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Cat made her announcement at dinner that evening after coffee was served. As
expected, her decision was not greeted with approval. To her father's credit,
he reacted to the news with commendable restraint. It was Ty who erupted.
"Good God, Cat, you only have a year left. It's idiotic to quit now."
"Some may think that, but I don't." Cat toyed with her coffee cup, conscious
of her father's cool gaze.
"I know these last couple months have been difficult for you," her father
began smoothly. "But before you make any hasty decisions, I think we should
discuss this."
"There is nothing to discuss," Cat replied. "I have already sent a letter to
the dean of admissions, informing her that I won't be returning for classes
this fall."
"Without talking to me first?" It was that, more than her decision, that
raised his eyebrow. "I think you could have told me about this before you
mailed the letter."
"Maybe I should have," she conceded. "But it is my life and my decision to
make."
"Cat, you know how much your mother wanted you to have a college education,"
he reminded her.
"Yes, I do." She was stung by the implication that she was somehow being
disloyal to her mother's memory. "But it was never what I wanted."
"Of all the selfish.." Ty hurled his napkin on the table.
"I am not selfish!" Cat came out of her chair. "All my life I have done what
somebody else wanted me to do. I was never given a choice about boarding
school; I was sent. Out of high school, I was told not to get married, but to
go to college first. I didn't even get to choose what university to attend.
Before I knew it, I was enrolled in your alma mater." She flung a hand in Ty's
direction, giving full rein to her temper. "And heaven forbid that I get
married while I'm still in college. I was told that was unthinkable. And being
a good little girl, I did what I was told. Well, not any more."
There was an instant of stunned silence in the room. Only Jessy showed no
surprise at the vitriol that laced her outburst. The glimmer of approval in
her eyes told Cat that she had at least one ally present.
"I still have some of my things there that I'll need to go get," she said. "I
plan to leave in a day or so, pack them up and come home."
Chase tried again to talk her out of it, but Cat was adamant in this. In the
end, he accepted her decision.
CHAPTER FIVE
Page 23
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The rear of the Blazer was jammed with boxes, framed pictures and assorted
odds and ends, the accumulation of three years at the University of Texas. Cat
had only one stop to make, the result of a phone call to her friend and
sorority sister Kinsey Davis Phelps.
The instant Kinsey had learned of her decision to drop out of college, she had
wailed, "Cat, honey, you can't do this! I know you're all broke up about your
fiance dying, but this will be our last year. You've got to come back." After
thirty minutes of trying to talk Cat into changing her mind, Kinsey had
finally given up. "To tell you the truth, honey, I thought we Phelps were good
at digging in our heels, but you Calders have cornered the market on stubborn.
But you can't break up the gang like this. Have you told the other girls yet?"
"I haven't had time, and I don't now. I'll get hold of them once I'm back
home. Which brings me back to the reason I called you-I'll be pulling into
Waco around suppertime. If you're free tonight, we could get together."
Kinsey groaned in regret. "J J. asked me to spend the weekend with her in Fort
Worth. Daddy's flying me up there this afternoon. Wait a minute," she said
with sudden excitement. "We're getting together with Babs and Debby Ann
tonight at the White Elephant Saloon, probably go over to Billy Bob's later.
You know there's talk that Billy Bob's might be closing," Kinsey had added as
an aside. "Why don't you meet us there? Then the whole gang will be together
again. If we can't talk you into staying, then we'll have one big blowout of a
party to send you on your way back to Montana."
Cat had quickly agreed. It was the one regret she'd had, coming back before
fall classes resumed: she wouldn't see any of her college friends. Now that
had been handled.
By the time Cat reached the city limits of Fort Worth, the sun had slipped
below the horizon, leaving long streaks of red in the sky to form a vivid
backdrop for the concrete and glass towers of downtown. She followed the
north-south freeway that bisected the city.
But it wasn't the coming reunion with her college friends that occupied her
thoughts. It was pieces of her own family's history, the stories that had been
passed down about her greatgrandfather Chase Benteen Calder. Texas-born, he
had been raised on a ranch somewhere south of the city and had fallen in love
with the daughter of a local store owner. Fort Worth had been his last stop
before heading north with a herd of cattle, his young bride at his side, to
build a permanent home in Montana.
Cat was struck by the parallel that Fort Worth was to be her last stop before
going to Montana for good. The difference was, she was making the journey
alone, without the one she loved. The loss of Repp twisted through her, sharp
enough to bring the sting of tears to her ears and blur her vision. Cat almost
missed seeing the exit sign for the historic Stockyards District. Hurriedly
she switched lanes and took the off-ramp, then turned west on Twenty-eighth
Street.
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