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First, our relationship was no longer one of those mysterious secrets she accused me of.
And rightly so!
Second, I had just had Papa all this time. My family suddenly expanded. Not that my lady's family was huge, but suddenly and soon, they were going to be mine, too.
Third, now Jared’s whole crew had to know who Beatrice was. My Lady Fair had been a mystery of her own to Jared’s extended “family,” and that wasn’t going to last long at all. The women (thanks mostly to Trey, I think) have been chomping at the bit about meeting her.
And last but not least, after a brief and totally relaxed conversation about it, Beatrice understood and agreed with my desire to keep my wealth under wraps.
She teased me shortly after rejecting the company’s promotion offer. She said with a devilish look on her face, “Good thing I didn't know you were a billionaire that night I picked you up at Ralph’s club. I might have moved in and never let you go. Then you would never know if I was a gold digger or the real deal!”
I laughed and laughed. I’d never worried about gold diggers—mainly because no one knew there was gold to dig—and I wasn't going to start now.
But then? What? “Ralph? You knew it’sRalph’sclub?”
She looked a little sheepish. I didn’t let up, “Ah-Hah! What did Winston Churchill say? ‘A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.’ I detect a mystery wrapped in a riddle surrounded by an enigma! Empty your brain in my lap!”
She told me how full of doubt she was after Craig's slip-up. That she didn't have many resources to find out who I really might be, and if I was really telling her the truth. She told me how she went to the bar found out the owner's name was Ralph (which as I thought unlikely, she didn’t know till then), and sort of interrogated him about me.
And when she said she left the place none the wiser about me, I laughed and laughed as I drew her in. “I'm sorry, my Lady Fair. But I have to say, now you know all my secrets. There is nothing left to reveal that you don't already know.”
She laughed right back at me, “Oh, don't be so quick. I have come to understand that people are full of mystery and secrets, even if they themselves don't believe it's so.”
I kiss her square on the lips. “Well, my feelings for you are no secret to my Papa. My Vader is convinced that it is your chutzpah that seduced me. He was all about how opposites attract and that since I didn't have any chutzpah of my own, I was drawn to yours!”
As Beatrice and I inevitably expected, her mother couldn't keep our relationship a secret from her big brother or her nephews. So in very short order, “mom” as she urged me to call her, organized a backyard BBQ at her place.
After a short chat about it, during which there was no doubt we'd be accepting the invitation, Beatrice and I decided that we'd better do a double BBQ weekend. The day after her mother's event, I would host an event and invite every last person in Jared’s crew.
Beatrice looked skeptical at the two of us taking care of BBQ food. “Are you sure the women and Jared’s guys agree to that? Shouldn't we make it so everyone brings something thing? That way, everyone gets something they love to eat.”
“Enough said. Let me call Jared right now.” I chatted with Jared as Beatrice held my hand. When I hung up, “Done deal! His wife will mastermind the food list and make sure that there is enough of everything and a big variety on top of that.”
Then it was my turn to have some skepticism,“Beatriiiice?? My beautyyyy?” I think she saw my consternation and put her hand on my cheek and looked me right in the eye. “What is it, my sweet? You sound worried.”
“Barbecue. Your family knows that you and I are vegans, right? Barbecue means roastingvegetables, right?” That made Beatrice laugh and she reassured me. “Don't forget—my mom is also vegan. How do you think I got to be one? My cousins and my uncle, however, definitely are not. She will have something for everyone. She always does. And when it's my uncle's turn for the BBQ, he returns the favor. Have. No. Fear!”
Chapter 52
Beatrice
Idiscussedwithmomif I should invite Papa, Hendrik’s father. She agreed wholeheartedly that if Hendrik senior was his only family, he absolutely must come.
Hendrik blows my cousins away with his demeanor and his physicality and his quiet humor—lots of which he has adopted from my century-old cuss words!
Hendrik senior (since it turns out my Hendrik is a Junior), AKA Papa, wowed my mother and even my uncle in different ways. First, I think mom was charmed by his old-world manners and his accent. My uncle was impressed with his industrial career and his immigration as a single father.
Papa was no fool, and teased my uncle that it must be hard to be surrounded by hardheaded single parents! That is when my uncle revealed that he was “almost” a single parent as he had been divorced for over fifteen years. Long story short, the two men had lots to talk about.
Mom bragged that HendrikGreat Gun-ned andJehoshaphat-ed her the first time they met, and that just tickled my two cousins to no end.
We eat a mountain of quinoa pilaf, corn on the cob, baked yams, three types of raw salads, and more and more. On top of that, my uncle, as he always has at our house, reserved half of the grill for his meats. Everyone filled themselves to the gills!
Mom was even more impressed when Hendrik not only volunteered to help clean up but didn't wait for her answer and just dove right in. I couldn't find him until I walked into the kitchen to see him up to his elbows in soapsuds at the sink!
“You absolutely need an apron. That would complete the picture!” I tease him as I pick up a dish towel and start drying the overflowing drain rack. He teases back as he lifts a handful of suds from the sink and dots my cheeks with them.
The afternoon was ending and my cousins wouldn't be upstaged. They convinced Hendrik, as I stood by with a smirk on my face, to come with us to our favorite karaoke club.
