“Ivy doesn’t.” The words were out of Jack’s mouth before he thought better of uttering them. “I just mean that she rarely goes to the mall and she seems fine with that.”
“Perhaps she doesn’t have money to spend,” Denise suggested. “I mean … she makes shower gel and lotion for a living. It’s no fun to go to the mall if you can’t buy anything.”
“She does much more than that,” Jack snapped, taking his sister by surprise with his vehemence. “She runs an entire business. It just happens to be a seasonal business. I, for one, am happy she’s taking a break. Some of her summer days stretched from eight in the morning until eight at night and she was exhausted.”
“Ivy is a wonderful businesswoman,” Brian added. He wasn’t trying to help Jack argue his case as much as he was taking up for Ivy. He didn’t like the way Margaret and Denise looked at the woman. He’d known Ivy since she was a small child and he was extremely fond of her. “People drive from all over to stock up at her nursery. She’s a whiz in the garden.”
“Amongst other places,” Jack teased, stroking the back of her head. “Don’t disparage what Ivy does for a living.”
“I was hardly disparaging anything,” Margaret said primly, her shoulders squared. “If that’s what you thought … .”
Jack cut her off with a hard glare. “I know exactly what you were doing. I’m telling you right now that it’s not going to be tolerated.”
“Fine,” Margaret barked, shifting her chilly eyes to Ivy. “I’m so sorry I offended you.”
“You didn’t offend me.” Ivy hated herself for averting her gaze. Jack’s mother terrified her, though. It wasn’t that she was afraid of fighting with the woman – Ivy loved a good argument – but she didn’t want to put Jack in an untenable position. That seemed unfair given everything he’d been through. “It’s fine.”
Jack scowled. “It is most certainly not fine.”
“She’s probably never been around a nursery so she’s not aware how it works,” Ivy said. “That’s okay. You can’t expect her to know everything.”
Instead of being happy that she took her side – which was exactly what Ivy hoped for – Margaret made an exaggerated face as she rolled her eyes. “I can stand up for myself. I don’t need you pleading my case. He’s my son.”
Ivy balked. “I didn’t mean that. I … .”
“Don’t take that tone with her,” Jack warned, his eyes flashing as he leaned forward. “She was trying to be nice.”
“I didn’t ask her to be nice.”
“We’ve already had this talk, Mother, and we’re not having it again,” Jack seethed. “Either start showing Ivy some respect or get out of town. I’m at the point where I don’t care which you choose.”
Margaret’s eyes widened as she locked gazes with her son, the atmosphere practically crackling with animosity. “Are you telling me that you want me to leave?”
“I’m telling you that you’re either going to respect Ivy or walk away,” Jack replied, refusing to back down. “I’m too old to play games and Ivy doesn’t deserve the way you’ve been treating her.”
“I’ve done nothing but treat her well,” Margaret argued. “I think I’ve been extremely pleasant given the fact that I didn’t know she existed.”
“Don’t go there.” Jack narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. “I told you a ton of stories about Ivy. If you keep pretending I didn’t … .” Jack trailed off. He had no idea how to finish the threat.
“Name one story you ever told me about that girl,” Margaret ordered.
“Okay, how about the time I told you she made me eat mushrooms that tasted like feet? How about the time I told you that she took me to the lake to catch turtles? How about the time I told you that I saw a meteor shower for the first time? It was too light in the city, but Ivy knew the exact right spot to take me up here so I could enjoy it. How about that?”
Margaret opened her mouth to argue, but Jack shook his head to keep her quiet.
“How about the time I told you that she took me kayaking? How about the time I told you that she took me to a drive-in movie in a field and we ate popcorn under the stars while watching Jaws? How about the time I told you that she read a book to me while I fished? How about the time I told you that she got me the cowboy costume I always wanted when I was a kid and you wouldn’t let me have?”
Margaret’s eyes were glassy. “How was I supposed to know that was the same girl?”
“Because I said her name each and every time,” Jack replied. “Ivy has been the leading lady in all of my stories for months. Don’t bother denying it. It will just make things worse if you do.”
Margaret’s jaw worked as she stared down her son. She didn’t say anything, just glared. Finally Ivy couldn’t take the uncomfortable silence one second longer.
“I have an idea,” Ivy suggested, sucking in a breath as she rested her hand on top of Jack’s and squeezed his fingers. “I think we all got off on the wrong foot here. How about we have a nice dinner tonight? You can come over to my house and I’ll cook. I’ll even invite my brother Max because he’s known to have a charming effect on women.”
Margaret continued to stare at Jack for a few seconds before shifting her eyes to Ivy. “Are you going to make me eat mushrooms that taste like feet?”
For the first time since meeting the woman, Ivy laughed. The way she delivered the line reminded her of Jack. “They’re out of season.”
“Well, I think that sounds fine,” Margaret said after a beat. “A nice get-to-know-you dinner should go over well with everyone.”
Jack wasn’t convinced. “If you go into Ivy’s home and insult her … .”
“No one is going to insult anyone, Jack. Have a little faith.”
Jack wanted to do just that, but he didn’t trust his mother when she was in a mood, and she was clearly in a terrible mood. “We’ll see how it goes,” he said, flashing a smile for Ivy’s benefit. “If anyone gets rude, though, I’ll put a stop to all of this before you can say anything snarky.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Margaret said. “I’m looking forward to a wonderfully inventive dinner.”
“I’M LOOKING forward to a wonderfully inventive dinner.” Jack mocked his mother’s tone to perfection thirty minutes later, causing Brian to lift an eyebrow as he settled behind his desk. “Did you hear that? She’s just … horrible.”
“I heard her,” Brian said. “I didn’t think what she said was so terrible. For the most part, I thought you handled yourself well.”
“I handled it terribly,” Jack countered, kicking the leg of his desk as he dragged a hand through his hair. “I should’ve forced her out of town. That’s the only way she’s going to know I mean business.”
Brian sighed, resigned. He wasn’t keen on having an in-depth conversation with Jack regarding his mother, but he was fairly certain he couldn’t get the man to focus if he didn’t let him vent. “Are you going to meet her on Main Street at high noon and threaten her with violence if she doesn’t leave?”
“Of course not.”
“Then how are you going to force her out of town?”
“Well, I could kick her out of my rental,” Jack replied. “Then she wouldn’t have anyplace to stay.”
“This area is thick with resorts,” Brian reminded him. “I’m sure they have a lot of bookings for the holiday weekend, but it hasn’t snowed yet so none of them are full. If your mother wants to stay, she can rent a room. There’s nothing you can do to stop her.”
“You’re right,” Jack conceded, annoyed. “I don’t have to see her, though. I certainly don’t have to make Ivy feel as if she needs to serve as mediator and cook a meal.”
“Ivy is a wonderful cook. You never know. Seeing the home you and Ivy are sharing might cause your mother to relax.”
Jack balked. “We’re not sharing a home.”
“For all intents and purposes, you are,” Brian argued. “You spend every night with Ivy. You stop at your rental like once
a week to grab something, but otherwise you completely ignore it. You refer to Ivy’s house when you say you’re going home every night. Do you even have any clothes left at the other place?”
“I … no.” Jack pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “All of my clothes are at Ivy’s house. She even gave me part of her dresser and closet.”
“Oh, that’s true love,” Brian teased. “When a woman gives up closet space, well, you know it’s real.”
“Don’t push me.” Jack couldn’t muster the energy to hide his agitation. “I can only take so much today. You saw how my mother was with Ivy. She’s disrespectful and Ivy doesn’t deserve that.”
“Ivy doesn’t deserve that,” Brian agreed, turning his attention to his computer as he logged on to the system and directed his attention toward his email. “Ivy is also capable of fighting her own battles. Have you considered letting her take on your mother and sister on her own?”
“Um, no.”
“I didn’t think so,” Brian said. “I’m not saying that you should give your mother and sister permission to run roughshod over the girl, but Ivy won’t allow herself to be pushed too far. Right now she’s biting her tongue because she’s worried about you.”
“I told her not to worry about me.”
“Yes, and we all know women do as they’re told,” Brian deadpanned, rolling his eyes. “You act as if you’ve never spent time around a woman before, son. Ivy is going overboard to do her best by you.
“She’s afraid,” he continued. “She’s trying to hide it, but she’s desperately afraid that if she gets into it with your mother that you’re going to be forced to make a choice. Now, I think Ivy knows she’s going to win if it comes to that. She doesn’t want you to be forced into that situation because she has a kind heart.
“Now, you haven’t asked for my opinion, but I’m going to give it to you anyway,” he said. “I think you should stop running interference and let Ivy explode all over your mother. It’s going to result in an ugly blowout, but Ivy can’t be intimidated if she expects to build something with your family. She’ll explain how things are to your mother, and she’ll do it in a way that invites no shenanigans.”
“And you don’t think I can do that?” Jack asked.
“I think your mother knows how to press your buttons and guilt you,” Brian replied. “She can’t do that with Ivy.”
“I guess you have a point,” Jack said, groaning as he rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t want Ivy to be upset, though. She’s been through too much lately. I want her to be happy.”
“What about your mother?”
“She always finds something to be upset about.”
“I think you need to take a step back, Jack,” Brian suggested. “The longer you try to control all of the women in your life, the more upset you’re going to be when they take over the fight. They need to yell at one another and get it out of their systems. Cooler heads will prevail after that.”
“I’ll consider it,” Jack muttered, dejectedly throwing himself in his desk chair as he stared at Brian. “What are you looking at? Did you hear back from the clerk’s office?”
“And the bank,” Brian replied, tapping his bottom lip as he stared at the screen. “The property is worth a pretty penny, but the buildings on top of it have been mortgaged to the hilt. That goes for all three houses.”
“How does that work?” Jack asked, seamlessly shifting from personal to professional. “I thought they owned the property free and clear.”
“Yes and no. They’ve taken out liens against certain parcels of property to run the farm. They’ve done it three times in the past five years.”
“How much debt does the farm have?”
“Three hundred thousand.”
“I don’t know much about farms,” Jack admitted. “Is that a lot?”
“It’s nothing to sniff at and ignore,” Brian replied. “According to the information I got from the bank, Ron owed funds on a big balloon payment. He was supposed to pay by the end of December. Walt, he’s the head guy at the bank, says that Ron told him he had the money, though. He said it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Does Ron’s account reflect that money?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean Ron didn’t have accounts at more than one bank,” Brian pointed out. “A lot of farmers have accounts at multiple locations because it makes it easier to get lines of credit.”
“Okay, let’s consider the facts,” Jack said. “Ivy heard Lionel and Darren arguing about money. Maybe they knew the farm was in trouble and killed Ron because they’re trying to save it. Did Ron have a life insurance policy?”
Brian nodded. “Three million. The premiums were exorbitant.”
“Well, that’s a lot of money,” Jack said. “That’s more than enough to pay off the liens and get the farm into the black.”
“And that means Wayne and Gilly would be the ones to benefit directly,” Brian added.
“And Darren through Gilly.”
“There is that,” Brian muttered, shaking his head. “Okay, the bank sent over a bunch of financial sheets. We need to go through them and figure out exactly who is going to end up with what when all of this settles. We also need to contact all of the other banks in the area to see if Ron had accounts through them.”
“Then let’s do it,” Jack said. “I’m looking for anything to distract me from the disaster of a dinner I’m going to have to attend tonight.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Brian lamented.
“I have reason to be.”
“Son, you have a woman who loves you and you can’t stop smiling most days,” Brian pointed out. “Your mother’s arrival is a hiccup. Nothing is going to derail your relationship with Ivy. There’s no reason to work yourself up over it.”
Jack wanted to believe Brian, but he couldn’t keep out the small seeds of doubt. “Let’s focus on work. I’ll figure out how to wrangle the women in my life later.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.”
Ten
“Is this right? It doesn’t look right.”
Luna stared at the small Cornish hens in the roasting pan and made a face. She rarely dealt with meat – unless it was tofu shaped like meat products – so she wasn’t sure what to expect when Ivy announced she was cooking dinner for Jack’s mother and sister and then demanded help preparing the feast.
“Did you follow the instructions?” Ivy asked, her brow furrowed as she gazed at the tiny birds. “Are they supposed to be this small, or did I get the runts of the litter?”
“They’re supposed to be that small,” Felicity offered. She stood on the other side of the counter peeling potatoes, her eyes lit with mirth as she watched her sister and niece interact. “They’re the perfect size for one person.”
“I’ve watched Jack and Max eat small cows in one sitting,” Ivy pointed out. “Maybe I should’ve gotten steak. I just thought these would be somehow cuter.”
“They’re fine,” Felicity said, rolling her eyes. “You need to calm down, Ivy. There’s no reason to get manic. It’s a family dinner, not the Spanish Inquisition.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Ivy shot back. “Margaret and Denise hate me.”
“I think you’re exaggerating.”
“I’m not exaggerating.” Ivy launched into the terrible lunch tale, and when she was finished, she was happy to see that both Luna and Felicity looked upset. “They think I’m some lazy do-nothing woman who is trying to seduce Jack and make him take care of me.”
“Well, anyone who knows you would find that supposition ridiculous,” Felicity pointed out. “I’m sure Jack set them straight.”
“He did. I can tell they think he’s making excuses, though.”
“Well, then they’re idiots.” Felicity shook her head as she moved the potatoes to the sink so she could rinse them. “I think you’re seeing things that aren’t there because you’re so nervous. Jack really should’ve picked a better way to introduce you to his famil
y.”
“Jack isn’t the problem here,” Ivy argued. “Jack didn’t know they were going to show up.”
“No, but it sounds as if Jack purposely kept his mother at arm’s length for a long period of time because he was trying to come to grips with a few things,” Felicity shot back. “Listen, I’m not blaming Jack. I know that’s what you think, but that’s not what I’m getting at. He’s still made a few mistakes here and you can’t let him walk without calling him on them.”
“How can I blame Jack for this?” Ivy protested. “He left the city because he was getting over being shot and betrayed by his own partner. It’s not as if either one of us saw this relationship coming.”
“I could argue that you’re lying to yourself when you say that. I think the second you and Jack laid eyes on each other you knew something would happen. The chemistry was far too combustible to ignore.”
Ivy opened her mouth to argue and then snapped it shut. Her aunt had a point, even though she was loath to admit it. “I felt something for him right away, but it certainly wasn’t love,” she said after a beat. “I’m not lying to myself when I say that.”
“Of course it wasn’t love,” Felicity conceded. “You don’t fall in love at first sight with someone. That’s not in your nature. Even people who claim it happened for them aren’t telling the entire truth.
“I think people can easily fall in lust at first sight, which is exactly what happened to you and Jack,” she continued. “You took one look at each other and instantly wondered what the other would look like naked. The trust and love came after.”
Ivy’s cheeks colored as she darted a look in her mother’s direction. For her part Luna appeared fixated on doling out spices on top of the sad-looking Cornish hens.
“You can’t say stuff like that in front of Mom,” Ivy hissed. “She’ll think I’m a deviant or something.”
Luna made an exaggerated face as she rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, darling daughter. Do you think I don’t know how sexually charged your relationship with Jack is? I have eyes. I’ve seen you together. I hardly think you’re holding hands and watching Little House on the Prairie reruns when no one is looking.”
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