Mr. Greenwood interrupted her thoughts. “So I’ll run through the list of assets in the order Miss Viola requested. Feel free to stop me if you have any questions.”
Ollie let out a little squeak as Liddy shifted him in her arms.
Dad’s face was stoic, his eyes tight at the corners.
Shelby took his hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.
He squeezed back.
“The first asset is Miss Viola’s house.” Mr. Greenwood made eyecontact with her brother. “Caleb, she wanted you to have her home to do with as you and Liddy wish. Though she loved the home and cherished the memories made there, she wanted to make sure you felt no obligation to keep it. The contents are yours also, except for the items she designated for others. Though she asked that you allow your father and sister to take whatever they might wish to keep.”
Caleb nodded. “Of course.”
“She also wanted you to have your grandfather’s wedding band and watch. She had fond memories of you playing with that watch when you were a child.”
Caleb blinked back tears, gave a nod.
Liddy rubbed his arm.
Mr. Greenwood’s glance shifted to Dad. “Stanley, your mother wanted you to have any monetary assets once outstanding debts are paid.” He glanced down at the papers. “She also wanted you to have the letters she and your father wrote to each other when he was away at war, the grandfather clock he bought her for their twenty-fifth anniversary, and any gifts you gave her over the years that you might like to have, including the hummingbird feeder you made her, which provided hours of enjoyment, the diamond birthstone necklace you gave her for her sixtieth birthday, and the antique desk residing in her home office.”
Dad swallowed hard. His jaw flexed.
“Grayson...”
All eyes swung his way.
“Your grandmother was a wonderful, lifelong friend to Miss Viola. She felt Miss Dorothy would’ve wanted you to receive the things she left to Miss Viola in her will—her pearl necklace and your grandparents’ wedding china will go to you.”
Gray offered a nod. Let go of his cup and slid both hands under the table.
Shelby’s shoulder muscles loosened a notch. She’d been right aboutthe bequeathments. But Gram had been wrong about getting them into a room together. There was no crucible powerful enough to make her open her heart to Gray again.
“Shelby, you know how much your grandmother valued her wedding rings.”
“She never took them off.” Even though Pop had died almost twenty years ago. “Pop was her first and only love.”
“Exactly so. She wanted you to have those to remember them both by. Also, all of her first-edition copies in her home library and all the books from her personal library. She wanted you to have the antique settee in her living room. She had many fond memories of late-night chats dating back to your childhood. She wanted you to have her tea service, the diamond earrings your grandfather gave her for their twentieth anniversary, and the antique lamp that belonged to her mother. She also asked that you would care for Chaucer. Lastly, in regard to The Second Story Bookshop, which includes the business and the building’s contents, she bequeathed you 51 percent.”
Shelby blinked at Mr. Greenwood. “Did you say 51 percent?”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Dad said. “Shelby and Mom have run that place together for years. She always intended for Shelby to have it after she was gone.”
“Who’d even get the other half?” Caleb said. “Not me. I have no interest.”
“I understand your confusion. But I’d like you to recognize that Miss Viola was very clear in her wishes. Shelby, running the bookshop with you was one of your grandmother’s biggest joys. She wanted me to express how thankful she was for the time she had with you over the years. Those memories were very dear to her. She realized you might not understand her wishes, but nonetheless”—his gaze shifted across the table and locked on Gray—“she bequeathed the other 49 percent of the bookstore to Grayson Briggs.”
Chapter 3
“What?”Gray had heard the words. They just didn’t quite compute. Miss Viola had left him half of the bookstore? His gaze shot to Shelby, who stared at him as if he’d just killed her cat.
Caleb shot to his feet, eyes hot and aimed straight at him. “You manipulated her. I know you stayed in touch with her, and there’s no way she would’ve done this on her own.”
Gray frowned. “I didn’t know anything about this.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Liddy took Caleb’s arm.“Honey.”
