Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
After Eva’s arrival, Joanna’s world changed in every way. First, she had to find an obstetrician. It turned out that was harder than expected, given that Eva was already so far along in her pregnancy and the best OBGYNs had already filled up their roster. But she called around and managed to make an appointment.
The next thing on the agenda was to try to talk to her granddaughter about what’d happened between her and her mother, but she was just as stubborn as Karen, and so far, Joanna hadn’t made progress in getting either one of them to talk about the situation or to each other.
She sipped a cup of tea as she read the morning news, while Eva ate her cereal with a grouchy look on her face. She didn’t much like waking up in the mornings, since she stayed up so late each night.
“You didn’t have to wake me up, you know,” she said around a mouthful. “I don’t have anywhere to go today.”
“I understand that. But the day is well and truly underway. I had breakfast hours ago. And I’m about to head over to see Gwen. I didn’t want you sleeping through lunch. You need to get onto a better schedule. It isn’t good for your health to stay up all hours of the night and sleep through the daylight. You’ll turn into a possum.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “Can you please buy more ice cream today? We’re out.”
“More? Maybe you should eat some fruit, honey?”
Another eye roll. “I eat fruit.”
“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll grab ice cream on the way home. And perhaps you could wash the dishes for me?”
“Okay,” Eva said.
“What else will you do today? Do you want to think about what we’ll need for the nursery?”
Eva shrugged. “I’m going to have a swim in the pool. Then I might walk down to the beach. There were some kids playing volleyball yesterday afternoon. Maybe they’ll be there again. They were nice.”
“That sounds lovely.” Joanna carried her cup to the sink, rinsed it out and set it on the bench. She studied her granddaughter quietly. She wasn’t sure how much she should intervene. Eva was almost grown; she would soon be a mother. Should Joanna try to parent her, give her boundaries? It was an unfamiliar situation, and she wasn’t sure how much she should do. Karen was no help—all she wanted was for Eva to come home. And so far, Eva had made no indication that she had any intention of doing so.
The entire kitchen table at Gwen’s condo was covered in paperwork. There was a laptop open at one end of the table, and Gwen sat in front of it, tapping at the keyboard. Joanna watched her with a frown. They were getting nowhere.
“None of this makes any sense,” Joanna said. “I thought the two of you were doing better than this financially. I’m going through the spreadsheet your lawyer sent you, and it looks like you have a lot of debt but not a lot of money. What is this?”
Gwen studied her laptop screen. “I don’t know. It’s definitely not right. There should be three more real estate holdings at the very least. I didn’t stay on top of our finances very closely.”
“You’ve already got the money from the sale of your home. Right?” Joanna asked.
“Yes, we’ve divided that into two.”
“That can’t be all of it though,” Joanna said. “There must be more…”
“Yes, there’s a lot more to figure out. But where is the rest of our money? That’s what I want to know.”
“There’s so much paperwork here, I can’t get my head around all of it,” Joanna said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ve never been any good at this stuff. I always struggle with it. Give me a kitchen and an oven, and I will prepare a delicious meal, but hand me a balance sheet, and I’m in over my head.” She laughed. “I wish I was more help. But you know who would be a big help? Chris could probably give you some advice.”
“Do you think he would mind?” Gwen replied. “It’s all very confusing. I might call Chris and see what he has to say.”
“That’s a good idea. You’re not getting the full picture here, something is missing.”
Gwen’s voice was laced with frustration. “I wish I’d paid more attention over the years. People always said that I should make sure I was across our finances, but I told them there was no need—I trusted my husband. And honestly, I was lazy about it because I was so busy with the kids. Raising four children is hard work. And Duncan never helped me with any of that. It was all on me. I hardly had a moment’s rest in the early years. And then I fell into the habit of letting him manage our finances because I was so out of the loop. I’ve got my family trust, left to me by my parents. But otherwise, the only money I ever had was in our joint account.”
“It’s normal to have one person managing the money. You can’t both do it at the same time.” Joanna refilled their glasses with iced tea. She topped up the glasses with a slice of fresh lemon each.
“Thank you,” Gwen said, reaching for her full cup. “I do take some of the blame for that, though. And now, I have no idea what I should be looking for or how much we should have. How many accounts are there? How many properties? Duncan has done a fantastic job over the years of providing for the family. He’s done very well in business and has made a lot of money. But I don’t think it’s right for him to hide some of it from me now.”
“No, it’s not right. The two of you were a team, and everything he made was yours as well. Now it’s time to divide up those assets. He should be open about it, but I have a feeling he’s not doing that. You should speak to your lawyer.”
“Thank you for coming over to help me. I will speak to her. But if Duncan is going to this much trouble to hide money from me, I’m not sure I care to take it. I don’t need it, and if it means that much to him, more than our family does, maybe he can use it to keep himself warm at night.” She laughed. “That sounds awful. I don’t mean to be nasty, but honestly, he wasn’t willing to fight for our marriage the way he is for his money.”
“I think you hit the nail on the head.”
“Are there any good men out there?” Gwen sighed.
Joanna offered a wan smile. “My Ron was the best. I miss him every day.”
“Of course he was. I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have said that.”
“And your boys are pretty great.”
“They are. Yes, you’re right. I just get so frustrated with Duncan sometimes. Oh, and speaking of good men, how is Chris?”
Joanna reached for a cracker and loaded it with a slice of brie. “Chris is doing fine. He’s been volunteering at the RSL club, helping them with their books. He likes to give back to the community. And he’s decided to do a walkathon to raise money for cancer, so we’re going to do that together.”
“That’s so nice. What a lovely man he is. Do you feel any romantic attachment to him, or is it a friendship?” Gwen asked.
Joanna hesitated, thinking over her feelings. She’d asked herself the same thing recently as had everyone in her life, it seemed. “It’s a friendship, nothing more. There’s a part of me that would love to have some romance again, but I think that’s probably in the past. No one could replace Ron. And I don’t want to cause any friction with Chris. He’s wonderful, and he’s been there for me since Aaron and Emily moved out.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Gwen replied. “Although maybe you should keep yourself open to the possibility.”
Joanna laughed. “Okay, I will. But there’s something else I haven’t told you yet.”
“What’s that?”
“My granddaughter, Eva, showed up on my doorstep over a week ago.”
“Eva did? How old is she?”
“She’s sixteen,” Joanna replied with a shake of her head. “Only sixteen. And she’s thirty weeks pregnant.”
“What?” Gwen exclaimed.
Joanna nodded. “I know—I was shocked as well. She’s run away from home. I called Karen immediately, of course, to let her know that Eva was with me. She was beside herself with worry and had been about to call the police. But she calmed down after a while and said that Eva could stay with me until we figured out what to do next.”
“Why did she run away?” Gwen asked after she took a sip of tea.
“They had a big fight. Karen wants Eva to put the child up for adoption. She tried to convince her not to have the baby, but Eva was adamant. And now she thinks they should give the child up when it’s born so that Eva can finish high school. But Eva is furious about it all. She said she couldn’t stay there any longer. She wants to live with me. She asked if I’ll help her with the baby.” Joanna still hadn’t fully processed what her granddaughter’s request would entail. But her heart broke for the girl.
“My goodness. What did you tell her?”
“I said she could stay, and I gave her Emily’s old room. I made her a nice meal and put her to bed, and she slept like the dead. I think she was out for about fourteen hours, poor thing.”
“She must’ve been so tired,” Gwen said. “But will she stay? Do you think you could do what she’s asking?”
“I don’t know, but I suppose I won’t be heading south for Christmas after all,” Joanna said. “As for anything else long term, we’re taking one day at a time. But you can see, I don’t really have room for romance right now.”
Gwen pressed a hand to Joanna’s arm. “Honey, you raised your children. You lost a husband. You lost a business. And you’ve dealt with your fair share of issues. If romance comes your way, you can decide whether or not it’s for you, but don’t let anyone take that away from you. It’s time for you to find some joy. And I know Eva would want that for you as well.”