Center Stage (The Keller Family Series)

by Marie, Bernadette

Mary Ellen ordered in Chinese food, and the group spent the next three hours going over plans for the theater. Arianna was pleasantly surprised at how many times John would ask Eduardo’s opinion on an item and accept what he had to say.

  The electrical would have to be completely redone. All of the seating would need to be replaced. The stage needed to be rebuilt, and of course, the lobby would need to be gutted and redesigned.

  “The craziest part about this building is that the curtains are in good condition. They just need to be cleaned,” John added.

  Zach looked at Arianna. “You’ll still want to replace them, I’m sure.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Wouldn’t that be fun to keep? I’ll think about it.”

  Regan left with her boys and Eduardo. Arianna stayed with John and Zach to discuss a time frame for the theater to be ready.

  “We’re looking at July at the earliest,” John said as he tipped back in his seat. “It’s almost as though we’re starting from scratch.”

  “We are,” Zach commented as he picked up a leftover fortune cookie and broke it open.

  Arianna leaned in and rested her arms on the table. “July? That would be enough time to put together something fun for the grand opening, and then, maybe by October, we can have the first, full production ready.”

  John looked at her with eyes that smiled. “I’m glad to see you get excited over this. You’re always beautiful, but talking about this makes you almost sparkle.”

  She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I love what I do.”

  Zach pushed away from the table. “Arianna, I don’t know if I should kiss you for making this fool so happy or send you packing since his head is in the clouds.”

  “You and Regan set us up, remember?”

  “I just didn’t think he’d get all soft on me.” He stood and walked toward his office. “I’m going home to snuggle on my boys.”

  “I’ll lock up when we leave,” John offered.

  Zach disappeared into the private elevator in the corner of his office. The building had become quiet.

  John stood from his seat and pulled Arianna from hers. His mouth was quickly pressed against hers, and her body settled against his.

  He rested his forehead against hers. “I’ve waited all day to do that.”

  “You haven’t had enough of me yet?”

  “The plan is to never have enough of you.”

  Arianna rested her head against his chest. “So, this is how it will be? You build all day. I’ll perform all night?”

  John lifted her chin with his finger. “And we will share a bed every night for the rest of our lives.”

  “The rest of our lives?” She hoped her voice hadn’t cracked, but her body shook, so she was sure it had.

  “If you’ll have me.”

  “Doesn’t this seem sudden?”

  He pulled her closer to him. “Honey, we’ve been working on this, very poorly, for the past four years. I don’t ever want to be with anyone else.”

  “Then, every night for the rest of our lives sounds good to me.”

  He held her tightly before stepping back and looking at her. “Why were you coming to see me today?”

  Warmth filled her knowing they were in love. The moment was perfect. The timing was right. “I’d planned to ask you to move in with me. Upstairs, that is.”

  “It sounds like we have the same plans.”

  “Who would have thought it would come together so quickly.”

  John kissed her again. “You know, Zach has a Murphy bed in the other room.”

  Arianna slapped his arm. “Let’s just get home, quickly.”

  “To our home?”

  “To our home.”

  John had followed Arianna out to her car and continued to follow her all the way home. She hadn’t mentioned that she’d received any more texts or phone calls all day, but he wasn’t taking any chances. At least for the next six months, they would be in the same place, and he wondered if that, too, was some of Zach’s plan.

  Zach had a vested interest in the theater nearly as much as John did. But John knew keeping him near was as good for business as it was for family.

  He reached over and turned down the heat in the truck. His body seemed to be plenty warm at the moment, and that was all courtesy of Arianna.

  There had been a moment in the conference room where he’d actually contemplated proposing to her, but common sense took over quickly. Neither one of them needed that. They knew what the other wanted. No marriage. No babies. But a commitment was a commitment.

  Arianna turned down their street, and he continued to follow. The theater would be their baby. Its conception was in her notebook and in his renovation plans. Its birth would be the grand opening. Its life would be the many lives it could touch.

  Their marriage would be their commitment to each other. They’d share a home, a business, and a life.

  He watched her park her car in the driveway, and he pulled up behind her.

  Her birthday was coming up. He was sure he’d remembered Regan talking about a party for her with Mary Ellen.

  She’d need something nice. Just because they weren’t going to get married, it didn’t mean she couldn’t have a really nice ring to wear.

  Chapter Eleven

  Renovation started on the theater the following Monday. Arianna was on site with Starbucks in hand by six o’clock.

  Zach climbed out of his car and walked toward her. “Just a little excited?”

  “You have no idea.” She turned to him. “I still can’t believe you all did this.”

  “That’s what family is all about.”

  “You’re right. And I’m going to make sure you all get a good return for your investment.”

  Zach put his arm around her shoulders. “We already have.” Arianna shifted to look at him, and he smiled. “You’re here with us.”

  His words squeezed at her heart. “Thank you.”

  “Regan hasn’t been this happy in a long time. Even though she hasn’t had a lot of time to spend with you, she’s whole now that you’re near.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. I think you and the boys make her life whole.”

  “I’d like to think so,” he said as he shifted and crossed his arms. “But no matter what, it’s always been you two. That makes a difference.”

  She knew he was right. The Keller family’s strength was in its members. And Arianna drew her strength from her brothers and her sister—and now from John.

  Arianna remained on the curb even after Zach went inside the theater. There was an amazing feeling which had taken over in her. She’d never understood the connection her sister had to Zach, Carlos to Madeline, or Curtis to Simone. It was nice to watch, but she didn’t understand it—until now.

  It was going to the extreme for the other person. Zach could have made millions building with Alexander Hamilton, but Regan was more important. Carlos’s pride had lost him Madeline once, but even marriage to someone else couldn’t keep them apart. Then there was Simone who gave up the life she knew to have an ordinary life with the man she loved.

  Arianna had always been content thinking that true love would never happen for her. Thank goodness she’d been wrong.

  John walked out the front doors of the theater. “I heard there was a beautiful woman out here just standing on the street.”

  “And I knew if I stood here long enough, a handsome construction worker would walk out.”

  He walked down the steps. When he reached her, he kissed her gently on the lips. “You know, it’ll be weeks before there is even anything you can do here. No need for you to hang around all day.”

  “I haven’t decided if I want to just be here—to be near it. Or if it’s you I want to be near.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “You make it very hard to get any work done.”

  Arianna let out a deep sigh. “I suppose Simone could use some company.”

  “Avery probably needs some spoiling.”

  �
��I’m an expert at that.”

  He kissed her again. “Yes, you are.”

  Arianna was sure Avery had gained at least five pounds since she’d last held her. And perhaps she had. Simone wasn’t as quick to hand over Avery as Regan was with Spencer.

  “Will you go back to work at the clinic when Avery is a little older?”

  “Does it seem silly that I want to?”

  “Why would that seem silly?”

  “I never would have thought I, of all people, would want to work. But I enjoy my work. I enjoy helping people.”

  Arianna smiled. Her future sister-in-law certainly had been humbled.

  Simone rocked back on the couch and clasped her hands in her lap. “You do not mind if I ask you a question, do you?”

  “Certainly not.”

  Simone looked down at the ring on her finger, which Curtis had given her, and then back up at Arianna. “You have not had any more phone calls or text messages, have you?”

  “Not since the night we all met and discussed it. Why?”

  Simone pressed her lips together and then let out a breath. “I made some phone calls. Alexander Hamilton divorced last year. His wife pressed abuse charges against him.”

  “Bastard.”

  “She is very well off. Her family is worth billions.”

  “Which is why he tried to murder Regan.” She shook her head. It still hurt to think of what he’d done to her sister.

  “Anyway, she left him and he has nothing. His fortune, which he had earned prior to his marriage to her, is gone and now his wife has taken her money.”

  “And I’m his connection to Regan. What does he want? Revenge?”

  “I would assume that is his thought. The man is crazy. I am sure you have met him.”

  Arianna shook her head. “Only Curtis ever saw the man. I didn’t know who he was until he came to the theater in New York.” There was more. So much more, but she hadn’t even told John about it. She wasn’t going to bring it up to Simone.

  “He is very dangerous. I hope he just goes away.”

  So did Arianna.

  As hard as John tried, he couldn’t keep Arianna away. She was there every morning with her Starbucks for at least an hour to see what was going on.

  By two o’clock in the afternoon, John was checking back in on the other build, and by four, he was seated in Zach’s office.

  “The stage is torn out right now. They should have that put back together in the next week, and the entire interior has been gutted. Time to rebuild,” he told Zach.

  “Regan says Arianna already has been acquiring some contacts.”

  “I don’t know what she’s up to, but she’s one busy woman.”

  Zach nodded. “Regan would like to have Arianna’s birthday party at the theater. A surprise party, if we can manage it.”

  “You think Regan can keep a secret from Arianna?”

  Zach laughed. “She wants to try.”

  John closed his notebook with all of his lists and clasped his hands atop it. “When is the birthday exactly?”

  “Four weeks.”

  “Stage will be done, but the theater isn’t going to look pretty.”

  “She knows, but have you ever tried to reason with Regan.”

  This time John laughed. Yes he had, and there was no reason to even try to change her mind. “I’ll make sure the facilities are in order for guests to use and the stage is done so that we can set up tables and chairs. The theater seats go in last. That’s not a problem, is it?”

  “No. Just the stage. That’s where Regan wants to entertain.”

  “And your mother is on catering duty.”

  “She only uses the best ones.”

  Audrey did have fine taste in everything, John thought.

  Zach leaned back in his chair. “What are you going to get her? This is the big one, you know. The big four-oh.”

  “She hasn’t mentioned that. It must not be as big for her as you think.”

  “That’s because she’s content. Most women her age either are longing for marriage and babies or watching their children grow into adults. Arianna is happy.”

  That part John knew.

  Zach sat back up in his chair. “Madeline will handle forty just fine. She’s been through enough to appreciate it and her kids are amazing. Regan, well, I won’t even speculate. Now Simone…”

  John shook his head. “You are the only man alive that could get away with that thought you’re having.”

  “Yep. I don’t even think Curtis would try.”

  “How are they doing?”

  “I’ve never seen Simone happier in my life. Who would have thought a woman would fall into my lap, and I’d marry her. And not only that, she’d come with a brother for my best friend and a sister for my right-hand man.”

  John drove home in afternoon traffic, and Luke Bryan played on his iPod, which was situated next to him as the radio had stopped working years ago. As soon as Taylor Swift started singing about never, ever, ever, ever getting back together, he turned it off. This was what happened when you fell in love with a younger woman. She filled your iPod with songs from men she’d mentioned, who wore their jeans nice and tight, and girls who weren’t old enough to know about the love they sang about.

  He’d need to make sure, if he was going to let her access his music, she’d better keep some Johnny Cash and Hank in there. He might just go crazy if she switched it all out.

  When he finally made it home and walked through the back door, he laughed when she had the stereo blasting and this time is was Patsy Cline. Well, she was a mystery, this young woman he loved.

  He walked into the living room and found the volume control and turned it down.

  “Hey!” he heard yelled from upstairs.

  “I figured that would get your attention.” He pulled off his coat and draped it over his arm. Suddenly he’d become very aware of the fact he’d walked into the house with his work boots on. Just as quickly as he’d walked in, he retreated to the back door to pull them off.

  Arianna skipped down the steps and out to the kitchen. “Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I just secured Annie for the grand opening in October.”

  The smile on her face was infections, and he felt his cheeks rise as he smiled, too. “That’s wonderful.”

  “I’ve already called my brother and asked him if it would be okay if I offered the part to Clara.”

  John hung his coat on the hook by the door. “You’re not going to audition her?”

  “Perks of knowing the director. Besides, have you ever heard the girl sing?”

  He shook his head.

  “You’ll understand when you hear her. She’s going to be a star someday. Just you wait.”

  John wondered if she was that excited about her nieces and nephews, how excited would she be over the talents of her own children. Would she have them on stage singing and dancing? Would he have them with hammers and nails?

  His jaw tightened. Where had that come from?

  He could feel the blood drain from his head.

  “Are you okay?” Arianna was moving to him quickly. “You’re pale.”

  “I’m fine.” He batted her away and brought his mind back to the conversation about Annie and Clara. “Do you think Clara will want to work that hard?”

  Arianna’s eyes were narrowed on him, but once he moved through the kitchen and pulled a beer from the refrigerator, she loosened up. “Yes. We are so much alike, her and I. She’ll be very excited. In fact, I’m going to head over there now. I was digging this up from a box upstairs.”

  She held up a CD case with the music from Annie.

  John nodded. “Mind if I go with you? We could pick up some dinner.”

  “I would adore that.” She moved into him and pressed a kiss against his lips.

  He was sure she’d meant to leave it at that, but he needed more.

  John wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. He moved his
mouth over hers and took the kiss deep, to another level.

  Arianna’s arms came up around his neck. Oh, what this woman could do to him with just one kiss.

  She pulled back, but kept him close. “We’d better go or I’ll never make it over there.”

  At least he knew his kisses did the same to her. He wondered how quickly they could eat and offer a position to Clara. He had some needs brewing, and by the blush on her cheeks, she did too.

  Chapter Twelve

  One thing John had forgotten about was in-laws. Sure, Carlos and Madeline weren’t his, but if he’d planned a life with Arianna, and he did, then he’d suppose this was the way of it.

  He certainly didn’t mind Carlos. Heck, if he had to have a brother-in-law, he’d have chosen him personally. He’d never seen a harder working man. But the part he’d forgotten about was when you “stopped by,” you couldn’t leave.

  Carlos and Christian had just returned from something to do with baseball. John hadn’t ever taken the time to notice that baseball was all Christian was into, much like he didn’t know Clara was a performer like her aunt. Eduardo had his sights on engineering, that he knew.

  Once Madeline had let them into the house, she and Arianna went on like a couple of little girls at a slumber party. He’d heard Zach mention this phenomenon with Arianna and Regan, and Madeline was as much their sister as Carlos was their brother. He figured he was in for a long night, and that hot kiss they’d shared before they left home was more than likely forgotten.

  The moment Carlos had seen him sitting at the table with the women, he’d pulled a beer from the fridge and handed it to him.

  “C’mon, I have a pool table in the basement.”

  John followed, happy to have the distraction.

  When they made it to the basement, Carlos began to rack the balls. “You might be here all night if those two get to talking.”

  “I figured as much.”

  “Madeline has missed Arianna. I’m glad she moved back.”

  John twisted the top from his beer and took a sip. “I think she is too.”

  Carlos took the holder off the balls carefully and exchanged it on the rack for a pool cue. “She hasn’t heard anything else from Alexander Hamilton, has she?”