I’ll love you forever and always, my greatest treasure.
Love,
Your Harriet
A tear splashed onto the paper, and I quickly blotted it with the sleeve of my blouse. It was the only way I knew I was crying. I couldn’t feel the wetness on my cheeks or the pressure in my eyes.
I’d never felt more loved or more alone. I had no idea how my body could house the extreme intensity of both emotions. It was as if I were exploding out and collapsing in, all at the same time. My very being was at war with itself.
“I need you to say something.”
I couldn’t seem to form words. Didn’t want to move my eyes from the paper in front of me. The last beautifully curved letters I’d ever receive from Harriet.
A hand squeezed my shoulder. “You’re really starting to freak me out. Do I need to call Bell’s dad?”
I jolted at those words, quickly wiping my eyes and forcing my gaze up. “I’m fine. I don’t need a doctor.”
“You’re not fine. No one expects you to be fine. I just want to make sure you’re not going catatonic on me. Maybe you should have a donut, get a little sugar running through that bloodstream.”
I scowled at Crosby. “I told you, I don’t like donuts.”
Crosby’s lips twitched. “Harriet told me Wholly Donuts are your favorite.”
My cheeks heated. That traitor. What else had she told the man sitting next to me? “I only eat them on Sundays.”
“Why in God’s name would you have that rule?”
“I try to eat healthy the rest of the week. Sunday is my cheat day.”
“Your cheat day…”
I straightened my spine, willing away the heat still coursing in my face. “Yes. It’s all about balance.”
“Only letting yourself indulge one day a week isn’t balance, Doll Face.”
“I don’t remember asking your opinion on the matter. And don’t use your patronizing pet names on me.”
Crosby held up his hands. “All right, all right. I’ll stick to Brown Eyes and only bring you donuts on Sundays from now on.”
I bit back the names I wanted to hurl at Crosby. They’d only give him some perverse sense of satisfaction. I forced myself to take a slow, steadying breath. “What do I need to do next?”
Crosby flipped the folder on his lap closed. “I’ll get the deed transferred to you. You’ll have to sign some paperwork, and that’s it.”
A few scrawled lines and the place that had been my sanctuary for most of my life would be my safe space forever. But what Harriet had asked of me, what she wanted me to build in The Gables, that was going to be far more challenging. I glanced down at the letter in my hand, the looping script staring back at me. The vision she had for The Gables, for me, it was far riskier than I’d ever considered. The life of my dreams had always been comprised of one word: steady. People and things that I could count on. Suddenly, that dream felt just a little bit empty.
8
Crosby
I stared at the door for far too long after it’d closed in Kenna’s wake. The emotions that had cascaded over her face as she read Harriet’s letter played on an endless loop in my mind. I’d never seen Kenna so unguarded. It was as if Harriet were the one person who had the keys to unlock all the things she hid beneath her fiercely protected surface.
“So, how’d she take it?”
I jolted at Penny’s voice, straightening from my perch where I leaned against my office doorjamb. “Better than I thought, honestly.” But I hadn’t liked the blank mask that had slipped over Kenna’s face when she finished the letter. It was a façade that seemed to suck every last ounce of life out of her, and I had no idea how to get it back other than to piss her off. Maybe I’d start by having donuts delivered to her every day but Sunday.
“How do you think the Abbots will take this?”
My gut tightened as I glanced at my watch. The family should be here any minute. “I’m guessing not well.” Why was it that some people who had so much, only hungered for more? As if just knowing that they were missing out on one small piece of the pie was enough to send them into a rage, even if they couldn’t possibly eat everything that was in front of them.
Penny tapped her pen against her desk. “Never cared for them. Clark and Annabelle always acted like they