Here in My Heart: A Novella (Echoes of the Heart) by Anna DeStefano Read Free Book Online Page A

still couldn’t wrap her mind around Vivian’s real reason for asking Dru to have Brad come to the house tonight.
    She turned back to the parlor from where she was staring out the side windows again. Vivian and her nurse had left. Horace had excused himself to the kitchen, saying he’d give Dru and Brad a moment together to collect their thoughts. Brad, still sitting on the couch, had been just as silent as Dru since Vivian’s bombshell.
    “I didn’t know what your grandmother was up to,” Dru insisted. “I wouldn’t cause that kind of trouble between the two of you.”
    Vivian intended to leave the house to Dru and the Dream Whip to Brad— if they lived under the same roof and worked together successfully at the restaurant until Vivian’s death.
    What had gotten into the old bat?
    “This isn’t going to happen,” Dru pressed.
    As much as she’d miss working at the Dream Whip, Vi had gifted her with five years of managerial experience. Wherever Dru landed next, she’d be fine. And she suddenly realized she would be working somewhere else, whatever Brad decided to do with the house and the restaurant. After her reaction to him at the Y, her working for him, their working together, wasn’t an option. Even if he still spent most of his time in Savannah and left her in charge of the Whip, he’d be back. And if she stayed on as manager, she’d have no choice but to deal with him in person every time.
    “I didn’t expect Vivian to remember me in her will,” she insisted. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you talk her out of it.”
    Brad stood up and walked toward her. His gaze was unfathomable. He could be furious, or feeling nothing. Dru couldn’t decide which would be worse.
    She held her ground.
    Barely.
    “I expected it.” He squeezed her arm. His touch was gentle. His expression was more than sad, nothing close to angry. Mostly, he looked . . . resigned. “Some of it, at least. I wondered if she might, a couple of years ago, after . . .”
    He shook his head and returned to the couch. He looked enormous, without Vivian’s frailness sitting beside him. He leaned forward, his forearms on his knees.
    “After what?” Dru asked.
    Horace came back from the kitchen, a bar glass in his hand, sipping amber liquid from it. He’d helped himself to Vivian’s brandy stash—the bottle she kept behind the powdered sugar on the pantry’s baking shelf. He took the same chair as before and motioned with his glass for Dru to join him.
    “Vivian’s been planning this for a while.” Horace glanced at Brad. “I wasn’t under the impression that you were entirely in the dark about your grandmother’s intentions.”
    Dru stayed on the other side of the room.
    “Tell me you’re talking her out of this,” she said to the lawyer. “Tell me you’re not encouraging her.”
    “She thinks she’s helping.” Horace set his drink on the coffee table and opened one of his files. “She’s determined to help both of you.”
    “Vivian’s already . . .” Dru began to pace, keeping an eye on Brad, who sat still as stone. “Your grandmother made it possible for me to stay in Chandlerville. I have a life here because of her, when I was just one more kid working weekends at the Whip, dipping ice cream and dropping fries and whipping sloppy shakes all over her kitchen. I—”
    “Shut up, Dru.” Brad pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back, his arm propped on the couch. It was long enough for his fingers to nearly reach the other side. He studied the rug between them. “You were always more than that. And if whatever Vi’s decided to do is okay with me, why would you fight it?”
    Dru moved across the parlor until she was in front of him.
    “It’s not okay with you.” It was infuriating, the thought of him going along with Vivian’s plans. “This is your house. The Dream Whip is your family’s business. Whatever scheme Vivian’s concocted with Horace because she’s feeling obligated to do more