The Relatives Read Free

be.”
    “Good that you realize that.” Because she had a determinedly cheerful personality, she said, “Maybe it won’t be so bad. They’re only staying two days. Then we can have our lives back.”
    Mario nodded solemnly. “Yes. Thank God.”
    *   *   *
    Landon planted his feet on the front porch. “We shouldn’t walk into their house.”
    “Cousin Mario and Cousin Gwen both said to come over any time. This isn’t any time, it’s dinnertime.” Cecily walked into the ground-floor entry of Mario and Gwen’s home. “And I’m hungry.”
    Landon didn’t move. “Here it’s only five o’clock.”
    “My stomach says it’s seven o’clock. Are you coming or not?”
    “Let me ring the doorbell so they know—”
    Cecily got back there in time to grab Landon’s wrist. “Absolutely not. I want to know what they’re up to.”
    “They’re not up to anything. They live here!”
    “Then it won’t matter if I come in.” Cecily squeezed his wrist and winked. “Come on. Maybe we’ll catch them doing the wild thing.”
    “I don’t want to catch them doing the wild thing.” But Landon followed her in.
    Before he could loudly slam the door to let Cousin Mario and Cousin Gwen know they had company, Cecily rubbed up against him and fanned his check with her lashes. “What do you say to us doing the wild thing later?”
    “With the fireplace going.”
    “That’s my boy. So passionate. Like a lion.”
    Landon soundlessly shut the door behind them.
    Cecily glanced into the large living room. The ceiling towered two stories above the floor, drawing the eye up to the massive chandelier, which glowed in soft shades of blue. It wasn’t a normal chandelier, either. The hangy part was heavy stainless steel, and around that in a wide circle, forty blown-glass sperm-looking shapes raced in a clockwise circle. As if that wasn’t appalling enough, two matching scones hung on either side of the floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace. The second-level gallery ran the length of the living room, with a stainless steel railing and some blobs of glass inserted here and there. And most awful of all, the furniture was uncomfortable. “Cousin Gwen could really use some advice with her decorating.”
    “You know when we were in here the first time, she said the views were so spectacular, they didn’t need any embellishment.”
    Cecily looked at him.
    “I guess she was wrong,” he said.
    Cecily considered the curved flight of hardwood stairs that led to the second level and sighed. “My poor joints. Thank heavens I took a rest after she dragged us out to that hideous cottage or I’d never be able to make it. And me falling through the crack on that deck was clearly a sign of their criminal negligence.” She gripped the handrail, then paused—and listened—between each step.
    “Do you want some help, honey?” Landon cupped her butt.
    “You’re a naughty boy!” She reached the gallery, started toward the kitchen, and heard a muffled noise that sounded like voices from the back of the house.. “Landon, why don’t you go down the hall and check out the guest bedroom Cousin Gwen didn’t want to put us in? I can’t believe it’s all that awful.”
    Landon glanced around, shrugged, and headed down the hall.
    Cecily watched him affectionately. He was a good man. He really was. She hadn’t married him merely because he was easily manipulated. He was also good in bed, and his family had an established business. Mind you, his mother despised Cecily and made them live above the garage, but when she really got to hating Cecily, she would buy them plane tickets and send them on vacation for a week or two. And she would never let him starve.
    That kind of integrity meant a lot to Cecily.
    Again she heard those muffled voices, and she glanced at Landon.
    He paused as if he’d heard them, too.
    “Go on, darling!” she trilled, but quietly.
    He went on.
    When he took a turn into one of the doors, she headed through the