One Millhaven Lane

by Bliss Addison

  "After back surgery, she required convalescent care. She had no one to look after her and asked if I'd be interested in private duty nursing. I thought about the offer for a while and eventually, accepted. My wisest decision ever.

  "Before her accident, she handled every aspect of the day-to-day operation of the shop. After her release from the hospital and before she became mobile, she had me ordering supplies and performing other services for the shop. 'All part of my duties', she said, 'as a caregiver'." Asia smiled. "She was a wily one. I didn't know it at the time, but she was grooming me to take over when she was gone. I had no idea she would leave me her entire estate, nor did I know how wealthy a woman she was."

  "Who was her beneficiary before you came along? She must have had someone."

  "Nieces and nephews, but no one close. She never said, but I think she'd willed everything to various charities and the church."

  "You didn't get any flak from her family over her will? Relatives tend to come from the woodwork when there's money involved. Everyone gets in the running for their share."

  Asia was reminded of her brother Bobby. She wondered why he hadn't shown up for his split of their mother's estate, not that there was anything to share, but he didn't know that. Like Nate said, everyone wanted their cut, entitled or not.

  "None that I know of." She smiled, recalling the first time she entered the shop. "The moment I stepped inside Aphrodite my fate was sealed. This strange feeling overcame me. I don't know how to describe it. Like that was where I belonged. Strange, huh?"

  "A little, but how strange is it we found our way back to each other after eighteen years?"

  "And now here we are again and back together. Who would have thought?" Not Asia, who awoke that morning dreading the trip to the Grove and never thinking today would end with her in Nate's loving arms.

  "What kind of a shop is it?"

  "You mean you've never been curious enough to check it out?" She had a difficult time believing that. She knew that Nate had kept in touch with her comings and goings over the years; at a distance, of course. For a number of reasons, he wouldn't have sauntered into the shop but he, at least, would have walked past.

  "You lie," she said, slapping his chest.

  "I could never locate it."

  So, he had attempted to find Aphrodite. "I've been told it's difficult to find. I'll take you first chance we get. To answer your question, I sell everything from doorstops and hangars to candles and elixirs."

  He looked at his wristwatch and groaned. "I don't want to leave."

  Asia didn't want to move either. Why couldn't they stay this way forever? "Can't someone take your shift?" she asked, feeling hopeful.

  "I would, if I could. The rookie had oral surgery this morning, and I'm working his shift."

  "Bugger." Now that Asia had Nate back in her life, she would resent even a minute apart from him.

  He lifted his arm from beneath her and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Looking over his shoulder at her, he said, "If there were any way I could stay, I would. You know that, don't you?"

  She nodded, watching him throw on his clothes. There wasn't much time for him to shower and dress before the midnight shift started. She followed him down the stairs and helped him into his jacket.

  "Take care," she said and kissed him goodnight. "I don't want anything happening to you."

  "It won't. I promise." He kissed her, like it was the first time their lips had ever touched.

  Savoring the delicious feeling of being loved, she swung the door closed and flipped the dead bolt.

  After she watched him drive down the lane, she walked into the living room and picked up her book and afghan from the floor, reasoning how to extend her stay in the Grove. Dorothy knew the business as well as Asia and could manage the shop in her absence. The shelves were well stocked and the storeroom filled literally floor to rafter with every imaginable item. She always prepared ahead and was thankful now she had. Once she saw her mother's lawyer in the morning, she'd call Dorothy and give her the good news. Crystal might feel slighted, but Asia would make it up to the young woman.

  Without turning on the light in the kitchen, she grabbed a bottle of water from her bag on the counter and drank until her thirst was satisfied. She yawned and absently set the bottle on the counter, her mind reliving the glorious night she and Nate had shared.

  A noise on the porch caught her attention. Her first inclination was that Nate had returned, then thought better of the notion when she remembered the hour. He wouldn't intentionally be late for work and definitely not without an excellent reason. If it wasn’t Nate, who was it? A burglar, she thought. If she were in Boston, she’d be more inclined to believe that. Still, though, crime happened everywhere, and the Grove was not immune to violence or law offenders. She peered out the window and saw nothing but darkness. She cocked an ear and listened. Nothing. If someone had attempted to break in, they’d changed their mind. She let out a relieved breath and turned toward the hallway. She only walked a couple of steps when the door rattled. She stopped abruptly and turned. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the knob, waiting for it to turn. When it didn't, she called out, "Who's there?"

  A gust of wind clattered the kitchen window.

  Nature, Asia thought, breathing again. That's all it was. Nature.

  Chapter Three

  The next morning, Asia awakened with the rising sun and a smile. Humming, she bounced from bed and into the shower, where she thought of Nate and what they'd shared last night. It had been wonderful being with him again. He'd put on a few pounds and there was some white sprinkled among the chestnut hair, but he was still the sweet, gentle and courteous man she'd fallen in love with her junior year in high school.

  His periwinkle blue eyes had popped when he looked at her, just like they always had.

  He'd never stopped loving her. She hoped nothing or no one would stand in their way this time. But if the past repeated itself, she knew how to handle the Brittanys of the world now.

  No one would get in her way of a happy-ever-after. Not this time.

  Moments later, with upswept hair and dressed in a navy pantsuit, she skipped down the stairs, through the hallway and into the kitchen where she grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

  On the way to the garage, she noticed footprints in her mother's flowerbed below the dining room window and stopped. She studied the prints. A size twelve if she were to guess, the pattern distinctive of a hiking boot. She recognized the tread. She had the woman's version at home in her shoe closet.

  The same kind Nate wore last night.

  ***

  On the short drive to her lawyer's, Asia was back to thinking about the rattling doorknob last night. It hadn't been nature, after all, and if it wasn't Nate coming back for something he thought he left in the house, who was it? She shrugged. The print could have been there a while and she'd never noticed and the shaking door and rattling doorknob last night was the wind, just as she'd suspected. Yes, that was it. She let out a deep breath and relaxed.

  She parked on the street in front of Harry's office.

  Seconds later, she was brushing a knuckle against the hardwood and peeking around the door into his office.

  Harry stood in front of bookshelves, holding a law journal in one hand.

  "Hi, hi," she said from the doorway. Her mother's lawyer looked every bit his seventy-one years, and every bit the barrister in striped trousers and suspenders.

  Harry turned and looked at her over the rim of his glasses, smiling. "Asia. My, don't you look dapper."

  She walked over to him and leaned in to accept his kiss on her cheek.

  He kept his hands on her arms and appraised her.

  "How is it possible that you become more lovely every time I see you?"

  She smiled. "You’re too kind."

  He smiled and led her to a leather chair in front of his desk and ushered her to sit.

  After she made herself comfortable, he w
alked around his desk and sat.

  "Your timing is perfect," he said, shuffling papers in a file. "Two of the insurance checks arrived earlier in the week and the last, in this morning's mail. As you know, two of the policies were small."

  "Yes, and the third, the largest. Isn't that the case?"

  "It is." He stared at her a moment.

  Asia could see that something troubled the old lawyer. With a gentle voice, she nudged him. "What is it? If you're worried there isn't enough money to pay Mom's funeral expenses, don't be. I settled the account."

  "It isn't that at all." Harry grimaced. "It seems your mother borrowed against the policy over the years and never set up a repayment plan. The accrued interest is substantial and ate heavily into the proceeds."

  Asia was puzzled. Her mother had never said anything about being short of money. If she had, Asia would have given her whatever assistance she needed. Why hadn’t she said something to her?

  "Was she in trouble?"

  "It wasn't anything like that."

  "What was it then?" Asia had a feeling she wouldn't like Harry's answer.

  "She borrowed the money to help out your brother."

  "Bobby?" She'd been right. She didn't like the response.

  "To bail him out of jail, probably." The mention of her wayward twin always angered Asia. As a child, he couldn't seem to keep out of trouble. Halloween tricks escalated from annoying to harmful, which later led to malicious acts all year round and a rap sheet a city block in length. Everyone had predicted he headed for juvie court. They hadn't been wrong.

  "I don't know for sure," Harry said.

  "I do. Mom would never have turned her back on her children, even a drug addict, thieving taker like Bobby." Her voice had taken a hard edge. Bobby brought out the worst in her.

  "Asia."

  She detected a note of reprimand in Harry's voice and apologized. "Bobby was always a sore subject with my mother and me. She couldn't see him for what he was, what he'd become and I couldn't see him the way Mom saw him."

  "There's something else."

  She felt a headache moving in. "What's that?"

  "Your mother's will. She left the house to you and your brother."

  The news came as a shock. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

  Harry raised his eyebrows. "I tried, remember? You didn't want to hear anything about your mother's will."

  She hung her head, remembering the number of messages Harry left on her answering machine to contact him regarding her mother's estate. After several calls, she'd telephoned him to say she'd get back to him when she was ready.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "You're right, of course."

  She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before she continued. "I just assumed Mom would leave me the house since Bobby hasn't shown his face in town since he attempted to rape..." She let her voice trail off to nothing. There was no sense dredging up that embarrassment.

  "On the contrary," Harry said.

  "What?"

  "I don't know the frequency of his visits or telephone calls, but your brother kept in touch with your mother. She would have given up her soul for either of you."

  "But Bobby...." She let her voice trail to nothingness, unable to appreciate her mother's love and devotion for a child who respected no one or nothing.

  "For either of you," Harry said, stressing the sentiment.

  Asia nodded, understanding the sternness in his voice. "Obviously." She sighed, slowly coming to terms with her mother's actions. "What does this mean for me?"

  "Since you were named sole beneficiary on all three policies, the insurance checks are yours to do with as you will. The house, however, is an entirely different matter. Your mother's will clearly states that the house be sold upon her death and the proceeds from such sale after disbursements be divided equally between the two of you, per stirpes."

  "Which means?"

  "If either you or Bobby or both of you died, your shares would go to your children. Your mother's grandchildren."

  Asia frowned. "I don't have any children. Neither does Bobby." She thought about that and realized how little she knew about her twin since he'd left the Grove. "At least any that I know of. Why would my mother make that stipulation?" she asked, more of herself than Harry.

  "I explained the significance to her at the time."

  Asia looked at Harry, thinking that he might have come to a wrong conclusion from what she'd said. "I wasn't implying any transgression on your part. My mother trusted you. So do I." A detail struck her then. "When did my mother execute the will?" There had to be a valid reason for her mother to make out her will the way she had.

  Harry handed her a copy.

  She turned to the last page. "Eighteen years ago. The year I left the Grove."

  "Seems your mother was thinking hopefully."

  "It appears that way." Asia turned her gaze from Harry and stared into space. She couldn't fault her mother for ensuring that her grandchildren would inherit Asia or Bobby's share in the event that either one or both of them had passed on.

  "I expected everything would be cut and dried," she said absently before bringing her thoughts back to the problem of her twin. "That's hardly the case now with this latest revelation. Since we both own the house, Bobby will need to execute the transfer deed." She looked at Harry for confirmation.

  He nodded.

  "That means I'll have to locate Bobby and if I can't, I'm stuck to pay the property taxes and house insurance — "

  "Keep your receipts. I'll see you get reimbursed for half the cost once the house is sold."

  She saw that as little consolation, considering the upset she'd just received. "I don't see any point putting up the house for sale if one of the owners can't be found to transfer ownership. It wouldn't be fair to the buyer."

  Asia stood and paced, damning her brother. On the bright side, this glitch afforded her a reason — one she could live with — for staying in the Grove for a while. She'd be free to pursue a relationship with Nate and determine for certain whether her love for him had withstood time. She looked over at Harry when he cleared his throat.

  "Someone is interested in the property, so it might not be a matter of if, but when."

  "How interested?" She came around to the front of his desk and sat.

  "Extremely."

  "Bugger." If there was a chance that this would turn out a forthright matter, she'd ask who wanted her mother's property, but as it stood, she believed the house might never get transferred, not if Bobby had any say in the matter. He'd draw this out until earth's end if it would give her grief. She sighed again.

  "I don't know the first thing about locating someone. I could hire a private investigator. That'd probably be easiest. Can I deduct that cost from my brother's share of the proceeds?" Before Harry spoke, she raised her argument. "My mother named me executrix of her estate and it's a legitimate expense. He's just going to squander the money anyway." God, Mom, why'd you make out your will the way you did?

  "Aren't you tight with our Deputy Chief of Police? Maybe he can help."

  "We were friends once, a long, long time ago, Harry." She wouldn't tell him that they'd reconnected. If things didn't work out for them, they'd be the talk of the Grove. Again. She wouldn't knowingly subject herself to that embarrassment. In some ways, pity was as wounding to the ego as malice.

  Harry came forward in his chair, rested his forearms on the desk and said, "A word of unsolicited advice?"

  She nodded. "Of course."

  "Work out your differences. There isn't a couple who should be together more than you and Nate."

  After a failed marriage and a dozen of unsuccessful relationships, she'd tend to agree. "I'll keep that in mind." Without a pause, she regained the subject and asked, "Has anyone actually seen Bobby?" She still couldn't believe her brother had the audacity to return to the Grove after the crimes he committed. "He could be dead and someone could have assumed his identity to extort money from my mother."r />
  Harry didn't answer. He simply peered at her. Too polite, perhaps, to tell her she grasped at straws and to accept the truth.

  "Identity theft is on the rise," she said, attempting to redeem herself after that insane idea. She waved her hand in the air dismissively. "That would be too simple a solution. Where my twin is concerned, I should anticipate the unpredicted." She envisioned her mother on the phone with him, asking if he was eating properly, if there was anything he needed. "I wonder how they kept in contact. If she called him..." Then she remembered. "I didn't keep a copy of her last telephone bill. That shouldn't pose a problem for someone with investigative skills, though. PIs have ways of looking into records." Still, though, despite the best efforts, people could disappear, if they knew how. Bobby would. If there were a way to make a mockery of justice, he would learn how. Bobby had always been able to disappear like a magician.

  "What if I never find him? I shouldn't be expected to pay taxes and insurance on a property sitting dormant for years."

  "Make the effort to locate him and if after a reasonable amount of time, there's no word from him, I'll petition the court for an order to either declare your brother deceased or in the alternative, an order allowing you to execute the necessary documentation to transfer the property and hold Bobby's share in trust in the interim."

  "And if he never does?"

  "There'll be a stipulation for that, as well."

  Asia nodded. "I like the first scenario the best."

  "I do too." Harry smiled. "Least headaches that way."

  "How do you think a petition like you suggest will go?" She took a deep breath to calm herself.

  "Depends on the judge."

  "Of course." How quickly a simple matter turned complex. "I can stay here for a couple of days, but then I need to get back to Boston. Do you know any good private investigators?"

  Harry shook his head. "Folks generally go to big city lawyers for their big legal problems, so I've never had the need for one, but I could make inquiries, if you'd like."

  "No, but thanks for the offer. I have a friend who can help me with that. I just thought if you knew of someone, I'd use him."