“Well, if there is an available time for you and your family to come in to my office today, I would be more than happy to make you an appointment.”
I wasn’t sure what my mother wanted to do, but it didn’t sound like we had much time to do this. I set up the appointment with Ms. Walker and hung up the phone. I wasn’t really concerned with my father’s will because what he had, he had already put it into his family. Whatever he had left to give, I was sure it all went to my mother and the quicker we handled it, the quicker we could move on.
It felt like it took an act of God to get my mother to get out of the house and go to this meeting. I knew she was continuing to grieve, but it never stopped her from dealing with the business. One thing my mama was known for was making sure that the necessary things were taken care of regardless of the situation. It was extremely weird to see her not being herself.
When JJ, Mama, and I walked into Sonya’s office, I was a little surprised to see Beanie and Uncle Earl already there. I knew they were close with my father, but I didn’t know what my father had to give to Beanie that he already hadn’t.
“Thank you so much for seeing me on such short notice,” Sonya said as we took our seats.
My mama took a quick glance in Beanie’s direction and then kept her eyes on the floor. It was really bothering me that there was something going on between those two and my mama wasn’t telling me what it was.
“If we can just get this over with that would be great,” I said, trying to speed up this intense process.
“I wish I could, but all parties have to be present before I can read any part of the will.”
Now I was confused. What did she mean all parties have to be present? As far as I was concerned, everybody was here and then some.
“I’m pretty sure all parties are here. His immediate family is here and he wasn’t really close to his brothers and sisters in order to leave them something in his will.” I glanced over at Beanie who gave me a little sideways look. “Except for Aunt Juanita of course,” I stated, trying to smooth things over. For the next two days, I was over the drama until my daddy was safe in the ground.
“Well, unless any of you are Morgan Willis, we have to wait.”
Now I was really confused. What did Morgan have to do with anything? Morgan was just a niece and the last I heard, unless he set up a trust fund for his whole family, nieces really didn’t get no play in the will. Was their bond that strong to where he left her something in his will? I looked around the room and noticed both my mom and Aunt Beanie shifting in their seats. Something was definitely up and I needed to know what was going on.
“I feel like you two know something that you aren’t sharing with the rest of us,” I finally spoke up. Neither one of them budged to say anything, which only pissed me off.
“Why don’t we just wait for Morgan and we can get this all cleared up,” Sonya interjected. “Does anybody know when she will be coming?”
Aunt Beanie looked at her watch, then her phone without a response. I knew my family had a lot of issues but this was not like us.
“We’re not sure if she’s going to make it; she had another engagement,” my uncle Earl finally said.
Every second I stayed in this room without any action was making me angrier. I didn’t care if my daddy had millions of dollars that we didn’t know about and was leaving it to a goat; I needed to know what my mama and Beanie were hiding. Nobody was going to leave this room until I get an answer.
“Well, legally, I can’t proceed without her present.”
“Something doesn’t feel right and nobody is speaking. Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?” I didn’t realize that I was raising my voice until everyone was looking at me like I had lost my mind.
“You might as well tell her, Beanie. He’s dead now, ain’t no use in protecting him,” my mother finally said, which was the most I had heard from her in days.
“Protecting him from what?” I turned my focus on Beanie since she seemed to be the one with all the answers. The room grew silent and I could tell Beanie was contemplating in her head what she should say next.
“We think Joe may have left Morgan some money,” she finally said.
I wanted to be angry but I wasn’t even surprised. She and my father were close and it seemed like something he would do.
“Tell her why,” my mother chimed back in.
“Is that really necessary right now?”
“He’s dead, Juanita; might as well air out all his dirty laundry now. Isn’t that what he wanted? As if he hasn’t already caused enough drama.”
I had never heard Mother raise her voice unless it was to discipline me or my brother. I knew this had to be serious if she had been taken out of her element.
Beanie took a long breath and began to explain what was going on.
“Joe is Morgan’s father,” she finally said.
I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. It was like I had stepped out of my body and I was watching this from above. It was like I entered into a Shonda Rhimes episode.
“I’m sorry, what?” JJ asked before I could even get my thoughts together. I was glad I wasn’t the only one in the room shocked by the news.
“A little before you were born, Nettie, Joe had an affair with this girl from Augusta—some girl who was a runaway from up North and had no family and no one taking care of her at the time. Joe didn’t even know she was pregnant until she was almost eight months.”
Every word Beanie was saying seemed to start sounding more and more like German. She really lost me around “Joe is Morgan’s father.” I honestly didn’t know how much more messed up things could get. I glanced over at JJ and his reaction matched mine. It didn’t seem like our brains were fully comprehending what was being told to us.
“She went into labor in a Walmart bathroom and died after giving birth. Joe was so afraid to come home and tell your mama that he had a child out of wedlock, so I agreed to take her in and raise her as my own. Earl and I had just lost a baby with no possibility of having any more children, so I felt like it was the right thing to do.”
I didn’t know how to respond to what I just heard. This couldn’t be real life. Tell me I am having a nightmare. Tell me that there are cameras everywhere and at any moment a director is going to yell “cut.” Tell me anything but don’t tell me this is real life . . . my life. Morgan is my sister?
“Mama, did you know about this?” I finally asked.
“Only recently, when Juanita told me the story at the funeral home.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My father cheated on my mom and had a baby who my aunt raised as her own? Were they serious with this? And he wasn’t man enough to tell us this while he was alive?
“I’m sorry,” Beanie said as if she could read my mind.
I wanted to scream but my body seemed paralyzed. It couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, I could barely comprehend what was happening. The only thing I could do was look over at my brother, who was in the same state of shock as I was. He couldn’t believe what was going on either and for some reason that comforted me a little.
“You know what? Whatever is in that will he can keep. I don’t want anything from him,” I finally said.
I got up and stormed out of the office. I was so over this whole thing. It wasn’t even the fact that Morgan was my sister; it was that we were completely lied to for my entire life. My dad didn’t even have the balls to say it out loud to his own family. He had to reveal it to us in his will. He could keep whatever he wanted to give us to ease his conscience. I was done with everything.
Chapter 28
Morgan
The house that Mavis’s brother, Michael, lived in was the most beautiful house I had ever seen. It wasn’t even a house, it was a mansion. I didn’t know what he did to make his money but I was very impressed with him thus far. We were escorted to the tea room for our meeting with him. When he walked in I was surprised that he was not something grander.
He had a short frame and low-key demeanor, but looked exactly like Mavis.
“Hello, ladies. I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” he said as he shook both of our hands and took a seat across from us.
“Your house is really beautiful,” Ahvi said for the both of us.
“Well, thank you. It’s a family home. So, Mavis tells me you ladies want a union ceremony.”
I was surprised he wanted to get right to the point without any small talk, but I could appreciate him not asking all the uncomfortable questions. “Yes. I kind of agreed to get married out here without telling my parents that Ahvi was a woman. Then my pastor tried to pray it out of me like it’s a disease. So now it’s either this or go back home to London.”
Michael stayed quiet but shook his head like he understood exactly where I was coming from. It was kind of odd and comforting at the same time. I wanted to say more, but it looked like he was thinking so I decided to remain quiet.
“And you were trying to do this when?” he finally asked.
“Tomorrow,” both Ahvi and I answered together as if it would be less of a blow to him. I had never heard of anyone agreeing to do a wedding ceremony or union ceremony, as he called it, on such short notice. Mavis said he was open-minded; I hoped he could bust his mind wide open for this one.
“Wow, you two don’t wait do you?” He gave a nervous chuckle, which made me chuckle nervously.
“If it’s a problem we understand. We just didn’t want to waste the tickets out here,” Ahvi chimed in.
He went back to the thinking pose that he had before, which scared me a little now. I didn’t know why I was really nervous about this, but all of a sudden I wanted to go through with a ceremony in Georgia. I hated that all the work my mama did would be done in vain.
“Ladies, you are catching me on such short notice, but I would love to officiate for your ceremony.”
I let out an excited squeal that shocked me a little. The fact that there was somebody who had my back here gave me a sense of peace. I held Ahvi’s hand a little tighter and sat there with a big smile on my face.
“Why don’t I show you the grounds and we can go over the details.”
Whatever excitement that I had quickly died once I started talking about the actual ceremony with Michael and his groundskeeper. I realized I had no idea who was coming, I didn’t have all my floral arrangements handled, and I wasn’t sure about the music or the food. My mother was the one who took care of all that and she wasn’t really speaking to me at the moment. This was not the way I wanted any of this to happen. I began to have a mini panic attack thinking about all the stuff that still needed to be done.
“Don’t panic,” Michael said, trying to rub my back. “I promise I will fill in the missing gaps and everything will be fine.”
“Right; and if it’s just you, me, Michael, and the groundskeeper then we’ll have a ceremony for just us,” Ahvi reassured me.
I began to breathe normally and calm down. Maybe things would be okay. And Ahvi was right. If it was just the four of us, then it would be just the four of us. I didn’t need anybody else but her. We built a life together and it wasn’t based on who approved of it. Besides, I was still going to have my dream wedding in Spain like I had planned from the beginning.
We continued to walk through the house and the backyard, talking and planning. I held on to Ahvi the whole time thinking about our future together. It felt like things were looking up and I was praying this was the end of the drama.
Chapter 29
Henry
The whole ride back from the nursing home I was going over what I wanted to say to Don. I had a speech prepared if he was going to sever all ties with me and I had a speech prepared if he was ready to move forward. I was praying that the outcome was going to be the latter, but I wanted to make sure I was ready for both. I put all I had into my business and I was going to make sure that I took it to the highest possible level that I could. I had so much I wanted to do and things I wanted to take care of that I needed this opportunity to happen.
I pulled up on my lot and instantly felt butterflies in my stomach. I thought I was prepared, but I was the most nervous I had ever been in my life. I didn’t know how much damage Janette did and I didn’t want to go in there doing damage control on something that might not be able to be fixed. I walked into my office and Don was already sitting at my desk. Now I was even more nervous because I hoped I hadn’t made him wait too long. There were so many thoughts going through my head, I was freaking myself out.
“Don, sorry to keep you waiting.” I shook his hand with all the confidence I could muster up and took my seat behind my desk.
“Not a problem. I haven’t been here long.”
I exhaled slightly at those words. At least we were getting off to a good start. “So what brings you back down here?” I started just the way I had planned it in my head. “The last time we spoke, it sounded like you were a little uneasy about doing business with me.”
“Understand that I respect you.”
I smiled a little on the inside because my pops told me that respect was the greatest thing a man could earn. It was good to hear those words, especially coming from someone like Don Perkins.
“I do have to admit, I think we rushed the luxury rental idea without looking at it from all angles.”
The little bit of hope that I had left in this venture was beginning to deplete. I was hoping that he came to say he was ready to move forward with it and he brought the contracts for me to sign on the dotted line. I began to gear up my rejection speech in my head.
“So I’m guessing you don’t want to continue forward with that venture?” I asked to make sure we were on the same page.
“I don’t think at this point it would be a good investment.” There it was: the knife to my dreams. “However, there is another offer I would like to make you.”
I perked back up. I could see the little glimpse of light still flickering on my hopes.
“My investors and I are starting this celebrity car race. It’ll be twice a year; celebrities and well-established members of society will have to pay a retainer to enter, and they get to race their own car through a designated part of the country. I’m talking millions of dollars every race and we already have over thirty people signed up for it.”
This sounded too good to be true. People paid money to race their own cars? How was that any better than what we were going into?
“I’m sorry, I’m not quite following you here. What exactly do you want me to do?”
“We want you to help organize the races. You would get to travel around the world, interact with the rich and famous, and receive a ten percent commission for every person who signs up to race.”
I had never heard of anything like this before. I honestly thought it was a crazier idea than the luxury rental. I was stunned that Don was so passionate about it and not about the venture I brought him. It did sound appetizing, though. It’s an opportunity to get the hell out of Georgia, and I may be making some real big money.
“Okay, so you have almost thirty people ready to sign up? How much is the entry fee?” I needed to know how much 10 percent was going to be for me.
“A quarter million,” he said so nonchalantly.
“Wait a minute. You’re telling me that people have to pay $250,000 to enter this race?” I asked in amazement.
“That’s correct.”
“And twenty-five thousand of that would be mine?” I was still amazed.
“That’s correct.”
“And there are already thirty people who are willing to put up the money right now.” I was hoping he would say those two beautiful words again.
“That’s correct.”
I swore I could have kissed this man right now. I was so excited about this opportunity. It was different and a little unbelievable but it seemed solid. My main concern with all of this was what would happen to my business and what would happen to my mama. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her
while I was traveling for business and I couldn’t get to her fast enough. $25,000 a person though was definitely enough to get her out of that nursing home and into some top-notch home care.
“Look, you don’t have to say yes today. Think about it, sleep on it, but I need an answer soon. We are trying to get the ball rolling on this thing immediately.”
He stood up, buttoned his coat jacket, and extended his hand toward me. I saw my whole future in this man. Everything I wanted to be, everything I had worked so hard for to get me to this point was right there in front of me. I could hear my pops now saying I would be a fool to pass this opportunity up.
“Mr. Perkins,” I said as I grabbed his hand, “count me in.”
“Good man.” He chuckled and made his way to the door. “I’ll send you over all the information and paperwork. See you soon, partner.”
He walked out and as soon as the door closed behind him I burst out into the touchdown dance I used to do. I couldn’t be more excited. My mother was right. Nothing slipped out your fingers unless you loosened your grip. My life was about to change and I was so ready for it. I plopped down in my chair and took a deep breath. I felt like I had made it, and with all the mess I placed myself in recently, I wasn’t planning on looking back.
Chapter 30
Janette
What had my life amounted to? No man; a lying, dead father; and a cousin who was really my half-sister. I used to get offended about people saying how country folks in Georgia were, but this was for real some country mess. I couldn’t even fathom how sneaky my father had to be in order to pull this off for so many years. I hated that I was so much like him. All the manipulative stuff I’d done over the years flashed before my eyes the more I dwelled on my father’s infidelity.
My bed seemed to be my safe haven over the last week and a half. It was where I retreated to whenever things were getting too much and today was no different. I didn’t move from the fetal position from the time I left the lawyer’s office and crawled in here. I hadn’t even seen my apartment in several days. I thought it would be awkward to stay at my parents’ house after what we just found out but I wanted to be close to my mom.
All in a Day Page 14
