This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

“London is nothing but a bunch of old buildings and stuffy museums,” Ty complained. “I’d rather go to the ranch.”

“We are going to London,” Maggie stated. “All our reservations have been made and it’s too late to cancel them.” She realized how sharp her voice had become, so she softened it. “London is a fascinating city. You’ll enjoy it. Your father and I had a wonderful time there on our honeymoon.”

“I thought you went to Paris for your honeymoon.”

“We did, but we spent a few days in London, as well,” she explained.

“I’d still rather go to my uncle’s ranch in Montana,” Ty grumbled.

“That’s enough discussion for now, Ty,” Phillip advised and changed the subject to one less painful to his wife. But the whole subject needed to be straightened out. Phillip waited until dinner was finished and Ty had excused himself from the table before bringing it up again. “Ty should meet your brother, Elizabeth. After all, Culley is the only uncle he has.”

“I’ll invite Culley to come to California.”

“He won’t come. He didn’t come to your graduation or our wedding. He’s always too busy,” Phillip reminded her. “Besides, it’s the ranch Ty really wants to see.”

“It’s just a phase he’s going through. He’ll outgrow it,” she stated.

“I seriously doubt it, Elizabeth. Ty is a natural horseman. That isn’t something he is going to outgrow,” he reasoned.

“I don’t care. He isn’t going to Montana—now, or ever.” She resented that Phillip was taking Ty’s side in this.

“What happens when he’s older? When you can’t tell him anymore what he can and can’t do?” He studied her close-mouthed expression and sighed. “Elizabeth, Ty has the right to be told he’s adopted. I’ve said it before.” That was one of the few points in their life on which he disagreed with his wife.

“What would it change? What would it accomplish, except to confuse him? Ty believes you’re his father. You are his father,” she insisted.

“And if he finds out someday?”

“He won’t. He won’t ever find out.”

With a heavy sigh, Phillip let the subject drop. Maggie simply refused to see the trouble that lay ahead. It worried him, but, as in all things, he gave in to her wishes and held his silence.

PART VI

A sky of union,

A sky complete,

This sky that watches

Two Calders meet.

Chapter XXV

Her fingertips lovingly caressed the photograph of the lean, gray-haired man while her eyes misted over with tears. “My darling Phillip,” Maggie whispered, “we had ten wonderful years of marriage. I shall always treasure that.” It was still so hard to accept that he was gone, taken from her so quickly, without warning, the victim of a massive coronary two months before.

She looked around the room they had shared, scattered with boxes packed with his clothes slated for donation to a local charity. She had postponed this task for so long, knowing how empty the room would seem without his things. Her glance fell on the family Bible on the bedside table. It had been tucked away on a closet shelf. Everything seemed so final now that she had entered the date of Phillip’s death in the record.

A car roared up the private lane, its unmuffled motor shattering the night’s stillness. From the paddocks, a horse trumpeted its alarm. Maggie glanced at the luminous dial of the clock on the bed’s nightstand. Ty was supposed to have been home over an hour ago. The combination of his fifteenth birthday and his father’s death had convinced him that as the man of the family, he could take liberties with the rules. To make matters worse, Jeff had just turned sixteen and obtained his driver’s license, so there was always transportation available for Ty.

Reaching for her satin robe lying at the foot of the bed, Maggie pulled it on as she hurried out of the master bedroom, where she now slept alone. She was halfway down the white staircase when she heard the front door slam and the car revving its motor as it reversed out of the drive. A light was already on in the living room. The reason for it became apparent when Pamela wheeled her chair into the foyer.

“Hello, Ty. Did you have a good time tonight?”

The question irritated Maggie. Pamela virtually encouraged Ty with her attitude that anything he did was perfectly all right. It was undermining what authority Maggie did exercise over her son.

“You should have come with us, Pamela. It was great!” At fifteen, his voice was changing, cracking out of its low octave to the high squeak. “Have you ever been to a rodeo? Man, it’s exciting!”

“Ty, do you realize what time it is?” Maggie came the rest of the way down the stairs, more upset than she might have been because of Pamela.