by M. S. Parker
I sat there for a few minutes, working to compose myself. It should have been a good thing, this insurance money. Extra security against a bad year at the vineyard and more than enough for me to take a year off of work if I wasn’t feeling up to it come September. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. I didn’t know what or why, only that there was a lump in the pit of my stomach.
“Breathe,” I said out loud. “Breathe and don’t overreact. You don’t know what’s going on. No need to freak out for nothing.”
Not surprisingly, I wasn’t able to convince myself of any of it. Hearing myself talk did at least jar me enough from my thoughts that I realized I needed to let Jacques know I wasn’t coming down to the office today. I made that call as I walked back to the living room to wait for Jasper to arrive.
I didn’t know exactly how long it took to get from the vineyard to Jasper’s practice, but I was pretty sure he arrived much faster than he should have been able to. I didn’t quiz him on his driving habits though. He was here in one piece and that was all that mattered to me.
“Are you hurt?”
I’d forgotten that he had a key. It had made sense to give an extra to him and then one to Gina. She’d never used hers unless she’d been looking after the house while we were out of town, and I’d never known Jasper to use his either. Although, now that I thought about it, I supposed he must’ve used it when he’d come over and found me sun-burnt and half delirious with heat-stroke.
I shook my head as he closed the distance between us. My sunburn had peeled badly earlier this week, but my skin looked relatively normal again and it didn’t hurt.
“I need to ask you a question.” Even as I said it, I realized how lame it sounded. And not just lame, but selfish of me to interrupt him at work for it.
Jasper didn’t say a word, but his face was too blank for me to be able to tell if he was angry. He walked over to one of the armchairs and sat down. I sat across from him, folding my hands on my lap. Now that he was here, I wasn’t sure how to best approach the subject.
I looked at him and found him watching me closely, his expression still guarded. After a few minutes, I decided that straightforward seemed to be my best bet.
“Did you know that Allen had taken out a million dollar life insurance policy?”
Jasper’s eyes widened a fraction. “No.”
“Neither did I.” I let out a frustrated sigh. “We’d both agreed that we didn’t need to take out huge policies on either of us. As far as I was aware, that hadn’t changed.”
Jasper gave me a puzzled look. “I don’t understand.”
“Why did he think I was going to need the money?” I asked. “Our finances are fine. I checked. The vineyard’s finances are fine too.” I didn’t even mention the trust-fund.
“It’s not like he knew he was going to die then.” Jasper’s voice was quiet. “Maybe he took it out because he didn’t know what things would be like when he passed. He was trying to take care of you.”
“But why didn’t he tell me?” I asked. “I know we didn’t always remember to tell each other everything and we didn’t exactly go digging into the past to share every moment, but we didn’t keep secrets, especially not ones this big.”
“He probably didn’t tell you because he knew you would say no.”
“Damn right I would’ve.” I scowled. It deepened when I caught a flash of humor on Jasper’s face.
“That’s not really what’s bothering you, is it?”
I was surprised he could tell. Allen and Mitchell would’ve been able to, of course, but I hadn’t expected Jasper to as well. I shook my head. “It’s just...it feels like it’s blood money.”
“It’s insurance,” he said. “That’s what it’s there for.”
He was right, I knew, but it didn’t change the way I felt.
“I had you contact the other insurance company because that was how Allen and I had talked about it. This is too much.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I haven’t even had the will read yet.”
He moved from the chair to the couch, sitting close enough that he could reach out and put a hand on my shoulder, but not so close that we touched anywhere else.
“Do what you need to do,” he said. “If you don’t want the money, that’s your decision. If you don’t want to hear the will read, then wait. I’m sure if there’s anything that you have to handle right away, your lawyer will let you know. It’s not like Allen would’ve left the bulk of his estate to anyone but you anyway.”
That should’ve been reassuring. And yesterday, I never would’ve considered that I didn’t know exactly what the will would say. There’d probably be some little things here and there that he’d give to his family and to Jasper, but my name was on the deed to the house and all of our bank accounts were in both of our names. I didn’t see how any of it wouldn’t come to me. But that was before the insurance surprise.
“Do you think he took out that policy because he knew I’d need it since I wasn’t getting anything else?” I forced the question out.
“No.” Jasper’s voice was firm and I turned to look at him. “Allen loved you more than anything. There’s no way he’d do that to you.”
“Some guys might think a million dollars would be treating me really well.”
He shook his head. “You were everything to Allen.” He took my hands between his. “Don’t ever think otherwise.”
Chapter 14
While I didn’t feel any better about taking the insurance money, I did feel better about why Allen hadn’t told me about it. Jasper had known Allen as well as I had, and he was definitely seeing things from a much more objective point of view. I didn’t know exactly why Allen hadn’t told me or what he’d been thinking when he’d taken out the policy, but I was going to trust in the man I’d loved and trust in the friend he’d left behind.
I didn’t go to the vineyard office after Jasper left, but rather went back to the home office and started on one of the tasks I hadn’t wanted to do. I didn’t have the strength to clean out Allen’s possessions, but I could start sorting things out in the office so I didn’t get any more surprises like that one.
I also took the time to actually listen to the voicemails that had been left over the past week. As I’d thought, Gina’s were full of concern and offers for whatever assistance I needed. I made a quick call to her to assure her that I was okay and that my brother and Jasper were checking in on me. The thing about Mitchell wasn’t entirely true since he hadn’t called or messaged me all week, but that was just how we were. The two of us knew that, no matter what, we could call on each other and we’d be there. We just weren’t the kind of family who felt like we needed to be in constant communication.
I knew she wanted to talk more, to suss out whether or not I was really all right, but when I told her that I needed to go take care of some things, she didn’t argue. With a final reminder that she was there for whatever I needed, she let me go. That left me with the rest of my voicemails to listen to. The ones from the Lockwoods.
Some were from Gregory, but most were from Marcus and May. All of them started off sounding like they wanted to make sure I was okay, but they always continued into the will and wanting to know when it was going to be read. Apparently, they felt as if it was something they needed to be up here for rather than trusting me to send them whatever Allen left for them. With each call less polite and more direct, it became clear that they expected the division of assets to be in their favor rather than mine. It wasn’t until the next to last call from May that I realized the Lockwoods thought Allen and I had a prenuptial agreement that covered even things like this.
I couldn’t help but feel a vicious little stab of joy at the thought of them finding out how much Allen had loved and trusted me. They’d never thought I was good enough for him. Just some poor orphan girl from Utah. I didn’t call any of them back. If they’d been genuinely concerned about me, I would have, but I knew that they just wanted to know what the
y were getting now that Allen was gone. All that warranted was an email to all of them stating that they didn’t have to worry about traveling up here for the reading of the will since I didn’t know when I planned on having it done.
I wasn’t sure whether or not to expect a response, but I did know that if one came, it wasn’t going to be nice. To my surprise, I didn’t hear from them all weekend. I was able to go through everything in the office in relative peace. Relative, of course, because nothing about sorting through Allen’s ’things was peaceful. While not easy, however, it still wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be.
I went back down to the vineyard office on Monday morning and told Jacques that I wanted to look through the office, see if there was anything there that needed to be up at the house. Since he needed to oversee something with the workers, he was fine with postponing our next lesson until later.
It was nearly lunchtime when my phone rang and I saw Savill Henley’s name pop up. Thinking there might be some issue with him keeping the insurance check, I answered the phone.
“Mr. Henley.”
“Mrs. Lockwood.”
He sounded almost annoyed and I instantly knew that something was wrong. While he and I hadn’t worked as closely as Allen and he had, Savill Henley and I had always been on good terms.
“Is something wrong?” I straightened from where I’d been crouched next to the filing cabinet, wincing as my knees popped. I moved to sit behind the desk.
“I apologize if I sounded abrupt,” he said. “But we need to schedule a day to review Allen’s will.”
Okay, that was abrupt. A little rude actually. I felt my temper flare. It had been close to the surface a lot since Allen had died. “Is there a problem with things transferring over to my name?”
He sighed. “Yes, Mrs. Lockwood, there is.”
My stomach twisted. My previous suspicions came flooding back. Had Allen changed things so that I wasn’t the second name on the deed anymore?
“I received several calls from a lawyer representing Mr. Lockwood’s parents and siblings.”
Shit.
Henley continued, “The family is contesting the will.”
“It hasn’t even been read yet,” I protested.
“That is part of the case they are making,” he said. “They claim that the reason you’re putting off having the will read is because you know you’ll be left with practically nothing.”
I pressed mute on the screen and let loose with a string of curses that the lawyer didn’t need to hear.
He was still talking when I took the call off of mute. “They’re claiming that you only married Mr. Lockwood for the money and the vineyard and that there is a prenuptial agreement in place that prevents you from inheriting any of that.”
“There was no prenup,” I said, barely managing not to snap. It wasn't his fault that Allen's family was made up of greedy bastards. “Allen knew that I didn’t care about the money.”
“The first thing they’’ll do is to try to subpoena my records and since I don’t have any record of such an agreement, they won’t find one.” He paused, and then added, “It’s not personal, Mrs. Lockwood. When grief and money come together, people tend to do crazy things.”
“Trust me, it is personal,” I said with a sigh. “This isn’t anything new. They’ve never liked me.”
The fact that he didn’t argue made me think that Allen had probably shared some of this with him already, most likely over this exact issue.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to have the will read,” I admitted.
“I’m sure ’it will be difficult,” he said. “But that’s not the only reason why I called.”
Lovely. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know more.
“I also received a call this morning from Winthrope Insurance.”
This just kept getting better.
“You asked them to speak with me regarding a life insurance policy that Mr. Lockwood had taken out?”
“I did.” I sighed. “They called me on Friday and told me that Allen had taken out a million dollar policy with me named as the beneficiary. The thing is, I didn’t know about it. The only policy I knew about was the one for a couple thousand dollars that we’d agreed on to pay for funeral costs. I didn’t know what to do about it and the woman I spoke to was very insistent that I either meet with her or have them contact you about holding the money until I decided what to do.”
Henley was silent for a moment and then he spoke again. “You also need to decide what you’re going to disclose to the Lockwoods regarding insurance.”
Fuck.
“I have to tell them about the policy?”
“Since it’s in your name, technically, you wouldn’t have to tell them,” he said.
“But I should so they can’t say I was trying to hide anything about my finances,” I finished his statement.
“Exactly,” he said.
An idea popped into my head. “Couldn’t I just give them the insurance money? It wouldn’t have to mess with the will at all. I’d just cash the check and turn around and have the bank write them a cashier’s check for it. We could get them to agree to not contest the will and then it’d all be over.”
More silence and this one made the tension in my stomach knot.
“Mrs. Lockwood, I don’t think even a million dollars would be good enough for this family.”
He had a point. I supposed it had just been wishful thinking. “I wouldn’t have a problem giving up however much Allen has left in his trust.”
Another long pause and I began to wonder if he was doing it for dramatic effect.
“They’re not just after the money, Mrs. Lockwood. They’re contesting the deed to the vineyard and basically everything except your income from teaching.”
The constant pain and grief I’d been feeling since the day Allen had died was completely overwhelmed by anger.
Hell, no.
If I wanted to sell the vineyard and move, fine. I’d even have considered giving it to them if I’d thought I could trust them not to destroy it. But I’d be damned if I let them take it from me because they thought I didn’t deserve it. And it wasn’t about deserving anyway. I didn’t think I deserved the vineyard. It was mine because Allen had been mine. It was a part of him and that made it a part of me too. What happened to it was my decision to make, not theirs.
“They can’t have it,” I said, my voice hard. “If they want the insurance money, fine, but they don’t get anything else. I want to fight this. I don’t care what it costs.”
“Very well, Mrs. Lockwood,” he said.
I almost thought I heard a pleased note in his voice, and I knew it wasn’t about him making money. He’d been at the funeral, I remembered suddenly, and he’d made no attempt to hide the fact that he’d been crying. He’d known Allen for years, longer than I had, honestly. Allen had once told me that he’d hired Henley the day he’d turned eighteen and received half of his trust fund. A lump formed in my throat as I realized Henley had watched Allen go from a high school graduate to the amazing businessman I’d loved.
“I miss him,” I said softly.
“As do I, Mrs. Lockwood,” he replied. He cleared his throat and his voice returned to its usual professional tone. “I recommend that you come to see me as soon as possible. We won’t do an official will reading, but I can at least give you an idea of what we’re looking at.”
“All right,” I said. “I’ll set something up with Gloria.”
“And, Mrs. Lockwood,” he continued. “Don’t tell anyone else about the insurance policy. If we’re going to disclose it, we want to make sure the Lockwoods find out from us rather than word of mouth.”
“I understand.”
And I did.
When Allen and I had first started dating, I’d thought his parents had liked me. It hadn’t been until he’d brought me to the family Christmas dinner that they’d realized how serious things had become between the two of us and the masks had come off. I’d spent
nearly eight years listening and watching them manipulate and connive. I knew exactly what kind of people they were, and I was going to make sure that they found out exactly what kind of person I was.
Chapter 15
Going to see Mr. Henley wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be. Aside from the funeral, it had been a couple years since I’d seen him and there was a bit more salt in his salt-and-pepper hair now. A few more wrinkles too, but his light brown eyes were as sharp and intelligent as ever. He greeted me with sympathy, but no pity, and he didn’t ask me how I was doing. That made the whole process that followed a bit easier to handle.
He didn’t actually read the will, so I didn’t have to hear things Allen had said read in someone else’s voice, but Henley had compiled a list of each item in the will and who it had been left to. Aside from some money being donated to a charity or two that Allen had particular interest in, everything else had been left to me. With one exception. A million dollars of the money in Allen’s trust had been set aside for Jasper. It hadn’t been earmarked in any special way, but I knew it was meant for the clinic.
“Mr. Henley,” I asked suddenly. “When did Allen last come in to update his will?”
If he was surprised by my question, he didn’t show it. “A week before...” His voice trailed off and I didn’t need him to finish his thought.
A week before. I wasn’t going to ask, but I bet that one of the changes – maybe the only one – Allen had made had been for Jasper. He’d known about Jasper’s desire to start a clinic, but when he’d found out that his friend still wanted it, he’d made sure it would be possible, even if something happened to him.
Mr. Henley also had for me a stack of legal injunctions that the Lockwoods had filed, freezing all of my assets as well as Allen’s trust. I didn’t care about the trust, but they’d also had our joint bank accounts frozen. Before I could recover enough from the shock to have a more violent reaction, he assured me that he had an appointment to see a judge later that afternoon to get at least the checking account unfrozen. All I needed to do was provide proof that I’d deposited my own income into that same account. Thanks to direct deposit and online checking, it was easy enough to do just that. I was still fuming, but he assured me that the checking account would be functional again by tomorrow at the latest.