Epilogue
S
aturday brunch at Mama's was a Gibbons family tradition that had lasted as long as any of the girls could remember. Yolanda Gibbons didn't mandate that all her daughters attend brunch, but they knew they would be punished with her cold silence if they didn't.
It was a tradition that began with Althea, the family matriarch. She had started it after hearing about what the wealthy landowners in her small North Carolina town would do on the weekends to celebrate having all their family around them. When she became a wealthy woman herself several decades later and had a family of her own, she decided she would do the same.
In the past, brunch had consisted of the Gibbons girls and their mother plotting over French toast, sausage, and eggs Benedict how to chase men and take their money. But today, thanks to a few new interlopersâincluding Lauren's husband, Cris, and Stephanie's beau, Keithâtalk of how to snag a wealthy man would have to be put on the back burner. Besides, this Saturday brunch wasn't an ordinary brunch, after all. They would be celebrating the birth of Lauren and Cris's newborn son, Crisanto Jr.
Keith pulled his Ford Explorer to a stop in the circular paved-stone driveway in front of Yolanda's mansion. He parked behind Cynthia's black Lexus SUV. The bushes of pink and white dahlias that were usually in bloom near the entrance had given way to December snow. The house looked like something found in a sketch on the front of a Christmas card. Icicles dangled underneath the portico and sparkled in the morning sun. There was a warm orange glow coming through the first-floor windows. A wreath of poinsettias and holly hung on each of the French doors.
Stephanie fussed with the bow on the baby blue, oversized, gift-wrapped package she balanced on her knees.
“I hope little Cris likes it,” she murmured worriedly, fluffing the bow once more.
Keith turned off the car's ignition. “Sweetheart, he's six weeks old. The only thing he likes right now is eating, sleeping, and pooping his diapers.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt. “Pardon me,” she said, raising her button nose into the air haughtily. “But he is a
Gibbons,
honey. Even at a young age, we develop discerning tastes.”
Keith chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, I don't doubt that you do.”
Stephanie flipped down the visor in front of her and glanced at her reflection. Her makeup was flawless, but she noticed her face had been very puffy lately. Even Keith had developed the habit of calling her “Fat Cheeks” though she wasn't sure sometimes if he was referring to her faceâor her derriere. It couldn't be helped though. She was now approaching the end of the seventh month of her pregnancy and she seemed to be gaining weight at a rapid pace. It seemed that every time she stepped on the scale in her bathroom nowadays, she had gained another pound. One would think that a woman as vain as herself who had once prized her perfect size 6 figure would be dismayed by her body's changes, that she would hate the swollen ankles and the stretch marks and seeing herself growing larger before her eyes. But Stephanie really didn't mind being fat and pregnant. She was happy with her baby and happy with Keith and every time the baby kicked, it was a reminder of the unexpected love and contentment she had found. This was a surprising gift and she was never one to turn away a surprise.
She had no idea a year ago that her life would turn out this way. But she knew now that life was filled with twists and turns.
She and Keith now lived in her townhome in Chesterton. Three days a week he made the commute to the Stokowski and Hendricks offices in Vienna, Virginia. The other days he worked from home. In a few weeks, he planned to work out of Chesterton permanently. He said he didn't want to be that far away from Stephanie now that their baby's birth was drawing closer. Mike didn't mind losing him. The grizzled ex-cop and private investigator had been walking around with his chest puffed out for the past several months, boasting to everyone who would listen that he was going to be a grandfather soon. Since Mike was the closest thing to a father that Keith had ever known, he would only smile and nod his head when the older man made that strange proclamation.
“Now if only you'd put a ring on that girl's damn finger, everything would be perfect,” Mike had lectured Keith a week ago.
“I don't know if Stephanie and I are ready to get married quite yet,” Keith had explained. “Maybe in a year or two.”
Mike had grumbled in response. “Son, you're living with her and you're having a baby together. I hate to break it to you, but you
are
married. You just need to get pen to paper and make it legal.”
Though the future was full of promise for Keith and Stephanie, she knew things weren't going quite as peachy for Isaac or “Lucas Edwards” according to his birth certificate, which the feds unearthed. The grand jury had met a month ago, examining the evidence in the case of
The United States of America v. Lucas Edwards
. FBI agents had unearthed a string of cons spanning from California to Puerto Rico that Lucas had committed. They dated as far back as the late '90s, back when Lucas was a teenager. The handsome conman now faced multiple counts of fraud and embezzlement for his various crimes.
Though his fiancé, Manny, had promised to stick by his side through the whole ordeal, Manny's promise didn't last for very long. The developer didn't like all the negative publicity that came with being engaged to a man who swindled more than thirty lovers out of more than a million dollars in the course of fifteen years. Manny broke off the engagement. He was now dating a nice strapping young man from Orlando whom the shampoo guy Rafael had introduced him to. By all accounts, Manny was happy with his new lover.
No longer having a wealthy benefactor, Lucas had turned to the one person he had always turned to when things got bad for him: his old flame and mentor, Myra Beaumont. But the older woman had meant what she said when she proclaimed that she wasn't the kind to forgive and forget. She refused all of Lucas's calls and letters from prison while he awaited trial. (The judge had deemed him a flight risk and he was now being held in a federal penitentiary somewhere in Florida.)
With all the charges he was facing and with so few friends, prospects did not look good for Lucas. Stephanie guessed Keith had been right all along. One day soon, Lucas would be prostituting himself in prison for a pack of cigarettes instead of a Bentley and an ugly-ass silver chain.
Stephanie flipped up the car's visor and turned to Keith.
“Ready to head inside?” Keith asked, tugging on his wool gloves.
She nodded.
Â
Stephanie and Keith made their way through the foyer and then the corridor that led to the sunroom. On one side of the hallway was a row of windows that brightened the dark corridor with shafts of light. On the other side was a row of portraits of all the Gibbons women, or the “Gibbons family hall of fame,” as they jokingly liked to refer to it. The paintings started with the saucy portrait of Grandma Althea reclined on a white satin chaise with her gray hair falling around her shoulders, and ended with the baby picture of Stephanie's niece, Clarissa. But spaces would have to be made on the wall now for more portraits since they were adding more members to their clan.
She and Keith stepped out of the corridor into the well-lit sunroom. A seven-foot-tall Christmas tree sat in a far-off corner while baby blue helium balloons dotted the room. A table covered with gift-wrapped packages sat not too far from the tree. Stephanie's sisters were standing throughout the space. Even Cynthia's daughter, Clarissa, was there thanks to her winter break from college. Clarissa was turning into quite the sophisticated young lady, and seemed to have inherited her mother's beauty.
Yolanda Gibbons held center court in the sunroom. The Diahann Carroll look-alike smiled at her family and proudly gazed down at her new grandson.
Yolanda hadn't been very happy when she heard the news about Keith and Stephanie. Her daughter had hooked up with a detective? A
blue-collar man,
no less! She didn't put up too much of a fight about it though. Lauren had already dismayed Yolanda by falling in love with Cris more than a year ago despite her mother's warnings that loving a man gave him the ultimate power, breaking one of the biggest Gibbons family rules. Yolanda knew now from experience that she faced an uphill battle if she tried to talk Stephanie out of her relationship with Keith.
“You girls and your
falling in love!
” the elegant older woman had exclaimed with mild exasperation. “Oh, well, at least he's giving me another grandbaby.”
Though she didn't exactly welcome Keith with open arms, she tenuously accepted him into her family.
Yolanda was now tickling Crisanto Jr.'s slobbery chin. “That's Grandma's baby!” she exclaimed, smiling ear to ear. “Oh, isn't he just so handsome! You're going to break all the girls' hearts when you get older!”
Cris was holding his infant son in his big, strong arms. The petite Lauren stood at his side with a hand draped on his shoulder. The couple painted quite the fetching picture. Lauren looked toward the doorway. Her smile broadened when she saw Keith enter the room, holding Stephanie's hand. Keith guided the very pregnant woman down the short flight of steps to the sunroom's terracotta-tiled floor.
“There you guys are!” Lauren shouted as she walked toward them. She kissed Stephanie on both plump cheeks and gave Keith a warm hug. “I wondered when you guys would show up.
I'm
the one who's supposed to be late for Saturday brunch, Steph. Not you,” she said with a wink.
Stephanie cupped her hands over her ample belly. “Well, I hate to break it to you, Laurie, but thanks to the extra cargo, I haven't been able to move very fast lately. It seems like I'm always late now.”
“Yeah, she slows us down a lot,” Keith joked then grimaced when Stephanie playfully slapped him on the shoulder and made a face.
“Well, well, well!” Yolanda said, looking up from her grandson. “You two have finally arrived! I guess we can eat brunch now.” She clapped her hands then gestured toward the center of the room where a large round table sat. “All right, everyone! Quiet down! Quiet down! We're all here now. Let's have a seat.”
The throng slowly made their way to the table. Keith held out a chair for Stephanie and she carefully lowered herself into the seat. When she landed, she let out a long breath.
“Are you good?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, I'm good. I may need help getting up again though.”
He took the chair beside her.
Minutes later, everyone was seated at the table, but it was a tight fit. More bodies had been added and Keith's and Cris's broad shoulders seemed to take up more than their share of space.
The walls echoed with the conversations that now filled the room. Yolanda waved to get one of her maids' attention and motioned for all the water glasses to be filled. Clarissa eagerly reached for the basket of croissants at the center of the table. Keith grabbed a platter of bacon and dropped a few slices on his plate and Stephanie's. Dawn and Cynthia sat with their heads huddled together, laughing over local town gossip. Cris poured himself a cup of coffee from a sterling silver pot while Lauren held their baby in her arms, whispering softly as she fed Cris Jr. his bottled breakfast.
Stephanie gazed around the table. Yolanda had warned all her girls against falling in love, but Stephanie knew now that love couldn't be
that
bad if it brought about something like this. Their brood was expanding and she had a feeling that it would expand even further in the near future. Stephanie wondered what other surprises were in store for the Gibbons girls. Knowing her family, they probably would be big ones.
“What are you smiling about?” Keith asked as he chewed a piece of bacon. He cocked an eyebrow.
Stephanie quickly shook her head. She raised her water glass to her lips. “Nothing. Nothing at all,” she lied, holding in her laughter.