Mountain Song Read Online Free Page B

keep
you any longer. And really, I’ll be much better when I’m rested. We’ll...have
that talk.”
    “Where are you
staying?” Andy asked politely, his slow retreat bringing him to the door.
    “At Bea’s.”
    Another look exchanged
between Andy and Bea, another volume spoken without a single word,
communication that Claudia was not privy to. But Bea ducked her brows in her
best stern grandmother face, and Andy gave a small wave.
    “No Late Show for you
tonight, Bea,” he said. “See if you can get that rest you were threatening.”
    Alone with Bea finally,
Claudia dragged the orange plastic chair around so she could sit next to the
bed.
    “You know, you didn’t
have to tell him all that,” she said wearily, sinking into the hard,
unforgiving contours of the chair.
    “What, that your
father gave you your job? Or that you were good at it?”
    “Either. Both. Any of
it. Oh, Bea, why couldn’t you have told me he was your doctor? Or even given me
a small hint that he was back here in Lake Tahoe?”
    “Claudia.” Bea allowed
herself a sigh, a deep intake of breath let slowly out, as she closed her eyes
and sank even further into her bedding. “I told you why already. I made a
promise.”
    “What exactly was that
promise?”
    “The night you went
back to New Jersey...well, let’s just say that you left behind quite a mess to
clean up. Did you give any thought at all to how that poor boy was going to
react?”
    Claudia had. She’d
thought about it a lot, in fact, but unfortunately that was long after the taxi
had taken her to the airport, after she’d cried in the bathroom and boarded the
flight back east. At the time, all she could think about was getting away, back
to what was familiar, back where she might be able to forget that Andy Woods
just hadn’t loved her quite enough.
    “I...know I didn’t
handle that well,” she said. “And I guess I’ve owed you an apology for quite a
long time, Bea.”
    “Yes, my dear, and I
accept.”
    “But you didn’t even
give me a chance to tell you how sorry I am.”
    “I know you’re sorry,
Claudia.” Bea still hadn’t opened her eyes, and Claudia noticed that her face
looked paler than ever. “I know a lot of things without you having to spell
them out in detail. Let’s just say that you’ve been doing a lot of growing
these last few years. You’ve become a woman in many ways.”
    Many ways. That was
true, even if some of it had come a terrible price. Not that she had any
regrets. The legacy of her romance with Andy, both more powerful and more
costly than either of them could ever have guessed, had changed her life
completely.
    “I was such a pain
then, Bea,” Claudia said softly, leaning her elbows onto the mattress and
resting her chin in her hands. “How could you stand me?”
    Bea smiled, the lines
around her eyes crinkling into a complex map of lines and paths. “You forget,
my darling, that I too was once a spoiled young heiress. You might say I have a
soft spot for beautiful, impetuous girls who just happen to be my own flesh and
blood.”
    “Was I...that awful?”
    “No. You were never
awful. You were so lovely and charming that no one could ever stay mad at you
for long, even when you were a two year old in the thick of a tantrum. I
suspect you drove your poor folks crazy, but complete strangers were forever
coming up just to adore you. And you just drank it in, gave them that million
dollar smile and that precocious little curtsy.”
    Claudia wrinkled her
nose. “You make me sound absolutely dreadful.”  
    “And then when you got
a little older...lands, how the boys used to line up.”
    As Bea chuckled at the
memory, Claudia frowned. “I’m not sure that’s quite accurate,” she said.
    “Don’t you remember
all those suitors?”
    “I remember a lot of
boys, yes, Bea. Beastly ones at the country club who liked to try to see how
far they could get with a Canfield girl.”
    “I guess it was lucky
that Brenda and Tina came first,