by Janet Dailey
Fifteen minutes later she emerged cool and composed in a yellow-flowered cotton sun dress. Tadd's face and hands had been scrubbed and inspected by Clara, his shirt and pants changed to a clean set. Valerie couldn't help thinking that the three of them probably looked like the ideal American family, leaving on a day's outing to a tobacco auction in Lothian, Maryland. It hurt to know that they would never be a family in the legal sense, but Tadd's steady stream of chatter didn't give Valerie any time to dwell on that.
The sights, sounds and smells of the tobacco auction proved to be as fascinating to Valerie as they were to Tadd. Various grades of Maryland tobacco were sold off in lots. The rhythmic cadence of the auctioneer's voice rang through the area, the slurring words punctuated by a clear "Sold!" at the end. The summer air was aromatically pungent with the smell of slacks of drying tobacco leaves. Colors varied from dark gold to brown.
They wandered around the auction area and strolled through the warehouse. Tadd saw most of the scene from Judd's shoulders. They had a cold drink beneath a shade tree.
Later, Judd drove to a park and they picnicked from a basket his mother had packed. Through it all, Judd was at his charming best and Valerie found herself succumbing to his spell as if she didn't have better sense.
She took his hand, accepted the arm that occasionally encircled her shoulders, smiled into the green eyes that glinted at her, and warmed under the feather kisses Judd would bestow on the inside of her wrist or her hair. In spite of her better judgment, she relaxed and enjoyed his company, flirting with him and feeling carelessly happy all the while.
As they lingered at the picnic area, Judd peeled an orange and began feeding her sections while Tadd played on the swings. Each time a bead of juice formed on her lips he kissed it away until Tadd demanded his share of the attention by handing Judd an orange to peel for him.
When they started back in the early afternoon, Valerie was too content to care that it would soon be over. She closed her eyes and listened to the mostly one-sided conversation between Tadd and Judd. A faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth from Tadd's domination.
The miles sped away beneath the swiftly turning tires. Valerie guessed that they were almost home, but she didn't want to open her eyes to see how close they were. A large male hand took hold of one of hers. Her lashes slowly lifted to watch Judd carry it to his mouth, kissing the sensitive palm. His gaze left the road in front of him long enough to send one lazy, sweeping glance at her.
"Did you enjoy yourself today?" he asked softly.
"Yes, very much," she admitted.
Tadd, who couldn't be silent for long, cried, "Look at all the horses, mommy!"
Dragging her gaze from Judd's compelling profile, she glanced out of the window. The familiar black fences of Meadow Farms were on either side of the car. She sat up straighter, realizing Judd had turned off the road that would have taken them to her grandfather's farm.
"Where are we going?" she asked. There was only one destination possible at the end of this lane: the headquarters of Meadow Farms.
"Are we going to see the horses?" Tadd asked, leaning over the seat.
"There's someone who wants to see you," Judd answered, glancing in Tadd's direction.
"See me?" His voice almost squeaked in disbelief. "Who?"
"Who?" Valerie echoed the demand, a quiver of uncertainty racing through her.
"Mickey Flanners," Judd answered. "When I mentioned I'd be seeing you today, he asked me to bring you over if we had time."
"I haven't seen Mickey in a long time," Tadd declared in a tone that exaggerated the time span.
"That's what he said," Judd slowed the car as the lane split ahead of them.
In one direction were the stables and barns of the thoroughbred breeding farm; in the other direction was the main house in which the Prescotts lived. Judd made the turn in the latter direction. Valerie, who had relaxed upon learning it was Mickey Flanners they were going to see, felt her nerves stretching tense.
The lane curled into a circular driveway in front of a large pillared house, glistening white in the bright afternoon sunlight. To Valerie, it appeared the embodiment of gracious living, a sharp contrast to the simple farmhouse in which she was raised.
"Is this where Mickey lives?" Tadd asked in an awed voice.
"No, this is where I live," Judd explained, stopping the car in front of the main entrance to the house. He glanced at Valerie and saw the hesitation in her gold-flecked eyes. "I'll be on my mother's black list if I don't stop at the house first so she can say hello to you and Tadd."
"Judd, really…" Valerie started to protest, but it was too late.
The front door of the house had opened and Judd's mother was coming out to greet them, petite and striking with those angel wings of silver in her dark hair. The white pleated skirt and the blue and white polka-dot top with a matching short-sleeved jacket in blue that Maureen Prescott wore was so casually elegant that Valerie felt self-conscious about her becoming but simple cotton sun dress.
"Here's mother now." Judd opened his door and stepped out.
It wasn't manners that kept Valerie inside the car, The magnificent house, the beautifully landscaped grounds, the status attached to the Prescott name, and the woman waiting on the portico warned her that she was out of her league.
Her door was opened and Judd stood waiting, a hand extended to help her out of the car. She turned her troubled and uncertain gaze to him. He seemed to study it with a trace of amusement that didn't make her feel any more comfortable.
"What happened to my tigress?" he chided softly. "You look like a shy little kitten. Come on." He reached in and took her hand to draw her out of the car.
Once she was standing beside him, Judd retained his hold of her hand. Valerie absorbed strength from his touch, but the twinges of unease didn't completely go away. It seemed a very long way from the car up the walk to the steps leading to the columned portico. To cover her nervousness, Valerie held herself more stiffly erect, her chin lifted a fraction of an inch higher than normal, her almond gold eyes wide and proud.
Tadd didn't appear to suffer from any of Valerie's pangs of self-consciousness. He skipped and hopped, turned and looked, and generally let his curious eyes take in everything there was to see. He exhibited no shyness at all when the unknown woman walked forward to meet them.
"Hello, Valerie. I'm so glad you were able to stop in," Judd's mother greeted her warmly, a smile of welcome curving her mouth.
"Thank you, Mrs. Prescott," Valerie answered, and suddenly wished that Judd would let go of her hand, but he didn't.
"Please, call me Maureen," the other woman insisted with such friendliness that Valerie was reminded her reputation as hostess was without equal.
This open acceptance of her only made Valerie more uneasy. "That's very kind of you…Maureen." She faltered stiffly over the name.
Maureen Prescott either didn't notice or overlooked Valerie's stilted tones as she turned to Tadd, bending slightly at the waist. "And you must be Tadd."
After an admitting bob of his head, he asked, "How did you know me?"
The woman's smile widened. "I've heard a lot about you."
"Who are you?" Tadd wanted to know.
"I'm…Judd's mother."
Did Valerie imagine it or had there been a pulse beat of hesitation before Maureen Prescott had explained her relationship? Then Valerie realized she was being ridiculously oversensitive to the situation.
"Say hello to Mrs. Prescott, Tadd," Valerie prompted her son.
Dutifully he extended a hand to the woman facing him and recited politely, "Hello, Mrs. Prescott."
"Mrs. Prescott is quite a mouthful, isn't it?" The teasing smile on Maureen's lips was warm with understanding. "Why don't you call me Reeny, Tadd?" she suggested.
"Reeny is what my nieces and nephews call her," Judd explained quietly to Valerie. "When they were little, they couldn't pronounce her given name so they shortened it."
Valeri
e was uncomfortably aware that Tadd had been given permission to use the same name that the other grandchildren called their grandmother. She felt the creeping warmth of embarrassment in her cheeks. Did Maureen Prescott know Tadd was her grandchild? Had Judd told her?
Almost in panic, she searched the woman's face for any indication of hidden knowledge. But the turquoise eyes were clear without a trace of cognition. A tremor of relief quaked through Valerie. She wasn't sure she could have handled the situation if this genteel woman had known the truth.
"Reeny is nice," Tadd agreed to the name.
"I'm glad you like it, Tadd." Maureen Prescott straightened and cast an apologetic smile at Judd. "Frank Andrews called and left a message for you to phone him the instant you came back." With a glance at Valerie, she added, "It seems every time a person tries to set aside a day strictly for pleasure, something urgent like this crops up."
Valerie's head moved in a rigid nod of understanding before a slight movement from Judd drew her attention. A grim resignation had thinned his mouth and added a glitter of impatience in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Valerie," he said in apology for the intrusion of business. "But it'll only take a few minutes to phone him."
"That's all right. Go ahead," she insisted, and untangled her fingers from the grip of his to clasp her hands nervously in front of her.
"While Judd is making his phone call, you and Tadd can come with me. After that long drive, I'm sure you're thirsty and I have a big pitcher of lemonade all made, as well as some cookies," Judd's mother invited.
"No, thank you, Mrs. Prescott…Maureen," Valerie refused quickly, and reached for Tadd's hand. "It's very kind of you, but Tadd and I will walk down to the stables and find Mickey."
"You'll do no such thing, Valerie." Judd's low voice rumbled through the air with ominous softness. Her sideways glance saw the hardened jaw and angry fire in his eyes. His look held a silent warning not to persist in her refusal of the invitation. "I'll be through in a few minutes to take you myself. In the meantime, I'm sure Tadd—" his gaze flicked to the boy "—would like to have some cookies and lemonade. Wouldn't you, Tadd?"
"Yes." The response was quick and without hesitation, followed by an uncertain glance at Valerie. "Please," Tadd added.
"Very well," Valerie agreed, smiling stiffly, and added a defensive, "If you are sure we aren't putting you to any trouble?"
"None at all," Judd's mother assured her, and turned to walk toward the front door.
Judd's fingers dug into the flesh of Valerie's arm in a punishing grip as he escorted her up the steps to the portico. At the wide double entrance to the house, he let her go to open the door for his mother, then waited for her and Tadd to precede him inside.
"Excuse me." Almost immediately upon entering, Judd took his leave from them. "I won't be long." His look warned Valerie that he expected to find her in the house when he was finished.
"We'll be on the veranda, Judd," his mother told him.
Valerie watched him walk away, skittishly becoming conscious of the expansive foyer dominated by a grand staircase rising to the second floor. The foyer was actually an enormously wide hallway splitting the house down the center with rooms branching off from it.
Furniture gleamed with the rich-grained luster of hardwood, adorned on top with vases of flowers and art objects. Valerie took a tighter grip on Tadd's hand, knowing she couldn't afford to replace anything he might accidentally break. It was a stunning, artfully decorated home, elegance and beauty blended to comfort, like something out of the pages of a magazine.
"We'll go this way." Maureen Prescott started forward to lead the way, the clicking sound of her heels on the white-tiled floor echoing through the massive house.
"You have a lovely home." Valerie felt obliged to make some comment; but her tone made the compliment sound uncertain.
"It's a bit intimidating, isn't it?" the woman laughed in gentle understanding. "I remember the first time Blane, Judd's father, brought me here to meet his parents. It was shortly after we'd become engaged, and the place terrified me. It was much more formal then. When Blane told me that we would live here after we were married, I wanted to break the engagement, but fortunately he talked me out of that."
Maureen Prescott's instinctive knowledge of Valerie's reaction allowed her to relax a little. It was comforting to know that someone else had been awed by this impressive home.
"The house is at its best when it's filled with people, especially children," Maureen continued in an affectionate voice. "It seems to come to life then. When my five were growing up, the house never seemed big enough—which sounds hard to believe, doesn't it?"
"A little," Valerie admitted.
"They seemed to fill every corner of it with their projects and pets and friends. That reminds me—" she glanced down at the brown-haired boy trotting along beside Valerie "—there's something outside that I want to show you."
"What is it?" Tadd asked, his olive brown eyes rounding.
"You'll see," Maureen promised mysteriously, and paused to open a set of French doors onto the veranda. As she stepped outside, she called, "Here, Sable!"
A female German shepherd with a coat as black and sleek as its name came loping across the yard, panting a happy grin, tail wagging. Ten roly-poly miniatures tumbled over themselves in an effort to match their mother's gait.
"Puppies!" Tadd squealed in delight and followed Maureen Prescott to the edge of the veranda. The female shepherd washed his face with a single lick before greeting her mistress. Tadd's interest was in the ten little puppies bringing up the rear. "Can I play with them?"
"Of course you may." The instant she gave permission he was racing out to meet the pups. When he knelt on the ground, he was immediately under siege. Valerie joined in with the older woman's laughter as Tadd began giggling in his attempts to elude ten licking tongues. "Puppies and children are made for each other," Maureen declared in a voice breathless from laughter. "Come on, let's sit down and have that drink I promised you. I don't believe Tadd will be interested in lemonade and cookies for a while."
"I'm sure he's forgotten all about it," Valerie agreed, and followed the woman to a white grillwork table with a glass top.
A pitcher of lemonade sat in the center, condensation beading moisture on the outside. Four glasses filled with ice surrounded it as well as a plate of chocolate drop cookies with frosting on the top. Valerie sat down in one of the white iron-lace chairs around the table, plump cushions of green softening the hard seats.
"Tadd is really enjoying himself. The apartment where we live in Cincinnati doesn't permit pets, so this is really a treat for him," Valerie explained, taking the glass of lemonade she was handed and thanking her.
"Misty, my second daughter, lives in a complex that doesn't allow animals, either, and her children are at an age when they want to bring home every stray cat and dog they find. She and her husband have had a time keeping them from sneaking one in. I think their love of animals is part of the reason they come home to Meadow Farms so often. There's Sable and her puppies, the horses, and eats at the barns. But I don't mind what their reason is," Maureen insisted. "I just enjoy having them come. Although it's quite a houseful when they're all here at once."
"Are all your children married?" Valerie asked politely.
"Yes, with the exception of Judd, of course," Maureen answered with a smiling sigh. "There have been times when I've wondered if my firstborn was ever going to get married, but I've never said anything to him."
"I'm sure there are any number of women who would like to be the one to put an end to your wondering." Valerie was careful not to make it sound as if she was one of them.
"That's the problem—there've been too many women," Maureen Prescott observed with a trace of sad resignation. "The Prescott name, the wealth and his own singular attractiveness—Judd has been the object of many a woman's matrimonial eye. I'm afraid it's made him feel very cynical about the opposite sex."
"I can imagine
," Valerie agreed and sipped at the tart, cold liquid in her glass.
"Yes, I've often teased him that I don't know if he's more particular about matching the bloodlines of his thoroughbreds or finding a compatible bloodline for a wife. He always answers that if he ever finds a woman with breeding, spirit and staying power, he'll marry her. Of course, we're only joking," his mother qualified her statement with a dismissing laugh.
Perhaps she had been teasing, but Valerie wouldn't be surprised to discover that Judd wasn't. She knew how cold-blooded he could be about some things…and so hot-blooded about others.
Maureen's comment made her wonder whether Judd's mother was subtly trying to warn her that she wasn't good enough for her son. Not that it was needed. Valerie had long been aware of Judd's low opinion of her, an opinion she sometimes forgot, as she had earlier that day. That feeling of unease and a panic to get away came over her again. She had to change the subject away from the discussion of Judd.
Her glance swung over the lawn, including a glimpse of a swimming pool behind some concealing shrubbery. "You must enjoy living here, Mrs. Prescott. It's peaceful, yet with all the conveniences."
"Yes, I love it here," Maureen agreed. "But you must call me Maureen. I learned that there were two requirements to enjoy living here the first year I was married. You have to like country life and you have to love horses. Fortunately I managed to fulfill both. The only objection I have is at weaning time when the mares and foals are separated. It tears at my heart to hear them calling back and forth from the pastures to each other. I usually arrange to visit my youngest son, Randall, and his family in Baltimore then. Judd insists that it's silly and impractical to be upset by it, but then he isn't a mother."
The veranda door behind Valerie opened. She glanced over her shoulder, her heart skipping madly against her ribs as Judd's gaze slid warmly over her. Damn, but she couldn't stop loving him, even when she had admitted to herself only a moment ago that it was no good.
Smiling crookedly, lie walked to the table. "I told you I wouldn't be long." He glanced to the lawn where Tadd was still playing with the puppies, the black shepherd lying in the grass and looking on. "Tadd is enjoying himself. What have you two been doing?"
