Chapter Ten
Feeling frazzled—not that she was anything else these days—Darby entered the parlor at the Lovelock Inn for the second time that day. That morning, she and all four of her daughters had come over to help Aunt Lily set up the room for the reading of the will.
Aunt Lily was an early bird and always had been. Darby knew she had to get over to the Lovelock Inn early to help or the older woman would just do it all herself. There was no way Darby would let that happen. Aunt Lily had quite enough on her plate.
Darby and her girls walked in just as Aunt Lily was crossing the lobby to go into the parlor. The surprised and guilty look on her face had been priceless and worth all the guff Darby had gotten for rousting her girls out of bed so early.
Once they’d gotten the bulk of the regular parlor furniture moved out of the way, they set up several rows of deluxe folding chairs for the attendees of the will reading. Quite a few people would be in attendance for the first half of the reading. However, the second half would be family-only.
At one point, when Darby had gone into the kitchen to get some water, she’d noticed a couple walking on the beach. It was her turn to be surprised as she recognized her eldest half-sister, Victoria, with Miles Lang, their late father’s longtime lawyer and right-hand man. Intrigued, Darby eased a little further away from the window so it wouldn’t look like she was spying if they happened to see her.
Which she wasn’t. She was just having a glass of water and watching the surf roll in.
While watching the waves, she happened to notice that Victoria and Miles looked like they were whispering secrets to each other as they approached the Lovelock Inn. Darby had to admit the two of them looked really good together.
She wished she knew Victoria well enough to ask about her love life. Some people might think that an odd concept, since they were half-sisters. That was just the way it was in the Lovelock family.
Later, Darby and her girls had run into Victoria and Sunshine, her father’s third wife, as they were leaving after setting up the parlor. Both women remarked on how much all four of her daughters looked like Darby.
“They all might look like me but they have their father’s temperament most times,” Darby said with a smile. Unsurprisingly, her girls all looked embarrassed to be spoken about at all, but they were well-mannered enough not to say anything impolite to their mother in front of others.
“Temperament?” Sunshine had asked, likely assuming she meant a volatile one.
Darby clarified, “Their temperament is so super chill that sometimes I have to check each of them for a pulse.”
They all laughed.
Darby paused in the parlor doorway to get her bearings. Glad to see that her sisters were already there, she went to join them. She sat in the chair next to Evaline, who was seated next to Colleen, who was seated beside her husband-to-be, Alex Harris-West. Darby liked him. Even though he was from an “old money” family and heir to some big media fortune, Alex seemed down-to-earth and not a snob about his social status in the stratosphere of polite Philadelphia society.
Colleen and Alex were exchanging their vows in an extravagant wedding ceremony in the summer. After the wedding, they would immediately travel to an amazing remote tropical honeymoon thereafter. Darby had sighed over the resort’s promotional photos more than once.
Darby was of course very happy for Colleen, if also surprised that her ultra-independent sister had decided to get married at all. After Colleen passed forty, Darby had decided her oldest full sister would never settle down. She was glad she hadn’t put a bet down on that. She would have lost big.
Colleen had always been a go-getter when it came to her profession—probably better than the son their father never had, if he’d bothered to notice. Colleen had worked hard, built her skincare business up and sold it for a chunk of change not even a year ago.
Darby didn’t know the exact figure. She would never be bold enough to ask. However, she was certain it had been impressive. Colleen didn’t do anything by half measure.
Darby was proud of her big sis for making her career a huge success and doing it her own way. Colleen had accomplished her amazing career without any help from their father or their mother’s side of the family.
While both sides had lots of wealth and certainly could have helped Colleen, they hadn’t. Colleen had the satisfaction of claiming the entire victory, earned with her own blood, sweat and tears. Darby knew for a fact there had been lots of all three over the years.
Darby wasn’t sure how Alex and Colleen had met, but it had been before she’d sold her company. Alex was madly in love with her sister and it showed on his face every time he even glanced at Colleen. Like he was lucky to be in her presence, let alone be the man who was about to marry her.
As Darby half-listened to Evaline and Colleen chat about the upcoming wedding, she glanced around the room. She spotted Victoria sitting with Aunt Lily in the front row of chairs. Darby hated that she wasn’t close to all her sisters. After the reading of the will, she planned to do her best to rectify that situation. They could set up a texting group and keep in touch. Or an email chain so they could contact each other on occasion.
Her gaze moved on.
The parlor was full of people for the will reading. She recognized many of them as some of Horatio’s longtime employees.
She didn’t recognize the woman seated in the back row on the opposite side of where Darby was. She tried not to stare, but the woman reminded her of someone. After a couple minutes, Darby realized she resembled Victoria. She had dark hair like Victoria and the same general shape to her face. Darby couldn’t see the woman’s eyes, and whimsically wondered if they were a vivid blue like Victoria’s. And like their father’s.
Wouldn’t that be weird.
Horatio’s vivid blue eyes never seemed to miss a thing. Not in business. Not in life.
Aunt Lily had the striking Lovelock blue eyes, too.
Darby, on the other hand, had Kelly’s gray eyes. So did Ava and Bella. Her two youngest daughters, Sophie and Talia, had Nate’s brown eyes.
Darby glanced again at the dark-haired woman and made a mental note to keep an eye on the stranger. Was she a distant Lovelock cousin? Often a will reading brought all manner of relatives out of the woodwork.
It was just as possible she was an employee of Lovelock Enterprises Darby had never met. That wouldn’t be a surprise. There were quite a few members of her father’s residential staff and high-level office employees in the room.
Darby didn’t recognize everyone in the parlor, of course, but many who she didn’t know by name at least looked familiar.
Her understanding was that once the main gist of the will had been read with bequests for friends and employees, the parlor would be cleared for family members only, including ex-wives. Her mother and Sunshine would be allowed to stay to hear the final wishes set down in Horatio Lovelock’s last will and testament.
Darby looked over her shoulder and wondered when—or if—her mother was actually going to show up. She certainly hadn’t wanted to come to Valentine Key. The fact that Horatio’s will strongly suggested she show up only made her angry. She insisted to everyone and anyone who would listen that she had washed her hands of Horatio Lovelock a long time ago and never looked back.
Darby found it hard to blame her mother. She knew the marriage had been a difficult one. But she wondered if it was healthy for her mother to harbor such a grudge and loathing for a relationship that ended decades ago.
Kelly had even remarried a few years after the divorce. Clifton Abbott was more mild-mannered than Darby could imagine Horatio being in his entire life. While she understood her mother’s feelings, she didn’t necessarily agree with the way Kelly had handled everything in her marriage to Horatio.
She definitely didn’t agree with how her father had handled pretty much anything regarding any of his relationships, personal or professional.
All of that unpleasantness was long ago, best forgotten and Darby thought it was useless to rehash it or be angry about it after so much time had passed.
Darby’s musings were interrupted when the executor entered the parlor. Miles Lang walked to the front of the room and the strategically placed desk, where he would officially read the will. He nodded at a staff member at the back of the room, apparently a signal to close the doors.
She watched to see if there was any personal interaction between Miles and Victoria, but was disappointed. No meaningful glances. No long, simmering stare. A pity.
Miles looked all business and Victoria looked politely attentive.
Darby wondered if she had misinterpreted the interaction she’d seen between them on the beach that morning. She didn’t think so.
It was something to keep an eye on, because she was not above being a nosy britches where any and all romances were concerned. Besides, Valentine Key operated just like every other small town in America—everyone knew everyone else’s business, whether they wanted that or not. It just was the truth of things.
Being from New York City, Victoria might not know this, but she was about to find out.
If there was love in the air, Darby hoped Victoria and Miles would be happy, regardless of how their relationship turned out. Darby fully acknowledged that she tended to be a hopeless romantic.
As the man guarding the door reached for the handle to lock it to keep anyone from interrupting the reading of the will, Kelly Lovelock Abbott slipped inside the room. She gave the guard a withering look, then made a beeline to sit in the row directly behind Darby, Evaline and Colleen. Her medium blond hair looked as styled as if she’d just stepped from a salon, her matched jacket and skirt flattering to her rounded figure. A waft of expensive perfume came with her.
Darby was glad she’d made it, even if it was barely in the nick of time. Kelly probably would have beat the door down if she’d been locked out. Luckily, she had made it in without calling too much attention to herself.
Darby turned to greet her mother, but thought better of it when she saw Kelly did not look happy. She faced forward before her mother noticed. Better to put any conversation off until later. Darby did not look forward to chatting with her mother after this meeting. She did her best to put some starch in her spine and endure.
Darby had learned a long time ago that making nice and trying to get through to the other side of someone’s anger was the best and most practical way to go.
Especially when it came to her opinionated mother.