“Wow, can you swim in it?”
Sheldon looked amused. “Of course you can.”
“Ari, Sheldon is my brother. He used to live here at the Kendall. That’s how he’s your uncle.”
“Do you have children?” Ari asked, swinging his attention to Sheldon.
Sheldon shook his head. “No, we never had children.”
Jace knew he was thinking of Laura again. He wondered why the two had not had children. He knew Laura wanted them. She had a couple of sisters who were married and she had wanted a family, too. Jace was unsure what his brother thought about children. Sheldon had never shared those thoughts with him. Sheldon had rarely shared anything with him.
“Oh,” Ari looked down as if he was disappointed.
“But...” Sheldon offered him hope. “I have a friend named Christian. He’s older than you are. He’s nine.”
“I’m going to be nine,” Ari stated.
“You’re going to be five,” Jace corrected.
“I’m sure Christian would love to meet you. He hasn’t been around any horses. Maybe you could show him how to ride.”
Ari’s face lit up. He twisted around and looked at Jace, his top lip coated with orange juice. “Can I, Dad?”
“I think so,” Jace said.
Jace looked at his brother. He was unsure if this was real or a trick. If it was a trick, Sheldon was good, since Jace was falling for his lines. Sheldon had apologized and was ready to walk out the door only hours after he’d arrived. He said nothing about where he was staying or how long he would be in Maryland. Jace wasn’t sure of a lot things, but for now he’d wait and see.
“Can we go get him today?” Ari asked with enthusiasm.
“He lives a long way from here, Ari,” Jace said.
“Can we go tomorrow?”
Jace smiled at him.
Sheldon spoke up. “I’d like it if you would come to see me. I live in a small bungalow with only one bedroom, but I’m sure we could rough it for a few days. It’s right on the beach and there’s an arcade close by.”
“What’s an arc...arc...?”
“Arcade,” Sheldon supplied. “It’s a place with a lot of games that kids like to play.”
“Video games?” Ari’s eyes opened wide. Video games were heaven to him.
Sheldon nodded. “Christian loves video games. He’s got a lot of them at his house. I’m sure he’d let you play with them.”
“Wow,” Ari said.
* * *
THE ORANGE JUICE bottle was emptied with a loud gurgle. Ari went inside to recycle the plastic bottle. He ran back to the door and swung it open.
“Dad, can we ride the horses?”
“Not on visitors’ day,” Jace repeated the rule he’d established during their first open house.
“Okay, I’m going to find Kelly,” he announced and tore away before Jace could say anything. “I want to tell her about the arcade.”
“Is he always that fast?” Sheldon asked.
Jace nodded.
“You must be very proud,” Sheldon said. He stood up then and went to the edge of the porch.
“I am,” Jace said, joining him. Jace walked down the steps and across the path that led to the stables. His brother followed.
“Where’s his mother?” Sheldon asked.
“Dead,” Jace replied.
“I’m sorry. I suppose we’ve both lost a wife.”
“We were never married,” Jace said without further explanation. He’d let Sheldon think what he would.
They reached the stables and took a moment to look in on the horses. “Only two,” Sheldon said.
“For the time being. There’ll be more,” Jace told him.
“I suppose it takes time to get everything back to the way it was,” Sheldon said.
Jace agreed, but said nothing. He went beyond the stables to the fence that lined the property.
“Tell me about Laura,” Jace said. So far no one had told him the entire story of what had happened to her.
“Laura died four years ago,” he said. “Jace, I didn’t mean to steal her—”
“Don’t.” Jace put his hand up so his brother wouldn’t continue. “Don’t apologize. As long as we’re saying things we should have said ages ago, I want you to know I no longer hold it against you for marrying Laura. I know now that I liked Laura, liked her a lot, but I wasn’t really in love with her.” He knew what he felt for Kelly was much stronger than anything he’d felt for Laura.
“When I saw you two together, your love shone so bright, even I could see it. But I was so angry with you for the years of hurt, that Laura was just the final straw.”
“Thanks for that,” Sheldon said. “It’s weighed heavily on my mind for years.” Jace turned toward Sheldon. “Where did you go?” Sheldon asked. “After the wedding? After you left here.”
“I don’t remember a lot of it,” Jace said. “I bummed around, drank. I was in Germany and Italy for a while.”
Sheldon glanced at him.
“I surfaced in Greece, dirty and out of money. Then I signed on to a freighter and ended up in South America. In Colombia I got a job as an engineer for a water company. I stayed for three years.”
“Why did you come back?”
“The Kendall is my home.” Jace stated it matter of factly, without emotion. “And Ari needed better medical care. We returned a couple of months ago. Kelly took us in and gave me a job.”
“She told me you were no longer here.”
“I’m not. The job ended.” Jace was embarrassed to admit why he’d been asked to go.
“Is Ari very ill? He doesn’t look it.”
“He’s not ill at all. The diagnosis in Colombia was incorrect. He had some allergies, but he’s a healthy boy and he loves horses.”
Sheldon smiled. Jace realized that was probably the first smile he could ever remember on his brother’s face, except where Laura was concerned.
“How long were you with Ari’s mother?”
It appeared his brother was trying to make up for the years they hadn’t been in touch, in a short space of time.
“Never was. Ari is not my biological child. I adopted him. His mother died in an explosion. She saved Ari by throwing him to me. I couldn’t find any relatives of the boy, so I adopted him.”
Again Sheldon smiled and nodded. Jace had the feeling his half brother was approving of his actions. This was new. Sheldon differed with all his decisions, even if it was just to be contrary. Time had changed more than his appearance. He was a different man inside and out.
“So, how did she die?” Jace asked, returning to the story of Laura.
“Breast cancer. She had surgery, chemo, radiation, but in the end nothing could save her. Her last days were awful, she was in so much pain, the morphine offered only some respite.” Jace could see Sheldon was struggling with telling the story. Even now his brother loved Laura. “When Laura died, I lost all interest in doing anything.”
Sheldon’s voice was full of sorrow.
“I wasn’t a good manager of the Kendall anyway. I’d never been good at it.”
Jace remembered the books he’d seen and how the Kendall had been losing money for years.
“While Laura was here, she was the one who kept things on track. She was the better manager. But after her death, everything went to ruin.” He took a moment to glance at the barn. “But it appears Ms. Ashton has put a lot of the glory back in the house and grounds.”
“She’s trying to make the place self-sustaining. That’s why there are so many people in the house today. She opens it to the public once a week, collecting fees to pay for upkeep. I was against it at first, but I realize it couldn’t be done without some sort of compromise, and Kelly is doing a great job.”
“It’s good to see it like this. When I left it was practically falling apart. I’m amazed at what she’s accomplished.”
Jace scanned the area, too. There was a lot that was different now. But it was good different.
He knew some of Kelly’s plans for the future. He had hoped maybe he and Ari could be a part of them, but that was no longer on the cards.
* * *
KELLY HAD TOO much going on with the open house to worry about what was happening between Jace and Sheldon. Yet she couldn’t concentrate on anything else. One of the guides had a mishap, though, and Kelly had to take on leading his tour group.
Throughout the day she’d handled question after question about everything from the china and wall coverings, to when the house had central heating installed—the answer to that one, the 1920s.
She was relieved when five o’clock arrived and the last guests left the gift shop and returned to the parking lot.
Curious to know how the conversation between Jace and Sheldon was going, she went in search of the two brothers. It wasn’t long before Kelly heard male voices on the back porch. She couldn’t help herself, she went to the kitchen and gathered a tray and added iced tea, a couple of sandwiches and several tea cakes that were becoming a specialty of the Kendall. At the screen door, she listened for any sign that Jace and Sheldon might be arguing. Instead of a fight, she could hear laughing. Balancing the tray with one hand, she pressed on the door and stepped outside.
Jace twisted around in his chair and looked at her. Immediately, he was on his feet and coming forward to take the tray. Sheldon made room on the table at which they were sitting and Jace placed it there.