Chapter 4 - THE QUESTIONS I SHOULD HAVE ASKED SOONER
The next morning, I called the attorney who had handled Dad’s estate planning.
His name was Peter Hollis.
I had met him three times.
Once at Dad’s funeral.
Twice afterward.
I expected a receptionist.
Peter answered personally.
“Grace.”
He sounded surprised.
“I was planning to call you.”
That sentence made me sit straighter.
“Why?”
He paused.
“Can you come in?”
“I’d rather know what this is about.”
“I think we need to review your father’s trust administration.”
“Who’s the trustee?”
Another pause.
“Your mother is the current family trustee. First Piedmont Trust Company serves as administrative co-trustee.”
Naomi wasn’t trustee.
I had assumed she was because she acted as if she controlled everything.
“Why have I barely received any reporting?”
“You should have received annual statements.”
“I haven’t.”
Peter went quiet.
“When did Richard die?”
“You know when he died.”
“I’m confirming something.”
“Fourteen months ago.”
“You should have received two beneficiary notices and one accounting.”
“I didn’t.”
His voice changed.
Not dramatic.
Professional.
Careful.
“Please don’t sign anything related to the trust until we talk.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“I haven’t signed anything.”
That silence lasted longer.
“Peter?”
“Come in tomorrow morning.”
I spent the rest of the day distracted.
At work, I put a patient’s discharge folder in the wrong bin and caught myself before sending it to another department.
That night, Naomi called.
I hadn’t told her I had contacted Peter.
“Mom says you’re upset.”
“Mom talks to you quickly.”
“She’s stressed.”
“So am I.”
“Grace, don’t turn this into some crusade.”
I almost laughed.
“You gave me a DNA test at my birthday and told me I was another man’s mistake.”
“I was angry.”
“At what?”
Her answer came too quickly.
“At Dad.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
“Because he lied to all of us.”
“He didn't lie about loving me.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“It seems like the point to me.”
Naomi lowered her voice.
“You didn’t work for that company. You didn’t spend twelve years helping him build it. I did.”
There it was.
Not biology.
Labor.
Resentment.
“You think I’m getting something you earned.”
“I think Dad treated equality like fairness when it wasn’t.”
The sentence was ugly.
It was also more honest than anything Naomi had said in months.
“I didn’t write his trust.”
“No. You just benefit from it.”
Before hanging up, Naomi added:
“And whatever Peter Hollis tells you tomorrow, remember lawyers get paid when families fight.”
I stared at my phone after the call ended.
Naomi couldn’t have known I was seeing Peter unless Mom had told her.
That wasn’t the disturbing part.
May you like
The disturbing part was the way she said whatever Peter tells you.
As if she already knew what he had found.
