***
Chaz showed up at nine thirty and we immediately drove over to Harris Brentworth O’Brian’s office. It was a street of impressive turn-of-the-century homes. 90 Berkely Street was a large brick home with a wraparound porch made of stone and wood with elaborate carvings. A small sign led us to the lawyer’s office that was situated in the back of the home. We walked into a small entryway that opened up into an office with a desk and some leather chairs placed around the room. I assumed it was the secretary’s desk, but she wasn’t there.
A large, dark, wooden door opened at the far end of the room and a short, middle-weight man with a receding hairline appeared. He marched over to us and extended his hand to me.
“Quinn, right?” I nodded. “I’m Harris. I sent my secretary out for a while. Come on in. He can wait out here.” Harris nodded to Chaz.
“If it’s okay with you, I would like Chaz to come in with me.”
“Chaz.” He put his hand to his chin as if he was debating, all the while looking Chaz up and down, summing up the man that was a giant to his small frame. “Oh yes, I remember. He told me about Chaz and that he might come with you. It’s okay. He can come in.” Harris turned on his heels and led us into his office.
I was so torn up. There appeared to be a lot Matthew hadn’t told me. I didn’t know if I should be hurt, angry, or just not care anymore. I had half a mind to say forget it and just go home.
Chaz and I each took a seat in front of a large mahogany, official-looking desk. We waited while Harris unlocked a file cabinet and took out a thick manila folder stuffed with papers. He placed it on his desk, straightening it so it was square to his blotter (a sign of OCD I thought), and finally situated himself in his overstuffed, leather chair.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck is going on,” Harris said.
“More like what the hell is going on,” Chaz bantered. I nudged him. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I think I would feel the same way if I was in your shoes and even though he said it and not you, I’m sure you’re feeling the same way.” Harris smiled at me.
“Actually, I am. So, please tell me what this is all about.”
“I’ve known…” He looked apologetically at me. “I knew Matthew since college. We met at Duke. I stayed to finish law school. He left, but we always kept in touch. Once I graduated, he solicited me to represent his grandmother, Eliana Shikman. I did so until her death. Then Matthew took over her estate.” He leaned forward. “On the Q.T….” He waited for a response. I didn’t give him any. I looked at Chaz. He wasn’t giving one either. I looked back at Harris.
He sighed. “Well, Matthew called me shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. He wanted to make sure everything was in order.” Again he looked pitifully at me and said softly, “Just in case.”
“So he did take care of her,” Chaz almost shouted. “I knew he would.”
Neither Harris nor I responded to Chaz’s outburst. Chaz looked at me. My expression must have forced him to say, “I’m sorry,” once again.
“He thought he wasn’t going to make it, didn’t he?” I asked Harris.
“Quinn, please understand. He hoped and prayed he would beat the cancer. Matthew wanted nothing more in life than to at least get into remission. But he had to make sure everything was safe. Just in case.” Harris looked at me and I got the feeling he felt I was supposed to know what he was talking about, and why he kept saying “just in case.”
Make everything safe? What was that supposed to mean? Did he put me down as a beneficiary? If so, why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t anyone notify me? What was all this secrecy? The seemingly endless questions screamed in my brain.
“That’s why he came to me,” Harris reiterated.
“I don’t understand.”
“How do I say this?” Harris leaned back in his chair and folded his hands. “Matthew’s grandmother was filthy rich. Well actually, that’s putting it mildly. When she died she left it all to Matthew. She only had one son and it appears she never liked her daughter-in-law who she felt was a gold digger. So Matthew’s grandmother left everything to him, in a trust that no one could touch but him. Matthew was always a little overwhelmed by the size of the estate, but—”
“Um, excuse me, but how long ago did Matthew’s grandmother die?” Chaz asked, blank-faced.
“About ten years ago.”
Chaz turned to me. “Did you know any of this?”
“I knew his grandmother died just before we got together. I didn’t know anything about the money.” I turned to Harris. “I’ll be honest. Part of me doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t have told me at some point, but the other part of me understands, especially having dealt with his parents this past year.” After I said that, my head clicked on like a light bulb. I giggled to myself knowing Andjela would smile at the idiom. “That’s why the Shikmans have been harassing me so, isn’t it? Elaina Shikman’s son is Matthew’s father, and the gold digging wife is his mother.”
“Yes. And no. The gold digging wife isn’t really Matthew’s mother. It’s his stepmother.”
Oh my God, I thought, I’m in another bad movie.
“They knew the money was in Matthew’s name, but they didn’t, and still don’t know where it is, or what Matthew did with it. Truthfully, they don’t even know about me.”
“Well, I’ll be.” Chaz slapped his leg. “Talk about karma.”
Harris smiled. “I imagine they’ve been forcing you to give them everything of Matthew’s, most likely to find some clue as to where the money is.”
“You could say that,” I answered.
“Well didn’t they contest the will when Matthew’s grandmother died?” Chaz asked.
“They did, but they didn’t win. Besides, he was the sole beneficiary through the bank that holds all the money in stocks.”
“What about Kathi?” I asked. “Didn’t her grandmother leave her anything?”
“I don’t know if you know this, but Kathi’s father is not Matthew’s father. Kathi belongs to Sue, Matthew’s stepmother from a previous marriage.”
“Oh.” Chaz dragged out the word as he rolled his eyes. “This sure is explaining a lot.”
I looked at Chaz. “You know, I always wondered why they looked so different.”
“That brings me to why Matthew came to me two years ago. After he was diagnosed with cancer, he wanted to make sure his parents didn’t get their hands on any of it. He wanted to make sure you, Quinn, were taken care of.”
“I don’t understand.” My heart was fluttering.
“Matthew always checked in with me once a year. In fact next week, I had it on my calendar that he would be making his yearly call to me. He wanted to keep me a secret because he knew if Sue knew anything about me, she would be relentless in pursuing the estate. You might already have noticed that his father is quite smitten with Sue, and will do just about anything she asks of him.”
“That still doesn’t explain why he didn’t tell me at some point.” I said.
“At first Matthew wanted to make sure you loved him for himself, not his money. You two became a couple shortly after his grandmother died and he became beneficiary to all of his grandmother’s estate. It was a little overwhelming for him at first. That’s why he didn’t tell you.
“When he came to me two years ago, he said with you it was different. He knew you loved him with or without his fortune. Matthew told me that you and he had built a successful and wonderful life together without the money and neither of you really needed it. Nevertheless, he was going to tell you about it on your next anniversary, and also ask you to marry him.”
I gasped. It was so much to take in, but the thing that was revealing itself to me was that Matthew did love me, he was going to ask me to marry him, and most of all he wanted to take care of me. All at once, I felt my body let go of all the emotions that had consumed it over the last year.
“He also told me he was diagnosed with colon cancer but I shouldn’t
worry—he would call me at the usual time the following year. He did. He told me the chemo was making him tired, but he assured me he was beating it.”
“He was dying on that anniversary,” I said solemnly.
“I’m sorry. He gave me explicit instructions I wasn’t to call him and if you ever called me,” he looked down at his folded hands, “it meant he didn’t make it.” Harris reached behind him to a bookcase and grabbed a box of Kleenex. He took one then pushed it across his desk toward me. I took one and wiped my eyes. “Matthew had high hopes he would make it and you would both be able to plan the most wonderful wedding and honeymoon, and also decide together about what to do with the money.
“Still, he made provisions in case that didn’t happen, in case he died before he could share it with you.”
I grabbed another Kleenex.
“And those are?” Chaz jumped in.
“Chaz,” I scolded.
“It’s okay, Quinn. Basically, it all goes to you.”
My mouth dropped open. My mind was spinning with everything that happened since Matthew died and everything that was happening now. It was like a puzzle with the pieces all cluttered and mixed up. I had the edges done, the border. I was working on the middle now, and I was hoping this visit would help me to connect the pieces into a whole. Slowly, the center was being filled in.
Chaz nudged me out of my stupor. “What?” I whispered.
“Ask him.”
“Ask him what?” I hissed.
“I believe Mr. Metzger wants to know how much Matthew left you.”
“Before I ask you that, did Matthew leave any type of will or papers for the properties we own together?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” He patted the folder on his desk. “It’s all in here. He also made out a will that has left everything to you.”
“Oh my God,” Chaz cried out. “Why didn’t you do all of this a year ago?”
“I had no way of knowing he passed. As I said, I had explicit instructions not to call.”
“Don’t you read the obituaries?”
“No. And he didn’t want me to. Matthew didn’t want anything to lead his parents to me. He gave me explicit direct instructions that I wasn’t to do anything until either he or Quinn contacted me.”
Suddenly Chaz blurted out, “Do you know what she went through to get here?” Chaz’s face was darkening.
I put a hand on his arm. “Chaz, calm down. It’s not his fault. We have to believe Matthew knew what he was doing. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to go this way, I don’t know, but the only people I can really be mad at are the Shikmans and after this weekend, I’m not even sure I’m mad at them anymore.”
Harris looked at me curiously. “What happened this weekend?”
I glanced at Chaz and back at Harris, “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, when did Matthew pass?”
“Almost a year ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Harris paused for a moment and then he asked, “So he didn’t tell you about me?”
“No.”
“But he said if the time came, he would tell you.” He looked from Chaz to me. “You said he died a year ago.”
“Yes, he did,” I confirmed.
“Why did you wait so long?”
I sighed. “Like I said, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I think Matthew never told me because we both believed he would make it. Then he slipped into a coma. He never got the chance. All I can say is I found your business card and since you weren’t my lawyer, I thought I should at least call and find out if you were a loose end of Matthew’s affairs that I needed to take care.”
“Talk about loose ends,” Chaz commented. I looked at him. “Okay, okay, but really, are you listening to all of this?”
“I am. It’s just a lot to take in.”
“Actually, I don’t know what’s more to take in: everything you’ve gone through the last couple of weeks, or the fact you’re now filthy rich.”
“I’m not.” I shook my head.
“Yes. Yes, you are,” Harris said. He pushed the thick folder across the desk to me. “All of the papers are in here.” He patted the top of the folder. “Take them home, go through them. Give me a call when you’re ready and we can make an appointment so I can answer any questions you have and maybe I can help you to manage it all. I’ve been with this account for a long time. I know the family. I’d like to continue with it, represent you if you’ll let me.”
I smiled at him. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“I know there are a lot of questions, but the most important thing for you to know is that you are financially secure for the rest of your life.” Harris smiled.
“But when the Shikmans find out about this, they’ll contest the will,” I stated apprehensively.
“They’ll try, but you don’t have to worry. Matthew and I prepared for that. They won’t win. Everything is in the folder.”
I picked up the folder and stood up extending my hand to Harris. “Thank you.” He shook it firmly.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I finally got to meet you. Matthew spoke very highly of you. He loved you very much.”
“Thank you,” I said again, mostly because I was at a loss for words. I turned to leave.
“Oh, Quinn?”
“Yes?”
“The papers you have are all copies. The other stipulation Matthew requested, that you will read in the will, is that you leave the originals with me for safekeeping, to protect you from his parents.” Chaz started to say something. I’m sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant, but Harris stopped him. “Of course, it’s up to you if you want to stay with me or not. I won’t hold you to it, even though it’s in the will. I know Matthew would understand.”
“Okay. I’ll make an appointment as soon as I go through them.”
“I look forward to it.”
Chaz and I left the office and walked down the driveway to my car. As soon as we got there, Chaz let out a loud whoop. “Girl, not that you weren’t my best gal pal before, but you just became my new best friend!”
“I know you’re only joking. I wouldn’t be your new best friend because of the money I now have, would I?” I looked slyly at him.
“Girl, I’ve been you’re best guy pal from the beginning when you were poor and alone. That should count for something.” Chaz playfully looked insulted.
“Get in the car. You know you’ll always be my guy pal.”
“Yes and I have been a true and loyal guy pal.”
“Yes you have. That’s why I love you. Now get in the car? Please?”