“Bobby Ray’s not responsible,” his uncle had declared from his sickbed. “None of them are.”
“And who saw to that?” Kevin had asked him pointblank. “Has there ever been a time when you weren’t only too eager to bail them out of a jam?”
“Maybe not. Maybe it is my fault. But truth’s truth and it’s too late to fix it now,” his uncle Steven had lamented. “They’ll fritter that money away in a year, if I don’t leave somebody sensible in charge.”
Kevin hadn’t wanted the responsibility, had guessed that it would drive a wedge between him and his cousins, but his uncle had been adamant. It wasn’t as if this were the first time. His own father had reminded him of his duty to half a dozen other relatives as he lay dying, too.
What had made it so much worse this time was that his uncle hadn’t bothered telling his children about the arrangements, haven’t even told them how ill he was. He’d left all of that to Kevin, as well. It was little wonder there’d been so much resentment.
Bobby Ray had retaliated by going after Marianne. Kevin had been stunned, but not heartbroken when she had chosen his cousin. He’d wished them well, had even stood up for Bobby Ray at the wedding. Only recently had he come to realize that the expression on Bobby Ray’s face that day hadn’t been happiness, but a gloating triumph.
There was none of that in his expression now. He was, quite simply, drunk as a skunk. Gracie started clucking over him the minute they entered the kitchen. Naturally Bobby Ray promptly made a halfhearted pass at her, aiming a kiss straight for her lips. Kevin told himself that his cousin was drunk, and besides that, flirting came as naturally to Bobby Ray as breathing. It was the only thing that kept Kevin from decking him. Gracie had ignored the overture anyway, dodging the kiss and steering Bobby Ray toward a chair instead.
“Sit down, Bobby Ray. Let me pour you some coffee. Have a cookie.” She studied him worriedly. “Or maybe a sandwich would be better.”
“Stop fussing,” Kevin grumbled. “He’s survived worse.”
She scowled at him, then beamed at Bobby Ray. “Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened? Maybe we can help.”
Bobby Ray seemed stunned by the offer. “You’ll help me get Sara Lynn back?”
“If that’s what you truly want,” Gracie promised in a tone that suggested she didn’t believe for a minute that it was what he wanted.
His head bobbed up and down. “It’s what I want.”
“Tell me about her,” Gracie encouraged.
Kevin sighed and resigned himself to a very long evening and one that would be a far cry from what he’d envisioned. He hadn’t planned on leaving that bed of Gracie’s for hours to come.
Bobby Ray embarked on a long, complicated tale of how he’d met Sara Lynn and fallen head over heels in love with her. “She thought I was a hero, straight out of a storybook. That’s what she said.” He smiled sadly. “Never been a hero before.”
“Marianne thought you were,” Kevin reminded him. “Until you disillusioned her.”
Bobby Ray’s expression turned even more sorrowful. “Made a mistake with Marianne. Married her for all the wrong reasons.” He looked at Kevin. “Trying to get even with you. When she figured it out, she left me.”
“So you married Ginny on the rebound,” Kevin said. “Even though the two of you had about as much in common as an octopus and an elephant.”
Bobby Ray nodded. “Another mistake,” he conceded. He looked at Gracie. “Ginny left me, too. Took my new Jaguar with her.”
“It was the least you owed her,” Kevin said. “She could have taken you for a bundle.”
“You saw to it she didn’t,” Bobby Ray said. “I can always count on you. Good old Kevin. Saint Kevin.”
To Kevin’s astonishment, Gracie waved a finger under Bobby Ray’s nose. “Don’t you dare talk about your cousin that way. He could let you twist in the wind, you know.”
“Not Kevin,” Bobby Ray insisted. “Wouldn’t do that. It’s not his nature.”
“Maybe I should,” Kevin said. “Maybe just once I should let you work your own way out of trouble. I may be every bit as bad as your father.”
The remark was as effective as a slap at snapping Bobby Ray out of his drunken self-pity. “You wouldn’t abandon me now, would you, Kev?”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Help me get Sara Lynn back,” Bobby Ray said again.
“Because you love her?” Gracie asked. “Or because you can’t stand losing another woman?”
Both Kevin and Bobby Ray stared at her. Bobby Ray looked thoughtful, or as thoughtful as a man drunk on bourbon could look.
“Could be you’re right,” he admitted. “Tired of seeing ’em get away.”
“Have you ever considered trying to get Marianne back?” Gracie inquired casually.
Kevin almost choked on his coffee. “Gracie!”
“Hush. I want to hear what Bobby Ray has to say to that.”
“You don’t know what you’re suggesting,” Kevin protested.
“I think I do,” Gracie said stubbornly.
“Marianne wouldn’t take me back,” Bobby Ray said. “Too much water under the bridge.”
“Why’d she throw you out, Bobby Ray?”
“Because I used her to get even with Kevin,” he repeated.
Gracie nodded, a satisfied expression on her face. “Not because she didn’t love you, right? She chose you over Kevin, didn’t she? And she hasn’t dated anyone seriously since, according to Abby.”
Kevin was dumbfounded. “Where did you hear all this?”
“From Abby.”
“She’s a kid,” Kevin argued. “She’s not a very reliable source.”
“I’ll bet she knows her mother pretty well,” Gracie countered.
“She’s like every other kid. She daydreams about having her family together again,” Kevin protested. “That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for Marianne.”
“Maybe Marianne and Bobby Ray should be the judge of what’s best for them,” Gracie argued right back.
“Stop meddling
