The Inheritance

by Jacqueline Seewald

Jen was shocked. Maryann worked so hard. She was a valuable employee, devoted to her job.

  “I can’t believe it.”

  “I can. They keep downsizing. Recently, my immediate boss said he was told our department would be reorganized. I realized that meant a cut in the number of jobs.”

  “What will you do?”

  “Take a few weeks off first. I’m entitled to my vacation time plus severance pay. Then I’ll start networking, casting around for another position.”

  “You know I’d love to have you visit here for as long as you like.” Jen tightened her grip on the cell phone. “The house is going to be fixed up. There’s plenty of room for all three of us. I’ll e-mail you all the details about when and where to pick Aaron up. And, Maryann, please don’t tell him what I told you about the move being permanent. I really need to tell him that myself.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Jen stood in the middle of the front hall and stared off into space. Everyone thought if you worked for Big Pharma you didn’t have to worry about your job. Big Pharma had deep pockets. But the times were changing. Jobs like her own in bio-chem research had been shipped to countries where the pay was low. She understood, of course. Research was expensive. Maintaining a pipeline, developing new products, could bankrupt a company, especially if the drug in development could not be approved for use due to dangerous side effects. And that happened often.

  Much of their savings had been eaten up by Bill’s illness, but she still had something in reserve to see her through. She wasn’t certain about Maryann’s situation. Her friend had obtained an M.B.A. from a prestigious but expensive university. Jen believed there were still student loans to pay off.

  “Mrs. Stoddard?”

  Jen looked up.

  “I’m ready to discuss what needs to be done in the house. I think you better go and sit down.”

  Chapter Six

  “It’s a little dusty for sitting. Just give it to me straight. What needs to be done and how much is it going to cost?”

  “Let’s do a walk through.”

  “Okay.” She noticed that he held a pen with his clipboard and wrote with a left-handed scrawl.

  “This is just a preliminary estimate, you understand. I’ve got to do a much more thorough inspection. But this is what I see so far. First off, the roof is leaking. I might be able to repair it, patch it up temporarily, depending on the age, but chances are you’re going to need a new one.”

  Jen frowned. “I see.”

  “I would like to renovate the kitchen and bathrooms, get the cracks fixed in the walls, rip away the old wallpaper and have a fresh coat of paint inside and out.” His dark blue eyes met her own with directness. “I’d recommend keeping those wood floors, not replacing them. They’re quality parquet. We can sand them, restore and seal them.”

  “Sounds good. Can you get the house ready to live in quickly?”

  His look was wary. “How soon were you thinking about?”

  “Like a month.”

  Rob Coleman let out a low whistle. “That’s nearly impossible.”

  “Mr. Donne is holding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for home improvement and repairs.”

  The man grinned. “That’s a healthy budget. I can get together a crew for you and put them to work quick.”

  “You’ll supervise?”

  “I’ll do more than that.”

  “My son and my friend will arrive in a month. So I’m going to need three bedrooms ready to use. We’ll also need to be able to use the bathrooms and kitchen.”

  The man wrote on his clipboard. “I’ll have an agreement typed up.”

  “Great. When can you start?”

  “Things are fairly slow right now. How’s tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.?”

  “Perfect.”

  “One other thing. You’ll need a cleaning crew. Do you want me to arrange for that as well?”

  “Do you have a good one in mind?”

  He smiled, flashing a mouthful of pearly teeth. “Sure do, the best. My mother runs it and both my sisters work for her. In fact, my mother used to clean this house for your grandmother for many years.”

  Jen’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that.”

  Getting so involved with the Coleman family might not be such a good idea, and yet what were her options? She’d already agreed to using Coleman Construction as contractors for the house repair. It didn’t seem very smart to offend Rob Coleman by refusing to use his mother’s cleaning service.

  After the contractor left, Jen wondered if she was making a series of mistakes. She hoped not. She hated making decisions and yet recently she’d been forced to make a good number of them.

  “How’s your dinner?” Linda Coleman asked him.

  Grant watched his mother wipe her wet rough hands on her clean apron. “Fine.”

  “Then why aren’t you eating?”

  He shrugged. “Listening to what Rob’s telling us.”

  Rob lifted a forkful of peas. “I just think Mrs. Pritchard’s granddaughter coming to town is going to be good for business, though not yours, Grant. I don’t think she’s going to do anything criminal. But it’s good for the rest of the family.”

  Grant shoved his plate away. “That woman is a snob.”

  Linda pushed back a wispy lock of graying hair from her forehead. “How can you say that? Mrs. Pritchard was for many years one of my best clients. When I was her cleaning lady, she encouraged me to expand and turn it into a real business. Now I have five employees, including Lori and Sue.”

  “All right,” Grant conceded, “maybe the old lady was okay. But I can’t say the same for her daughter or granddaughter.”

  “Sorry you don’t like her, Grant,” Rob said, “but Mrs. Stoddard seems straight to me. She didn’t give me any attitude.”

  “Just make sure you get a tight contract,”

  His sisters exchanged perplexed looks. His mother frowned at him.

  “Point taken,” Rob gave a short nod.

  Grant felt relieved when the subject dropped. He didn’t want to think, let alone talk about, Jennifer Stoddard. He was glad now that he’d written her that ticket. She was prettier than he remembered. Maybe because she wore eyeglasses back in the day. She likely wore contact lenses now or maybe didn’t need glasses at all.

  She still had a nice shiny head of dark auburn hair, kind of wavy, not curly. Her figure was slender but not skinny. Pleasing on the eyes was the way he’d describe her. But inside where it counted, she wasn’t pretty at all. He would keep that in mind. Well, he’d warned his brother and that was all he could do. If Jennifer Morrow Stoddard provided some good-paying work for his family, that was all right. He himself would have nothing to do with the woman, unless she broke the law. Then she’d better watch out.

  Chapter Seven

  The work on the house progressed well. Jen felt relieved that it no longer looked like something Frankenstein could have called home. Rob Coleman was a responsible worker and true to his word.

  Jen couldn’t help comparing Rob and Grant Coleman, even though she really didn’t want to think about Grant at all. Both brothers were handsome men. She’d seen the two of them walking down the street together engrossed in conversation. Grant was the taller of the two, his build more powerful. She supposed he was a weightlifter. He looked like a force of nature to be reckoned with in his khaki summer uniform. His appearance most likely inspired confidence in the local town residents. Unlike them, she did not trust him in the slightest. She sensed his hostility toward her and couldn’t for the life of her imagine the reason for it. If anything, she was the one who had every reason to harbor a grudge against him.

  Thank goodness the two brothers were so different in personality. Rob was so much more agreeable. Most important, he was a hard worker. She respected that.

  Two weeks before Aaron and Maryann were due to arrive, Jen consulted with Rob at her grandmother’s house.

  “How it’s coming?” she asked.

  “Oh, i
t’s coming along all right.” He flashed her a pleasant smile.

  “Will the place be ready two weeks from now?”

  Rob pressed his hand to his neck and rubbed it. “Don’t suppose you could wait a few extra weeks before moving in?”

  She had been afraid of this. “I’d rather not. Putting up my friend and son at the inn seems like an unnecessary expense when we have a house. I don’t mind roughing it a bit. I take it you’ll still need to be working here?”

  “I won’t lie to you. There’s a lot still to do. But I guess we can arrange things for you and your son.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I understand things aren’t going to be perfect and that you’ll still be working here for a while.”

  She was becoming used to Bloomingvale. Residents were friendly. In the city, people generally avoided making eye contact on streets, subways and buses. That wasn’t true in Bloomingvale where she was greeted with smiles and hellos from people she didn’t even know.

  The inn with its laid back atmosphere and old-fashioned charm was a pleasant place, and if necessary, she would stay longer, even after Aaron and Maryann arrived. But she preferred the privacy of living in a house and wished to have her own kitchen again

  One week before Maryann and Aaron were scheduled to arrive, Jen met Rob’s mother. Linda Coleman arrived with her cleaning crew which included Rob’s two younger sisters, Lori and Sue. Jen observed that the young women, both in their early twenties, were fairer than their brothers. Linda Coleman was heavy-set, unlike her children. Her hair was graying but she had a youthful smile and a friendly air about her. Jen immediately felt comfortable with her.

  “I know this house very well,” Linda told her. “My girls and I will give the place a thorough cleaning–don’t you worry. Will you want us in regularly?”

  Jen hesitated then said she would. There was no way she would be able to keep up a large place like this on her own. Jen decided to stay at the house and look around while they worked. She hadn’t spent much time here recently. The noise of the work crew had put her on edge.

  She found bookcases full of dusty volumes lining the walls in her grandfather’s study. The desk and chairs were covered with ghostly white cloth. The carpet in the room hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. She supposed it would take Linda and her daughters quite a long time to put the entire house to rights.

  With a smile, she remembered her grandfather sitting behind his desk smoking a cigar. She’d been a small child then. But he always seemed to have time to sit her on his lap and talk to her, unlike her own father. Grandfather liked to explain things to her like how clocks worked. He answered her questions and never talked down to her. A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she reminisced.

  There was a tap at the study door. “Mrs. Stoddard, are you in here?”

  Jen went to the door and opened it. “Yes, I’m here, Mrs. Coleman. Do you need me?”

  “One of the workers said he saw you come in here. There’s a man come to see you. He was very insistent about talking to you. I invited him to wait in the living room. I hope that was all right.” Linda Coleman furrowed her brow.

  “That was fine. Do you know who he is?”

  “I’ve seen him in town, but I can’t say I know him.”

  Jen followed Mrs. Coleman into the living room. Probably many years ago it had been an elegant front parlor, a room to receive guests. She could see it already looked much better, both neater and cleaner. The furniture was now exposed, and although the chairs and sofas had become shabby, it was a big improvement over the dust covers. Coffee and end tables had also received a thorough cleaning and a coat of polish which made them shine. Mirrors and windows received their fair share of attention as well. Mrs. Coleman and her daughters had already done wonders in the brief amount of time they’d been here. Jen made a mental note to see about reupholstering the furniture rather than throwing out the chairs and sofas. The faded rose pattern wallpaper peeling in places had been removed, whisked away. Rob and his workers had painted the walls a soft eggshell that brightened the room considerably.

  The gentleman seated on a straight back chair rose to take her hand. His digits felt damp and limp. She removed her own hand as quickly as possible. She studied him. His bespectacled face was round. He was plump and balding. What hair he did have reminded her of snow. She judged him to be in his late fifties or early sixties. He wore a dark-colored suit, white shirt and blue stripped tie which seemed a bit formal and conservative given the warm weather.

  “I’m Samuel Forrest,” he said. He spoke as if she should know who he was.

  “Were you a friend of my grandmother?” she asked.

  “I would like to think we were friends.” His smile was benign.

  “I’m sure you know that she’s deceased.”

  His gaze saddened. “Yes, I was aware of that fact. She was a lovely woman, and most generous. She’ll be greatly missed.”

  Jen waited.

  “Your grandmother was a large contributor to the charity I represent. I visited often and we had many good talks.”

  “What charity are you connected with?” Jen asked. That seemed to be the response Mr. Forrest expected.

  “I am the Director of The Forrest Foundation. It’s an international organization that feeds and supports starving orphans throughout the world.”

  “That sounds very worthy.”

  “Oh it is indeed.” Mr. Forrest removed his eyeglasses and wiped them with a handkerchief he took from his jacket pocket.

  “I am hoping you can take up where your grandmother left off. As I said, she was an extremely generous benefactor.”

  Jen was starting to feel uncomfortable. “Right at this time, Mr. Forrest, I’m not in a position to make any large donations. My funds are rather limited.”

  Samuel Forrest’s smile did not reach his eyes which bore into her. “Your grandmother was a wealthy woman, well-invested. As I understand it, you’ve inherited her estate.”

  This really wasn’t any of the man’s business. She frowned in annoyance. “Sir, my inheritance really doesn’t concern you. Now please excuse me for now. I have matters that need my immediate attention.”

  “Of course,” he said, his tone of voice cold enough to freeze ice in January.

  Jen hoped she hadn’t been rude, but there was something about the man she didn’t like or trust. She saw him to the door and was relieved when he had gone.

  “Mrs. Stoddard.” Linda Coleman bustled into the room followed by her two daughters. “Unless there’s something you need done right away, we’re finished for now.” She waited expectantly.

  Jen went and got her wallet from her handbag which she’d left out in the kitchen and paid Mrs. Coleman. “You’ve done a lovely job. I’ll call you to come back soon to continue cleaning.”

  Rob and his crew did wonders renovating the kitchen. He also arranged for a new stove, refrigerator and dishwasher to be installed along with granite flooring and new counters. She would use the old-fashioned kitchen and dining room furniture for the time being, she decided. There was a solid, homey feel about them.

  The next few days were hectic for Jen. She did a lot of shopping for the house, storing basics and groceries, whatever she thought might be needed soon. As promised, the things from her apartment arrived. Beds and bedding were set up in the three bedrooms that Jen intended to use. The kitchen had to be organized as well. She spent time with Linda Coleman and her daughters, examining the pots and pans in the pantry, seeing what should be kept and what tossed. She found the mother and sisters were hard workers with cheerful dispositions. Good down-to-earth women whose company she appreciated.

  Things were going well. She’d been worried about being ready on time for her son and Maryann’s arrival, but it seemed that it would happen as planned. Jen breathed a deep sigh of relief.

  One day before she planned to drive out and pick up Maryann and Aaron at the airport, Jen worked in the house giving special attention to the livi
ng room. She’d discovered her grandmother’s Wedgwood miniatures that had always sat on the large marble mantle over the fireplace. They’d been wrapped up and tucked away in a corner of the front hall closet. Jen smiled, remembering how much Grandma had loved her knick-knacks. She was giving them a thorough cleaning when the front doorbell rang. She knew it wasn’t any of Rob’s crew. Today they were busy painting the outside of the house. Maybe a neighbor was dropping by. She still felt shy with strangers but had to admit it would be nice to know some of the neighbors.

  When Jen answered the door, she discovered her mother and a man she did not recognize staring at her. She blinked to make certain this was not a mirage.

  “Don’t just stand there with your mouth hanging open. Invite me in.” Her mother’s nostrils flared.

  “Of course, please come inside.”

  “Not that I should need to be invited into my own mother’s house. This is Frank, by the way.”

  Jen glanced at the stranger. He in turn looked her up and down in a way she didn’t much like. His hair and mustache were salt and pepper. His body wasn’t fat but he did have a mid-section that protruded over his pants.

  “Why don’t you come out to the kitchen and I’ll fix you some lemonade or iced tea.”

  “I’ll sit down in the parlor. You can bring the drinks out here to us.”

  Jen recognized what her mother was doing. “Can I ask why you’re here?”

  “Don’t I have every right?” Sara fluffed her dyed red hair like a matador waving a cape.

  “Where’s your husband, Mother?”

  “Oh, him. He’s my ex. Frank is the man in my life now, aren’t you, honey?” She patted the man’s hand.

  Frank grunted his agreement.

  “I’ll bring you those drinks,” Jen said. “Why don’t you get comfortable in the living room?”

  Jen needed time to pull her thoughts together. She and Sara hadn’t seen each other in six years. So why had her mother come here now? Clearly, it wasn’t for a mother daughter reunion. Jen fixed the iced tea, poured it into three glasses, found a box of packaged chocolate chip cookies and carried it all out on a tray. She set down the tray on the coffee table in the living room.