The Seeker's Inn

By Maita Rue

“My Dear Alexandra,

Greetings, my beloved niece! It is unfortunate that I learn of your existence a little too late. When this letter reaches you, I may no longer be in this world. I left some provisions for you with a condition. Upon Martyr’s Wood Folly is an establishment of mine. It is called the Seeker’s Inn. Run it successfully for a full season and it will be yours. My solicitor will get in touch for further details. I do wish you well in life.

Hoping to have met you,
Emily H. Norwoods”

Spinster Alexandra Jekyll is thrilled to inherit an inn. Unfortunately, the will comes with a clause. Aunt Emily's Will states that she had to run and manage The Seeker's Inn successfully within a season. Trouble ensues when Aunt Emily's irksome nephew comes and claims the inn. Sparks fly when Alexandra's cousin Alexa Hyde falls for the nephew. Will everyone be able to work together and run the inn or will everything falls apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maita Rue
• Release date: Apr 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370402564

Maita Rue

Maita Rue is an author, designer and blogger. She’s the mother of four dogs and an aunt of one grumpy cat. Maita loves to read and is now finally writing the things she loves. The characters in her books have their own lives and she claims they demand their own destinies. She writes stories for Talecraft Publishing, Sachet Novels (coming soon) and self-publishes a lot of her own works.

Book preview

The Seeker’s Inn

Maita Rue

Copyright 2017 Maita Rue

Published by Maita Rue at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. This is a work of fiction. Characters, situations and events portrayed are products of the authors’ imaginations. Characters and situations with similarities to other works are purely coincidental. No part of this book may be produced or reproduced without the author’s consent.

Cover design and layout by Maita Rue

Cover Picture: pixabay.com

Dedication:

To my very supportive family, thank you for pushing me to get published!

To my two sisters who supported my writing dreams and pushed me harder than anyone. Thank you for editing my early work, helping with cover and making a cute logo!

Thank you, to my beta readers who read my earliest version: Aunty Marilee Victorio, Sarah Meneses, and Aunty Nonette Bennett. from all the way in Baguio!

To Tobie Abad, for your edits and input! For your unending support for Talecraft!

Steph Ng, thanks for spotting things I couldn’t.

Magsi Rover! Thanks for your insights! I can’t wait for your book!

To my Readers, thank you for taking time and purchasing my book. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Yes, there will be more Hydes to complicate our lives. I wish mine would jump out of the mirror and lend a helping hand. If not, they will grace more pages of more stories to come.

Table of Content

Chapter One: The Will

Chapter Two: The Struggle Continues

Chapter Three: Hide Alexa Hyde

Chapter Four: Hyde Legacy

About the Author

Contact Maita

More Books from Maita

There are Hydes among us.

Chapter One

The Will

Alexandra Jekyll read and re-read the letter. Her bright hazel eyes didn’t deceive her. It was a dream. Or more, it was a prospect. Upon her lap was a letter from a dearly departed Great Aunt Emily stating a possible inheritance. She didn’t even know she had a great aunt let alone any living relative apart from her sister Amanda. It was a will and a condition. Alexandra read the letter one more time to make sure understood it correctly. Amidst the rattle of the carriage, she was sure she read it well.

My Dear Alexandra,

Greetings, my beloved niece! It is unfortunate that I learn of your existence a little too late. When this letter reaches you, I may no longer be in this world. I left some provisions for you with a condition. Upon Martyr’s Wood Folly is an establishment of mine. It is called The Seeker’s Inn. Run it successfully for a full season and it will be yours. My solicitor will get in touch for further details. I do wish you well in life.

Hoping to have met you,

Emily H. Norwoods"

Attached to Aunt Emily’s letter were the solicitor’s instructions and a map of the property. Well, this is an opportunity of a lifetime, Alexandra said excitedly. How fortunate to have a relative that cared! They have not known about each other yet here was Aunt Emily leaving them an inn!

Living in Prestwood Farm has been a blessing for her and Amanda. Her little sister, was all she had. They were orphans out in the world without a penny to their name. The Prestwoods were family friends. They took the girls in after the death of their parents. Unfortunately, not much was provided for them. Alexandra hasn’t come out for her season and she had to seek employment instead of reveling as a lady of leisure.

She was turning twenty-five this year and was considered on the shelf. She had taken caregiving jobs and governess positions over the years but she always came back to Prestwood Farm to see Amanda.

Her little sister will be twelve soon. She’ll be starting a life away from Alexandra, training as a Lady’s companion in a household of a countess. It was better than the workhouse. Thanks to the Prestwoods, Amanda’s life was better than most orphans her age. But it was not what Alexandra hoped for her sister.

Stop fidgeting. You are always saying it’s unbecoming of a lady, her little sister scolded her. Amanda was doing some mending. Her fingers were so delicate she could darn socks like she was embroidering. The carriage was rocky but Amanda sewed like she was embroidering in a calm sea. The two of them were on their way to The Seeker’s Inn.

I am not fidgeting! She said. Sit up straight, Amanda, please. You’ll ruin your posture, you will. I am just eager to see this inn, Alexandra scolded.

Amanda was sitting slouched while doing her darning. It became a hobby. She needed another hobby, Alexandra decided. She wanted to put up some money for Amanda. She wanted her sister to have a good marriage, something she couldn’t have.

If the sisters ran this inn successfully for a season, it would be theirs. Alexandra and Amanda could have a little corner of the world for themselves. They’d have income to support Amanda until she could become of age.

A season, just a season. Alexandra told herself to take it one step at a time.

To run an inn, Lexy? We don’t know anything about running a business much less an inn. Do you think we can do it? Amanda asked.

Alexandra told her about the letters and map. She’d only take this if Amanda would go with her. Martyr’s Wood Folly sound like a faraway place. By the passing hour, it really felt so distant from everything. She didn’t want to leave Amanda behind. Besides, having Amanda by her side might be a big help. What did she know about running an inn? Too late to turn back now. Was it?

I thought being a proprietress was shocking to a lady. Imagine, we will be innkeepers! Amanda giggled. The idea excited her.

I’m going to be a proprietress. As I’m a spinster now, it is frowned upon but not entirely uncommon. You, my dear, will draw a nice young gentleman in the near future. I will not permit otherwise. Alexandra told her sister. You’d have the come-out ball that I never had.

Amanda shrugged. It would be a long way off into the future. You are not that old. There may still be a gentleman out there for you. Besides, a come-out ball seems so wasteful.

The expense is worth it, her older sister argued.

The two sisters viewed the dim morning outside. They’ve been travelling for hours since before dawn. The woodland outside were thick and unkempt. The wildness certainly made them feel so remote from everywhere and everything familiar. We’re so far away from the farm. It’s all we know, Amanda said. She was a little apprehensive but she would always support her sister to the ends of the earth. Just about now, it was beginning to look like the ends of the world.

But that’s the thing, little sister. I don’t want the farm to be all we know. Don’t you see? This will be something ours. Besides, our time in the farm is up. The Prestwoods have been so kind to us but they can’t put up with us forever. I’d have to leave for another governess posting and you’ll be sent to train as a lady’s maid. If we ran the inn successfully for a whole season, it is ours. We can do as we like.

A few hours later, the carriage came to a halting stop that nearly knocked Alexandra off her seat. We’re here, ladies, the cockney driver announced. The driver was arranged by the solicitor to pick them up at the ports of Canterbury. He was a small person, missing a few teeth and nearly balding with age. The carriage was hard to miss. It was old but recently painted a bright yellow with a sort of crest and the name of Seeker’s Inn.

Alexandra and Amanda alighted the decrepit carriage to come face to face with an equally decrepit property. The large house looked like it was crumbling. A fading sign post said it all.

_el_ome to Seek_r’s I_ _ The sign was nearly non-existent.

It could do with some work, Alexandra said optimistically.

It needs a lot of work, Amanda commented grimly.

The driver dragged their trunks through the muck and into the sordid house. I’ll intra-duz ya to the staff now, he said as he ushered them into the inn. Said staff greeted them at the foyer.

How many staff did Aunt Emily keep? Alexandra asked.

Well, this here’s Milly Cook. We call her Mrs. Cook. She’s the cook. Th’name’s Latimer. I’ma groundskeeper, the driver cum groundskeeper introduced. Mrs. Cook inclined her head. She seemed so old, as old as the building itself. Her hair was white and her hands small and dainty. She was a very petite woman. After her nodding greeting, she inched her way back to the kitchen not bothering with conversation. Mrs. Cook’ll warm up. I’ma throw your trunks out the back rooms, Latimer said.

Well, that’s a staff of two, she commented. Why don’t we do a bit of exploring and inventory our tasks? I’ll meet you in the kitchen in an hour, Alexandra suggested. She and her sister went to each wing of the inn.

There was really not much to explore. The inn was not overly large. It was a T-shaped building with three floors. There was a separate building for the staff which connected through the kitchen garden. The Seeker’s Inn was pretty simple and spacious but everything seemed to be falling apart. The front door opened to the foyer and a welcoming room beyond that. The dining room was to the left while a smoking room was to the right. The sunny parlor and linen closet were upstairs. The east and west wings of both the second and third floors had six rooms each totaling twenty-four separate guest rooms. The attic floor was storage and cots for guests’ servants. To the south wing was the kitchen and staff house. Around the Inn was an expanse of lawn now covered by weeds. Beyond to the east was a swamp that used to be a lake.

They reconvened in the