by SUE FINEMAN
Mattie asked, “Where’s Jenna?”
“Gone,” said Al. “She said you didn’t want her here, so she and Katie left.”
The old lady grew quiet. “Is there someone else you want me to call?” Mr. Collier asked.
“Just Jenna. She can pack for me. I took care of her all those years, and she can damn well come back here and pack for me.”
Al walked away. Mattie was getting steamed, and he didn’t want to hear it. Her attorney could take care of her.
He’d always respected the elderly and made allowances for inappropriate behavior, but Mattie’s behavior was more than inappropriate. It was vicious and cruel. What did it matter that she and Jenna weren’t really related or that Jenna may be Charlie’s daughter? They were a family. In his family, that meant loving, supporting, and respecting each other. He saw none of that in Mattie. Too bad he didn’t see that side of her before he agreed to let her stay in the inn.
But then he wouldn’t have found Jenna.
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Jenna sat in Gerry Merlino’s office and talked about Mattie’s mental and physical condition. “I thought I could take care of her, but it’s hopeless.” She told him what had happened that day. “Maybe I could handle it if I was on my own, but my little girl is crying from Mattie’s nasty remarks, and I won’t tolerate that.”
“You don’t have to, Jenna,” said Gerry. “I spoke with her attorney this morning, and he said he’d take care of the problem today. If Mattie won’t cooperate, we can have her declared incompetent.”
“Okay with me. Gerry, there’s something else I need to speak with you about.”
He leaned back in his chair and whipped his glasses off. “All right.”
She talked about her parents, how they’d lived and how they’d died. “Uncle Charlie said my parents owned half the inn, and that someday it would all be mine, but I understand my name wasn’t on the deed. All the money my parents supposedly put into the inn has vanished. Their entire estate is gone, and I don’t know where it went. My aunt said they spent it all raising me and on my education, but I know better. They got Social Security payments for me, and they paid my college tuition, but I paid my own living expenses.”
“What makes you think there’s something left from your parents’ estate?”
“They were engineers, Gerry. They both made good money, we lived in a nice home, and they saved and invested for the future. I know they both had a 401K through the company they worked for, and I remember my father talking about buying several hundred shares of Microsoft and selling them for a huge profit. If that money didn’t go into the inn and didn’t pay my way through college, where is it?”
Gerry scribbled notes. “Do you know their Social Security numbers?”
“No, but I think it’s on some of the papers in the attic at the inn. Their names were Kathleen or Kate Madison and Peter Grigori.” She spelled her father’s last name.
“You don’t carry your father’s name?”
“No.” Jenna stared at her hands. She’d never thought much about it until she was in school. Madison was an English name, not Russian. Her father had dark hair and eyes, and she was blonde and fair, like her mother. If she’d given it much thought, she would have known he wasn’t her natural father.
She looked up. “Gerry, I can’t pay you anything until we find the money or I get back to work. Aunt Mattie didn’t pay me to take care of her, and my job went to India with the other tech support positions in the company. I’m nearly broke.”
“Jenna, Mattie has money. How long did you take care of her?”
“For over five weeks, twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week.”
He clicked his calculator. “That’s over a hundred hours a week for five weeks times ten dollars an hour. “Would five thousand cover it?”
“Yes, that’ll cover it.”
Jenna left with a smile on her face. She liked Gerry Merlino, and she liked the way his mind worked. Five thousand. She’d earned every penny of it, but it wouldn’t last long.
She had to find a job.
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Mattie stayed calm until her attorney pulled up in the circle drive in front of the nursing home, and then her hands started to tremble. She was livid. Jenna deserted her and then that young man threw her out of her home. It wasn’t fair, and when she got out of this stinking hole, she’d see them both punished for doing this to her.
Her attorney opened the car door and helped her out, and they walked inside together. The social worker smiled and welcomed her.
“I’m here on a temporary basis,” said Mattie. “As soon as we find someone to help me at home, I’ll be leaving.”
“We’ll try to make you comfortable while you’re here.”
Mattie doubted that anyone could be comfortable in this place. There were people sitting around in wheelchairs, drooling or staring at her. One woman was crying, a man was yelling, and it smelled like someone had peed in their pants. She wanted to scream at them, but all the fight had drained out of her.
Mr. Collier said, “I’ll get an ad in the newspaper right away. In the meantime, I’ll have someone bring the chair from your bedroom and your television, so you’ll be more at home. Is there anything else you need, aside from your clothes?”
“Tell Jenna. She’ll know.”
The only person she had to help her was her husband’s bastard. If she had any sense, she’d push the girl over the hill in the same spot she’d pushed Charlie over. But with a broken arm, she couldn’t even do that.
Now she was stuck here in this terrible place.
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Al drove to his mother’s house at five-thirty. Vincent was out somewhere, so it was just the four of them for dinner. Ma had made lasagna, his favorite, and she was fussing over Katie, who was ‘helping’ in the kitchen.
He poured three glasses of wine and set the bottle on the table. He’d grown up in this little house. Three bedrooms, one dinky bathroom, and seven kids. It was crowded, but it was home. Now the basement was finished with another bedroom and bathroom.
Ma set the casserole dish on the table and Jenna brought the salad. She looked nice tonight in a pale pink pullover that made her skin glow and her eyes look more blue. Her shoulder-length honey blond hair was brushed to a shine and the stress was gone from her face. She seemed glad to be relieved of her burden.
As they ate dinner, Al asked Jenna, “What’s your degree in?”
“Business. I thought I’d be running the inn someday. The job market was awful when I graduated, so I went to work as an administrative assistant in the computer services division of a Seattle company. It didn’t pay much, but I learned enough to move into a low-level technical position. And then all the jobs went away. So I have a little experience in the technical sector, but not enough to make me an expert in anything. I’m either overqualified or underqualified, depending on who I interview with.”
“What kind of work are you looking for?”
“Something that offers health insurance for Katie.”
Al cocked his head. “Doesn’t Brian take care of that?”
“No. Brian doesn’t work much. When I get child support, it comes from his parents. I can’t count on Brian for anything.”
“Talk to Nicky,” said Ma. “He always needs good people.”
Al knew that Nick didn’t really need any more people, since he employed nearly the entire Donatelli clan, but if Jenna went to Nick’s office, he’d find her something to do. It was a wonder the company made any money at all the way he kept hiring people, but it did. Max and Company was quite successful.
“Jenna, before Mattie left for the nursing home, she asked if you could pack her clothes.”
She put her fork down. “She expects me to come back and pack for her after the way she treated me?”
“Aunt Mattie don’t like me and Mommy,” said Katie.
Ma said, “She’s a grumpy old lady, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Katie looked up at Al. “D
id you feed the kitties?”
“I sure did, but they miss you.”
“I like kitties.”
Funny that Mattie hadn’t asked him to take care of her cats.
Ma insisted that Al eat more, and he did. It made her happy to have people eat the food she’d prepared. He’d work it off. Vinnie was coming over tomorrow to help him put in the posts for the iron gate he’d ordered. After thinking it over, he didn’t want people wandering onto the property thinking it was still a functioning inn. It was his home, not an inn, and the picture of Katie on that hillside still haunted him. He didn’t want to take a chance on someone falling on those rocks.
The legend of the inn said that a body of a man had washed up on those rocks back in 1908, long before the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was built. That was why the inn was called the Inn at Dead Man’s Point. The point wasn’t much of a point, just a rocky outcropping that jutted a few feet into the sound.
He watched the interaction between Jenna and his mother. Ma liked her a lot, and Jenna drank in the love and encouragement he’d grown up with. He didn’t know what Jenna’s parents were like, but he suspected that she didn’t get a whole lot of affection after they died. If she had, she might not have been looking for love with Brian Baxter.
Over dessert, Al broached the subject of Ma’s new friend. “Nick tells me you’re seeing Phillip Collier.”
“Seeing?” Ma flapped her hand. “We had dinner once. He’s lonesome since his wife died, and it’s nice to talk to someone my own age for a change.”
Al wondered if it would turn into something more than talking. He wanted her to be happy, but he wasn’t sure any man would be good enough to replace the husband she’d lost. Over the years, she’d elevated Vincent Donatelli to sainthood.
Ma changed the subject. “Penny Holden called here this afternoon. Isn’t that the doctor you used to date?”
“Yeah. Did she leave a number?”
“It’s by the phone in the bedroom.”
He sat on the side of his mother’s bed and made the call. “Penny, this is Alessandro Donatelli. I heard you were looking for me.”
“I forgot to get the phone number at the inn. How are things working out with Little Suzy Homemaker? Does she still think you’re gay?”
He smiled, remembering the incredible night he spent with Jenna. “No, she doesn’t.”
He looked up to see Jenna standing in the doorway and ended the call. If he had any sense, he’d hold onto the lady doctor. Instead, he was sailing into uncharted waters with the girl he’d had a huge crush on in the ninth grade, the girl who’d broken a boy’s tender heart.
“Alessandro, I don’t want to hold you back. If you have something going with another woman—”
“I don’t date more than one woman at a time. I’m not Brian, Jenna. I don’t play around, and I don’t lie. Penny was just checking to see if there was still any interest on my part.” He stood and walked over to stand in front of her. “There isn’t.”
They were kissing when Ma cleared her throat. “If you want to go out to the inn, Katie can stay with me tonight.”
Al slowly shook his head. She’d blatantly pushed Nick and Cara together, and Angelo and Teresa, and Tony and Catherine. And once she decided to like Blade, she helped his romance with Maria along. “My mother, the matchmaker.”
Jenna giggled. “Thanks, Sophia, but we’ll take Katie back with us.”
Al hugged his mother. “Don’t go calling the priest yet,” he said quietly.
Jenna wasn’t supposed to hear that, but she did, and it warmed her to know that his mother liked her that well.
The budding relationship she had with this man seemed too good to be true. He treated her with respect and affection, and he was a fantastic lover. Although they’d already made love, they were still getting to know each other as adults. She was floating in a bubble of bliss, but the bubble could burst at any moment and she’d be alone again, just her and Katie. It was worth the risk.
He was worth the risk.
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Mattie settled in for her first night at the nursing home, cursing Jenna under her breath. The bed was awful, and so were the pillows. They’d put her in a private room, but it was a dinky little hole and there was no shower or bathtub in the bathroom. The closet wouldn’t hold much of anything, and there were only two tiny little drawers to put her things in. They’d made her wear a hospital gown to sleep in, and the place was noisy, with the woman across the hall crying for someone to come and help her. An aide would go in and as soon as she came out, the woman would start crying again.
She’d go insane if she had to stay in this godawful place.
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Jenna followed Al back to the inn. She parked in front and stared at the moss-streaked siding. Why had her mother become involved with Uncle Charlie in the first place? Did Dad know that Charlie was his wife’s lover? Why didn’t Mom and Dad have other kids? Why had they sold their home and moved to the inn? Didn’t Mom know how much Mattie resented her? Why would she put herself through that?
Al opened the back door of her car and lifted a sleepy little girl out. He carried her inside and upstairs to her bedroom. Jenna followed and put Katie to bed. One deep sigh, and she was asleep.
Katie was crazy about Al’s mother. The only grandmother she had was Louise Baxter, and Louise wasn’t a warm woman. She was too busy talking to pay attention to a kid, and Katie was afraid of Bruce and his smelly cigar.
Aunt Mattie could have taken a grandmotherly role, but she was too busy being hateful. It would seem at her age, she’d be paying attention to the hereafter and putting her affairs in order, but she acted like she was never going to die.
Al excused himself to go to work, and Jenna trudged back up to the attic. She had more boxes to go through, and with Aunt Mattie gone, she had the freedom to get it done.
The first box held bills, credit card statements, and bank statements from the year her parents died. They’d used their credit cards often, but they paid off the balance every month. According to the bank statements, they deposited nearly ten thousand a month into their checking account every month, and this was seventeen years ago. Their joint savings account had a balance of over a hundred thousand the month before they died. She wondered if that included the equity from the house they’d just sold or if they’d already given Uncle Charlie that money for the inn.
The next box held the 401K and other investment information. It was a substantial amount of money, enough to put her through college in style and get a good start in life. They also had an investment account with a brokerage house in Silverdale. How could her parents have that much money when six years later, Jenna had to struggle to get through college?
If she’d had that money, she could have bought the inn from Aunt Mattie herself, and she could have hired people to put on a new roof and fence the hillside and put in a new driveway and paint. She could redecorate the entire place and open it for business again, so she wouldn’t have to work for a boorish ass like her last boss.
But Alessandro Donatelli owned the inn now, and all that money was gone.
If Mattie knew where the money was, she would have paid the taxes and kept possession of the inn. That meant Charlie did something with it. Uncle Charlie was the last person Jenna would have suspected of stealing her inheritance, yet she was beginning to think he had.
Or maybe he hid it from Mattie.
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Al turned off his computer and stretched. It was nearly two in the morning, but creativity couldn’t tell time, and he liked to work while the vision of a plan was fresh in his mind.
Jenna stood in his office door, a smile on her face. “Guess what I found?”
“The money?”
“Proof that the money was there. Now all I have to do is find the paper trail.” She yawned. “God, I am so tired.”
“Too tired for me?”
She walked over and put her arms around him. “I could fall asleep right here on your shoulder
.”
He scooped her up and carried her into his bedroom, kicked the door shut, and set her on his bed, but by the time he brushed his teeth, found a condom, and pulled off his clothes, she was curled up on top of the covers, sound asleep.
So much for the power of his sex appeal.
He grabbed a comforter from the closet shelf, lay down beside her, and covered them both. She snuggled in, and they both slept.
Chapter Seven
Early the next morning, a man knocked at the door of the inn and asked for Alessandro Donatelli. As the man drove away, Al opened the envelope he’d just signed for and stared at the papers. Brian Baxter was suing him for assault. He claimed to be permanently injured from the unprovoked attack and he wanted ten million dollars. “Only ten million?” Al muttered to himself. He had to be kidding.
Al went inside and called Gerry, who said, “That ambulance-chasing attorney he found will sue anyone for anything. This isn’t going anywhere. You have three witnesses, four with Jenna, and I can’t imagine that a judge will take the claim seriously.”
“Can I counter-sue for harassment and trespassing and whatever?”
“You can, but it’s not worth the time and expense. I’ll get statements from the witnesses and we’ll take it from there. Brian has no witnesses to corroborate his claims. This won’t ever get to court.”
Al trusted Gerry. With her money, Cara could have hired a high-profile attorney, but she didn’t. She hired Gerry Merlino. Now the entire family used him. He handled their legal affairs with a trained legal mind and a large dose of common sense. Gerry would take care of the problem with Brian Baxter.
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Angelo brought his pickup over and helped Alessandro load Mattie’s chair, television, and a small dresser to take to the nursing home. Jenna packed some clothes, but she refused to go to the nursing home with the men. She had no desire to see Aunt Mattie again, not when the sore on her arm was still inflamed.
As soon as the men left, Jenna went through Aunt Mattie’s closet and all the dresser drawers, looking for something, anything, that would point her to the missing money. But there was nothing there.