Wilmington, NC 10 - Much Ado About Murder

hadn’t known that then. Years later, after lives as single individuals, they rediscovered each other and married. I gathered them both in my arms as Melanie joined us, and we bonded in a great big loving family hug.
    Jon beamed at us happily. Little Peter was up in his arms, delighted to be snuggled by his “dada”, and reaching up to rub Jon’s scratchy chin.
    Little Jonnie grabbed my leg, pulling himself up off the floor. The twins just celebrated their first birthday, and they are walking and into everything.
    I scooped Jonnie up in my arms and sat with him on the sofa across from Binkie and Ruby. After kissing his soft blonde hair, I told them, “I’m so glad you’re home. We missed you. The boys have missed you, too. Haven’t we, Jonnie?”
    Jonnie just looked up at me adoringly with his big blue eyes.
    Jon joined me on the sofa. “OK, tell me, what did you think of the house?”
    He had remained at home with the boys while Melanie and I walked over to Front Street to view the Montjoy house.
    “As you predicted, Jon, the house needs a lot of work. A lot of work. But it does have the space we need, and it’s right in the heart of the historic district, which we love. It’s one of the town’s oldest homes. And oh, Jon, the view. You’ve got to see it to believe it.”
    “I’ve always liked that house,” he said. “And I’ve always wanted to own a really old house. With its being the same vintage as the Burgwin -Wright House, someone will snap it up.”
    “You’re so right, Jon,” Melanie said.
    I glanced up at her. “Tell him how expensive it is. Jon, we might be forced to sell your house at Wrightsville.” As a bachelor Jon had lived in a house he owned at Wrightsville Beach.
    “I’d rather not, Ashley. I own that house free and clear and when the boys are a little older, we’re going to love moving out there for the summer.”
    I took his hand. “Yes, darling, we will. You’re so smart.”
    Jon grinned happily.
    “All right, then. We’ll find another way. Of course, we can’t touch the family foundation. The lawyer has set that up as a not-for-profit with clearly defined uses of the funds.”
    Melanie and I had inherited some family money that we were dedicating to worthy causes. The money was off-limits for personal use.
    “That is,” I said to Jon, “if you decide you want to buy the Montjoy house after you’ve seen the disaster inside.”
    Binkie , who lives in the house he inherited from his deceased widowed mother that is located one block north of the Montjoy house, said, “Dalton Montjoy ? We used to play together when we were kids. Mother was friends with his parents, Randall and Claire Montjoy . She and they served on the board of the Thalian Association for decades, starting in the Seventies.
    “But Dalton and I lost touch when we went to college. Then he returned from New York twenty or so years ago and we’re both on the board of the Thalian Association now, just as our parents before us.”
    He chuckled. “Mother used to say the Montjoys had delusions of grandeur. Always claiming their lineage went back to the Elizabethan period in England. And further claiming that their ancestor there served on the Privy Council for Queen Elizabeth the First. But one claim I personally believe is true. And that is that Dalton’s fifth great-grandfather, the first Dalton Montjoy , was a founder of TA.”
    “Dalton has no delusions of grandeur,” Melanie said. “He doesn’t put on airs. He’s a sweetheart, with a bad hip.”
    “How ever did the Montjoys manage to keep the house in the family for over two hundred years?” I wanted to know. “That’s pretty remarkable.”
    “It is extraordinary, Ashley. They did whatever had to be done. This is not the first time the house was used as a rooming house. Back in the Great Depression, Dalton’s grandparents took in boarders to help make ends meet. My house has been in our family for close to one hundred years and that’s pretty remarkable as well. My parents bought our little bungalow when they married. Once upon a time, the Montjoy house was one of the grandest residences in town.”
    I looked at Jon. “I hope we’ll have a house to pass on to Peter and Jonnie.”
    “And that they’ll want it,” he laughed.
    Binkie said, “Dalton is a little older than I am and not in good health. How was he, Ashley? I don’t see him out in the neighborhood much anymore. And he’s been missing board meetings. But I do hear his