“Can I get you a glass of wine?” was her only greeting.
After John made introductions, he and Gemma snacked on hors d’oeuvres while making small talk with Scottie and Trent until a cook announced dinner.
Scottie gave Gemma most of her attention, asking about her years at their high school, time in L.A., and if she knew anyone famous.
“Um, yes, a few people. I was in the Gonda film with Chloe Daschle.Bound by Love.”
“Really, I loved that film. What part did you play?”
“That part that hit the cutting room floor.”
“Oh no, really? I hear that happens a lot. I hope it didn’t make you give up. Is that why you came home?”
“No.”
John paused his sip of wine, waiting.Noand… But Gemma didn’t expound and a bit of the shadow she carried flickered through her eyes.Scottie didn’t press for more but passed around the hors d’oeuvres instead and John asked about her trip to Guatemala.
Dinner was steaks on the grill, baked potatoes, salad, and apple pie made by the grandmother, Shug.
“She wanted to come but I said no.” Scottie passed John a healthy slice of pie.
“Who is Shug again?” Gemma asked.
“Dad’s mom. She raised me.”
The elephant in the room—Scottie being a Blue—never sat up to the table. They talked about her travels—Trent wanted her to experience all she could before the business claimed her time—and her role at O’Shay’s Shirts as vice president of development.
“But I’ve worked in every O’Shay department from the reception desk to shipping to production inspection. I know this business.”
The post-dinner coffee in the living room where a large plate glass window faced the river. Suddenly the conversation fell flat. The elephant, however, doubled in size.
“All right, Dad,” Scottie said, setting her coffee aside. “You called this meeting. Go.”
“Meeting? This is dinner. You’re getting to know your brother.”
John sat forward. “May I speak?” He’d waited long enough. “Scottie, the queen, Mum, would like very much to meet you.”
“Then why are you here and she is not?”
If he was going to get anywhere with this mission, Scottie had to stop asking the obvious.
“Now it’s my turn to speak.” Trent sat on the edge of his seat, coffee cup in hand. “You two should spend time together, get to know each other. Scottie, I’m not going to be around forever, and I’d like to think you had family around you. Siblings. Nieces and nephews.”
“I’ll be an old, crotchety lady by the time you depart this earth. Don’t worry about me. And if you wanted me to have siblings, you should’ve married and had more children.”
“That’s another story.” Trent peered at John and Gemma. “I’m going to treat you two like trusted friends here so don’t let me down.”
“Of course,” John said.
“I was never here.” Gemma.
“I’m fifty-nine,” Trent said more to Scottie than John and Gemma. “As you noted, I never married, never gave you siblings. I was consumed with work and raising you. There was a part of me that wondered if, maybe hoped, Catherine would come around one day and want to see you. If so, I didn’t see a wife and children fitting into a semi-royal life. I didn’t want a stepmom to claim any of your affections.”
Was Trent still in love with his mother? Oh the human heart. So beguiling, so bewitching, so betraying.
“So you want John to be my brother? And the other guy. What’s his name?”
“Gus,” John answered softly, but he felt quite sure Scottie knew every name in the Blue family.
