“I work for a living. I put together her funeral, took care of her last bills and had everything set up for you three to come in,” she said, aware that her own voice had taken on a biting tension.
“Have you been living here since then?” he asked curtly.
“Aidan…” Zach murmured.
“I took care of Amelia. You didn’t even know she existed,” she said flatly.
“That’s right, we didn’t know she existed. We didn’t know anything about this place. We should have, I suppose, but…we just…didn’t,” Jeremy said quietly.
“Honestly,” Zachary added. “We always loved this area, but we had no idea we had family here. Clearly, you cared about Amelia, and now that we know, we’re grateful.”
“She was a very fine lady,” Kendall said, looking away for a moment. A knot had risen to her throat. “Very sweet.” She stared at the eldest brother. At five-ten, she wasn’t exactly short, but she had to look up to meet his eyes, and she resented it.
What the hell? None of it made any difference. If he was too much of a jerk to be grateful, what did it matter? Amelia was dead and gone, and she had her own life; she hadn’t given it all up to care for Amelia. She would just go back to it and let these idiots have the place to themselves.
No, that wasn’t fair.
They didn’t all seem to be idiots, just the one.
“Well, as I said, I do work for a living,” she said. “You’re here, and I need to get going, so…”
“Just what kind of work do you do?” Aidan asked.
She was furious with herself for hesitating, but she knew all too well that he would only make fun of her and would probably decide she was nothing more than a leech, preying on people’s weaknesses, if she admitted the complete truth.
“I own a café and gift shop,” she said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
“Miss Montgomery,” Jeremy said, a wry smile curling his lips, “we don’t know a thing about this place. If you know anything and can spare a few minutes, we’d be eternally grateful if you’d show us around.”
“Please,” Zach added.
She let out a long breath. The eldest brother was still just staring at her. “…All right. Come on in. We’re, uh, in the foyer.” She stepped back, pointing in the appropriate directions as she spoke. “Grand staircase, ballroom to the left, parlor, dining room—you’ll find a wall of family paintings in there, if you’re interested—and kitchen to the right. The kitchen was added after the turn of the century and last updated in the fifties, I’m afraid. As bad as it looks, the place is structurally sound. There’s a huge basement beneath us, four bedrooms upstairs, and an attic with storage and a little garret room. It’s really a beautiful home. Some of the pillars need work in front. And there are over a dozen out-buildings, some in better shape than others. You’ve got the original kitchen, original stables, a smokehouse, and ten little buildings that were slave quarters. Actually—” She broke off. There was no need to share any more with them. She’d given them the basics, and now it was time for her to get out of here and leave the house to them.
They owned it, after all.
And they would almost certainly be looking to sell. With luck, one of the historical foundations would be able to buy it.
“Actually what?” Aidan asked sharply.
“Oh…nothing to do with the house,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Seriously, what were you about to say?” Zach asked. He had a killer smile, she noticed. He was extremely good-looking, but seemed confident without being conceited.
She shrugged. “Amelia was afraid. At the end. Terrible things happened here during the Civil War, and she…well, she heard things at night, and she was…afraid. That’s why I stayed with her.”
“She thought the place was haunted?” Aidan demanded. He didn’t snort out loud, but she felt that, inwardly, he was snorting with derision. Big, tough he-man. He wouldn’t understand fear.
“Every good plantation is haunted,” Jeremy said with a grin. “Right?”
The two younger brothers definitely seemed decent enough, she thought. She wasn’t surprised, though. Her employee and friend, Vinnie, had met them both, even asked them to sit in with his band, and he said they both had talent and were nice guys, besides.
She shrugged, feeling uneasy. “This house has a lot of history. Your family was almost wiped out during the Civil War.”
She paused for a moment, thoughtful. “And it wasn’t just the war. There were other events, too. Other deaths. In the 1890s, the owner had an affair with one of his housekeepers. She was stunningly beautiful, they say, with eyes as green as emeralds and skin the color of chocolate.”