Several of Bella’s employees refused to come to work, and she’d fired two who had talked to the press. The newspapers loved splashing Sara’s name around for the second time. They spoke of “romance writers” as though they were filth, as the lowest of the low.
When Jack saw the women huddled together, he knew they were concocting some plan. Byon, annoyed at being excluded, said he was going upstairs to write.
“No you’re not,” Jack said. “We are going to help Bella. We’re going to do some repairs, so you need to put on work clothes.”
Byon made a face. “What happened to your being in awe of me? When we met, you were so nervous you could hardly speak. I liked that.”
Jack gave a one-sided grin. “You know that saying about familiarity. Go change and meet us in the kitchen in ten minutes.”
Clive also complained about Jack’s bossiness. “I had years of servitude here. Damned if I’ll do another thing for this place.”
“Sara will take photos of you working on construction. Adds a dimension to your character. Makes you ‘one of the people.’ Don’t you think your bosses in London will like that?”
Clive blinked a couple of times. “Give me five minutes.” He took off running.
They spent the day repairing one of the outbuildings on Oxley. Chris knew how to do everything, and Jack invited him to Florida to work for him.
“I’m staying in Australia,” he said. “My moms have made the decree.”
“So you’re ruled by the hens? Staying in with them?” Byon stopped. “That’s a good title. ‘In with the Hens.’” He hummed a bit.
Jack picked up the tune and hummed it too.
Chris surprised them by coming up with words. “To pay for my sins with the hens.”
Clive was silent for a while, then he sang a bit in a baritone.
“I had no idea you had a voice,” Byon said.
“No one ever asked me to join in. I could have—”
The booing from the other men stopped him.
“Time to give it up, old man,” Chris said.
“Yes, your lordship,” Clive answered.
Chris’s eyes widened. “Never thought of that.”
“If your parents had married,” Byon said, “you’d have the title now.”
“How about a DNA test?” Jack asked. “It would prove that he’s Nicky’s heir.”
Clive and Byon groaned.
“You start checking for true fatherhood and the British aristocracy will collapse,” Byon said. “It’s all based on legal marriages, not who shagged whom.”
Jack and Chris looked at each other and laughed.
By the end of the day they’d made progress on the building. “Tomorrow we work on the roof,” Jack said.
“We’ll do Sound of Music,” Byon said. “The roof will be our mountains.”
They went in the house through the kitchen. It was a pleasant place without Mrs. Aiken there. A pot of beef stew was bubbling, homemade bread was on the table, a note from Kate beside it.
Beer in the fridge. Thank Puck for all of this. We women are busy.
The men sat down in their dirty clothes and ate it all.