“Oh no, Connie and I went to school together, but she was a year older.” He waggled his eyebrows, just like Christina had. “Older woman.”

I laughed.

“She wouldn’t give me the time of day back in school though. It took me a while to grow into the handsome specimen you see before you.”

I laughed some more. “What was Constance like back then? I only met her recently.”

“Connie was full of life. She had the voice of an angel, and she loved to use it.” His face shone at the memory. “Do you know Roxie? She runs the dance studio in town?”

“I do.”

“Roxie was her idol. She had left for Vegas by then. I think Constance dreamed of doing the same, but she would have gone to New York. I promised to go with her. But it was all just talk.” He leaned back, planting his hands on his knees. “If things had been different, I think we both would have been happy with settling down and raising a family in Evenfall.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

Ben’s face darkened.

“I’m sorry if it’s too personal.”

“No, I’ll tell you what happened.” Ben looked up at the oak tree towering above us. “It was that family of hers.”

“I’ve heard it was Rippert Sr.’s will that drove the family apart.”

“The will was only the beginning. It’s what they did to her afterward. That was the real offense. And I’ll never forgive them for it.”

Chapter 20

It all started with her father getting sick.”

It had taken Ben some time to get his emotions in check, but once he had, the sad look returned to his face, and he launched into the story.

“Stroke actually. He’d had a few little ones in the past, but then the big one hit. There was nothing wrong with his mind, but he wasn’t able to walk afterward. He needed someone in the house round the clock. Connie never hesitated. Wouldn’t hear of putting him in a home. And not that the others offered, but she wouldn’t have accepted help from them either. She was like a mother to those kids. She wanted them to live their lives.”

“This is what I don’t understand. It sounds like there was a lot of love in the family. I know Rippert Sr. was hard on the kids, but—”

“Hard on them? Ha! That’s an understatement. Those kids could never do anything right.”

“But wasn’t Constance included in that treatment?”

“She was. But to a lesser extent. She looked a lot like her mother. Seeing his wife in Connie I think held him back at times.”

“Is that what came between you and Constance? The fact that she was caring for her dad?”

“No. No. We were making it work, as people like to say nowadays. I would come by the house and spend time with Connie while her father slept. He had mellowed quite a bit toward the end. It wasn’t easy, but we both knew the situation wouldn’t last forever.”