Page 113 of Peach Tree Family

"So what went on tonight?" Rico demanded of his grandmother.

"Why was Jerry here?" Theo asked her more gently.

"I invited him over for drinks and negotiations," Mrs. Del Rio told him.

"Negotiations?" Theo said.

"I might have led him to believe that me and the Brighton twins wanted to do business," Mrs. Del Rio pointed to Andy's aunts. "That we wanted to buy up a few properties outside of town, build a golf course and a clubhouse. And of course we needed his help prying the Atkins property from you. But that man just couldn't hold his liquor."

"And the next thing you know, he ends up face down in front of your open safe with a cracked skull and an unregistered weapon in his hand. How clumsy of him," Rico said pointedly.

"That just shows how greed can be a man's undoing. We offered to pay him for his assistance," Andy's great-aunt Beryl said.

Andy didn't seem to believe her. He rubbed his temples and sighed. "I'm going to ask the sheriff if I can take you home and also look for a wall to slam my head against."

"Save me a spot," Rico told him.

Andy went off with his great-aunts, and Theo was left with Mrs. Del Rio and Rico, who was glaring at his grandmother. Theo didn't blame him.

"Mrs. Del Rio, you could have been hurt. With Jerry having a gun..." Theo said but a funny look on her face made him stop.

She shrugged. "You never know when an unregistered gun will come in handy."

"What?" Theo said and looked toward the house where the deputies were still busy probably collecting evidence. Did Mrs. Del Rio just admit she planted a gun on Jerry?

"Just a gift from an old bo," she said like that explained anything.

"One of those gangsters you dated in Vegas," Rico said.

"Mrs. Del Rio, what did you do?" Theo said.

"I couldn't let this go on any longer. The danger to Ace. Your aunt trying to take Ace and the house away from you. It was my fault she wanted you to sell it. That made it my responsibility," Mrs. Del Rio said, but that just wasn't true.

"No, it wasn't your fault at all," Theo told her.

"Well, it's done now," she said. "Now I'll go be a good hostess and see if those nice deputies want anything to eat or drink."

She left with Theo looking after her in disbelief and Rico shaking his head.

Theo turned to him. "This is not a good development. When Jerry figures out he got framed, your grandmother won't be safe from him."

"I know," Rico said. "But he won't find it easy to convince anyone else that he got framed by three old ladies. Who would ever think that my sweet grandma, much less Andy's prim and proper great-aunts would do something like that?"

"So we have to hope he will be stuck in jail," Theo said. "I appreciate what your grandmother did, but this is insane."

"I'll keep you updated with any news," Rico told him and then Theo left.

As he walked to the truck, Theo's head was spinning and he only sent a brief text to Seth that he would talk to him later. When Theo got home, Ace was in bed and Seth was pacing the living room.

Before telling him anything, Theo stepped up to him for a long, tight hug. Since it wasn't so cold any more, they went out to sit on the porch and talk. Theo told him what happened and for a while Seth was just speechless.

"I'm thinking that Mrs. Del Rio might just be a little bit crazy," Seth finally said.

"I still can't wrap my head around it. She felt guilty that she looked into buying the house and put it on Aunt Cindy's radar. I'm not sure she even knew the house existed before that, but that doesn't make it Mrs. Del Rio's fault. Now I'm worried Jerry might go after her."

"You said she hit him on the head with a marble urn? He might not be doing anything for a while," Seth told him.

"Yeah, but I still don't know what Aunt Cindy is going to do," Theo said while staring up at the night sky. He then turned to Seth. "At least this makes your plan look downright sane in comparison."

"That's something, I guess," Seth said with a crooked smile.

"No, it's not." Theo got up and offered his hand to Seth. "Let's go inside. I'm getting cold out here."

"Warming you up is one of my favorite things," Seth said as he got up and used his hold on Theo's hand to pull him in for a kiss.

They went inside and Theo let Seth hold him for a while. It felt so good and not because Seth had an amazing body. It was because Seth gave him the feeling of someone watching over him, taking care of him.

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