Bella's Vineyard Read Online Free PDF

pay,” said Bella.
    “Viticulture is
in Shen’s blood,” said May. “I think he’ll come back just for the pleasure of
doing something he’s good at.”
    “Well if you
think he will, then ask. Make sure the terms are fair, May. I don’t agree with
slavery. Which reminds me, before you go, let me give you some money for the
food and a couple of week’s wages. I can’t pay you beyond that but perhaps
something will turn up by then. I could find work in the town.”
    “There’s only
one type of work for a young lady in Milton and even if I couldn’t stop you I
reckon that handsome marshal would have something to say about it. I don’t want
anything. Your aunt took care of me when…”
    Ignoring May’s
protestations, Bella skipped up the stairs to her bedroom, taking the key to
her trunk from the chain she had around her neck. Five minutes later, she sat
on the floor, frantically searched the trunk, throwing clothes all over the
room, shaking out undergarments and dresses, hoping to see what she was looking
for fall to the floor. “It’s here, I know it’s here,” she said, fighting back
the tears that threatened to flow.
    “What, honey?
What’s wrong?” said May from the door.
    “My money. It
was in my trunk. I last had it in…” Bella stopped and sat back on her heels,
remembering the chain of events. “The night before last in the saloon. I must
have left the key in the lock after I took out my nightclothes. I only went
downstairs to get some water, and when I came back, Andrew was in my room. He’s
taken it, May. The only money I had – we had - in the world and he’s taken it.”
Bella burst into tears.
    May knelt next
to her and put her arm around her shoulder. “We’ll work it out, honey, don’t
you worry. I can loan you some until…”
    “No,” said
Bella. “I can’t do that. I barely know you, and already I owe you more than I
can possibly repay.”
    “Your aunt was
my friend. She was like a … sister to me. Which kinda makes you family.”
    “May, that’s
really sweet, but…”
    “Thirty years
ago,” said May, emphatically ignoring Bella, “my daddy turned me out of the
house. I had nothing then and nowhere to go. It was your aunt who took me in. I
only came into money when my father died, and then it was because my Mama
insisted he left me something for all those years I used to help him work the
mine. So I owe your family much more than you could ever owe me.”
    “I will pay you
back,” said Bella some time later. She had spent half an hour with her back
against the wardrobe, thinking about what to do, whilst May set about tidying
away the discarded clothes.  She saw no other way than to accept May’s charity.
She couldn’t go back to England because she did not have the money, but she
could at least try to go forward. “We’ll get the vineyard working together, you
and I, and we’ll share the profits.”
    “If that’s what
you insist, then that’s the way we’ll do it. Darn it,” said May, her bright
eyes shining with unshed tears, “you’re so much like your aunt. You’ve got that
same determined little chin. She never let anyone or anything beat her.”
    “I’m sure that’s
because she had you as a friend,” said Bella.
     
    Andrew finally
arrived at the vineyard late that evening, smelling of alcohol, and swaying on
his feet. Bella flew at him as he walked through the door.
    “You stole my
money, Andrew.”
    “Bella, dearest,
listen to me. I had a winning hand. I could have…”
    “Could have?
Could have? But you didn’t, did you? You’ve lost it all and now I have to rely
on the charity of a woman I only met yesterday.” Bella hated how shrewish she
sounded. For a long time she had felt more like Andrew’s mother than his
younger sister.
    “God forbid that
you should have to ask anyone for anything,” said Andrew, his voice rising,
becoming hollow and ugly as it did. “The perfectly wonderful Bella, who never
does anything