Love Under Two Financiers

by Cara Covington

  The front door opened before they had a chance to knock. The woman who opened the door was a woman he’d seen the night before but hadn’t met. Her dark hair was swept up in a topknot, with only a very few silver threads sparkling through the black. Her face didn’t hold any wrinkles. Jason wasn’t good at judging a person’s age. But the way she smiled at them, he thought she might be close to ageless. “There you are! We didn’t get a chance to meet last night. I’m Bernice Benedict. I’m one of Kate’s daughters-in-law, married to her sons Caleb and Jonathan. Please, come in!”

  Jason hadn’t formed any images in his mind as to what the interior of this very large house would look like. The surprise to him was that it felt so homey. The décor was tasteful but definitely what he would call expensive. Neat as a pin, too. The house smelled fresh, the way his mother’s house had smelled that first day after the annual spring cleaning. I wonder how many staff they have. Likely quite a few, judging by the number of cars parked outside.

  Bernice led them to the left, through a very large dining room, and on into another large and airy space.

  As soon as Bernice stepped into the room, the men in that room—six of them—got to their feet. “We’re gathered here in the great room. Lunch will be ready, soon.” Then she turned and gave them a big smile. “I’ll leave you in capable hands. I need to return to the kitchen.” And then she did just that.

  They immediately headed over to Grandma Kate, who’d just gotten to her feet.

  “I’m so happy to see you both.” She hugged Jason, and he couldn’t help but be in awe of her obvious strength. Phillip was treated to the same greeting.

  He had no trouble reading Phillip’s surprise on his face.

  One of the men, a burly fellow with streaks of gray in what otherwise might have been blond hair stepped forward. “I’m Caleb, Kate’s oldest. Welcome home, gentlemen.” Each of the other older men stepped forward and introduced themselves in turn.

  They learned that Jonathan was a twin to Caleb, a retired rancher to Caleb’s retired cop. Carson and Michael, the next oldest of Kate’s sons, were married to Abigail, currently in the kitchen with Bernice, working on lunch. Carson had been the CEO of Benedict Oil and Minerals, as well as Benedict International. Michael was a retired professor of English.

  “I’m Matt, and that’s Steven. Caleb, Jonathan, and Bernice are our parents. And the lovely woman sitting in the comfy rocking chair is our wife, Kelsey. She owns Lusty Appetites, where y’all partied last night.”

  Both he and Phillip stepped over to shake Kelsey’s hand. Jason didn’t know much about pregnant women, but to his eye, Kelsey looked ready to give birth.

  “How much longer for you?” Phillip asked.

  “Theoretically, early April. In actual fact?” She grinned. “I’m carrying twin boys, so it could be any time, now.”

  “Their arrival will give us three children,” Steven said. His pride and his love were in his eyes. “Our daughter, Amanda Rose, is currently with our sister, Susan, and her husbands. Mandy and Susie’s little guy, Michael, are both going to be six in the fall. They’re best friends and take turns having sleepovers and play dates.”

  Everyone made them feel welcome. Both he and Phillip chose to sample Shiner, the Texas-brewed beer they were offered. Before long, they were sitting with this accumulation of honorary uncles and cousins, getting to know these people who were all Benedicts.

  A pretty blonde woman, her hair cut in a chic style, stepped into the room. “Lunch is ready.”

  “Jason and Phillip, this is Michael’s and my wife, Abigail.”

  He and his cousin had both gotten to their feet when Abigail had entered the room. She gave them each a smile as she extended her arm.

  “We’ll come help carry, sweetheart,” Carson said.

  “That would be nice.”

  There was nothing fancy about the dining table, except there was. Jason recognized Wedgewood dinnerware when he saw it. When everyone was seated—there were twelve of them—Caleb said grace, and then the food was passed around.

  Sliced roast beef and ham, along with several salads—a green salad, a bean salad, and one that surprised him—a potato salad—comprised the lunch. He’d heard that Texans didn’t eat potatoes much. Jason thought it might be a good idea to set aside all his previously conceived notions about this large state.

  The food was good, and the company? Once more Jason was surprised by how congenial everyone appeared to be. He realized there were three triads sitting at the table and learned, over the course of the conversation, that Kate was the widow of Gerald and Patrick, who’d been brothers and about ten years her senior.

  As soon as the food had been eaten, all of the senior men and Steven got up and made short work of clearing the table while the women, who’d apparently made the meal, relaxed. Matt stayed by Kelsey’s side. Jason had learned they’d been married at least six years, but they acted like newlyweds. Both of her husbands doted on Kelsey.

  He thought back to how his grandfather had catered to his grandmother and how his dad and uncles were with their wives.

  Doting on a wife is a pretty good family tradition. Jason had figured that, at some time in the nebulous future, he’d marry. He watched the way Phillip watched everyone—not just their cousins but the uncles and aunts, too.

  His closest cousin wasn’t nearly as inscrutable as Jason could be. The longing was right there on the man’s face.

  He didn’t think anyone but him had seen it.

  A cart was wheeled in carrying coffee, hot tea, sweet tea, and a couple of very tasty-looking pecan pies.

  “How many staff do you have in your firm?” Uncle Caleb asked.

  “We have four investment consultants, and Herman, who’s our executive assistant, our receptionist…actually,” Jason said, “Herman is pretty much in charge of things.”

  “Too many people are too busy to do things the way they did them, even five years ago,” Phillip said. “Business models are changing. What makes our firm stand out is our focus is on being an online business. You don’t need to come into downtown Manhattan to meet with us. Thanks to Skype, scanning, and the Internet, we’re able to see to the needs of our clients quickly and efficiently.”

  “So you don’t have to be in New York to conduct business?” Kate asked. “You could do that from anywhere, if you wanted to?”

  Prior to arriving in Lusty the day before, Jason might have thought that Kate’s question was her attempt to understand their business model. It hadn’t taken him long to know that the woman was sharp as a tack and likely knew a hell of a lot more about the business world than he could even imagine.

  “Yes, ma’am. We actually don’t, either of us, have any in-person appointments for at least a month.”

  Her smile looked a combination of satisfaction and mischievousness. She set down her teacup and folded her hands in front of her.

  “That’s very good news.” She nodded. “Gentlemen, I have a proposition for you.”

  Chapter Three

  Kate Benedict’s words from the day before still echoed in Phillip’s thoughts. Even now, more than twelve hours later, he could picture the moment and hear her words as if she stood right beside him, right then and there.

  “I know that you didn’t grow up knowing your family history, or even that you had so many cousins here in Texas. I also know that you’ve been laboring under a few misconceptions.”

  Phillip looked over at his cousin, not in the least surprised to see that slight look of embarrassment on Jason’s face.

  “Above and beyond that, I think the two of you could use some ‘down time.’” Kate’s gaze stayed on Jason. “Sweetheart, you pop those antacids as if they were candy. As a nurse, I can tell you that’s not good. Instead of trying to treat the symptoms of your stress, why not target the source? Human beings weren’t meant to live under so much pressure all the time.”

  Phillip had wondered if Kate had already figured out that the real source of that pressure w
as Jason himself. But she hadn’t elaborated, and Jason hadn’t asked.

  “You mentioned a proposition. What did you have in mind?” Jason asked.

  “There’s a nice house here in town not currently being used. It’s the property of the Town Trust. You could stay there for a few weeks, a month or more, however long you like, in order to spend some time here with us. Get to know your family history—our museum is the place to do that, as is the cemetery. Get to know your family here—and those two young men your sister is going to marry. The last, at least, should alleviate any apprehensions you may have about the path she’s chosen to walk.”

  Phillip thought Kate’s timing was excellent. Before heading to Boston for that conference, they’d begun talking about taking a vacation somewhere, though they hadn’t yet hashed out the details.

  This visit to Lusty had only been meant to be a quick jaunt, and then—as Jason had outlined it—he, Phillip, and Alice would be headed back to New York.

  In response to Kate’s offer, Jason had looked at him. Phillip had held his gaze. Because he sensed his best friend wanted to know right then what Phillip thought, he shrugged. “Why not? At the very least, we could consider it.”

  Phillip wanted to stay. His reasons weren’t anything he wanted to talk about in front of these relatives he didn’t yet know. And they weren’t anything he necessarily wanted to discuss with J. Coop—yet.

  “We appreciate the invitation,” Jason said. “Can we let you know tomorrow afternoon, Grandma Kate?”

  “Take all the time you need, Jason. We all hope you’ll choose to stay and get to know us better and let us get to know you. But that’s completely up to you.”

  A few minutes ago, Phillip had awakened well rested and headed downstairs at the inn, coffee his immediate goal.

  J. Coop was also up and downstairs and, Phillip could see as he reached the bottom of the stairs, standing on the front porch. Phillip went to the kitchen, made himself a cup of joe, and then headed out to join him. His best friend appeared to be lost in thought, but Phillip sensed the man was a little more relaxed than usual.

  “Mom and Dad called just as I got up,” Jason said. “We’ve been invited to Chance, Logan, and Bailey’s for breakfast. I hope you don’t mind, but I accepted for us both and told Maggie that we’d be headed there so she didn’t have to feed us.”

  “Sounds good. Have you given Grandma Kate’s offer any thought?”

  “Yes, you?”

  Phillip mentally crossed his fingers. “I have. I’d like to accept. I need a break, we both do, and we talked about that before Boston. But since I talked to my dad about what he knew of our family history, I’ve really wanted to know more about this part of our family.” He didn’t add anything about the main point Kate had made—that Jason was eating too many antacid tablets. He explained his reasons only in terms of himself.

  It was usually the best way he knew of to get J. Coop to do something to benefit himself—if he thought he was doing something Phillip wanted or needed.

  “All right, we’ll accept.” He shrugged then used his coffee cup as a pointer. “Whichever house they have for us to use, I can’t imagine it will be anything except clean and in good repair.”

  “I know. This is the neatest small town I’ve ever seen.” He looked over at Jason and wondered at the look of calculation he saw in his gaze. Mostly, he knew exactly what his best friend was thinking and feeling at any given moment. But sometimes—like now—J. Coop managed to be completely inscrutable.

  “It is, isn’t it? Almost too neat and too clean, but that might just be my inner New Yorker bristling.”

  Phillip chuckled. “We’re used to the quiet because we’ve always managed to head back to the countryside a couple times a month. Do you think we’ll get bored here after a week or two, without the hustle and bustle?” It could very well be that his cousin was wondering that very thing. They shared an apartment in New York City because they were both frugal by nature. It was a very nice apartment, to be sure, but there was always an aura of busyness in the city. There was the noise and the odors and sometimes trash and other things best not mentioned along the sidewalks. Compared to that, this picture-perfect town seemed like Shangri-La.

  “No. You know me, I’ll keep busy. In fact, I have a bit of an idea. Some questions occurred to me as I was looking around the restaurant the other night.” Then he turned and gave Phillip a look he recognized.

  It hadn’t happened often, but every once in a while, his best friend got an idea in his head and felt compelled to go on a crusade. Phillip knew J. Coop had an idea that he wanted to either prove or disprove. Phillip had no idea what it was and had the sense his cousin wouldn’t necessarily tell him if he asked, either. As close as they were, there was a very thin, but definite gulf between them. Phillip understood it was a distance that J. Coop needed. Maybe staying here will help him to finally get rid of it.

  “Well, then, I guess we’ll both keep ourselves occupied. I plan on spending as much time as possible in that museum and meeting people.” Then he put a hand on his cousin’s shoulder, a brief touch. “I’ll visit the cemetery, too. I learned at the party that all of our great-grandparent’s sons left Lusty, some never to return.”

  J. Coop nodded. “I heard the same thing. I’ll be sure to visit there as well.”

  Breakfast with his aunt, uncle, and cousins was a slice of home. There was the usual banter and good spirits and, of course, really good food. Bailey, the woman Chance and Logan had married, was herself a native New Yorker. After the death of her mother, who’d been her only family, she decided to travel some. Apparently, she’d thrown a dart at a map of the country and had struck Texas.

  At about the same time, Chance and Logan had been attending an accountants’ convention in Dallas and had decided to visit Grandma Kate.

  “What are the odds, I wonder,” Phillip asked, “of the three of you traveling from New York to Lusty and finding each other here?”

  “Grandma Kate says that things generally turn out as they’re meant to be,” Bailey said. Then she looked at her husbands. The men returned her smile, as well as the look of love she’d sent them.

  I want that. I want that so badly it hurts.

  “What time do you have to be at the airport by?” Uncle Chris asked.

  Phillip looked at J. Coop and waited.

  “We don’t. Grandma Kate offered us the use of a house and asked if we’d spend some time here—so we can get to know them, and they can get to know us.” Jason looked at his parents and then his siblings. “Since Phillip and I were discussing taking a break anyway before that conference in Boston, we thought we might as well have that break right here.”

  Phillip wondered if his cousin and best friend saw the relief, not only in his mother’s eyes but his father’s as well. J. Coop thought he was very good at keeping his own counsel, and he was, but he often missed the very clear signals around him.

  Phillip wondered what his best friend would think if he realized his parents were relieved that he was staying, at least for a time, in Lusty.

  * * * *

  Their conversation dropped off. Leesa strained to get in the last five minutes of her elliptical program, and beside her, Rachel was doing the same. There were differences in their programs, their level of fitness prior to their working out together, and of course, their ages.

  As far as Leesa could see, there was no difference in their determination.

  Leesa felt the burn and began to ease off, tapering down, getting ready to be finished. Beside her, Rachel was doing the same. They hadn’t started together, because they’d wanted to finish together. The plan was to go to the spa after their Monday morning workout and then on to the Roadhouse for lunch.

  Leesa didn’t mind being her bff’s exercise partner only during the week. Rachel’s husbands—Brandon, a Marine assigned to Goodfellow AFB as an instructor, and Trace, a member of Lusty’s fire department—worked the traditional five-day week. The only difference of
course was that, as a rule, Brandon stayed on base and came home only on the weekends.

  Finally, they were done, and Leesa hung her head for just a moment. “Some days this machine takes a bigger bite out of my ass than others.”

  “That’s every day I’m on it for me,” Rachel said.

  Together they wiped down their equipment. Then they grabbed their towels and their water and collapsed onto one of the benches along the wall. The workout room was large enough that there could be twenty people working out at one time. There was a sound system, a fridge stocked with water and sports drinks, and towels—all available for the taking.

  Before Leesa had begun her workout, she’d put a load of towels into the washer in the utility room. She’d move them to the dryer on her way to the showers, knowing the next person in would take them out of the dryer and put them away.

  Everyone pitched in, and that was just one more thing she liked about her adopted town.

  “So those two New York Benedicts have themselves a house, I hear,” Rachel said.

  Leesa smiled and stuck her tongue out at her. Rachel just laughed, not the least bit intimidated or put off. That was one more thing she loved about her new bff.

  “That’s what I hear, too. Grandma Kate wanted them to spend some time here. I was kind of surprised they took her up on the offer.” Then she frowned. “I get the sense that Phillip is the one who was really interested in learning more about his roots.”

  “What about Jason?”

  “Well, I’m not a hundred percent certain, but I think he’s looking for something nefarious.” She could have sworn she saw him pour some water from his glass into a vial at the restaurant the other day. She’d come into the dining room to replace the jug of sweet tea, and she’d seen he was on his own, near the back.

  She was absolutely not going to address that she’d somehow known he was there and her attention had been drawn to him. I’m playing the denial card as long as I can.

  “Nefarious? In Lusty? Like what?”

  Leesa hadn’t had to think about it for too long before she understood exactly what Jason was doing. I’m not going to address that one, either. “Well, you know how it’s kind of an inside joke—how folks coming to town and end up staying invariably ask if anyone’s ever had the water tested?”