Sooner or Later Read Online Free Page A

though she could recall perfectly the house being built and the day she and her father moved in.
    All the men who’d worked on the house had gathered on the grand terrace, where she was sitting now. Champagne was poured into saucer-shaped crystal glasses; then her father had distributed lavish bonuses, and they’d drunk a toast to the success and beauty of the new house. They’d called it “Journey’s End,” and Miss Lottie had always supposed it would be where her own personal journey through life would end. Until a few weeks ago, when the lawyer and accountants had told her that, finally, there was no money left.
    They’d come to see her, carrying bulky files and ledgers of accounts and she had sat, bewildered, while they went over everything, point by point, expense after expense.
    Ellie was meant to be there but she’d called to say she would be late, and when she finally arrived, pink-cheeked from hurrying, long red hair flying, untidily as usual, Miss Lottie had already approved the termination of what they called “the unnecessary expenses.” That meant the charities dearest to her heart. Old friends who’d fallen on hard times to whom she gave money; retired servants whose medical expenses she helped with, a children’s charity. It had all flashed before her eyes in a blur and she’d sighed regretfully and agreed it could not go on.
    “You have to think of yourself, Miss Lottie,” the lawyer admonished sternly. “You’ll probably live to be a hundred, and you’ll need whatever money we can salvage. You’re just not a rich woman anymore.”
    Maria Novales walked along the terrace carrying a tray with glasses and a jug of freshly made lemonade. Her sandaled feet made no sound on the marble tiles and Miss Lottie did not hear her. Maria watched her for a moment, thinking how well she looked today. But then, she always perked up when Ellie came to visit.
    Miss Lottie was immaculate, as always, in her favorite blue silk. A couple of old-fashioned diamond rings gleamed on her slender fingers, and her silver hair shone in the sunlight. And she was wearing that silly old green visor again. She always wore it now, when she sat at her personal computer, surfing the Internet. It was that same darn computer that had brought her financial downfall, but she loved it. It kept her amused for hours into the night when she couldn’t sleep, and Maria was grateful for that.
    There was something about Miss Lottie’s determinedly upright posture that brought to mind the word “indomitable.” Not that she couldn’t be a maddeningold woman when she chose. And persnickety with it. And eccentric in her ways. But when you were as much a lady as Miss Lottie, you could get away with eccentricity and foolishness, and a tart tongue. Especially when you knew she didn’t mean it, and inside she was just a sentimental old marshmallow.
    “You should take off that silly visor,” Maria said. “Before Ellie gets here. Or else she’ll know you’ve been at the computer again.”
    Miss Lottie snatched it off guiltily. “I thought it was my hat.”
    “Here’s your hat.” Maria handed it to her. “She’s late, as usual,” she added, putting down the tray.
    “Don’t worry. She’ll be here soon.”
    Maria headed back to the kitchen. She had known Ellie since she was born, and she’d even shown up late for that event. She had not changed one little bit. “Late” was in her genes.
    Miss Lottie thought that Maria was looking old too. She used to be a small, round, smiling woman, with thick dark hair and shiny brown eyes and a golden skin. Now, like herself, she was all bones and her dark hair was threaded with gray.
    Maria had helped her bring up Ellie, after the accident. And that was an event Miss Lottie had never forgotten. The image of that day lived in her fuzzy memory, clear as a new photograph. The day her beautiful, wild, darling daughter had died, along with her son-in-law.
    Taking a sip of the cool lemonade, she