Chapter Six
Darby walked into the lobby of the Lovelock Inn just as Aunt Lily was heading toward the stairs arm in arm with a familiar-looking woman. She was floored to realize it was Victoria, her eldest half-sister.
Victoria looked exactly like her mother, Isabella. Well, she looked like the picture Darby had seen of her father and his first wife, only older. She had Horatio and Aunt Lily’s striking blue eyes, but her long, dark hair, classic loveliness and trim, attractive figure were all Isabella.
Darby had gotten in trouble for unearthing the picture after it had been put with random things her mother had packed up when she left Horatio. She discovered it in a closet in the basement at her grandparents’ house when she’d been exploring one day.
Darby had taken the photograph upstairs to study and her mother had flown off the handle. She did not like any reminders of Horatio Lovelock’s first wife. She especially hadn’t wanted Darby to covet it. Except she truly hadn’t coveted anything except seeing a picture of her father when he’d been young and happy.
Her mother didn’t like that, either.
“He never loved you girls. He only wanted a son. Why don’t you understand that?” her mother had railed, her hand outstretched as she waited for Darby to give up the photo.
Darby had clutched the frame to her chest and run to her room crying, unwilling to give up the picture. She expected her mother to follow and rip the photo frame away from her and do something dramatic, like throw it into a lit fireplace. She hadn’t.
In fact, her mother had never discussed it ever again.
For years, Darby kept the photo hidden in her nightstand drawer. If her mother had known that, and she likely had, she didn’t talk about it or scold Darby for it.
“Darby,” Aunt Lily said, a smile lighting up her face the moment she saw her.
Darby was immediately removed from her memory and brought back to the here and now.
“Hi, Aunt Lily,” she said. Turning her gaze to her eldest half-sister, she added, “Hi, Victoria. Long time, no see.”
Victoria smiled in what seemed like genuine pleasure. “Hi, Darby. It has been quite a long time, hasn’t it.”
“Are you going to stay here at the Lovelock Inn before the reading of the will or are you just taking a tour of the place?”
“Both, actually. I’m taking the grand tour with Aunt Lily and I will be staying here until the reading of the will, maybe longer. We’ll see.” She squeezed their Aunt Lily’s arm and grinned at her.
Was Victoria staying because of what was going to be revealed in their father’s will? Did she know something Darby didn’t? Perhaps.
Darby knew all the Lovelock sisters had received a letter from Aunt Lily about what their father might have in store for them. Or, rather, the possibility that it wasn’t going to be a straightforward division of assets between them.
Tamping down her curiosity about what Victoria knew and didn’t know about their father’s final wishes, Darby asked, “Are you still living in New York City?”
Victoria nodded. “Yes. My daughter, Angelica, is grown and gone and living in Oregon. I don’t need as much space anymore, so I downsized several years ago to a tiny apartment.” She glanced around the sizable lobby of the Lovelock Inn. “This place is rather grand in comparison. I had some time off coming to me, so I thought I might stay on here for a bit and catch up with Aunt Lily. Frankly, it’s been too long. I’m woefully behind on all the news from Valentine Key.”
“Good. That’s good.” Darby nodded. “I guess you know that I live here on the island.” She glanced at their aunt, knowing that the older woman shared all the good news in the family with everyone whenever she got a chance. Darby loved hearing about her distant sisters, as she thought of them.
“Yes, of course she does, dear Darby,” Aunt Lily said. “I always do my best to keep all the Lovelock sisters apprised of each other just a little bit.”
Darby smiled. “I know you do, Aunt Lily. I’ve always been grateful for that.”
Victoria said, “I’ve also been very appreciative for all the good news you’ve told me about all my little sisters over the years, Aunt Lily. If I remember correctly, Darby, you have four daughters. Is that right? I have seen pictures of them and I hope I’ll get a chance to meet them while I’m in town.”
Darby relaxed, only then realizing she’d tensed up when she started this conversation. “Let’s make that happen. It would be lovely for you to meet Ava, Bella, Sophie and Talia. Perhaps we could all have dinner one evening while you’re here.”
“Thank you, Darby, that would be great.”
“You may even run into Ava before then. During the day, she’s a housekeeper here at the inn.”
“Really?” Victoria looked at Aunt Lily. “How nice to have someone from the family so close.”
“Ava is a very responsible young woman,” Aunt Lily said. “Did you need to talk to me about something in particular, Darby, or were you just stopping in to say hello?”
Called back to the reason for her visit, Darby said with a laugh, “I wanted to know if you needed any help setting up the parlor for the reading of Father’s will. I can come over myself or send a couple of my girls to help out. Or I might just bring them all and we can make fast work of whatever needs to be done.”
Aunt Lily nodded as if thinking about having youngsters do the work instead of her and deciding that was a great idea. “That would be fine. Thank you so much, Darby. I might need some help, at that.”
Victoria said, “I’m also happy to help in any way I can. And I’d love to hang out with you and your girls, Darby.”
“Excellent,” she said, glad this first meeting with one of her half-sisters after all this time had gone so well. “I’ll see you then, if not before.”
To Aunt Lily, she said, “Is everyone that is coming in from out of town staying here? It would be most convenient, don’t you think?”
Aunt Lily’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I know that Colleen and Evaline will be here. They made reservations to do so months ago, when Miles let everyone know the date of the reading of the will. I’m not certain about your mother. She hasn’t called to say what her plans were. Since I hadn’t heard from her, I thought maybe Kelly was staying with you. Is she?”
Darby frowned. “Actually, I don’t know where she’s staying, if not here. Has she truly not called you about it? I thought she said she had made reservations a while back. Do you want me to check with her?”
Darby made a mental note to herself to take care of this simple thing for Aunt Lily. She didn’t like talking to her mother about the reading of the will. It was never a pleasant subject with her.
Kelly had been asked to be present, but was resistant to the idea. Darby didn’t know why. All she knew was that she wasn’t going to enjoy listening to her mother complain about her father yet again.
Aunt Lily shook her head. “No need for you to make a special call, Darby. If Kelly decides to stay here, I have plenty of rooms.”
“I’ll try to remember to call her anyway,” Darby said truthfully. She might remember. “She shouldn’t just assume you’ll have a room for her.”
“Well, don’t worry about it if you forget. It will just take a few minutes to get one room set up, but if I know in advance, I can make sure she doesn’t have to wait while we get a room ready for her.”
Darby wasn’t sure why an unoccupied room wouldn’t be ready for unexpected guests at any time. It made her recall something Ava had said about things being slow at the inn. She’d have to ask her eldest girl for more details later. “I sure will do my best to call and ask her. She shouldn’t just expect everyone to accommodate her. Not that it will do much good. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what I say. She does what she wants.”
Aunt Lily gave her a knowing smile. She understood perfectly how Darby’s mother operated. She’d complained enough times about the woman to her aunt over the years. Aunt Lily always made her feel better.
Darby should have known her mother would be difficult. She’d made it very clear she was dreading this reading-of-the-will business. Her mother was certain she wasn’t named in the will as a beneficiary and didn’t see why she had been ordered to attend. On the other hand, she wanted to be present just in case a “cataclysmic miracle,” as she referred to it, happened. Darby rolled her eyes to herself.
Kelly had certainly been surprised when the executor, Miles Lang, had sent her a firmly worded invitation to the reading. Perhaps Horatio was leaving her something in his will. It would be a surprise if he had. Darby couldn’t guess what it might be.
“Well, I should get going. There are always a million things on my to-do list and it forever feels like I’ve only crossed off a handful of those things. Have fun on your tour, Victoria.” Including her aunt, she said, “I’ll see you both soon.” She waved at them before turning to leave.
They waved back and headed up the grand staircase from the ornate lobby of the Lovelock Inn. As her aunt had intended from the start, the place still screamed, “I am an expensive-looking Italian villa ready for only the richest-of-the-rich vacationers.”
Darby headed out to her car. She made yet another mental note to call her mother and find out her plans for while she was in Valentine Key. She sincerely hoped Kelly wasn’t planning on staying with her.
If her mother didn’t want to stay at the Lovelock Inn and insisted on staying at Darby’s home, she’d have to kick one of the girls out of their room to sleep on the sofa in the den.
Not the end of the world…unless one was a teenager.
She’d have to cross that bridge and endure that drama later. If it came to that, she planned to put it off as long as possible.
Perhaps her mother would make her life easy and just stay somewhere else. That was likely not going to happen but Darby could dream. Amazingly, the Valentine Key Motel was still in business. It wasn’t a five-star place, but not terrible. Or so she’d heard. Her mother could stay there.
Though she tried her best to avoid it, Darby returned to fretting over what could possibly be in her father’s will—and what kind of new chaos it would throw into her too-busy life.
Whatever happened, Darby figured things wouldn’t be the same for quite a long while, given the little she knew about what was coming in her father’s will from hints Aunt Lily had dropped. All of them would have to make changes and, possibly, sacrifices.
Or maybe some of her half-sisters wouldn’t. Maybe they would simply walk away from any possible inheritance.
That wouldn’t surprise her. It wasn’t like Horatio hadn’t turned his back on his daughters for most of their lives.