Chapter Nineteen #2
Watching Daddy, I imagined an iceberg melting. His complexion got so red that I thought he would burst into flame.
Then he shot up and screamed at Mr. Orseck. “This is a load of fish guts, crap! It won’t stand in court!”
“Your father was of sound mind and body when he wrote this will. He was managing the company. I will be a witness to that,” Mr. Orseck said.
“You send a copy of that hogwash to my attorney, Ron Cutler, this morning, and expect to be in court.”
“Well, don’t throw out what he gave me,” Aunt Frances said.
“You idiot,” he told her, and charged out.
“All right,” Mr. Orseck said. “We’ll proceed as your father and your grandfather wanted until told by a court otherwise. For now, Lisa, you can announce the results to your employees at the company. Take whatever action you want.”
I rose. I couldn’t say I wasn’t trembling with the authority and new wealth. Could I live up to this?
Anna took my arm and smiled. “It will all be good,” she said.
I looked at Aunt Frances.
“Well, he did surprise me, the old coot,” she said, and left.
I drove Anna back to the Crest and then decided to step up to my new responsibilities and went to the company. I informed the employees we’d be closed for Grandfather’s funeral and told them what he had left me. Daddy was still with his lawyer, plotting, I imagined.
By late afternoon, Mr. Orseck called me to tell me Ron Cutler had filed in civil court and the case would be adjudicated in two days. He said he had no idea what their strategy was. “But we’ll be there to counter it. Don’t worry,” he said.
Daddy did not come back to the Crest, which was a relief to both Anna and me. Jamie came to dinner both nights and promised to be at court. The community was already buzzing about it.
Anna decided to attend court with me as well as Jamie.
I could see from the way Daddy was behaving with his attorney that he felt confident.
What did he know that we didn’t? The preliminary information was presented to the judge, Victor Collins, who had Grandfather’s will before him.
Mr. Orseck stood and commented about Grandfather’s state of mind at the time he had helped him create his will.
He thought he might quickly shut down their line of reasoning if that was what they had intended.
Ron Cutler stood and said they had no intention of proving Grandfather incompetent but simply intended to show that the decision he had made was based on false information.
What information? I wondered.
“At this point,” Mr. Cutler said, “we would like to enter into the record the following information that Charles Baxter did not have at his disposal. It is our argument that he would not have made the decision he did if he had known it.”
“What is the nature of this information?” Judge Collins asked.
Ron Cutler held up some documents. “We will show that Charles Baxter was unaware that his supposed granddaughter was not his granddaughter, that she shared no blood relationship with any Baxter. This document is a legal agreement between Theresa Baxter and Melville Baxter, in which Theresa Baxter agreed never to reveal the true father of her child but instead to support Melville Baxter’s paternity in exchange for which Melville Baxter would support both Theresa and Lisa Baxter and pay for all the expensive medical procedures Lisa Baxter required.
This additional document is Rudy Clancy’s agreement never to claim fatherhood of Lisa Baxter if Melville Baxter did pay for all Lisa Baxter’s needs.
He wasn’t in any condition to support himself, much less a needy child.
Melville Baxter and Theresa Baxter never revealed this to Charles Baxter.
He was under the misconception that Lisa was his true granddaughter.
It is our contention that he would not have designed this will if he had had a full understanding of his bloodline. ”
The papers were presented to the judge. I was speechless.
Daddy was not my daddy. Mommy had never told me.
She had kept to the bargain, probably afraid Melville Baxter would stop supporting my medical needs if she didn’t.
I couldn’t deny that Grandfather hadn’t known.
In light of the secrets he had shared with me, what would we do?
Mr. Orseck rose. “Your Honor, we’d like to request a postponement of these proceedings so that I can look at the documentation and prepare a response. We had no knowledge of this prior to today’s hearing.”
Judge Collins thought a moment and then nodded. “This hearing will resume at ten a.m. two days from today.”
“I’ll see you in my office tomorrow, same time,” Mr. Orseck said. He sounded very depressed.
I looked at Daddy joking with his attorney and Aunt Frances smiling beside them. I couldn’t stop myself. I marched across the room to his side. He turned, that cold smile on his face.
“Why?” I asked. “Why would you make such a deal and cover up your wife’s betrayal? Don’t you have any pride as a man?”
He stopped smiling. “You miss the point. It’s exactly my pride that made me decide. I wasn’t going to let your mother and some transient bum embarrass me. I don’t lose; I don’t get betrayed.”
“Except by yourself,” I said, and walked back to Jamie and Anna. “Let’s go home,” I told them.
An air of gloom filled with dark silence followed us all the way. When we arrived at the Crest, I decided to just walk about the property. Jamie stayed with me, still silent.
“In a way, I’m glad you’re not his real daughter,” he finally said.
I laughed. “You won’t believe it, but, deep in my heart, I never thought I was.”
“Well, you really can’t blame anyone. Your mother thought she was making the right decision for you, and Grandfather Charlie, believing you were a true Baxter, arranged his will that way.”
“What did you say?” I asked.
“What?”
“A true Baxter.”
“Yes, isn’t that the point?”
I smiled. “It sure is,” I said, and started for the house.
“Where are you going?”
“To win our case, silly. Come on,” I urged.
He rushed to catch up. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“You will.”
We hurried through the house to Grandfather’s office. Jamie watched me pull out the desk drawer to find the key to the safe-deposit box. I held it up. Of course, he didn’t understand. I picked up the phone and called Mr. Orseck.
“Can you meet me at the Birdlane National Bank as soon as it opens tomorrow morning?”
“Sure. Why?”
“I have what you need,” I said.
At dinner, I explained it to Jamie and Anna.
“Well, you know who is in for a big surprise,” she said. “It’s like an Agatha Christie novel,” she added, and began to describe the Agatha Christie house, the old railroad used in movies, and the countryside. She missed it.
“Maybe we’ll all go there someday with you,” I said.
In the morning, I gave Mr. Orseck the papers at the bank.
He read them and looked at me. “It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s as if your grandfather knew this day would come.”
“Maybe he did. Maybe he knew more than Melville Baxter thought.”
He laughed. “Let me go work on this for tomorrow,” he said.
The next day couldn’t come fast enough. I could hardly sleep that night. My stomach was so in knots in the morning that I could barely swallow some coffee, much less eat. Jamie met us at the courthouse. There was already a bigger crowd than on the first day.
Judge Collins called the hearing to order.
Mr. Orseck stood up. “Your Honor, we do not wish to challenge any of Mr. Melville Baxter’s documentation.”
Daddy smiled widely.
“However, we would like to present our own documentation, provided to Lisa Baxter by her grandfather. It was kept in his safe-deposit box at the Birdlane National Bank. May I approach?”
Judge Collins nodded, and Mr. Orseck handed him the envelope. The judge read the papers.
Daddy’s face grew somber, as if he wondered what this could be.
The judge put the papers down. “And your point, Mr. Orseck?”
“As you can see from all the documents presented, Mr. Baxter’s and ours, none of the parties in this hearing had a blood relationship with Charles Baxter and his wife.
Charles Baxter was quite aware, obviously, of his son’s and his daughter’s true origins.
He provided Lisa with this information anticipating a situation like this, which only reinforces his decisions in his will. ”
Ron Cutler rose to read the documents.
“Mr. Cutler?” the judge asked.
The attorney looked speechless. “Well, if no one is blood-related, why grant the benefits of the will to one of them?”
“Because that’s what my client wished,” Mr. Orseck said.
The judge nodded. “Since I see no viable reason to deny the authenticity or intentions of this will, I uphold its desired result.”
He banged his gavel and closed the case. Daddy’s body seemed to sink in his chair. Jamie hugged me, and the visitors cheered.
“Birdlane loves you,” Jamie said.
I could feel it.
For the first time, I could feel it.