High Meadow

by Joan Wolf

  "I agree that it would not be a good idea to bring him to Bogota, but he would be safe on the ranch."

  "I would be a nervous wreck the whole time."

  He sighed. "I suppose I cannot blame you. My poor country, what a tragedy she has become. And it is all because of the drugs."

  He sounded so deeply sorrowful that Kate did not know what to answer. She finally said, "Come up to the house and have some breakfast."

  He shook his head, as if awakening from a reverie, and accepted with his usual courtesy.

  That evening the Foley and Montero families gathered around the TV set in Molly's living room to watch the third game of the World Series. Molly was surprised by how conscious she was of Alberto. It wasn't a sexual thing, or at least she didn't think it was. It was more a hyperawareness of his presence and his movements.

  What did he mean by asking me out to the movies? Is it a date?

  It had been ten years since Molly's husband had died, and she hadn't been out with a man since. She had thought that all that sort of thing was finished for her. Her sole responsibility now was to her daughter and her grandson. Nor had she ever met a man who interested her enough for her even to think about going out with him.

  Alberto Carrillo interested her. She scarcely knew him, yet when they spoke she had a feeling that on some deep, unspoken level, they understood each other. She thought he was a man of deep sensitivity, and that appealed to her.

  Molly's marriage had been a marriage of opposites. What had been between Tim Foley and her had been passion, not like-mindedness. The passion had been powerful enough to keep her in a marriage that in some ways had been frustrating. She loved poetry; Tim loved horses. She was quiet and deep feeling; Tim was fiery and outspoken. Yet they had had a successful marriage, and she had been devastated when he died.

  Now she found herself interested in Alberto, who was everything that Tim had not been. Alberto, she thought, was more like her.

  The game did not go well for the Yankees from the start. Their pitcher gave up five runs in the first three innings, and the Yankee hitters had a hard time getting the ball out of the infield. The game ended much as it had begun, with the score five to nothing in favor of Atlanta.

  "Daddy should have been pitching," Ben said for perhaps the twentieth time. "He wouldn't have given up a single run."

  "Unfortunately, he cannot pitch every game, nino," Rafael said.

  Alberto turned to Molly, and said softly, "One good thing about the loss is that I will not have to trek off to Atlanta tomorrow. We can still go to the movies."

  Molly smiled.

  Kate said disgustedly, "They are the sorriest-hitting bunch of ballplayers I have ever seen."

  "The other pitcher threw a superlative game," Rafael said objectively. "It is not that the Yankee hitters are so bad, but that the Atlanta pitcher was so good."

  Molly thought with a flash of something like panic, How on earth am I going to tell Kate that I'm going to the movies with Alberto? What will she think?

  Rafael said firmly, "We should be going, Victoria. Ben needs to go to bed, and Kate has to get up very early in the morning."

  "Very well." Victoria turned to Ben, who had been sitting beside her on the sofa, and gave him a kiss and a hug. "Now remember, you are all coming down to Daniel's house tomorrow afternoon to watch the game with us. And I expect you to stay to dinner afterward." Kate said formally, "Thank you, Victoria."

  "Who will feed the horses?" Molly asked.

  "George said he would let the last turnout in and feed them."

  "Molly and I will not be staying to dinner," Alberto said pleasantly. "We are going to the movies. We will get something to eat after the film is finished."

  Kate, who had got up to shut off the television, whirled around to stare at her mother. She looked shocked.

  "Jealousy is playing at the York," Molly said with an outer semblance of ease. "You know how I have always wanted to see it, and you haven't been interested."

  "Raphael and I saw it in Bogota," Victoria said. "I'm surprised you missed it, Alberto. You will like it. It's very good. But why don't you stay for dinner and go to the movie afterward?"

  Alberto smiled. "I don't think so, Victoria."

  Kate's stare went from her mother to Alberto then back again to her mother. Molly fervently hoped she wasn't blushing.

  "Do not let us interfere with your plans, Alberto," Rafael said smoothly. "By all means, go to the earlier movie."

  Ben yawned hugely, and all of the adults turned to him, grateful to focus on something other than Alberto and Molly. "Time for bed, nino" Rafael said. "It's after eleven."

  "All right," Ben said. He yawned again. "I have a soccer game tomorrow morning, Grandpapa. Are you and Grandmama coming?"

  "Of course we are coming."

  "Good." Ben looked satisfied. "I like having a big family," he said.

  Two tears rolled down Victoria's face. "We like it, too."

  Kate took charge. "Ben, go upstairs and change into your pajamas. I'll be along in a minute."

  The little boy left the room and all the adults began to migrate toward the door, stopping in the front hall to don jackets and coats. The minute Kate had closed the door on her guests, she turned to her mother. "What is this about you and Alberto going to the movies together?"

  "There's nothing more to say about it, Kate. Alberto asked me if I would like to see Jealousy with him, and I said that I would. End of story"

  "But... is this a date, Mom?"

  "What if it is?"

  Kate stared. "Well... I don't know what to say."

  "Don't you approve of my going out with Alberto?"

  Clearly she didn't. Clearly she also knew she couldn't say so. "Don't be silly, Mom. You can go out with whomever you want."

  "Thank you, dear." Molly went over to the coffee table and began to gather glasses. 'Just because you like living like a hermit doesn't mean that I have to like it, too." On that note, she took the glasses into the kitchen. A few moments later she heard Kate on the stairs, going up to put Ben to bed.

  * * *

  12

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  Kate liked Daniel's house. The furnishings were clearly very expensive, but the overall effect was warm and welcoming. Daniel wasn't there, of course, so his parents acted as host and hostess.

  First Victoria took them all on a tour of the house, which had four bedrooms, four baths, Daniel's office, a large living room and dining room, and the family room, where the only television in the house reposed.

  It was a very nice house, with lots of windows letting in lots of light. But Kate was pleased by its relatively modest size. Clearly Daniel didn't feel the need of owning a large mausoleum to demonstrate his worth. Ben was especially taken by the swimming pool, and Molly wished she could see the gardens when they were in bloom.

  As they settled in front of the television to watch the game, Kate kept an eye on her mother and Alberto. She was still shaken by the fact that they were going out together after the game was over.

  Mom never wanted to go out before. She's been perfectly happy with me and Ben. Maybe she really wanted to see the movie. I should have gone with her when it first came out, then this issue would never have come up.

  She watched the two of them and noticed that they seemed to be on terms of easy friendship. How on earth did Mom get to be so buddy-buddy with Alberto? I thought they hardly knew each other.

  Alberto turned to say something into Molly's ear, and she laughed. Mom looks so young. God, what if she decides she wants to marry him?

  This was a disturbing thought to Kate. In some ways she was still like a child, never looking very far ahead, thinking that things would go on as they always had. She had never been one to deal well with change, and a change as overwhelming as her mother's marriage was frightening.

  Good grief she scolded herself. Mom is only going to the movies with the man. I'm jumping ahead of myself by worrying about them getting married!
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  The Atlanta pitcher retired the first two Yankee batters, but the third batter got a double and the fourth batter got a long single to left, which sent the man on second home. The Yankees were on the board.

  "Hooray," Kate said. "It's nice to know that they are capable of scoring a run every now and then."

  Unfortunately, the Braves got the run back in the bottom of the first and the score held until the sixth inning, when the young Yankee second baseman hit a home run into the left field stands. The Yankees in the dugout all came out to shake his hand and the camera focused for a few moments on Daniel.

  "There's Daddy!" Ben cried excitedly.

  Daniel was wearing his hat and his jacket and his lean dark face split into its marvelous smile as he shook his young teammate's hand. Kate felt something stir inside her as she watched him. Then she frowned and clamped down on whatever that unfamiliar emotion was.

  "It's hot in Atlanta," she said. "Why is Daniel all wrapped up in that jacket?"

  "He's keeping his arm warm," Rafael replied. "He may have to pitch Wednesday in New York, and he doesn't want it to stiffen up."

  Kate nodded.

  The Yankee pitcher tired in the bottom of the eighth and loaded the bases. Joe Torre brought in his top reliever, but the first batter sliced the ball down the left field line and two runners scored. Then the next batter hit a long double, scoring two more. The score was five to two, and that was what it stayed until the game was over.

  All the people in the Montero living room were disappointed, and they commiserated with each other as the sports announcer gave a rundown of the game.

  Rafael said, "The good thing is that I would like to see Daniel pitch again, and if the Yankees had won today and tomorrow, the series would be finished in Atlanta. Now they're tied, and no matter what happens they have to come back to New York, and Daniel will pitch."

  "My poor nerves," Victoria said. "I think the mother of the pitcher must suffer the most."

  "I think you're right, Victoria," Kate agreed. "There is more pressure on the pitcher than on any of the other players."

  "I'm going to be a pitcher when I grow up," Ben declared. 'Just like Daddy."

  Kate was stunned. "I thought you wanted to be a fireman," she got out.

  "No, I'm going to be a pitcher."

  "Perhaps you will be a soccer player, eh?" Rafael said with a smile.

  Ben's eyes sparkled. "No. I'm going to be a pitcher. And I'm going to pitch for the Yankees."

  Molly said placidly, "That would be nice, dear. But first you have to grow up."

  "I'm seven already, Nana."

  "I know. And in fifteen years, when you get out of college, you can decide what you want to be."

  Ben looked a little daunted. "Fifteen years is a long time."

  "I know. But it will go by fast."

  Alberto said, "The movie starts in half an hour, Molly. Perhaps we should be going."

  Kate's eyes swung from her son to her mother. Was that a flush of color in Molly's checks? Is Mom blushing?

  Alberto fetched his own jacket and Molly's white boiled-wool jacket and the two of them went out into the cool October evening.

  The film was engrossing and as they walked back into the lobby, Alberto said quietly, "I can see why Jonathan Melbourne got the Academy Award. That was a very powerful performance."

  "Yes. It was . . . disturbing," Molly said. "Did you read the book?"

  "I did, and I must admit I didn't think it could be filmed. So much of the action was interior. But Melbourne was brilliant."

  "I must admit I haven't read the book. I have so much reading to do for school that I don't have much time to read for pleasure."

  "What are the books that you teach in school?" Alberto asked.

  The conversation continued easily as they drove to the restaurant and had a leisurely dinner. Molly found Alberto very well versed in English and American literature and was embarrassed that she knew so little about Latin American fiction.

  "I have been meaning to read Isabelle Allende for years, and I haven't gotten around to it yet," she said apologetically. "You must think me very parochial."

  "I would never think that," Alberto returned. "I think you get so much pleasure out of your own literature that you haven't felt the need to look elsewhere."

  Molly smiled. "How nice of you, Alberto."

  "I am a nice man, remember?"

  "You are a nice man."

  They smiled at each other. "Tell me about your grandchildren," Molly said, and the ensuing conversation lasted all the way back to the door of Molly's house.

  Kate was waiting in the living room when Molly went in. She had a book in her lap, but she looked up the second Molly came in the door. "How was the movie?" she asked.

  "It was wonderful," Molly replied, going to sit in one of the blue-and-white chintz chairs. 'Jonathan Melbourne was fantastic."

  "How was Tracy Collins? It certainly wasn't her usual kind of film."

  "She was terrific, actually. She gave a sense of depth to the character that I don't think was actually there in the script."

  "Did Alberto like it?"

  "Yes."

  "Did you have a nice dinner?"

  "Yes."

  "Where did you eat?"

  "The Firelight. And don't ask me what I had to eat, Kate. You sound like a mother cross-examining a teenager on her first date."

  Kate's aquamarine eyes look startled, then she smiled ruefully. "I'm sorry, Mom. You just took me by surprise. I didn't realize you even knew Alberto very well."

  "I didn't, but we had a chance to get better acquainted over dinner. I like him."

  "Is this serious, Mom?"

  "Kate—I've gone out with the man once. Let's not get carried away, please."

  "But you like him."

  "I like him. That doesn't mean we're going to elope."

  Kate laughed. "I'm sorry, Mom. I suppose I do sound as if I'm cross-examining you. It's just that. . . well, you've never gone out with men before."

  "Like you, I've been too busy."

  There was a little silence, then Kate said soberly, "Daniel coming into our lives has upset things more than I thought he would."

  "He's been good for us. The both of us were so exclusively involved with each other and with Ben that it wasn't healthy."

  Kate's eyes flashed. "Of course it was healthy! How can you say otherwise? Look at Ben. Have you ever seen a healthier, happier child?"

  "It might have been good for Ben, Kate, but it wasn't good for us."

  Kate's jaw looked stubborn. "What's good for Ben is good for me."

  "Not necessarily, dear," Molly returned mildly.

  "Do you think you'll go out with Alberto again?"

  "If he asks me."

  "Oh."

  "Is Ben in bed?"

  "Yes."

  "I'll just peek in and see if he's awake."

  "Mom . . ."

  "Yes, dear?"

  "I was talking to Daniel the other day about his having custody of Ben for January, and he suggested that he might move in with us for the month. What do you think about that?"

  "What do I think about Daniel living with us for January?"

  "Yes."

  "I don't know. What do you think?"

  "I was thinking it would be good for Ben to be able to stay home. This way we can make sure he's being taken care of the way we want. Daniel might let him stay up too late, or eat bad things, and he might not be on top of Ben's homework, either."

  Molly looked thoughtfully at her daughter and didn't reply.

  "We do have a guest room, and he shouldn't get in your way; you have a private bathroom in your bedroom."

  "He would have to share the other bathroom with you and Ben. Does he know that?"

  "I don't think that will bother him. Daniel isn't the kind of man who hangs around the bathroom a lot."

  "How do you know that?"

  Kate shrugged. "He just isn't the type."

  Out of your vas
t experience with men, you have come to that conclusion? Molly thought ironically. "Well, if he still wants to come when he knows about the bathroom situation, it will be all right with me."

  "Okay. Then I'll tell him he can come."

  Molly was at the door when she remembered something. "By the way, I mentioned to Alberto that we found it a little odd that the Monteros were so interested in Ben, and he said that Colombians have a great sense of family."

  There was a moment's pause, then Kate said, "That's probably it, then."

  Molly looked at her daughter, who refused to look back. Kate knows something she isn't telling me.

  "Don't wake up Ben if he's asleep."

  "I won't." As Molly climbed the stairs she thought, I wonder if Kate realizes that she has just made a decision that puts her loyalty to Daniel over her loyalty to me. And that is something she has never done before.

  Instead of being upset by Kate's defection, Molly was pleased. She was also pleased by Kate's desire to have Daniel live with them for January. This was a course of events her daughter would not even have contemplated a month ago.

  Kate is warming up to Daniel.

  She looked in Ben's room, where a night-light gave dim illumination to the blue walls and the poster of Daniel that hung over his bed. He was sound asleep. Molly looked at the small, dark head snuggled into the pillow and felt such tenderness swell in her heart. How lucky they were to have this child.

  "Thank you, Colleen," she whispered, bent and touched her lips lightly to the tousled hair on the pillow.

  She went along the corridor to her own room, the room she had shared with Tim for twenty years and had slept in alone for the past ten. She switched on the light, went over to her dresser, and looked into the mirror that hung over it. There were lines at the corners of her eyes and at the corners of her mouth, and she didn't look young anymore.

  I'm not as pretty as I used to be. Does Alberto find me attractive?

  Kate was attractive. Kate was beautiful. Anyone looking at Kate would classify her as a heartbreaker. Yet, to her knowledge, Kate had had exactly five dates in her life.

  Can Daniel possibly realize how innocent Kate is? How could he? No young woman of twenty-seven is as clueless as she is when it comes to a man-woman relationship. It was always horses with Kate, and her father encouraged her. Then he died, and she shouldered the business. Then Colleen died, and she shouldered the responsibility of Ben.