Hidden Riches Read Online Free Page A

was thinking of asking their brother to talk to her son, it could be about only one of two things. Since Ced was still in high school, she doubted it was about a career in medicine.
    â€œYou think Cedric is gay?”
    Marguerite nodded. “But with everything else going on . . . ,” she drifted off for a moment. “How are you supposed to ask your kid if he’s gay?”
    JoJo shrugged. “I don’t know. You just ask, I guess. No one ever asked Clay if he was gay. We all just knew, even when he was a little kid. Hmm, I see what you mean,” she said. “You’re right. Clay can give you some pointers or talk to him, tell him that it gets better. He sure went through hell here before finding his way. What about Winslow? Are he and Cedric close? Maybe his dad could have a talk with him.”
    Delcine frowned.
    The mention of her husband’s name shut down any warm and fuzzies that may have been developing between the sisters. Marguerite gave JoJo one of her icy stares, then looked around the kitchen as if JoJo had not even asked a question.
    JoJo took the hint. She’d asked one too many questions of her characteristically aloof and private sister.
    Winslow either did not want to acknowledge that his only son might be gay or there was something else going on with them. Winslow Foster never had anything much to say. As a matter of fact, he’d spoken more today at the wake and in the lawyer’s office than JoJo ever recalled, not that there had been that many meetings between them all.
    â€œLook at this place,” Marguerite muttered.
    â€œIt’s not like she had anything to leave to anybody,” JoJo said after a while.
    â€œHmm,” Marguerite said.
    â€œAnd it just doesn’t seem likely that Ana Mae could have had a kid,” JoJo added. “Wouldn’t we have known? Wouldn’t she have said something at some point over the years?”
    â€œHow often did you talk to her?” Delcine asked. Before JoJo could answer she continued. “If it was anything at all the way Ana Mae and I stayed in touch, she could have lived on Pluto and I wouldn’t have known. I actually can’t remember the last time we talked. But she did keep in touch with the kids. Speaking of kids, how is Crystal?”
    â€œI was in touch with Ana Mae more than I ever was with my daughter,” JoJo said despondently. “As a matter of fact, I don’t even know where she is these days. Sort of like Clay, she turned eighteen, hit the door, and never looked back.”
    Delcine winced. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    JoJo shrugged. “It’s like that sometimes with kids, I guess. She was nine when Lester and I got married. And they never really got along, all they did was fight. Sort of like what Lester and I do.”
    â€œAnother missing child, like this Howard of Ana Mae’s,” Delcine said.
    â€œI’ve been giving that quite a bit of thought,” JoJo said. “If she had a son none of us knew about, maybe she also left something of value that we didn’t know about either.”
    As one, the two sisters turned in their chairs, looking over the kitchen, with its avocado refrigerator and stained Formica countertops, as if the said something of value might be in plain sight. The tile on the floor had come up in several places and then been painted over, probably in the hopes no one might notice.
    â€œYeah, right,” Delcine scoffed. “And I’m the Easter bunny.”
    She got up and cut a piece of one of the pound cakes that had been delivered to the house by one of Ana Mae’s fellow church members.
    â€œWould you like some?”
    â€œWhy not?” JoJo said. “It’s not like another piece of cake won’t show.”
    Marguerite held her tongue on that one. Though she hadn’t seen her sister in more than six years, JoJo had definitely collected about fifty additional pounds on her