“He actually thought this would work.” Jilly pointed out that it had so far. “I guess. But look here. He misspelled two words in the first part of it. Why hasn’t anyone noticed that before now?”
“Because, my dear, you’re fresh at looking at it. People who read wills all the time are so used to seeing what it’s supposed to say that they’re jaded when it comes to actually reading the words.” Melody took the will from Cybill and handed it to Ian. “You need to call the police and tell them what you’ve found here. I’ll have Shoe bring over the original will, the one we found on file, and compare notes. He’ll get to the bottom of this part.”
Lucy asked if she could box up her parents’ clothing and such when Mr. Shoe, Demi and Lucian’s attorney, showed up. He was a dapper little man, and Ian really enjoyed talking to him. He hugged Demi and turned to speak to Lucy. “I’d wait to have pictures taken of it first. Just to be on the safe side. It’s all yours legally, but just so you can show Josh that you’ve not done anything behind anyone’s back about things.” She agreed with Mr. Shoe. “However, the things in the girls’ bedrooms, it can be packed up and taken away. It has always belonged to them.”
It didn’t take them long to get the beds into one of the trucks, as well as the other pieces from their bedrooms. With shifters there to help, the dressers didn’t need to be unpacked. They were just picked up and put on the truck with the rest of the things.
It was all going very smoothly, then Josh showed up. The police, there already to make sure everything taken out of the house was actually a part of the estate, kept out of sight until they were called for. The way Josh was arguing with his nieces, Ian didn’t think it was going to be very long until someone yelled for help.
~*~
Lucy had to keep telling herself not to hit him. It was tempting. She wanted to sock him in the nose so badly she had to keep clenching and unclenching her fist so she wouldn’t. He asked her again why she’d left the house in the first place.
“You forced us out. Not to mention, you dropped us off at the mall like we were a bunch of teenagers that were going to meet their friends.” Josh only shook his head. “I want you to get out of my home. And off the property. I’ve had enough of you for one lifetime.”
“Hold on a minute here. I’m the one taking care of the estate of my long lost brother. You’re under my care.” Lucy told him she was twenty-two years old. “Okay, so not you. But I am to care for the other two. You just have to sign the insurance over to me, as per your dad’s will, so I can keep them living here without any trouble.”
“No. I’m not signing anything over to you. You have no rights to anything my parents left us.” He said he had the will. “You have one you fixed up so you’d have the money. You didn’t get that either, did you? I’m happy to tell you it’s been moved into an account so we can use it.”
“You took my money? How the hell did you figure that out? Damn it, Mary, that money was mine for my golden years.” She told him her name was Lucy. Then told him his golden years were going to be spent in prison. “No, that’s not going to happen either. Not that it matters anyway, whatever your name is. You’re going to do as you’re told, or I’m going to call the police on you. I’ve tried to be nice, but now that you’re here, I’ve decided you’re much too old for me to be caring for anyway.”
“What?” Josh said she was too old for him to care for. “Why do you think I’m here, Josh? To have an argument with you? No. I’m here to get what I want from our home. Once you’re arrested, we’re going to put the house on the market and do what Mom and Dad wanted us to do with the real will. Not the one you have.”
“This is the real will.” She pointed out what Cybill had shown her. “So? Your dad had a stupid attorney. Besides, where did you get yours? I got this one from the safe.”
“No, you didn’t. But I got mine at the county courthouse. It was filed along with my parents’ deed to the house. I’m also making a list of things that have been taken.” Josh told her he’d not taken a single item from her mother’s jewelry box. “I never said anything about jewelry, Josh. But now that you have, where are her diamond earrings? The brooch that was my grandmas? There are a few more pieces of Dad’s that I can’t find. Like the pocket watch and his tie clasps.”
“You’re blowing this all out of whack, Lucy. Let’s just go inside and talk this over like adults. Then when we’re finished up, you can go your way, and I can continue living here while caring for my niece and nephew.”
“They’re both girls, and no, you’re not.” He looked around like he was looking for someone to help him out. Lucy had had enough and asked Ian to get the police for her. “In the event you took more than the jewelry, I’m going to press charges against you for a lot of things that are missing, as well as you trying to get us killed by dropping us off when we should have been able to live here.”
“Lucy, you’re looking at this all wrong. I’m your own living relative. You need me.” She said she had a husband and his entire family to depend on. “You’re married? I don’t remember anyone asking me for your hand. I’m sure you’re only telling me this so you can get more out of my estate planning here.”
“Blow it out your ass.” She was feeling better until he told her she was going to prison for this. “Me? No, you have that all wrong too. I’m not going anywhere, you are.”
She wanted Ian with her. To lean on him while she tried to fix what was going on. When he came back, wrapping his arm around her waist, Lucy felt strong enough to take on the world. As soon as Josh was cuffed and being led to the cruiser, she looked at the house once again.
“I can’t live here. Not ever.” Ian told her he was there for her in whatever she decided. “I’m not sure selling it is a good idea. What if one of my sisters wants it when they get married? Or we can sell it for them to be able to put money down on one they want. I don’t know, but selling it right now just doesn’t seem right.”
“I like that as a plan. Also, you can take your time now in going through things and seeing what it is you want to keep.” She nodded, but still didn’t think she wanted much more than the things she had for her sisters. “I hope you don’t mind, but I had some of the people here go through the refrigerator and cabinets to take out the food. I didn’t think you’d want to leave it until you come back. I don’t think Josh is coming back for some time.”
“That’s the best news I’ve had all day.” She turned and leaned her back to his chest as she watched her sisters gathering things up and putting them on the front porch to be taken to Ian’s home. “Are you sure you don’t mind them living with us? I mean, they’ve been really good so far, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with them. They argue like it’s their job.”
“I have five brothers, remember.” She laughed. “Yes, I love having them there. I don’t know how good I’m going to do with them dating, but for now, I think having them around is fun. They sure can spice up things when they want to, can’t they?”
“Yes. They’re very good at that.” Cybill came out of the house with an armload of what appeared to be picture frames. “I’d better go see what she’s doing now. I think they do not realize we can and will come back, and are taking things from the house like protesters at a bad call on a Friday night football game.”
He was still laughing as she made her way across the yard. There were little touches here that her mom had done when she’d been alive. The perennials that were in full bloom despite the cooler weather. The wagon wheel that held up the roses Dad had planted for her. Little things like that. She came up on Cybill as she was putting some of the things from Dad’s desk into another box.
“I want Dad’s desk.” Lucy said it would have to be a decision she and Jilly came to. “She told me I could have it so long as she got to take Mom’s fainting chair. I think I’m getting the better end, but she really loves that chair.”
“Okay. But
once it leaves here and it’s in the house, no more trade backs. Okay?” Cybill told her how Dad had shown her how to write her name sitting with her at this desk. She’d never part with it. “I think Mom showed Jilly how to repair the needlepoint on the chair she wants too. All right. But how about we do this. We mark the things we want with paper, and when we come back here with more trucks, we can move out what we want and sell off the rest.”
Jilly said she was fine with that, but she didn’t want to live here. Lucy said she didn’t either. They both looked at Cybill. She just stared at the house before looking at the two of them.
“I have a lot of memories here. Too many of them to deal with in one day. I’m going to think about the things I want and make sound decisions about them. But as for the house, no, I don’t want to live here either. Not even with Ian and his family close by. Mom and Dad, they loved this house. But to me, it was always so...I don’t know. Not cold, but them. Does that make sense?” Jilly said that was what she thought too. The house wasn’t theirs. “Yes, that’s it. It’s not a family house either. When I get married, I want a family house. Bright with lights and shiny floors. Like Ian’s house. All the windows in his home make me feel like the sun is shining just for me.”
Ian came up just as they were talking about his home, and he kissed both her sisters on their cheeks. It was a good time for them, with family around them and Josh out of their hair. There were things they all three had to deal with yet, but it was getting easier every day to think about. Ian did that for them, he and his family. They’d brought them to their home and made them family. Lucy didn’t think she’d been a part of a family for a long time.
Her parents had been good people. They worked hard and kept them safe. But they weren’t huggers, she only just realized. They were standoffish, sort of cold. If one of them did something good in school, they took them out to dinner rather than hang things on the fridge. Cindy, Ian’s mom, still had things on her fridge from when the boys were smaller.
Lucy wanted that too. To have a large family that gathered together in times of fun and need. She wanted to be able to take her sisters shopping, just to show them that girls could have fun too. Even inviting Demi and the other two women with them would be something she was going to do. Anything and everything to be a unit. Something she only just realized she wanted.
Lucy turned to Ian. “I want lots of children with you.” He told her he’d like that too. “Good. I want huge, overly done holidays. Vacations in a camper so we can hang out together. Trips to museums and libraries. I’d like to be a member of clubs so I can have friends. True friends, not the kind my parents had.”
“I love that idea, as well. Lucy, I do love you.” She looked at his eyes and could see it there. He really did love her. She laid her head on his chest and told him she was beginning to fall in love with him too. “I’m so glad you came into my life. I plan to show you how glad I am about it every minute of every day. I love your sisters and how they’re enriching our lives as well. Lucy McCray, I’ll never for as long as I live love anyone as much as I do you right now. Tomorrow it will be more love for you, as it will be every day we’re together.”
She kissed him then. Holding his body to hers, she gave as good as she got from him. Lucy was in love with Ian, she realized. Loved him so much that her heart seemed too small to hold it all. She would tell him too. Tell him every day that she loved him just as much as he did her. Life, Lucy came to realize, was never going to be as good as it was with Ian in her heart.
Chapter 5
Jilly wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but the bears in front of her were bigger than any she’d seen at the zoo. Not only that, usually there were only one or two of them. There were six of the big monsters here. They weren’t the warm and cuddly kind either like she’d had stuffed on her bed when she was a child.
“Can I touch you?” Jilly started to reach for Cybill. Why on earth would anyone want to touch these things? When the one in front of her put out his paw, she could see that his claws were as long as any knife she’d seen in their kitchen. “You’re Ian, aren’t you? I think I can tell that because of the mark you have on your ear. Did you know you have a small white place of fur there?”
Grandpa McCray came and sat with them. He told them he was there to tell them what the bears were telling them. Then he mentioned that if they let the bears take just a little of their blood, they’d be able to talk to them too. Jilly put both her hands under her butt and shook her head.
“You don’t have to, child. They’d not ever take something you’re not willing to give them. Here, Cybill. You let me put a little cut here on your finger, and that’ll be all Ian needs to speak to you.”
The blood welted up on her sister’s finger, and Ian, the bear, licked it clean. Cybill giggled.
“He said to tell you he’d never hurt you. He’d rather die than to hurt any of us. I believe him, Jilly. And it didn’t hurt me at all to have Grandpa McCray cut me just a little.” Shaking her head no, Jilly watched as the other bears played and chased one another around the yard. Ian went to join them. “You’re a big baby.”
“Did he say that?” Cybill said he’d told her Jilly could do as she wished, it was her that said she was a baby. “I’m not a baby, Cybill. Just look at them. They must weigh a ton each.”
“Not quite that much, I’m afraid. Not that it matters if you’re a tad afraid of them, but they only weigh about five hundred pounds each. Still, that’s pretty big.” She told Grandpa McCray she wasn’t afraid of them. “I know that, sweetie. They just take some getting used to. That’s all I meant. Why, any one of them would die for any of us. Even me, being a bear myself, they’d still protect me. Yes, they’re large but about as sweet as my lady wife is.”
Jilly wasn’t going to allow anyone to think she was afraid. Getting up, she approached the bears at play and stood still when they stopped to look at her. The biggest one, she just knew it was going to be Ian, moved toward her and rubbed his large head against her arm. Petting him seemed to be just what he wanted.
“That there is Lucian. He’s bigger on account ‘a him being the oldest. Ian is right behind him. If you let Lucian there have a taste of your blood, they’ll all know your scent and how to find you.” Jilly wasn’t sure this was such a good idea once she was standing with them. “Go on, Jilly. I promise you, not a single one will harm you.”
Putting out her hand, she was embarrassed that it was shaking. But none of them seemed to care. When Lucian put his mouth over her finger, she felt the immediate pain, then nothing. He bowed before her like she was some sort of queen, then he moved away. Ian came to stand closer to her.
You’re very brave in letting Lucian do that. He’s really impressed. She looked at Ian as he spoke to her. I want you to know that if you were ever to get away from us, any of us can find you. You can also speak to your sisters, as well as the other women. Just think of them, whoever you want to talk to, and they’ll be able to answer you. Until you get used to whose voices you’re hearing, ask them if you don’t know.
“Is that important? That I’m able to speak to all of you?” He told her it was very important. They got a signal better than a cell phone. “When you come to save me or whatever, will you be a bear or a person?”
It would depend greatly on the reason why you need us. But we can speak to you and answer you in either form. However, finding you if you don’t know where you are is easier as a bear because bears have a better sense of smell than humans. She told him she was afraid Josh was going to hurt them. He might try. But I don’t plan on allowing him to touch any of you.
“And if he does? If, for whatever reason, he gets to us and takes or hurts us, what will you do to him?” Ian told her he’d be dead. “You’d do that?”
Yes.
When he didn’t say anything more, she nodded and sat down next to her sister again. Watching the guys playing around, Jilly thought
of what would happen if her uncle came after any of them. She knew Ian would do just what he said he’d do. He’d kill him without a second thought. Jilly almost felt sorry for her uncle. Almost.
He’d hurt them. Though none of them were permanently hurt or scarred, he still threw them away like they were nothing more than an unwanted sheet of paper. He took what belonged to them. Didn’t make sure they were well fed or even warm. What sort of person did that to his own flesh and blood? Jilly decided it was something she’d never do. She’d tell her children daily that she loved them.
Her parents hadn’t done that. Jilly couldn’t remember a time when they all sat around the kitchen table and talked and laughed together. She’d done that very thing this morning with Ian and her sisters. Even the cook had laughed with them, telling them stories of Ian when he was a small boy.
Birthdays, she remembered, weren’t planned. A gift would show up on their bed. There would be a card with money in it. One year, just before they died, they’d forgotten Cybill’s birthday altogether. And when she had told them about it, they’d acted as if it wasn’t all that big of a deal. It had been to her sister.
Jilly began to remember other things like that. While her parents weren’t terrible people, they certainly weren’t loving. No hugs were given in the event they had to meet someone later.
Her parents also argued, loudly at times. No blood was shed. They never spoke of divorce. As far as Jilly could remember, they never fought with them around. She only ever heard it from their bedroom or Dad’s office. Mostly it was about spending. Her mom, she remembered, loved expensive jewelry and evening gowns. Something that neither her nor her sisters seemed to have gotten from the house. She did wonder what had happened to the few pieces she remembered but dismissed it. Like she’d be able to ever wear something that her mother had worn.
Ian: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 6
