“You know about that?” Gracie asked, surprised that Kevin had discussed it with anyone. He certainly managed to avoid discussing it with her.
“Well, of course I do. It’s my house, after all.”
Gracie’s hands shook so hard she had to set the plate down. “Yours?” she asked, wondering why she hadn’t figured out before that the house belonged to someone in Kevin’s family. No wonder he could afford to take such a lackadaisical attitude toward its upkeep.
Delia gave a satisfied little nod. “Thought so. Kevin hadn’t mentioned that, I suppose.”
“No, he had not.”
“Well, it is. Lived in it for seventy-five years, right up until the day Kevin insisted I move in here with him. That was a good many years ago now and I’ve never regretted it for a minute, though I do miss that house.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Gracie muttered.
“Oh, my dear, you don’t want to do that,” Delia protested, chuckling. “Things are just getting downright interesting around here.”
“Maybe from your perspective.”
“Yours, too. I suspect. Who’d you think the house belonged to?”
“I wasn’t sure. For a while I thought it was some mysterious stranger. Then I began to wonder if it actually belonged to Kevin.”
“The truth is, I have transferred the deed into his name, but he refuses to think of it as his. He won’t until I’m dead, and I’ve no intention of that happening anytime soon.”
“Are you the reason he won’t discuss selling it to me?”
“Goodness, no. I’ve told him to do whatever he thinks is best. If you ask me, he’s being difficult for the pure enjoyment of tormenting you. That boy hasn’t had nearly enough fun in his life.”
Gracie couldn’t believe her ears. It seemed to her that all Kevin had was fun. She’d certainly never seen him do a lick of work.
“What do you mean?” she asked carefully.
“He’s been responsible for the whole lot of us for years now,” she said. “There’s me and his uncle Bo, that’s his father’s brother, and Bo’s good-for-nothing boys. Plus his uncle Steven’s brood. They depend on him for everything, too, thanks to Steven’s will naming Kevin trustee of his estate. I believe you’ve met Bobby Ray and Abby, and Helen, of course.”
Well, I’ll be, Gracie thought. Delia’s revelations certainly gave her a whole new perspective on Kevin. Obviously he managed to do something to keep all of those financial balls in the air. He just didn’t make it look like work. Fascinating.
“Is Kevin in Richmond on business?” she asked.
“His law firm’s there.”
Gracie’s mouth gaped. “Kevin is a lawyer?”
“Well, of course he is. Didn’t he mention it?”
“Not exactly.”
Delia shook her head. “That boy. Sometimes I just can’t figure him out.”
“Kevin actually practices law?” Gracie asked again, wondering if maybe he’d only gotten the degree without ever putting it to good use.
“Yes, indeed. Estate law, just like his daddy before him.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Gracie murmured.
“Okay, enough about Kevin. I asked you over here for another reason. I want to hear all about your plans,” Delia said again. “I want to hear every single thing you have in mind for that house.”
Despite all the revelations she wanted time to absorb, Gracie was only too eager to finally talk over her plans with someone who seemed as enthusiastic about the bed-and-breakfast as she was. She practically talked herself hoarse, her excitement mounting with every word.
“Oh, my, yes. That sounds lovely.” Delia’s eyes sparkled. “We’ll do it,” she declared after an hour of bombarding Gracie with more questions.
Gracie stared. “Excuse me?”
“You and I, we’ll do it. It will do me good to see that old house spruced up and filled with people again.”
“But…”
“You think I’m too old to get involved in a project the size of this, don’t you?”
“It’s not that,” Gracie protested.
“It’s just that you don’t want a partner then,” Delia guessed, looking disappointed.
Actually, it was the fact that Kevin was going to have her hide for dragging his aunt into a scheme of which he disapproved. Besides which, this would effectively rob Kevin of a house that was legally already his.
“Don’t worry about Kevin,” Delia said as if she’d read Gracie’s mind. “He’ll come around when he sees it’s something I want to do.”
“But you said you’d already put the house in his name. How can you turn around and do something like this?” Gracie protested. “Is it even legal?”
“I told you, Kevin sees the name on the deed as a technicality. As far as he’s concerned, that house is mine to do with as I choose. And I choose to see it turned into a bed-and-breakfast,” she added with a touch of defiance. “You and I can work out an arrangement. Kevin won’t mind at all. It’ll just be one less worry. Goodness knows, he has plenty of them without me adding to the list.”
Gracie wasn’t even remotely convinced he’d see it that way. “Maybe you should think this over,” she said. “We both should.”
Delia’s disappointment was evident, but she nodded. “We’ll talk tomorrow then.” She winked. “But I can promise you I won’t change my mind.”
17
“Met your Gracie yesterday,” Molly told Kevin at breakfast the day after his trip to Richmond.
He almost choked on his coffee. “Excuse me? Gracie was here?”
“With your aunt. Thick as thieves they were.”
Kevin scowled at the housekeeper. She looked as if she were enjoying dropping this bombshell a little too much. He had a hunch she’d been chosen to be the messenger of this juicy tidbit. Even though his trips to Richmond were rare, he’d obviously made one too many.
“Any idea how this came about?” he inquired, facing the fact that such a meeting had probably been inevitable.
“All I know is I made them tea and some of those little cakes your aunt likes so much.”
“So Gracie didn’t just drop by unexpectedly.”
“No, indeed. She was invited, all right. Your aunt was busy planning it for days.”
“Any idea what they talked about?”
“You, the house, this and that.”
“If you were listening at the
