by Violet Howe
I stared down at the envelope with my name printed on the front as Mr. Bradford turned and walked back to his car.
“Wait,” I called to him. “How did you find me?”
“When no one answered at your listed residence, I asked around in town. They told me you were often in the company of your business partner, Ms. Reid, and they told me where to find her. There’s something to be said for small town life, I suppose. Let’s talk soon.”
I flipped through the papers as Seth drove us to the hospital, my jaw dropping as I counted the zeroes in the account balance.
“What should I do?” I asked Seth once I’d read the numbers off to him. “I should refuse it, right?”
“Well, from what he said, it’s not a matter of refusing it, babe. Legally, it’s already yours. It comes down to what you want to do with it. That’s a lot of money. With money like that, you could build your own theater. You could build your own house. Hell, you could build a town.”
“But it’s Victor’s money.”
“It was Victor’s money. He left it to you. Like it or not, you were married to him. So, it makes sense that he would have listed you as the beneficiary.”
“The attorney did say it wasn’t Mafia money, right?”
Seth shrugged. “He said it was an inheritance from Victor’s mother. Who knows what her ties were to the family business! But it’s possible that money is clean, I suppose.”
I tapped my fingers against my lip as I stared at the number again. “If I don’t accept this, what happens to it?”
“That’s a question for the attorney, D. I honestly don’t know.”
“This is a shit ton of money. I could…I could do so much.”
“You could. You could even give it all away if you wanted. Then, no matter where the money came from, you could turn it into something good.”
I shoved the papers back into the envelope and tossed it on the dash.
“He said I have time to decide, so I don’t have to think about this right now. I have more important things to think about than money. My sister is having my niece any minute now, and the man I love is by my side to help me welcome her into the world. To welcome her home to Cedar Creek. Nothing else matters.”
Try as I might, I couldn’t stop thinking about the money and all the things it could do. For my family. For the theater Sloane and I wanted to create. For the community. For whatever causes I chose to involve myself with.
I still had my reservations, of course, but Seth was right. I had the opportunity to take something bad and make something good.
In the bourbon world, they fill the barrel knowing they’ll lose some of the precious liquid in the aging process. The portion that evaporates is called the angel’s cut. The portion that seeps into the barrel is the devil’s due. What’s left behind is the good stuff.
I’d made some stupid choices in my life, and in many ways, I felt I’d already paid the devil his due. But I’d had some prayers answered along the way, so it seemed only fair that I give the angels their cut and help out others if I was able. And as for me?
Well, I had my family back. I had my home. I had Seth.
I smiled as I took his hand in mine, knowing that what lay ahead was the good stuff.
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Want more in Cedar Creek?
Welcome to the small town of Cedar Creek! This quaint community is home to a collection of recurring characters who interact from book to book. If you’ve enjoyed reading Volume 1 in Cedar Creek Suspense, check out Cedar Creek Mysteries and Cedar Creek Families. They both feature stories of love, laughter, family, & friendships, but the mysteries have the added elements of suspense, mystery, and a ghost or two! To find out more, visit www.violethowe.com.
Also by Violet Howe
Tales Behind the Veils
Diary of a Single Wedding Planner
Diary of a Wedding Planner in Love
Diary of an Engaged Wedding Planner
Maggie
The Cedar Creek Collection
Cedar Creek Mysteries:
The Ghost in the Curve
The Glow in the Woods
The Phantom in the Footlights
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Cedar Creek Families:
Building Fences
Crossing Paths
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Cedar Creek Suspense:
Whiskey Flight
Soul Sisters at Cedar Mountain Lodge
Christmas Sisters
Christmas Hope
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Acknowledgments
Bonnie, Teresa, Tawdra, Lisa, Melissa, & Cathy: Thanks for continuing to be my sounding board, my voices of reason and plausibility, and my extra eyes. With helicopters this time.
Greg: Thanks for the formal bourbon lesson and thorough tasting demonstration. I appreciated you sharing your knowledge and experience, especially that part about the angel’s share and devil’s cut. I knew as soon as you said it that would make it on these pages somehow.
Robbie, Char, Teri, & Sarah: Thanks for being willing to be a part of my education. There’s no sacrifice too great for friendship, right? Twelve bottles later, and we’re all still standing.
Logan: Thanks for not blowing up the house as a kid, and thanks for helping me research what might be on hand in an airport hangar to create just the explosion my hero needed under just the right circumstances.
Ari: Thanks again for the legal terminology and the support in determining what I could put these characters through.
Michael: Thanks for being Tristan and Levi’s back-up and a wealth of information on a deputy’s resources and procedures.
About the Author
Violet Howe writes books about heroines who are at a crossroads or facing obstacles. Her stories have romance but also explore relationships with family and friends. Some of her books have a mystery, an element of suspense, or a ghost or two. Violet lives in Florida with her husband and three adorable but spoiled dogs. When she's not writing, Violet is usually watching movies, reading, or planning her next travel adventure. She believes in happily ever afters, love conquering all, humor being essential to life, and pizza being a necessity.
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Thank You
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this book. The longer I “reside” in Cedar Creek, the more stories I find to be told, and you, dear reader, make it so much more fun for me to bring them to life. I read one time that a story begins in the mind of the author and ends in the mind of the reader, but I think that with us both sharing the experience, the story and the characters are able to live on indefinitely, and I thank you for that.
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