by Trina Solet
"I noticed him just fine," Theo told her.
"Have you been matchmaking?" Sam demanded of her then pointed an accusing finger at Rico. "This is your influence."
Rico dismissed that. "Nah. She's doing her own thing." But then he eyed Theo. "So things are progressing between you and Seth?"
Theo wasn't going to get into that, but Hannah jumped in. "Sure are. They just needed a little kick in the pants. That's why Seth needs a pushy girl like me taking up for him. And don't tell me I didn't get things moving between you two," she said to Theo, but he wasn't about to give her any credit.
Thank God Mrs. Del Rio came out to speak to him. They sat down at one of the tables to talk. It turned out she was willing to buy the house, but she wasn't eager to do it.
"I hate to see you sell it. You know if I do buy the house, you can still live in it," she said.
"Thank you. Having a stable residence would help me get custody," Theo told her. "I don't want to give in to my aunt, but I need them gone. My aunt brought her boyfriend to the house, and he tried to take Ace with them by force."
"He what?" she said too loudly then smiled at the customers at nearby tables.
"I'm not sure if my aunt wanted that, but when her boyfriend grabbed Ace's arm, Seth was ready to tear him apart. I want them gone before something really bad happens. I just have to figure out how to make sure my aunt keeps her part of the deal."
"My God, they want to use Ace as a hostage," Mrs. Del Rio said, appalled.
"And they're going to get what they're after. I can't risk losing Ace to her. It's just the way it has to be," Theo said.
"I'll do whatever I can to help you, honey," Mrs. Del Rio said.
"You already helped us so much. Thank you."
His order was ready, and Theo picked it up and left. He had only taken a few steps away from the café when Jerry accosted him.
"Get the hell away from me," Theo said and tried to get around him, but Jerry wouldn't let him.
"You trying to run? You better listen up and do as you're told or you're gonna be in a world of hurt," Jerry threatened.
Theo sighed. He was ready to agree to what they wanted, but this idiot didn't know it, and Theo couldn't tell him. First he had to figure out how to make sure his aunt gave up any claim to Ace.
"I have nothing to discuss with you," Theo told him and tried to walk away again. Jerry got in his way, and Theo had to force himself to unclench his fist and not deck him. He had to keep his cool no matter what.
Out of the corner of his eye, Theo saw Mrs. Del Rio step out of the café. "Mr. Atkins, I'm sorry you aren't willing to sell to me. I hope you'll change your mind," she said.
Since that was obviously a lie, Theo played along. "We'll see," he said to her. What was she doing?
"And who is this handsome gentleman?" Mrs. Del Rio asked while smiling at Jerry. "If you are a friend of young Mr. Atkins, maybe you can get him to see reason. I've made him a very nice offer for his house. He won't get a better one."
With a small wave of the hand, she signaled to Theo that he should go. She kept talking to Jerry and Theo walked away. It looked like Mrs. Del Rio was getting chummy with him, but she was probably just distracting him so Theo could leave.
Theo went home and had dinner with Seth and Ace. They hung out, Ace played some video games and Seth played with Butter. There was still a little time before Ace's bedtime when Theo got a call.
It was Rico. "Come over to my grandmother's. I can't even... Just come by."
Theo thought back to the last time he had seen Mrs. Del Rio, when she was talking to Jerry. This couldn't have anything to do with that. That's what he told himself, but...
"I need to go see Mrs. Del Rio again," Theo said while Seth frowned at him. He could tell something was off, but with Ace there, he didn't ask. "Don't let Ace weasel out of his bedtime," he told Seth and then he left.
Theo planned to text him to let him know what was going on, but for now he just drove to Mrs. Del Rio's house. Before he even got close, he saw red and blue lights. The driveway to her house was blocked by a sheriff's cars. Theo parked and went closer on foot.
He texted Rico to let him know he was there. His reply told him to go around to the back. Theo made his way to the back garden. The police activity was all inside while Rico was standing outside with Andy. Why was Andy there?
"Is your grandmother OK?" Theo asked Rico.
"Insane, but OK," Rico told him.
"What happened?"
Rico just shook his head so Andy answered. "According to my aunts, they dropped by Mrs. Del Rio's and saw that there was an extremely drunk and belligerent man there so they refused to leave her alone with him. Mrs. Del Rio invited the man to have a little chat and resolve some property dispute amicably, but he drank too much then pulled a gun and demanded she open her safe. When he turned to look inside the open safe, Mrs. Del Rio hit him over the head with a marble urn containing her late father's ashes."
"What man?" Theo asked, but he suspected he already knew the answer.
Rico gave him his name. "Jeremy Phillips. Grandma said he was your aunt's boyfriend and that he was bad news."
"He is. He came by the house and tried to grab Ace. I was telling your grandmother about that just today," Theo told him.
"That's not a coincidence," Rico said.
"What is going on?" Theo asked.
"Something fishy, I can tell you that much," Rico said, keeping his voice down.
Andy sighed. "Mrs. Del Rio and my aunts are giving their statements. That man has been taken to the hospital."
Sheriff Jackson wanted to speak to Theo as well, but he couldn't tell her much other than that the real estate deal might have had to do with the sale of the house and that Jerry was violent and abusive. The sheriff told them that Jerry was still unconscious.
Once she had gone back inside, Andy didn't show much sympathy for Jerry. "Going up against Mrs. Del Rio, he should consider himself lucky to be alive."
"He didn't go up against her. He was set up," Rico hissed under his breath.
"What do you mean?" Theo said as he remembered how Mrs. Del Rio had been sweet-talking Jerry and pretending she wanted him to persuade Theo to sell.
"Think about it. This guy was a threat to you and Ace," Rico said.
"You are being paranoid," Andy told him.
"This is Grandma's MO. She is one sneaky old lady," Rico said then he pointed back toward the house just as his grandmother and Andy's great-aunts came out. "Let's get to the bottom of this."
"Are you all right?" Theo asked the ladies.
"Just in need of a drink or two," Andy's great-aunt Bridgette said. She pointed at Andy. "As soon as we get home, you're playing bartender."
"So what went on tonight?" Rico demanded of his grandmother.
"Why was Jerry here?" Theo asked her more gently.
"I invited him over for drinks and negotiations," Mrs. Del Rio told him.
"Negotiations?" Theo said.
"I might have led him to believe that me and the Brighton twins wanted to do business," Mrs. Del Rio pointed to Andy's aunts. "That we wanted to buy up a few properties outside of town, build a golf course and a clubhouse. And of course we needed his help prying the Atkins property from you. But that man just couldn't hold his liquor."
"And the next thing you know, he ends up face down in front of your open safe with a cracked skull and an unregistered weapon in his hand. How clumsy of him," Rico said pointedly.
"That just shows how greed can be a man's undoing. We offered to pay him for his assistance," Andy's great-aunt Beryl said.
Andy didn't seem to believe her. He rubbed his temples and sighed. "I'm going to ask the sheriff if I can take you home and also look for a wall to slam my head against."
"Save me a spot," Rico told him.
Andy went off with his great-aunts, and Theo was left with Mrs. Del Rio and Rico, who was glaring at his grandmother. Theo didn't blame him.
"Mrs. Del Rio, you coul
d have been hurt. With Jerry having a gun..." Theo said but a funny look on her face made him stop.
She shrugged. "You never know when an unregistered gun will come in handy."
"What?" Theo said and looked toward the house where the deputies were still busy probably collecting evidence. Did Mrs. Del Rio just admit she planted a gun on Jerry?
"Just a gift from an old bo," she said like that explained anything.
"One of those gangsters you dated in Vegas," Rico said.
"Mrs. Del Rio, what did you do?" Theo said.
"I couldn't let this go on any longer. The danger to Ace. Your aunt trying to take Ace and the house away from you. It was my fault she wanted you to sell it. That made it my responsibility," Mrs. Del Rio said, but that just wasn't true.
"No, it wasn't your fault at all," Theo told her.
"Well, it's done now," she said. "Now I'll go be a good hostess and see if those nice deputies want anything to eat or drink."
She left with Theo looking after her in disbelief and Rico shaking his head.
Theo turned to him. "This is not a good development. When Jerry figures out he got framed, your grandmother won't be safe from him."
"I know," Rico said. "But he won't find it easy to convince anyone else that he got framed by three old ladies. Who would ever think that my sweet grandma, much less Andy's prim and proper great-aunts would do something like that?"
"So we have to hope he will be stuck in jail," Theo said. "I appreciate what your grandmother did, but this is insane."
"I'll keep you updated with any news," Rico told him and then Theo left.
As he walked to the truck, Theo's head was spinning and he only sent a brief text to Seth that he would talk to him later. When Theo got home, Ace was in bed and Seth was pacing the living room.
Before telling him anything, Theo stepped up to him for a long, tight hug. Since it wasn't so cold any more, they went out to sit on the porch and talk. Theo told him what happened and for a while Seth was just speechless.
"I'm thinking that Mrs. Del Rio might just be a little bit crazy," Seth finally said.
"I still can't wrap my head around it. She felt guilty that she looked into buying the house and put it on Aunt Cindy's radar. I'm not sure she even knew the house existed before that, but that doesn't make it Mrs. Del Rio's fault. Now I'm worried Jerry might go after her."
"You said she hit him on the head with a marble urn? He might not be doing anything for a while," Seth told him.
"Yeah, but I still don't know what Aunt Cindy is going to do," Theo said while staring up at the night sky. He then turned to Seth. "At least this makes your plan look downright sane in comparison."
"That's something, I guess," Seth said with a crooked smile.
"No, it's not." Theo got up and offered his hand to Seth. "Let's go inside. I'm getting cold out here."
"Warming you up is one of my favorite things," Seth said as he got up and used his hold on Theo's hand to pull him in for a kiss.
They went inside and Theo let Seth hold him for a while. It felt so good and not because Seth had an amazing body. It was because Seth gave him the feeling of someone watching over him, taking care of him.
Chapter 30
Theo didn't know what to think when he heard that Rob and Julian's bachelor party was going to be at Mrs. Del Rio's. Then Ace got invited along with Theo and Seth, as did the other kids. It turned out it wasn't a bachelor party at all, but Ace was excited to go and kept asking what people did at a bachelor party.
When they arrived, Mrs. Del Rio's back yard wasn't as colorful as it had been for the Easter egg hunt. This time the decorations were silver and deep blue plus a lot of lights strung up to crisscross the garden and line the veranda. Even if the colors were more serious, the place still looked very festive.
The kids had taken over the gazebo, and Ace wanted to run over to them. Theo stopped him. "First we say hello to Mrs. Del Rio."
That didn't stop Ace from running, he just ran over to Mrs. Del Rio instead. By the time Seth and Theo got to them, Ace was already chattering at her.
"I want to play poker, but first I have to learn how," Ace was telling her.
"He asked what people do at bachelor parties. I told him, 'Play poker,'" Theo explained once Ace went to join the other kids.
"I can make that happen," Mrs. Del Rio said with a wicked grin. "I'm afraid it won't be strip poker with this crowd. Have you heard the news about your aunt's boyfriend? He's awake now, but he's confused about what happened. He did guzzle down a lot of my good scotch so I'm not surprised."
"That plus the head trauma," Theo said. He still couldn't believe what she did.
"That too. He's all mixed up and keeps changing his story. And it turns out he was out on parole. It does not look good for him or for your aunt. Her boyfriend is blaming her for being in this mess. When your aunt heard, she thought he was trying to make a deal to testify against her like she was behind the robbery. So she told them about an armed robbery he was involved in and was never caught for."
"Did the sheriff deliberately turn them against each other?" Theo wondered. "This doesn't mean my aunt will give up on the house."
"I did put out the word that I've soured on the deal and don't want the house any more," Mrs. Del Rio said.
"Ace can still testify that she hit him. Hopefully that will be enough now that she doesn't have Jerry egging her on," Theo said, but he hadn't heard from his aunt and that worried him.
They went over to say hi to Sam, Wyatt and Rico, who was in the middle of ranting. "A bachelor party at my grandma's! Just listen to how wrong that sounds." Rico shuddered.
"We didn't have a bachelor party either," Sam said.
"I made it up to Sam ten times over," Wyatt bragged and winked at his husband.
"The invitation we got didn't say bachelor party," Theo said as he greeted them. "If everyone stopped calling it that, there would be no problem."
Wyatt dismissed that idea. "That's way too rational for Rico."
Sam agreed. "Rico was looking forward to tormenting Julian and Rob, and his fun has been spoiled."
Sam was giving Rico a harsh look, but he was distracted by the newest arrivals. "Oh my God, there is a baby at the bachelor party. For the love of all that is unholy."
"The kids are happy to see her," Seth said seeing all the kids run over to Leo, Andy and his two great-aunts, one of whom was holding Lucy.
After greeting Mrs. Del Rio, Andy and Leo made it over to them. "Your grandmother said something about organizing a poker game," Leo said to Rico.
"Just don't get suckered into playing poker with any of these old ladies, they're beasts," Rico warned him. Then he pointed to Leo and Andy. "You two are getting the most indecent bachelor party ever."
"We'll elope," Andy threatened.
"You causing trouble again?" Mitch asked coming over and putting an arm around Rico, and he mellowed out right away.
"I got my bachelor party revenge," Rico said with a shrug. "I sent a truckload of sex toys and porn to Julian and Rob."
"Is that why Julian looks like he wants to kill you?" Wyatt asked pointing out that they arrived just as a cheer went up for the would be grooms.
Danny and Lenny ran over to the kids, and Julian and Rob went around to greet guests. When they came over to their group, Julian lit into Rico, "What the hell did you send to our house, Rico?"
"You already got it? Woo hoo!" Rico was celebrating but Julian really did look like he wanted to kill him.
"I have never been more embarrassed opening a package in my life," Julian told him.
"You're welcome," Rico said.
Rob didn't look as put out as Julian. In fact he was smirking. Sam was shaking his head at Rico though.
"I had to administer an antidote for this," Rico said as he gestured around. "Kids and dogs running everywhere, elderly people lounging all over the place, and a baby."
"Everyone is having a good time, that's all that counts," Rob told him and he
kissed Julian on the cheek. "This is the kind of party that feels right to me. I did plenty of wild partying, and I never felt right with myself until I met this man."
"That's how I feel," Julian told him. "Danny gave me back one part of myself, and you did the rest. I feel whole with you."
Rob nodded understanding him perfectly. "That's what you did for me. God, I love being in sync with you." He now kissed Julian properly.
The exchange had left Rico speechless, and the rest of them kind of embarrassed. Sam didn't get a chance to get embarrassed by the two fiancés. Wyatt embarrassed him even more by wrapping him in his arms and nuzzling his neck and saying he loved him over and over again.
"This is revenge, isn't it?" Rico said. "All of you getting shmoopy. Well I can't be embarrassed. I love my man more than any of you."
"Same here," Mitch told him in a very low key way, but his eyes were blazing.
During all this, Andy looked like he wanted to disappear and Leo grinned at him devilishly.
The whole thing just brought questions to Theo's mind. Since Seth didn't know where to look, Theo dragged him away from there.
Seeing the dogs over by the gazebo, Theo knew Seth was dying to go pet them. He went with him to where the kids were playing at throwing a wedding. They were arguing about who should get married. The dogs were the top contenders, and Seth got down to pet them while they were still single.
"People around here sure like getting married," Seth said.
"People get married to be happy," DJ told him wisely and some of the other kids nodded.
"That sounds about right I guess," Seth said and they left the kids to their fun.
"People are already starting to dance," Seth noticed as the two of them were milling around.
"You asking me to dance?" Theo said, but Seth didn't get to answer as Lara and Noreen came over.
Noreen was worried about Aunt Cindy and Jerry, and Theo couldn't give her any definite answers.
"Is this aunt the one Gloria was talking about when she said you were gonna beat up a lady?" Lara asked Noreen.
Noreen shook her head. "No one messes with my students. You can take that however you want."