Till The End Of Time (Secrets of Savannah Book 1)

by Belle Calhoune

  “She wants to punish us,” Charlotte muttered.

  “I want this,” Morgan announced. “If we restore Savannah House I can have something of my own.” Tears gathered in her eyes. Pearl reached out and clutched her daughter’s hands. “When I left Savannah to go overseas I didn’t think there was anything for me here, but I was wrong. Somehow…some way…Miss Hattie knew that. It feels like she threw me a lifeline.”

  This was as much as Morgan had ever said about the reasons she had left Savannah rather suddenly in order to study at culinary school in Paris. Six months after living in the city of light, she had been offered a position at a wonderful Parisian patisserie where she made all sorts of pastries and desserts. Pearl had told Callie all about it, although Morgan had not been forthcoming with the details of her Parisian life. It had surprised Callie to see Morgan leave everything she knew behind her. Although cooking had always been Morgan’s grand passion, the locale of Savannah had always been her focus in terms of building a career. Savannah had so much going on in the culinary department—chefs who were known the world over, the best restaurants in the country and a clientele that wanted to be entertained and well fed.

  “To be honest, I think that I was on board the moment those words fell out of Mr. Mayhew’s mouth,” Callie admitted. “I think we’d be crazy to say no.”

  “Charlotte? You’re the only one still on the fence,” Olivia pointed out.

  Charlotte let out a tremendous sigh. “I have reservations, but as of late I’ve been trying to live more courageously. In the spirit of that, I’m going to say…let’s do this.”

  Pearl clapped and let out a hoot. The women began celebrating by giving each other high-fives and clapping. There was a vibe of happiness floating in the air. New beginnings!

  “Why don’t I go get Mr. Mayhew so we can tell him what we’ve decided,” Callie suggested. “After all, if we’re going to be up and running by next summer, we have to get a move on.”

  “Next summer?” Charlotte’s expression was one of horror. “Who said anything about that?”

  “Nobody,” Callie teased. “I’m just being ambitious.”

  As laughter trailed after her, Callie sailed out of the conference room and down the hall. It felt like she had an extra pep in her step. She looked in every direction, hoping for a sighting of Mr. Mayhew. The low rumble of voices caused her to turn left down a side hallway. She spotted the attorney in a small office with windows. He looked up and met her gaze, beckoning her to join him. When she entered the room, a rustling sound caused her to look to her left. A man in a dark business suit stood there, looking more handsome than he had a right to look.

  “Jax! What are you doing here?” She looked back and forth between Jax and Attorney Mayhew. Her mind was whirling with the implications. This couldn’t be chalked up to mere coincidence.

  “I’m here on a business matter related to Duvall Investments,” he said. “Mayhew was just explaining things to me.”

  “I told Mr. Holden that Savannah House is not for sale,” Mr. Mayhew said curtly.

  Callie felt as if her legs were about to give out beneath her. She frowned at Jax. “For sale? You were trying to buy Savannah House?”

  Attorney Mayhew held up his hand. “There’s no need to fret, Miss Duvall. I informed Mr. Holden that such a request is impossible. Since it’s a matter of public record, I told him about the inheritance and the specific stipulations.”

  “So you did have your eye on Savannah House. Didn’t you?” she spit out.

  “Excuse me,” Mr. Mayhew said in a fretful tone as his eyes wandered back and forth between them like a tennis ball. “I’ll let the two of you have some privacy.” Before they knew it, he had left, leaving an electrically charged silence in his wake.

  “I can’t believe you!” Callie said.

  “Callie, you’re jumping to conclusions,” Jax warned.

  Placing her hands on her hips, Callie faced him. “Oh no, I don’t think I am. My father is once again trying to control me. And he’s using you and Savannah House to do it!” she said angrily. “For the record, I can’t even begin to express in mere words how furious that makes me at both of you.”

  **

  Jax let out a groan as Callie stormed away from him. What had just happened? He had been tried and convicted without even an opportunity to express himself. Leave it to Callie to think her father was up to no good. And she’d thrown him in there for good measure!

  Jax strode after her, catching up to her quite easily. He grabbed her by her arm and led her into one of the empty offices. She glared at him, sticking out her lip the way she had done a hundred times or more as a child. More times than not, he had been the cause of her ire.

  She shrugged him off. “I can’t believe you and my father are meddling in my inheritance from Hattie!” Callie said in a raised voice.

  “Callie! Wait. You’ve misunderstood this whole situation,” Jax said, his voice firm and impassioned. “Again…neither your father nor I knew anything about the specific inheritance.”

  “I can’t believe you came here asking about buying Savannah House.” She placed her hands on her hips. Her nostrils were slightly flaring.

  “Callie, you need to calm down. Your father asked me to look into Savannah House. To see if it was for sale. Inquiring into a property like Savannah House is par for the course for a businessman like your father. That was before I knew what was in the will. Before I found out that Hattie left it to you and the girls.”

  “So he sent you to find out what? Who she left it to? How quickly he could purchase it? She hasn’t even been dead a week…and already he’s ready to pounce on her property.”

  Jax winced. “I know it sounds cruel, but in business sometimes you have to act quickly. You’re not even speaking to him, so obviously he didn’t know you inherited it. He, and even I, assumed it was going to be put up for sale.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that. He has ways of finding things out.” Callie let out a snort. “It’s practically grave robbing. I don’t respect you or the work you do for my father’s almighty empire!” Callie growled.

  Instantly he felt his pride rearing its ugly head. She’d hurt his feelings by saying she didn’t respect him. Or the work he poured his heart and soul into. Even stooping so low as to calling him a grave robber! Even though he had come here with the best of intentions, his temper got the better of him.

  “Spoken by the pampered princess of Savannah,” Jax scoffed. “The last time I checked Callie, you don’t have a job, so it’s not very nice to dismiss mine.” Ouch. He hadn’t meant for those words to slip past his lips. But she’d made him so angry.

  Her green eyes flashed like emeralds. “Well, I do now. I’m the proprietor of Savannah House. And now with my inheritance from Hattie I’m going to help put Savannah House back on the map.”

  “That place is in sad shape,” Jax said with a rueful shake of his head. Did she have any idea of what it would take to refurbish it? Did any of them? For their sakes he prayed this wasn’t a lark. Fixing up Savannah House would be a massive endeavor, not for the faint of heart. It would take heart and grit and perseverance and strength.

  Callie lifted her chin up high. “It won’t be for long. We’re going to make sure that it’s renovated in time for next year’s summer season. Better make a reservation now, Jax. Within the year you won’t even be able to buy yourself a stay there.” She leaned in and made a flicking motion against his shirt with her finger.

  It was clear. Callie Duvall was dismissing him. The simple act enraged him. Why did she insist on treating him like an adversary when they could be so much more to one another? Why was she always putting up emotional roadblocks? He had thought that they were moving toward a more tender relationship. They had shared such sweet moments in the past few weeks. The kiss they had shared had been out of this world. He had honestly, truly begun to believe that she was falling for him.

  Why did she always end up pushing him away?

&n
bsp; “I should kiss you senseless,” Jax said. He reached out and grabbed her by the arms and pulled her against his chest. “This right here is what you’re afraid of, isn’t it? Getting close to someone. You don’t want to believe in me or trust me because the rug might be pulled out from underneath you. Isn’t that right?”

  “No. It isn’t,” she whispered. Her lips trembled and he found himself unable to take his eyes off them. Pink. Heart-shaped. Perfect. All he had to do was dip his head down a little bit and press his lips against hers. Tears shimmered in her brilliant emerald eyes.

  He let out a groan. She was upset because of him. He felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. He loved Callie. And he’d been loving her for the longest time. And all he saw in her eyes was fear. Of him. He let her go and stumbled a few steps backward. What was wrong with him? He’d acted like a fool, all because he was sick and tired of hiding his feelings for the most beautiful and feisty woman he had ever known. He had wanted to shout it from the rooftops for years.

  And now he’d lost his cool. All because she had told him to his face that she didn’t respect him. Because she was pulling away from him and putting up road blocks where there shouldn’t be any.

  Jax took a few steps backward. Judging by the way Callie was glaring at him, they were at a standstill.

  “I’m sorry. But you’re wrong about everything. You’re so invested in thinking that your father is a monster that you’re jumping to conclusions and making accusations that aren’t correct.” He shook his head, in disbelief that everything had exploded in his face without any warning. He had come here today on Duvall Investments business. He’d gotten way more than he had bargained for in the process.

  “You’re so eager to tell me what to think about my father. What about your father, Jax? Preach to me after you’ve seen him or spoken to him.”

  Now she was deliberately trying to hurt him. Why? Callie wasn’t a hurtful person. Not by a long shot. She was sassy, but as sweet as nectar. She had always been kind. The only thing that made sense to him was that she was frightened.

  He stood in front of her, looking her straight in the eyes. It was well past time for this conversation. “What do you see when you look at me?”

  “Is this a trick question?” she asked.

  “No,” he said, his heart feeling deflated. “I’m as serious as a heart attack.”

  Jax reached for her hand and pressed it against his heart. He could feel it thumping against her palm. She tried to pull away. He sensed that she felt uncomfortable. Suddenly it seemed as if all the air had been sucked out of the room and he could no longer breathe. Jax held her hand there for a moment longer. “Do you feel that?”

  Her green eyes studied him. “Of course I do. Jax. What are you trying to prove?”

  He held her gaze. “I’m trying to show you what you’re doing to me. What you’ve always done to me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Her brows were knitted together.

  “This heart of mine belongs to you, Callie Duvall. It always has.”

  She shook her head fiercely, her expression mutinous. He was laying it all on the line for her, but she was still resisting him. Still fighting the feelings he held in his heart for her.

  Jax let her hand go, knowing he couldn’t hold on to her any longer. From this point forward, Callie was going to have to choose him. Fight for him. Pick him.

  “You’re scared, frightened at how powerful this thing is. I know you feel it, Callie. It’s not just me. I love you. But I’m not going to twist in the wind anymore. You made it clear today that you don’t trust me. And without trust…we have nothing.”

  Callie opened her mouth, but no words came out.

  “I won’t be bothering you again, Callie. The ball is in your court.”

  It was over. For him. And his heart. He couldn’t take it anymore. His heart had been hurting for a long time and now it felt like it was being bruised and battered by Callie. If she felt something for him, she was going to have to get her act together and stop fighting him at every turn. It was time for Callie to get real.

  His heart on the verge of cracking, Jax turned on his heel and left Callie standing there gaping at him. He left the building in a daze, blindly heading toward the parking lot where his car was parked.

  **

  Callie wrapped her arms around her waist as she stared after Jax as he raced off down the hallway. Her hunch had been correct. Jax was in love with her. Whereas before she had doubted it, now she knew it was true. She had felt it with every beat of his heart as it thumped against her palm.

  Callie headed back toward the conference room, feeling a bit shaken by her confrontation with Jax. It didn’t feel good to be at odds with him. In her fury she had lashed out and said things that she didn’t mean. She had insulted him. Had she jumped to conclusions? She wasn’t sure. Jax was extremely loyal to her father due to their business relationship. Would he even admit that her father had been trying to intervene in her inheritance? Perhaps Jax had been fooled by him.

  Or perhaps she had been disastrously mistaken. She had been so jaded by her father’s actions in the past that she wasn’t able to view things clearly as a result.

  She shuddered at how heated things had gotten. Jax had been hurt. She had seen it reflected in his eyes and by the wounded expression on his face. Yet and still he had been tender, confessing his feelings for her and putting them out there with boldness and truth.

  Her heart physically hurt at the moment. Jax wasn’t going to pursue her anymore. He had told her so and then he had left, letting her know in no uncertain terms that he was pulling away from her.

  Callie felt her heart beating like crazy in her chest. If she hadn’t been at Attorney Mayhew’s office she would have sat down somewhere and cried. What a mess!

  Her breathing became heavy and she knew that she needed to gather herself before she rejoined the girls and Pearl in the conference room. Her thoughts were all over the place. She stood still for a moment, pausing to get a cup of water at the water dispenser. She took a sip, hoping it would soothe her rattled nerves. What was this feeling hanging over her like a heavy cloud? And why did she feel so unsettled?

  Callie pressed a hand to her chest. The knowledge swept over her like a strong gust of wind. He was way more than a friend. Much stronger than an acquaintance. She was in love with him! And she had been for quite some time.

  She pressed her eyes closed and let out a moan. She had massive feelings for Jax. Strong, powerful feelings that rocked her to her core. The enormity of it was now crashing over her in unrelenting waves.

  She had never been in love before. Callie had always held her heart at a distance, fearful that she would end up like her mother, who had allowed the man she loved to do hideous things to her children. A woman who had given her life away to a monster. Somehow in her mind, she associated love with weakness and destruction.

  With a deep breath, Callie walked back to the hallway and began heading toward the conference room. There would be plenty of time later to sort out her feelings. At the moment there were five women she loved, along with Attorney Mayhew, waiting for her to hash out details regarding Savannah House. Hadn’t she kept them twiddling their thumbs long enough?

  Callie walked back into the room, all the while reminding herself to put Jax out of her head for the moment. She took two steps over the threshold and then stopped dead in her tracks. Tension hung in the room like a live grenade. The sight of long blonde hair and a tall, lean physique had her pulse racing like wildfire. The chic maxi dress paired with the fashionable shoes served as a reminder that Francine “Fancy” Tolliver was now a New York City girl.

  She let out a gasp. Fancy turned toward her, a shuttered expression etched on her face. Her sky blue eyes gleamed. Her posture was perfect. In Callie’s opinion, she resembled an ice princess. Clearly, judging by her expression, nothing had changed in all this time.

  “Fancy. I- I didn’t expect—” She fumbled with her words. “W-we h
ad no idea you were coming here.”

  Fancy raised an eyebrow. “I came back for Miss Hattie’s funeral. I was at the back of the church with a dark hat on. I wanted to say goodbye to her.”

  Callie frowned. “So you’ve been in town for a few days? Why didn’t you come to the reading of the will?”

  Fancy shrugged. “When Attorney Mayhew called me initially to tell me about it, I planned to attend. But being back here and remembering why I left…I couldn’t do it. When he called me back yesterday I didn’t tell him that I was right here in town. I decided to show up here unannounced so I could tell you ladies face-to-face that I want you to buy me out. Write me a check please.”

  “We’ve been telling Fancy what a great opportunity this would be to own a business,” Olivia said, her eyes sending out warning signals. Callie got the hint. Fancy was being difficult.

  Callie could tell from the moment she’d walked into the conference room that Fancy wasn’t here to play nice. She wanted to rile things up a bit.

  “Olivia’s right. We could run Savannah House together, Fancy. We could put everything squarely in the past and be tight again,” Callie said, her voice brimming with enthusiasm. It would be a dream to run Savannah House with these five incredible women. Fancy didn’t realize it, but it would help her to move forward into a state of forgiveness. It would allow for healing.

  Fancy’s lip curled upward. “Trust me, after what happened to me a year and a half ago, I’m not interested in mending fences and having a Kumbaya moment.”

  “God brought you back here to Savannah. Perhaps He is trying to show you that forgiveness is a healing balm, Francine Tolliver,” Pearl said in a robust voice. Callie was pretty sure that Pearl was going to wag her finger at Fancy in a few moments. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Callie might have been tempted to laugh out loud. Pearl was fierce on any given day.

  “I’ve lost too much to forgive,” Fancy spit out. “Or should I say it was taken from me?”