“You never ask nicely,” Gracie pointed out. “You just grab.”
“That’s because I don’t want to take the chance you’ll turn me down.”
“As if she would,” Mrs. Johnson said. “All of you, take the scones and run along. I’ve got things to do.”
Kevin regarded her closely. “Such as reporting in to Aunt Delia?”
“What I do with my time is none of your concern, young man. Now, scoot.” She smiled at Abby. “You’re growing up too fast, young lady. Another inch at least since the last time I saw you.”
“I’m almost as tall as Mama now,” Abby said proudly.
“Well, you tell your mama hello for me. Stop by next time you all come over to sit on that porch next door.”
Kevin noted Gracie’s startled look at Mrs. Johnson’s reference to the front porch of the Victorian. As soon as they were outside, Gracie asked casually, “Do you and your mom come over here often?”
“Lots in the summertime,” Abby said. “We don’t live by the water. Sometimes we sit here until the moon comes up, especially the full moon. It’s totally awesome the way it shines on the water.”
“Yes, it is,” Gracie agreed.
Kevin could practically see the wheels turning in that brain of hers. He wondered how long it was going to take before she began adding up two and two.
No sooner had they walked up the front steps at Aunt Delia’s than Abby asked, “Can I cut the grass, Uncle Kevin? You let it go too long again. There’s probably snakes and all sorts of other critters hiding in it.”
“Including baby bunnies,” he retorted slyly. “You want to scare them to death?”
“That’s what you always say,” she chided. “The bunnies run away, you know they do. And they come right back the minute the clover pops up.”
Letting Abby cut the grass solved several problems. It kept her away from Gracie, minimizing the risk that she would let something slip. Just as important, it would get Gracie off his back about the out-of-control lawn. He reached in his pocket and took out the key to the toolshed in back.
“Be careful now,” he instructed. “You might have been joking about those snakes, but you never know when you might stumble across one.”
“Snakes?” Gracie said, staring at him with wide eyes, even as Abby dashed off. She unconsciously drew her feet up onto the bottom step, out of the way of any slithering creatures that might be in the vicinity.
Abby might have been totally unintimidated by his warning, but Gracie clearly was scared to death.
“You’re not going to let that child cut grass when she might run across a snake,” she protested.
“It probably won’t be a big one,” he said, enjoying her reaction.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Cutting the grass is supposed to be your job.”
“Nobody said I had to do it myself. Abby likes doing it.”
“Which suits your purposes just fine, doesn’t it?”
“Sure. It means I get to sit on the porch all alone with you. Can’t get a better deal than that.”
She remained silent for several minutes, pondering that and idly eating one of her scones. “How often do you get Abby to cut the grass for you?” she asked eventually.
“I let her do it whenever she wants. Obviously she has more time once school is out.”
“Which is why the grass hasn’t been cut before now,” she guessed.
“That’s one reason.” And keeping Aunt Delia away from the place was another, one he didn’t care to get into.
Naturally, though, Gracie promptly asked, “And the other reasons would be?”
“Do you really want to know all the details of the grass-cutting schedule around here?”
She nodded. “Yes, I think I do”
Kevin sighed. “The grass gets cut when it gets cut. End of story.”
“Do you pay her?”
“In ice cream usually, though now that she’s growing up, she’ll probably want cash so she can buy more books. Abby’s quite a reader.”
“You planning on getting her to paint the place, too? Maybe buying her a pizza in return for whitewashing the fence? Or maybe getting her a whole set of encyclopedias?”
“Now you’re being sarcastic.”
“Yes, I am,” she confirmed. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want a straight answer.”
“Abby will not be painting the house,” he said, then hesitated. He grinned at her. “Unless she wants to.”
“There’s something about this that doesn’t make sense,” Gracie said, her expression thoughtful.
“You worry too much, darlin’. Can’t you just kick back and enjoy the view?”
She set her rocker into motion. She even gazed out at the water. But there wasn’t a doubt in Kevin’s mind that those wheels in her head were spinning like roulette wheels in Vegas. Sooner or later she was bound to come up with a winning explanation. He found that downright worrisome.
“I thought it was time you and I got to know each other,” Kevin’s Aunt Delia declared to Gracie, pouring tea into lovely old china cups.
Gracie had been stunned by the message on her answering machine inviting her to tea at Greystone Manor. She’d recognized the name from Kevin’s occasional mention of an aunt Delia, but until the call, she’d had no idea the woman actually lived with him. Very curious.
She’d been even more intrigued when she’d realized that she was to be the only guest. She’d called back immediately to accept the invitation for the next day.
Delia Winthrop was a lovely woman with her snow-white hair and still flawless complexion. Her eyes twinkled with pure mischief as she led Gracie into the living room where a teacart had been set up by French doors leading out to a rose garden. The sweet scent of roses was thick in the air.
“Does Kevin know about this?” Gracie asked.
Delia looked guilty for no longer than a heartbeat. “Heavens, no!” she confessed. “He’d have my head for meddling. He’s gone to Richmond for the day.”
“I see,” Gracie said, though she wasn’t certain that she saw at all.
“Why don’t you tell me what you were thinking of doing with the house?” Aunt Delia suggested
