Page 76 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Our cousins. Different branch, but that doesn’t mean much to a lot of us. Hudson and Carson are twins and both doctors. They both had a set of twins. Hudson and his wife, Delaney, had Alec and Allison in early May and Carson and his fiancée, Laine, had their twins last week, Wyatt and Lila.”

“They both had a boy and a girl?” he asked.

“Crazy, huh? But I’ve learned that is the island for you. You know, that whole thing about fate?”

Van tried not to roll his eyes over Kelsey’s comment. He’d been hearing about this since he moved to the island.

No one other than those in this room was aware of his inheritance though. The ones he worked with just thought he moved to the island to change up his life after his stabbing.

He didn’t bother to correct them.

In his mind it was no one’s business what he had in the bank.

“Kelsey,” Kyle said. “No need to make Van feel uncomfortable.”

“I’m pretty sure it takes a lot for him to feel that way,” she said. “What’s for dinner? Some of us had to work today and are hungry.”

“Sauce,” Duke said. “You know that. You can see it.”

“But you never make just sauce and meatballs. What else is there?”

“Bread. There are stuffed shells in the oven and a vegetarian lasagna.”

“Yum,” she said. “Meatballs, right? I need my meat.”

Van was watching the two siblings talking. “The lasagna is for you,” Duke said.

“But I still need meatballs.” Kelsey moved to the stove and lifted the lid off the pot. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

“Like I’ve got much of a choice,” Duke said.

“You two never stop,” Karen said. “They’ve always been like this. Duke gives Kelsey what she wants all the time.”

“Does she do the same for you?” he asked Duke.

“What?” Duke asked. “Did you hear that, Kelsey? Your boyfriend wants to know if you give people things other than grief and jokes.”

“I gave him his wife,” Kelsey said proudly. “I’ve got a lot coming to me.” Kelsey took a bow. “Come on, applause for me. Let’s all admit it.”

Van looked around the room at this and saw the laughter. He thought it was a joke.

“I thank you every day,” Duke said. “Or my wife reminds me that I should thank you every day.”

“I can tell you’re confused,” Kyle said. “Hadley’s parents owned Duke’s other restaurant years ago. Kelsey managed their finances for them. When they wanted to sell and were struggling, they went to her for advice. Kelsey brought up Duke and that she’d see if he was interested.”

“Hadley’s parents had an offer too sweet for me to pass and Kelsey knew that. But she is the one who got the ball rolling and pushed me.”

“I didn’t know my parents were doing this,” Hadley said. “I came back to the island to start over kind of like you. Or start fresh. I was stunned to find out what was going on.”

“Because you wanted to take it over?” he asked.

“Oh God no. I just wanted a job while I found another one. Duke gave me one and the rest is history.”

“Thanks to me,” Kelsey said.

“You’re not going to let him live it down, are you?” he asked.

“It’d go a long way if you could try to talk her into doing that,” Duke said.

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