Amelia

by Marie, Bernadette

  “For the record you assumed you were married?”

  Vivian looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Well, yes. He said we were. He promised me…” She looked toward the other women and there was an understanding in that moment.

  When she’d wiped away more tears she looked back at Sam. “I can’t afford to live without his paychecks. They didn’t always come on time. He’d forget to give me money for the electric bill and I’d have to borrow. But it was something. Now what do I do?”

  Sam reached his hand over and placed it atop of hers. “Let’s finish through this and then we can decide what legal action we need to take.”

  Vivian nodded in agreement and placed her hands in her lap.

  Sam was very familiar with the will. He’d looked it over many times after it had been drafted. But, he’d admit he thought perhaps when they’d penned it, generically, that Amelia Monroe was an elderly relative—not another wife—or the woman he’d someday literally sacrifice his career for.

  “Amelia is the full beneficiary. She will assume ownership of Mr. Monroe’s personal belongings, bank accounts, pension, and investments.”

  “Investments?” Vivian’s hands flew in the air again. “He didn’t have investments. I’m on his bank accounts. She can’t have the ones my name is on.”

  Sam pulled more paper from the envelope. “It seems he had many accounts, Mrs. Monroe.”

  “She can have whatever they had together,” Amelia said quickly. “This is all absurd anyway. Why me?”

  “You were his only legal wife.”

  All eyes turned to Penelope whose mouth had opened with a tiny squeal.

  “I’m sorry Mrs. Monroe. The man who performed your marriage was not licensed to do so. Your paperwork was not filed with the courts correctly either I’m afraid.”

  The room filled with a thick silence. There were three Mrs. Monroes, but only one legal one.

  “Mr. Jackson,” Amelia bit out and he didn’t like the sound of his proper name on her lips. “What do I need to do to go about securing what was left to me?”

  Vivian stood this time. “You’re going to take it? What kind of woman are you? I have kids to feed.”

  “And your kids will be fed.”

  “You don’t deserve this. You can’t have this. I’m going to fight it.”

  “You can’t afford to fight it,” Amelia pointed out.

  Vivian’s eyebrows narrowed in. “He was my husband. Ten freaking years!” She slammed her fist to the table. “I’ll find a way to fight you for what should be mine.”

  Amelia exchanged glances with Penelope and then looked back at Sam. “I need this. I need what he left me.”

  “I have all the papers here. The accounts and…”

  “Bitch!” Vivian was walking around the table and that was when Sam and Amelia got to their feet.

  Sam watched as Amelia held her hand out as if to just say stop—as if she were Darth Vader and had the force. And Vivian stopped.

  “Listen,” her voice shook, but only with a resonating anger which he knew was filling her body and not the fear of women getting out of control, which was filling his body. “I respect that you need to take care of your family. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. But Penelope was his wife too.”

  “Their marriage wasn’t legal,” Vivian pointed out and then it was evident by the look on her face that hers wasn’t either.

  “Penelope doesn’t get cut out,” Amelia said again firmly.

  “And you? You’re just going to take all of it? Give us a little crumb and run off?”

  “I don’t want anything the asshole had. He screwed up two years of my life and then messed around behind my back. I don’t need his money or his crap.”

  “Then just sign it over. She’ll be fine.”

  Amelia took a step toward Vivian and that prompted Sam to move in, though he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

  “I said you’d be taken care of and so will Penelope.”

  Vivian’s face was contorting in her anger. “Why? Why does she deserve anything? My kids deserve it. They lost their father. Do you know what that does to a kid?”

  “I lost my mother to a sniper in Desert Storm. I have a good idea.”

  He watched as Vivian stepped back and her face softened. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

  She walked back around the table.

  “I just don’t understand. If you were trying to divorce him before he deployed and he was only gone six weeks,” Vivian looked at Penelope. “You couldn’t have been married long.”

  “Two months, ma’am.”

  “Two months?” Vivian’s shoulders dropped. She looked back at Amelia. “Really? She’s worth everything he had for a two month marriage? Ten years,” she reiterated jabbing a finger into her own chest. “Two kids. Please, just do the decent thing and walk away.”

  “She deserves it as much as you do. She’s going to need his help too.”

  “Why would she…” Vivian’s eyes went wide. Sam was sure she’d quit breathing. He stood just as Vivian sat back down in her chair. “Son-of-a-bitch.”

  Amelia nodded. “Yeah.”

  Sam darted his eyes from one woman to another. He probably had more education than anyone in the room, but he was lost. He hated days where the estrogen in a room was much higher than the testosterone.

  Amelia finally looked up at him and she must have realized he was lost.

  “Penelope is expecting Adam’s baby.”

  Chapter Seven

  Things weren’t much different for the next hour. Penelope cried and said, “I’m sorry,” about six thousand times. Vivian fought for her rights, denounced Adam and cursed his name, cried, and fought again. She’d asked for a computer to look up the marriage information. She’d made phone calls. But to no avail. Adam had left her hanging—he’d never filed their marriage.

  Sam watched and intervened when he needed to, but it seemed to him Amelia was running the show.

  For being such a strong woman that any man in his right mind should fear, she was very soft and caring.

  She saw to it that Penelope drank water and kept calm. At one point she’d moved to the other side of the table and sat next to Vivian and placed her arm around her shoulders. He was sure she’d asked about the children which at first had eased Vivian, but at some point she’d snapped and then told her that they were none of her business. Amelia had then moved back to Penelope as his mother brought in sandwiches and cookies.

  Sam wasn’t sure about that move. He’d hoped they’d all get so hungry they’d need to leave.

  He looked at Amelia now holding Penelope as she sobbed and he thought he was hungry—for her.

  Realizing that the battle ahead of him was just that—a battle—he wondered why he’d even approached Amelia in his office. But he just couldn’t help himself. He’d never made a move on a woman like that in his life. Let alone a widow who had just—just—buried her husband.

  The woman could physically break him in half and carry his body to the ocean and toss him in. Why was he doing that to himself?

  When he looked up at her again she gave him a soft smile as she rested her cheek against Penelope’s blonde curls. He was in trouble. If this woman took her inheritance and left him he certainly was going to suffer a broken heart.

  Amelia was exhausted. Adam had certainly screwed them all over. What the hell did she need his crap for and what was all this about her marriage being the only one that was legal?

  She gritted her teeth. The part she really was angry about was that from what Sam had presented to them—Adam was fully aware that their marriage was the only legal one.

  Penelope sucked in a breath and Amelia sat back, leaving her hand on Penelope’s back.

  “I’m very tired,” Penelope said softly as she wiped away tears. “What do we need to do? I mean, I don’t understand why you needed me here. Obviously there was no need for me.”

  Sam clasped his hands and leaned his elbows on the table.
“Adam had asked for you to be here. I’m sure that even though this seems like a mess Adam assumed you three would handle it.”

  Vivian scoffed. “He was a game player, obviously. He loved puzzles and riddles. This is crap though.” She looked down at her watch. “We’ve been here nearly two hours. I have a sitter I’m paying. What more do we need? I obviously need to find a job, sell my car, and move.”

  “No,” Amelia said firmly. “Ladies, this sucks. If he weren’t dead I’d think about killing him over this. But, it is what it is and we have to deal with it. I hate that he left me anything, but I’m not going to forget you. You all have his children to think about.”

  Vivian gripped the pen she’d been holding and Amelia was sure soon enough that ink would be all over that pretty dress.

  “Sam, can we meet again? I think I know how to make this all better, or at least manageable, but I think we all need a break.”

  Vivian looked up. “You want to just walk away with everything right?”

  “I told you, I’d make sure you were taken care of. You can either trust me or lose everything. I think in your shoes I’d start to trust.”

  “Trust isn’t what has the four of us sitting in a room together.”

  “Well, maybe we should learn from this,” Amelia said as Sam stood.

  “I’m fine with all of you coming back tomorrow. I’d like to see everything wrapped up as well.”

  Vivian had taken a breath and Amelia was sure it was to make some comment none of them wanted to hear. But she closed her mouth, stood, and hoisted her purse over her shoulder.

  “What time tomorrow? I have to find a sitter again.”

  “And,” Amelia interrupted, “I will make sure the sitter is financially covered as I’m the one asking to come back.”

  “Generous of you,” Vivian said, but there was an underlying tone of sarcasm.

  “Let’s meet here again tomorrow at ten,” Sam said.

  “Fine.” Vivian was the first to walk out of the office.

  Amelia heard Sam’s mother wish her a nice day, but there had been no reply.

  Penelope hadn’t stood. Instead she rested her head on her folded arms on the table.

  Amelia rested her hand on her back. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m exhausted. That took a lot out of me.”

  “C’mon. I’ll drive you back to the room.”

  Sam stood and moved toward them. “I have a very nice couch in my office and a blanket. Why don’t you rest there for just a few moments? I’d like to talk to Amelia if you don’t mind.”

  Penelope raised her head and nodded.

  Sam escorted her across the hall and returned a few minutes later, shutting the door to the room behind him.

  “You’re not going to seduce me again are you?” Amelia raised an eyebrow.

  “Something tells me trying that more than once in one day would be dangerous. Besides it seems you’re the only married woman around.”

  “Right.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Widowed—remember that.”

  He nodded and then sat back down where his paperwork was and she followed.

  “I don’t mean any disrespect, but why did he leave you everything when he had Vivian and the kids?”

  Amelia shrugged. “I have no idea. We always did everything separate. Different accounts. Different credit cards. Hell, I leased the house.”

  Sam looked down at his papers. “I don’t suppose anyone noticed that there really isn’t much to what he left. In fact, by doing this he left a lot of different debts in his wake.”

  Amelia let out a breath. “I wondered about that.” She leaned back in her chair and pulled the band from her hair. “We need to pay off those debts and take care of those kids.”

  “You could turn it all over. If you’re okay financially and he didn’t leave you with debt you could…”

  “I promised Vivian her kids would be taken care of and they will be.”

  A smile formed on Sam’s lips.

  “What?”

  He sat back in his chair. “You scared me the moment I met you. I didn’t expect you to be this nice.”

  “I’m not nice.”

  “Yes you are. You don’t want to be, but you are.”

  “I get my dedication from my mother. The nice and nurture come from my father.”

  “It’s sexy.”

  “You’re making a move on me again.”

  “I’ll apologize in advance. I assume that’ll keep happening until you tell me to stop.”

  She gave him a shrug. “I’ll let you know.”

  That smile was back on his lips. What a prime opportunity to just dive across the table and yank that tie again, but she didn’t. There were other issues at hand.

  “We can’t just divide up the money—or what there is of it. We need to clear his debts and take care of the kids. All three of them.”

  “Okay, what do you suggest if you don’t divide it up?”

  “See the money will run out. It’ll go too quick. They both have expenses. Vivian has two mouths to feed and clothe. There’s daycare and now she has to get a job. Penelope has nowhere to go. She has no job. No house. She’s going to need prenatal care and eventually she’ll have to pay for the delivery.”

  Sam laced his fingers behind his head. “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

  “I think fast in what I consider crisis mode.”

  “And this is a crisis?”

  “To them it is. I don’t want any of this. I couldn’t give a rip what he has. But he put me in charge for a reason.”

  “I assume he knew what he was doing.”

  “That’d be a first.”

  Sam stood and walked to the seat that Penelope had occupied. He reached across to his pile for a legal pad and a pen and then looked at her.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  ~*~

  At ten o’clock the next morning, Sam could hear his mother escort people into the room across the hall from his office. He hadn’t had much sleep thinking about what Amelia had said to him. And it wasn’t her plan that had kept him awake, it was the words I guess tomorrow I’m going house hunting.

  He hadn’t been able to think of anything else. She was staying in Parson’s Gulch. She was going to embrace her Oklahoma roots. She was going to be near—him.

  He hadn’t made any more inappropriate moves and she hadn’t done anything but tell him goodbye when she’d helped Penelope out of the office yesterday. But it was a good sign that she was staying.

  Sam looked around his desk and began to gather up everything he needed when there came a tapping at his door.

  He looked up expecting to see his mother, but instead there was Amelia smiling.

  “I like you in glasses. You look very sophisticated.”

  Quickly he pulled them off his face. “They’re kind of my nerdy secret.”

  Her lips pursed to conceal her smile.

  She looked more comfortable today—more herself. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She had on a pair of jeans and a beaded tank top, much like yesterday’s, which showed off those amazing shoulders he’d love to rub. Around her neck, she wore a necklace with something on it. He’d have to ask her about it.

  “Heads up, Vivian needs to get out of here in an hour. She already has an employment interview.”

  He nodded. “I think I have everything put together so it shouldn’t take long if they just go with the plan.”

  “I guess we’ll see.”

  He stood and started for the door as she turned around and walked to the room. Sam slowed his pace. He was enjoying the view in front of him.

  Penelope, who looked very tired, sat in the same place she had the day before. She wore a tank top and a pair of shorts that Sam was sure she wouldn’t be wearing much longer. Vivian sat in the same seat she’d occupied the day before as well. She too had on a pair of jeans and a fitted T-shirt. Her hair was straight and hung over her shoulders. Today she sported glasses. It wa
s then Sam realized she was much younger than he thought she was. He did some quick math to realize that if she’d married Adam when she was twenty and had been married for ten years she was only inching into her thirties.

  “Good morning, ladies.” Sam put on his professional smile and waited for them to return the gesture, but he wasn’t going to get that. He was use to that. “Amelia Monroe, who as we established yesterday as the sole heir to Adam Monroe’s assets, has proposed a plan to secure the assets for long term gain for you, Vivian, and you, Penelope, to ensure for the caring of your children.”

  Sam pulled out a packet for each of the women and handed it to them.

  “Adam had incurred a substantial debt while away as well as having invested some of his savings. Mrs. Monroe would like to pay off the debts and then use the money left for capital toward a business venture.”

  “Nice. Leave him debt free and gamble his money.” Vivian pushed aside the plan in front of her.

  “Why don’t you listen to the rest of the plan?” Amelia urged through gritted teeth.

  Vivian narrowed her eyes at Amelia and Sam cleared his throat. “Amelia suggests that the three of you go into business together.”

  Vivian was on her feet. “Are you kidding me? I’m not going to go into business with two women who slept with my husband.”

  Sam could see the crust of Amelia’s calm begin to crumble.

  “Slept with your husband? This is what you think this was?” Amelia pushed herself to her feet keeping her hands planted on the table and Sam moved to the edge of his chair in case he needed to intervene—though if Amelia made a move, he knew he’d never get her off of Vivian.

  Amelia focused her eyes on Vivian. “Listen sister, this wasn’t some one night stand for either of us. I thought I’d married a soldier with decent morals. I was wrong. You were wrong. Only Penelope knew what kind of man he was and she still fell in love with him.”

  “What does that mean? Kind of man? She knew he was married?”

  “No, she knew he was picking up women at bars.”

  Sam saw the flash in Vivian’s eyes and then the retraction. “Oh.”

  “It never was just the three of us. We were the three he kept. This seems to have been a game to him.”