From Here to Home Read online

  “Maybe. Don’t pop the champagne cork just yet. But if he likes you and things shake out the way I hope, it’d be an incredible break. You’d be the . . . co-hosting . . . House and . . . Network. It’s . . . replacement . . . but if . . .”

  Amanda’s voice kept cutting in and out. Holly was getting only every third word, but enough to understand that, miraculously and unexpectedly, she was being considered as a co-host for a program on the House and Home Network, a national cable channel.

  But what show? Before Holly could ask, Amanda’s voice cut out completely. Holly pressed the phone closer to her ear. “Amanda? Can you hear me? Amanda?”

  Apparently not. When the connection resumed a few seconds later, Amanda was speaking quickly and loudly, racing to finish the call before takeoff. “. . . issues, but that’s my worry,” Amanda said. “I’ll work out the details with him. The only catch is, you’ve got to go out there to meet him on Monday.”

  “Meet who?”

  “Jason Alvarez, the new VP for programming—or he will be, if the rumors about the reorganization are true. Don’t say anything about that to anybody, okay? It’s not supposed to be announced for a few weeks yet.”

  “But how am I . . .”

  “Somebody from the office is reserving a flight for you first thing Monday morning. They’ll e-mail you the confirmation number.”

  Holly sat up straight on the couch. “Flight? To where? Amanda!” She held the phone directly in front of her mouth and shouted. “Amanda, what’s the show?”

  Amanda kept talking as though she didn’t hear a word Holly said. “Listen, lovey, they closed the doors. I’ve gotta go. Call when you get to Texas, okay?”

  “Texas? Amanda, do you . . .”

  The line went dead. Amanda would be unreachable for the next twenty hours.

  Holly barked out a frustrated yelp and threw the phone across the sofa and into a pile of throw pillows, startling Calypso, who skittered out from under the coffee table and into the kitchen. Holly grabbed her phone again, tapping words into a search engine until she found what she was looking for.

  She was already familiar with some of the programming at House and Home Network, which, not surprisingly, focused on home, gardening, cooking, and lifestyle shows, with an emphasis on do-it-yourselfing. Holly was a semi-regular viewer of Sizzle!, a cooking show hosted by a celebrity chef who was pretty sizzling himself. She’d also seen several episodes of Flippin’ Fabulous, hosted by three attractive sisters in their mid-twenties to early thirties who renovated old houses and sold them for a tidy profit. Perusing the Web site, Holly learned that even though the network was headquartered in Los Angeles, many of the programs were filmed in Dallas. Holly guessed the production costs must be lower in Texas than in California.

  The phone pinged to alert her to an incoming e-mail. There it was—a message from the network saying she was scheduled to meet with Jason Alvarez in their Dallas offices at one o’clock on Monday and that confirmations for her Monday flight were attached.

  That was all.

  Holly hit the “reply” button, asking for more information about what show she would be hosting and where it filmed. Within seconds, she got an out-of-office reply. The person who’d made her reservation was now on vacation and would not return until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

  Great. Just great.

  Now what was she supposed to do?

  Holly put aside the phone, grabbed a throw pillow, and hugged it to her chest while chewing on her right thumbnail. Who could she talk to about the unsettling situation she found herself in? Who could help her understand all the up- and downsides to this potentially golden but still unconfirmed opportunity that was making her stomach clench and her head ache?

  Only one person.

  Holly picked up the phone but stopped mid-dial, remembering what day it was. Her mother wouldn’t be home for hours. But Holly knew where to find her.

  CHAPTER 2

  Mary Dell Templeton voluntarily ended her short-lived career as a beauty queen at the age of thirteen, but like so many true daughters of the Lone Star State, she was still a devoted fan of pageants.

  She loved the sparkle of them, the hot lights and rhinestones, the Lippizaner-like dance numbers with scores of grinning girls prancing and wheeling around the stage surrounded by plenty of flags and flash and shot at multiple camera angles to disguise the fact at least half of the contestants had never taken a dance class. But more than all that, Mary Dell loved the possibilities of pageants, the fact that on any given day any one of those girls—even those from the tiniest, most no-account, underdog towns that nobody had ever heard of—might suddenly have the best day of her life and, illuminated by an unprecedented and unexpected spark, shine as she never had before and, at the end of the night, be crowned the Queen of Everything.

  That was what made pageants so exciting. Because you never knew what might happen or who might come out on top.

  Of course, the downside was that the reign of a Queen of Everything was so short, limited to a single, flashbulb-fast year. Once it was over, the queen had to yield her crown and scepter to a new monarch and get off the stage. That part was sad, and the sort of thing that had been on Mary Dell’s mind lately, especially after spending the afternoon reading figures on the slipping viewership for Quintessential Quilting, the HHN-TV show she co-hosted with her son, Howard. Those ratings would definitely be a topic of discussion during her meeting with Gary Beatty, the head of programming, who was flying to Dallas from Los Angeles on Monday.

  It was time to renew her contract—or not. Gary forwarded the ratings to her late on Friday afternoon deliberately, Mary Dell was sure, so she’d spend the whole weekend stewing over them, softening her up so he could get more favorable terms. Gary always had been a tough negotiator. Usually, Mary Dell enjoyed the battle, but this year she wondered if she was up to the task. Was it time to get herself an agent? Maybe. But she couldn’t hire one before Monday. She’d have to go it alone.

  A swell of applause came from the television as Miss Nebraska, who had given a flawless performance of a Brahms piano sonata, rose from the keyboard and sank into a graceful curtsy. Next, the camera turned to Rachel McEnroe, a singer/actress whose star had burned brilliantly in the nineties but who was now rarely seen aside from appearances doing color commentary for pageants and parades, as well as the occasional mouthwash commercial.

  Miss McEnroe flashed a smile and informed the viewers that, after a few messages from the sponsors and a musical interlude by herself, it would be nearly time to announce the top ten finalists. “So stay tuned, America! We’ll be right back!”

  Mary Dell lowered the sound and slid her feet into a pair of black marabou slippers, the heels adding another three inches to her nearly six-foot frame.

  “Where are you going?” Howard asked, turning toward his mother. “Rachel McEnroe is next. She’s your favorite.”

  “I’m going to get a Dr Pepper. You want one?”

  Howard shook his head. “You okay, Momma?”

  Mary Dell hadn’t said a word about her worries or emitted so much as a sigh, but Howard, always so empathetic, had picked up on her mood. Worry gave way to pleasure, as it always did when she looked at her son’s face.

  Nearly thirty years before, when the doctor informed her that her baby had Down syndrome, Mary Dell had fallen into a deep but temporary despair. If only she could have known then that Howard would grow up to be such a capable young man, unfailingly honest and kind, and possessing not an atom of guile or meanness but more than a usual share of artistic inclination, color sensitivity, and showmanship.

  But who could have predicted that? When Howard was a baby, who could have seen what a bright light he would grow up to be? How he would change the world’s perceptions about people with Down syndrome? And who could have foreseen how the gift of being Howard’s mother would define and enrich her, bringing her unspeakable joy, boundless love, and completion, filling the empty places in her heart? She wouldn�
��t be who she was without Howard.

  It was like she always said: You never knew what might happen or who might come out on top. The sun rose anew every morning, and when it did, you might be about to have the best day of your life. Even on days when it was too dark to see clearly, there was a plan, and if you just kept going, you were bound to find it.

  Those few words pretty much summed up Mary Dell’s approach to life. It wasn’t a complicated or particularly profound philosophy, but it had gotten her through some very dark times, including years of infertility, the shock of being told that her baby had Down syndrome, the heartbreak of being abandoned by her husband, career derailments, financial woes, and more.

  In short, like Hamlet, Mary Dell had suffered the heartaches and “thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,” but unlike him, she had survived—perhaps because she was less philosophical and prone to introspection than the melancholy Dane. Through it all, Mary Dell endured, even when tragedies came on so relentlessly, one after another, as they had during that time she had named “the worst bad year.”

  In comparison to the worst bad year, her current career concerns were practically inconsequential. Things would work out in the end.

  “I’m fine,” she assured Howard. “I am a little worried about Miss Texas sliding off-key during her song,” she said, “but I bet she made up points in the swimsuit competition. That girl has more curves than a Coke bottle.”

  Mary Dell tottered on feathered heels toward the door but was stopped by the sound of Howard’s voice.

  “Momma?” His question was strangely sharp, as though he had suddenly remembered something he’d been meaning to bring up for some time.

  “Yes, baby? What is it?”

  “Do I hafta . . .” Howard’s voice became an indecipherable mumble, which was unusual. Years of speech therapy had ensured that Howard could speak with clarity. The only times he lapsed into mumbling was when he was ill, overtired, or upset.

  Mary Dell frowned, examining his face to see if he looked pale or flushed, ultimately concluding that he must be tired. It was getting late.

  “I’m sorry, baby. Could you say that again?”

  Howard shook his head. “Not important.”

  “What?”

  Howard licked his lips, hesitated, then spoke again. “I wanted to talk about . . .” He stopped in mid-sentence. “Never mind. Do you need me at the meeting on Monday?”

  “Not if you’ve got something else to do.”

  “Jenna invited me for a sleepover so I could see her new painting and go out for barbecue. Mrs. Morris said she’ll pick me up and bring me back Tuesday. Can I go?”

  Mary Dell nodded. “Of course, baby. Sounds like fun.”

  Howard sighed and rolled his eyes. “Momma, when are you going to stop calling me baby? I’m almost thirty. Too old for that.”

  “Never.” She walked toward him. “I’ll always be your momma and you’ll always be my baby. And don’t you forget it.”

  She kissed him on top of the head.

  “Call me when the commercials are done. I don’t want to miss Rachel McEnroe. That lady can sing the paint off the walls. Don’t you think, baby?”

  Howard turned up the volume. “Yes, ma’am. She sure can.”

  Mary Dell was looking through the cupboard for a bag of tortilla chips when the phone rang. Jeb, her eldest nephew, was calling from North Dakota. He sounded upset.

  “I can’t stand for it anymore, Aunt Mary Dell. He shows up late, drunk, or not at all. He picks fights with the other members of the crew. So I fired him.”

  “Oh, Jeb, no! Think of all he’s been through. Jeb, please. He’s your brother.”

  “That’s the reason I stuck out my neck, getting him this job,” Jeb said. “Seeing as he’s a veteran, my bosses were willing to give him a chance. But I won’t tolerate that kind of crap from anybody else, and I sure can’t put up with it from my little brother. Keeping him on is undermining my leadership. I waited five years to get promoted to crew chief. I can’t afford to lose my job on account of Rob Lee.

  “Aunt Mary Dell, you can’t help somebody who doesn’t want to be helped. If Rob Lee wants to ruin his life, there’s nothing we can do to stop him.”

  “Maybe not,” Mary Dell said, “but I have to try. I promised your mother—”

  She was interrupted by the sound of Howard’s voice, shouting from the TV room, “Momma! Commercial’s over!”

  Mary Dell pressed the phone to her big bosom and called out, “I’ll be there in a minute, baby. I’m talking to your cousin Jeb.”

  She put the receiver back to her ear, her voice stern. “Put Rob Lee on the line. I want to talk to him.”

  “He’s not here.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t care,” Jeb said testily. “He walked in the door, picked a fight, and threw the first punch. That’s when I fired him. Right before I threw him out of the house.”

  Mary Dell gave an exasperated growl, befuddled as ever by men’s preference for bashing out each other’s brains over sitting down to talk. She wondered why God, surely having understood in advance the effects of testosterone, invented it in the first place. But that was a question for another day.

  “I’m done,” Jeb declared. “I’ve got my own family to consider. Cindy was real sweet about letting Rob Lee move in with us, crowded as it was. You can’t find a decent room to rent for less than a thousand a week since the oil boom. But she’s had it. So have I. My kids were watching when Rob Lee blacked my eye. Flannery is so upset, she’s still crying. He can’t stay here, Aunt Mary Dell. He flat can’t. I’m only calling because I thought you ought to know what happened.”

  For a moment, Mary Dell was tempted to remind him of the tough times he’d been through, of the confused, angry, wounded little boy who had run away from home in the wake of his father’s alcoholism and the ugly divorce that followed, how he hid out in the barn and accidentally set it afire while smoking contraband cigarettes, and how she stood by him in all his terrors and troubles. But that wouldn’t be fair.

  Jeb had taken Rob Lee in at her request. He’d tried his best to help his brother, but he couldn’t. Rob Lee was her problem. Twelve years before, she’d promised Lydia Dale she’d watch out for her children, including Rob Lee. Mary Dell never backed down from a promise, especially not a promise made to her sister.

  “All right,” she said, her voice weary. “But do one thing for me. Find your brother, sober him up, and put him on a bus back home.”

  “Home to Dallas?”

  Mary Dell sucked her lower lip, thinking. “No. Home to Too Much.”

  “Is that a good idea? Having Cady and Rob Lee living in the same house?”

  “You know your sister better than that,” Mary Dell countered. “Cady doesn’t blame Rob Lee.”

  “She doesn’t have to. He’s doing a real good job of blaming himself. Seeing Cady and Linne will only remind him—”

  Jeb’s words were interrupted by an electronic beep signaling an incoming call. Mary Dell glanced quickly at the telephone screen and noted the familiar area code. Who would be calling her from Too Much at this hour on a Saturday night?

  “Jeb,” she said, cutting him off, her sense of being overwhelmed registering as irritation, “find your brother and put him on that bus. You hear me?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, his quick acquiescence signaling he understood the discussion was over. Jeb, too, had spent some years in the Marines. He knew how to take orders. “I’ll start looking for him.”

  “Thank you,” she said, quickly but in a gentler tone. “Call me when you find him, all right? I’ve got to take this call.”

  Clicking over to the incoming line, Mary Dell was surprised to hear Pearl Dingus answer her greeting. Pearl, one of her very first quilting students, now worked part-time in Mary Dell’s quilt shop, the Patchwork Palace, back in her hometown of Too Much, Texas. She wasn’t the sort of friend to call up just to shoot the breeze after ten
o’clock, not unless she had news, probably bad, to relay.

  “What’s wrong? Was there an accident? A fire? Has the shop burned down?”

  “Everything at the shop is fine. I’m calling about your momma,” Pearl said.

  Mary Dell took in a sharp breath and held it, imagining the worst, not stopping to consider that had Taffy suddenly died, Cady, her niece, would likely be the one calling to tell her, not Pearl.

  “Mary Dell, have you talked to Taffy lately?”

  “Yes,” she said slowly, wondering where this was leading. “Last week. I call out to the ranch every Sunday. Pearl, what’s this about?”

  “Then you know Taffy’s acting loopy.”

  “I don’t know if I’d call her loopy,” Mary Dell replied, her heartbeat slowing now that she knew her mother was still among the living. “She’s forgetful, maybe. Scattered. Who isn’t at eighty-five?”

  “Mary Dell, this is more than being scattered. It’s one thing for an old lady to forget her wedding anniversary or her coat. It’s another thing to forget she ever was married. Or to put on clothes.”

  “Clothes! Pearl, what are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about Taffy losing what was left of her marbles. Your momma is under the impression that she is twenty-five, single, and the cutest little trick in shoe leather. She’s been batting her eyelashes at every man in Too Much, eligible or otherwise. And this afternoon, I found her walking down the sidewalk, bold as you please, wearing nothing but pearls, high heels, and a slip!”

  “Oh, good Lord.” Mary Dell covered her face with one hand, trying to block out the mental image of her mother sashaying around town in her underwear. “Why didn’t Cady call me?”

  “Because Cady doesn’t know about it. She called from the hospital early this morning and asked if I could open the shop for her. Moises had a stroke—”

  “No! Is he all right?”

  “Think so,” Pearl reported. “But he won’t be able to work for a while. You’re going to need to find a new ranch manager until he recovers. Maybe permanently. Anyway, I was unlocking the store when I saw Taffy strolling down the block, half-naked and whistling. I brought her inside, wrapped her in three yards of calico, and drove her home to the F-Bar-T.”