Chapter Sixteen
Victoria was still a little thrown by all the shocking revelations that had come during the reading her father’s will. She was, though, elated about the budding relationship between her and Miles and what might happen.
By the time they were nearly done with the refreshments phase of the day, Victoria wanted to take a few of her sisters aside and talk to them about Aunt Lily and the condition of the Lovelock Inn.
After Miles handed out the packets, which no one save Darby peeked at, Victoria hadn’t wanted to bring it up. Everyone was digesting quite a few surprise disclosures from the day and she didn’t want to add another burden to the pile.
Did any of them know Aunt Lily was having problems with the Lovelock Inn? The only sister who might have even an inkling was Darby and that was because she lived in town and her eldest daughter was a housekeeper at the inn.
In her head, Victoria was thinking about how she could shift her translation business down to Valentine Key, give up her New York City apartment and move south.
Could she do that? Probably. Was it a really big, dramatic move for her? That was a big, loud yes. Part of her was excited at the possibility of the challenge and of making such a gigantic change. She’d been wanting to make an adjustment to her life, thinking ahead to where she wanted to retire as the big five-oh approached.
This shocking challenge seemed like a big flashing light of destiny giving her the ability to make a huge change in her life and help out her favorite aunt at the same time.
Aunt Lily deserved a win and Victoria wanted to give it to her, whatever that “win” turned out to be.
Victoria stood between Miles and Aunt Lily as they noshed on the refreshments her aunt had put out on the table in the formal dining room near the kitchen. Part of the room had been partitioned off from the buffet breakfast area. She guessed Aunt Lily didn’t want everyone to see that, for some reason.
Afternoon light filled the room with warmth and a lifetime of memories flooded into Victoria’s mind about spending time with Aunt Lily at the Lovelock Inn.
Victoria loved it here.
Maybe moving to Florida would be easier than she thought. Maybe. Not that it mattered. She was likely going to do it regardless of any complications. Aunt Lily needed and deserved help. Victoria planned to do whatever it took to make the Lovelock Inn right for her once more in whatever way, shape or form was needed.
As usual, Aunt Lily did quite a lot of work to put together the “after the will reading refreshments”—likely more than she should have—but all the food, flowers and decorations looked beautiful.
In the center of the table was a spray of flowers of different colors and sizes and shapes. The theme seemed to be a festive explosion, both in the food and the decorations on the table. The plates and napkins were just as bright and festive.
Aunt Lily was very talented at decorating and creating all manner of lovely things. She always had been, as far as Victoria knew.
Long ago, Aunt Lily had made Victoria a special quilt that was just for her whenever she visited the Lovelock Inn. She had showed a young Victoria a book with lots of flowers in it and asked her which was her favorite.
Victoria had looked carefully at each page and finally chosen a snapdragon. She liked that they were tall and straight and had a pointy top. She liked that they had a whole bunch of different colors, but the ones Victoria liked best were the shades of pink that the book said meant gentleness, sweetness and gracefulness. She especially liked what her aunt told her snapdragons represented in the book she had selected it from.
Snapdragons were considered a symbol of feminine strength and grace along with virtue and protection. Victoria liked all those things.
And so, Aunt Lily had made Victoria a quilt with embroidered snapdragons all over it.
She had also embroidered a set of pink towels with her name along one edge and a little snapdragon on each, just in case anyone didn’t realize that these were her special towels.
“Do you think everyone has had enough to eat and drink?” Aunt Lily asked.
Victoria frowned. There were several people moseying around the table selecting a nibble here and there. “I don’t know. Folks seemed to still be noshing a bit. Why?”
“Maybe I should start cleaning up.” Aunt Lily didn’t like to let things stay out too long, but Victoria didn’t think that was why her aunt wanted to wrap things up so early.
Victoria thought the older woman looked very tired. Admittedly, it had been a very taxing day. She understood her aunt wanting to get things cleaned up before she got too tired to take care of it.
“Tell you what—I’ll do the cleanup today. You’ve done enough. Why don’t you go rest a bit? It’s been a very exciting day for all of us.”
“Yes, it has. But you don’t need to clean all this up by yourself. I can at least help you do it.” Her aunt looked at the table like she was calculating what her first move would be in getting things cleaned up, packed up and out of the way.
“Don’t you have someone to help you?” Victoria asked. She’d assumed staff would help with small events such as this.
Her aunt frowned as if she didn’t understand the words Victoria spoke.
“Where is Mavis? Doesn’t she help you out with events like this on occasion?” Victoria asked.
Mavis Goodwin and her husband, Robbie, had been working at the Lovelock Inn for as long as Victoria could remember. They both did many jobs, though Mavis was initially hired to manage the housekeeping staff. She helped in reception on occasion when Lily couldn’t do it herself.
Victoria understood that over the years, Mavis not only ran the housekeeping staff, but had taken on helping with catering, which included the setup and cleanup for everything involved.
Robbie Goodwin had been hired as the lead porter and managed the staff in that arena. Later, his luggage-handling duties expanded to the role of concierge and really anything that was needed to help Mavis and Lily with the management of the Lovelock Inn.
Aunt Lily nodded. “Usually she would help with something like this, but she and Robbie had to go to Miami for a personal day. I didn’t ask, but I think they had a doctor’s appointment. Anyway, I thought it worked out well, because then we’d have the place to ourselves. I just didn’t realize how tired I’d be after it was over. I should have planned to have a cleanup crew in.”
Victoria looked at the circles around her aunt’s eyes. She looked like she was on her last leg. “You look exhausted, Aunt Lily. You need to take a break. I won’t hear another word out of you. Go up and rest. I’m sure I can get a couple of the girls to help me out.”
Miles, standing close by, said, “I’ll help you clean up, too.” That made Aunt Lily grin. That was probably what finally convinced her to leave—the chance to play matchmaker. Victoria was fine with whatever worked to get her aunt to take a break.
Aunt Lily gave her a grateful nod. It was clear she hadn’t wanted to leave the cleaning up to anyone else, but Victoria was glad when she finally left to go to her room.
Clearly, her aunt needed to rest.
Kelly also retired to her room when Aunt Lily left. She said goodbye to her three daughters and told them she was headed for the room she’d acquired only half an hour before the reading of the will. She’d be staying at the Lovelock Inn after all, for an undetermined length of time.
The minute Aunt Lily and Kelly left the dining room, Darby approached Victoria and Miles and said, “I’m happy to help clean up. I’m grateful you sent Aunt Lily to her room to rest up. She looked extra exhausted to me today.”
“I thought so, too,” Victoria said. “I could see circles under her eyes and it’s only midafternoon. I’m grateful she listened to us.”
“I agree. She must be really tired or else she would’ve fought harder to stay down here and help everyone clean up.” Darby smiled and her gaze went from Victoria to Miles and back again. She looked like she approved of their matchup. Good.
“You are exactly right. And I think you would probably know best, since you’ve spent more time with her than any of the rest of us. I’d like to talk to you later about the Lovelock Inn. Could we do that, do you think?”
Victoria didn’t have to explain anything further.
“I suspect I know what you’re going to say,” Darby said. “I am aware that there’s been some challenges that she has faced in the last few years. The letter that I received from her that she apparently set out to all of us glosses over the seriousness of where I believe she’s at financially.”
Miles didn’t say anything, but he didn’t seem too surprised.
Darby continued, “I don’t want to make her feel bad or embarrass her. In fact, I would love to chat with you about what we could do to help her in the short term and in the long term. I had planned on talking to Colleen and Evaline about it, even though they live some distance away. Now that we might all be in Valentine Key for the next year, I thought about having us get together and chat about what we might do to help Aunt Lily with the inn. I’d like to set in motion some permanent solutions, not just help for a week and be done. You know what I mean?”
“Yes. I understand exactly what you mean. That is what I wanted to talk about. Thank you, Darby. I’m glad I’m not the only one who realizes there’s an issue that will not be a short-term fix. Even if it’s only the two of us who are able to help out, it makes me feel so much better knowing I’m not doing it by myself.”
Darby nodded. “I know Colleen and Evaline will help if they are able to. It just depends on so many things that are out of our control for now.”
Victoria felt lighter after having spoken to Darby about the concern she had for Aunt Lily and the possible challenges her aunt was facing with the running of the Lovelock Inn. “I’m wondering if perhaps we could instigate a monthly sister meeting to talk about anything and everything to do with our family.”
“I think that’s a great idea, Victoria,” Darby said.
Victoria continued. “Not only can we discuss Aunt Lily and what needs to be done for the Lovelock Inn, we can also chat about other things. For example, the brand new businesses we are all about to embark on. If all of us even participate. Just so you know, it’s early days, but I’m going to try to move down here at least for a little while, whether or not I pick up the gauntlet laid down by our father.”
“Good. I will do the same, Victoria, whether or not I pick up our father’s gauntlet. I’m in. I’m having dinner with my mother and sisters tonight. I’ll mention it to them then. I’m sure they’ll be in, even if they can only FaceTime whenever we meet.”
“I haven’t set anything in motion yet, obviously, but my plan is to probably move myself and my translation business from New York City to Valentine Key for a while.”
Victoria wanted to know what Miles thought about her moving to Florida.
It wasn’t long before everyone in the room seemed to be finished eating. Victoria announced to the room that she and Darby were going to clean things up so Aunt Lily didn’t have to do it. Every single person in the room, including Miles and Mari, agreed to help clean up and put things away. Victoria was heartened to see they all worked rather well together.
She was also glad everyone had shown up in town for the reading of the last will and testament of their father. She was grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with all of her sisters, and connect with the sister she didn’t even know she had.
Once all the food was put away and the large dishwasher was filled to capacity and running, Victoria spoke with Darby and she agreed now was a good time to make sure everyone could set aside time to talk about how to help Aunt Lily.
Victoria asked the sisters to meet her on the porch to discuss something important about Aunt Lily. After the group moved outside, she said, “Tomorrow, once we have our meeting with Miles and discuss our individual businesses, I wonder if I might ask all of you to have a second meeting to discuss Aunt Lily and the Lovelock Inn.”
Darby added, “Victoria I have talked about this together briefly and we think that Aunt Lily might need some help. There is absolutely no pressure at all, but we would just like to see if maybe we can figure out something to do to help out.”
Everyone nodded and agreed that they could meet to discuss that very thing after their main meeting with Miles and the businesses.
Victoria knew the next year would be challenging for all involved, but it would be great if all seven of them ended up on Valentine Key. Then they’d all be able to get to know each other over the yearlong management of each of their new business challenges and the competition.
Truthfully, Victoria was starting to look forward to that endeavor as well.