Billionaire Swirl Bundle (A Box Set of THREE BWWM Romance Novels)

by Ward, Vivian

  §

  It was quite apparent that I’d upset her a great deal as she began hyperventilating. I spotted a paper bag on the kitchen counter. When I picked it up, it was filled with apples; I dumped them on the table. “Here Judy, breathe into this,” I held out the paper bag.

  She took it out of my hand and breathed in long, deep breaths for a few minutes until she started to calm down.

  “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you so badly,” I apologized. Suddenly, I felt like an ass.

  “Fine, just give me a minute,” she replied, trying to compose herself.

  For the first time, it hit me. I finally understood what was at stake for her and her daughter. She’ll be starting a new life in a new area and won’t have any support. She’ll have everything ripped away from her at once; completely stripped of everyone she’s ever known.

  “Judy,” I put my hand on her shoulder as she continued cleansing breaths to calm herself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”

  “I know,” she interrupted me as she looked into my eyes. “Nobody understands. And I’m well aware that the vote’s going to pass with the city council. I was only hoping that I could wait it out before I had to break the news to Natalie and leave everything we’ve ever known.”

  “You might not believe this, but I’m sorry. However, you must be aware that if and when the eminent domain passes, you might have to take much less for your property than what I’m offering.”

  “No, I’m very well aware of it,” she started crying. “I’m sure you have a family. What would you do if your daddy passed away and someone tried taking everything he ever knew or loved away from you? That’s the situation I’m in right now.”

  “Can I ask how you’re making a living now? I know your husband used to cut down timber to sell for firewood, but as cold as it’s been this year, there’s no way you’re still making money on any work he did before he died.”

  True, it was none of my business, but I was curious. It was obvious there was no savings, life insurance policy or other safeguards to ensure his family was taken care of in the event that anything ever happened. So how was this woman taking care of her and her daughter months after her husband was gone?

  “I’ve been making blankets and crafts, and selling them at the flea market. Natalie helps me quite a bit. We also sold all of the pecans that we harvested in the fall, and we have a chicken coop that we get eggs from.”

  They’re practically living on nothing!

  “How are you paying the bills on that?”

  “It’s been hard, but we’re used to living on not much. Thomas always taught us how to live frugally; not to squander money. And the church helps with some of the extras that we can’t afford. Our community is so important to us,” her voice cracked as she mustered the courage not to cry again.

  “Judy, I want to say this up front. If you or Natalie need anything, you call me. I don’t care what it is,” I slipped her my card. “I’m going to check in on you periodically, so you might as well get used to seeing my face.”

  “Ok, Jeff,” she finally cracked a smile. “I’ll call you if we need anything, but I’m sure our church will come through for us. God always ensures your needs are met and your heart is full.”

  §

  After Jeff left, I felt a little more at ease. I grabbed a vase from under the counter and placed the bouquet of flowers inside it. He didn’t have to bring me flowers, though it was nice. His attitude changed drastically before he left. Maybe there was a fiber of his being that actually cared about people instead of making a quick buck. And at least he got my daughter’s name right by calling her Natalie instead of referring to her as my son; although he’d never seen her before he assumed it was a boy so it was an easy mistake to think my child might have been a male.

  With no time to spare, I got back to making Afghans and starting dinner. Most everyone had stopped bringing dishes to the house a few weeks ago, so I was back to cooking. After Nat and I ate some chili for dinner, she took a bath and got settled for bed. She must’ve been tired because it didn’t take her long to doze off. And fortunately, I slept like a baby for the first time in months as I snuggled into my cozy bed. The forecast was calling for snow, but the house was nice and warm.

  When I woke up, I looked outside to see if it had started snowing yet. While the ground still appeared frostbitten, there was no snow, but I saw that someone had vandalized my yard once again. There was toilet paper hanging from every tree branch and bush, and it was wrapped around my car and porch railing. Who keeps doing this? I was furious that I had to clean yet another mess! If Jeff wouldn’t have been so nice while he were here yesterday, I would’ve sworn he had something to do with it. It dawned on me that it only seems to happen after he’s paid us a visit. I have to get it all down before the snow comes or it’ll turn into wet globs of paper everywhere and then I’ll have to scrape it off everything. I threw on some sweats and ran outside just in time to clean it all off before the snow started falling. Natalie was still fast asleep and had no clue about the vandalism, and I wanted to keep it that way. After I made it back inside, I warmed myself in front of the wood burning stove before I woke her up so we could watch the snow fall together.

  Chapter 5

  I was so glad that we were finally having a break in the weather around mid-April. With our upcoming church’s Easter celebration coming up, Natalie and I had been helping with making some of the decorations. Since the weather had warmed up, we were sitting outside painting wooden boards that some of the men had cut in the shape of bunnies when a car pulled in the driveway. The reflection of the sun beaming off the silver trim caught Natalie’s eye causing her to look up. I placed my hand over my brow to block the sunlight and saw that it was Mayor Goodwin.

  “Afternoon, Ms. Clay,” he tipped his hat. “How are you this fine day?”

  “Good,” I replied, surprised to see him paying us a visit. As far as I could remember, this was the first time he’d ever been to our house.

  “What are you two ladies working on?” he asked as he walked up to the house.

  “We’ve been painting decorations for the church’s Easter party this weekend,” I wiped my hand on my apron. “What brings you to this part of town?”

  “They look lovely,” he admired Nat’s artwork before he looked over at me. “I came to talk to you about the development. I’m assuming you’ve talked to Mr. Pincetti?”

  “Yes, he’s paid me a couple of visits,” I swallowed. If I’m going to start being assertive towards men, now is the time. “But as I’ve told him, I refuse to leave my family’s heritage behind until I’m absolutely forced to.”

  “Why, Ms. Clay? Wouldn’t you like to leave here and start over fresh? Surely this place must remind you of your husband’s death, especially since you were the cause of the accident.”

  His words pierced me like a knife; I cringed. There wasn’t a day that went by that I blamed myself for his death. Most nights I cried myself to sleep and asked Thomas to forgive me for what I did to him. And the mayor certainly didn’t need to come here pointing fingers at anyone. “What is the purpose of your visit Mayor Goodwin?”

  “Now Ms. Clay, I know you’re a wise woman,” he rubbed his beard. “Mr. Pincetti has been more than generous with the offers he’s made in regards to your property. I’d advise you to take one of them before it’s too late.”

  What in God’s green creation is he talking about? “I’m sorry, Mayor, I’m not following you.”

  “It’s no secret that the town will pass the development. There’s only a small window of time that you have until that happens. Once the eminent domain passes and Pincetti Properties has the authorization it needs, you’ll be forced to take whatever the bottom dollar is for your property.”

  “Mayor Goodwin, I don’t know how to say this, but our property is invaluable. Your guilt trips won’t work on me. You have a nice day, sir,” I turned to rejoin Natalie who was still working on her wooden bunny.
>
  “Ms. Clay, when this is all said and done, you might be lucky to receive a hundred grand for this house. That kind of money won’t go as far as what Mr. Pincetti has offered you in the past. I strongly recommend you take him up on his proposal before you find yourself between a rock and a hard spot that you can’t weasel out of,” he said as he headed back to his luxury car.

  I watched as he got in and drove off. Who the hell does he think he is? He can’t just waltz in here and act like he’s so high and mighty. What if he is right, though? If the most I might get at the end of all this is $100,000, it won’t last as long. Natalie glanced over at me with her brows furrowed as she tried to figure out what was going on. It was getting harder and harder to hide my feelings these days. Fear, anger, sadness, depression and regret coursed through my body every waking moment.

  “I'm all right, baby,” I signed. “Your painting looks gorgeous. Maybe mine will turn out as pretty as yours.”

  She smiled as she put the finishing touches of the bunny’s whiskers on its face. We left the wooden decorations out in the yard to dry before we went inside to change our clothes to go to the grocery store. Natalie had volunteered us to bring baked goods to the Easter party, and she insisted on bringing at least a few dozen cookies, a cake and a homemade apple pie.

  §

  “Natalie, slow down,” I signed to her as she randomly tossed cookie dough and baking supplies inside the cart. “Momma only has so much money, babe. We have to count everything.”

  Telling an eight-year-old who’s excited about baking Easter goods for her church party to slow down is like telling a puppy to sit still for a treat. Since the weather was warming up a bit, my blanket sales had slowed to a crawl at the flea market and we’d sold almost every bag of pecans that we had for sale. Money was barely trickling in and I was relying more and more on the church for help with paying our utilities. I can’t stand being broke! When Thomas was alive, we never lived above our means, but at least we could easily afford the basics such as food and utilities. It’s never been in my nature to take handouts, but since he passed away, I didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter.

  Fishing a pen and paper out of my purse, I began writing down how much everything was; keeping a running total as we went. Why is it that it seems like everything’s so high when you don’t have much to spend? Did they raise the prices on everything? With only forty dollars to shop with, we were on a tight budget. Poor Natalie wanted to buy sprinkles to decorate the cookies.

  “I’m sorry Nat, but we can’t buy those today,” I told her as I placed them back on the shelf.

  She nodded, but I could tell by the frown on her face that she was saddened by not decorating the cookies. Oh, to be eight-years-old again. I tapped her on the shoulder.

  “You can get the sprinkles,” I said as I conspicuously took the fabric softener out of the cart and hid the bottle on the shelf.

  Her hazel eyes lit up as she reached for the jar of sprinkles and sat them inside the cart. “Thank you, Momma,” she signed.

  “You’re welcome,” I told her as I scratched out the price of the fabric softener and recalculated our running total with the sprinkles.

  Our shopping trip was taking forever since I had to account for every penny that we were spending. Money had become so tight that I’d started searching the ground for change anywhere I went. All that was left to do was pick up a box of corn muffin mix and a can of biscuits for our chicken and dumplings for dinner later on.

  “Judy?” I heard a man call my name. I turned around to see who it was.

  “Hello, Jeff,” I answered as he walked towards me.

  “Looks like you’re going to be doing a lot of baking,” he commented as he glanced down in the cart.

  “Yes, it’s for the church’s Easter celebration this weekend,” I tried hiding my sheet of paper with my running total on it.

  He looked down at the sheet and saw what it was. My face flushed with embarrassment and shame.

  “What’s for dinner tonight?” he asked.

  “Chicken and dumplings with corn muffins,” I sheepishly replied. There was no way I could look him in the eyes. This man probably never had to keep track of money—not even as a kid. Here I was, this full grown woman, keeping tabs down to the penny.

  He followed me around the grocery store as I picked up my last few items and stood behind us in checkout as we continued talking.

  “Why don’t you let me help you out today?” he asked as I put my items on the conveyer belt.

  “Help me with what?”

  “Let me pay for your groceries…and buy you dinner tonight.”

  God, was I that much of a charity case that he’d offered to buy our food? “No, I couldn’t let you do that, but thank you for the offer.”

  “Which part?”

  “Huh?”

  “Which part can’t you do? Let me pay for your groceries, or take you out for dinner?”

  “Both,” I said, shocked. Is he serious?

  “Come on, Judy. You don’t have that much in your cart. It’ll be my pleasure. And as for dinner, I’d love to have you and your daughter join me tonight.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Trying to pay for my things and take me out to dinner? If this is some coy to try to talk me out of my property, I won’t have any of it.”

  “Judy,” he laughed. “It’s nothing like that. I thought it would be nice to help you. You and your daughter have been through so much, and I’ve been…a jackass.”

  At least he was admitting it. “I don’t think so. You already tried to apologize with the flowers. Remember?”

  “I insist,” he looked at the cashier. “Please ring up our groceries together. This is on me today.”

  “Jeff,” I started to speak up.

  “Judy,” he interrupted me, “let me do this for you. It’s the least I can do.” He walked over next to me and said in a hushed tone, “I saw your list and how you were keeping track of everything. I’d been watching you for a while before I came over to you. I’m paying for these today.”

  “I don’t take handouts” I said under my breath.

  “Then repay me by keeping me company over dinner tonight.”

  I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

  “What? It gets lonely eating by yourself every night,” he shrugged.

  The bagger placed my groceries back into my shopping cart as Jeff paid the cashier and walked out of the store next to Natalie and me.

  “I’ll pick you up around 6,” he said as he followed me to the car.

  Oh, boy. “Six will be fine,” I sat the groceries in the trunk as Natalie made her way inside the car.

  “Great, I knew you’d come around,” he winked. “Wear something nice. I’m taking you two someplace special.”

  §

  After the groceries were put away, I explained to Natalie that we would do all of our baking the next day.

  “Why?” she signed.

  “Because a friend of mine wants to take us out to dinner tonight, and we won’t have time to do it all. We’ll work on it tomorrow. I promise.”

  “Is it that man from the store?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Yes, and I want you to put on your Sunday best. He’s taking us to a very nice restaurant.”

  Disappointed that we weren’t baking, she sulked back to her room as she began to get dressed for the evening. I headed into my bedroom to find something suitable to wear. While I didn’t care to impress him too much, I didn’t want to be embarrassed by under-dressing at the restaurant. Following the advice I’d given Natalie, I also opted for my Sunday best before I neatly combed my hair back. It had been ages since I’d gotten so done up. Ever since Thomas passed away, I didn’t feel it was necessary to care about my appearance. At 6 PM sharp, Jeff was at the front door, driving yet another vehicle. This time it was a charcoal SUV. This man must have a car to match every suit he owns.

  §

>   “Evening,” I said as she opened the door. “Are the two of you ready? I made reservations for 7:00.”

  “Let me go check on Natalie. Come in,” she invited me inside.

  A few moments later, she emerged down the hallway with her daughter in tow.

  “You said you made reservations for 7? Where are we going?”