House on Fire

Chapter 59 – Wed. Dec. 14

  The aroma of the fresh coffee wafted down the hall. In the kitchen, the burner hissed and the percolator bubbled and burped.

  “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Laine.” Dad was amusing himself, but I loved the way that phrase sounded. Then, in a very different tone, he said, “I owe you two an apology.”

  “I doubt it,” Jessie said. “For what?”

  “I made an inappropriate request on the trip yesterday. Cory was right; it was an unfair thing to expect, and I regret it. I don’t know – and I really don’t want to know – if you, uh, gave it any heed. Thank you for humoring an old man by getting up separately this morning. That’s not something I’ll expect in the future.”

  “Daddy, we...”

  He held up both hands. “Did I mention that I really don’t want to know?”

  “I was going to say that we love you, and that we know this can’t be easy for you. Thanks for being so gracious. We’ll do the best we can to make it easier.” She hugged him.

  I gave him a hug, too, and I couldn’t resist giving him a wink. I thought he might wink back, but instead he just grimaced. I guess he really didn’t want to know.

  Over brunch, the three of us talked about the trip, and we thanked him repeatedly. I asked if it was still crass to talk about what a huge expense it had been.

  He got a crooked little smile on his face. “Are you ready for another little family secret?”

  “I’m not,” Jess groaned.

  “Oh, come on Jess. They’ve worked out pretty well so far, haven’t they?”

  “I guess. Okay, Dad. Lay it on us.”

  “Remember how I was telling you about Grandma Sophie and the Captain?”

  “Yeah, she whacked him, but never got her hands on his money.” Jessie said wickedly.

  “The first, possibly, the second, definitely. I told you that he gave it away to an unnamed beneficiary, right?”

  “Right, but nobody knew who it was.”

  “I didn’t say nobody knew. Just a very few, and I’m one of the only two still living. Would you like to know, too?”

  “Sure, who was it?”

  “His two-year-old daughter, Emma.”

  “Mom? He gave the fortune to Mom?”

  “Not directly. He had a close friend who was a lawyer, and they created a trust. The money was invested, and could only be paid out when the little girl turned twenty-one or got married, whichever came first.”

  “My brains aren’t working... which came first?”

  “Mom turned twenty-one. We got married the next year.”

  “So she was rich?”

  “The lawyer went to her apartment. He was very old by then and he brought his granddaughter, who had just graduated law school. Mom was her first client. Mom was worried that Grandma Sophie might still try to get the money.

  “Mom told them that she didn’t need it – she was happy with what she had, and that she didn’t want get dragged through court for` years. So she set a new release condition: it wouldn’t be paid until Grandma Sophie died.”

  “That’s stupid. What if Grandma lived to a hundred years old?”

  Dad laughed. “Grandma Sophie lived a rough life. Even back then, she’d already been in bar fights, spent a year in prison, and crashed her Harley. She got shot once, too, but that was later. But it was the drugs and the booze that Mom thought would get her first. I’m still amazed she made it to fifty-seven.”

  “Hold the story a minute,” Jessie said. “Your dad was an alcoholic, right? And Grampa Joe’s one, or at least spends a lot of days drunk. No wonder you had problems! And now you tell us that Grandma Sophie was addicted, too? That puts Cory at a high risk.”

  “You’re right; Cory needs to be careful about alcohol. Best if you stay away from it altogether, Son. But you know I’ve had other problems, too.”

  “Like what?”

  “Clinical depression. That’s why I take pills every day; it keeps it manageable.”

  “Oh.” Jessie looked alarmed. She knew about clinical depression. Staci’s older brother had it, and he killed himself last Christmas. “You aren’t going to kill yourself, are you Daddy?”

  He chuckled, “No hon. I have far too much to live for. That’s why I’m good about taking the pills. I don’t want to leave you two a day sooner than I have to. It’s preventive, just like my cholesterol medication. It helps my body – in this case my brain chemistry – keep working well.”

  She looked unconvinced.

  “Really, Bug. I’ve had it for years, and nothing’s happened. It’s just something I need to be careful about.”

  “I take pills, too Jess. For anxiety. It’s fine.”

  “I didn’t know that. I assumed they were for your lungs. Huh. So anyway, you were saying how the money was locked up until Grandma died. What happened to it after that?”

  “Mom died first, and the trust went to her heirs.”

  “Us? No way! So, we’re rich?”

  “Under the same conditions. Not until you turn twenty-one...”

  There were a few seconds where all you could hear was the clock tick. Jessie said it. “...or we get married!”

  “Is that true, Dad? Does the Captain’s money finally get released?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Peterson, our attorney, will be over later today. She’s the old lawyer’s granddaughter. She’s handling some other things for the family, too.”

  “Daddy, does this mean that you don’t get any of it?”

  “Well that’s true, but I think we’ll have enough to share, if you’re willing.”

  We couldn’t sit still anymore, and danced around the table, and then into the living room, cheering all the way. A little nervous energy spent, we sat – or at least perched – on the edge of the sofa. Dad refilled his coffee and settled into his chair.

  I couldn’t contain my curiosity. “That’s why you weren’t worried about the plane and stuff. Would it be crass to ask how much we’re getting?”

  “No, it wouldn’t, but I really have no idea. Apparently it was big enough to fight about thirty years ago, and all the interest and dividends have been reinvested. It depends on how big it started and how it was managed.”

  “Dad?” Jessie paused, still forming the question. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why’d you hide it?”

  “It was a condition of the trust, to keep it a secret so Grandma wouldn’t know. But I wouldn’t have told you anyway. I had to make sure that… I still don’t know if letting you kids get hitched was the best thing to do, but I needed to know why you wanted to. If I’d told you about the money, I’d never know for sure if you married just for love. And maybe you wouldn’t have been sure, either.”

  “Dad, if it’s enough, you won’t have to work anymore,” I said.

  “Yeah. That’d be nice.”

  “If it’s enough, maybe we could go back to Colorado. Then wouldn’t have to hide. We could wear our rings and kiss in public. I’d like that. I’d like it a lot.”

  “Kiss in public like this?” I picked her up and spun her around. We almost chipped each other’s teeth. Then I got dizzy, and we toppled gracelessly onto the couch.

  Dad looked uncomfortable. “Good plan. I like it. But a lot depends on what Mrs. Peterson has to say.”