Keeping Victoria's Secret by Melinda Peters Page B

the
furniture store delivering her new bed asking for directions to
Pippen’s Grove and the farm. Before leaving New Jersey, she’d
impulsively purchased an old-fashioned walnut sleigh bed. Though
she’d always wanted one, there hadn’t been room for a large bed in
her grandmother’s apartment. As she closed the phone, she heard
Doc’s car on the gravel drive.
    Sighing, she saved the file she was working
on and closed the laptop. Her secret authorship of sexually
explicit romance novels under the name Tori Baxter was still known
only to her literary agent and she wanted to keep it that way.
    Vicky met her friends at the door and ushered
the smiling couple into the kitchen. “I was just about to make some
fresh coffee in my new pot.” She grinned at them indicating the
coffee maker Doc had picked up in town for her. “Would you like a
cup? It’s all set up.”
    “I’d love some coffee,” said Doc sighing as
he sat down at the kitchen table.
    Uncovering a large plate, Elvira placed it on
the table. “I thought some of my double chocolate brownies would be
just the thing while we go through these keepsakes.”
    Vicky took one and moaned in pleasure as she
bit into it. With her mouth full she said, “These brownies are
awesome Mrs. Sweeney.” She swallowed. “Absolutely delicious. So
nice of you to bring them.”
    “Why thank you.” Elvira smiled at her. “I’m
glad you like them.” Then she reached for the shoebox that Doc had
carried in and opened it. Removing pictures and yellowed envelopes,
she shuffled through the old photos until finding the one she
wanted.
    “Dear, this is a picture of your grandmother
and my mother taken in front of Victoria’s beautiful flower
garden”
    Taking the photo, Vicky exclaimed, “That’s
Nanna, but she must have been only about sixteen, when it was
taken. I’ve never seen a picture of her that young.” Two smiling
girls stood dressed in their Sunday best, with the farmhouse and
garden in the background. There were no screens on the back porch
and the garden was full of blooms, but there was no mistaking the
house.
    Elvira Sweeney was again sifting through her
stack of photos. “Oh yes, here we go. Victoria, did your
grandmother ever speak to you of her brother?”
    “Yes, she told me that she had no sisters and
her only brother was killed during the Second World War.”
    Elvira passed another picture to her. “This
is one of your grandmother and her brother, Alexander, in his
uniform. I gather it was taken just before he went overseas.”
    She gazed at the picture of a young Victoria,
beside a handsome older boy looking very proud in his army
uniform.
    Doc was busy reading several old letters and
documents while the women passed pictures back and forth.
    “Mother told me that much of this was given
to her when your grandmother divorced Charley and was preparing to
leave Pippen’s Grove. I believe that she entrusted them to Mother
because there were things that Victoria simply couldn’t bear for
Charley to have. They corresponded for several years and some of
those letters are in here, but I don’t believe the two friends ever
saw one another again. By that time your grandmother’s parents had
passed on.”
    Someone began knocking and Vicky excused
herself and went to answer the front door. It was Mr. Douglas. Fred
followed her back into the kitchen to join the group. Pouring
coffee for everyone, she felt grateful for these good neighbors. As
they nibbled Elvira's brownies, the three older people reminisced
about the past.
    The rumble of a truck on the drive brought
her once again to the door. Movers from Jersey had arrived with a
van full of her things and right behind it the furniture delivery
truck bringing her new bed.
    Hurrying back to the kitchen, she explained,
“My furniture and things have just arrived so I’ll have to direct
the moving men. It won’t take long.”
    Smiling to herself, she stepped onto the
porch. Everything’s falling into place.