Scarlett Penny

Prologue

Prologue

'The trees were blowing in the wind as colourful leaves dropped off branches and floated to the ground all around them. A small hand reached out and caught a bright orange leaf floating to the ground. The cool breeze around them was blowing her auburn locks in her face.

"Did you catch it, Bella?"

Bella smiled a toothless smile and looked up at her father standing behind her. He had a smile plastered on his normally serious face, one just for her. She showed him her orange leaf and placed it the pile with the others they had already collected.

"Daddy, why do the leaves fall off the tree?" asked Bella.

Her father knelt down in front of her and touched her chilly red nose.

"Because everything needs a new beginning and we can't start our new beginning with the old things holding us back."

She scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"I don't get it. When I grow up I want to be smart like you."

Her father chuckled and pulled her into a hug, Bella giggled in return and wrapped her small arms around his neck.'

Arabella McCullen opened her eyes in confusion, her heart beating fast, as the constant ringing in her ears woke her up. Her sleep muddled brain tried to figure out what the noise was, realising the phone was ringing next to her. She peered out of her cocoon of blankets as the room was still bathed in darkness. Bella stretched out her hand and fumbled for the phone lying on the bedside table. She let out a tired yawn and answered the phone, trying to stay awake to listen to the voice on the other end.

"Hello, is this the McCullen Residence?" repeated the dark husky Irish voice on the other end.

"Yes, it is." mumbled a confused Bella.

Bella blinked open her eyes and shifted slightly so that she was leaning against the headboard. The alarm clock next to her bed blinking 5: 45! She focused back on the caller, trying to understand what he had just been telling her.

"I am sorry to tell you this over the phone Miss, but it is an urgent matter at hand. Mrs Cathella McCullen has passed away the early hours of yesterday morning and I am calling you because I have this residency listed under family."

Bella took the phone away from her ear and looked at the unfamiliar number. This had to be some kind of mistake or some kid playing a prank on her!

"I'm sorry, who did you say was calling?" asked Bella.

The person on the other end sounded frustrated as he replied again.

"Aye I didn't say, lass, I am Cathella's solicitor. I am calling from the McCullen residence in Cork Ireland, and I have the name Scott McCullen under son. Is this the right number?" questioned the man.

"Yes, that's was my father. He passed away last year. You say his mother died?" asked Bella.

"Aye she did, I am Sorry for your loss, lassie. I am calling in connection with her castle here in Ireland. We need someone to come and sort out all her belongings."

"I will need to speak to my mother about all of this and then I will get back to you." said Bella.

"Aye, thank you for your time lass. Cheers and you call me anytime from this number."

Bella sighed in confusion, listening to the dialling tone before putting the phone down. She switched on the bedside lamp, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Her grandmother has just died and they needed someone to go to Ireland. Bella knew she should feel something like sadness or loss, but her grandmother was a stranger to her. Her mother would not take this news well! Bella was trying hard to help her mother but she felt just as lost and alone. She was currently unemployed and living back at home, trying to help her mother and herself sort through their grief. She looked around her room. This was the room she had grown up in! This was her safe haven from feeling unwanted. The room was filled with memories, photos on the wall of her and her father doing the many adventurous things they had done together. Her walls were painted white because a colour was unacceptable and her teenage posters were still stuck behind the door where no one would find them. This very room had made her feel safe at times. It was the only messy place in the house. Her mother never approved as she always pulled a disgusted face when she entered the room. A lady never made a mess! If anyone found out she was anything less than a proper lady it would bring embarrassment on the family name. She was only twenty-four years old but she felt much older than that, especially when receiving news like she had just received for the second time in just over the span of a year. This was not meant to be her life! She was not meant to be fatherless at twenty-four. She had a plan and it had been going exactly like she had wanted it to, until that one call she had received last year that had shattered her world. Now her plans didn't make sense and the world didn't make sense anymore. She tried to remember the grandmother that she had only met once in her life when she was a child but the memory was unclear. She did remember an old friendly lady with soft hands and kind eyes that always looked sad. At the time she had wondered why anyone would want to be that sad. But Bella now knew why only loss could bring on such sadness. Bella switched the lamp off and snuggled back under her blankets. The light of day wasn't far off and with it came another world shift.