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CHAPTERTHREE
Andie Miller crept down the back stairs from her second-floor apartment to her antique shop. She still couldn’t believe the shop was all hers.
She loved the scent of old wood and furniture polish, the soft ticking of the grandfather clock, and the creak of the hardwood floors softened by the Oriental rugs on top of them. Why had she resisted coming home to Lobster Bay for so long?
Once, she’d thought being an appraiser for Christie’s in New York was the best career. She’d wanted to grab that big once-in-a-lifetime antique find. Lobster Bay had seemed like a step backward.
But now, she felt differently. Good riddance to her old job in the noisy, smog-filled city. The fresh ocean air and simple small-town life suited her much better. And the excitement of finding new treasures with local estate sales and helping the people in her town get money for their antiques was a lot better than searching for a big find that never came.
Little everyday discoveries were much more fun. Like the ones she’d been finding in the estates she’d recently acquired. One estate had been loaded with antique furniture, high-boy servers decorated with ornate carvings, sterling silver tea sets, and hand-painted porcelain. The other, smaller estate had several boxes of hand-embroidered linens, silver place settings, and some vanity items like perfume bottles and ivory brushes. She hadn’t even had a chance to go through all the boxes yet.
It was Tuesday, so Andie was meeting her sister and their friends at Sandcastles in an hour for their morning coffee and pastry. She didn’t want to miss that. It was her favorite time of the week. But she was an early riser who kept her window shades open to see the sun coming up over the ocean every morning, and since she’d been up too early to meet at Sandcastles, she couldn’t resist looking through one of the boxes from the estate.
After setting aside the decades-old yellow newspaper, she pulled out an emerald glass glove box with yellow and white enamel flowers painted on it. She was surprised to find it had no chips or cracks. Someone had taken good care of it.
Next, she picked up an old humidor with ivory inlay. A few little pieces of ivory were missing, but that was normal for this type of item. A collector would still want it, since it was an unusual piece and in good enough condition.
Some old scraps of clothing lay underneath the humidor and a trio of brass buttons. On the bottom was an old black cylinder. Was something inside?
The cylinder didn’t seem as old as the other things in the box. Perhaps someone had rolled up a rare painting at a later date? A trill of excitement ran through her as she popped the end off and peered inside to see the brittle edges of a piece of yellowed paper. She took it to the counter, carefully pried the paper out, then unrolled it. Civil War discharge papers!
Apparently, Robert P. Koslachowski had served in the Civil War and been honorably discharged. It was an exciting find but not something Andie would ever think about selling. This item belonged with Robert Koslachowski’s descendants. She’d bought the items from someone named Nadine Parker, so Koslachowski must have been her ancestor. She’d get in touch with Nadine so she could come and pick up the discharge papers and the old buttons and scraps of fabric, which must have been what was left of Robert’s uniform.
She could call Nadine while she was taking her shift at Tides. She was happy to help out at the family inn, even if it did take her away from her antique business a bit. She hated that Jane was tied to the place and wanted to give her a break whenever she could. But Jane had mentioned hiring someone else to take some shifts, and Andie, for one, would be pretty happy if that happened.
Movement across the street caught her eye. She looked over at the hair salon, Curlz, where the proprietor, Mary, was opening up. The two women waved at each other. Andie and Mary had formed a bond in the time she’d been in Lobster Bay, a bond made even stronger because Andie was dating Mary’s nephew, Shane.
Shoot! She was late for her meeting at Sandcastles! She carefully stored the Civil War papers in a drawer then swiped the dust from her T-shirt and headed out the front door.
