"Because you must have been her cure. Well, though this is a medically simplistic reasoning, you being back in her life has certainly improved her far beyond any logical reason.
"By the way, pre-Christmas party next week, on the sixteenth. It's a yearly bash with just family because we know that a lot of us have other families to celebrate with on the actual holidays."
"I don't have to carry presents, do I?" Hazel said, balking at the thought of the one million and one Benedicts to buy presents for. She had seen how stressed out Patricia had gotten over the Christmas season in the past. It had gotten so bad she had started buying presents in February.
"No," Nick grinned, "God forbid, there are quite a lot of us. You'll see on the sixteenth. Different factions carry different food, though. It's a tradition, though, to put names in a hat and choose who does the turkey. This year I got the turkey. Brigid has exams, my Mom is busy. She said she was happy that she didn't get it and I have no idea what to do with it. Both Casey and Brigid said I should ask you."
Hazel nodded. "Sure, I'll do it."
"Thanks Hazel," Nick grinned. "I am really liking that you are family."
When Nick left Hazel helped Sebastian with his bath time and tucked him into bed. She had just inhaled the first whiff of her essential oil diffuser when the security phone gave a distinct ring.
Luckily she hadn't changed into her nightgown yet. It was just eight o'clock. She wondered who it could be. All of her sisters and Kenzy were accounted for.
She answered the phone reluctantly. She was not in the mood for company.
"Mrs. Baron, there is a Mr. Hank Baron out here for you."
"Hank Baron?" Hazel squeaked. "Describe him."
The security guard didn't hesitate. "Black hair or could be dark brown, green eyes, tanned skin."
"Okay," Hazel said, "that sounds like him. Send him through."
She was flabbergasted. She hadn't expected Hank Baron to come by. Hadn't he said he had never been to Jamaica or something like that?
She had practically shut down the Baron side of her life. She wasn't expecting a Baron to even remember that she existed, even one of the good ones.
When she opened the door, Hank stood on the threshold grinning.
"This is nice weather!" He greeted her with a hug. "How are you, Hazel?"
"Fine." Hazel smiled. "This is a surprise."
"I have you to blame for my visit. I was sitting in the boardroom of one of our latest acquisitions and then a faint whiff of pina colada kept following me around. I couldn't shake the thought of sand and sea and Red Stripe Beer."
Hazel laughed. "Well, come on in, and welcome."
Hank walked into the living room. "This is nice."
"Thanks," Hazel said. "Would you like something to drink, eat?"
"No thanks." Hank shook his head. "Just had a buffet at the hotel. I have never been to this side of the island before. It is pulsing with life, the night life the music. I am going to love it here, just like grandpa."
"So how long are you here for?" Hazel asked.
"Four months," Hank responded, slumping in the settee with a sigh. "I will be based in Montego Bay most of the time. The new company I was telling you about will be investing in some business here. I am their point man…volunteered to do the deed."
Hazel grinned. "Well okay, then."
"You can come across if you'd like," Hank threw in casually. He kept his expression neutral.
"No thanks." Hazel shook her head. "I have my son for the next week and then I have quite a few family things to do. It's the holidays. It's always crazy at this time of the year."
"Your son?" Hank looked alarmed. "You have a child?"
"Yes." Hazel nodded, feeling proud that she could say she had a son out loud. "He is upstairs sleeping."
"He is not Grandad's child, is he?" Hank asked, alarmed.
"No, my son is five years old." Hazel was genuinely aghast at the thought that Hank thought that she and John Baron had some sort of sexual relationship. "Your granddad was not in the best of...how should I put it...he wasn't in the best state when he asked me to marry him to spite your family."
Hank laughed. "I must admit, I had wondered about that."
Hazel suppressed a shiver. "Please stop wondering."
Hank laughed.
"And I don't know how you haven't heard, but I am no longer in running for the will."
"You are not?" Hank looked at her with puzzlement "Why not?"
"Well, apparently there is a fourth Mrs. Baron who he declined to divorce, which makes our marriage null and void, and then there is the injunction that one of your family members took out against the latest will, and then there is the little mystery of which will is the right one. I opted out of the mad house on the advice of my lawyer."
Hank laughed. "My dad opted out a long time ago too. I wouldn't have heard about any of it really. Our side of the family is not really a part of the Baron family madhouse. My Dad had toyed with the idea of changing his name years ago."
"Interesting," Hazel said, "why didn't he?"
"Grandad begged him not to." Hank ran his fingers through his hair. "So is your son's father in the picture?"
Hazel folded her hands in her lap and pondered what to say to that question. "The situation is complicated."
"I was afraid of that," Hank said ruefully. "Is it okay if we go for lunch sometime, though? I promise I won’t add to your complication but I like you, Hazel. I can't deny that living in Jamaica for four months had a lot more appeal knowing that you are here."
Hazel didn't know how to respond to that. His green eyes were earnest and she was flattered, but she was imagining another pair of eyes looking at her, and those eyes belonged to Curtis.
"Sure. Nothing is wrong with just having lunch," Hazel said. "But as I said, it's very complicated for me right now."
Chapter Sixteen
"I aced all my exams," Kenzy announced over the phone to Hazel a couple of days later. "Every single one."
"Good for you." Hazel was in the middle of preparing cinnamon rolls with Sebastian, her ardent helper. She clutched the phone between her cheek and shoulder. Her hands were coated with flour. "I thought you wouldn't have gotten back the grades yet."
"I haven't but I know I knocked them out of the park," Kenzy said brightly. "What are you doing?"
"Baking." Hazel picked up a slab of dough and slapped it on the counter. "Cinnamon rolls for the Benedict pre-Christmas party. I mentioned to Lady Maria that she didn't have to order store-bought cinnamon rolls and she was quite happy for me to bake them."
"She is your grandmother; you have to stop calling her Lady Maria."
Hazel grunted. "Yes, I guess. Nick calls her Nonna."
"Then that's what you should call her," Kenzy declared.
"I don't know; it's too soon," Hazel said. "I can't see myself calling Helen Mommy. Why should I call the others grandma or grandpa or uncle this or aunty that? It's weird. I am not a child anymore. It works for Sebastian. Caitlin told him to call me Mommy and he does now. It is easy for him. He is still a baby."
"Yup. I see your point," Kenzy said. "You know, I can almost smell the cinnamon roll dough through the phone."
Hazel laughed. "Really now."
"You know what? I love your cinnamon rolls," Kenzy said. "I am coming over; when will they be done?"
Hazel chuckled. "I am baking like six dozen. The oven can only hold three dozen at a time. You know you can come over any time except midnight and the early part of the morning."
"Okay, I'll be there."
Kenzy came over a few minutes later with ice cream.
"Listen, I am celebrating; I have a right to this," she said when Hazel raised her brows at her.
"Can I have some?" Sebastian asked when Kenzy was sharing out the sweet treat.
"Sure," Kenzy said, "if your mom allows it."
"Yes, but only a little," Hazel said sternly. "First, you wash your hands and you can bring out the ludo and
beat Aunty Kenzy."
"Cool." Sebastian headed out of the kitchen happily.
Kenzy grinned at her. "You sound like a real mom!"
Hazel smiled. "He is such an easy child to be around. He is well mannered and helpful and loving. Curtis did an amazing job with him. I am so grateful for that."
Kenzy nodded. "Yes, Curtis is something else."
"Yup, he is scrumptiousness on two feet. Gorgeousness personified. No one, and I mean no one, can hold a candle to his magnificence."
Kenzy gasped. "You remembered! Yay!"
"Not everything," Hazel said, "just the day after Adele's party." She leaned on the counter. "What am I blocking out, Kenzy? What did I do that was so bad?"
"You were really upset about the fake business. I mean we really went hog wild with the fiction that we were twenty-one year olds. I am not going to say anymore." Kenzy scooped out some ice cream from the container. "When you remember everything, can you please forgive me?"
Hazel wrinkled her brows. "You didn't hold a gun to my head and tell me to lie. I have free will."
"True," Kenzy said, licking off her spoon. "But with the hindsight of what I am hoping is maturity, I have to say I was a bad influence. We didn't have to go to parties and lie about our ages. My only excuse could be that I always felt like it was up to me to allow you to have a good time and see how the other half lived. I thought I should be personally responsible for breaking you out of your Magnolia mold. I wanted to be the best sister you ever had."
Sebastian came back to the kitchen before Hazel could answer. He plopped the ludo board down in the middle of the table in the nook.
"See what I am saying," Kenzy indicated to the ludo board with a dramatic sigh. It was a personalized board, the four houses had their names on it, Brigid-red, Casey-green, Caitlin-yellow and Hazel-lavender, their favorite colors. In the middle there was a magnolia flower.
The board had been a wedding gift from Casey to her bridesmaids.
"You and your sisters. I grew up rich but never had what you had, sisters."
Hazel laughed. She had heard it all before from both sides.
"Tell me about that photo shoot at the cay." Hazel changed the subject while Sebastian impatiently waited for Kenzy to choose a house.
"What do you want to know?" Kenzy asked turning the board around so that she didn't have to play from house Brigid.
Hazel frowned. "What happened to the pictures?"
"The wedding dress photos were carried by one of those bridal magazines. You and Curtis made a lovely couple, though I don't know how his father convinced him to model for it. Anyway, I don't know what happened to the bath suit pictures. Ask Curtis."
"I want to see that magazine. You got a copy, didn't you?"
"As a matter of fact, I got six," Kenzy said. "I proudly showed one to Patricia. I thought she would appreciate it, but she thought I was evil incarnate for getting you a modeling gig.
"She looked at me as if I were the devil. Maybe it wasn't the right time to bring it up. The magazine ran your pictures the summer after that. You were not in good shape and she warned me not to show them to you."
"But why not? It might have helped me remember." Hazel sighed. "I was closed off and depressed that summer. I hate thinking about how down and out I was."
"I still have five. I can get one for you tomorrow," Kenzy said, then she shook the dice and looked at Sebastian. "So you think you can beat your aunty Kenzy, huh?"
Sebastian nodded. "Yes, I can."
"That's the spirit, honey," Hazel said, cheering him on.
*****
Kenzy came by at the next evening at six. "Rematch!" she announced when Hazel answered the door. "Here's the wedding magazine that you are featured in."
Hazel took the magazine and put it on the center table. It was a bridal magazine, one of those that she and her sisters used to leaf through and daydream over. The headline was Destination Weddings: The Way to Tie the Knot without Much Fuss.
"Thanks," she said to Kenzy. "You look militant."
"I came back today to prove to little Sebastian Decker that he was just plain lucky last night. I wore my lucky dress. Only good things have happened to me in this dress."
Hazel laughed. "He is upstairs. Just had a bath. He spent most of the day in the pool. I hope he is not too tired to beat you."
Kenzy laughed. "We'll see. How on earth is that child so lucky? He won seven games straight last night, while I tried to stem the tears that were on the verge of falling from my eyes."
Hazel chuckled. "I have no idea. I haven't managed to win a game of ludo while playing with him either."
The security phone rang just when she was heading upstairs to get Sebastian.
Kenzy answered the phone. And then covered the receiver. "You know a Hank Baron?"
"Yes." Hazel nodded. "Tell them to send him in."
"I hope you aren't cheating on Curtis," Kenzy said, a warning note in her voice. "Is this Hank Baron good-looking or old and shaky Baron? Is he John Baron version 2?"
Hazel rolled her eyes at Kenzy.
"Mommy!" Sebastian said at the top the stairs. "Is that Aunty Kenzy?"
"Yes," Hazel said. "Come on down—dinner first, though." She turned to see Kenzy peeping through the peephole."
"Do you want dinner, Kenzy?"
"Uh-huh. If it is not chicken. I am off chicken. I think I am having too much of it."
"Well, lucky you, it's vegetarian. Chick peas and split pea balls. You won't be able to tell that it doesn't have meat."
"Whatever...Holy Moly..." Kenzy gasped, "... that guy walking up your driveway is Hank Baron?"
"Yup. Get the door and try not to drool," Hazel laughed.
Hank joined them for dinner. He was very good with Sebastian and had a way with Kenzy. She was relaxed and laughing with him almost from the beginning.
"Hazel told me you were one of the good Barons," Kenzy said, smiling at him coquettishly.
Hank looked at Hazel and winked. "Thank you for the good PR."
"No problem," Hazel said. "How are the balls?"
"Very good." Hank laughed. "I feel odd saying that. I am very straight."
"Shut it," Hazel said when she saw that Kenzy was about to reply with something cheeky. "Little ears among us."
"Yes. Sorry." Kenzy giggled. "Sorry."
"I'll help you wash up, Mommy," Sebastian said when they were finished eating.
"Thank you, baby." Hazel cleared the table, with Sebastian eagerly helping.
"And that is the sort of thing that makes me feel broody," Hank said when he watched Sebastian eagerly helping.
Kenzy nodded. "He is so cute, isn't he? I think I feel broody too."
"Liar," Hazel said. "Don't listen to her, Hank. She’s going to finish her studies before having children. We have her future all mapped out."
Kenzy frowned. "But mapped-out futures are so boring. Hazel has lived a colorful life so far."
"Tell me about it," Hank said, folding his hands behind his head and acting like he was relaxed. But Hazel could see that he was alert, gathering data on her. And so obviously curious.
"Kenzy." Hazel had a warning tone in her voice which Kenzy heeded without further prompting.
"Okay all right, Hazel. I'll not let Hank know any of your mysteries." Kenzy changed the subject. "Where's the ludo board, Sebastian? We need to get cracking."
Sebastian hesitated. He looked at Hazel for permission to leave the sink and she nodded. "You can go. I'll wash up. Beat her good."
Sebastian ran for the board and Hank whistled. "Remarkable. I can't remember if I was so well mannered when I was younger."
"I had nothing to do with it," Hazel said. "He lives with his dad."
"Interesting," Hank murmured, then looked at Kenzy. "Tell me, can I join this game?"
"Sure," Kenzy laughed. "Prepare to get beaten by a five year old."
Nick dropped by several minutes after with a giant turkey for Hazel to prepare for the party. The four of the
m were well into the game.
Sebastian was indeed beating them. He had managed to win three games so far.
Hank looked from Nick to Sebastian, his eyes narrowing contemplatively. "Your son is quite the game player."
Nick chuckled.
"Uncle Nick is my cousin," Sebastian said before any of them could correct Hank. "My dad is in Canada. He is coming back next week," he added with a territorial flare, "and when he comes back, me, him and Mommy will live together."
"Out of the mouths of babes," Kenzy murmured, looking at Hazel, who had frozen at that very definitive statement by her son.
Chapter Seventeen
"You know the Benedict business started with a bakery," Lady Maria said, biting into one of Hazel's cinnamon rolls. "Felix and his twin brother saw a need for bread. This is good." She patted Hazel's hand. "Very good."
"There she is!" Sir Felix said jovially, "I have to borrow her a minute, Maria.
He clutched Hazel's arms and pulled her from the kitchen. Several persons were coming in with their dishes.
Nick was just coming in, too, with the turkey she had done for him. He had collected it from her earlier that evening. He winked at her.
Brigid was behind him and she headed toward her but stopped when she saw that Sir Felix had his hand firmly clamped on her arm.
"Later," she mouthed.
Hazel nodded.
"We need to talk," Sir Felix murmured to Hazel. He led her away from the large sitting area and into his office.
"Please have a seat, Hazel," Sir Felix said. His office was spacious, with high ceilings and floor to ceiling shelves that were packed with books. She sat on a settee, which faced a large picture of Magnolia House. It was the old Magnolia House before it was a girls’ home. There was the Magnolia tree just off the edge of the picture. The peach blossoms were like a carpet under the tree and then there was the old plantation style building in the background. It looked warm and golden as the sunlight hit the exterior.
"That is gorgeous," Hazel said. "It looks so real."
"Your mother painted it," Sir Felix said. "Helen may have her mental issues but she is one hell of a painter."
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