“I can’t believe my kid likes carrots for breakfast,” Cameron said, looking baffled as he fed Jake another spoonful of pureed carrots.
“He likes everything.” Julia poured herself another cup of coffee.
“Yeah, but carrots? Go figure.” He loaded another bit of carrot mixture onto Jake’s spoon, then turned as a thought occurred. “Maybe we should start a vegetable garden.”
“Good idea,” she murmured. Her eyes widened. “A vegetable garden? With carrots. Oh, my God, carrots and carrots.” She grabbed the pad and pen by the telephone and scribbled a note.
“Well, we could have other stuff, too.” Cameron shrugged as he lifted the spoon up in the air and made like an airplane toward Jake’s mouth. “Cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, maybe some different kinds of peppers.”
She put down the pen and sat forward. “No, carats, like diamonds and rubies. And carrots. And tomatoes and cucumbers. A garden. For kids. And a museum for the diamonds and the art and, oh, everything. That’s it.”
“That’s what?”
She jumped up and planted a kiss on Cameron’s lips. “You’re brilliant.”
“I’ve always thought so,” he said, flashing her a look of puzzled amusement as she ran out of the room.
Upstairs in the room Cameron had reconfigured to be her home office, Julia powered up her computer and began to write out a short proposal for the Parrish Trust board of directors.
She had always planned to open her family home to the public one day. It was too big, too magnificent and too full of her parents’ rare and beautiful art, furnishings and books to keep to herself. But she’d also wanted to leave her own mark, provide something memorable, something different, something
It sounded simplistic that a vegetable garden might be that important mark, but Julia loved the idea. It would bring children to Glen Haven Farm. Of course, this wouldn’t be a simple vegetable garden. It would be huge, a community garden with terraced beds. There would be animals, maybe a petting zoo, definitely a barn, classrooms, field trips, picnics, fun. While children had fun in the garden, their parents could tour the Parrish Museum and Library.
She spent most of the morning brainstorming her idea before enlisting Cameron’s help to pull it all together.
He sat quietly while she made her presentation. When she asked for his thoughts and reactions, the first thing he said was, “Why?”
“Why?” she repeated. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I get the garden idea. But why would you want to turn your home into a museum?”
Confused at first, she eventually understood his question. “You’ve never been to my home.”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
She’d used a moving company to transport the bits of furniture, clothing and personal items she and Jake had needed when they moved into Cameron’s home. It had all been arranged in a day and Cameron had been at work the whole time. She’d never taken him up to her house, so of course he had no idea what it looked like.
She leaned back and gazed up at him. “If you have an extra few hours today, I’d love to show you where I grew up.”
“I’d like that, too,” he said, kissing the soft skin of her neck. “A little later.” Then he took hold of her hand and led her upstairs.
Three weeks later, on a breezy Saturday afternoon, Cameron held Jake in his arms as he and Julia stood on the smooth stone steps in front of Glen Haven Farm, Julia’s family home-or, as she liked to call it, the Mausoleum.
To call the place a farm was patently absurd, Cameron thought, since the elegant residence and finely manicured grounds had been designed and built in the grand style of a Regency estate.
The home itself was a three-story mansion with four separate wings extending out from what Julia called the central gallery.
Julia’s brainstorm had been spot on, Cameron thought now. The place was made to be a museum. But that wasn’t what had excited her. No, she’d been trying to find a way to bring children to the house. Artwork wouldn’t do it, but a huge vegetable garden would. Kids could grow and harvest their own vegetables and have fun while they learned some healthy lessons. Julia had whipped up a business plan in no time flat and scheduled a trustees’ meeting to go over her ideas.
On Cameron’s first tour of the place a few weeks earlier, Julia had mentioned casually that the main residence was more than thirty thousand square feet. The lawns, gardens, pools, rare trees, bowered rose garden and other botanical delights comprised ninety acres of prime real estate overlooking Dunsmuir Bay.
With Sally Duke as his adoptive mother, Cameron had grown up with money and luxury, but this was something else. To be honest, Cameron couldn’t help thinking that this amazing house, with its massive grounds and stunning views, would make one hell of a Duke resort.
But this was Julia’s show, and it was now show-time.
“Thank you for being here with me,” she whispered to Cameron as they watched a stretch limousine wind its way up the long driveway.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said. As he dipped down to kiss her cheek, he added, “I’ve got your back.”
The limo driver parked and four older men in dark suits climbed out. As they approached, Julia grabbed Cameron’s hand. He could feel the nervous energy coursing through her.
Why his strong, independent wife felt she needed backup was a mystery to him. After all, this was her home, her decision. Not only that, but it was her money, her heritage. So who cared what these fat cats thought? Apparently, Julia did.
As the four men came closer, Julia smiled and patted Jake’s butt for luck, then strolled over to greet the trustees. Cameron handed the baby over to the nanny, who took Jake inside. Then he followed Julia and greeted two of the lawyers he recognized from past business deals around town.
“So, Duke,” said Dave Saunders, an overfed blowhard Cameron had never liked, “why aren’t you turning this place into one of your fancy hotels?”
“Who says I’m not?” he said pleasantly.
The four men exchanged glances and Cameron earned a skeptical look from Julia. He winked at her as if to urge her not to take any of this too seriously.
So these were the four almighty trustees Julia believed were in charge of her destiny. No wonder she thought she needed backup.
After the introductions were made, Julia led the entire group across the wide lawn to the first of many spots on the property for which she had plans.
As a light breeze stirred the leaves, the men stopped to gaze up at what looked like a smaller version of the ancient Greek Acropolis built into the hillside.
One of the men chuckled. “Ah, the famous Glen Haven Folly.”
“Seems a waste of good real estate,” Saunders mused.
“And money,” a third man added with a significant nod to the others.
“My father had it built for me when I studied ancient Greece in third grade,” Julia explained briefly.
One of the men sniffed. Another muttered, “Must be nice.”
Cameron stifled the urge to smack the guy upside his head.
Julia ignored the sarcasm and pointed forward. “Now we continue along this path to the western end of the meadow.”
As they passed an old wrought-iron gate built into an ivy-covered stone wall, Cameron stopped to look through the gateway. He hadn’t noticed it on his first visit. Inside the thick wall, row after row of tall hedges were aligned in a circular pattern that covered a wide stretch of green lawn. Intrigued, he took another, closer look.
“Whoa, is that a maze?”
Julia stopped and turned. “Yes.”
“That’s incredible,” he exclaimed. “You grew up with a maze in your backyard?”
