Twins For The Soldier

Lee smiled. “Did I say anything about you paying me back? Remember, I own half the property, so I do have a personal stake in keeping it in the family.”

Their mother’s will bequeathed them the house and the twelve acres on which it sat. He and Viviana were also equal recipients of their mother’s life insurance. The terms of the policy had designated her older sister Barbara Wolfe-McCarthy as executor and legal guardian for her children until they were eighteen. Lee had taken control of his trust months before enlisting in the army, purchasing ten-year tax-free municipal bonds. Once they matured he’d reinvested half in a retirement fund and purchased certificates of deposits with the remaining half, while Vivi had used her inheritance to pay for college and set up a partnership with their aunt and uncle to convert The Falls House from a private residence to a boardinghouse.

“I can’t believe I trusted someone so much that I wasn’t able to see what was right in front of me. His online profile was almost picture-perfect. I’m definitely through with online dating sites.”

“I didn’t invite you here for a pity party, Vivi. What’s done is done, and hopefully it will never happen again.”

Viviana met her brother’s large eyes, eyes that reminded her of their mother’s. When he’d walked into The Falls House, she was seeing him for the first time in nearly four years, and she was shocked at how much he resembled their father. He could have been Emory Remington’s younger clone, except for the eye color. She was only two years younger than Lee, but there were times when she felt he was more of a father figure to her than an older brother. She was also aware that if he did come back to Wickham Falls it would be to visit, but never to live again.

Days before he was scheduled to leave for basic training he’d told Viviana there were too many bad memories to make him feel at home in his place of birth. However, he did come back to attend her high school and college graduations, and to sign the legal documents transferring half their share of the boardinghouse to Aunt Babs before she relocated to Arizona. He had also come back for the funeral of Justin Mitchell. Not only had he looked different, but something inwardly had changed. There was a vacant look in his eyes that frightened her, and he didn’t speak unless spoken to. He’d stayed long enough to pay his respects, and then he was gone.

“What are you making?” she asked, changing the topic of conversation.

“Your favorite: rack of lamb with mint sauce, roasted asparagus and rosemary potato wedges.”

Viviana smiled. “You remembered.”

Lee opened the oven to check on the meat. “There aren’t too many things I forget.”

“Like Dad being gone more than he was here?”

He went completely still. “I really don’t want to talk about him now.”

“Sorry about that.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Vivi. I’m just not ready to relive the past.”

She nodded. He didn’t want to talk about the past and she did. Times had changed and so had their father, so she decided to bide her time before broaching the subject again. Pushing back the chair, Viviana rose to her feet and walked over and stood next to Lee as he blended fresh mint leaves, confectioners’ sugar and cider vinegar in a mini food processor.

“Have you thought about getting married?”

“No. Why would you ask me that?”

“I just thought you would’ve been married and made me an aunt by the time you were thirty.”

He gave her a sidelong smile. “I could say the same about you making me an uncle.”

Viviana affected a frown. “Not with my track record for attracting lowlife vermin masquerading as the opposite sex.”

“Maybe men see you as an easy mark because you smile and talk to everyone.”

“Well, I do have a background in advertising, marketing and hotel hospitality.”

“You have to separate the business hospitality from the personal one. What works when greeting guests and working the front desk shouldn’t carry over to becoming personally involved with a man.”

She paused. “I don’t know what it is, but I go on a hiatus where I won’t date anyone for months or even a year, and then when I do he’s usually not worth wasting my time with.”

Lee wiped his hands on a terry cloth towel after blending the ingredients in the food processor and spooned it into a small glass bowl. “Don’t beat yourself up, Vivi. Men go through the same thing. I’ve met women who I feel may be that special one, and then without warning she’ll change into someone I don’t recognize.”

“Do you think it’s difficult for you to form a lasting relationship with a woman because you don’t know when you’re going to be deployed?”

“That and a few other things.”

Resting her hip against the countertop, Viviana stared at her brother. “Do the few other things include you thinking you’ll not be a good husband or father?” She froze when Lee impaled her with a lethal stare that sent chills up and down her body despite the heat coming from the oven.

“I saw firsthand how not to take care of my wife and children.”

Viviana’s eyelids fluttered. She didn’t know what all had gone on between her parents, because most times Aunt Babs had made excuses about her father’s frequent absences and had attempted to shield her from the disease that changed her mother from a happy young woman into one who spent more time sleeping than awake. Even when Lee elected to attend the local high school, she’d continued her classes at the parochial boarding school because she didn’t want to leave her friends. And that meant coming home during school recess and holidays and occasionally some weekends.

“Is there anything I can help you with? I feel so helpless standing around watching you cook.” Aunt Babs had taught her and Lee to cook. Her aunt had graduated culinary school but her career was short-circuited when Babs returned to The Falls House to care for her sister, niece and nephew.

“I didn’t know if you want wine with your meal, but just in case I bought a couple of bottles of white, rosé and red.”

Lee’s voice broke into her thoughts. “I’ll have rosé but only if you’ll join me.” Viviana knew Lee rarely drank, and if he did it was either a glass of wine or beer, but never hard liquor.

“The wine is in the fridge, and the corkscrew is in the drawer on your right.”

Twenty minutes later Viviana sat down with Lee to enjoy the most delicious meal she had had in months. Once she’d discovered her ex’s duplicity she was unable to eat more than a few morsels before feeling full. She exhaled an audible sigh after swallowing a tender slice of lamb. Her world had righted itself. Her brother was back and so was her father, the latter informing her he was only going to spend a few weeks in The Falls before returning to Philadelphia—a city that was now his permanent home.

Over dinner they discussed Lee’s proposal to turn The Falls House into a bed-and-breakfast, while both agreed that she should file for chapter 7, which would wipe out her debt, allow her to keep her assets, rebuild her credit, incorporate another business, make repairs and start anew. His next suggestion rendered her mute for a full minute.

“You want to sell off more land?” she asked, once she recovered her voice.

Lee laced his fingers together. “Not all of it. Every generation since the turn of the twentieth century sold large parcels of the original two hundred thirty acres. The house and outbuildings sit on twelve acres. If we sell eight, then you’ll have more than enough money to make repairs and put some away for your retirement.”

She blinked slowly. “But the land is a part of our legacy.”

“What legacy, Vivi? We are the last of the Wolfes and the exterior of the house is falling apart. I’ve told you that I’m going to stay long enough and help you get your business up and running and then I’m out of here. So if you want to hold on to the property, then you cannot continue to go down the same path.”

Viviana knew Lee was right. What once had been the grandest house in Johnson County was now becoming a shabby replica of what it had been. “I’ll think about it,” she said, not willing to give in that easily to her brother’s proposal to sell off the land that had been in their family for more than a century.

“Don’t think too long,” Lee said softly.

She ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes. So much had happened over the past year to turn her life into a nightmare. Creditors were calling incessantly, asking for money she didn’t have, and three months ago, she had given employees and lodgers of the boardinghouse notice that she was going out of business. Viviana opened her eyes and gave Lee a long, penetrating stare.

“It is a lot to think about.”

A hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I know it is, but gone are the days when the Wolfes had an active social calendar when they entertained friends and elected officials. And even if you do decide to marry and start a family I doubt if you’ll have enough children to fill ten bedroom suites like our relatives did in the past.”

“I doubt if I’ll ever marry and have children.”

Lee winked at her. “Don’t say ever, little sister.”

“Enough talk about marriage and babies. Do you want me to call Preston McAvoy’s office and set up a meeting to discuss filing for bankruptcy and setting up a new corporation?” she asked.

“Yes, and try and come up with several names for the new business. Meanwhile, I’ll cover the past-due taxes and utilities.”

Viviana pulled her lip between her teeth for several seconds. “Dad paid the electric bill.”