by H. P. Munro
She hadn’t expected the sale to be easy. The terms her mother had demanded had surprised her, but that was all in the past. Her present and future were slotting into place. Soon she could share her news with Erin while they were surrounded by friends at Sully’s party.
She’d managed thus far to deflect Erin’s enquiries about her business plans, allowing her to continue to believe she was going to open a gym. But now it was finalized, it was time to come clean.
***
Erin skipped down the stairs two at a time. Her foot had barely touched the bottom step when there was a knock at the door. Grinning, she pulled the door open fully expecting to see Teddy standing on the threshold. The smile froze on her face as a familiar scent wafted in with the warm evening air, and she found herself face to face with Virginia Grace.
If she was surprised to see Erin answer the door, Virginia Grace’s face showed no sign of it. Her eyes darted around unable to stay on Erin for any length of time. “Is my d…” She faltered, before closing her eyes as if to fully compose herself. “Is Charlotte available?”
Torn between closing the door in Virginia’s face and calling for Charlotte, her manners won out. She stepped out of the doorway and indicated towards the stairs. “Charlotte’s in the shower, but you’re welcome to wait, and I’ll go get her.”
Hesitantly, Virginia stepped into the house. She looked around, and a small smile ghosted on her lips. “This place looks just the same as when I used to drop Charlotte here for her piano lessons.” She turned and looked at Erin fully for the first time since the door had opened. “You’d be hiding round the corner waiting for me to leave.”
“You knew that?”
“I knew more than I admitted to,” Virginia replied, “and less than I should.”
“I used to sit under the window an’ listen to her practice. I always wished I could play.”
“God had other, bigger plans for your hands than playing the piano.” As if surprised by the gentleness of her own words, Virginia hastily added in a brisk tone. “My Pearl is much better thanks to you.”
Erin was reminded of the almost vulnerable woman she’d glimpsed in her exam room earlier in the year. “That’s good to know.” She turned, intent on fetching Charlotte so she could deal with this new and unnerving version of her mother. Virginia’s voice halted her.
“This was rude of me. I shouldn’t have stopped by without an invitation.” She started to fuss with her purse. “Perhaps you’d be so kind as to let Charlotte know I called and give her this.” She handed Erin a folded piece of paper. “Tell her this isn’t to make up for what I took from her. But it is what her daddy would have wanted.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her.” Erin took the paper, held it up and nodded. She watched as Virginia Grace rolled her shoulders back as if assuming her usual persona again. With a brisk nod in response, the older woman swept out of the door, leaving Erin wondering what the hell had just happened.
***
Charlotte padded down the steps. The sound of Erin tentatively picking out the notes of ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ on the piano made her smile. She quietly made her way across the room to where Erin stood, thankful for once she’d managed to avoid each and every hardwood board that creaked. She wound her arms around Erin’s waist and started to pepper her neck with kisses. The novelty of being able to touch and kiss her whenever she wanted had not worn off and seemed unlikely ever to.
“I missed you,” she whispered into her ear.
Erin stopped tapping on the keys and pulled Charlotte’s arms tighter around her. “It’s been twenty minutes!” She turned in Charlotte’s arms and ran her fingers lightly through her damp curls. “Not even enough time for your hair to dry.”
“I don’t want to waste a minute when I can be with you, I’m still stunned that I get to do this” —She placed a quick kiss on Erin’s lips—“and that you don’t smack me.”
Smiling, Erin extracted herself from Charlotte’s embrace. “I’ll be honest with you, me too.” Seeing a wounded puppy dog look appear on Charlotte’s face, she grinned wider. “I’m just happy we’re here now and that I’ve moved on from our past.”
“We’ve moved on,” Charlotte corrected.
Erin stepped away and leant against the back of the sofa. Tilting her head to the side she regarded Charlotte. “I think it’s just me for now.” She held up a hand, stalling any comeback. “I think there’s still some things you need to sort out.”
Immediately knowing what she was talking about, Charlotte sighed. “Virginia.”
“Do you plan on speaking to her?” Erin paused, chewing on her lips and looking terrified at what Charlotte’s response might be to her next utterance. ‘Cause if you’re gonna stay in Grace Falls, you can’t avoid her forever.”
Knowing Erin was still hesitant about her intentions made Charlotte’s heart ache. She vowed there and then to ditch her plans for later and come clean with her plans for the future.
“When I came back, I intended to speak to her. Having it out with her was definitely on my to-do list. It’s just that sorting things out with you came first.”
“Good to know I’m high on your to-do list,” Erin quipped. “So now that you’ve done me…”
“That sounded all wrong. I meant you were my priority.” Charlotte stepped closer to Erin and placed her arms on Erin’s shoulders. “You still are. I won’t make that mistake again. I want to speak to her. I want to try and understand why she did what she did.”
She looked up towards the ceiling as if using the white space to rearrange her thoughts and emotions adequately so she could speak. “I want to be the bigger person and forgive. I’m just not sure I can, and that makes me feel ashamed. She’s never given me a reason to want to.”
Smiling, Erin tucked a loose strand of hair behind Charlotte’s ears. “She stopped by earlier. I reckon she’s giving you a reason.” She held up the folded paper Virginia had given her. “To be accurate. She’s given you seven million reasons.”
Taking the paper, Charlotte’s nose twitched at the smell of her mother’s perfume. She slowly opened it, and her eyes widened. “I’ve gotta go talk to her.”
“Now?”
“Yeah now.” Charlotte turned towards the door, intent on finding out what exactly her mother was up to.
Erin shook her head. “At least put some shoes on!”
***
Charlotte slammed the car into park and took a deep breath to calm down. Seeing Erin holding a check from her mother had turned her plans on their head. She was no longer sure the deal was in place. Molly wasn’t answering her calls and so the only place to confirm whether her dreams of owning her father’s legacy was with her mother.
It had taken several more breaths before Charlotte felt able to open the car door and step out onto the gravel drive. She looked up at the imposing house built by Ebenezer Grace twenty years before the town adopted his name. Ever since its construction it had been handed down to each generation to maintain for the next. Despite her trepidation, Charlotte had to admire her childhood home. The crisp evening sunlight made the large white columns and wooden siding appear pristine. The black shutters that adorned each window looked as though they’d been painted recently. It was only when her eyes reached the front door she realized it was open, and her mother was standing watching her.
Before Charlotte could move, her mother nodded an acknowledgment and disappeared into the house, leaving the door open for Charlotte.
“Well here goes,” Charlotte muttered and climbed the steps up to the imposing porch wrapped around the house.
The unmistakable scent of lilies filled the entrance hall. Their sweet smell immediately transported Charlotte back to her childhood. She fully expected to see her father wandering through with the newspaper wedged under his arm and a welcoming smile on his face. A dull ache settled in her chest. It wasn’t a sight she would ever experience again, and the smell of the flowers suddenly lost their comforting properties, becoming cloying
and sickly.
She quickly moved through the hallway. She was sure she would find her mother in the parlor room. Despite the gray walls the room was bathed in sunlight. The furniture had been updated, but the room still held a timeless quality; aided by the ancestral paintings on the walls. The eyes of various Grace family members watched dispassionately as the latest generations met for the first time in decades.
“I have some sweet tea if you’d like some?” Virginia didn’t wait for Charlotte’s response before pouring a glass.
Charlotte noted the slight tremor in her mother’s movement and felt comforted. Perhaps she wasn’t the only one nervous about their interaction. She accepted the glass and perched awkwardly on the seat indicated by Virginia.
She felt too taut to sit. She needed to pace at speed to help dispel some of the energy that made her limbs feel as though the muscles and tendons were about to burst from her skin. Instead, she focused on breathing in and out. After all that happened and all the years that had passed, Charlotte almost had to stifle a snort at the absurdity of the situation.
Virginia cleared her throat and Charlotte realized she hadn’t uttered a sound since arriving at the house. She took another drink and licked at the sweet taste on her lips before finally speaking. “Erin gave me the check. Why are you giving me this money?”
“I sold the business, and it’s right that you should have the money. Your father wanted you to take over from him, but I don’t want to saddle you further with my failures.”
Surprised by her mother’s candor, Charlotte was speechless.
“I failed you as a mother before, and I don’t want to fail you again. After your daddy died, the man I hired has made a meal of running it. According to the new owner’s lawyers, almost everything that man had on his resume was a lie. Yet another example of my poor judgment. I’m trying to make things right, Charlotte.” Virginia’s voice caught. “I’ve asked the new owners to remove him and ensure Ruth Campbell is put in as manager. They’ve also agreed that there will be no job losses.”
“Is that all you want to make right?”
With unshed tears in her eyes, Virginia shook her head quickly and then composed herself. “I have no excuse for the mistakes I made with you, and I won’t offer one. You deserve more than some trite ‘I’m from a different generation.’ I failed you, and I’m sorry.”
Charlotte choked down the lump that threatened to burst from her. “I lost everything. You took everything that mattered from me.”
“I know. I didn’t understand you and Erin. I’m not sure I do now for that matter.”
“What’s to understand? We love each other. That’s all that matters.”
Virginia stood up quickly and moved to the window. Wrapping her arms around herself, she spoke as if only to herself. “That’s exactly it. I’m not sure I fully understand love. I’ve not experienced a great deal of it.”
“What about Daddy? He loved you.”
Charlotte could see a small smile appear on her mother’s face as she stared out. “He did, but I ruined that.”
She turned to face Charlotte and looked squarely at her daughter for the first time since she’d entered the house. “I never told him about seeing you with Erin. At first, I told myself I was sparing him. But in reality I knew if he were to make the choice on who to support it would be you. Then later I was ashamed”—seeing Charlotte bristle, she held up a hand—“of how I dealt with the situation. I was so angry all the time. I couldn’t seem to control it. Everyone got the brunt of it, Erin especially. It was like having my shortcomings thrust into my face each time I saw her. To her credit, she can give as good as she gets.
“We tried to find you over the years. I tried myself after he died. It seems I should have just hired Alex Milne’s daughter and saved a whole lot of money and effort. I did eventually tell him the reason you left, and I was right in my assumption. Rightly, he blamed me. He paid off what Erin owed the foundation, practically lived at the yard and we barely spoke after that.”
Wiping angrily at tears, Charlotte stood up. “Why now? Why after all this time do you decide to be honest about things?”
“Because you’re here. Because in a while I won’t be and you deserve my honesty. It’s all I have left to give you.”
“What do you mean you won’t be here?”
Seeing the shocked expression on her daughter’s face, Virginia let out a soft laugh. “I’m sorry. I’m being melodramatic. I’m not dying if that’s what you hoped. I’m retiring to Florida. I have too many memories in this town, and frankly I’m tired of my reputation as the wicked witch of Grace Falls. I’m not saying I don’t deserve it, or that at times I’ve relished it. I’m just weary, and while I’m not sure I can be anything else, I do know that whatever else I want to be I won’t be it here.”
Charlotte dropped back down onto her seat. “When are you going?”
“Soon. Now the business is sold, I have little to keep me here.”
“It’s mine.”
“What’s yours?”
“The business.”
Virginia sat down on the sofa and reached a tentative hand across to pat Charlotte’s leg. “The money is yours, but the business is already sold. I’m sorry this has probably been a lot for you all at once.”
Charlotte managed to control her surprise at her mother’s continued uncharacteristic behavior. “No, I mean I own the company that bought it.”
“You bought your daddy’s business?”
Charlotte nodded.
Virginia’s face hardened. “Have you got enough money to burn a wet mule? Didn’t you learn anything from your daddy?”
Charlotte opened and closed her mouth. This was the mother she was used to.
“You paid far too much. I’m not sure I should give you that money back if you can’t be trusted to not spend it frivolously.” Virginia’s stern expression melted into a smile at Charlotte’s befuddled expression. “Your daddy would be so proud of you and for what it’s worth, I am too.”
“For what it’s worth, it means more now than it did before.”
“Then it’s a start,” Virginia replied, nodding.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Upon first sight, Erin smiled at the number of people swelling out of Sully’s bar. It was only as she got closer and saw the anger on their faces, that she considered there was something other than celebrating afoot. She pushed past people, ignoring their protests. She spotted Teddy and Ruth standing at the bar with their arms crossed and looking like they were ready to wage war.
“What the hell’s going on?” Erin asked, shouting over the din.
Teddy leaned closer to her. “Virginia’s sold out all the Grace businesses. The yard. The lodges. Everything.”
Erin’s eyes widened as she realized the significance of the check she’d held earlier. She almost missed Teddy’s continued explanation.
“They turned up ’bout twenty minutes ago, led by Ford, who is whipping them up into a frenzy.”
“I can’t believe Sully let him in the bar,” Ruth said, shaking her head.
Teddy shrugged. “It’s not like he gave him much choice.”
Erin’s cell vibrated in her pocket.
“If that’s Charlotte, I’d tell her not to come here.” Teddy signaled towards Erin’s phone.
Nodding, Erin quickly read a text message from Charlotte, which said she was heading their way. She hastily typed out a reply, warning her what would greet her if she came and telling her to go back to the Anderson house and wait.
She started to pay attention to Ford’s rhetoric, which consisted mainly of scaremongering that jobs would go and repeating that Virginia Grace was a stuck-up entitled bitch of a woman. She jumped as a warm hand squeezed her shoulder. She turned to see a worried looking Sully standing behind the bar.
“How you holding up?” she asked, giving his hand a squeeze.
He smiled wearily, as he leaned over the bar to speak with her. “Yeah, I’m good. I’ve called fo
r Harvey to come help calm this mob down and get them out. I’m past my maximum occupancy and I don’t want to get closed down again. Plus, I’m not making any money, ’cause I sure as hell am not about to add alcohol into the mix. You okay? Haven’t seen much of you around.”
Erin blushed and rubbed her neck. “I’m more than okay.”
Whatever smart-assed reply Sully was going to say stalled on his lips as he spotted Harvey’s hat cutting a swathe through the throng of people. Erin turned to see what had caught Sully’s attention. She saw a stern-faced Harvey move people out of his way, either physically or by a look borrowed from his wife. The small sense of relief at his appearance disappeared almost immediately as Charlotte’s auburn hair became visible behind him.
She watched as the two made their way towards the small stage occupied by Ford, who seemed oblivious to the fact that the yells in support of him had quelled with the Deputy Sheriff’s appearance.
“Oh crap,” Teddy muttered, “does she have a death wish?”
Erin looked at Teddy in alarm and then towards Charlotte, who was leaning over and whispering something in Brett Ford’s ear. Nudging people out of her way, Erin made her way to the front. She was anxious to offer Charlotte some protection should she need it.
By the time she made it there, with Teddy and Ruth at her elbows, Ford was no longer on the stage. Charlotte stood alone. Erin watched as Charlotte held her hands up to quieten everyone down. Then, with a quick clear of her throat, she started to speak in a confident voice.
***
“I appreciate you’ve all heard the news about the sale of the businesses owned by the Grace family. I can assure you this is not the way that you were meant to hear of this.”
A voice rang out, “How come you’re the one up there telling us this? Where’s your mama?” A grumbling noise of agreement came from the crowd.
“I am here speaking on behalf of my mama,” Charlotte replied. She looked out across the sea of faces looking up at her and had to stop a grin appearing when she saw Erin’s raised eyebrow.
