Page 50 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
I parked the car with everyone else’s, as men in black suits pointed us to park. Getting out, I took a moment to look at the grand old mansion. It looked like a picture out of a magazine. White columns all along the front of the mansion held up a balcony that went from one side of the massive house to the other. Moss hung from giant oak trees, and the perfectly cut grass was the deepest shade of green that I’d ever seen grass be.
Although lovely, I could see why Jessa wouldn’t have felt at home in a place like this. It looked more like a museum than a home where people raised their children.
Pulling my attention from the grandeur of the historical mansion, I followed the people as they went around the side of the house. And then I heard the sound of a woman crying. Looking around, I saw someone sitting on stone steps that led to a door. Her hands covered her face, but she had long blond hair that hung around her shoulders. A black dress went all the way to her feet, and pointy black shoes peeked out from beneath it.
I had no idea who she was, but her cries were so pitiful that I couldn’t stop myself from going to her. I gently placed my hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, you know.”
Her hands moved slowly away from her face, and she looked up at me with red, swollen eyes. “How do you know that?”
“Because I’ve gone through what you are going through now. Only it was many years ago, when I was just a kid and lost both my parents. Youwillsurvive this. And youwillbe stronger for it.”
Eyeing me warily, she asked, “And just who are you, wise man?”
“My name is Stone Nash, and I’m here to find Jessa Moxon.”
Jumping up in a sudden flash, she wrapped her arms around me. “Thank God you came!” She let me go, her eyes as wide as saucers. “She needs you more than you will ever know. This is all too much for her — for us. She’s in over her head. We both are. Only IknowI am, but she keeps pretending she’s not.”
“That’s my Jessa.” I smiled, hoping like hell that Jessa would be happy to see me. “Since you’re lumping yourself in with her, can I assume that you’re her sister, Lily?”
“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. How silly of me.” She held out her hand as if she expected me to take it and kiss it, something that I guessed was some sort of North Carolina tradition. “I am Carolina Lily Moxon, Stone Nash. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I took her hand and placed a kiss on top of it. “I do believe I’m supposed to say that the pleasure is all mine. Right?”
“Yeah, you’re right,” she said as she laughed a little. “That’s the first time I’ve laughed since...” She snapped her mouth shut.
“It’s okay to laugh. Your father would be happy to hear his daughter’s laughter. I’m sure he would. Parents don’t like hearing their kids cry. They much prefer hearing their laughter. Or that’s how it goes with my brothers and their kids, anyway. It’s not like I have kids to know those kinds of things for myself.”
For a moment, she just stared at me without saying a word. Then she looked around as if to make sure no one could hear what she was about to say. She took my hand and pulled me closer to her. “It’s hard to know if my sister will tell you about this. She’s told me she let you go so you wouldn’t get pulled down into this with her. But you should know. You should definitely know.”
“Know what?” I felt a bit confused. “That she loves me? Cause I know that, and she knows that I love her too. Jessa is too selfless. I’m here to try to show her that she can lean on people too. It won’t make her weak.”
“Not that.” She looked around nervously. “God, she might kill me for telling you this. But in her present state of mind, I just know she won’t do it. She’s got to always be the strong one and won’t let anyone help her. She keeps yelling at me to help, but I know she won’t really let me do anything. It’s not like I know more than she does about anything anyway. She is most definitely the smartest out of the two of us. But she needs your help, Stone. She truly does. Don’t let her tell you otherwise. You’ll have to be one hell of a man to get her to let you be there for her. But I think you can do it. Especially if you’re sharing something that substantial.”
Again, I felt confused. “If you’re afraid of telling me something that your sister has asked you not to, and that might make her angry at you, then I don’t want to get between the trust you two have with each other.” The last thing I wanted was to start things off with Jessa by getting between her and her sister.
“She didn’t tellmenot to tell you. She just said thatshewasn’t going to tell you because it would make you feel obligated to stay in her life, a life that won’t be very good, she thinks. Or something like that. I’m not sure what her exact words were. But the thing is, she’s so worried about dragging you away from something. I think she said you’re a chef and that you’re going to do something with that. I’m not sure. I’ve been crying a lot, as you can imagine. Anyway.”
“Anyway, really, Lily. I don’t want you to tell me something that will start a conflict between you two. Right now, it’s imperative to keep your bonds tighter than they’ve ever been before. She’s all you have in the world now, and you’re all she has.”
I trusted Jessa would tell me anything that I really needed to know. Plus, I had the idea that, with her father gone, Lily was rather desperate for anyone to step in and take over. But I knew Jessa didn’t want that. I’d be damn lucky if she would let me help at all. But I knew she wouldn’t let me take over. Not that I would even want to. I’d made a promise to myself that I would fulfill my passion and keep moving forward with all the plans I’d made for the bistro, and the ones that would come after.
Nodding, she looked at how the people were beginning to thin out as everyone had gone around to the back of the house. “We should get going, or we’ll miss the graveside service. You will accompany me.”
She held her hand out, and I took it, tucking it into my elbow. “Of course.” I figured I might as well learn how a gentleman in the south was supposed to act. “Y’all are very formal over here, aren’t you?”
“You all, is how we say it here in North Carolina, Stone. Y’all sounds so common. And yes, we still have many formalities here.” She smiled at me as we stepped around the side of the house. “I know my sister and I are complete opposites.”
I saw a large structure in the middle of a garden in the backyard. “Is that a tomb?”
“It’s called a mausoleum. Daddy’s final resting place.” She dabbed the corners of her eyes. “It’s the way he wanted it. See, our mother is in there. Daddy built this garden around the mausoleum he’d made for Momma and him. That’s why it’s so big. There’s room for six more bodies in there. I’ve always thought I would be laid to rest within those marble walls. And you should know that Jessamine wants to be laid to rest there as well. She wants to take the place next to our mother, since she never got to be with her in her life. She wants to be with her on the other side.”
“What do you mean?” I felt confused yet again.
“Our mother died giving birth to my baby sister.”
“Oh, wow.” My heart felt as if it had stopped. “That’s terrible.”
“Yes, it is.” She dabbed her eyes again. “I’ll take the place on our father’s other side, since he and Mother are taking the two middle positions. And now I suppose the place on the other side of Jessamine will go to her child.” She looked at me with wide eyes. “Oh, my. I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”
