by Dena Blake
“She’s probably gone to Montco,” Rebecca said as she took her hand and DJ helped her up off the step. “I’m not sure, but I think she may still have a small interest in the company.” She swept her hand across the back of her skirt. “There’s a board meeting next month, and now that Daddy’s gone, she may want to see how things are being handled.”
“You may be right.” DJ slapped Rebecca on the butt as she started down the steps.
“Hey!” Rebecca stopped abruptly and gave her a stinging glare.
“What?” DJ’s eyebrows rose. “You can’t go into work looking like you’ve been sliding around in the dirt.” She smiled, took her hand, and led her down the steps. “Why couldn’t we ever work things out?”
Rebecca bumped her shoulder against DJ’s playfully. “I don’t like to battle for control.”
“You’re right about that.” DJ chuckled, swinging her arm around Rebecca. “Come on. I’ll give you a lift.”
Rebecca turned and placed a finger on DJ’s chest. “Why don’t you let me talk to her first?”
DJ narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to help me, right?”
“I promise.” Rebecca kissed her on the cheek. “Go home. I’ll call you later.” She opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat.
“You’d better.” DJ didn’t smile as she gripped the top of the door panel with her hand.
Rebecca started the car, looked up at DJ’s seriously pained face, and laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you down.” She patted DJ’s hand, prompting her to move it, and drove off.
Chapter Nineteen
Kat found herself sitting in the lobby of the Montco Oil Building, one of the oldest buildings still remaining in the downtown area. Frances Montgomery had purchased it to accommodate his growing company, Montco Oil, during the oil boom in the early seventies. She thumbed through a news magazine, looking absently at the pictures as she ran through the scene at her mother’s house.
Staring out the window into the garden, Kat had blocked out her mother’s rambling voice as she listened to the whoop of the whippoorwill nesting in the tree just outside. She’d been so entranced by the melodious bird she hadn’t heard the door open or DJ’s voice when she walked into the room. She’d only emerged from her thoughts and turned around when Rebecca had touched her on the shoulder. When she’d seen Rebecca with her arm snaked around DJ, Kat’s stable world had shifted. And with the introduction of DJ as her fiancée, the back of her neck had burned, and the room suddenly grew smaller.
She should’ve bolted when Elizabeth had announced to Rebecca the phone call was from her betrothed and she’d shown her the ring. Kat had forgotten just how soft a society woman’s hands could be as she took Rebecca’s hand in hers and looked at the huge diamond sparkling on her finger. A gem that big had probably cost enough money to keep her ranch running for at the least a few years.
Rebecca had smiled as though she’d just won the lottery, and Kat had just assumed it was from some man who belonged to another wealthy family in Austin. Her mother had reminded her of the perks that went along with high society and told her she could have it back in an instant if she’d just come home. Kat remembered why she’d purposely blocked those perks from her mind. She wasn’t prepared to pay the price that came with them, ever. She should’ve taken the cue to leave at that point, but she’d needed just a little more time in the comfort of her childhood home and ended up enduring the whole fucked-up show.
To make matters worse, when Rebecca had seen her kissing DJ on the porch, pure humiliation had rushed through her as she ran down the porch steps and climbed into the truck. She didn’t wait the usual few seconds for the diesel battery to charge and clicked on the ignition. She’d prayed it would start, and thank God it had. She couldn’t stay there another minute.
“What are you doing down here?” At the sound of Rebecca’s voice, Kat shook herself out of the memory and fanned herself with the magazine. Rebecca gave her an odd look.
“They wouldn’t let me go up.” Kat tossed the magazine onto the table and stood. “Apparently, I don’t have the proper security clearance.”
“Oh. I’ll take care of that right now.” Rebecca led her over to the security desk.
“Good morning, Randy.” Rebecca smiled at the handsome young security officer.
“Good morning, Miss Belmont,” he said, returning her smile.
“This is my sister, Kathryn Jackson.”
“Nice to meet you, Miss Jackson.”
“Mrs.,” Kat said, politely.
“Mrs. Jackson.” He offered his hand.
“You also.” Kat smiled, shaking it.
“Anything she wants, she gets. She’s to have full clearance. Understand?”
Full clearance. Was that show for my benefit? Kat kept her smile friendly. She guessed Rebecca would change that stipulation later, when she found out why her mother wanted Kat in Austin. Trust breeds trust, even if it’s false.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of it this morning.”
“Send her security badge up to my office.”
“Will do.”
“Come on,” Rebecca said without a glance as she headed to the elevator.
“He looks pretty young to have so much responsibility.” The boy couldn’t be more than twenty years old.
“Who? Randy? He’s just one of many young ones we have here. New ideas spring from new blood. He’s not very high up in the scheme of things, but I try to make them all feel important. It produces a better work ethic.”
Kat smiled, thinking about what her mother had said. If Rebecca was as ruthless as she thought, why would she take the time to motivate any of her employees, least of all the security staff?
Elegantly decorated in French provincial, Rebecca’s office was on the twenty-fifth floor overlooking downtown Austin. Rebecca clearly had her mother’s taste for the finer things.
“This is beautiful, Bec.” Kat let Rebecca’s nickname slip out and hoped she didn’t protest.
“Thank you. I decorated it myself.” Rebecca leaned against the front of her desk. “You want some coffee?”
“Sure.”
“Still cream, no sugar?”
“Uh-huh.” Surprised that Rebecca remembered, Kat let her stiff veneer crack a little. She’d never meant to hurt her sister. Rebecca’s lack of communication after she’d left was a clear sign she had. Hoping to keep the fragile splinters hidden, Kat turned and picked up the antique vase centered on the small meeting table in the corner of the office. She traced the small, delicate veins of gold snaking through it. It was probably worth a few thousand dollars at the least.
Rebecca pushed the button on the intercom. “Jenny, could you bring coffee for two with cream, please.”
“Be right in.” Jenny’s voice rang through the intercom, and within minutes she came through the door carrying a tray of coffee and croissants. “Anything else?” she asked as she transferred them from the tray to the coffee table.
“No. That’s all for now. Thanks, Jenny.” Rebecca smiled and sat down on the couch. She motioned to Kat. “Come sit. Tell me. What’s brought you to Austin after all these years?”
“I’m here to find out why Mother is trying to drag me into this company.”
As Rebecca reached for the coffee decanter, her finely arched brows drew together. “What exactly are you talking about?”
“She offered to give me a fair amount of company stock if I’d agree to come.”
“How much stock?” Rebecca clanged the decanter onto the tray, clearly unaware of her mother’s plans.
Kat contemplated what to tell her. She wanted to tread lightly but couldn’t think of a way to do so. “Enough so that if I teamed with her, I’d have a controlling interest.”
Rebecca hopped up from the couch and shot across the room. “Why would she do that? She knows you’ve never had any interest in Montco.”
“You tell me.” Kat lifted her cup, took a sip, and stared over the top of it at Rebecca as
she seemed to process the information. “Why does she need someone to keep tabs on you?”
“She doesn’t.” Rebecca paced, gathering her thoughts. “She wouldn’t do that.” She seemed to be growing angrier by the minute. “Now that Daddy’s gone, you’re going to try to push me out.”
Kat’s cup rattled as she pushed it onto the coffee table. “Wait a minute.” Kat jumped to her feet. “Let’s get something straight here. She called me. I don’t want anything to do with this company.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be here.”
Kat held her tongue. Taking in a deep breath, she slid down onto the couch again. This wasn’t the way she’d wanted this conversation to go. She’d come to Austin only to find out why her mother was offering her the stock. She hadn’t planned to have a face-off with her sister in the process. In fact, she hadn’t even planned to tell Rebecca about her mother’s proposition. Kat was fully prepared to sign any stock she received directly over to Rebecca, no questions asked. She didn’t intend to take anything away from her sister and definitely didn’t want to become her enemy. They were very different women now, but Kat couldn’t forget how close they were as children. Even though it wasn’t under the best of circumstances, she was still hoping to regain some of that closeness.
Kat watched her continue to pace. She’d forgotten how emotional Rebecca could be. It had been a long time since they’d had any kind of rapport.
“I had a little time to chat with Mother this morning before you arrived.” Kat picked up her cup, took another sip of coffee, and then calmly slid it onto the table.
Rebecca’s stare snapped to Kat, and she narrowed her eyes. “Setting your plan into motion.” Her tone was filled with accusation.
“She wants me to squeeze you out.” In one smooth motion, Kat took a croissant from the tray, tore it apart, and stuffed a small piece into her mouth.
“What?”
“You heard me. Mother’s the one who wants you out. Not me.” Kat took another bite of her croissant and washed it down with her coffee. “Think about it, Bec. Why else would she give me the stock?”
Rebecca stood by her desk, her gaze fixed on Kat, measuring her carefully.
Kat dropped the remaining piece of roll onto her plate and dabbed her fingers with one of the cloth napkins on the tray. “I told her I wouldn’t do it.”
Rebecca’s angry expression melted into one of uncertainty.
“Don’t be so surprised. No matter how nasty you are to me, you’re still my little sister. I would never do anything to hurt you.” Kat relaxed into the couch and crossed her legs. “But tell me something, Bec. Why do you hate me so?” Kat watched as Rebecca crossed her arms and fidgeted like an angry child sifting through her thoughts.
“You left when I was sixteen.” Rebecca’s voice cracked as it rose. “I came home to an empty room with a scribbled note on the dresser.” She reached into her desk, took out an old crinkled piece of paper, and dropped it in Kat’s lap. “I couldn’t believe you’d just leave like that without talking to me or at least telling me where you were going. When I realized you weren’t coming back, it became simpler to hate you. It was difficult at first, but it was much easier than missing you.” She looked away and blinked. “For God’s sake, Kat. I didn’t even know where you were until I was twenty.”
Kat’s stomach clenched as she flattened the creases in the note while she read it. She’d made so many bad decisions when she’d left, but this was clearly the biggest. She vividly recalled the day she wrote it. Leaving her sister to live alone in a household that was void of any type of love or affection was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Everything she’d written was there, except the portion containing the address and phone number of the small house she and Arizona had called home while they’d built their ranch. It had been neatly cut off the bottom, so Rebecca never knew it was there. Rebecca couldn’t possibly have contacted her.
“And by then, I’m sure you’d heard enough negative things about me from Mother and Daddy,” she said softly.
“No. That’s not true. They never said a word about you,” Rebecca choked out. “And I wasn’t allowed to ask, which made it even worse.”
“When you found out where I was, why didn’t you come see me?” Kat asked calmly, desperately trying to hold her emotions at bay.
“I tried once. I barely made it past the front gate.” Rebecca grabbed the note from her and threw it into the drawer. “I saw what you and Arizona had. Your perfect life.”
Kat shook her head. “Believe me, Bec, my life has been far from perfect.” She bolted off the couch and shot across the room to the window. “And I refuse to complicate it any further by coming into this snake pit.”
“Then why are you here?” Rebecca hurried around the desk and flopped down into the chair. “You should’ve just told her no.”
“I’ve been telling her no for weeks. She won’t leave me alone.” Kat threw her hands up in the air and let out a growl of irritation. “My life was going just fine until she decided to meddle in it.”
Something must have clicked because Rebecca’s eyes grew wide. “That’s why she sent Dani out after you.”
Even though Kat was relieved that Rebecca knew her mother had set up the whole thing, the thought of DJ made the knot in her stomach tighten again. “I suppose,” Kat said, turning to the couch.
“And something besides the kiss I saw has happened between you two?”
Kat took in the huge diamond on Rebecca’s finger as she sat down on the couch again and quietly debated what, if anything, she should tell her. Coming clean about the whole torrid mess would be the right thing to do. Not the easiest, but probably the best. If DJ was her fiancée, Rebecca should know she’d been unfaithful. Then again, she was her little sister, and Kat really didn’t want to hurt her any more than she already had.
“No. I was just surprised to find out that the two of you are engaged,” Kat said, deciding to keep the information to herself for the time being.
Rebecca twisted the ring around on her finger and shook her head. “We’re not engaged. That’s just something Dani has helped me with in order to keep Mother out of my personal life.” She twisted the ring off her finger and tossed it into the desk drawer as though it were an unneeded binder clip. “I only wear it when I visit her. Apparently the jig’s up.”
Kat’s heart pounded. “So you and DJ aren’t…?”
“Engaged?” A faint sound of laughter shuddered from Rebecca’s lips. “Definitely not.”
The knot in Kat’s stomach eased when she realized DJ had been telling her the truth.
“But something did happen between you two.” Rebecca must have observed the ambivalence in Kat’s eyes.
“Right now, I’m not sure how I feel about her.” Kat sighed, pressing her fingertips to her temples, kneading the dull pain beginning to erupt in her head. “She’s not the woman I thought she was.” Even if she wasn’t engaged to Rebecca, DJ had still lied to her about everything else.
Rebecca moved from behind her desk to sit on the couch next to Kat. “Listen, Kat. I’ve known Dani for a long time. I’ve never seen her upset about any woman before.”
“Is she upset about me or because she’s been caught?” Kat’s words tumbled out, tired and weak. “Do you have any aspirin?”
Rebecca went to her desk, opened the drawer, took out a bottle of ibuprofen, and then went into the bar for a glass of water. “I think you already know the answer to that,” she said, coming out and handing the water and pills to Kat. “You don’t need me to tell you what kind of woman she is. You already know that in your heart.” Rebecca touched Kat’s arm gently.
“Everything she said to me was a lie.” Kat shook her head. “She even told me some story about growing up on a farm.”
“That’s true,” Rebecca said eagerly. “She grew up on one just outside Johnson City. Her brother manages it, but her mother still owns it. She would’ve still been there today if her father hadn’t ins
isted she go to college.” She reached across to the end table and picked up an antique silver frame with an old black-and-white picture in it. “See?” she said, handing it to Kat. The picture showed a smiling little girl sitting on a horse next to a man dressed in overalls.
“Is this her father?”
“Uh-huh.”
“She looks just like him.” Kat smiled, lightly dragging her fingers across the picture.
“She’s in love with you,” Rebecca blurted.
Kat took in a deep breath. “Well, that’s kind of a moot point now.” She leaned forward and set the picture on the table in front of her.
“She’s a good person, Kat,” Rebecca said as she picked up the picture and put it back in place. “Don’t get me wrong.” She crossed her arms and melted into the huge, overstuffed, leather sofa. “What she did wasn’t right, and you should make her suffer a while for it.” Her lips twisted into a smirk. “But after that, you should give her another shot. For your own good.”
Kat looked away, wondering if Rebecca was guessing or if the chemistry between her and DJ had been that obvious this morning. Either way, the pangs plaguing her heart were becoming more difficult to disguise.
“Let’s face it, Kat. You’re in love with her too.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Rebecca nodded.
“I’m so sorry, Bec. I should’ve taken you with me when I left,” Kat said as the tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t hold them in any longer. Rebecca could still read her, just like when they were kids.
Rebecca threw her arms around her and held her tight as she sobbed into her shoulder. This was the moment she knew Rebecca had wished for since the day Kat left, just as she had. She couldn’t pretend anymore. They were sisters again. As she held Rebecca in her arms, a feeling of contentment rushed through Kat, making her earlier apprehension vanish. After so many years, they’d never really lost the closeness they’d once shared. Even though many changes had occurred in both their lives, molding them into two very different women, their unbreakable bond still remained.
“When I came here, I didn’t want to be involved in Montco business,” Kat said as she wiped the tears from her face. “But now, I can see I’m going to have to help you rein in our mother.”
