A Taste Of A Vampire

He wrote professionally, but she could see by his wording that he was disappointed that she would not be keeping the estate, and that he wished it wasn’t being passed on, but he was doing his professional duty to the family.

She pulled the legal documents out to look through them. She wanted to make sure that the staff were taken care of as she had instructed. She turned the cover page and stopped short. There, staring back at her, was a full color photograph of the front of the house. It looked exactly as she remembered it, and seeing it took her right back to it again.

She had set the photograph that Granger had given her inside the back of her desk drawer at home. It was carefully and lovingly wrapped, and she had promised herself that when she was able to think of the place without hurting about it, she would pull the framed photograph out and put it in a prominent place in her home, but she couldn’t bear to have it out while she was still hurting so much.

She was still staring at the photo on her desk when her office door opened once more. She raised her eyes and drew in a short breath, startled by the sudden interruption.

“Hello Jill.” She gave her boss a smile. “What can I help you with?”

Jill eyed her skeptically, closed the door, and walked over to her desk, sitting down in one of the chairs before it.

“Well, we haven’t really had a chance to talk much since you got back from England. I thought I’d come and see how all the loose ends are being tied up. How are things going?” she asked, looking pointedly at Claire.

Claire sighed heavily and sank back into her chair, setting the file down on the desk and waving a hand slightly at it. “I just received that. I guess it will be the last of the loose strings to be tied up.”

“What is it?” Jill asked, looking down at it as she reached for it.

“It’s from my attorney in London. He did some searching and found another distant relative who can take over the estate, the inheritance, and the title. All I have to do is sign it and send it back to him.” She looked away from the desk and wished that she didn’t feel as if a cold steel cannon ball was sitting in her stomach.

Jill raised one eyebrow and set the papers back on Claire’s desk. “Wow. I really thought that you were going to keep it, or at least sell it. It would’ve been a great investment property. It would’ve been a great retirement property. I seriously thought that you were going to get there and love the place. I thought you would see it and fall in love with it and maybe even the people around it, and decide to keep it. It’s kind of a dream come true for just about anyone. So, what happened?”

Claire swallowed and looked away from her for a moment, pushing back some of the emotion that rushed to the surface, threatening to spill over out of her eyes and make her voice waver. She cleared her throat and picked up the pen that was laying on her desktop. She turned it over and over in her fingers as she spoke.

“Oh, I saw it, and it’s a gorgeous place. I… I did fall in love with it, and with the people there, actually. I just… realized that it wouldn’t work to keep it, for many reasons.” She looked back up at Jill.

Jill frowned slightly and tilted her head to one side. “Why wouldn’t you sell it? Why would you just give all of that away to some distant relative you’ve never met?”

Claire pursed her lips and gave her boss a small smile. “Because there’s a great staff of people there, and I want to be sure that they’ll be taken care of. I felt like I really connected with my ancestors who lived there…my family that is gone now. It became important to me to protect what was there, what has been passed down through the family for so many generations. It became important to me to care for the staff the way that they have cared for my family with such loyalty and devotion. If I sold it, I guess I couldn’t really guarantee that they’d be looked after, but I had it drawn up in this paperwork that in order for the next relative to own it, they have to abide by my stipulations for the staff, which include letting them keep their jobs as long as they like up to retirement if they want to stay that long, and giving a huge pension to them for the rest of their lives. Trust me, there’s more than enough money. This way I know it will be done.”

Jill eyed her thoughtfully for a long silent moment. “Well, it sounds like you’ve given it considerable thought. Are you sure this is what you want to do, though? From what I’ve seen and heard here, you haven’t exactly been yourself since you’ve been back from your trip. I don’t want to push, but… are you truly happy? Is this what you really want?”

Claire felt as if Jill might be looking right through her. She covered her face with her hands and sighed heavily.

“You know, I guess I’m going to have to admit this to you, and to myself, but I’m not entirely sure that everything is the way that it should be. I don’t want to lose Grayson Manor, but I can’t keep it. I didn’t want to leave England, but I had to come back home. There just wasn’t any way for me to stay there. There was too much… at stake.” She dropped her hands and looked at her boss and friend.

“I loved it there, Jill. I did. If I’m being totally honest, and you’re right: since I’ve been back here, it just doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t feel right. It feels like everything is out of place and maybe a little wrong with just about everything in my life. Like puzzle pieces that just don’t fit. It’s strange. I feel like I’m a dancer out of time; everything is just off, and I can’t seem to get it all back in sync. It’s not just one or two things either. It’s everything. Everything is off. It’s been really difficult.” Claire blinked back a few tears and lifted her hand to wipe at her eyes.

Jill leaned forward and reached over the desk, taking one of Claire’s hands in hers. “Then why did you come back? Why didn’t you stay there and keep it? Why would you give it away now? Claire, if you want to go back to it, just go! I’m going to be sad to see you leave here, but I’d rather have you happy in your dream life than wasting away here at a desk being miserable.”