“I can tell you that it was a part of the quest that brought Amanda Dupree from Virginia. Well, that, and needing to escape a banker who was upset she’d revealed him as a thief. This coin represents a much larger treasure that Amanda, along with Warren Jessop and Adam Kendall, discovered. I’ll see if there’s anything more, storywise, I can pass on to you. I can’t promise, you understand.”
Her father looked at Anna Jessop for a long moment. He handed back the coin and nodded. “Yes, of course, I do understand. I’m grateful, and you have my word that this will be just between us.”
Jenny had seen the gold pieces in the cabinet and had read that they, along with a few other artifacts, were from the “quest” Amanda Dupree had embarked upon shortly after arriving in Lusty from Virginia.
When the tour of the museum was over, Jenny took her parents to Lusty Appetites. She’d told her mother on a visit home about Tracy’s wonderful cream puffs. It really was her lucky day because Tracy, totally recovered now from the stomach ailment that had her down for more than a week, was back at work and back making magic in Kelsey’s kitchen.
“This has been a very illuminating experience,” her father said. He took a bite of his pastry, and she wondered that his eyes didn’t roll all the way back in his head. There were two things Jason Collins enjoyed more than almost anything else—his historical research and pastries. She felt like a particularly good daughter because she’d seen to it he’d enjoyed some of both that day.
She thought back on their visit to the museum. Jenny couldn’t imagine the furor that might ensue if word of what she thought those gold coins represented—the long ago discovery of the fabled lost Confederate gold—got out. She decided then and there she would pretend she hadn’t overheard and understood the quiet conversation her dad and Mrs. Jessop had shared.
Lusty had been damn good to her, and Jenny was determined to return the favor.
* * * *
Parker Benedict had been worried about this dinner party because Jenny had become increasingly tense over the last couple of days. So far, though, things appeared to be fine.
“I’m sure that must have been some shock to you at the time,” Jason Collins said to Jackson. Parker’s cousin had just shared the story of why he’d left the NFL. He remembered that time as if it had been just last year. Jackson had been tackled badly in training camp, and because it had been a head injury, he’d been required to be examined by a doctor.
Though the concussion had been slight, the doctor’s warning had been clear. The next bad hit could cripple, or kill him. Jackson had left the sport he loved, and his twin, Cord, had, too.
“Such a difficult decision to make in your prime,” Jason continued. “But you seem to have made the adjustment.”
They were sitting around the dining room table at Ari, Jackson, and Cord’s house. Parker paid attention to the conversation for a couple of reasons.
The first and most important reason was that Jenny had confessed last night that she was nervous about her parents’ visit, and yet, she hadn’t been able to explain why. She’d claimed her parents were great, and she loved them, but he’d been a little skeptical.
No one can blame me for feeling that way. I think the Benedicts of Montana wrote the book on dysfunctional families. He wondered, for just a moment, how long it would take him before he stopped thinking, automatically, that all familial relationships were screwed up. Probably not as long as it would otherwise, if he wasn’t in Lusty.
However, listening to the way the Collinses interacted with not only Jenny but everyone else, he could see now that she’d spoken the truth. He liked her parents, and that was a good thing.
“It was all of that,” Jackson said. “But we came here, and then we met Ari.” Jackson brought his wife’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “No contest at all. I gained far more than I lost.”
“We both did,” Cord said.
Jason looked around the table. Jesse, Barry, Shar, and baby Patrick, as well as his cousins Trace, Lucas, and their wife Laci, along with Addison with her two husbands made for a lot of Benedicts at one meal. The food had been delicious and the conversation wide-ranging and engaging.
Parker wondered what was on Jason’s mind because he looked at his wife for a long moment. Her nod was slight, but Parker caught it. So, too, did Jenny. She was sitting between him and Dale, and he felt her tense.
Jason turned his attention to her just then. “Sweetheart, you’re too perceptive by half. Your mother and I know you’ve been on tenterhooks all day. You’ve probably been worried since we called last week and told you we wanted to visit. We were going to wait until we were alone, just the three of us, to talk to you about something, but this is better. It’s a personal matter, yes, but I can feel the honest friendship in this room.”
Jenny paled. Parker and Dale, sitting on either side of her, each took one of her hands. “Are you or Mom sick?”
“No, baby, nothing like that. And it may turn out to be nothing but…” Jason stopped talking and looked at Camille.
“But it might be something, and you need to know.” She looked around the table. “You all know Jenny was adopted.” There were murmurings of assent around the table.
Parker knew Jenny was open about her past and proud of her parents, of having been adopted. That had been clear to him and Dale since the first time she ever talked about them.
“Jason and I had been trying to have a baby for a long time before we had tests done and discovered we couldn’t. My best friend, Linda
