Shadows from the Past

“I see…”

Waving her hand, Iris said, “Anyway, the Elkhorn is known for its clean beef and buffalo meat. Then, I told Trevor ten years ago to start a dude ranch. I saw so many American families losing touch with the earth. If we can’t get these families and especially the children back and connected to her, we’re going to kill this planet. My dude-ranch idea was not just the normal hayrides and trail-riding, but also providing lots of fun things for the kids to do with nature. For example, we just harvested about twenty thousand acres of timber. We have our own mill and we sell the wood to suppliers. Children can choose to go with the wranglers assigned to replanting the hills with new pine-tree babies. We teach them that everything has to be sustainable. We care for the land and we take, but we give back. Those are Native American attributes and we teach them that.”

“I love the idea,” Kam said, meaning it. She saw the liveliness in Iris’s eyes and heard the passion in her husky voice. Truly, she was the matriarch of the ranch in more than one way. “Kids do need to be reconnected with the earth. Especially city children.”

“Yes, and I developed a program—despite Allison’s objections—to pay for inner-city children from all over this country to come here, free of charge, for seven days to work with us and the land. I got several corporate sponsors to pay for their flights and we pick ’em up at the Jackson Hole airport and truck them out here. These are children of all colors and from all backgrounds, all poor, who have never seen a horse, much less a buffalo or a herd of cattle. We spend a lot of time teaching them about nature and how to live in harmony with it. My husband, bless him, had faith in me and my Sight. He backed me every time. We were a good team…” Her voice trailed off in sadness.

“How long ago did your husband leave you?” Kam asked her gently.

“Five years ago. He was too young to die. Allison drove him to it,” she said bitterly. “She hated us. Rudd had the damned bad luck of falling for her Hollywood starlet background and married her on impulse. When he brought her home to the Elkhorn, she hated it and us.”

“That’s so sad,” Kam said, noting the agony in Iris’s eyes and face. “Surely Allison has adjusted to life at the ranch now?” Kam tilted her head and searched Iris’s angry features.

“Humph. Never. She doesn’t even try,” Iris stated flatly. “Oh, you’ll meet her soon enough. Tonight at dinner I’m sure she’ll be in fine form. You’re new meat to brainwash.”

“What do you mean?”

“Allison runs Rudd. She’s the queen bee. Or she thinks she is. She forgets who I am. I still own the ranch.” Her lips flattened. “Which is why Allison keeps trying to have a doctor and a judge rule me mentally incompetent. Once I had that mild stroke, she became obsessed with having me taken down.”

Frowning, Kam said, “What do you mean taken down?”

“Trevor left the ranch to me in his will. If I’m ruled incompetent and need a power of attorney—that’s Rudd—then the ownership is transferred to him and Allison. I know her. The bitch wants to dismantle and destroy everything that Trevor and I did to build this ranch into what it is today. She’ll sell it off. She keeps nagging at Rudd to get me to sell off five thousand acres so a developer can come in and set up condos. She keeps telling him that we’ll make millions. But we make millions now, the right way. I told her I don’t want a bunch of condos on our ranch. It will pollute the water system. I don’t want more people out here. If I wanted city life, I’d have moved to the city. I don’t want five thousand people on one-acre lots to deal with. But Allison is riding Rudd about this all the time. Any opportunity she gets, she sticks it to me about the development.”

“But she can’t do anything about it because you own the ranch, right?” Kam said.

Iris gave her a triumphant look. “That’s right, dearie. As long as the ranch is in my name, and I’m alive and kicking, I can keep the vision for this ranch alive and viable. The day I die, this ranch is going to hell in a handbasket because Allison runs Rudd. He can’t say no to her and gives her anything she wants. Never mind her two spoiled children, my grandchildren. Humph!”

Kam sat back digesting all the information. Clearly, she had walked into a hornet’s nest. Iris turned around as Wes shut the back of the SUV. The look he gave Kam was warm and inviting. The slight smile on his mouth made her go hot with longing once more. And then, as quick as the look was there, it was gone.

They drove back to the ranch, and Kam began to dread the family dinner tonight. What would happen next?

CHAPTER FOUR

IRIS OFFICIALLY DECIDED to hire Kam as her caregiver. It was a relief. Kam had overcome one obstacle, one of many. The tension leading up to the family dinner became her focus. Her upbringing as a Trayhern hadn’t prepared her for this family, which seemed built on politics, intrigue and power struggles. Where was the love between them?

Kam sat at Iris’s elbow while Rudd was at the head. The rectangular maple table was covered with an old-fashioned hand-crocheted white cloth across its gleaming surface. Hazel, their chef, had her assistant, Becky Long, a smiling young woman, help serve the meal. The plates were blue and white and Iris told Kam that she and Trevor had bought them shortly after their wedding. They were used to this day, a sign of her love for him.

Above the table hung a massive elkhorn display with lights. No matter where she looked, there were elkhorn tables, chairs and lamps. Soft classical music, the same kind that her mother Laura loved, played softly in the background. That was Iris’s doing, too. She proudly informed Kam that at one time, she’d played classical piano. After trying to break a horse, she’d broken her hand and had suffered a fracture that prevented her from going on to a career in piano. Kam wondered how such things would steer a person’s life. If not for the finger fracture, Iris would have never stayed in the Wyoming area to meet Trevor several months later. They had met, fallen in love and begun this ranching empire. Kam’s respect for the elder Mason grew by the hour as Iris let her into her inner world of business and personal information.

The crystal water and wineglasses were old and hand-cut. Kam felt as if she’d stepped back into the 1870s of Western America. It was comforting to her in one way because she loved antiques. The rug on the blond oak floor beneath the massive table was from Turkey, Iris had told her. It had been bought by Trevor on a business trip to the Middle East shortly after their were married.

Everything that Kam could see had a history. Had importance to the Mason family. Her heart swelled with incredible emotion as she sat with her hands in her lap quietly waiting for the rest of the family. There were three empty chairs. Becky stood near the kitchen door, a frown on her round face.

Rudd kept looking up from his place at the head of the table toward the entrance.

Kam could see annoyance in his features although she suspected that he was trying to hide it. Iris, however, was not so cloaked.

“I’m eating, Rudd. I’m hungry.” Iris took a soft, warm sourdough biscuit from the basket at the center of the table. “If they can’t be on time, I’m not waiting for them!”

Giving her a pained look, Rudd said nothing. He tried to smile but failed. “Kamaria, if you want to start eating, go right ahead. Sometimes, my family arrives late. We don’t want the food to go cold.”

Kam nodded and took a biscuit. She slathered butter, hand-churned from their dairy-cow herd, across the fragrant, steaming surface. Iris proudly told her they had sourdough starter a hundred years old. Kam knew her mother Laura just loved baking with sourdough starter. She made a mental note to ask for a jar of it and transport it back to Laura, who would be thrilled.

“Starting without us?”

Kam looked up at the dripping, husky voice at the entrance. A woman in her mid-forties, her hair dyed blond, stood there with her hands resting imperiously on her thick hips. She was dressed like a Hollywood goddess, Kam thought as she put the biscuit down on her plate. This had to be Allison Dubois-Mason. She was short and shapely, her breasts as ample as her hips and thin-waisted. She had the coveted hourglass figure from a bygone era. Her blond hair was coifed and swept up on her head and glittering diamond earrings and necklace set it all off. Her green eyes were heavily made up and Kam thought the false eyelashes looked more like caterpillars crawling across them. Her rouge was too bright, making her resemble one of those Kewpie dolls at carnivals.

“Come in,” Rudd said, standing. He moved around to the chair at the opposite end of the table. Pulling it out, he waited for his wife to approach. “Allison, I want you to meet Kamaria Trayhern. We’ve just hired her as caregiver to Iris. Kamaria, this is my wife, Allison.”

Kam nodded in the woman’s direction. She walked like a queen gliding down an invisible red carpet. The dress she wore was out of place for this rugged Western setting. It was a ball gown made of gleaming gold silk that showed off her considerable cleavage and swathed around her ankles. Her heels were a good three inches high and Kam winced inwardly. The woman obviously didn’t care about her feet.

Kam felt the glare from the mascara-framed green eyes. It was not a welcoming gaze at all and her gut tightened.

Halting at the chair, Allison flashed daggers at Rudd.

“And just what is she doing at our table? Hired help does not eat with us. Ever.”

The venom seemed to drip from her mouth like acid. Kam started to rise.

Iris clamped a hand over her arm and stopped her.

“Stay right where you are, Kam,” Iris growled. And then, the senior shot a poisonous look at her daughter-in-law. “Since when do you care who sits at this table, Allison? On most nights, we wait a half hour for you to appear. Your children never show up. Regan’s too busy to sit down with us, and Zach has his head in computer games. So don’t go getting high and mighty saying who can or can’t be at our dinner table.”

Laughing liltingly, Allison waved her bejeweled hand toward Iris. She batted her eyes at Rudd and smiled. “And here I thought you were the boss, Rudd.” She sat down with aplomb and Rudd pushed the chair toward the table.

Iris glared at Allison. “Maybe you need reminding that I’m the owner of this ranch, Allison, and I’m not dead yet. Until I am, I’m the one who decides who will have dinner with us or not. Rudd has nothing to say about this and you know it.”

Allison took her white linen napkin and smiled fully. Becky came over and poured her some red wine. “Oh, you never allow me to forget that you’re the boss, Iris.”

Kam watched the maid pour the red wine and thought that blood had been drawn symbolically between Iris, the matriarch, and Allison, the upstart. What a group! She couldn’t believe the rage behind the words of the two women. It made her evening meals with her parents in Montana look alien in comparison to this family.

Iris said nothing. Becky gave her a pained look.

“Miss Iris? Should I serve dinner? Or wait?”

Iris addressed Allison. “Are Zach and Regan comin’ or not?”

Shrugging, Allison said, “They’re busy.”

“Would have been nice to let Hazel and Becky know ahead of time,” Iris growled. “They aren’t slaves to do our bidding around here.”

Kam couldn’t believe the drama around Allison. Gulping, she realized that if Rudd was her father, this woman was her stepmother. Not exactly a great package. And nothing like Laura, who was the epitome of grace, good manners and kindness. Kam searched the woman’s heavily made-up oval face to see if she could find generosity or kindness. She could not.

“Please serve the meal,” Rudd requested of Becky. “And thank Hazel in advance for her help in makin’ our dinner.”

Kam found Rudd’s sensitivity toward others positive. Becky rushed out of the room, through the swinging oak door. Shortly, she came back with squash soup, which smelled wonderful.

“Now this,” Iris told her, pointing to the yellow soup in front of her, “is from my garden last year, Kamaria. Hubbard squash from last fall’s crop. The best squash in the world to give a nutlike flavor to soup. Hazel always puts on bacon bits and tops it with a tad of sour cream. Makes for a wonderful beginning to our meal.”