As much as he wanted to haul his cousin as far from Gracie’s as he could take him, there was no way to pull it off now. She was waiting inside with a pot of coffee brewing and a plate of cookies warm from the oven. Apparently, she thought they were going to have some sort of blasted tea party.
Bobby Ray made it to the front door under his own
steam. He even tried to throw a punch at Kevin, but Kevin anticipated it and Bobby Ray’s aim was off anyway.
“Ought to tear you apart,” Bobby Ray said.
“Ditto,” Kevin said, tucking an arm around his cousin’s waist and guiding him into the kitchen. Bobby Ray leaned heavily against him.
Kevin tried to make himself remember all the good times they’d had as boys. They’d gotten into more mischief than brothers or best friends. In fact, back then, Bobby Ray had been his best friend.
He knew precisely when that had changed. They’d been at college then. Roommates, in fact, though Kevin had been finishing up law school and Bobby Ray was still a senior thanks to his lackadaisical attitude toward his classes and his fervent concentration on partying. That was the year Bobby Ray’s daddy had called Kevin and told him he was dying and that he wanted Kevin to be in charge of managing his estate.
“Bobby Ray’s not responsible,” his uncle had declared from his sickbed. “None of them are.”
“And who saw to that?” Kevin had asked him pointblank. “Has there ever been a time when you weren’t only too eager to bail them out of a jam?”
“Maybe not. Maybe it is my fault. But truth’s truth and it’s too late to fix it now,” his uncle Steven had lamented. “They’ll fritter that money away in a year, if I don’t leave somebody sensible in charge.”
Kevin hadn’t wanted the responsibility, had guessed that it would drive a wedge between him and his cousins, but his uncle had been adamant. It wasn’t as if this were the first time. His own father had reminded him of his duty to half a dozen other relatives as he lay dying, too.
What had made it so much worse this time was that
his uncle hadn’t bothered telling his children about the arrangements, haven’t even told them how ill he was. He’d left all of that to Kevin, as well. It was little wonder there’d been so much resentment.
Bobby Ray had retaliated by going after Marianne. Kevin had been stunned, but not heartbroken when she had chosen his cousin. He’d wished them well, had even stood up for Bobby Ray at the wedding. Only recently had he come to realize that the expression on Bobby Ray’s face that day hadn’t been happiness, but a gloating triumph.
There was none of that in his expression now. He was, quite simply, drunk as a skunk. Gracie started clucking over him the minute they entered the kitchen. Naturally Bobby Ray promptly made a halfhearted pass at her, aiming a kiss straight for her lips. Kevin told himself that his cousin was drunk, and besides that, flirting came as naturally to Bobby Ray as breathing. It was the only thing that kept Kevin from decking him. Gracie had ignored the overture anyway, dodging the kiss and steering Bobby Ray toward a chair instead.
“Sit down, Bobby Ray. Let me pour you some coffee. Have a cookie.” She studied him worriedly. “Or maybe a sandwich would be better.”
“Stop fussing,” Kevin grumbled. “He’s survived worse.”
She scowled at him, then beamed at Bobby Ray. “Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened? Maybe we can help.”
Bobby Ray seemed stunned by the offer. “You’ll help me get Sara Lynn back?”
“If that’s what you truly want,” Gracie promised in a tone that suggested she didn’t believe for a minute that it was what he wanted.
His head bobbed up and down. “It’s what I want.”
“Tell me about her,” Gracie encouraged.
Kevin sighed and resigned himself to a very long evening and one that would be a far cry from what he’d envisioned. He hadn’t planned on leaving that bed of Gracie’s for hours to come.
Bobby Ray embarked on a long, complicated tale of how he’d met Sara Lynn and fallen head over heels in love with her. “She thought I was a hero, straight out of a storybook. That’s what she said.” He smiled sadly. “Never been a hero before.”
“Marianne thought you were,” Kevin reminded him. “Until you disillusioned her.”
Bobby Ray’s expression turned even more sorrowful. “Made a mistake with Marianne. Married her for all the wrong reasons.” He looked at Kevin. “Trying to get even with you. When she figured it out, she left me.”
“So you married Ginny on the rebound,” Kevin said. “Even though the two of you had about as much in common as an octopus and an elephant.”
Bobby Ray nodded. “Another mistake,” he conceded. He looked at Gracie. “Ginny left me, too. Took my new Jaguar with her.”
“It was the least you owed her,” Kevin said. “She could have taken you for a bundle.”
“You saw to it she didn’t,” Bobby Ray said. “I can always count on you. Good old Kevin. Saint Kevin.”
To Kevin’s astonishment, Gracie waved a finger under Bobby Ray’s nose. “Don’t you dare talk about your cousin that way. He could let you twist in the wind, you know.”
“Not Kevin,” Bobby Ray insisted. “Wouldn’t do that. It’s not his nature.”
“Maybe I should,” Kevin said. “Maybe just once I should let you work your own way out of trouble. I may be every bit as bad as your father.”
The remark was as effective as a slap at snapping Bobby Ray out of his drunken self-pity. “You wouldn’t abandon me now, would you, Kev?”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Help me get Sara Lynn back,” Bobby Ray said again.
“Because you love her?” Gracie asked. “Or because you can’t stand losing another woman?”
Both Kevin and Bobby Ray stared at her. Bobby Ray looked thoughtful, or as thoughtful as a man drunk on bourbon could look.
“Could be you’re right,” he admitted. “Tired of seeing ’em get away.”
“Have you ever considered trying to get Marianne back?” Gracie inquired casually.
Kevin almost choked on his coffee. “Gracie!”
“Hush. I want to hear what Bobby Ray has to say to that.”
“You don’t know what you’re suggesting,” Kevin protested.
“I think I do,” Gracie said stubbornly.
“Marianne wouldn’t take me back,” Bobby Ray said. “Too much water under the bridge.”
“Why’d she throw you out, Bobby Ray?”
“Because I used her to get even with Kevin,” he repeated.
Gracie nodded, a satisfied expression on her face. “Not because she didn’t love you, right? She chose you over Kevin, didn’t she? And she hasn’t dated anyone seriously since, according to Abby.”
Kevin was dumbfounded. “Where did you hear all this?”
“From Abby.”
“She’s a kid,” Kevin argued. “She’s not a very reliable source.”
“I’ll bet she knows her mother pretty well,” Gracie countered.
“She’s like every other kid. She daydreams about having her family together again,” Kevin protested. “That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for Marianne.”
“Maybe Marianne and Bobby Ray should be the judge of what’s best for them,” Gracie argued right back.
“Stop meddling in things you know nothing about.”
Bobby Ray had listened silently to the entire exchange, then regarded him wryly. “Still looking out for Marianne, aren’t you, cousin? That was always the problem. I thought I’d won, but you were always right there between us.”
“Maybe in your mind, not in Marianne’s and certainly not in mine,” Kevin insisted. “Why couldn’t you see that, Bobby Ray? Was it because even after you married her, you were still too busy trying to get even with me?”
“Probably,” he conceded. He looked at Gracie, his expression wistful. “Do you think second chances are possible?”
“Always.”
“Even after I’ve made such a mess of things.”
Gracie nodded with certainty. “Even then, if you’re sure about what you want.”
“Which he’s not,” Kevin said emphatically. “A half-hour ago he came in here moaning because Sara Lynn had abandoned him. Now you’ve talked him into rebounding straight into Marianne’s arms. It’ll be a disaster.”
“They’re old enough to decide for themselves if it’s what they want and to work out whatever obstacles are in the way,” Gracie retorted. “All I’ve done is plant the idea in his head.”
“Well, I hope to hell you’ll be around to pick up the pieces when it all blows up in our faces.”
She stared him down, a stubborn jut to her chin. “I guess that all depends on you now, doesn’t it?”
“Me? How?”
“You can kick me out of your life for meddling in family affairs or you can learn to share the problems with me. It’s up to you.”
“Well, I can’t very well kick you out now, can I?” he grumbled. “You’ve managed to get yourself entwined with me and my relatives so tight, it would take a crowbar to pry us all apart.”
Gracie gave him a tight little smile. “You don’t have to sound so downright elated about it.”
“Believe me, I am not elated.”
“Scared, maybe?”
“Of you? Never.”
Her grin broadened. “Bet you are.”
“Hey, you guys, don’t mind me,” Bobby Ray said, backing away from the table. “I think I’ll just slip on out before the fight picks up steam. Got enough troubles of my own.”
“Where are you going?” Kevin asked.
“Home,” Bobby Ray said. “The cab’s waiting down the block. Jimmy said he’d stick around till I was finished up here. I’ve got some thinking to do. I figure it’s time I thought first, then acted. Maybe I’ll avoid making another mistake that way.” He winked at Gracie. “It’s about time, wouldn’t you say?”
“Something tells me you’re going to get it right this time,” she told him.
After he’d left, walking considerably more steadily than he had when he’d arrived, Gracie faced Kevin defiantly.
“Are we going to fight about what just happened here?”
“One of these days,” Kevin said, reaching for her. “But not just yet.”
“Oh, no,” she said, backing away. “I’m not going to bed with you now, knowing that you’re going to fight with me later. Let’s get it out in the open now.”
He sighed. “Okay, then, what you did here tonight was risky and ill-conceived and, more than likely, a huge mistake.”
“That’s your opinion. I think I gave him something to think about.”
“Darlin’, Bobby Ray never thinks. He acts impulsively. He’ll be over there proposing before daybreak. I don’t want Marianne and Abby getting caught up in that again.”
“It’s not your call,” Gracie said. “Marianne’s capable of telling him to take a hike, if it’s not what she wants.”
“That’s the problem, sweetpea. I’m afraid she might want it too much. She’ll grab on, only to find out it’s another one of Bobby Ray’s impulses with no substance or staying power behind it.”
Gracie shrugged off his concern. “Then I guess it’ll be up to you and me to see that doesn’t happen.”
For some reason he couldn’t entirely explain, the weight that had settled in his stomach when Bobby Ray first called began to ease. The reaction defied logic, because his head was practically screaming that things were going to get a whole lot worse.
But not until after he’d had one more chance to make very passionate love to Gracie.
Gracie knew she had taken a huge risk by interfering in Daniels family business the night before. Obviously,
Kevin hadn’t appreciated it, and it remained to be seen if Bobby Ray or Marianne would thank her. Still, she couldn’t help thinking that Abby deserved one last shot at having her family back together. From everything she’d heard and observed, there were still sparks amid the ashes of Bobby Ray’s relationship with Abby’s mom.
By the time Gracie arrived at the Victorian, Delia, Abby, and Helen were all seated around the huge worktable Gracie had moved to the kitchen. Wallpaper samples had been stacked into neat little piles, paint chips had been sorted, and there was a whole new collection of carpet and linoleum samples.
“Abby’s been making calls again,” Delia said as she ran her fingers over a lush piece of carpet in a soft weeping-willow green. She held it up for Gracie’s inspection. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful, but I thought we were going with blues.”
Helen winced. “Sorry. When I went through the wallpaper samples, I hated most of the blues.” She plucked up a pile. “See for yourself.”
Even Gracie had to agree most were either bland and uninspired or too much like every other historic home that used Williamsburg blue for its decor.
“Now look at this,” Helen said, and showed her a pattern that had the same soft green as the carpet, along with a tiny touch of blue and a bit of gold.
“Better,” Gracie admitted.
Helen’s eyes lit up. “And look at it with this,” she suggested, tossing a fabric swatch across it.
The fabric had blue-and-gold irises on a light beige background, but the predominant color was the soft green of the leaves.
“It’s fabulous,” Gracie declared, drawing a collective sigh of relief from the other three. She grinned at them. “Were you all worried?”
“Well, it wasn’t what we talked about,” Delia said.
“And I didn’t want to go against your wishes,” Helen said. “It is your bed-and-breakfast, after all.”
“They had a backup in blue, just in case,” Abby revealed. “But we all liked this one best.”
“Helen, do you have time to do the measuring and then order what we need?” Gracie asked.
Helen looked pleased by the request. “Of course. I was hoping you’d ask. I haven’t had this much fun in years.”
“Speaking of fun,” Delia began, studying Gracie with open curiosity, “why don’t you tell us how your evening went.”
“As productive as ours?” Helen inquired, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
“That remains to be seen,” Gracie said enigmatically. “By the way, how far along are they upstairs? Has anyone checked?”
“I was up there first thing,” Delia said.
“And guess what?” Abby chimed in happily. “Daddy’s here.”
“Oh, really?” Despite the previous night’s activities, Gracie was startled by that particular turn of events. She’d figured Bobby Ray was going to be laid low for days with a monumental hangover. “What’s he doing?”
“He and Uncle Kevin are painting.”
“And so far they haven’t turned the brushes on each other,” Helen said. “You have no idea what a triumph that is.” She regarded Gracie curiously. “How’d you manage it?”