Falcon Song: A love story (19 page)

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A day and a half after her father’s funeral Kate’s mother came walking into her hospital room. She no longer looked like a twenty five year old just now and she and Kate hugged and cried and then Laura Birch finally lit up when they brought her her tiny new grandchild. John shook the hand of the woman he had spent so much time with on the telephone the last several days and then generously left to go make phone calls so they could have some privacy as they visited.

The first thing her mother did was comment that it was good of John to put everything aside to come and watch over her to which Kate readily agreed. The second thing her mother said was that Kennen looked so much like Jason it was uncanny, to which Kate also readily agreed. She had no doubt her son would be as gorgeous as his father when he grew up, he looked like a miniature already.

Kennen was a Godsend for both Kate and her mother as they talked about her dad and memories and how much they missed him. Somehow Kennen’s sweet baby spirit softened the grief until it was manageable. He was nine days old before Kate got to be pushed down to the lobby of the hospital in a wheel chair with him nestled on her tender lap. John had gone far above and beyond the call of duty in staying in San Francisco with her the whole time.

After leaving the hospital, he checked the four of them into a hotel suite for two days so Kate could continue to recuperate and then they flew to San Antonio together where Kate’s mother agreed to stay with them for a little while longer as Kate’s body continued to heal.

Chapter 17

  Her mother stayed with them almost a week and then flew back home. By that time, Kate had begun to get the hang of this motherhood thing and could let her walk away without being as nervous as she’d thought she’d be. What she was nervous about was John’s tumor. He’d been a rock in California, but the truth of the matter was John was losing his cognitive edge fast.

The care he had given her in the hospital with the baby was proving to be a heaven sent catalyst. He had taken such good care of her that now his care became second nature to her.

She’d planned to take a couple of months off with the baby if the memories of Jason didn’t prove too painful, but it wasn’t long after Kennen was born that John began to retire in earnest. He wasn’t up to the travel because of the pain, let alone making business decisions. Because of both him and the baby, and the need for some occasional oversight at his businesses, Kate hired a full time nanny named Amber, thinking she could leave both John and the baby with her when she needed to take quick out of town trips. She was miserable without them, but it worked out okay for the most part.

She never did finish checking the restaurant in San Francisco and never even got started on the Tulsa location, but as they were relatively profitable at both places, she decided to let things go somewhat while Kennen and John needed her so. Kennen would never be a new born again and John needed her with him more than his restaurants did. If they hadn’t sold by the time he passed away, she’d worry about them then.

By the time Kennen turned two months old, Kate was back into her prepregnancy clothes and John was on some kind of pain medication almost all of the time. He adored Kennen and Kennen adored him back and for some reason when John held him he seemed to feel better so he tended to hold him a lot. Unless it was during the night, Kennen slept almost exclusively in John’s arms.

This was good and bad. Kennen became hopelessly spoiled about going down in his own crib, but Kate couldn’t have asked for someone to love her child any better.

With Amber’s help, Kate managed to take a couple of days a week to go to different locations to double check on the restaurants and then the three in Dallas, Galveston and California sold right in a row. At that point, the only long trips she needed to make were to Tulsa and Amarillo so she was able to focus more exclusively on John.

It was just after the first of March that John’s son and daughter showed up. They must have somehow realized the restaurants had sold or else they’d found out John was losing it mentally. At any rate, they showed up one morning and as Kate carried Kennen to answer the front door to their ring, they took one look at her in her designer jeans, bare feet and wedding ring and seemed to bristle instantly.

Before she had even let them in, his daughter asked in an unmistakably unfriendly voice, “Are you the housekeeper?”

“You might say that. I’m also the wife. You must be Steven and Karen. Come in. We weren’t expecting you obviously, but I’m sure your father would like to see you.”

John got credit for trying to be polite, which was a lot more than Kate could say about them. They spoke to him briefly and wondered what was going on with him selling the restaurants and frankly, Kate was taken aback by their blatant selfishness. John told them in a rather nebulous way that he was simply downsizing his work load so he could look at retiring. At least they didn’t seem to notice he wasn’t well.

She didn’t think they had, so she was surprised when a couple of weeks later she got a letter from an attorney representing them who demanded that Kate relinquish any and all business assets and responsibilities to them. Apparently they had heard about the brain tumor somewhere.

She sent the letter straight to John’s attorney and simply mentioned it to John in passing that afternoon. He sighed and gave her a tired smile. “I told you they’d come. Don’t let them intimidate you. They are far more bluff than they seem unless their mother is with them. Now her y’all should watch out for.”

He paused for a moment and then went on sadly, “I loved her dearly at one time. I probably still do, truth be told. But she isn’t a very nice person. I had to learn that the hard way. I’m sorry you have to deal with things like this, Kate. But I’m incredibly comforted to know my life is in your good hands. You’ve been such a relief to me. Thank you.”

Kate did, in actuality, get the opportunity to meet John’s ex, Ms. Terry Garland, just a few days later. Mark was there at the time, meeting with Kate and she was incredibly grateful for that as this woman swept inside as Kate opened the door like she was still the queen of John’s kingdom. She looked Kate up and down with almost a sneer and then fairly stomped into the living room demanding to see John.

John was down in bed with a horrible headache at the time and Kate politely said, “I’m sorry, he’s not available just now. Is there something I could help you with?”

Terry made a sound of disgust in her throat. “No, thank you. John may not have any qualms about dealing with an adolescent, but I certainly do. When will he be back?”

“He’s not gone, he’s just not available. I’m sorry; you’ll have to come back later if you want to visit with him. It might be a good idea to call first and see if he can see you. He has a rather tight schedule as far as time to visit actually.”

Terry literally stomped her expensively clad foot as she demanded, “Stop playing games and take me to him. Tell him it’s his wife and he’ll find the time to see me.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Garland, but I am his wife, not you, and he’s not available just now. You’ll have to come back.” She reached back and opened the door and looked at it pointedly but Terry ignored her.

At this point Mark came into the front entry hall and Terry turned to him and seemed relieved. “Oh, good, Mark, I’m so glad you’re here. Go and tell John I want to see him, would you? I want to get to the bottom of the sale of all of these restaurants.”

Mark smiled, but absolutely stood his ground as he said, “I’m sorry, Terry, but John is busy, which doesn’t matter anyway if you want to discuss business. John’s wife, Kate here, is his manager and I’m sure she could tell you everything you want to know.”

“His manager! Since when does John have a teenager managing multi million dollar businesses?”

Mark smiled blandly as Kate struggled to hold her tongue. “Oh, he’s had her managing things for a while now. Her managing has added considerably to John’s bottom line actually.

She turned back to Kate in anger. “All right then, why is he selling everything he owns? I’ve already checked and know what he hasn’t already sold is listed. Where is the money being invested?”

At that point, Kate shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Garland, but that is really none of your business. What John chooses to invest in has nothing to do with you. Is there something else that does involve you I could help you with?”

Amber peeked around the corner and Kate handed her the baby, glad to have him away from this woman as Terry went off calling Kate several choice names before ending with, “If you think you can keep me in the dark while y’all take my children’s and my inheritance and stash it away for your own baby, you’ve got another think coming. I’ll have my attorney involved and you’ll be out of here on you and that baby’s ear. Don’t y’all even try to mess with me, honey. You’ll regret it for as long as you live.”

“Trust me. I do already. I think you should leave now. If you have questions in the future, why don’t you just contact John’s attorney directly.” The door still stood open, and Kate motioned to it again and repeated, “I said, I think y’all should leave now.”

Terry glanced at Mark who nodded and indicated the door himself and then she went toward it. “Fine. I’ll leave now, but don’t think this is the end of this. I’m the one who spent years struggling while John started his businesses. Don’t even begin to think I’m going to let some adolescent bimbo come in and take what is rightfully mine. I’ll fight to the nth degree. You’ll see.”

“I already do. Actually, not that it’s any of your affair, but John and I have a solid prenuptial agreement which prohibits me from making any decisions about his assets. Those decisions are all set between John and his attorney. But I’m so glad you are concerned for him. That’s very kind of you. Thank you so much for dropping by. It was so nice to finally meet y’all.” Kate gave her the biggest smile she could muster and then used all of her will power not to slam the door behind her. She glanced up at Mark and shook her head. “Poor John. He had to wake up next to that. Can you imagine?”

“No. I can’t, thank goodness. I hope John’s attorney has both a thick skin and a bullet proof plan, because John’s going to need it.”

Kate had been going to leave the next day to fly to Tulsa, but she changed her mind. She was hesitant to leave John and Amber and the baby alone without someone to protect them from that dragon woman and her spawn. She worried about it for four days and then finally hired a security firm to send a licensed security guard to come and stay with them as well. John’s house was huge and he could certainly afford it. For that matter, Kate would pay for the guy herself just to know everyone here would be safe while she was gone.

Once they’d gotten to know the men who would be coming to stay and she felt like she could trust them, she headed on out to Tulsa. It had been several weeks since she’d been there and she needed to check on how things were going.

She stayed in Tulsa for two days, going over the books and double checking the way things were being managed and triple checking the things the board of health would look at. She had just walked out of the manager’s office with her brief case to leave for home, when she nearly walked into Cody and a couple of other guys from the band.

Cody stared at her, and she stared at Cody and for a second neither one knew what to say. And then Kate couldn’t help herself. She set down her case, walked right over to him and threw her arms around him and said, “Cody Rawlings, I have missed you!” He may have messed up a few things for her and Jason, but they’d been friends since they were children and she knew he’d take a bullet for Jason any day.

Cody hugged her back and then pulled back to look at her, still in shock and Kate was embarrassed when tears filled her eyes as Cody asked, “Where have y’all been, Kate? Jason has looked over the whole planet for you. What are you doing in Tulsa?”

“I’m working. I travel around to different restaurants as a sort of consultant. What are you guys doing here?”

“What do you think, Kate? We’ve got a gig tonight. Haven’t you heard the advertisements all over the radio?”

She hesitated and then shook her head. “I don’t listen much to the country stations anymore. I’m more of a rock and roll and classical girl now. A little rhythm and blues, some new wave. Whatever. Country is just a touch hard for me lately.”

Cody looked at her hard and then asked softly, “How lately?”

She tried to keep her voice light as she said, “Oh, for the last eight or nine months anyway. So what have you been up to?”

“Touring, two platinum records, trying to help Jason find his smile. It walked out on him about the same time you quit listening to country. What a coincidence. What about you?”

“Just working. I’ve tried to stay busy with this kind of thing.” She waved her hand to indicate the restaurant and Cody grabbed it out of the air and stared at the ring.

“Kate! You didn’t! You didn’t get married!” He groaned and looked at her in horrified accusation. “Oh, Kate, what have you done? Jason’ll die!”

She pulled her hand away and tried to keep the emotion out of her voice as she assured him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Cody. Yes, I got married a few months ago, in fact.”

Cody groaned again and asked quietly, “Why, Kate? Why when you knew Jason worshipped you?”

At that, she felt her heart quiver within in her chest and she was tempted to tell Cody just what she thought and felt about a comment like that. Jason had loved her, but he’d let other things get in the way. Kate wasn’t the one who had caused this whole mess. Not by a long shot. She felt that old familiar pain rip into her just as it did every time she thought about Lubbock. She swallowed the lump that threatened to choke her.

Instead of snapping at Cody about who had worshipped who, she glanced at her watch. She’d just been on her way out to head for the airport. “Look, Cody. It was great to see y’all. I’ve got a plane to catch. Tell everyone hello for me.”

She picked up her case and turned to go, but Cody rushed after her. “Wait! Kate! Don’t go. Can’t you stay and visit? Jason will be here in fifteen minutes. He’ll be devastated that he missed you. Hang out for a minute.”

Shaking her head, she looked down and then back up. “That would be a bad idea, Cody and you know it. Plus I’m already going to have to speed to get my rental car turned in on time. You talk to him for me, okay?”

“Kate.” Cody was almost pleading. “You don’t understand. Jason has all but quit living. Don’t leave without at least just saying hi.”

“No, Cody. It would hurt both of us. I have to go. Take care.”

“Then can I at least have a phone number? Where are you living? Can we keep in touch? We’ve been friends our whole lives, Kate.”

Tears finally filled her eyes. “I wish we could, Cody, but we can’t. I’m sorry. More sorry than you can imagine. Good luck with your concert tonight. I’m sure it will be amazing. See ya around.”