My Grandmother's Inn: A totally gorgeous and gripping page-turner (Dune Island) by Kristin Harper

Author:Kristin Harper [Harper, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781837903443
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2023-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Molly couldn’t let her mind go there yet. She could barely figure out whether Hazel’s story could be true, much less wrap her brain around the inconceivable possibility that she might be the beneficiary of Hydrangea House and Peace Place.

“Hazel, I’m sorry but I have to ask this. Do you think it’s possible that you’re mistaken, and that things didn’t happen quite as you recollect?”

“Oh, I freely admit, I had my doubts before I came back here. But now I’m certain,” Hazel confirmed. “There are several ways for you to be certain, too. The easiest and fastest is to look under the floorboard in the closet in my old bedroom. If you find the bottle with the note to my papa in it, you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”

Molly was quick to clarify, “It’s not that I think you’re lying—”

“I know you’re not accusing me of that. But you’re probably thinking whatever happened when I was a girl was so long ago and now that I’m an old lady, I must be confused, right?” Hazel chortled. Even as Molly tried to deny it, she spoke over her. “Listen, I’d think the same thing. Anybody would—and they should. It’s an incredible story. But it wouldn’t take very much to prove it’s true. Just a quick peek beneath the floorboards.”

Molly’s thoughts were spinning, and she had to take a moment to slow down their conversation so she wouldn’t impulsively agree to do something she’d regret later. “I realize pulling up the boards might seem like the easiest solution. However, the floors in all the upstairs rooms were ripped up about ten years ago, when the contractors needed access to install new lighting in the rooms beneath them.”

She specifically recalled when the lighting was installed, because Savannah’s father, Richard, had overseen the renovations, which also included putting in new windows and updating the tiling in the bathrooms. Beverly had been upset because Richard employed off-island contractors instead of the local carpenters whose services she knew and trusted.

Although it turned out their craftsmanship was exemplary, Beverly was distraught at how they’d mishandled the furniture they’d moved out of their way. In the process, a period piece mirror frame had been cracked and they’d stored several antique wooden tables in the basement, where they could have mildewed. Beverly had to hire some local high schoolers to move the items back upstairs—and the teenagers were far more careful than the professionals had been.

Molly was relatively certain if that’s how reckless the contractors had been with antiques, they would have discarded an old glass bottle if they’d found it while they were tearing up the floor in the back room.

Not to mention that just because young Hazel had written a letter to her father describing what she believed had happened, that didn’t mean the babies truly had been swapped.

She said, “If anyone discovered the bottle beneath the closet floor, it’s long gone by now. So even if we lifted the boards again—which Savannah probably won’t let me do, especially if she knew what I was searching for and why—we probably wouldn’t find it.

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