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  Tess just looked about the kitchen.

  “Ah,” Sara said.

  “What does that mean?” Joce asked. “Did I miss something?”

  “You inherited this house. You inherited…What is it, Tess? Millions?”

  “I’m not allowed to say.”

  Both women looked at her, not blinking, and waited.

  Tess shrugged as she bit into a chicken leg. “You tell Rams I told you and I’ll burn the house down with you in it.”

  “Sounds fair to me,” Joce said.

  “The money stays with the house. If you stay here, you control it all, but if you leave, both the house and the money go to some foundation.”

  “The Great Sin,” Jocelyn said. “If I leave, strangers will come into Edilean. How will the townspeople stand it?”

  “They have to have strangers to breed with,” Tess said. “To give variety to the gene pool.”

  “Cut it out,” Sara said. “I’ll have you know that Edilean is a very nice place to live.”

  “It is since they put in the outlet mall in Williamsburg,” Tess said.

  “Outlet mall?” Joce said. “Why did no one tell me that oh-so-vital piece of information?”

  “Because you’ve spent all your time with the best-looking men in this one-horse town,” Tess said.

  “Meow,” Sara said.

  “You’re just jealous because we can have the men here and you can’t. They’re all your relatives.”

  “So what’s with you and Ramsey?” Joce asked Tess. “I saw the photo of you in the red dress.”

  Tess gave a little smile. “That was a day! I was in the best shape of my life, and here was this jerk telling me I was to dress more conservatively. Did he think I didn’t know that all those men were watching every step I took? If I started wearing dresses, they’d do the John Candy.”

  Joce looked at her in question.

  “Drop something on the floor, then look up as they pick it up?”

  “I hope you’re exaggerating,” Joce said. “Surely they wouldn’t…”

  “Maybe not, but they’d think about it. That was more than I wanted.”

  “Okay, so men are men. You certainly showed them, though.”

  Tess shrugged. “Maybe. I paid the price by having photos of me posted all over the Internet. Ken wanted to put the picture on a brochure about the law office, but his wife wouldn’t let him.”

  “Where did he get his wife?” Joce asked.

  “Massachusetts,” Tess said quickly. “Mail order.”

  “You two are bad,” Sara said. “You’d think you didn’t like this town.”

  “What do I know?” Joce said. “I just got here. So far I’ve had a lawyer make me a very romantic picnic on the floor, but he left after only an hour and a half. And I have a surly gardener who likes to show up and make me feed him.”

  “Luke,” Sara and Tess said in unison.

  “What’s his problem?”

  Tess and Joce looked at Sara.

  “Don’t look at me, I don’t know. Yes, I grew up with him, sort of, but he’s years older than I am, so I never really knew him. Big high school athletic superstars don’t pay much attention to little cousins in elementary school. After high school he left town, and…” She trailed off with a shrug.

  “And started a career mowing lawns. He seems intelligent, so why doesn’t he have a proper job?” Joce asked.

  Sara kept her head down and didn’t answer.

  “Why are you just a teaching assistant and now don’t even have that job?” Tess asked. “If Miss Edi hadn’t left you a fortune, where would you be now?”

  “Is it really a fortune?” Joce asked, avoiding the question.

  “I think that’s a good question,” Sara said, looking at Joce. “What would you be doing if Miss Edi hadn’t been in your life?”

  “I really and truly have no idea,” Joce said. “And I can tell you that I’ve given it plenty of thought.”

  “What about you, Tess?” Sara asked. “You work for MAW, but you can’t stand any of them, so what would you like to do?”

  “Have an old lady leave me millions.”

  “That’s not fair,” Sara said. “You should—”

  “No, let her talk,” Jocelyn said. “Okay, so if you were left a big old house and a fortune, what would you do all day? Would you become a lady who lunches?”

  “Lord no! That would make me insane. I’d…”

  “You’d what?” Jocelyn asked. “I’d like to hear your ideas.”

  “I don’t know. Start a business of my own?” Tess said.

  “What kind of business?” Sara asked.

  Jocelyn looked at Sara in speculation. “You have something you’d like to do, don’t you? I can hear it in your voice.”

  Tess picked up an olive and sucked out the red pimento center. “Have you seen the clothes she designs?”

  “You didn’t tell me you design clothes,” Joce said, and there was hurt in her voice.

  “I’ve had one conversation with you. I couldn’t tell you everything.”

  “A dress shop would be a business,” Joce said thoughtfully. “Not a bad idea. What about you, Tess?”

  “Don’t look at me. I haven’t a creative bone in my body. I’m good with numbers and organizing.”

  “You must be good with men,” Joce said. “That’s why so many of them visit you.”

  “Do they?” Tess asked, as though she’d never before thought of that.

  “Tess,” Sara said, “be fair. Both Ramsey and Luke were in your apartment yesterday.”

  “And how would you know that? They told you, didn’t they? So what did Ramsey say about me?” Tess asked.

  “Nothing. It was Luke who told me,” Sara said.

  “And when did you see him?”

  “This morning. He was out there digging. He wants to put in an herb garden, but now he has to get the owner’s permission before he can do anything.”

  “He told me that too,” Tess said.

  Both women looked at Jocelyn as though expecting an answer.

  “He can put in any kind of garden he wants,” Joce said. “What does it matter to me?”

  “This house is now your responsibility,” Tess said. “You owe it to the townspeople, the state, and most of all to your country to honor its long history and to cherish what it means to the American people. You should—”

  Joce threw a piece of bread at her, and they all laughed.

  7

  HI,” JOCELYN SAID to Luke as he lifted the shovel and threw the dirt onto the pile. He glanced at her but said nothing. “So what is this? You’re not speaking to me?”

  “I talk when I have something to say.” He picked up a big bag of mulch and threw it on the back of his pickup.

  She thought maybe he wanted her to leave him alone, but she didn’t go. It was late Sunday afternoon, and she was exhausted from all that had happened in the last two days. “Did you see the food in my kitchen?”

  “I haven’t been in your house since you threw me out last night. And I haven’t checked any door locks or windows.”

  “Thanks for not telling Sara that you and I were alone in the house late last night. I know you told her that you went to see Tess, but you didn’t tell about me.”

  “So it’s all right for Tess to get a bad reputation but not you?”

  “I think that Tess could stand still and do nothing and she’d get a bad reputation. To look at her is to have carnal thoughts.”

  Luke turned away quickly, but she saw his smile. “I saw that! If you can smile at my jokes, you’re not totally angry at me.”

  “See Rams at church?”

  “He sat by me, asked me to marry him, and I accepted.”

  “I congratulate you. You two will make a fine couple. This time next year all you’ll want to talk about are curtains.”

  “If you can see the future, would you ask it what I’m supposed to do?”

  Luke began shoveling again. “What do you mean ‘d