Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
That was the problem with the kitchen. It was not the ideal place for a private conversation. It was a huge open room, so I could see who was in here, but there were too many doors. Not to mention the hallway. There were so many places he could have been lurking.
Scanning his face for any hint he’d heard our conversation, I said, “It’s okay. I’m going over there later.”
Finn ignored me and looked at my mother. “Is it in your car?”
She beamed at him. Traitor. “In the back seat. It’s two boxes. The doors are unlocked. Thank you, Finn.”
He sent her a smile so bright my eyes almost watered. Damn, he was handsome when he wanted to be. “Anything for you, Miss Martha.” He flicked a glance at me, his grin slightly less blinding. “I have a few kitchen things to bring over for you, anyway.”
He walked back out, carrying the notebook I guessed he’d left on the kitchen counter.
“What kitchen things?” I called after him.
Finn ignored me. I held back the annoyed grunt in my throat, although I was now positive he hadn’t overheard. He wouldn’t have been able to resist teasing me if he had.
“I always knew he’d grow up to be a good one,” my mother said with a warm smile.
“What made you think that?” I asked wryly. “He wasn’t exactly a good one in high school.”
“He had a tough row to hoe, Savannah. Losing his mother so young, and you knew his father. That man had no business raising children. Especially not one as sensitive as Finn.” She shook her head with a fond smile. “But when he was Nicky’s age, a sweeter child I never knew. When Darcy died, she took the light out of this house, and I think she took a bit of Finn’s heart with her. Then Prentice was such a royal ass afterward. I did my best, but it’s not the same.”
I let out a long sigh. She was right, as usual. Finn hadn’t had an easy time growing up in this house.
“You know,” I said, “I was so angry with Oliver by the time he died, but it didn’t make it any easier. All that anger, and his death still broke my heart. But Prentice? He could have had everything, and I don’t think there’s a single person who wishes he were still here.” I considered what I’d said. “Except Ford.”
My mother nodded in agreement, her lips pursed. “Knowing Ford, I’d guess he doesn’t so much wish his father hadn’t died as he wishes he wasn’t in prison for the murder.”
“Probably true,” I agreed. According to what I’d heard, Ford had spent a lot of years drinking Prentice’s Kool-Aid. But even he’d woken up at the end. Prentice never had.
Chapter Seventeen
SAVANNAH
Not long after my mother left to run a few errands, I realized I had a few minutes free and grabbed another load of our things to bring over to the cottage. I was barely out of Heartstone Manor before my arms began to ache, loaded down with far too much. I’d been ambitious and optimistic when I grabbed the box of odds and ends, stacking more odds and ends on top. A winter coat, some rain boots I was almost positive Nicky hadn’t outgrown, and a collection of scarves I’d shoved in a winter hat.
At this point, halfway to the cottage, the scarves were slithering out of the hat, and one boot was jammed in my armpit. If it fell, I’d have to put the whole mess down and start over. Not a big deal, maybe, but it was the principle. I am one of those people who has to bring in all the groceries in one trip. It felt like I’d been carrying things from the Manor to the cottage for weeks. If a little extra piled on top cut out a trip, I was all for it. I didn’t think Nicky and I even had this much stuff.
The cottage was only a few hundred feet from the Manor, down a winding gravel path through the side lawn. Hiking the box higher, I sped up, ignoring the renegade boot as it thumped to the ground. I’d go back and get it later.
Now that moving day was so close, I was impatient to fill my new home with our things. To be settled. I hadn’t felt settled in a long time. Maybe not since before Nicky was born. Not since Oliver’s first accident. I missed that feeling of belonging. Of laying my head on my pillow at night, knowing I was home. Safe. Happy.
Only a few minutes’ walk from the side door of the Manor, the cottage felt like it was in another world. Oliver and I had a nice house in Richmond, a new build in a new development. It had been pretty, and we’d put in some nice upgrades, but it had lacked charm and character. I’d realized only once I’d moved out that growing up in Heartstone Manor set a high bar for charm and character.