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Chapter 1

Victoria was waken by the sound of the telephone ringing.
“ Damn who could it be at this time?” she thought to herself as she climbed out of bed.
Grabbing her robe before stumbling out of the bedroom; and then down the hallway as she made her way into the kitchen.
“ Hello?” she said grabbing the reservoir off the phone.
“ Hello, I’m looking for a Ms. Victoria Donaldson?” a gentleman with a very thick English accent asked.
“ This is she?” Victoria said.
“ Oh good, and I’m so sorry for calling you at this time in the morning, but I’m calling on the behalf of your late great uncle Charles.” The gentleman said as he nodded to the lady who put a folder down on his desk.
“ Um… it is very early here, and I was sleep, but you did say something about my great uncle?” Victoria said as she was trying to remember who Charles was.
“ Yes ma’am, and I’m sorry to have woken you up. Your great uncle passed away earlier this morning, or late last night due to your time, well anyway I have been informed that he has left you something in his will.” The guy said opening up the folder and began reading paper that was in there.
“ Oh I see, um… that is fine. Man it’s been a very long time since I have seen him, and yet he remembered me?” Victoria said as she was in total shock that a relative that she hardly knew remembered her to leave something in their will.
“ Yes… well it seemed that two months before his death he had his will changed due to the fact that the person he named in his will is also dead, and the next kin would be her daughter, which would be you Ms. Donaldson.” The gentleman said.
“ Oh I see, well yes my mother did die a couple of years ago, um… Mr…?” Victoria said when she realized that she didn’t even know the person on the phone.
“ Oh I’m sorry for not giving you my name, I’m Jacob Marley, from Marley and Marley.” Jacob said as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“ That is fine, so Mr. Marley what did my great uncle leave me, may I ask?” Victoria asked.
“ Yes, Ms. Donaldson you may ask, and from what I can see here is your uncle has left you his pride and joy his family estate in the county of Cornwall, in a small town called Land’s End.” Jacob said as he read Victoria’s name and saw what was willed to her.
“ Ok I have an estate, cool. Wait a minute I remember my mother saying something that Charles had two sons, so should the estate go to them?” Victoria said as she started the coffee pot.
“ Yes he does have two sons, but it seemed about four years ago Charles and the two boys and a huge falling out with each other and he disowned them completely, and that was when he named your mother, as sole heir, but when she died it passed to you.” He said.
“ Oh wow that sounds great, so now my only question is what do I do now?” she asked.
“ Well I have to tell you that you need to come here to England, and sign the papers and then meet up with the judge, so that way the deed to the estate can go straight to you.” He said hoping that the sons won’t fight the will.
“ Ok, um… I have next week off so will that be soon enough or do I need to be there sooner.” She said.
“ No, next week will be fine, and I will schedule a meeting next Thursday?” he asked looking down at his calendar.
“ Thursday will be great, and can I bring a friend?” Victoria asked as the coffee stopped brewing and she poured it into her cup.
“ Sure you may bring a friend, and they can act as a witness in the signing.” Jacob said as he penciled Victoria’s name in the day planner.
“ Ok thank you for letting me know what’s going on and I see you in England then… um… where in England?” Victoria said as she sat down at the table.
“ Oh sorry again, in London, at 10am.” Jacob said as he wrote the time down under her name.
“ Ok I’ll see you then.” Victoria said taking a sip of the coffee.
“ Ok see you then, and you have a pleasant morning Ms. Victoria.” Jacob said before hanging up his phone.
“ Thank you and you have a great afternoon.” Victoria said before hanging up her phone.
Victoria got up from where she was sitting and taking her cup of coffee with her she made her way back to her room. Once there she got all her clothes that she was going to wear for the day together and put them on the bed before heading into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later Victoria was getting out of the shower and drying off before going into her bed room and began getting dress.
After getting dress Victoria left the bedroom and headed back into the kitchen so that way she could make her something for breakfast.
After breakfast she went back into the bathroom and brushed her teeth before getting her stuff for work together before heading off to work.
Victoria got into her car and headed off to work.

~~~~

Within twenty minutes she was pulling into the parking lot of strip mall, going around the building until she was behind the shop that she worked at.
“ Morning Vicky and how are you doing?” Emily said as Victoria came walking into the building.
“ Morning Em, I’m doing fine and how are you and the kids?” she said as she went over to the time clock and clocked in.
“ They are doing fine, and I’m also fine too, what are you doing this weekend?” Emily asked as she put her lunch into the fridge.
“ I have to get some things together so I can fly off to England.” Victoria said as she went over to the fridge and put her lunch inside it.
“ England what is going on there?” Emily said as they walked out of the back area and into the store.
“ I got a phone call really early this morning from a lawyer.” Victoria said as Emily went over to the door and unlocked the door.
“ Wow, and what did the lawyer want so early in the morning?” Emily asked as she turned over the closed sign to open.
“ Well I found out that I inherited a manor house in England. So I’m going to be heading over to England next week and see this place.” Victoria said as she went over to the pile of boxes that she left unopened from the day before.
“ Ok, but how did you inherited this place I thought you didn’t have any family?” Emily asked as she went over to the cash boxed and counted the money to make sure that there was 50 dollars in the till.
“ Well I had a Great Uncle and he passed away a couple of days ago, and the place was to go to my mother but since she passed away this place goes to me.” Victoria said opening a box and pulling out the invoice.
“ Wasn’t he the same guy that you told about not liking his sons or something like that?” Emily said as she looked out and saw the UPS truck stop in front of the shop.
“ Yeah he is the one, great I wonder what he is bring us today?” Victoria said as she too saw the UPS truck.
“ Yeah I wonder what he is bring us, I didn’t order anything did you?” Emily asked.
“ No I didn’t order anything either.” Victoria said as she looked into the box and matched the items that were on the invoice.
“ Good morning ladies I have one package for you guys today.” The delivery guy said as he came into the building.
“ Morning Tom, Ok, but I don’t remember ordering anything.” Emily said as she took the clipboard from the delivery guy and looked down at the paper before signing it.
“ I think this was something that you had ordered a few weeks ago.” Tom said taking back his clip board before putting the package down on the counter.
“ Ok, thanks.” Was all Emily said as she was still trying to figure out what it could be.
“ Oh great that vase finally came in, now we can call Ms. Bibbs to let her know.” Victoria said as she opened up another box.
“ Well I’ll see you ladies next week then, have a great day.” Tom said as he headed out the door and to his truck.
“ I’ll call her to let her know.” Emily said as she open the box and sure enough it was the vase.
“ Ok, morning how can I help you?” Victoria asked as the door open and two elderly ladies came into the building.
“ Morning, we are just looking thank you.” The taller of the two ladies said.
“ Ok, just let us know if you need any help.” Victoria said as she nodded to them.
Emily retaped the box and then called Ms. Bibbs to let her know that the vase that she bought was in the shop.
“ Ms. Bibbs will be here around 12 for the vase so I’m going to put it in the office.” Emily said as she picked up the box and then headed for the office.
“ Excuse me miss but could I please see this broach please.” The shorter lady asked as she came up to Victoria.
“ Sure, let me get the keys.” Victoria said as she got up from the floor and went to the front counter and grabbed the keys for the display case.
She went over to the two ladies and saw that they were looking at the ruby and diamond broach.
“ We would like to see the ruby and diamond broach please.” The shorter lady asked.
“ Sure, everything in this case has been apprised and we do have the papers on them too.” Victoria said as she opened the case.
“ Oh really, that is great to know, I will take this one please.” The lady said as she took a closer look at the broach.
“ And I will like to look around some more before we get that.” The taller lady said.
“ Ok then I will put it over here and get the paper work on it, while you guys look around some more.” Victoria said as she took the broach over to the front counter and went to her desk that was behind it, and then she went over to the filing cabinet and began looking for the paper work on the broach.
Once she found it she found a small box, and put the broach inside it along with the paperwork.
“ We are ready now.” The short lady said as she and her friend came up to the counter.
“ Ok here we go, here is the broach and the paperwork, and that would be $1,486.00.” Victoria said as the door opened up again and Jackie came into the building.
“ Thank you so much and you have a great day.” The ladies said as they headed for the door after they finished paying for the broach.
“ You’re welcome, and thank you and come back to see again, and you guys have a great day too.” Victoria said to the two ladies as they headed out the door.
“ Hey Jackie, it’s great to see you today.” Emily said as she came out of office.
“ Hey Em, thanks and it’s great to see you too, hey Vicky are you free for lunch today?” Jackie said going over to an old wedding dress.
“ Hey, well I did bring my lunch, but if you want to go out then I can take my lunch home and have it for dinner tonight.” Victoria said as she went back to the boxes that she was working on before the two ladies came into the store.
“ Ok, darn I have to go, but I’ll see you around 12 then.” Jackie said as she saw the time.
“ Ok see you then.” Victoria said.
“ Can you put this stuff out, while I put the invoice into the computer, everything is logged in.” Victoria said as she finished with the last box.
“ Sure, and after that you can head out for lunch.” Emily said as a couple came into the store.
“ Ok.” Victoria said heading towards the back of the store and into the office.

~~~~
Forty five minutes later Victoria was finished with her paper work, and put the invoice in a folder and put it into the filing cabinet.
“ Well I’m gone, I’ll see you in an hour.” She said as she came back into the store and saw that there were two other people in the room too.
“ Ok I’ll see you in an hour, have a great lunch.” Emily said as she waved bye to Victoria.
Victoria walked to the back of shop and to the time clock and clocked out before going out the back door and to her car.
“ Hey Jackie I’m on my way to the restaurant and I be there in about five minutes.” Victoria said as she left a message on Jackie’s phone.
Going around the long row of buildings Victoria finally made her way to the red light at the entrance of the shopping center.
She looked over to her right and started to laugh as she saw the guy next to her head banging to the music that he was listening to.
The light changed and Victoria turned onto the main road and headed for the restaurant where she and Jackie was going to have lunch at.
True to her five minutes later, Victoria was turning into the parking lot and saw Jackie’s car parked next to the building.
Once she parked her car Victoria got out of the car and began walking towards the entrance of the restaurant.
“ Welcome to TGIF’s.” the hostess said.
“ Thanks, I have a friend waiting for me and I see her.” Victoria said as she saw Jackie wave to her.
“ Ok, and she has a menu for you already.” The hostess said as turned and saw Jackie waving at them.
“ Ok thank you.” Was all Victoria said before heading off towards the table that Jackie was sitting at.
“ Hey Vicky thanks for having lunch with me on a short notice.” Jackie said as Victoria came up to the table and pulled out the chair from the table.
“ Hey Jackie, you’re welcome, and it’s not a problem, because in away I really didn’t want to eat my lunch. And I have some news for you.” Victoria said as she sat down at the table and picked up her menu and began looking at it.
“ Oh really and what news do you have for me?” she asked as the waitress came up to the table.
“ Afternoon, I’m Angel and I will be serving you today; what can I get you drink?” Angel asked as she put down the two coasters for the drinks.
“ Hey Angel, I would like to have sweet tea with lemon please.” Victoria said.
“ Ok one sweet tea with lemon, and for you?” Angel said turning her attention over to Jackie.
“ Can you make that two ice teas with lemon please?” Jackie said as she turned the page of her menu.
“ Ok I will give you few more minutes to figure out what you would like to have.” Angel said before leaving us alone.
“ You said that you had something to tell me, earlier this morning.” Jackie said as she put her menu down.
“ Oh yeah, this morning I got the weirdest phone call from a guy in England telling me that I had inherited an English manor.” Victoria said as she put her menu down too.
“ Oh really and I didn’t think that you had any relatives living over there?” Jackie said as Angel came back to them with their drinks.
“ Are you guys ready to order?” Angel asked as she put the teas down in front of us.
“ Um… I would like to have the Grilled Chicken salad please with Thousand Island dressing please.” Victoria said as she picked up the menu and handed it over to Angel.
“ Ok, and for you?” she asked Jackie.
“ I would like to have the club sandwich with the house salad please.” Jackie said.
“ Ok, and what kind of dressing would you like to have.?” Angel asked.
“ I would like to have blue cheese please.” Jackie said.
Angel nodded and took Jackie’s menu from her and then headed off to go and put our lunch orders into the kitchen.
“ Yeah I did have a great uncle, but he passed away a couple of days ago, and I was in his will, and he left me this manor house in England. And I will be going over there next week to sign the papers.” Victoria said.
“ Oh wow, that is so cool, so that means you will be missing Tonya’s party?” Jackie said.
“ Yeah I guess I will, and it sounds like you really don’t want to be there?” Victoria said.
“ You’re right I really don’t want to be there, but she knows that I don’t have anything plan.” Jackie said.
“ Well you now can call her up and tell her that something did come up and you won’t be able to go to the party.” Victoria said.
“ Yeah right, and what can tell her.” Jackie said.
“ Well you can always go to England with me, and see this manor house that my great uncle has left me.” Victoria said as the hostess came by with a small group of business men.
“ Really, Oh man, I would love to go, and when are we leaving?” Jackie said almost jumping out of her chair.
“ Good, because I really didn’t want to go by myself, it’s next week so we will be leaving here Friday night after work, and we should be coming back next Saturday. I have the signing on Thursday, so I have to call the lawyer when I get into the car to let him know that you are coming with me.” Victoria said as a guy turned her way and looked straight at her.
“ Ok then you will call me to let, me know the information about our trip.” Jackie said as Angel came back with our lunch.
Forty five minutes Victoria got into her car called the lawyer and then headed back to the shop and worked for another six hours before going home to a quiet house.