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When they entered the civic center where the banquet was being held, they could see that the McCrae family table was all the way up front as it usually was. Roni stiffened her spine. Dealing with the McCraes, especially his parents, required it.

Brax could sense her tension as they were escorted to the family table, and he placed his hand on her lower back. “I won’t let them bite you.”

“I won’t let them bite me either,” said Roni, which made Brax smile.

“Finally they’ve arrived,” Lady Millicent announced as Brax’s brothers stood up when he and specifically Roni arrived at their table. “I haven’t seen you, Braxton, since your limo accident. Tim should be ashamed of himself for what he did to you.”

“The accident wasn’t Tim’s fault, Mother,” Brax said as he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“I did not say it was his fault. But to jump out of the car like that. Shameful.”

“Don’t worry, Mother,” Brax’s brother Scottie said, “he won’t be jumping out of too many more cars like that.”

Roni could see Brax and his whole family glance at Scottie with an uncomfortable glance. They knew he was on the shady side of life. They knew what he was capable of. But like always, they never questioned it. They moved on.

“You and Veronica are late indeed,” Edward McCrae, Brax’s handsome father, said as he stood up too.

“How are we late, Mr. McCrae?” Roni asked as he gave her a hug. “The ceremonies haven’t even begun yet.”

“You don’t come on time to be on time, young lady,” Edward replied. “You come early to be on time.”

That made no sense to Roni, and she glanced at Brax who could only hunch his shoulders. When he was a younger man he used to get into it with his father often. Now he didn’t bother with his father and his oddities at all.

“Hi, Lady Millicent,” Roni said as she leaned down and hugged Millicent’s neck.

“Hello Veronica. You finally show yourself to the family. It’s well past time, but at least you’re here tonight. You do realize it’s night, correct? Because I see sunshades hiding those gorgeous hazel eyes of yours, but I don’t see any sunlight.”

“Roni is the sunlight, Mother,” Brax said, and his brothers laughed.

Roni smiled and shook her head. “He’s just being silly, Lady Millicent. Don’t mind him.”

“Oh I do not. I have not for years,” she said, and they all laughed at that. “But you do look sweet,” Millicent added, to Roni. “Do you ever get tired of Braxton dragging you to every single function he has to attend in this town? He could easily take some of his other ladies to at least half of the functions, but he never does. He’s always dragging you to every single one.”

“It’s okay,” Roni said. She knew what point Lady Millicent was making. She wanted to remind Roni that she was only one of many women in Brax’s barnyard so don’t get it twisted. She knew her too well to not know exactly what she meant.

Roni then greeted Brax’s three brothers: JJ, Fredrick, and Scottie. All three were as good looking as Brax, and all were successful too, but they were all so different to Roni.

Jarvis Jackson McCrae, called JJ, was the frat boy of the family. He had just turned forty, but he wasn’t slowing down for a second. He used to be her road dog before she went away to college, and she loved being around him. He would sneak her into the clubs with him and would let her drink to her heart’s content. But he looked out for her too: She wasn’t allowed out of his sight and he would shut down any guy that tried to hit on her. JJ was loads of fun. But when big brother Brax found out that he was taking her to clubs and letting her drink her underaged heart out, it was Brax that shut it all down.

But JJ would always be near and dear to Roni’s heart. They hugged for a long time. He even started laughing and joking around with her before she could take her seat.

But as unserious as JJ seemed, Fredrick was a very serious man. As the CEO of their family business, McCrae Aeronautics, he rarely cracked a smile. He was one year younger than Brax, and he was the go-to man when Brax needed advice, but of all the brothers, he was the one Roni knew the least. There were no hugs between them. No joking around. Just a polite handshake and a nod.

But if there was an odd man out in that family, it had to be Scottie McCrae. He was friendly enough to Roni, but he also had a ruthlessness about him, an unsavory-ness, that turned her completely off. But the McCrae family just loved him to death. He was the bulldog of their family. The enforcer. The man they all turned to when they needed off-the-record problems handled. Like when the woman that cheated on Brax’s twin brother two days before their wedding, causing their devastated brother to commit suicide, needed to be dealt with. It was Scottie who dealt with her. From what Roni remembered of the case, the woman was hospitalized for over four months. But nobody, least of which Scottie, went to jail. He was as shady as shady could get to the cop in Roni. Just bad news all around. Her mother told her long ago to stay far away from that one and she meant stay away. Roni always heeded that advice.

She didn’t bother to shake Scottie’s hand nor hug or air-kiss him. She just spoke, nodded in his direction, and took her seat.

After everybody were seated, and the conversations were surface for the most part, Roni was able to deal with the evening. It wasn’t that bad. Brax was constantly interrupted by other businessmen coming over and shaking his hand, and his father’s hand, and Fredrick’s hand. It was all business for those three. Women from the higher echelons of the city were also greeting Lady Millicent, and tried to talk to various brothers, especially Brax. But Brax was more interested in business conversations than so much as giving those girls the time of day. Although JJ and Roni spent most of the time laughing and talking with each other, he was also constantly interrupted by one female after another one wishing him well. And giving him their numbers. It was only then did she realize JJ had been nominated too.

“What were you nominated for?” she asked him.

“The same thing as my brothers and my father: Businessman of the year. I say Brax should have pulled his name from contention, given that he chairs the board, but he refuses.”

“I agree with you,” said Roni. “It won’t look good if he wins.”

“But he’ll win. He always does. Freddy deserves it, hard as he works, but they don’t like Fredrick so much. They’ll give it to Brax.”

“Why not to you? They like you. They like your father too.”

“They like us. But they love Brax. They love the business he brings to the city. He’ll win. Besides, Father and I are not what you would call the hardest workers in show business. Or even in this town. Or even in this room. Or even--”

“I get your point,” Roni said with a laugh. JJ was always fun.

But before any awards were handed out, Roni’s comfort was tested when dinner was served and Lady Millicent had a chance to do as she always did whenever Roni came around: She had to travel down memory lane.

“I remember when I arrived in Edward’s family home. I was just a girl of seventeen and Eddie was just a boy of nineteen, but we were married and very much so pregnant with Braxton.”

Roni glanced at Brax. His mother never mentioned that she was pregnant with twins , as if Brax’s deceased brother, and especially the way he died, was a stain on the family name.

“Bea was so invaluable to me. Just a wonderful girl. She would wait on me hand and foot until I fell asleep. Then she’d sleep on the floor in my room in case I needed her. Once she realized I was fine, she would go home. That was the kind of great woman your mother was.”

A great woman, Roni wanted to ask, or a great slave? But she didn’t go three. Especially since nobody else at the table found it disturbing at all. Except for maybe Brax, who kept glancing at Roni. But Roni wasn’t trying to hear about how her mother laid on a hard, cold floor until some spoiled, rich countess, or whatever she was, fell asleep. She wanted her mother in a soft bed too. But Lady Millicent never seemed to understand that and Roni nor Brax nor anybody else was the one to school her. You just didn’t approach Lady Millicent that way.

But that didn’t stop Lady Millicent from continuing her journey down that lane. “She would sometimes stay all night, even when you were a little girl, if I needed her for any reason. She was quite devoted to me.”

Roni exhaled, causing the brothers to look at her. Brax could tell her discomfort, and JJ could too, but they adored their mother. She could do no wrong, as far as they were concerned, and Roni wasn’t there to deal anybody any doses of reality. She was there strictly to support Brax. Even when a gorgeous lady in the McCrae financial bracket came over to their table, and Millicent’s eyes lit up with possibilities.

“Hello Braxton,” the woman said.

“Hyacinth, hello,” Brax replied. It was interesting to Roni how none of the men at the table stood up. “How are you?”

“I’m well and you?”

“I’m good.”

“She sees none of us,” JJ whispered to Roni. “We’re invisible, to her, you see.”

“Hello Hyacinth,” Millicent said. “Are your parents well, dear? I’ve missed them at the club lately.”

“Still on their European vacation,” Hyacinth said. “They should be back in three months or so.”

Monthslong vacations, Roni thought. Must be nice.

“I just wanted to wish Brax all success tonight,” Hyacinth added.

“Thank you,” Brax said and then Hyacinth left their table. Roni could see Brax’s eyes assessing her figure as she walked away. Roni was surprised at how it kind of hurt her to see it. And how he didn’t bother to introduce her to Roni at all.

But it was Lady Millicent that was poking that bear, not the young lady. “She’s perfect for you, Braxton.”

“Don’t start, Mother.”

“And why not? She’ll fit right in. Your age and never married. No grandchildren from you or any of your brothers. But especially you as the eldest. It’s obvious that Hyacinth only has eyes for you. I don’t know what’s wrong with you.”

“Roni is what’s wrong with him,” said a smiling JJ. “He only has eyes for Roni,” he added, and he and Scottie and even their father laughed.

But their mother didn’t. “Ridiculous,” she said.

Roni was offended, but she wasn’t about to let that heifer know it. She kept on smiling.

But even with Lady Millicent constantly interjecting to annoying degrees about this sacrifice or that sacrifice Roni’s mother made to be the best maid and nanny she could be to the family, it turned out to be an otherwise very nice night. The McCraes, as usual, racked up the most awards, and Brax, as usual, went home with the top prize: businessperson of the year. It was to the Chamber awards what the best picture of the year award was to the Oscars.

But what made this year different was when Brax’s name was called and the entire awards attendees all stood up in applause, Brax kissed Roni on the lips and gave her a vigorous hug. It was the first time he had displayed his feelings for her so publicly. Everybody knew they were close, but even his family didn’t realize they were that close.

But oddly enough, Roni didn’t mind. When Brax held her so openly and kissed her so tenderly in such a public way, it made her feel special beyond belief. He was a man in high demand in this town. So many women wanted him for themselves. For her to be the chosen one, although it wasn’t as deep as everybody thought, but the deepest relationship both of them had, made her feel separated. On a pedestal. The winner.

What she won, however, was another story.

Especially when the ceremony was over, Brax’s brothers were at other tables saying their goodbyes to their social circles, and Lady Millicent made a point of pointing something out to Roni and Brax. “In this life, everybody has a role,” she said. “A place, if you like. Cows stay with cows. Stars stay with stars. Their servants stay with servants. It’s the order of things that we all must adhere to. Don’t you think so, Veronica?”

“Depends,” said Roni.

“It depends on what?” asked Millicent.

“How you feel about it. As for me? If a cow wants to mingle with a horse, it won’t bother me at all.”

Brax grinned.

“But it’ll bother the horse,” said Millicent. “Don’t you see?”

Brax frowned. “Mother, what is your point?”

“I’m a cop,” said Roni, “the daughter of a maid. You’re the son of a countess or duchess or whatever she is, and a billionaire. That’s her point.”

“That is not my point at all,” said Millicent. “Beatrice was family to us.”

“Yes she was,” echoed Edward.

“She was not a maid.”

“No indeed,” said Edward.

But Roni wasn’t playing along. “Yeah okay,” she said, reminding herself that she was still a Tesla and they were still Musk haters. “I’ll wait outside, Brax,” she added, and left before he could ask her to stay.

Brax looked at his mother with disappointment in his eyes. “Really? Is this what we’re doing?”

“What did I do?” Millicent asked innocently.

Brax grabbed his trophy. “Beatrice was your maid and my nanny. She was not family. Family doesn’t wait on you hand and foot. Servants do. Veronica understands that even if we don’t!” Then he frowned. “I’ll talk to you later, Mother. Father,” he said to his father, and left the room.

Edward shook his head. “He’ll go through the fire for that girl. Always felt that way about her.”

“I adore her too,” said Millicent. “But she will not do. She absolutely will not. Surely he realizes that.”

But Edward didn’t think he did. Nor should he, he thought. But that was a thought, given his wife, that he was keeping to himself.

Outside, Brax was just walking up to Roni, who was leaned against the limo talking small-talk with Harry Bellamy, when he was interrupted by the President of the Chamber of Commerce. “He’s a yes, Braxton.”

Brax was shocked. “Since when?”

“Since right now. And he’s willing to sign right now!”

Brax was floored. “Are you certain?”

“Yes! I’m certain.”

Brax’s heart soared. It was a get he had been trying to get all year. “Put him in the conference room. Then call Margo and tell her to set up the e-sign.”

“I thought she was still recovering from the accident.”

“She’s okay. Call her. She can set up in two minutes.”

“Will do.”

Then Brax stopped him before he walked away. “Good job, Richard. Good job.”

Richard smiled. And hurried away.

Brax looked at Roni.

“I know, I know.” She smiled, glad he was getting something accomplished. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Harry will take you home.”

“No, he won’t either. He’s your bodyguard, not just your driver. I’ll catch a ride with JJ.”

Brax gave her a kiss on the lips and then handed her his award trophy. “Don’t you let Jarvis get you into any trouble,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled back from her.

She smiled. “That’s between JJ and me,” she said and walked over to where JJ was laughing and talking with a group of ladies. JJ immediately hugged Roni as he continued to talk and laugh, which was his way: the life of the party was JJ.

Brax waited for Roni to look at him again. When she did, he waved at her. She stuck out her tongue at him, causing him to laugh. She really was a very special lady. And then he hurried back into the venue.