Free Paradise for a Sinner by Lynn Shurr Page A

You go out and get a butler to watch me. Do I steal the silver?” Corazon’s plump arms wobbled in the air.
    “Now, Corazon, after all we have been through together, you know you are like family,” Nell soothed.
    “He opened the gate and let the delivery man in.” The housekeeper’s chubby finger wagged at Brinsley. “He answered the phone! This is what I do.”
    “You do much more than that. You cook and care for a family of ten and all the extra guests we have in the house. You are a marvel!” Joe leaned toward her from his seat at the table, but stayed out of the way of flailing arms and pointing fingers. He tried one of his most appealing smiles to no great effect.
    Brinsley took a cautious step forward. “Mrs. Polk, my intention was not to supersede you, but to relieve your day of petty interruptions while you are making meals and overseeing the staff. My stay here will be brief, only until Anastasia is settled. I merely sought to help.”
    Corazon snorted through her nose so forcefully, she might have been shooting flames in the butler’s direction.
    Adam spoke up. “What we need is a beach.”
    All eyes and the perplexed expressions that went with them turned toward the big cornerback. “A beach, that’s your solution,” Joe said as if he questioned a play at a team meeting.
    “Sure. Corazon must feel the stress of caring for so many and her own family, too. If Brinsley would take the calls and such, she might be able to leave the house for a while and stroll beneath the palm trees, feel the sand beneath her feet, listen to the wind sing through the fronds.”
    Corazon’s round, brown face turned dreamy. “My village in Mexico had a beach. The children played there all day long.” She began filling mugs from the perpetually ready coffeepot on the counter. “Everyone sit. We talk about this beach. You, too, big-time butler. You not too good to drink coffee with us like you acted this morning.”
    “Generally, I do not sit in the presence of my employers.”
    “They are not your employers. They are mine. Sit!”
    Brinsley folded into a chair like a piece of stiff cardboard. Corazon plunked down creamer, a bowl of sugar, and a caddy of artificial sweetener. She urged the others to join Joe and Nell at the table. Adam and Winnie took their seats. The only one who didn’t was Corazon who moved to the industrial-sized refrigerator and began filling a platter with various cold cuts, three types of cheese, and bowls of sweet and dill pickles. She opened a bread drawer, took out a long French loaf, severed it into pieces along its length, and placed it into a basket. A heap of pumpernickel rolls topped the French bread, and a variety of condiments made their way to the table. Corazon passed out plates and cutlery, finally settled, and said, “The beach, tell me.”
    Adam smiled broadly at her. The housekeeper beamed back as if only the two of them knew the true value of a beach.
    “Today, when I went to get my lava rocks with the very lovely Winnie, I noticed some palm trees for sale. Lorena Ranch has no palm trees, which is a great pity. I bought all the trees, but now we need a beach to place them. Joe, you have an area full of scrub trees near the swimming pool.”
    Joe nodded. “An old pasture leftover from the ranch’s dairy farm days.”
    “We clear it and cover the dirt with sand. We put in the palm trees and maybe some other pretty plants.”
    “Who is we?” Joe asked.
    “Me and the landscaper I spoke to this morning. The beach will be my gift to Camp Love Letter, no cost to you. All children should be able to play in the sand.”
    Always practical, Nell said, “Won’t the kids bring sand into the pool and clog the filters?”
    Getting with the program, Joe answered. “We could put in sprinklers to wash their feet. The children would love to run through them anyhow. I can see it. Yes, I can, me.”
    “Major plumbing installation,” Nell mentioned.
    “We could have it done before the