Ever After (4 page)

True love.

It either existed in dreams or lived in times before I was born.

Forgetting the story, I stepped into the bathroom. Mirrors formed the walls reflecting my flushed olive-toned cheeks. Despite the flowerbed ordeal, ghostly visions, and the lost dead body, my eyes sparkled. A week ago, I would have thrown my head back and horse-laughed if someone had told me I’d board a plane or ever spend the night in a house like this.

Hot, steamy water in the huge clawfoot tub soaked away the day’s exhaustion.

* * * *

Scrubbed up and refreshed, I wrapped a blanket-sized white towel around me and rifled through my scant luggage. My spirits drooped. I had the wardrobe of a bum compared to my elegant jewel-ensconced surroundings. A pair of khaki capris and a creamy yellow sleeveless shirt were the best casual I had, so they had to do. I tossed them out of the suitcase and dried off.

I called Mama.

“Tell me everything. What’s it like? Is the house big? Are the people being nice to you? Did you make it through the plane ride okay? I mean, that was your first plane ride. I should have warned you that they can be bumpy.” Before Mama stopped talking, I’d forgotten her first question.

“I’m fine, Mama. It was a short plane ride. And the head groundskeeper, Thomas Warren, has been wonderful. I did just get here, though.”

“Well, good. I was worried you’d be all by yourself. So, have you found out why they asked you there?”

“Not enough to matter. So far, I’ve been on a tour of a ridiculously huge old house. It’s like a museum. Slightly smaller than the Biltmore Estate, but not much.”

“Oh, honey. You love houses like that.” Mama sighed happily. “At least if it is a mistake, it will be a nice vacation. You earned it.”

“Yeah.” I paused. “Well, let me call you back after I find out more. Thomas expects me downstairs soon for an outside tour.”

“Don’t forget to call. Love you, sweetie.”

“I won’t. Love you, Mama.”

* * * *

I woke from a dreamless nap.

When I pulled the door to my room shut, two male voices filtered from the first floor.

“…and you knew how it would make me feel. Do you have to adhere to every one of that old bat’s ridiculous wishes?” The masculine voice echoed through the halls.

“This is no time to start showing your insubordination,” Thomas said. “You know just as well as I that if her lawyer finds one thing out of line, it could mean the end of our stay here.”

“I’m sure if you’d explained to her that the room was permanently unusable or something, she would have agreed to any one of the other rooms. She is used to the accommodation level of a trailer park. You could have put her in the broom closet, and she’d have probably been ecstatic.”

Trailer park. Oh, this guy and I were so not going to get along.

“I understand the sort of toll this must be taking on you, but at some point, you have to let go of this obsession.” That was Thomas.

“Obsession?” the opposing voice seethed. “How dare you?”

“You’ve got to stop letting everything that involves her do this to you. Maybe it would be best if you spent some time away from here. I have things to tend to, so we’ll take up where this conversation left off after I give her the grounds tour.”

I stepped five banister rails down.

Under the second floor, Thomas became visible in a doorway.

I didn’t make it a habit to eavesdrop, but I didn’t know how to proceed. If I went back into my room, Thomas might hear the door shut, and I couldn’t just unhear what I’d heard.

“So, what? You’re firing me now?”

“No, just offering suggestions to make things easier for you.”

“There’s only one thing that will make this easier, and she may as well be dead.”

At the bottom of the staircase, I cleared my throat to announce my arrival.

Thomas glanced up and jerked the door shut on the other voice. The bones in his knuckles protruded as he gripped the doorknob. “Ah, Miss Knowles. Are you ready to get the grounds tour under way?”

“We are not done discussing this,” a man behind the door said.

Thomas smiled. “Ahem. I hope you found everything you needed.”

“Yes, the amenities were beyond my expectations.” The trailer park statement still ate at me.

“Good. Then if you will, follow me.” He relaxed.

“You can call me Allie.” From the trailer park, I wanted to add, but Thomas didn’t deserve my sarcasm. My blood boiled.

The man behind the door knew nothing about me.

“Then Allie it is. Right this way.” He reached for the rear door at the end of a long hallway of paintings and held it open for me to pass through.

I was too mad to care about any of the painted faces.

A long covered patio spread off the back of the house. It could have held forty people shoulder to shoulder. Surrounding its boundaries was a black wrought iron fence twisted into various flowers and leaves. We zigzagged between tables set a few feet apart.

Thomas told me about Ava’s love for hosting parties in her early years as I stewed in my anger. When we reached the end of the patio, Thomas hushed as I took in the grand view.

Staring out at the tranquil scene, I relaxed. A little. The mean guy’s words ate at me.

The break in the middle of the patio led down three semicircular steps. Straight ahead, a fountain sprayed water as high as the trees. A flowerbed dense with yellow blooms surrounded it. A long green wall of roses speckled with red and pink stretched between the pool area and a gravel walkway leading farther back on the property. Along the rose wall, a singular entrance allowed people into a maze.

“To pass time, you can read the plaque and study the map. Trust me. If you venture in, it’ll take hours to find your way out.” Thomas chuckled. He wiped his face with a white cloth and took deep breaths as we walked by tall walls of fragrant roses, but his time-crinkled mouth turned up into a smile. “Amazingly enough, one of the original owner’s farmhands designed it. He was quite an intelligent prodigy, they say. It’s one of the property’s most awe-inspiring features. No other maze within miles is as large or complicated. I’d take you inside, but even I don’t have it memorized.”

Lampposts rose at intervals inside the maze, lighting the twilight sky. Walkways lined with marigolds and pompous grass took us around the backside toward darkened grounds. Floral scented air began to mix with that of animal droppings. A tranquil breeze caressed my face.

It was the country.

“These are the barns, stables, and storage sheds.” Thomas pointed at each one, considering me thoughtfully. “What do you think so far?”

We’d stepped just out of the protection of the lamplight, but the structures were still visible in the distance.

“I think you are building up my hopes for nothing.” I hadn’t seen the weed eater guy again yet either.

“Ava poured her time and finances into everything you see around you. And she paid well to maintain it.” The house, the maze, the pool, the large farm had to have been pruned by obsessive-compulsive elves. “She inherited it just before my nephew and I moved here. She almost sold it due to its dilapidated conditions, but after my nephew’s love of the place became more apparent to her, she poured more and more of her time into restoring it to its original grandeur. And I’m sure she wouldn’t have left it to someone unworthy.”

So Thomas had a nephew. Maybe he’d be nicer than the mean guy in the parlor.

“What exactly did she do? I mean, how did she come about her fortune?”

“Cosmetics. Some herbal type of tincture that reverses the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.” He smiled, his quote obviously a commercial or advertisement. “The orchards used to be just one source of her wealth. Who knew that an apple had some sort of magical ingredient?”

“Apple orchards?”

“Yes, but they’re no longer in use. They’re fields of dead grass now.”

“Who has overseen her business since she passed?”

“Cole. He will continue to do so till you get the hang of things, of course,” Thomas said with a lift of his brow.

“Cole? Is that your nephew?”

“Yes. He keeps to himself. The loner type. Probably why he was Ava’s favorite person. They were just alike.” Thomas clutched his hands primly at the hem of his suit coat. “I guess he was the closest thing she had to a son or grandson, given her age.”

“In that case, why didn’t she leave everything to him?”

“He refused.” Thomas pressed his lips together.

“Oh.” That was crazy.

“Don’t worry about him. It’s Ava you have to make happy. Despite the fact she’s not exactly with us, believe me she’s left direct orders involving you.” Thomas labored forward.

“Now you’ve raised the bar. Impress a dead lady.” My insides chilled. “If this whole thing isn’t a mistake, and she truly has chosen me, then I think she’s setting me up to fail miserably.”

“Oh, don’t worry. All she’s asked is that we keep you here.” His voice waivered on the last three words.

“So, to make her happy, all I have to do is stay? And what if I don’t want to?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t be held against your will, but you would forfeit everything she’s left you. Then it’d just go to the next in line.” Thomas gave me a meaningful look as we stopped. The purple haze of twilight had settled on the stone boundary of the grounds.

“And who might that be?”

Thomas looked over the countryside. “The state. And with the condition of the government these days, they’ll just piss away the money.”

“There’s really that much? Her company must still be doing well.”

“The money has only snowballed. What about you? You’re too young to have finished schooling.”

Yeah, us trailer park babies couldn’t be expected to carry on business at a corporate level.

But if this was real, I was in trouble. I’d never signed anything more serious than my college registration.

Thomas’s stare was quiet scrutiny.

“I know what you’re thinking. If this is real, how am I going to fill her business shoes with only a bachelor’s degree in psychology?”

“Psychology. Hmm, maybe you could help me with Cole and his temper tantrums.” Thomas looked to his shoes and cleared his throat. “And I hope you won’t try to fill Ava’s shoes. You can find your place here. In the end, there wasn’t much to it. She hired people to take care of the big stuff. She rarely had to do anything other than sign documents. If you have questions on any of them, I’ll have Cole look them over before you sign. If he’d take the damned bar, he could be the most infuriating lawyer in these parts. He can make quite an argument.”

So far, I wasn’t exactly impressed.

Thomas continued to a little gate beside the barn. It led to a quaint little cottage nestled in the trees. Behind it, headstones like rotten teeth protruded from the ground, and eight or ten mausoleums stood off in the distance.

“That’s the family graveyard. Only Rollinses are buried there.”

“Not to bring up dreadful things, but I’m curious. Did you find the casket?”

Thomas almost choked on air. He straightened his starchy bowtie. “Oh, um, that. Yes, we recovered the casket. It was in the sitting room in a corner. I guess some of the kids thought it was an amusement park ride. As mean as Ava was, I’m surprised she didn’t sit up and throttle them. That’d have been a sight to see. Speaking of the casket. Ava assigned me a time block to sit with her at the wake. What Ava wants, she gets. Even in death. And I still have a few calls to make, so if you wouldn’t find it too rude of me, I need to head back in to the land line.”

“Would it be okay if I took a walk? I need a few minutes to process everything.”

“Don’t venture too far, and stay on the flagstone walk. There’s always tomorrow morning for the farther boundaries of the property. Dinner is served at seven, which you can take in your room. I expect you to eat and keep up your strength. The next few days will be taxing.”

Thankful for a few minutes alone, I waved good-bye, but before he got too far away, I stopped him. “Thomas?”

He turned back to me with raised snow-white brows. “Yes, my dear?”

“If staying in that room will cause problems with your nephew, I could easily stay in another till we get this—my place here figured out.”

“I had really hoped you hadn’t heard. I apologize for Cole’s insensitivity when dealing with new people. Ava’s reclusiveness has rubbed off on him. I could tell you loved the room as soon as you entered it, and I wouldn’t dare take you out of it over a tantrum.” With a little bow, Thomas turned. In front of him, the large house filled the skyline, and he looked like a waddling yard gnome walking toward it.

The graveyard was too spooky at night, so I circled around it. The boundary of the property was lined with stone walls. Ava’s choice of outdoor décor had either been insane or eccentric. The corner of the grounds was marked with jeweled stone pillars. A thief could have made off with the jewels, and no one would have ever known.

The sun had hidden behind the trees over an hour earlier. The sky was dimmer, but in the inky darkness, a path to the left beckoned me. Gravel crunched under my feet. The air became heavier, more humid. Two more jeweled pillars marked the end of the path.

A few more yards farther, an old wrought iron gate clung to the wall boundary by a rusty hinge. When I pushed it forward, a metal on metal scream cut through the night.

Against better judgment, I stepped through the gate, leaving the flagstone walk. After stumbling on overgrown grass, I stopped short when something flickered below me.

I hadn’t seen the ravine until I’d almost plummeted over the grassy embankment. A rippling silver saucer glowed from the bottom. Around thirty feet down, a pond mirrored the moon.

Beyond the pool of water, the night was still.

Where were the normal cricket mating calls or frog’s deep, guttural hums?

Twigs broke behind me.

My palms moistened, and my blood frosted over. I stood erect. A tribal drum beat in my chest.

A low growl rumbled the night.

My jaw trembled as I turned.

Two oval-shaped, emerald eyes emerged from the overgrown thickets beyond the gate. Three feet away, a waist-high cat crept closer. Its head was twice the size of mine. Its lip curled up. One razor-sharp tooth could have sliced straight through me. Its black, shiny coat shimmered in the moonlight. It stopped, all four muscular legs locked, twitching.