Sleigh Belles
As they grew up, Dallas had loved her brother like no one else in her life. He had been her hero. They had always had an incredibly close relationship. Houston always told her that whoever married her would be the luckiest young man in history, since he would get to have Dallas forever. To say she put him on a pedestal was a major understatement. She used to tell him he was her favorite person in the world. And he’d let her know she was the most special person in his life, too. Even when he’d moved out to campus, they’d still talked all the time and he’d taken her to the movies and out for ice cream once a month. She’d loved him more than anyone. He had been her security.
When Dallas was in the ninth grade, she was basically living life like most teenaged girls her age. Makeup, boys, fashion and cheerleading practice filled her days. Houston, meanwhile, was twenty-two, gorgeous and fixin’ to graduate from Alabama.
One day he’d brought a woman, Eleanor Walsh, home with him to meet his family. As smart and charming as Houston was, they weren’t at all surprised that he’d found someone special. But when Eleanor walked in the door, she was definitely a surprise, all right. She was about thirty years old, though Houston was just barely twenty-two. He was defensive right away, explaining to LouAnn and Dallas that they were in love and that it was serious. He told them he was planning on marrying her. Dallas, being so young, was actually really excited and wanted to get to know her new “older sister” right away. She trusted her brother’s instincts on everything, so if he said this woman was the right one, Dallas was happy to accept it.
As they continued dating, Houston made sure that she and Eleanor became close. They’d take shopping trips together, go to movies and the couple made a real effort to spend time at the house with Dallas and her mother. So one day, Dallas and Eleanor went to Eleanor’s house to get ready to go out to a movie together with Houston. It was the first time she’d been invited to Eleanor’s place, so she was both nervous and excited. When Dallas entered the house, she immediately was shocked at the mess. The home was filthy—dirty pots and pans on the stove, so much old grease on the floor she couldn’t even see the color of the tile. As she moved through the house, following closely behind Eleanor, she heard noises coming from the laundry room. As they passed by, heading up the hall to Eleanor’s bedroom, Dallas caught a figure out of the corner of her eye.
A man was sitting on the floor, surrounded by parts from the washing machine, along with screwdrivers and other tools spread out around him. The man glanced up as Dallas walked by. He locked eyes with young Dallas, and instantly she felt a pang in her stomach: that uh-oh feeling you got when things weren’t quite right. She had a feeling that Houston might not know this woman as well as he thought.
“Who’s that?” she asked Eleanor.
“No one. Just the repairman,” she answered casually.
Dallas still felt that feeling. From another bedroom up the hall, Dallas could hear the sounds of children. One was crying. One was arguing with an older woman. As they walked toward the open door, she could see that the older woman was sitting in a small chair designed for a child. She was smoking a cigarette and staring out the window as she “babysat” the kids. As they walked past the door, the older of the two little boys ran out of the room and latched himself on to Eleanor’s leg, wrapping himself around her. “Mommy! Hi! Will you stay home tonight?”
Dallas was stunned. The child was about four years old and the other looked to be only two. They were Eleanor’s kids. Eleanor had kids! In all the time she’d known her, there had never, not once, been mention of her sons.
“Momma, can’t you do something with them?” Eleanor said to the older woman.
“Y’all get off of your momma now,” the woman said, ashing her cigarette on the windowsill. “She’s goin’ out. Go in there and see what yer daddy’s doin’.”
Dallas couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was the man with the washing machine the father? She froze in place, trying to take this news in for a second. Several seconds.
Dallas got an instant stomachache. She was afraid she had stumbled onto a secret. Surely her beloved brother had no idea he was dating a married woman, with children. Not dating, but fixin’ to marry!
Dallas didn’t want to go to the movies anymore. She wanted to rush home to save her brother from this horrible woman. She wanted to protect him now. She absolutely knew her brother would never be involved with her if he knew the truth. But as she stood there trying to imagine how she’d break the news, Eleanor shuffled her off to her bedroom and began chatting away as she got ready, as though none of this were out of the ordinary. In shock, Dallas wasn’t able to do much but follow along and wait for the right opportunity to speak up.
Houston, Eleanor and Dallas made it to the movies anyway, but late that night, after they’d dropped Eleanor off, Dallas decided she had to tell Houston what she’d found out. When they pulled into the driveway of her mother’s house, she just blurted it all out in one breath, thinking it might be better to rip it off like a Band-Aid.
“Yeah, I know,” he answered, once Dallas had finished.
“What? You know she’s married and has kids? How could you still want to marry her?”
“I just do, Dallas. You have no idea what the situation really is. Her husband doesn’t love her, and they are getting a divorce.”
“When? I mean he was there fixing the washing machine and her kids were screaming and crying for her to stay home.”
But rather than listen to her concern, rather than talking things out with her as he always did, Houston seemed to have grown cold. “You need to stay out of this. It’s none of your business. She thought no one would be home when she took you there today. I’m sorry you had to see all that.”
“Does Mom know?” she asked.
“Yeah, and she understands,” he said pointedly. “She knows Eleanor loves me and I love her.”
“But what about her kids? They were dirty, and her mother was smoking while she was taking care of them. I mean—” she paused and swallowed hard “—is this the kind of woman you really want to marry? Someone who cares so little about her family? Think about how Dad—”
He cut her off midsentence by hitting his fist on the wheel. Houston had had about all he could take from what he suddenly saw as a meddling little sister.
“Don’t imply she’s not good enough, Dallas. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Now just get out, okay?”
She was brokenhearted as she slowly climbed out of his car and went into the house. Her hero had fallen off his pedestal.
The next morning, she asked her mom all about it, and LouAnn confirmed her worst fears. It was all true. But Dallas wasn’t going to give up that easily. She’d always thought her mom was far too easy with Houston, trying to make up for the fact that she had depended on him to take their father’s place for so much of his life.
“He’s happy and that’s all that matters,” LouAnn said.
“But he won’t be for long. He just likes the attention right now. She’s older. That’s all it is,” Dallas reasoned. “You have to know that. Even I know that.”
“That’s enough,” LouAnn snapped, stopping the conversation cold. She’d walked out of the room, leaving Dallas alone with her worry.
Over the next few weeks, Dallas continued to try in vain to save her precious brother. Her tears and pleas fell on blind eyes and deaf ears. Until one day it reached the boiling point.
“Dallas, you have to stop this,” LouAnn shouted.
“Please, don’t let him ruin his life like this,” she begged through tears. It was just after Houston had graduated from Alabama. He was standing in the hallway, LouAnn in the kitchen with Dallas.
“I’ve had enough of this. I can’t be around her anymore. She’s messing up my life. She’s calling Eleanor at home and asking her to leave me alone,” Houston shouted. He walked into the kitchen and faced his mother. “Get her away from me or you won’t see me anymore.”
One threat to LouAnn and that’s all it took. She’d already lost one man in her life, and she was not going to let that happen twice.
“That’s it, Dallas,” her mother said, turning to look at her. “You’ve been nothing but selfish. Look around! Because of you, my family is falling apart all over again. I will not let you drive my son out of my life. You’re going to live with your father. Pack your things right now.”
“What? No, Mom, please,” Dallas begged. “Please, don’t send me away. Look, I’m sorry. I just love Houston and I don’t want anything bad to happen to him. But...just give me another chance. I promise I won’t say anything else.” Dallas was overwhelmed, hysterical that her mother could really do something like this, that she would lose her home and her mother along with her brother.
“No, I’m sorry, that’s it,” LouAnn said, sitting down in a chair at the kitchen table. She looked older, suddenly. Worn out. Exhausted. And done with Dallas. “I can’t take this anymore. I just can’t...I’m callin’ your daddy. I’m sorry,” LouAnn said, head in her hands.
Houston went storming out the front door and jumped in his car. Dallas cried as she packed, as she heard her mother on the phone with her father. On the drive over, her mother looked like a different person. Like the shell of the mother she’d grown up knowing.
At her father’s that night, she cried herself to sleep and skipped school the next day. Her eyes nearly swollen shut from tears, she began writing what would be the first of many letters to her brother over the next year. She wouldn’t be able to go back to school for several days. Her world had collapsed, snatched away from her by the very people she’d trusted the most, and she couldn’t do a thing about it. She thought of running away, but in the end, she developed a coping mechanism. If the people she loved could be so cold and cruel, then so could she. And the armor and the firewalls began to take shape.
She never even knew what became of her brother after all that. She thought he might still be in Alabama somewhere, but she hadn’t seen him or looked for him. And he had never tried to contact her.
She took in a deep breath and turned off the water, exhausted from reliving the memories she’d buried so deep and tried to forget. Wilhelmina was sitting at her water dish in the bathroom.
“I do love you, little girl,” she said as she reached down to pet her. After drying off, she and Wilhelmina crawled into bed.
Dallas tossed and thrashed all night. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered one by one the things she’d faced today: the realization that, with Christmas only two and a half weeks away, they’d be announcing the anchor job and, with it, the fate of her career. That she’d been ordered to direct a children’s play when she knew nothing about directing or children. That she’d be stuck working closely with Cal until the play was over—a man who she managed to both despise and be drawn to at the same time. And then, worst of all, the mother who had abandoned her so long ago, who had chosen one of her children over the other, had decided she wanted to be in touch. It was all too much for one day, for one person, and Dallas couldn’t bring herself to face it.
The best thing she could do was to shove it all down as she had been doing for years. She would have to hold herself together just a little longer to get through Christmas. She exhaled and closed her eyes.
Wilhelmina curled up next to her, purring as she snuggled. Dallas tried to rest and fall sleep, but it was almost impossible to turn her mind off.
How much longer could this coping mechanism work?
5
Dallas woke up early the next morning. Between thoughts of her mother and the house across the street decorated for Christmas with more lights than Times Square, she’d barely gotten any rest at all. She wondered if they were trying to get her to notice them and put them on TV, and she said as much to Daniel as they left to cover their first story of the day.
“They’ve put up so many lights, I swear, I wake up believing I’m in New York City,” Dallas told him as they pulled out of the station lot.
“Why don’t you complain?” he asked.
“I think that would just egg them on,” she said. Surprisingly, she felt pretty good this morning in spite of all that was going on. It was a new day and that meant she was a day closer to that anchor seat...she hoped.
“I can’t believe we’re going to cover the Christmas promotion at Lewis’s new radio station. That just sounds crazy,” she said.
“I know. But he’s hired these two new girls from Tennessee and they’re doing wonders over there. They’re twins but don’t look a thing alike.“
“I thought we were covering their Twelve Days of Christmas thing?” she asked.
“Oh, we are, but those new girls are so cute...I hoped we could spend some time getting to know them, too. One of them is the promotions director and that’s who you’re interviewing, Abigail Harper.”
“Okay, great. I’ll talk to her while you gawk.” Dallas smirked at him.
She was happy to be busy with this story today. She’d gotten a message earlier from her news director, Mike Maddox, saying he wanted to meet with her later on. Just thinking of that meeting made her heart jump. She hoped it wasn’t about her less-than-stellar performance at yesterday’s play practice. She also had another rehearsal tonight, which she was not at all looking forward to.
They arrived at the newly restored Brooks Mansion, a historic building in the center of town that housed the brand-new WRCT—Lewis Heart’s new Crimson Tide radio station. This was Lewis’s dream come true. He’d fought to save the building when it had faced being torn down, and he’d risked a lot to turn it into the place it had become.
Dallas knew Lewis and his family very well. They all had gone to both high school and college together. Dallas suddenly recalled yesterday’s nasty confrontation with Cal after rehearsal. Cal was Lewis’s best friend, so he would definitely tell Cal all about her being there to cover the Twelve Days of Christmas promotion at the new radio station. What would Cal tell Lewis about her?
Dallas decided to try her best to get off the naughty list and be nice. She needed a good public image if she wanted to move up in the ranks. She was quite familiar with that whole more flies with honey thing, and it was time to use that to her advantage.
“Hey, Lewis, I hear you have a promotion going on around here,” she said as she came through the front door. Lewis was just stepping out of his office to head to the studio when she and Daniel arrived.
“Hey, there, Dallas, good to see y’all. Lemme get Abigail. She can tell y’all all about it.” He headed to the front office where Caroline Mayfield was tending the phones. She was a local beauty pageant winner with long golden-brown hair and green eyes, and she always kept that gorgeous summer tan—even in the dead of winter.
“Hey, Ms. Dubois, Abigail is expecting y’all,” Caroline said, flashing her perfect pageant teeth.
She picked up the phone and announced their arrival. While they waited, Dallas and Daniel wandered around the beautiful lobby, noticing all the exquisite details. Lewis had restored the place even beyond its former glory. The lobby was in a parlor to the left of the front door; a gorgeous wide curving staircase led up to the second floor from the center hall. Just to the back of the stairs on the right was the massive double doorway leading to Lewis’s office. Tapestry carpets and sconce lighting created an amber glow throughout the first floor.
Just to the back of the lobby, behind the staircase, a huge studio surrounded with glass windows held all the very latest microphones and technical equipment. Windows from the outside made the studio visible from the sidewalk, so fans could stand on the street and watch the recording of the shows, usually starring Alabama football players and other athletic stars from the campus.
Alabama was the national champion in four different sports some years, but with the reign of the famous football coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, having lasted over twenty years, the university was mostly famous for their Crimson Tide football team. Though the Bear had died thirty years ago, the winning dynasty continued under coach Nick Saban. Dallas certainly knew her football well. She’d cheered for the Crimson Tide while Cal was their quarterback.
“Ms. Harper will be right down,” Caroline said.
Dallas relaxed a bit in the gorgeous surroundings. The regal Brooks Mansion was all decked out for Christmas. A twelve-foot tree stood in the front hall, greeting guests and tourists with warm, glistening lights. A huge wreath covered in Crimson Tide decorations and crimson-and-white ribbon hung on the beveled glass front doors of the large porch. Christmas carols were even playing over the speakers hooked up throughout the building.
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” began next, and it shot a little pang through Dallas as she waited for Abigail. Home for Christmas likely meant another lonely Christmas alone with Wilhelmina.
Abigail appeared at the top of the stairs. A big smile on her face, she was a Princess Kate look-alike. She wore a dark-colored suit with a Ralph Lauren ruffled blouse and high-heeled black patent leather pumps.
“Hey, Ms. Dubois. Thanks so much for coming out,” she said, her hand outstretched to Dallas.
Dallas smiled, but remained guarded. This woman was Lewis’s family now. Abigail was Vivi’s cousin, a sort of cousin-in-law for Lewis. She knew she needed to at least act as if she was interested. But really, was this the type of story that would get her recognized? Get her that anchor seat? She didn’t think so at all. Maybe she needed to mention this to her news director. It was starting to feel as though they were sending her out on less important stories on purpose. Maybe someone had it in for her.
“Hey, Ms. Harper, so nice to meet you. Where would you like to do the interview?” Dallas asked her. “And, please, call me Dallas.”
“Right here is just fine, I think. We can get the big Christmas tree in the background. And do call me Abigail.” The two ladies chitchatted for a minute while Daniel set up the shot.
“Okay, ready when y’all are,” Daniel announced. Abigail began her description of the big Twelve Days of Christmas promotion.
“This fabulous contest will benefit the Tuscaloosa Children’s Home, along with other worthwhile charities here in town,” she explained.
“How does it work?” Dallas asked.
“Well, we’re staging a sort of themed scavenger hunt where people will have to track down specific items that represent the twelve days of Christmas. Our new talk show host, Annabelle, who hosts a segment called Saved by the Belle every day at noon, will be giving out clues. We ask that no one really bring us live animals here to the station,” she said with a laugh, “but something that represents the days themselves. We’ve hidden those items all over town. The person who can gather all the twelve days wins an iPad. To enter, anyone can fill out the form online and make a small donation. Remember, all proceeds will go to the Tuscaloosa Children’s Home, a wonderful organization.”
“Well, this is just terrific,” Dallas said, forcing a smile. “Anything else you’d like to add?”
“That’s all for now. Just stay tuned to WTAL and WRCT for updates,” Abigail finished.
Dallas wrapped up the story and thanked Abigail for her time.
“I’m so happy your news director agreed to partner with us on this. It gives us tremendous visibility,” Abigail said as Daniel began to pack up the cords.
Suddenly Dallas realized that her news director had also set up her new job directing the play. Was he using her to do all the station’s charity work? Especially when there were bigger, higher profile stories she should be spending her time on? Maybe he didn’t want her to get the anchor seat after all. She’d always thought Mike liked her, but if that were true, why would he do this to her? It felt as if she was being sabotaged. All charity work. Every single story, except the one about the missing Baby Jesus statue, was about charities. Not a single lead story had been assigned to her since Thanksgiving, now that she thought about it. She would most definitely bring this up with Mike this afternoon at their meeting.
“Thanks again, Ms. Harper. I’m sure we’ll be back for a follow-up story next week to check in on how it’s all developing. Good luck with the contest,” Dallas said as she turned to walk out.
Just then, Daniel shouted, “Good Lord almighty, do ya’ll know there are three chickens on the front porch?”
“Oh, no. That didn’t take very long at all, did it? I was so afraid of this.” Abigail sighed. She stepped out in front of them, nearly tripping over the animals, one taking flight right into the mansion.
“Y’all, please, you have to take these chickens outta here,” she shouted to the skinny man in overalls.
“This here is the three French hens. That count for somethin’?”
Abigail lunged after the birds, shaking her hands wildly and shooing them off the porch. “This is gonna be a long two weeks,” she said, smiling at Dallas before making her way over to re-explain the rules of the contest to her visitor.
“Good luck,” Dallas responded, a bit surprised at how sweet Abigail seemed to be, even when chasing chickens around a porch. Dallas wasn’t used to that. People who were close to Lewis and Vivi didn’t usually smile at Dallas. But Abigail and her sister didn’t seem to know anything about her history with the little clique from her past. The sisters had just moved here from Tennessee. Dallas kinda liked that fact. She had never had a girlfriend. Too many people in town knew what her mother had done, abandoning one child for the sake of the other; they knew about Dallas’s woman-lovin’ father and his tarnished reputation and they assumed she’d be just the same. When her relationship with Blake hadn’t panned out either, people mostly assumed Dallas was to blame, since everyone thought Blake was perfect. Truthfully, Dallas had never had a chance to prove to herself that she could even have a girlfriend. She flashed Abigail a real smile as she turned toward the news van, the possibility of a new friendship cheering her mood.
Dallas practiced her speech to Mike all the way back to the station. Why would he be trying to hurt her chances for the anchor seat? She couldn’t even fathom an answer. As they pulled into a parking spot, she took a deep breath, ready for the confrontation. Well, the meeting. But now she had an agenda. She was determined to get to the bottom of this latest possible sabotage and find herself a lead story to cover. Dallas always had a bit of a chip on her shoulder, always assumed someone was out to get her. Maybe this time she was right.
6
Dallas jumped out of the news van, walking at a steady clip to the newsroom to find Mike. She was early for their meeting and could see he was in with someone else. She paced outside his window.
Her tenacity and focus had always been strong suits. She certainly never gave up on anything she wanted. That drive and bulldog mentality hadn’t always benefited her, though. In fact, it had been one of the problems back when her mother had abandoned her. She just couldn’t give up on her brother. She was a fighter. That’s why she wrote all those letters to him that first year. But eventually, she realized he would never answer her, so she gave up trying to contact him. But she tried as hard as she could to hold what was left of her family together, even at fifteen she thought she could fix it all. That never-give-up attitude was always her innate personality.
Those traits helped her enormously as a reporter, though, and were much of the reason she’d been as successful as she had been so early in her career. She would do whatever it took to get a story—and that had never been truer than it was now. She’d fight Mike on this if she had to, but she really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.