by Various
“What orders?”
“To lie about the marriage. The accident. All of it.”
“How did they pull that off?”
“When Jake took off, Momma DuVal made an announcement to the congregation that I was ill and that the wedding would have to be postponed. She sent everyone to the church hall for tea sandwiches and cake. Then she explained to me and my parents that Jake had a severe case of cold feet, but that given some time he would come around. She was going to speak to him. Under the circumstances she was going to see to it that he did his duty by me. And her, I suppose.”
“How did you feel when you heard all that?”
“Oh, Sweetsie. It was so long ago. And now I look back on all of it with an adult perspective. Your dad was just a kid when this happened. He wasn’t ready to get married and neither was I.”
“Yes, but you were pregnant. He must have cared for you.”
Genevra reached across the table and clasped Lolly’s hand in both of hers. The gesture alone was enough to make Lolly’s chest ache and her eyes well up with tears. “I was the end of a long line of girls your father…cared for. He was handsome and athletic and so bad.” She shook her head. “He was the Vance Evans of his day.”
“Momma!”
“I’m just trying to give you a little perspective. However, now you have a better understanding of why Jed and the uncles went a little crazy when Molly ran off with Vance for a weekend.”
“I was right. My head really is going to explode!” Lolly lowered her voice. “Are you telling me that I am the result of a one-night stand?”
“Oh Sweetsie, it wasn’t nearly as bad as all that. I said ‘no’ at least twice before…you know.”
“You said ‘no’ on date one and date two? Or you said ‘no’ twice in five minutes before he then convinced you it was a good idea?”
Lolly was leveled with a we-will-not-be-discussing-this-further look.
“Oh My God,” she said and then burst out laughing, tears spraying everywhere.
Four gorgeous heads from way down at the pool bar turned their way. Lolly covered her mouth but continued to laugh. And cry. “You were a slut!” she accused in a frantic whisper, wiping at her tears.
“I was not,” her mother insisted, feigning insult. “And please, pot calling the kettle black. If Brooks hadn’t walked in when Vance was rubbing your feet, where would you have allowed his hands to end up?”
“You told me that if someone like Vance wants to rub my feet, I should let him!”
“Because you’re twenty-three and smart enough to use a condom.”
Both women stopped abruptly, realizing that Annabelle Devine, Queen of All Things Proper, was sitting in on their very personal and very improper conversation. Lolly looked at Annabelle and started moving her fingers in a circle, indicating the shape of the table. “This probably goes without saying, but I’m saying it anyway. You are now in the Circle of Trust. Nothing you hear leaves this table, ever.”
Annabelle pursed her lips and threw up her arms. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin!”
Mother and daughter laughed at that.
“Okay,” Lolly said, bringing the conversation back to her mother, “you were young and smitten with the bad boy in town back in the day when condoms were not handed out like candy in school. I get it. No judging. Still…my head is likely to explode.”
“All right. So, basically, Jake could have gotten untold number of girls in trouble and Momma DuVal knew it. In fact, when my daddy went to her with the news that I was pregnant, he swears that she was practically giddy with joy.”
“She was happy he finally got a girl pregnant?”
“Not at all. But at least I was from a good family, so she was relieved Jake had made his bed with someone she could tolerate. And, after raising four boys practically by herself because the Major was always deployed somewhere, I think she was excited about finally having a girl in the family. She had the wedding planned in two weeks and told everyone it was for the Major’s benefit, so he could attend while on leave.
“Anyway, as irritated as everyone was with Jake for ditching me at the altar, of course when word came in that he’d been killed in a car accident, we were all devastated. No one more than Momma DuVal. She was inconsolable. When she gathered all of us and explained that the best way we could honor Jake was to pretend the marriage had happened privately that night in a family service, we all just went along with it. Somehow, she managed to hide the truth and got the minister to sign the marriage certificate. People were told Jake had been killed in a car accident on the way to our honeymoon in Hilton Head.
“Lolly, most of all, I believe Momma DuVal was thinking of you. You were her unborn grandchild, and she did not want you to be considered less in any way simply because your father got cold feet.
“I stayed with Nana and Gramps until you were a toddler, and then Momma DuVal had your uncles build us our own house. Your daddy’s family are good people, Lolly, and they have loved me and treated me like I was truly married to Jake.”
“Which was my point earlier. Tell them about Mr. Evans. They’ll be happy for you.”
“No. They won’t, will they?” Annabelle said. “They’ve got a big secret that they don’t want to get out. It would be embarrassing for all the DuVals and would change everything.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m going to tell anyone,” Lolly insisted. “And why does Mr. Evans even know about this…and what about Vance and Brooks? Why wasn’t this secret kept secret?” she demanded.
“Lolly, Vance and Brooks work for the police department. I’m sure there are records of what really happened. Back then, you could get your police chief to go along with a grieving family’s deceit. Not anymore.
“But Hale’s concern is that I’m applying for a passport. I’ve got to use my maiden name. My real name. Even if I go to Raleigh to handle everything, there’s a chance that somebody who knows somebody will accidentally say something to somebody else, and then, before you know it, the rumors start flying. He didn’t want you to be caught unaware.”
“Why are you getting a passport?”
“Well, Hale…may want to take me to Europe.”
“He wants to or he’s planning to?”
After a brief stare down, her mother said, “Yes.”
“Yes?”
Annabelle blurted out the question with great enthusiasm: “Are you two getting married?”
“Married?” Lolly scoffed at the same time her mother said, “Yes!”
“What?” Lolly cried. “What do you mean, yes? I finally get a name and a face two hours ago and you’re already getting married? How long has this been going on?” she demanded. “No. Wait! Wait!” Lolly turned toward the pool bar and smacked her hand on the table until someone turned around. “Brooks Bennett, I need something to drink. Something strong to drink. Right freaking now!” She turned back to her mother then. “Are you at all aware that you are turning Vance Evans into my stepbrother?”
Both Annabelle and Genevra looked horrified, right before they burst into gales of laughter.
“Oh, Lolly,” her mother soothed. “This is no big deal. If things work out with you and Vance, there is no problem.”
“Work out with me and Vance?” Lolly shrieked. “Why does everyone think I’m dating Vance?”
“Maybe because you told me you kissed him yesterday,” her mother suggested.
“Or because I found the two of you in a lovers’ embrace this morning,” Annabelle chimed. “And you do make a lovely couple. I was not kidding about that.”
Lolly held her palm straight out and flashed it in the faces of both women. It was all she could do to protest. Words were finally lost to her. She collapsed back in her chair, her arms hanging limply toward the ground, every bit of energy drained out of her body.
An ice-cold Mojito in a tall, slim glass was set down at her side. She took a tired look at it and then slowly shifted her gaze up to Brooks, who towered beside her. In a quie
t, unsteady voice she said, “I’m probably going to need two of those.”
Brooks rubbed her back as he eyed Annabelle and her mother. “Coming right up,” he said.
“And you may as well bring the rest of the Rat Pack with you. I want them sworn into the Circle of Trust before they leave the premises,” she said.
Her mother got up and came around the table to sit in the chair next to her. She gathered Lolly’s limp body into her arms. “Sweetsie, I’m so sorry. About all of this. I should have told you about Hale sooner. I should have told you about your father sooner. I just…wanted you to have your tidy little life for as long as you possibly could.”
“I know,” Lolly said into her mother’s shoulder. “I know. And I’ll be…fine. I will. I’m just having trouble remembering everything you’ve told me, much less digesting it.”
“It’s a lot,” her mother agreed. “And truly, Hale and I came up to ask everyone to join us on the Fourth. Not to get into all of this here and now.”
“So on the Fourth of July…?”
“We’ll be announcing our engagement.”
Lolly nodded. “Right. Okay,” she said, moving out of her mother’s arms and picking up the Mojito. “We’ll just see how that works out.”
Chapter Nineteen
Monday mornings always found Brooks at his desk early. He liked keeping abreast of things, going over any incidents that happened while he was off duty. Plus, baseball camp started today, so he needed to be free and clear by early afternoon so he could head to the high school and throw his assistant coaching weight around.
He smiled at that. At Lolly giving him shit due to his lack of competitiveness.
That girl was something.
Something hot and sexy, and man, he had to use every ounce of his self control not to take full advantage of the state she’d wound herself into Saturday night. He lowered his head and grinned from ear to ear thinking about how their local dive bar, recently renamed The Situation, would never see the likes of that again.
Lolly had said she’d wanted to dance it out. Just blow off all those crazy DuVal family secrets and have a good time. And he was not about to deny her that. No, sir. He would have bet money he’d be holding her hair back from her face while she literally spilled her guts before the night was over, but she surprised him. She held her liquor like a champ. Especially since the bartender saw her coming from a mile away and made sure drinks number three, four, and five were as close to alcohol-free as he could manage.
Didn’t hurt that she was sweating it out on the dance floor, and somebody was always shoving a bottle of water at her. These were good people. They were having fun and taking care of their own.
Vance slid onto Brooks’ desktop like he always did whenever he made an appearance in the office.
“Hey!” Brooks said. “Didn’t think I’d see you until I made it to the field. What’s up?”
“Couple things. You didn’t take advantage of Lolly Saturday night, did you?” he whispered. “I mean, I know that generally I’d be kicking your ass for not…you know, in a situation like that, but man, there were some extreme circumstances happening there.”
Brooks eased back in his chair, pointing to himself. “Good cop, remember? I did not take advantage of the situation,” he said, smiling his big, broad grin as he tossed a pen onto his desk.
“Riiight. I’m just askin’ because she was on one hell of a roll. She wasn’t wearing all that much to begin with, so when her clothes started coming off, I gotta admit, even I got nervous.”
“Did you now?” Brooks slid him a glance over his deep grin. “That’s not like you.”
“No.” He laughed. “It’s not. Nor is it like you to pick her up, throw her over your shoulder, and head out the back door.”
Brooks chomped his gum around his shit-eating grin. “She was getting a little handsy on the dance floor. Had to pull one of your bad cop moves.”
“Right. And then I noticed your truck sat there. In the parking lot. For hours.”
“Yeah. I had to spend some time talking her down.”
The two men stared at each other.
“And did the talking sound a little like, ‘Oh God! Right there! A little harder!’”
More like sweet Jesus, Lolly, where the hell did you learn to do that? “Something like that. And…ah, on a totally different subject, have any girls you’ve ever…been with asked about your, ah, handcuffs?”
“Only about ninety-five percent. Must be a cop thing. She want you to cuff her?” Vance grinned. “A very bad cop move, by the way.”
“Let’s just say there was some alluding to it.”
“Christ! What? Like you’re going to say ‘no’? This makes her like the fucking perfect woman. You cannot tell me that picturing Lolly handcuffed to your bed is not your hottest fantasy.”
“Regardless, I’m pretty sure it’s against the law to use my department-issued cuffs on someone I’m not arresting.”
“You are fucking with me, right? Okay, Boy Scout, time to cash in one of your stock dividends from Lewis’ company and purchase yourself an extra pair. Actually, you don’t want to use the real handcuffs. They’ll hurt and leave a mark, and you’ll freak out about that even if Lolly doesn’t. So, I’ll send you a link to a website that sells exactly what you two want.”
“Vance, just order them. Send them to my house. And let’s pretend this conversation never happened.”
“Roger that. So how’s she doing with all this shit? Not every day you find out your parents weren’t married. Or that your mom is now planning to marry the town gay.”
Brooks' head shot up. “The town what?”
“Apparently there have been rumors about my father’s sexual orientation.”
“On what planet?”
“Planet Henderson. According to the great Emelina, since he hasn’t dated or taken up any of the offers he’s had….”
“Offers?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t we give money to know who offered? Anyway, since his lady friends have been mostly out of town, the locals have concluded that he’s gay. My grandmother thinks that’s gone a long way to the town forgiving my…ah, promiscuous behavior. Everyone assumed I was making up for my dad, or trying to prove I wasn’t like him.”
Brooks stared at Vance, trying to digest what he’d just heard. “Your dad? Gay?”
“Right? So God knows what kind of shit is going to start flying once the local grapevine gets wind of the Hale and Genevra story. Lolly is bound to get hit by the crossfire. You and I are going to have to do what we can to, I don’t know, protect her or something. Did you check on her yesterday?”
“Stopped by, but she and Annabelle had their heads together over some design project, and I didn’t want to interrupt. She seemed excited about whatever they had brewing, so I just gave her the flowers I’d brought and told her I’d see her on the field today.”
“Flowers? If you didn’t take advantage of the situation, why did you have to bring her flowers?”
“Didn’t have to. Wanted to.”
Vance raised his eyebrows. “What the hell happened in that truck?”
“Vance, my friend,” Brooks said, grinning even wider, “words cannot describe what happened in that truck.”
“And you aren’t even pissed I’m talking to you about it.”
“Nope. I’m feeling very secure in my place with Lolly right now.”
“A little too secure.”
“Probably a little overconfident, yeah.” He kept smiling, showing off his big white teeth. “And we are good to go Friday night. Lolly’s got three of her friends from State coming up for darts and pool. Your opportunity to learn how to play nice with girls.”
“Three? I asked for one! One to round out the foursome. Holy hell. If I hate playing pool with women anyway, why would she make me do it with three?”
Brooks laughed. “I sorta thought the same thing. She says she wanted to give you a choice. But I think what she really means is that there is
safety in numbers. For her friends.”
“I’m not taking any of them home,” Vance insisted. “I promised I’d be on my best behavior.”
“Yeah, but there is that kissing thing.”
“Hmm,” Vance thought, rubbing his chin. “There is that.”
“So. What else you got?”
Vance stiffened. He slid two hands up and down his thighs and then looked at Brooks dead on and put out his hand. “Where’s that ring? You better let me hold on to that.”
“What the hell? I’d never give that ring to Lolly.”
“It’s not Lolly I’m worried about. Tansy’s back.”
“What?”
“Tansy Langford,” Vance verified. “I saw her having brunch at the Club with her momma and daddy yesterday. I tried to steer clear, but she went out of her way to corner me. She was all sugar-this and sweetheart-that.”
“That’s Tansy.”
“Yeah. I remember. I didn’t like it then, and I sure don’t like it now. Especially when she kept hammering me with questions about you. Very specific and pointed questions.”
“Like what?” The grin was gone. Brooks took his gum out of his mouth and threw it in the trash.
“Like, are you still working here?” Vance ticked off his fingers. “What’s your schedule this week? Are you still coaching? How did your house turn out? And the big one she tried to slide in like I wasn’t paying attention: Are you seeing anyone?”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her that of course you were still working here.” He began to tick his fingers off again. “That I am not your keeper and have no idea about your schedule. That the baseball team couldn’t have competed for State without you. That your house is a fucking mansion. Then I told her that you were dating the all-grown-up and totally hot Lolly DuVal. And then I added that I was insanely jealous, for embellishment.”
