A Brother's Honour

It was a close vote, and the last person on the roll call was Sandra Timmons. Shiloh was her proxy. She had enough shares to cast the deciding vote. Jace refused to look over at her, figuring that Caden had been doing it enough for the both of them.

The secretary spoke up. “Shiloh Timmons, proxy for Sandra Timmons. How do you want to cast your vote?”

Jace literally held his breath. He didn’t release it until he heard Shiloh say in a clear voice, “I am voting for Sandra Timmons, thirty shares for the Grangers.”

* * *

“Your girl saved the day, man,” Dalton said after the meeting had adjourned. “I was sweating bullets there for a minute.”

“She’s not my girl,” Caden said as he stood at the window in the conference room and looked out. “And I wish you’d stop insinuating that she is.”

Dalton, who was leaning back lazily in one of the conference room chairs, shrugged broad shoulders. “You and Shiloh were close growing up.”

Caden turned around. “Yes, and if you recall, that was before...” He paused, knowing he didn’t have to go into any details. Dalton knew. Each of them had felt the pain of suddenly being ostracized by their friends.

“She was just a kid, Caden. A kid who had to do what she was told. Can you imagine her going against old man Timmons? If you remember, the man was an asshole.”

Caden did remember, but there was more to his and Shiloh’s history than Dalton knew. More than anyone knew. And he wasn’t about to enlighten his brother about anything now.

Jace entered the conference room. “I just talked to Vidal. He’ll make sure the transition is done as smoothly as possible. Everything is set.”

“Set how?” Dalton wanted to know. He had several million dollars in Granger shares, and he intended to get a return on his investment. Stuart would have a cow when he heard about what he had done. The first rule when investing is to make sure you don’t lose money. That meant he needed to stay on top of things so that rule was not broken.

“Freeman and I have reached an understanding,” Jace said easily.

Dalton sneered. “Understanding, my ass. I don’t trust him.”

“Neither do I,” Caden said, leaning against the wall. “Hell, Jace, the man was trying to take the company right from under our noses.”

“He didn’t think we were ready to take over things,” Jace said somberly.

“Can’t blame him, since I thought the same thing myself,” Dalton said. “But I still don’t like what he tried to pull. So now that we’re in, are you going to give Ms. Bradford a call?”

Jace pulled the business card Vidal had given him from his pocket. “I might as well. Vidal showed me a number of profit and loss statements, and this company is so deep in the red it’s not funny.”

That’s not what Dalton wanted to hear. “But it can be turned around?”

Jace heard the concern in his brother’s voice. “You’ll get a return on your investment.”

A hopeful look appeared in Dalton’s eyes. “Promise?”

Jace held his brother’s gaze. “You know I don’t make promises, Dalton.”

How could I forget? Dalton thought. The last time he had asked Jace to make a promise had been during their father’s trial. He wanted Jace to promise him that their father would not have to serve time, and that he would be back home with them when the trial ended. They’d already lost their mother, and the thought of losing a father had been unbearable to Dalton. Jace had refused him that promise, and Dalton was glad he had. It would have been a promise that was broken.

“Yes, I know,” Dalton said. “I forgot. I usually don’t get out of bed before noon, and my brain was not functioning so well this morning.”

“But I see your eyeballs are,” Jace said. “When you were checking out that receptionist this morning, I could swear you had X-ray vision.”

Dalton chuckled as he loosened his tie a bit. “Wish I had. Damn, she looks good. I want her for my office assistant.”

“If you do get an office assistant, I’m going to make sure she is not on the list.” Jace eased down to sit on the edge of the table. “Speaking of your own offices, they’ll be ready for you to move in before the end of the day.”

“I only want an office if I get to pick my office assistant, and I want her on the list, Jace,” Dalton said, grinning. “And I don’t want my office next to Caden’s unless it’s soundproof. You know how he has a tendency to play his sax at odd times.”

Dalton had expected Caden to come back with some ear-blistering retort, and when he didn’t, Dalton turned to gaze over at his brother. Jace looked over at Caden, as well. Caden had gone back to staring out the window, dismissing their presence.

“I think what Shiloh did at the meeting got to him,” Dalton whispered under his breath.

“You think so?” Jace asked. Personally, he thought so, too. And he had a feeling there was something else going on there but had no idea what. Why was Caden acting so uptight about a woman he hadn’t had any contact with for close to fifteen years?

“Which office do you get?” Dalton broke into Jace’s thoughts to ask, deciding to leave Caden to whatever thoughts were going through his mind.

“The one that was Granddad’s. I’m keeping Dad’s office the same way Granddad has kept it all these years. Intact.”

Richard had always assumed his son would be freed and had kept Sheppard’s office basically as he’d left it. Jace planned to do the same. That was another promise they’d made, the one regarding their father. And it was another he intended to keep.

“I want to go see Dad.” Dalton broke into Jace’s thoughts.

Jace looked at Dalton. He noted from the corner of his eyes that Dalton’s statement had also grabbed Caden’s attention.

“I suggest we all go see him,” Caden said, moving closer to the table. He dropped down in one of the chairs.

“Sounds like a plan. I’m sure losing Granddad was hard on him,” Jace said, glancing at his watch. “Getting out to visit him today or tomorrow might be difficult with everything that is going on. I’m trying to set up a meeting with Shana Bradford as soon as I can. According to Vidal, if anyone can get us out of the red, she can.”

* * *

Shana Bradford smiled up at the man who’d made her coffee. “The coffee is great as usual, Dad.”

He was the one man she most admired. Widowed, her father had raised her and her sister Jules alone, which hadn’t been easy while working as a policeman defending the streets of Boston. He had retired a few years ago, wanting a quiet life, and had decided to settle in Charlottesville, the place where her parents had first met while attending college.

Jules had been the first to follow their father to Charlottesville, where she established a private investigating firm. Shana had begun liking the area more each and every time she came to visit and, three years ago, after her breakup with her steady boyfriend, she decided to move her own firm here. She was glad she had. She loved Charlottesville and liked having her family close by again. And she made certain that she carved out time during her busy schedule to drop by to visit her dad and grab a cup of coffee, bring him lunch or show up for dinner.

She took a sip as she watched her father move around the kitchen. The space wasn’t all that large, but he actually looked lost. That was unusual, since her father generally exuded a strong presence. She immediately read the signs. Something heavy was on his mind.

“Dad, is there something bothering you?”

He quickly turned and looked at her, and she immediately noticed that his smile was tentative, nervous. He placed the dish towel on the counter, moved back toward her and sat down with her at the table. “No, there’s nothing bothering me, but there is something that I need to talk to you about.”

She lifted her brow as she set her coffee cup down. She couldn’t hide the concern in her features. “Okay, what is it?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then he looked at her and gave her that same smile she’d grown accustomed to over the years while growing up. It was that smile that let her know everything was going to be all right and that he would be there for her, no matter what.

She waited...and then he released the bombshell by saying, “I’m thinking about remarrying.”

Shana was glad she had stopped drinking her coffee, because otherwise she would have choked on it. Remarry? Her father? She drew in a deep breath before saying, “I wasn’t aware you were seeing anyone.”

Had Jules known and just not mentioned it? No, there was no way. That would have been headline news in Jules’s book, and her sister would have had the woman thoroughly vetted by now.