Chapter 49: Mary

I expected Mom and Dad late in the afternoon. I was working in the front yard, sweating like a pig, when the truck drove in. I just stood there gawking. It was a big, new, double-cab dual with a huge, fifth-wheel trailer.

My dad got out the driver's side. He looked wonderful. The other door slammed, and Mom came round the front. She looked like I'd never seen her. Her hair is my color, and now it's long and loose with a wide barrette. They were both wearing jeans, western shirts and boots.

I hugged them both, especially Mom.

"Come on in and meet the guys. I don't know if everyone's here, I was expecting you later."

"We didn't really say when we'd get here because we didn't know ourselves," Dad said.

Mom waved at him dismissively, "Really, Mary, it's because I woke up real early this morning and I said, 'Sam, I want to see my girl. Let's get going'. Mary, you look wonderful and I am so glad to see you after all this time."

She kept on talking about what a great, slow trip they had taken, started to talk about the sights they'd seen. I took them into the house, past the dining area and kitchen and into the living room sort of the long way around. I did it on purpose, no point in pussyfooting. At the eastern end, on the wall, hung the five pictures.

They stopped dead in their tracks. Dad looked at me and smiled.

Mom walked over to the wall; Dad came up and put his arm around my waist. "Oh, Mary. They are wonderful. All of them. But this isn't the one of you I have at home."

"No, Mom. That was Will's first drawing of me, a copy. These are what he calls his 'Goddesses', Anne's Venus, I'm Diana. That one is Sigrid as a virgin and this one is her as Leda. And that's Heather's Ceres. Will's done lots of others of all of us, they sell quite well. Come around the other side of the wall, you can see some of our other stuff." I looked at Dad and smiled. He winked at me.

We went past the wall into the gallery. Mom came to a stop.

"That's some pretty heavy stuff. Is this what you sell?" She looked closer. "But it's beautiful. And the horses... my God!"

"These are some Erotics and Explicits that we're thinking of putting in the catalog. Yes, we sell a lot of them, business is really picking up. The horses are sketches Will does for his commissions. And some of them, the ones with the girls, are things he does of the students at the stable."

"I can see why you're really selling. I want to meet him."

We walked back into the living room. I looked out the window and saw Alex and Heather lying on a mattress in the sun, naked. Alex had an arm over Heather's chest; his hand covered her breast. Dad saw them, I couldn't tell if Mom did, because just then Sigrid came in.

"Hi, are you Mary's folks?"

We all went round the upper floors, doing the good old American house tour. I showed them the room they would have. Mom and Sigrid were chatting.

"Mom, Sigrid's our accountant. Also does our menu planning and nutrition. She's mom, with a small 'm'. You two should have a lot to talk about. Dad, you and I need to take that rig of yours down to the stables and leave it there. It's taking up the whole driveway. You guys want to come?"

"No, hon, I've been in that truck long enough. I need to pee and I want to get to know Sigrid. Just don't be too long."

Dad and I went outside. When the front door was closed, I hugged him a long time. "Oh, Dad," I said, "she's wonderful. What a change. I can hardly believe it."

"She's the girl I married, again, Mary. I thank God every day."

We looked at the rig. It was brand new. Lots of gadgets. The trailer was big enough for four horses, and in the front was a small area where you could store clothes and tack.

"There are two slipper bunks above the fifth wheel, Mary, in case you need them. Not much room, but okay in an emergency. You'll fit — I tried it myself."

"I'll fit? What do you mean?"

"The rig's yours, Mary. We want you to have it."

The hugs seemed to come closer together and last longer.

I drove the rig down to the stable and showed it to Sarah. She was delighted. "Mr. Travis..."

"Sam."

"Sam, it's just what she needs. Put your tack in there now, Mary. You've got an early start tomorrow and you'll be up all night talking, if I'm any judge."

So we loaded the stuff I'd need for the show, and walked back to the house. When we went in, there was no one in the living room.

"Mom? Sigrid?" I called.

"Downstairs," Mom's voice replied.

Dad and I went down the stairs. Sigrid and Mom were sitting at our study table looking at some of Sigrid's files. They were both naked as jay birds.

"Close your mouth, Mary, it makes you look funny. Sigrid brought me down here and I asked the fatal question, 'What's that?' She told me it's a sauna. And then, Alex and Heather came in from outside, where they'd been sunning and necking... Yes, Mary, I saw them from upstairs when you and Sam did.

"Sam, the only way to describe a sauna is to take one. We left the heat on. You and Mary go ahead, I'm working with my fellow accountant, here, and Mary smells like sweat and horses."