The Inheritance

by Ali Vali

  Chapter Thirteen

  Stella brought Grady to Tucker’s house. Tucker had spent an afternoon shopping with Monique to ensure she had everything she needed for Grady’s visits, so her house was baby-ready. Jefferson had sent her home from the hospital once they knew Monique’s sister was on her way, and Tucker felt better knowing that the sisters were together.

  “Is he sleeping?” Tucker asked, but the crying answered her question.

  “Mr. Grady was in the mood to walk the floor until you got home,” her mother said.

  She smiled when she saw her father walking and bouncing the baby, who wasn’t at all happy with the world. “I know, little buddy, but your mama’s going to be okay.” Grady lifted his head and reached for her when he heard her voice.

  “Dada,” Grady said, and her mom started crying when the baby started making grabbing motions with his hands.

  “It’s like an answer to every prayer I’ve said when it comes to you,” her mom said, and her father nodded as if in total agreement. “Promise me two things, Augusta Tucker Delacroix.”

  “Believe me, Mama, it’s only because I look like Jimbo, and Monique lets me spend so much time with them—”

  “Zip it before I put a switch to your behind. Promise me you’ll take care of this little boy, and you’ll raise him like your father and I raised you. This kid better know what crude looks like before his fifth birthday.” Stella placed her hand on Grady’s back and one on her cheek. “Jim Bob left him too soon, and Monique’s going to need you. We’ve talked plenty, and she really wants what Jim Bob would’ve wanted for Grady. That means keeping your promise of taking care of them.”

  “I promise I’ll do both those things. Kids weren’t in my plan, but I won’t turn my back on him, ever.” She felt Grady go slack in her arms as he finally fell asleep, and her parents followed her to the bedroom Jim Bob would’ve used. That’s where she’d set up the new crib and changing table. Monique had picked the mobile of fish and had told her about the lamp Jim Bob had bought, so there was another one on the bedside table.

  “You want us to stay?” her dad asked.

  “I’m going to call Jefferson and see if he needs anything, and if not, I’ll go back in the morning to visit and bring Grady, so Monique can see him.”

  “Call me if you need anything,” Stella said after kissing her cheeks.

  She returned to the room to turn on the baby monitor, but hopefully Grady would sleep through the rest of the night like Monique said he did, even with the disruption to his schedule. He seemed too far away from her bedroom, so she went to the sofa and turned the television on but muted the sound. It seemed like a minute after she’d closed her eyes when her phone rang, scaring her into a standing position, ready to run into Grady’s room.

  “Hello,” she said breathlessly when she figured out it was the phone and not the baby monitor.

  “Tucker, I wanted you to know…Monique just died.” Jefferson didn’t sound stable, and she couldn’t blame him. The world slipped sideways and she slumped onto the couch. “The doctor wasn’t surprised she died, so maybe this shouldn’t have been such a shock to us.”

  “What about Grady?” Would the sister take him away?

  “Don’t start sweating it and keep him until tomorrow. I’ll call you first thing and we’ll talk it out.”

  “I’m not giving him up without a major fight, so I need a good family attorney.” Legally she didn’t have a leg to stand on, not really. She’d just met Grady, but she didn’t care.

  “Let’s take a breath before this gets out of hand. Go to sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

  Sleep was elusive and an hour later she was glad she was alert when Jefferson called back and warned her he was heading to her house with Monique’s sister. Hopefully this woman already had a house full of kids and could be reasonable about letting her raise Grady.

  The banging on the door meant reasonable wasn’t going to be one of the multiple-choice options. Tucker swung the door open, poised to tell the idiot the baby was sleeping when she ended up with an armful of Willow. The question of what the hell was going on would have to wait until Willow stopped sobbing. From the little experience she had with Willow, this was one swing of the mood pendulum, and when she pulled away she got whiplash when it swung the other way.

  “Why do you have Monique’s car and Grady?”

  Tucker was equally baffled. “Jefferson?”

  “Tucker, meet Willow Vernon,” Jefferson said, appearing confused as to what he’d just seen. “She’s Monique’s sister.”

  Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered that Willow had introduced herself as Willow Vernon. Shit, she even kind of looked like Monique, and Tucker hadn’t noticed. And that day that Willow had begun to explain about why she’d acted crazy, that she’d started a conversation with Tucker being Jim Bob’s sister…

  “Really? Man, what are the odds, huh?”

  The drop dead incident made total sense now. Willow must’ve not been a big fan of Jimbo’s and the affair he was having with Monique, which was understandable. Why she’d taken it out on Tucker, she wasn’t sure.

  “Yeah, what are the odds?” Willow’s tone was the true definition of sarcasm and laughing now would not be kosher. “Again, why is Grady with you, and why is my sister’s car here?”

  Tucker hesitated before answering and Jefferson jumped in. “Willow, Monique and Tucker met recently so Grady could meet the Delacroix clan. She wanted him to be part of their family.”

  “I haven’t installed my car seat yet and I needed to follow the ambulance to the hospital with Grady. I didn’t think Monique would mind if I took her car.”

  “You were with Monique when this happened?” Willow turned to Jefferson. “You know Monique would’ve wanted him to be with me.” She focused on Tucker and said, “I hope that’s something you know too.”

  “Hopefully Grady will have us both.” Tucker said the words slowly and deliberately.

  “Grady is all I have left, Tucker, so be reasonable. We’re barely on speaking terms again. We can’t just go and play happy family.”

  “I may just have met him, but I love that little boy. Please don’t make this harder than it’s going to be on both of us.”

  Jefferson placed his hand on Willow’s bicep. “Monique made all her wishes known in her will when it come to her estate and, more importantly, Grady.” He put his hand up before she or Willow could talk. “It’s late, so we’ll sort it out in the morning. Both of you be in my office at ten, and, Tucker, bring Grady with you.”

  Her heart dropped to her feet, and Jefferson seemed to notice her reaction and Willow’s smile. “Okay.” She had to agree, since Monique didn’t have enough time with her to realize Grady would be better off with her in his life.

  “Don’t worry so much,” Jefferson whispered in her ear when he hugged her.

  “That’s my normal state of being lately.” They left, and she went to check on Grady. “Let’s hope this doesn’t all go to hell, little man. I can’t lose you too.”

  * * *

  Tucker’s mom showed up twenty minutes after Tucker called her and told her about Monique. Where her mother had found a sailor outfit at eight in the morning was a question for another time, but Grady looked adorable in it. She was convinced that if Monique’s wishes were for her sister to have custody, the outfit would make sense when Grady would set sail with his grandmother somewhere they’d never be found.

  “What do you think Jefferson meant by don’t worry?” her mom asked as she put the smallest deck shoes Tucker had ever seen on Grady’s feet.

  “It was probably his way of keeping my brain from skittering off to a dark place.” She poured another cup of coffee and yawned. It had been both a short and extremely long night after Willow and Jefferson left, and she’d only gotten a thirty-minute nap.

  “Don’t you forget your promises to me, Tucker. This beautiful boy and I have plenty to do together, and I don’t need anyone getting in the way o
f that. I also like our house and don’t want to have to move to a country with no extradition treaty. It would suck if I only saw you on weekends and holidays.”

  She laughed, knowing her mom wasn’t exactly kidding. “I haven’t forgotten a thing, and I’d appreciate you not committing a felony while I take a shower.”

  “I make no promises.”

  Tucker got dressed and left early, wanting to talk to Jefferson without Willow around. It wasn’t a surprise to find Willow sitting in the waiting room when she arrived forty minutes ahead of their appointment. Jefferson made them wait until ten, and they spent their time with Grady, who demanded their individual attention in five-minute intervals.

  “Tucker,” the receptionist said. “You can both go on back.”

  “Good morning,” Jefferson said, way too cheerfully. It was clearly an effort, since his face was drawn and his eyes were sad.

  “Jeff, let’s just get this done and see where we all stand.”

  He motioned for them to sit down. “Tucker, both of you need to realize that what I’m getting ready to read are Monique’s wishes. You both need to remember that. Neither of you will get everything you want, so sit down, shut up, and listen.”

  Tucker gave Grady a baby cracker to gnaw on until this shit show was over.

  “The floor is yours, so let’s hear it,” she said as a line of drool landed on her knee. Grady seemed happy, though, so she went with it.

  “Monique came to me to notarize and file her will, but she wrote it herself. I told her I didn’t think the court could enforce the first section, but the second part the court won’t have a problem with.”

  “When was this?” Willow asked, obviously trying to put things together.

  “A couple of weeks ago, when she asked to meet Tucker. She wanted Grady to know his father, and Tucker was the best living person who could give him that.” Jefferson spoke directly to Willow and from the set of her mouth it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “I don’t know for sure, but I think she waited until you were gone, so your feelings wouldn’t be hurt, and so your feelings wouldn’t influence her decisions.”

  “And in that short period of time, she decided to give Grady to Tucker? That’s what you’re saying?” Willow’s voice seemed to rise with each word, making her sound like she’d sucked the helium out of five balloons by the time she was done. “That can’t be right.”

  “Tucker, would you give us a minute, please?”

  She stood and glanced at Willow. “I’m not your enemy, Willow, please believe that.”

  Tucker got up and Jefferson opened the door for her and Grady. Their exit made Willow hope that wasn’t going to be the outcome of all this.

  “Please, Jefferson, tell me she wasn’t pissed enough to have done this. Surely she couldn’t be that angry with me.” Why in the hell hadn’t she quit and spent time with Monique?

  “I want you to listen to me, okay?”

  Her sister had been lucky to have worked for Jefferson and not someone like Mann, so whatever Jefferson said, she knew he loved Monique and wanted what was best for Grady. She nodded.

  “Your sister has loved very few people in her way too short life. She loved you, Grady, your mother, and Jim Bob Delacroix. Nothing that happened or was said will ever change that.”

  “But things were so out of whack between us.” She desperately wanted to believe what Jefferson was saying, but it wasn’t the truth.

  “You think a few days erases an entire life? Monique was in pain because she lost Jim Bob, but you’re her sister and she loved you.”

  “I should’ve been more understanding.”

  “She understood your feelings, Willow, and they didn’t make her stop caring for you. You were important to her, but she told me she didn’t have to worry about you any longer. No matter what life throws at you, you’re prepared to deal with it.” Jefferson touched her forearm and waited for her to look up. “We’d never had a conversation like we did when she had me take care of this for her. She was honest because she needed you to understand why she made the decision she did for the one person she leaves behind who can’t decide for himself.”

  “So Tucker is who she thought was best? Better than me?” It was like a punch to the gut.

  “We’ll get to that, but not exactly. I just need to know that you’re not beating yourself up over something that simply isn’t true. That’s the one thing she told me over and over. She was proud of you, and she was lucky to have had you for a sister. She felt that strongly, and you need to believe me.”

  “I’ll try my best, but I needed more time.” That one last conversation everyone wanted to have was what would’ve really convinced her, but life screwed her out of that.

  “Are you okay with me letting Tucker back in?”

  “Sure, but not really,” she said and laughed, making Jefferson smile.

  “Trust me, neither of you will be happy, but keep Grady in mind.”

  It didn’t take Jefferson long to get Tucker to come back in with Grady, and the baby reached for Willow the second he saw her. The act reminded her of all the times Grady had done that with Monique, making the last of her control fracture, and she started crying again. Grady put his head down as if he understood her pain, and Tucker placing her hands on her shoulders made her cry harder.

  “Do you want to wait?” Jefferson asked.

  “No, the not knowing is making it worse,” she said and Tucker nodded.

  Jefferson opened the file and read from the first page. “The entire estate will go into the trust Jim Bob set up for Grady, and that’ll be Willow’s responsibility to oversee until Grady’s twenty-fifth birthday. She’d like you to sell the house. You no longer need it.”

  “Then she didn’t change anything. You drove me nuts for nothing.” Willow was so relieved she wanted to pass out. “Thank God.”

  “I’m not finished,” Jefferson said. “She did change what she had in place for Grady.” He flipped the page on the document and placed his hand on it. “She wants you to share him.”

  “Like, weekends or something?” Tucker appeared totally confused and Willow figured it was contagious, because she didn’t understand either. At least she wasn’t the only one in the dark.

  “Not exactly.” Jefferson put his glasses on and started reading:

  The memory of Jim Bob doing this made me think that at times life is unexpected in the cruelest of ways. We all hope for the years to be stretched out before us like a storybook where you see how your life and of those you love will unfold. That’s especially true of our son. What kind of man will he be? Who will love him if Jim Bob and I aren’t here? And what will it be like to hold his children one day?

  Unfortunately for me and my love, our story was more of a novella instead of the epic novel I prayed for, and my health makes all those questions even more important to me. Now it’s apparent that the answers lie with two people who Jim Bob and I trusted more than anyone else. Willow and Tucker, what I want, and what Jim Bob wanted, is up to you to give us.

  What kind of man will Grady be? The answer to that is in how Jim Bob wanted to raise him, and we were in agreement about this. Tucker, it’ll be your responsibility to teach him his family legacy. Grady James Delacroix is the future of the business, and also the key to your future happiness. Tell him often who his father was and what he wanted for him. Willow will help him know who his mother was and how much his parents not only wanted him, but loved him.

  Who will love him if Jim Bob and I aren’t here? Grady is a very lucky little boy in that he has two people who love him—and want him, as well. It’s our wish that you raise him together, giving him the balance in his life we can’t. He’s going to need both of you with him every day, assuring him of family, and how he fits into the world. That means Stella and Bart as well as you two.

  What would it be like to hold Grady’s children one day? When this moment comes, I envy you because of all the firsts you both will have witnessed. His first step, first day of school, f
irst heartbreak, and all the other big and small things that make a lifetime of memories. I’m confident that, through it all, you two will be there to kiss the scrapes and cheer his triumphs. That will make those new babies your grandchildren in every sense of the word.

  Tucker, we didn’t know each other long, but everything Jim Bob bragged about is true. It took a second for me to see you fall in love with my little boy, and I hope you meant what you said about giving him your name. That’s what Jim Bob wanted along with everything else I mentioned. Thank you for accepting me as well as what I shared with my beloved Jim Bob. Teach Grady to love the family, the sea, and the company that meant so much to his father and to you.

  Willow, hopefully the day I go will be years from now, but if it’s sooner, I want you to know a few things. First, you’re my sister and I love you, and I’m proud of the woman you’ve become. We saw things differently sometimes, but it never changed what I felt for you. In my heart I’m sure you’ll continue to blaze paths, break down barriers, and succeed at all you do. It’s those kinds of traits I want you to instill in Grady, with Tucker at your side. I left another note for you, but don’t open it until you’re ready.

  You’re probably racking that brilliant mind wondering when that will be, and my best answer is the day you truly become a mother. Right now you’re Aunt Willow, but Grady will eventually change that, and that’s when my letter will make sense. Jefferson will keep it safe until then.

  Jefferson, I know you thought I was nuts, but you have to have faith. If you don’t have that, then make sure there are too many witnesses for either of them to kill you. Remember that you’re simply the messenger, and the two people who’ll be a team raising Grady will eventually forgive me.

  All my love to you all,

  Monique

  “That was beautiful,” Tucker said, wiping her eyes. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Willow. She’s right—we didn’t know each other long, but she was really special.”

  “Thank you, but explain what she meant by all that, please,” Willow said to Jefferson. “It’s going to be a shared custody arrangement after all?”