Love Under Two Kendalls Part 11

Chapter 11.

Jake hadn't known that his mother and Kate had planned to move Ginny into Northrop's house, but he didn't mind rolling with it. When he'd announced they'd move in, too, no one, except for Ginny, batted an eye.

He knew their woman well enough to understand that if she didn't want them there, she'd have spoken right up.

Despite what she might think of herself and her past, Ginny Rose was no pushover.

The year before, Jake had moved into one of the smaller houses a couple of blocks off Main Street. Then, when he and Adam had understood that Ginny was the woman they'd both fallen in love with, Adam had moved in. They'd tossed about ideas for taking on one of the larger houses owned by the Trust. Northrop's had definitely been on that list. They'd even discussed building their own, brand-new house on the outskirts of town.

Their Uncle Northrop had lived with his wife, Constance, in a house he'd had built especially for his British bride just after they'd gotten married. They'd made it large enough to house a good-sized family, but sadly, Constance never conceived. In fact, his aunt had died of cancer when Jake had been but a baby.

Northrop never remarried. Jake remembered the man as the tall, fun-loving older brother of his fathers, the man who'd come to every Christmas dinner and birthday celebration bearing gifts and hugs, and as a peculiarly unfair umpire. It wasn't until Jake had gotten older he'd realized how alone the man had been in his later years.

Northrop Kendall had been like Adam in that he, too, tended to collect strays, and always stood ready to look out for the underdog.

Jake thought Northrop would approve of Ginny and her son moving into his house.

Now, standing in front of the two-story Queen Anne Victorian, he had to admit he'd forgotten how big and, well, Victorian the place looked.

He could hardly wait to see Ginny's reaction to it.

He'd come ahead to the house so that he could have a moment to speak to Melvin Richardson alone. He and Adam had both decided not to mention the fact that they'd asked Melvin to have someone keep an eye on Maggie Morrison.

Of course, if Ginny asked them if there was a possibility her aunt would need protection, well, then they would certainly rea.s.sure her that as remote a possibility as they all believed that was, they'd taken steps.

Under normal circ.u.mstances, that possibility would be remote. There was only one fact that made it a possibility worth considering, and that was the nature of the fugitive himself.

Deke Walters was a bully through and through.

Jake knew quite a bit about bullies. He'd encountered one when he'd been in college. Because he'd never met a creature like that man before, Jake had researched the topic of bullies. That had been hard-ten years ago, the Internet wasn't the mega-personal researching tool it was today.

He never had come up with an answer as to why a person would be that way, and he still didn't have one, but there was one thing he knew to his bones. Most bullies were cowards at heart, and would never choose to face an opponent of equal or greater strength. They'd always prey on the smaller, the weaker, and the defenseless.

Jake had no doubt that given the choice between coming at Adam or him, or going for Maggie, he'd pick Maggie.

The sound of a car approaching had him turning to watch as Melvin drove up. Adam-and most of his family-was with Ginny and Benny, helping her get their things together to come over here.

I wonder what she'll say when she finds out that Mom and Kate mean for her and Benny to have this house, period.

It would be an interesting moment, no doubt.

"Well now, that is a house with att.i.tude."

Jake grinned. "It's something, isn't it? The Town Trust just finished repainting the outside of it about five months ago. We kept to the original colors that Constance Kendall had chosen, based, allegedly, on her family home back in England."

"The turret is a nice touch, and I like the big bay window. The veranda looks inviting, too."

"Which one, the lower or the upper?"

"Does the upper come off the master suite?"

"It does." Jake recalled that the master suite took up one half of the top floor, with its balcony spanning from the front of the house, along the side, to the back.

"Then I like both." Melvin took a step closer. "Is that chimney covered with terra-cotta?"

"It is. You're looking at a very dedicated Queen Anne Victorian, right down to the hunter green with sienna-red trim and burnt-yellow accents."

Melvin gazed at the house for just another moment longer, shaking his head. Then he turned to face Jake.

"My a.s.sociate, Carmelita Hill, from an Atlantic City agency, has set herself up as a temporary resident of the Leprechaun Inn in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. She's contacted the borough police, shown them her credentials, and given them a photograph of Walters."

"How's Ms. Morrison taking the invasion?"

"According to Melly, once the lady knew we also had lots of people protecting her niece and great-nephew here in l.u.s.ty, she was fine with it, if a little disbelieving the service was actually necessary."

"That's good, then. You'll keep us apprised?"

"Absolutely, as developments unfold." Melvin turned and looked down the street. "It looks like a parade coming this way. That's my cue to leave."

Jake grinned, because Melvin's a.s.sessment, as usual, was dead on. It did look as if a parade was coming down the street.

"Right on schedule," Jake said.

"I'll be in touch." The investigator raised a hand in greeting to Adam as he headed back to his car.

His brother had driven his Jeep, instead of the cruiser, likely to allow for extra room for Ginny and Benny's things.

Most of the furniture that had been in her apartment, Jake knew, had been left over from when Kelsey had lived there. That meant that moving Ginny and her son really was just a matter of clothing and smaller items, and likely more than two cars wouldn't have been necessary.

But this was l.u.s.ty, and family liked to get involved in just about every d.a.m.n thing-which is why Adam's car was followed by Morgan's and then his mother's and then Jordan's.

Jake shrugged to himself as he stepped aside so Adam could get the Jeep in the driveway. He waited till the car stopped, and then reached out, and opened Ginny's door.

Their woman's mouth stayed agape as she slowly got out of the car. Her gaze never left the house.

"Well boy howdy, would you just look at this place?"

Benny fairly jumped out of the car and came to stand beside his mother. "Wow, it's like a gingerbread house! Is there a witch inside, do you think?"

Ginny laughed and hugged him. "My goodness, I hope not! It does look like a house out of a storybook, though, doesn't it?"

"The colors are a bit much," Jake conceded. "But they're the original ones Uncle Northrop and Aunt Constance chose for the place when they built it back in the seventies."

"No, I like the colors," Ginny said. "They say something, don't you think?"

Jake did, but he wasn't willing to speculate as to exactly what they said.

The sound of car doors slamming preceded people walking toward them, some carrying bags. Those who were empty-handed began to pull things out of the Jeep. Adam had come around the hood and stood next to Ginny so that they had her between them.

"It's just a house, sweetheart," Adam said.

Morgan walked past them, carrying a suitcase. "It really is just a house, and happy, I'd bet, to no longer be standing empty." He headed inside, as did the rest of his brothers, each carrying things, not waiting for Ginny to enter first-or even for her to catch her breath.

Jake met Adam's gaze, and he had to hold back a laugh.

Likely, the game plan had been to just carry things inside and make the move a done deal before Ginny even set a foot inside the house.

"I've always loved this place." Jake's mother came up to them. He noted the way she very casually put her arm around Ginny and started to walk toward the house with her. "There's lots of room out back for running and playing," she said, "and a swing set with a monkey bars and sandbox that have all been inspected very recently, so they're safe. The house is furnished-you would not believe the warehouse of stuff we have acc.u.mulated over the years. If anything doesn't suit, just let Adam and Jake know. They'll take you over and let you pick your own."

"I'm sure that everything is wonderful," Ginny said.

She looked as if she was about to say something else, but his mother just kept on talking and walking.

"Boys, do you remember those summer cookouts Northrop used to throw here, and with all you kids, there'd inevitably be a baseball game?"

"With him as the only umpire, and always awarding the smallest of us home runs," Jake said, "earned or not."

"I remember." Adam laughed. "Those 'safe' calls used to cheese us off, and he'd just laugh and tell us to man up."

"Good times," his mother agreed.

"It sounds like this is a home that's known a lot of love," Ginny said.

"Yes," Samantha agreed. They'd reached the bottom of the veranda steps. "The house has known some tragedy, too. Northrop's wife pa.s.sed here, just five years after they wed. He never stopped mourning her."

Ginny turned to look at his mother. "It's a lot of house, Samantha, much more than I've ever dreamed of living in."

"Now, sweetheart, you've been here long enough to know that most things in l.u.s.ty are just exactly that-more than one would imagine, and more than anyplace else."

"Yes, ma'am. That is something that I do know." Ginny inhaled deeply, and then looked down at her son. "Well, Benny Rose, what do you say we go inside and take a look at our new house?" She stopped and looked at both Jake and his brother, then back down at her son. "You can go on and run ahead. Get someone inside to show you where your bedroom is. But mind you don't break anything."

"All right!"

Jake could see the excitement bubbling inside Benny, who wasted no time pounding up the porch steps. The screen door banged behind him, and Ginny only sighed and shook her head.

Jake's mother laughed. "Oh, my, that brings back memories. Just imagine, Ginny, having five sons running and slamming!"

"You're truly a remarkable woman, Samantha Kendall," Ginny said. "For myself, I wouldn't be able to guarantee, if I had five sons, that there wouldn't be murder."

Jake knew he wasn't alone in hearing the wistfulness in his mother's voice when she said, "Neither could I, sweetheart. Neither could I."

Ginny felt as if she'd spent the entire evening inside one of those wind tunnels she'd seen on a television show, once. All around her Kendalls and Benedicts and Jessops had been rus.h.i.+ng to and fro, putting her things here and there, filling the cupboards with food, and stocking the linen closets with supplies.

There'd been pizza brought in from the place out by the interstate, and Benny had gleefully discovered that one of his cla.s.smates, Paul Sanchez, lived right next door. Music and laughter had filled the house, and with so many people and so much sound, the place hadn't looked all that big at all.

Ginny Rose was nearly one-hundred percent certain that had been the plan all along.

Benny had crashed around nine, which was a bit later than his school-night bedtime. Morgan had been the closest when Ginny had discovered his tuckered-out little body asleep in the recliner in the front parlor. The big man had merely picked up her son and carried him for her up the stairs to his new bedroom, one of three smaller rooms across the hall from the master suite.

She made quick work of getting him into his pajamas and tucking him under the blankets. She shook her head when she realized someone had thought to bring his treasured Transformers blanket and put it on his bed. He'd turned onto his side, reaching for and finding his favorite toy, Mr. Tusks. The stuffed blue walrus had been a gift from some kind soul all those months before, when her baby had faced that first night in l.u.s.ty without her.

She left him asleep, and went back downstairs to join her guests. She and Jake and Adam all made regular visits upstairs to check on Benny.

Her little man had slept on without even stirring once.

Now the last of the family had left, and the house seemed very large and very quiet. She walked from the front door, where she'd stood until Samantha and her men had driven off, the taillights of their car lost from sight. She shook her head as she realized there wasn't so much as a paper plate or plastic cup left for her to clean up.

And not a single male Kendall in sight.

Ginny closed and locked the front door, and turned off most of the lights. She left one burning in the parlor, in case Benny got up in the middle of the night.

Her baby wasn't used to having stairs, and she wanted to make sure they were visible in the darkness.

She made her way up those stairs now, her heart pounding heavily in her chest. She felt excitement, and antic.i.p.ation, but not fear. Even though she had no idea what would happen next, she did know one thing.

Months before when she'd escaped Deke Walters, she didn't believe she'd ever be able to let a man touch her again. Now she wanted two of them to lay their hands on her.

At the top of the stairs she turned toward the short hall and stopped. There, standing together, were Adam and Jake Kendall. With identical poses, hands in pockets and backs against the wall, they kept their gazes on her and waited.

Benny's room stood between them, and at the door of each of the other two bedrooms was a large duffel bag.

"We want you to know that what happens next is up to you." Adam's slow, deep cadence touched her skin like an electrified feather, sending tiny tingles of excitement everywhere.

"We both want very much for you to share that room, and that bed, with us." Jake's tone, equally thrilling, came just as quietly.

"But if you're not ready for us, sweetheart, we understand. We'll each take one of these bedrooms and sleep here every night, until you are." Adam's words sounded like a vow.

"You can absolutely say no to us, Ginny, if you want to." Jake didn't even send her one of his coaxing smiles, so she knew he meant every word. They both did.

She knew them to be honorable men, and she trusted them with all that she had, and all that she was.

Ginny had made some mistakes in her life, but she'd come to know that just about everyone did, and she'd forgiven herself for most of them. She was a stronger woman than she'd been the first time she'd come to this town. Stronger, and smarter, and yes, a whole lot happier.

She knew exactly what she wanted, and exactly what she needed. And even though another woman might take the next step tentatively, she intended to jump in with both feet.

They said it was all up to her, but they were wrong. She needed one more thing from them both.

"Is that all you have say?" she asked. And then she waited.

Adam straightened slowly and took his hands out of his pockets. He took one half step toward her, and then another. Then he stopped, because he now stood side by side with Jake.

"No," Adam said. "There is one more thing. I love you, Ginny, with all my heart, forever."