Page 36 of The Prince Who Loved Me

Brandi popped them both in the microwave and poured herself some milk. They sat at the barstool to eat.

It was nice being in the quiet with her aunt, without the bustle of morning service where Eulalee would wear her redapron and command the kitchen like a chef in any five-star restaurant. Even in her advanced age, she was still up every morning to make her special dishes for the guests at the Hall. Brandi could only wish she had half of her great-aunt’s energy.

The quiet grew louder as Brandi’s thoughts took over the stillness. She might as well bring up Belle’s now when there were no other distractions.

“Hey, Aunt Eulalee?” She swallowed her nervousness. “I’ve been trying to learn more about how Belle’s works, and I’m curious about how its revenues and expenditures mix with Fountenoy Hall. Is this something you can talk me through?”

“Now? It’s almost midnight.”

“No time like the present.” If she didn’t do it now, she’d lose her nerve.

Eulalee sucked some of the icing off her finger. “Why the sudden interest?”

“It’s not so sudden.” Brandi pushed down her defensiveness. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I mean, I’ve been running the place for almost a year. I should know how things work.”

“You already know that we’ve been brewing alcohol here for several generations,” Eulalee began. “Before Prohibition, it was out in the open. We brewed beer, made whiskey, dabbled in other alcohols.”

“I didn’t know about the beer,” Brandi said. “That’s why it’s Belle’s Medicinal Brewery, and not a distillery, then?”

“Medicinal Distillery didn’t have the same ring to it,” Eulalee said. “During Prohibition, the family pretended to dismantle the still. They left behind bits and pieces for show, but moved everything else deeper into the woods.”

“Moved it further away from Scarlett Lake,” Brandi noted. “They must have been really dedicated, getting water from far away to keep making whiskey.”

“The distance made it safer from most revenuers. Not like Rob’s great-great uncle. He was persistent.”

“Persistent enough for Rob to be able to research him.” And reason he came to Fountenoy Hall in the first place, all neatly published in a book calledThe Agent vs. White Lightning: Romance and Moonshine in Prohibition-Era Middle Georgia.

Eulalee continued her explanation, how only a few family members knew what was happening. Brandi and Wendy’s great-great aunt Caroline was responsible for brewing the whiskey and making sure it burned clean, keeping up the standards even when it was illegal.

When Prohibition was over, the income helped support Fountenoy Hall during the Depression. Aunt Caroline maintained the secrecy, tapping a member of the next generation of Claytons to take over. Eventually it grew into a business of its own, with each person running the distillery picking their successor.

“When your grandpa passed away, I took over to help your grandma. And I picked you.”

Brandi rubbed her fingers across the island. “I often wondered why. Why not Wendy’s mom or even Wendy herself?” She didn’t bother asking about her own mother.

“Leslie couldn’t commit to being in one place, with your uncle always being moved around. And I could tell even at a young age that Wendy didn’t have small-town aspirations.”

“So I was the default choice.” Of course she was. She scraped her fork against the plate, picking up the leftover sugar.

“Oh, honey. No. When you started living here in high school, I watched you for a while.” Aunt Eulalee put her hand on Brandi’s arm, her eyes warm and understanding in the moonlit kitchen. “Even if Wendy had wanted to stay, she didn’t have that adventurous spirit of our law-breaking ancestors. She’s muchbetter suited to running the Hall. Belle’s needs you.”

“How could you tell?” Brandi fought tears that burned behind her eyes. “I was such a screw up.”

Eulalee shrugged. “I knew you’d find your path.”

“Thank you, Aunt Eulalee.” Brandi wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and cleared her throat. “So how is Belle’s a child company if no one at Fountenoy Hall knew about it?”

“In addition to Belle’s successor, whoever is doing the books for Fountenoy Hall also knows. And the accountant, of course,” Eulalee said.

“So Wendy would have been told eventually, even if she hadn’t found the ledgers first.”

“She had some wild ideas about the extra money, like Maybelle running illegal card games.”

“I think Aunt Leslie knows. She knows something, even if it’s not the exact detail.” The knowledge of Belle’s and Fountenoy Hall being inseparable left Brandi unsettled. What did she have if she didn’t have Belle’s? “So Belle’s and Fountenoy Hall are pretty intertwined.”

“Over one hundred years of shared history. It’s pretty fantastic if you think about it.”

“Yeah. Pretty fantastic,” Brandi echoed.