The Mistaken Heiress

by Shelba Shelton Nivens

  Kate held her head a little higher as she followed her mother through the mall.

  A tinkling sound met them as they entered the nine-story glass atrium. A carousel had been set up where the water fountain usually stood. Round-eyed children, some accompanied by adults, rode up and down, round and round on brightly painted pretend animals.

  Kate glanced up at what was billed as the world’s largest skylight. It looked as if it would still be early enough for Steve and her to decorate the tree and go for a drive. She turned to her mother. “What time do you have?”

  Her mother huffed. “Oh, yes, I almost forgot you have something more important to do this evening.”

  “Never mind, Mother. Let’s go listen to the singing at the other end of the mall.”

  Young children in white robes stood on a portable platform, singing her family’s all-time favorite: “‘Away in a manger, no crib for a bed...’”

  Her mother leaned over and whispered, “You sang this in a church pageant when you were four, dressed in a white robe and holding a doll.”

  Kate was sure she saw tears in her eyes as she turned back toward the platform. Was her mother actually thinking of her with such tenderness? Tears came, too, to Kate’s eyes as she watched her listen to the children. I’ll never speak harshly to her again.

  But during their drive home, Kate’s mother continued to harp on Kate’s hair and even suggested she do away with all her “ratty” blue jeans and T-shirts. And drop her horticulture classes. “You can get a degree in business without the dirty work, Kate. And now, with your grandfather gone...”

  “With Grandfather gone...?” Kate stared at her. This was the last straw. “You don’t want me playing in the dirt. So now he’s gone, maybe I won’t? Is that why you won’t talk to me about Grandpa’s place? You don’t want a daughter of yours playing in the dirt?”

  “Don’t blame me, Kate,” her mother said quickly. “I don’t know why your grandfather did what he did, but...”

  “What Grandfather did...? It wasn’t Grandpa who sold his home, Mother.”

  “His home? That dilapidated old house? Why, he hadn’t lived in it for years. It and everything in it was—”

  “Just drop it, Mother. I don’t want to hear it. Besides, you let me know on the way up here that you didn’t want to talk to me about Grandpa’s affairs.”

  Kate sank back in the seat and closed her eyes. It was a great close to a beautiful day. She bit her lip, determined not to cry in front of her mother.

  A short while later, her mother pulled into the driveway at Rob and Ellendor’s house. She killed the engine and turned to Kate. “Just go on with your plans for the evening, Kate,” she snapped. “I see Ellendor and Rob’s car is here. I’ll visit with them awhile and go home.” She stepped from the car and took a bag from the backseat.

  Kate climbed out, gathered her own bags and turned to her mother. “I don’t want us to part like this, Mother. I...”

  Her mother nodded curtly and turned toward the house.

  “Thank you, Mother, for the beautiful clothes.”

  If she heard Kate, she didn’t reply.

  Kate dragged along behind her with arms full of boxes and bags. She didn’t know if she could stand to be with Steve this evening, either. She didn’t think her emotions could withstand the wear and tear of being with him right now.

  After she put the new clothes away, she took a deep breath. She knew she’d keep her word and go over to the old farmhouse. But Steve was turning out to be as unpredictable as her mother. She’d need to keep her wits about her.

  Chapter 12

  “If this is too difficult for you, we won’t do it,” Steve said gently.

  Kate looked up from the old trunk, where she knelt lifting out Christmas ornaments.

  Steve was leaning against the mantel watching her.

  “I have to face it sometime.” Sometime soon she would have to face that cold mound in the graveyard, too. Maybe when the ground thawed...

  She forced a smile. “This couldn’t be any more difficult than that shopping trip today.”

  “Really rough, huh?”

  “No harder than usual, I guess. One minute Mother and I are at each other’s throats and the next...” She paused, recalling the tears in her mother’s eyes as they watched the children sing. “And the next we’re sharing a tender moment.”

  “Like we do?”

  The soft response snatched her attention back to the man standing beside the mantel. “Sort of, I guess.” She stood holding a plastic bag of multicolored lights. “So I guess it must be more my fault than hers, huh?”

  “I’ll call a truce if you will. Deal?”

  She bit her lip as she stared at the hand he extended toward her. When she looked up into his face, the intensity of his gaze took her breath away. She turned away from him. “I’ll think about it.”

  She was still confused over that near-kiss this afternoon. She wasn’t ready for close contact with him again so soon. Not even to shake his hand.

  She felt the heat of his gaze on her back as she fiddled with the string of lights. She turned and held them out to him. “Here, these will have to be untangled. Do you think you can handle that?”

  “If I can’t I’ll call on my strong boss-woman.” He took the lights and grinned at her.

  She grinned back, and the tension was broken.

  * * *

  Steve stretched the electrical cord with the lights attached across the floor and down the small hallway, untangling them as he went. “I’ll plug them in and see if they work.”

  Kate piled ornaments onto the sofa. “If some of them are burned out, I think I saw replacements in the trunk. Most of these ornaments are fine. A few are broken, but there are still plenty for our tree.”

  He grinned. Our tree. But he didn’t comment. He didn’t want to cause her to crawl behind her wall again.

  She seemed fine now. The tense moment when she’d refused to shake hands had passed. At least she hadn’t verbally attacked him again.

  He didn’t know what he was offering, anyway, when he offered to call a truce. Or what he was expecting from her. How could he expect them to spend time together without crossing swords when so much stood between them?

  She smiled and held out a tiny angel doll. “I’ll hold the ladder if you’ll do the honors.” She glanced at the bare treetop.

  He situated the angel at the top of the tree, and then backed down the ladder while Kate held it. When he stepped onto the bottom rung, he stood within the circle of her arms. With a sharp intake of breath, she removed her hands and turned away, her back straight and rigid.

  If he took her in his arms now, she would respond to his embrace. But his better judgment overcame his desire and he turned away.

  He cleared his throat before he spoke. “The lights should probably go on next.”

  “You’re right.” She bent and picked up the end of the light cord.

  They worked for a few minutes without speaking. Then he turned the lights on.

  Kate clapped in delight. “They’re perfect. We don’t need to move any of them around.” She turned to the pile of ornaments on the sofa. “Now let’s hang the ornaments. I picked out one that I want to place first in memory of Grandpa.” She held up a gold-colored ornament in the shape of a star.

  Steve smiled. Maybe they were about to work through some of the barriers.

  When they finished decorating the tree, they hung a Christmas wreath on the front door and placed red candles in crystal holders on the mantel. Around the candleholders, they arranged the branches Steve had trimmed from the bottom of the tree.

  Standing back to admire their handiwork, Kate looked at him and smiled. “I didn’t realize you had such an artist’s eye.”

  He grinned. “Maybe
being around you made it rub off on me.”

  “Maybe.” She gave him a smug look and then wrinkled her nose at him.

  Without realizing he was about to do it, he placed an arm around her shoulders and squeezed them. But he quickly dropped his arm and turned away. “We better get a move on if we’re going to take a drive and grab a bite to eat.”

  * * *

  Kate wiped the mustard from her chin with a paper napkin and smiled across the pickup console at Steve. “Thank you, kind sir. That was great.”

  Steve returned the smile. “You’re welcome, my fair lady. Hot dogs are one of my favorite meals.”

  Kate sat forward on the pickup seat and peered through the windshield, letting her gaze roam the valley below them. “I can’t get over how many lights there are now across the city. I know lots of them are Christmas lights. But they’re spread out almost as far as the eye can see.”

  “Just wait until you see them from the top of Vulcan.”

  “Vulcan? I haven’t been there in years. Since before he was taken down for repairs—about 1999, I think. Do you remember when he used to hold a torch with a light in it? The light was normally green, and then when there was a traffic death in Birmingham, it turned red. They didn’t put it back in his hand after repairing him, though.”

  “But they do still have it,” Steve said. “It’s in the museum there in the statue’s pedestal. Visitors to the museum can touch a button to make it light up. I brought a group of kids up here once who were fascinated with it.”

  “Do you think the museum and the new viewing platform will be open tonight?”

  He grinned. “Every night till ten, the internet said.”

  “Great. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Standing in the parking lot at Vulcan Park, Kate gazed up at the 56-foot iron man standing atop a 124-foot tower. “It never ceases to amaze me how such a big hunk of metal could be moved from location to location as this one was for over thirty years. Then be hoisted above such a high tower here on top of the mountain.”

  “What I think about when I look at him is how much we humans are like him.”

  “How is that?”

  “He stands there atop the mountain like he owns it when, in fact, he came from the very dirt on which he stands.”

  “Oh?”

  “He’s made of red iron ore that was mined from this mountain.”

  “This very mountain we’re standing on? I never realized that.” She looked up at the statue and shook her head. “Amazing.”

  He nodded his head in agreement. “It amazes me, too, that a pagan Roman god is the center of so much attention right in the middle of the Bible Belt.”

  “Vulcan, god of the forge. He’s standing on a mountain of red iron ore, overlooking what was once known as a steel town.”

  “Good explanation.” He grabbed her hand. “Come on. We don’t want to be standing out here in the parking lot when the observation tower closes.”

  She let him lead her toward the entranceway.

  But just before they got too close to the base to see the top, she looked up again and shook her head. “Just a pile of dirt.”

  Kate thought about Steve’s words as they rode up in the glass-enclosed elevator. He stands there atop the mountain like he owns it, when he came from the very dirt on which he stands.

  The words reminded her of a familiar Bible verse: For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. As Steve stood looking through the glass at the lights flashing by them, she quietly considered the verse. So, we came from the dust just as the iron man did. But we can take none of it with us when we leave this world. Grandpa couldn’t take the land he loved with him and it was left for people to squabble over. It was here way before we were, and really doesn’t belong to any of us.

  “Look, Katie, spread out before us.”

  Steve’s voice jarred her from her reverie, drawing her attention to the view outside their glass enclosure as it moved upward. A sea of lights—stars above, city lights below—twinkled beyond the glass. Now, there was the amazing sight.

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened. A girl and boy, who looked to be in their midteens, waited outside the doors, arms entwined.

  Kate glanced at Steve. When he smiled down at her she smiled back, determined to push thoughts of the land fight from her mind for the time being. She would not let anything mar this beautiful night.

  * * *

  Steve stepped out of the elevator onto the glass-enclosed observation deck. When he felt Kate hesitate, he gave her hand a little tug. “Come on. The glass protects us. We can’t fall off.”

  “That’s what I thought when I climbed the tree that day. When you tried to catch me in a wheelbarrow.” She gave him a mock dirty look as she stepped out of the elevator.

  Chuckling, he slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Come this way. I want you to see the view from over here.”

  He led her to a secluded spot overlooking the city’s Southside. He heard a soft “wow” escape Kate’s lips, just before she looked up at him with eyes outshining the stars and the city lights. “It’s like a fairy la—”

  Her words trailed off as her eyes met his. Her lips were too close to ignore. He lowered his face toward hers, and she hesitated only a moment before melting into his embrace.

  Steve’s heart gave a jolt as her lips met his. He pulled her even closer.

  Remember all the questions between you.

  He tore his lips away and released her.

  Kate stepped back, swaying toward the glass. He reached out to grab her arm to keep her from falling, but she steadied herself and turned away from him.

  There I go, disorienting her like I did in the woods this morning. Was she angry with him again? He’d have to be more careful to keep his emotions under control when he was with her. At least until they got this land thing settled.

  “What’s that building over there to the right?” She pointed with a finger against the glass.

  He moved to her side, careful not to touch her, and looked where she pointed.

  * * *

  They stood for a while, peering out over the city, picking out familiar landmarks and recalling what once stood where. Kate remembered driving her grandpa up here to take care of insurance business at the Liberty National building, which had a small replica of the Statue of Liberty mounted atop it.

  “And we shopped at the big Sears store that sat over there on First Avenue. Oh, and the most heavenly smell of freshly baked bread enveloped the area every time you drove through.” Closing her eyes, she sucked in a deep breath of air as though she could still smell the bread.

  She opened her eyes. “It came from a factory where they made bread. Merita Bread, I think.”

  “I remember it. We used to come to Birmingham quite often.”

  They pointed out a few more landmarks and commented on them before Steve checked his watch. “Ready to go back down? We need a little time to look at things in the museum before it closes for the night.”

  There were few other visitors in the museum at this late hour. So they moved quickly about, viewing the exhibits and reading the history of Vulcan.

  Steve stopped at the torch Vulcan had once held in his hand. “Do you want to push the button and see it light up?”

  “Sure.” They watched the light turn green, then red, the way it once did when there was a traffic fatality in the city. Kate thought of the time she drove Grandpa into Birmingham to see a doctor and they were held up by a gruesome accident where two teenagers were killed. The light was red as they drove back out of town. She shuddered and moved on.

  As they stepped from the building, she glanced at Steve in the glow of the lights illuminating the statue. “That was fun.”

  His warm fingers wrapped around hers as they
walked toward his pickup. He smiled at her and she was reminded of his kiss on the observation platform.

  Why had she moved away from him so quickly afterward? Sure, the kiss had done something strange to her insides, something that made her dizzy. Sure, she’d almost toppled through the window to the ground 120 feet below. But she could have grabbed him for support.

  Taking care of her grandfather, she’d had little time for romance in high school—even if a boy had been interested in her. She recalled being kissed only three times before tonight. Once, when the teacher left the room during eighth-grade social studies class, Jimmy Cole and Jerry Brooks went around the room taking turns holding all the girls for each of them to kiss. Some of the girls giggled and kissed the boys back. Others, like Kate, tried to fight them off and were too embarrassed to report what happened.

  As she grew older, Kate wasn’t averse to being kissed, but the right opportunity had just never presented itself until she was a sophomore at the university. Melvin Pickwell had walked her to the dorm after an evening business class and asked if he could kiss her good-night. She consented out of curiosity and wondered afterward, So what’s all the fuss about a kiss?

  And now she knew. A delicious shiver ran through her.

  “Cold?” He dropped her hand and placed an arm around her shoulders.

  “Only a little.” She felt plenty warm just remembering his kiss. But if she told him she wasn’t cold, he might take his arm away.

  After he opened the truck door for her, he pulled a blanket from the second seat and tucked it around her. “You should be toasty warm in no time. The pickup has a good heater.”

  Kate smiled as she snuggled under the blanket. She wouldn’t worry tonight about how she felt about Steve. Or how he felt about her. She’d just enjoy this magic night and their ride home together.