“I wish you’d let me put him in the hospital. He’s in no condition to object. It would make it easier on everyone.”
“Perhaps on everyone else, but not on Moss, and he’s the only one who counts now.”
Moss lay in Billie’s bed, late-afternoon sun filtering through the draperies. Dark shadows stained his cheeks beneath his eyes. He’d lost a great deal of weight during the past months, but he was still handsome, and fire and purpose burned in those summer-blue eyes. Billie sat in her chair quietly. while he slept, studying his face, committing it to memory. Death stalked outside the door and neither prayer nor denial would chase it away.
“Billie . . .” The sound of her name in the quiet of the room startled her. His voice seemed stronger, some of the old vitality singing in it. “Billie, come and lie down beside me.” It was a question; it was a plea.
She settled herself on the bed beside him, resting her head against his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his middle, holding him. “This is a hell of a way to say good-bye, isn’t it? I hate leaving you, Billie. These past months have shown me what we could have had all these years. If only I’d allowed you into my life.”
“Shhh. You don’t have to say these things. I already know them. There’s so little I don’t know, darling.”
“Am I? Am I your darling?”
“You’re my first love, Moss. You know what they say, don’t you? First love, last love.”
He nodded his head, not trusting his voice. After a moment: “But there are other loves, Billie. Different loves, and that’s what I want for you. I know what you and Thad mean to each other and I want you both to be happy. I’ve been a bitter, foolish man, and I’m so sorry.”
“There’s no forgiveness needed, Moss. I’m so glad we’ve had this time together, this time to know each other and rediscover the reasons we ever loved each other.”
Long moments. Eternities. “Billie?” Moss whispered. “I’m afraid. I don’t know what’s waiting for me . . . there.”
Billie bit her lips, wincing back tears, choking back sobs. She stroked his cheeks, pretending not to feel the moistness beneath her fingers. “Don’t be afraid, Moss. Have faith. There are so many whom we know, whom we’ve loved, waiting to help you, to meet you.”
“Do you believe that?” His breathing was labored; he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. “Tell me.”
“I believe, darling. I believe one day I’ll see Riley again. And Seth and my mother. All those who have gone before, waiting.”
Moss nodded, accepting her faith as his own. Quietly, he repeated each of the names, always coming back to Riley. “Pray for me, Billie. Pap always had a lot to say about a good woman’s prayers.”
Again silence. Moss’s breathing became rhythmical, long and deep, skittering quickly to short, shallow breaths, and then becoming long and deep again. Even as she held him she sensed the life force leaving him. His eyes fluttered; it was as though he were pulling himself back for one last moment.
“I love you, Billie, with all my heart.”
“I know you do, Moss. I know.”
They were the last words he ever spoke to her. Words she would remember for the rest of her days. Words that should have been spoken so many years ago. At last he had said them.
Dudley Abramson, the Coleman family lawyer, had to be almost as old as Moses, Billie thought as she watched him make a production out of opening his briefcase. His bony fingers clawed at the stiff crackling papers, finally separating them in the order he wanted. Small eyes crowned by bushy snow-white brows scanned the room. Wills were his favorite legal transaction. He loved watching greedy faces, disappointed faces, faces lit up with genuine surprise. This assemblage would offer no surprises. Moss Coleman’s will was cut and dried; there would be nothing to contest. He felt a little disappointed. Still, a will was a will, and he’d best get on with it and put all of them out of their misery. He cleared his rattly throat and took a swipe at his few thinning hairs.
“Are we all gathered here today, all those I sent letters to?” He ran down the list: Billie, Maggie, and Susan; then after a second, Sawyer: He could feel Maggie’s tension and bristled. Everyone knew that Sawyer Coleman was Maggie’s illegitimate daughter. He sniffed. They weren’t going to like this one bit. No sir, not one little bit. He felt better. His voice, when he continued, was still reedy and thin, but feisty somehow, as if daring one of them to object. He glossed over the sound mind bit and got to the heart of the matter. He read off the small bequests and token gifts, then paused for a dramatic effect, pushed his wire-frame glasses higher on his bony nose, and proceeded. “To my daughter Maggie, the sum of ten thousand dollars. A like amount of ten thousand dollars to my daughter Susan. The balance of my estate to my wife, Billie.”
“That’s it, ladies and gentlemen. Are there any questions?” He always liked this part, because there were always questions. He leaned back in the leather swivel chair and waited.
Maggie could feel her insides start to churn. She had hoped that things would go right today. She should have known better, she thought bitterly. How dare he? To be sloughed off with ten thousand dollars was more than she could bear. Was that what she was worth in her father’s eyes? All those years, all those tears, all that hate . . . for what? For ten thousand dollars and the opportunity to visit her father’s grave whenever she felt like it. Goddamn you, Mam, how could you have let him do this to me? All that talk you used to give me was just talk. You never cared, because if you had, you wouldn’t have allowed this to happen. Well, from here on it’s war. One of us is going to get bloodied and it isn’t going to be me.
Billie watched the slight hand movement of Maggie’s husband as he nudged her to get up and speak. Maggie shrugged off his hand. “Yes, I do have a question. What exactly does that mean? The statement that all the estate goes to mother? Does that mean we have to wait for her to die before Susan and I can inherit our share? If so, I don’t think it’s fair and I don’t like it one bit. What about you, Susan?”
Susan flushed. “It doesn’t seem fair to me. Maggie and I certainly deserve more than ten thousand dollars. That doesn’t go very far these days. I don’t like being dependent on my mother. Can’t she distribute it to us if she wants?” Her husband wasn’t going to like this. He’d been counting on a really large settlement to start his own music academy. “It’s not fair,” she repeated loudly.
“Fair or not, it’s what your father wanted.” He couldn’t help but wonder which of the two girls would bring up the matter of contesting the will. The older one, Maggie, probably. She’d always been a handful and that husband of hers looked as though he had his own ideas. The old lawyer leaned over the desk when he saw Maggie turn to face her mother. Sawyer moved to stand protectively behind her grandmother’s chair. So, the lines had already been drawn. Susan turned, too, and half rose out of her chair. It was Maggie who spoke.
“Well, Mother, are you going to let this ridiculous will stand or are you going to make some serious distributions? What about my son, Coleman? This isn’t right and you know it.” And then so cruelly that Billie bit down on her lip: “How is your will going to read? All of the estate to Sawyer? Why aren’t you saying something, Mother? I want to know now. I want my share now. I don’t want to have to wait for you to die and then fight with my own daughter over what should be mine. All my life I’ve been cheated. You know it, Mother!” Maggie’s voice was a shrill scream.
Susan nodded her head and narrowed her eyes. How in the world was she going to explain this to her husband? she wondered frantically. What could you do with ten thousand dollars? Jerome needed ten times that much to get his music academy under way. How could Pap cheat her this way? It had to be Mam’s fault. Pap was ill and didn’t know what he was doing. Mam could have seen to it that the money was distributed fairly. Now she was going to have to get involved in a nasty suit; she could see it in Maggie’s eyes. Why couldn’t she just get her inheritance and walk away? Oh, no, that was too simple. Fight, choose up
sides, go against her mother. It was disgusting. Well, this was one time she wasn’t going to back off and take a wait-and-see attitude. She would fight with Maggie. By God, she was entitled. Someone was going to have to pay and it might as well be Mam.
“I agree with everything Maggie said,” she cried angrily. “It should be divided evenly and I want mine now, too!”
Billie thought her head was going to explode. It was Sawyer’s firm grip on her shoulders that calmed her. Billie’s back stiffened. “No. Your father made this will and it will stand as is. If you need—”
“Need?” Maggie screeched. “Need? And then after you review our needs, our requests, you’ll make the final decision.... You’ll dole it out to us in dibs and dabs, is that it? Well, I don’t want it that way.”
“I don’t, either,” Susan said petulantly.
“You both have husbands to take care of you. Perhaps it’s time you tried earning a living. Make something of your life.”
“Stuff it, Mother. I’m entitled and so is Susan. Is that your final word?”
Billie drew a deep breath. “Yes, it’s my final word. It’s what your father wanted.. What do you think he would do if he could see the way you’re acting? Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
“It’s so easy to be shame free when you’re sitting on millions and millions of dollars, isn’t it, Mother? Well, that isn’t good enough. You had best revise your thinking or I’ll engage a lawyer of my own. Susan?” Susan nodded agreement.
“Hold on a minute here,” Billie protested. “There’s something you must understand. First of all, I’m not sitting on millions and millions, as you put it. Your father was up to his neck in debt.” She waited for the realization to sink in.
“That’s impossible!” Maggie protested. “You’re lying!”
“No, Maggie, I’m not. You both know that your father was in the midst of seeing his dream come true with his plane. Dreams cost money, lots of money.”
“Pap built planes before and it only made him richer,” Susan countered.
“That’s true, but that was when the government subsidized him. This time Moss wanted no governmental interference. This time he was going it alone. Because of his health, he practically shut down every other enterprise. Sunbridge no longer provides beef for the military, and in truth, I doubt that there’s fifty head of cattle left on the ranch. He poured everything into this plane and I’m not even certain there’s enough to see the project through.”
“So don’t see the project through. What can you know about planes, anyway?” Maggie said rudely. “Take my advice and get out from under. Pap’s dead and buried. Sell what you’ve got to the government and let them handle it from there. At least we won’t be paupered by it.”
“I promised your father and it’s a promise I intend to keep.”
Billie felt as though her innards were shriveling up. She thought she had prepared herself to explain things to Maggie and Susan. But they would never understand. And telling Maggie now about Moss’s last, bedside bequest to her would not be a good idea. The Sunbridge house and ranch were to go to Maggie—but only after Billie had completely financed the project; if necessary, however, she was to place Sunbridge on the auction block. “Do your damnedest, Billie, to see that Maggie gets it,” Moss had said. “But if your back is to the wall and you have to sell or mortgage, then do it.” Would Maggie accept and understand the stipulation? Right now, Billie just didn’t have the stomach to find out. Such naked hatred on both her children’s faces. Hatred that was directed at her, not Moss. Dear God, what do I do now? she cried to herself. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. It was the slight pressure Sawyer exerted that made Billie sit up straight and look her daughters in the eye. “Do you hear me?” she said quietly, firmly. “I intend to honor that promise.”
“If I may interject . . .” Dudley Abramson cleared his throat importantly. “If anyone here intends to contest this will, I will testify that Mr. Coleman knew of his illness almost two years ago. That was the main reason he did what he could to delay a divorce. He wanted to be certain your mother was his legal heir under the law of the state, not merely a beneficiary named to his estate. And if I might say”—his hawk eyes impaled Maggie and Susan—“it seems he was quite right in doing so. Since your mother and father were never divorced, your claims to the estate cannot take precedence over hers. And if it will comfort you, it is in my knowledge that the Coleman assets have been greatly reduced to less than a third of what they once were.”
“And that’s supposed to be a comfort? Mother”—Maggie turned her wrath on Billie—“you simply cannot proceed with this foolishness! Damn the plane. I, for one, cannot allow you to squander the rest of Pap’s estate on something so ridiculous.”
“Maggie, you heard Mr. Abramson. You and Susan have been given your share; the rest is mine to do with as I please. And I please to continue your father’s work to its completion.”
“Oh, no, you won’t, Mother.” Maggie jumped from her chair and towered over Billie. Susan seemed horrified by this aggression. “I happen to know a little something about the law. Susan and I have every right to protect the inheritance we can expect to inherit from you! We won’t allow you to squander what’s left.”
Sawyer stared at Maggie in disbelief. This was her mother! The sudden urge to throttle her was so intense she bit into her lip. She’d never witnessed such hatred. Any leftover childish yearning for her mother evaporated at that moment. It was her and Grand against Maggie arid Susan. She’d fight them both until there wasn’t a breath left in her body. She was a Coleman, and by God, she was going to act like one.
Maggie and Susan were as good as their word. Four weeks later the Coleman assets were frozen by court order. Billie took the news badly. Sawyer tried to bolster her by showing her a list of names and banking institutions she planned to go to for financing.
Billie tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. Sawyer stood in front of her dressed in a tailored business suit with a light cashmere coat over her shoulders. Each hand gripped a briefcase. She was going out to make Moss’s dream come true. Her travels would take her from one end of the world to the other. How young she looked. How vulnerable. “I should be coming with you,” Billie said anxiously. “You can’t do this alone. We need more help, Sawyer.”
Sawyer set the cases down and put her hands on her grandmother’s shoulders. “Look at me. We can do this; we’ll find private investors. I have all the letters, all the specifications, and I know what I’m talking about. If you’ve lost faith in me, now’s the time to say so.”
“It’s nothing like that, Sawyer. It’s just that it’s so much to ask of you. Promise me you’re going to take it one step at a time.”
“I promise. You take care of yourself and I’ll call over the weekend. Don’t wish me luck. Say a few prayers.” Billie nodded.
While Sawyer was winging her way to California, Billie was placing a call to Thad. She almost fainted with relief when his voice came over the wire. “Thad . . . Sawyer left this morning. I need my one-man support system. Can you come?”
“Give me a day to clear the decks and I’ll be on your doorstep before you know it. Are you all right?” The genuine concern in Thad’s voice brought tears to Billie’s eyes.
“I need you, Thad. I need someone besides Sawyer to tell me I can do this. I’ve never had such an awesome responsibility before. I’m beginning to doubt myself.”
“Well, don’t. Stop right now and start thinking positively. Lay in some supplies and begin cooking up a storm.” He rattled off a list of things he wanted to eat. “Real American food. Go easy on the rice and make lots and lots of spuds.”
Billie laughed. Already she felt better. Dear God, thank you for creating such a wonderful human being. “Thad, I can hardly wait to see you.”
“The feeling is mutual. Keep busy and I’ll be there before you know it.”
Billie was sure the entire airport could tell how happy she was to see her old and
dear friend. Her love. Thad’s presence was her magic elixir, her security blanket, her safety net.
He held out his arms and Billie melted into them, her head resting against the rough navy wool. “I’m so glad you could come. So very glad,” Billie whispered.
“I’m all yours. I’ve always been yours,” Thad said huskily against her hair.
Billie raised her head to stare up at Thad, oblivious to the milling inbound and outbound passengers. Airports were places for good-byes and hellos. No one paid them the slightest bit of attention. They had more privacy here than at a secluded restaurant behind a wooden trellis and a potted plant.
“Let’s get a drink, Thad. There’s a small cocktail lounge to the left. I want to sit and look at you.”
“I’m all for that, but you stole my line. I want to sit and look at you.”
“Good. Then let’s sit and look at each other. You look wonderful. You never seem to change, Thad.”
“She can lie with a straight face, too.” Thad grinned. “Okay, what’ll it be?” he asked once they’d been seated and the waitress had approached.
“Whiskey sour.”
“I’ll have a double bourbon on the rocks.”
“Was it difficult to get the time off, Thad? I should have given you more notice, but I panicked. I’m so glad you’re here. I need your stability and your good common sense. Tell me I’m doing the right thing.”
“You’re referring to the plane, of course.” Billie nodded. “Of course you’re doing the right thing. You’re honoring your commitment to your husband and to his dream. It’s right, Billie.”
“If it’s so right, why are you, Sawyer, and I the only ones who think so? Maggie and Susan are Moss’s children and they aren’t looking at it that way. They won’t even speak to me. All they want is the money.”
Texas Rich Page 66
