day that they all spent with Scarlett and Roberto was exceptionally wonderful. Kate had gone out of her way to organize a picnic lunch from a barbecue chef they sometimes used for events at the ranch. His wife made the best pies in the Valley. It was a genuine celebration. Kate invited Thad to join them, without going into detail, and he looked startled when she introduced Scarlett as her mother.
He found a minute alone with her just before lunch, and looked confused.
“But I thought she was…” He was embarrassed to say it.
“So did we. We found some papers in Dad’s office safe, which led us to her. She’s been living in Santa Barbara for all these years. We just met her this week.”
“Gemma looks just like her, and you too a bit, and Morgan. She seems very nice,” he said quietly.
“She is,” Kate agreed.
“And Jimmy told you she had died?”
Kate nodded. “He lied. For all of our lives.” He was a man of many facets, and not always the hero he appeared, as they all knew. He used the truth when it was useful, but he was not above lying, if it served his purposes better. Thad knew it too.
Kate showed her mother and Roberto around the barns after they arrived, and the various aspects of the ranch. And Juliette joined them right before lunch. Kate had warned her of the visit, and explained the circumstances to her. She was shocked.
“I didn’t know any of that. He never told me,” Juliette said with a disapproving look. “I would have told you or made him tell you.”
“He kept it a secret from all of us too,” Kate said to her.
“That is so wrong,” she said in her heavy accent. “I would have made him allow you to see your mother, if I’d known. Girls need their mothers, and boys too. And I could not be a mother to you, only your friend. I think he wanted you to himself.” Kate thought so too. It was incredibly selfish of him, which wasn’t a surprise either. Their hero had feet of clay.
There was no tension when the two women met. Scarlett greeted Juliette warmly, and Juliette hugged her and told her that she was so glad she wasn’t dead, which made everyone laugh. Scarlett sat surrounded by her daughters, and chatted with her grandchildren, while Roberto entertained everyone with stories about growing up at his family’s vineyards in Tuscany, and the grandmother who ruled them all, and still did at a hundred and four. Roberto was the same age as their mother, and they both looked younger than they were.
They all went for a long walk after lunch, and Scarlett and Roberto reluctantly left at six o’clock, with promises to host lunch in Santa Barbara soon. She wanted to get to know each of her daughters. They couldn’t recapture the past, but she wanted to take full advantage of the present. She had even spent some time talking to Morgan and Billy.
Kate made them promise to come back to the ranch. The whole family stood waving at them as they left, and Scarlett was beaming and crying again. It had been a truly remarkable day.
“Dad must be spinning in his grave,” Gemma said to Kate with a grin as they drove away. “He lied to us for thirty-nine years, he’s barely cold in his grave, and she’s back and we’re all in love with her. It serves him right. What a rotten thing to do to her and to us. He ruined her life.”
“She seems all right. Roberto’s a nice man,” Kate said gently.
“Yes, but imagine not seeing your kids for nearly forty years, and our growing up with no mother. How do you live with impacting that many lives? Answer me that.”
“He didn’t ruin ours. We all turned out okay, in spite of it. And she made a bad choice. She says it herself. He forced her to live up to it, which was wrong of him. Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing.” Kate always tried to be fair.
“I think it was his revenge because she left him for another man. You don’t like to admit it, but he had a cruel streak, and he could be a son of a bitch when he wanted to be.” Kate didn’t deny it, but she forgave him more easily than her sisters. Caroline couldn’t get over what he’d done either, and said it would have killed her