“Phillip never mentioned going for a visit, not during the last six months or so before I left him. I suggested we go see him a few times, but he always had an excuse—there was some function he or we needed to attend, or Joseph had told him he’d be away that weekend. I’m sure now they were lies.”
“He didn’t want the two of you to see each other because he didn’t want to risk that his uncle might say something about the new will. And Joseph guessed at his deception. What Phillip didn’t know was that Joseph had made another copy and put it in a safe in his bedroom that no one knew he had, not even his nephew.”
Charlie thought about what Justin just said and everything became much clearer. “Enter Deirdre, and the reason he called her when he realized he might die. To make sure someone knew where to find it in case Phillip tried to pull a fast one.”
Justin pointed across the table at her. “Bingo. There were only two people he thought he could trust with the information. You, who he couldn’t reach, and Deirdre—” Justin met her eyes with a question.
“Whom he had loved for most of his adult life.” Charlie sighed. “It’s a long story, one for another time. What matters is that he knew he could trust her no matter what.”
“So how do we get our hands on the newest will?” Blake asked. “Assuming it’s the only one that his nephew hasn’t hidden or destroyed.”
Justin looked at Charlie and then around the table. His eyes landed back on her, and she swallowed down a thread of apprehension.
“You look so serious, Jus. Don’t tell me you’re planning on one of us breaking into Joseph’s house and trying to crack open his safe or something,” she said in jest, although she wasn’t sure she was too far off base.
“That would probably be easier on you, but I’m afraid if we want to follow this through, you’re going to have to contest the will. As a possible beneficiary, the action should come from you.”
Charlie leaned her head back, stretching her neck as she considered all that could mean. What kind of emotional toll would it take? Would it be worth it?
“You’ll have to go up against Phillip if you do,” Justin stated.
Yeah, she realized that without being told, but her cousin would want her to know the ramifications if she decided to contest. They would all be wondering if she’d be strong enough to go head-to-head with Phillip. She didn’t blame them; she understood why they would wonder. What they didn’t know, what no one could really know if they hadn’t been in a similar situation, was how much strength it had taken to break out of Phillip’s carefully wrought chains and stand on her own again.
“She needs to contest. It’s the right thing to do.”
Charlie swung her head to look at Cooper who’d been quiet during most of Justin’s telling, but who’d chosen now to speak up.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to.” Blake sat back in his chair and used the roll he’d just plucked from the bread basket to make a point. “The way that bastard treated her, she might not think it’s worth it.”
Justin cleared his throat. “We don’t know for sure if Joseph left Charlie anything other than his house. Deirdre didn’t know the extent of Joseph’s bequest other than that.”
Cooper frowned. “That seems like all the more reason to contest. How else do you find out what the terms are?”
“If she’s interested in any of it.” Blake chomped down on his roll. “And if she’d rather not pursue it because she doesn’t want to have to deal with the scumbag, who can blame her?”
“No one’s going to let him bully her, Blake.” Cooper slid an arm across the back of her chair, and she felt his hand come protectively around her shoulder. “He doesn’t have easy access anymore, and if he tries to intimidate her in any way, he’ll have to deal with all of us. She said the most important thing to her was making sure Joseph’s wishes were carried out. Contesting is going to be the only way to find out what they were.”
“There’s also the fact that he’s snubbing his nose at the law and is just smug enough to think he can beat it,” Justin reminded them. “He tried to manipulate Charlie into marrying him, my guess is so he could gain control of her inheritance. When that didn’t work because she took off, he concealed the new will. When he discovered someone might know about it, he shows up here and tries to bully her into returning to him.”
Justin snorted his disgust. “The guy’s a user and a thief. It grates me in all the wrong ways to think he could get away with it.”
“Okay, enough.” Charlie held up her hands. “He’s not going to get away with it.” She raked her fingers through her hair. It was just like her cousins to try to take over, and now Cooper seemed to think he could make decisions about her life, too. It was still her life. Yes, she’d shared the situation with them and appreciated their help and their input, would want and need their support going forward, but the decision about what to do was hers and hers alone.
“You don’t know what this guy might do if you take him on, Charlie. Before you jump into something you might regret, just think about everything he did to you, or how he tried to—”
“Blake.” Delaney put a hand on his forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know you’re worried, we all are, but give her a chance to talk.”
Blake glanced down at his wife and Delaney drove home the point with her eyes. He relented with a sigh and looked at Charlie.
“Sorry, kid. You were saying?”
Charlie softened and spared him a smile. It all came from love, but unlike Justin, who was usually the more levelheaded of her twin cousins, Blake’s emotions could govern his judgment, especially when they centered on someone he cared about.
“I’m not going to let him get away with it. I don’t care about what Joseph might have willed to me. That’s not why I’ll contest if that’s what has to happen. I want to make sure his wishes are upheld. It’s the least I can do considering how good he was to me. He treated me more like…like a daughter than an employee.”
Cooper squeezed her shoulder and she tilted her eyes up at him. “For him to change his will to include you can only mean you were very special to him. You probably added more to his life in the short time you knew him than you ever realized,” he said.
Charlie only nodded as heat flooded her eyes. There was a lump the size of a walnut lodged in her throat, and she didn’t have it in her to tell them about the time she’d spent with Joseph just then. But Cooper was right. Joseph had loved her, and she’d loved him, too. Now he was gone and she hadn’t gotten to say goodbye.
Remorse filled her heart. If she’d only had the courage to defy Phillip and go visit him when she’d had the chance. Thanks to his deception, though, she hadn’t even known Joseph had been ill. She would set things right, though, and no matter how Phillip might try to intimidate her, she would do this last thing for her friend.
“Oh, Justin,” Charlie said, turning toward her cousin, “were you able to find out about Whitney?”
Justin nodded. “She’s with Deirdre for now. When Joseph was in the hospital, he was worried about her, and Deirdre told him she’d take the dog to her house until Joseph could return home. She told me her husband’s allergic, so she’s trying to find a home for her, but she doesn’t want to let her go to just anyone.”
“I want to bring her with me,” Charlie said. “I got very attached to her, and right now she’s probably depressed, missing Joseph, and I think if she came with me it would be good for both of us. I think it’s what Joseph would have wanted.”
“Do you think Mary would let you keep a dog at the cottage?” Cooper asked.
Charlie nodded. “Yes. If she knew the situation, I think she’d insist. And it’s not like I’m planning to live there forever. Hopefully I’ll be getting a place of my own soon.”
“I don’t think Mary will mind, either,” Blake agreed. “If that’s not an option, though, you can keep her at our place until you get your own. One more dog won’t matter.” He glanced at Delaney. “Right, Delaney?”
<
br /> “Absolutely, we need to bring that dog to Glebe Point.”
Charlie smiled. Bringing Whitney to live with her felt right. “Thanks. I’ll give Deirdre a call tomorrow and let her know she can stop looking.”
On Friday, three days later, with Justin guiding her through the process, Charlie filed a motion to contest Joseph Connelly’s will.
Going on instinct, Charlie had called Darla the day after the interview and offered her the job. She’d had a good feeling about the woman right from the start. The following week, as she listened from the back room to her new employee asking a customer to consider letting Finger Cakes provide the perfect finishing touch at their next event with custom-designed cupcakes, she smiled.
This was only her third day working at the shop, and already Darla was proving to be a born salesperson—and she did it with sincere enthusiasm, a soft touch, and an infectious smile. Charlie pulled a tray of cupcakes from the refrigerator and set them on the center island to frost.
She was just finishing up with the tray when Darla leaned in through the doorway and cleared her throat.
“There’s a man out here who asked to talk to you.” Darla looked over her shoulder and then back to Charlie, and her soft blue eyes seemed to fill with apprehension.
Charlie’s heart rate ticked up and a pool of saliva began to gather in the back of her mouth. She fisted her hands at her sides, and then realizing it, slowly flexed and stretched them back out.
She didn’t consider herself psychic or anything, but she knew it to the marrow of her bones, it was Phillip who waited for her on the other side of that doorway.
If someone had shoved a board down the back of her shirt, she couldn’t have moved any stiffer as she took off her apron and laid it on the island.
“Tell him I’ll be out in a minute.”
Darla looked as if she wanted to say something, but if she did, she refrained. She nodded and then backed out of the doorway, leaving Charlie alone again to corral her scattering nerves.
She closed her eyes and thought of Joseph. Phillip was blatantly dishonoring his uncle’s last wishes. He had more money, more luxuries, than most people could even dream of and it wasn’t enough. She couldn’t comprehend greed so deep it stole a person’s humanity, but she could think of no other explanation for Phillip’s deceptions than pure and simple greed.
If they didn’t stop him, there would be others he would cheat, others he would try to charm, drawing them in with the skill of a master manipulator, and then destroy. Determination filled her, and purpose flared in her heart, giving her that bit of extra courage she’d been reaching for.
Charlie braced herself. He wasn’t going to get away with it this time. Not on this girl’s watch, not if she could do something to stop him.
She walked out with her head high and saw his eyes flare when she came into view. With anger over his treacheries fueling her, she narrowed hers on him.
Pollyanna took a train to the coast, buster, the bitch is in residence now…and she’s going to take you down a brand new track.
“Hello, Phillip. Did you drive up from New York again to tell me how much you love me?”
He sneered at her and took a step forward before he must have remembered they weren’t alone. He glanced at Darla and Charlie saw the muscle in his jaw tighten.
“I need to talk to you in private.” He hitched his head toward the kitchen. “We can use that back room.”
“Sorry, that room is for employees only. Health code.” It was a flimsy excuse, but no way would she go into the back room with him, a room he could lock off from the store front.
“If it’s okay with you, Charlie,” Darla threw out, “I was going to go to the drugstore on my lunch to pick up a few things. Since we’re not busy right now, I can take an early lunch and you can have some privacy.”
Phillip gave her employee a practiced smile. “Thank you, we’d appreciate that.”
Darla glanced at Charlie. “I’m going to stop by the real estate office first and pick up my girl scout cookies while I’m out. Marsha called earlier to say she brought our orders in with her this morning. Do you want me to pick yours up while I’m there?”
Smooth. Charlie folded her hands one over the other on top of the counter. She’d hit the lottery when she hired Darla, and as soon as she got the chance she’d let her know just how grateful she was to have her.
“That would be great. Thanks, Darla.” Charlie caught the wink Darla gave her that Phillip might have seen if he hadn’t already dismissed her employee as irrelevant.
After getting her purse from behind the counter, Darla hurried out of the store and left the two of them alone.
“What the hell are you trying to pull, Charlene?” Phillip wasted no time advancing on her, his anger palpable.
Holding her ground, Charlie crossed her arms in front of her and glared right back at him. “I’m not trying to pull anything, Phillip. Unlike you, I’m just trying to make sure your uncle’s wishes are honored.” She tilted her head and hiked a brow at him. “I mean, I assume we’re talking about his will here, aren’t we?”
“You know damn well that’s why I’m here! And if you think this desperate attempt of yours to try to steal what belongs to me will hold water, you’re grossly mistaken. I can’t imagine what you were even thinking to try such a stunt.”
“Really? It’s pretty simple. I was thinking Joseph deserved to have his wishes carried out, not yours. And since you decided to ignore them by filing an older will for probate when you knew he’d changed it, I decided—”
“You decided!”
Charlie flinched at his outburst and took an involuntary step back.
“You decide nothing! Nothing!” He grabbed her upper arm, his fingers digging into her, and gave her a hard shake.
“Do you understand that, Charlene? There is no other will. Whatever that old bag who came to see me told you was a fabrication. You got that?”
She managed to jerk free of his hold and pushed him away from her. “Keep your hands off me, or I’ll take out a restraining order on you.”
“Ha! You want to play hardball, little girl? Do you forget I’ve got the law on my side?”
“Just because you’re a lawyer doesn’t mean you’re above the law. You can deny there’s a second will all you want, but we both know better.”
He narrowed his eyes and rolled his jaw, his expression as ominous as the black clouds that sometimes gathered over the Bay before an angry storm. “If you push this, I promise when it’s over and done with, you will pay for the inconvenience you cause me. But, if you insist on going forward, the burden of proof will be on you, and there isn’t any.”
Charlie smiled at him. “I believe the bank where Joseph had his safe deposit box has already received a court order to inventory the contents and to specifically look to see if there is a copy of his will. Joseph told Deirdre he’d put a copy of the new one in the box.”
She saw the moment the implication registered with him and could almost feel his confidence returning. Justin had gotten it right when he said Phillip probably thought he was smarter than everyone else. And clearly, he considered himself brilliant in a matchup against her.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to wait until they’ve done their job to end this farce.” Oh, he was smug in his assurance.
“I guess we will,” she said from behind the safety of the counter. “Until then, I’d appreciate it if you left and never came back, thank you.”
He walked up to the counter and leaned forward, resting his hands palm down on top of it. “Oh, I’ll be back, sweetheart. You can count on that.” He reached out and grabbed a chunk of her hair before she could stop him, wrapping it around his hand.
Pulling it until he forced her to lean forward, he breathed hot air against her face. “You’re going to lose this. But I still intend to make you pay. No one crosses me and gets away with it. I’ve got more power than that pretty little empty head of yours can even begin to fathom.”
A spark of fear flared in her gut, and she felt around frantically under the counter for something she could fight him off with if she had to.
THE FRONT door flew open and Cooper burst into the store.
“Get your hands off her, you bastard!” He charged the counter, taking Phillip totally off guard, grabbing him by the shoulders and ripping him away from it.
Justin barreled in a second later, breathing like he’d just run five miles in under five minutes.
Outside, a Glebe Point cruiser swung up to the curb and Cory Shay, whose brother had been in Charlie’s high school graduating class, hustled out of the car and ran into Finger Cakes. He was followed by Darla, who had gone to sound the alarm under the ruse of giving her and Phillip some privacy.
Cooper practically threw Phillip at Cory and then came around to the back of the counter. He stood there staring down at her, his breathing harsh and uneven as he searched her face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She leaned toward him and he pulled her into his arms, close to his chest and held her as if he’d never let go. His heart was pounding. She could hear it thumping. She could feel it as her head rose and fell with the rhythm of his heavy breathing.
“How’s our girl?” Justin asked from beside them.
Charlie lifted her head and looked at him.
“Good now that the cavalry’s here. And I’m kind of impressed at how fast you both got here considering your age.”
Justin smirked at Cooper. “Do you see what a smart-ass you’re getting involved with?”
They all turned at the sound of screeching brakes in time to see Blake jump out of his big black truck, which he left running in the middle of Main Street with the door still open. He dashed between the cars parked along the street as if he were navigating an obstacle course and came running into the store.
Halfway across the room he came to a stop and surveyed the scene. He put his palms against his thighs and released a heavy breath. “Looks like things are under control here. What did I miss?”
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