Kenton (23 page)

“All I did was hold her back when the police tried to arrest her grandfather. She

would have been most upset if they’d arrested her too.” Kenton nodded. “Did you ever

think that Baldwin would only get a slap on the wrist for killing Anderson? I mean, it

was self-defense and all, but fuck man, he killed his own child. You think that had

anything to do with his untimely death?”

Her grandfather had died in his sleep a week after the funeral of Anderson. Kenton

thought the man had been poisoned, or at the very least had poisoned himself. But he

was gone now, and because Emma was his only living relative, she had inherited his

wealth as well as that of her father. Along with a list of places that he’d stashed money

in the event he had to run, he’d also left Emma the keys to several safety deposit boxes

that were also filled with old coins and other relics that had a receipt attached to each

one of them. The man had been busy in the last days of his life. Kenton’s wife was the

wealthiest woman in the world right now, according to most newspapers, and it

seemed to matter as little to her as it did to him. Kenton thought Emma was the most

broken too. This had been terribly hard on her.

“About the houses…I’ll think about them both. I want them, but I don’t know what

I’d do with them either.” Kenton said nothing. Jorden would take them if for no other

reason than Emma would bully him into it. “I have a big show coming up in a two

months. Are you still going to be able to get away to go with me?”

“I am. I’ve been looking forward to this as much as you have.” Kenton leaned back

in his chair, shoving the file away for another time. “You’ve really made a name for

yourself. I’m really proud of you.”

Emma wasn’t going to go with them on this trip. This was just him and his brothers,

as it had been in the past. She was going to spend time with his mom and a project that

the two of them were cooking up. He had a feeling that it was literally that, cooking.

Emma was the best cook he’d ever seen, and she loved it more than any other chef he’d

met. She was making her famous pumpkin pecan cobbler for them for dinner tonight,

as a matter of fact.

The trip was going to be epic this year, Kenton knew. Every year, at one of Jorden’s

shows, the six of them would get together and have a blast, spending the entire time

flirting and getting drunk and eating some of the best local food they could find. This

time was no different, other than it was in Paris and not here in the States, and Kenton’s

flirting days were over.

As he knew he would, Jorden waved him off about the compliment. When he stood

up, Kenton took a moment to look down at the file in front of him and nearly laughed

as he, too, stood to leave the offices. It was his last patient for a while. He and Emma left

in a few days for their honeymoon. They were setting sail on a month-long cruise, and

that was another reason she wanted to settle up the wills from her family. He had a few

surprises for her there too. Kenton liked being a romantic, as Emma was fond of calling

him.

They were just turning to go out the door when Jorden turned to him with a grin.

“Okay, I’ll take the house and the Basher building. I don’t know what the asking price is

on the house, but I’ll take it.” Kenton nodded and made a mental note to remember to

tell his mom she owed him ten bucks. She said he’d never go for it, and Kenton said he

would. “What is the asking price?”

“Before I answer that, what sort of change do you have in your pocket?” Jorden

said nothing and reached into his pocket and showed him the sixty-seven cents he’d

had in his pocket, along with a drawing of some woman on a napkin and a rubber

band. “That’s the asking price. Congratulations, you own a home.”

“You can’t be serious. Less than a buck and you’re selling me two places that I’ve

wanted for ten years? You guys can’t do that.” Kenton told him they were and that they

neither one needed the money, so that was how they’d decided to sell them. “But she’s

going to have to pay taxes on it. I mean, inheritance taxes are a bitch.”

“They are, but no. All the houses were in her name before their deaths. I don’t

know how they managed that, but she owned them before each man passed away. Her

father explained it as he’d owed her so much more than he could leave her, and

Baldwin just did it. He’d hired a new attorney too, just before he left to see us that day

that Anderson died.” Jorden asked him if he was upset over the way that Emma was

giving away the houses. “No, we talked it over, and she asked me what I thought about

giving them to you. I told her that you wouldn’t just take it and neither would the

others. She’d have to sell it to you or you’d turn her down. No matter how much you

wanted it. But she’ll be thrilled that you are taking it. Do you want the furniture that

she leaves behind too?”

“I don’t have any more change.” Kenton laughed and told him that they had no use

for six more houses of furniture. “Yes. Whatever I don’t want, I’ll let her know. She

can…I don’t know, donate it, I guess. Or sell it. I understand that her dad collected

antiques like most men do women. Is she going to open a shop up? That might be the

perfect way to get rid of a lot of this stuff too.”

“Yes, the house is full of them. Her old bedroom had been converted into a holding

room. I think there were several hundred paintings in there when we did a

walkthrough. Most of those have receipts on them so that she wouldn’t be accused of

stealing them. The ones that didn’t have been put into storage until such time as they

can figure it out. But she’s donated a large portion of those to the local library to hang

on the wall. She said that even small towns need a little culture.” Jorden asked if he

could look them over. “Yes. She said that whatever you want, just let her know. They’re

yours too. Oh, and I’m supposed to ask you about a piece that she saw on the brochure

that you had printed. The large vase that has a dragon on the front of it. Are you selling

it at the next art show?”

“It’s hers, tell her. When I made it, I hadn’t met her, but then when it was fired, I

knew she was going to get it. Tell her that…tell her that she needs to remember each

time she sees it that she is our dragon queen. Your wife, she’s very generous. I would

say stupid if it were anyone but her, but why is she doing this for us?” Kenton could

have told him that she wanted them to have everything, but he doubted that his brother

would believe him. “Is it because she loves us?”

“It is. Most of it anyway.” Kenton opened his car door but didn’t bother getting in

yet. He wanted to talk to Jorden more, needed to, he thought. Jorden would listen, he

knew, and not judge. Kenton wondered what he’d say if he told him the real reason that

Emma was doing this, and knew that he could trust his brother to not make fun of her.

“What if I told you that she was doing it so you’d love her? That she has it in her head

that to give you this means that you might really love her?”

Jorden paused in mid-step and asked him if he was serious. Kenton assured him

that he was. His brother looked angry at first. Then he laughed. Kenton had to smile;

Jorden had a very infectious laugh.

“Does she have any idea how much…well, I guess she doesn’t or she’d not do this.

You do know that we all love her like a sister, right? And that any and all of us would

die for her? Hell, I’d die for both of you if necessary.” Kenton told him that was the

point. “I don’t understand.”

“She wants you to love her like she’s your friend. Having brotherly love, like the

one she had before, hasn’t gotten her very far. I don’t even think she’s sure how to love

a brother. Not like you guys anyway. Emma thinks that with her background, and the

way things have turned out about her family, that you guys are going to think I got the

short end of the stick and that you only tolerate her because of me.” Jorden asked what

he meant. “Her brother, as you know, was a fucking piece of shit. Her mother lied about

her death and tried to kill her. Her grandfather had ties with some very scary people,

and her dad was a loan shark, and not in the nicest sort of way. She has never had

anyone other than me to love her for what she is. You guys, she loves you very much,

but she has no idea how to show you. I think this is her way of telling you how much

you mean to her.”

“I see. So we should take the houses and keep our mouths shut? That is, if we want

to keep her happy and to show that we love her? You know that’s just stupid. We all do

love her.” Kenton told him that would be a start, and that it wasn’t him that had to be

convinced. “You’re right. Because as of right now, I’m going to make sure she never

doubts how much she means to me. Not for the rest of her life.”

“Good for you.” Kenton put his arm around his brother’s shoulder and told him

that he did truly love him as well.

“I love you too, old man. And you can buy me dinner. I know for a fact that Emma

is having dinner with her new mother-in-law—namely our mom—and we should go

and save her. Also, if we save her, maybe she’ll let us all have some of her cobbler when

we get back. Maybe if I asked her nicely, she’ll make me some more of those macaroons

too. Christ, a man could die happily eating those until he went into a coma.” Kenton

knew that she had already baked him the cookies and that they were right now in the

kitchen of his apartment. “Really, we should go and have dinner with the rest of the

family. I’ll contact them while you drive. It’ll be fun.”

“You should taste her chocolate chip ones. Or the strawberry fest, she calls it. I’m

telling you, I’m going to have to join a gym soon if she keeps cooking like she is. But in

answer to your question, the rest of the family is already meeting at the new restaurant

in town, and you’re the guest of honor. And since you got your new house so cheap,

you could pick up the check.” They were still laughing as they got into his car.

Kenton loved his family very much and could not wait for them to find their other

halves. Because there was little doubt in his mind that they were coming, and soon.

According to Dragon, the next one was on her way now.

~~~

Jasmine watched the bidding on the box of what she could only determine was

junk. But as she’d learned over the last few years, one person’s junk was another one’s

treasure. Her own business thrived on that. When the man lifted up the next three

boxes, she made her way to the other end of the table to wait for the bidding to be over.

The lot that she was interested in was next.

Things had turned out so different than she’d wanted for her life. Her marriage had

failed big time. Her ex-husband had left her pregnant and alone for the most part. Even

before the ink had been dried on the paperwork he was staying with them less and less,

only coming into their lives when he wanted something or needed a place to flop. So

just a few months ago, just before it all went to shit, she’s filed divorce papers. But by

then she’d lost her home, her car, and any savings that she’d had after that just trying to

keep their head above water. Jasmine hated more than anything that she’d ended up

drowning no matter what she’d done.

Then her grannie had gotten sick too. And even before Jasmine and her son could

move in to help her out, some large corporation had come in and bought up the condo

she was living in, and they were all out on their asses again. It had been a real struggle

for them for a while, and still was some months, but they were together and that was

what was important.

As she stood there thinking about her lot in life, she was bumped from behind hard

enough to shift the several glass pieces in front of her. The auctioneer glanced her way

and winked, but didn’t pause in what he was saying, the gibberish that only people in

this business ever understood.

Jasmine didn’t like the big auction houses. Nor did she care for the house auctions

that were all neatly boxed up and put on the lawn in order of whatever the auctioneer

thought of as sets. Books all together, records all in a line with the stereos and radios

found throughout the house. Some of them even went so far as to make the beds up

they were selling, as if someone gave a crap about how neat it was.

She liked this kind. Where the company running the auction would go in, empty

out the drawers or table tops, and dump it all willy-nilly in a box or two. Then when

they took it outside, they put it there and moved to find another box to set out. She got

some of her best deals at those types of sales.

She moved closer to the table when the bidding stopped on the boxes. It was time.

Her lot was up. There were several pieces in the one box that she wanted, and nothing

more than some office supplies in the other two. Things she might be able to use, but