Lord, please bring me peace. I don’t want to harbor any negativity toward my father, but I can’t forgive him for what he’s done. The lie was too twisted. The layers of the deception ran way too deep. I lost too much.
“What about these boxes over here, Miss Duvall?” The deep masculine voice of Stan, one of the men from the moving company, intruded into her thoughts.
Callie looked over at the box of items that were stacked near her closet. They were all nostalgic items from her childhood—a heart locket, a picture of her and her parents on the first day of school, a valentine heart handcrafted by her other brother, Luke Duvall.
Luke. It had been terribly complicated to explain to him that her biological brother was alive and well. She loved Luke so much and she didn’t want their relationship to change because she was now reunited with her biological brother, Mac. She had enough love in her heart to be a little sister to both men.
Callie let out a sigh. She couldn’t control things. Everything was going to play out the way it was meant to. With God’s grace she would be able to handle it, one day at a time.
“Yes, Stan. Those are going to my place. The ones in the hallway are going to Olivia’s charity.” Her best friend did major charity work at a woman’s facility in downtown Savannah. All of the residents suffered from mental illness. Callie thought it was incredibly brave of Olivia to dedicate herself to so many hours at the facility.
Stan nodded and moved toward the stacked boxes. He picked them up with seemingly no effort at all and carried them out of the room.
After she handed the last of her boxes off to the men from the moving company, Callie stood in the middle of her bedroom and looked around at the empty room. Every single item belonging to her had been packed up and placed in the moving van or directed to Olivia’s charity. In that her grandmother had purchased her bedroom set and vanity for her as a college graduation present, Callie had no intention of leaving it behind. It didn’t belong to her parents. She could take those pieces knowing they rightfully belonged to her.
Last evening her father had come to her, asking her not to move out of the family estate.
“Callie. You are breaking your mother’s heart.”
Callie had sputtered with disbelief. “Me? I’m breaking her heart?”
“Please don’t leave. Not like this. I’ll do anything.”
Her father’s chin had quivered. He wasn’t a man to ever bend to another person’s will. At that moment it had seemed as if he might snap in two. Her heart constricted at the notion that she was hurting him.
Then she remembered what he had done. His lies had separated her from Mac. And nothing he could do would ever make up for those lost years. And she wouldn’t be emotionally blackmailed into staying at the mansion. Her whole life she had been told that her mother was fragile. It appeared to Callie that her mother was a whole lot stronger than anyone realized.
“I can’t stay. Not after a lifetime of secrets and lies. I need some time on my own. Away from this place.”
“Away from us?” Her father’s question had been blunt.
“Yes. Away from you.” Her voice had been ice cold. Her father’s eyes had widened with surprise. There hadn’t ever been a moment in her life when she had used that tone with him.
Her father had walked out of the room after that, seemingly defeated. Callie didn’t like the way things were unraveling within her family, but she could no longer be the good little girl who questioned nothing in her life.
She was changing. The moment Mac had shown up at her door she had undergone a transformation. Sometimes things happened in one’s life that altered them forever. She couldn’t go back—only forward. A thrill of excitement raced through her. Her own place. For the first time in her adult life she was on her own. Even though the circumstances were less than ideal, she was grateful to her dear friend Hattie for allowing her to stay in her guest house at her Bed and Breakfast. Savannah House, located on Tybee Island, was a place that was near and dear to her heart. Callie, along with her best friends, had all worked there summers during high school. In the last few years Savannah House had gone through some major changes, and as a result, Hattie had shuttered the doors on the place.
She twirled around, feeling almost carefree. Even though her world was in chaos, she felt happy about this move toward independence. It felt as if doors were opening for her.
A tall figure with jet black hair stood in the doorway. His height and the breadth of his shoulders filled out the entire doorframe. Callie let out a gasp and pressed her hand against her neck.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The rich timbre of the masculine voice sent shivers down her spine. For a single moment she paused to admire his strong, chiseled features and the blue eyes that always seemed to be full of mischief.
“Jax! What are you doing here?” Jax Holden was one of the executives at her father’s company, Duvall Investments. She’d known Jax since she was a little girl. They had been in the same classrooms, played on the same playground and dated each other’s friends. Jax’s face was as familiar to her as some of the people she held dearest to her heart. Still and all, she couldn’t exactly say they were close friends. Childhood friends is how she would describe their relationship. And in the past few years there had been a sort of tension simmering between them that made her feel on edge.
“Your father sent me.” Jax stepped over the threshold and into her bedroom. Suddenly, it felt as if he had sucked up all the air in the room. For a moment it felt as if she couldn’t breathe.
Her first instinct was to take a step backward. He was standing mere inches from her. Callie sucked her teeth. Why had her father involved Jax in this? “You're doing his bidding?”
A tremor ran along his jaw. He bristled. “Is that what you think? I’m my own man. And he is my boss. I respect him, so when he asked me to help him out—”
“You jumped,” Callie drawled. “Probably without even knowing what you were jumping into,” she muttered.
Jax took a step closer to her, bridging the small space between them. “I don’t jump, Callie.”
Callie took a step backward. What was it about Jax that always made her so unsettled? He was as handsome as all get-out. That was a fact. His dark, almost jet black hair contrasted nicely with his azure eyes. Strong bone structure and a manly jaw put him in the category of too handsome for his own good. And the ladies loved him. Jax dated frequently and was in demand as a Savannah bachelor. A trickle of unease ran through her at the thought of Jax and the many women he squired around town. Why did she even care? Jax wasn’t her type. Not in the slightest.
Jax narrowed his eyes. “Do I make you nervous, Callie?”
She met his intense gaze head-on. “Of course not,” she said smoothly, surprised by the fact that her voice wasn't shaking. “Why would you? We’ve known each other since…kindergarten wasn’t it?”
“If I were you, I'd be a little nervous. Haven’t you heard? I’m a very dangerous man,” he said in a teasing voice. “And I think it was first grade when my family moved to Savannah. Would you believe that I remember my first day of school?”
She shrugged. “Memories tend to stay with us. Sometimes they serve as reminders of who we are. What we are,” she said, fighting against a rising tide of emotion. Jax needed to go back to work and leave her alone. He had no idea of what emotions were roiling under the surface. Memories of her past with Mac were swirling all around her these days. She was like an open wound with her nerves riding close to the surface.
Jax narrowed his gaze. “You seem stressed, Callie. It might not be a good time to make a major life decision.”
She jutted her chin out. “Beg my pardon, Jax Holden, but since when do you think you have a say in my life? You work for Duvall Investments. Or should I say you work for Lionel Duvall. That has little or nothing to do with me.”
He let out a harsh laugh. “Listen. Whatever little spat you had with your father, why don’t you be a good little girl and
face facts. You’ve got it good here from what I can see. If you move out and cut up all your credit cards life won’t be half as much fun as it could be.”
She blew out an air of frustration. “What do you know about my life? And this was way more than a spat. I think you’re a little over your head in the deep end of the swimming pool, Jax.”
“I know that from the outside looking in you seem to have quite a cushy life.” He looked around the room with a shrewd expression etched on his face. “You want for nothing.”
She bristled. “How dare you! Don’t you waltz in here making judgments about me. Money isn’t everything. You have no idea where I’ve come from or what I’ve been through.”
Oh no. Where had that come from? Why had she blurted that out? She never shared her past with people. At least not people she couldn’t trust. Jax had never shown her the slightest reason to trust him. And she had no intention of allowing tidbits of the Duvall family skeletons to make their way into the gossip rags. It was bad enough that she knew the deep, dark secret her parents had been harboring. She didn’t want all of Savannah to be whispering about it.
Jax narrowed his gaze, which only served to make his features more handsome. And more brooding. “What have you been through, Callie?” he asked in a voice that suddenly sounded tender.
For a minute she considered telling him the truth. What would he say if she told him about her past?
“Callie. Is everything okay in here?” The deep voice that cut into her conversation with Jax caused her heart to thump wildly inside her chest.
“Mac,” she said, rushing toward the tall, ruggedly built man standing in the doorway. Her heart felt as if it had just expanded to three times its normal size. If she lived to be one hundred she would never get used to the sight of her handsome, wonderful brother.
She threw herself into Mac’s arms and breathed him in, relishing the scent of sandalwood and the great big outdoors. Her hero. Her brother. The other half of her heart wrapped up in a big gorgeous package. She couldn’t get enough of seeing him and spending time with him.
Callie was over the moon. Not even Jax could bring her down from this glorious high.
Jax could believe what he wanted about her “spat” with her father. She knew the truth. For twenty long years her father had kept her and her beloved brother Mac separated. Secrets. Lies. The lengths he had gone to in order to make her a Duvall rather than maintain the ties she had to Mac Donahue. All because he wanted her to be a Duvall through and through. It sickened her. Every last bit of it. And even though she knew that her mother’s heart might break, she had to make a move. She had to leave the Duvall mansion and forge a new life for herself far away from this gilded cage that had once been home.
The cherry on the ice cream sundae was that Mac had traveled all the way from Breeze Point so he could help her make the transition to her new digs on Tybee Island. That meant the world to her. God was showing her each and every day that by bringing Mac back into her life He had given her back a piece of herself that she had believed was gone forever.
The sheer magnitude of it made her want to weep with joy.
**
Anger spiked through Jax at the sight of Callie wrapped up in another man’s arms. It felt like his heart had actually stopped beating for a few seconds. There was a huge lump sitting in his throat.
Who was this guy? He looked like a massive Oak tree. All brawn, muscles and height. He was slightly intimidating with his brooding expression and handsome features. Was this the type of man Callie went for? Evidently it was. She looked so peaceful in his arms. Jax knew he was scowling, but he couldn’t help himself.
Callie was looking at this guy as if he had hung the moon. And she didn’t seem inclined to introduce him. Taking matters into his own hands, he stepped forward. “Hey. I’m Jax Holden.”
The man studied him, then jutted his chin at him. “Mac,” he said, his voice flat and unfriendly. No last name given. No hand extended.
“Did you come to help Callie move?” he asked, deliberately asking a probing question.
“You could say that,” he said in a monotone voice.
Callie’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe he had asked that question of her friend. Oh well. He might as well go for broke. “I was just telling Callie that she shouldn’t make any rash decisions.”
Mac frowned at him. “Callie knows what she wants. She’s a big girl,” Mac said.
“Yes. I am,” Callie said, her eyes full of hero worship as she gazed up at Mac.
Where had this guy come from? And why was Callie looking at him as if he had just brokered world peace and found a cure for cancer?
He had known Callie “Calista” Duvall for most of his life. And he’d worked for her father Lionel for the last six years. There had never been a sighting of this particular person or the slightest indication that Callie had a special friend named Mac. Calling Mac her friend was a self-protective move on his part. It spared him the agony of knowing that Callie might be falling in love with this man. Or that he could be her boyfriend. Just the thought of it caused a sharp sensation to lodge in his chest.
Callie Duvall. The woman he had loved for what seemed like the better part of his life. The woman of his dreams. The unattainable object of his affections. She didn’t seem to have the slightest clue of how he felt about her. And he liked it that way. For now anyway. It had always been his intention to come in and sweep her off her feet. Four years at separate colleges hadn’t allowed him to get anywhere near her. With every year they seemed to grow further apart.
“You ready to head to the cottage?” Mac asked, placing his arm around Callie’s shoulder. Just the sight of it made Jax want to push it off. He wasn’t a fool though. This Mac character looked like he could squash him with one single move. Jax wasn’t ashamed of that fact. He’d always considered himself a lover not a fighter.
“Yes,” she said with a huge grin. “The moving company will take care of the rest of this and meet us at Savannah House.”
“Savannah House?” Jax asked with a frown. “Is that where you’re moving to? The place needs some serious upgrading.”
“I’m moving into the guest house until I can get my bearings. It’s in perfect shape. It just needed some paint and polish, which has already been taken care of.”
“So Miss Hattie invited you to come and stay?” Just the thought of Miss Hattie made Jax smile. It brought to mind lemon cookies and sipping mint juleps out on the veranda. Even though he’d been a little kid she had treated him with such dignity and respect. Miss Hattie had a knack of making everyone feel like the best version of themselves.
“Yes, Jax she did,” Callie said in a cool voice. “I’ll be paying her rent of course.”
He let out a sigh. It had been only a few weeks since he had visited Savannah House, the once legendary B & B. His lunches with Miss Hattie were their little secret. “What are her plans for the place? Is she going to fix it up and re-open?” Jax asked, pretending he didn’t already know the answer. Miss Hattie had no intentions of entertaining customers at Savannah House.
Callie flashed him an annoyed look. “I don’t know. It would have been rude to pick her brain about that, especially since she was being so generous about offering me a place to stay.”
“Ready to roll?” Mac asked, slightly nudging Callie.
Callie’s expression was pure sunshine. He felt a stabbing sensation inside his chest. He felt as if he had entered an alternate universe where everything had been turned on its head.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Jax suggested. He gestured with his hand for Callie to exit first. Mac was right on her heels. He could have sworn Mac gave him an eye roll. Who did this guy think he was? He was in Savannah, on Jax’s turf. From the sound of Mac’s accent he wasn’t from these parts. New England perhaps? Massachusetts even? If so, he was a long way from home.
When they reached the bottom of the grand spiral staircase, Callie led the way outside. Tucked into one
of the most exclusive areas of the historic district of Savannah, the Duvall mansion was a large, three-story Gothic revival home. It had an elegantly appointed location on Magnolia Street. The grounds were a vibrant green with flowers dotting the landscape. Jax knew there were a team of gardeners who kept them in full bloom. The house was bordered by a black, iron gate that served to protect the inhabitants of the architectural masterpiece.
Nothing but the best for Lionel and Davinia Duvall.
The gate was propped open and a moving van sat out front with movers walking back and forth from the house. A big, red truck sat behind it. Jax grimaced. All of a sudden a petite, dark haired woman with hair the color of velvet, came bounding into the yard. Jax smiled at the sight of his childhood friend looking as beautiful as ever.
She was panting as she stopped beside them. “I ran all the way here. Sorry I’m late.”
“You’re always late,” Jax drawled, leaning down to press a kiss across Olivia’s forehead.
Olivia threw back her head and laughed. “Jax! What are you doing here? Helping?”
“Of course he’s not helping,” Callie said with a shake of her head.
Olivia looked over at Mac. She had a dreamy expression on her face. She nudged Callie. “Make the introductions,” she murmured. Callie and Olivia had been best friends since they were in elementary school. The two women shared an incredibly close, supportive friendship.
Again, Jax felt annoyed. Had Olivia come all the way over here to meet Mac? That had to mean something given the closeness of their friendship. Was this a sign that Callie was off the market?
Callie darted her eyes in his direction. She let out a sigh, then waved her hand at Olivia. “Mac, this is my best friend, Olivia Renault. Olivia, this is my brother, Mac Donahue.”
Till The End Of Time (Secrets of Savannah Book 1) Page 2
