Griffen urged her away from the cheap reproduction and led her down another short hallway into the billiard room. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. It’s just Ford’s opinion was an afterthought,” Mattie explained. “When I first saw the cabinet, my only thought was the low price, not if Ford would like it.”
Griffen led her across the dark paneled room to where a tall cabinet stood. “Now this is a true antique,” she said. “It’s a Louis XV marquetry inlaid corner cabinet. This would work nicely in Jed’s office.”
“It’s beautiful. A little small, though.”
“Not too spendy. The price is set at fifteen hundred dollars. It could easily bring twice that, if not more.” Griffen bent down to open the inlaid door on the bottom of the cabinet. “It’s in good shape, too. Someone took care of this old girl.”
Mattie adjusted her purse on her shoulder. “Would you buy it without talking to Jed first?”
Griffen shrugged. “Hard to say. To be honest, I haven’t so far, but Jed hasn’t said much about the pieces I bought for the new house. If it were crazy expensive, yeah, I probably would.”
Mattie nodded and bit her lip. To her, fifteen hundred dollars for an accent piece would always be crazy expensive. They’d had too many lean times during the early years of their marriage for her to think otherwise. But, Ford made good money as a Naval officer. Nothing like the millions Jed Maitland had acquired as a professional quarterback, but they were far from starving, or destitute. The problem was, she’d become used to making decisions on her own, and it bothered her that she hadn’t even thought about consulting Ford.
“It’s only a cheap curio,” Griffen said. “Are you overthinking this, because I don’t understand your hesitation?”
“I know,” she said. “And I know it’s not a big deal. But I had Ford’s childhood home completely renovated. I ripped out walls, changed some of the layout, all without his input.”
“Sure, but he wasn’t around.” Griffen smoothed her hand over the traditional dark-green felt of a pool table. “It’s not like you intentionally updated the house without his approval. He was...well, you know.”
“Dead, Griff. I was told my husband was dead. And I went a little nuts.”
Griffen looked at her, compassion lining her gaze. If it hadn’t been for her sister, Mattie wasn’t sure she would’ve survived losing Ford.
“The house did need upgrading,” Griffen rationalized. “It was trapped in the eighties and needed to be freed.”
“Yes, it did,” she said, remembering all the pastels and shiny brass fixtures, all of which were dated and had started to look cheap. “He hasn’t complained, for which I’m grateful. But how do I tell him I changed everything because I couldn’t stand living with the memories?”
“You don’t,” Griffen said as she examined a wall tapestry.
A trio of women walked into the room. Mattie moved closer to her sister. “Before, I never would’ve purchased so much as a stick of furniture without telling him about it first,” she said in a hushed tone. “It’s not like I ever needed his permission to spend money or anything. Ford was never like that. But we always abided by the twenty dollar rule.”
Griffen shot a quick glance in her direction. “You lost me,” she said, running her fingers over the frayed edge of the tapestry.
“When we were first married, and were broke most of the time, we came up with the twenty dollar rule. We couldn’t spend more than twenty bucks on any one item that wasn’t a necessity without discussing it first. We did it because it kept us on budget, but after a while, it became more about respect.”
“Jed has ‘people,’” Griffen said using air quotes, “who watch over his money.”
“What’s that like?”
“Different. Did I tell you I have an AmEx card I’m supposed to use?”
“Nice.”
Griffen shrugged, then smiled. “It’s an adjustment. I’m not crazy about someone else watching Jed’s money, so I’ve been keeping tabs on the money watchers.”
She understood her sister’s monetary paranoia. “You can never be too careful.”
“Exactly,” Griffen said. “I keep telling Jed, if he’d be more diligent, then I wouldn’t have to play financial watchdog.” She grabbed Mattie’s hand and dragged her toward another doorway, this one leading to a staircase. Instead of climbing the stairs to the upper floor, Griffen opened an oddly-angled door built into the staircase that led to a library with floor to ceiling bookcases that stretched two stories high.
“There’s an Italian writing desk on the list that I’ve been trying to find for the past thirty minutes,” Griffen said. “Maybe it’s in here.”
The room smelled of books. Mattie sighed. She could easily lose herself in a room like this and never come out again. She loved to read, from the classics to romance novels. She didn’t care what the genre, so long as the story was good and the characters relatable. “I’m never leaving here.”
Griffen consulted the list. “There are some leather-bound Nathanial Hawthorne first editions for sale.” She looked at her and smiled. “They’re way over your twenty dollar limit.”
Mattie grinned. “Smart ass.” She walked to the bookcase. “For the record, by the time Ford had left on his last mission, our twenty dollar limit was closer to five-hundred dollars.”
“You’ll need more than that for old Nate,” Griffen said.
Mattie perused the titles. “It’s not about the money.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know what the limit is now.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, if you find something you really like, take a picture of it and text it to him.”
Mattie frowned. “Like I’m asking permission?”
“No, more like, ‘I’m thinking of buying, what do you think?’ You’re not asking for permission, you’re asking for his opinion. Big difference.” She started across the room to the far corner, where a desk and large leather chair were tucked. “Ahhh, there you are, beautiful. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Mattie followed Griffen. “This was never an issue before.”
“Then don’t make it one now.” Griffen sat in the chair behind the desk for an up close and personal inspection. “You’re going to have a period of adjustment,” she said as she opened the center drawer and reached inside. “I would think that’s a given.”
“That’s true, but it’s still kind of weird,” Mattie said. “In some ways, everything is the same, yet it’s completely different.”
“How so?”
“There’s an edge that wasn’t there before. Then there are days when I get the feeling he’s holding something back.”
“He’s been through a lot.”
“True,” Mattie said. She slid a leather bound copy of Jane Eyre from a nearby shelf, flipped the book open and read the first paragraph.
“Still no sex?”
Mattie snapped the cover of the Charlotte Brontë novel closed. “Oooh, any chance there are any Jane Austin novels for sale?”
Griffen checked the list and shook her head. “Sorry,” she said. “You’re dodging the question, Stinkerbell.”
Mattie couldn’t help herself—she blushed.
Griffen stopped snooping through the desk. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, her gaze filled with concern.
A trio of women walked into the library. “I’ll tell you later,” Mattie said.
Griffen rolled her eyes. “Ignore them,” she said in a hushed tone. “What’s going on? Did he have a problem?”
“Oh my God. No. Nothing like that.”
“Because they have pills for that now, you know.”
“If you continue to be crude, I’m going to pinch you,” Mattie said, her eyes narrowed. “Hard.” She slipped the copy of Jane Eyre back on the shelf. “We’re just not connecting the way we should.”
“Stinkerbell, you’re going to have to be more specific. I have pregna
ncy brain. Subtly is lost on me for the next five months.”
Mattie waited until the other women moved to the far end of the library, then briefly gave Griffen the broad strokes version of what had occurred Sunday night. “Then he apologized, which pissed me off to no end. We both got angry and it all went downhill,” she finished. “We both apologized two days ago, but he’s still not sleeping in my bed.”
“Did you ask him about it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, Griff. Maybe because that’s a whole other level of intimacy that I don’t know that I’m ready for.”
“That’s such crap, Mattie.” Griffen rolled her eyes. “It’s not about the future, it’s the history.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t share the same history any longer. There are five unaccounted years between you, and you’ve both done things, Matt. He’s not the only one with demons, you know.”
Mattie nodded. “I know. And I blew him shit about not being honest with me. Maybe I should be grateful he can’t see past the time I’d spent with Trenton.”
Twice, Griffen opened her mouth to say something, but she snapped it shut and remained silent. She leaned back in the burgundy, tufted-leather chair. “Haven’t you told him?”
“Nope.” How could she tell Ford her darkest secret? In comparison, what she’d suffered was nothing compared to what he’d endured.
“Wow.”
“Thanks, Griff. That’s so helpful.”
“Sorry,” her sister said. “It’s just...Wow.”
“Still not helping. Whose side are you on, anyway?”
“Yours. That’s why you have to tell him,” Griffen said. “Otherwise, you’re being hypocritical.”
“Again. Not helping.”
“I know what would be helpful,” Griffen said. “Jed’s out of town until Tuesday. Austin leaves in the morning for a week of football camp. How about I keep Phoebe for the weekend? She can have some girl time with Auntie Griff.”
“I don’t know,” Mattie said. “She was with Dad and Lily in Galveston last weekend.”
“And she was with you and Ford all week,” Griffen countered. “Look, I really think you and Ford need the time together. Alone. It’ll give you the time to work through whatever it is you need to work through.”
“Wouldn’t you rather enjoy spending some time alone? Your ‘me time’ will be at a premium.”
Griffen stood and waved away the objection. “Better yet, why don’t you and Ford go to the lake house for the weekend.” Her sister’s grin turned wicked. “It’s perfect. You can talk, eat carbs, and finally put the past to rest. And then you can...you know.”
“You know?” Mattie laughed. “Seriously, Griff. What are you? Twelve?”
“I was being discreet.”
“I’m sure these walls have been subjected to F-bombs a time or two.”
“No doubt,” Griffen said and looked dubiously at the desk. She shrugged and faced Mattie. “I’m serious. The pre-season is in full swing. Jed’s busy recording interviews for some network special on the season’s hottest rookies. Who knows when we’ll get back up there again. The lake house is sitting empty. Someone might as well enjoy it.”
Mattie and Trenton had spent a weekend at Jed’s home on Possum Kingdom Lake before the wedding. The place was beautiful, and the five thousand square foot McMansion was a far cry from a little cottage on the lake. “That lake view is spectacular.”
“It’s even better at night.”
The more she thought about it, the more she thought accepting Griffen’s generous offer was a good idea. Cooking in that gourmet kitchen alone was worth the drive.
The sound of voices drifted into the library from the corridor. “Give me your cell phone,” Griffen ordered, holding out her hand, her fingers flicking impatiently.
Mattie handed over her iPhone, and Griffen started tapping the screen. A minute later, she heard the tone signaling she’d received a text message from Ford. Griff looked at the screen and laughed.
“What did you do?” Mattie asked, taking back her phone.
“Nothing too scandalous,” Griffen said with a laugh. “Just made a date with your husband.”
Mattie read the text Griffen had sent to Ford with the address to the lake house. you. me. no interruptions. clothing optional. you in?
She scrolled down to Ford’s response and erupted with a burst of laughter. His reply consisted of a cartoon character with its tongue hanging out, eyes bugging out of its head and its heart bursting from its chest. The caption beneath read, did you say sex?
Fifteen
BY THE TIME Mattie and Ford finally pulled into the upscale, lakeside community of Possum Kingdom, the sun was already riding low on the horizon. They’d gotten a late start, because not only had she and Griffen stayed in Dallas longer than expected, but she’d decided to wait for Ford to get home from work so they could make the drive together.
Phoebe had been thrilled to spend the next two nights with her Aunt Griffen, who would no doubt spoil her rotten. Griffen must’ve said something when she’d picked up Phoebe from their dad’s house, because Lily had sent her a text with an offer to take care of the weekly family dinner. Mattie had jumped on the offer, so now all she and Ford had to do was show up at her dad’s place around five on Sunday. They truly did have an entire weekend to themselves, spent in the luxury of her brother-in-law’s multi-million dollar lakeside home.
After two quick stops, one for weekend supplies, and the other at a rustic, hole-in-the-wall café, where they’d lingered over a dinner of to-die-for tamales, carnitas and ice cold bottles of Corona, the two hour drive to the elite community had taken them closer to four. Not that she minded. Ford drove, so she relaxed and tried to look forward to being in the middle of nowhere with her husband for the next forty-eight hours.
“We didn’t exactly grow up dirt poor,” Ford said, as he took the exit off the highway. “But isn’t this a bit much?”
As they neared the lakeside community, more and more high-end homes dotted the landscape. “Maybe a little,” she said with a soft chuff of laughter. She spied a newly built home that looked as if it belonged in the Antebellum south, not bordering a lake in northern Texas. “Griff said she’d heard some country music superstar recently built a home up here. I wonder if that’s it.”
Ford slowed the Edge as they passed. “Did she say who?”
Mattie wiggled her toes, then slid her feet back into her sandals. “No. She couldn’t remember. The street’s coming up next.”
“She sure seems to be taking all this lifestyles of the rich and famous thing in stride,” he said as he made the turn onto the Bluff Creek Pointe. “Doesn’t that surprise you?”
“A little,” she admitted. Griffen, while not the oldest, was very much the older sibling. She was extremely pragmatic, lived with her feet planted firmly on the ground, and was the least frivolous person she knew, and the polar opposite of her husband, Jed. Dani, their oldest sister who’d died several years ago, had been gentle and kind. Much too gentle for someone as larger than life as Jed Maitland. But from what Griffen had told her, Jed and Dani had been college sweethearts and were wild about each other. They’d planned to elope, but then Dani had come home suddenly, heartbroken and pregnant with Austin. Even when she was dying, Dani had never said a word to anyone about who had fathered her child, and it wasn’t until Austin was thirteen that Griffen had learned the truth, all because of a forgotten safety deposit box.
For as much as Dani had loved her son, having Austin had taken a toll on her sister’s health. She’d been far too ill to care for a newborn, let alone the active toddler Austin had become. Dani had convinced Griffen and her then husband, Ross, to adopt Austin and raise him as their own. Griffen’s ex had never wanted children, but Griffen had, so she dug in her heels until Ross finally capitulated. Eventually, Ross’s midlife crisis hit, leaving Griffen broke and alone to raise a teenaged boy
.
“She’s cautiously adjusting.” Mattie pushed up her sunglasses and settled them on top of her head as she told Ford about her and Griffen’s conversation earlier that day. “After what Ross did to her, I don’t blame her for wanting to maintain at least some level of independence.”
“I’m sure Jed appreciates that.” A heavy note of sarcasm laced his voice.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
He glanced quickly in her direction. “Call me old-fashioned,” he said, “but it’s Jed’s responsibility to provide for his family. From what I’ve seen, money isn’t an issue.”
Her frown deepened. He couldn’t be serious. Could he? “How about I call you a misogynist instead?”
“Ouch,” he said. “That’s harsh.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Okay, what am I missing?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “How about the past forty years of progress? And a little thing called equal rights for women?”
He chuckled and smiled at her. “Did I step on your feminist toes?”
Even though she quickly figured out he was jerking her chain, she said, “You’re damned right you did.”
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t sound contrite. Not in the least. “No, you’re not,” she said with a laugh of her own. Not quite an acceptance, but his teasing apology would suffice. For now. “You’ll pay for that later, sailor.”
His smile turned naughty. “That a promise?”
Awareness spread languidly through her limbs. Regardless of whatever problems they still had to face, sex was apparently not one of them. She cleared her throat. “Anyway,” she said, changing the subject to a safer topic, “Griffen is adjusting just fine. Plus, Jed is careful to keep her and Austin out of the limelight as much as he can.”
“I imagine that’s not easy to do,” Ford said. “He doesn’t exactly scream low profile.”
“That’s just an image. And an inaccurate one,” Mattie corrected him. In the months since Griffen and Jed’s marriage, she’d come to adore the guy and thought of him as her big brother. He could be a little rough around the edges on occasion, but he was sweet, funny and he worshiped her sister. “The guy I know can be a real marshmallow. And he loves Griffen in a way Ross never could.”
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