Ruth Langford grasped her daughter’s hands in her own. “Jack obviously never thought he would die, but he did something to take care of you.” The fifty-five year old woman didn’t look a day over forty. She shared the same honey blonde hair and blue eyes as Tess, though her frame was plumper after two children. Tess wasn’t thin, but neither was she flirting with too much weight. She obviously took after her mom.
“I’m grateful for that, Mom. But why wouldn’t he have told me about this?” Tess squeezed her mom’s hands back. “What if it’s all some weird scam or something?”
“I don’t think it’s a scam, Padunkin.” Harry Langford sat across the dining room table from his youngest girl. “It sounds just like what happened when your Uncle Pat died a couple of years ago and they contacted me as the beneficiary. Jack probably didn’t want to worry you. I don’t tell your mother about half the financial things I do because I don’t want her freaking out and overthinking things.”
Ruth pursed her lips and gave her husband a haughty look of derision. “Ha!”
Her parents’ congenial bickering made Tess smile. It also made her sad. She and Jack had been the same way, but now she no longer had someone to spar with. She stared into the coffee cup in front of her, feeling more confused and bereft than ever. Just when I thought I was finally getting my bearings.
“This is awesome, Tess!” Lilly said, manufacturing a delighted look. “You won’t have to worry about anything now!” Tess had called her big sister to come over so she could have all her family available to help hash through what was turning out to be a complete mindfuck. Lilly was sworn to secrecy about her breakdown and Tess had no worries that Lilly would break the confidence.
“Have you looked through Jack’s things to see if he left any paperwork?” Harry asked the question no one else was willing to ask.
“Not yet,” Tess admitted. “My first look into his office was nothing but chaos. I guess I’m scared to go back in.”
Ruth leaned forward and hugged her baby girl. “That’s okay, sweetheart. If you want, we could come over and do it for you.”
Tess gave her a wan smile. “I guess. I probably need to call Jack’s parents, too. If they knew about all this, then why didn’t they tell me?”
“They might not know about the life insurance part,” Lilly offered. She sat perched on the kitchen counter, next to the sink. She pushed her dark brown hair behind her ears and shrugged. “But they still should have told you about the rest of it.” While Tess looked like a carbon copy of their mother, Lilly was Harry’s twin, with dark hair and green eyes. Tall and lithe, she had an athlete’s physique.
“I don’t know what to do first,” Tess said, her voice low with sadness.
“Why don’t we take a ride over to your place and see what we can find. Then, you can call Emily and Roger.” As the matriarch of the Langford clan, Ruth usually made the decisions and plowed the way.
“Sounds like a plan,” Lilly agreed.
“Tess?” Harry cocked his head to the side to get her attention. “Are you okay with this?”
“Yeah.” She stood up and smoothed her jeans over her legs and yanked on the edge of her plain white t-shirt. “Let’s do it.”
* * * * *
Lilly sifted through the files in the desk drawer while Ruth poked around the closet in Jack’s office. Harry and Tess stayed in the living room, talking quietly. Lilly hoped she would find something, anything, that would give her little sister some answers. It broke her heart to see Tess go through the last six months. Her sister had always been the perky upbeat one, while Lilly was more cynical and pragmatic. Tess’s natural effervescence had all but disappeared, leaving her morose and melancholy. Lilly was the strong one, able to survive tragic circumstances and move on. All she wanted to do was protect Tess and fix everything for her.
“There isn’t anything in here but clothing. I don’t see any papers or anything like that,” Ruth said, closing the closet door.
“Come on over and take the other drawer.” Lilly was only half way through hers. When she did get through the rest of the files, Lilly sighed. “Nothing on this side. It’s all utility bills and stuff like that.” Glancing around, she tried to think of where to look next. She spied a black shoulder bag propped up against the side of the futon and crawled across the room to grab it.
“What’s that?”
“Looks like Jack’s laptop case.”
Lilly flipped open the flap and dumped the contents on the floor. It was mostly trash; gum and mint wrappers, crumpled receipts from fast food purchases, a few pens, and the usual dirty grit that collected in the bottom of any bag. Just as she was about to abandon it, a business card fluttered out and landed on the floor. Lilly plucked it up and read it.
“I’ve got something.”
Ruth looked away from her project. “What is it?”
“Hudson Marks, Attorney at Law.”
Lilly and her mother went out to the living room and took seats on either side of Tess. “We found this.”
She took the card and read it. “Oh boy.”
“Call him,” Lilly prompted. “Call him right now.”
“Okay!”
Tess pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed the number on the card. After four rings, a professional, throaty voicemail message came on. When it ended and she heard the telltale beep, Tess hesitated before speaking. “Uh, hi. My name is Tess Lang, er, Tess Kingston. My husband was Jack Kingston. I’d like to speak with Hudson Marks. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience.” She recited her number and then added a hasty “thank you.”
She tapped the end button to disconnect the call and promptly burst into tears.
* * * * *
Tess looked in the mirror and checked her makeup. In spite of all the foundation she so carefully applied, her eyes were still puffy from crying and she looked too pale. It couldn’t be helped, though. She wasn’t willing to pile on any more cosmetics. She already thought she might be bordering on clownish.
Tess smoothed her jeans and adjusted the black-and-white striped tunic she had chosen. Going to see her mother-in-law was making her feel queasy and she wanted to do her best to look presentable. Emily Kingston was a proper lady, someone who would have been amongst socialites and high society had she been born to a higher station or married better. She would notice any deficiencies in Tess’s appearance, even if she had the good graces not to mention them outright.
Before leaving the house, she grabbed the phone and dialed her in-laws’ number from memory. After four rings, the voicemail picked up and she almost hung up. After a few seconds, she blurted out a message.
“Hi, it’s Tess. I, uh, need to come over and see you, uh, guys. I’m going to run by and see if you’re home. You can call me on my cell if you want.”
Tess ended the call and let out a shaky breath. Things had been understandably awkward between all of them with Jack dying only minutes after the ceremony. It didn’t feel like a real marriage in a lot of ways, and Tess was loath to admit that. But she’d known Jack for most of her life and she didn’t think her association with his family would abruptly end just because he died. If anything, Tess figured their bond would grow stronger, once the initial shock wore off. But as the days after the funeral wore on, there had been no contact with her in-laws to speak of.
Tess left the apartment with a “be good” to the cats, and then drove through the light traffic of St. Clair Shores to Jack’s childhood home on Revere Street. The sound of an old fashioned phone was barely audible above the low playing radio and sound of traffic on the street. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she used the other to rifle through her purse for her cell, but by the time she found it, the call had gone to voicemail. Oh well.
The closer she got to her in-laws’, the more nervous Tess became. She tried to shake it off, wiggling her shoulders and taking deep breaths as she pulled onto their street. “You have nothing to worry about,” she said out loud, trying to convince herself tha
t more trouble was not looming ahead.
As if all the crazy shit that day wasn’t enough, when Tess got closer to their driveway, she could see their other son’s car already parked there. This did nothing to calm her already frayed nerves. She should have been relieved to see that David was there so she could consult all of them at the same time, him being a lawyer and all. Instead, it left her feeling nauseated and more agitated. She and David hadn’t always gotten along that well. He thought like a lawyer first, in all instances of his life, and to him, Tess was just another character cast in his courtroom drama.
As Tess parked on the street across from the house, she could see Emily on her knees working in her flowerbeds. Her two little Yorkies snuffled around her and began yapping up a storm when they caught sight of Tess. Emily immediately stopped digging and looked up to see what the ruckus was all about.
“Well, hello,” she said as Tess approached the yard. Emily got up and brushed her hands off on her gardening apron, then yanked her gloves off and stuffed them into the pocket.
“Hi-i.” Tess’s voice cracked with nerves. Emily’s eyes looked tired and the corners of her mouth were drawn down. She looks pretty bad, Tess thought, but not unkindly. She felt bad for her mother-in-law.
Emily reached to give a half-hearted hug and then stepped back as if to put some space between them. Tess frowned a little, but turned to look at the dogs in order to hide it. She noticed them digging into the bright yellow flowers at the corner of the porch and side yard. Emily saw them too and jumped toward them, waving her hands.
“Renaldo! Francesco! Get out of there!” She raced over and shooed them away from the almost neon blooms. “Those will hurt you!”
Tess stayed where she was, feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable, shifting from one foot to the other as Emily smothered her little dogs with kisses and admonishments.
“Those flowers could take you all the way up to Heaven, you sillies,” she murmured to them and Tess felt as though she might gag, mentally rolling her eyes. Jack’s mother had always treated the dogs in the family like they were her children.
“I see David’s here, too,” she said, trying to get Emily’s attention.
“Yes, he is. What are you doing here?”
Tess raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I called, but no one answered.”
“Oh, of course,” Emily shook her head, “David and Roger just got back and I was out here. I must not have heard the phone. But of course you’re welcome any time, dear. Is there something wrong?”
I’ll say. “Well, kind of. Could I come and talk to you guys about something?”
Emily set the dogs down and reached to link her arm with Tess’s. “Yes, come in. How rude of me.”
They walked arm in arm up the porch steps of the two-story bungalow. Tess had always loved the modest coziness of the Kingston home, even if the rest of Jack’s family acted as if they lived in a mansion along Lake St. Clair.
“Tess!” David looked shocked as she entered the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”
“David!” Emily admonished. “You sound as if Tess isn’t entitled to come over any time she likes. She’s your sister-in-law.”
The hollowness of that statement hung in the air like a vile odor. Roger Kingston squirmed in his chair, refusing to meet Tess’s eyes, fiddling with a beer can sitting in front of him. David didn’t have the decency to look embarrassed, but he spit out a grudging apology anyway. Emily pulled a chair out for Tess, then one for herself and sat, cradling the canine called Francesco as if it were an infant, shushing and cooing at it.
Tess exhaled a deep breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Before sitting, she reached into her purse, pulling out the letter from the insurance company. “I’m glad you’re here, David. I got this today and it’s a little confusing.” She handed it to him and he began to read. Tess watched, surprised to see irritation spreading across his face.
“I hope you don’t expect to get anything else from Jack’s estate.”
“What?” Roger spluttered, nearly dropping his drink making foam erupt out of the can like a volcano.
Tess frowned and took a small step backward. “What is that supposed to mean? I didn’t even know Jack had an estate!” Tess hadn’t meant to shout, but her voice boiled out of her mouth before she could help herself. Emily flinched and Roger clamped a hand over his face and rubbed it down to his chin, as if he could erase his distress.
“Tess, dear,” Emily began, reaching to take one of her hands. Tess pulled back as though it was a snake about to strike. “We thought Jack would tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Tess lowered her voice, but she knew the mixture of hurt, anger, confusion, and anxiety were far from disguised. She looked from one person to the other, willing someone to speak. A million years later, or so it felt, Roger did.
“Jack wasn’t our real son. He was adopted.”
Chapter 8
“I already know that.”
All three of the Kingston mouths dropped open at once, but no one said anything to her. Tess wanted to say “ha ha ha” just to be a snot, but thought better of it. Things were already taking a wild turn for the worse and she didn’t want to antagonize her in-laws any further. Finally, she lowered herself into the hardback, wooden chair at the oak dining table.
“So Jack did tell you,” Roger accused, leaning forward.
Tess was about to answer when the old fashioned phone ringtone blared once again from inside her purse. She scrambled to grab it and silence the noise. Inhaling slowly and deeply, she closed and opened her eyes. “Actually, Jack never said anything. Yesterday I got a phone call from an insurance agency wanting to speak to me. They told me I was the beneficiary of a policy Jack purchased. Then they sent me that and I called to get confirmation.” She pointed to the letter still clutched in David’s hands. He shoved it at his father as if suddenly the paper was burning his fingers. “I went through Jack’s things and found a letter on his computer that he wrote to me.”
“Oh!” Emily cried. “Can I see it?”
Tess shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I’m not comfortable sharing it.”
Emily’s face crumpled with disappointment but she didn’t argue. “Can you tell us what he said?”
“There weren’t a lot of details,” Tess admitted. “It just said that he was adopted and didn’t know until the weekend you went hunting.” She looked at Roger then, who was still staring off into space. “He said his birth father played football and left everything to Jack when he died.”
“Let me guess.” David sneered. “You’re here to try and get your hands on the rest of his money.”
Tess glared at him. “No. I’m here for answers.”
“Good because Jack died without a will. You won’t see a penny of his inheritance. You weren’t even married five minutes.” David smirked at her in a haughty way. A statement like that should have made Tess cry. Instead, she was filled with rage, wanting to bash his face with the peppermill sitting in the middle of the table. Clenching her fists in her lap, she felt her fingernails dig into her palms and the burning sensation kept her from spewing hateful words back at her brother-in-law.
“David!” Emily gasped and held Francesco closer to her chest. She was stroking the dog’s fur and whispering nonsense words into its ear. Roger said nothing, but glared at his older son.
“It’s the truth, Mother!” David snatched the insurance letter from his father and flipped it in Tess’s direction. She had to slap it on the table to keep it from floating to the floor. “Your marriage could be annulled in a heartbeat.”
“That’s enough,” Roger finally said. When David opened his mouth to continue, his father cut him off. “Shut up, David.”
David crossed his arms over his chest in a huff but said nothing more.
“What do you want to know, Tess?”
“Everything. Start from the beginning.”
Roger sighed, breath whooshing from his mouth like a small explosion.
Tess shook her head, too riveted by the story to care about the minor details.
“Anyway,” Roger paused to sip some beer, “he had a short but pretty successful career. He took the pile of money he made and invested very wisely in real estate, which earned him an even bigger pile of cash. When he first contacted us, he was at the tail end of playing and wanted to know if we would allow him to see Jack. Long story short, we decided that we didn’t want them to meet until Jack was eighteen and then we’d let our son make the decision. We hadn’t told Jack yet that he was adopted.”
Tess’s mouth hung open. “Why didn’t you tell him when he turned eighteen?”
“We got word through the birth father’s attorney that he’d died in a plane crash and he left his entire estate to Jack, listing me as the primary trustee until Jack’s twenty-first birthday. Instead of telling him, we got our own lawyer and invested everything on Jack’s behalf. He was only sixteen at the time and we had every right.” Roger’s tone became defensive.
Tess didn’t think the hinge on her jaw was going to hold when her chin nearly hit her chest. “But–”
“Let me finish,” Roger insisted, holding up his hands to protect himself, like he thought Tess would climb across the table and attack him. She couldn’t help admitting to herself that she kind of wanted to. “I did tell Jack everything that weekend. He was pretty angry with me for not saying something sooner.”
The Widow and the Will Page 4
