AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you,” she replied. Gripping the underside of her chair, she shuffled closer to the large, shiny redwood table that took up most of the room. Three folders were distributed to us and one was kept to the side.
An ornate looking bunch of papers sat atop a box file and I guessed that was my mom’s actual will.
“Elizabeth has named you, Mr. Mattison as executor of her will.” With another tight smile she broke the seal. The document was folded into thirds, which she opened and smoothed out. Glancing nervously up at us, she cleared her throat and began.
“This is the last will and testament of the late Elizabeth Mildred Mattison, born Elizabeth Mildred Gulliver, and also known as Betty Mattison.”
She then went on to mention the states she’d lived in, and the date the will was written.
“This will is the latest will and supersedes all previous witnessed wishes written.” She took a long breath and continued. “Elizabeth’s will is very short and to the point,” she stated.
“To my granddaughter, Erin Foley, I leave the original sum of ten thousand dollars, invested in her name shortly after her birth with any value accrued to the same original amount in compound interest.”
My heart pounded at mention of Erin’s name. When Holly confirmed the account had been in existence since Erin had been born, I felt sick. It was yet more evidence my mom was in on the arrangement long before Erin was born, and the money had been part of the adoption agreement.
“To my faithful husband, Lester, I leave the gold band that bound us together. The rest of my jewelry and worldly possessions I leave to my eldest daughter, Marnie.”
“All fees and disbursements relating to the will have been settled in advance of Mrs Mattison’s demise.” This time the smile was fake, her duties done. Holly folded the paperwork again.
“That’s it? Fifty odd years and that’s all the mention my father gets for putting up with her?” I raged, furious my mother could have acted so cruelly and had escaped the repercussions of her callous actions.
My father inhaled sharply, and his Adam’s apple bobbed repeatedly as he fought back tears. Standing, Holly nervously scooped up her box file and dropped the other papers inside without acknowledging my outburst.
As she moved to leave the room, she pinned open the large glass office door. Turning to face us again, she stated we could contact her at her office if we had any other questions.
“Why am I here, if I wasn’t mentioned in her will? Why isn’t Erin here?” I asked. “If my daughter is mentioned in the will why wasn’t she invited to hear this?”
“Again, I am following Elizabeth’s wishes. It specifically states the people invited and for Erin to have a separate will reading later today.”
The whole event had been a total waste of time from my perspective, but I was hurt she hadn’t even bothered to mention me in her will at all.
There was nothing I wanted nor needed from her, but it had still felt like a last twist of the knife from beyond the grave. I thought my mother had been exceptionally cruel to my father when there was a mention of Erin without any prior warning to him that she had even existed. It made me realize how warped her mind was. I could almost imagine her expecting an explosive scene between my father and me in her wake.
I immediately felt vindicated about challenging my father about Erin when I had. At least he hadn’t heard the news in some random lawyer’s office. I felt glad to have robbed her of that parting slap in my face, but disgusted she had shown no regard for my father’s lifelong commitment to their marriage by what she’d done. I could hardly begin to imagine the effect on him, of learning about Erin, had I not challenged him beforehand.
James had waited for us in the lawyer’s office lobby and when he saw me, he jumped to his feet and walked toward me, holding his arms open wide. I stepped into them and allowed them to swallow me up. Feeling how they surrounded me felt like home, like I was safe, and my mother could do nothing else to hurt me now. I filled my lungs inhaling his scent, and exhaled a cleansing breath to calm myself.
“Everything all right?” he asked, pushing me away just enough to see my face when he looked down at me.
“My mother was one sick fuck behaving how she did, dragging us all the way downtown to give my father back his wedding ring and cut me out of her will. Erin’s mention and the money were the only surprises, but I wonder where she got that ten thousand dollars from in the first place.”
“So how was your dad?” James asked.
“Better than he would have been had I not told him about Erin. She came up in the will, no apology, no explanation to my dad, she just totally sprung Erin on him. I think he’s still trying to come to terms with the revelation that the woman he’d shared the biggest part of his life with had done something so monumentally devious when she’d arranged the adoption.”
“At least Erin was acknowledged,” James mused, like my mom recognizing her had felt like some kind of consolation prize.
“Well, my mom’s gone now, and she doesn’t deserve any of our tears. I’m glad she’s not around anymore.” Glancing at James’ face, I could see he struggled to understand the negative feelings I had toward my mom. I got that because he had a mother who was light and warm, whereas mine had been dark, manipulative, and controlling. There were no subtle differences between them; there was a wide gaping hole between their mothering skills.
“Erin?” James said, quietly as we headed out the law office doors.
“Hi,” she greeted, her smiling eyes locking in on me. My sister, father and Franco were deep in conversation on the side walk and hadn’t noticed us talking.
“Are you going to see my mom’s lawyer?” I asked.
“Yeah, she called and asked me to attend a will reading. Am I too late?”
“What time did she say?”
