IN FOR A PENNY (The Granny Series) by Nancy Naigle, Kelsey Browning Read Free Book Online

gave Maggie his empty tea glass and smiled. It was an apologetic expression, but not so apologetic he was going to leave without his treasure.
    “I guess you knew what you were talking about after all.”
    The man took a fat wad of folded cash from his pocket, peeled off five crisp one hundred dollar bills and handed them to her.
    She snapped each one between her fingers as she counted them. She’d handled enough cash in the hardware store over the years to spot a fake bill with pretty good accuracy. She stepped to the window and held up each one, looking for the watermark.
    “The money’s good.” He tipped the trunk up on its side. “If it makes you feel any better, ma’am, my wife will take real good care of this trunk. It’s been on her wish list for as long as I’ve known her.”
    Maggie put the money in the back pocket of her khakis. “I can help you with that. Let me get one end,” she offered.
    “Oh no, ma’am. I’ve got it.”
    What—you think I’m too old to help carry something? She reluctantly stepped back and let him have at it.
    He hefted the trunk and hauled it down the stairs.
    It’d been quite a while since she’d seen muscles flex like that. Lord, did looking at a man young enough to be her son make her one of those…those cougars?
    As he headed out the front door, Maggie stood by feeling more than a little useless and still confused. It wasn’t her trunk to protect so why did Lillian selling off family heirlooms worry Maggie so much?
     
     
    The front door closed behind the young husband with a finality that shot all the way to Lillian’s toes. What was done, was done. That could certainly become her life motto.
    At her small desk in the kitchen, Lillian scanned the list she’d hand-printed on a legal pad. Every letter of every word was perfectly formed with a Faber-Castell pencil. She lifted the top page to find those letters embossed three sheets deep. She let the pages drop, then added a few more items to the list.
                   Make arrangements for care of Daddy’s car
                  Remove tree limbs over veranda
                  Settle up account at hardware store
    There wasn’t money to hire anyone to help with that tree, and the thought of climbing that ladder she’d just bought on credit sent tendrils of exhaustion through Lillian’s arms and legs. But it didn’t matter how tired she was. So many things to be done. So little time.
    Lillian tore the list from the pad and punched holes in the side so she could add it to the binder she’d started for Maggie.
    Maggie, please forgive me for this.
    The thick vinyl three-ring binder held the information to everything Lillian could think of. Legal, insurance, bank accounts, warranties and even how to get the persnickety furnace fired up the first time of the winter season.
    She pulled an envelope from between two books on the desk.
    Unwinding the string from the loops on the back of the five-by-seven manila envelope seemed symbolic of her life right now, hanging on by a thread. She dumped the contents and eyed the receipts. She tugged one in particular from the pile. The pawn slip from her ring. If she didn’t pay the pawnshop before she went away, there’d be no getting them back.
    In the top corner of the list, she wrote herself a note : 7/1 pick up b/f appt at WSPC.
    The sound of Maggie’s footsteps on the stairs filtered toward Lillian, and she quickly closed the binder and tucked it back into the desk drawer, then slid the envelope of receipts back into the hiding spot.
    Lillian had just hopped up from her desk when Maggie stomped into the kitchen.
    “What in heaven’s name was that all about?” Maggie demanded.
    “He’s a very nice man and his wife has been looking for a chest like that for years. They’re about to have their first baby. Can you imagine all those tiny clothes she’ll fold and store in there?” Lillian lifted a hand to her heart. “It’s really quite