Read the book: «Winning Amelia»

CHAPTER ONE

BY THEMSELVES, NUMBERS were meaningless squiggles. It was what they represented that mattered. This particular string of six—1, 3, 4, 17, 23, 29—happened to represent the birthdays of Amelia Goodfellow’s family: her own, plus those of her brother, her sister-in-law and all three nephews.

The sequence also appeared to be the winning numbers in yesterday’s Lotto 6/49 draw.

Crockery rattled against crockery. The chinka-chink sounded oddly like...the clink of coins. Amelia set the dishes back on the table and reached for the newspaper. The previous customer had left no tip, only a discarded Toronto Star, so maybe Amelia was too annoyed to be seeing straight. The sun was glaring off the moisture remaining from where she’d wiped the table, so it could have been a trick of the light. Or fatigue. Or simply a bad case of wishful thinking. Sure. No reason for her hands to be shaking like this because she’d probably made a mistake, right?

She squinted at the paper.

The lottery results were in bold print in a box on the lower right-hand corner of the front page, along with the weather forecast and the horoscope for anyone whose birthday was today. There had been only one winning ticket. 1, 3, 4, 17, 23, 29. Her lips moved silently as she read the numbers again. No matter how many times she repeated them, they remained the same.

The jackpot had been over fifty-two million, not a record but close to it. To be exact, it had been fifty-two million, four hundred and eighty-five thousand, seven hundred and twenty. More numbers. They were too mind-boggling to grasp, even for someone who had once made her living by dealing with figures.

“Excuse me, miss?”

Yet these were more than simply figures on a page. This was a new house for Will and Jenny. It was redemption for Spencer’s crimes. It was the ability to think of tomorrow without feeling her stomach curl into a knot. It was the future. A brand-new, shiny, fire-engine-red, fresh-off-the-showroom-floor life in which she could stop apologizing and start living again.

“We’d like to order, please.”

Bubbles worked their way into her throat, stealing her breath and making speech impossible. The sensation was so unfamiliar, and it had been so long since she’d experienced it, Amelia didn’t recognize the joy immediately. Yet that’s what it was. Pure joy.

“Hello?”

She looked at the paper again, just to be sure. There they were, in all their multmillion-dollar splendor: 1, 3, 4, 17, 23, 29, the numbers she always played, the numbers she could never forget. She pumped her fist in the air and whirled.

A pair of women was seated at the booth across from her. The older one raised a penciled eyebrow. “Well, it’s nice to see someone so happy. Did you read good news?”

Amelia wouldn’t have thought she could smile any wider but she did. Her cheeks ached from it. Those crazy joy bubbles were swirling through her blood now. Her knees shook as badly as her fingers. She stumbled backward and came up hard against one of the boxes that held fake philodendrons. Plastic greenery crackled against her palm as she steadied herself with one hand. In the other she still clutched the paper. “Good?” Her voice rasped. She had trouble getting the word past her lips because every facial muscle was locked into her grin. “Uh-huh. Oh, yeah.”

The woman’s amusement dimmed. Her gaze darted around the tiny restaurant, as if she were seeking help. The lunch rush at Mae B’s was over. Apart from the ladies and an elderly man in the booth near the entrance, the place was deserted. “Are you all right, miss?”

Amelia nodded so hard, the pencil she’d tucked behind her ear slipped out and bounced on the floor. She left it there. She wouldn’t need to write down any more orders, or depend on finding tips when she cleaned the tables, or wear this stupid, frilly, pea-green apron. She took off the apron and dropped it on the plastic plant, then tore off the corner of the page with the lottery results and put it in her skirt pocket.

The ticket. She had to get the ticket.

Mae Barton and her husband, Ronnie, regarded her sternly as she raced through the kitchen. Though Ronnie was tall and fair while Mae was dark and well-rounded, like many longtime married couples, they had begun to resemble each other. Their frowns were identical. “Where’re you going?” Ronnie demanded. “It’s not time for your break.”

Amelia gasped through her grin. “Purse!” was all she managed. She yanked open the storeroom door and skidded to a stop beside the first shelf. Her purse lay where she’d left it when she’d come in this morning, right next to the big cans of ketchup. She unzipped the purse and pulled out her wallet.

“What on earth is going on?”

She glanced over her shoulder.

Mae stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips. “You had customers waiting, last I saw.”

“Sorry, but...” Amelia’s voice broke as she peered in her wallet. A ten, two fives and a handful of change. No ticket. She sucked air through her teeth.

Mae moved closer. “Amelia, are you okay? You don’t look well.”

She groped among the tissues, mints, sunglasses, keys and stray coins in the bottom of her purse for a few panicked moments until she remembered: little Timmy had emptied her purse onto the floor last month when he’d been looking for candy, and the dog had eaten her paycheck. Since then, she’d taken precautions. She hadn’t stored the ticket in her wallet or her purse. She’d found a far better place. A good, safe place. She laughed.

Mae grasped her arm. “You’re not high, are you? We told you up front we’ve got a zero tolerance policy for that sort of thing.”

“I’m not sick or crazy or high, Mae.” She retrieved the scrap of newsprint from her pocket and waved it in front of her. “I’m just rich.”

“What?”

“I won Lotto 6/49.”

“You what?”

Amelia’s eyes misted as she looked at her boss. The Bartons weren’t her friends, but they had hired her when no one else in town would, and for that she would always be grateful. They had taken a chance. Granted, they gave her receipts extra scrutiny, and they certainly hadn’t let her anywhere near their books, but she didn’t hold that against them. She would have done the same in their place, considering her reputation. She flung her arms around Mae and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. She felt her boss stiffen, but she didn’t care—at this point she would kiss a ketchup can. “I won!”

“How much?”

“The whole enchilada.”

“But—” Mae pulled back. “That’s...”

“Fifty-two million, give or take a few hundred grand.”

“Good heavens!”

“What’s all the shrieking about?” Ronnie asked as he joined them. “It better not be another rat, after what I paid the exterminator.”

“Amelia won the lottery.”

“You’re kidding!”

“The numbers were in the paper.” Amelia returned the newsprint to her pocket and wiped her hands on her skirt. “I only found out a minute ago.”

“Are you certain?”

Oh, yes, she was one hundred percent certain. She had bought the ticket at the corner store across from the high school on her way home from work on Thursday. She remembered that vividly. There had been a lineup at the cash and everyone was talking about the possibility of a record jackpot. Although the odds of winning were astronomical, she’d thought, why not take a chance? Her luck couldn’t get much worse.

She couldn’t wait to tell Will. And especially Jenny. She plunged her hand back into her purse for her phone before she remembered she’d cancelled her wireless plan in order to economize when she’d moved in with her brother. But even if she still had a phone, this was the kind of news she should deliver in person. The look on their faces would be priceless....

Actually, not priceless. The look would be worth fifty-two million.

She gave both Mae and Ronnie more hugs, along with a garbled apology about leaving early. She would make it up to them. Buy them a new freezer and some real plants. She believed in paying her debts, and now, finally, she could.

Luck seemed to be with her still, because Will’s old Chevette started on the third try, and it only stalled once before she could put it into gear and pull out of the parking lot. She would buy her brother a new car, or better yet, one of those big, manly pickups she’d seen him ogling. She could get a new minivan for Jenny that had built-in TV screens to entertain the kids and would be large enough to hold their growing brood. She could provide cars for each of the boys when they were old enough to drive. While she was at it, she could get one for herself. Nothing sensible or conservative like the black Beemer that had been repossessed last fall. No, this time she would get something fun. Bright and shiny, maybe even red, like that future that was dangling in front of her.

A horn blared. Amelia had no idea how long she had been sitting at the green light, dreaming about new cars. With a jaunty wave to the driver behind her, she started forward. The summer tourist season was in full swing. There was more traffic than usual in Port Hope’s historic downtown. Located an easy hour’s drive along Lake Ontario from Toronto, it was a popular destination for day-trippers seeking a break from the city. Luckily—there was that word again—the congestion thinned quickly once she coaxed the Chevette into doing the climb up Walton Street. Within minutes, she had left the old brick and quaint shops of the heritage district behind.

Will and Jenny’s neighborhood was a fair distance from the river and the lakeshore. It wasn’t on the route of the self-guided tours that were marked on the town maps. By today’s standards, the houses were small and plain. Most were one-and-a-half-story boxes that had been tossed up in a hurry more than sixty years ago during the post-war baby boom. Some had been customized with expanded porches, or extra rooms in the attic, but there was no disguising their humble pedigree. The properties that came up for sale didn’t remain on the market for long, though. The area was close to schools, the streets were quiet enough for road hockey any season of the year, and the houses were within the budget of young families.

But her family wouldn’t need to worry about budgets anymore, would they?

A sedan she didn’t recognize was parked at the side of the road in front of her brother’s house. A pair of strangers in sandals and matching turquoise, Hawaiian-style printed shirts moved among open cardboard boxes that were arrayed on the lawn. Closer to the front steps there stood a few chrome-and-vinyl chairs, an old brass plant stand and the exercise bike that had been stored in the basement. Amelia nosed into the driveway. Her way was blocked by a metal-legged card table displaying knickknacks and rows of paperback books.

She had forgotten about the yard sale. Jenny had started it yesterday. She’d claimed she wanted to clean out the basement this weekend, since Will was constructing an extra bedroom plus a playroom for the boys down there. Amelia suspected the primary reason for the yard sale was to raise extra cash. The closer Jenny got to her due date, the more nervous she became about their finances.

But she wouldn’t need to worry anymore, would she? And Will wouldn’t need to build any extra rooms, because Amelia would buy them a house big enough to hold everyone, no matter how many more babies they produced.

This just kept getting better and better, didn’t it? Amelia got out of the car and practically skipped up the driveway. She was giddy with the possibilities that continued to pop into her mind.

Her sister-in-law sat on a lawn chair in the shade of the maple beside the driveway. Strands of dark hair had escaped from her ponytail and drooped against her cheeks. A faded Argos T-shirt that had once belonged to Will stretched over her pregnant belly. She bore little resemblance to the delicate woman with the sparkling brown eyes who had married Amelia’s big brother fifteen years ago. Jenny was a nurturer, and like many women in her position, she tended to put her family’s needs ahead of her own. Riding herd on three boys—four, if she counted Will—had taken their toll.

One of the first things Amelia was going to do once she cashed in the ticket would be to treat Jenny to a spa day. Or make it a week. Get her a new wardrobe, get Will one, too, then send them on a cruise as a second honeymoon.

Jenny’s brow furrowed as Amelia approached. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you at work?”

She rocked back and forth from her heels to her toes. There was so much she wanted to say, so many promises she was finally able to make, the words were getting dammed up behind her grin. She savored the moment. “I’ve got some news.”

“You didn’t quit, did you?”

Amelia laughed. She hadn’t officially said the words. She’d been too stunned. But there was no reason to continue waiting tables now. “Not yet, but I will.”

“How much do you want for this?”

The Hawaiian-shirt couple had moved to the edge of the driveway. The man pointed to the plant stand he held.

“Thirty dollars,” Jenny replied.

“There’s some corrosion on the leg here. I’ll give you ten.”

“It’s an antique. Fifteen.”

“Don’t quibble, honey,” his companion said. “It’s already a bargain.”

“All right, fifteen.”

Jenny reached for the small plastic storage container beside her chair. It held a substantial layer of coins plus a surprising number of bills. She took the man’s twenty, gave him a five for his change, and carefully snapped the lid closed.

Forget savoring the moment. Amelia couldn’t contain herself. As soon as the couple loaded their purchase into the sedan at the curb and pulled away, she blurted it out. “I won the lottery.”

“Why would you quit that job?” Jenny asked at the same time. “I realize it didn’t pay much, but I thought you were happy that Mae...” She paused. “What did you say?”

“I won Lotto 6/49.”

“Sure. Pull the other one.”

“No, really, I did win. That’s my news. I came home as soon as I found out.” She waved her arm toward the items on the lawn. “You don’t need to have this yard sale. With my winnings—”

“Seriously? You actually won something?”

“I won the jackpot. More than fifty-two million.”

Instead of smiling, Jenny’s lips trembled. “I don’t find that funny, Amelia.”

“I’m not joking.”

“But...”

She tugged her sister-in-law to her feet and bent her knees to bring their faces level. “I’m not joking,” she repeated. “I really did win.”

It took a few seconds to sink in. Amelia understood the reaction, because she had trouble grasping this new reality herself. Repeated disappointments had a way of doing that to a person. After so much bad news, it became easier not to even hope for good.

Jenny’s smile blossomed slowly, like a flower bud finally exposed to the sun. Her cheeks dimpled. The lines worry had etched on her face lifted into traces left by old laughter. And her eyes sparkled. “You won?” she whispered.

Oh, yes, this was definitely worth a few million. Amelia nodded.

Jenny screeched and threw her arms around Amelia, pulling her as close as her baby bump allowed.

“Hey! What’s going on?”

At Will’s voice, they both looked toward the house. He stood on the front stoop, clad in his typical carpentry clothes of blue jeans and a dark green shirt. He balanced eighteen-month-old Timothy on one hip while he held the screen door closed with the edge of a battered work boot. Toto, the paycheck-eating Scotch Terrier, jumped against the other side of the door in a bid to get out.

Jenny broke off the hug. She got as far as saying Will’s name before she started to sob.

He shifted Timothy under one arm and leaped down the stairs. “Baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Jenny wiped her eyes. “Amelia.”

“Auntie Mia, Auntie Mia,” Timmy chorused, squirming in his father’s hold. He wore only a T-shirt and diaper, which was loosening with each wriggle. The dog slipped past the screen door and bounded toward them, adding his high-pitched yapping to the commotion.

Will glowered at Amelia. He was protective by nature, especially when it came to his wife. Although at five foot nine he was only an inch taller than his sister, his frame was packed with solid muscle earned from a lifetime of working with his hands. He could be an imposing figure to someone who didn’t know what a marshmallow he was inside. He raised his voice over the din. “What did you do to her?”

Amelia laughed. “Down, boy. Those are happy tears.”

“That’s right.” Jenny hiccupped. “Your sister won the lottery.”

“What? Come on.”

“It’s true,” Amelia said. “I played our birthdays like I always do. 1, 3, 4, 17, 23, 29. Those were last night’s winning numbers.” She withdrew the scrap of newspaper from her pocket and held it up to him, just as she had for Mae. “See for yourself.”

Will caught her wrist to steady her hand. He looked at the paper, then at her, then back at the paper. His face paled beneath his freckles. “Is this for real?”

“As real as fifty-two million and change.”

“You’re rich.”

She shook her head. Not for a second had she considered keeping the winnings for herself. Her family had stood by her through the bad times, and there was no way she wouldn’t share the good ones. “We’re rich, big brother,” she corrected. “Stinking, filthy, ridiculously, never-worry-about-a-job-again loaded.”

He released her wrist to pass his hand over his face. His fingers shook. Then he tipped back his head and whooped. So did Timmy. Laughing, Will swung the toddler over his head and spun in a circle. “We’re rich, Timmy. There’s a new word for you. Rich. What do you think of that?”

Timmy chortled and kicked, his entire body expressing his glee. Will pulled him back down before the diaper fell off completely. Owen and Eric, drawn by the noise, ran around the house from the backyard. At ten, Owen was a miniature version of his father, right down to the thatch of red hair. A leather catcher’s mitt engulfed his left hand—he was on a baseball kick this month. Six-year-old Eric had his mother’s coloring as well as her nurturing instinct—instead of a baseball mitt, he held the neighbors’ marmalade cat. Momentarily anyway. It streaked off as soon as it spotted Toto.

The boys needed no convincing to join the celebration. Seeing the adults happy for a change was reason enough.

It wasn’t only cars she could buy the boys. She could get Owen season tickets to the Jays games and send him to a baseball camp. She could put Eric through veterinary school. There would be no limit to whatever dream they wanted to follow.

This continued to get better and better.

Amelia wiped her eyes as she led the way to the house. At first, she assumed the place looked different due to her excitement. Having a life-changing experience would give anyone a new perspective. Then she noticed the old sunburst-shaped clock was missing from the living room. So was the ugly wooden floor lamp with the lopsided base. The shelf above the computer held far fewer knickknacks than it had when she’d left for work this morning.

Apparently, Jenny had added more items to her yard sale that hadn’t been limited to the junk in the basement. That was good, since the sunburst clock lost five minutes a week, and the lamp tended to fall over at the slightest bump. This also meant there would be less to move when Amelia bought their new house.

She wouldn’t wait that long to move out of here herself, though. There was hardly enough space for her now.

In a fancier house, the room where she slept would be called a den, but here it was known simply as the back room. The door was ajar when she reached it. That wasn’t unusual, so she wasn’t alarmed. Everyone in the family was in and out of this room on a regular basis, since Jenny’s sewing machine was set up in here, and the kids often played on the futon that served as Amelia’s bed. She hadn’t minded because she’d had no right to complain. There were no spare bedrooms, and as the saying went, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

But now she allowed herself to think about it. Even though she adored her nephews, she was looking forward to the time when she could sleep on a real bed again and not need to check for toy cars and stray Lego blocks when she opened out the futon. She would enjoy regaining the little luxuries she used to take for granted, like privacy, and having a closet all to herself, and taking a long soak in the bathtub whenever she wanted without causing a lineup outside the door. Once she cashed in that ticket she could choose where and how she lived. She would never, ever, need to depend on anyone’s charity again.

The sound of Jenny’s voice came from the direction of the kitchen, along with Toto’s yapping. “Timothy, put the bone down,” she ordered. “It’s Toto’s.”

“Mine.”

“It’s full of germs.”

“Mom, I’m hungry,” Owen whined.

“Me, too,” said Eric. “Can I have a cookie?”

“How about an apple?” Jenny offered.

“Ugh!”

“Or some raisins—” Jenny groaned in exasperation. “Timmy, no! Get that bone out of your mouth!”

Amelia chuckled. Quiet was another luxury that was rare around here, although she was getting used to the daily circus and would probably miss it when she was gone. Once she cashed that ticket...

Uh-huh. The ticket. It was high time to actually hold it in her hand. She pushed the door of the back room completely open, then turned toward the wall at the end of the futon.

The space was empty. The painting that normally hung there was gone.

Her smile dissolved. The room spun. For the second time in an hour—could it only have been an hour?—she stumbled from shock. “No,” she whispered.

There had to be a simple explanation. Maybe the wire that held the painting had broken. It could have bounced and ended up behind the futon. She grabbed one corner of the futon frame and slid it away from the wall, but nothing was there.

Heavy footsteps crossed the living room and approached the doorway. Will spoke as he drew near. “We’ll use Jenny’s van when we go to the lottery office. I wouldn’t want to take that old Chevette on the highway all the way to Toronto.”

Amelia dropped to her knees, then flattened herself on her stomach and pressed her cheek to the floor. Aside from a collection of dust bunnies, the space beneath the futon was as empty as the space behind it. She scrambled to her feet and clawed at the mattress to tip it away from the frame, but she found nothing other than a squished coloring book.

“Too bad we have to wait until tomorrow,” Will continued. “But they wouldn’t be open on a Sunday. What are you doing?”

Her gaze darted wildly around the room. She could see at a glance there was no place to conceal anything large. It wasn’t here.

“Amelia?”

“Where’s the painting?”

“What?”

She thumped the side of her fist against the empty wall. “The painting of the farm that was right here.”

“I put it on the lawn with the other stuff.”

“You what?”

“It was a piece of junk. I thought you’d be happy to see it go.”

She pushed past him and ran for the front door. She didn’t remember seeing the painting on the lawn, but then, she hadn’t really looked. It had to be there, because no one would want something that ugly, would they? The painting itself was awful. Jenny had acquired it at someone else’s yard sale with the intention of using the frame to dress up a mirror. The frame was old-fashioned, carved wood that was warped in places and gaped away from the canvas and had provided a perfect spot to tuck a folded slip of paper because it had been high up, out of sight and beyond the reach of little fingers and hungry dogs. It was a good, safe place that she’d felt so clever about finding. Please, oh, please let it still be there....

It wasn’t. That much was clear from the instant she reached the front stoop. She pressed her fingers to her mouth but she couldn’t feel them. Her entire body was going numb. That was a mercy. If only the numbness could reach her brain and her heart.

This couldn’t be happening. She already knew what it was like to lose everything, but to lose it again? Before she’d even got it? Fate couldn’t be this cruel, could it?

The door opened behind her. “Amelia?” Will asked. “You’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

Her legs gave out. She sat down hard on the top step. “The lottery ticket.”

“What about it?”

“I wedged it underneath the frame of that painting.”