Beginning of Romance Novel

As I promised... last week?... last week, here's the beginning of Lucia's story. The working title is Anneke's Legacy. I started it in January, got about 15 pages, then lost steam. Talking to Frans at The Clearing reignited my interest in the story so I'll put the beginning on here, a bit at a time, to try and keep working on it.

Lucia Vandersteeg answered the buzzing phone on her desk with a terse “Vandersteeg” and her life was changed forever. Her eyes strayed to the wind-tossed snowflakes dancing over her skyline view as she listened to the accented voice on the other end.

“Ms. Lucia Vandersteeg?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“The great-niece of Miss Anneke Boon?”

Her full attention caught by the question, she listened for a moment to the long-distance crackling on the line before she answered. “Grand-niece, yes.”

“Ma’am, I am Pietr Smit. I have been taking care of your relative’s affairs for the past few years and I am sorry to be the one who has to tell you, but Miss Boon has passed away last evening.” The male voice went on to tell Lucia that he was a notary on Bonaire, the small Dutch colony island in the southern Caribbean where her great-aunt had lived her whole long life, that Lucia was the sole surviving relative and that she needed to come to the island soon to deal with Aunt Anneke’s estate.

“Didn’t she have an executor?” Looking over the piles of papers, files, and computer disks on her desk, Lucia didn’t see herself finding time for a trip to the island anytime soon.

“You are the executor, Ms. Vandersteeg. Nothing can be done without you saying so.”

Impatience tightened Lucia’s grip on the receiver. “Can’t someone take care of things? I can sign over authority, to you perhaps. You can email me reports.” Feeling that she had solved that problem she picked up a file from her desk and started flipping through the pages inside.

A far-off throat was cleared in her ear. “I can not, Ms. Vandersteeg, I am sorry to tell you. Netherlands Antilles law is very firm on the subject of estates. The duly appointed executor must be on the island to sign the forms and disperse the holdings.”

Her grip tightened again on the phone. “Mister, uh, Smit, is it?”

“Yes.”

“Mr. Smit, I am an editor at a publishing firm. I have manuscripts to edit and authors to nursemaid. I don’t have time to fly off to the Caribbean to deal with a few broken down chairs and chipped dishes. Have a damned rummage sale and take yourself to dinner with the proceeds.” She tucked the phone between her shoulder and her ear, and applied her full attention to the papers in the file.

“I am very sorry, Ms. Vandersteeg, but it is more than a matter of a few sticks of furniture and dishes. There is the plantation house with all its environs, the contents of said house, a vehicle, and Miss Boon’s investments both on the island and elsewhere. Have you visited Bonaire?”

An image of long dim halls and billowing white gauze drapes filled Lucia’s mind and she sat back in her chair, the file’s contents forgotten. “When I was a small girl I went there with my parents. They were killed in an accident when I was nine years old and I lived with my mother’s sister and her family from then on. Aunt Anneke was my father’s great-aunt; we lost contact. So it’s been over twenty years since I was there. Why?”


Okay, there's part one, whacked formatting and all. More to come! See you tonight, and we can discuss the lawn situation then.--Barbara