The Inn at Dead Man's Point (6 page)

“Your sister and her kids?”

“My whole family, or most of it. They all want to see the inn, and they’re bringing the food. Knowing my mother, there’ll be enough to feed a small army.”

“How many are coming? Do I need to find the leaf for the table?”

“Probably.” Al had to stop and count. Tony and Catherine were in California, so they wouldn’t be here, and Vinnie and Vickie had other plans. “Angelo and Teresa and their twin babies, Nick and Cara and their three, Gina and Will and their two boys, Maria and Blade have six kids, but they’ll only have five with them. And my mother. That’s twenty, give or take.”

Jenna nearly choked on a laugh. “Twenty people?”

“Plus the four of us.” There were usually ten more at these Donatelli family dinners. If it was up to his mother, it would be every Sunday instead of once a month.

“Jenna,” Mattie called. “Is something burning?”

“Not anymore.” Jenna walked into the bedroom. “Katie’s grandfather came to visit, and he smokes cigars.”

“You know I don’t allow smoking in the inn.”

“I know. Good thing I didn’t marry his son, huh.”

“Well, you should have married somebody instead of having a bastard.”

Jenna left the room. She’d made a mistake coming back here. She should have told the people at the hospital to send Aunt Mattie to a nursing home. Living in a dumpy little apartment trying to get by on unemployment and child support while she looked for a decent job would be better than staying here. Aunt Mattie had always been overbearing and critical. Uncle Charlie had made life tolerable, but when Uncle Charlie died, all the warmth went out of this place.

At least Katie was happy. She had kitties to play with.

<>

Al finished moving his office and set up his computer. He’d already strung in some extra power and a high speed internet connection, but it took time to get everything set up and positioned like he wanted. He put his computer in front of the window so he could watch the boats and barges out on the sound while he worked. Some people might find it distracting, but he couldn’t work facing a wall. He had to see outside.

He had his file cabinet nearly filled when he heard a sound at the door. Katie was rubbing her eyes, and she had tear streaks down her cheeks. “What’s wrong, punkin?”

“Aunt Mattie don’t like me.”

“Did she say that?”

“She told Mommy I was a bassard.”

Al knew he shouldn’t get involved, but he hated to see a kid hurt by this kind of thoughtless remark. Picking on Jenna was one thing. Laying that kind of garbage on an innocent kid was something else. He took Katie’s hand and they walked downstairs to find Jenna. She was in the kitchen. “We have a problem.”

“Was she bothering you?”

“I don’t want her in my office, but that’s not the current problem. She overheard you and Mattie, and now she thinks she’s a ‘bassard.’ I don’t think she knows what it means, but she caught the tone of voice. Aunt Mattie doesn’t like her.”

Jenna sighed deeply. She leaned down to hug Katie. “Aunt Mattie doesn’t like me either, honey. She’s a grumpy old lady who doesn’t know what she’s saying half the time.”

“Why is she so grumpy?”

“Because she’s old and her arm hurts. Stay away from her for a few days, okay?”

“Okay.” The kid saw a cat and ran off to play.

Jenna calmly stirred the stew cooking on the stove, and then she marched in to talk with Aunt Mattie. “Let’s get one thing straight. Any discussion of my marital status is off limits. Don’t you ever call Katie a bastard, and if you make my little girl cry again, we’re out the door and you’ll find yourself in a nursing home.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Katie overheard one of your tirades. No more lecturing, Aunt Mattie. Whether I marry or not is none of your damn business. I gave up my life in Seattle to come here and help you through a bad time, and all you’ve done is bitch at me. Enough already.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that,” she snapped.

Jenna was livid. She’d grown up with this crap, and she wouldn’t subject her little girl to it. “You’ll either treat me and Katie better or we’re leaving. Your choice.”

Aunt Mattie didn’t respond, so Jenna pushed on. “I’ll do the shopping tomorrow morning, but I’ll need money for groceries.”

“I’ll put you on my bank account, but you can’t use it for anything else but groceries and my medicine.”

“Then what do you want me to do with all your bills? Al shouldn’t have to pay your overdue electric bill.”

“Then pay the bills, but that’s all. I don’t want you squandering all my money.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jenna said mostly to herself. If she spent a nickel on herself, the old witch would probably have her arrested.

After dinner, while Aunt Mattie sat at the kitchen table sipping her tea, Jenna loaded the dishwasher with the good china. She wanted to have the dishes and the dining room clean for Sunday. There’d be a lot of kids here. She’d have to clear the clutter from the living room and bring some of Katie’s toys downstairs.

Al was lucky to have a big family, people who cared about him. All she had was a sweet little girl and a surly old lady she couldn’t please.

She thought she’d be glad to be back at the inn, but now that she was here, she couldn’t wait to leave. Aunt Mattie’s venom was spilling over to Katie, Al hated her for the way she’d behaved in the past, and being here reminded her of the people she’d lost.

Her parents’ personal things were stored in one of the attic rooms, and she wanted to go through them while she was here. Aunt Mattie wouldn’t let her do it when she was a kid, but she was no longer a kid, and Aunt Mattie didn’t have to know what she was doing.

Maybe she could find some record of her parents’ investment in the inn. Aunt Mattie seemed sure they’d only put fifty thousand into it, but Jenna remembered them selling the house so they could buy a half-interest in the inn.

Aunt Mattie and Uncle Charlie didn’t have to spend their own money raising her or putting her through college. Her parents had money when they died. They didn’t spend it on her, so what did Aunt Mattie and Uncle Charlie do with the money?

Chapter Four

A
l hammered the PRIVATE PROPERTY sign into the ground beside the driveway. A few feet down the drive, he put the other one into the ground. NO TRESPASSING. The sign for the inn had to come out, but before he could get the job done, Brian Baxter drove in and parked down by the inn. Since the guy’s daughter was living here, Al couldn’t stop him from visiting, but he hated like hell to have that creep hanging around the property.

Walking down the drive toward the inn, Al saw Brian take two big suitcases from the trunk of his car.
Oh, no!
If Jenna wanted to live with that jerk, she’d have to do it somewhere else.

Sprinting down to the car, Al asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Moving in. What in the hell are you doing here? My old man is buying this place, and he wants you gone.”

“He’d better have at least ten million, because I won’t sell it for less.”

Brian looked stunned. “
You
own this place?”

“Yeah, and I don’t intend to share my home with the likes of you, so put your junk back in your car and get lost. If you want to visit with Katie, call Jenna and make arrangements.”

Al walked inside and twisted the lock. If he had to, he’d put a gate across the drive to keep the pests out.

Brian pounded on the door and demanded to talk with Jenna, but Jenna was helping Mattie with her bath. “She’s busy,” Al said through the door.

“I’ll wait.”

“Fine, but you’ll have to wait out there.”

Al poked his head in Mattie’s open bedroom door. Mattie and Jenna were in the bathroom. He could smell the steam from here. “Jenna, Brian is on the front porch with his suitcases. I told him you were busy and he said he’d wait.”

She groaned. “Did you tell him—”

“I told him to get lost. I’m not sharing this place with Brian Baxter. If you want to live with him, you’ll have to go elsewhere.”

Jenna came out, water splashed all over her clothes and anger burning in her eyes. “
Live with him?
You’ve got to be kidding.”

Mattie yelled, “You get back in here right now.”

Jenna helped her aunt get dressed and washed out the tub before she opened the door. Brian was pacing on the porch. The second she opened the door, he stopped pacing and lit into Jenna. “Why are you living in
his
place? Do you two have something going on? If you do, I’ll take Katie away from you.”

No, he wouldn’t, because he didn’t want the responsibility, but she resented the implication and the threat. “I’m here to take care of my aunt. Come in and meet her.”

She walked into Aunt Mattie’s bedroom with Brian and introduced them. “Aunt Mattie, this is Brian Baxter, Katie’s father. Brian, this is Mattie Worthington.”

“Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you,” said Brian. Without giving Aunt Mattie a chance to speak, he turned back to Jenna. “I don’t care what that stupid wop says, I’m moving in with my daughter.”

Jenna crossed her arms. “No, you’re not.”

“Then you’re not getting another penny of child support.”

“You and your parents aren’t welcome here. If you want to visit Katie, call and we’ll arrange something, but it won’t be here. Al owns the inn, and he doesn’t want you around.” She stared him in the eye. “I don’t want you here, either, and if you stop paying child support, I’ll take you to court.”

Without another word, Brian stormed out and slammed the front door. “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it,” she muttered mostly to herself.

“That’s the man you wouldn’t marry?” Aunt Mattie asked.

“That’s him. He doesn’t like to work, and because his parents are rich, he thinks that gives him the right to push other people around. He’s a lousy father and would have made a terrible husband. Katie and I are better off alone.” She didn’t want to live with Brian, and she didn’t want Bruce running her life like he ran Brian’s. Katie loved her daddy, but Jenna didn’t love him, and she’d never marry a man she didn’t love.

Jenna made Aunt Mattie a cup of tea and left her to watch her television programs, or sleep through them. She had other things to do, like clean the formal dining room and feed the cats.

Mattie sipped her tea and turned on the television. She didn’t much like that rude man, and she didn’t like Jenna either. As soon as the cast came off her arm and she could take care of herself, she’d chase the girl and her little brat out of here.

<>

Al called his oldest brother, Vinnie, who owned a big landscaping business. “I may need to install a gate on the driveway. Any idea what those electronic ones run?”

“Anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on what you want. Got problems?”

“I’m getting tired of the Baxter family showing up without an invitation and walking in like they own the place.”

“Ah, the bozo who wants to have dinner with Nick and Cara.”

“That’s the one. He and Jenna have a kid, and since the kid is living here, he thinks—”

Vinnie laughed. “Don’t want any competition, huh? Nick told me she was pretty.”

Pretty didn’t touch it, but Al wasn’t about to discuss women with Vinnie or anyone else in the family. They’d all pushed women at him, including his mother. He was the last available Donatelli brother, and they all thought they had to find him a woman. Vinnie’s wife was blonde, chubby, and outgoing, Nick’s wife was rich and would do anything for the family, Angelo’s wife was dark and pretty, and Tony had found a sassy redhead on a television show. He liked them all, but he didn’t want to date their friends.

“If you need a gate, I’ll come help you put it in,” said Vinnie.

“Yeah, okay.” Vinnie would help – his whole family would help – but Al hated to put a gate on the property. It shouldn’t be necessary.

<>

Jenna put Katie down for her nap and went up to the attic. It smelled dusty and musty, so she pushed a window open to get some air.

The storage closets were off the attic sitting room, and they were stuffed full of boxes and suitcases and trunks. Seeing them reminded her of what she’d lost. She was only twelve when her parents died and her whole world came crashing in on her. They’d been to a New Year’s Eve party, and on the way home were hit by a drunk driver. The drunk walked away from the accident in one piece. It took hours to get her parents’ mangled bodies out of the twisted metal.

Jenna was in shock for several days, through the funeral and beyond. She didn’t remember much about the rest of the school year. They’d moved into the inn over the Christmas holidays, so Jenna stayed at the inn, but things would never be the same. The school counselor helped some, and Uncle Charlie spent hours talking to her and helping her deal with her grief. Aunt Mattie acted like nothing had happened.