Heaven And Hell novel Chapter 94

"Eddie! She's coming toward us!" Aunt Mary, who looked beautiful and excited, slapped her husband's arm in several quick motions. "Oh, I wish Livvy would come out already to see this!"

I smothered a laugh that was bubbling in the pit of my stomach.

She kept talking and my uncle kept nodding as they both stared at me in amazement, like a giraffe in the wilderness.

Stopping in front them, I let go of my cart and said, in an English accent my mother has, "Hello there."

"A model, Eddie!" She pulled my uncle to her side. "Talking to us!"

"Tell me," I queried, fighting off a giggle, "d'you know where the Victoria's Secret bus is? I seem to have lost the girls when I was trying to locate my things."

Aunt Mary looked around as well as Uncle Eddie. Their heads bobbed and swivelled. "Bus? Victoria's Secret bus? Eddie! Lingerie models in Manston."

Okay, that was it, I couldn't keep up with this anymore. I started laughing and coming up to my relatives, giving them big hugs that startled them.

Aunt Mary, my mom's sister who was a natural chatterbox, went quiet and still, as she said, "Oh oh oh!"

I stepped away and grinned at them. "So happy to see you guys after years!" I squealed in my normal, American voice.

"Who are you?" Aunt Mary breathed in a squeaky demand.

Uncle Eddie caught on easily, patting my arm. He looked at his wife and chuckled. "This seems to be our niece, my love." And on he went to pick up my luggage from the cart.

Aunt Mary looked like a fish caught out of water, but she recovered quickly, looking at me from head to toe. "I'm afraid I haven't been very active on social media, pet. We never really have time for it," she explained in a breathless voice as she gave me another hug. "The last time your mum sent me a photo of you and Ollie, it was ages ago. I think she stopped because she thought I never opened them. But, my goodness, how you've turned into a bloody gorgeous girl! I've seen some pictures but you, in the flesh? Good heavens!"

I threw my head back and laughed.

As my uncle honked the horn once to inform us to hop inside the car, Aunt Mary chatted about how the boys in town would simply lose their heads at the sight of me (I snorted but my eyes twinkled merrily in affection), and how I'd love my guest bedroom because she bought new scented candles.

The walls had a cheerful splash of lemon yellow, with powder blue furniture. The floorboards were made of light wood and there was a pretty, oval carpet with floral patterns splashed with pink, green, yellow, and blue. There was a darling vanity table with a gorgeous stool in front, positioned by the window. A television set stood on one corner, perpendicular to the four-poster bed, and a cute bookshelf stood on the other, lined with books upon books, along with a dainty reading chair positioned diagonally beside it.

There was a tall window by the elegant bed, overlooking the amazing scenery of my relatives' modest estate, the lush green fields stretching out.

"I love it," I breathed in awe, walking into the bedroom in slow steps, taking it all in. I looked over my shoulder as my hand wrapped around one twisted pillar of my new bed.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Eddie used to live in Yorkshire, but about four years ago they moved here.

Twelve years ago, they'd started a business that provided quality fire wood that had kicked off right away. It was so good, that even the queen heard about their services and actually wanted them to provide for the country. Fire wood! Quality fire wood! Like, I could do that but I doubted the US president would even notice my skills for scavenging quality fire wood in California. I wasn't Katniss Everdeen, for God's sake.

Anyway, my relatives also got a quaint little lot commissioned by the English government here in Kent along with a modestly sized manor that belonged to a baronet back in the nineteenth century.

This was it.