“There was no way in hell I would let her stay with us,” Vivien says. She spots me and hops off her stool. She’s swimming in one of my sweaters.
I wrap her in my arms, kissing the top of her head.
She pulls back. “Coffee?”
“Yes.”
She walks over to the pot and pours me a cup, adding in a drop of cream just like I like it.
“Are you doing okay?” I ask Audrey.
She shrugs. “I’m fine. Mother’s been calling me nonstop. She showed up at the farmhouse last night, but I pretended no one was home.”
Vivien hands me the mug, then leans into me, her shoulder pressing against my arm.
“She’s not going to drop this,” Audrey adds. “She’s already decided how this ends. She always does.”
My grip tightens around my coffee. I wish I could tell them it’s all going to be okay, but I can’t guarantee their relationship with their mother will be okay. However, I do have an inkling that Vivien’s inheritance is untouchable. Beverly wrote a letter. It’s currently locked in my safe in case of this exact situation. Beverly was worried about Vivien’s mother. My instructions are to read it if the will is being contested. I don’t know what’s in the letter, exactly, but I can’t pull it out unless I have to, and it has to be read in front of Vivien and whoever is challenging her right to the inheritance. I can’t even talk about it yet to anyone.
“Maybe we can move to Malta, where your dad is,” Audrey says. “It’s an island. Hard to get to. Maybe she won’t bother.”
Vivien shakes her head. “No. I’m done running and hiding. And she’s not going to win this. I spent most of my life doing whatever she wanted me to do, trying to make her happy. But it was never enough. Then I ran away and avoided her, and none of it mattered. None of it made me happy. I’m not doing that anymore.”
Audrey sits back in her seat. “What are you saying?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve been thinking. Beverly wouldn’t have set all of this up if she thought I couldn’t handle it. I think she was trying to teach me how to stop being afraid of my own life. To take risks. Go for the impossible tasks. Stop letting my life and everyone else control me and take command myself. I thought I needed to hide to protect myself, but maybe I just need to control the narrative.”
I wrap an arm around her shoulders and brush a kiss over the top of her head.
It’s strange how our paths have mirrored. I’ve been living like my life only had meaning if I was doing things for everyone else. Like working constantly and making people happy was the single path forward. But now I think there might be more routes, and more directions I can choose. One where instead of focusing on what everyone else wants from me, I can focus on what I have in front of me.
“So, what are you going to do?” Audrey asks.
Vivien doesn’t hesitate this time. “What are we going to do. We have each other. She has nothing.”
“She has balls of steel. I’m terrified.”
Vivien reaches over, putting her hand over Audrey’s. “We’re going to call her.”
“Are you high?”
“We aren’t running away. Not anymore. We’re going to face her, together. United. On our terms. We lay everything out, and we give her one chance to back off.”
Audrey makes a face. “You mean before she hires an army of lawyers and sets the whole town on fire?”
Vivien’s shoulders drop, like the decision itself lifted a weight off her. “Something like that. We’ll call her together and tell her to meet us at the diner for lunch tomorrow.”
“Why not today?”
“I have work at the theater. Hopefully, she’ll stay away.”
I set my mug down. “You ladies just let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
Vivien smiles at me. “Nope. You’re staying out of this as my legal representative. If she doesn’t back off, you’ll have your work cut out for you.”
“Fair enough. But if you won’t take my help, have you considered that we live in a place where the residents would be more than happy to, ah, assist with . . . I don’t know, making her life a little more inconvenient while she’s here?”
Vivien laughs.
