Hidden Riches

refused, to listen to a word I said about the anchovy paste.”
    Since it had been Will’s shift to keep their mother separated from the caterer, Dora took a quick glimpse around. Her little brother was, she decided, a dead man. “Where’s Will?”
    “Oh, off with that pretty girl he brought with him from New York.” Trixie tossed up her hands. The movement sent the colored beads that dripped from her ears dancing. A catering crisis left her no time for remembering names. “The model.”
    “Miss January,” Dora said under her breath.
    “Now, the anchovy paste,” Trixie began. She drew in a deep breath, preparing to launch into an indignant speech.
    “Mom, you haven’t met Jed.”
    “Jed?” Distracted, Trixie patted her hair. Her face transformed when she took her first good look. Subtly, she angled her chin, swept her mink lashes and peered at Jed from under them. Flirting, in Trixie’s opinion, was an art. “I’m thrilled to meet you.”
    Jed understood what was expected when he took her offered hand. He kissed her knuckles. “The pleasure’s mine, Mrs. Conroy.”
    “Oh, Trixie, please.” She nearly crooned it. “Otherwise I’ll feel old and staid.”
    “I’m sure that would be impossible. I saw you perform Hello Dolly last year. You were magnificent.”
    Trixie’s smooth cheeks pinked with pleasure. “Oh, how very kind of you to say so. I do adore Dolly Levi, such a full, richly textured character.”
    “You captured her perfectly.”
    “Yes.” She sighed at the memory. “I like him, Dora. Tell me, Jed—my, you have very large hands, don’t you?”
    “Mom.” Since he’d behaved so nicely, Dora took pity on him. “Jed’s the tenant Dad found for me.”
    “The tenant—the tenant!” Instantly, maternal instincts outweighed flirtations. “Oh, my dear, dear boy!” Overcome with gratitude, Trixie threw her arms around Jed’s neck. She had a grip like a linebacker. “I am so completely, so irrevocably in your debt.”
    Dora simply ran her tongue around her teeth when Jed shot her a helpless look.
    “It was nothing,” he said, awkwardly patting Trixie’s back. “I just answered an ad.”
    “You saved my darling Isadora from that horrible burglar.” Rearing back, Trixie kissed both of his cheeks. “We’ll never be able to repay you for chasing him away and keeping our little girl from being robbed.”
    He narrowed his eyes at Dora over her mother’s heaving shoulders. Dora looked aside.
    “I keep an eye on her,” Jed said meaningfully. “Don’t worry.”
    “Worry is a mother’s lot, dear.” With a sad smile, Trixie sighed.
    “There you are, passion flower.” In white tie and tails, Quentin swaggered up, still steady after keeping two bartenders hopping. He gave his wife a long, lingering kiss that had Jed’s brow raising. “I’ve come to claim my bride for a dance.”
    “Of course, dear.” Trixie slipped her arms around him and they began to glide, tango style.
    “Have you met the young man I picked out for Izzy?”
    “Yes, just now.” On the turn, Trixie tossed back her head and beamed at Jed. He wouldn’t have been surprised if a rose had suddenly appeared between her teeth. “You have such excellent taste.”
    “Izzy, show Jed around the theater. There’s more to ourhumble abode than a simple stage.” Quentin winked, dipped his wife, then tangoed her away.
    “Passion flower?” Jed asked after a moment.
    “It works for them.”
    “Obviously.” He couldn’t remember ever seeing his parents exchange the most impersonal of embraces, much less a smoldering kiss. The only passion he had ever witnessed between them had been hurled insults and crockery.
    “You never mentioned you’d been here before.”
    “What?”
    “To the theater,” she said, drawing his attention back to her. “Hello Dolly?”
    “You didn’t ask.” He guided Dora away from the crowd near the bar. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”
    “I don’t want to upset her. Don’t give me that look,” she snapped. “You saw how she acted when she thought about the break-in. Can you imagine what would happen if I told her some maniac held a gun on me?” When he didn’t respond, she tapped her foot. “I’m going to tell her, in my own way.”
    “Your business,” Jed said, and took out a cigarette. “But if she catches wind of it from someone else, it’ll be worse.”
    “I don’t want to think about it right now.” She snatched Jed’s cigarette, took one brisk