“Food first.”
“What kind and where do you want it served?” he asked with the leer of a dirty old man, and Sara laughed.
Later, at a little after seven, while Mike was driving, Sara sent a text to Joce to tell her they’d be home late. She didn’t want the noise to disturb them.
Joce sent back a message that Sara had to read twice to understand. She looked at Mike with wide eyes.
“What is it?”
“You didn’t tell me your grandmother had a younger sister.”
“First I’ve heard of it.”
“She never mentioned her?” Sara asked.
“I was never told of a … what would she be? A great-aunt? Or is it a grandaunt?”
Sara called Joce and asked questions. “Joce says that with aunts and uncles the ‘great’ or ‘grand’ depends on where you’re from, but they mean the same thing.”
As Sara listened to Joce, she looked at Mike and shook her head. After she hung up, she said, “You’re not going to believe this. Joce found out that after your grandmother left Edilean, her younger sister stayed behind and got married.”
“I’m afraid to ask who she married. You and I aren’t first cousins, are we?”
“Noooo,” Sara said, drawing out her news. “She married—get ready—a Frazier.”
“You mean those giants are my relatives?”
“Second cousins.”
Mike groaned. “Now I’m related to Edilean.”
“You are now one of us.” Her voice was gleeful. “Your great-aunt had a baby boy who grew up to be Ariel’s father. Right after she gave birth, she ran off to LA to try to become a movie star. Her husband divorced her and remarried six months later. The second wife is the woman the Fraziers know as their grandmother.”
“What happened to my great-aunt?”
“Joce said she died in LA, but she doesn’t know where or when.”
Mike was having difficulty taking the information in, but he knew Sara was watching him. He was thinking that Tess probably had known about this but had chosen not to tell him. No doubt she thought that the idea of having relatives would keep Mike away forever. “I guess this means Ariel and I can’t get married.”
“You’re already married.” There wasn’t the slightest humor in Sara’s voice.
“That’s right,” he said, smiling. “Are you sure you and I aren’t related? Seventh cousins, maybe?”
“Joce says no. Luke and I are vaguely related to the Fraziers through the male line. You’re attached by the females.”
“Ah, yes, females. That reminds me. Get my jacket from the backseat and look in the pocket.”
Sara reached back, got his jacket, and felt inside. When she came to a hard little square, she stopped. Every woman knew what that was. Slowly, she removed the package, put the jacket back, then sat there holding it. She didn’t open the little blue velvet ring box.
“You don’t want to see what’s inside?”
Sara shook her head no. An engagement ring almost made their marriage seem real. But she knew it was all make-believe. She and Mike had married under false pretenses, and they’d never talked about the future. Once the Vandlos were caught—or even if they escaped capture—Mike would return to Fort Lauderdale and his pretty apartment. In a few years when he left the police force, he’d possibly return to Edilean, but for now…
“Hey!” Mike said gently. “Are you okay? I thought a ring would make you happy. A diamond will make Vandlo more sure you and I are actually married.”
“Yeah, sure,” she said listlessly. “That makes sense.”
“You want to tell me what’s wrong?”