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“I’m a terrible dancer,” I told him.
“I don’t care.” He pulled me into a box step, which my vampire grace still didn’t help me master. “So, I’ve been thinking.”
I smirked. “That can be dangerous.”
“You haven’t quite used your triumph settlement the way you wanted to.”
“Not true. Look at how happy they are.” I nodded toward Jolene and Zeb.
“I know it took quite a bit of money to do that. And it will take quite a bit more money to get the shop going.”
“Which is your clever way of saying that Ophelia told you exactly how much I got.” I gave him a wry smile.
“I cannot comment,” he said. “Because Ophelia’s scarier than you are.”
“Not going to argue there. But I am going to have a nice healthy nest egg. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Well, we both know that’s not true. The point, which we rarely get to painlessly, is that I know that you wanted to spend some of your ill-gotten wealth on travel.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “What did you do?”
“Nothing yet, but you say the word, and we will be on a plane. I’ll keep my schedule open. I figured we could start in London and work our way east. I want to be with you when you see the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, harass some poor gondolier in Venice with questions. I’ll even go to the Eiffel Tower if you want to be prosaic. Anywhere you want to go we’ll go.”
“Travel?” I asked. “For how long?”
“Until you get tired of me.”
“When can we leave?” I asked.
“From here, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
“That’s a little quick.” I laughed. “But I would love to go. Soon. And we will go to the Eiffel Tower, thank you.”
“I knew it,” he said. “At heart, you’re just a sentimental romantic fool.”
I laughed again, watching as Jolene and Zeb circled the floor. Lord help me, I actually started misting up. “Sometimes.”
“Are you crying?” he asked, lifting my chin.
“No!”
“Sentimental, romantic fool,” he said again as I wiped at my eyes.
“I really hate this song,” I grumbled.
He twirled me out and dipped me. “Honey, let it go.”
>“Yes, exactly like that Seinfeld episode.”
“I have a limited frame of reference,” I admitted as my cell phone rang from my dress pocket. The caller ID said it was my mother. Andrea was not the least bit offended when I answered it, since Dick had just approached with a tray of nibbles he’d managed to snag from the buffet line using his vampire wiles. I shook my head and giggled as I snapped open the phone. At this point, I was surprised that Dick wasn’t feeding them to her.
“I just wanted to see whether you’d called your sister yet,” Mama said, again dispensing with a greeting.
“No, but I have done an extensive inventory of the household contents at River Oaks and found an alarming number of items missing. The next time you’re over at Jenny’s, could you look for Depression glass, a silver coffee service, and some lace fans? I need to know what to put on the search warrant.”
Mama sighed on the other end of the line. “You aren’t really considering going to the police, are you? Jane, that would be so embarrassing to the family.”
I sighed. “I’m not going to call the cops, Mama. But Jenny and Grandma should consider whatever they’ve taken over the years to be their inheritance. That’s their share of the Early legacy. I don’t want to hear anything more about it. If Jenny wants to keep the lawsuit going, she can go ahead. I can afford a much better lawyer now.”
