Andrew flushed deep purple.
“I…I…I…” he stuttered.
“That’s okay.” Jimmy put an arm around his shoulder and guided him through the library door and into a chair. “I agree that Aggie’s worth fighting for, as long as you understand that I just won.”
Andrew nodded and sank into the chair. Jimmy caught Aggie’s eye in time to stifle her giggles. He sat on the sofa and pulled her down beside him.
“So,” Gordon spoke. Jimmy felt Aggie tense beside him. “You girls answered a personal ad.”
Aggie stared up into Jimmy’s eyes, her own asking a multitude of questions. How much had he told their father? Did he know about the money? What was going to happen now? Jimmy shrugged. She and Angela had dug a pit. He would enjoy watching them climb out. Aggie’s eyes swerved to Angela’s. The older twin lifted her little finger in a crook.
“Jimmy put an ad in the New York Times,” Angela explained. “Didn’t you Jimmy?”
He wondered where she was going. He nodded to Gordon and waited.
“I sent the ad to Aggie.” The little minx. “I just sensed something about it. Aggie felt the same way, so she answered it.”
“You sensed something?” Gordon asked.
“Like an aura,” Angela agreed.
“What did the ad say?” Gordon asked.
Angela nodded to her sister and Aggie took over. Now that she knew that her father hadn’t read the ad, Jimmy expected the story to be a good one.
“It was blunt and yet romantic,” Aggie mused. “I can’t remember the exact wording, but he talked about commitment and caring.”
Jimmy smiled in appreciation. She was skewering him to the wall and he loved it. he laid his arm along the back of the sofa behind her and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
“He put in a quote from Shakespeare,
What is love? ‘tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter.
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come and kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.”
“Sounds like a long ad,” Gordon commented. His prosaic remark tickled both Jimmy and Aggie and they went into a duel fit of chuckles while the rest of the company stared.
“I think it’s a pretty poem,” Angela asserted.
“Me too,” Mary agreed.
Andrew was silent. Jimmy imagined he was lost in an intense fantasy of exotic chip design.
“Why did Angela come too?” Gordon asked, persisting in his efforts to penetrate the mystery. “And why all the secrecy? Why didn’t you just tell us?”
Jimmy waited gleefully as Aggie squirmed. Her twin came to the rescue.
“Aggie was embarrassed that she’d answered an ad,” Angela explained. “She wanted to get to know Jimmy better before she introduced him to you. I came along for a holiday.”
“But when we met you on the beach,” Gordon turned to Jimmy.
“Hush,” Mary interrupted. “No need for an inquisition. I’m just glad we’re all together here tonight.”
Jimmy smiled. Gordon had found himself a good woman. He was about to suggest coffee when the elevator buzzer rang yet again. He excused himself to the company and went again to the lobby. This time it must be Richard. When the elevator opened, he got his first real shock of the night.
“Hi Jimmy,” his brother greeted him.
“Danny.” Jimmy’s eyes were riveted to his brother’s companion. Monica?
“We got married,” Danny explained in his simple style.
“Married?” Jimmy echoed. To Monica?
“He’s my jazz musician,” Monica added.
Jimmy sat in the nearest chair.
“I like to play the trumpet.”
Jimmy remember the lessons his parents had mentioned in letters. Ten years older, he hadn’t been around much during his brother’s teen years. Jimmy wondered how long Danny had been playing professionally, how long he had been living a life totally outside Jimmy’s knowledge.
“I love Monica and Jen,” Danny interrupted Jimmy’s thoughts.
That was enough explanation for Danny, Jimmy knew. For himself, he wanted a little more detail. Aggie wandered out of the library and joined them.
“Hi Danny,” she greeted his brother.
Jimmy’s usually aloof sibling put his arms around Aggie and squeezed.
“I knew you were the one.”
“About your marriage,” Jimmy interrupted.
“Danny didn’t tell me his last name. I wouldn’t have…,” Monica paused awkwardly. Jimmy waved away the words and she continued. “He asked me to marry him yesterday.”
“I love Monica and Jen,” Danny repeated. “I’m adopting Jen.”
Monica knelt beside Jimmy’s chair and took his hand in both hers.
“I love Danny,” she said earnestly. “I’ll take good care of him. We’ll take care of each other.”
“I believe you will,” Jimmy agreed. He kissed her on the forehead. “Let’s go into the library.”
Danny surprised Jimmy yet again when he walked up to Aggie’s twin.
“You are Angela,” he stated as he shook hands. How did he know her name?
He walked up to the twins’ father.
“You are Gordon Trout.” He again shook hands.
“This is my brother Danny,” Jimmy interjected.
“And Mary Trout,” Danny continued.
Jimmy hoped his mouth wasn’t gaping and his eyes bugging. The things Danny knew never ceased to amaze him.
“And you are Aggie’s rejected boyfriend.” Danny walked over to Andrew. How could he possibly…? “This is my wife, Monica.”
The introductions complete, Danny sat in a chair beside his wife and took her hand in his. Jimmy hoped there was at least one thing Danny didn’t know, that his brother was one of his wife’s former clients. More likely Danny knew and acknowledged the fact with his usual calm acceptance.
Only one person remained to complete the evening. Richard. Jimmy knew his employee was in a turmoil over Angela. Richard was a lawyer. Angela was a former hooker. Jimmy hoped Richard would have resolved his feelings one way or the other and confronted Aggie’s sister tonight, but he feared his friend wasn’t coming.
All that remained was coffee and desultory conversation. Slowly the evening ran down. Danny and Monica left first, eager to get home to their daughter Jen and to each other. Gordon and Mary left next, dragging a reluctant Andrew with them. Now Jimmy needed a few minutes with Angela but he wasn’t sure how to separate the twins. Angela solved the problem for him.
“Aggie,” she explained. “I want to talk to Jimmy privately. Can you go into the living room for a few minutes?”
Aggie lifted her eyebrows and looked at first her sister and then Jimmy. When he nodded, she shrugged and left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Thanks,” Jimmy offered. “I wasn’t sure how to handle her.”
“Straight up is usually best with Aggie,” Angela explained. “She’s not devious like me.”
“I don’t think…” Jimmy began.
“I am devious,” Angela interrupted him. “Most of the time I can be sneaky in helpful ways, but tonight was wrong, bad, criminal, use whatever words you want.”
“Tell me what you need.”
“You know that I’m a prostitute in New York,” Angela challenged him. He nodded and she added, “a former prostitute. I need enough money to get out of the life.”
“You haven’t saved up any money?”
“I’m not a saver,” she admitted. “Look, I have lots of bad qualities. I also like to spend money.”
“Are you involved with drugs?”
“No way,” Angela shook her head. Then she smiled. “I said I was devious, not stupid.”
“No drugs?” Jimmy probed.