Evie Adams vs The World

Evie Adams vs The Letter

I was still reeling from Seth's words when the house phone began to ring, I jumped at the trill sound and went in search of the telephone. Alice had gone food shopping, Lexie was indisposed with Dom and Seth had gone; thank God! As I approached the entrance hall the chimes got louder and I spotted an old fashioned phone on the pine sideboard.

Grabbing the handset I tentatively lifted it to my ear and hesitantly answered. "Good Afternoon, this is Sharon Foley calling from Harrington's Bank. Can I speak to Evelyn Adams please?" I practically growled down the phone when I heard the name of the bank who were trying to force me out of my new home.

"Speaking."

"Ah, Miss Adams, I believe you met my colleague John Stimson a few days ago. I am just calling as a follow-up to see you'd had change of heart. John said you weren't interested in selling but his visit ended in a bit of a kerfuffle, we were hoping you might have had a chance to think it through and changed your mind. We here believe it would be in your best interests to sell it to someone who knows more about running an estate like Glenduggan – "

I couldn't listen to the woman on the other end of the line anymore, she was literally repeating the exact same things as the man had said when he'd been in person the other day. It was like they were reading from a script and there was ad-libbing at all. I interrupted her before she could carry on, talking in a strong, calm voice so she knew I meant business.

"Yes I have had a chance to think about your proposal and my decision hasn't changed. I inherited this estate from my mother on her death and I plan to honour her wishes by keeping it in the family. I have no plans of selling it on to you or anybody else. Thank you very much!" I was struggling to keep the anger out of my voice as I breathed deeply.

"Are you sure you've thought this through? The estate is in a huge amount of debt and it isn't going to come out the other end any time soon."

"I stared at the phone in disbelief. "I have thought this through and I have come up with a plan to make the estate earn money and get out of debt. A plan that means all the local people employed by the estate or living on estate won't lose their homes or livelihoods, which I'm guessing you can't guarantee if I sell. These people have believed in the estate and I in turn believe in them and that the estate can overcome this problem. So would you please stop calling me and selling people around to try and persuade me? I am not going to change my mind!"

I was practically shouting down the end of the phone before I slammed the handset back on the stand. I was slightly breathless and annoyed as hell, I whirled round and found Lexie watching me with a smile on her face. "Seth said you had quite a temper." I looked at her confusedly. "He told me about the coffee incident, I don't blame you for throwing it over him he can be so annoying." She laughed as she walked through the corridor to the kitchen and I followed behind.

"What else did he say about me?" My curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know what he'd been telling his sister about me.

"Not a lot really, he was kind of pissed off about the coffee and that you stole one of the pancakes I made him. I actually think he secretly likes you, most girls just melt at his feet but you fight him back." I couldn't help but smile to myself, men normally didn't fancy me anyway; I wasn't overly girly, I didn't go around wearing dresses and flirting, that just wasn't me.

"Did you mean what you said on the phone about not wanting to sell the house?" She looked at hopefully as she waited for the kettle to boil, I noticed she placed two mugs of coffee and was getting a packet of biscuits from the cupboard.

"Yes, I don't want to sell the estate. I mean I have no idea how I'm going to get it out of debt but selling hasn't entered my mind. I meant what I said, I don't want any of you to lose your jobs or your home. I'm not that unkind." Lexie smiled warmly for the first time since I'd arrived and placed the drinks and biscuits in front of us. I picked up a chocolate digestive and bit into it, savouring the taste.