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Ella
Ella sat on Nana Bee’s front porch feeling at peace as she sipped her coffee. She’d brought a picnic basket with her. This was their first meeting, and she wasn’t sure how it was going to go.
“Why did you do this, Nana Bee?” she asked aloud.
She could almost hear the old woman chuckle and picture the rocking chair moving back and forth as the woman gave her a knowing glance.
“I don’t understand what this will accomplish. They are only going to hate me more now. I don’t want your money. I want you. I miss you so much it feels like my heart has been physically broken.”
Of course there wasn’t an answer. It didn’t matter though, because she felt at home on this weathered porch. She’d spent many nights right there in that exact place and it had always comforted her. It was where she belonged.
She’d loved the woman so much. Nana Bee was the only family Ella felt she’d ever truly had. Her mother was long gone and she had no desire to seek her out, and her father was a worthless monster who hadn’t cared at all about her. Nana Bee had always shown her love, though, and it broke her heart that she’d never feel the woman’s arms around her again. It wasn’t right that someone so wonderful was gone.
“This wasn’t what I was expecting when you made me promise to do your last wishes.” She sighed. Nana Bee was always a meddler, even in death.
Ella heard tires on the gravel and sat up a bit straighter as she saw two vehicles as different as the men driving them coming down the long road. It was comical to Ella that Nana Bee had lived in this same place outside of San Francisco for her entire life. With the enormous wealth of the Palazzo family she could’ve gone anywhere she wanted to go. She could’ve rebuilt her home into a mansion. She certainly could’ve had a paved driveway. But Nana Bee had been set in her ways and no amount of badgering from her family was going to change her. That only made Ella love and respect the woman that much more.
Ella also loved vehicles. She dreamed of one day having a super nice vehicle. She wouldn’t have outrageous payments though, so she kept on saving. She looked at the two vehicles coming at her with a tinge of jealousy. She knew exactly what they were and the price tag of each of them. She didn’t know much about Rafe and Bass anymore, but she’d followed them for a while when she’d been a kid as she’d been in awe of both of them. She’d bet every cent she had that the vehicle in the lead, not made for gravel roads, belonged to Rafe.
It was a McLaren Speedtail that sold for 2.6 million dollars. Only 106 had been made. It was the ultimate series with a twin-turbocharged hybrid V8 powertrain that made an incredible 1,055 horsepower and 848 pound-feet of torque. It could go from zero to 186 mph in only thirteen seconds. One of the coolest things about the vehicle was that it had a full wraparound instrument panel that used electro-chromatic glass for automatic window tint. If Rafe wanted the world to know he was a billionaire, driving that car would do it.
Of course Bass’s vehicle wasn’t much less extravagant. It did have half the price-tag at 1.1 million dollars, but it made heads turn just as much. It was a Mercedes-Benz G650 Maybach Landaulet, the most expensive SUV on the market. Even as a teen Bass had driven trucks or SUVs. He said he didn’t trust cars.
This particular SUV was the first off-roader from Mercedes-Benz. There were only ninety-nine units made. It resembled the high-end coach-built cars of the 1930s with an enclosed front end but convertible open-air space for the rear passengers. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. There was no doubt she was impressed though.
Its windows could change from transparent to opaque at the click of a button. There were massaging features built into the seats. If a person wanted to go off-road, they weren’t going to be more comfortable doing it than in the G-class.
Though Ella didn’t remember a lot about her summers with Rafe and Bass, because she wanted to forget much of her childhood, she did remember adoring both of them. To have either of them looking at her like a monster now didn’t feel good at all.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Nana Bee,” she whispered as both vehicles stopped and their doors opened. Ella’s heartbeat tripled as the handsome men stepped from their cars, neither of them looking at the other. This might be one hell of a stressful year. “I might fail you on this task,” she muttered before shutting up. She didn’t want them to know she was talking to Nana Bee’s ghost, and she didn’t want them to think she was talking to herself either.
They walked toward her, each of them looking like a bull about to fight. She let out a sigh. They stood at the bottom of the porch, leaving her feeling like they were all at a standstill. What was happening? How in the heck were they ever going to get anything done?
“I brought coffee,” she finally said, hating the silence between all of them. No one moved. After a solid thirty seconds she moved to the table she’d set up with plenty of coffee items on it. Ella refilled her own cup and added a dash of honey to it.
“Nana Bee drank her coffee the same way,” Bass said, and for just a moment the two of them shared a mutual smile of love for a woman who’d guided them frequently in their youth.
“Isn’t that cute?” Rafe said with enough sarcasm to let them both know he didn’t find any of this sweet or cute.
“It is what it is,” Ella said as she straightened her spine. She wasn’t going to spend a year being treated like crap. “We have to figure this out.”
Rafe looked like he wanted to do nothing more than burn the entire house down . . . with her and Bass sitting on the front porch. This wasn’t good.
“What do we need to figure out?” Rafe asked.
“Nana Bee asked us to take care of this property. I want to do it right,” she said.
“Do you have any ideas?” Bass asked.
“No. But I’m willing to talk about it.”
The three stood there not close enough to touch. There was more silence. At least Bass didn’t seem to hate her. Rafe seemed to hate them both. This was going to be so much harder than Nana Bee imagined. Or maybe Nana Bee knew it would be this hard but had foolish faith in Ella to achieve the impossible. She’d do her best to prove Nana Bee right to trust her.
“I can’t do this right now,” Rafe suddenly said. He gave each of them a glare, then turned and marched right back to his expensive vehicle. There was silence as he revved the high-powered engine and took off down the gravel road, throwing rocks behind him.
Ella was stunned. She’d known this wouldn’t be easy, but she hadn’t expected such hostility. She hadn’t asked for this. It didn’t matter though. Whether she’d asked for it or not, she wasn’t family, and Rafe was going to be mad that Nana Bee had left her some family property. It shouldn’t matter to him as it wasn’t worth anything near what their other properties were worth, but he wasn’t thinking logically. He was emotional. They all were.
She looked at Bass and expected him to stomp off next. She was surprised when he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat in Nana Bee’s favorite rocking chair. A part of her wanted to make him get up. That chair belonged to only one person. She bit her tongue though. If they were going to make this work, she couldn’t tell him where he could sit. Heck, he had nearly as much money as Rafe did. She didn’t think anyone told him what to do at any time.
