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“Shh. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay, Josephine,” Cora consoled, holding her head against her chest. But Cora’s words did nothing to alleviate the sinking feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.
Cora moved to sit in the chair and brought her sister against her. She didn’t mind the weight. It reminded her of when they were younger and how she used to console her youngest sister by taking her onto her lap and running her hand over her hair as she comforted her.
Jo was too drained to move, so she welcomed the warmness of her sister’s embrace. The two remained in that position for a long time until the sound of footfalls against the boardwalk of the dock caused Cora to turn her head to see who it was. Jo was too tired to look.
“What’s going on?” she heard Andrea ask from above her. “Tracy is crying and won’t tell us what happened, and now Jo.”
“Tracy found out some news that was… unexpected,” Cora replied hesitantly.
“How so?” Andrea asked.
Cora went on to relay everything Jo had told her.
“Oh my god, that’s terrible,” Andrea gasped in shock.
Jo felt a pair of hands wrap around her from behind as a set of lips were placed against her temple.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you guys, Jo. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to hold on to such information for so long with no one to talk to. I should have been there more for you, but I promise I’m here now,” her sister murmured against her ear.
She was still far spent and could barely open her mouth to reply. “Thanks, Drea,” she mustered as much strength as she could to say.
“I’m going back to the house to see if I can get Tracy to change her mind and stay so this can be sorted out,” Andrea told them, straightening up.
“That sounds good,” Cora agreed.
After a long time of them sitting arm in arm, Josephine finally disentangled herself from her sister and sat on the other chair.
“So, what exactly did this ex-boss of Charles say he has on him?” Cora asked.
Jo sighed. “Nothing more than what I told you. He wants me to pay him over the five hundred thousand dollars from the insurance money and from the house sale. I ignored his messages and blocked his number. I guess that’s why he sought out Tracy, to force my hand, I guess.”
Cora nodded as she listened to her sister speak. “Are you sure he’s telling the truth?” she finally asked.
“He showed me the evidence that Charles invested the money and that it failed,” Jo answered.
Cora gave her a skeptical look.
“I know that it could be a forged document, but that’s not all… I remember Charles on the phone about a month before the accident. He was talking to his boss, promising that he would get it back before it was noticed missing. I didn’t think much of it but now thinking about it and the fact that he had been drinking more than he ever had in all his lifetime, I’m inclined to believe Jared.”
“Okay,” Cora returned simply, nodding as she mulled over her sister’s words. You don’t owe this Jared fellow anything, Jo,” she finally said.
Jo looked over at her sister in confusion.
“What I mean is, the only thing he had over you was the fear of Tracy finding out about the accident and the money, but that has already been taken care of, so what can he do? It’s not like he can make the information public. If he did, it would open up the firm to closer scrutiny. Take it from me; my years as a journalist has taught me that big firms and corporations like to settle things of this nature outside the courtroom and out of the public domain because there is always the fear of ruin from things of this nature,” Cora explained.
“True, you may have a point,” Jo replied, her tone of voice questioning.
“What I’m saying is that Jared can’t force you to turn over the insurance policy to him. It’s your money that was left to take care of you and Tracy. Any debt that Charles had died with him that night. Don’t let Jared intimidate you. Drea and I got you. You don’t have to go through this alone anymore, Sis.”
Relief rolled over Josephine at her sister’s words. Getting up, she went over to embrace Cora, who had also risen from her chair to receive the hug.
“Thanks, Sis,” she said simply.
“Anytime, Jo. And don’t worry about Tracy. She’ll come around. She just needs time.”
At the mention of her daughter, Jo’s slightly hopeful mood dampened once more. She wanted to believe those words, but all she saw were her daughter’s angry brown eyes staring back at her.
