She expected Helen to scold her some more, but the old woman appeared to be talking to someone else. Meg pushed her ear to the door and listened.
“I was very disappointed to see you running with those money grubbers.”
“Father forced me,” a young woman said. “He said he wouldn’t co-sign next year’s student loan if I didn’t lead them to your cabin and attend this meeting. So I did since they’d still have come if I hadn’t. But for the record, I think you’re doing the right thing. None of us will be a bit happier if we’re multi-millionaires. Sara would still complain about everything, and Uncle Jeffrey would still be the biggest runabout in the state.
“I’m sorry I led them up, but things have changed, Grams. It’s not possible for a kid to put themselves through school without taking out loans. And no one will give a kid a loan without someone co-signing for it. So I need my father’s signature and, believe me, he reminds me of my dependency every chance he gets. If you want me to pack up and leave, I’ll understand, but know this—I will always love you.”
Helen sighed heavily. “It’s too late for you to safely drive anywhere.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Yes, you will, because you’re staying here. I’m not taking any chances. You are the only one in my entire family who’s worth a dime.”
A small chuckle sounded from the young woman. “I almost wet my pants when you told Sara where the outhouse was.”
Helen laughed outright. “It got the mob out of here fast enough. But because I still love you, I’ll let you use the indoor toilet.” A moment later, the door, which Meg had her ear to, banged her head. She stepped back as both women entered.
A dark-haired beauty stared at her. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea you were still here. Andy left, you know.”
Meg rubbed the side of her head. “I’m okay.”
Once convinced Meg was unharmed, the young woman rushed into the closet and disappeared into the darkness.
“What’s in there?” Meg nodded to the closet door as Helen handed her the computer case. For an old woman who had implied she was near death’s door, her arm’s well-defined muscles and fit body declared otherwise.
“I suppose I can give you a tour while I scold you for snooping.”
“I was trying to determine if you still had guests…”
“Reasonable reply, but I’m not buying it.” Helen then disappeared into the closet.
Curious and in need of a bathroom herself, Meg followed. On the other side of the faux closet were stairs leading down to a long, well-lit hallway. The walls were a sunny yellow with happy watercolor paintings framed in old weathered wood. Potted geraniums with iridescent wine-colored flowers sat on small tables placed against the walls. Above each was a sunlight bulb providing light.
Helen and she walked a good distance before reaching a door. The old woman entered first and held the door open.
As Meg stepped into a modern living room, her mouth fell to the floor. Instead of a dreary, old, damp basement, she stared at a forty-foot long glass wall looking out onto the forest sloping down the very tall hill this room was built into. The vision of green trees was periodically broken with sandy ridges. Farther in the distance, more hills appeared on the left and countless small islands perched in the giant Mississippi river.
“Who needs TV when I’ve got this view,” Helen said with pure, unadulterated pride.
“It’s amazing.” Meg laughed. “I can’t believe you’ve kept this a secret from your family.”
Helen frowned at her. “Exactly how much eavesdropping did you do?”
Meg grimaced. “Quite a bit. Not all intentionally. First time, I was leaning on the door to prevent anyone from entering while Andy put up your groceries.”
“And the second time?”
“I saw Andy coming back to the house, and I feared he’d planned to refuse the money he’d truly earned. Honestly, without him, my car would have crashed in a two-foot ravine in the road, and if I’d survived that, I would have attempted to walk to your house in the belief it was closer than going down the mountain.”
“Technically, this is a hill. Iowa has no mountains.”
“Well, it thinks it’s a mountain. You don’t get views like this on a silly hill.”
Helen smiled. “I like you despite your efforts to ruin the only nice young man I know…and your habit of eavesdropping.”
Meg covered her face and laughed at the irony. “Well, for the record, I’ve never eavesdropped before in my life, and if you asked anyone who knows me, they’d tell you I’m the stingiest person in the world.”
Helen waved her to the modern kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. She pointed to the stools beneath the counter. “Sit and talk to me while I cook. We are having chicken parmesan.”
Meg set down the case. “Can I cook my chicken separately? I’m lactose intolerant.”
“No, we’ll have chicken cacciatore instead.”
“You don’t have to change your dinner for me.”
“I’m not. I always planned to have cacciatore. I just needed to be sure you were who you were supposed to be. Your hair cut really changes your looks. May I ask why the change? You aren’t wanted by the police, I hope.”
“Part of the Lottery Curse is receiving a great deal of death threats when you ignore people’s requests for money. The FBI felt some were a real danger and recommended I move and change my name so I can start anew.”
“For heaven’s sake! Why on earth did you ever buy a lottery ticket?” By Helen’s tone, buying a ticket ranked up there with licking a frozen flagpole in winter. “It’s not like you needed the money,” the old woman added.
“No. I got cajoled into it by a friend who is a lottery addict. I tried to give her the ticket when I won, but she wouldn’t take it. Said it was bad luck to take someone else’s prize. Once I discovered the Lottery Curse was real, I was glad she didn’t accept it. She’s a nice person and deserves a happy life.”
“Is she still your friend?”
“Not really. She said the money changed me into someone she didn’t know…or wanted to know.”
Helen turned and looked at her. “Was she right?”
“Yeah. I’ve become distrustful, cynical, and quick to see the bad in people. Take Andy, for instance. He tried so hard not to drive faster than I felt was safe. So I thought he was vying for a better tip.” She snorted and shook her head. “He tried his hardest to refuse his tip.”
“He’s a good boy.”
“Yeah, and five years ago I would have seen him for the fabulous young man he is right off, but over the last four years, I’ve been played so many times.”
“I can well imagine. How about your family?”
“Oh, they detest me.”
“How much did you give them?” Helen asked in a weary tone.
As Meg explained her idea to put them on financial ground, the old woman shook her head. “You cannot dig other people out of their financial ruin any more than you can save an addict by sending him to rehab against his will. People have to save themselves. You should have offered to get them good financial counseling so they could do the heavy lifting.”
“You’re right. And my mistake cost me my family.”
Helen turned and stared at her. “Did they know you were a millionaire before you won the lottery?”
Meg frowned. The old woman had asked the question in a tone indicating she already knew the answer was no. How could she know? Her body tensed. Something wasn’t right here.
Before she could ask, Helen answered her unspoken question. “I had you investigated before I contacted you. You weren’t just some random billionaire who happened to like trees. I probably know more about you than you do since I know what other people think about you.”
Meg groaned at the thought.
“Before your Lottery Curse, you were respected, trusted, and well liked.”
Her words caused Meg’s eyes to sprout tears like fountai
ns. No stranger needed to see her open and ugly wounds. Escaping to the living room, she stared out onto the pristine, healthy forest below. “This must be really gorgeous when the sun rises in the morning.”
A new younger voice replied. “Takes my breath away.”
“Tess, Meg. Meg, Tess,” Helen called out.
Meg dried her eyes on her shirtsleeve, turned, and smiled at the girl as she held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Are you going to hike Grams’s woods? The trails are well marked. I have a map if you want one.”
Helen spoke from the kitchen. “Let’s all three go for a hike tomorrow morning. Walking in the woods is good for the heart…in more ways than one.” She then smiled at Tess. “You couldn’t have been in the bathroom all this time.”
Tess laughed. “Busted. I was catching up with my friends on Facebook.”
“If you don’t mind, I could make use of the bathroom,” Meg said.
Tess gripped her hand. “I’ll show you.”
The young woman stopped at the bathroom door. “Grams is a wonderful person, but she loves to scold. Whatever she said to upset you, she regrets it. She just doesn’t know how to undo the pain.”
“She wasn’t scolding. She just brought up something good in my past, and I don’t think I’ve ever faced its loss before, so it hit me hard.”
Tess nodded. “She has a knack for seeing right through our pretenses and calling a spade a spade. I think it’s why my father refuses to visit or speak to her. He prefers to be idolized by his trophy wife and his sycophant, feral sons.” Tess sighed. “Sorry, I’m keeping you from Mother Nature’s call. I’ll go chat Grams’s ear off instead.”
After answering Mother Nature, she washed her face with cold water until she regained her composure.
Helen and Tess sat at the counter eating when Meg returned.
“There’s our missing lamb.” Helen took a plate from a warming bin and slid it next to the lonely silverware and napkin on the counter.
Meg climbed upon the stool. “Thanks. Sorry for taking so long.”
The old woman huffed softly. “I’m sorry I upset you. It wasn’t my intention.”
“I know.” Worried her tears would make another appearance, Meg glanced at Tess. “So what’s your favorite trail in these woods?”
Tess wasn’t sure, and between her and Helen, they discussed over twenty trails as possible contenders. The debate outlasted dinner and continued as they moved to the living room and watched night settle on the forest. The only lights were over fifty miles away on the other side of the river, plus the occasional boat light on the Mississippi.
“This is so beautiful,” Meg said, amazed at her emotional recovery.
Helen sighed and pushed herself up. “It is, and it will impress you further tomorrow morning. So I’m sending us all to bed so we can enjoy the sunrise, have a good breakfast, and get on the trails before the heat sets in.”
Meg was more than happy to agree. Better than facing more hard truths from Helen just yet.
The old woman remained quiet as she showed Meg to her large and welcoming bedroom with a private bath. Meg set down her computer case and entered the bathroom, smiling at the Jacuzzi.
Nothing sounded better than taking a bath and crawling into bed wearing her favorite soft PJ’s…
“Oh, crap. My suitcase is in the car!”
Helen held out her hand. “Give me your keys. Tess and I will bring it in. You’re exhausted.”
“I can get it.”
Helen gripped her arm. “I have no doubt, but I need to make amends for hurting you.”
“You gave me a compliment. You had no way of knowing your words would make me cry.”
“True, but it hurt you all the same, and so I wish to save you the experience of walking in pitch blackness to retrieve your suitcase. I’m used to it. You’re not. It might give you nightmares.”
The set of the old woman’s shoulders left no doubt of her determination to have her way.
So Meg handed over the key. “It’s in the trunk, and it has wheelies.”
“What the hell are wheelies? Never mind, I’m sure Tess will know.” Helen hurried from the room as Meg pulled back the cheerful bedspread. She sat down and fingered the sheets. God, they felt fabulous. No doubt a count in the thousands.
She still bought cheap, course sheets. But why? Why did she continue to live like she was poor when everyone knew she wasn’t? Her self-imposed poverty didn’t make others like her better. It just got her scratchy sheets that kept her up all night.
She was still petting the soft sheets when Tess returned with her luggage. “Grams couldn’t believe how easy it was to roll this along. She’s going to order luggage with wheelies in the morning just in case she needs to run away one day.” Tess placed the case on the luggage rack and faced Meg. “You aren’t mad at Grams, are you?”
“No,” she stated with conviction. “Helen’s opening my eyes to many things. Like these sheets.”
Tess laughed and sat beside her, petting the sheets, too. “Grams doesn’t believe in wasting money, but she insists having high-count bedding is one of the best buys available. She gives everyone good sheets for their birthdays. My step-mother keeps telling Grams her boys want the latest expensive game, but every year they get high-count linen. So each year my dad and step-mother have a big fight over the matter, and the sheets end up in the trash. I rescue them, of course.” She smiled happily as she continued. “So, I end up with two new twins and one queen-size set each year. The twins will fit my bed at college.”
“What are you studying?”
“Forest management.” She snorted softly. “I probably have more practical experience than my teachers, but if I want proper credentials, I have to dance the dance.”
“How long do you expect to be in school?”
Tess pulled on her dark braid running down her left shoulder. “Six years to get my undergrad and Master’s degree. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, they’ll start teaching me stuff I don’t already know.”
“And then what?”
With a heavy sigh, she replied, “Not sure. I’ll probably have to teach. The forests are disappearing like crazy, and men are presumed better at chain-sawing, so it’s rare for a woman to get a shot at actual forest management.”
“How much does the top forest management guy make?”
“For the head guy, eighty to a hundred thousand dollars. But starting salary can be as low as twenty.”
“And how much will your schooling cost?”
Tess groaned. “Now you sound like my father.”
Meg suspected an alignment with Tess’s father was not a good thing. “Sorry, I’m in finance. I habitually evaluate all returns to their investment.”
“I’m going to Michigan Tech. With room and board, I’m borrowing thirty-five thousand a year. Crazy, huh?”
“You’re talking to an avid hiker. So this sounds like a great life. I just worry about you drowning in debt.”
“Father says I’ll regret this stupidity for the rest of my life.”
“How are your grades?”
“Straight A’s, but if you’re thinking of scholarships, forget it. Merit scholarships are only about four thousand dollars, and they all go to the guys.”
“You’re talking about the school’s money. But there are scholarships out there independent of schools. I’ll probe about and see what I can find.”
Tess smiled. “It would be great if you find one, but I seriously doubt you will. My guidance counselor warned me I was in for an upstream paddle.”
“You’ve been getting lots of encouragement, I gather,” she teased.
Tess snorted. “There is not a person on the face of this earth who thinks I’m doing the right thing.”
“Not even Helen?”
“Oh, she thinks it’s a wonderful career, but she’s outraged at the debt I’m racking up.”
“It’ll be no more than a mortgage on a house. People survive those.”
“Thank you! It’s an excellent comparison, which I’m going to use from now on. Nobody calls you crazy when you buy a house.” She gave Meg an unexpected hug and then stood up. “We better get to sleep. Grams will be waking us up in the middle of the night so we can see the sunrise. It’ll seem cruel at the time, but it’ll be worth it.”
With her smiling assurance, the young lady left Meg’s room.
Never had Meg wanted to help anyone more than Tess, but how? Create a scholarship like she planned to do with Andy or tie it into her plans for Helen’s fabulous woods?
If Tess was so knowledgeable and competent, why didn’t Helen just leave the property to her? The girl was charming, but perhaps she was just playing Meg to perfection. Tess needed money for her tuition, and she knew Meg had money to spare.
Damn it! She hated thinking this way. Was thinking the worst about people a part of the Lottery Curse she’d be stuck with forever?
She sure as hell hoped not.
Tomorrow she’d know if the girl was as good as Meg thought. She’d committed to nothing, and Tess could still sink or swim on her own.
Chapter 4
Tess was right about both the cruelty of being woken early and it being worthwhile. For a moment, the Mississippi river seemed to be on fire as a ball of white peeked over the horizon and spread its blazing rays across the water. The trees shifted from ominous black to vibrant greens, the water from black to red-orange. As the sun rose above the horizon, the muddy Mississippi waters transformed into a heavy copper brown.
After a healthy breakfast of oatmeal with walnuts and fruits, the three women returned to their rooms to ready for their hike. Since the Feds insisted Meg could take only one small suitcase on the plane, setting her priorities over what to pack had been paramount. Proper hiking gear was number one on her list.
Thus, she had sacrificed clothes space to carry her hip-pack, three RTE meals, a mosquito net, fishing string and hooks, a thermal blanket, an ace bandage, and her hiking boots. Which meant after she packed her hiking clothes, she only had room for one “wrinkle proof suit”, five pairs of undergarments and socks, and her favorite PJs.
A Fortune to Die For (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 1) Page 5