Chapter 2 #4
“I don’t think any of us did,” Veronica said sadly.
“She kept all of this secret from us. She didn’t even live in that tiny, overcrowded little apartment where we used to see her.
She was here, writing, in a beautiful place, all by herself, for the past dozen years.
We should have spent more time with her, all of us.
I’ve been busy with Anson for most of it, and you’ve been busy with your business and your kids,” she said to Charlotte.
“And I’ve been living day-to-day working freelance and living with Coop,” Quinne volunteered.
“I could even set up my own production house now, if I wanted to.” She had never wanted to own anything until then, but the discoveries of that morning might change that.
She glanced at Isabelle then. “And you’ve been all wrapped up in your perfect marriage with your handsome prince and your adorable babies, living happily ever after,” she said, and tears filled Isabelle’s eyes when Quinne said it.
Her happily ever after had just crashed in flames, and she didn’t feel ready to tell her sisters, although she knew she would eventually.
They never kept secrets from each other.
But their mother had. She had kept the biggest secrets of all, and she wasn’t there now so they could thank her.
She had let them lead their lives the way they chose, with the people they had chosen, in exactly the way they wanted to, and now she had given each of them security for the future, the freedom to do what they wanted.
She had freed them from their burdens, and given them a beautiful home to share.
She had let them be exactly who they were and wanted to be, without ever sharing with them who she was, or what her fears and burdens were.
She had never wanted to be a burden to them, and she hadn’t been.
She had been there to love and protect and support them, to pick them up when they fell, to stand by them when they needed her to.
Olivia knew that even better than the others.
Felicia had done everything she could to restore her daughter to a normal life after the accident, in whatever way Olivia wanted to do it, so she could be independent despite her injuries.
“I just want you to know that I think your mother was an amazing woman,” Scott said to them before he left to drive back to the city.
“She wanted the best for all of you, and she loved you more than anything in life. I think you know that now. And the house is yours, free and clear. You can stay here now, if you want to. I think she would have liked that. She couldn’t wait for you to see it one day and enjoy it too.
And now it’s yours.” He gazed at all of them with a gentle smile.
“I wish we could have shared it with her when she was alive,” Isabelle said softly.
“She thought that this way would be better,” Scott said quietly.
He could see that they loved their mother and had a lot to digest now.
“Maybe she needed to be alone here to write,” he said.
“There are some things we’ll never know about how or why she did things.
The way she did them. She was a very private person, with enormous talent, and she loved you.
That’s the thing you can be sure of now.
There is no question about that. Call me if I can do anything to help,” he said, and left a few minutes later, after giving each of them a full set of keys to the house and the other buildings on the property.
They sat quietly for a few minutes and then put on their coats and went to explore the house and the estate that were theirs now.
They all had a lot to think about, who their mother was, and what she had done for them, while she was alive, and now after she was gone.
She had done even more for them in death than she had when she was alive, and Veronica smiled when she thought of something, as they finished the sandwiches, before they began their tour of the house.
“Do you remember how Mom always told each of us we were her favorite, when she tucked us into bed at night? She told each of us not to tell the others. I believed her. For years, I thought I was her favorite, and then I found out she told you the same thing.” They all smiled at the memory.
They had each found out in the end, one day when they had an enormous fight and one of them announced she was her favorite.
At first, they were crushed, and then they all thought it was funny.
And they’d always remembered it. “She was telling the truth, as it turns out. We were all her favorites and we still are. She divided everything perfectly between us. It’s up to us what we do with that now.
We’re still her favorites, all five of us.
So she wasn’t lying after all. She just proved it to us.
I love you guys,” Veronica said emotionally.
They went upstairs to check out the house a few minutes later, and it was more beautiful than they could have imagined.
There was an elevator so Olivia was able to join them easily.
They found photographs of themselves in her bedroom and library, and favorite objects Felicia had moved from the city that they’d never noticed were missing.
She even had some of their artwork from when they were kids, and things they had made her for Christmas and Mother’s Day.
And there was no doubt about it when they finished the tour.
They had each been her favorites, all five of them, and she was much more amazing than they had ever imagined.
She had rejected fame, for them, and her own peace of mind, and saved everything she could so they would have a better life in the future.
It shocked them to realize how secretive Felicia had been and how little they had known her. They had a lot to think about now, about how what she had left them would impact their lives and their future.