Tessa’s Trust

Chapter One

by

Rebecca Zanetti

I ignored the worried looks of the two lawyers in the dusty space and signed my name with a flourish, careful not to press too hard since the contract perched precariously on an overturned wooden barrel that had once held whiskey.

Contessa Carmelina Albertini.

It was difficult, but I fought the urge to dot the last i with a heart. This was a dream come true, and I had worked my butt off for longer than I wanted to admit to get here.

Sadie Brando signed right after I did, her gnarled hand moving slowly across the paper as she no doubt fought both arthritis and a slight tremble. Her lawyer, who also happened to be her younger brother, shook his head. Even though it was the day after Christmas and he’d been called in unexpectedly, he wore a blue suit with a red power tie.

“Sadie,” he said again.

“Shush.” She lifted her other hand. “It’s done, Jonathan. Mind your business, young man. Tessa and I have been dickering about this place for the last two months. We just needed you here to make sure it was official.”

Jonathan was about eighty, with thick gray hair, dark blue eyes, and slightly stooped shoulders. He had come over from Billings just for the day and no doubt hadn’t expected this.

I wanted to be sympathetic, but I was too happy to finally be getting this place. I’d paid a pretty penny for it, but it was worth it.

My lawyer shook her head. I trusted her implicitly, even though she wore leggings covered in drunken ducks, a ripped University of Idaho sweatshirt, and her hair in a ponytail. When I’d asked her to drive over the mountain pass and meet me here, I hadn’t exactly told her why.

She was my younger sister, and I had known she’d want to sign as a witness. She’d come the second I called, even though it was the day after Christmas and she’d been holed up with her sexy Irishman, who, quite frankly, I figured was difficult to leave.

Anna reached for the papers. “Let me at least read the contract.”

Sadie shook her head. “Don’t need you to read it. We just needed two witnesses and figured lawyers would be good.”

Anna narrowed her eyes. “You don’t need witnesses to this type of contract.” She frowned at Jonathan and somehow managed to look more beautiful than ever. “I’m uncomfortable having my sister sign a contract I haven’t read.”

“We had an agreement,” Sadie said, waiting for Jonathan to sign as a witness—which he did after sighing loudly. Then she jutted out her chin. “Anna? You have to sign your legal name.”

“Are you sure about this?” Anna asked, her gaze direct on me.

“Yes, Anna,” I said. “Trust me that I’ve read over the contract and I’d love to have you as a witness. Believe me, I want this.”

She bit her lip the way she did when she was concerned. She was a couple of inches shorter than me and didn’t take after either our Italian or Irish sides in the looks department with her grayish-green eyes and auburn hair. I, on the other hand, was all Irish—reddish-blond hair, green eyes, and skin that burned at midnight. I wished I could tan like my sisters did.

“I do trust you, but I still want to read this,” Anna said.

Sadie glanced at her overlarge watch. “It’s now or never.”

“Please, Anna?” I asked. “I already signed it, so I’m bound.”

Unlike Jonathan, Anna kept from sighing when she took the pen and signed her full legal name, Anna Fiona Albertini. We came from Irish and Italian stock, so all three of us girls had both an Irish and an Italian name. Our older sister, Donatella Tiffany, was a realtor and would help me record the deed when she returned from a girls’ trip to Napa Valley. She’d left earlier that morning after the holiday revelry had concluded.

Sadie smiled, showing worn dentures. “That’s better.”
She turned to me, spat into her brown-spotted hand, and held it out.

I did the same, and we shook. It was kind of gross, but Sadie was ninety years old, and I figured that was how they’d done it back in the day.

The building was older than she was by at least twenty years, and now it was mine. I looked around the wide space at the old bar against the corner and the new wood paneling on the far wall. The vast space would make the perfect restaurant.

I kept from wiping my hand on my jeans when we’d finished. Sadie did the same.

“I’m glad you’ll be moving in upstairs since we renovated it all before selling. It’s a beautiful space.”

I absolutely couldn’t wait. “You did an amazing job, although my old furniture won’t do it justice.” I grinned. “Hopefully I can get some new furnishings as soon as possible.”

The door burst open and a man barreled inside, his face ruddy and his brown hair standing on end.

“Aunt Sadie? You cannot sell this place. It’s mine.”

Sadie sighed. “Tessa, Anna, meet my nephew, Rudy.”

Huh. The name fit his red face. “Hello,” I murmured.

Who the heck was Rudy? Everybody knew everybody in the small town, and I did not know this guy. He had to be around thirty, and was tall and lean with blond hair that bristled. Actually bristled.

Sadie cracked her gnarled knuckles. “Rudy’s dad was my younger brother, George. Georgie died about fifty years ago, and we just found out about Rudy a few months ago.”

Rudy glowered.

“It’s done,” Sadie said.

Anna peered over my shoulder at the contract again. “Where did you get a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash, Tessa?” she murmured.

I just smiled. “Doesn’t matter.”

Her eyebrow lifted, and I knew there would be a lot of questioning later.

“This place is amazing.”

Finally, I could start the life I wanted.

Sadie nodded, the thin skin of her neck jiggling. She was probably about five feet tall and had her gray hair in tight curls. Her blue eyes were faded and almost translucent. She could see well enough, and she had the hearing of a bat, which I knew from experience after negotiating with her the last couple of months.

“This is a good place, honey. It served me well.” She patted my arm. “If you run illegal gambling out of the back again, watch out for the FBI. When they raided us in eighty-nine, it was a real pain in the ass.”

Jonathan smacked his palm against his forehead. “Crap, Sadie, we don’t talk about that.”

“Eh, everybody knows about it,” Sadie said. “My profits sure took a hit for a while, though, I’ve got to tell you.”

For our signing day, she’d worn a lovely green linen dress that hung on her wiry frame and reached the floor. I was pretty sure it was supposed to be knee-length, but on her, it was longer than her thick gray wool coat.

“Okay, we’re set. Don’t forget what you promised, Tessa.”

“I couldn’t if I wanted to,” I admitted.

She cackled and slid her arm through her brother’s. “Come on. You’re taking me to breakfast.”

Jonathan looked at me, glanced at the contract, and then shook his head. “All right, sister.” He barely glanced at Rudy. “You’re not in the will, kid. Get over it.”

Rudy glared, narrowing bright blue eyes at me. “We’ll see about that.”

He turned on a polished loafer and stomped out.

Sadie snorted. “What a dork. He actually thinks he owns the place already.”

Anna stiffened. “Why would he think that?”

My stomach clenched. “Yeah. Why?”

Sadie shrugged. “Heck if I know. He doesn’t, so don’t worry.”

Jonathan then glanced at the iron sign hanging on the far wall. The hammered metal held an engraved high-heel shoe and text that said Silver Sadie’s.

“Are we taking the sign?”

“Nope,” Sadie said. “That was part of the deal.”

“I want the sign,” I admitted.

The thing had character and had hung there for probably over a century. Sadie had been named for her great-aunt Sadie, and it was rumored that the first Sadie had run alcohol when it was illegal. I didn’t doubt there had also been some prostitution at the beginning of the century when the mines were flush. But for as far back as anybody remembered, the place was a bar with a gambling den in the back, one the FBI had shut down in 1989.

I noticed there were still poker tables back there, but I had plans for that space that didn’t involve gambling.

Sadie and her brother left, leaving Anna and me to look around the large, vacant place.

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