picked up that thread of conversation as he climbed in and started the car. “They are expecting you, correct?”
“I spoke with Jillian, my half sister, last night. She runs the tasting room—she’s a wine genius. But today is like a Sunday to her, when the tasting room is closed. However, she promised she’d be spending the day with her stepdaughter, Rachel, at The Vines and welcomed the visit.”
“The Vines. That’s the house, correct?”
“Yes. It’s a short drive from the winery. We’ll just stay at the house, if you don’t mind. If we go over to the winery, we’re sure to run into Cole. He manages the vineyard. And Eli would be there—he’s head winemaker.”
“Not willing to face them yet?”
A whisper of a sigh escaped her lips. “Jillian has been the most levelheaded during all of this, the one, I think, who shares my goal to somehow bring this horrible chapter in our lives to a close. So I’d rather meet with a like mind.”
“And what about Mercedes, her older sister?” He’d read enough in the papers to know the recently wed and newly pregnant Mercedes harbored no deep love for the father who abandoned her.
“Well, it’s hard to say.” She placed her handbag on the floor of the car and repositioned herself in the deep bucket seat. “We might see Mercedes. And Caroline Sheppard, their mother. But I can’t make any promises about how warmly they will treat us.”
“Will Jillian tell them you’re coming up?”
She nodded. “Yes, she said she’d grease the skids.”
“Surely none of them hold you accountable for what your father did while he was alive.” He glanced at the endless rolling hills of the Ashton Estate, over the acres of recently harvested vineyards famous for producing a fortune in sparkling wines. Spencer Ashton had built a magnificent showpiece out of the Lattimer property he’d won in his divorce from Caroline, and Matt had no doubt her children were bitter about that especially when the vineyard and estate had been given back to him by Caroline’s grandfather. But could they blame the offspring from his next marriage?
“Not accountable, no,” she agreed. “But the rivalry they feel is real, and, as I told you, not entirely unjustified. And they are furious—especially Eli and Cole—that my father left them out of his will. And, of course, once they learned that their parents’ marriage was not really legal, since my father hadn’t divorced his first wife in Nebraska, then the very future of the Ashton Estate became part of the issue.”
“Are they pursuing the legality of the ownership of the estate, too?”
“Not at the moment. They are concentrating on the will. But if it can’t be overturned, then who knows what could happen?” She shook her head with a rueful smile. “Like I said, dysfunctional is our middle name. Don’t forget we’re in the middle of a murder investigation, too.”
“Any news? Real news, I mean, not what they repeat in the local media every chance they get.”
She looked skyward in mock disgust of the media. “As far as suspects, no. Grant, another of my half siblings, was held for questioning, but he had an alibi.”
Walker had told him very little about Grant. “He’s from your father’s first marriage, in Nebraska?”
“Yes, Grant and Grace are Dad’s twins by Sally Barnett, who died before my parents were married. I don’t have a clue where Grace is, but Grant arrived in California almost a year ago, in January, after he’d discovered that his father was Spencer Ashton.”
“According to the papers, he was cleared by Anna…Sheridan, is it? Who is somehow related to your father’s…latest child?” A wry smile tipped Matt’s lips as he glanced across the console at Paige. “You better fill me in so I don’t accidentally offend anyone.”
She laughed. “I doubt they offend easily, but of course I’ll tell you. Anna Sheridan is the sister of Alyssa Sheridan, who was my father’s last, uh, mistress. Alyssa died shortly after their baby was born, about two years ago. Anna is raising Jack and is staying at The Vines to escape the media glare.”
“And she was Grant’s alibi?”
“Yes, Anna was with Grant the night of the murder, so he was cleared by the police. And now, as you know, they are focusing on the blackmail leads.” Her voice dropped a bit. “But getting nowhere.”
“Do you have any personal theories about what happened?”
She shook her head. “You know, a lot of people hated my father. Within my family and outside of it. I mean, I loved him and tried to see him in the best possible light, but even that wasn’t easy at times.”
He heard the pain that caught in her throat. “You’re doing the right thing to try and mend the fences, Paige. There’s nothing you can do about the past, but plenty you can do about the future.”
She smiled gratefully at the words. “I’m just one voice. And the youngest, at that,” she laughed quickly. “Unless you count little Jack. I doubt he gets a vote.”
“Will Jack be at the house today?”
She shrugged. “I hope so. I’ve wanted to meet him for a long time. Of course, I’m not sure how I’ll feel about a child who is…my brother.”
He gave her a surprised look. “Why’s that? I’m sure you’d be a terrific big sister.”
She didn’t answer for a moment as she gazed out the window. “I don’t know. He’ll be…a constant reminder of my father’s inability to…”
Matt’s chest tightened at her words. Spencer Ashton was another man who couldn’t win the body vs. brain challenge. “To control himself?” he finished for her.
“That’s one diplomatic way of putting it.”
“What matters, Paige, is how you handle the situation,” he told her, placing a comforting hand over hers. “You can’t control how the other members of your family think and act—but you can control how you respond to them. And by going there to extend the proverbial olive branch, I think you’re doing the right thing.”
He took his eyes off the road just long enough to see the warmth back in her gaze. “Thanks, Matt. Spoken like a real friend.”
A friend. Exactly what he wanted to be. “Hey, I’m happy to help you out by coming with you on the mission.”
She narrowed her eyes teasingly. “I thought this had something do with getting your wish.”
“That, too,” he assured her. And just to up the ante a little bit more, he weaved his fingers through hers and held her hand until he had to shift gears.
When Jillian Ashton-Benedict descended the winding staircase into the foyer of The Vines to greet them, Paige was struck once again by how lovely her half sister was. Tall, slender and as graceful as her mother, Caroline, Jillian gave Paige a sense of reassurance and alliance that she’d never felt in the presence of her other half siblings.
Perhaps it was because Paige was the youngest in her family and Jillian was the youngest
