He gave her a look of astonishment and shook his head. “Remind me never to play poker with you. What did I do to give myself away?”
“I don’t know. There just seems to be something serious in your eyes today. And from what I gather, taking me out here on a second date is out of character for you.”
“The curses of living in a town where people know me,” he said, but he didn’t smile. “I haven’t been to bed all night. My father and I stayed up, and he told me what I’ve come to think of as the Great Family Secret.”
“And now you have to share it with me? Is it as bad as all that?”
“Maybe,” Ramsey said, looking away from her. “It depends on how you take it.”
“So tell me,” she said.
He filled a plate with food and took his time before saying anything. “Miss Edi and my grandfather were great friends, and they exchanged letters until he died. Even when I was a little kid, he read the letters to me, and as he got older, I read them to him. Miss Edi used to write a lot about you. She was proud of your intelligence, but she never mentioned what a good observer of people you are.”
She was watching him intently. If he’d read letters written by Miss Edi, then he must know a lot about her, Jocelyn. That he knew so much about her was a shock. She tried to quieten her pounding heart. Did he have something truly awful to tell her? “I had to be nearly clairvoyant to survive the Steps.”
Ramsey smiled. “My dad and I followed their career,” he said. “From their first catalog work all the way to Milan. Are they as horrible as Miss Edi said they were?”
“Much worse,” Jocelyn said impatiently. “Is what you have to tell me so bad that you can’t get the words out?”
“There is no money,” he said quickly.
“No money?”
“Last night my father told me that you get the house, but there is no money with it. None at all.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “I mean, I wasn’t really expecting millions, but Miss Edi lived quite well. I can support myself, but that house will need maintenance.”
“I know,” Ramsey said softly, “and I—my family, that is—will help you with that. But there isn’t any money. As for Miss Edi’s expenses…” He shrugged.
“How long was she without funds?”
“She was self-supporting until she moved to Florida. After that, the house in Edilean and all the work she did for the town were paid for. And Bertrand’s expenses.”
“Who paid for her house in Florida and her charity work there?”
“My grandfather.”
“And he would be…?”
“Alexander McDowell.”
Jocelyn looked at the stream for a while and thought about all she’d heard in the last few days. “Lissie’s husband?” she asked softly.
“Did Miss Edi tell you about him?”
“Not a word. She didn’t tell me about Edilean, much less anyone who lived here. I didn’t know she owned a huge old house, didn’t know—” She had to take a few breaths to calm herself. “Miss Edi mentioned Alex and Lissie McDowell in the letter she left me with her will, and Sara mentioned a Lissie who married the ‘richest man in town’ so I put it together.”
“Her great-aunt,” Ramsey said under his breath.
“What?”
“Lissie was Sara’s great-aunt. She married my grandfather at the beginning of World War II, and from what I can piece together it all started just before then.”
“What started?” Joce asked, looking at him, and she could see the strain on his face. He hated telling her all this. She smiled at him. “Come on, lighten up! I was poor yesterday and I’m still poor. So what? I never expected any financial reward from Miss Edi, so there’s no disappointment.”
When he turned to her, he looked so relieved that she poured him a cup of juice and handed it to him. “I wish it were wine.”
“Me too.”