He waited, his look of self-satisfaction made me wonder if he’d somehow orchestrated all of this.

“Are you kidding me? You’re going to add blatant, overt sexual harassment to the list of “shit I shouldn’t have done today”, Jaime? No. Fuck you and your perversions! I did not take that money and you know it. I’m not signing that paper! You can fire me, you can tell corporate, whatever you want to do, but I’m not signing that lie!” I scrabbled the money together, put it in a locked bag, and threw it down the chute for the safe. “I’ll let you know whether I’m going to come to work tomorrow or not. Don’t count on it, though.”

I left the office and kicked the door closed, went to the break room to clock out, and left. I didn’t know what was going to happen but as the most reliable employee, with the unofficial title of customer service manager, I knew I’d be hard to replace.

I saw my car pulling up then and swiped the angry tears away that had fallen while I stood there in the cold, the tears almost frozen to my pale cheeks. I didn’t get out much and I was probably the only person in the county that thought tanning beds were dangerous. Besides, I didn’t have the money to waste on looking like a pumpkin or a piece of mahogany.

“Girl, fuck him and his menage-I-don’t-fucking-think-so fantasy.” Holly, my best friend for my entire life, said before I even got my seat belt on. “What’s he done now?”

“Something bad, Holly. The company now thinks I stole money because of him. A lot of money.” I balled up my fist and counted to ten as I tried to take my anger out of the stratosphere.

“What the hell?” She’d started to pull away but stopped now. “Let me go back in there and kick this fuckwit’s ass!”

Holly could be blunt and she relished her ability to swear at any moment in time, which meant every other word in this situation. The tall, half Cherokee beauty beside me didn’t take any prisoners, and had the karate training to back it up. It was the one good thing her mom did for her before she left, enrolled her in karate.

“No, I know you’d give it a good try, Holly, but it’s not worth it. I need to get home and check on Mom.”

“Her nurse is still there, or was when I left. Thanks for letting me use the car today, by the way. I filled it up.” She gave me a grin and I sank into my seat, weariness leaving me all but boneless.

I felt like such a slob compared to her, the bare minimum of makeup I wore to work was now smeared around my eyes, my work-shirt was threadbare and stained, and my jeans worn thin. She was in black leather pants, a red long-sleeved shirt made to look like a corset in the front, with a pair of sexy black leather boots on her feet. I looked down at my paint spattered trainers glumly.

“How was the tournament?” I asked to change the direction of my thoughts. Holly was an incredible pool player and often played in tournaments on the weekend that won her thousands of dollars. “Mom’s going to be drinking name brand nutritional supplement drinks this month, girl! I won five grand!”

“Whoa! Are you serious?” Holly lived with my mom and I, and she was more like a sister than a friend in many aspects. She always paid more than her fair share of the bills and she was always doing stuff for Mom. She really was an incredible person.

“Yeah, so if Sleezo the Clown in there is getting to be too much for you to handle, I’ll cover the bills until you find something else.”

She’d made the offer a dozen times before but I’d always turned her down. Now, maybe it was time to focus on something else?

“I might just take you up on that.” I said as we pulled onto the dirt road that led up to our house. The house was nestled in a valley between two mountains, so technically, yes, I lived up a holler, or hollow as it’s properly called.

Mom got the house cheap when I was about three years old and we’ve lived her ever since. She’d paid on the house for ten years, scrimping every dime she could from her job at the library in the next town to pay for it. Now, it was still home, the only home I’d ever really known.

“You and your mom, Abi, you two have always been there for me. You took me in when Mom ran off with that construction worker when we were 17, you gave me a home, and it’s time I pay that back, I think. Let me do this. Let me do the heavy lifting for a while. You know, Doreen doesn’t have long left. You should be spending this time with her. Not that assmunch.” She turned the car off and handed me the keys.

“I’ll think about it. Holly. Thanks.” We went into the house and I called out for Mom’s nurse. “Terry, you around?”

“Shh. Abi, come quick. I think, well, I think it’s that time, honey.”

“What?” I screeched, dropping my bag on the floor as I ran for Mom’s room.

My mother was in the final stages of cervical cancer. After fighting it for a year, she was finally at that stage where she just couldn’t fight any more. She’d let it go on for far too long without being checked and the cancer had just spread. She’d been too afraid of being told the pain and symptoms she was having was cancer to have it checked, and now, tragically, it was too far gone to stop.

“Mom?” I called out as I went into her room, falling to me knees at her bedside. The small room was lit only be a small lamp and I could barely see her under the pile of quilts she was buried under. She was always cold, even with three wood burners in the house.

“Abi. My baby girl.” Her sweetly accented English came as a whisper from under the pile of quilts. “I’m so tired, sweetie.”

I heard the sound of dry skin sliding between cotton and felt her wraith-like hand clutch at my wrist. “Find Wruin, my girl. He’s looking for you. He’ll protect you from your father.”

“What? What are you talking about Mom?” I pulled the cover from her gaunt face, trying to ignore the dark circles under her eyes and the sharpness of her cheekbones.

She no longer looked like the healthy woman that had raised me alone, that had worked every day until the pain just grew to be too much to handle. Now, full cheeks were replaced with the sharp planes of cheekbones, her bright blue eyes, always full of sparkle, were now glassy with narcotic pain medication. The woman that I loved so much was still there, but now she was only a shadow of her former self.

“Your father…,” she stopped talking, her breath a painful wheeze. “England. Go…” A long, rattling sigh made my skin go tight and it felt like my hair stood straight out from head. I stood, bending over her. “Mom? No! No, no, no, no, no! Momma!”

I turned her to her back; I felt for her pulse, but found nothing.

This couldn’t be! I’d only just...got home. I’d only just come in to see her. She was supposed to have weeks left. She can’t be gone.

“Terry!” I screamed for the Hospice nurse, my throat only letting out something that sounded like a choking sob. “Terry!”

Holly ran to me, her taller frame embracing me totally as she realized what had happened.

I screamed for Terry again, not realizing she was already there, staring down at me sadly. I whimpered out another scream, and clutched at Mom’s hand in the hopes that she’d clutch mine back and tell me it was okay, that she was still there.

But my mom was already gone…

* * *

“It’s a fairly simple process, Ms. Vaele. Your mother only had two beneficiaries, you and Ms. Thorton. I was instructed to give you both these.” The middle-aged lawyer, a paunchy man with a balding pate, and warm brown eyes handed over two envelopes across his desk to Holly and me.

“Now, I’m glad you gave your mother the funeral she wanted, Toni. So often the children go all out, but your mother didn’t want that, she wanted the simple funeral she’d already planned and I have to say, you did her proud.” He took a deep breath before going on. “Now, the bulk of her estate seems to be in England, but she did leave a key for a safe deposit box at the bank, the details will be given to you in a moment. As for the estate in England, the keys are here, and the paperwork for that will be provided to you as well. Ms. Thorton, you were left the house here and a good sum of money.”

“Thank you, Mr. Charles.” I said numbly as I took the papers he handed to me and put them with the envelope already on the black wool of the dress that covered me to just below my knees. For a moment I was too lost in the painful memory of my mother’s sad, quiet funeral to understand his words. “Keys to the house in England?”

I could only stare at the man, my brain still not able to process that Mom was gone, despite the passage of time. What house in England?

“I expect you may have some questions later. Feel free to give me a call. My number is in the paperwork there.” He waved at the papers, and I took that to mean our very informal reading of my mother’s will to be over.

He hadn’t gone through the usual reading, the entire will had been written on a single piece of paper he’d showed us as he began. A couple of paragraphs and nothing more. Her signature, his, and a seal were all that handed over my mother’s worldly possessions.

Holly stood beside me, at eight inches taller than me she actually stood over me, and helped me to stand. I clung to her, the soft fleece of her yellow top a comfort to me. Her favorite color is yellow, I thought as I walked out of the office in a haze, my brain still detached from reality. Holly had always gravitated towards the color when it came to casual clothes.

I had put on the black dress Holly bought me for Mom’s funeral this morning, thinking the outfit was appropriate for the reading of a will. I’d lost my job at the store, so at least I didn’t have to beg for time off of work to come in. I’d lost the job not because I’d told Jaime off, but because I hadn’t come in. My mother had died but Jaime didn’t care. He’d wanted me under his thumb. Holly had heard me crying on the phone, took the handset away from me, and promptly told him where he could shove it. She’d cared for me with such devotion since Mom passed away, and she still was.

“Do you want to head over to the bank?” She asked her eyes on me as I settled into the car on the passenger side. Her eyes told me it didn’t matter, that she only wanted to do what I wanted to do.

I gave her a weak smile of appreciation and shook my head yes.

“Yeah. Let’s get that over with.” I watched out of the window as she drove to the other end of town, going over a small bridge and around a large curve.

The town was really just a village, barely even big enough to have a lawyer’s office and a bank, but they both still clung to their roots, staying more for the people than profits now. I sighed heavily as we got out of the car and headed in.

“I thought you might be in today, Abigail. Let me show you the way.” Mrs. Brewster, the bank manager for all my life, led us into a section I’ve never been in before. A heavy door with a wheel on it stood open and Mrs. Brewster guided us into a room with nothing but an oak table and two chairs inside. The walls were lined with metal doors hiding deposit boxes of varying sizes.

Mrs. Brewster took my key, added both mine and hers to the door, and slid out a rather large box.

“Here you are, Abigail. And may I just say, once more, how very sorry I am at your mother’s passing. She was always such a beautiful, sweet, kind woman.” She took my hands for a moment before she left, a sparkle of tears in her eyes.

“She’s always been so nice.” Holly said as she sat down, waiting on me to go to the box.

“That’s it then. The last bit of my mother for me to discover.” I put the other items from the lawyer down on the table; I hadn’t even realized I’d brought them in with me until then.

I settled in my seat and pulled the metal box to me. I pulled the lid open and looked inside. I was confused at first, but then realized that there was another box inside, that’s why it looked like it was still closed.

I took the cardboard box out and pulled away the lid.

Jewels, dozens of glittering jewels, hundreds maybe, filled the box and I gasped as I looked down at them. There were no windows, only overhead lights, but that was enough to make the jewels sparkle.

“Holy fuck!” Holly cried as she sat up to look into the box. “Where did she get all of that?”

A letter sat on top of the jewels and I picked it up. A single sheet of paper, it had my mother’s handwriting on it.

Wruin. My mother had said his name just before she died. She’d also talked about my father. Well, mentioned him. Was Wruin my father?

“I just, whoa. I don’t know, Holly. You don’t think the government will try to seize them do you?” I looked up at her, my brain suddenly back to life and full of questions.

“They’ll surely want a chunk of the value in taxes, I’m sure. I’ve never seen anything like it!” She sifted a hand through the jewels, pulling up an oddly colored one. “This one is weird. It must be fake. It’s the American flag!”

“It must be.” I eyed the gaudy jewel, too large to fit into a ring but maybe a necklace. “They’re all so, big!”

“What are you going to do with them all?” Holly wasn’t being greedy, just her normal curious self.

“I have no idea. Don’t you need a, what are they called, fence? Yeah, a fence to get rid of jewels?” I made a face at the jewels, not sure how to go about finding such a nefarious fellow.

“I think, and this is just my opinion, but I think we leave them here until we know more. I’m sure you can just take them to a jeweler and sell them, I don’t think you need a fence. You’re going to be taken advantage of, though, if we don’t do this carefully. Is there anything else in here?” She dug her hands around, and pulled out another box.

“Oh, another surprise!” I said as I took the box she offered to me. “A passport.”

I paused to look at the information page. Currently valid, but for the United Kingdom.

“I’m American, why do I have a British passport in my name?” I looked over at Holly, confused.

“If they do like we do, then you have British citizenship as well, dearie. Your mom was English, after all.” She grinned at me and wiggled her eyebrows.

I cracked what was likely the first smile since Mom had passed away. “You’re right!”

Wow, I could travel to England, with no visa, no immigration, just go and do my thing. I’d always wanted to visit Mom’s homeland, but she had never wanted to go and I could never afford it. Which made me wonder, why had Mom kept these jewels hidden when we’d been so poor my entire life?

“You don’t think? Surely she didn’t steal these?” I asked, worry suddenly filled me.

“Your mom? For fuck’s sake, Abi, not likely!” Holly laughed and dug around in the box once more. “There’s nothing else. What do you want to do?”

I stared into the box, fascinated by the brilliant shine of so many colors at once. I pulled up a handful and slid the jewels into the pocket of my coat.

“Let’s close it up for now, and then we’ll come back later, when we know more.” I gave her a smile that wavered a little as I thought about the next step. “Let’s see what these letters say over some roast beef at the diner shall we?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Holly put the boxes back where they belonged and we let Mrs. Brewster know we were leaving.

“I’ve transferred the details of the box to your account already, Abigail. Leave the box as long as you like.” She gave me a gentle smile and Holly and I both waved as we left.

A few minutes later we were in the diner next door, soft drinks in front of us and dinner on the way.

“Where did your Mom get $50,000 to give to me, Abigail?” She asked after a few moments of reading.

I looked up from my own reading about a “small cottage” on some property in England, my head spinning at the possibilities.

“What? I guess from the same place she got the jewels? I have no idea. Maybe it came from her parents? They left her some property in a place called Dorset in England. And a...oh my God, look at this. How many zeros is that?” I asked, passing the paper from the stack the lawyer had given me over to Holly.

“Nine? I, wow, that is really hard to count. Especially with that 59 in front. What’s that in American money? More or less?” She took out her phone and her eyes nearly popped out of her head after a few moments.

She’d opened up a webpage and found the currency conversion tool. I nearly fainted when she showed me the screen.

“What? That’s mine? All of that? Is mine?” I was certain my heart almost came to a stop.

“Billions? You’re worth billions?” Holly looked around as she did that screamy whisper thing that’s not nearly as quiet as people think. “Why was she hiding you in this hellhole then?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, scarcely able to take it all in. “Why would she?”

“Keep reading.” She pointed at the papers in my hands.

I shuffled them until I found her letter to me.

“My darling Abigail,

I write this with the knowledge that my time left is short. There are a million things I want to tell you, but I know that only a few things really matter.

First, you must live a life of quiet, do not seek attention for yourself. Your father is still out there somewhere, and he is a very dangerous man.

Second, your father is the reason I have hidden all of this from you. He is not a very sane man and I fled from him before your birth. For a long time he hid his true nature from me, but once I saw it, I knew I could not let you be near him. Ever.

Third, you must go to England and find a man named Wruin Hayder. He was my childhood friend and I trust only him. If he can be found, he can help to keep you safe.

Lastly, I hid all of this money for a reason. When you live a life of flamboyance, people notice. That was dangerous. Your father would have looked for me in that world. He wouldn’t look in the sheltering mountains of Appalachia. I have hidden you and now, to keep you safe, I must send you to the place that could be the most dangerous for you. Please, heed my words...always remember that your father still hunts for us both. If he finds you, it may cost you your life, my darling.

You were given my surname at birth, not your fathers, and your passport, is valid, though I had to do a bit of finagling over the years to keep it current. Use everything I have given you wisely, my dearest girl.

I know you must be heartbroken, Abigail, it hurts unimaginably just to write this with the knowledge that you’ll only ever read it after my death. I beg you, use the money sparingly and please, find Wruin. He is the only one that can help. I love you always, my darling. I sacrificed it all for you. Please, keep yourself safe. Find Wruin.

Your loving mother,

Doreen”

I sat back after reading the letter aloud to Holly. That didn’t really help at all! Go here, but don’t do that. Do this, but don’t go there. What was she talking about?

“I thought my father was dead.” I said at last. I saw Holly, her dark brown eyes just as confused as mine, and wondered how we were ever going to unravel this tangled mess.

“Do you have a passport?” I asked, knowing I didn’t want to do any of this without her.

“Wait, you’re not really considering going over there to find some geriatric puzzle solver are you?” Holly leaned over the cheap diner table to grab my hands. “Why would you do that? Especially if your dad is such a bad guy your mom hid from him for 20 years!”

I gazed at my friend, unsure of what to do. It struck me just how lovely she was with her short, dark, hair and her little elven nose. We were both compared to elves and fairies often, though we definitely were not related. We just had similar features.

“I think I should go and look at this house, at least don’t you? I mean, we’ll never have to work again, will we? I’m a...” I hunkered down over the table, my hands clasping at hers tightly. “I’m a billionaire!”

Her eyes went wide, the almond shape rounding out as it finally hit us both.

“We can go anywhere…,” she said, her voice trailing off as the possibilities opened to her.

“See anything…,” I joined in, as I leaned back in the booth-style seat.

“Do anything...” She replied, her voice was filled with wonder.

“Buy anything...” I slid down in the booth a little.

“You can pay for your dinner and leave me a nice tip, that’s what you can do Abigail Vaele.” A laughing voice interrupted and I jumped a little.

“Oh, thanks Connie. This looks great.” I gave her a huge grin and Holly and I both dug into the roast beef with roasted vegetables the waitress had brought to us.

Holly and I kept looking at each other as we ate, one of us would giggle, then the other, and we’d try to go back to being serious. We did that until the food was gone. We paid and went to the local grocery store.

“Chocolate cake, coffee ice cream, salted caramel ice cream, two bottles of that pink wine stuff you like, and a box of plastic spoons. We’re good right?” Holly loaded the groceries into my car and we got into the car a little while later.

“I think we have to go, Holly. We, not me. We. I can’t do this alone.” I looked over at her as she got in, the car already dark. It got dark so early here in the winter time.

“I’ll find out what I need to do to get my passport then. Can we at least wait until after Halloween to go? I can’t miss that. You know it’s my favorite holiday.”

“I doubt you’ll have your passport by then so shall we look at flights for early November, then?” She drove us home carefully, the light traffic making it a simple drive on the winding road.

“That sounds great…shit!” She slammed on the brakes as she approached the road that led up to our house. There, standing just beside of our mailbox, were six great big wolves. Two were black, one was gray, and the rest were a reddish shade or brown.

They just stood there, their canine eyes shining in the headlights.

“What do we do?” Holly asked quietly, looking over at me.

“Blow the horn?” I responded, and turned back to look at the wolves. I didn’t know we still had them here!

Holly pierced the night air with the sound of the car’s horn but the wolves just stood there, looking into the car.

The black one tilted up his head and howled, while the others sank down on their front paws. When the black wolf stopped howling the others stood and left, leaving Holly and I confused but glad they were gone.

“Maybe I’ll have some of the crappy wine of yours!” Holly spoke up, her voice trembling.

“Yeah, I knew we should have got three bottles. What the hell was that?” I wondered aloud.

“I have no idea, but let’s make sure the doors are locked tonight. I know West Virginia has some strangeness to it, but damn. That’s got me freaking out!” Holly drove us up the holler to the house, and without a word, we both dashed for the trunk, then carried our bags into the house at a run.

Holly took the bags into the kitchen, but I stayed at the door for a moment. I watched the areas where the motion detector lights were for a long time. Nothing happened; no wolves or other woodland critters appeared. I guess my nerves are just too wound up, I said to myself, and went into the kitchen. They weren’t really bowing to me, were they?

* * *

Dreams are funny things, sometimes they start at the beginning, and you’re aware of time, that things are happening and, even if they don’t make sense, you know why those things are happening. That night, I went to bed, a little tipsy from the wine, and still a little freaked out from the wolves, but soon fell asleep.

The part that didn’t make any sense was that I found myself in a cave. A very dark cave lit only by a fire. Where was the smoke going, I wondered. When a man’s firm fingers pressed into my hip, I didn’t question who he was, how he managed to get a soft bed of furs into the cave, or why I was on my side, bare-ass naked.

I just pushed back into him and moaned in surrender. “Touch me more.”

His fingers slid around my hip, down the valley where my thigh met my body, and further...down into the center of the throbbing heat between my thighs.

“There, oh yes, right there.” The words came out on a shivered breath as pleasure made my back arch, pressing my bottom deeper into his cradling hips.

“You’re so hard! Let me touch you.” The mystery man did not speak, or move to face me, he just pressed deeper into my folds.

I felt powerful muscles, heard a pleased rumble as he kissed my neck just below my ear. I longed to see his face, to hear his voice, to feel him within me, but he would only touch me.

I became aware of a scent, a scent that made me ache even more, a scent that made me hungry for his mouth, for his touch. My hips started to roll against him as his scent filled my head, desire now a storm that blew away my thoughts.

“So close,” I murmured to him, my hands reaching for his skin. Warm, silky heat met my palm, and I clenched at the skin as something deep inside of me pulsed at last.

A low growl filled the ear, vibrated my ear drums, and made my head spin as the world became a dark place where only he and I existed, where only pleasure existed.

I woke up in a sweat, my heart raced and I could barely catch my breath. What was that? Who was that?

Brushing it off as a stress induced sex dream, I rolled over and went back to sleep. That smell lingered in my nose though, far more than just a memory.