“I guess he called you.”
“Yes,” Penny said, smiling, “and it was all business. It’s always been business between us.”
“Except once.”
Penny smiled broadly. “And that gave me Russell.”
“Was Mr. Maxwell married when you met him?”
“No,” Penny said. “He hadn’t even met Lucy back then, but he knew what he wanted and he went after it.”
“If you two were so alike, why didn’t he . . . ?”
“Look at me as a prospective mate?” Penny laughed. “You’d have to know Randall back then. Ambition ate at him. Consumed him. He
had
to get ahead of everyone else or he’d die.”
“And Lucy was part of that,” Kim said.
“She was indeed.”
“But there came a night . . .” Kim said.
Penny shrugged. “When I look back on it, I see that it was inevitable. Randall and I were always together. Travis was just a year old, and I have to say that I was quite jealous of Lucy. I never had time for an outside life and never did find a man who’d put up with my constant working. Anyway, Randall and I stayed late at the office, we had sex, and I was pregnant.”
“What did Mr. Maxwell say when you told him?”
Penny shook her head in memory. “He was thrilled. Lucy’s pregnancy had been complicated and she couldn’t have more children, so Randall was happy to have another child. He wanted to put the two kids together.”
“You are kidding, aren’t you?”
“Not at all. Randall doesn’t live by other people’s rules. But in the end I persuaded him to keep his mouth shut, but still Lucy always knew there was something going on between us. She always sneered at me and I never retaliated because I deserved it.”
“And you and Mr. Maxwell?”
“We never slept together again, if that’s what you mean. And he rarely slept with Lucy. He did what he was so good at and provided lavishly for all of us. I lived modestly but gave my son the best education there was.”
“And Russell knows who his father is,” Kim said.
“Always has. I never hid it from him.”
“Did they spend time together?”
“Randall spent as much time with my son as he did with Lucy’s. He’s not a TV father who tucks the kids in at night.”
“And you continued to work for Mr. Maxwell. Does he have any more children anywhere?”
“No. None. Randall’s always had affairs, but he’s never been serious about any of the women, and he was discreet.”
Kim thought for a moment. “He had Lucy at home and you at work and two beautiful sons. I can see why he didn’t want to mess that up.”
Penny smiled. “I think you’re beginning to understand Randall Maxwell.”
“Why did he blackmail Travis into working for him?”
Penny’s face became serious. “Now that is the clog in Randall’s overall life plan. He assumed that when they grew up, both his sons would come to work for him, but neither one wanted anything to do with him. Travis was very angry at his father and Randall couldn’t understand why. In his mind, he’d protected Travis all his life.”
“And Travis saw himself as being held captive in a beautiful prison.”
“That’s right. Randall’s much better at business than he is at life. I told him not to do it, but he threatened Travis to make him work with him. Randall thought that if Travis was in the office with him every day, he’d catch his ambition bug and that eventually his son would understand.”
“But he didn’t,” Kim said.
“No. Travis had been sidetracked by a little girl who showed him how to have fun.”
Kim smiled. “That was a turning point in both our lives.” Her head came up. “So what happens now? How do we tell Travis that Russell is his brother?”
“I’m not sure he doesn’t know.”
“I’ve not seen any sign that he does.”
“Both of them are half Maxwell and they don’t let people see what they’re thinking.”
“Not even me,” Kim said softly.
“You didn’t exactly blurt out the facts when you realized the truth, did you? From what I’ve seen, you and Travis are well matched.”
Kim thought about that for a moment. “So what now? Will it take Travis years of fighting his father to help Lucy get a divorce?”
“I don’t know what Randall is up to right now. He’s been very secretive lately. In fact, for the first time in nearly thirty years I don’t even know where he is.”
There was something about the way she said that last statement that made Kim’s hair stand on end. “You wouldn’t have a photo of Mr. Maxwell, would you?”
“I can bring one up on my phone,” she said as she removed her cell from her bag. “Randall likes to stay out of the spotlight.”
“Unlike Travis,” Kim said, remembering the photos Reede had sent her. “So how’s Leslie?”
“Paid off,” Penny said as she handed the phone to Kim.
She wasn’t surprised to see a picture of the man she knew as Red, but she wasn’t about to say that Mr. Maxwell was here in Janes Creek. “He doesn’t look much like Travis or Russell,” she said as she returned the phone.
“The boys look like Randall’s grandfather, and he was a handsome devil. Have you—?”
Kim stood up so abruptly Penny didn’t finish her question. “Travis is going to think I’ve left him. I was supposed to meet him at the diner fifteen minutes ago. This has been . . . informative, and thanks for helping me understand Travis better.” She gathered up her things and hurried into the antiques store. She hadn’t wanted to answer Mrs. Pendergast’s questions about whether she’d met Randall Maxwell or not. Yes, she had. Twice.
Outside the shop, she paused for a moment, trying to remember everything “Red” had said to her. Fishing in Edilean came to mind first. It looked like he’d known all along where Lucy was. And if he knew where she was, then he knew about Joe Layton. And if he did, and if he hadn’t raised a stink, maybe that meant Travis wouldn’t have to spend years helping his mother get a divorce.
“Maybe we can have a
life,
” she whispered. Now. Not years in the future, but now. She went across the street to the diner, but she didn’t walk fast. She had a lot of information running through her mind and the truth was that she didn’t know what to do with it all. How much should she tell Travis? How much to keep to herself?
And what would be his reaction to what she did tell him? Anger? He was from a rich and powerful family, so would he jump on a private jet and go . . . Go do whatever fabulously rich people did when faced with stress?
The picture of Travis in a tuxedo with a blonde model haunted her. Was that his
real
life? Had Travis adapted to the glamorous New York life better than his father thought he had?
Kim knew that whatever happened she needed to keep her cool. She couldn’t go running to the two sons of Randall Maxwell and gush about what she’d just been told. Would they smile at her in an indulgent way and say they knew all that? That they’d figured it out long ago? Kim didn’t think she could bear that humiliation.
She stopped outside the door to the diner and took a deep breath. She needed to keep a straight face and do what the Maxwell boys did and keep secrets to herself.
There were few people in the diner, and Travis and Russell stood out. They were at a little round wooden table close to a wall, with their backs to her. There was a big bowl of popcorn between them and they were eating and drinking beer as they looked up at a TV screen. A soccer match was playing and both men seemed totally absorbed in it.
Yet again, Kim marveled at how alike the two men were. If they changed clothes, and she saw them from the back, she wondered if she could tell them apart.
Travis turned and saw her. For a moment he looked at her so hard she thought he knew where she’d been. But then his face relaxed, he smiled, and moved a chair out for her.
“You didn’t buy anything?” he asked.
“Buy . . . ?” She had to remember that she did go to a store. “I didn’t see anything I liked.”
Russell was staring at her. “You look like something happened.”
“Just looking forward to the company of two gorgeous men,” Kim said quickly. So much for keeping secrets, she thought. “So what’s good to eat here?” she asked.
“We waited for you,” Travis said. He was still looking at her as though he was trying to read her mind. “Ol’ Russell here has something to show us, but he wanted to wait until you were here.”
Kim refused to meet Travis’s eyes. She didn’t want him seeing more than she wanted him to know. “That sounds interesting. What is it?”
Russell got up from the table and went to the side wall where there was a package, about two feet by three feet, wrapped in brown paper. As he picked it up and began to open it, he put his back to them so they couldn’t see what he had. When he turned around, he was holding what was obviously a picture and from the look of the back of the canvas, it was quite old. He held it facing him, concealing it from them.
“Ever the showman,” Travis said.
“You should talk, Maxwell,” Russell said as he looked at Kim. “I was curious about these Dr. Tristans so I did a search and some photos came up. Distinctive-looking man is your cousin.”
Kim couldn’t help smiling. That was one way of putting it about her cousin’s extraordinary beauty.
Still looking at Kim, Russell turned the picture around, and she gasped. The man in the portrait looked very much like her cousin Dr. Tristan Aldredge. “Is that him? The doctor who was killed in the mine?” she asked.
Russell leaned the portrait against the wall and took his seat at the table. They were all three facing it. “That’s James Hanleigh, born 1880, died 1982.”
“But . . .” Kim began. “He really does look like my cousin Tristan.”
Travis looked back at the two of them. “Wrong side of the blanket?”
“That’s my guess,” Russell said. He started to say more but the waitress came to take their orders. Kim ordered a club sandwich and Travis got crab cakes with a triple order of coleslaw and a beer. She wasn’t the least surprised when Russell said he’d have the same. She tried not to glance at him but she couldn’t help herself. As she knew he would be, Russell’s eyes were dancing with merriment. She wanted to kick him under the table.
Their lunch conversation was about how the portrait had been found. It seemed that Russell’s uncle Bernie had discovered it.
“I needed to give him something to do to work off all that food,” Russell said. “He told me that last night he’d run off some photos of the present Dr. Tristan Aldredge that he’d found online, passed them around to his mother’s relatives, and told them to see if anyone in town recognized him. Sometimes blood relatives look like each other,” Russell said—and again he looked at Kim with a smile.
“And he found this portrait in one of the stores?” Travis asked.
“No. That would be too easy. He found some old man who said he thought maybe he’d seen a picture of Dr. Aldredge but he couldn’t remember where. Uncle Bernie sent relatives out looking and asking and—”
“This all happened while we were at the Old Mill?” Travis asked.
“Every bit of it. I think my relatives were like a locust invasion on little Janes Creek.”
“And where did they find it?” Kim asked.
“In the home of a little old lady who bought it at a yard sale thirty years ago for fifty bucks.”
“How much?” Travis asked.
“Fifty—”
“No, how much did I have to pay for it?”
“Twelve grand.”
“What?!” Kim said.
“She drove a hard bargain,” Russell said, obviously enjoying himself, “and besides, she needed a new roof.”
“I’ll reimburse—” Kim began but stopped at the look Travis gave her.
“So how is he related and how does he fit in the family tree?” Travis asked.
“I haven’t found that out yet. Give me the afternoon and at dinner I’ll tell you everything.”
“So you don’t know if there are any Hanleighs still in town?” Travis’s tone was that of a challenge.
“Not yet.” Russell was calm, amused even.
Kim kept her attention on her food. Her mind was so full of all that Mrs. Pendergast had told her that she couldn’t think about finding the descendant of some young man who may or may not be her relative.
When they finished eating, Travis asked if she was ready to go to the jewelry store.
For a moment she had no idea what he was talking about and stared at him blankly.
He smiled at her, his eyes alight. “I agree,” he said in a voice that could only be described as seductive. Travis looked at Russell. “Kim and I are going to . . .”
“Take a nap,” Russell said.
“Well put,” Travis said as he backed his chair out, and held out his arm to Kim. “Thanks for lunch and we’ll see you at dinner.”
Travis led her out of the diner and to the car. The ride back to the B&B was silent.
Kim knew that Travis was hinting at sex. And why shouldn’t he? It was a romantic little town, a charming B&B. They were young and by all accounts in love, so they
should
be spending every waking moment together in bed. Isn’t that what she’d told her brother that she wanted? What had she said?
“I’ll take all the passionate sex I can get. Days of it. Weeks if I can get it. Months would be divine.”
So now she had it and what she
really
wanted was to call her friend Jecca and spend about four hours on the telephone. Right now what Kim needed more than anything else was the release that discussion would bring.
So maybe I should find Red and ask him for advice, she thought. Ask the man who caused all the problems how to fix them? She gave a snort of laughter.
“What was that about?” Travis asked as he parked the car.
“Nothing,” she said as she got out.
He held her hand as they went up the stairs to their connecting rooms. Once they were inside, he bent to kiss her, but Kim pushed back.
“Sorry,” she said. “I have a . . . a headache and I think I should lie down for a while.”
Travis stepped away from her. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, nothing,” Kim said. “I just need some time . . . alone.”
“Sure, of course,” he said. He walked to the door to his room, opened it, went through and shut it behind him.
Kim looked at the bed. Maybe if she took a nap she’d feel better, but she knew she couldn’t sleep. Mrs. Pendergast’s words ran through her head. How much to tell? How much to hide? How much to—?