Part 31 (1/2)

Emily Anne bit back her grin. So that's who they've had their eye on! Despite the deep discussion during which they'd asked for her advice a few weeks before, clearly they hadn't yet gotten up the nerve to make the first move on the pretty esthetician.

Emily Anne was looking forward to watching that little romance unfold.

”Maybe they came for the free food,” Andrew said.

Chloe had clearly seen the same thing Emily Anne had. At Andrew's observation, she just rolled her eyes, as if to say ”men,” and laughed.

Benny Kendall bounced from foot to foot, and manfully shook hands with both Mel and Connor. Neither man acted as if he was just a kid, which pleased Emily Anne immensely. Then the young boy looked up at her.

”Mom says you're not gonna move, that you're going to stay here in l.u.s.ty. I'm glad.” Then he hugged her. Emily Anne proved that she knew the boy pretty well, because she accepted that hug but didn't fawn over him. She shared a look with Ginny and understood that woman's misty gaze. Her firstborn was growing up. Someday soon, as was the way with all boys growing into themselves, the hugs would be few and far between, especially in public.

Benny gave her his usual cheeky grin, and then ran off, always eager to visit with everyone in sight, as every single person in the restaurant he knew by name.

Ginny shook her head. ”He is growing up so fast.” Then she smiled. ”But that's as it should be. And I'm glad you're staying, too.”

”We all are,” Adam said. Then he looked from Connor to Mel, before he fastened his gaze on her. ”Any more ha.s.sles from that Billy J character?”

Emily Anne put her hands up to her cheeks. ”Oh my G.o.d, I can't believe I forgot to tell y'all!”

”Tell us what?”

Emily Anne knew she didn't imagine the edge to Connor's voice, or the way he seemed to tense beside her.

”Well, apparently, Miss Linda Sue Powers, status seeker extraordinaire, the daughter of the richest man in the Comanche area and the bee with an itch who found out for Billy J where I was living and told him...is pregnant. And also, apparently, Billy J is the daddy of that yet unborn bundle of joy.”

Adam struggled to keep a straight face. ”Reckon that will put the brakes on his plans for that big Nashville music career.”

”I pity the woman, and the child,” Connor said.

”As we speak, Billy J is preparing to be wed at the point of Mr. Powers's shotgun, and then, rumor has it, to be turned into the perfect corporate son-in-law. And I wouldn't discount that career, either. Linda Sue Powers, soon to be Linda Sue Cooper, is a money- and fame-hungry little bit of goods. I'll lay odds that within a few years Billy J will have his first song on the charts-with his wife, Linda Sue, as his manager.” She grinned. ”But I do believe that the all-you-can-scoop groupies part of his big dream is never going to come true.”

Mel snickered. ”Some men need a dominatrix in order to thrive.”

Emily Anne laughed even though she felt her cheeks heat. Oh, my G.o.d, he's nailed them both to a tee!

”We've had a bit of news, too, regarding the Baxter case,” Jake said.

Emily Anne wondered about his timing, and the fact that Chloe and her men were still standing with the Kendalls, and them.

She knew that the authorities had indeed exhumed human remains from under the concrete slab of that one shed on Baxter's property, and those remains had been identified as having been Neil Jackson. Baxter had been charged not only with kidnapping and forcible confinement, but with murder.

”It seems the district attorney has identified all of the safe-deposit boxes belonging to Baxter, aka Bruce Smith. They've inventoried the contents of same, and report that the amount of money they held totals over three and a half million dollars. I've filed pet.i.tion with the court to have that money turned over to Carrie and Chloe as part of their inheritance.”

”Oh, goodness! That's wonderful!” Emily Anne knew that the money hadn't been as important to Chloe as the fact that her father had been betrayed by a man he'd called friend. ”What are you going to do with it?”

She hadn't noticed Carrie come over, but the tiny waif-like woman slipped in next to her big sister. They smiled at each other, and Emily Anne recalled the first time she'd set eyes on Chloe. The sisters had banded together then, too, but now the subtle sadness was gone from both of their faces.

”We actually talked about that, just after you were hired,” Carrie said, nodding to Mel and Connor. ”Under the category of 'what if'”

”We've done fine, all these years without that money. We don't need it,” Chloe said. She smiled. ”So we've decided to endow a scholars.h.i.+p in our parents' names. An award is to be given each year to a student at the University of Texas who is an abuse survivor-an extra hand up to someone who's on the road to a better life, who's already overcome some heavy obstacles.”

”As well, we'll be donating money to children's charities, especially those that benefit orphans,” Carrie said.

”That's a very fine thing,” Mel said. He hugged each of the Rhodes sisters. ”I'm very proud of you both. And I know your folks are looking down on you, and they're proud of you, too.”

”Amen to that,” a very familiar voice said.

Emily Anne nearly squealed like Kelsey's baby. She didn't wait, just headed to the woman who'd spoken those words. Fortunately, Kendalls and Jessops parted so she could get to the diminutive woman.

”Grandma Kate! I am so happy you're here!”

”Sweetheart, I'm happy you're here, and going to remain so. And I am not at all surprised that these two obviously very smart men have scooped you up.”

”Thank you, Grandma Kate. You made me feel like a part of your family from the first moment we met.”

”You don't have to thank me for that, Emily Anne Bancroft. I'm smart, too.” She grinned in response to the chuckles of nearly everyone in the place. ”Now, did everyone hear the news? We have even more family coming home to l.u.s.ty.”