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“I used to come by here on my way home from school,” Kelly said. “I saw you a few times, but of course, your reputation was known even in Short Hills.”
He swallowed, remembering the rebellious young man he’d once been. He had good reason, but there was no need to burden her with it. “I’m no longer that person.”
“I understand. I’m a different person from the little girl who used to live in Short Hills. When I left there, I moved to New York. If Short Hills didn’t teach me self-protection, the city did.
“I thought you’d kidnapped Ari and fled Colombia. And that I was now harboring a fugitive.”
Jace stared at her for a long moment. Then a bubble of laughter pushed into this throat and he smiled. Unable to stop it, the laughter poured from him. She smiled a little in response, but didn’t join him in the merriment that gripped him. He didn’t tell her what he’d been thinking.
“I suppose, from your point of view, it might look like that.” He could hardly get the sentence out. It was absurd that he’d kidnapped Ari. Ari came into his life due to crazy circumstances and there was nothing else he could do short of abandoning the child.
Adopting a child wasn’t ever his first instinct, though now that he had Ari, he hated being apart from him, even for a moment.
“Well, what was it like then?”
She was a hard cookie, Jace thought. Sure she had grown up in a rough area, but he bet he could match her experience for experience. Jace shook his head.
“I have all our important papers in the car. I’ll get them if you want to see them.”
He turned to go.
“That won’t be necessary,” she said, halting him in his tracks. “Does he know?” She glanced at Ari, still sitting outside.
“He knows. He doesn’t remember his parents. His father abandoned them when Ari was born. His mother worked in a cocaine factory.”
Kelly gasped.
Jace watched her. “I didn’t know her, didn’t know there was a cocaine factory until later. I’d seen her once or twice, but we’d never spoken.”
Just as she’d done last night, she opened the refrigerator and pulled out the makings of a meal.
“Would you like breakfast or lunch?” she asked.
“You don’t have to cook for me.”
“I know,” she said. “But you’ve traveled for two days and slept for the better part of another, I assume you’re hungry.”
“Isn’t there a cook, a housekeeper? When my father was alive, there was a full staff to take care of the place.”
“Things have changed,” she said flatly. “Now, breakfast or lunch?”
“I think we need to talk,” he said.
“Lunch,” she answered.
Unlike last night, when she’d made him a sandwich, today she pulled a tray out of the refrigerator and popped it into the oven. Then she forked spaghetti onto a plate, added sauce and placed it in the microwave.
“Ari, time to wash your hands.” She called him from the screen door. Her voice was soft and sweet and again Jace thought there was something familiar about her. He chalked it up to the red hair and pushed the thought aside.
Opening the oven door, she pulled out the tray, which he could see now contained garlic bread. The bell rang on the microwave signaling it had completed its flash-heating of food. Soon the three of them were seated at the table with piping hot garlic bread, salads and steaming plates of pasta.
Ari ate hungrily, shoveling food into his mouth as if he hadn’t eaten in days.
“Slow down, Ari,” Jace cautioned.
“This is really good,” he said, swallowing an amount that was too large for his mouth. “It’s nothing like yours.”
Kelly laughed. “I guess we both get insulted today.”
“Can I say that?” Ari looked at Jace.
“Say what?”
“Insulted? Is it a bad word?”
“It’s not a bad word, but you need to know when to use it,” Jace explained. “So for now, don’t say it.”
With a nod, he went back to his meal. Jace looked up at Kelly. Her gaze was soft as she stared at him. Jace had seen those eyes before. He glanced down at his food. What he had to tell her was hard enough. With her looking at him like that, it was too much.
“Dad, this isn’t a hotel, is it?” Ari’s mind jumped like lightning from subject to subject. “It doesn’t look like the other hotel.”
“This isn’t a hotel, Ari.”
“Our apartment at home wasn’t this old.”
“No. It wasn’t. This house is very old, constructed so long ago, even I wasn’t around when it was built.”
Ari continued eating. Kelly liked their banter, but she didn’t join in the conversation.
Ari finished eating and quickly stood up. “May I go?” he asked. “I want to play some more.”
Jace looked at Kelly. She nodded.
“Stay close to the house,” he said. “This is a big farm. I don’t want you getting lost.”
“I won’t,” he said and rushed out the door and down the back steps. Jace could see he was happy here. He was still in the explorer mode. Everything was new, different and exciting for him. He hadn’t had time to get homesick yet.
“I apologize,” Kelly said.
“For what?” Jace brought his attention back to her.
“For my thoughts. Obviously, you and Ari have a special relationship. And he’s not a kidnapped child.”
“Apology accepted.”
“Now, you wanted to talk about something,” she said. She crossed her arms on the end of the table and gave him her full attention. “Talk.”
“I want my home back.”
* * *
KELLY HAD DEALT with difficult clients before. She’d worked for a marketing firm in New York City and everyone at the firm thought they were more important than anyone else. Among other things, she’d learned to steel her features. She remained where she was, refusing to show how upset she was over Jace’s statement. His eyes were clear and there was no joke in his comment. He was serious.
“I’m afraid that is not an option,” she said calmly. “The house was sold and the deed duly recorded. You can check the county records if you wish. The courthouse is—” She didn’t get any further.
“I know where the courthouse is,” he snapped.
“Don’t speak to me like that, Jason.” She intentionally used his given name, hoping it brought her point home. “I bought this property free and clear. Your brother had run it into the ground, selling off anything and everything he could. He hadn’t paid the taxes in more years than your son is old. I came along and saved it. And I am spending everything I can beg, borrow or steal to make it a going operation. So don’t come in here and tell me you’re planning to force me out. It isn’t going to happen.” She took a breath. “I offered you one night’s lodging. Well, you’ve had it. You can pack your things and move on. You are no longer welcome here.”
Kelly stood up and took her coffee cup to the sink.
“Kelly. You misunderstood me.”
She turned around. Jace was now standing within feet of where she was.
“Your words seemed pretty clear to me.” Kelly understood that he was back-peddling. What did he expect her reaction to be? Should she just curl up and let him take away everything she’d done in the past two years? She was preparing to open the house to the public and take income from the tours. Sometime in the future, she’d bring back the horses and build a racetrack. Every penny she had was invested in this farm. She had to succeed. Failure was not an option. Not this time.
“I’d like to keep an eye on Ari. Would you mind if we took a walk outside?”
“Okay.”
Falling in step, they began to walk, going to the back porch and watching Ari as he played hide and seek with the open barn door.
“Is he all right over there?” Jace asked.
Kelly heard the fatherly concern in his voice. She thought of her own father. With all his faults, he loved his daughter.
“We’ve already renovated the barn.”
“We?”
“My cousin and her husband and I do most of the work. It’s hard and we’re slow, but it saves us a lot of labor costs.”
“You and two other people are working the Kendall?”
She spread her hands. “We’re all there is.” The barn had been in particularly bad condition when Kelly had taken over the property. An engineering study told her it was structurally sound. The house was livable, although it needed a lot of upgrading. Kelly moved in and asked her cousin and her husband to help her out with the renovations. Drew, her cousin’s husband, owned a construction company and she was indebted to him for life.
“Tell me how you came to buy the Kendall?” he asked.
“The cousin who helps me, Mira, and her husband, Drew, let me know about the property before the for sale sign went up. He knew I always loved it. I immediately called and arranged to tour the place.” She glanced at Jace. Jace had his gaze on his son. “It didn’t matter what state it was in. I was determined to make it mine.”
“Why?”
Kelly surveyed the area. The May weather had turned the grass emerald green. She remembered when it was high enough to hide her five-foot-five frame and coarse enough to leave cuts and bruises on her arms and legs. Now she could look clear across the vista.
“I grew up not far from here.”
“Short Hills, you said.”
“When I was still in school I used to get off the school bus and climb onto the fence just to watch the horses.”
Jace snapped his fingers. “The redhead,” he said. “I saw you there a few times. You were only a child.”
She was older than she looked, but she didn’t say that.
“You weren’t here often,” she said.
He frowned, but waited for her to continue.
“I know your dad sent you to boarding school. I thought it must be a wonderful place to go to school, but I didn’t see how you could bear to leave the Kendall.”
“It wasn’t my choice,” he admitted.
Kelly knew that. Gossip spread easily around Windsor Heights then and now. Some she’d met since buying the Kendall had told her stories of the Kendall family. It wasn’t always pleasant.
“You haven’t told me why you love it here,” Jace said.
Her throat closed and she had to swallow the emotion that rose in her. “I’ve always felt I was part of this land. And that this is where I was supposed to be. When I bought it, it needed a lot of work. And I mean a lot. But I loved doing it. I loved seeing it come back to the glory it once had. I want to make it into a showplace. And every floor I restore, every nail I use to repair something is part of me going into the history of this place.”
“But you’re not a Kendall.”
The words hurt for some reason. She would never be a Kendall. “That’s true, but...I belong here. I feel it. I suppose it was because I grew up so close to the place. The Kendall had survived war and depression, and I wanted to be a survivor, too, in my own way.” Things were often out of sorts in her own home. The Kendall was her anchor.
“Why haven’t you changed its name then? You’ve been here two years.”
She shook her head, still smiling. “It wouldn’t be the same. For over a century this has been the Kendall. Changing a name would change the nature of the place.”
“Do you know where my brother is?” He abruptly switched subjects.
“I haven’t seen him. In fact, I never saw him. The entire transaction was completed between the bank and the county. Your brother wasn’t ever required to be there.”
“Why didn’t he pay the taxes? Sheldon loved being the lord of the manor.”
“I don’t know. People in town said it was mismanagement. Given the state of the property when I showed up, it wouldn’t be hard to believe.”
“It wasn’t necessary to the sale,” Jace said, and Kelly heard the censure in his voice.
“It wasn’t my business,” she told him. “I didn’t force your brother to get into trouble with his finances and there was no reason why I should help him if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Ari, don’t do that,” Jace shouted. He was on his feet, ready to run and aid his son if necessary.
Kelly quickly followed Jace’s gaze to where the child stood. His foot was in midair as if he’d been paralyzed by the urgency in Jace’s voice. Ari had been about to climb a ladder propped up on the side of the barn. It wouldn’t take much for Ari to tumble over.
“I should think you’d be glad someone who really cares about the Kendall bought it,” she said. “It could have gone to a developer who would raze the house and subdivide it into apartments or condos.”
She left him then and went into the house. She had work to do and she was grossly behind getting started.
* * *
THIS WAS NOT the homecoming Jace expected.
Rushing forward, he headed for Ari. When the boy saw him coming, he took off and ran for him. His weak leg dragged a little behind, but Ari compensated. Already Jace thought he was doing better. He hadn’t had a problem with his asthma today; surely Kelly would have told him if Ari had had restricted breathing.
“Dad, can we go in the barn?” he asked, instinctively taking his hand and pulling him in that direction.
“Let’s go look at where the horses used to live,” Jace said.
“Wow! Horses!”
The barn was a few hundred feet from the house. While the weather last night had been wet, the grass under their feet was already dry. Jace thought the silence was eerie. Back in his day, he should have heard the horses by now.
Jace pulled the barn door open all the way, waiting a moment for his eyes to adjust before stepping into the dim light. Ari scampered forward, eager to see.
The faint scent of horse manure and cleanser permeated the air. Jace frowned as anger stole over him. The horses had been his sanctuary. How dare Sheldon let the Kendall fall apart to the point where there were no horses here.
Their great-great-grandfather had provided for the upkeep of the house by investing in and training horses, race horses especially. Evidently, he was very good at it since he forged a legacy that had continued for generations. It was Sheldon’s legacy and Jace’s, too—no matter what his father thought—to keep it alive by offering the best in boarding and rearing horses. And now they were gone.
“Where are the horses, Dad? Are they all in Texas?”
Ari had no concept of the size of the United States. Texas could have been on the other side of the barn as far as he knew. He’d seen horses on television and the logic of a four-year-old jumped to explain.
“I don’t know where they are, Ari.”
“We’ll have to ask Kelly,” he said positively. “She will know.”
Jace doubted that.
* * *
KELLY MASSAGED HER temples as she studied father and son from her office window. They disappeared around the side of the horse barn. She knew Jace loved horses. He’d ride as if the devil himself was after him, but then he’d spend an hour in the barn, making sure to cool down the treasured animal.
Eventually, she wanted to have horses boarding here, and if possible, expand the operation even further. Some day she planned on having allowance races run here, and eventually move up to stakes races. But she had other things to do with the small amount of money she still had in her account.
Telling herself she’d deal with Jace later, she pulled her hair into a long ponytail and went to the library. It was the last unfinished room in the house. It needed to be painted and decorated.
With all the prep work done, it was time to put the paint on the walls. Kelly scrubbed her roller up and down in the pan to prevent drips and raised it to the wall. The soft blue transformed the space. She liked it already. The steady action gave her time to think.
What was she going to do with Jason Kendall and his son? And why did she believe it was her duty to do anything? Jace was a grown man. He had to be nearing thirty by now. He seemed to be responsible, at least where Ari was concerned. She’d given them one night only. He should be searching for a new place to stay, instead of hanging out at an estate he never owned. His own father mustn’t have thought much of him to do that to him. That was the rumor Kelly had heard. She’d felt sorry for Jace at the time. She realized that as a kid she’d been caught up in how things looked around here. That just because the Kendalls had a lovely house and lovely horses, didn’t mean their family was any less troubled than hers. It occurred to her that there were some old files and family photos she’d moved into the attic, since the sale of the property had included all of the furnishings.
It was as if Sheldon had walked away with only the clothes on his back. She supposed she should give those items to Jace.
The blue wall looked beautiful. She stepped back, analyzed her work. Smiling, she thought when the books were brought back into the room, it would be a welcome place to sit and read.
Kelly dropped her shoulders. She felt an allegiance to Jace, although that made no sense. She hadn’t known him well while they were growing up, but he was a Kendall. And this had been his home once.
Maybe she should give him a job. The place could use his help. He could stay until he found a place of his own.
Stepping back, she said, “Yes, that works.” Though her eyes were on the wall, she was talking about Jace.
“Kelll-ly!”
She heard Ari’s sweet voice calling her name.
“Down here,” she hollered.
She heard footsteps running toward the room. The door was already open for ventilation. Ari found her and rushed forward.
“Don’t run,” she told him, lifting a hand to catch him.
Too late. His little body sailed across the drop cloth. His feet came out from under him and he slipped, momentum carrying him several feet before he stopped.
Jace was on his heels behind him. Kelly grabbed the paint tray and held it still. Then she faced Jace.
“Are you all right?” she asked the child.
Ari looked up. “That was fun. Can I do it again?”
Jace let out the breath he must have been holding. “No, you cannot,” he said.
Kelly, who was on her knees, sat back on her legs. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Ari nodded.
Jace looked at the walls and immediately took in the one Kelly had been working on. “Did he do any damage?”
“I don’t think so. But he might have a bruise tomorrow on his legs. There’s hardwood under this tarp.”
Jace examined Ari, pulling his pant leg aside and looking at him.
“Dad,” Ari protested and pulled his clothes back. “Not in front of her.” His voice was a stage whisper.
Kelly turned her head. “I won’t look. I promise.”
“I think you’ll live,” Jace said several seconds later.
“Where are the horses?” Ari asked.
Subject changes were no problem for four-year-olds Kelly was finding.
“We went to the horse barn,” Jace explained. “It’s empty.”
“Well, Ari, the former owner sold the horses in an attempt to pay off the debt on the Kendall.”
Jace’s jaw clenched. She understood his frustration. Since arriving here, everything he thought he knew was gone, starting with Laura. And although Kelly had nothing to do with any of it, she could see that this proud man was hurting.
“What are we gonna do now, Dad?” Ari, unaware of any of the adults’ feelings, was ready for the next adventure.
“Ari, would you like to see some pictures of horses?” she asked.
“Wow, yeah.”
“They’re on the table in the big living room down the hall. Do you remember where that is?”
He looked at his dad as if Jace might deny the chance to him. Jace nodded.
“Yes. I remember.” Ari started to move, but Jace restrained him.
“Walk,” his father said.
The little boy walked out of the room with both adults watching him.
“I have a proposal for you,” she told Jace.
“What is it?”
She saw him stiffen. “You’re an engineer?”
He nodded.
“What kind of engineer?”
“Civil,” he said, his voice almost a challenge.
“Does that mean you know about bridges and roads, things like that?”
“It does. I also know about water lines and—”
“How about construction?” she interrupted.
“Some.”
“I’d like to offer you a job.”
“What?”
“Do you have one? Someplace to go? I thought your showing up here last night was the last stop on a long journey.”
“It was,” he said. “What kind of job?”
“As an engineer, of sorts. Although, I can’t pay you what an engineer probably makes, I can offer room and board for you and Ari and a small wage. You can consider it temporary until you find something better.”
He mulled that over for a moment. “What do I do?”
“You help me get the rest of this property in shape.”
He looked around the library. The ceiling and trim work had been done. She was making headway on the walls. The shelves were gleaming white and leaning against a door on the other side of the room.
“It looks like you have everything under control.” His gaze swept back to her.
“Don’t go by the condition of the house. I have some serious issues that need attention.”
“Like what?”
“Irrigation, for one. You said you knew about water. I want to make sure there’s proper runoff and drainage for the pastures and build safer pathways around the grounds.”
“You expecting a lot of visitors?”
“Yes, hopefully,” she said. “What about it? Will you take the job?”
“Dad!” Ari came bounding back, running fast and hard. He stopped just before careening into Jace. “Can I get my own horse?”
Jace turned and looked at Kelly. “Maybe,” he said.
CHAPTER FOUR
WINDSOR HEIGHTS WASN’T exactly on the cutting edge of the twenty-first century, though as Jason drove into town he noticed how different the place looked. Because he had often been away for long periods of time with boarding school, college and working, Jace’s trips back to the Kendall made him more able to see the changes as sweeping rather than subtle. First, the number of cars on the street alone could cause a traffic jam. As far as he knew, there had never been a traffic jam in Windsor Heights. There were new stores along Main Street. He saw that the old dress shop had had a facelift. The bookstore was gone, replaced by an office supply store. The bank, however, was in the same place and while it was five years older, it appeared as new as it had been when it was built.
Jace opened its heavy door and walked through. Nothing here was different. The loan office was in the same place and Jace went directly toward it.
“Jason! Jason Kendall.” Someone called his name. “Is that you? I can’t believe it. I haven’t seen you in years.”
A man behind a glass wall stood up and came out, his hand outstretched. Jace took it, recognizing him only after he was already pumping his hand.
“Kurt Mallard,” Jace said, grateful to find someone he’d once known. “Who would have thought?”
“Come on in and sit down a minute. Tell me what brings you back to Windsor Heights?”
Jace noticed his door had Kurt Mallard, Loan Officer printed on it in small black letters.
“My home,” he said. Jace took a seat. “I’m here about the Kendall.”
Kurt frowned. “It’s a shame about that.” Then his face cleared and the frown was replaced with a smile.
“But it seems the new owner is working miracles restoring it. Have you met her yet?”
Jace didn’t get to answer.
Kurt continued, “She’s a beauty. Got flaming red hair. When she’s in here and the sun shines through that window...” He pointed to a window outside the office “It’s like fire.”
“I’ve met her,” Jace cut in.
Kurt chuckled and cleared away some papers on his desk.
“So you’re the loan officer,” Jace pointed out.
“Never thought I’d make it, did you?”
Kurt had been the other bad boy of Windsor Heights. While the two of them rarely cut up together, Jace knew of him, his antics and the gang he ran around with. None of them were people Jace cared to be associated with. Kurt was on the school’s football team and many people looked the other way at the things he did for that reason. Jace was the prep school kid, the rich kid, the one who lived in the big house. He wasn’t welcome by even the bullies of the area. After that Jace lost track of Kurt. But now Kurt worked at the bank and Jace’s family no longer owned the big house. That privilege was held by a determined redhead unafraid to get her hands dirty.