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“How?”
“There’s a lawyer in Brooklyn who helps gay couples protect their estates. I think we should go see her about setting up a trust.”
“A trust?”
“It’s where I take all my assets—the house and the land and the bookshop, too—and make us both equally in charge. Then, when one of us dies, the other becomes sole trustee of the estate.”
“Like a will?”
“It’s better than a will, because there’s no probate. We can do a health care proxy and power of attorney, too. That way we’ll be protected no matter what happens.”
“But what about Daddy’s house?”
“It’s your house, Hazel. Keep it, sell it, give it away—I don’t care. The trust I’m talking about would include everything the two of us have built together.”
Protecting our estate wasn’t the same as a proposal of marriage, but there was something romantic about giving the trust between us the force of law.
“Okay, Evelyn,” I said, dabbing my swollen eyes. “Let’s do that.”
A couple of months went by while we corresponded with the lawyer and gathered the necessary paperwork. It was late June by the time we entrusted the bookshop to Rhonda for a long weekend so we could make a pretend honeymoon of our trip to the city. At thirty, Rhon was the youngest member of our bridge club, and the worldliest, too, after her years abroad with the Peace Corps. You always thought she sold herself short by coming back to Schuywich, but I’ve certainly been grateful for her friendship over the years.
You steered the station wagon down the Taconic State Parkway, the trees in full leaf, the vistas and mountains along the route a dozen shades of green. You’d always been a confident driver, but you refused to admit you needed glasses for distance as well as reading. Once we got to Brooklyn, there were some terrifying moments after you misread a sign and turned up a busy one-way street. When we finally parked in a lot near Grand Army Plaza, I heaved a sigh of relief.
“I guess I’m not used to city traffic anymore,” you conceded with your usual understatement.
“Instead of driving into Manhattan, why don’t we leave the car here and take the subway over to the hotel later?”
“Aren’t you afraid of getting mugged?”
I was scared about crime in the subway, but more scared of you driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. “We’ll be fine,” I fibbed. “Besides, I want an authentic city experience.”
“If you’re sure, Hazel,” you said, handing the car keys to a parking attendant.
The lawyer, Andrea Shippen, worked out of a renovated brownstone a block off the plaza. She was young and slender with a sleek suit, a severe haircut, and surprisingly high heels. I felt ridiculously provincial in my walking shoes and elastic-waist slacks as she ushered us into her office.
“So, tell me, how long have you two been together?” Andrea asked.
I looked at you and burst out crying.
“We’re not used to people seeing us as a couple,” you explained, putting an arm around my shoulders. “We met in 1956.”
Andrea smiled. “You’d be surprised how many of the couples who sit across from me have been together for decades. And you’ve lived upstate that whole time?”
“Evelyn used to live in Greenwich Village,” I said, sniffling. “She moved to Schuywich to be with me.”
“That’s quite a sacrifice to make for love,” Andrea observed, gathering together some paperwork.
You lifted my hand and kissed it. “It was no sacrifice, believe me.”
“I’ve prepared some preliminary documents to review with you,” Andrea said. “You mentioned wanting to put the trust’s property into the state’s farmland preservation program?”
“That’s right,” you said. “We want to ensure the land can never be subdivided or developed.”
“I mostly work with couples here in the city, so I wasn’t familiar with that program.” Andrea sat back in her leather chair. “I’ve done some research, though. You’re smart to execute both agreements at the same time. The tax savings from the land preservation will help offset the expense of setting up the trust. My secretary explained I charge on a sliding scale?”
“She did, yes.” You proudly lifted your chin. “We’re prepared to pay whatever you think is fair.”
“Wonderful,” Andrea said. “We’ll take care of your powers of attorney and health care proxies, too. Once we’re done here, the two of you will have all the protections married couples get for free, except, of course, for health insurance and survivor’s benefits.”
