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She was close to hyperventilating when she said, “Fine. Let’s talk terms.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lyndsey
“Irma, where is this picture from?” I asked, pointing to a photograph of my grandmother with an elephant.
The image was all too surreal. It certainly wasn’t what I had expected to see when cleaning out the desk in my grandmother’s old office.
“That was taken in India or Thailand.” Irma leaned across the desk to peer down at the photo. She held a small box in her arms, placing whatever she could inside, in order to clear the room as quickly as possible.
My grandmother insisted her office be left untouched, in case she ever wanted to step out of retirement. Kyle and Vanessa hadn’t gotten around to emptying it out yet, so the task fell to me before it was time to clear out my own things.
“I didn’t know she’d even left Mississippi, let alone the country,” I said, flipping through the remaining photos in the stack.
One of the Eiffel Tower crossed my view, another of some jungle paradise, now yellowing with age. There were beaches and castles and even photos of my parents when they were younger. We rarely ever traveled—certainly not overseas. That would require my parents putting aside too much time away from work.
“Oh, yes.” Irma flashed her brightest smile. “Leigh loved seeing new places. Probably where you get it from.”
Something in my face must have given away my confusion, for she quickly added, “I can see it in your eyes. You have that adventurous spirit like she did. Oh, she was quite tame by the time you came around. She had seen most everything she needed to see. Then, when you were born, you were the only thing she wanted to see anymore.”
I smiled.
A small corner of my heart warmed at the thought. “These are amazing. How did I never know about this?”
“Your grandmother has artifacts, if you will, of her travels all over the house. Didn’t you notice?” Irma asked, to which I only shook my head. “The china tea set in her hutch is a souvenir from her stay in England. She has a hand-woven table runner she picked up in Puno, Peru. Even the music box she used to play for you was from Salzburg.”
I stared in silence for a moment, wrapping my head around the idea that my grandmother was some closet world-traveler all these years. All the while, I was too clueless to notice it. I thought about all the experiences I missed out on hearing and all the memories she never got to share. My stomach pitched, roiling like a tumultuous wave in a storm.
All those stories, lost forever.
“Don’t be too upset, darling.” Irma patted my shoulder. “Leigh did keep a few journals. They’re probably up in the attic somewhere. That’s how she met your grandfather.”
“Writing in her journal?”
“No, traveling. They met on a ski trip to Colorado.” She laughed softly to herself. “Doesn’t really get cold enough here to freeze over the water for ice skating.”
All this time, I’d imagined some fantasy for my grandmother’s happily ever after. Something that didn’t even make much sense, but I accepted all the same. The truth was, my grandmother had to make her own magic, find her own adventures. It couldn’t have been easy to fall in love with someone she met while traveling. How had they even been able to make it work?
A knock on the door signaled my time was up. I called for whoever was on the other side to enter, surprised to find my parents with their lawyer, Mr. Philips.
That didn’t take long.
I hadn’t even officially given Kyle an answer, and my parents were ready to claim their prize.
I couldn’t let Kyle keep the house.
Even before Irma convinced me with her talk of memories and nostalgia, every fiber within me told me it was wrong. The house was mine. It would always be mine. And I was ready to fight for it, blood, tooth, and nail.
“Irma, could you give us a moment?” I asked.
She nodded and quickly retreated from the room.
“Now, Miss Lyndsey, this shouldn’t take too long,” Mr. Philips began, taking a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs and pulling out some papers from his briefcase. “Just a few crossings of the t’s and dotting of i’s to finish.”
“Whatever you need.” I nodded.
My parents sat down beside Mr. Philips, while I claimed the seat across from them at the desk. I steeled myself for the agreement, for the fleeting rush of agony that would come with relinquishing my livelihood.
