CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
It was nightfall when they got out of the limousine that picked them up from the airfield and drove to the Keating compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.
As they made their way to the front porch of the Tudor-style, old English-looking mansion, what Maude loved about Edmund was how he looked out for her.
He didn’t just throw designer clothes at her and told her to put them on so that she didn’t embarrass him in front of his ritzy parents.
He asked her a simple question: “Do you prefer to wear your own wardrobe to Kennebunkport, or would you prefer I purchase a wardrobe for you?”
When she told him that she preferred to wear her own, he told her that it was a good move. “Be yourself,” he told her, “first and foremost.”
But he didn’t stop there. “I’ll abide by your decision,” he said, “but because you’re mine now, and you represent me now, it’s my preference that you have the best.”
At first, she didn’t know how to take that comment.
But once she thought about it, it made perfect sense.
She was his girlfriend now, although it was still murky in his eyes if she was going to be his only one.
It wasn’t murky in her eyes at all. If he was going to be with her, she had to be his only one.
But he’d already warned her that the jury, as he put it, was still out on that.
But what the jury wasn’t still out on was the fact that by inviting her to his childhood home, he was inviting her into his world. And in his world they didn’t get down with off the rack, BOGO kind of clothes. They just didn’t. And when in Rome. . .
And that was why she was stepping up proudly on the porch of that mansion in Prada head to toe, and with a cute little Birkin bag on her arm. Even her hairdo and makeup looked professional. And she found that she liked how she looked. She wasn’t mad at his “preference” at all!
She glanced back at Don and Wyatt, who stayed back at the limousine, and they were giving her smiles and thumbs up.
Which made her smile too. Between them and Edmund, they felt like a little family together.
Which was a first for her since her real family died.
Her most fervent prayer was that somehow Edmund could keep them all together.
Which meant that Edmund would have to keep her.
Which meant she would have to be enough for him or it would be a no-go for her.
But that didn’t mean she was cool, calm, and collected. She had butterflies in her stomach she was so nervous. Edmund didn’t tell her much about his family. But to Maude, that wasn’t a good sign.
Edmund looked at her as they walked up on his parents’ front porch. She was already beautiful. But now she was elegant too. The total package to him. But he already knew what his parents would see.
And that came true as soon as the butler opened the door and they walked in.
Samuel and Eloise Keating, along with their youngest child Colin Keating, were standing in the massive living room.
What Maude noticed first about that family was how handsome the father was.
He was a toweringly good looking man. Even better looking than Edmund.
His wife was most attractive too. Just a gorgeous lady. She saw where Edmund got his looks.
And his younger brother seemed ecstatic. He smiled a grand smile as soon as he saw his big brother. But the parents remained stoic.
Edmund placed his hand on Maude’s lower back and propelled her slightly in front of him.
She kept a smile on her face, which was hard to do when his parents looked so mean, but she didn’t care.
She was going to be herself just as Edmund had advised.
She was dressed prim and proper, but if they wanted to go low, she was more than capable of going right down there with them.
She was surprised when Edmund actually smiled at his kid brother. “Colin, hello!”
Edmund reached out his hand to his brother, but his brother wrapped him into a big bear hug. “It’s so good to see you again, Eddie. You haven’t been home in a coon’s age!”
Because white folks in blackface minstrel shows used to refer to blacks as coons, that term was considered highly offensive.
But to hear it from Colin and then for that look of regret on his face as soon as those words left his mouth, made Maude inwardly laugh.
He looked so embarrassed when he was probably just being himself.
But she smiled and extended her hand to the blonde-haired young man who looked to be only a couple years younger than she was. “Hello, Colin.”
When he realized she wasn’t going to cuss him out for being so rude, his grand smile returned and he gladly shook her hand. “You must be Miss Maude. It’s so nice to meet you, Miss Maude.”
Maude laughed. “Maude is good,” she said as he practically shook her hand off. “And it’s nice to meet you too.”
Neither could say that they heard wonder things about the other one because Edmund rarely mentioned either one.
“And Maude,” he said as he moved her along to her parents, “this is Samuel and Eloise Keating. My parents. And mother, father, this is--”
“Another gold digger,” said Samuel dryly. “We know.”
Although she was inwardly alarmed by how easily such a word rolled off his tongue with no embarrassment at all, unlike with Colin, she continued to smile as she extended her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said.
“Nice to meet you too, Maude,” Eloise said as they shook hands.
When Maude extended her hand to Samuel, he looked at it. “I’ll shake it when I know it,” he said.
“Suit yourself,” Maude shot back, withdrawing her hand, but maintaining her smile.
Edmund and Colin were impressed that their father didn’t rattle her. Samuel and Eloise were surprised. But what his little comments taught Maude was that he wasn’t so tough after all. She’d faced-down tougher bigots than him in Dillon.
“Have a seat,” Eloise said, whom she liked, and Edmund and Maude sat down on one of the two sofas in the room. The parents sat on the sofa facing theirs. But Colin sat beside Edmund.
“How’s life at Saint Catherine’s, son?” Eloise asked.
“The same,” said Edmund.
“Have you gotten a better team around you?” asked Samuel. “That group I saw the last time I was in Baltimore left a lot to be desired.”
Edmund crossed his legs. He didn’t respond to that. It seemed to Maude like a coping mechanism for Edmund. His father, she already could see, was triggering for him.
“What about John Hopkins?” his father asked him.
“Father, must you always go there every time Eddie shows up?” Colin asked.
“You stay out of this!” Samuel shot back. Then he waited for Edmund to respond.
“What about John Hopkins, Father?”
“I spoke with the chief of surgery over there. He’s retiring in a few months. He still wants you to take his place.”
“And I told you I’m not leaving Saint Catherine’s.”
“Why the hell not, Edmund? John Hopkins is premiere. Saint Catherine barely registers in that category.”
Edmund’s jaw tightened, but he wasn’t about to mix it up with his father. “You summoned me here for a reason?” he asked.
“Yes, we did,” said Eloise. “Colin, go get your sister.”
“Yes ma’am,” Colin said and left the room.
But Edmund and Maude were surprised. “Tasha’s here?” Edmund asked them.
“Why wouldn’t she be here?” asked Samuel. “She comes home more often than you do.”
“When did she get here?”
“Just after I phoned you. That’s why I phoned you. And to say I am upset is an understatement.”
Edmund frowned. “Upset about what?”
“What she said you did to her.”
“What did I do to her?”
“You had your henchmen abduct her for one!”
Maude was floored. “That is such a lie!” she blared out, shocking Samuel and Eloise, just as Colin and Natasha walked into the room.
“It’s not a lie,” Natasha said.
“Just sit down,” Samuel said to his daughter. She quickly sat down beside her parents. Colin sat back down beside his brother. And that was the arrangement their entire lives: Edmund and Colin on one side, with Natasha and their parents on the other side. Only now, Edmund had Maude on his side too.
“What is this about an abduction, Natasha?” Edmund asked her.
“She told us a harrowing story of abduction at the hands of your men,” said Samuel.
“What men?” asked Edmund. “I have no men.”
“That’s what I told Father,” Colin said. “Tasha’s story doesn’t make any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” said Natasha.
“But what men are you talking about?” asked Edmund. “I have no men.”
“You have Donnell,” Samuel said. “And he has men.”
“He has a security firm that does security work. They don’t go around abducting people. And especially not my sister!”
But it made even less sense to Maude. “Why would he abduct you, Natasha?”
“Because he wants me out of the line of succession. That’s why!” She looked at Edmund with venom in her eyes. “I’m the oldest child. Everything is supposed to go to me by birthright. And Edmund hates that fact. He wants me dead.”
Maude looked at him. She expected him to lash out at Natasha. But he didn’t. So she did. “If he wanted you dead, why would he do everything in his power to get you released from jail?”
“And you see what happened after I got released. I was almost killed.”
“So were we!” Maude said.
“And who was driving that BMW, Tasha? Edmund asked her.
“You tried to set up Hamp so you could get me arrested. You wanted Daddy to declare me unfit to be his successor and therefore you would be next in line.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Colin said. “Edmund doesn’t want you out of the line of succession. Do you, Eddie?”
But when his big brother didn’t respond, even he became worried. “Does your silence mean that you want her out of the line of succession?” Colin asked him.
Edmund’s jaw tightened. “She’s not capable of heading this family. She’ll squander all Father has built up in a matter of months. She’s too unstable.”
“See what I told you!” Natasha said.
But Maude and Colin looked shocked. Eloise did too.
But Samuel didn’t. “He makes a point,” he said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
“So you didn’t want her to be the heir apparent,” said Colin asked, “so you did what?”
“He tried to kill me just like I said.”
“I was in jeopardy too. And my girlfriend. There’s no way I would have put Maude in danger just to get rid of you.”
“See how he talks about me, Daddy! He just met that girl but he’s so in love with her. Yet he hates me. His own sister. That’s why he tried to set up Hamp to take the spotlight off of him.” Then she looked at Edmund. “You tried to set up Hamp.”
“And you killed Hamp. Which is worse?”
“Killed him? What do you mean?” She seemed genuinely floored to them. “Hamp is dead?”
“His diner was firebombed yesterday,” Maude said.
“With him inside?”
Maude nodded. “I’m afraid so, yes.”
Natasha broke down into uncontrollable tears and screams. Colin and Edmund rushed to her side as Samuel pressed a button.
Within seconds, his butler hurried into the room. “Get her upstairs,” Samuel ordered his butler.
“Yes sir.”
“And call Doc Creigton. Tell him to get here now.”
“Yes, sir,” the butler said as he and Colin escorted a totally distraught Natasha up the stairs to her bedroom.
But Maude looked at Edmund. “She loved Hamp?” she asked him.
He hunched his shoulders. He was as confused as she was.
When Edmund sat back down, Eloise looked at Maude. “Were you named after Bea Arthur?”
That was out of nowhere. Maude looked at Eloise. “Excuse me?”
“Were you named after Bea Arthur?”
Her daughter just accused her son of trying to kill her, then her daughter had a meltdown over the man that accused her of killing his wife, and she was asking about somebody Maude had never heard of before?
Was it her coping mechanism around a family this dysfunctional? “Who’s Bea Arthur?” Maude asked her.
Eloise was shocked. “You don’t know Bea Arthur?”
“She’s not ancient like you, Ellie,” Samuel said. “She doesn’t know who Bea Arthur is. She probably never watched a single episode of The Golden Girls.”
That was true, Maude thought.
“I’m not talking about the role she played on The Golden Girls. I’m talking about when she played Maude on that TV program. Maude was one tough cookie.”
“She was tough alright,” said Samuel. “She was a pain in the ass to Archie Bunker.”
“To Archie Bunker?” Maude knew about him. “She was a pain in the ass to that racist? Good!”
Edmund and Eloise laughed. But Samuel was offended.
“Anyway,” Eloise said before he had a chance to show his offensiveness. She stood up, which prompted all of them to stand too. “Let’s all get some shut eye. It’s considered late in these parts.”
“Breakfast is served promptly at eight a.m.,” said Samuel. “And Maude, we don’t do C.P. time around here.”
“Good,” said Maude. “Neither do I.”
Edmund smiled. Samuel looked at her as if he couldn’t make sense of her.
Eloise, Maude could tell, was trying to suppress a grin herself. “See you at eight,” Eloise said, and began leaving the room. Samuel followed her, but not before glancing back and giving Maude a serious look of disapproval.
Then Samuel suddenly stopped and turned back around. “By the by,” he said, “there will be no sharing of rooms between unmarried people in my home.” Then he looked at the young lady’s maid that stood on duty. “Hortense, see Miss Drayton to her room.”
“Yes sur.”
“Edmund,” said Samuel, “you know where your room is located. See that you sleep there.” And then he left.
“Wow,” said Maude.
“You did good, Maude,” said Edmund. “My father is like that. Don’t let him steal your joy.”
“Oh don’t worry,” said Maude with a smile, although a part of her was disappointed that she seemed destined to be hated by Edmund’s father almost as much as Natasha seemed to hate Edmund.
It wasn’t exactly the impression she had hoped to make.