“No time frame,” Sheldon replied. “Victor didn’t want to burden you with that kind of pressure. He felt your own desire to get back to work would be incentive enough. That’s not to say you are forbidden to work. It would, however, be more expedient to focus on the tasks rather than divide your attention and delay turning the company over to you completely.”
Maria scowled at Sheldon. “And just how are we to maintain the mansion and its staff? It was Daddy’s income that paid for the roof over our heads, food, clothing, and all the other expenses of daily living. We certainly won’t be able to take over the costs involved if we’re not working.”
“Victor’s accountant will handle paying the household expenses,” Sheldon told them. “He will also provide each of you with a monthly stipend equal to your current salaries. If there are any unexpected expenses, bring them to me for approval and I will forward them to the accountant.”
Maria’s sour expression made it evident she wasn’t thrilled with that last part, but she didn’t pursue it any further. “You said the first task has a second part to it. Once we complete the lists of our…ideal man, how long do we have to wait to find out what’s in the second envelope?”
“That’s up to you, ladies. I’m entrusting the second envelope to you now because I know you will honor your parents’ request not to open it before you’ve made out your lists.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Maria muttered.
Sophia shot Maria a disproving glance before offering Sheldon an apologetic smile on behalf of their cranky sister. “I…I have a question too. What about the families of the pilot and flight attendant? Did they have life insurance policies? I’d hate to think of their families struggling to make ends meet while we are getting full salaries whether we work or not.”
Vina grimaced inwardly for not thinking of it herself, but being sensitive to the needs of others came naturally to Sophia. It was one of the things Vina most admired about her twin. She was glad Sophia asked, and was relieved when Sheldon assured them the surviving families were being well provided for financially. Monetary compensation couldn’t make up for their loss, of course, but at least they wouldn’t have to deal with financial concerns in their time of mourning.
Her mind shifted back to the present as her sisters filed into the room. Victoriana held the second envelope in her hand and remained standing while Vina joined the others on the sofa. Maria was still in a dubious mood so Vina felt safer cocooned between Sophia and Kelsey. Her nerves were a bit jittery as Victoriana tore the envelope open and extracted a single sheet of paper.
“It…it’s handwritten by Mom,” Victoriana squeaked out.
Vina blinked back the well of tears in her eyes. It was difficult to watch the hands of her strong-willed sister tremble as she battled the same barrage of emotions they were all experiencing. Victoriana was the leader, the one they looked to for strength and stability. She was always so level-headed, so calm and cool in the face of adversity, and she rarely let that rigid control on her emotions slip. Right now, it was doing a landslide.
“You can do this,” Vina said with much more conviction than she felt. If it was her standing there, she would have already crumbled to the floor in a heap, blubbering like an idiot.
Victoriana cleared her throat, her hands slowly steadying. “My darling daughters,” she read. “Do not grieve for me, for my life has already been filled with greater love and joy than anyone could ever imagine or hope for. I pray that your father is still there to comfort and guide you, but we felt it was important to have a contingency plan in the event that he and I passed together.”
Vina clutched the hands of Sophia and Kelsey as all the girls openly wept. Even the stalwart Victoriana had tears streaking down her pale cheeks. How she found the inner strength to continue reading in that unwavering voice was beyond Vina’s comprehension, but she couldn’t have been more proud of Victoriana than she was at that moment.
“By now, you will have read the first letter. Have patience, my darlings; it is my last opportunity to meddle in your lives and offer some motherly advice. My greatest wish is that each of you will find the kind of love your father and I share. A love that is open and honest, trusting, and ever-lasting. Nothing is more important than family. I realize that right now, you must feel as if our family has been torn apart by death, but it can only separate us physically. As long as I remain in your hearts, I am alive.”
Victoriana drew in a ragged breath, pausing for a moment to allow a box of tissues to be passed around. She smiled at Sophia through a mist of tears and took the tissue being offered. They dabbed at their eyes, made some very unfeminine sounds as they blew their noses, than put on brave faces while Victoriana read the last part.
“We are proud of your diligence in becoming an essential part of the family business, but we do worry that your dedication has kept you from enjoying your youth. Learning to balance your personal life with your professional life will be difficult, but you will never find the kind of happiness I want for you while sitting behind a desk. This is why we have temporarily taken away your work duties.
“You are being pushed from the nest. Find your true love, your destiny, your heart’s desire. I have given Sheldon an envelope for each one of you. Inside, you will find a ticket to a destination we believe is the perfect setting for romance. We have also taken the liberty of providing you with an escort, someone we trust to watch over our daughters and keep them safe in our absence. Our love is with you always.”
Victoriana folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. “It seems our parents are determined to send us on a quest for love.”
“How can they do this to us?” Maria wailed.
“You know why,” Kelsey said. “They want us to have what they had.”
Vina’s temper flared. “You’re being incredibly selfish, Maria. This isn’t about you; it’s about all of us. You can’t spend the rest of your life being afraid to step outside just because you got rained on once. Personally, I think it sounds like a grand adventure.”
“I don’t know what you’re worried about anyway,” Kelsey said. “If you don’t believe in love, you’re certainly not going to find it.”
“She’s right,” Sophia agreed. “What do you have to lose?”
Maria’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “All right, I fold. I can’t fight all of you at once.”
Vina smiled to herself. The tag team method never failed to work on Maria. “So, now that we’re all in agreement again, who’s going to call Sheldon and set up a meeting time?”
“I’ve already called him,” Victoriana said with a superior air. “He contacted me yesterday and said it would save time if I let him know when were finished so he could drop the envelopes off instead of having to wait for an appointment. As a matter of fact,” she glanced at her watch, “he should be here any minute.”
While they waited for Sheldon to arrive, Vina idly wondered whether his dropping by had less to do with saving time and more to do with getting Victoriana alone outside the formal business atmosphere. She wasn’t blind to the way his eyes migrated to Victoriana more frequently than the rest of them, or how his baritone business voice softened whenever he addressed her.
Unfortunately for Sheldon, her sister seemed oblivious to his attraction towards her. It was a pity really, because Sheldon Davis was a genuinely nice man. It didn’t hurt that he was sexy as sin either. Even sexier in jeans and a white button down, Vina thought, when Sheldon arrived a few minutes later.
“Here you go, ladies,” he grinned as he handed out the envelopes.
The five sisters gathered around Sheldon in a semi-circle, each of them enthralled with tearing open their envelopes and discovering where they would be flying off to. Excitement rippled through Vina when her eyes locked onto name of the city printed on the ticket. Venice, Italy. Her heart tripped as she envisioned capturing the attention of a tall, dark Italian vineyard owner. She imagined being held in his strong arms, breathless with a
nticipation as he lowered his head to kiss her.
Vina’s beautiful daydream went up in a puff of smoke when she read the name of the man her parents had chosen to be her escort. Apparently, the bubble had burst on her sisters’ daydreams as well. As if on cue, they all looked up, and in perfect unison repeated the words Maria had said earlier.
“How can they do this to us?”
Chapter 2
Vina was not amused when Sheldon laughed at their synchronized response. Neither were her sisters. Having five women glower at him quickly sobered Sheldon’s mood.
“I apologize, ladies. I shouldn’t have laughed when it’s obvious you’re upset by your parents’ choices.”
Victoriana skewered him with a look that was as cold as her tone. “Did you have something to do with this?”
Sheldon held up his hands in a gesture of denial. “I had no part in it, other than fulfilling my role as Executor and giving you the envelopes. Victor and Lucinda did confide in me about the escorts, and I totally agreed it would be safer than having you travel alone. But they didn’t tell me who those escorts were, and I didn’t ask.”
“I’m…sorry,” Victoriana said. “I shouldn’t have accused you. It’s just that…their choices seem…” she looked to her sisters for the right word.
“Strange,” Vina supplied. “Mine is, anyway.” She glanced at the name again but it still didn’t make any sense. “It’s Travis.”
“Travis? I’m afraid I don’t know anyone with the last name Travis,” Sheldon said. “I wonder why they chose him if they knew you didn’t like him?”
Ashamed of herself for making it sound as if she’d drawn the short straw with Travis, Vina rushed to explain. “Oh no, it’s not that at all. I adore him to no end. Travis Malone’s parents live in the estate bordering ours. My sisters and I went to school with the five Malone boys and their sister, so we’ve known each other for ages. I was a bit shy in grade school, and Travis sort of took me under his wing. We’ve been best friends ever since.”
Sheldon looked even more perplexed than before. “I don’t see the problem. If you’re such good friends, and your parents obviously trust him, then why are you upset about their choice?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s a little like taking your brother along. True, he’ll be there to make sure nothing bad happens, but his being there will ensure that nothing…romantic will happen either. I mean…what if I do meet a man I’m attracted to? Is Travis going act as a bodyguard and tag along if I go out on a date?”
“That’s something you’ll have to work out with him before you go. Your departure date isn’t for two weeks, which should give you time to talk to Mr. Malone and make any other necessary preparations.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Vina replied uncertainly. “I’m surprised my parents were able to talk him into it. He owns an upscale restaurant on the north side and just opened a new location…”
“Your friend Travis is the owner of Malone’s?”
“Yes,” Vina beamed with pride. “He and I have also gone into property investment together, and even though I handle the bulk of the work, it still consumes some of his time. He may have been amenable to playing escort when they approached him, but I can’t imagine Travis has the time or inclination to take off work for a whole month.”
Sheldon nodded thoughtfully. “If he’s unable to go, or can’t remain with you the entire time, let me know. It seems to me that Victor and Lucinda must have had a great deal of trust in the gentlemen they chose for each of you, otherwise they would have made provisions for alternate escorts. I assume by your responses, the rest of you have similar doubts about your travel companions?”
Vina was only half listening as her sisters took turns relaying who they had been coupled with and why it concerned them. What had possessed her parents to choose Travis, of all people? Granted, the man could pass for a real bodyguard; Travis was six foot four with the shoulders of a linebacker, and he looked downright dangerous when he was angry. But they knew he had a tendency to be a tad over protective towards her.
Why bother sending her on this…quest, and then sabotage it by providing an escort who was more likely to deter any potential love interests than encourage them? It didn’t make sense…or did it? Maybe the reason they chose Travis was because they wanted someone who wouldn’t try to make a move on her while she searched for Mr. Perfect. Considering who they’d selected for her sisters, it seemed the most logical answer.
Vina tuned back in to the conversation going on around her just in time to catch a snippet about Victoriana’s reluctance to say who was accompanying her or where they were going. Big mistake on her part because it only made the others more curious and determined to find out who it was. Victoriana was highly agitated by the whole thing; Vina could tell by the flushed cheeks and how rigidly her sister held herself. She was also clutching the envelope to her chest, as if she was afraid one of them might try to snatch it from her hands.
“Stop pestering her,” Vina leapt to Victoriana’s rescue. “She doesn’t have to tell you busy bodies anything. And if she has no objections regarding the man Mom and Dad chose to be her escort, that’s her business.”
Victoriana flashed a smile of gratitude at Vina as Sheldon bid them all good-night and whisked her sister out of the room. Maybe she’d been wrong about Victoriana being oblivious to Sheldon’s feelings for her. She’d certainly done her best to spare the poor man from hearing about the trip she’d be taking with someone else. A trip to some fabulous city where she was supposed to find her one true love. How sad Victoriana couldn’t see he was right here. One encouraging smile; that’s all it would take for Sheldon to offer up his heart.
Vina’s attention migrated back to the note in her hand. Travis Malone. What in the world could they possibly have said to persuade him to agree to do this?
***
Travis leaned back in his chair, only marginally less edgy than he’d been over the past few weeks. He’d been expecting the call for some time now, and should have been relieved by the good news Sheldon Davis had just delivered. Instead, he found himself being bombarded with a host of conflicting emotions and an uncharacteristic lack of determination to ward them off.
Ah, but you don’t want to fight them anymore, do you?
Too much time had been wasted already; it was now or never. No more excuses, no more lame attempts to convince himself it would all work out in the end if he just let nature take its course. Because this is the end, Travis told himself. He was through waiting and wanting, through hoping that Vina would suddenly realize what he had known for years. They belonged together.
When Victor and Lucinda Moore arrived at his restaurant one evening three years ago and asked to speak to him in private, Travis immediately sensed it was about Vina and ushered them into his office. He’d listened quietly as they spelled out the conditions of their Wills, careful to keep the mounting panic from showing on his face. How could he decline, knowing they would simply pick someone else to take his place? And yet, accepting their proposal meant he would have to stand by and watch Vina give her heart to another man.
His stomach had been twisted into knots by the time they finished. He and Vina had been discussing a joint venture in real estate investment, and he’d planned on using that extra time together as a means of developing a more intimate relationship. It wasn’t exactly the type of thing you revealed to a young woman’s parents. Not after they’d just told him there wasn’t anyone they trusted more to watch over their daughter, that is.
“Well, what do you think?” Victor asked.
What Travis thought was that they had both lost their minds. No way in hell was he going to play chaperone to Vina while she traipsed around Venice looking for a Latin lover. He’d find a way to discourage any man that came near her; whether it was with a menacing glare or a right hook to the jaw, he was going to give a whole new meaning to the word bodyguard.
“I think Vina is very fortunate to have parents who love
her and want to ensure her happiness, but…” he paused, searching for the right words, “but I’m just not sure this is the right way to go about it.”
“We are sending her to a place where romance is in the very air you breath,” Lucinda replied. “It will be conducive to finding the one thing she lacks in her life; the love of a good man. What could possibly be wrong with that?”
His jaws clenched at thought of Vina in the arms of another man. “What makes you so sure this man is in Venice? Maybe he’s right here…in this city.”
Lucinda’s lips tilted into a soft smile. “Perhaps even in this very restaurant?”
“Or in this room?” Victor added with a chuckle.
Travis didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or relieved. “How…uh…long have you known?”
“Probably longer than you have,” Lucinda said. “You hide it well, but every now and then…when you look at Vina, your heart is in your eyes.”
VINA IN VENICE (THE 5 SISTERS) Page 2
