Chapter 1 #6
Of all of them, Isabelle appeared to have the most perfect life, a handsome, respectable, wealthy husband, three beautiful children, armies of help, a beautiful home in the city.
She hadn’t done anything remarkable in her life, but it was the life she had dreamed of since she was a child.
Veronica and Isabelle lived much more luxuriously than their mother in her small apartment.
And even Charlotte’s apartment was larger than her mother’s.
Felicia was happy for them, although she’d been unhappy about Veronica’s circumstances, her relationship with Anson Phillips, and her life as his mistress.
She was ever watchful of Olivia’s health since the accident.
She shared in Olivia’s heartbreak and disappointment, but Olivia handled it well, and had since her accident.
She was a strong woman with a positive outlook on life.
All five sisters were severely shaken by their mother’s tragic, senseless death, whatever their relationship with her, even Veronica, whose lifestyle as Anson Phillips’s mistress Felicia least approved of. She thought Veronica’s life in the shadows was demeaning and she hated that for her.
All were startled by the letter they received posthumously from their mother’s attorney.
None of them understood the mystery surrounding the meeting to share her will with them, or why the month’s delay at their mother’s request. They understood even less the reason for the meeting being held at a house in Connecticut, which Scott Freeman said was at their mother’s request, with no further explanation.
It made no sense to them. Why Connecticut and not her attorney’s office in the city?
Scott also mentioned that their mother had stipulated that if they wished to spend the weekend or the night together in Connecticut after the meeting, Scott could arrange it.
His letter offered no explanation of the location, and they all assumed that she must have added an amendment if she had rented the property somehow before her untimely death.
It couldn’t have been part of her original will written six years before or they’d have known about it.
As far as they knew, she had no secrets from them.
The five sisters called each other as soon as they received the letter from Scott Freeman, and couldn’t figure it out.
Charlotte grumbled about going, predictably.
Veronica hesitated. She didn’t want to go to the meeting, and was afraid that whatever Felicia had left them would be subject to conditions Veronica wouldn’t agree to, like giving up her married lover.
Isabelle had suffered a terrible shock at her mother’s death, and now there was a second one.
Her marriage had been perfect for twelve years, but the night before the letter arrived, she discovered that her husband, Ian MacPherson, was having an affair with a twenty-three-year-old intern who worked for him.
Isabelle was still staggering from the blow the next morning, unsure how to react, feeling her whole life in jeopardy.
Her rock-solid foundation with a loving husband was suddenly shaken to its core, a month after she lost the mother she adored.
She told Veronica, whom she was closest to, about Ian’s affair.
Veronica was deeply sympathetic. Isabelle didn’t feel in any condition to go to the meeting, but finally agreed to go with Veronica to support her.
Quinne and Olivia were eager to go, and curious about it.
And Charlotte was the last to grudgingly accept.
In the end, all five sisters agreed to go to the mystery house in Connecticut on Friday morning to hear Scott Freeman reveal to them their mother’s final will and testament, at a location that made no sense to any of them, and was inconvenient, out of the city.
Veronica and Isabelle rode in a car together, with Veronica driving.
Isabelle felt too shaky to drive after the shocking news about Ian’s affair.
A close friend of Isabelle’s who was related to one of Ian’s associates had heard the rumor from a reliable source and thought she should know.
Isabelle and Veronica rode in a car alone so they could discuss it.
Isabelle wasn’t ready to share the bad news with the others, and they had other things on their minds: their mother’s will and the mysterious meeting.
Drama and secrets weren’t their mother’s style.
Isabelle felt as though she had already lost Ian, if the rumor was true, which made it a double loss for her, if she lost her mother and husband within a month of each other. Both were huge losses for her.
Charlotte, Quinne, and Olivia rode in a car together.
Quinne drove. They were quiet as they left the city, still unable to guess the reason for the secrecy and the mysterious unfamiliar location.
It was unlike their mother to complicate things.
She had always been honest, transparent, and straightforward with them.
They were certain she’d had no secrets from them, nor anything of great value to leave them.
The greatest gift she’d had to give them was the love she shared with them, unconditionally, for their entire lifetimes.
It had been so much for each of them to lose her so suddenly and in such a shocking way.
They each drifted with their own private thoughts of her as they drove to Connecticut.
It was a cold gray winter day, and none of them suspected even for an instant how radically their lives were about to change.
Losing her enormous presence in their lives had been hard enough.