bouquet and all. Jack, escorting her, even looked pleasant and pleased.
The practice only took a few moments to run through. A minibus Jack had hired was waiting at the front door to take the bridal party and families to a very nice restaurant in Chicago, which was why Mr. Willis, as well as Jane and Shelley, were getting a well-deserved break and also the reason they were leaving so early. The travel time plus the dinner would give Jane, Shelley, and Mr. Willis a good five or six hours of blessed quiet.
As the guests started boarding the bus, Jane caught a glimpse of Uncle Joe in a fairly decent suit and tie. 'Is he going along?' she whispered to Shelley.
“I can't imagine why he'd be invited,' Shelley replied. 'He's hired help like us, only of longer duration.”
But Uncle Joe got on the bus.
As Eden went back in the lodge for something she'd forgotten, Jane waylaid her. 'Eden, why's Uncle Joe included?' she asked bluntly.
Eden looked a bit confused. 'Why, because he's part of the family. Didn't you know that?”
“What part, exactly?' Jane asked.
“He's Jack's brother. Illegitimate, of course. Older half-brother, actually, to Jack, Iva, and Marguerite. I thought you knew. That's why he getsto live here for free without doing much work. Have you seen my beaded purse?'
“On the long brown sofa,' Jane said, and looked at Shelley with a stunned expression that matched her friend's.
They didn't speak until all the guests were on board and the bus pulled out. Even then, they headed silently for the kitchen. Jane poured them each a cup of coffee and they sat down at the big table in the center of the room.
“Who'd have guessed?' Shelley finally said. 'I thought 'Uncle' was just an honorific title. For long service to the family.'
“I can't quite get a grip on this,' Jane said, peering into her coffee cup as if a revelation might appear there. 'Older half-brother, Eden said. So he was born, or at least conceived, before old O. W. even married.'
“Eden said the old boy was quite a womanizer.'
“Do you suppose his wife knew before she married him?' Jane asked.
“We'll never know, but apparently the rest of the family knows if Eden does,' Shelley said. 'Uncle Joe really is Livvy's uncle.'
“It sure accounts for why the aunts are so haughty and cold to him. I thought it was just general snobbiness, but it's very specific snobbiness. The disreputable old guy is their half-brother.”
Shelley smiled. 'That can't be much fun for them.'
“No wonder that nobody makes a point of identifying him as a relative,' Jane said. 'I wouldn't claim him either.'
“But they took him along to dinner as a family member. Wonder if anybody's told the Hesslings?'
“I don't imagine they'd much care.'
“Dwayne might,' Shelley speculated. 'Uncle Joe might come in for some of the family money.”
Jane looked up, her eyes widening. 'You don't suppose—?'
“That Uncle Joe got the missing money? If there was missing money? Maybe so. But why would he stick around here all these years if he had?'
“Rent free, not much work. The perfect situation for a lazy old man,' Jane said. 'I wonder if he's always lived here or whether he had a real job and a real life in his younger days and this is just his retirement position.'
“I had the impression he'd been a fixture here forever,' Shelley said. 'But it was only an impression.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes, trying to absorb and process this new information about the Thatcher family. Then Shelley brought up Dwayne's room. 'Who could have done that to his things, and why?' she asked.
“I suppose it could have been meant as a tacky practical joke. But it seems out of character for the boys — young men — who are here.'
“My thoughts exactly. First, they don't look like hoodlums who would find vandalism amusing.
They're all a bit on the nerdy side. And secondly, while they might want to do something nasty to Dwayne, they're all so extraordinarily deferential to Jack Thatcher that I don't think they'd consider wrecking the bed and the plumbing on his property. Not a good way to impress a big-deal executive.'
“I agree. But a couple of them were in and out of the house while the football game was going on. They had opportunity, if not motive,' Jane said.
“But so did nearly everyone,' Shelley pointed out. 'The ladies at the shower were knocking back the champagne and running back and forth to their bathrooms.'
“You think a woman might have done it?'
“I don't see why not. It didn't take any special strength or height. It could have even been the aunts, for that matter.'
“Or Jack Thatcher. Or even Uncle Joe,' Jane said. 'But what was the point? Just to show dislike or contempt?'
“Maybe it was meant as a warning. Stop doing whatever you're doing, Dwayne, or something worse will happen to you.'
“But what's he doing besides marrying Livvy?”
Shelley said, 'That might be enough. Or it could be something else. We really don't know anything about him except that he's sort of low-rent and is very nasty to anyone close at hand when he's mad.'
“I guess about the only person it couldn't have been was Jack Thatcher.'
“Why's that?'
“Because all he had to do to stop the wedding was tell Livvy it was off,' Jane said.
“You're probably right. And I can't see how Livvy and Dwayne getting married would mean anything to the aunts. So who's left?'
“Bridesmaids and Uncle Joe.'
“I vote for Uncle Joe,' Shelley said.
“Why? What would his motive be?'
“I don't know. But I'll think of something.”
They heard the front door open and footsteps approaching. 'Mel? Is that you?' Jane called out.
Mel stepped into the kitchen and headed straight for the refrigerator. 'Anything to eat?'
“Mr. Willis left us dinners,' Jane said. 'Pick whichever plate you like. Where have you been?'
“Just snooping around the grounds,' he said, taking the foil off a plate and gazing at the food with disapproval. 'Girly-girly stuff. Prissy chicken salad and tiny sandwiches. Is there anything substantial around? I'm starving.'
“There probably is, but we don't dare touch it or we may mess up Mr. Willis's meal plans,' Jane said. 'There's a McDonald's a couple miles away.'
“No, I want real food. A steak and a big baked
potato,' he said, pouring himself a soft drink and
sitting down at the table with them. 'Want to go
somewhere and see if we can find such a thing?'
'Any other time, I'd snap up that offer,' Jane said. 'But right now all I want to do is stay here and veg out while there's the chance. Did you know Uncle Joe is the illegitimate half-brother of Jack Thatcher and his sisters?'
“You're kidding!' Mel said. 'Come to think of it, there is a vague look of an older Jack Thatcher about him. They have the same eyes and hairline.'
“Don't you think that's significant?' Jane asked.
“In what way?'
“I'm not sure. It's just odd. They don't seem to have any affection for him. The aunts will hardly speak to him, in fact. But he gets to live here and even go to the rehearsal dinner.'
“Every family's got its own rules,' Mel said mildly. 'This setup isn't half as weird or creepy as a lot I've come across. I had an aunt who invited two of her ex-husbands to her fourth wedding. And they came and had a wonderful time.'
