Chapter 2 - The Will Elaine Wanted Everyone to Hear
The reading took place eleven days after Eleanor’s funeral.
Alan Mercer’s office occupied the top three floors of a glass tower downtown.
Nora arrived ten minutes early.
Elaine and Marcus were already there.
Of course they were.
Elaine wore red.
Marcus wore charcoal gray.
Both looked dressed for a television interview.
Nora wore navy because it was the nicest suit she owned.
When she entered, Marcus looked at her clothes.
“Parent-teacher conference after this?”
Nora ignored him.
Elaine did not.
“You could have made an effort.”
“I did.”
Elaine smiled.
“That makes it worse.”
Nora sat at the far side of the conference table.
Alan Mercer entered carrying a thin blue folder.
He was sixty-two, precise and unemotional, with silver-rimmed glasses.
Harold Whitman entered behind him carrying nothing.
Elaine frowned.
“I thought Alan was Mother’s estate attorney.”
“He was one of them,” Harold said.
Elaine gave him a cold look.
“I don’t remember asking you to attend.”
“You did not.”
Marcus leaned toward his mother.
“Who is this guy?”
“An old friend of Grandma’s,” Nora said.
Elaine laughed.
“Another person she collected.”
Harold sat without reacting.
Alan cleared his throat.
“Eleanor Bennett executed several estate documents over the final seven years of her life.”
Elaine’s smile became visible.
Nora noticed.
“You look happy,” she said.
Elaine turned toward her.
“I’m relieved. Mother spent years threatening to give everything away whenever she was angry.”
Marcus chuckled.
“Which was constantly.”
Alan removed a document.
“This instrument was signed fourteen months ago.”
He read several preliminary clauses.
Debts.
Taxes.
Household possessions.
Charitable gifts.
Nora listened quietly.
Then came the portion Elaine had been waiting for.
“To my granddaughter, Nora Rachel Bennett, I leave no property, cash, investment account, real estate interest, or personal possession under this instrument.”
Elaine made a small sound of satisfaction.
Nora felt the words like a physical blow.
Not because she expected money.
She never had.
But the phrasing was so deliberate.
Nothing.
Not even Eleanor’s books.
Not the teapot they used on Sundays.
Not Rachel’s photographs.
Nothing.
Elaine turned toward Nora.
“Well.”
Alan continued reading.
“To my daughter, Elaine Bennett, I leave the remainder of the estate described herein.”
Marcus grinned.
Elaine leaned back.
“How much?”
Alan did not immediately respond.
Elaine tapped the table.
“Alan?”
“The assets subject to this instrument are approximately $412,000.”
Elaine’s smile weakened.
“That’s impossible.”
“It includes the residence.”
“The house alone is worth more than that.”
“There is a mortgage.”
Elaine stared at him.
“What mortgage?”
Nora frowned.
Eleanor had told her the house was paid off decades earlier.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Grandma had investments.”
“Yes,” Alan said.
“Where are they?”
“They are not governed by this instrument.”
Elaine’s expression sharpened.
“Then what governs them?”
Alan looked at Harold.
Harold did not move.
Elaine snapped, “Why are you looking at him?”
Alan closed the folder.
“Mrs. Bennett, your mother left explicit instructions regarding the sequence of disclosure.”
Elaine stared at him.
Then at Nora.
Then back to Alan.
“What sequence?”
Alan slid the will across the table.
Elaine grabbed it.
She read the paragraph concerning Nora.
Her mouth slowly curved into a smile.
Then she stood.
She threw the will toward Nora.
Pages slid across the polished surface.
“You were Grandma’s biggest mistake.”
“Elaine,” Alan warned.
But she was enjoying herself now.
“She left you absolutely nothing, you pathetic loser!”
Marcus laughed.
Nora’s throat tightened.
She stared down at Eleanor’s signature.
Elaine came around the table.
“Do you know how many years I listened to people tell me Mother preferred you?”
Nora said nothing.
“You drove her to doctors. You brought groceries. You pretended to be the devoted granddaughter.”
“I loved her.”
Elaine snorted.
“You performed for her.”
“That’s enough,” Harold said.
Elaine ignored him.
She seized Nora’s chair and shoved it backward.
“Go on. Get out. You don’t belong at this table.”
Nora stood.
Marcus clapped slowly.
“You spent your life kissing Grandma’s ass and still got nothing.”
Nora looked at him.
Then Elaine.
Something inside her finally became quiet.
No anger.
No need to defend herself.
She picked up her purse.
“I hope whatever you got was worth becoming this.”
Elaine’s expression twisted.
“You don’t get to judge me.”
Nora walked toward the door.
Then Harold spoke.
“Miss Bennett. Don’t leave yet.”
Nora stopped.
May you like
Harold opened his briefcase.
And for the first time, Elaine’s confidence began to crack.
