Chapter Nine
Victoria set her brush down on the dresser and gazed at herself in the mirror. She was equal parts excited and nervous to go downstairs. Jessica and Jacklyn had arrived that afternoon and checked into their rooms at the Lovelock Inn.
She’d always enjoyed spending time with the twins, but that had been a long time ago. Decades, really. A lot of things had changed in her life. In theirs, too, of course. They were women, with careers, relationships, responsibilities. She wanted to hear all about it.
It was a struggle to keep her hopes realistic—sometimes, there were good reasons why people drifted apart as they matured—but she wanted to get to know her half-sisters again, all five of them. If nothing else, the reading of the Horatio’s will would give her that chance.
Victoria put a determined smile on her face and headed down to the kitchen to share a private family dinner with Aunt Lily, Jessica, Jacklyn and Sunshine.
When she pushed through the door, the twins were there to greet her with smiles and warm hugs. The women exclaimed how much they had changed—or not—and settled into the uncomplicated dance of females bonding over the ritual of getting food on the table.
Aunt Lily had prepared a meal she’d always called a summer staple, even though it wasn’t summer yet. It was pure sensory nostalgia, and Victoria drank it in. Every summer while she was growing up, she had spent at least a week at the Lovelock Inn with Aunt Lily.
As it turned out, Victoria wasn’t the only one who had fond memories of Aunt Lily’s summer staple. Jessica and Jacklyn squealed like little girls as soon as they found out what was to be served.
“Oh, my gosh, I think I’m in heaven,” Jessica said with a dramatic sigh. “I haven’t had grilled ham steaks, baked sweet potatoes, homemade baked macaroni and cheese casserole, fresh green beans and marshmallow fruit salad since the last time we were here in the summer when we were kids. Have you, Jacklyn?”
“No, and I think my mouth is watering,” Jacklyn said. Pointing to the yeast rolls right next to the crock of honey butter that Aunt Lily always made fresh, she added, “And I don’t care how many carbs are involved, I will enjoy more than one yummy, yeasty homemade roll with lots of honey butter.”
Victoria grinned. “Me, too. This is one of my very favorite meals. The only time I can ever get it, if I don’t come down here, is my own pitiful attempt to make it, which never turns out well. I have been able to piece together something like it at an ordinary buffet restaurant but it never tastes as amazing as Aunt Lily’s spread.”
“Oh, now, it’s just a simple meal.” Despite her humble demurral, Aunt Lily beamed. “But I’m so glad you all remembered it. I like to think of it as one step above comfort food.”
“I think this is the very definition of comfort food, Aunt Lily,” Jacklyn said. “And I thank you. I can’t wait to dig in.”
Sunshine walked into the kitchen as they were moving the food from the counters to the set table. She hugged her daughters and Victoria, then pulled Aunt Lily into a tight embrace, too.
“It is so good to see you all here,” she said, her face lit with happiness. “I know the reason is a sad one, but this girl’s get-together is long overdue.”
Sunshine sat down at one side of the table between her two girls. Victoria sat across from them and Aunt Lily took the chair at the head of the table.
They started passing bowls around, Victoria filling her plate as if she hadn’t eaten for a week. She’d decided she’d better get as much of Aunt Lily’s mouthwatering comfort food as she could while she was here.
“Do you girls remember the time when Victoria was visiting us and somehow you came up with Sunshine and the Girl Band with Twins as our rock-and-roll name?” Sunshine asked with a huge grin on her face. “I thought that was the funniest thing I’d ever heard.”
Jessica nodded. “I remember. We were talking about wanting to sing and be in a group together and Victoria came up with the name.”
Jacklyn laughed. “I had totally forgotten about that. Hilarious! I think we were like eight or nine years old and Victoria was visiting us in the summer.”
Sunshine nodded. “Yes. Right. You three were out on the back porch of our condo, with pretend microphones, belting out tunes like rock stars. Very entertaining. Then you invited me to join your girl band and we discovered very quickly that I do not have a voice for singing at all. As I recall, the dog started howling until I stopped.”
Everyone at the table was practically bent over laughing.
Aunt Lily said, “I wish I’d been there. I’m so glad the three of you girls were able to get together after Sunshine and Horatio weren’t together anymore.”
“That was all Sunshine,” Victoria said. “She would call me and if I exhibited even a hint of resistance, she’d pour on the charm, promise all manner of awesome things we could do together and I was always convinced I had to visit.”
Sunshine smiled and her cheeks pinked up. “Well, you are all sisters. I just wanted you girls to know each other. I wish I could have gotten Colleen, Darby and Evaline to join us, but that was just not to be.”
“Speaking of Darby and her sisters, she called an hour ago,” Aunt Lily said. “Colleen and Evaline will be arriving first thing in the morning from their flights out of Philadelphia to Miami. They were planning to share a taxi from Miami to Valentine Key. If all goes as it should, they’ll definitely be here a few hours before the appointed meeting time for Horatio’s last will and testament to be read.”
The reading of the will was set for two o’clock the next afternoon. Miles had told Aunt Lily he’d hired two men to serve as guards over the proceedings so no one could crash in or enter the room once the private family part of the reading began, which was to be the second half of the gathering.
“What about Kelly?” Jessica asked. “Will she be coming, too? Is she considered family in this case?”
Aunt Lily nodded. “Yes. She was definitely invited. I don’t know if she will be arriving alone or even what time—no details whatsoever. Poor Darby. She told me, ‘I guess we will see our mother if she shows up, or not if she doesn’t.’ I know that even after all this time, Kelly is still very bitter about her divorce from Horatio.” Aunt Lily gave Sunshine an apologetic look for bringing up her predecessor. “It’s hard to blame her, but still. Horatio is gone. I don’t understand her animosity to everyone else in the family.”
Sunshine nodded. “I have heard that about her, and that’s all I have to go on. I’ve actually never met the woman. I tried to contact Kelly to see if she wanted to get our girls together, so they could all know their sisters, but she never returned any of my calls, messages or any communication whatsoever. I seem to remember a Christmas card that I sent to her was returned. Honestly, I would be surprised if she shows up.”
Sunshine shrugged. While she didn’t frown, her usually upbeat expression was somber. That was as upset as Victoria had ever seen Sunshine get. She was a happy person who didn’t like being sad or angry.
Sunshine may never have met Kelly Lovelock Abbott, but Victoria thought her father’s third wife was very astute when it came to the personality of his second wife. She was exactly right—Kelly was bitter and she didn’t care who knew it. She did not bow to anyone for any reason regarding her ex-husband or his family.
Victoria would be just as surprised as Sunshine if Kelly showed up for the reading of the will.
Everyone at the table filled their plates at least partially a second time. And when they were too full to take more helpings and each woman said they wouldn’t be eating the next day, Aunt Lily said, “Oh, what a shame. I made dessert.”
There was a chorus of groans around the table.
Jacklyn said, “I meant I wouldn’t be eating regular food. Dessert is a whole ’nother thing.”
Jessica put up her hand. “I second that, and my sweet tooth thanks you, Aunt Lily.”
Laughing, Victoria helped Lily bring out not only the frosted chocolate sheetcake brownies she had made from scratch but a carafe of fresh-brewed coffee to enjoy with the treat.
Mildly, as though remarking on the weather, Aunt Lily said, “I noticed you were walking with Miles early this morning on the beach, Victoria. You two looked quite cozy. How long has this been going on?”
Victoria had just taken a sip of hot coffee and almost sputtered in surprise. She swallowed carefully, placed her cup back in its saucer and said, “I wouldn’t say anything is going on. We met out on the beach. I was on my way out, he was jogging back to the inn. We didn’t go together at the outset.”
“Really?” Aunt Lily sounded skeptical. “What were you chatting about when you came back to the Inn? Your heads were close together, like you were sharing confidences.”
Victoria scoffed at her aunt’s not-so-subtle effort to stir something up. “That’s not the way I remember it.” She had to smile. She could tell by her aunt’s tone that she wasn’t serious about her pointed questions. She was just teasing and seemingly delighted to do it at Victoria’s expense and in front of Sunshine, Jessica and Jacklyn.
Shrugging with exaggerated nonchalance, Victoria picked her coffee cup back up and took a long, slow sip before adding, “We were just chatting about Valentine Key and being back in Florida, mostly.”
“Mostly? What else?”
“Why do you need to know?” Victoria lifted one eyebrow, doing her best not to grin.
Aunt Lily giggled. “Because I’m a nosy old woman who cares about my eldest niece.”
Everyone at the table, who must have been holding their breaths, suddenly broke out in laughter.
“You really had me going, Aunt Lily,” Jessica said. “I thought you were about to lay down the law to Victoria and tell her she wasn’t allowed to date any of our father’s employees or something.”
Aunt Lily giggled again. “Actually, if she’d answered any of my questions,” she gave Victoria a mock glare, “I would have told her that I approve. Miles Lang is a very nice man.”
“What a relief.” Victoria put the back of her hand to her brow as if wiping away nervous sweat. “Now my imaginary romance can go forward.”
The laughter stopped as the four other women put their interested focus on Victoria.
Sunshine said, “Oh? Imaginary romance? Do tell, Victoria.”
She felt her cheeks heat up. “I mean, I like him. He’s a nice guy, for a lawyer, and he had to put up with Horatio Lovelock as a boss for over a decade and a half, right? That makes him the next best thing to a saint.”
They all smiled at her, but no one said anything else.
To Victoria’s very great relief, the phone on the wall of the kitchen rang, taking the pointed attention away from her.
Aunt Lily got up to answer the phone as the four women at the table sipped their coffee in quiet contemplation.
Victoria figured Sunshine, Jessica and Jacklyn were all contemplating whether she was in a serious relationship with Miles Lang. Which was ridiculous. She barely knew the man. Sure, she liked Miles a lot. And seeing him this morning on the beach had solidified her interest in him. Nothing unusual about that.
So she planned to explore her feelings with Miles. So what? She had no intention of doing that under the microscope of her aunt and sisters and one of her stepmothers watching their every move.
They all carried refills of their coffees out to the back patio for more catching up before they retired to their rooms to get ready and rest up for tomorrow’s big meeting.
As Victoria went through her bedtime routine and changed into her pajamas, she reflected on how much she had enjoyed reconnecting with the twins and their mother.
It had been far too long since she’d spent any meaningful time with Aunt Lily, too. So often it was just a hurried phone call on the birthday of one woman or the other, or a holiday.
Determined to change that, Victoria vowed to make more of an effort to stay in touch with all her relatives moving forward. They’d exchanged phone numbers while out on the patio and, at Sunshine’s urging, set up a group chat on their phones.
As Victoria slid between the crisp sheets of her bed and turned off the beside lamp, she wondered if maybe Darby, Colleen and Evaline might be interested in joining their text group. While Victoria wasn’t much of a social media nut, she looked forward to hearing from any of her sisters once they left Valentine Key to return to their everyday lives.
She also looked forward to seeing Miles in the morning for another walk on the beach. She’d kept that little tidbit to herself while sipping coffee with the Lovelock ladies.