Page 54 of Spilling the Tea

A smiling Bessie entered. “Happy Saturday, Mama Laverne. Are you ready for breakfast?”

“Yes, Bessie. I’ll be up in a minute. I overslept this morning.”

“No harm in that. Do you need my help with anything?”

“No. I can manage. Thanks for checking on me.”

“Of course, you are welcome. I’m going to miss having you with us.”

“I’m going to miss being here, but it’s time for me to go home.” Home for her was Whispering Pines. The place her beloved Milton had taken her to after their marriage. She might live under a different roof with Jake and Diamond, but the land was the same. Land she loved.

When Bessie left, Felicia Laverne reached for her cell phone. A deep masculine voice answered, clearly surprised. “Mama Laverne?”

It had been years since she’d had a reason to call him. “Yes, Trevor Maurice. How are you and the family?”

Trevor Maurice Grant was a childhood friend to her grandsons Justin, Dex, and Clayton—Jonathan’s sons.

“We’re all good, Mama Laverne. What about you?”

“I’m well. I was calling to ask a favor.”

“And what’s the favor?” he asked, and she thought she heard amusement in his voice.

“That cabin you own by the lake. The one you bought from the Johnstones years ago. Were you and your family planning on using it this summer?”

“No. Corinthians, the kids, and I plan to spend this summer near Sir Drake and his family in a cabin we built on Warren Mountains.”

Drake Warren, a former marine and CIA agent, owned mountains in Tennessee that had been in his family for generations. She’d heard Trevor and Ashton Sinclair, another close friend of theirs, had built spacious cabins there. “That sounds nice.”

“Why do you want to know about the cabin, Mama Laverne?”

“A young lady needs a place to stay near Whispering Pines. I was hoping she could stay there. Let me know the cost so I can tell her.”

“There won’t be a charge. She’ll be doing us a favor by keeping it occupied this summer. We haven’t been there in a couple of years. Corinthians and I even discussed selling it.”

“Well, if you do, please make the offer to Chancellor first. That land was originally part of the spread he purchased after the Johnstones sold it.”

“I had forgotten about that. I’ll make sure I let him know if we decide to sell. Do you have a pen? I’ll give you the four-digit security code for the cabin.”

“I don’t need a pen. I’ll remember it.”

He chuckled before rattling off the number.

“And Trevor Maurice?”

“Yes, Mama Laverne?”

“I prefer you not mention any of this to my family. They will find out soon enough.”

“Yes, ma’am. I won’t say anything about it.”

A short while later, Mama Laverne felt good and ready to start her day. She couldn’t wait to resume her meetings with Zoey. There was no reason for the feud between the Madarises and Satterfields to come up. If it did, at least one of her sons already knew about the Madaris Scandal. If the others heardabout it from her meetings with Zoey, she felt certain their thoughts would be similar to Jonathan’s. Since it happened years ago, and she and Milton eventually married, it was water under the bridge.

However, the one thing she couldn’t share with Zoey, and especially not her sons, was the incident that took place years later, the one only she, Milton, and Waylon knew about.

Namely, the cover-up of a murder.

***

---