Chapter 22 Back On Tour #2
“DUH!” Cassie said thumbing at Billy. “You remember their kiss?”
“They kissed?” Tina said with shock. “You kissed Billy?”
“Yeah, I did,” Carry said dreamily. “He’s such a wonderful man. He solid and grounded unlike Greg. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong direction for a man who can love me completely.”
“You have been talking to him since Mia broke up with him,” Wendy suggested. “So, what are you going to do?”
“She’s going to do what Greg suggested, and we,” Cassie motioned to Wendy and Katie, “discussed before this trip. She’s going to date Billy.”
“What? There’s no way that Greg Garrelson is going to allow that!” Wendy stated.
“It was actually his idea,” Carry said with a smile as she leaned forward on their table, smiling brightly.
“He said I need to check if my heart will be loyal and true or if Billy can pull me away. He said he’d noticed how Billy looks at me and how we act together, especially at Sabbath services in the Synagogue. ”
“Greg Garrelson told you to date Billy Blake?” Katie said in deep disbelief.
“I know,” Carry giggled. “Isn’t that great?”
“Tell me you’re not joking,” Wendy deadpanned.
“I’m not joking. And when we get back, I can finally go meet your families because I won’t have to worry about what Greg is thinking,” Carry admitted. Wendy smiled brightly and put her hands on Carry’s.
“Really? You are going to come home with us?”
“It’s time I take my place where I truly belong. I belong here with my sisters.”
“Cousin, this is going to be the best night of our lives. Mom is going to be ecstatic having you finally come home where you belong,” Cassie said excitedly.
“I just have some questions about the protocols. I don’t want to make a mistake and upset the Matriarch after all,” Carry said, laying it on thick.
“I’m confused,” Tina said.
“Carry was orphaned when she was a baby,” Cassie explained. “It took us decades to find her, but now we get to be one whole family again.”
“You mean you guys are all related?” Tina asked.
“Katie is a second cousin, but Wendy, Carry and I are first cousins,” Cassie confirmed. “You can be an honorary cousin if you want to join us.”
“I think I’d rather go out with Mark. He wants me to marry him, but I’m not sure I’m ready for marriage.”
“Tina, that’s wonderful. So, you have to tell us all the details,” Carry urged.
“Yeah! Spill the tea, and don’t leave out anything,” Katie agreed.
“Yeah! You can’t keep news like that from all of us. We’re your family now, and we are going to look out for you,” Cassie said as Wendy nodded in agreement.
“Alright, Veronica,” Greg said as he sat down next to her in the lounge chairs in the front of the cabin. “We’ve got as much privacy as we’re going to get. Don’t worry about David and Tessa. They’re absorbed in their own marriage.”
“Greg, I’ve been thinking about how to tell you this for many months now. I know that Aunt Janet told you about arranging for us to meet,” she began slowly.
“I know,” Greg said. “You were still reeling from Quinton and I was reeling from Erica,” he confirmed.
“Aunt Janet wanted us to find happiness and thought we could find it together.” He looked at her and saw that she was troubled at heart.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have started and cut you off. I apologize.”
“Actually,” she said slightly smiling. “Your interjection helps me a little bit. It tells me what you know and what you don’t know.
” The cabin door was closed and the ground crew ran out from under the plane with the wheel chocks.
The sound of the engines starting to power up made Veronica wait for a moment.
They started to move and then the engines settled down to a lower humming thrust sound.
“In a few hours we’re going to be back in Kansas City, and I need you to know the whole truth.
I was as much a part of the plan to be set up with you as she was.
” She put both hands on his. “I needed someone after my father died. James knew it and he kept encouraging me to start dating again, but nobody looked like the kind of man I needed. Then Aunt Janet was talking about you and how you had become so successful that she was saddened to see you’d started to drown yourself in a bottle. ”
“Please, don’t remind me of those dark days,” he said softly. “I let her leaving shatter my heart.”
“And I wanted to be the one to put it back together, because then I’d know that your heart would belong to me and to me alone. Not to anyone else.”
“But you didn’t count on Carry,” Greg summarized.
“None of us did,” she said and saw the flinch in Greg’s face.
“Yes, Greg. None of us. James helped to make sure I’d be there at Club Euchre.
Aunt Janet made the arrangements for Rafael and Mischel to select Pimico.
I made sure that I checked out everything about you.
I studied you, and learned about your habits and character.
The more I learned, the more I wanted to be your woman, always. ”
“So, just the three of you were involved in this?” he asked softly. “Not that I blame you for wanting to meet me.”
“Greg, you were manipulated into that meeting. Don’t look now, but Fred was a silent conspirator too.”
“What?” he said slowly as the engines powered up to turn the jet onto the runway. “Fred? But how?”
“He’d been sick, but he stayed ‘sick’ until that meeting so you would be there.”
“How’s that even possible?” Greg said incredulously.
He searched her eyes as the engines screamed to full power.
He braced himself as the brakes released and the Pimico Jet thrust forward at full throttle, accelerating at top speed before making a steep climb at the end of the runway. “I don’t understand, Veronica.”
“When we get back to Kansas City, you need to speak with Aunt Janet again. She knows everybody, and coordinated our meeting. It wasn’t Random or Chance. It was Socially arranged for us to meet. I was already in love with you before we even had our first dance.”
“That waltz is something I’ll never forget,” Greg said with a smile. “You were so confident. In fact, I remember you claiming me while we danced.”
“I did,” she said softly. “I didn’t want to risk losing a man like you by not taking a blind leap of faith. I only hoped that you would be able to love a woman like me.”
“Are you telling me that you were worried that I wouldn’t want you?” Greg said and laughed. “I’m trying to figure out how this gorgeous sultry singer I’m dancing with would even look at a guy like me, and you had it all planned out so well that you were scared I’d say no?”
“Yes, Greg. I was scared inside that you would reject me. After Quinton slept with my best friend, I was ready to go all the way just to secure you as my man.”
“That’s why you wanted me to come in after Westport,” he whispered.
“Yes, Greg. I was going to take you to bed and make sure you never looked at another woman ever again.”
“Do you have any idea how close you came to succeeding that night?”
The jet touched down at Wheeler and everyone was happy to be home again.
The buzz of Molly talking about not only riding in one of the cars but getting to drive it for five full laps at half speed still lingered in the cabin.
Even though they were still taxiing toward the terminal and the fasten seatbelt sign was on, Mark got up and moved over to the girls.
He leaned on the table and looked directly at Tina.
“Now that we’re back in Kansas City, let me treat you to Joes, the best barbeque in Kansas City,” Mark urged Tina.
“I’d like that very much, Mark.” She smiled and brushed her hair back over her ear. “I love burnt ends and fries.”
“Whatever you want to order, it’s yours. I just want your first night in Kansas City to be a great one,” he said with a big smile. “You ladies are more than welcome to join us.”
“Sorry, Mark,” Carry spoke up. “We’ve got a family event to attend.”
“All of you?” he said with confusion.
“We are family,” Cassie said firmly. “Wendy and Carry are my first cousins and Katie is a distant second cousin.”
“I didn’t know you were all related,” Mark said with slight confusion.
“Well, we didn’t know Carry was our long lost cousin until we discovered her birth certificate last year,” Wendy stated. “But now, the lost princess is finally coming home,” she said but the flash in her eyes belied that she wasn’t exactly happy.
“I’m not a princess,” Carry objected. “I’m just someone who’s lucky enough to have found her family after such a long time,” she admitted somberly, having seen the look in Wendy’s eyes.
‘Cassie warned me that Wendy was ambitious. Now I can see what she was talking about. I’ve got to be very careful here,’ she thought to herself.
“And the best part of it is that they found me,” she said smiling at Wendy and Katie.
“I finally have the family I’ve always wanted, though it wasn’t easy to accept that I belonged here.
These fine young women have shown me more love and affection than I ever dreamed possible,” she added to ensure that Wendy didn’t feel so threatened anymore.
“And tonight,” Cassie said then paused. “Tonight we finally all get to go home.”
“Molly,” David called as the plane came to a stop in front of the terminal. “We’re going to start late tomorrow. You don’t have to be there before eight. I want to sleep in a little with my wife.”
Tessa blushed. “And I love that my husband wants to spend even more time with me than I got this weekend. It was the best weekend we’ve ever had.”
“Are you forgetting our honeymoon?” David teased.
“That wasn’t the weekend dear. That was a weekday we spent in bed and lounging by the pool.” Tessa smiled and tossed her hair. “That was a pretty great day too.”
“Denny and I had a great weekend in D.C. and then this great weekend here. I can’t believe we’ve climbed so far in reputation that we’ve earned fantastic weekends like this.”