Juliana suspected that Mimi and Gladys had had this conversation before, as Gladys glanced at her and smiled with as much satisfaction as Mimi. “Yes, ma’am. It’s good to have a family in this house and have children under the roof. This big house was meant for a family…Miz Elnora knew what she was doing.”
Juliana heard an engine and turned to look through the oval glass in the front door. A bright red pickup drove up and stopped in front. A tall jean-clad man climbed out and walked toward the house. Stoddard emerged from the kitchen and headed to the door, reaching it just as the bell rang.
“There’s some man here,” Juliana said, curious about him, unable to hear what he was saying to Stoddard or Stoddard to him. “I better get back to work. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
“Juliana, you should consider selling your preschool and staying home with the boys,” Mimi told her.
With a smile, Juliana turned to her grandmother. “They have you and Gladys and Stoddard now. You’re here often and when you’re not, Gladys and Stoddard are wonderful with them.”
“I’d wondered who to thank for the change in their manners.”
“Mimi!” Juliana said, wondering if she had failed in that department, but aware that Stoddard was instilling a degree of courtesy in all three boys that they hadn’t shown be- fore.
“You did a fine job. Stoddard just has certain expecta- tions in that area and the boys seem to be trying to please him. I don’t know what hold he has over them. Gladys is the one who bakes cookies for them.”
“Stoddard plays ball with them,” Juliana remarked.
“He is also teaching Chris the fundamentals of driving the Cadillac.”
“Chris is too young to drive!” Juliana said, shocked that Stoddard would be doing such a thing without permission.
“You know Stoddard isn’t going to let the boy actually take the wheel,” Mimi said. “Don’t mention it to him. Stoddard would never do anything to put any of the chil- dren at risk.”
“That’s the truth,” Juliana stated, realizing she should have known Stoddard wouldn’t allow Chris to actually drive. “I’ll see you tonight, Mimi.” As she walked down the hall, she thought about how much better life had become for her nephews. Gladys and Stoddard had won them over im- mediately—and they had won Gladys’s and Stoddard’s al- legiance, too. They had Mimi visit often and now they had Cal giving them attention. And he was a strong man who was a role model for them, whether he wanted to be or not. She had noticed that Josh had gone to Cal’s room the last three mornings to talk to him while Cal shaved and dressed. Josh was beginning to tag around behind Cal like a shadow.
She headed toward the front as Stoddard closed the door and turned to go to the kitchen.
“Was that man selling something?”
“No, ma’am,” Stoddard replied. “He’s from Whittaker Construction. Mr. Duncan asked him to come out to look over the house and outbuildings.”
“Why is he looking at them?” she asked, going cold and remembering Cal’s promise that he would discuss it with her before he did anything to the house.
“Since Mr. Duncan had made arrangements with the man, I didn’t ask,” Stoddard replied in his best I-will-not- question-the-lord-of-the-manor voice.
“Mr. Duncan would like to tear down this house and re- build,” she remarked darkly.
“Good heavens! Tear down Green Oaks?” Stoddard ex- claimed, his mouth dropping open.
“I’ll be outside,” she said, hurrying through the front door. The man was nowhere to be seen, but his truck was still on the driveway so she went around the corner of the house. Cal’s black pickup was parked in front of the ga- rage, but no one was in sight. Then, beyond the garage, Ju- liana spotted the man bending down at a corner of the carriage house.
As she crossed the lawn, she watched him taking mea- surements and her anger soared because he had suspi- ciously come at a time when she would normally be at work and wouldn’t have known anything about him.
“Can I help you?” she called.
He turned around to face her and closed up the tape measure. “I’m Leon Whittaker. Your husband called me about changes here.”
“What kind of changes?” she asked, her anger mush- rooming.
“Don’t know. I’m to give him estimates on redoing, tearing down.” He fished in his jeans pocket to withdraw a card. “Here. I’m in business with my brothers,” he said as he placed the card in her hand. She glanced down at it.
“This old building is structurally unsound,” he said, patting the wall of the carriage house. “It’s near collapse and should be torn down.”
“We do not want anything torn down,” she said evenly, trying to hold her temper, knowing he wasn’t the one who should bear the brunt of her anger.
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Would you rather I check again with Mr. Duncan? Perhaps after you’ve dis- cussed this?”
“Yes, I would.”
“You don’t want me to look at the house?”
“No, I don’t. Thank you, anyway.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, turning to gather his tools and stride back to his truck. Juliana fumed as she crossed the lawn and entered the house to go call Cal’s office. He had married to get the inheritance. Now did he want a showcase house, too? Did he want to rebuild Green Oaks into some- thing new and palatial? He was grasping and greedy and untrustworthy, going back on his promise before the month was out. She jabbed the buttons and listened to the phone ring twice before his receptionist answered.
“This is Mrs. Duncan,” Juliana replied evenly. “May I speak to Mr. Duncan, please.”
“He’s on his way back from an appointment,” came his receptionist’s cheerful voice. “I just talked to him on his car phone.”
“I’ll call him, thanks,” Juliana said, and called the cel- lular phone number.
In seconds, she heard his bass voice saying hello.
“Cal, this is Juliana. I need to see you. I have an
