Chapter 3 - The Clause in Eleanor's Will
Ethan closed the study door behind Audrey.
Robert remained outside.
Audrey heard him hesitate.
Then his footsteps moved away.
Ethan placed his phone on the desk.
"I was going to tell you."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"After seventy people leave?"
"Audrey."
"How long?"
"Three days."
She stared at him.
Three days.
Not months.
Not four months.
The anger eased slightly, but not enough.
"What does it say?"
"We don't know yet."
"Robert seems to know."
"Robert thinks he knows."
Ethan opened a folder.
Inside was a photocopy of an old legal document.
Audrey sat.
Ethan remained standing.
"The amendment was supposedly signed by my grandmother eleven years ago."
"Supposedly?"
"My attorney hasn't verified it."
"What does it do?"
"If I'm considered to have entered a marriage that violates a condition in the family trust, ownership of the house shifts."
"To your mother."
"Temporarily."
"That's not what Robert said."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Robert likes drama."
"So does your mother."
"That doesn't mean they're right."
Audrey looked at the document.
"What condition did our marriage violate?"
Ethan hesitated.
"Marriage to anyone previously employed by the household."
Audrey stared at him.
Then laughed.
It came out sharper than intended.
"Seriously?"
"I know."
"Your grandmother wrote a clause saying you can't marry the help?"
"I don't believe she did."
Audrey stopped laughing.
"You think it's fake."
"I think something is wrong."
Ethan pulled a second document from the folder.
"The font changes halfway through the page. The witness listed here died fourteen months before this date."
Audrey leaned closer.
"Then why are you worried?"
"Because Robert filed notice yesterday challenging my ownership."
She looked up.
"He did what?"
"His attorneys claim Mom is acting trustee under the amendment."
"Can they take the house?"
"Not today."
"Eventually?"
"I don't know."
Audrey stood.
"And they invited seventy people here while they're trying to take it?"
Ethan rubbed his face.
"The party was planned before I knew."
"Your mother knew."
"Probably."
"She knew we were married too."
Ethan's eyes snapped toward her.
"What?"
"She told me."
"When?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Ethan looked toward the door.
Audrey saw anger building.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Go storming into the kitchen."
"Why not?"
"Because I need answers, not a screaming match."
He looked at her for several seconds.
Then nodded.
"Okay."
Audrey touched the document.
"Who else knows?"
"Robert. Mom. My attorney."
"Vivian."
Ethan frowned.
"Vivian knows?"
"Enough."
Ethan looked increasingly troubled.
Audrey studied him.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing."
"Ethan."
He looked toward the window.
That was when she knew.
"There is something else."
He exhaled.
"My grandmother left a sealed memorandum."
"What memorandum?"
"Instructions tied to the trust."
"Where is it?"
"Missing."
Audrey felt cold.
"Since when?"
"Since the amendment appeared."
"Who had access?"
"Robert."
"Anyone else?"
Ethan didn't answer.
"Your mother."
"Yes."
Audrey stepped away from the desk.
Nora's laughter drifted faintly from the kitchen.
For a moment, both of them listened.
Ethan moved closer.
"I didn't hide this because I don't trust you."
"You hid it because you wanted to protect me."
"Yes."
"That never works."
"I know."
"You do this every time something involves Rebecca or your family or this house. You decide what will hurt me, then you keep it from me."
His face changed at Rebecca's name.
Audrey regretted saying it but did not take it back.
"That's not fair."
"It is fair."
"I married you."
"Quietly."
"Because you wanted quietly."
"I wanted small. I didn't want secret."
Ethan had no answer.
Audrey's eyes burned.
"I have spent four months living in a house where your mother moves my photographs. Your relatives introduce me as Nora's former nanny. People ask me where the bathroom is like I work here. And every time I tell myself it doesn't matter because you know who I am."
"I do."
"Then why haven't you told them?"
Ethan stepped closer.
"You're my wife."
"Tell them."
"I will."
"When?"
"Today."
She studied his face.
"Not because we're fighting."
"No."
"Not because your mother knows."
"No."
"Because you mean it."
Ethan took her hand.
"Because I should have done it four months ago."
Audrey wanted to believe the conversation had repaired something.
Then they heard a crash from the dining room.
Vivian shouted.
Ethan and Audrey ran out.
A floral arrangement lay shattered across the floor.
Marianne stood beside the broken vase.
Facing her was a silver-haired woman Audrey had never seen.
She looked around seventy.
Tall.
Straight-backed.
Wearing a gray linen suit.
She carried a leather handbag and a sealed cream envelope.
Marianne stared at her as if a dead person had walked through the front door.
"You," Marianne whispered.
The woman smiled without warmth.
"Hello, Marianne."
Ethan stopped beside Audrey.
His face went blank.
"Aunt Celeste?"
Audrey turned toward him.
He had never mentioned an Aunt Celeste.
The woman looked at him.
"Ethan."
"Everyone said you were in France."
"I was."
"Why are you here?"
Celeste raised the sealed envelope.
"Because Eleanor asked me to come back when someone tried to steal her house."
Robert appeared in the doorway.
His face drained of color.
May you like
Celeste looked at him next.
"And apparently," she said, "I'm right on time."
