Happily Never After

by Missy Fleming

  Then I remembered the story I read about Jason and his brother and how I wanted to help. The best thing I could do was change the subject from me to him, a subject I was sure he loved.

  “The night you ran into us here you said you wanted to see what it is we do. Are you still interested?”

  In his eyes I saw a flicker of something resembling hope.

  “Okay, I’ll warn you, I’m far from an expert but I can answer some of your questions and show you how we use what little equipment we have. Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?”

  “No, I’m done with filming for today. It’s a vampire movie so a lot of my scenes are at night but I’m free until tomorrow.”

  I stood up and brushed off the back of my shorts. “Good, I’ll have Abby meet us later with the equipment. First, I need to go somewhere and it's kind of personal. Do you want to come or meet me later?”

  My polite Southern manners betrayed me. Inviting him along had not been part of the plan.

  He studied me for what seemed like an eternity. “Let me go with you, if that’s okay. I don’t want you to conveniently forget meeting me later,” he joked. “Besides, it seems like you could use a friend.”

  My traitorous heart leapt so I turned and headed out of the cemetery. This wasn’t the moment to get all gooey-eyed. After what Marietta had said about the house, I wanted to find Daddy’s old partner at the law firm and get some answers. Right now, he would be the only person capable of helping.

  Chapter Seven

  Jason and I walked in silence the two blocks to the bus stop. Martin Bradley had been a partner in Daddy’s law firm for as long as I could remember. After Daddy died and Marietta cashed in his half of the partnership, Martin opened an office in a newer part of town. I hadn’t seen or talked to him in years.

  Only a few people we passed on the way to the bus stop seemed to recognize Jason. Or at least they gave him a second look that said they recognized him from somewhere but couldn’t quite place it.

  The most impressive part to me was he didn’t even seem to notice. In fact, the more time I spent with him, the more I believed his cocky movie star attitude was a bit of an act itself. He appeared perfectly content walking alongside me and not caring where we were going. It was unsettling and dangerous.

  I had to keep thinking of him as an egotistical ass. It was safer that way. Even a foot away from him on the sidewalk, I felt such a strong magnetic pull between us. Pretending not to be aware of his proximity, his charm, or his looks was a fulltime activity.

  He didn’t seem to have any bodyguards or security following him today so I constantly expected to be overrun by a group of crazed girls.

  We stopped at an intersection and waited for the crosswalk light to change. The bus stop was located in the next block. I caught the sight of our reflection in the store windows next to us.

  I almost did a double take.

  Jason looked the same, his normal attractive self. But my gaze didn't linger on him.

  I focused on the girl standing next to him. She wasn’t anything special, especially since her eyes were red and her hair was flat. The girl in the reflection didn’t belong there with him. If he were the sun, she was a mostly cloudy day with a high chance of rain.

  Honestly, how stupid could I be?

  Martin Bradley’s office was located in a modern building dominated by huge walls of glass and concrete, the kind of building I hated. It didn’t fit with the rest of the city.

  The receptionist told me he had a meeting in twenty minutes but she went to ask if he could see me right away.

  “Quinn!” Martin boomed as he strode out of his office and wrapped me up in a fierce hug. “I’d recognize you anywhere, sweetie. Did you get the package I sent to you for graduation?”

  “I-I, no I didn’t, Mr. Bradley.” Without saying so, I already knew what happened. Marietta must have kept whatever it was for herself.

  Martin looked confused. “That’s weird. Perhaps your stepmother forgot to give it to you.”

  I didn’t want to get into family issues in front of Jason. “Can we talk for a few minutes? I have a couple things I need to ask you.”

  “Sure, I’ve got some time. Come on in.”

  He led the way into his office and I peeked over my shoulder at Jason who gave me an encouraging smile.

  “Have a seat,” Martin said as he closed the door and sat behind his desk. “Now, what is it I can do for you, Quinn?”

  I fidgeted in my chair suddenly not sure where to begin. “I had some questions about Daddy’s will. When he – when it happened, I was still too young to understand what his wishes really were.”

  Confusion crept over his face and he leaned forward in his chair. “I assumed Marietta went over it with you.”

  “We don’t have the easiest relationship.” I almost laughed that the extreme understatement. “In fact, I liked to think if Daddy had known how my life turned out, he would have made other arrangements, such as sending me to live with my aunt and uncle in Seattle.”

  Martin shook his head. “I don’t understand. Surely, if things were that bad you would’ve come to me sooner or I would’ve heard about it. Because your father remarried, Marietta was the logical choice instead of sending you thousands of miles away. She never requested differently.”

  The thought of living somewhere cold and grey, the way I imagined Seattle, did not appeal to me at all. I knew I would have fought it. My mama’s sister and her husband were strangers to me anyway. We hadn’t seen them since Mama died.

  “Sometimes it’s easier to let things happen than to try and do anything about them.” The sound of maturity in my voice surprised me. How was it fair that a seventeen-year-old sounded weary of the world already? “But that’s not important now. I’ll be eighteen in a little under a month and Marietta told me something disturbing. She said she would be kicking me out and selling the house. I planned on leaving already but I always hoped the house would be mine.”

  “I’m confused, Quinn. I was the executor of Andrew’s will but I never had the chance to speak with you. You were too distraught.”

  I didn’t remember much about the days after Daddy died but the parts I did remember filled me with such sadness and loneliness that it made reflecting on it hard.

  “I discussed the matter with both Marietta and her lawyer. We agreed since she became your legal guardian, she would judge when you were strong enough to hear the contents of the will. Being a friend of the family, I agreed. I felt I had no reason to distrust her. I even got back the document you signed.”

  This made me weary. I didn’t remember signing anything. “What document?”

  “The one stating you heard the terms of the will and understood them. “

  I had the strange and sinking feeling that Marietta had lied to me about something very important. “What did the will say, Martin?”

  “I remember it vividly, as I drafted it up. Andrew Roberts willed all of his assets to his wife, Marietta. Guardianship of you also went to her as well as the house. But the house remained under her control only until you reached the age of eighteen.”

  It felt as if the entire world stopped in its tracks and silence descended over it. The only sound I heard was the intense beating of my heart, thudding in my chest as if I’d just run a marathon.

  “I always believed the house passed to Marietta, period. In fact, that’s what she told me back then and has continued to tell me for years. She never said anything about the house passing to me.”

  Martin looked shocked as the depth of Marietta’s deception settled over both of us.

  “What are the other provisions of the will, as far as the house is concerned?”

  “The same provisions that have been in the Roberts family for centuries. As long as a Roberts daughter lives there, the house cannot be sold by anyone other than a Roberts without her permission.”

  None of it made sense. Why would Marietta lie about the house? She hated it. I was going over every
scenario when it dawned on me.

  “You said you had my signature?”

  “Yes, give me a second to find it.”

  I tried to remember if I had signed anything but so much about that period of my life was jumbled by my grief. The beginning of an explanation started building in my mind.

  “Here it is.” Martin brought over a thick file and sorted through it. “Ah, I found it.”

  He handed me the document. I recognized my signature, or at least what I remembered my signature to have looked like five years ago. Then, the memory flashed vividly in front of me.

  Marietta and her lawyer had sat me down and told me that everything, including the house, had passed to Marietta alone. At that age I wasn’t concerned about the house and it one day being mine. I was trying to adjust to a whole new life. Her lawyer came over and sat beside me asking me to sign the document just to confirm that they shared the contents of the will with me.

  I signed without reading it. Back then, I had yet to have a reason not to trust Marietta.

  “It’s my signature, I’m sure of it. Except when I signed this I was signing it based on what Marietta told me. She told me the house and all of Daddy’s belongings were now hers. End of story.”

  Understanding showed on Martin’s face as he began to realize what had happened.

  “Martin, if I didn't know the house passed to me on my birthday and I moved away, severing all ties with Savannah, what would the result be? I mean, according to the will and its provisions.”

  “Basically, it’s fair game if you no longer live there, especially if you didn’t answer the summons to a hearing. If a Roberts daughter does not reside in the home, it reverts back to the next of kin. Who, in this case, is Marietta. It’s an old addendum that has been in these wills since before the War. It’s one that doesn’t make much sense any longer, but no one has changed it for hundreds of years. It can be fought, of course, but this is the South, honey. You know as well as I do that our courts hold many of the old ways in high respect. Your stepmother could claim abandonment and win the ability to do whatever she chooses with the house.”

  “And if I were dead?”

  Martin’s eyes widened but he answered, “Under those unfortunate circumstances, if you yourself do not have a will, it would revert to the widow of Andrew Roberts and the guardian of his daughter.”

  I nodded and thought about what I learned. It was more or less what I’d begun to suspect. If I was gone and didn’t realize what was going on, Marietta would regain control of the house. By not telling me, she was hoping I would want to leave and never look back. It was her final move to sever me from my family.

  I wondered what role the thing that seemed to be controlling her had to do with it. It had to be connected.

  “What do you suggest I do?”

  “My legal advice? Don’t give her any indication you know the truth. Once you turn eighteen, we can file a motion to have her removed from the house. We’ll do it by the book to make sure we get the result we want, you in possession of your family home. My personal advice is to play it safe. She obviously has an agenda and I’d be as careful as possible until your birthday.”

  “I’ll do anything if it means I can get her and her daughters out of my house. I’m sure all she wants to do is sell it and take the money. It’s a prime piece of real estate. So you’ll do whatever we need to do? File the necessary papers? I should warn you, I’d have no way to pay for your services.”

  He stood up and came around his desk to sit beside me. “Even if that were true, I would do this for free. Now, I have one more thing to tell you. I’m assuming since you’ve been told nothing about your inheritance, you also don’t know of your mother’s.”

  Chapter Eight

  My head was already spinning with the implications of Marietta’s deceit. I wasn’t sure I could handle anything else.

  “Mama?”

  “This is something you can be assured Marietta knows nothing about, at least to my knowledge. Andrew would have told you this when he felt the time was right but I’m guessing he passed before he could.” Martin laid his hand on my arm. “Your mother came from a rich family as well. She entered the marriage with her own set of impressive assets. Before you were even born, she set up a large trust in your name and she intended for you to come into this money on your eighteenth birthday. Your father shared with me that he and your mother believed this was when your adult life would truly begin.”

  I was astounded. Not only would I be able to keep my family’s house, but also I wasn’t the poor broke girl I’d always assumed.

  “How much?”

  “When the trust was set up, the amount was five million. After eighteen years of gaining interest, I’d imagine its well past that point, maybe even doubling or tripling its value. You’re about to be a very rich woman, Quinn.”

  My breathing got faster and the room spun. I felt Martin patting my back in comfort but it didn’t really compute. In the course of a few minutes, my entire life had changed. Even now, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that it would last. Marietta, with the help of whatever presence held sway over her, had gone through a lot of trouble to ensure I'd never discover any of this.

  It couldn’t be this easy.

  “Does Marietta know about the trust?” I whispered.

  “As far as I can tell, no. I’m so sorry, Quinn. I see from the expression on your face that life has been harder than I ever imagined. Believe me, if I’d known it was as bad as I’m now suspecting, I would’ve done something about it. Your father was a dear friend to me.”

  “It’s okay. You used to be a part of our family. This is a weird request, but is there any way you can check to make sure the money’s still there? I don’t trust that Marietta was clueless so I need to find out.”

  “Sure, let me make a few phone calls. Why don’t you go out and wait with your friend? I’ll come out when I’m done.”

  He walked me out and asked his receptionist to let his next client know he’d be a little late. Jason walked over and guided me to a chair.

  “How did it go? You look a little shell shocked.”

  “I had good news and disturbing news. I’m not sure what to make of it all right now. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’ll have a better idea in a bit. He’s making some phone calls.”

  Jason shifted in his chair to stare hard at me. “I realize you don’t know me that well, but if you want to talk, I’m really not a bad guy.”

  I found myself wanting to tell him. Trust had become a fantasy to me. It was something I wished was true, but somehow it always felt just out of reach. I didn’t particularly like Jason. He annoyed me more than anyone else I’d ever met, but his blue eyes were filled with concern. Maybe it was easier spilling secrets to a stranger you never planned to see again. If he told anyone about the strange girl who compared herself to Cinderella and hunted for ghosts, who would believe him? I decided to take a leap of faith, based upon the fact that soon I’d be rid of him anyway.

  “It kind of has to do with the evil stepmother. My mama died when I was six and my father remarried after I turned eleven. Then, when I was almost thirteen, Daddy died too, leaving me with my stepmother and her two daughters. I wasn’t joking when I told you I had more in common with Cinderella than you’d believe.

  “To make a long story short, she’s made my life a living nightmare. Her daughters made my high school life even worse, horrible stuff. I thought I’d be able to leave once I turned eighteen but this morning she said if I left she was going to sell the house that’s been in our family for over two hundred years.

  “I learned today that when I turn eighteen, apparently the house reverts to me. It’s only hers temporarily but she never told me that. She led me to believe my father willed the house to her and only her. If I moved away like I’ve planned, she has the right to sell it.”

  He laid his hand on my arm. “And she kept that part from you on purpose, knowing you’d want to leave after how they treated you. I
take it you don’t want anything to happen to the house?”

  “No, it’s all I have left of my family. I wouldn’t expect you to understand but in Savannah, things are different. That house is alive, in a sense, and it’s withstood everything from hurricanes to the Yankees. The spirits of my family still live there. I can’t lose it. Now that I have discovered all this, I’m going to fight for it. I just have to be patient a little bit longer.”

  And try not to worry about the strange voice saying I wouldn’t make it to my birthday or the violent attacks.

  “That's good. You don’t seem to be the kind of girl to back down from a fight. So, I’m guessing this is where the good news comes in?”

  “Maybe. Mr. Bradley also told me my mama had set up a trust fund that I would have access to once I turned eighteen. A trust fund my stepmother knew nothing about, at least we assume that. He’s calling now to make sure it’s still there in its entirety. I wouldn’t put it past her to have found out and taken it.”

  He studied me for a bit. “You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. It may sound corny but I felt it even when we first met. Maybe it was the way you shot me down or seeing you’re normal after what I witnessed this morning at the set. You deserve a break.”

  Before I could say anything about his surprising observations, Martin came out of his office smiling and I stood.

  “I talked to an associate at the bank and your trust fund is intact. We’ve agreed to add another layer of protection to the account. No one can access it now unless they have both of our signatures. Better safe than sorry, right?”

  I let out a sigh of relief and hugged him. “Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me. I’ll come back on my birthday and maybe we can get the papers filed to get Marietta out of my house.”

  “If we had more time, I’d suggest filing to become an emancipated minor but it would take too long and it would tip our hand to Marietta. Just remember what I said Quinn, be careful.”