Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 27

One year and some time later...

"Mrs. Dane."

Vera heard the name but she was still not used to it. That might account for why she hadn't glanced up when she was called but, no. The real reason she hadn't looked up was because she didn't like it. She didn't like being called Mrs. Dane and it had nothing to do with her new husband.

"What is it, Violet?" She said, still typing away on the keyboard as she worked. She was always working, that much had not changed at all. Of course, you had to work hard if you were launching a new business, especially one that had been in such a rough condition as theirs.

It seemed like every week something new was happening. First the plumbing during the renovations, then realizing just how much they owed on property taxes. There was the creditors who wouldn't stop showing up, despite them telling them that was he no longer at the address. There was the income from the furniture sale and all the junk they had to go through before tossing. When the house was ready, Vera took to pouring through all the legal documentation while Edwin focused on calling old clients and establishing new ones.

Eventually they'd found some new graduates willing to work for more experience than salary and so the business launched. Then they'd had to deal with the world of 'no', where clients did not want to trust them with large projects because they were such a new firm. So for nearly a year, they'd kept business doing small design, building car ports and designing small desk, installing skylights, nothing that would give them the clout they needed to secure a large project.

On one hand, the smaller type of projects that he would have thought beneath him were now the bread and butter of the company that was finally starting to make a little profit. Profit that she and Edwin had decided would go to increasing the salaries and paying off a bit of the debt they had plundered themselves into. For Vera, the matter of money had grown so much simpler now that she had full access to her trust fund. Still, she felt the crippling weight of debt as she watched Edwin over the last several months, feeling relief every time he made a payment, knowing some ease as his debt went down.

The house was still far from paid, the business loan too, and although they would eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel, at this rate they would be in debt for another 20 years.

Vera had only mentioned paying it all off once. Edwin did not take kindly to the suggestion, insisting that he was NOT like his cousin, demanding she give him the agreed upon time to pay his debt.

"I have George Pine on line 1." Violet said, prompting Vera to look up with what almost looked like a smile. Violet was almost surprised, Vera never smiled, not really.

It wasn't like she was unkind, either. Vera was a very fair boss but outside of that, the woman was a mystery. It was strange to be able to read so much about her family or to hear so much about them, and still no next to nothing about the woman she worked with every single day. She hadn't even bothered warning anyone when she got married...

"Please put him through." Vera said, snapping Violet out of her thoughts.

Vera never noticed the way Violet watched her with interest, in fact, she hardly noticed the staff beyond the numbers on the sheets that were projected every month. She didn't have time to do anything like, she was too busy making sure they kept making money.

"George." Vera said as she picked up the phone.

"Well, well, well... I finally get through." George teased. Vera frowned, realizing that he had called her office line for the first time. She realized she wasn't very good at texting back nowadays but, she'd always made it a point to get back to family.