haven’t made my diabetes common knowledge, I know I can trust Evan when I need medical attention. I also appreciate his ideas and opinions. I consider John and Alan to be brothers just like Ross and Bobby. It’s the same with Evan.”
Tara had the sense that Kel was extremely protective of the people he cared deeply about. She liked that he seemed to have such a depth of character beneath his all too attractive façade. The questions she asked him were more about her own curiosity than what she thought would make a good article, but he answered them with ease and sometimes wit and again she marveled at how comfortable the conversation seemed between the two of them. She discovered that he was fluent in five languages, had an extensive art collection and was extremely well read. Trips to snow ski were among his favorite destinations and he owned a house on the slopes at Vail where the family vacationed as often as possible, although they had skied in Europe as well. Polo was perhaps his favorite pastime and she admitted she had never seen a polo match and knew very little about it. He spoke of his beautiful mother who had died of cancer several years before and his father who he had lost at eighteen to a heart attack. When he talked about his children how much he loved them was evident and she really liked that about him. They both avoided the subject of his late wife, and Tara decided to leave that for another day. She didn’t want the time to end, but neither did she want to intrude on his time with his family. She said as much.
“Believe me, if I wasn’t enjoying talking to you I would have cut this short,” he said, standing. “Would you care to walk down toward the stables? Molly has a steeplechase course set up and I enjoy taking my horse out on it. The others will be back soon and it can become quite a competition.”
Mary Katherine had come out on the terrace, camera in hand. “I was heading that way myself, if I could join you.”
Kel placed a kiss on her cheek and said, “You didn’t have to ask. Have you met Tara McCaffrey?”
“No, but I did photograph her dancing with you last night and I’m told I am her official photographer, so please, Tara, feel free to ask for whatever shots you want. I have quite a collection of photos of him, as he’s obviously an exquisite subject. The camera loves him.”
The three of them walked across the grounds, which were beautifully landscaped and offered a sweeping view of the ocean. She imagined what it would look like in warmer weather when colorful sailboats would dot the landscape. The horses made her a little nervous, as she’d never been one of those girls who went through a horse stage, but Kel was at ease in the stables as he was everywhere else and as she watched him mount his jet black horse and take the jumps, she decided he really was a modern day Renaissance man. Was there anything he couldn’t do and do well? She asked as much of Mary Katherine.
Mary Katherine lowered her camera and said, “If there is, I haven’t seen it myself. He just makes everything look so easy. I think that’s one of the reasons he and Evan get on so well, because my husband is a bit like that too.” Kel had given the course to Evan who did indeed execute it every bit as well as Kel had, as did Molly and Skip. Tara exclaimed over how well they all rode. Mary Katherine laughed and told her, “Don’t be overwhelmed by them. As long as they know you’re willing to try and participate it doesn’t matter if you are as good at things as they are. That was Alise’s fatal mistake.”
“Alise was his wife?”
“Yes. I never really knew her as she died before Evan and I got close to the family, but she never tried to be one of them. Listening to the stories, I wonder why she married him, except that he was Kelly O’Brien. By all accounts he adored her,
R. C. Farrington, Jason Farrington