Whiskies & Southern Belles

Prologue

Whiskey, weddings and Carter Miller. The three things that weighed heavily on Adeline's mind before she fell asleep and the second she woke up.

The whiskey is Walker Vintage, a distillery Adeline has been managing since the day she graduated from college where she majored in art history. Instead of traveling to Florence to gaze at Da Vinci's masterpieces like the rest of her friends, Adeline was summoned home by her mother. Clifton Walker, Adeline's father, after years of heavy drinking was on his deathbed. With no one to look after the property and distillery, Adeline had no choice but to bid her carefree life farewell. Her mother Cora and younger sister Clem were true southern belles thanks to being spoiled by Cliff. Adeline, always dreaming of a way out of the south, had worked hard to set the foundation for a life on the east coast where she had fallen in love with Soho's plentiful art galleries and culture. At NYU, she was flourishing. Her professors were impressed by her eye for modern art and she had just landed a coveted docent position at MoMA that would have put her on a path that would eventually help her become an art director. Everything was in place until Adeline got the frenzied phone call from Cora.

Within 36 hours, Adeline found herself back at her parents' sprawling estate in Savannah comforting her sobbing mother and sister. Cliff was slipping away and the one of the last orders he barked out was for Adeline to not ruin the family business. Head down and tears slowly creeping out the corners of her eyes, Adeline mourned the art career that would never be.

"Yes, dad", she said quietly. "I'll take care of Walker and mom and Clem."