“Their parents partnered to pay for a decent apartment and a nanny so they could get their work done. But really, if you knew Al and Eth, you’d know they’d have figured a way without help. They were driven and organized, knew what they wanted.”
“You knew what you wanted too.” Reading between the lines was a skill every lawyerandcrown prince needed.
“You’re trying to figure me out, aren’t you?”
“Is that so wrong? We started this by saying you knew more about me than I knew of you.”
Gemma didn’t look up from the sleeping puppies, smile, or even smirk. “Althea and Ethan graduated with honors, and she had a job interview in Manhattan. That was her dream, to work and live in the city. She was on cloud nine. Since I first met her, like seventh grade, she said she was going to live in New York, have a high-powered career, then come home to HB and raise her family. While she and Ethan were apartment hunting, she dropped dead of an aneurysm. Ethan was devastated and really never recovered. Her folks were just as torn up. Al was a late-in-life child. Their only child. Ethan and Imani came home for support and he went to work for O’Shay’s.”
“Holland’s death knocked everything out of me,” John said.
“I can imagine.” Gemma’s look of compassion comforted him. “Althea’s father died of a heart attack when Imani was like six or seven. Then Althea’s mother died a few years later. About the same time, Ethan’s father died of a stroke. So, here’s Imani, barely ten years old, and her family is dying all around her. Ethan’s mom connected with a high school classmate and eloped with him to Florida. For Ethan, his life was falling apart, and he lost all of his support. He started battling insomnia. They had a live-in nanny so Ethan would go for long drives in the middle of the night. Then two years ago, just as I was coming home, he died in a single-car crash.”
John sat up and scooted against the wall behind him. He hated how cruel life could be. “I feel so powerless when I hear a story like this one.”
“Imani asked me the other day if she was cursed. I assured her she wasn’t. Not from where I sit anyway. She’s so resilient. So whole, considering everything that’s happened.”
“Because she has you.”
“Not sure that’s in her favor.” Gemma rose up and returned Phoebe and Monica to their siblings. “But I’ll always be there for her. Always.”
For someone so beautiful, who displayed strength and confidence, who loved others well, Gemma did not have a high opinion of herself?
“How’d she come to live with you? After her father died?”
“I’d been home about a month, just bought this place, when he crashed. A lawyer showed up and said I was in his will. If anything happened to him, Imani was to come to me. After Althea died, I vaguely remember him asking me something about being Imani’s guardian. But I didn’t think she’d ever come to me. I figured I was way down on the list after grandparents, family, married friends. Maybe he thought I’d be rich and famous, not, well, what I am.” There it was again. The self-loathing. “Imani was supposed to be living in a gorgeous, big house with successful parents and siblings by now. Instead she lives with me in a broken-down ’70s time capsule and shovels poop from rabbit cages.”
“A little poop shoveling never hurt anyone.” He loved her soft laugh. “Does it matter where she lives as long as you love her? And what’s so wrong with you? You’re a marvelous success. Everyone loves you, speaks well of you.”
“Yeah, that’s because they don’t—” Gemma stretched over her hay bed, flat on her belly, and stared at the sleeping puppies. “Hey, cool, Scottie showed up tonight. At your invitation.”
“I was surprised but glad she did. The relaxed atmosphere made it easier for us to interact. We made an appointment to meet at Java Jane’s. Behold the power of a good film and buttery popcorn.”
“She’ll come around. Give her time. Being a queen’s daughter is a lot to take in.”
“But does she have time? The queen, my mum, has been in the hospital—” He stopped. Blast. The words spilled before he realized they were on his tongue. Gemma had that effect on him. Made him want to speak, share, let her in. Now she regarded him, waiting for more. “She’s been, well, ill. Nothing serious but she spent a few days in the hospital. Mum is young and healthy, so this is just a hiccup, but still, if Scottie ever wants to know her mother… Gemma, do not speak of this to anyone, I beg of you. The Family has not gone public with this development. Not even to the prime minister. No need to alarm the land over nothing.”
“Your secret is safe with me. But is she really going to be all right?”
“Yes.” Spoken with conviction because he needed it to be true. But of course it was. Mum was a rock and a picture of health. “What time is it?” he said. “You should get some sleep. You have work in the morning.” He shifted around so he could refresh his bed of hay. “Go inside, set your alarm for three.”
“I think I’ll bunk out here too. It’s cooled off and—” She sat up and faced the window. “I think it might rain.” The sounds of Hercules and Whinny could be heard in the barn. Little Silver clip-clopped around to peer at the puppies.
“Can I use your facilities? I brought my toothbrush and a change of clothes just in case.”
“No, use the water trough.” Her sober countenance broke. “Of course, you goofball. I’ll go too and change.”
John scratched Silver’s muzzle as he exited. Seeing him, Whinny shied away, trotting back out to the darkness. “You’ll see in the end, ole girl, I’m a good chap.”
At the house, they changed and took turns in the loo. Then walked back to the barn in a comfortable silence, said good night, and just as they were about to douse the lights, thunder clapped and rain scattered over the tin roof.
Silver’s tiny hooves crashed against the center aisle stones and into the puppy stall. She could be heard snorting from a back corner.
“It’s all right, Silver. I’m here,” Gemma said.
“It’s almost as if she’s run to mummy’s room for comfort.”
“But I should take her to her stall. I don’t want her getting too riled and stomp on the cast ofFriends. Come on, sweet girl. I’ll give you a whole apple.”
