Rich smiled. “I also called your board members to let them know as long as you’re president, I’ll take all my money and my grandmother’s money out of town, and I’ll ask every businessman I personally know to remove every penny from this bank.”
That was when Ivan grabbed the glass paper weight and charged at him, hand raised to strike. “Why you good for-nothing piece of sh—”
Rich ducked and sidestepped as Ivan rushed him, pushing a chair directly into his path. Ivan tumbled over the chair and nosedived onto the floor with the glass paper weight slamming into his jaw as he landed. Not a splinter of glass fell off the paperweight as it rabbit-hopped across the floor and landed with a thud against the wall.
“Ouch,” Marlene uttered.
“Whew, that’s some paperweight,” Rich drawled. “Remind me to high-five a local sportsman next time I see one.”
He looked at Marlene, shook his head, and grinned.
“Brought down by his own award.” Marlene stifled a chuckle and opened the office door where a startled group of people had gathered and silently gaped at them as they walked out. From somewhere among the crowd, a person started clapping, and then everyone burst into an earth-shattering applause.
“How do they know?” Rich glanced at Marlene with a confused look.
“Speaker phone,” she said, smiling. “I clicked it on when you were getting cozy with Ivan. I figured a few more witnesses couldn’t hurt.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rich never heard anything as pleasant as the giggles and laughter of all the women in his life barreling through the front door. Plastic bags rustled and everyone talked over each other as they dropped their precious cargo in the entranceway and headed into the kitchen where he was scarfing down one of Lulu’s cinnamon muffins to tide him over until dinner. He stood at the kitchen sink with a glass of cranberry juice.
Torrie rushed up to Rich and put her arms around his waist. “We had a splendid time with your money.”
He swallowed his last bit of muffin. He snuggled her closer and felt an unexpected comforting warmth surge through him. He was surprised at how much he missed her when she wasn’t nearby. The scent of lemon and flowers filled the air to torture him and he whispered, “I hope you bought something like the slinky black thing you wore for three minutes the other night.”
Torrie laughed.
“Guess what? We bought Iris some more stuffed animals,” Estella piped up. She and Iris were each holding the bears Rich had given them and which had accompanied them on the shopping trip. “Go find the bag with the hippopotamus, Iris, and show it to my daddy.”
The little girl dropped her bear on the chair beside her and darted down the hallway. Returning, she dragged a large shopping bag behind her. When she reached the kitchen, she stopped and pulled out a chunky gray hippo with round, doleful brown eyes and a pink bow around its neck. She handed it to a smiling Rich.
“See?”
He squatted down before her. “This is a very handsome little dude, don’t you think?”
“It’s not a dude,” Iris corrected him, giggling. She pointed to the pink bow.
“Okay, my mistake. A dude-ette? Is there such a word? So what are you going to name this little lady?” He grinned at her.
Iris giggled again and took back the hippo he offered her. “Heidi. But she’s a hippopotamus so she’s big.”
Rich ruffled her silky head. “Good choice. Heidi the hippo. Good name.”
He straightened and looked at Torrie and the two little girls. They were all becoming family to him. Iris and Estella were good for each other. They were playmates and friends…and maybe in the future they could be sisters. As an only child, he had no one to share his secrets with, no one he could share his feelings of sadness or joy. He couldn’t believe how much he loved both the little girls.
“Iris, Oscar’s bow is untied,” Estella pointed out in a disgruntled tone.
“Oscar?” Rich asked.
“Yes, we named the bears. Mine is Olivia since she’s a girl, and Iris’s boy bear is Oscar.” Estella reached for the bear on the chair the same time Iris’s hand lunged for it. Iris held tight to its front paw.
“I’m just going to retie the bow for you,” Estella said, tugging on the bear head. “I just want to help.”
“No, it’s my bear and I’ll do it,” Iris insisted, refusing to let go. She yanked harder. “I can do it. I know how. I’m not a baby!”
“But I can tie it better,” Estella pointed out.
“Girls,” Rich warned in a firm voice, wondering if this was the first of what might be many disputes between the two. But neither girl heard him, so caught up in a tug-of-war with the poor bear.
It ended abruptly—with Iris holding onto a front leg and Estella hanging onto the remainder of the bear.
“Girls, girls! Now look what you’ve done.” Torrie sprang forward. “This is a genuine vintage collector’s bear—”
She never had the chance to finish. Three red rubies flew out of the bear and tumbled onto the floor near Estella’s feet.
Awestruck, five people stepped back and fell silent, staring at the red jewels twinkling in the sunlight.
“Well, kids,” Lulu said, finding her voice while the group stared mutely at the jewels, “this could be a totally new twist to The Three Little Bears’ fairytale.” She squatted and retrieved the rubies off the floor while Rich took the bear from Estella, and shook it.
Another two jewels fell out, and the girls scrambled to pick them up.
“What are these?” Estella asked.
“Rubies. Very expensive jewels,” Rich explained, and held out his hand.
“What about my bear?” Iris looked at her mother with a gloomy scowl.
Torrie stooped and hugged Iris. “Honey, Oscar can be stitched back together and he’ll be just like new.”
Later, when girls ran off to play, the grown-ups sat around the table drinking coffee, each deep in his own thoughts. Finally Rich spoke, “I never once thought about the shelves of bears. I thought they were a nuisance.” He looked over at Lulu and Torrie. “Do either of you know anyone in town who would be willing to X-ray a horde of bears?”
“We could go out to the airport and walk a few bagsful through the TSA scanners,” Torrie suggested and laughed. “No, seriously, there is no way I’m letting you rip any more of those bears apart. They’re collectable antiques and much too precious.”
Lulu exhaled a long sigh. “I never thought when I came here to work my life would be like a twenty-four hour soap opera. Who would have thought those bears held jewels after all these years?”
“For nearly a hundred years,” Torrie said. “Do you think Gertie knew?”
“About the tale?” Rich shook his head. “Of course she did. The whole family did. When my parents were still married, I remember my mother repeating the story of the Redman rubies. I just passed it off as a colorful family legend.”
“I have a friend who might help you.” Lulu peered up at Rich.
“Why am I not surprised?” He had learned from his short stay in Hickory Valley that Lulu Smith knew over half the people in the town.
“He’s a veterinarian and has an X-ray machine in his office. How about I give him a call and set up some type of appointment to scan them?”
Nodding, Rich said, “Set up the appointment. What’s it going to cost me?”
“The vet will probably do it for a generous donation to the animal shelter.” The little woman grinned. “But my involvement will be up for negotiation.”
A groan slipped from his lips. “Again, why am I not surprised?”
****
Webster’s Burgers and Fries was doing a brisk business when Rich arrived for dinner accompanied by Torrie. They found Laura Jordan and Denise and Danielle sitting at a round table in the far back of the room away from the noise and commotion of the rowdy crowds out front.
“I asked the girls to reserve us a quiet spot to talk,” Laura said as Torrie and Ric
h slid into seats opposite them. She glanced at the girls with the look only a devoted, loving mother would give to her daughters. “The girls know this story. They’re only here to help bolster me while I try to relate it to you.”
“Well, it’s always a pleasure to have these young ladies around.” Rich nodded, urging her to begin.
Laura swallowed and found her voice. “I was working for Dr. Winters as his nurse when Anne Alexander realized she was pregnant by your father, Richard Redman Senior. Together, your father and she made an appointment for her to be checked. They turned to Dr. Winters here in town, inquiring about what their options might be. He told them he would support them in any decisions they made—whether Anne chose to raise the child as a single parent or give it up for adoption. Your father was trying to get a divorce from Joyce, your mother, but a lot of red tape and lawyers were holding up the final decree. Anne decided she wanted to give the child up for adoption.”
“So that’s how you figured into the picture?” Rich asked.
“No, not exactly.” Laura paused. “I had married Kyle a year before and was also pregnant when I found out we were moving to Michigan where he’d taken a new job with a prominent car manufacturer. Ironically, I was carrying twins, but even more ironically, both Anne and I gave birth within a day of each other. She was in Hickory Valley’s community hospital and I was in a hospital outside Detroit. Anne’s heartache was she was giving the child up for adoption. My heartache was one of my twins, we later named Dana, only lived a few hours out of the womb. Just long enough for me to hold her.”
“I’m so sorry,” Rich said quietly.
With watery eyes, Laura nodded, cleared her throat, and continued. “The delivery was complicated and as a result, I was told I could never have any more children. Dr. Winters learned of the death of Dana, and was going to place Anne’s baby in a foster home here in Hickory Valley until he could find suitable parents. He contacted Kyle to see how I was doing.” She looked up at Rich. “Kyle refused to come today. He said he can’t stand going over this one more time. Both girls are his daughters, and he has nothing more to say.”
Rich nodded. “I understand completely. It must have been difficult for him as well.”
Laura continued. “So the long and short of it is, Kyle and I decided we’d adopt Anne’s baby.” She turned to Denise and patted her hand. “We named her Denise and raised her with Danielle as twins. No one in our small development outside Detroit ever questioned anything. I brought two babies home, just as planned. Dr. Winters and a nurse personally drove Anne’s infant to me while I was still in the hospital and arranged for Denise to be taken home with Danielle.”
Rich stared at Denise. She sat looking back at him with serene, calm eyes. He didn’t know why he didn’t see it a long time ago. She resembled his father with her straight nose and hazel eyes. And it certainly explained why his father sent a check to Henry’s garage each month while he was alive. He’d bet the money was forwarded to Laura to help with costs for adopting and rearing Denise. “I see this it isn’t a surprise to Denise. When did you tell her?” he asked.
Denise spoke up. “I didn’t know you were my half-brother until yesterday when Mom told me. But she told me I was adopted when I was twelve. I had an appendicitis attack, and she was afraid I’d look at my charts in the hospital, as curious as I am about medical procedures.” She paused and looked at her mother. “She was certain I’d eventually figure it out since I’m an AB blood type and my sister, dad, and she are A positive.”
“AB, huh? Like my father and me,” Rich said. “So I understand you want to be a nurse?”
Denise nodded. “Yes, I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, just like Mom.”
“Well, there won’t be any trouble with tuition costs for either of you girls. You’ll inherit more than enough to give you and Danielle a superb education. I’ll have to speak with both your parents, and we’ll decide how you might best access your inheritance.” He shook his head woefully. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it.”
“How could you, Rich?” Torrie asked. “We all assumed they were Laura’s twins.”
Denise rose, wringing her hands. She asked, shyly, “Can I hug you?” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I don’t know what to say to an older brother I didn’t know I had. And there are so many questions I have to ask about my biological father.”
Rich rose and rounded the table, meeting her half-way. He scooped her up in his arms. “You can hug me all you want, Denise. It’s a terrific feeling to find out I have a sister, but it’s even more heartwarming now that I’ve found you. And of course, you realize, you’re an aunt now. Estella may drive you absolutely crazy once she finds out.”
Denise laughed. “You mean all the things she’s done so far don’t count?”
****
Later, after Torrie, Danielle, and Laura left to give Rich and Denise some much needed time to themselves, Denise nervously folded and refolded her paper napkin until she had a tiny square. Then she unfolded it and started again.
Rich looked at her curiously. “What’s the matter?”
“I need to ask a favor. And it’s a big one.”
“Looks like this is going to be the evening for surprises. Tell me.”
“I think my Grandpa Henry set the fire below Torrie’s apartment.”
Rich’s body stiffened, and he glanced at her in disbelief. “Henry? Why would he set a fire in his own building? And what makes you think he did?”
Denise sighed and closed her eyes for a second. “Because I was at the garage the morning before the fire started.”
“Go on,” he urged.
She frowned, her face bleak and sorrowful. “I stopped into Grandpa’s office to pick up a stack of invoices Torrie wanted me to deliver to her at the landscape center. She planned to look them over in her down time before she went to the office to process the billing online. While I was collecting them, I noticed a can of gasoline and a pile of old rags behind a stack of boxes in the office. The gasoline can must have been recently refilled because the odor was strong—like maybe it was splashed onto the outside of the can. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have noticed it. I didn’t think anything about the can or rags until my dad said the fire chief believed it was the cause of the fire.” She fell silent a moment and looked down at her hands.
Rich blew out a long breath of air.
Denise plunged onward. “I overheard my dad telling my mom that Grandpa was worried about the mortgage he had taken out on his house to cover the last addition to the garage. Business was declining, and when he went to see Ivan Winters at the bank, he came back very upset. I knew he was disappointed he couldn’t help Danielle and me with tuition and costs at the local college.”
“So you think he burned the building to get insurance money?”
Denise shrugged. Her eyes were troubled. Her voice was pleading when she spoke. “Please don’t tell anyone I told you this. I know he never meant to hurt Torrie or Iris. I don’t think he knew they were inside the apartment. I think Grandpa was desperate. Out of sorts. Is there something you can do to help?”
Rich pondered the question for a moment, then nodded. How could he deny his just-found sister her first request? “I’ll see what I can do, okay?”
Denise smiled shyly. “Okay, big brother.”
Those last two words were two of the best ones he’d heard in a long time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rich paced, circling the confines of his study like a lion trapped in too small of a cage. In the week since he learned Denise was his half-sister, he threw himself into the work piling up from his Dallas office. He tried desperately to push Torrie and her inability to make a commitment out of his thoughts as he also struggled to play the white knight of Hickory Valley. He had to discover a way to help Henry Jordan recover from financial ruin while still keeping the old man’s secret from becoming part of the public pipeline and ruining his reputation. But the women in Rich’s life had other plans.
On
Monday morning, Iris tiptoed into the study to interrupt his work with her adorable shy smile and her burning question: Did he ever consider becoming her daddy? And when?
On Tuesday, Lulu interrupted him to ask what he planned to do with all of Sheba’s kittens—and when was he going to seal the deal and give Torrie the huge allotrope of carbon she helped him to select? He found himself looking up the word allotrope and discovering carbon had many of them besides diamonds, including graphite and coal.
On Wednesday, Elsa popped in to tell him Estella had approached her to ask if Rich and Torrie were planning to make her and Iris sisters. It was, as far as Rich was concerned, a very legitimate question, although he was loath to mention it was Torrie who was dragging her feet. He had promised he would give her the time and space she had requested. They had made plans to go out to dinner on Sunday night, and he was hoping her answer was forthcoming.
By the time Thursday rolled around and both Denise and Marlene stopped by to ask him if the rumor was true about Torrie and him being an item, and also whether he had devised a plan to deal with Henry Jordan and the fire at Torrie’s apartment, Rich was certain he was in need of some serious mental rejuvenation. If there was a modern day, female-inspired Inquisition, he had no doubt he had been the target and, like the whirligig outside, he found his brain churning as fast as it could, but going nowhere and coming up empty.
It was late afternoon, later that day, when he called an urgent meeting of the Larson brothers. A man could only suffer so much without some male empathy over a good beer. The Crazy Lady Bar was doing a vigorous business when he parked three blocks away and walked into the dimly lit interior, pushing his way past the regulars crowding around the sleek black granite bar. He found all three brothers sitting in a spacious booth in the back of the narrow dining area and nursing their first drink. They looked up with quizzical gazes as he slipped in beside Lars with a manila envelope in his hands. Across from him, Finn and Gus nodded a sober welcome.
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