“Horrible! He’s retired.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll see,” Luke said. “Give him a project and he’ll think he’s the ruler of the world. He’ll boss you and the ladies around until you mutiny.”
“Ladies? Who else will be baking cupcakes?”
“Welcome to Edilean,” Luke said, grinning at her. “I have to go.” He checked the oven again. “It’s cold as a cave.”
“I can’t afford a new—”
Luke put his hand up. “Let my dad worry about this. He’s going to love this whole project.” He started for the door but stopped and looked back at her. “Just so you know,” he said softly, “Ramsey is heading toward a proposal. He only takes women he wants to marry out to the land where he wants to build a house.” Luke glanced around the hallway of Joce’s house. “Or a weekend retreat.”
“And that would be how many women?”
He smiled at her. “I’d like to say dozens, but it’s only been one other woman.”
“So why didn’t he marry her?”
“That’s not my business to tell,” he said.
“That’s just what Ramsey said about you.”
“And what did you ask him about me?”
She opened her mouth to tell him, but closed it. If Luke didn’t know that Ramsey paid his salary, she wasn’t going to tell him. “Nothing.”
“Good,” Luke said as he looked her up and down. “Go take a shower and change those fancy clothes. I think you’re going to be baking cupcakes for a few days.”
She watched him drive away, then closed the door, and for a moment she leaned against it and thought about the last few days. So much had happened that it was a blur to her. In the next minute she was running up the stairs to her bathroom. When she glanced in the mirror, she saw that most of her eye makeup was under her eyes, and she realized she’d looked like that for most of the time she’d been with Luke. Smiling, she got in the shower and thought about what she’d said to his mother. Had it been Ramsey’s mother, she would have been ladylike, but she could joke with Luke’s mother.
She showered, then put on jeans and a T-shirt. By the time she was dressed, a car was pulling into her drive. She looked out the window and saw a man get out. Even from above she could see that he was an older version of Luke: handsome, gray haired, tall, and he looked like a man who was ready to do business. She ran down the stairs so fast she opened the door before he could knock.
“So you’ve come to organize me,” she said, her face serious.
He didn’t crack a smile. “Get out of line and I start shouting.”
“And if I behave?”
“I’ll make Luke put in that herb garden he conned you into for free.”
With that, she gave him an elaborate bow. “Your wish is my command, oh master.”
His eyes widened. “I’ve waited all my life to hear a woman say those words. Will you marry me?”
“I’ll put you on my list,” she said, smiling as she headed toward the kitchen. “Come and see my stove. It’s so old I’m going to sell it on eBay for a million dollars.”
“It’s not too old, as I sold it to Miss Edi’s brother about forty years ago.”
Jocelyn stopped walking. “You sell appliances?”
“I did until about three years ago. I can get some killer discounts on most anything you want.”
“Do you want sex or money?” she asked solemnly.
“Let me check with my wife on that.” He was smiling as he followed her into the kitchen.
10
IT TOOK LUKE two hours to get everything under way with his parents. His mother took over the telephone lines, calling people in two counties to tell them about the party that Saturday. She made it sound as though Jocelyn had just arrived from Brussels and was an internationally renowned pastry chef.
Luke went to his father and said only half a dozen words before the man was out the door, ready to take over the organizing of anything, anytime, anywhere. He really was lost without a job to occupy fifty hours of his week. All Luke had to say was that Jocelyn’s old stove was broken, and Jim Connor had his cell phone out. Luke wondered if Joce would get a Wolf or a Viking range within the next twenty-four hours.
As Luke left the house, he reminded his mother that she should call Rams’s sister, Viv, and tell her about the party, being as it was going to be at her house. Since Viv hadn’t even called Jocelyn yet, it was going to be a surprise to be told that on Saturday she was hosting a party for heaven only knew how many guests.
Luke went to his house, put on a freshly ironed shirt and khaki trousers, then got his BMW out of the garage. He was going to go see his grandfather David, and he knew that he’d get more information out of the man if he was dressed in something other than jeans and a dirty T-shirt.
Granpa Dave loved to tell Luke that he couldn’t understand why, with all his education, he didn’t dress in something clean. “If you have to be a gardener, at least look like a landscaper,” he’d said a hundred times.
Nana Mary Alice would tell her husband to stop it, but it didn’t matter. Granpa Dave was old school, and he believed in always looking one’s best.
Luke always got along perfectly with his other grandfather, his father’s father, a man who other people liked to stay away from. His never-ending bad temper put people off, but not Luke. He’d always been happiest with his grandfather as they fished together, watched sports on TV, or just rode together in a truck. It was Grandpa Joe who got him out of punishments when Luke got into trouble in high school. Luke had always been high-spirited and hated it when he was told what to do and how to do it. His teachers wanted him to obey without so much as a question, but Luke always had his own ideas about how things should be done.
One time Luke had a fight with the football coach that threatened to get him kicked off the team. His father had been so angry he’d sent Luke to his room at ten o’clock in the morning and told him to stay there until he could figure out what to do with him. At noon, Granpa Joe appeared at the window of Luke’s second-floor bedroom. He was on a ladder. He didn’t say a word, just lent Luke a hand as they went down the ladder, then to the lake to spend the rest of the day fishing. At six that evening, Luke was back in his room, and when his father came in, he didn’t know that his own father had taken Luke out.
It had always been like that with Granpa Joe, but not with his mother’s father. Besides being a doctor, Granpa Dave was a deacon at church, a Mason, and beloved by everyone.
But for Luke, there had never been the closeness that he’d had with his other grandfather.
Luke drove onto Highway 5, into Williamsburg, then into the Governor’s Land at Two Rivers. It was an upscale country club community, with 60 percent of the land left open for its residents to use. Best of all, there was a huge golf course that his grandfather played on nearly every day. As he knew he would be, Luke found his grandfather on the course, at the fifth tee.
“I wondered when you were going to come see me,” David Aldredge said as he looked down the green. “So how is she?”
“Who?” Luke asked. “Do you mean your daughter? My mother?”
David swung, and the ball went flying in exactly the direction he wanted it to. “If you want to play games, this is going to take a long time. Shall we start again? How is she?”
When his grandfather started walking, Luke hoisted the big golf bag. His grandfather didn’t believe in carts or caddies—but he did believe in young, healthy grandsons carrying the golf bag. “I guess you mean Jocelyn,” Luke said.
“I heard that was her name, but not living in Edilean anymore, I don’t get all the gossip I used to. However, I did hear that you’ve been spending pretty much all your time with her. Some people were saying you’re even spending your nights there.”
“People talk too much and they tell lies.”
“So it’s Ramsey who’s been sleeping with her.”
“He has not!” Luke said. “Rams has only been—” He broke off as he g
lanced at his grandfather. “I think there’s an eleventh commandant that says grandparents aren’t allowed to ridicule their grandkids.”
“I’ll tell you a little-known secret. On the day the first grandkid is born, we get a handbook that says we get to do whatever we want to the kid just to torture our own children.”
“I can’t wait to read the book.”
“At your age, you may be too old to get children, much less grandchildren.”
“Gramps, you’re making me feel so much better.”
“Always happy to oblige,” David said as he stopped where his ball had landed. “So what’s made you so gloomy today?”
Luke put his hands in his pants pockets. “Nothing. No one. Just thought I’d stop by and see you.”
David hit the ball hard, sent it sailing, then looked at his grandson as they started walking. “Okay, so tell me what she’s like.”
“You mean Jocelyn?”
“Yeah, Rams’s girlfriend. What’s she like?”
“She’s not—” Again, Luke took a breath. “Remind me to get you yet another tie for Christmas. Something really ugly. Jocelyn is nice.”
“That’s it? She’s ‘nice’? So where’s the passion? You don’t want to jump her bones?”
“Vulgar grandparents make me queasy.”
“Oh, right. Your generation knows all about sex, but mine doesn’t. For your information, your grandmother and I—”
Luke put his hand up. “Don’t even think of recounting what you and Mary Alice Welsch did. That story is still being told fifty years later.”
“Forty years,” David said.
“Sixty-three, but who’s counting?”
David leaned on his club and looked at his grandson. “Okay, so what’s eating you so bad that you left tilling the soil to come all the way into Williamsburg?”
“It’s just ten miles.”
“Ten miles that you don’t make very often,” David said as he swung at the ball and hit it perfectly, then said quietly, “Has she asked about me yet?”
“No, not yet, but today she was pretty upset. Seems that Miss Edi left her no money.”
“I know. Alex supported her. Or, rather, he subsidized Bertrand, and gave Edi money to give away.”
“That’s what Ramsey’s dad told him. Rams handles the legal work, but he didn’t know about there being no money.”
“Yeah, well, we all agreed to lie to the second generation. Ben should have got the truth from his father before he died.”
“I think he tried to, but Uncle Alex wouldn’t tell.” Luke gave his grandfather a hard look as they walked. “So what is the truth?”
“There are some things that I’m not about to tell. Some things are better left alone.” He put up his hand when Luke started to speak. “What happened back then has nothing to do with today.”
“Except that Jocelyn has no money.”
“So? Who of us had at that age?”
“She has a monster of a house to take care of, and the thing eats greenbacks.”
“So let her marry Ramsey. He’s rich.”
“But—” Luke broke off without finishing his sentence.
“But what?” his grandfather asked. “Don’t you think they’re a good match? Ramsey’s money with the Harcourt house. It couldn’t be better.”
“I’m not sure she and Ramsey are good together.”
“From what I hear, they were made for each other. Her pearls match his ties. They’ll make that house into a showplace. It’ll rival the best in Williamsburg for perfection.”
“Perfection. Who wants that?” Luke put his hands in his pockets as his grandfather hit another ball. “They’ll probably put a swimming pool in and never let their kids play in the pond.”
“That pond always was a nasty, dirty thing,” David said as he started walking. “The bottom three feet of it are probably all duck poop.”
“Yeah? Maybe I’ll dredge it and get some fertilizer.”
“My point exactly. Who wants to let their kids swim around in manure?”
“It never hurt me,” Luke said, sounding sulky even to himself.
“You were an oddity, my dear boy. You loved the outdoors.”
“So did Ramsey when he was a kid.”
“No, he tolerated it. Ramsey was always neat and clean. When you played in the mud you jumped in and wallowed. Ramsey—”
“Carefully made little mud pies.”
“Just what I said. He and Jocelyn are perfect for each other. Their house will be beautiful, and their children will be clean and well mannered.”
“Why does that sound so awful to me?” Luke mumbled.
“I have no idea.”
Luke looked at his grandfather closely. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Great, huge horse laughs. I’m whooping it up at your expense. I’m not sure when I’ve had such a good time.”
“Thanks, Gramps, you’re a really great guy. You’ve made my day.”
“You’re welcome. Any time you want to make a fool of yourself, you let me know. I can always use a good laugh.”
He put his club in the bag Luke was holding. “That’s it. We’re going to have lunch and talk.”
“Talk? Any more of your ‘talk’ and you’ll have to prescribe anti-depressants for me. Besides, it’s after four and too late for lunch.”
David squinted his eyes at his grandson. “If you don’t stop that attitude, I’ll take you home to Mary Alice and tell her you’re depressed and she’ll pester you until you start telling her about your childhood traumas and about Ingrid.”
At that name, Luke turned several shades lighter and took a step backward.
A minute later, David had caught a ride with a fellow golfer, and they were on their way back to the clubhouse. Luke didn’t say anything until they were at a table in the corner and his grandfather had ordered them a pot of tea, a plate of sandwiches, and a couple of Jack Daniel’s.
“All right,” David said, “so tell me what you really drove all the way here to ask me about.”
“There seem to be some big differences from what people believe to be true about Miss Edi and what is real.”
“Are you talking about the lack of money or the fact that she and I broke off our engagement before we both left for World War II?”
Luke looked at his grandfather with an open mouth. “Broke off your engagement?” he whispered.
“Why are young people so surprised to hear that people in the past also had secrets? Did you forget that I was the town doctor? Back in the sixties there was an outbreak of gonorrhea in town, and I knew who gave it to whom. I never said a word. And there was—”
“What was Miss Edi really like?” Luke asked, cutting his grandfather off. He didn’t want to know more about people’s private lives than he already did.
“Perfect,” David said. “Never a hair out of place. Never a word spoken that she’d regret. She was strong, forceful, and knew what she wanted.”
“You don’t sound as though you liked her very much.”
“I adored her. When we were toddlers Alex McDowell kept taking my toys—until Edi bashed him on the head with a wooden block, and he never bothered me again. She was a lady all her life. You do know, don’t you, that she dedicated her life to helping burn victims?”
“I heard something about it.”
“It was more than you can imagine. She hooked up with Dr. Nigel Brenner, and they traveled the world together. Edi handled everything. Twice she got them out of countries that had overnight become war zones. Both times, Nigel’s nurses were hysterical, but Edi never lost her courage or her wit, and she got them to safety.”
“But you married Nana Mary Alice,” Luke said.
David smiled. “Feisty, funny, sexy Mary Alice Welsch. Until Edi left the country, I hadn’t even noticed her. When I came back from the war with a wound in my shoulder that threatened to make me lose my arm, there she was. You know what her best medicine was?”
“If you tell me sex, I
’m leaving,” Luke said.
“Laughter. She made me laugh, especially at myself.”
“To this day, the old-timers think—”
“That Mary Alice bewitched me and that she was little better than a harlot for seducing me away from Edi? She loves that. I wanted to tell people the truth, but Mary Alice said she liked being thought of as a man stealer. She said it made her seem sexy, like a movie star.”
Luke had to laugh because that sounded just like something his grandmother would say. She was a cookie baker; she was always ready to help anyone who needed it, and she was as far from being a “man stealer” as could be. Yes, he could see his grandmother liking being thought of as a sexpot.
“Are you going to tell me what Edi’s past has to do with you, or am I going to have to order more of these little sandwiches?” David asked.
“It’s this girl…” Luke looked down at his drink. He’d hardly touched it.
“You like her, don’t you?” David asked, his voice changing from teasing to serious.
“Yeah, I do. She went to a nothing college just so she could be near Miss Edi. Tess showed me some background on Joce, and with her grades she could have gone anywhere, but she didn’t.”
“At the end of her life, Edi had no one,” David said softly. “Her brother was dead, but they’d never been close to begin with, so there was no one.”
“Why did she live in Boca Raton? Why didn’t she return to Edilean?”
“I’m not sure, but my guess would be that people here knew too much about her. She came back often and did a lot for the town—as I’m sure you know. But she preferred to live in Florida.”
Luke looked at his grandfather. “What happened in 1941?”
David leaned back in his chair and his face closed as though a door had been shut. “There are some things that don’t need to be talked about, and I don’t care how many times you ask me, I’m not going to tell that story.”
“But I think it has something to do with today. Miss Edi lied to Jocelyn, or rather concealed a lot from her. It’s the kind of thing that wouldn’t matter to me, but it’s tearing Joce apart. As far as I can tell, Joce had a rotten life. I don’t know much about it, but I think Miss Edi was the only good thing she had. But now the woman has played a bad joke on her by leaving her that old house and no money for its upkeep. Miss Edi could have used some of Alex McDowell’s trust money to create an endowment for an historic house, but she didn’t. And if Miss Edi worked hard to keep Joce from knowing about Edilean, why did she leave her the house? None of it makes sense.”