Chapter 1
Halloween had come to Paradise.
The holiday was on a Tuesday, but Mark Antonious Richfield, the Nation’s Top Male Model, invited his friends and family to his estate in Paradise, California to celebrate.
His sons, Jacob Bentley and Isaac Milton were having a party for their friends from school on Saturday afternoon, and Mark was hosting thirty adult friends and family members for the weekend, and nine of the boys’ classmates for the party.
And one looney dog.
The Friday before the weekend, Mark and his manservant, Warren, hung spooky decorations around the home. The front of the huge thirteen-bedroom manor house was adorned with orange pumpkin lights, skeletons, webs and spiders, fake grave markers, and a dozen jack-o-lanterns carved by many of the men living at the home as well as Jacob and Isaac.
Sadly, Mark’s daughter, Lily Hayden wasn’t expected, although she was scheduled to come this Thanksgiving.
Mark’s ex-husband, Stan Bergman and Stan’s second husband, Bryan Fuller, two New Yorkers, were looking to buy a home in Southern California.
Mark couldn’t be happier to have his lovely daughter closer to him. Bryan, a Broadway play producer, and Stan, an actor, decided to give the west coast a try.
Stan’s family, his parents and sister lived in Manhattan with Stan’s extended family in Brooklyn. Last June, after he and Stan discussed what was best for their children, since they were from a broken marriage and were suffering, Stan’s decision to move out to California thrilled Mark.
The last time he had seen his daughter was in June, and it was bittersweet parting with her. Not to mention the boys missed their daddy Stan.
Hunter Rasmussen, a captain with the Butte County fire department and former LAFD, was on the ladder helping Warren hang the orange lights which spiraled around the enormous white columns adorning the entry way.
This was the first large party his boys were having at the manor house. Mark was reluctant to invite Jacob and Isaac’s school chums because of the disparity in income. Not many parents living in Paradise owned a massive mansion with two Olympic-sized pools, one indoor, one outdoor, a spa with a jacuzzi, gym, and sauna, a theater room, and a library. Nor did they have a chef, a chauffeur, and a groom taking care of nine horses, a basketball and tennis court, and a meadow that extended five miles across the land up to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. Not to mention a cement helistop on the meadow for commuting to Sacramento with his private pilot.
But, after his middle son, Isaac’s friend, Byron Arness, had spent many nights sleeping over, and his son’s thrill at enjoying his best mate at the home, Mark gave in.
It was Friday evening, and the adult guests were scheduled to arrive at any minute. Louis, his chauffeur, had rented a van to accommodate the Los Angeles crowd being flown to Sacramento from Burbank’s airport in his private Learjet.
His husband, Steven Jay Miller, exited the front of the house with yet another pumpkin he had carved. The boys were thrilled to help, old enough now to make their own jack-o-lanterns.
Sierra was busy roasting the seeds with spices, making cupcakes and treats for the coming party as well as a gourmet dinner for the guests.
Steve placed the carved orange gourd with the other pumpkins already on display. He looked up at Hunter, who was fearless on the extension ladder. Warren, an older gentleman with thinning hair, held the base for him, also guiding him on where to hang each strand.
Steve backed up with Mark to see the effect of the spooky decorations.
“Nice.” Steve laughed, his blue eyes sparkling like a child in awe.
Mark was very pleased as well.
Jack Charles Larsen and his husband, Adam Paul Lewis, both residents of the manor house with Mark and his husband, exited the home with more decorations.
Jack had been a close friend of Mark’s since they attended Stanford University, Mark for architecture, Jack for law. They met whilst playing baseball wearing cardinal uniforms.
Jack worked with him and Steve at their garment manufacturing firm in Sacramento, Richfield-Miller International. The clothing company had offices in London, Paris, and New York and in Sacramento, where the three of them worked.
Mark’s father, Milt, had created the business after working in his father and grandfather’s tailoring shop turning a mom-and-pop corner store into a mega conglomerate that made Milt a multimillionaire.
His father built this mansion here in Paradise, raised thoroughbred horses for racing, and married Mark’s British mum, Leslie, when he met her whilst he was in the military and stationed in London.
Blake, Hunter’s firefighter husband, was now Mark’s nanny. The mature, handsome man exited the home with more pumpkins.
His two sons, Isaac who was nearing nine and Jacob who was turning eight soon, were growing up so quickly, Mark couldn’t keep up.
The two young boys kept running in and out of the house with more decorations. Blake had spent time buying things online and thankfully they had arrived before the weekend.
