talk. The pavilion was already crowded and people had begun to pull tables across the grounds to get close.
Beside the pavilion, Katherine could see large coolers holding fish to fry. Bill Wilson was, in fact, providing the fish. Katherine’s father had provided the slaw, while others had brought corn, potato salad, baked beans, and dessert.
“People will certainly be looking for you today,” Mary told Katherine as they walked across the parking lot. “Not just because you were on TV. Bill Wilson told me he wants to see you and there are some other guys, too.”
“Who?” Katherine frowned. “I haven’t heard from any guy from Hamilton, except Bill, in ages.”
“There is Alex Raleigh, for one, and John Bennet and Jim Tolkin. They’re all about your age…and they’re not married.”
“Just terrific.”
Mary laughed. “They’ll be buzzing around like a swarm of bees, I expect. Here comes Jim now.”
“Katherine! How are you? I haven’t seen you in ages!”
Jim lived in Hamilton and worked with his father’s construction company. He and Katherine had dated during their junior year in high school.
“It has been awhile, Jim. You’re looking good.”
“Well, thanks. Clean living, I guess. You haven’t changed a bit since high school.”
“I never knew you to flatter a girl, Jim Tolkin. Thank you, though.”
They stood in awkward silence. Neither seemed sure of what to say next.
Some other Hamilton residents drifted over. John Bennet and his sister, Sis. Rob Williams and his wife, Liza. Then Bill walked up, having completed the set-up of his deep fryer.
“When did you get home, Katherine?” John asked.
“Yesterday. Yesterday afternoon.”
“Big time in Richmond last night?”
“No,” Katherine shook her head. “We had a family dinner, celebrated my birthday.”
“Which one was it?” Jim asked.
“That’s not nice.” Sis Bennet popped him on the shoulder. “You don’t ask a lady’s age.”
Katherine laughed. “Besides, I’m the same age as you are. You know that.”
“Oh, that�
�s right.” Jim shook his head.
“What’s it like, living in New York?” Liza asked.
“It’s not really that much different from living anywhere else. I mean, I work forty hours a week. At least I’m scheduled forty hours a week. A doctor can’t leave when the clock strikes three. I can’t walk away if I’m suturing a knife wound or—”
“A knife wound?”
“She works in a hospital emergency room,” Bill interrupted. “Charity patients. Sort of like mission work, right?”
“All sorts of people come into an ER, Bill.” Katherine turned back to Liza. “Anyway, I work. I eat. I sleep. I shop for groceries. Just like I would do if I lived in Hamilton. I run three or four times a week, play tennis. There are lots of people, though!”
“Where do you run? At a gym?”
“In the park, sometimes along the street.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Only if you don’t watch for cars!”
“Where do you live?” Jim asked.
“In a converted brownstone on the Upper West Side near Columbia University—”
“It’s a row house that’s been cut up into apartments,” Bill interrupted again.
“Have you ever seen my apartment, Bill?” When he didn’t respond, Katherine continued. “It was a three-story house. Each floor has been turned into an apartment with at least one bedroom, a bath, kitchen, and living area. Ours is larger, three bedrooms.”
“Aren’t apartments expensive?”
“You wouldn’t believe it! There are three of us in our apartment. Even with three bedrooms, it’s tiny. It takes all of us to pay the rent.”
“Do you have a car?” Sis asked.
“I don’t have one, but my roommate, Sara, does. She doesn’t use it, except on weekends. Mostly we walk and ride the subway.”
“Aren’t the subways dangerous?”
“Well, you do have to be careful, but I’ve never had a problem.”
“Are the restaurants good?” Rob was always interested in food.
“Fabulous! And Little Italy, China Town…oh, my gosh!”
“Chink food!” Bill snorted.
One guy snickered. Katherine rolled her eyes.
The Handfasting Page 6
