Chapter Ten #3
She wondered how she was going to manage to work and raise a family, or if Blake really wanted her to.
She liked her job, but she loved the idea of being with her children while they were small, taking them places, reading to them, being with them.
Her mother had given up work to be a stay-at-home mother, and she’d never regretted it.
Violet knew that she would feel the same.
If Blake had been a common laborer, and she had to work to help make their living, she knew she’d cope.
But they were in different circumstances. She wanted to try it.
As she walked into Duke Wright’s office the next morning, she noticed that her boss was looking uneasy. He glanced up at her approach, and he didn’t smile.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked uneasily.
He shook his head. “Beka’s on her way.”
“Excuse me?”
“Beka. My…almost ex-wife. And our son.”
“Oh.” She put down her purse. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“There isn’t much to be done,” he replied. He moved away from the desk with his hands in his jeans pockets. “I hope she meant what she said on the phone, that she’s willing to consider leaving Trent with me.”
“Maybe she did,” Violet said, trying to be reassuring.
He shrugged. “It’s just that she may change her mind if she finds out I’ve got Delene working here in the lab,” he blurted out.
“Does she know Delene?” Violet wanted to know.
He grimaced. “They only met once, at my college reunion. Delene didn’t like her, and it showed. See, Beka had barely graduated high school at the time. It was before she went back to college to get her law degree. Delene was in my graduating class—a science major, at that. She always was brainy.”
Violet’s eyebrows arched. “Well!”
“If she thinks I’m involved with Delene, she may take Trent right back to New York,” he said uncomfortably. “What can I do? I can’t very well fire the best biologist I’ve got!”
“You could have Delene go off on a fact-finding trip to Colorado,” she suggested.
He looked at her blankly. “Colorado?”
“Isn’t the National Cattleman’s Association sponsoring some sort of workshop for artificial insemination experts this week?” she wondered.
He pursed his lips. “Why, so they are! There was a brochure about it in the mail last week, remember?”
“Yes, I do.” She checked her watch. “You could get her on a plane by noon, if you hurry.”
He chuckled. “Violet, you’re a wonder!”
“Just a suggestion, boss.”
He sighed. “Now, if she’ll just go…!”
“Ask her. But you’d better hurry,” she pointed out. “You don’t have much time.”
“I’ll do it right now. Uh, those letters on the desk need answering, but I haven’t got a minute to dictate them right now. Just catch up herd records, okay?”
“Okay.”
He was gone before she had a chance to even answer him. She sat down, amused, and turned on her computer. It was going to be an interesting day.
* * *
Two hours later, she was deep in a spreadsheet program, listing daily weight gain quotas and measurements from the new bull yearling crop, when the door opened and a tall, blond woman walked in with a small boy in a suit in tow.
She stopped short when she saw Violet at the desk. She frowned, and peered at the woman. “Do I know you?” she asked slowly.
“Are you Mrs. Wright?” Violet replied politely, and then grimaced, because she was about to be the ex-Mrs. And that might not be a politically correct way of addressing her. Violet flushed.
“I’m Beka Wright,” the other woman replied tersely. She moved forward, with the little boy. “Are you new?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Violet agreed. “I’ve been working for Mr. Wright on and off for just a few weeks.”
“On and off?” Beka queried, while the child at her side fidgeted and leaned against her leg in its elegant black slacks above high heels.
“Mr. Kemp fires me periodically,” she replied. “Or I quit. But I’ll be going back pretty soon, I guess, because we’re sort of engaged,” she added quickly, before the other woman could get the wrong idea about her presence here. She smiled shyly.
“Blake Kemp is getting married?” Mrs. Wright asked. She felt her forehead. “I must feel worse than I thought. Or maybe I’m hearing things.”
“No, it’s true,” Violet assured her. “We’re sort of having a baby.”
“A baby. Now I know I need to sit down.” Mrs. Wright plopped into the chair in front of the desk and hoisted the little boy onto her lap. “Where’s my husb…my ex-husband?” she corrected curtly.
“I think he drove Miss Crane to the airport,” she replied, and then could have bitten her tongue out for mentioning it.
“Delena Crane?” Her face tightened. “What’s she doing here?” Beka demanded.
“Uh, she’s going to a conference in Colorado. She’s a biologist.” She didn’t dare add that she worked for Mr. Wright, too.
Beka relaxed, but just a little. “Does she spend much time here?” she asked suspiciously.
“Not much, no.” Violet hoped she wouldn’t get in trouble for lying.
“Good. I mean, I wouldn’t want my son around her,” Beka qualified. “She has an attitude problem. When will Duke be back?” she continued.
Violet looked past her and grimaced. “Any second,” she murmured uncomfortably.
Beka turned around. Duke Wright was standing in the doorway, his hat cocked low over one eye, his face as rigid as steel. And he wasn’t smiling.