The Keeneston Roses (19 page)

Will shook his head. “I don’t want to know.”

“I don’t either. Annie has that
I’m about to do something illegal
look on her face,” Cade muttered.

“Tell me about it. So does Bridget,” Ahmed said and shook his head.

“I don’t want to hear that,” Marshall groaned. “I hope they don’t make me arrest them again.”

“Want to break out the drone to see what they’re up to?” Cy asked gleefully.

“Hell no. Bridget would shoot it down. Do you know how hard it is to get a government-grade drone?” Ahmed shook his head.

“I wonder if I could build a mini drone?” Pierce pondered.

“I just think they need a hobby,” Cole told the group, who all nodded their agreement.

“Goodness knows what’s going to happen when my kids get old enough to start seriously dating. I think Dani is already having Nabi run backgrounds on all single royalty around the world.” Mo shuddered. “Can you imagine our wives as matchmakers?”

The table groaned again. “Don’t bring it up. My daughters are never getting married,” Cy whined.

“Sienna has a boyfriend. Shoot me now, someone, please. He’s so stuffy and
wrong
. At least he wasn’t there last night.” Will took a sip of his iced tea. “I think Cy and his super computer are better matchmakers than our wives. Let’s only hope the Rose sisters get back soon. But a hobby would be good for the girls.”

“What about a cooking class or a pottery class? Those are popular, right?” Cole asked the table.

“Dude, do you really want to relive the infamous vacuum cleaner incident? Have you not learned anything?” Will shook his head at his friend.

Cole cringed. “Maybe someone else should suggest a hobby to them then.”

Miles let out a sigh. “How much longer until the Rose sisters get back?”

“One hundred eleven days,” the table responded instantly.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

5 years later . . .

“Sienna Danielle Paige Ashton,” the dean of the university’s psychology department said into the microphone, “has been a distinguished student these past years. Her passionate commitment to fight for patients’ rights and to develop better treatment in applied psychology has helped her reach the top of her class. She has a bright future ahead as a sports psychologist that will not only help athletes and coaches of all ages, but I am sure will change the industry as a whole. And now, without further ado, I present Miss Ashton.”

Lily, Daisy, and Violet dropped their husbands’ hands as they stood to applaud. Sienna’s parents, Will and Kenna, and her brother, Carter, clapped madly next to them. Sienna stood and walked toward the podium to give her speech.

“Oh, look at her, John. She’s all grown up,” Lily whispered.

“Lily Rae, for goodness’ sakes, let her get settled before you start to meddle.”

Lily put her hand to her heart. “Me, meddle?”

John just shook his head and clapped as Sienna finished her speech. “Interesting that you told Ryan to come over this afternoon when you knew darn well he and Sienna aren’t speaking to each other for some reason.”

“Please, everyone knows they love each other and just don’t know what to do about it.”

“And that was reason to call the poor boy on his vacation and tell him you need help moving something.”

Lily shrugged. “I
do
need help moving the table outside for the party. And he needs something to do. I’m worried about him working so hard. He just got back from LA, and Paige complained he’s heading back in two weeks.”

“It’s none of your concern, Lily Rae,” John reminded her as the graduates walked across the stage to receive their diplomas.

“
Humph
. So says the man who wanted to help Nash with his date the other night. How was that any of your concern?” Lily raised her eyebrow in victory.

“Just clap, dear. They finished while we were arguing over it. Let’s get back to the house and get ready for the party.”

John, Lily, Charlie, Daisy, Anton, and Violet all gave Sienna a brief hug and kiss before leaving. Lily didn’t let John know it, but months ago she had set a whole plan into motion, and today it was about to start spinning.

* * *

“Where do you want the table, Miss Lily?” Ryan asked and picked up the old farm table in the kitchen.

“Right outside, dear. Under the large maple tree would be perfect,” Lily directed as Daisy gave her the thumbs-up sign from her position at the dining room window.

“What kind of party are you having? It’s the perfect day for it,” Ryan asked as he maneuvered the table through the door.

“Oh, just a little graduation party,” Lily called from where she was scooping ice into a large metal bucket.

“Is it for Wyatt? I know it’s not for Jackson. We had his two days ago,” Ryan said as he walked back inside.

“Oh, um, here dear. Can you carry this ice bucket?”

Ryan narrowed his eyes to where Miss Lily stood with bags upon empty bags of ice at her feet. How did she get all those bags of ice into the tub so fast? There had to be eighty pounds of ice in that thing.

“Sure thing, Miss Lily.”

He bent down and easily lifted the tub of ice. Miss Lily held open the back door, and Ryan went through it sideways, right into the path of Sienna Ashton. He hadn’t seen her since Christmas. Ah, graduation party. He should have known. So, she was Dr. Ashton now.

The kitchen door slammed shut, and they were alone. Ryan told himself his heart was beating harder because of the heavy load he was carrying, but he knew that was a lie. He benched three hundred pounds regularly, which meant it was the woman standing in front of him who caused it.

“Congratulations, Doc,” Ryan said coolly with a quick nod of his head. He turned to take the ice under the tree when he heard her gasp.

“You’re bleeding!” Sienna rushed over and shoved up the sleeve of his gray FBI T-shirt.

Ryan shivered at her contact and then pulled away. “It’s nothing.”

“What do you mean, it’s nothing? You’re bleeding through a bandage on your arm.”

“It’s just a scrape. Let it be, Sienna.”

Ryan set the large ice tub down and shook her hand off. It really was nothing, but the gunshot had been enough for his boss to send him on vacation. His cover had been blown, and the group attempting to blow up the sports arena hadn’t been too pleased. He’d received a bullet to his arm, but they were facing terrorism charges.

“How did you get that? I thought you sat at a desk in the FBI’s field office in LA?”

“You always see what you want to. Tell me, Sienna, do I still look like a kid to you?” Ryan stepped so close that if she took a deep breath, her breasts would brush against his chest.

Sienna’s mouth went dry. She looked up into his hardened face and steady hazel eyes that told her he’d already seen more than he should have. Standing just over six foot two inches, Sienna guessed he was close to two hundred pounds of pure muscle. The tight T-shirt showed off powerful biceps with a chest wide enough to envelop her. From there, she took in the jeans that seemed to hug thighs she suddenly envisioned pushing her knees apart as he . . .

“You okay, doc? You seem a little flushed.” His deep mocking tone had her snapping her eyes back up to his.

“Well, it’s summer in Kentucky. Of course, I’m flushed.” Sienna motioned to his arm. “So, what happened?”

“I was shot in the line of duty, and this is my recuperation time.”

“Oh my gosh,” Sienna put her hand on his chest and then snapped it back as if it were on fire, “are you all right? Do your parents know?”

“Of course, I’m okay. I’ll just have Dr. Emma check my stitches. I probably popped one when I picked up the tub of ice. No big deal. And of course, my parents know.”

“Did they freak out?” Sienna asked. Her dad would have locked her in the basement if she got shot.

Ryan’s mouth tilted into an amused grin. “Nah, when I got home my dad showed me his first gunshot scar. To tell you the truth, it was a bummer to know your dad was shot with a bigger caliber bullet than you. He has a cooler scar than I do.”

Sienna laughed, and in that split second, all the tension from the past years fell away. They were the two kids who had grown up together. But then the door opened and the guests to the graduation party spilled out. The spell was broken as Dr. Emma zeroed in immediately on the bloody arm.

“Violet, what the heck?” Daisy hissed.

“Yeah, you were supposed to hold them off a little bit longer,” Lily whispered.

Violet tossed her hands up in the air. “I tried. But they got me with the casseroles. There were just too many of them, and then the door somehow got opened and well . . . I failed.” Violet let out a sigh. They looked out the now open door. Ryan and Sienna were as far apart as they could be.

“What happened to his arm?” Lily asked. Dr. Emma and her retired sheriff’s deputy husband, Noodle, sat talking to Ryan across the way at the picnic table.

“Gunshot,” John said from behind them.

Lily shook her head. “I knew he was running from his feelings, but I didn’t think he’d run into a bullet.”

“I can’t help but agree with you, Lily Rae. He’s been taking increasingly risky jobs for the FBI’s special operations division, including undercover work. It’s time our boy came home,” John said, watching Emma restitch Ryan at the picnic table.

“How do you intend to do that?” Charlie asked.

“And what can we do to help?” Anton wondered, sliding an arm around his wife.

John shook his head. “I don’t know yet. But we’ll work on it together.”

Violet looked out at the crowd gathering in the back yard and let out a low whistle. “If I loved you any less, honey, I would be out there getting my hugs from Zain and Gabe.”

Lily looked where the two twenty-four-year-old playboy princes were sauntering into the party. Their skin was tanned, showing their Middle Eastern heritage. Their glacier-blue eyes were straight from their mother. The combination was deadly. Women collapsed into fits of vapors when the boys put the two attributes to work. Since college graduation, they had been serving in the Rahmi Air Force. They had just arrived home the week before and were now ready to start their own lives—or as much of their own as they could, being royalty.

Anton just shook his head at his wife. “What about little Sophie? I remember her as an
enfant,
and now she’s twenty-five.”

Sophie Davies had inherited the Davies hazel eyes, but the quiet beauty exuded confidence as she hugged Sydney. “Well, at least Sydney has stopped modeling. It’s nice to have her back in town,” Lily said, watching the two girls laugh.

“It’s just so wonderful to have everyone home for the summer. I miss them when they are away. And too many of them are getting ready to leave in the fall for college again,” Daisy complained.

“It’s what happens when they grow up, dear,” Charlie said and patted his wife’s hand. “Now, should we join the party or continue standing here gossiping about them all night?”

Lily watched her sisters and brothers-in-law step out into the yard. She looked at her watch. The wheels she’d set in motion would be at full speed soon.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

“I still can’t believe Edna and Tabby ran off together to Florida six months ago,” Marshall said as he looked at the now empty house next door.

Kenna nodded. “He said it was getting too cold for him here. His winky got frostbite the last time he tried to write his name in the snow.”

“But Edna? Where did that come from?” Will asked as he grabbed a beer from the large ice tub under the maple tree in Lily and John’s backyard.

“They fell in love over bingo,” Dani told them.

“How will we ever defend ourselves now?” Cy grinned.

Paige’s phone pinged and she looked down at it. “Speaking of the devil.” She held up the phone for everyone to see.

“Is that Tabby’s pig on the beach?” Miles asked slowly.

“Is it wearing a bikini?” Ahmed marveled.

“Oh no,” Katelyn giggled, “that’s not just a bikini, that’s one from Sydney’s new swimsuit line.”

Tammy snorted and then covered her mouth. “Well, Tabby’s pig is very fashionable this season.”

“Let’s hope Sydney doesn’t see it,” Annie said. She shook her head a moment before a screech filled the afternoon air.

“Too late,” Bridget cringed.

Morgan looked at the picture and smiled. “Tabby’s pig has her own Instagram page?”

“The better point being that my sister follows Precious Piggy on Instagram,” Pierce teased.

“What? You should see the things Tabby, Edna, and Precious do. It’s the best page to follow. They took her to a nude beach last week,” Paige said as she scrolled through the pictures and then held up her phone.

“Oh, that’s just wrong,” Cade gagged.

Mo leaned closer before jumping back. “Damn, you could have warned me it was a family photo. I can’t un-see that.”

“Hey, guys, what’s going on?” Trey Everett asked as he and his wife, Taylor, walked over.

Trey had grown up in Keeneston and had been the star running back on Cade’s state championship team. He’d met Taylor, an actress, through Cy’s work in Hollywood. They’d been college sweethearts. While he had gone on to play in the NFL, she had started to direct and act in movies again. About five years ago, he, Taylor, and their two kids moved from Hung Island, Georgia, back to Keeneston after he retired.

Paige flashed them the camera, and Trey’s look of horror cracked up Taylor and the rest of the group.

“What are you looking at?” Henry Rooney asked as he and his shiny slacks sauntered over. “Nudie pics?”

“How did you know?” Tammy asked with mock innocence. Her boss was the town’s defense attorney and reigning leader of the worst pick-up lines in the entire state.

“I've got to see. Is it a new sex tape of that reality star?”

Paige held out her phone, and Henry rushed forward. He closed his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand. Everyone took a giant step back, fearful he might hurl. Henry shook his head and cracked open one eye. “I can work with that. Baby, are those defibrillation paddles because you just stopped my heart?”

The group groaned.

“Don’t encourage him,” his wife, Neely Grace, begged.

“I’ll show you my artificial hip if you show me yours,” Henry continued, ignoring the continued protests. “Your beauty is more than my pacemaker can handle, so it’s a good thing you look like an angel.”

“Henry!” Tammy cried.

“Are those earmuffs? Cause I’d love to have them wrapped around my head,” Henry rolled on as everyone made a dash for the other side of the yard.

“Wait, I've got more,” Henry called out.

* * *

The pony-tailed woman looked out the window of their convertible and took in the black four-rail fences lining the road. Large, leafy trees branched over the winding country road, forming a green tunnel as they drove toward Keeneston, Kentucky.

“I still can’t believe we are doing this,” her sister said for the hundredth time as she fidgeted in her blue sundress.

“What do we have to lose?”

“True. We needed to start over, and this just landed in our lap. But don’t you think it’s strange?”

She didn’t bother to answer her sister as she navigated the twisting road. Horses ran in pastures and bluegrass danced in the wind, creating ripples of dark blue. It was certainly different from their small coastal town of Daphne, Alabama.

“I sure hope this works out. We can’t go back to Daphne, ever,” her sister said seriously.

“No one knows we’re here. It will be our chance to start over. Let’s just hope they don’t pry into our past too much.” Her brown eyes eagerly sought out the houses that started to appear after a sharp turn in the road. “This must be Keeneston.”

“It’s even smaller than Daphne.” Her sister’s matching brown eyes widened in wonder as they drove up Main Street.

“Mechanic’s garage, insurance, antiques . . .” she said, glancing at the storefronts along Main Street.

It was certainly beautiful. Bourbon barrels, cut in half and filled with cascading greenery, stood in front of some of the shops. Baskets overflowing with colorful flowers were on every post, and American flags fluttered in the warm summer air. The buildings were old, the paint was new, and doors were open. They slowed in front of what looked to be the only place to eat.

“The Blossom Café,” her sister read aloud.

“Let’s go,” she said, continuing to drive. “There’s a lawyer’s office and a feed store.

“And a cute shop, Southern Charms. Oh, that’s the place I read about that makes those fancy hats,” her sister said suddenly excited as she fluffed her long blonde golden hair.

Soon the town trickled to a stop and fields of cows, crops, and horses took over again.

* * *

Lily signaled her sisters, and they gathered around the kitchen table Ryan had carried outside earlier. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, and Will had fired up the grill for dinner. Groups of people stood or sat in her yard. The women had taken over setting up folding tables and putting casseroles, salads, and fruit on them while the men all advised Will how to grill hamburgers. The younger kids were playing football and the older ones sat on a picnic blanket talking.

“What is it, Lily Rae?” Daisy asked as she took a seat.

Violet sat down and poured them all some iced tea.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I think we need to come to the realization that we’re old,” Lily started. She was suddenly nervous. Had she done the right thing?

“Do birds lay eggs? Of course we’re old,” Daisy said in that sisterly voice that annoyed Lily.

“Go on, Lily. What’s sparked this realization?” Violet asked.

“It’s getting hard for me to keep up with the bed-and-breakfast. And I know it’s been hard for you two at the café,” Lily said sadly.

Daisy and Violet both nodded.

“I can’t stand and cook that long anymore. And that sweet girl who has been helping us went off and got married. I’ll just ignore the fact that we are the ones who set them up. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Violet confided.

“Charlie and Anton have helped us some, but we didn’t know you were having the same problem,” Daisy said and reached out, taking Lily’s hand.

“I hate to admit it, but we are,” Lily told her sisters.

“I just don’t know what we can do other than close the café. It just doesn’t seem right not to be run by one of the family. And since we never had children . . .” Violet looked thoughtfully at the kids running around the yard.

Lily took a deep breath. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. John and I bought Edna’s house.”

“Why would you do that?” Daisy asked in surprise.

“Well, we had the money, and it’s smaller than our place. I had an idea and didn’t want to risk losing the house, so we bought it.”

“What’s your idea?” Violet questioned.

“It’s an either-or situation. Edna’s house is smaller, so John and I could more easily keep up with it. I could sell our family home and move into Edna’s.”

“Or?” Daisy and Violet asked at the same time.

“Or I thought about this big house we have and how there would be plenty of room for guests and my family. How would you like to move back home?” Lily put it out there and held her breath.

“Home? All of us?” Violet pondered. “I’d love to, but all those stairs.”

“There’s not enough room in the downstairs master,” Daisy pointed out.

Lily nodded. “Well, there’s room, but not as it’s currently laid out. A builder could reconfigure the downstairs pretty easily to give every couple their own room.”

The three sisters looked at each other, and Lily knew it was going to happen the second they smiled.

“I can’t believe we’re all going to be living together. That gives me such peace of mind. I’ll talk to Anton tonight.”

“And I’ll talk to Charlie. Now if only you had a solution to the problem we have with the café.”

Sienna stood from the red-and-white checkered blanket. She needed space. Ryan had been sitting directly across from her for the past hour, and she could feel every time his gaze brushed over her. It was pathetic. She had been dating someone for three years. They had even been talking about marriage. But while Ryan was being restitched, she’d called her boyfriend and told him she needed to see him tonight to talk. If he were smart, he’d know what was coming. Her heart just wasn’t in it, and that wasn’t fair to either of them.

Sienna reached the beer cooler at the side of the house and flipped the lid open. “Excuse us, is this Mrs. Rose-Wolfe’s house?”

Sienna looked up and saw two younger women standing there. They were shorter than she was, probably five-foot-four. One was svelte, while the other was a bombshell with curves that would start Henry on a pick-up line marathon. Both had golden hair; however, one was redder and the other more blond. Both had the deepest brown eyes that looked rather wary at the moment.

“Yes, this is Miss Lily’s place. I’m Sienna, may I help you?”

The svelte one gave a weak smile. “Thank you, can you point out Mrs. Rose-Wolfe?”

Sienna turned around and pointed at the trio of white-haired ladies sitting under the tree. “She’s the one in the middle.”

“Thank you,” they both said, taking off across the yard.

Lily noticed the sudden silence first and the two young women second. Their strappy sundresses had also attracted the attention of the three husbands and all the younger men. John, Charlie, and Anton moved to stand behind their wives as the ladies stopped at the table.

The town gathered around Lily, who looked the two strangers over. If her senses were right, these two ladies might need her as much as she needed them.

“Mrs. Rose-Wolfe?” one of the young women asked nervously as she saw the whole party suddenly surrounding them.

“Yes, dear?” Lily smiled reassuringly.

“I received your letter. And if it’s all right with you and your sisters, we'd like to accept.” Her eyes darted to Daisy and Violet before settling back on Lily.

“Agree to what?” Violet whispered to Lily.

“Sisters,” Lily said with a satisfied look, “meet our new help. They’re going to help us with the bed-and-breakfast and the Blossom Café.”

“Help us how?” Daisy asked.

“By running them for us,” Lily answered.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Violet inquired.

“Please excuse my lack of manners, ma’am,” the young woman said apologetically. “I’m Poppy Meadows, and this is my sister, Zinnia. We’re your cousins.”

THE END

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