Pamela rose gracefully and led the way out of the library. Jane followed, her heart pounding.
“We can talk in the ladies’ room.”
They walked down the hallway and into the ladies’ room.
Jane quickly checked the stalls. “All clear,” she said and walked back to where Pamela was standing near the bathroom counter. A completely different expression washed over Pamela’s face in that instant. Gone was the cold businesswoman. In her place was something almost... maternal.
“Jane, baby, I need you to understand something,” Pamela said, her voice softer. “I don’t want to take the inn away from you. I want to give you half of it.”
Jane blinked. “What?”
“Your father and grandmother, they’ve kept so much from you,” Pamela continued. “Things you deserve to know. Things about your heritage. About whoyou really are.”
“I know who I am,” Jane said carefully.
“Do you?” Pamela moved closer. “Did you know that your grandfather, my father, owned one of the largest tech companies in the country? RD Electronics?”
Jane’s eyes widened. RD Electronics. Everyone knew that name. They’d revolutionized personal computing in the eighties and nineties. The company was worth a fortune.
“Your father owned that?” Jane breathed.
Pamela nodded. “Richard Sullivan. And he left something for you. Enough that you won’t ever have to work again.”
Jane felt the room tilt slightly. This couldn’t be real.
“But there’s a catch,” Pamela continued. “Your grandfather’s will has certain... provisions. In order for you to claim your inheritance, you need to sign some paperwork. Legal documents that establish your claim.”
She reached into her purse and pulled out a thick stack of papers. “These documents. Once you sign these, everything that’s rightfully yours becomes accessible.”
Jane stared at the papers. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before?”
“Because I was trying to protect you and your money,” Pamela said, her voice taking on an edge. “Your father, your grandmother, even that new man in your life. They’d try to milk your fortune to save this horrible inn.” Her eyes scanned the ladies’ room. “I couldn’t let them do that to you. I need youto sign these papers before they find out. Before they try to manipulate you into giving everything away to save this dump.” She clutched the documents tighter. “Once the sale of the inn goes through, I’m divorcing Victor. This is just between us, Jane. Mother and daughter. I want you to have what’s yours.” Her eyes glazed over slightly as she smiled, lost in her own thoughts. “I’m going to turn this inn into something beautiful, a modern beach house where we can spend time together. Make up for all the years we lost because your father and grandparents kept us apart.”
Jane felt anger flare hot in her chest at the thought of Pamela tearing down the Christmas Inn, but she forced herself to stay calm. To remember what she was supposed to do, and that made her hold herself back from slapping this delusional woman.
“Okay,” Jane said slowly. “Let me see the papers.”
“I just need you to sign,” Pamela said, pulling them back slightly. “I promise you, Jane baby, it’s all in order. We don’t have time for you to read them. I also can’t have you going to your father with the amounts, or he’ll try to do something stupid like?—”
“Buy an inn with it?” William Moore’s voice filled the bathroom space as a stall door banged open.
The other two stall doors opened, and Julie and Holly stepped out.
“You!” Pamela hissed, immediately starting to stuff the documents backinto her purse.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Jane said, grabbing Pamela’s purse and pulling out the documents. She glanced at the first page and frowned, then her eyes widened as she read further. “Uh...”
Her head shot up, and she looked at William holding up the documents. “Is this right?”
William took the papers from Jane’s hands and went through them, his expression growing darker with each page. Finally, he looked at Pamela with barely contained anger.
“You are even more despicable than I ever thought,” William said, his voice low and furious. “You know, when your father cut you out of his will, I stuck up for you. I said you’d been through a lot in your life, that he should give you another chance. He said that he’d tried and tried with you, but you were always so cold to him and that you hated him so much you’d even tried to get him declared insane to take over his company.”
“I don’t care what that horrible man said,” Pamela hissed. “I didn’t choose to leave him. He cut me out of his life. I had to live with that woman while he lived the high life.”
“You lived in one of the biggest houses in St. Augustine with a chauffeur, a chef, and staff waiting on you hand and foot,” Julie pointed out sharply. “I’d say he kept you in the lap of luxury.”
“Shut up!” Pamela snapped at Julie. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d have been James Christmas’s daughter. I’d have grown up in a happy family, but you stole him from my real mother!”
