Annie hung up and immediately called Alice.
“Right now?” Alice complained. “I’ve got a Divine Décor party to get to.”
“You don’t have just a minute or two? Mary Beth just got her appraisal, and she doesn’t want to open it by herself.”
“Well why didn’t you say so? Listen, if you think she’ll drop you back home later, I’ll drive us both over and then head straight to my party from there.”
“Sounds like a plan, Alice. I’ll be right out.”
A few minutes later they were at Mary Beth’s, hurrying breathlessly to her door. Mary Beth almost dragged them inside.
“I can’t stand it.” She held up a white envelope with a professional-looking logo on it. “I’m dying to know what it says, and I just can’t make myself open it. What if it’s a hundred thousand dollars? What if it’s two?”
Annie sat her down on the couch, and then she and Alice sat on either side of her. “The best thing to do is to just open it and find out. Whatever it is, it’s more than you have. Just take a deep breath and open it up.”
Mary Beth screwed her eyes closed and shook her head. “You open it.”
“It’s yours, Mary Beth,” Annie told her. “I think you should—”
“Oh, for goodness sake—I’ll open it!” Alice grabbed the envelope and slid her fingernail under the flap. She had to tear it a little to get it all the way open, and then she handed the contents to Mary Beth. “There.”
Again Mary Beth shook her head and passed the papers over to Annie.
There were three or four pages of information about the jewels, the weight and number and quality of the various stones and their settings, the qualifications of the appraiser, the methods she used to reach a value, but that’s not what any of them wanted to know right then. Finally Annie found what she was looking for: the value.
“Mary Beth,” she whispered. Then she swallowed and looked again. “Mary Beth, they appraised it at five sixty-five.”
Mary Beth’s mouth dropped open and her eyes filled with disappointment. “Five hundred and sixty-five dollars? I thought—”
“No, Mary Beth, five hundred and sixty-five thousand. Five hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars!”
For a moment there was only a stunned silence.
Then Alice whooped and started dancing around the room. “No more Burly Boy! No more Burly Boy!”
Tears filled Mary Beth’s eyes, and she threw her head back and laughed. “No more Burly Boy!”
After a cup of strong coffee and a few hugs, Mary Beth was finally able to look over the documentation from the appraiser.
“It’s true. It’s really, really true. I guess I’ll have my hands full getting the jewelry sold and arranging to buy the shop and everything.”
“I don’t know if they can sell something like that overnight,” Annie said, “but I bet you can find someone who can handle it quickly for you.”
Alice grinned. “I just wonder what that Frank Sanders would say now if he knew what that jewelry is worth. He’d be spitting nails.”
Annie giggled, but Mary Beth could only shake her head.
“I just can’t believe it. It’s too amazing.”
Annie squeezed her hand. “It’s an answer to prayer.”
“And don’t forget,” Alice said, “no more Burly Boy!”
To that, Annie and Mary Beth added a hearty amen.
****
Before long, Alice had to hurry off to her Divine Décor party, and Mary Beth drove Annie home.
“I still can’t believe it,” Mary Beth said for probably the tenth time that evening. “It’s a pity though. Geoffrey provided for Angeline, and she never knew about it. Think how much easier her life could have been if she had been able to have the money this would have brought. It was always here for when she needed it.”
Annie felt a sudden surge of joy bubbling up inside her. “Or maybe you could think that this was put here for when you would need it most.”
“Oh Annie.” Mary Beth bit her lip. “Do you think …?”
“Of course it’s a miracle. You deserve to have something good finally happen to you after all you’ve been through lately, with the shop and the break-in and your sister …” Her sister. They pulled up to a stop sign, and Annie put her hand on Mary Beth’s arm. “Wait.”
Mary Beth glanced at the empty intersection. “What’s wrong?”
“Melanie.” Annie felt as if her birthday balloon had just burst. “I hadn’t even thought about her before.”
“Oh.” Mary Beth sat at the intersection for a while and then finally nudged the gas pedal. “Well, if the jewelry does belong to our family, it belongs to both of us equally—Mel and me. That’s what Mom’s will said as far as dividing her property, so I have to think it would be the same for this. It’s only right.”