The Perfect Storm: A Thrilling Romantic Suspense (The Perfect Revenge Book 3)

by Madyson Grey

  “Tell them that they need to be close so as they age, you can help care for them,” Victoria suggested. “Maybe that will help to convince them. We don’t want to pressure them to do something they don’t want to do, but we just want you to be happy.”

  “I’m gonna try and get my mom to move over this way,” Rafael said. “I bought the house she’s in now, so I can sell that one and buy her another.”

  That evening they walked around through the house examining each piece of furniture to decide whether to keep it or sell it. There were several antique pieces that Victoria definitely wanted to keep. She began listing on paper every piece she wanted to keep. They decided to get new sofas, chairs, and end tables. Victoria wanted her mother’s antique writing desk, mainly because it was an antique and she liked it.

  However, she was torn about keeping her dad’s desk. While she wanted it because it was a part of her dad that was meaningful to her, it was also the place where he died. So she finally decided to give it up, but she told Rafael that she did not want to see it sold. Either they would just leave it in the house, or when someone came to buy it, Victoria would make herself scarce.

  She would keep her dad’s chest of drawers as a memento of him. And since it was part of their bedroom set, they would keep it for one of the extra bedrooms. She would also keep her bedroom set to put in the other bedroom. But she and Rafael would have a new bedroom set for their new bedroom.

  Sunday Rafael and Victoria went out to look at furniture. They found a few pieces that they liked, including a bedroom set for themselves. They purchased the items, but had a hold placed on them for delivery until they could get into the house and know when they would be there for sure. They could keep on looking for the rest, little at a time. They didn’t need every single piece of furniture that very first day. But they did need to furnish the living room and family room. Even the formal dining room could wait a few days or weeks.

  They went to three or four more stores that afternoon. They found a set of end tables and coffee table in one place, along with some pretty lamps. In another, they found a sofa and four easy chairs for the formal living room. The last store yielded a huge sectional sofa that they deemed perfect for the family room. These things would get them by for a while.

  They nearly forgot until the last store, that they also needed a couple of new TVs and a stereo system, since Mateo had stolen theirs. So they picked out the biggest TV in the store for the family room, and three smaller ones—one each for the kitchen, their bedroom, and the rec room downstairs.

  Monday morning they met Doug Bush at the designated branch of their bank where Rafael, and David before him, did their business. It seemed more prudent to go to the branch where he was well known when dealing with that kind of money, than to go to a branch over in Westlake Village when they were unknown. Mr. Bush didn’t mind the drive at all. Not for that kind of money. Shoot, he’d drive to Frisco for that kind of money.

  When the transaction was complete, they shook hands all around, and Mr. Bush handed them the keys. The title deed would have to be filed and a copy mailed to them. After they left the bank, they drove straight to their new home, taking Lena with them. She was just as taken with the house as they had been and loved her new quarters. They offered her new furniture, too, but she declined, saying that she liked what she had and it was perfectly fine. When pressed about the subject, she did admit that she could use a new mattress set for her bed. So they promised to let her choose whatever she wanted.

  The main point of discussion while driving back to the old place was whether to do all the packing themselves, or to hire a moving company to do it. The compromise finally boiled down to Victoria packing the things she especially wanted to pack so she knew that they were done “right,” and let a professional company do the rest. Lena said she would prefer packing her own things, but the movers could carry the boxes.

  With that settled, they had to call several moving companies before they found one that was free this very week. They hoped that wasn’t a bad omen. But according to their website, they were a reputable outfit.

  When they arrived back home, they all went right to work to begin packing the things they wanted to pack themselves and get ready for the movers to come the next morning. Victoria finally called a homeless shelter to come and pick up the boxes of her parents’ clothes. It would be a couple of hours before they could send out a truck, so Victoria used that window of time to go through the boxes one more time to see if there was anything at all in them that any of the three of them wanted.

  As it turned out, Lena chose several of Marian’s things—sweaters, a jacket, and a couple of pairs of silk lounge pajamas, among other things. Rafael kept a few of David’s sweaters and jackets, a package of socks that had never been opened, and a couple of ties that he especially liked. When they were all finished taking everything they wanted, Victoria closed up each box again and the three of them carried them all downstairs and stacked them outside the front door where the truck could easily pick them up.

  In the midst of all this hubbub, Victoria suddenly remembered that she was supposed to call Robert Kyte, her mother’s lawyer. So she stopped, sat down at the kitchen counter and called him. Fortunately, he was free, so his secretary put Victoria right through to him. She quickly explained why she was calling and asked him what she needed to do to see that her mother’s estate was settled as expediently as possible. He hadn’t heard that Marian was dead, so he told her to make an appointment with his secretary for the following day, giving him time to review Marian’s will so he could discuss it knowledgeably with her. The appointment was set for eight o’clock Thursday morning of that week. That would get her through the initial moving pains before she had to make time for this necessary duty.

  Lena returned to packing up her apartment, and Victoria went to the dining room to carefully pack away some of the most delicate dishes that were kept in the china hutch. She didn’t trust these family heirlooms to men to pack properly. When that was done, she went upstairs to pack her special treasures. There are some things you just don’t leave for strangers to handle properly.

  Victoria decided that she should strip the bedding off of her parents’ bed and at least have it all folded neatly and stacked on the floor so that all the movers had to do was to fit it into a box. Then she did the same in the guest bedroom. Rafael’s clothes were in that room, but the movers could move the dressers without emptying the drawers, and they would bring in a couple of rolling wardrobes in which to hang all the hanging clothes.

  It was past lunchtime by now, so after consulting with Rafael and Lena, she called a pizza place and had a couple of pizzas delivered. It would be easier than taking time to fix something to eat. While they waited for the delivery, Victoria went back upstairs to begin packing up the bathroom. She had the things from the medicine chest and underneath the sink boxed up when the pizza arrived, so she stopped to go down and eat.

  Rafael had been poking around out in the garage to see what was out there. There were a couple of boxes of his things, but not a lot else. There was a chest freezer, and extra refrigerator, a basic toolbox, and a dozen or so boxes of Christmas decorations. Looked like everything out there should go to the new place.

  Lena was making progress on getting her things packed up, too. She had all of her bedroom done, and most of the bathroom when it was time to stop and eat. After doing all that she had done so far, she fantasized about letting the movers pack up her living room and kitchen. Or at least most of them. She hadn’t moved since 1987 when she first moved in to go to work for the Thorntons.

  She didn’t realize all of the stuff that she had squirreled away in her little place. Books, movies—both VHS and DVD—photo albums full of pictures she had taken over the years on each one of her two one-week vacations she was given each year, souvenirs from said vacations, and one small cedar chest that contained a baby’s gown, hospital bracelet, birth certificate, and hospital certificate with a baby’s footprints
on it. There was also a lock of baby hair, a tiny pair of booties, and a photograph. That precious box went nestled into a box between an extra quilt and pillow to keep it safe until arriving at the new house.

  After lunch, Victoria and Lena got back to where they had left off. Rafael was rather at loose ends, as hardly anything in the house was really his. After asking Victoria if it was all right, he went into David’s office and began emptying out the desk drawers and putting the stuff in a box. After that was done, he went into the family room and began to box up the DVDs and CDs in there. He didn’t know what else to do, and the more that was packed and ready to go, the less time it would take tomorrow to get it all done.

  Rafael called the furniture stores where they had purchased things, and told each of them that the items could all be delivered the following day in the afternoon. Each one gave him a time range when they would be there, so he could make certain that one of them were at the house to let them in.

  They all worked all afternoon until close to five o’clock when Victoria declared a time out for supper. Since everything was in a bit of an upheaval, they decided to just go out to eat. Of course, Lena would go, too. After supper, they went home. Victoria and Lena got to talking about the nostalgia of leaving the home they had both lived in for so many years. Lena had lived there even longer than Victoria had, because she had come to work there before Victoria was born.

  But Lena could certainly understand why Victoria had chosen to sell the place. She knew that it hadn’t always been a happy home for the child. Marian had done her duty, but didn’t seem to be able to express the love and affection for her that every child needs. If it hadn’t been for David, Victoria’s childhood would have been completely miserable. Lena had always tried to make up for Marian’s lack of affection for Victoria, but she knew her limits and had to watch herself not to interfere when Marian would be mean to Victoria. It was most difficult sometimes, but she dared not jeopardize her job.

  Even Victoria had second thoughts about leaving her childhood home, but the decision had been made and it would be followed through. If her dad hadn’t been murdered in the house, she would likely have kept it, but that one tragic incident sealed the deal for her.

  When they all went to bed that night, they knew it was the last night they would ever spend in that house. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Lena cried herself to sleep that night. That room held a cherished memory that she had held close to her heart for twenty-seven years. One that she would carry with her to her grave.

  Everyone was up bright and early the next morning. Breakfast was cold cereal served in Styrofoam bowls from the motorhome and eaten with plastic spoons. The movers were to arrive at seven-thirty and they needed to be all ready for them. The boxes that had been packed the day before were all marked with the names of the rooms to which they would be carried in the new house, and were stacked neatly in the rooms where they had been packed.

  As Victoria “supervised” the men packing up the remaining household things, she was amazed that they were as skilled and careful as they were. With four of them packing, along with Victoria and Lena helping, the entire household items were in boxes within three and a half hours. Rafael busied himself for a while with boxing up the things in the toolshed, and rolling the lawn mower around to the truck. That only took about forty-five minutes, however, because there wasn’t that much stuff in the toolshed.

  After lunch, which they had delivered in again, the furniture was loaded onto the truck first, and then the boxes were piled in. Rafael drove over to the new house as soon as he had finished eating, to be there when the new furniture began to arrive. He hoped that the new stuff would get there first, and it did. That way, it was already set in place before the boxes and old furniture came.

  Rafael knew where to direct the men to place the new furniture, because he and Victoria had already had that discussion. And, if something went into the wrong place, it could always be moved again.

  About three o’clock, the moving van arrived with Victoria and Lena each driving their cars and leading the procession. With seven people to carry boxes, and five men to carry furniture, the unloading only took a little over an hour. Boxes were placed in the proper rooms for easy unpacking. But that process would take a much longer time, as the three of them collaborated on where stuff should go.

  Victoria let Lena pretty much decide how to arrange the kitchen items, as she was the main one to use the kitchen. But even before they did that, she insisted that Lena go at least get her bed ready to sleep in that night and unpack bathroom essentials. Victoria did the same thing in the master suite. The first thing she did was to make up their new bed, which was one of those that are adjustable so that a person can raise and lower the head of the bed or arch the lower portion for leg comfort.

  They’d had to buy new bedding to fit that bed, because it was a double twin that overall was a king-sized bed. That way, each side could be raised or lowered to suit each person. Each single mattress had to have its own fitted bottom sheet, but then one king top sheet went over the top. A new blanket and comforter set went on top of the sheets, and when she was all done, it looked beautiful. The comforter set was a shimmering deep emerald green. They had both been drawn to it when shopping, and it looked even better on the bed than it had in the plastic bag on the store shelf.

  When that was done, she tackled the master bath next, as they would need showers and their toiletries out that night. Their clothes were hung in the huge walk-in closet next. With the bare essentials out of the way, Victoria went back down to the main level to work on the kitchen with Lena. Within a couple of hours the kitchen was in pretty good order, at least good enough to fix supper in. Which, by now, it was time for.

  Victoria and Lena worked together to heat up canned soup and make sandwiches for the evening meal. It would get them through the night. There was also leftover cake and ice cream for dessert.

  After supper, Victoria and Rafael worked to bring some semblance of order to the family room. The new sectional had been delivered, along with the new TV. They still wanted to find a nice entertainment center, but it would have to wait a day or two until they got some other things done. They left the movies all in the boxes they’d been packed in and set them near the TV. They did hook up the DVD/Blu-Ray player to the TV, even though it would probably have to be unhooked to move them into an entertainment center when they found one. But Rafael was anxious to make sure that everything worked the way it’s supposed to. By eight-thirty everyone was exhausted, so they gave it up for the night and all went to bed.

  They were so tired that it was hard to appreciate the fact that this was the first night in their new home. Rafael made some remark about it being “the first night of the rest of our lives.” They quickly showered and fell into bed. Rafael was asleep before Victoria finished in the bathroom and came to bed. She looked at his dear face, so relaxed in sleep. She had been looking forward to initiating their new bed in their new bedroom that night, but she wouldn’t wake him. He needed his sleep, as did she. Tomorrow would be another busy day.

  And indeed, it was. Victoria finished unpacking all of their bedroom stuff the next morning. She set up all her little knick-knacks on top of her new dresser, and moved all of her clothes that were still in her old dresser into the new one. She did the same with Rafael’s clothes that were in the old chest of drawers, bringing them from the other bedroom and putting them away in his new chest of drawers. It was work, no doubt, but it was also fun. Victoria was thrilled with their new bedroom set, and just was having so much fun putting everything away and arranging it just so-so.

  The books and photo albums that she had always kept in her room, she now took downstairs to the family room to place in the floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcase that stretched for twenty feet along one wall. There was room there for all of her books, all of Rafael’s books, all of the books that had belonged to her parents, all of their DVDs, plus having ample room for the knick-knacks, figurines, and other ornament
al things that they both brought to the new house.

  The paintings that Victoria had bought on their honeymoon trip were hung in various places throughout the family room, living room, dining room, and their bedroom, along with a few other paintings and wall décor that Victoria had kept from the old house. By that evening, the house was taking shape, and looking like somebody actually lived there.

  As she and Rafael walked through the rooms that evening and surveyed the progress that had been made that day, they were very pleased with themselves. They went down to Lena’s suite and tapped on her door to see how she was coming along.

  “How are you doing with your rooms?” Victoria asked when Lena opened the door and invited them in.

  “Well, I’m making progress,” she said. “I had no idea I had so much stuff until I went to pack it all up over at the other place. Now I’m kinda having trouble finding places for everything here. I think I need a bigger bookcase, or second smaller one, or something. I’ve got room for something else, so I’m going to have to go shopping for one tomorrow so I can unpack a few more boxes.”

  “We need to go find an entertainment center, too, so we can finish up the family room,” Rafael said. “Do you want to go with us? Or would you rather do your own shopping?”

  “I think I’ll go by myself,” Lena said. “Then I won’t be in you guys’ way. We can probably both shop more efficiently if we do it separately.”

  “Well, you’re more than welcome to go with us if you want to,” he told her. “You sure won’t be in our way. But maybe we’d be in yours.”

  He winked at her and grinned. He had a feeling that she would go to a lower-end store than they wanted to shop in. And that was fine. Whatever she was comfortable with.

  “I’ll see,” Lena said. “Maybe by morning I’ll have changed my mind. That’s my privilege, you know.”