Coming for the Holidays
COMING FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Enjoy the holidays with the Steele family and their friends!
Here’s an excerpt …
The Mountain-Scape Lake Lodge, located on the pristine alpine lake in the heart of the Smokey Mountains, was beautiful. The scenic view from all the room windows enticed guests to appreciate the beauty of nature, especially in a mountain environment. For the holidays, the Steeles had rented the entire eighty-room lodge, whose amenities included four adult game rooms, a fully-equipped fitness center, a theater, a snow-boarding park, golf courses, hiking, bike riding, and so many others. As planned, everyone arrived two days before Christmas.
After a welcoming party the first night, the kids went to watch Christmas movies in the state-of-the-art theater. Some of the women assembled in one of the large private rooms to relax, and others checked out a couple of the boutiques and spas on site. A number of the men were in one of the entertainment rooms shooting pool, while others were in the sports room watching the football playoffs, and several couldn’t resist a poker game.
The men who’d assembled to play pool were enjoying drinks and catching up on what they’d been doing since the last time they were together while waiting their turn at the pool table.
“I don’t like him,” Eli Steele spoke up, loud enough for all to hear.
His brother Mercury, who had just finished making a shot, looked at him curiously. “Who don’t you like, Eli?”
“That guy who came with Tiffany. Her fiancé, Gary Palmer.”
“He seems like a nice enough guy,” Reese Singleton said, sipping his beer. “What is it that you don’t like?”
“Not sure,” Eli replied. “There’s just something about him. He seems too sure of himself. Too over-confident.”
“Like you are most of the time,” his brother Galen said, grinning.
“Did Chance know his daughter had gotten engaged?” Winston Coltrane asked. “Would she have gotten engaged without Chance and Kylie meeting him first?”
“Obviously, she did, since I know for a fact Chance and Kylie were both surprised by their announcement,” Sebastian Steele said about his brother and sister-in-law.
“Tiffany must really be taken with this guy to do such a thing,” Mercury Steele said, frowning.
“One thing that’s for certain,” Gannon Steele said, chuckling. “That’s not one of your rings on her finger, Zion.”
Zion Blackstone, an internationally renowned jewelry designer, chuckled as he got ready to take his turn at the pool table. “Give the guy some slack. Not everyone can afford a ring designed by Zion.”
“I believe I heard Tiffany tell Leah and Jocelyn that the guy’s pretty well off. His family comes from old money,” Reese said.
York Ellis sipped his drink. “If that’s what he told Tiffany, he lied.”
Everyone turned to stare at York. “Why would you say that?” Jonas Steele asked.
“I did a background check after being introduced to him,” York said.
“You’re kidding, right?” Sebastian Steele asked, although he had a feeling that York wasn’t.
“Not kidding,” York replied.
“What made you do that?” Mercury’s best friend, Jaye Colfax, asked.
“I have an uncanny ability to read people. The guy seemed to get a little nervous when Tiffany introduced us and mentioned what I did for a living,” York said. He was an ex-cop who currently owned a security and private investigative firm.
“How did you do the background check so quickly? Did you contact someone in your network?” Sebastian asked.
“No. That would have taken too much time. The information came to me through this,” he said, holding up his arm to show an expensive-looking gold watch on his wrist. “Don’t let all this gold fool you. It’s all high-tech. All I have to do is pretend I’m touching my nose to angle the face of my watch to a person’s eyes. Bingo. Some people don’t realize using face recognition on their devices has its downfalls. It tells me everything I need to know.”
“So, what else do you know about him?” Morgan Steele asked, a deep frown on his face.
“What makes you think I know anything else?” York asked.
“If you know anything else, spill your guts,” Donovan Steele said. As several men in the room had done, he had placed his cue stick down to stare at York. “Tiffany is my niece.”
“Ours, too,” Sebastian and Mercury said.
“And she’s our cousin,” Galen, Jonas, and Gannon Steele chimed in.
York stared at the men. “And if I had any more information to give, what would you do with it?”
“Tell Chance and demand he end their engagement,” Morgan said.
“Do you honestly want to do that?” Xavier Kane asked. “Need I remind you guys that Tiffany isn’t a kid anymore? She’s a twenty-six-year-old woman. She might not take too kindly to anyone sticking their noses into her business. Besides, young people are known to embellish their wealth. That’s nothing new. Cameron and I did it all the time in college to gain entry to certain parties on campus. Those were the parties with the best food. You guys need to chill. If Palmer hasn’t killed anyone, I don’t see why there’s a problem.”
“That’s the opinion of a man who has sons and no daughters,” Virgil Bougard?the father of two daughters?said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, those of us with daughters definitely think there’s a problem. Mainly a question of the guy’s honesty. I say we tell Chance,” Donovan said.
“I say we don’t,” Tyson Steele said, speaking up for the first time. “I agree with Xavier. I hear it’s not cool to let anyone know you’re broke these days. Young people embellish their wealth all the time.”
“But not to the woman you’ve asked to marry,” Galen Steele said, disagreeing with his brother.
“I agree with Xavier and Tyson. Gary Palmer hasn’t broken any laws. His financial status and social class are between him and Tiffany, and we should mind our own business,” Bronson Scott, race car driver extraordinaire, said as he resumed playing pool.
As if the majority decided to follow Bronson’s advice, a conversation between the men started up again. Everyone was listening to Mercury, a sports agent, talk about this kid in high school he was keeping his eye on for a future NBA deal.
When there was a lull in the conversation, York grabbed another beer and added, “Oh, and just so you all know, Gary Palmer isn’t his real name.”
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