Taylor crossed to where Annie was standing and wrapped her in a warm embrace. “Thank you so much for coming,” she said softly, a mixture of pain and gratitude in her voice. “I know it wasn’t easy for you.”
“No, but I’m glad I’m here,” Annie replied, meaning it.
Annie stepped back to get a better look at her friend. The confident air of superiority that Taylor had carried all the way through high school was now tempered with—what? Wariness, trepidation? Annie wasn’t sure. As good as Taylor looked, Annie also noted the physical signs of stress—fingernails chewed down to the quick, dark circles beneath the eyes, a tension in the rigid way Taylor held her shoulders.
“My God, you look great,” Taylor said, tousling Annie’s shoulder-length hair. “Is strawberry blonde still your natural color, or does only your hairdresser know for sure?”
“It’s all mine. Gray strands and all.”
“What gray hairs? I don’t see a single one, you lucky thing. My golden highlights are one hundred percent L’Oreal, but hey, the commercial says I’m worth it, right? Gosh, I’m glad you could get away. I was shocked when Galen told me you were actually coming. From what I hear, all you lawyers do is work all the time.”
Annie was a little confused. “The man I talked to on the phone?”
“That was Galen Rockwell, the winemaker.”
“He seemed to imply that you needed help right away. I got the impression that you wanted me to come as soon as possible.” Taylor stiffened. “Yes. Well. That’s Galen. He tends to be… protective.”
Annie stopped. “Taylor, you do want me here, don’t you?”
“Of course,” she replied, a little too heartily. “Don’t get me wrong. I really want to move ahead, I’m ready to move ahead with a divorce. I’m just not in as much trouble as Galen seems to think I am.”
Judging from Taylor’s physical appearance, Annie had her doubts. “Well, I’m here now, and we can have a nice visit and catch up. You heard right about lawyers working all the time. I don’t take enough time off to be with friends.”
Taylor guided Annie to the door and the view south over the vineyards. Stretching out before them was a panorama of rolling hills, covered with row after row of grapevines. The sky filled Annie’s view in every direction—such a pale blue that it looked almost white, the only clouds wispy and non-threatening. “When this is your office, it’s not hard to come to work in the morning.” The marmalade cat had stirred himself from the desk and was rubbing against Taylor’s leg. “Isn’t that right, Colonel Bob?” She hefted the large animal up to her chest and gave him a nuzzle. “The Colonel is our chief of security. He keeps the winery completely free of rodents and other unwanted pests. I’m trying to train him to keep creditors at bay, but we’re not having much luck. Come on, let’s go over to the house and get you settled in.” The two-story house was about five hundred yards from the barn, down a hill and hidden from view by a stand of trees. It looked like it might have been built near the turn of the century, and was well maintained with fresh paint and stained glass inserts in the windows flanking the front door. Annie recognized it from photographs Taylor had shown her years ago. “This is where you lived as a child, isn’t it?”
“Uh-huh, till my parents split up and Gerald and I moved to Seattle with Mom in my sophomore year.” Taylor opened the front door and carried Annie’s bag into the foyer. “At the time, I was thrilled to be moving to the city.”
Annie glanced around the room. It was feminine, yet classic, with white walls, hardwood floors, and overstuffed furniture in patterns of dusty rose and forest green. Instead of drapes, lengths of floral chintz were elegantly swagged over the windows in a style Annie had seen only in interior design magazines. Over the mantelpiece was a huge watercolor painting of the house with the vineyards in the background, shown in the rosy dawn so that the colors perfectly suited the room. “It’s wonderful,” she said, referring to both the room and the painting. “Did you?”
“No, I’m a total klutz when it comes to decorating. Gerald did it all, including the painting. Do I have a talented brother, or what? And he knows me so well. They say ordinary siblings aren’t as psychically connected as twins, but I think they’re wrong. He’s always known instinctively what will make me happy, and vice versa. Do you remember Gerald from high school?”
“Vaguely. So, he’s a professional decorator?”
“No, actually, he’s an artist. And he teaches art at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.”
“Well, I think he missed his true calling. This is fabulous.” Taylor sank onto the sofa and ran a hand along the fabric as if seeing it for the first time. “This house… this is no longer just the place where I grew up, anymore. It was a hard life back then, and more often than not, this was a painful place to be a child. I never expected to come back. But that’s all changed. This is my house now, and out there is my business. I… I don’t know how I could leave here. It would be like cutting off my right arm.”
“Is that why you’ve put off divorce proceedings?”
She nodded. “I’ve been afraid to talk to an attorney, find out how bad the situation really is. But Steve has nothing, he isn’t even employed. And I’ve got all this…. I’ve had friends whose lives were ruined by divorce. They lost everything….”
Taylor looked like she didn’t want to continue. “But we can talk about all those sordid details later.”
Annie walked over to the mantelpiece to look at some framed photographs. “Look at the large one in the wooden frame,” Taylor prompted.
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you kept this!” The photo was of Annie and Taylor on their high school graduation day in caps and gowns, a look of pure elation on their faces. “From the way we’re grinning, you’d think we were getting out of prison, not high school.”
“Look at those hairstyles—long and parted in the middle. I always envied you that yours was so red.”
“Well, I always envied you that yours was so straight,” Annie replied. “Naturally curly hair was simply not in vogue back then.”
“Remember that time we tried to iron it, and singed the ends?”
“You mean you singed the ends. I was crouching under the ironing board at the time and had nothing to do with it.”
“How was I to know what the proper heat setting was for hair?” Annie picked up the next photograph in a silver frame—a picture of the wedding Annie had not been invited to. It showed the bride and groom with their shoes kicked off, whirling in a folk dance, surrounded by a circle of smiling guests. The faces of Taylor and Steve were blurred by the motion. “Well, at least it was a great party,” Taylor said, her voice bitter. “My brother said the last guests didn’t leave for two days.” Taylor looked at her watch. “I know it’s early, but would you like a sample of the home-grown product? Frankly, I need a drink.”
Annie accepted, and Taylor went to the kitchen. She returned with two glasses and an unlabeled bottle of chilled white wine. She poured, then raised her glass in a toast. “To old friends.”
“Old friends.” Annie raised her glass, then tasted. It was good, far better than what Annie tended to buy at home.
Taylor sighed and gazed into her glass, as if she didn’t know where to start. Finally, she said, “I know I owe you a lot, Annie. An apology, an explanation.” She paused, searching for words. “The apology part I can handle. What I did, what I didn’t do… was horrible, Annie. I can hardly think back to that day. I am sorry. If I were you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive me.”
Annie started to speak, but Taylor held up her hand. “No, let me finish. I’ve rehearsed what I would say when I saw you about a dozen times, and I have to get it out in one piece. As for an explanation, that’s a lot harder. I’m not sure I understand it all myself.” Taylor struggled to hold back tears. She reached for a tissue. “I’ll be okay in a minute.”
“Taylor, we don’t have to talk about this right now.”
She nodded. “Maybe… you’re right. I’m so tense right now… the Wine Gala and all but there’s one thing I have to tell you. It explains in some small way why I stayed with him after that”
Annie waited while Taylor regained her composure.
“That day, I had just been to the doctor, and learned I was pregnant with Steven’s child. My daughter’s name is Celia, and she just turned seventeen.”
“I had no idea.”
“She means more to me than anything, Annie. All these years, I wouldn’t have put up with him if it hadn’t been for her sake.” Taylor wiped her eyes. “I can’t wait for you to meet her. She’s so beautiful. I don’t regret anything I did for her. Not one thing.”
Taylor poured herself more wine. Annie’s glass was still full. “He told terrible lies about you that summer, Annie. I know now they were lies. He said you had been coming on to him, trying to get him away from me. He said that… that afternoon… you had called him, begged him to come over. When he got there to try to talk to you…” She shook her head. “I can see now how crazy it all was. But at the time I believed it. That’s why I could never call you. After a while, once I realized he’d lied to me, I was ashamed. I didn’t think you’d ever speak to me again.”
Annie reached over and touched Taylor on the arm. All these years, she had assumed that she was the only one who had been hurt by the end of their friendship. “It’s okay,” Annie whispered softly. “I always felt badly that I’d never called you.”
“It was about five years ago,” Taylor continued. “The first time I thought about calling. Steve and I had separated—one of many times, by the way—and I was thinking about that night. But I wasn’t sure you’d even talk to me.”
Annie remembered how disturbed she’d been the day before to see Taylor’s name on the telephone message. “I might not have, then.” After a pause, she said, “You two have separated before. Is there any possibility you’ll get back together again this time?”
Taylor shook her head. “No. Not a chance. I’ve been seeing a therapist, a woman over in Spokane. She’s experienced at dealing with these types of situations. I can’t say I understand it myself, yet. I’m not sure anyone understands why we stay in abusive relationships.” Her voice trailed off. “It’s taken me a long time, but I’ve finally decided that I need to get Steve out of my life, and out of my business. I need to acknowledge the kind of hold he’s had over me. I thought since you’d seen it firsthand, you could help me.”
“I’ll do my best, Taylor. I may not be the best person to represent you—I could help you find an attorney closer to home.”
“No, I know I’ll have to pay your travel expenses and all, but I’d really like you to be my lawyer.” She paused. “I guess it’s my way of saying that I want the past put behind us. Will you do it, Annie?”
Annie felt warmed by the wine and the kind words. She didn’t really stop to think before agreeing. “I’d be glad to, Taylor.”
Relief filled Taylor’s face. “Thanks, Annie. Your support means so much to me right now. And you know what? I’m going to write you a retainer check right now. That’s what it’s called, isn’t it, a retainer? Partial payment in advance?”
“Yes, but you really don’t have to—”
“I insist.” Taylor went to the desk and got her checkbook. “Is fifteen hundred okay for now?”
Annie would have asked for only a thousand, so she said that would be fine.
“Great.” Taylor handed her the check. “Wow, I’m starting to feel like I’m making progress already.” Taylor came back to the couch, but she wasn’t relaxed. Annie could sense that her friend was jumpy, excited. “So,” Taylor said, fiddling with the stem of her wine glass. “Fill me in on your life. Marriages… divorces… children ?”
Annie didn’t want to talk about herself. “None of the above, I’m afraid.”
“You never married?”
“I’ve come close several times. But the closer I get to a real commitment, the greater my urge to run away.” Annie thought back to the last time she’d said good-bye. David’s only flaw had been his desire that Annie change her life enough to make room for him. At the time, it had seemed like too much to ask.
“But you’ve had your career,” Annie heard Taylor say. “I let Steve support me for far too many years. It’s only now, having my own business, that I realize how liberating that can be. For the first time in my life, I feel truly self-sufficient. Don’t you love not being dependent on a man?”
Annie just smiled. She’d observed similar bursts of enthusiasm from other women she had represented in their dissolution actions, women picturing themselves free after five, ten, or twenty years of marriage. Yes, she wanted to say, independence is great. But be prepared for the occasional lonely night. The kind of night when all you want is someone to hold you very close.
There was a report of a shotgun outside, and Taylor jumped. “God, every time I hear something, I think it’s him, even though I know that’s just Galen trying to scare the birds.”
“What do you mean, you ‘think it’s him’?”
Taylor stood up and began to pace. “It started about six months ago—right after I threw Steve out. He’s been doing his damnedest to make my life miserable.”
“In what way?”
“Awful, spiteful things. At first, I wrote them off as accidents, or kids fooling around. One day we found wire tangled in the crusher-stemmer. It took Galen a good four hours to untangle it. Another time someone had taken a can of red spray paint and sprayed some grapevines that were ready for picking, totally ruining the fruit. Another time someone had broken into a wine cask and put salt in the wine. Lately, it’s taken a more serious turn. There have been thefts. We had just received a half dozen new oak aging barrels from France—they cost me over six hundred dollars apiece! Someone broke into the yard and stole three of them—almost two thousand dollars’ worth. And other supplies have turned up missing. Cash flow is always a problem, and there’s just no room for this sort of thing. But then… yesterday…”
“What happened?”
“Steve came here, to the house. He’s been here before since he moved out. And… well, let’s just say it’s never a pleasant experience. But yesterday, his threats were even uglier than usual. He wanted money. He kept saying, he knew, he knew…”
“Knew what?”
Taylor had a panic-stricken look. “That’s just it. I don’t know. I have no idea what he was talking about. But he said he was going to expose me, ruin me, unless I paid him.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him the truth—that I don’t have any money. He knows that. Everything I have is tied up in the business, and in any event, he isn’t going to get a penny of it.”
“What happened then?”
“He got angry, said I didn’t understand that he knew everything. That’s when he knocked over a chair, and Galen Rockwell heard it. He came in and had his shotgun with him. He told Steve to get out.”
Taylor looked away. “My therapist thinks it’s because he feels threatened. He’s always hated the winery and resented my success with it. He’s tried so many things that didn’t pan out. He started business school—never finished. He wanted to go to law school, but never got accepted. He’s tried sales jobs of various kinds— nothing’s lived up to his delusions of grandeur about himself.” Talking about Steve, Taylor’s voice became sharper. “He always blamed his lack of success on the fact that he didn’t have money growing up, said he never got a fair shake. Then the very first venture I try, the winery, is successful right from the start. He hated that. It’s not like we’re making money hand over fist—all of the profits go right back into production—but we’ve won a lot of awards, gotten write-ups in all the major wine publications. And we’ve gotten on just about every major wine critic’s list of small wineries to watch.’’ She turned toward Annie and smiled. “I feel such a sense of accomplishment, Annie. I’ve never had something that was mine, the way North Faire is. It’s my entire existence.”
Another red flag went up in Annie’s mind. If Taylor went ahead with the divorce, the business would likely be affected by a division of community property. It didn’t sound like she was going to be in any frame of mind to compromise.
“This was your father’s farm, right? You inherited it when he died?”
Taylor’s face took on a strange expression. “It’s… kind of complicated. But yes, more or less.”
If there’s one thing a lawyer hates, it’s a vague phrase like “it’s kind of complicated” or “more or less.” But Annie decided there would be plenty of time after the Wine Gala to get into specifics, and changed the subject. “So, tell me about this Wine Gala tonight. It sounds like quite a big deal.”
Taylor bit her lip, and looked close to tears again. “Oh, Annie…”
The strange hesitation in Taylor’s voice made Annie pause. “What is it?”
Taylor closed her eyes for a moment. “I really didn’t know until yesterday. If I had, I never would have asked you to come.”
“What’s wrong?”
“When I was at the Grubenmacher Mansion yesterday afternoon for the final walk-through, I saw the guest list.”
“Yes?”
“He’s going to be there tonight. Steve is coming to the Wine Gala.”