Bluegrass State of Mind (26 page)

She really wanted to win. She was
having a hard time deciding what she wanted. She knew whatever it
was, he'd give it to her anyway if she asked. But this was
definitely more fun. She worked her way closer to the basket with
Mo hand checking her. She faked to her right and when Mo took a
step that way she turned to her left and shot. There was a
satisfying swish as the ball went through the net.

"I hope we have not interrupted such a
childish game."

Kenna and Mo spun around to come
face-to-face with a very imposing threesome all dressed in
traditional Middle Eastern clothes. The man who spoke stood out
front, his outfit made of the most magnificent silk Kenna had ever
seen. He was shorter than Mo, probably only five foot eight. His
face was cold. His eyes narrow and his lips pinched. Behind him
stood the most regal woman Kenna had ever been in the presence of.
She was dressed in beautiful rose colored silk, trimmed with gold
ribbon. She too was middle aged. After one look at her kind face,
Kenna knew she was Mo's mother. Behind her was a young woman that
looked like a model. Regal in her bearing, but not as confident as
Mo's mother. Kenna guessed her to be another
Bachelorette.

Ahmed's head popped around the corner
and his eyes went wide as he took in Kenna and Mo's disheveled
appearance. Mo turned away from the group and took a deep breath.
He tucked in his shirt, slipped on his shoes, and donned his coat
before turning around. Kenna had to stifle a gasp as she saw Mo's
eyes go blank and his lips pinch the same way as his father's. She
looked at his mother and caught the look of sadness cross her eyes
before she could hide it.

"Father. Mother. What a pleasant
surprise." The tightness in Mo's voice told Kenna it was not as
pleasant as he said.

"Son. I see you still have not learned
the proper deportment fit your station." Mo's father's eyes never
left his son’s.

Kenna walked over to the couch and
grabbed her suit coat and purse. "I'll let you welcome your family.
I am sure you'll want to show them all the things you have done
with the farm. Thanks for dinner and the game, Mo." Kenna kissed
his cheek and gave his hand a supportive squeeze.

"Mo!" His father erupted. "I forbade
you to use that name. You are royalty and royalty does not go by
such a common name."

With her back to his father she rolled
her eyes and got some satisfaction when she saw Mo's lips
twitch.

Ahmed pushed into the room, "I will
escort Miss Mason home, Sir." He said, bowing to Mo.

"There is no need for that, Ahmed. My
son could better use your services showing Kalila to her new
chamber. I will show Miss Mason to the door where our driver can
escort her home." Mo's mother stated quietly.

Her quiet words invoked immediate
action though. Bachelorette Kalila immediately turned around and
followed Ahmed out the door.

Kenna couldn't stop the smile when she
heard Ahmed muttering "Not another one." Kenna turned, waved bye to
Mo, and sent him a smile as she followed his mother out the
door.

They had only taken a couple of steps
before she turned to Kenna, "As you can guess, I am Mohtadi's
mother, Fatima Ali Rahman. We have arrived here to bring a bride
for my son. I am sure you can imagine our surprise on encountering
him with another woman. It is therefore necessary for me to ask you
a very personal question Miss Mason." She waited until Kenna nodded
before continuing, "What exactly is your relationship with my
son?"

"I am his friend and he is my very
good friend." Kenna stopped walking and waited for Mo's mother to
face her. "He should be allowed to have friends. He needs them. He
needs fun and he needs to be able to find the person he wants to
marry. Parading all these women in front of him is just making him
more hostile to the idea of marriage. I would hate to see him marry
the wrong person just to get back at his father and to satisfy this
stupid deal the two of them made." Kenna kept her eyes on Fatima’s
and knew she had swan dived over the bounds of
propriety.

Mo's mother surprised her by smiling,
"I believe we may get along very well, Miss Mason. Although my
husband would not agree, I have made my case to him along those
same lines. He believes he is right and there is nothing that can
change his mind. It is comforting to know Mohtadi has a friend such
as you."

"You can call me McKenna, or Kenna for
short. I am glad he has your support. He's such a wonderful and
caring person. I hope he may find a person who appreciates those
qualities more than his station."

"McKenna, you may call me Fatima. If I
may ask, why are you not that woman?"

Kenna smiled, "I am involved with
someone else. He's actually Mohtadi's neighbor, Will Ashton." She
opened the front door when they reached it.

"That is too bad. I too wish for him
to find love. All of Mohtadi's other siblings have married who
their father picked out for them. Most are unhappy, but not all.
Some of the matches have evolved into love, but it's very hard for
Mohtadi to be the last one unmarried. It focuses all of his
father's pressure onto him alone.” The two women approached the
front door. “It was a pleasure to meet you, McKenna. I do hope I
will see you at the Derby festivities."

Fatima closed the door on her as she
made her way down the steps. Kenna was relieved to see Ahmed pull
the Mercedes behind the limo and open the door for her. It has been
too long of a day and she was ready for the quiet of her bedroom.
She turned to the formal sitting parlor. As she figured, Mo had
moved his family to that room and gave Kenna a nod goodbye through
the window before she got into the car. He was a good friend, and
as such, she needed to find him a good woman.

Chapter
Thirteen

Kenna took a deep breath before
speaking into the phone again, "Ma'am, I don't think you understand
the situation."

"Sure I do. You just want to screw me.
My ex-boyfriend got you all to take my baby away from me so that he
can hang it over my head. I just don't understand what legal
grounds you have to take my baby away from me."

"Ma'am, you were arrested on
possession of marijuana charges. You were smoking pot while driving
your baby to a meth house, which happens to be your
house."

"That's not illegal, it was just pot.
And you can't prove that house was mine. I know the law and you
can't prove squat."

Kenna tried not to bang her head
against the desk as she reminded herself she loved her job.
"Smoking pot is illegal and we can prove the meth house was yours.
You led the police on a chase to the house. You left all kinds of
prints there. Your clothes and your baby's clothes were there.
Further, your little son tested positive for meth and is still in
the hospital where his father is taking care of him. That's enough
evidence to keep you in jail for a long time. I suggest you contact
your public defender if you need anything else. It is unadvisable
for you to speak to me since our office will handle your
prosecution. Goodbye."

Kenna hung up the phone and shook her
head. She'd been getting these types of phone calls all day. It
started bright and early with a woman who wanted to sue her
landlord because she put in a request for her front door to be
painted on Saturday. On Sunday, a worker knocked on her door to
start the work and the woman assumed he was there to rape her.
Kenna had asked why she thought that his intention was to rape
her.

The woman’s only response was “What
kind of man shows up on a Sunday to work when he should be in
church.”

Needing to stretch her legs Kenna
stood up and walked out front to where Tammy was on the phone. "No
sir, I am sorry. We don't defend those types of cases. Uh-huh,
that's right. Sorry, goodbye."

"So, you're getting crazy calls today,
too?" Kenna asked as she leaned against Tammy's desk.

"Full moon."

"Ah, that explains it. I need a
calendar that shows the moon cycles to warn me." Kenna stood up and
walked back to her office when Tammy's phone rang again. It was
well known in the legal world, as well as with most other public
service industries, that the full moon brought the crazies out of
hiding. She didn't have court today and was glad for it. She
grabbed her purse and went to meet Paige for a late lunch at the
cafe.

Paige sat down just after Kenna's
drink arrived at the table. "Ready for some shopping? I got Cindie
to cover the shop for the rest of the day. Thought we could hit the
stores in Lexington to find you the perfect Derby weekend wear.
There is this fab little store downtown that carries some of the
bigger names in fashion. Then we can go to my store and find the
perfect hat for your outfits. Do you know how many you'll
need?"

"Well, Will said there would be a
Derby breakfast at his house. Then there will be the Derby and then
the after-party."

"Okay, you'll need a nice suit or sun
dress for the breakfast. You'll need a cocktail dress for the Derby
and then a gown for the after-party," Paige said as she made a
mental list of the items.

"Well, I already have the breakfast
covered. I have a beautiful sage green scalloped dress with
matching wedges."

"Okay, I can work with that. Before we
go to my shop, let's stop and pick up your dress so I can match the
colors." They paid their bills and walked to the bed and breakfast
to get Kenna's car. She ran upstairs and brought the dress and
shoes down.

"Oohh, look at this Dior. Tell me this
wouldn't be perfect for the Derby." Paige said as she lifted up a
navy blue silk crepe belted dress. Kenna went and tried it on. It
fell to right above the knee and was fitted enough to show off her
curves, but not so fitted it was tight. It appeared to be
sleeveless until Kenna started to button up the front of the
bodice. She discovered silk ties that intended be tied in bows on
her arms.

"Paige, this one is perfect." Kenna
stepped out of the dressing room to model the outfit. Like any good
dress it made her appear taller, took off ten pounds, and made her
look utterly feminine.

"That is perfect. Do you have any red
heels? Because I have a gorgeous hat that would go with it. The hat
is bright red, so I would like to tie it to the shoes if
possible."

"I have the perfect heels. My feet
won't thank me, but they do make my legs look great. I also have a
red clutch I could carry."

"Perfect! One dress down, one to go. I
think I found one, but it may be too wild. What do you think?"
Paige handed her a black lace Valentino

It had one shoulder and an empire
waist. The wild part was its length. It was much shorter than your
typical ball gown. It stopped inches above the knee, but when Kenna
tried it on she couldn't say no.

"You wear that with some black spiked
heels and Will could go into cardiac arrest."

The dress enhanced her already ample
cleavage and somehow made her wide hips seem sexy. The dress
emphasized femininity and the laced edging around the hem showed
off her legs.

"It's great and so different. But, I
also love that royal blue Armani silk dress. The one with the thin
straps and draping." It was more traditional, being that it skimmed
the floor. She loved the way the bodice was draped silk that seemed
to float down to the floor.

"Why don't you get them both?
Whichever you don't wear, you can just bring back after the
Derby."

"Sounds good to me, now lets go pick
out some hats!"

Paige picked out a red wide brimmed
hat with a simple red organza ribbon that was tied into an elegant,
multilayered bow in the back to wear for Derby Day. Paige also
found a hat with sage that matched Kenna’s spring dress for the
breakfast at Will’s farm. It was a tan colored straw hat with a
normal sized brim with a sage and tan striped ribbon that went
around the hat and trailed off the back of it. They were so perfect
that Kenna couldn't wait to show Will.

"Thanks so much, Paige. I am going to
run out to the farm and show Will. He’s on duty tonight, so I think
I will bring him some dinner too.”

“
Okay. Have fun. Remember
to check your hair for straw before you go to work tomorrow. It
would take a whole new meaning to casual Friday if you
didn’t!”

Kenna parked her car in the circular
drive and looked up at Will’s parents’ house. It was U-shaped and
made of brick, which was painted a pristine white. The door and
shutters were painted black and made the whole house look
elegant.

The front door opened after she
knocked on it and Betsy appeared. Totally put together as always,
Betsy welcomed Kenna. “Hello, my dear. I didn’t know you were
coming over.”

“
Hi, Mrs. Ashton. I went
Derby shopping and brought some things over to show Will. I also
brought him some dinner since I know he’ll be out at the barn all
night.”

“
You simply must call me
Betsy. Will has already gone down to the barn to sit with Spires
Landing and Naked Boot Leg.” Betsy shook her head, “I hate that
name. William named Spires Landing and I loved it. But, William
told Will that Boots would not become a race horse and he could
name it whatever he wanted. The horse William chose, who was
supposed to be the Derby contender, was named Spires Edge. Will
took exception to the fact we didn’t pick the same horse. One
night, he and some of his old teammates who were visiting got
carried away and picked this name for him. I call him Boots, but I
will let you know that while I smile and cheer for him, I cringe
every time I hear his name called.”