A Purse to Die For Read Online Free PDF

still doing here? "
    Gina stopped abruptly. " Tony and I have to be at the lawyer ' s office on Monday, so we ' re staying the weekend. " She stopped short of asking what Linda was still doing here.
    " Do you know anything about silver? " Linda hissed.
    " Not a thing, " said Gina, shaking her head.
    Linda sounded exasperated. " It ' s important. I only get one choice from the lot, so I can ' t make a mistake. "
    " I thought Jerry got to choose something, " Gina said, feigning innocence.
    Linda snorted. " Jerry doesn ' t know the cost of anything. "
    And Linda knew the value of nothing. What a pair , Gina thought. She smiled as she carried on down the hallway.
    Nellie was in the kitchen, sitting at the old wooden table with that old monkey of hers for company.
    " Hi, Pumpkin, " Gina said cheerfully. " Is that hot chocolate you ' re drinking? I may have some too . Quicker than coffee. You know we ' re staying the weekend? "
    Nellie grinned. " Mom told me. That ' s super-duper. We ' re playing Rumoli tomorrow and I ' m going to beat the pants off Tony. "
    " Good. " Gina smiled. " I ' ll play too. "
    " We ' re playing with pennies, " she warned.
    Gina filled the kettle with water. " Glad you warned me. I ' ll have to keep on my toes. "
    She sat down, waiting for the kettle to boil. She took the time to look carefully at Nellie . H er brown hair was uncombed and she was wearing a stained orange t-shirt with ratty old jeans. It occurred to Gina that—in the maelstrom of the last two days—no one had been taking very much time with Nellie.
    " How are you doing, sweetheart? This must be pretty devastating. I know you cared a lot about her . A nd goodness knows, this kitchen doesn ' t seem the same without her in it. "
    Nellie frowned. " I loved Grandma. I don ' t know why everybody else didn ' t. She was great. She let us live here for free, even. "
    Gina looked down at her hands and tried to find the right words. " I think they were afraid of her. Even I was a little afraid . How can I explain it ? S he seemed to know everyone ' s weakness and made a point of letting them know she knew. "
    " What ' s so bad about that? " Nellie grumbled. " I wouldn ' t be scared about that. That ' s silly. "
    Gina laughed. " People are silly when it comes to their pride, Nellie. Very silly. But you ' re not. You remind me of her a great deal, you know, but only in good ways. "
    Nellie looked up. " What ways? "
    Gina paused. She looked around the faded kitchen, taking in the solid wooden cupboards, the genuine tile floor, and the heirloom table. Everything solid and comfortable, and no-nonsense…not apologizing for itself, not pretending to be something it wasn ' t.
    " You ' re smart. She was quick as a whip. You ' re a survivor, just like she was. And you look like her. You ' re going to be very pretty when you ' re older. She was, you know. "
    Nellie grinned. " I know. I ' ve seen some old photos. They ' re funny. "
    Gina nodded. " I wouldn ' t want to wear those clothes from the forties. Girdles—yick. "
    " What ' s a girdle? " asked Nellie.
    " Look it up on the net. " Gina rose from the table. The kettle started a mournful whistle. She reached for a mug in the cupboard. " You have one other quality that she didn ' t have, sweetie. "
    " What ' s that? "
    " You ' re kind, " said Gina thoughtfully. " And in the long run, that ' s the most important quality of all. "
     
    Ian stared at the cellphone in his hand as if willing it to talk. Why wasn ' t Andrew answering? Where could he be? He felt the panic rise in his throat. And here he was with all this good news to share. Two million dollars . W ho would have thought?
    Ian threw the cellphone down on the bed. He paced to the window and looked past the parking lot to the dark green hills beyond. Rain had stopped momentarily, but the wind was whipping through fields and bending trees. He hated the country. Gawd, the bugs. Give me a room on the 34 th floor of a Marriott in any major city and a