AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course, you need a house,” Mama said, giving me a gentle shove. “You don’t expect to stay with us forever, do you?”
I honestly hadn’t expected to stay anywhere.
I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. It had only been two months since I graduated college. I had taken an extra year to make up for all the changes to my major I’d made, but it was definitely worth it to stay away from the rest of the family.
My only regret was missing that last year with my grandmother.
Now, I was expected to lay down roots in the one place that never felt much like home. If I had planned on putting down roots at all, the last place I would do it was my hometown of Madison, Mississippi. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Madison, of course. It was just too familiar, filled with too many people who knew my name.
Nothing like the world of adventure and excitement I saw for myself after graduating from college in California.
I’d been back home for three days already, visiting with family and friends after my grandmother’s sudden passing. In those three days, I remembered exactly why I couldn’t stay in Madison for longer than a week—hell, longer than three days! And four of them sat in the very same room as me during the will reading, staring me down with glares that would turn any mortal to stone.
Screw ‘em! I’d grown accustomed to my cousin Kyle’s dagger-like stares of jealousy. After he’d married five years ago, the next set of eyes to glance at me with hatred belonged to that of his trophy wife, Vanessa. It’s not like I’d done anything to prompt this timeless feud between us, other than dote on a grandmother who meant the world to me. But of course, Kyle saw this show of love and affection to be no more than a grasp at our grandmother’s inheritance.
Because that’s what he would have done.
But what could I say? I loved my grandmother. She could have been broke, penniless, senile, and calling me by my father’s name. I would have still called her everyday, would have still made secret visits to see only her whenever I had the chance. She had been the only one to believe in me, my greatest champion.
My inspiration.
And now, she was gone.
Add in this newest revelation of me getting the house, and there was little I could do to dissuade Kyle and his wife of their long-held suspicions that I was a money-grubbing tramp with an aim for our grandmother’s fortune.
Her fortune never interested me. As for the whole tramp thing, I owned it.
“This is insane,” Aunt Rose hissed, springing to her feet to shout across the table at Mr. Philips. Poor man. It wasn’t his fault. Though, he seemed to take great pleasure in watching my family unravel like threads in a cheap sweater. “The girl hasn’t even been here for three years, andshegets the family house?”
“Not to mention our children have been the ones taking care of the business since Papa Saunders’s passing,” Uncle Charles explained. “They’ve poured their blood, sweat, and tears into making sure their grandparents’ livelihood thrived. They should at least get something for all of their troubles.”
“Sit down, Rose,” Mama snapped. “There’s no reason to act like a barbarian in front of Mr. Philips. He’s just doing his job.”
“Barbarian. I’ll—”
“Well, that brings me to my next point,” Mr. Philips said, sorting through the files in front of him. A ruddy, round gentleman somewhere in his fifties, there was no telling how many family disasters Mr. Philips had witnessed over the reading of estate papers. From the looks of it, he’d seen his fair share of family members launching themselves across tables and arguing tastelessly over the unfairness of the decedent’s wishes. He barely even batted an eye at the spectacle my family was making, nor did he show any regret in delivering the next parcel of news.
“When it comes to the matter of the family business...” Mr Philips added, in his slowest southern drawl. He paused, gesturing for Aunt Rose to take her seat before he continued—possibly to regain control of the room, though a sneaking suspicion told me it was also for his safety. “...that also goes to Jake Saunders and his lovely wife and daughter.”
“What?” This time Vanessa was the one losing her temper.
We were one act away from being a three-ring circus. I buried my head in my hands and groaned. Why did I come home? Why was I still here?
A court order. One that says you need to listen to what your grandmother wanted and suffer the consequences.
“There’s no way,” Vanessa said. Her chest rose and fell so violently that I recalled the steps for performing CPR in my mind. “There must be some mistake. Is this the updated will?”
“Updated last July,” Mr. Philips said, completely nonplussed by the pure homicidal rage now directed at him.
Aunt Rose leaned forward and jabbed an accusatory finger in the direction of my parents. “You two had something to do with this, didn’t you? Is this some sort of a lawyer agreement? Did y’all pay him off to inherit the entire estate?”
“Now, now, Miss Rose. There’s no need for any of that,” Mr. Philips said, still as calm and collected as if remarking on the weather. “I can assure you, both Lizzie and Jake had nothing to do with the writing of your mother’s will. She was quite clear about what she wanted for her company and who she wanted to inherit the family home.”
Silence.
Aunt Rose and Uncle Charles remained tight-lipped, nearly vibrating in their seats trying to withhold their anger. As for Mama and Daddy, there could not have been a happier couple, even on a honeymoon cruise.
I was the only one who found myself in the crosshairs. Between Kyle, his wife and parents, and even my own parents, I felt as though all eyes fell to me, searching for the answers behind how I’d snagged my grandmother’s fortune.
