Ron, Owen and Nathan are brothers who happened to be triplets as well. While they were teenagers they created a silly game to fool people who were not aware that there were three boys not just one. They never expected that playing that silly childhood game one more time would change their lives forever.

RON

By Las Chance

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Las Chance
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4670-6074-5

Chapter One

The house was quiet there was no other person up, but Madeline Greenshaw and she had gotten up early to have some alone time. She wanted to reminisce over her old family picture album. She had been keeping it hidden out of sight for the last twenty two years, but today called for taking it out of its longtime hiding place at the top of the closet behind her old hat box.

She had to pull her old heavy wooden stool into the closet in order to reach it. Now she was sipping her cup of hot tea and looking through the pages that marked away many years of her life.

The very first page brought a little smile to her aging lips. "Oh, so young we were way back then."

She and her late husband Taylor Greenshaw had married as soon as he had graduated from college. She was only seventeen then and he was twenty two. They waited five years before they started their family. They and their parents all wanted Taylor to be well established in his real estate business before they started to add any little ones to their household.

"There I am smiling and laughing so big while Taylor took my picture. I must have been seven or eight months along by then. How time does fly."

The next picture was of three tiny babies wrapped snugly in their little blue blankets with their little stocking hats pulled down over their tiny sweet ears.

"I remember Daddy taking that picture as if it were yesterday. No one ever expected us to have three babies maybe two, but never three."

Then she turned to the next page. "Oh we had just gotten home from the hospital there. Taylor was beside himself. He must have given out five boxes of cigars. They, don't do that anymore, so I just wonder what it is they do give out when babies are born?" Madeline shook her head and wondered.

The next few pages were of the babies' first Christmas and their second Christmas. "Robert was always the leader and of course the other two were more than willing to follow their older brother. They almost pulled the Christmas tree over before poor Taylor got this picture made, as I remember. They all three had their tiny little sweet hands on it ready to pull it right over."

Then she turned a little farther into the old book. "They sure were always handsome boys." By this time she was smiling ear to ear as she looked at the old picture of her three sons' graduation picture from high school. Then it was on to their college pictures. Each picture held so many wonderful memories for her.

They were not boys anymore. They were fifty seven years old now. Three men, three fathers and there was still not one wife between the three of them. However today they were going to be giving away their three daughters in marriage. Yes their three beautiful daughters.

Madeline stopped there and closed her book. It was getting late. Before long the house would be buzzing with so many people. Everyone, of them will be wanting, something and everyone of them wanting it right now and most likely wanting it all from her.

Madeline took the time to put away the old picture album in her nightstand drawer. She did not want anyone to see it before the right time. Then there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Who is it?" She asked.

"It's me Grandma, Pearl. I came to get you. Gladys has our breakfast ready and she said if we don't get to the table soon she was going to eat it all herself."

"Well in that case I will come right now. I know she doesn't need to be eating another whole meal by herself."

Madeline closed the drawer to her nightstand and opened her bedroom door. Her granddaughter Pearl was already gone. She laughed to herself and thought about all the years she and Gladys had spent together in this old house raising her three granddaughters.

"I'm on my way Gladys. Don't start eating my breakfast." She called out as she came down the stairs.

All three of her granddaughters were already at the table ready for their grandmother to say grace. She had said it at this same table and in this same dining room for over twenty two years.

"Grandmother you look tired. Didn't you sleep well last night?" Ruby asked.

"Yes sweetheart I slept, but I woke up very early this morning." Madeline didn't want to say why she awoke so early. She would just let them decide that for themselves.

"Now Grandmother we are the ones getting married today and we are the ones who had reasons to wake up early not you."

"That's right Grandmother. You have nothing to worry about today, where on the other hand we have everything to worry about." Emerald was the oldest of the three and she acted as if she were the other two's mother sometimes.

"Grandmother we are the brides and all you have to do today is smile and be sweet just like you are always." Pearl said. She was the youngest of the three. They all stopped talking and started eating the meal, but the three girls mostly picked at their food. They were too excited about today to care anything about eating breakfast.

"Now that you all have decided what I should and should not do today I guess it's time for me to tell you three what you should be doing at this very minute." Madeline looked over at each of her granddaughters and wondered how the day was going to end.

"What's that Grandmother?" Pearl asked.

"You all three should be in your bathrooms right now getting yourselves a nice long warm bubble bath. The hair dressers will be here in one hour and you don't have a minute to waste. Now, scat you hear me!" Madeline just hoped her three granddaughters were feeling as happy later as they were feeling now.

After the girls had left the table Gladys came into the dining room with her cup of hot coffee and sat down in the chair nearest to Madeline.

"Well today is the big day." She said in her country voice.

"Yes it is Gladys. I hope it all goes well." Madeline took another sip of her tea.

"Are your sons going to tell them the truth today?" Gladys asked.

Madeline turned fast in her seat to look over at Gladys. "What truth are you talking about Gladys?" She asked.

"Don't give me that look. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I may be slow in some things, but not in all things. I figured it out years ago even before their mother died." Gladys had a sad look on her face from just remembering Georgia and knowing how much of her daughters' lives she had missed.

"You mean you have always known?" Madeline asked. She could feel the pure life draining out of her.

"Yes, but I never said anything to anyone because I knew there had to be a real good reason for all the secrecy. After all who would I tell, you?" Gladys asked and then she took another sip of her coffee.

"I guess you saw enough over the years to know." Madeline said while thinking how hard they had all worked at keeping this secret and then she wondered just how many other people had guessed their secret over the years. "Well Gladys in about four hours all hell could be hitting the fan. All three of my sons are coming out early today so they can tell their daughters, the truth at last." Madeline had such a worried look on her face now. Gladys felt so sorry for them all.

"Yes, but you don't need to worry about all of that right now." Gladys started to leave the table. "I have a lot of work to do this morning before everything starts happening around here and you need to get yourself ready for the hair dresser." Gladys knew Madeline had spent almost a good third of her life helping her three sons with their three daughters and not one time had she ever heard her complain.

"Oh, Gladys I wish you would change your mind and sit with me at the wedding." She had taken hold of Gladys' hand so she would not leave the table yet.

"Now Mrs. Greenshaw...." Gladys started to say, but Madeline interrupted her before she could finish what she was going to say.

"Oh, I know I'm not going to like this. Every time you start with now Mrs. Greenshaw I know it's something I will not want to hear."

"Well you are going to hear it anyway. I don't feel right sitting up front with all of those rich people. They will all know I'm just the housekeeper and not an invited guest." Over the years while working at the Greenshaw's home Gladys had met very few of their friends, but she had heard them all talking to each other about the people they knew and she could tell by their conversation that they were not the average folks.

"There you are wrong. Gladys you are an invited guest. It's my granddaughters' weddings and I want you there with me. Well anyway I hope you change your mind."

Madeline got up from the table and went back upstairs to her bedroom. She could do a little more reminiscing while waiting for the hairdresser to arrive, but after she got to her room she decided to just rest. It was going to be a very long day and at her age she would need the extra rest. She would have all the time in the world to reminisce after the girls were married and had moved out into their own homes with their new husbands.

She was so thankful that her three granddaughters and their future husbands had decided to give up the idea of a small church wedding and go to the next town over and get a nice large three aisle church for the occasion. With three brides and three grooms plus their families and friends the small church the girls had gone to all their lives would be way too small for today's affair.

Chapter Two

Back in New York City Madeline's three sons was each in their own apartment waiting for the right time to go down stairs to meet even though they were in the same building and on the very same top floor.

With their father being in the real estate business all his adult life, the boys had followed in his footsteps, but each in a different way. Robert was a well sought after broker, Owen was a developer with so many big money making ideas and Nathan was a highly skilled architect. Together they owned and operated one of the largest real estate corporations in the country.

While still very young the boys had learned that most people could not tell them apart. Most meaning that only their mother was able to see the smallest differences between the three boys. Their own father stayed in a fog as to who was who until his death just before the three boys had graduated from college.

While still in high school they would often go to each others' classes and no one ever noticed. They did this especially if one of them was having a test and that brother was not sure if he would be able to ace that examine. Then the brother that was the brightest in that class would go and take the test. They never felt as if they were cheating because all three were geniuses. They did it for entertainment and excitement, hoping that someday someone would question at least one of them about not being the person that they were claiming to be.

By the time they were in college they had worked out a flawless system. If one of the three men met someone who did not know that they were one of a set of triples they would just introduce them self as Ron. Then if this unsuspecting person should ever run into one of the other two brothers they would think they had met up with the same man that they had met earlier and they would call him Ron. The three brothers had decided on the name Ron simply because it was spelled by using the first letter of each of their names Robert, Owen and Nathan. That way if either brother ever ran into this person they would know right off to play the Ron game. They were all Ron and that is how this whole story came about.

Today all three men were getting dressed for their daughters' weddings. Right at ten a.m. the limousine pulled up in front of their building to pick them up to take them on the two hour ride to their mother's house in the country. They were all three dressed in their wedding day attire. They looked exactly alike.

They each took their seat in the back of the limousine. It wasn't long before they were all three lost in their own thoughts. Robert was busy on his cell phone trying to close a last minute big deal that just could not wait even on this special day. While Owen just sat and read the morning newspaper. He had been doing this very same thing every morning for a number of years. Nathan had decided to just sit and enjoy the ride and all the sites as they passed by his window, but as he looked out over the freeway things didn't look that great to him at all. The view was lacking something he thought, more of their developments maybe. It wasn't long before the three men had stopped what they were doing and now each man was deep into his own thoughts about today and the event that would be taking place. No more cell phone calls, or newspaper and no more sightseeing. Just their thoughts of what laid ahead.

Today each man was going upstairs and into one of the three girls' bedrooms and they were going to tell them such an unbelievable story that had started over twenty three years ago. None of the big deals that they had ever worked was as hard as the job that lay ahead of them today.

Each man had already chosen the daughter he would tell his own story too. It had not been done by the drawing of straws, but by love and compassion. The brothers would each tell his story to one daughter and hope that she would find away to love and forgive them as their mother had done so long ago.

Robert would tell his story to Pearl. She was the youngest and so much like her mother that he could almost see Georgia every time he was with her. Owen would tell his story to Emerald. He saw something in her that always reminded him, of himself and Georgia a sweet mixture that he just could never get over. Nathan would tell his story to Ruby. She had her mother's fire in her and that was something Nathan had always loved about Georgia. They each had picked the daughter that had been handed to them by the nurses at the hospital the day that the girls were born.

What these three men were about to do could end the relationship they had spent the last twenty two years building. They had to tell the secret that could end it all.

"Are you two ready to do this?" Robert asked his two brothers.

"Yes I think we have put it off as long as we can and it has to be done and today is as good of a time as any." Owen said wishing it didn't have to be told at all.

"Well I just hope they don't kill us. Remember their mother wanted to kill all three of us." Nathan said with a tiny little smile on his lips as he pictured Georgia in his mind.

All three men were still very handsome. Even though it had been over twenty years since they had played the old Ron game.

"Do you still remember that morning Robert when you went jogging in the park?" Nathan asked. "We were still living together at the time. It was just before we each moved into our own place."

"Yes the week before we move into our separate places as best as I can remember." Owen answered as he began to smile.

"Yes, I do remember Nathan." Robert answered sadly.

"We were considerably younger at the time." Owen answered. "Yes, thirty four as I remember."

"Thirty four we were still young. It was so many years ago, but it still seems like yesterday." Robert said. "It's funny how some things seems so long ago while others seem as if they just took place yesterday as if time has just stood still. Like my jog that morning. I remember jogging on my regular route that morning. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the park was already full of people. Not only runners, but people sitting on the grass reading and some were writing and some just having their breakfast. I guess I got off course just enough to get me off my path. By the time I realized it I was too far to the left and I had run right over her. Her breakfast and the book she was reading all went flying. She didn't do anything except crawl around on the ground and look for all the little pieces of paper she had used for marking pages in her book. Then she said. "I'm so sorry I ran into you while you were running. I will be a lot more careful next time." Robert could still see Georgia's beautiful face.

"Then she gave me the most beautiful smile. I had never seen one like it before in my life. I just stood there like a big fool. Then I said to her. "My name is Ron. I'm the one who ran over you."

She then said in such a sweet voice, "I know I felt it. My name is Georgiana Parker, but my friends have always just called me Georgia."

"Nice meeting you Georgia now let me help you get your notes."

"You don't need to. They aren't that important." She said as she picked up the last of the papers. "See I have them all already."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from RONby Las Chance Copyright © 2011 by Las Chance. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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