by Olivia Swift
“A nice blond wood would be lovely. “What do you think?” He nodded and said it would lighten the place up. “That attic,” she went on, ”would be a wonderful sewing room with loads of space to lay out the quilts.” She laughed. “Yes, I have been giving it some thought.” They talked on and on about possibilities for the house, and he wondered about taking a van for the things to be thrown out.
“If the others are there to add manpower, it could be another job done.” He stood up to leave and took her shoulders when he reached the door.
“It is great to see you throwing yourself into something again.”
“Thanks for the help,” she replied. He brushed his lips lightly across hers, not taking any more chances, and headed for the car. Corby watched him go with a look of amazement on her very beautiful face. The tingle that she still felt from the touch of his lips against hers was something she had never felt before.
“Maybe it is time to throw myself into something new.” She locked up with a smile on her face and snuggled into bed with a jumble of thoughts chasing through her head. Floors, locks, kitchens, rubble in the cellar, and a sewing room. He seemed to be woven through all of it, and she was happy that he was there but wondered if it was because he made her feel safe or something completely different. She was content to leave it the way it was and slipped into dreamland.
The next day she told Kim all about the house and how someone had been digging in the cellar again. “Carlo changed the locks, and anyone who has a key for the old ones will not be able to get in.”
“That is quite horrid,” Kim answered. Corby agreed but said that everyone could see what they thought about it on Monday.
“We have decided to go on Sunday to see if we can find someone who can tell us about Great-Uncle Bill. I just wish I had known where he was living when he was alive.”
“Is Carlo going with you?” Kim asked with a bit of a glint in her eye. Corby caught the implication in the question and smiled.
“Yes. I am glad he doesn’t mind keeping me company.”
“Just keeping you company?” Kim asked with a grin, and Corby made no answer. Then she admitted she liked having him around.
“But I love the life I made after Deills went to jail,” she confessed. “I don’t know if you knew about that, but it took me a long time to straighten myself out.”
“Does Carlo know?” Kim asked, and Corby told her that he did.
“He knew him when we were younger. His mama was very good to me and tried to stop me from marrying him, but I was young and silly.” She looked so sad that Kim jumped up and went to hug her friend and colleague.
“We are all silly sometimes, and fortunately we get over it and start again,” Kim told her. “I love having you working here. Your quilts are fabulous, and I am just dying to see this house on Monday.”
She watched as Corby hurried over to the craft area and went off to find Rob. When they were safely in the house, she reported what she had just been told and fired up her tablet to look for a criminal named Deills in the area. It didn’t take long, and the impact of seeing the man’s picture and knowing that he went to jail for a long time for armed robbery was shocking. Rob looked over her shoulder and read the details of the man and his crimes.
“Poor Corby. No wonder lawyers frighten her so much,” Kim said as she closed down the tablet.
“He is locked up for a long time,” Rob answered. “We can only give her a bit of support. This new house might be the best thing to happen to her.”
“I hope it all turns out well. Carlo is good for her. That was a brainstorm of yours,” she told him and reached up to kiss his cheek. “Back to work, I guess.”
Corby was happily chatting with customers, and Kim went off to the outside area to make sure everything was watered and tidy.
Corby sang a little song under her breath as she went through the day, and there was a spring in her step that had not been there for a long, long time. At lunchtime, her cell phone rang and she smiled as she saw the caller ID.
“Morning, beautiful,” Carlo said and told her that he had arranged a van for Monday. They had a few minutes of friendly talk, and she finished her sandwich with a smile on her face. The next day passed in a blur of customers as Saturday was always the busiest day of the week, and she spent most of Saturday evening wondering what to wear. They had no idea what the place or people would be like where her uncle had lived. In the end, she pulled out a pair of sharp-looking slacks and a soft top with a jacket in case it was cold. She found shoes with small heels and a purse to match them. Then she climbed into bed with a hot chocolate and had the television for company until the phone rang, and Carlo made her feel excited about the trip to find her long-lost relative.
6
It was a beautiful day when he knocked at her door and gave her a peck on the cheek.
“Oh, I do hope we find out good things about Uncle Bill,” she said as she locked up.
“Even if we don’t, it will be a good day out,” he answered and set the car in motion. They had a couple of hours to talk on the way, and he told her that he had played golf the day before.
“Just Joe and I played a round yesterday, and I told him about the digging in the cellar. He said that it might be a good idea to set up a CCTV camera just in case anyone tries to break in again.”
“That’s a good idea,” she said. “Especially when the place has to be left empty such a lot of the time.”
“I looked up the system online, and maybe we could pick one up somewhere and set it up, tomorrow.” She nodded.
“I know Jules and Evan both know how to use those things. I am looking forward to showing everyone the place.” The journey sped by through pretty countryside, and the town where her uncle had lived seemed a pleasant place. The GPS took them to a leafy suburb and a gated community for the elderly that looked very smart. Corby took a breath and spoke into the intercom. She explained who she was and the gates opened. The manager met them at the door, expressed her condolences, and invited them inside.
“I hope there is nothing wrong,” she said anxiously, but Corby shook her head.
“The opposite. I wish I had known where my uncle was when he was alive, and I just want to talk to people who had known him in the last years of his life.”
“Your uncle was a lovely man,” the manager told her. “He had a small apartment and looked after himself, but we were here if needed, and his neighbors miss him a lot.” She said she would see if the neighbors would talk to them, then left them alone.
“A lovely place,” Carlo observed as the manager came back and showed them out of the office. In one of the apartments, there was an elderly gentleman who was delighted to see them and took them inside to his living room.
“Delighted to meet you,” he said. “I am Tom Jones—not the singer,” he added with a joke he had obviously told many times.
Corby said again how she wished that she had known where her uncle lived. “I have no other family. It would have been good to keep in touch.”
“I know he felt the same, but these things happen. When his wife died, and that was quite a while ago now, he thought this place would be safe for him on his own. He gave some money to his two stepchildren and . . .“
“Whoa,” Carlo interjected. “Stepchildren?” Tom explained that Bill’s wife had two children from her first marriage, and they loved old Bill as well.
“This is so much to take in!” Corby exclaimed. “Why did he leave this to me and not his stepchildren?” At that point, there was a knock on the door, and a lady with white, curly hair popped her head around.
“Come in. Come in,” Tom invited. “Meet Maria Jones—no relation to me nor the singer,” he joked as the newcomer came and sat in the room. “Corby here is Bill’s great-niece. He left her the house, remember? She wants to know all about him.”
“Oh, my dear.” Maria settled into giving important-information mode. “He left it to the lawyers to find you, but he always wished that he had looked for you earlie
r.” Carlo squeezed Corby’s hand and asked about the stepchildren again. Maria told them that Jez and Marla were nice people. They are both working in quite good jobs, and he gave them money to buy their own houses while he was still alive. Tom took up the story.
“He explained that the house had to be passed down in a bloodline of his family, and it was a female descendant who was destined to own the old place. His wife went to see it a couple of times but the children never did. It was rented out, and he hadn’t lived there for a long time.” Maria waved her hands in the air to get their attention.
“He always told the same story to good friends and family. The history of the place was that his great-great-grandmother had been killed because somebody wanted her gold and jewels. The men in the family had been gold miners, but the women of the bloodline had to inherit the house and the necklace.”
“This one?” Corby asked and lifted up the pendant on its silver chain. Maria smiled and took it in her hand.
“It is very beautiful and very old, my dear. I hope it brings you the good fortune he intended.”
“He did have money that he had inherited, but he never actually knew where it had been made and thought that the gold mining side of the story was probably true,” Tom told them.
“He never went wild with his money and looked after it. He saw that the stepchildren were taken care of, and he left the house to the female bloodline as had always intended.”
“Do you think that Jez and Marla would like to meet me?” Corby asked, and they both agreed that they would be delighted.
“I have a phone number if you would like me to ask them,” Tom offered, and when Corby glanced at Carlo, who smiled back, she asked Tom to call. A woman’s voice answered and asked how Tom was doing. She listened while he explained, and they heard a shout of delight as the woman told them that she would love to meet up. Tom handed over his phone, and Corby spoke to the relation by marriage whom she had never known about.
“Come over now,” Marla invited. “It’s not far.” She gave them the address.
“Wow,” Corby said to the two elderly people. “Thank you so much. It is such a lot to take in.”
“Here’s my number if anything else springs to mind.” Carlo gave Tom a business card. They thanked the two people again and also the manager on the way out. Corby dropped onto the car's seat and let out a gasp of breath. He reached across and took her hand.
“Take a minute to get your head around this,” he said. “I need a few minutes, myself.”
“Relatives I never knew, an uncle who had wanted to find me, a history of gold mining—I am speechless.” Carlo looked serious for a moment.
“You know, Corby, if the legend of the gold and jewels got around, it might explain the holes in the cellar. Some people believe those stories.” She looked at him, and her mouth almost dropped open.
“Oh, Carlo. I never thought about that. I’m living in some sort of fantasy fairy tale.”
“Well let’s live it together and go find these relatives.” He started the engine, and the GPS directed them to the address.
Marla Mackenzie had a small but lovely apartment on the ground floor, and she was watching for their arrival. She flung open the door and welcomed them with a huge smile on her face.
“Oh, Corby. I wanted Dad to find you for so long, but he was just too infirm at the end. I am so pleased to meet you at last.” Corby recovered from the exuberant welcome and introduced Carlo, and they were invited inside.
“I’ve called my brother and he will be over shortly,” she said. “Would you like a coffee?” She bustled around in the open-plan living and kitchen area and brought over drinks and cookies. She sat and was obviously really pleased to see them. It was not just a polite front.
“How were Tom and Maria?” she asked and heard they both seemed well. “I know them well after going to visit Dad.”
“Tell us about him and your mom and how they met—oh, just everything, please. This is a complete surprise to me,” Corby explained, and Marla was happy to oblige. Her mother was left with two youngsters and struggled for a while but met Bill Santana who was a lot older than her.
“They were so happy together, and we all thought that Mom would survive him because of the age difference, but tragically, she went first. He was devastated. We both offered for him to live with us, but he wanted his own place. The Palms is a lovely community.” Her brother Jez arrived and more introductions were made. Jez was, like his sister, in his mid-twenties. They both had dark blond hair and blue eyes and were so at ease with each other that they almost finished one another’s sentences. The feeling of genuine love that came from them was infectious. Carlo asked what they did for a living, and Marla said she was a nurse while Jez ran kennels. The conversation was easy on both sides, and Corby was glad that she had come to meet them.
“Have you got a photo of Uncle Bill by any chance?” Corby asked, and Marla passed over her phone.
“Lots of them,” she said. Corby felt quite emotional as she flicked through the pictures. “Tell me which ones you like, and I’ll send them to your cell.”
“I know we are not blood relations, but it is lovely to have family,” Corby told them. Jez asked about the house because they had never seen it.
“My mom went a couple of times when there were workmen to meet or new tenants, but she said it was spooky and kept it on a business footing,” Jez told them. Marla laughed and added that it infuriated Jez because his hobby was ghost hunting, and the word spooky made him want to see it all the more.
“Ghost hunting?” Carlo queried. “How does that work?”
Jez answered that he and two friends had sound equipment, cameras, and other systems that picked up any change in electronic activity. They were always looking for places to try out the different equipment. Corby looked at Carlo, and he knew what she was thinking about the house and gave her a smile and slight nod.
“This house that was Uncle Bill’s,” she started, “has some odd things about it.” Jez visibly pricked up his ears, and his eyes shone with a sort of expectation. She told them about the story that they already knew. The supposed murder of his great-great-grandmother, buried treasure, and how the cellar had been dug up in so many places.
“You think someone has been looking for treasure?” Marla asked incredulously. “Surely it would have been found long before this.” Carlo nodded but explained that he had changed the locks, and they were going for CCTV equipment.
“Thing is . . .” Corby hesitated, “this pendant that he left me, as the female descendant, heats up in certain spots in the house.” She stopped. “You think I’m crazy.” Carlo squeezed her hand.
“I must be crazy as well, because I have felt the warmth from it in certain spots, but it only works for Corby.”
“Wow,” Jez breathed. “That is fabulous.”
“We’ve seen the pendant,” Marla said. “It is pretty and, I think, very old.” Corby nodded and held it in her hand.
“Friends of ours are meeting at the house tomorrow morning, and if you would like to come along, we would love to see you,” Corby told them. They both smiled broadly and answered together.
“Yes we would, thanks.” Then Marla apologized for them both speaking together.
“We’ve done that since we were tiny,” she explained. Corby told them about her new job and who the friends were that would be at the house.
“They are all dying with curiosity as well.” She smiled. “We will have coffee and let everyone see what’s there.” She handed over the address, and Carlo told them about the caretaker who was inside when they first arrived.
“Mom thought he was a bit of a crook, but there was no proof of anything, and he seemed to look after the place all right,” Jez answered.
“Watch out for the other neighbor, Jez. She tried to hit on Carlo when they first met,” Corby joked. They found it easy to talk to this brother and sister who were related by marriage. They exchanged phone numbers and arranged to meet at t
he house the next day.
“There must be ghosts there,” Jez surmised. “Can’t wait to see it.”
They drove off and discussed what had happened.
“So much I cannot take it all in,” Corby exclaimed. “Relatives who were really nice people.”
“Ghost hunting and fancy cameras,” Carlo added. “We have found out such a lot in one visit.”
“And I have a photo of Uncle Bill,” Corby looked at her phone. “He always was a nice man. I’m glad he was happy.”
7
“I am starving,” Carlo said and stopped at a roadside diner. “Let’s talk and eat at the same time.” They looked at CCTV cameras but decided to ask Jules and Evan before they bought anything when they reached home in the early evening.
“Come and have a coffee,” Corby invited without a second thought, and they sat comfortably together with hot mugs warming their hands.
“Overall it was a pretty good day,” Carlo remarked.
“Thanks for being there,” Corby said seriously. Carlo took the mug from her hand and put it on the table.
“Do you not realize that I am happy to be here, Corby?” He reached out a hand and pulled her hair away from her face. “You are very special.” He leaned over and took her lips with his own. After the initial surprise at the touch that was more than a brush of the lips against her cheek, her own mouth responded in kind, and she returned the kiss with a feeling that she had not known was possible. Carlo kissed her tenderly, and there was no denying the feeling that he put into the touch of his lips against her own. Without knowing how or why, Corby let her own feelings flow for once, and the result made her head spin. She had never experienced this effect before. She felt as if she was floating on some sort of mystical cloud. Reality slipped away, and the explosion of stars inside her head was all that she could feel. He deepened the kiss and felt her response. He had not known he could feel this strongly about a woman before, and it was slightly frightening. He wanted so much to make her happy and put all of her awful times out of her mind forever. He pulled away in the end and held her close against his chest. Corby relaxed into his embrace and wondered about this new and unexpected longing she had to stay wrapped in his arms.
