All of a sudden, a memory sparked in Xavier’s brain of him sitting at a grand table drinking tea while being surrounded by an array of teacups, saucers, and a light-brown teddy bear he’d named Kodiak. He had a strong feeling the afternoon tea had taken place inside this very house.
How could he have stuffed those memories down for such a long period of time? He knew this place. Xavierhad believed that a lot of his memories of Moose Falls had evaporated way back when. Gone in a puff of smoke. Over the years he’d struggled to recall details about his hometown and the years he’d spent here. Sadly, many of his memories revolved around the fighting and tension between his parents that precipitated their departure from Alaska. That ugliness had been seared into his soul. But there had been joyful times. He wondered if the trauma of leaving Moose Falls and having to build a new life in Arizona had short-circuited his recollections. Now that he was back, the warm and fuzzy memories were creeping back to him.
“We played hide-and-seek here. The dumbwaiter was my favorite hiding spot,” Caleb said as he gazed at the house. His expression was shuttered so that Xavier couldn’t read his emotions, but he sensed he was also dealing with childhood remembrances.
“I remember making gingerbread cookies,” Landon added, grinning. “With lots of icing.”
Both of them appeared as surprised as he was at the memories that were flooding back to them. Not once had the three of them ever discussed this house, Hattie, or their life in Moose Falls. It was only as he stood a mere fifty feet from the entrance that Xavier realized there had been a code of silence among him and his brothers throughout the years. Not the healthiest way to deal with the past, he realized. No wonder their lives were a hot mess.
Once they stepped inside the house, they smelled the fragrance of lemons wafting in the air. Another memory kicked in. Lemons sitting in big glass bowls. He and his brothers had gotten in trouble one time for using the lemons as footballs inside the house. Even as a small kid, Xavier had dreamed of football glory. He tried to shake off all the cobwebs and focus on the present.
Jacques led them to a room with large bay windows, gleaming hardwood floors, and shelves upon shelves of books.
“Sweetness,” Landon said, looking around the room with wide eyes. Landon had never met a library he hadn’t fallen in love with on first sight. Xavier knew his brother was geeking out about the fact that their grandmother had an in-house library stocked with hundreds of books. After all Landon had been through as of late, it made Xavier happy to see Landon so excited about something. For months Xavier’s youngest brother had barely been able to get out of bed after getting the boot from Abbott Laboratories. He never wanted to see him so down in the dumps again.
“Would you boys… I mean gentlemen… like a beverage?” Jacques asked.
“I think we’re good on drinks,” Xavier responded. “If it’s easier for us to go to Hattie, we can do that.” If she was bedridden, he didn’t want their grandmother to exert herself coming downstairs to welcome them. That wouldn’t feel right at all.
A smile tugged at the corners of Jacques’s lips. “That’s not possible at the moment. She hasn’t gotten back yet.”
The brothers exchanged a glance. “She’s not here?” Landon asked. A tinge of outrage laced his tone. Xavier knew all three of them were thinking the same thing. They had traveled all this way at Hattie’s request, yet she wasn’t at the house to greet them.
“No worries. Her plane just landed,” Jacques explained. “It won’t be long now.”
“Where was she?” Caleb asked, blurting out the question Xavier himself wanted to ask.
“She was attending a blackjack tournament,” Jacques said, wiggling his eyebrows. “In Vegas.”
A shocked gasp slipped past Landon’s lips. Caleb tried to hide a chuckle behind his palm. Xavier didn’t know what to think. If Hattie was so sick, what was she doing gambling at casinos? He wasn’t judging her at all, but the plot was thickening right before his eyes. In all his communications with Hattie, she’d made it sound as if she was waiting on pins and needles for their arrival in Moose Falls. Maybe that wasn’t the case after all. Doubt began to creep in. Were they being punked?
His mother’s words rang in his ears.Be careful. Don’t take everything at face value. Everyone has an agenda.
Jacques excused himself, leaving Xavier, Landon, and Caleb in the cavernous library by themselves.
“Vegas?” Xavier asked as soon as they were alone, looking back and forth between his brothers. “I didn’t have that on my Alaska bingo card.”
“I kind of love it,” Caleb said, walking over to the sofa and sinking down onto it. “She’s clearly a woman who seeks out adventure.”
“Unless of course she has a gambling problem,” Landon said, quirking his mouth.
“You always go from zero to a hundred in a split second,” Caleb said, shaking his head reproachfully at Landon.
Landon shrugged. “Don’t be a hater. It’s a proven fact that smarter people think faster.” He began to scan the books on the shelves, making a whistling sound as he ran his fingers along the spines.
Caleb let out a groan and slapped his hand to his forehead. “Ugh. Here we go again. You always have to point out that you’re the smartest one in the room. Big deal. You’re a nerd.”
Landon turned around and scowled at Caleb. “Itisa big deal!”
Caleb scoffed. “Toyou. Not for the rest of us. We don’t care.”
“Will the two of you knock it off? The bickering is getting really old,” Xavier spat out. “You’re giving me a headache.” He took a deep breath. “This is a really stressful situation, so we have to keep our eyes on the prize and try to dial back the infighting. It’s been a really long day, and we’re all a bit on edge.”
“Sorry,” Landon mumbled, his expression sheepish.
“Sorry,” Caleb added, nodding in Landon’s direction.
For a second, Xavier flashed back to childhood when the fights had been fast and furious, usually over something mundane.
