Chapter Thirteen
Victoria stood up with Aunt Lily, unsure what to do first—go speak sternly to Miles or welcome a previously unknown sister into their midst. With a sharp look in Miles’s direction as she passed the desk, welcoming a new sister won out.
She approached the young woman who she now realized looked familiar because she was a Lovelock. In fact, she thought Marigold looked like her.
When she reached Marigold, Aunt Lily right on her heels, she extended one hand and said, “I’m Victoria, the eldest of Horatio’s daughters. It is so good to meet you, Marigold. I’m truly sorry we didn’t know about you before now. I don’t know what our father could’ve been thinking keeping you from us all this time.”
Marigold accepted the handshake and smiled a timid little smile that reminded Victoria of Aunt Lily. “Mari, please,” she said quietly. “I go by Mari. It’s good to meet you, Victoria.”
“Mari it is.” Victoria decided in the moment that a hug was needed. Hoping Mari was okay with it, she threw her arms around her little sister’s shoulders, pulled her close and squeezed her tight, whispering in her ear, “I hope you don’t mind a hug. I feel like it’s warranted in this unusual case.”
When she pulled away, Mari whispered back, “No. I don’t mind.” If Victoria wasn’t mistaken, there was a glisten of tears in her eyes.
Perhaps Mari had not expected a warm welcome. For her sake, Victoria hoped the rest of her sisters felt the way she did—that Mari was a wonderful and welcome addition to the family and not some illegitimate child trying to horn in on what little pittance they would get from their father.
Victoria turned toward the five women who had, in fact, gotten up and approached Mari as if to do the same thing Victoria had. They all had smiles on their faces. They all had tears in their eyes. In this case, that was a good thing.
Victoria said, “Everyone, this is Mari. Mari, this is everyone.”
She quickly introduced all the sisters and, last but not least, Aunt Lily, who hugged Mari so hard, Victoria was certain her new little sister’s bones must have cracked slightly in the process.
While the others clamored around Mari and took turns hugging her and introducing themselves further, Victoria turned her gaze to Miles. She could see the expression on his face was filled with guilt and he looked very uncomfortable.
From across the room, he mouthed the words, “I’m so sorry.”
Victoria nodded at him and managed a small smile. He looked instantly relieved. She pushed out a long sigh and calmed down. Miles was a lawyer, her father’s longtime adviser. What did she expect? That he would have betrayed Horatio’s confidence at this late date, his only reward facing charges and possible disbarment for breaching confidentiality?
There were rules he had to follow. That would likely always be true. She couldn’t be angry at him for doing what he was told and being unable, through attorney-client privilege, to spill all the secrets he held. That wasn’t fair.
There would still be a discussion about this, but Victoria would try her best not to be a grump about something neither Miles nor she had control of.
Again, anger at her father rose up inside her. She’d tried so hard to waylay that fury for the whole of her life. Now that he was gone, she found it useless and painful to carry a grudge.
Recently, she’d been able to keep her blood pressure down when thinking about her childhood. A minor victory, to be sure, but a short-lived one now that she had all this latest shocking information swirling around inside her head.
Victoria took a deep breath mentally and redirected her ire where it belonged—at Horatio Lovelock. So what if her blood pressure went back up? It couldn’t be helped in this situation.
∞∞∞
After being introduced by Miles in the shocking reveal when the will was read, Mari had tried her best not to look at anyone in the room, fearful of what she’d see.
However, the moment the reading was complete, she had been welcomed with a hug from her eldest half-sister, Victoria, and introduced to the others and Aunt Lily, her father’s sister. No one seemed mad at her, which was a relief.
After being alone since the loss of her mother, Mari was suddenly surrounded by women she was related to by blood. And there were so many of them. Six older sisters seemed like a lot, but she was unprepared for all of them to be talking at once.
She was also floored by what she was hearing.
Snatches of, “We’re so sorry we didn’t know about you until now,” and, “We wish we could’ve known you before the reading of the will,” and other very nice, welcoming sentiments.
She was very surprised by her sisters’ friendly nature. Clearly, they were sorry they hadn’t known about her until today.
To be honest, tears of joy at her introduction hadn’t even been on her bingo card as a possibility. She expected them all to resent having to deal an illegitimate sister into the wealth being distributed today.
Perhaps it was because the only reference to rich families she had was in television and movies. Mari would have to update her perception of how wealthy family members acted, especially during a reading of a will. Or perhaps the Lovelocks were unique.
Mari was suddenly very grateful that there was not going to be any cat-fighting or screaming about unfairness and accusations that now they’d all get less because there was an extra sister.
At one point, Victoria quickly said to the others, “Wait! I think we all feel the same way. We are all stunned and shocked that we have another sister. However, I feel like we should not smother the poor woman the minute we find out about her. Let’s give her some space and breathing room. Do you all agree?”
There had been nods all around the circle of women surrounding Mari and they backed up a couple of steps.
Aunt Lily cried the whole time introductions were made, saying how sorry she was and how she wished she had known. Once she hugged Mari, she didn’t retreat, but stayed by her side.
Aunt Lily repeated over and over that she hadn’t even had a hint there was a seventh daughter out there. She said there was so much she wanted to tell Mari and so much she wanted to do for her. Mari practically cried with her by the end of her speech.
For Mari’s part, it was nice to be welcomed and not reviled. It was lovely that people were crying because they were so sad that they had not known about her until she got here. And moreover that if they had known about her, they would’ve reached out and talked.
Sunshine, who Mari knew was Jessica and Jacklyn’s mother, was as tearful as Lily. She hugged Mari several times, telling her that she was always welcome in Sunshine’s home no matter what, even though Mari didn’t even know where the woman lived.
Kelly, Horatio’s second wife and the mother of Colleen, Darby and Evaline, introduced herself and shook Mari’s hand. She wasn’t as outwardly affectionate as the others, but she was pleasant enough.
Mari felt overwhelmed by the openhearted nature of these women, given that she had basically crashed the reading of the last will and testament of her absentee father.
Mari couldn’t wait to get to know all six of her sisters. Coming here had been the exact right move for her to take. She’d been waffling in her life, wondering what came next, when, out of the blue, a messenger came to her doorstep with a plane ticket and strict instructions to be here at this place at this time.
She was dealing with the aftermath of a bitter breakup with her ex-boyfriend, a disaster that had blown up only days before the second missive from Miles Lang arrived. It was a welcome distraction.
For the first time, she was grateful she’d listened to her inner voice. The one that told her she should heed this odd, demanding second message from some lawyer to appear for the reading of the will of a man she didn’t know and doubted she’d have liked if she did.
Instead of ignoring it or tossing the missive into the nearest trash basket like she had with the first several months ago and moving on with her life, Mari had read the letter more closely. And decided to attend the reading of the will.
Bottom line, coming to Valentine Key had been the right move.
Mari supposed it was serendipity. Perhaps she’d start listening more to her inner gut feelings in the future. Perhaps.