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  “Yes, I remember.” Jacqueline smiled. “And as soon as we have some time, I want to hear all about how the two of you came to have a ward. Your e-mails have been skimpy on details.”

  An’gel suppressed the urge to comment that the same could be said about the news of Tippy’s birth. “Of course, dear. We’ll see ourselves out.”

  An’gel and Dickce nodded to Sondra, who moved warily aside as the sisters walked past her. An’gel, as she walked through the doorway into the front hall, heard Sondra ask her mother what a ward was. “Is it some man they picked up?”

  An’gel didn’t linger to hear Jacqueline’s response. Really, the child was not only vulgar, she was also rather stupid.

  On the veranda, the door shut carefully behind them, An’gel paused with Dickce and enjoyed the beautiful view for a moment.

  “I shudder to think what will happen to all of this when Mireille and Jacqueline are gone and Sondra is responsible for it.” Dickce sighed. “We’ll be long gone by then, so I guess I shouldn’t even think about it, but it’s hard not to.”

  An’gel patted her sister’s shoulder, and Dickce caught the hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

  Dickce’s words held a deeper meaning for both of them, because their own beloved Riverhill would have to pass to someone who might not care for it as devotedly as they and the generations of Ducotes before them had. The fate of Riverhill was never far from An’gel’s thoughts, though she hoped to have more than a few years left to oversee its care, along with her sister.

  The sisters made their way down the steps, across the lawn, and around the edge of the ornamental pond. To An’gel’s relief, they reached the block of bed-and-breakfast cottages without spotting anything slithering past their feet.

  “Wonder who that can be?” Dickce pointed to a strange car, a worn-looking sedan, parked beside their Lexus. “I didn’t think any other out-of-town guests would arrive until tomorrow or the next day.”

  An’gel moved closer to inspect the license plate. “Louisiana, so perhaps it’s someone local. Where could they be?” She glanced around but didn’t see anyone on the grounds near them.

  “I didn’t think about locking the door,” Dickce said. “Did you?”

  “Not that I can remember.” An’gel frowned as she moved quickly toward their door.

  Before she even touched the knob, the door of Benjy’s room opened. Instead of Benjy, however, a strange young man stepped out and closed the door behind him.

  An’gel’s eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen such a beautiful young man in her life. Tall, well-proportioned, with a head of golden ringlets and eyes of a brilliant green, he was a vision of perfection straight from the glossy pages of a magazine.

  He smiled sweetly at An’gel. “Have you ever been to New York?”

  At first An’gel thought she had misheard him. “New York? Yes, I have been there several times.”

  “I’m going there right after the wedding. It’s my first time, and I can’t wait.” He beamed at her and wandered past her and Dickce, apparently headed toward Willowbank.

  “That has to be Lance,” Dickce said in an undertone once the young man was about fifty feet away.

  “There can’t be two of them in St. Ignatiusville,” An’gel said tartly. “Of course it’s Lance. Jacqueline certainly wasn’t exaggerating about his looks.”

  “Almost too perfectly beautiful.” Dickce snickered. “I suppose the Lord didn’t think a man that pretty needed to be weighed down with much of a brain.”

  “I wonder what he was doing here,” An’gel muttered as she moved to knock on Benjy’s door.

  “Come in,” Benjy called. “It’s not locked.”

  When An’gel stepped in the room, she was immediately greeted by Peanut, who acted like she had been gone for two days, instead of an hour. An’gel patted his head and spoke to him before he transferred his attentions to Dickce. The cat, Endora, regarded them languidly from the center of Benjy’s bed.

  “We ran into your visitor,” Dickce said. “We were pretty surprised to see him. Did he want something in particular?”

  Benjy laughed. “Yeah, he was looking for the main house. I thought he’d never been here before, but when I pointed out that it was right next door, he just shook his head and said something about taking the wrong driveway.” He laughed again. “He definitely seemed a little confused. Do you know who he is?”

  “Yes, we do. He’s Lance Perigord, the groom,” An’gel said in a dour tone.

  Benjy hooted with laughter. “You gotta be kidding me. He’s really the groom? Does the bride know he’s gay?”

  CHAPTER 4

  Dickce thought she hadn’t heard Benjy correctly. “Did you say that Lance is gay?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Benjy said. He looked back and forth between the sisters. “At least I’m pretty sure he is. But if he’s the groom, well, maybe I’m wrong.”

  “Why do you think he’s gay?” An’gel asked.

  Benjy appeared uncomfortable and didn’t answer.

  “Sister, you sound like you’re cross-examining. This isn’t a trial.” Dickce shook her head at An’gel. “It’s okay, Benjy, you can tell us.”

  “He made a pass at me. Or at least I think he did.” Benjy blushed, and Peanut barked. Benjy bent to rub the Labradoodle’s head.

  “Oh, my,” An’gel said.

  Dickce could tell her sister was rather nonplussed by their ward’s bald response. Honestly, sometimes An’gel is such an old maid, she thought. Dickce considered herself more aware of such things, while An’gel could be a bit stuffy.

  “He obviously has excellent taste.” Dickce grinned at Benjy, and he flashed her a grateful smile in return. Dickce thought their nineteen-year-old ward handsome, even with the eyebrow ring he continued to wear. With good food and plenty of exercise, he had filled out, no longer the scrawny youth they had first met a couple of months ago. He had also gained in self-confidence, and Dickce was particularly proud of him for that. He was such a bright boy.

  “You said you think he made a pass,” Dickce said. “Tell us exactly what happened.”

  “Okay,” Benjy said. “But please sit down. I didn’t mean to keep you standing there.” He gestured toward the armchairs and the sofa in his suite.

  Dickce was pleased by his good manners. He had picked up a lot the past two months. She chose one of the armchairs, and Endora left the bed and hopped into her lap. The cat laid a paw on Dickce’s arm, and Dickce recognized the signal that Endora needed attention.

  An’gel sat on the sofa with Benjy at the other end. Peanut, to Dickce’s amusement, jumped in between them and thrust his head toward An’gel’s face.

  “No, Peanut,” Benjy said in a stern tone. “It’s rude to stick your nose in a lady’s face.”

  The Labradoodle turned to Benjy for a moment before settling down between Benjy and An’gel, his head in An’gel’s lap and his tail across Benjy’s.

  “Good boy,” Benjy said. “Now, about this Lance guy.”

  “Yes, go on,” Dickce said when he paused.

  Benjy looked pensive for a moment. “I kinda hate to say this, because I only talked to him a few minutes.” He hesitated. “He’s kinda dumb.”

  “We have heard that from people who know him much better than we do,” An’gel said.

  Benjy grinned. “Okay, then, I don’t feel so bad. Anyway, I was sitting here reading, and Peanut and Endora were sacked out, when somebody knocked on the door. I figured it was one of you back from the big house. But when I opened the door, there stood this guy looking like a model out of a magazine. He stared at me, pretty strange-like. Then he said, You’re not Jackson.

  “Now, I have no idea who Jackson is, so I told him my name and asked him if I could help him.” Benjy shook his head. “Then he asked me if I’d ever been to New York, and I told him no. Next he says I look like a model, which was a really weird thing to say, because I don’t look anything like a model. I mean, they all look like him, in the magazin
es. Anyway, then he asked me if I’d like to go to New York with him.”

  Dickce exchanged a glance with An’gel. Lance sounded like a complete idiot, as far as she was concerned. “What did you say to that?”

  Benjy laughed. “I told him I’d like to go to New York sometime, but I didn’t think I could go with him. He looked puzzled, at least I think that’s what it was, and said he was disappointed because it would be nice to have a cute boyfriend in New York. I really didn’t know what to say to that, but it didn’t matter, because then he asked me if I knew the way to Willowbank. I told him I did and showed him how to get there. About then was when y’all came back.” He rubbed Peanut’s head, and the dog’s tail thumped in his lap and brushed up against his face until he stopped rubbing.

  Dickce glanced at An’gel again, wondering what her sister made of Benjy’s story. She returned her gaze to Benjy. “That remark about having a cute boyfriend in New York is definitely odd, especially when I suppose he’ll be there with his wife.”

  “I wonder why he has this fixation on New York.” An’gel looked puzzled. “Perhaps that’s where he and Sondra are planning to honeymoon.”

  “It didn’t sound to me like he was planning to take her with him,” Benjy said. “Do you think maybe he forgot he’s getting married?”

  Dickce laughed. “Frankly, from what we’ve been told, it might very well have slipped his mind. He evidently couldn’t find his way to Willowbank today, and I’m sure he’s been there thousands of times.”

  “There is definitely something odd going on here,” An’gel said. “You might as well know this, Benjy, because I’m sure it will be mentioned soon by others. Sondra will be a wealthy young woman once she’s married. Her father left her a huge fortune in trust until she marries or turns twenty-five.”

  “She’s just about to turn twenty-one,” Dickce said in response to Benjy’s look of inquiry. “It sounds to me like she’s impatient to get her hands on her inheritance, and marrying Lance is an easy way to do it.”

  Benjy regarded her for a moment. “So you’re saying this is kinda like a marriage of convenience? Isn’t that what they used to call it?”

  “Still do, as far as I know,” An’gel said. “So here we have a situation where the bride wants her inheritance but perhaps doesn’t want to have a husband who would try to control her or her money.”

  “So she marries her dumb gay friend and promises him he can go to New York,” Dickce said. “Maybe he wants to be a model.”

  “He sure looks like one,” Benjy said. “I’m surprised someone hasn’t discovered him before now.”

  “He probably hasn’t been anywhere that an agency could discover him,” An’gel said. “His family apparently doesn’t have much money.”

  “You’d think, with a son who looks like he does, they might have made an effort to get him noticed by somebody,” Dickce said. Endora nudged her again, because Dickce had stopped the attention. She rubbed the cat’s head in response. “He could be a supermodel, for all we know. They make huge amounts of money.”

  “Do you think her mom knows he may be gay?” Benjy asked.

  Dickce shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Jacqueline has figured it out. She’s probably so grateful to have Sondra off her hands, she doesn’t care.”

  “True,” An’gel said. “But Mireille is another matter. I suspect she has no idea her prospective grandson-in-law might be gay.”

  “Even if she did, do you really think she would speak up?” Dickce said. “You know how she is, she’d rather stick her head in the sand than cause a fuss.”

  “I’d like to think there are some situations where she’d show a bit of backbone,” An’gel replied tartly. “But sadly it wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t.”

  “You’ll have to guard your tongue at dinner tonight.” Dickce aimed a pointed glance at her sister. “The last thing the situation needs is for you to start expressing your forthright opinion.”

  An’gel scowled. “Credit me with some tact and discretion, Sister. I’m not going to make an issue of this in public.” She paused. “However, I might talk to Jacqueline about it in private.”

  “Have you ever considered the fact that this really is none of our business? Yes, they are family, but we don’t live here, and we’re certainly not part of their daily lives. I think you’d best keep your advice to yourself for once.”

  Dickce waited for her sister to throw a hissy fit. An’gel didn’t like to be told she shouldn’t do something.

  An’gel did not erupt, much to Dickce’s surprise and relief. Instead, she simply replied, “Perhaps you’re right. I think I’ll wait and see if Jacqueline asks for my advice.”

  “That’s a good plan.” Dickce cast a glance at Benjy and was amused to catch him smothering a grin.

  An’gel rose after gently dislodging Peanut’s head and front paws from her lap. “I am going to rest for a while before we have to get ready for dinner. You should, too, Sister. I expect we’re in for quite a long and tedious evening.”

  Dickce tried to lift Endora from her lap to set her on the floor, but the cat resisted. Endora was obviously in one of her clingy moods, probably because of the strange surroundings, and Dickce was secretly flattered. Endora occasionally sought attention from An’gel, but the cat generally preferred Benjy or Dickce.

  “You can come take a nap with me,” Dickce said to the cat, and Endora relaxed her claws. She allowed Dickce to lift her into her arms and carry her out of the room.

  “I’m going to take Peanut out for a walk,” Benjy called after the sisters. “I have my cell phone if you need me.”

  Dickce replied, “That sounds good. Wear him out a bit so he’ll be quiet while we’re at dinner.”

  An’gel opened the door to their cottage, and Dickce entered, Endora happily riding in her arms. The cat remained in position until Dickce reached her bedroom. Then Endora leapt from her arms onto the bed and started her ritual circling on one of the pillows. While Dickce disrobed and slipped on a cotton nightgown, Endora curled up on the pillow, tucked in her head, and went to sleep.

  Amused, Dickce slid into the bed, under the top layer of cover, and lay on her side facing the cat. She watched the gentle breathing of the feline and soon her own eyelids closed. She drifted into sleep thinking drowsily about dinner, hoping it wouldn’t be dreary and rife with tension.

  A loud bang jerked her awake. She sat up in bed, and Endora jumped to the floor and scooted under the bed.

  What on earth? Hastily she donned a robe and slipped on her shoes. She met An’gel in the living room of the cottage, similarly attired. “What was that?” she asked.

  “Sounded like a car crash,” An’gel said as she strode to the door. Dickce followed.

  They stepped out into the late afternoon sunlight and squinted into it, looking for the source of the noise.

  “There.” Dickce pointed toward the driveway down the rise from Willowbank where a small car evidently had struck one of the live oaks head on. “Oh, dear Lord, I hope no one’s hurt.” She pulled the cottage door shut and scurried along with her sister toward the accident.

  By the time they got there, Benjy and Peanut were already on the scene. Benjy wrenched open the driver’s side door of the red BMW convertible and assisted Sondra out of it. To Dickce’s relief, the girl didn’t appear injured, but she was trembling.

  “Sondra, dear, are you okay?” Dickce held out a hand toward the girl.

  “Do I look like I’m okay?” Sondra waved away Dickce’s hand.

  Dickce recoiled from the venomous tone. After a moment she realized Sondra appeared more furious than hurt.

  “Just look at my car.” Sondra stomped her foot on the ground. “It’s ruined, and I just got it yesterday. Stupid brakes. You’d think they would work on a brand-new car.” She kicked one of the tires. That caused her shoe to pop off her foot. Dickce stared at the six-inch stilettos and wondered if the shoes were at fault.

  Sondra bent to retrieve the shoe a
nd then stepped out of its mate. High heels in hand, she glared in turn at the car and at the sisters and Benjy. “I know what you’re thinking.” She brandished the shoes. “I drive in these all the time. It wasn’t my fault.”

  Dickce exchanged an uneasy glance with An’gel. If Sondra wasn’t lying about being used to driving in high heels, what had caused her brakes to fail?

  CHAPTER 5

  An’gel stepped closer to examine the damage while she considered the implications of the failed brakes. Despite Sondra’s claim that she was used to driving in high heels, An’gel still thought driver error could have caused the accident.

  Sondra had hit the live oak with the right front side of the car, smashing the headlight and crumpling the fender. An’gel marveled that the girl hadn’t been hurt, but then she saw that the airbag had deployed.

  “Get that thing away from me. I don’t want hair all over me.”

  An’gel turned to see Sondra flapping her hands at Peanut. The Labradoodle was sniffing around her but shied away from the unfriendly hands.

  “Calm down,” Benjy said sharply. “Peanut doesn’t shed. Your stupid dress is safe.” He pulled the dog away from Sondra.

  An’gel had learned from Benjy that, depending on genetics, Labradoodles might not shed. Happily for her, Peanut was in that category.

  “That’s what you say.” Sondra tossed her head. “I’d better not find a single dog hair on my dress, or you’ll have to pay to have it cleaned.” She paused for a breath and stared hard at Benjy. “Just who the heck are you anyway? You’re trespassing on private property, you know.”

  “I’m not trespassing.” Benjy stared right back at Sondra. “I’m a guest, along with Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce.”

  Sondra grimaced. “Oh, you’re their ward.”

  An’gel marveled at how the girl managed to inject that one word with such venom.

  “Yes, he is our ward, and your grandmother invited him.” An’gel spoke tersely. She was relieved that the girl appeared unharmed, but An’gel was annoyed with her behavior. “Tell us how the accident happened.”