Читать книгу Virgin Seductress - J.M. Jeffries - Страница 7

Wayloo, Mississippi

Nell Evans gripped the armrest of the navy leather chair in her grandmother’s lawyer’s office. “How much money did she leave me?” She doubted it was too much. She and her grandmother had lived simple lives.

Billy Ray Cross swiped the snow-white handkerchief across his balding forehead. “Including stocks, bank accounts, a few outstanding loans and property after estate taxes, Miss Sarah left you about eighteen-point-five.”

Numb, she gazed out of the office window and studied the statue of Robert E. Lee on a rearing horse in the town square. Nell flexed her fingers hoping to get some feeling back. Eighteen point five what? Thousand? Hundred thousand? Her mind refused to go beyond that. There was no way her grandmother could have had anything more than that. Was there?

“Nell, honey?”

“Hundred?” Not possible, she thought even as the word left her mouth. Grandmother had complained over every little expenditure and when gas prices had passed the two-dollar mark, she’d parked the old big-as-a-boat Buick away in the garage and insisted Nell walk everywhere.

“Million.” Billy Ray grinned over the tops of his steepled fingers. “Give or take.”

The least he could do was look as shocked as she felt. “Oh, my,” she croaked. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Her face got hot. Her heart raced as if it would burst out of her chest. She was too young to have a heart attack, but her chest was tightening. Panic and disbelief set in. Inhaling deeply, she tried to get some air into her lungs before she fainted.

Billy Ray leaned forward and grabbed a glass pitcher of water off his desktop. He turned over a glass and started pouring some water into it. “Nell, honey, are you okay?” He stopped pouring and held out the glass to her. “You want some water?”

Her hand was shaking so badly, she refused, afraid she’d drop the glass. Instead, she licked dry lips and fanned her hot face. Eighteen-point-five million! She almost pinched herself. Not possible. This just wasn’t possible. Where had all that money come from? “Are you sure? There has to be some kind of mistake.”

“No mistake.”

Feeling a bit calmer, Nell tried to think how this could have happened. The diner her grandmother had owned and where Nell worked didn’t generate the kind of money that would produce eighteen million dollars. This had to be a mistake. Only a few days before she’d died, her grandmother had scolded Nell for leaving the light on in the bathroom. Money doesn’t grow on trees. She had taught Nell how to stretch a dollar, but eighteen-point-five million dollars was almost ridiculous. “But my grandmother was such a…a tightwad. She couldn’t—”

“Honey,” Billy Ray said as he put the glass on the table then pushed it toward her, “you done hit the mother lode. Be happy.”

Well, no kidding. Her grandmother clipped coupons. Used soap until it was a sliver. Wrapped presents in the Sunday comics. The room spun for a second, but Nell took a deep breath and steadied herself. She picked up the glass and gulped the water down. “I don’t understand. Where did all this money come from?” Grandmother, she silently chided the dead woman, you kept secrets from me.

“Miss Sarah was a right smart woman who saved and invested wisely. She just lived like she didn’t have a dime.” He loosened his tacky hula-girl tie. “Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t still have her first dime.”

Nell opened her mouth to speak. But nothing came out. Her mind couldn’t quite grasp the fact that she was an heiress. An heiress! Just like Paris Hilton. She blew out a long breath and forced her hands to stop shaking. Her life had just taken a strange turn for the better.

Eighteen-point-five million dollars! That would buy a lot of dreams. Dreams she’d kept tight inside her for so many years, afraid even to write them down in her journal. With that kind of money she could do anything she wanted, including her most cherished dream of quitting the diner, moving to New York and creating a new life for herself. She could go to college. She could buy a swank New York apartment. She could go to the theater, to galleries, to museums. Walk through Macy’s or Sak’s Fifth Avenue and buy anything she wanted. Finally she could see Times Square and take a carriage ride through Central Park!

Outside, a little boy on a brand-new bike pedaled down the street, passing Doolittle’s Five and Dime. Not that anything was only five or ten cents anymore, but the name had never changed despite the advancement of inflation. Nell thought of all the times she’d shopped the clearance racks at the back of the store, paying as little as she could for the cheapest anything. She could finally purchase air-conditioning. She could…she could…she didn’t know what, her mind was frozen. “My grandmother wasn’t crazy, was she? I mean, I would have known if she’d lost her mind? Right?”

“Rest easy. Miss Sarah wasn’t crazy. She just grew up in the Depression, Nell.” Billy Ray shrugged as though he could make her understand a vital element of her grandmother’s personality. “It’s not uncommon for people from that time to hoard everything they could. At least she didn’t stuff the money in her mattress. She put every penny she could into CDs, money markets and stock. Miss Sarah had a pretty shrewd grasp of the stock market and wasn’t afraid to take a few risks.”

Billy Ray opened a manila folder on top of his desk and picked up a pink envelope. “I think this might help you. She made me promise I’d give it to you after I told you about the money.” He held it out to her. “She had me write it out for you. She had the shakes so bad toward the end all she could do was sign.”

Nell’s hand shook as she took the envelope. Her first instinct was to refuse the letter. Part of her didn’t want to know. She could smell a hint of lavender on the heavy paper. Her grandmother had always smelled of lavender. “Should I read it now?”

He nodded. “I know what’s in the letter.”

He actually blushed. Was the letter embarrassing? What other secrets could her grandmother have? Carefully she slid her finger under the sealed flap. That way she could use it again, just like her grandmother used to do. The pages crinkled in her cold fingers as she unfolded the letter.

My Dearest Nell,

For so long I’ve kept you tied to me. I didn’t start out that way, but as I grew older, I was afraid of being alone again. I lost my husband. I lost my daughter when she ran off, and I survived both of those hardships. When your mama dropped you off as a baby, you were my second chance to get things right. I held you so tight I didn’t let you take a breath without me next to you. I don’t think I could have lost you and lived another minute. Please forgive me for manipulating you into keeping an old woman company. You are young and full of dreams, ones I tried to keep you from fulfilling. Forgive me. Know this, I love you with all my heart. I hope this helps you find your place in the world. Go to New York. Go to college. Be the woman you are meant to be.

Grandmother.

Nell’s bottom lip began to tremble. Her throat went dry. Her grandmother did love her, but she’d deceived her. How could Nell make up for all this wasted time? She’d put her dreams aside to take care of her grandmother, to keep her company, to be a good girl. A hot tear slipped down her cheek. Who was she supposed to be now?

Nell Evans: Heiress. That didn’t fit right. And she wasn’t sure it ever would.