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“I’ve been trying to look at today as a celebration of life rather than as a farewell that came way too soon.” He quirked his mouth. “I know she was ninety-five but saying goodbye is hard.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve done it a few times myself and it never gets easy.”
He knit his eyebrows together. “Mac?”
She nodded. “Yes. And my grandmother.” She felt a tightness in her chest. “And my birth mother. Despite her faults she was my mother. And losing her was incredibly painful.”
“You’ve had to be resilient, Callie,” Jax said. “Strong.”
“So much for being the pampered princess of Savannah,” she teased.
Clearly, Callie knew that a few people called her pampered princess behind her back. Appearances had been deceptive. No one in Savannah had truly known about her painful past, so it had been easy for the newspaper columns to view her as nothing more than a vapid, spoiled socialite. They knew nothing about her abusive childhood or the poverty she had endured. Nor did they know about the loss of her brother. Even though she did a great deal of charity work and community service, some people still wanted to view her as a debutante.
“I know you hate that label,” he said, feeling guilty about having called her that a few times in the past himself. Although he loved Callie with all his heart and soul, he had to admit that there had been a few times in the past that she had acted like a princess. Growing up in the luxurious world of the Duvalls had allowed it to happen. But she had grown up as of late. He could tell that she had matured and evolved. And he understood that her suffering such trauma as a child had shaped her life in many ways. So what if the Duvalls had spoiled her? After being treated so horrendously for the first five years of her life, he wasn’t about to hold it against her.
In the most important ways of all, Callie was a wonderful human being. She lived her life with kindness and spirituality.
Callie shrugged. “I’m not crazy about it, but it doesn’t define me. I know who I am, Jax. And while I’ve had some bratty moments in my teenage years, I’m not that kid anymore.”
“Neither am I,” he teased. “I don’t torment beautiful young ladies anymore by way of frogs.”
The sound of Callie’s tinkling laughter added a lightness to the somber mood.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “I needed to laugh today. There’s been a serious lack of laughter in my life for weeks now.”
“Well, if you let me take you out again, I promise you that you’ll be laughing like crazy,” he promised.
She narrowed her gaze. “Jax, what is this all about? Are we…dating? Or is this two old friends socializing?”
Callie’s question momentarily threw him for a loop.
“The truth is, I have no idea,” he said, deciding to be completely honest. “I want to date you. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m not motivated by friendship, although I do consider you as a friend.”
As tough as Callie liked to pretend to be, he could have sworn she was blushing at his comment. “We are friends, Jax. Old friends who go way back. Are we complicating things by going out together?” She looked so serious it made his heart rejoice. Clearly, she’d been pondering this, which meant she had been thinking about him. Score!
“Yes. Dating is complicated. So is falling in love,” he said.
Callie’s eyes widened and her mouth hung open. For once in her life, he realized, she was at a loss for words.
Just then Pearl walked up, providing a buffer between them in a highly charged moment. He could see the look of relief wash over Callie’s face. Pearl had just saved her from a lay-your-cards-on-the-table moment. Little did she know that he fully planned to revisit this topic with her…very soon.
Enough time had been wasted. Today they had said goodbye to Miss Hattie. Just the other day she had told them the story of her star crossed love with Samuel. What Jax had taken away from that story was that tomorrows were never promised. He had spent years pining after Callie instead of working towards his goal of making her fall in love with him. Those days were over!
“Callie. It’s time to go to Savannah House,” Pearl said in a gentle voice. “We’re heading back to the house for the reading of Hattie’s will.”
Jax turned toward Callie with a raised eyebrow. Reading of the will? Had Miss Hattie put Callie in her will? She had always been very fond of Callie—of all of the girls actually—but it was a little bit shocking that Callie had been formally requested at the reading of the will.
“I have to go,” Callie said. “Can we talk later?”
“Of course,” Jax said, his heart pounding like a jackhammer within his chest. “Gimme a call. I’ll be around.”
Callie walked off with Pearl, joining up a few moments later with Olivia and Morgan. Jax frowned as he watched the women walk toward a dark town car. A driver dressed in a dark suit got out and assisted all four of them into the car.
He was getting more curious by the second. Not only had Callie been summoned to Savannah House for the reading of Miss Hattie’s will, but so had Morgan and Olivia. Jax would bet odds that Fancy, Charlotte and Hope had also been invited. The question was—would all the girls show up? And if so, what had they inherited from Miss Hattie?
**
Callie was a bundle of nerves as she sat in the library with Pearl, Olivia and Morgan. What was this all about? If Miss Hattie had left her a pearl necklace or a brooch, did she really have to sit here and listen to the official reading of the will? It seemed so formal.
