by Paige Powers
A Perfect Forever
(Leap of Love Series, Book 1)
Paige Powers
Global Village Publications
Copyright 2014 Paige Powers, Global Village Publications
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author.
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Table Of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Thank You
Booklist
Chapter 1
Boston harbor, 1860
Amelia's heart raced as the ship docked. Finally back in Boston, she had no clue what she would be looking forward to. The one thing she wanted to do was see her parents, go home, and freshen up.
Boston was completely different than Switzerland. She had lived in Switzerland for the past three years, away at boarding school. It was not a decision she would have made for herself.
It was just the way things had to be.
Being the daughter of the woman who owned the largest brothel in Boston was not exactly a badge of honor. But it was Amelia's reality, and a fact that she’d come to terms with. She never wanted to run from that.
Her father, on the other hand, was already rich. He was born into a family of old money. Amelia was never completely sure what it was that his family did to make or maintain their wealth. All she knew was that with her father's longstanding wealth and her mother's new money, their lifestyle was one that could be considered lavish.
They had the best of everything. Dresses shipped in from Paris. A governess for Amelia, maids, cooks, and a butler. Dinners with the heads of the Boston Police Department and even the Governor of Massachusetts himself were quite normal. And so, when her mother suggested that they send her to boarding school, no one thought twice.
It was the kind of thing that wealthy people did. They sent their daughters, especially, off to expensive boarding schools to learn etiquette and essentially, how to be a proper lady. Amelia wanted to appreciate it, but the truth was, she felt like boarding school was a way for her parents to sit and concentrate on their own needs versus what she needed.
Amelia soon came to like being away from home. She found a certain freedom in being not only in a different city, but an entirely different country. She could be whoever she decided to be.
In Switzerland, she was not the daughter of Lulu la Rue, brothel owner, and William Smith, wealthy businessman. She was simply a wealthy socialite from Boston. She did not need to disclose much more. Choosing to focus on her schooling rather than on her status or money made Amelia a bit of an outcast, but it helped her to make it through the three years she was there.
Graduation came much too quickly. Amelia wished that she had not spent the first year mired in resentment and frustration that her parents had sent her away. She did not send her parents a message that she would be coming back home until the day before she was set to depart.
Letters and correspondence happened randomly between Amelia and her parents. When they sent word that they wouldn’t be able to make it to her graduation, she knew that upon her return, she would not encounter much fanfare. Not because they did not love her. Simply because they were usually more engrossed in their own lives, and sometimes that meant she did not get the attention that she needed and desired from them.
Her transatlantic trip would take over a week, and in that time, she knew that they would receive her wire that she would be arriving. Amelia was not sure what to expect coming home. She knew they would be happy to see her, and there would be the casual conversation about how her trip was and they would of course gloss over her graduation.
As soon as her ship came to port, the butterflies began swirling in Amelia's stomach. The smell of the air at the port brought all of her childhood memories rushing back.
As a child, she would run away from her governess and go down to the port and sit and watch the ships come and go for hours. There was a freedom in watching the ships. Just knowing that those ships had sailed the open seas and gone to places unknown filled Amelia with a curiosity that begged her to explore life more openly.
She wondered who would meet her at the port. It would be nice to see her mother or her father for that matter. Most likely, they would send a carriage for her instead. In her mind, she prepared herself for arriving home to an empty house with no one else there but the maids and the butler.
For once, she wanted to feel important and to have a big deal made about her presence. She wondered how all of her friends were, and what had changed in the past few years.
The cool wind tickled her face as she departed the boat. A sudden rush came over her as she watched the people bustling to and fro at the pier.
She was finally home in Boston. And Amelia had no clue what to expect.
*
"Ms. Smith! Ms. Smith!"
Amelia turned to see a man standing in his finest suit and top hat. She walked toward the man who had been her father's lawyer for as long as Amelia could remember.
"Hello Mr. McGill. Fancy seeing you here."
She nodded hello to the portly man.
"Yes ma'am."
Amelia did not miss the way that Mr. McGill briefly looked away from her when they greeted one another. She wondered where the apprehension came from.
"Mr. McGill. Can I ask why you are here? Are you meeting someone?"
He nodded. "Yes. I am."
Amelia stared at him, waiting for his response.
"Would you please come with me, Ms. Smith?"
"Mr. McGill, are my parents not coming to receive me?"
He paused as if he were trying to find just the right thing to say.
"Our carriage is right this way." He held out his hand to show her the way.
Amelia gathered her dress, and began to follow Mr. McGill.
As they walked, she felt the familiar sensation of the cobblestone streets underfoot. The sounds of the ships signaling their arrivals and departures were exhilarating.
She suddenly wanted to go home, and part of her wanted to enjoy it.
"Where did you say my parents were again, Mr. McGill?" Amelia figured she would try and ask him again, since he did not answer clearly the first time.
He held Amelia's hand as she stepped up into the carriage. Once she was inside, he slid in and took the seat on the bench across from her.
"Mr. McGill. Where are my parents?"
His downcast expression told her that something was not quite right.
"Ms. Smith," he started.
Amelia straightened up in her seat. "Mr. McGill. You can tell me anything. Where are my parents?"
Mr. McGill took Amelia's hand in his, and patted it gently.
"Ms. Smith. There has been an accident."
*
Amelia was not sure whether she should cry or scream or both. How could it be that her parents were dead? She had just gotten here, and she was expecting to see them. She was expecting for her life to return to normal, whatever that was supposed to be.
She daydreamed the entire trip from Switzerland
to Boston about how she would assimilate back into the Boston high society. Politically, there was so much going on, and she wanted to be a part of it, even if women were not respected as far as their political opinions went. Amelia had seen an air of peace and resolve in Switzerland, and it was the kind of thing she longed to see in her own native land.
As she walked into the house she had grown up in, she felt her hands shaking. There had never been a time when she was in the house and neither of her parents was there. Even though the butler met her at the door with a smile, she knew that things were going to be different from this point on.
Mr. McGill brought her into the house, and asked her to take a seat in the parlor. She could barely sit down.
"Mr. McGill," she said, chest heaving. "I need to know exactly what happened."
Amelia tried her best to keep her composure, but the sound of her voice cracking and the choking feeling that was taking hold of her were a warning that she was about to lose control.
Mr. McGill shook his head. "Ms. Smith, I'm not sure that details of that sort are what you need right now."
"Stop calling me Ms. Smith!" The words came screeching out of her mouth so quickly that she held her hand to her lips as if to stop any other words from coming forth.
Amelia took a deep breath. "Please, call me Amelia. We have known each other far too long for pleasantries and proper conversation."
A brief silence settled between them.
"Now. Please tell me what happened."
Massaging his temples, Mr. McGill began to recount the tragic tale.
"Last week, your parents were en route to a social event a few miles away. There was a carriage accident. I am not too clear on all of the details. The driver was thrown from the carriage, as well as your parents. All of them expired."
Amelia winced at the word expired. It seemed so cold and so impersonal.
"When we received the wire that you would be returning from Switzerland, I thought that it would be best to wait until you arrived to inform you."
Amelia clasped her hands together. She paused for a moment to let the words Mr. McGill had spoken sink in.
She ran her fingers to smooth her hair, trying her best to calm the anxiety.
"Well, Mr. McGill. What is next?"
"We do a reading of the will. That is the one thing I thought should wait until you arrived."
"I appreciate that, Mr. McGill."
Mr. McGill gave her all of the information about the date and time when the will would be read.
"Are you going to be okay, Amelia?" His question seemed to be one of genuine concern.
She tried to put a comforting hand on the lawyer's shoulder so that he would know that she meant what she was about to say.
"Mr. McGill. I don't really have much of a choice otherwise."
*
Amelia walked around the house, taking everything in. In the parlor, the fireplace mantel was filled with trinkets from her parents' travels. She took one of the porcelain figures – a Chinese dignitary in an emerald green robe – remembering the time her mother had proudly shown it to her.
She had always admired the imports from France and Spain, and places in Asia which she had only dreamed of. Her parents had a penchant for living the high life, so not only had they traveled to these far off exotic countries, they brought back proof of their travels by the way of crystal vases, figurines, and sometimes things Amelia had never even heard of.
Her mother, Lulu, loved to show off her finds. As a matter of fact, she liked to show off at any cost. Their home was lavishly decorated in fine tapestries, and gold embroidery was everywhere.
Lulu would always tell her daughter that if you only lived once, it had better be good. Lulu loved fine wine, dancing, and social soirees. She was a vibrant spirit and easily likeable, despite the fact that most of the women in Boston's social elite turned their noses up at her any chance they got.
Lulu la Rue was the owner of a brothel. The very brothel that many a husband frequented, so there was no way that the women of Boston's elite would truly let her into their circle. Lulu only gained access by default. Being married to William N. Smith was her one saving grace.
The Smiths had been in Boston since coming over from England back in the 1600s. They were deeply immersed in the maritime trade, and had their hands in several businesses that provided a stable and lucrative income for the entire family for generations.
They were the perfect match for one another. Lulu's vibrant spirit provided a balancing contrast to William's by-the-book analytical personality.
The last time that Amelia was home, Lulu had done an ‘over the top’ send-off party for her. All of her friends and their parents were there, and Lulu had relished being the life of the party.
She had no way of knowing at that time that it would be one of the last times she would see her parents alive. Had she known that they would pass away and that she would never see them again...
Maybe she should have come home a bit more often. Or maybe she should have insisted that they come to visit her in Switzerland.
The thoughts ran through her head, and she could not make sense of them. Nothing made sense right now to her. It was almost impossible to think.
The silence of the house was stifling. Hearing her mother's voice right now would make things so much calmer. Now Amelia was unsure if she would ever feel that type of calm in her life again.
Setting the tiny porcelain figure back on the mantle, Amelia closed her eyes. The scent of pine and cinnamon was still there as it had been throughout her childhood.
She opened her eyes, knowing that from now on, things in her life would never be the same.
*
The reading of the will was extremely formal, despite the fact that the only people there were Mr. McGill and Amelia. Amelia was an only child, and her father's brother sent word that he would not be there since he recently came for the funeral.
Mr. McGill's office was not plush or overly comfortable by any standards. He had a lovely secretary who looked to be somewhere around Amelia's age. She was polite and smiled kindly as she led Amelia into Mr. McGill's personal office.
"Amelia, so good to see you this morning. Please have a seat."
He was so welcoming and warm that Amelia did not have the heart to lash out the way she wanted to. How could the reading of a will be a pleasant experience, as it seemed the lawyer was trying to make it out to be?
Amelia took a seat in the cherry wood armchair. She folded her hands in her lap and prepared for the unexpected. Smoothing her hair back, she waited for what was next.
Several papers were stacked in front of Mr. McGill, and he peeled the first off the top of the stack.
Reading all of the formalities was making Amelia want to reach across the table and snatch the sheet right from the lawyer's hand. Instead, she maintained composure and waited as patiently as she could until he read what was on the sheet.
The first two pages were nothing but technical jargon about the structure of her father's company and the structure of her mother's business. All things that Amelia did not readily understand. Then there was the reading of all of the businesses her parents owned individually and collectively. Amelia listened, and had no idea that her parents had amassed such a fortune together.
For a brief moment she felt fortunate that her parents had done so well, and afforded her a comfortable life free of care and worry.
There was a bit about who would take over her father's everyday functions and who would take over her mother's business. Amelia could not believe that there was anyone who would want to take over the brothel. It seemed like the kind of place that should just die off and fade away now that her mother was gone.
Mr. McGill cleared his throat. "Now that I have completely bored you with all of the specifics and minutiae of business structuring and hierarchy, let us get to your parent's personal wishes for you."
Amelia perked up. Finally the part she had been waiting on.
&
nbsp; The lawyer's eyes scanned over the paperwork. With a sigh, he began talking.
"As I have bored you enough with all of the formalities of reading a will, here is what is most important. Your mother left control of the brothel to a Marilyn Halford, but you will maintain ownership as a full partner with Ms. Halford, with your percentage being seventy-five percent.
"Your father's businesses are to be run by his brother. You will receive a trust set up with thirty percent of the proceeds deposited for you bimonthly. I will oversee all of those transactions."
Amelia began to sit up, ready to go.
"Thank you so much for all of your help, Mr. McGill."
"Wait, Amelia. There is more."
When he spoke, his right eyebrow raised slightly. Amelia looked on curiously.
"All right. I'm listening." She sat back down in the wooden chair.
"I do not ever remember you going to California. Have you ever wanted to travel there?"
She was not sure where he was going with his line of questioning, but answered anyway.
"Not necessarily, Mr. McGill. Why would you ask?"
"It seems your father has left you a controlling interest in a lucrative gold mine in California."
Amelia shook her head. "And I assume you will be overseeing the money there as well?"
"Actually, I have been designated as the trustee over your parents' estate. But this one is all yours. Your father has stipulated that you sell the house in Boston, move to California, and marry in one year."
Amelia felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.
"What? This seems a bit preposterous. I do not understand."
Mr. McGill laid the paperwork down on his desk, and folded his hands. "What it means is that you have full ownership in this mine. Your father asked that you sell the house here and move out west to start a new life. That includes getting married and when you do, you will be the owner of that gold mine, free and clear."
