The Widow and the Will

by J. Thomas-Like

  Tess had immediately protested. It was too much money. But Jack had shushed her with kisses.

  “I think that’s when it started,” Tess whispered to no one. Until the day Jack slipped the engagement ring on her finger, she’d had no doubts at all about getting married and spending the rest of her life with him. But as the heavy circle settled on her hand, Tess’s breath had caught in her throat. She’d taken it for pleasure and excitement at the time, but looking back she knew it was the first moment she wondered whether or not they were doing the right thing.

  Gazing down at the thousands of dollars resting between her knuckles, Tess wondered how long she would wear it. Would it still be there a year from now? Two? Five? Shaking her head, she didn’t know. She couldn’t even hazard a guess. She might be trying to make the decision to move forward with her life, but it would take small steps. Baby steps. Jack’s wedding ring was tucked safely into her jewelry box in her bedroom until she could decide what to do with it. Lilly had suggested wearing it on a necklace, but Tess wasn’t sure she wanted what felt like such an obvious marker announcing to the world that she was a widow. Someday she would figure it out. Maybe. Who’d have thought his wouldn’t stay on his finger?

  Tess climbed into her little Scion XB and headed toward the post office. When she got there, she wished she had asked Lilly to come with her. It took her four arduous trips, carrying all of the carefully packaged boxes. On the last one, the man going in right in front of her let the door close before she could wedge her toe in to stop it. Thanks, jerk, she thought nastily. But just as fast as her anger swelled, a feeling of relief and gratitude washed over her as another man coming out of the door stepped aside and held it open.

  Tess stopped abruptly. She couldn’t help but stare at him. He was dressed in dusty jeans, a black t-shirt and a black leather vest. His brown hair had the faintest streaks of gray at the temples and his face was covered with a sexy coat of stubble. His eyes were hidden behind dark Ray Ban sunglasses, but she could feel them on her just the same. There was an air of danger and sensuality about him which Tess was immediately ashamed for recognizing. Shit, I’m supposed to be in mourning.

  “Would you like some help?” he asked, the corner of his mouth rising in a half smile. His voice was low and gravelly and Tess was doubly embarrassed that it sent a little thrill through her stomach.

  “Uh, no.” She recovered and cleared her throat. “This is my last trip. Thanks for the door, though.”

  “No problem.” He waited for her to step inside.

  Tess shook her head, feeling chagrinned. Sorry, Jack.

  Thirty minutes later, every gift had been mailed and Tess felt somewhat better. As heartbreaking as the situation was, she knew she’d done the right thing and was glad it was finished. As she pushed her way through the exit, she fished in her purse for her sunglasses. Popping them on the bridge of her nose, she hurried back to the car and drove home. She had more than twenty hours of transcription waiting for her and she felt awful about it. Her boss, Dr. Guildford, had been extremely patient when he’d learned of Jack’s death, telling Tess she could have all the time off she needed. The only other transcriptionist in the office had done as best she could to pick up the slack, but Tess had gone back to work a month after the funeral. She had thought it would help to distract her from the grief.

  It hadn’t. Instead, she found her production slowing to a snail’s pace and her error ratio climbing skyward. Having to go back and revise almost everything every time she submitted records was what really spurned her to get her “work” shit together. Jack’s voice in her head telling her she was being a slacker hadn’t worked. Only the pitiful looks from Dr. Guildford cut through the haze of depression and grief, when he would return printouts to her with enough red pen revisions to make it look like a D-minus term paper. Over time, her content had improved but her speed was still way below what it once was. She was always behind and ashamed at the reminder texts and voicemails that rolled in from the office manager. Tess was pretty sure it was only pity that kept her employed.

  As she came through the door of the apartment, the landline phone was bleating its annoying robotic ring. Sighing, Tess dropped her keys and purse to the floor. She was in no hurry to answer it; the relic of an answering machine she used would take a message. She really didn’t have any reason to keep the landline. Anyone Tess ever wanted to speak with called her on her cell. But Jack’s voice was still on the machine. She stood next to the little black box and its phone in the cradle, waiting for the caller to reveal themselves.

  “Hi! You’ve reached Jack and Tess. We can’t take your call so leave us a message and we’ll get back to you later.”

  Since his death, Jack’s voice always had a way of bringing tears to her eyes, but this time it didn’t. Cocking her head to the side, she smiled a little. Maybe I am getting better.

  “Good afternoon, this is Melissa from EJR Insurance calling for Tess Kingston. If you could please give us a call back at–”

  Tess lunged for the receiver and snatched it up.

  “Hello?” she asked, her tone cautious.

  “Hi! May I please speak with Tess Kingston?”

  “Uh,” Tess stuttered, “what is this regarding?”

  “It’s a personal matter, ma’am. Is Mrs. Kingston available?”

  Tess held the phone away for a second and frowned at it. “Well, I am Mrs. Kingston.”

  “Mrs. Kingston, my name is Melissa and I’m calling from EJR Insurance. It has come to our attention that Jack Kingston passed away this past December. On behalf of the entire company, we’d like to express our deepest sympathies to you.”

  Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tess forced herself to be polite. “Thank you.”

  She heard Melissa take a deep breath. “I’m very glad to have reached you, Mrs. Kingston. Every year, we do a periodic check of the death records for any of our client’s names and Jack Kingston appeared. You are the named beneficiary on a life insurance policy he purchased in November of this past year.”

  “What do you mean?” Tess sat down heavily on the couch. “Jack didn’t buy any life insurance.”

  “Yes, ma’am, he did. It’s our policy at EJR to confirm the identity of beneficiaries before we disburse any payouts. If you provide me with an email address, I can send you a letter with a confirmation number and security code. When you receive it, call us back and you can speak to one of our benefits agents.”

  “Okay. When should I expect it?”

  “I’ll process the letter today and it should arrive within the next twelve to twenty-four hours. What’s your email address?”

  “It’s Tess Langford twelve at my mail dot com.”

  Melissa repeated it back and spelled it as well. “Do you have any other questions for me?”

  Tess snorted. “Well, yeah, about a million, but I’m guessing you can’t really answer any of them. I guess I’ll just wait for the letter.”

  “That’s probably best, Mrs. Kingston,” Melissa agreed. “From all of us at EJR, please let me extend to you our deepest sympathies once again. We are so very sorry for your loss.”

  Tess rolled her eyes, despising the phrase but knowing it was what people said. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Goodbye.”

  “‘Bye.”

  Tess put the phone back into the charging cradle, staring at it with confusion. So Jack had taken out an insurance policy and not told her. It was weird, but not completely surprising. Jack had always been a spontaneous and impulsive guy. Someone had probably said something to him about how they would need to get life insurance now that he and Tess were getting married. Still, she thought, why wouldn’t he have said something to her?

  Should she wait until she got the email? Or should she get up and start rifling through his office for paperwork? Tess didn’t know what to do. The spare bedroom had been Jack’s space since the day they moved into the apartment. She hardly ever went in there when he was alive, much less since he
died. She probably wouldn’t have gone into the room for another year, if she could have avoided it. Now, she couldn’t. She was going to need information, whether she waited for the letter or not.

  Tess rose from the couch slowly and took grudging steps across the room to the hallway. A door on either side represented the bedrooms. One was the master with the door wide open, the other closed off to Jack’s domain. She turned to the right to face the closed door. She reached out to lay a flat palm against the cool surface of the door. Her heart was still racing from the phone call, but now it sped up even more, thumping against her chest like a ricocheting tennis ball.

  Timothy meowed from behind her, then pounced toward the door. He stood on his hind legs and scratched against it, showing the first bit of interest in the room since Jack’s death.

  “Okay, Timmy. Let’s do this.”

  Tess took a deep breath, grabbed the knob and twisted, pushing the door to peek in. The room looked exactly like Jack was still alive and would be returning to it any moment. The laptop was open on the desk. There were empty cans of various energy drinks, Coke, and Pepsi piled up in the makeshift recycle bin he’d made out of a copy paper box. The room even smelled like him. She caught the scent of his aftershave and the winter-green mints he liked to chew on while he worked. Her face scrunched up in pain, tears springing to her eyes. So much for getting better.

  “I don’t know if I can,” she whispered. From out of nowhere, Spencer scampered into the room and began meowing furiously, as if he was looking for Jack. She looked at him through her wet eyes and swore he was saying, “Where is he? Is this where you’ve been hiding him?”

  “I know, buddy,” she said, as she walked over and picked him up.

  Tess sunk to the futon against the wall and continued to cuddle with the cat, even though it was obvious from his writhing and twitching that he wanted to get down and explore the room. Finally, she released him and he nosed through the clothes and under the desk. He even went to the closet and pawed at the door. In spite of her sadness, Tess smiled at that. “No, goofus, he’s not in the closet.”

  Spencer hopped onto the desk and sat right on the keyboard of the laptop. The screen jumped to life, much to Tess’s surprise. She squinted from across the room, but recognized Microsoft Word immediately. She walked over to get a closer look. Wiping away the water in her eyes, she stared down at the screen.

  “Oh shit.”

  Tess picked it up and carried it into the living room. She plopped on the couch and began to read.

  Dear Tess, December 12

  I love you with all of my heart. I can’t believe I am married and get to spend the rest of my life with you. I feel so lucky. This honeymoon is going to be the best vacation we’ve ever had. I just know it.

  I wanted to tell you all this in person, but I was kind of racked up about a lot of stuff that happened in the last month. I was afraid it would ruin our day and be a big distraction. I figured if I took care of it before hand, without telling you, then it would feel like we won the lottery instead.

  I don’t really know how to tell you, so I’ll just do it like my dad did. Six weeks before the wedding, he told me I was adopted.

  Tess stopped reading, glancing at the top of the letter. It was dated the day after their wedding and Jack had obviously planned on giving it to her on their honeymoon, she guess.

  He told me the weekend he and I went camping. My birth father was a football star and left me a shit ton of money, which my dad’s been managing for me since it happened. He says he never told me because they wanted to wait until I was “of age”, but I’m not sure I buy it. We got into a big argument and came back early. Then I had a huge fight with David about all of it. I’m not really sure how I feel about being adopted and a millionaire all at the same time. And then Dad and David started acting real douchey. It was a lot to handle. Yes, I know, I should have come to you, but

  “Yes, you should have, you asshole!” Tess yelled, sniffing back the tears filling her eyes.

  I didn’t want it to get in the way of the wedding. You seemed so happy and consumed with all the details. I didn’t want to burden you. I hope you can forgive me for not telling you sooner.

  Tess couldn’t decide if that statement helped or hurt. It proved Jack hadn’t had any idea how conflicted she was before the wedding and for that she was glad. Once again, though, she was overwhelmed with guilt about her ungratefulness for having probably the best guy in the world as her fiancé. Trying to push those feelings aside, she forced herself to focus and keep reading.

  Bottom line is this: you and I are set for life. We won’t have to work another day if we don’t want to. We can travel and start a family and do all those things we said we wanted to do. I went ahead and saw a lawyer to get everything transferred into my name and then I did a will for you. That way if anything ever happens to me, you’ll be protected. I was so upset that my parents hid all this from me for so many years that I didn’t want to wait until we got back. I wanted it all taken care of as soon as possible. Even now, I’m still really angry. I would have liked to know my birth father.

  So right now, you’re in the living room talking on the phone with your mom figuring out some last wedding detail and I don’t think you’ve ever sounded happier. I need your help to figure out what to do with my family. Adopted or not, they raised me. They must have had a good reason for not telling me the truth. I want your advice so we can make sure the future

  The letter ended there.

  Tess stared at the screen, frozen. The words were trying to register in her brain. Adopted? Inheritance? None of it made any sense. She forced herself to read the entire letter again until the meaning of Jack’s words began to really sink in. He’d known about it all for weeks before the wedding and said nothing. Nothing!

  “Why?” she yelled, snapping the lid closed. “Why didn’t you come to me?”

  How could Jack have kept such huge revelations from her? Tess couldn’t figure out how to feel. Anger was the predominant emotion as all of the new information roiled around in her brain. Betrayal was running a close second, making her stomach burn with rage.

  Tess shoved the computer off her lap and it skittered across her legs and the top of the coffee table to land with a crack on the floor. Growling, she got up to retrieve it and ended up stubbing her toe on the leg of the table. The pain that exploded in her foot caused her to shriek. Hopping up and down on her right foot, she held the toe of her left in her hands.

  Raunchy expletives spewed forth as she lost her balance and fell backwards onto her butt.

  “Uh, what the hell is going on?”

  Tess’s head flew up when she spotted Lilly standing in the doorway, a twelve pack of Labatt Blue in one hand and her purse in the other.

  “What are you doing here?” Tess snapped. “I’m having a breakdown. Can’t you see that?” Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. She tore her eyes away and examined her wounded toe.

  “Yeah, I kind of got that impression from all the swearing I could hear from the parking lot.” Lilly came all the way inside and closed the door behind her. She moved to set the beer on the coffee table, but stopped short before stepping on the laptop. Gingerly, she tiptoed around it to deposit the twelve pack on the floor. Flinging her purse onto the couch, she went to her sister and squatted down in front of her.

  “I didn’t think you should be alone after what we did today, so I came back. Tell me what’s going on, Tess.”

  Tess’s bottom lip quivered and she tried not to revert to her new habit of falling into a blubbery mess, but shouldn’t have even bothered. She started to cry and let her sister pull her into an embrace.

  “It’s okay, little sis. I’m here now.”

  Chapter 7

  “I just don’t get it,” Tess said softly as she sat in her parents’ kitchen sipping coffee with them. As promised, EJR Insurance had emailed a letter but by the time it arrived, it was too late to call the company. The wait for nine a.m. so she could
, was agonizing. After finally connecting with the benefits department and confirming her identity, she had been told that Jack had taken out a life insurance policy in the amount of $1,000,000 on December 2, a little over three weeks before their wedding. She would be receiving a lump sum payment within the next seven to ten days, which she could have hand delivered or pick up herself. When Tess had asked why it had taken so long for them to contact her, she was told that it was EJR’s policy to research the cause of death and determine that it was not a suicide before contacting the named beneficiary. When the check was ready, she would receive another call. Part of her figured when that call came, the other shoe would drop. The faceless name at the other end of the line would ask her to wire a couple of thousand dollars to Nigeria so that she could get the full million dollars, or some such other nonsensical scam.

  A larger part of her felt there had to be more going on than she was aware. After reading the letter she found on Jack’s computer, Tess had way more questions than answers. Jack had alluded to an inheritance. A “shit-ton” of money, were his words. So where was it all? Had his family kept it from her? She was going to have to get in touch with the Kingstons and that did not thrill her. Since the funeral, there had been only limited, awkward contact. Even though she had spent as much time at their house as her own growing up, it was as if she had died too. Tess didn’t feel like they wanted anything to do with her anymore. Both sides had pulled away, probably because neither one knew what to say to the other. She didn’t blame them, but it would have been nice to have support from both sides while she grieved.