“And she is Sebrina’s sister, right?”
“Yes, she’s Sebrina’s sister. And in addition to being my cousins, Sebrina and Monica are also my stepsisters.”
Haddison glanced over at her, brow raised. “You want to explain that?”
He saw the smile that touched her lips and figured this was a question she’d been asked a number of times. “My dad, Michael, was adopted into the Bennett family as a baby. He didn’t find out about the adoption until years later when he was enlisting in the military. All those years, he’d assumed he was a blood Bennett. It was hard on him when he found out he wasn’t. But then, it explained some things.”
“Like what?”
“Why he’d always been attracted to his cousin Taye — Sebrina and Monica’s mother. After my mother died, we moved back south to Atlanta. He and Taye were now adults, and I guess the chemistry between them had grown. They felt that since they weren’t blood cousins, it would be okay to have a relationship. That idea didn’t go over well with some family members. They figured blood or not, my dad was still a Bennett, that for him and Taye to be together that way was pure evil.”
Haddison was intrigued by what she was sharing with him, fascinated by the dynamics of a large family, which was something he lacked. Some families had lots of drama. Some didn’t. His family had been on the latter list. There had never been any drama between his mother and her only brother. And before his father was killed, Bracen and Maceo had been good friends. In fact, Maceo was the one who introduced his parents to each other. Definitely no drama there. But Haddison had learned that in some cases, a little drama was good. Just not too much of it.
“So, did the family give in, or did Taye and Michael do what they wanted, regardless of what anyone thought?”
“Oh, Dad and Taye cared what the family thought. Luckily, there were two people who didn’t have a problem with them being together, and they were the only two who mattered — the patriarchs of the family, Grampa Ethan and Grampa Henry. An important family meeting was held, and the two Gramps pretty well told everyone else that if Taye and my dad wanted to be together, then they had their blessings. So Dad and Taye married, and the five of us became one big happy family. A year or so later, Taye gave birth to my little brother.”
“Wow, what a story.”
“Yeah, we’re not your ordinary family. But I am proud of the Bennetts, and glad I’m a part of them. Before Dad married Taye, I still had a lot of family to look after me while he was away at work. And after he married, I got Taye, Sebrina, and Monica. They showed me what a real family was like, and I will always appreciate them for it.” She paused a moment and then asked, “What about your family?”
He’d exited off the interstate and was approaching a traffic light. He turned to look at her when he brought the car to a stop. “Both my parents are deceased. My father was a cop who got killed in the line of duty when I was twelve and Mom died a few years later from cancer. I was sixteen when she passed.”
She looked at him with beautiful sad eyes. “How awful. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
“It must have been difficult for you.”
“It was at the time. It would have been a lot worse had it not been for my uncle. My mother’s brother. Like you, I had to relocate to another state. I left St. Louis and moved to live with my uncle in Los Angeles. He was a bachelor with no plans to ever marry, so suddenly becoming responsible for a sixteen-year-old… Well, it took a lot of getting used to for him. But we’d always gotten along pretty well. He was there for me, treated me like his own and was a great influence in my life.”
“So you grew up in L.A.?”
“Yes, and I loved it.” That was true. He did love L.A., and couldn’t believe it when his uncle had moved to St. Paul to pursue a woman. According to his uncle, love did it to him. He’d fallen head over heels and never wanted to get up.
“I have family in L.A. It’s a great place. So, you moved to St. Paul for the job here.”
“Yes.” That much was true. Had he not decided to work for his uncle, he would still be living in Los Angeles. But Theo had decided to retire at the same time Haddison was leaving the Bureau. It had worked out in his uncle’s favor, and eventually his, too.
“So, what did you do before coming to work for Rivers?”
He pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot. “After college, I went to work for the LAPD and from there, I transferred into the FBI.” Again, what he’d said was the truth. There was no reason to tell her what his activities in the FBI had been.
“I came into contact with several FBI agents a little more than six months ago,” she said.
He brought the car to a stop and went still. “You did?”
“Yes. I was taken hostage during a bank robbery. The getaway car tried outrunning the police in a high-speed chase, but the driver lost control and the vehicle overturned.”
“Were you hurt?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “Just bruised up a little, although the impact knocked me unconscious. There were three bank robbers. One was killed when he was thrown from the vehicle, and the other two received serious injuries and were arrested. I had to stay in the hospital overnight for observation. A couple FBI agents came to my room to take statements. They were nice.”
“Sounds like it was a pretty scary ordeal.”
“It was, but luckily for me the bank robber who handled me was nice. For some reason, I felt safe with him.”
“Safe with a felon?”
“Yes. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s how I felt. Sadly, he was the one who was killed.”
Deciding to end this conversation, he changed the subject, “Ready to go inside?”
A smile curved her lips. “Definitely.”
KENNEDY TOOK A SIP of her wine, then put her glass down and glanced around. The interior of the restaurant was just as beautiful as the exterior. She couldn’t help but smile when she looked back at Haddison. “You said you had inside connections, but you didn’t tell me that you knew Ramone personally.”
He smiled back at her, taking a sip of his own wine before setting his glass down. “I’ve known him my entire life. He and my father were in the police academy together and were partners for years on the streets of St. Louis.”
Kennedy nodded. “Well, he certainly was glad to see you.”
He chuckled. “And he was just as glad to see you,” he countered. “He thinks I don’t have much of a social life. I have to keep reminding him that I haven’t been in town that long.”
She took another sip of her wine. They’d discussed his lack of social life the day he’d joined her for lunch. She couldn’t help wondering if that meant she would be just one of many dates to follow, once he got settled. Why she was slightly annoyed by the thought? She’d been on the dating scene before and knew how it worked. A date was a date and not a prelude to anything else. And so far, the evening was going just as she hoped it would. He seemed to enjoy hearing about her family and she had no problem sharing a few of their dramatic escapades with him. She’d even managed to impress him when she told him that she was related to Grammy-award-winning singer Alexia Bennett-Masters.