The Inn at Holiday Bay Books 7 - 9

by Kathi Daley

  Life, I decided, was good. Not only had Colt’s FBI buddy managed to get Stephanie to confess to killing Alvin and trying to frame Naomi, but given the special circumstances, the defense attorney she’d hired was working with the prosecutor to reduce the first-degree murder charge to something a bit more manageable. Stephanie was going to prison, there was no doubt about that, it was the length of her stay that still needed to be determined.

  Lonnie and Lacy were still working on the Chadwick house, as I was sure they would be for many months to come. I’d been back a few times in an attempt to find the missing diary that came after the one I read, but so far, I hadn’t had any luck. I had found diaries written by the same author years earlier, which I’d found entertaining if not juicy.

  Lonnie had finally announced that he was ready to begin demolition in the section of the house that housed the library, and gave us the go-ahead to start boxing up the books. We planned to begin next week. I’m not sure why I was so excited about a chore that I was sure would grow to be tedious by the time we were done, but I was.

  Georgia was busy with the inn now that we had guests pretty much every night. We’d both signed up to help with the Clam Bake weekend in July, and we’d also signed up to host a wine tasting competition over Memorial Day weekend. Six regional vintners would provide samples of their wine for tasting to individuals who bought tickets. Those who tasted the samples would be asked to vote for their favorite wines in several different categories, and the vintner with the most votes overall would be featured on Georgia’s show, which had grown to the point where folks in the industry were chattering about syndication.

  I was looking forward to the wine tasting weekend. The event itself was to be held on our lawn. Georgia was providing the food to go with the wine, which would be good publicity for both our inn and her show. The event was going to be televised on local cable, so Jeremy had been working like a crazy man to make sure the gardens were absolutely the best they could be. He planned to fill in the areas that had yet to bloom with barrels filled with annuals. With the sea in the background, I was sure it was going to be spectacular.

  “Can I help?” Annabelle asked.

  I looked up and smiled. “Absolutely. There’s an extra pair of gloves on the table.”

  Annabelle walked over to the table, pulled on the gloves, and then knelt down next to me.

  “We have to be careful to pull the weeds and not the baby flowers,” I instructed.

  “I helped Uncle Jeremy yesterday, and he showed me what to do.” She reached down, pulled out a weed, and put it into the bag I’d been using. “It was fun to be in the garden with Uncle Jeremy yesterday. I can remember helping him pull weeds from his garden when I was little.”

  “Your Uncle Jeremy had a garden?”

  She nodded. “Before Felicity died. It was really pretty. I was only about four at the time, but I remember those purple flowers.”

  “Felicity?” Jeremy had never mentioned anyone named Felicity.

  “She was his girlfriend. They lived together and were going to get married. Before she died, they had a house with a big yard that Uncle Jeremy wanted to turn into a beautiful garden.”

  I was shocked to hear that Jeremy had been engaged. He’d never said a word to me about it. I wondered if he’d mentioned Felicity to Georgia.

  “So Uncle Jeremy moved out of the house with the garden after Felicity died?”

  Annabelle nodded. “He went on a really long trip, and then when he came back, he moved in with mom and me. When mom had to go away again, Uncle Jeremy told her that he would take care of me, so she didn’t have to get another nanny.”

  “I guess that worked out good.”

  She smiled. “So good. I hated being left with the nannies, but I love being with Uncle Jeremy. I’m sorry Felicity died, though. I don’t remember a lot about her, but I do remember that she was pretty, and she smelled good. Her favorite flowers were the purple ones.”

  “I think Jeremy planted purple in the barrels near the patio,” I said.

  “I hope so. I was glad when Uncle Jeremy brought us here. My mom lives in a really big house, but the yard is teeny-tiny, and I knew Uncle Jeremy missed the flowers. He used to have all these books with a lot of pictures. When he had his house and his garden, I would sit on his lap, and he would go through the books and tell me the names of all the flowers. I don’t remember any of the names, but I do remember how much fun it was to sit in the yard and think about the garden I would have when I grew up.”

  “Do you still want a garden when you grow up?”

  “So much. But my garden will have a birdbath and feeders.”

  I looked toward a section of the yard that bordered the forested area beyond the section we’d landscaped. “We could put in a birdbath and feeders. It would be nice to have more birds visit.”

  “And maybe we can find a way to get more butterflies. I love butterflies.”

  “I think that we’ll have plenty of butterflies once everything finishes blooming. I used to have hummingbird feeders hanging on my little patio at the condo I used to live in. Maybe we could add some of those as well.”

  Annabelle and I continued to talk about the additions we’d like to make to the paradise Jeremy was in the process of creating. I wondered about Felicity and was tempted to ask Jeremy about her when I had the chance, but he’d had plenty of opportunities to bring her up and never had, so perhaps she wasn’t someone he was ready to talk about. I supposed I’d let it lie for now and let him bring the subject up in his own way when he was ready. Jeremy was like a brother to me in many ways, and I cared about him deeply, but at times, like today, I wondered if I really knew him at all. Georgia and I both had tragic pasts, which we talked about freely. I wondered why Jeremy felt he couldn’t talk to us about his as well.

  “How about some lemonade?” I asked Annabelle.

  “With strawberries?”

  I stood up and dusted off my knees and the front of my pants. “With strawberries. You know I’d never had lemonade with strawberries in it until I met you, and now I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “It really is the best. Blackberries are good too. Maybe we should plant berries in the garden to bring the rabbits.”

  “I like rabbits,” I said, even though they’d most likely wreak havoc on Jeremy’s flowers. “And ladybugs. Every garden needs ladybugs.”

  The End

  USA Today best-selling author Kathi Daley lives in beautiful Lake Tahoe with her husband Ken. When she isn’t writing, she likes spending time hiking the miles of desolate trails surrounding her home. She has authored more than a hundred and fifty books in fourteen series. Find out more about her books at www.kathidaley.com