AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fancy approached him and gave him a warm hug. Although it felt a little awkward to have five pairs of eyes staring at them, he felt grateful for Fancy’s warmth. She was a good person. He knew that with a deep certainty. And he also knew with just one look at her that he no longer was in love with her. If he ever actually had been. He still wasn’t sure if his feelings for Fancy had been real or a rebound situation after Gretchen’s death. Either way, nothing but trouble had come of it.
“Thanks for coming, Marc. We really appreciate it,” Fancy said, gesturing toward one of the seats at the table. “Why don’t you sit down Marc so we can get started.”
Marc took a seat without realizing it placed him directly across from Charlotte. She hadn’t stopped glaring at him for a single moment.
What is her problem? He fumed. Didn’t she realize that he wanted to move past the drama of two years ago? And couldn’t Case fight his own battles? Why did Charlotte think she had to wage war against him to defend her brother?
Callie began to elaborate on the information he had briefly heard about in the initial phone conversation. Savannah House and the inheritance left to the six women by Hattie Alexander was being challenged by an unknown entity named Grayson Holloway.
“From what we discovered from Mr. Mayhew, this Holloway character resides in Atlanta as far as we can tell, although he also has a residence in Massachusetts. He’s represented by counsel,” Callie explained. She shrugged her shoulders and let out a frustrated sigh. “We don’t really know much more about him.”
“That’s where you come in,” Olivia said with a smile. “Hopefully.” She crossed her hands in prayer-like fashion. “We really need you to dig into Grayson’s background and provide us with information that would show the falsity of his claim.”
“His entire case is built on false statements,” Hope added.
“How do you know it’s false?” Marc asked, his mind whirling with the possibilities. It would be a shame if the ownership of Savannah House was turned over to someone else. But it was possible. And he had the feeling all six of the ladies knew it, whether they wished to acknowledge it or not.
“Miss Hattie was childless,” Charlotte said in a clipped tone. He met her frosty gaze and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Accepting this assignment would be so much easier if Charlotte played nice with him. The last thing he needed was more stress in his life. But something told him that Charlotte was going to make him pay dearly for causing her brother pain.
“Do you know that for a fact?” he asked, challenging Charlotte.
Charlotte didn’t back down. “Yes. We do. She shared quite a bit of her life with us and we would have known if she had a child.”
“I’ve seen a lot of secrets come rising to the surface in my line of work,” he said. “Always expect the unexpected.”
Charlotte let out a disgruntled noise. “I’m guessing you know a lot about keeping secrets. Isn’t that your specialty?”
“Charlotte!” Olivia chastised her friend. “That’s uncalled for.”
Fancy looked at Charlotte with a surprised expression etched on her face.
Marc stood up and let out a sigh. “Sorry ladies. This isn’t going to work out. Thank you for inviting me here.” He nodded his head, then said, “I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor. I sincerely hope Grayson Holloway is just a crank with no leg to stand on.”
Hope let out a groaning sound. “Don’t leave us hanging, Marc.”
Olivia jumped up and trailed after him. “Marc! Please come back. We really need your help.”
He had reached the front door of Savannah House. Marc turned toward Olivia and sent her a wry grin. “I’m sorry, Olivia. There’s a lot going on in my life at the moment. My dad is terminally ill and I have a lot of ground to cover in many areas due to my absence from Savannah. I don’t have time to deal with petty grudges.”
“Wait! Please don’t go,” Olivia called out after him.
He wrenched the door open and walked out into the January sunlight. It felt good on his face as he tilted it up toward the sky. It was a beautiful day on Tybee Island. Way too gorgeous to waste his time being mistreated or judged. He was done with that. For two years he’d been away from his family because of the vicious Savannah gossips.
Tomorrow wasn’t promised. Life was way too short to waste a single second on small-minded people. Although he truly liked and admired the ladies of Savannah House, he thought that Charlotte Duvall had to be one of the most spiteful women he’d ever encountered.
Marc had given enough blood, sweat and tears. Whatever he had left to give was going toward his beloved father and his family.
“Loving Fancy wasn’t really a choice for me. When you truly fall in love with someone all choices go out the window.”
Case Duvall
Chapter Two
Charlotte shifted in her seat as tension hovered in the air. The vibe in the room was uncomfortable. Charlotte didn’t need anyone to tell her that she’d messed up something fierce. She felt in right down in her soul.
“What in the world were you thinking?” Callie asked Charlotte in a raised voice. Her arms were folded across her chest and the expression on her face was one of frustration mixed with anger. Her green eyes were blazing.
Olivia walked back into the parlor and shot Charlotte a mystified look. She threw her hands up in the air. “He left. I tried to talk him into coming back but he wouldn’t hear a word of it. You really messed things up for us, Charlotte.”
