Page 11 of Hearts of Wealth

Catherine

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GLORIANA MANOR WAS quickly becoming like a second home to me. I had called Timothy earlier to let him know I wanted to come by, but he was running errands. I knocked once just so I didn’t scare the housekeeper.

“Hello?” I called out as I walked into the house. “It’s me, Catherine. Timothy said I could stop by.”

I closed the door behind me and looked around. The housekeeper appeared with a friendly smile. “Hello.”

“I’ll just be here for a minute. I just wanted to let you know I was here. I didn’t want to freak you out.”

“No worries.”

I jogged upstairs to Timothy’s office. I was looking forward to the first day on the job. I always got excited when we started a new project. But this was also the time I was going to have to calm the client down. I went to the shelf where Timothy told me he stored the blueprints. I was hoping to use the blueprints and notes I had taken on Gloriana Manor to review before heading to Henry’s house to meet with my subcontractors. His property was built in the same year as the Gloriana. I was hoping to use what we learned from this job to make the next one run a little smoother. The faster we got it done, the more money we all made. And I never wanted to be the contractor that ran weeks and months behind.

I took the blueprints and sat down at Timothy’s desk. I quickly opened the binder and made sure everything was included. I had made a lot of notes that were going to come in handy as well. As I rummaged through it, I looked for a pen to make notes related directly to Henry’s house. I grabbed a notepad, and then my eyes landed on something unexpected: Timothy’s contact book. It was a relic from another time. It was from back in the day when people still wrote down names and addresses in a physical book.

I couldn’t help but smile at the sight, finding it endearing that Timothy still held on to such old-fashioned habits. The man really was nostalgic. The house was a testament to that. He loved old stuff. That was something we had in common. I thought it was another big plus on his side. Anyone that appreciated the slower way of life was a good man in my eyes. I went back to making notes when an idea popped into my head. It was a terrible idea.

Terrible.

“Don’t do it, Catherine.”

My eyes went back to his book of contacts. It was too tempting. What could it hurt?

With a sudden urge to indulge my curiosity, I flipped through the pages of the book, scanning the names and addresses listed within. I kept flipping, looking for one particular name. “Bingo.”

I found the name I was looking for. Regina’s information was neatly written in Timothy’s handwriting. My heart skipped a beat as I stared at the words on the page, a mixture of anger and sadness swirling within me. Regina was the reason Paisley was gone, the reason Timothy was suffering. I hated her for what she had done, for tearing apart Timothy’s world.

Without hesitation, I took out my phone and snapped a picture of Regina’s contact information, knowing that it might come in handy later. I felt naughty and couldn’t even say why I was doing it. It wasn’t jealousy. I knew he could care less about her. He didn’t love her. He couldn’t stand her.

I closed the contact book and gathered up the blueprints and notes I needed for Henry’s house. I almost deleted the picture from my phone. It felt like I was snooping. Timothy and I needed to be able to trust each other. He wasn’t going to appreciate me going through his personal things. I would tell him.

Later.

I left Gloriana Manor behind and made my way to Henry’s house, my mind filled with conflicting emotions. I was determined to focus on the task at hand, to do my job to the best of my ability. But Regina was always going to be like a shadow. Every single day, she was going to haunt everything we did. I wanted to confront her and make her pay for what she had done. It was like turning on the light and blotting out the shadows. I knew her shadow would continue to haunt us all until someone did something about it.

I pulled up to Henry’s house, pleased to see the subcontractors were already on site. I hopped out and walked to the front door. It was hanging open. “Hello?” I called out.

Henry strolled toward me with an irritated expression on his face. “Hi.” I smiled. “I see everyone is already here.”

“But you weren’t.”

“No. I won’t always be here.”

His blatant displeasure was obvious. “I hired you, not them. I expected you to be the one handling things.”

I smiled. “I don’t actually do all the work.”

He frowned. My joke didn’t land. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means I oversee the bulk of the work,” I said. “My job is to come up with a plan. I’ll handle some of the woodworking projects.”

He didn’t seem too pleased that I was overseeing the work on his house instead of being the one crawling around on my hands and knees. “I was under the impression you were going to be doing the job.”

“Henry, look at this place,” I said. “Did you really think I would do all of this on my own? I’m not an electrician or plumber. My job is to ensure everything goes smoothly. I’m here to coordinate the various aspects of the project and make sure it stays on track. That’s my role.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t know any of these people.”