“Okay.”
He watched the two women as they walked toward the bathroom, mentally counting one, two, three, f—
“You married her for the land, didn’t you?” Grayson demanded. He should’ve known Grayson would be the one to fire off the first question. He’d always taken his big-brother role seriously.
“It was a consideration we discussed when we decided to marry.”
“You run a multimillion-dollar company—did you even think about a prenup?” Grayson was clearly fired up by the whole situation. “What happens if this marriage doesn’t work out? You could end up with nothing—not the land nor the company you worked so hard to build.”
Touché. The odds that Charlotte would turn out to be a bitch and take him to the cleaners seemed small now, but…
“Shit, Gage, I can see from your face you didn’t even consider that scenario. I can’t believe you didn’t do all you needed to do to protect your company. I really thought the days of you making stupid mistakes like this were over.” Grayson shook his head in disbelief.
That was enough. “Shut up, Grayson. Marrying Charlotte is not a mistake. And you know what? Maybe I’ll take my twenty-five percent of Guac Olé and align myself with Becca come September first. And perhaps our first order of business will be to replace the current CEO. What do you think of that business decision?”
Gage saw the anger rising in Grayson’s face and the look of shock on Gavin’s. In reality, Gage would never betray his brother like that, but he needed to get Grayson to back off.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Grayson said. “You know Guac Olé is my life.”
“Yeah, I do, Gray. I know you bleed guacamole, but I don’t need you to run my life. I’m thirty, for fuck’s sake. Just drop it. The relationship between Charlotte and me is complicated. Quite frankly, I don’t care what either of you think of my marriage. It’s my life, and I’m not making a mistake. So both of you need to listen and understand one thing.” He leaned forward so his brothers could appreciate the importance of what he was about to say next. “Charlotte is my wife. I expect you to respect her. The circumstances of our marriage are none of your business. Just know that when you attack, condemn, or are rude to Charlotte, you’re doing all those things to me. Remember, I’ve walked away before. I can do it again.”
He sat back in his chair, confident he’d gotten his message across. Damn, he really should’ve tried harder in drama class.
The girls returned to their seats, and he immediately reached for Charlotte’s hand and brought it to his lips.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I am now,” he responded, and he was. Having Charlotte beside him made him happy, if only because in this situation he knew she was more friend than foe.
“Is everything okay between you and your brothers?”
Gage looked over to where his brothers sat. Gavin was, like him and Charlotte, having his own quiet conversation with Macy. From the look on Macy’s face, Gavin wasn’t asking her whether she enjoyed her meal—they were sharing things that couples in love do. When Macy leaned over and kissed him, it confirmed everything he thought. Grayson, on the other hand, was having a love affair with his phone. The guy needed to chill.
“It will be,” he said.
“I don’t want to be the cause of tension between you and your brothers. Family is important.”
He kissed her hair. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” He finished off his drink. “You ready to go?”
“I am if you are.”
They stood together. “Well, this has been fun,” Gage started. “But we’ve got to go get some things for the house.”
Gavin came around and hugged Charlotte, a gesture Gage appreciated. Then Gavin turned and hugged him, as well. “You look happy, Gage, and that’s all I want.”
“Thanks, bro. That means a lot.”
“Oh, how’s the cat?”
Gage rolled his eyes. “You do realize that cat is a demon.”
Gavin laughed. “She was feisty at the surgery for sure.”
“Are you talking about Oil Slick?” Charlotte piped in.
“Oil Slick? He tossed around the idea of changing her name from Lady Marceline to Oil Slick when he came to the surgery. I never thought he would stick with it.”
Charlotte leaned into his side. “It suits the cat well, and no matter what he may or may not have said, Gage enjoys having her around. You do know he takes little Oil Slick to work, right?”
Gage couldn’t stop the flush from growing up his neck. He knew it was happening because Gavin was laughing his head off.
When he stopped laughing, he said, “You take the cat to work? Oh, little brother, that is classic.”
“If I didn’t, she’d be wrecking my whole damn house. I need to send you a bill for the replacement cushions I had to get because of that damn cat.”
“Sorry, bro, anything that happens after the animals leave my clinic is the responsibility of the pet owner. If you send me a bill, I’ll just send it back.”
Gage clutched at his chest. “I’m wounded.”
“You’re full of shit, Gage,” Gavin retorted.
Gage slapped Gavin on the back. Grayson stood to the side, watching the exchange. Gage walked over to him.
“Are we good?” he asked Grayson.
“As long as you don’t do what you threatened to do, then yeah, we’re good.”
“I may be a jerk of a brother sometimes, but I wouldn’t deliberately hurt you. But you need to understand I won’t have you bad-mouthing Charlotte.”
Gage straightened his spine under Grayson’s intense look. After a few seconds Grayson nodded. “Hell, even I acknowledge you’ve created a successful business. And I have to believe after what you’ve been through, you know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“Then congratulations on your marriage, bro.” Grayson slapped him on the back. They were back on even ground, thank God.
“So, Cowboy, you ready to go? That house isn’t going to get cleaned by itself,” Charlotte interjected.
“Yep.”
Gage slung his arm around his wife and gave his brothers one last wave. “Drop by the land Charlotte inherited tomorrow at lunchtime. We’ll grill some burgers.”
Both Gavin and Grayson nodded.
As they walked out the door, Gage let himself relax. One hurdle cleared. Now if he could only find out where that damn key belonged.
CHAPTER 16
Charlotte wiped down the kitchen counter. It wasn’t exactly shining, but it was clean and she would be happy to cut food on it. The house held the distinctive scent of bleach and furniture polish, and the staircase, windowsills, and mantels were all free of dust. After the last three hours she could safely say she’d be comfortable using any of the bathrooms in the house.
Gage had attended to a couple of minor repairs to some doors and the porches. Overall they’d had a productive afternoon.
But it had been a stressful lunch, and she’d worried that when she and Macy went to the restroom, they’d come back to find the boys fighting. She had seen the tension in Gage when they’d returned. He told her in the car that he and Grayson had words, but it wasn’t anything she needed to worry about. The fact that Gage had invited everyone out for lunch proved the point. Still, she couldn’t help but worry things were going to be uncomfortable again tomorrow.
The back door opened and Gage knocked his feet on the side of the door frame before coming in.
“How does everything look outside?” she asked.
“It doesn’t look too bad. There doesn’t seem to be any structural issues with the house. But I want to go up to the attic to see if there are any indications of leaks,” he said as he walked over to the sink to wash his hands.
“I can’t help but think you’re going to find a problem with the roof.”
“Why do you say that?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. The house has been empty for so long. No one ha
s lived in it, so you’d think there’d be some issues with it. But saying that, it’s like Jack kept up the maintenance. I mean, sure, there was dust on things that first day I came here, but not as much as I expected.”
“Maybe Dad did. He never said anything to me when we talked about the land just before he died.”
“Except that you were going to inherit it,” she drawled wryly.
“Yeah, that. I still don’t understand why he changed his will.”
“I’ve got no idea why Jack thought I should receive this piece of land.”
“I know, and I haven’t said it before and I probably should’ve. I’m sorry for what I said to you that day in your office. I shouldn’t have suggested you and he had anything more than a friendship.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. And”—she looked at him with a wry grin—“we’ve kind of come a long way from there, haven’t we?”
Gage laughed, the sound rich and deep. “That we have.” He placed a quick kiss on her lips. “Now, I’m about to head to the attic, so if you don’t hear from me in an hour, send a search party. You never know what might be lurking in the attic of an old house.”
Charlotte shuddered as he walked away, hoping there was nothing creepy in the attic. She stood in the kitchen for a few minutes, and against her better judgment, her mind walked down the path to a future she’d closed off earlier in the day while she waited in the car at Gander Mountain. The one where she and Gage had, against all odds, fallen in love with each other. Where they came to this house on weekends and had Sunday lunches with his brothers and their significant others. Where they had a couple of children who completed their family. And where at night Gage would take her into his arms and make love to her.
It was a wonderful dream. Unfortunately, it was a future that wouldn’t come to fruition. The scary thing was, it hadn’t been too much of a hardship to play “happy wife” today. To look into his eyes and tell everyone that he’d created a magical wedding day for them.
Charlotte sighed. There were bedrooms that needed to be dusted and airbeds to make up. She was no Disney princess, and Gage was no Prince Charming.
• • •
She made her way downstairs, glancing at her watch as she went. It was almost dinnertime. She was glad they’d decided to buy a frozen pizza to have for dinner. The thought of having to prepare and cook something didn’t hold a high appeal after spending the afternoon cleaning the house.
She expected to see Gage in the kitchen. She’d heard him moving around in the attic while she’d been working upstairs, but there hadn’t been any sounds for the last half hour so she’d assumed he’d come back down.
“Gage?” she called out, his name echoing around the unfurnished rooms. They really needed to go get some chairs for everyone to sit on tomorrow, or it was going to be one massive picnic.
She headed outside—maybe he was working on something in the backyard. But she still couldn’t find him.
The car still stood in the driveway, and she knew he wouldn’t leave without telling her.
Starting to worry that something had happened to him, she made her way back into the house and methodically walked through all the rooms downstairs and then upstairs. There she found the access to the attic still down.
“Gage?” she called up into the opening. “Are you up there?”
“Yeah.”
She waited to see if he would come down, but the area at the top of the access stairs remained black, like a gaping hole into nowhere.
She couldn’t explain the feeling of apprehension that came over her when she placed her foot on the rickety wooden steps and made her way up into the dark cavern. The area was huge and lit only by a bare light bulb.
Her eyes adjusting to the dim light, she looked around and found Gage surrounded by some sheet-covered shapes and a couple of boxes.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure, Red,” came Gage’s response.
“So, we have a leak and we have to replace the roof?”
“If only it were that simple. A replacement roof I could deal with better than this.”
She squatted down next to him, putting her hand on his knee. “Talk to me, Gage. What’s going on?”
He held a box out to her. “This.”
She took the old wooden box the size of a large jewelry box. The shiny wood had two entwined hearts in a lighter-colored wood inlaid on the top. At each corner little flowers were etched in gold; the entire piece looked handmade. She lifted it closer and twisted it to get more light onto it. Beneath the flowers it appeared there were two initials entwined as the stems. She couldn’t make out the letters though. She would need better light.
“It’s beautiful. Do you know who it belongs to?”
“No.”
Charlotte examined the box again and then glanced back at Gage, trying to process the reason for the despair emanating from him.
In the waning sunlight, the shadows lengthened, taking on eerie shapes. She couldn’t stop the shudder of fear from rippling through her.
“Um, let’s take this downstairs. Get a better look at it.”
She made the move to stand, but noticed Gage hadn’t moved. His reaction to the box seemed over the top.
“Gage, come on, let’s go downstairs and maybe you can tell me why this box is freaking you out so much.”
She wrapped her fingers around his upper arm and tugged. Finally, it seemed to break him out of his stupor.
“Sorry.” He looked around as if only then noticing how dark the room had gotten. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
They made their way down the steps and into the living room. As they passed a light switch, Charlotte flicked it on. She needed light after the darkness of the attic. The fact that they were out in the middle of nowhere hadn’t bothered her until that moment.
She jumped and let out a little cry of fright when Gage put his arm around her.
“Are you scared, Red?”
“Did you not see those creepy shadows in the attic? Yes, I’m scared. We’re not exactly surrounded by civilization here, either, you know.”
Gage laughed and pulled her close. The laughter was a welcome sound after the melancholy aura that had surrounded them in the attic.
“We’re safe here, Charlotte. And there is nothing but sheet-covered furniture in the attic. I checked it thoroughly. Not even any indication of rats or other lovely creatures taking up residence under the roof.”
“Well, I guess that’s reassuring since I hadn’t given any thoughts to rats living in my house until now.”
They entered the kitchen and Charlotte placed the box on the kitchen counter.
“You ready for our gourmet dinner?” she asked Gage as he opened the refrigerator.
“Pizza for two?” he asked.
“You chose it, so yes, pizza for two.”
Charlotte spent the next few minutes turning on the oven and placing the pizza inside. She was aware of Gage moving over to look at the box. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him make a move to touch it and then pull back.
“What is it about that box that has rattled you so much, Gage?”
“Rattled? What do you mean by that?”
“You almost seem afraid of it.”
“Ah.” He pushed a hand through his hair, making the ends stand up endearingly. “I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of it, but it’s clearly something that was a beloved memento to someone. I want to know why it’s in the attic of a house on a piece of land my father owned for more than thirty years.”
“Did it belong to your mother? I know she’s passed. Jack told me, and, well, you haven’t mentioned her.”
Gage shook his head. “I don’t think it’s Mom’s. I don’t remember seeing it before, but she died when I was five. I don’t remember too much about what she had. Maybe that’s why it’s here. Maybe it meant so much to Dad, he couldn’t bear seeing it.”
While that seemed like the most likely explanation, it still didn’t explain
why Gage was so transfixed that he could barely move when he discovered it in the attic.
“There’s more to this than you’re letting on. So how about you tell me.”
“I’m not sure, but the shape of the keyhole on the lock looks as if the key Dad left me will fit in it.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
Gage turned back to the box and picked it up. As he examined the lock more closely, she watched his face, wanting to see if there was a flicker of emotion to indicate why he didn’t want to associate with the box.
“I’m not sure it’s a good thing at all.”
And they called women frustrating. Gage was frustrating the hell out of her at the moment. “How can having a memory of your mother’s be a bad thing? You want to know what the key belongs to, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, now you have a possible way of finding out, so I don’t know why you’re being such a pansy about it all. We will take it back home tomorrow, get the key, and then you can open it and put everything to rest.”
“But what if I don’t like what I find inside?”
“What are you expecting to find? The answer as to why your father left me this property? Unless he had someone place it here between him changing his will and his death, I don’t think you’re going to get the answers you need.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. He left me a note as well with the key. Maybe the answer to the note will be in the box.”
“What did the note say?”
“’Son, the key to everything is happiness.’ So while I want to open the box, I’m also not sure I want to know that the key I hold is what’s going to lead me to happiness.”
The timer on the oven went off, giving her a few minutes to comprehend the riddle that was Gage’s note. It was a wide and encompassing statement to say that the key to everything was happiness. Happiness came in many forms. She somehow doubted the contents of the box were a magic elixir to finding it.
She would say that contentment within oneself was the key to happiness.
Cutting the pizza into slices, she placed them on the paper plates they’d purchased and handed one to Gage while she picked up the other. He went to pick up the box again.
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