Letters to Gabriella Read online

  letters to gabriella

  Copyright © 2015, 2017 Patricia Paris

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Windswept

  an imprint of BHC Press

  Library of Congress Control Number:

  2017941242

  Print edition ISBN numbers:

  ISBN-13: 978-1-946848-28-4

  ISBN-10: 1-946848-28-X

  Also available in Trade Softcover

  Visit the author at:

  www.authorpatriciaparis.com &

  www.bhcpress.com

  Edited by S.M. Ray

  Book design by Blue Harvest Creative

  www.blueharvestcreative.com

  Interior illustration by Alli Kappen

  A Murderous Game

  Run Rachael Run

  THE GLEBE POINT SERIES

  This Time Forever

  Return to Glebe Point

  The Cottage

  THE BONAVERAS

  Lucia

  Caterina

  For my sisters: Donna, Mary, and Annette.

  I love you all so dearly.

  We’re pals, like…You know the rest.

  Gabriella Forelli didn’t get out of bed that chilly May morning, with the sun high and her nervous heart full of hope, with the intention of ruining everyone else’s life.

  She held her tongue and tucked away her bruised feelings while Lil pummeled her with pleas, warnings, and veiled accusations.

  “How can you take Chloe away from us? Bruce would never have wanted this!” Gab’s mother-in-law punctuated her objections by throwing out the guilt card.

  It would do no good to try to reason. Gabriella had tried reasoning with her in-laws for years. Bringing Gab’s dead husband Bruce’s wishes into the mix had become Lil’s modus operandi every time they disagreed. But it wasn’t just Lil. It was Benny, and Lizbeth, and Tugger, and all the Forelli cousins…and Lil’s sister Meg…and her bridge club.

  Her in-laws meant well, but she’d suffocate if she had to live the rest of her life under the thumb of her dead husband’s family. She was moving for Chloe as well, before her little girl could be molded into another Forelli princess.

  “I know this is hard for you.” Gab took hold of Lil’s hands, cradling them in her own. “But Chloe and I need to get on the road. If not for me then for her sake, put on a good face, okay?”

  She gave Lil a gentle tug toward the front door and softened her tone. “Come out to the car and give Chloe a hug.” The longer she stayed the longer they would argue. Sometimes the kindest way to break a heart was to just walk away.

  Two months ago she had received a ticket out of town from the last person she would ever have expected. She was taking it anyway.

  TRAFFIC CLOGGED the length of I-95 from Connecticut to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It took ten hours instead of the eight Gabriella estimated to reach their destination. She found the marker she’d been looking for and turned into the driveway. Gravel crunched under the car tires, adding to the sense of remoteness as she coasted up the tree-lined approach. Squinting, she peered through the front windshield. After a couple of hundred more feet, the car’s headlights reflected off a large white house. She slowed to a stop and considered the place in silence.

  Things always looked worse in the dark, she thought, and tried to focus on the positive. It had a wide front porch. She’d often imagined having one some day. Her dream porch had a riot of pots clustered everywhere, with colorful flowers spilling over the rims in cheerful abandon. And a swing, where she and Chloe could sit together and drink fresh, cold lemonade on hot summer days.

  Gabriella glanced over her shoulder and took in her daughter, asleep in the back seat. The girl’s head rested against the door frame, her soft, snuffling snores going straight to Gab’s heart. A jumble of emotions clattered for attention. Despite the knot of nerves twisting her gut, she was anxious to build a new life in a place where the shadows of their past didn’t dangle over their heads like rusted chimes, no longer in tune. She prayed she hadn’t made a mistake, or that the shadows she discovered here would be worse than the ones she’d left behind.

  She got out of the car and glanced around, unaccustomed to the deep, halting silence of the country. The air was different. Lifting her nose, she sniffed, her nostrils filling with unfamiliar smells. An owl’s call broke the still. She’d never heard a real one before, but the low hoo hoo hoo was so distinct it couldn’t be anything else.

  Opening the car’s trunk, she retrieved a small suitcase and the large black trash bag into which she’d stashed their pillows, some clean sheets, and a blanket, just in case. The rest could wait until tomorrow. She’d been told nothing had been moved out of the house, so they should at least have a bed to sleep on tonight.

  After mounting the porch, Gab set the suitcase and garbage bag down so she could fish her keys out of her pocket. With no idea what to expect, she took a deep breath, fit the key she’d received a couple of weeks ago into the lock, opened the front door, and walked over the threshold.

  Inside, the house was pitch-dark, blacker than the night outside. It smelled forgotten…stale and lonely. Gabriella rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck from side to side. Not ready to think about what ghosts the old house held, she ran her hand over the wall until it brushed against a light switch. She flicked it on and off several times. Nothing. Rummaging through her purse, she fingered the small flashlight she carried for emergencies, clicked it on, and made a quick sweep with the light.

  She spotted a staircase straight ahead. To the right was a couch in the middle of what must be the living room. She could put Chloe there while she made up one of the beds upstairs. That resolved, she went back to the car for her daughter and carried her into the house.

  After settling the girl on the couch, Gab retrieved their belongings from the porch, locked the front door, and aiming the flashlight, followed the dim light up the stairway to the second floor. She chose a bedroom with a connecting bath and quickly made up the bed. Chloe could sleep with her tonight. She didn’t want her daughter waking up in a strange place and becoming frightened on their first night.

  A few minutes later, Chloe stirred as Gabriella carried the girl up to the second floor. “Where are we, Mommy?” she asked around a sleepy yawn.

  “Home, baby.” Gab kissed Chloe on the forehead. “We’re home.”

  IT’S GOT good bones. Gab turned in a circle the next morning, surveying the large living room. The floor-to-ceiling windows were covered with heavy, olive green draperies that hung like walls of gloom, dark and depressing. One by one, she threw them open. Light flooded the room, transforming it into a sunny, almost cheerful space. The oppressive window coverings would be one of the first things to go. That, at least, was an easy fix.

  “It smells funny, Mommy.” Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Like Nana’s basement.”

  “That’s because no one has lived here for a while, and the house has been all closed up, like a treasure chest. We,” Gab said, tweaking her daughter’s scrunched up nose, “get to be the ones to open it up! Once we let the fresh air in and do some cleaning, the funny smell should go away.”

  She eyed the orange wall-to-wall shag carpeting with disdain. Getting rid of it should eliminate a lot of the odor as well, but she didn’
t know a soul in Glebe Point to ask for help removing it. She would just have to do it herself. If she cut the offensive beast into strips, she could haul it out piecemeal and clean the floors before the movers arrived at the end of the week. It would be a huge job, but the thing had to go.

  “Maybe we’ll even find a real treasure,” Chloe said, her eyes wide at the possibility. “Did pirates used to be in Maryland?”

  Gab was happy to turn their move into an adventure if it made the girl’s transition easier. “Maryland has lots of rivers and a big bay that connects to the ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, so there probably were pirates at one time.”

  “What’s a bay?”

  Gabriella wasn’t sure how to explain so that her daughter would understand, so she decided to keep it simple. “It’s sort of like a lake,” she said, knowing that would be something her daughter could relate to. “And it can be a big lake or a little lake that connects to another body of water.”

  Chloe wiggled her mouth into a frown, and Gab could tell she was thinking hard. “Kind of like our hand is part of our body and it’s connected to our arm?”

  “Yeah, kind of like that.”

  Chloe nodded and Gab leaned close to the girl’s face. “Why don’t we do some more exploring to see what we find?” She brought a finger to her lips. “Shhh. Stay quiet and keep an eye out for pirates.” She winked, grinning broadly so the girl knew she was teasing.

  Chloe giggled, then cupped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. “Okay,” she whispered back, following suit.

  Beyond the back wall of the living room was a study. Gab had already taken a quick peek and decided it would make a great office. To the left was a dining room, which probably led to the kitchen.

  “C’mon, mate, let’s see if the pirates left any booty stashed in the galley.” She took her daughter’s hand, and with exaggerated steps, the two tip-toed off in that direction.

  The kitchen was huge, but hadn’t been updated in years. The cabinets were dark blue with dingy yellowing knobs, and the countertops, a faux marble, gray Formica. They might have been considered chic at one time, right along with avocado appliances and orange shag carpeting; but now, they just looked old and outdated like everything else. These appliances looked so ancient Gabriella worried they might not be safe. Since they couldn’t live on sandwiches or eat out every night, she’d need to replace them as soon as possible.

  Refusing to let the overwhelming amount of work dampen her spirits, Gab continued scrutinizing the place with an eye toward the possibilities it held. A bay window with a deep bench seat took up a large section of the back wall. Like all the other windows in the house, heavy curtains closed off whatever lay beyond. Had her father been some kind of recluse? She shook her head and made for the bay. In one quick motion she flung the drapes apart.

  “Oh!” Gab clasped her hands over her mouth and stared at the unexpected sight. All the time she’d have to spend making the house more livable suddenly seemed insignificant. They had inherited a treasure!

  “Chloe, come here, come see this.”

  Her daughter skipped to the window and scampered up onto the bench. “Wow! Can we go out there? Please, Mom, can we?”

  Gab laughed, just as tickled to discover they would be living on the water. “Sure, let’s go.” Their game evaporated in a burst of excitement as Chloe jumped off the seat, ran for the back door, and throwing it open, darted outside.

  “Wait up, honey,” Gab called, not wanting Chloe going too close to the water on her own. A narrow back porch ran the length of the house. Gab jogged down the three steps to the lawn. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth with a breathless laugh of delight. A front and back porch.

  A gorgeous climbing rose adorned the porch post on her right and trailed along the roof, draping here and there with old-fashioned charm. June was still a week away, but the vines were already laden with large pink roses that faded to a soft, blushing cream. It was the only landscaping in evidence, a jewel among the otherwise neglected, overgrown yard.

  Looking out over the expanse of water, Gabriella knew where she’d be spending most of her leisure time. The house was situated on a small inlet of sorts. Off to one side were marshes. They would be treated to a bounty of wildlife. Beyond the opening to the inlet was a small bay. It looked to be about a mile and a half or two miles wide and just as long. On the other side there appeared to be a river, which she guessed emptied into the Chesapeake.

  Gab looked up and turned around. The sun was in the front of the house now, which meant west was on the horizon. They would have sunsets over the water. She hugged herself, delighted.

  “Look, Mom.” Chloe pointed, her finger jabbing the air in exclamation. “Is that our boat? Can we take it out?”

  “Slow down, sweetie. Let’s go take a look.”

  They went down to the edge of the property, Chloe skipping ahead. There was a wooden dock that looked to be newer and in good shape. Large rocks hugged the length of shoreline except for an area about twelve feet wide where waves lapped against a small sandy beach. The rocks formed a wall of sorts, and Gab guessed they were meant to control erosion. Turned upside down against the rocks was an aluminum rowboat. At first glance it looked sturdy, but she’d need to give it a good inspection before they tried it out.

  “Is this ours?” Chloe asked again, bouncing from one foot to the other on the small beach, her warm brown eyes sparkling with barely contained excitement.

  “I guess it is.” Anticipating her daughter’s next question, Gab added, “But we’ll need to check it for leaks before we use it. And we need to get you a life jacket. You don’t know how to swim, and it wouldn’t be safe to go out on the water without one.”

  “Will you teach me?”

  “Well, I’m not a very good swimmer either, but I’ll see about getting us some lessons. In fact, we should both get life jackets since we’ll be living here now. What do you think?”

  “Yeah!” Chloe pumped her fist.

  Gab ruffled her daughter’s hair. They hadn’t been there a full day, but she already sensed coming to Glebe Point would change their lives for the better.

  “Let’s try to find our way into town.” Gabriella took Chloe’s hand as they walked back up to the house. “Since we don’t have any food here yet, we’ll find a place for breakfast, and then we can look for a mall and grocery store to get some of the things we need.”

  “Like life jackets,” Chloe said.

  “Yes, like life jackets,” Gab agreed, and smiled down at her daughter.

  I found a location for my practice,” Justin Morrison informed his twin brother, Blake, a month after moving back to Glebe Point from Washington, DC. “Doc Simpson’s old office on Main Street. I knew the minute I heard it came on the market that it would be perfect.”

  “I always liked that building.” Blake leaned back on the kitchen chair he’d been sitting in eating breakfast, and crossed his arms over his chest. “It should be easy to convert. Is it still set up as a dentist office?”

  “No, it’s been emptied out. I looked at it Tuesday and made an offer on the spot. The doc’s son accepted that night, and we signed the contract yesterday.”

  “How long before you can get started?”

  “We agreed to a thirty day settlement. If there are no glitches, I figure another month or so to get it the way I want it.” Justin rubbed his chin, mentally calculating the work and time it would involve. “I should be able to hang out my shingle in about two and a half, three months.”

  “That’s great, bro. Congratulations.” Blake studied Justin a moment. “And you’re positive this is what you want to do? I know you said you didn’t want any more of the rat race, but Glebe Point is a far cry from DC, and you’ve been away over eight years.”

  “Yeah, I am,” Justin assured him. “I honestly didn’t realize how miserable I was until I got out of it. I was just too damn busy to think about how I felt.”

  “So you’re cool about giving up your grossly ove
rpaid position and ridiculous perks that went with it?” Blake gibed. A grin tugged at the corners of his brother’s mouth and Justin took no offense.

  “I’ll manage,” he said, and added jokingly, “and if I fall on my face and go broke, I’ll just move into my old bedroom and sponge off you and Delaney.”

  “Fat chance. Your old room’s getting turned into the nursery. We might consider letting you bunk out in the garage, though.”

  “What’s this about bunking in the garage?” Blake’s wife Delaney strolled into the kitchen.

  “Hey, gorgeous, you ready to dump this guy yet and take up with me?” Justin winked at her.

  Blake rolled his eyes. “It never ends, does it? I thought once I got her knocked up I wouldn’t have to worry about everyone trying to steal my wife.”

  Delaney punched Blake on the shoulder as she passed him on her way to the refrigerator. “You didn’t get me knocked up, Blake! We, decided to have a child together, remember? And you don’t have to worry about anyone trying to steal me away, love. With this big belly of mine they wouldn’t be able to get within three feet of me.”

  Blake grinned. “I think you look prettier than ever, sugar.”

  Delaney glanced back at him and smiled, her heart in her eyes.

  Justin looked between the two of them and wondered if he’d ever be lucky enough to find the kind of love they shared. Maybe someday, but when his brother found his son Ben a couple of years ago, he’d hit the jackpot with Delaney as part of the bargain. Justin couldn’t be happier for Blake. After discovering he had a son he never knew existed, his twin had spent almost a year trying to find the boy. In the process, he’d almost lost Delaney. Fortunately his stubborn brother had wised up before it was too late.