Sooner or Later Read Online Free Page B

reminded herself to count her blessings. The sun was warm; the sky a clear blue. Bruno, her beloved old golden Labrador, was sprawled by the fountain, chasing rabbits in his dreams. Her dear friend, Maria, was happy. And Ellie was coming to visit.
    No matter what the accountants had said, somehow Miss Lottie didn’t think life at Journey’s End would change much. After all, it hadn’t changed in sixty years. Why should it now?

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    O F COURSE , E LLIE HAD KNOWN FOR YEARS THAT HER grandmother was not rich anymore, but there had always been money in the Parrish family. That is, until Miss Lottie had decided to manage her fortune herself. She’d bought herself a computer and hired a clever young man to teach her how it all worked. Then, with her father’s old green celluloid visor pulled down over her eyes, and the telephone to hand, she had moved her investments around on a daily basis. Sometimes she won, more often she lost. Too often, it had turned out.
    Ellie had been shocked when Michael Majors, the lawyer, told her of the destruction Miss Lottie’s stock market gambling had brought. He’d explained what he’d done, and said there would be just enough to keep her grandmother in comfortable, if not lavish, style. Then he’d asked if she couldn’t persuade her to sell the property.
    “A run-down mansion doesn’t mean much on today’s market, but the prime twenty acres in Montecito certainlydo. You’ll have enough to live in clover for the rest of your days, let alone hers,” he persuaded.
    But Ellie would have none of it. Miss Lottie had lived at Journey’s End for more than sixty years and that’s where she would stay, even if Ellie had to work double hours to keep her there. Miss Lottie had looked after her when she was a child, now it was her turn.
    The tall oak doors stood welcomingly open, and she shook her head worriedly as she strode into the flag-stoned great hall, thinking how unaware her grandmother and Maria were of present-day dangers. Open doors invited robbers—or worse. But they had always lived this way and they never gave it a thought.
    “Late again, Ellie.” Maria appeared, wiping her hands on a teacloth.
    “Anybody would think I made a habit of it.” She swung Maria into her arms, whirling her round. “Oooh, Maria. I’ve missed you. And you smell so good, of vanilla and sweetness.”
    “That’s just my soul you can smell, the goodness of it.” Maria’s face was pink with indignation and pleasure. “Anyhow, it’s just some cookies I baked. I thought you might enjoy them, after work, when you have a few minutes alone.”
    “You spoil me. And you know I’m just a brat.”
    “Somebody’s got to spoil you, brat or no. You look tired, Ellie.”
    “I know. And don’t tell me—I’ll bet I’m untidy as well.”
    Smoothing her windswept hair, Ellie bent to pet the dog as he lumbered to his feet, doing his best to gambol toward her. “Sweet old boy, lovely dog. Who loves you, mmmm?”
    “There you are,” Miss Lottie called. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
    “Sorry, Miss Lottie. It’s the traffic.”
    Her grandmother threw her a disbelieving glance, and Ellie laughed as she hugged her. “Okay, partly traffic, and partly because I had some stuff to do at the cafe.”
    “Nothing changes,” her grandmother said wryly. “And somehow I suspect it never will.”
    “Well, now I’m here, let’s hit the Biltmore. I’m dying of hunger, and I’ll bet you are too. Then I can tell you all my news, and you can tell me yours.”
    “It’s a good thing I still remember where the Biltmore is.” Miss Lottie pulled the wide-brimmed straw hat trimmed with pink roses firmly over her silver hair. “And I also remember exactly where I got this hat. In Paris, in 1939, just before war was declared in Europe. Long before your time,” she added, retelling the hat story for the umpteenth time as she took Ellie’s arm and walked down the steps to the car.
    “I bought it