Page 1 of Spilling the Tea

Prologue

“Chance, are you listening to me?”

Chancellor Madaris tilted his Stetson back off his face. His cousin Corbin had been pacing the living room floor and rambling since arriving nearly thirty minutes ago. Initially, Chance had been listening, but his mind had begun drifting when he remembered all the chores he needed to do that day. When you owned a working ranch, every daylight hour counted, and May was one of his busiest months. When he’d been summoned from the barn, he was told his cousin wanted to see him and said it was urgent. Chance had stopped everything and quickly walked to the ranch house.

His grandfather, Lucas, and Corbin’s grandfather, Nolan, were brothers. There had been seven Madaris brothers in all. Milton Jr., Lee, Nolan, Lucas, Robert, Jonathan, and Jacob, who everybody called Jake. All were alive except for Robert, who’d been killed in the Vietnam War. With seven Madaris brothers, there were plenty of cousins to go around, some of whom had been born within days or months of each other. It always amused Chance how the four oldest Madaris brothersmade sure they’d had sons named after them, and each of those sons had done the very same thing.

His great-grandmother, Felicia Laverne Madaris, the matriarch of the family, whom they fondly called Mama Laverne, said it seemed that, according to the ages of her great-grands, they formed into groups and ran together around Houston in wolf packs. Her analogy wasn’t far from the truth.

And speaking of Mama Laverne, Chance noticed her name being mentioned more than once during Corbin’s ramblings, and he could imagine why. Their ninety-something-year-old great-grandmother had stated countless times that she was making it her life’s mission to marry off the first sixteen of her great-grands before she took her last breath.

In keeping with that goal, she made a list of all their names, recorded them by age, and was determined to find them suitable spouses. So far, she had a perfect record. Although the males had fought her manipulations tooth and nail, by the time they’d reached the altar, they had been over-the-top in love with the women chosen for them. Chance had to give it to the old gal. She was an ace when it came to matchmaking.

To know Felicia Laverne Madaris was to love her. Her family certainly did, although he would admit there were times you’d want to strangle her. Yet no one would ever harm a single hair on her head. She was too precious to all of them. She was why all seven of her sons had grown up to become God-fearing men…although he’d heard the oldest four had been a bunch of “hell raisers” before settling down, getting married, and starting a family. He figured by then it had been drilled into them, just like they’d drilled it into their offspring, that a Madaris man was expected to keep the family motto of protect, provide, and prosper. Chance knew that to his great-grandmother, to prosper also meant to produce. Specifically, to assure there were plenty of future generations of Madarises. Although that might be the case, he also knew there was neverany pressure placed on anyone in the family who didn’t agree with her way of thinking.

After losing their great-grandfather, Milton Sr., Chance knew that Mama Laverne was the glue that had held the Madaris family together. She was the backbone of the family, and the woman had a heart of gold. She thought of others before thinking of herself…maybe too much at times. As far as he was concerned, she was the epitome of a strong woman.

“What were you saying about Mama Laverne?” he asked, refusing to admit he had allowed his mind to wander.

Corbin, two years older than Chance’s thirty-three years, rubbed a frustrated hand down his face before saying, “It’s about that damn hit list of hers. Rumor has it that she will pair me up with Cheryl Carlyle. Can you imagine such a thing?”

Chance leaned back in his chair, stretched his long legs out in front of him, and crossed his booted ankles. Cheryl Carlyle was a looker; there was no denying that. However, he recalled hearing that last year, her father had caught her taking part in a ménage à trois with two ranch hands.

“No, I can’t imagine it, and you shouldn’t either, Corbin. Don’t be another Victoria.” Victoria was Corbin’s sister and the first girl born in their generation.

Corbin frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Chance responded, “Need I remind you that Victoria assumed Mama Laverne had picked Tanner Jamison for her when that wasn’t the case?”

“But I heard Cheryl’s father has been privately hanging out after church to meet with Mama Laverne. I bet those meetings are about me,” Corbin said vehemently.

“I believe you’re way off the mark.”

“You think so?” Corbin asked, looking hopeful and putting an end to his pacing to sit down on the sofa.

“Yes. I’m pretty sure I’m right.” The one thing Chance knew about his great-grandmother was that she held the Madarisfamily’s reputation as sacred. That meant she would never add anyone to the family who might, in her eyes, one day disgrace it. That would eliminate Cheryl Carlyle. In addition to having an ear for any gossip spread, Mama Laverne read the newspaper daily and was fully aware whenever the Madaris name appeared in print.

Unfortunately, there had been times when not only would a Madaris’s name appear in print, but their face as well. Some of his Madaris cousins had been known as notorious womanizers, and the newspaper’s social column enjoyed sharing details of their exploits.

“Besides, Corbin, have you forgotten that Mama Laverne modified her list to place those four Bannister brothers ahead of you? Giving you a pass once again.”

Everyone knew their great-grandmother’s list was being worked with a well-measured timeline. After Nolan had married, Corbin should have been next on the list. However, Mama Laverne had skipped over Corbin and a few of her male great-grands to marry off Victoria, who’d been much younger than all of them. Luckily for Corbin, Mama Laverne had modified the list once again.

The four Bannister brothers they were referring to were Wyatt, Camden, and the twins—Brenton and Branson. Since they were best friends to several of her great-grandsons and were first cousins to six of her grandchildren, she’d had no qualms about adding them to her list.

Corbin’s features widened with a grin after being reminded of the reprieve he’d gotten yet again. “Yes, that is true.”

“Finding those Bannisters suitable wives might take some time,” Chance said. “They deliberately stopped dating to protest what she’d done.” No one wanted to fall victim to his great-grandmother’s matchmaking schemes.

“Crap, I haven’t gone that far,” Corbin said. “But I do ask questions first.”

Chance lifted his brow. “What sort of questions?”

A smile spread across Corbin’s lips. “I want to know if they’ve ever met Mama Laverne. Who are their parents and grandparents? What schools did those family members attend, and did any attend church summer camps as teens, or do they attend church conventions now? I also want to know if their relatives have gone on cruises out of Galveston within the last twenty years.”

Chance shook his head. He figured the latter question had been added because one of his granduncles had been taking Mama Laverne on a three-week cruise annually for the past twenty years. He didn’t want to think how many people with eligible daughters, sons, or grandchildren she might have met.

“I’ve even hired Alex to do background checks on a few of my dates.”

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