Forever Surprised
Forever Bluegrass #6
Kathleen Brooks
Lauren Publishing
Contents
Copyright Page
Also by Kathleen Brooks
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Also by Kathleen Brooks
About the Author
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
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An original work of Kathleen Brooks. Forever Surprised copyright @ 2017 by Kathleen Brooks
Bluegrass Series
Bluegrass State of Mind
Risky Shot
Dead Heat
* * *
Bluegrass Brothers
Bluegrass Undercover
Rising Storm
Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella
Acquiring Trouble
Relentless Pursuit
Secrets Collide
Final Vow
* * *
Bluegrass Singles
All Hung Up
Bluegrass Dawn
The Perfect Gift
The Keeneston Roses
* * *
Forever Bluegrass Series
Forever Entangled
Forever Hidden
Forever Betrayed
Forever Driven
Forever Secret
Forever Concealed - coming September 19, 2017
* * *
Women of Power Series
Chosen for Power
Built for Power
Fashioned for Power
Destined for Power
* * *
Web of Lies Series
Whispered Lies
Rogue Lies
Shattered Lies - coming October 19, 2017
1
Kenna Mason Ashton looked over the bench at the town’s longest-running offender—a chronic public masturbator. Father Ben stood next to the offender, Mr. Chapman, as the young priest struggled not to laugh. Kenna was experiencing déjà vu. When she’d first arrived in Keeneston almost thirty-four years before, Father James had been the one standing next to Mr. Chapman, one of the first men she prosecuted. And here Chapman stood—again—with a different priest.
“What did you do now?” Kenna looked down at the man she had sadly gotten to know very well over the years.
His hair had turned a light brown with age, and there was a little bald ring on the crown of his head. “I was just so upset, Kenna . . . I mean, Judge Ashton.”
Father Ben, a young, sinfully handsome priest in his early thirties, cleared his throat. She’d heard the stories of her daughter’s friends mistakenly hitting on him and couldn’t blame them in the least. Especially since he wore regular clothes most of the time. “Mr. Chapman was going to be meeting with me for counseling.”
“But . . .?” Kenna knew something involving this man’s penis would be an issue somehow.
“I didn’t know they’d be there,” Mr. Chapman sputtered. “Really. If I did, then I wouldn’t have whipped it out.”
“Who was there?” Kenna asked with dread.
“The nuns,” Father Ben answered as he bit his lower lip to prevent himself from laughing out loud.
“Deputy Gray was showing them around town as a favor for Father Ben,” Mr. Chapman began. “As you know, I’ve been doing real well with the whole public masturbating thing ever since I bought that farm out in the country. I can masturbate outside all the time and no one will see—on the tractor, baling hay, by the stream, or just sitting on my deck. But, I was real upset like, and so I went to see Father Ben.”
“And?” Kenna urged him to get to the point.
“Well, my wife decided she wanted to move back in with me.” Mr. Chapman didn’t need to finish that explanation. His wife was a real ball-buster. The best thing that ever happened was when they separated ten years before. She’d moved to some compound or something in the mountains to live with more like-minded people. Some might call it a cult. It was a group that never smiled and disapproved of everything and everyone. Mr. Chapman and the town had greatly improved during her absence. Kenna cringed with the news she was coming back.
“Well, Father Ben was running late, and there’s that fountain in the gardens behind the church. It’s real soothing, and . . . well . . . the nuns,” Mr. Chapman said as an explanation as he hung his head.
“Are the nuns all right?” Kenna asked Father Ben.
“Oh yes,” Father Ben nodded. “In fact, they asked that charges not be pressed. Cody, I mean Deputy Gray, hauled Mr. Chapman away before they could tell him not to. Apparently Mr. Chapman made quite an impression.”
Kenna wanted to bang her head with the gavel. Instead she looked down at Mr. Chapman’s hanging head. “Henry,” she called out to the lawyer in the shiny silver suit talking to the group of other lawyers waiting their turn.
Henry Rooney’s head popped up. “Yes, Judge?”
“You’re practicing family law now, right?”
“Sure am.”
“Mr. Chapman, the charges are dropped. I want you to seek counseling with Father Ben and Henry Rooney, or any lawyer of your choice, to discuss the return of your wife and the implications it could have on your criminal history. Dismissed.” Kenna rapped her gavel.
Henry shivered. “She makes my balls run and hide.”
“Mine too,” Mr. Chapman muttered. “And I was so looking forward to doing something nice for the Rose sisters’ hundredth birthday. But now I’m so upset all I want to do is—”
“We know what you want to do, Mr. Chapman,” Kenna said, cutting him off. “But what did you say about the Rose sisters?”
The Rose sisters were elderly triplets who ran Keeneston from the Blossom Café. There wasn’t a person in Keeneston who didn’t owe something to the loveable, yet completely meddling, sisters.
“I thought to do something special for their hundredth birthday. It’s in a couple days. Or at least it might be,” Mr. Chapman explained. “I’m having a really hard time nailing down exactly which year they were born. I’m going with them being anywhere from ninety to a hundred twenty. But with the wife coming back . . .” Mr. Chapman and most of the people in the courtroom shivered.
“I knew their birthday was in a couple days, but I didn’t know they were a hundred,” Kenna muttered as the courtroom began to empty.
“I mean, I think they are,” Mr. Chapman answered, seemingly not wanting to leave with the others. “Kenna, do you think it’s wrong to get a divorce?”
Kenna walked back into her chambers with Mr. Chapman and Henry following. “I think it’s a sin not to in your case,” Henry answered for him. “Shoot, I’ll do this one for free if you think she’ll leave town again.”
“Really?” Mr. Chapman perked up.
Kenna stopped listening as she unzipped her robe. “We have to do something special for them.”
“For Mrs. Chapman? Something special would be sending her back into the mountains to live miles from any other living soul,” Henry said as he p
erched himself at the edge of her desk.
“No,” Kenna said with a roll of her eyes. “The Rose sisters. If it’s their hundredth birthday, we need to celebrate.” Kenna tapped her fingers on her desk as she thought. These ladies were the reason she was who she was. They were the heart and soul of the town. They did things for everyone, and now it was time for the town to say thank you.
“A surprise party!” Kenna gasped. “We’ll throw a surprise party!”
“Can there be strippers? My wife hates nudity. I’m afraid I won’t see another pair of boobies until . . .”
Kenna shooed Mr. Chapman and Henry from her office. She had a surprise birthday party to plan, and she knew exactly who to ask for help.
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There was nothing Kenna loved more than walking up Main Street in Keeneston. In an era when people were glued to their phones as they walked down the street, Keeneston fought against the changing times. In some ways, that is. In other ways, they were miles ahead in technology. After all, they had a gossip text hotline. But when not reporting gossip, people waved, stopped you to chat for a moment, and cars honked their hellos as they drove by. Doors to the shops were propped open, inviting one and all to step inside for a bit. Then there was the smell of the cooking from the Blossom Café.
The Blossom Café was across the street from the courthouse and packed as people gathered for lunch. All of downtown was historic, but the café held a special place in everyone’s heart. The three-story, pale yellow brick building with a purple door and a large plate glass window overlooking Main Street was gossip central. Daisy Mae Rose and Violet Fae Rose opened it decades ago and had since retired and passed the daily operations over to their much younger cousins, Poppy and Zinnia Meadows. Miss Lily Rae Rose ran the bed and breakfast, and that too was now under Poppy and Zinnia’s control.
Although the delicious smells coming from the café were enough to make her think twice of delaying her plans, Kenna turned from the café and headed up Main Street. The street was lined with dark purples, hot pinks, and bright white flowers in baskets attached to the light posts. American flags waved in the breeze and there were pretty benches for those who wanted to sit and chat with the passers-by.
Kenna smiled at the bank teller heading to lunch. She waved through the open window at her insurance agent. She stopped to check out the new piece hanging in the window of the art studio and smiled at the line of women waiting for their turn to have their hair and nails done at the Fluff and Buff.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach her destination at the other end of Main Street. Kenna pushed open the door to Southern Charms and a bell rang. The warm shop, painted in yellows and whites and accented in blues, was filled with people taking advantage of Paige Davies Parker’s annual one-day hat sale. Paige was a famous hat designer. And once a year, she put all of her hats on sale to make room for the new styles.
Paige had been her best friend since Kenna’s frantic escape for her life in New York City. She had been chased, hunted, and eventually found. She had met Paige on the road to Keeneston, and they’d been friends ever since. Even when Dani, Kenna’s best friend and paralegal from New York City, arrived, it was as if the three of them were inseparable. They’d been through love, attempted murder, a trial that captivated the tabloids, and children, and now were united in their quest to become grandparents. Each of them had one child married, but no grandbabies, much to their disappointment. However, the grandbaby hunt needed to be put on hold for a while as she caught Paige’s eye and motioned for her to join her behind the counter.
Kenna pulled her auburn hair out of the French twist and rubbed her head as she waited for her friend to join her. Paige finished answering questions for a group of women and walked toward Kenna with a huge smile on her face. Her brown hair had lightened with age, but she had the same happy-go-lucky smile she’d had since they’d met. Her hazel eyes twinkled as if she were in on a secret joke.
“Hey! Looking for a hat?” Paige asked as she stepped behind the counter to meet Kenna.
Kenna shook her head. “It’s about the Rose sisters.”
Paige’s smile dropped. “Are they okay?”
“Yes, but did you know the day after tomorrow is their hundredth birthday?”
Paige’s eyes rounded. “Is that how old they are?”
“Well,” Kenna shrugged. “That’s the best Mr. Chapman can figure.”
“I thought for sure they were a hundred five,” Paige chuckled.
“I want to throw a surprise birthday party for them. What do you think?” Kenna asked as a couple of women stopped at the counter to pay for hats.
“I think that’s a great idea. But there’s no way we can pull off a surprise party. You forget Miss Lily is married to John Wolfe, and John knows everything before it even happens. Aliens. I’m positive.”
The door opened and Kenna saw Aniyah strut in. Aniyah’s mocha skin was glistening from the summer heat and an apparent run down Main Street in her signature five-inch heels. Without them, Aniyah was the height of a fifth grader with the body of a pinup. Her black hair was styled perfectly and held in place with a diamond clip. Her generous curves were on full display and her hoop earrings were so big the basketball team could shoot through them.
“I heard we’re throwing a surprise party,” she panted as she ignored the visitors and tourists and made her way around the counter.
Paige gave Kenna an “I told you so” look.
“John?” Paige asked, not surprised the news was already spreading.
“What? Oh, no. DeAndre just told me.”
Paige shook her head. “Do aliens talk to him like we think they talk to John? Because I can’t think of any other way those two men know what’s going on so fast.”
“I don’t think so, but I just watched this show about aliens. Did you know there could be aliens among us right now?” Aniyah asked, dropping her voice and looking around suspiciously at the people in the shop.
Kenna stared at the young woman in her early twenties and didn’t know what to say. It was a joke that aliens talked to John, well, half joke and half serious. How else could he get all his gossip? It was a complete unknown. The town hadn’t seen anything like it until DeAndre Drews and his girlfriend came to town almost a year before. In under a week, DeAndre was scooping John on gossip. Kenna thought DeAndre wiretapped the town somehow, and maybe John did too. But while John was analog, DeAndre was digital.
“Well, however DeAndre found out, make sure he doesn’t tell anyone,” Kenna scolded as if Aniyah were one of her children.
“Of course not. I want to help.”
Kenna thought for a second. “You can be the distraction. On their birthday, in the afternoon, why don’t you take them to the Fluff and Buff? And afterward, you’ll have to make a quick stop at my house. That’s where we can have the party.”
“Oh, I know!” Paige practically bounced. “I’ll take something down to the Fluff and Buff and see if I can talk you all into delivering it out to Kenna or Will. If anyone can talk the Rose sisters into a quick trip out to Kenna’s, it’s you.”
“I can do that. Now, did you save that hat for me?”
Kenna left with Aniyah and her new purchase. Aniyah went to conspire with Nora, the owner of the Fluff and Buff, while Kenna went to meet Dani. Together, they would make sure the whole town was ready for the most epic birthday party in Keeneston history.
2
Kenna looked across the coffee table at her two best friends and raised her glass of wine. “Then we have a plan,” Kenna said as they toasted.
Dani’s long dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail as she took a sip of her wine. “How are things going with Sienna and Ryan?” she asked their mothers. Kenna’s daughter had married Paige’s son almost four years earlier.
Paige and Kenna shared a look of exasperation. “Still no grandbaby,” Kenna complained.
“I keep leaving baby items on their porch in hopes it’ll give them ideas,” Paige winked.
Dani laughed and shook her head.
“Oh, as if you’re innocent,” Kenna teased.
“What is my wife innocent of?” Mo asked as he came in and kissed Dani on the cheek.
“Well, we know we aren’t talking about my wife then,” Cole Parker joked as he strode in behind Mo. Kenna’s husband, Will, was next. Paige swatted her husband and Cole pretended injury before bending down to kiss her.
“Did you know it was the Rose sisters’ hundredth birthday in two days?” Kenna asked Will.
“Wow, no. I had no idea how old they were.”
“We didn’t either. And we’re not really sure, but it’s Mr. Chapman’s best guess,” Kenna told them.
“Best guess?” Cole asked.
Kenna cringed. “Well, their past driver’s licenses all had different years of birth on them. Mr. Chapman pulled the high school yearbooks and talked to Jake and Marcy, along with Will’s parents, and we’re pretty sure it’s their hundredth birthday. Give or take a year or two.”
“So we’ve decided to host a surprise party!” Paige finished telling them.
“How are you going to pull that off?” Mo asked. “We still have some decorations up from Sophie and Nash’s wedding that we could use.”
“We thought about that,” Kenna explained. “But every time we have a town function, you all host it. We thought they may get suspicious if we have them driving up to your house. Instead, I thought we’d have it at our house.”
Her husband raised his brows in thought. “Why don’t we have it at the main house? You know my parents are moving to Florida at the end of the month. I’m sure they’d love to host one last blowout at their house.”
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