“I guess you don’t.” Flynt fell into step beside her on the pretty gravel path. “I’m here and I’m staying.”
Angelica intended to remain silent and stoic, counting on him to grow bored or irritated and finally leave her alone. But her tongue seemed to have its own agenda because she heard herself speaking at the very moment she’d determined not to say a word.
“Did you know that it was Casper who set everything in motion?” she blurted out.
“Not until today.” Flynt grimaced wryly. “Apparently Brandon had it figured out almost from the start. My opinion of my own deductive skills has slipped quite a few notches.”
“I didn’t know anything, either. Mara called and told me.” For some reason Angelica was relieved that Flynt had been as unaware as she. She would’ve hated to think he’d been keeping such vital information from her. “I—I never would’ve guessed Casper would do such things. My own baby brother! I’m sure the Fortunes must hate him, and who can blame them?”
“I know you’ve been worried about Casper, Angelica.”
She should have known she could count on Flynt not to judge or condemn a child, Angelica acknowledged achingly. He’d once been a troubled boy himself and hadn’t forgotten it. Her self-protective walls began to crumble. She needed to talk things out, and who better than with Flynt? Almost from the time they’d met, she had been able to talk more openly with him than with anybody else in her life—even Mara, her best friend.
“I never dreamed Casper would go to such lengths to get the things he wanted and I—I have this feeling that money and expensive games aren’t what really drove him,” Angelica said softly, “but were kind of a reaction to—things.”
“Like adolescence and middle school and all that stuff none of us would ever want to repeat?” Flynt took her hand, and they walked to a small wrought-iron bench under a shady tree. He drew her down next to him.
“Worse.” Angelica’s dark eyes were troubled. “I can’t help wondering that since Casper learned Brandon was my father maybe he also learned about his own father, Jurgen Heintz. He was an iceman, Flynt. He never wanted a child and made his aversion to his own son very clear. What if Casper learned about that during his snooping? That kind of pain could lead to some pretty serious acting-out behavior.”
“Poor Casper.” Flynt put his arm around Angelica. Her head seemed to naturally find a place to rest in the hollow of his shoulder.
“Do you know what else is weird?” she rambled on. “That Mama chose Brandon to confide in instead of me.”
“I think Casper’s actions were the result of his desperate need for a father—or a father figure—and that your mother realized it,” said Flynt. “My guess is that Romina didn’t confide in you because her relationship with Brandon was turning into something she could count on. I think Romina trusts Brandon, that she believes at long last she’s found a good man in him.”
Angelica listened, wide-eyed.
“Your grandmother has always hoped that if Brandon found somebody truly meaningful to him, he could get past his own troubled history. Maybe he’s finally found it in your mother,” Flynt said, continuing to expound his theory. “Romina was his first love, after all. Maybe even his one and only love.”
“Funny, but that doesn’t make me want to run screaming like it would’ve a short while ago,” Angelica murmured drolly.
“You’ve had far more screamworthy things to deal with lately.” Flynt lifted her chin and looked into her dark eyes. “Would marrying me be one of them, sweetheart?”
Angelica gulped and averted her gaze. “That brings me to something I overheard today. Have I been hoodwinked, Flynt?”
“Hoodwinked?” Flynt repeated dryly. “Maybe you’d like to elaborate a little on that?”
She nodded her head. “I’m talking about that special contract for your company with the Fortune Corporation that you were supposed to get when you married me. I wasn’t aware of that until today—”
“Angelica, whatever you think you know about the contract—”
“Don’t pretend it doesn’t exist, Flynt.” It was Angelica’s turn to interrupt. “I overheard you talking about it to my grandmother and Sterling.” She felt strangely calm. Somehow her initial bitterness and sense of betrayal was gone. “To be fair, who could blame you for going for it? In fact, you’d be crazy not to.”
“Then I guess that means I’m a certifiable lunatic because I refused to accept the contract, Angelica. If you’d lurked a little longer, you would’ve overheard that part of the conversation. But since you didn’t, I’ll assure you that I don’t expect to be rewarded for marrying you when—”
“You might’ve made me pregnant?” She laid her hand on his arm. It was time for complete honesty between them. “You didn’t, Flynt. The timing isn’t right. You’re off the hook, Flynt. You don’t have to marry me.”
“Suppose I want to marry you, Angelica?”
A thrill of elation, of pure excitement shot through her. Being Angelica, she sought to restrain herself with a quelling dose of caution. “You never mentioned marriage before my family tried to pressure you into it.”
“Well, neither did you. Does that mean you don’t want to marry me, Angelica?”
She frowned. He certainly had her there! She was going to have to admit to him what she’d so recently realized herself.
“I…never said that,” she hedged.
“Which means if I asked you to marry me, you would say yes?” Flynt was not unfamiliar with defensive maneuvers himself. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “Angelica, I love you. I’m sure it was only a matter of time until I got around to telling you, but since the timetable has been—advanced—I want you to know now. I love you and I’d like to marry you, and you are the only woman in the world I’ve ever said those words to. I’ll never say them to anyone else, either,” he added, eyeing her assessingly.
She stared at him, wanting to believe him. Aching to. “Flynt, I love you,” she said softly. “I’ve come to recognize how much.”
“I sense a ‘but.’” Flynt frowned.
“You were so adamant that love ends when the bad times come.” Her words, her fears came out in a rush. “I’m not naive enough to believe that the rest of our lives will be trouble-free. What if—”
“I’m not that naive either, Angelica. And I can’t pinpoint one blinding moment when I suddenly knew we would stay together forever. It’s been a gradual process, but it’s a certainty that’s grown stronger.”
“It has?” she whispered.
He nodded. “I found myself thinking about my aunts and uncles and my cousins who’ve stayed married, about friends who haven’t split up despite some hard times. They didn’t fit into my theory of ‘there are only two kinds of relationships, those that’ve failed and those that soon will.’ We don’t fit that description, Angelica,” he added, determination burning in his eyes. “And we never will.”
“Because we’ll choose not to.” Her voice was fierce. “We do have choices, I’ve learned that much from growing up with my mom. There were so many times when she could’ve chosen to do things differently and then everything would’ve been different. She said it was simply fate but I knew it was choices.”
“And I choose you, Angelica. For always, which brings us back to my proposal…” His voice lightened. “You haven’t exactly come right out and said yes yet, you know.”
“Yes!” Half-dizzy with joy, Angelica launched herself into his arms, linking her hands behind his neck.
“I love you, Flynt, and I want to marry you, too. And you are the only man in the world I’ve ever said that to. I’ll never say it to anyone else either.”
“Seems like it’s official, then.” Flynt reached for her, and they kissed, a sweet long kiss of passion and possession, the kind of kiss that promised love and lasting commitment.
“I guess what it all means is that we were made for each other.” Angelica sighed when they finally came up for air. She sn
uggled deeper in his arms.
“It does.” Flynt lowered his mouth to kiss her again.
“Excuse me, my dears, I don’t mean to intrude but here I am, anyway.” Kate’s voice ended Flynt and Angelica’s kiss, just as their lips touched. “You see, you are only a foot away from the lilacs which desperately need pruning.”
The couple looked up to see Kate, holding a basket half-filled with fresh-cut flowers and a pair of clippers, standing beside several burgeoning lilac trees.
Angelica and Flynt rose to their feet, still holding hands.
“That’s okay, Grandmother. Prune away. Oh, and Flynt and I are getting married,” Angelica added happily.
“Well, of course you are, darling. That sweet little Mollie has been working hard planning for it. Did you know that your mother was quite taken with Mollie’s suggestion for the reception to be a formal high tea? Mollie has already arranged for tea sandwiches, warm scones with Devonshire cream and jam, fruit tarts and pastries, along with the traditional wedding cake and beverages, of course.”
“Gee, and I was hoping for a big steak dinner,” teased Flynt. “With ranch fries.”
“You may have that for dinner tonight, my carnivorous young friend,” Kate teased back. “We’re having the family over for dinner about an hour from now. It’s very informal, an outdoor barbecue with nice juicy steaks—and of course, fried potatoes.”
“Would this be the A list family or the B list or both?” Angelica asked curiously.
“I’m not certain what you mean, dear.” Kate was puzzled.
“Brandon assigns the Fortunes Hollywood-style status,” explained Flynt, “and that is how he described them to Angelica and me. His brothers and sisters and their offspring are the A list. The Ben Fortune aunts and uncles and their descendants are the B list.”
“Oh, my.” Kate grimaced wryly. “I do hope that Brandon hasn’t told the additional, extended family relatives that they’re, er—”
“Relegated to the B list? Brandon said what’s the point of being A list if you can’t lord it over the B’s? He says that’s show biz.” Angelica shrugged.
“Angelica, dear, I can understand that you might feel…estranged from your father, maybe even hostile toward him,” Kate began tentatively, “but—”
“Grandmother, there is something I’ve wanted to ask you but didn’t feel I had the right. Or the nerve. But after today…” Angelica stared intently at her grandmother.
“After today, you feel you have the nerve and the right to ask me anything?” Kate surmised shrewdly. “And so you do, darling. Ask me.”
“Why do you even bother with the B-list relatives if they’re Ben Fortune’s kin?”
Kate was genuinely taken aback. “Why, Angelica, I consider Ben’s brothers and their wives, and my nieces and nephews and their children, to be my own family. I’m close to them. I know them so well, many all their lives. I have watched most of the younger ones grow up and—”
“But they’re related to Ben Fortune and that man was evil, Grandmother,” Angelica burst out, “though nobody around here ever seems to say so. I’ve heard the relatives mention Ben Fortune, they talk about him normally, you know, it’s ‘Dad this’ and ‘Grandfather that.’ His pictures are up on the walls along with everybody else. It’s like he is a regular member of the family. How can that be?”
“Ben Fortune is the family patriarch, Angelica,” Flynt pointed out.
“But Ben gave away his own baby and then he lied to you about it all those years, Grandmother,” exclaimed Angelica. “He had to have known how vindictive and cruel Monica Malone was, but he let his own son be raised by her—or more likely by her servants. No matter how nice Ben was to the other Fortunes, it doesn’t excuse the fact that he gave my father away like—like a puppy!”
Kate flinched.
“Angelica, I think you’ve said enough,” Flynt said firmly.
“No, let her continue,” countered Kate. “I can see you’ve given the matter some thought, Angelica.”
“A lot of thought, Grandmother. Whatever Ben Fortune’s motives, I bet he decided to give away Brandon because he was a twin. After all, you’d still have one baby left. It’s like this friend of mine at work who has a dog that had three puppies. They gave away two pups and kept one and the family was satisfied since they got to keep the one. The others were superfluous, just like Brandon was to Ben.”
Angelica’s face was flushed with emotion and the words kept pouring out. “I bet he decided to keep the girl twin because you already had two other sons. Ben Fortune considered my dad expendable. Can’t you just imagine him saying to himself, ‘A third son, who needs him? We’d been wanting a daughter, so Monica can have the extra boy.’ Grandmother, how did you ever forgive that terrible man for what he did?”
Kate blanched and swayed slightly. Flynt reached out to steady the older woman. “Angelica didn’t mean to upset you, Kate,” he said quietly. “But she is very, uh, passionate on the subject of mothers and babies. It’s only natural, since maternal-child health is her profession. And, of course, Romina’s interest in, er, domestic issues has naturally influenced Angelica. Some might say radicalized her.”
“You needn’t explain or try to apologize for Angelica, Flynt.” Kate managed a tremulous smile. “Who said I ever forgave Ben for giving Brandon away, Angelica? As I told Sterling when the news was revealed that Brandon was my son, ‘Ben is lucky to be dead already because otherwise I fear I would’ve killed him myself—and in the most painful way imaginable.’”
“Good!” Angelica vigorously nodded her approval.
“Angelica, do you know you are the first member of the family to use the word evil in describing Ben’s actions?” Kate regarded her granddaughter keenly. “Or at least to say it aloud to me. Whatever the others have said, it’s been among themselves, never to me. It is as if we struck some unspoken sort of collusion of silence. ‘Don’t talk about what Ben did, it’s in the long-ago past. He is dead, and there is no purpose to be served in holding him accountable for what he did to Brandon.’”
“Well, I hold him accountable!” Angelica exclaimed. “What Ben Fortune did to you was unforgivable, Grandmother. Just ask Flynt, whose parents had a child taken, what kind of hell your life turns into. And Flynt’s little brother was taken by a stranger. Your child was taken away by your own husband, Grandmother!”
“I know, Angelica, I know.” Kate’s eyes filled with tears. “I would’ve—and did—forgive Ben’s wartime affair with Lana Simpson that resulted in Jessica, of whom I’ve grown quite fond. It wouldn’t have been as easy to get over his Monica Malone fling, but I could have weathered that, as well. But for Ben to take our own baby, one of our twins, and give him away to Monica Malone, to let me believe that bogus kidnapping story until the day he died…”
“Kate, don’t.” Flynt patted her shoulder awkwardly. “It’s in the past and there is no need to—”
“There is a need, Flynt.” Kate’s eyes met Angelica’s, and the two gazed at each other, forging a bond as tangible and strong as steel. “Angelica is Brandon’s child, and I’m glad she is angry on Brandon’s behalf. I’m also glad she has no memories of Ben that allow her to excuse what he did. You are right, Angelica, giving Brandon away was evil. During all those years, not a single day went by when I didn’t think of my missing child. I would look at my daughter, Lindsay, and wonder where her twin brother was and what he was doing—or whether he was even alive. In my darkest moments I pictured a small forgotten grave and my baby lying in it.”
“Oh, Grandmother, I’m so sorry!” Angelica threw her arms around her grandmother, who dropped the flower basket and hugged her back.
Flynt began to quietly gather up the spilled blossoms while the Fortune matriarch and her long-lost granddaughter hugged and cried.
“But I think we can finally lay it to rest, Angelica,” Kate said through her tears to the girl. “I have Brandon back and now I have you—and Romina, too. I’m grateful to your mother for giv
ing you to us, and I have full confidence that we’ll be seeing a completely different Brandon, with her at his side.”
“At the risk of sounding glib, Brandon will definitely behave himself with Romina to answer to.” Flynt smiled as he handed Kate her flower basket. “His sanity, such as it is, will depend on it.”
“That came out sounding glib, anyway, Flynt,” scolded Angelica, but Kate laughed.
“Now about our wedding and this high tea reception for the A- and B-list Fortune tribe,” Flynt said wryly. He caught Angelica’s eye. An unspoken message passed between them.
“Would the whole Fortune gang enjoy the party, even if the bride and groom were—somewhere else?” Angelica asked obliquely.
But not obliquely enough. “Could you tell me exactly where that ‘somewhere else’ might be?” asked Kate. “I promise I won’t tell a soul. I’ll let Mollie keep planning the wedding, and all the Fortunes will arrive and have a smashingly good time, with or without the presence of the bride and groom. And that will include Brandon and Romina, too, and your little brother and sister. I shall personally make sure of that, my dear Angelica.”
“We could hoodwink the whole family!” Angelica was enthused. “Do you think we can actually pull it off, Grandmother?”
“My dears, I have complete faith that the two of you will pull it off. And you have my official blessing to hoodwink the Fortunes.”
Epilogue
A few hours later, the Fortune jet landed at the Las Vegas airport.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to flying in a private jet,” Angelica remarked as she and Flynt headed into the terminal.
“This was a much more staid flight than the one from Birmingham to Minneapolis.” His eyes gleamed. “This time we actually sat in our seats and read magazines the whole time. I think the attendant was a little disappointed we behaved so very conventionally. How dull for him.”
Angelica blushed. Would she ever be able to remember her first flight and their first lovemaking—a very literal flight into passion!—without blushing? And now she was actually thinking in florid purple prose! Her cheeks burned scarlet.
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