17
The past is a great place, and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner, either.—Mick Jagger
Mel’s foot, clad in a gorgeous black-and-white Louboutin pump, jiggled back and forth, and betrayed her inner agitation. Otherwise, she looked cool as a cucumber as she flipped through an issue of Town and Country, seemingly absorbed in its pages.
Rhett envied her and wished she could act as nonchalant. But her nerves and apprehension made her fidget around in her chair like a kid called to the Principal's office.
The office in which they sat wasn't that of a school administrator, but an attorney.
They had been summoned there by a letter that arrived two days after Rhys left to go back to Canada, a letter that shattered Rhett's blissed out state of mind and threw her straight into turmoil.
The letter was from J. Rutherford Wallace III of the firm of Kellerman, Wallace and Turman in Fort Worth, and asked to meet with the Vandergriff sisters to settle their father's estate.
Mel took it in stride, but Rhett switched into panic mode.
Her mind conjured up scenarios of owing large sums of money to the IRS or being stuck with mountains of debt run up by the man who abandoned his children.
Myles Vandergriff cut his daughters from his life when they were little, so why should they be responsible for things now that he was dead?
"Ladies?" The cool, professional voice of a secretary cut through the roar of dread in Rhett's head and brought Mel's jiggling foot to a stop. "Mr. Wallace will see you now."
Based on the man's name —J. Rutherford Wallace the Third, for Pete's sake—Rhett expected an older man, maybe silver-haired and dignified, certainly pompous and full of himself.
The man who met them at the door to his office, though, was a pleasant surprise.
Yes, he was wearing a suit that screamed expensive and tailored, but the mop of unruly black curls and the friendly blue eyes negated the snobbery of his clothing.
Tiny lines at the corners of his eyes and beside his full mouth made him appear to be around the same age as the Vandergriff sisters, but he exuded a boyish charm that made him seem younger.
He held out his left hand, which Rhett noticed was not burdened by a wedding ring.
"Thank you so much for coming. I'm Ford Wallace."
Mel stepped forward and shook his hand. The thaw that took place in her manner was visible to the naked eye. Apparently, she noticed the lack of a wedding ring, too.
"Mel Vandergriff. Nice to meet you."
Oh, boy. This guy was in trouble whether he knew it or not.
Rhett did everything in her power not to whoop with laughter as she shook the attorney's hand and murmured her name.
He probably didn't hear it anyway since his gaze was still riveted on Mel.
The minute Rhett released the man's hand, her sister took his arm and sauntered into the office.
"Thanks so much for contacting us." Mel's throaty purr could have made a roomful of rabid dogs lie down and coo. "We had no idea our father passed away."
"Um, yes. A couple of months ago." Ford took a deep breath and regained a little of his composure. "I'm truly sorry for your loss."
"No condolences are necessary." Mel's sidelong smile took the sting out of her words. "We lost him over thirty years ago, so this is just closure."
Feeling about as useless as a third arm, a third leg, or a third ball, Rhett sat in one of the tufted leather chairs that faced Ford's desk.
Though it was fun to watch Mel work her magic, Rhett just wanted to find out how much of a financial hardship they'd been left in by their deadbeat dad and move on.
The courtship ritual and its inevitable fuck-fest could wait.
She decided to speak up before things got more off-track.
"Since he did abandon us so long ago, I'm wondering why he bothered to include us in his final affairs at all. Did he leave us in a huge mess or something?"
"Oh, no, Mrs. Davis. Not at all." Rhett's voice seemed to recall the attorney to the purpose of their visit, and he escorted Mel to the chair matching one in which her sister sat.
"Our firm has represented your father, and his parents before him, for a number of years.
When Mr. Vandergriff's wife died last year—”
"He was married?" Shock obliterated the purr from Mel's voice. "Did he have children?"
"No, he and his wife were childless. When she passed away, he drafted a new will that left the two of you his sole beneficiaries.
" He leaned over his desk and flipped open a plain, innocuous-looking manila file folder, and extracted two sheets of paper.
"He also left a letter for you. I'll step out and let you read it in privacy. "
As he distributed a copy to each of them, Mel looked up through her lashes. "Thank you so much, Ford. You're being so kind."
"Oh, I...Why, you're welcome. I, uh, I'll just leave you alone for bit."
After he closed the door to the office behind him, Rhett turned an exasperated look on her sister. "Can you wait to seduce him until we've finished this estate crap?"
Unperturbed, Mel flipped her hair off her shoulder. "I'm not seducing him. I'm just laying the groundwork. Loosen up, Rhett. It's not illegal to mix business and pleasure."
"Fine. But can we delay the pleasure until we get this sorted out?" She waved her copy of the letter in Mel's direction.
"If you insist. Okay, let's see what ol' Myles had to say."
With a deep, fortifying breath, Rhett lowered her eyes to the letter in her hand.
Dear Melanie and Rhett,
You don't know how much I wish I could say these things to you face to face.
You don't know how much I've wanted to talk to you both, to know you, for so long.
But I was prevented by a clause your mother insisted be inserted in our divorce papers that forbade me to have any contact with either of you.
It's my deepest regret that I agreed to that, and if I could go back and change things, I'd never have signed it.
Though I wasn't able to be part of your lives, I did keep up with you.
Melanie, I was there when you graduated high school, and when you received your college degrees.
My friends in the banking industry tell me what an asset you are to your profession, and I'm proud to tell them you're my daughter.
Rhett, I also attended your high school graduation, even though you didn't get to.
And later that night I stood at the window of the hospital nursery and watched my beautiful little granddaughter sleeping in her crib.
What a wonderful mother you are, Rhett, because Lilith has become a wonderful young woman. How I wish I could have known her, too.
I just wanted you to know that even though I had to do it in silence and on the periphery, I was there watching you grow up, amazed that I was the father of the two most beautiful women God ever created. I wish I could have told you this one more time, but I love you both. I always have.
Love,
Dad
Rhett waved the paper in front of her face as if that would dry the tears that stung her eyes. "Do you think it's true what he said about Mom putting that in the divorce papers?"
"Yeah, I do." Mel's foot was once again in jiggle mode. "Why would he lie? It's easy enough to check. I figure there's a copy of the divorce somewhere here in this building."
Rhett dropped the letter to her lap. "Well, this sucks dick."
Mel snorted laughter. "Nice mouth. I swear I don't know if Rhys is a bad influence on you, or a good one. Six months ago you wouldn't say shit if you had a mouthful."
Before Rhett could respond, the door to the office opened, and the curly head of Ford Wallace appeared. "Am I intruding?"
"Not at all." Mel smiled at him. "We've finished reading."
"Wonderful. I didn't want to interrupt." Ford crossed to his desk and dropped into the massive swivel chair behind it.
He opened the folder again and took out a sheaf of papers.
"Now. Your father was very thorough in his preparations.
He pre-paid his burial expenses, and left instructions for his physical estate.
It was his wish that his house, which he inherited from his parents, be sold, along with the majority of the contents.
There were some personal items he wished the two of you to have, and those are in a storage facility that's being paid for out of the estate.
I have the keys and paperwork for you, and it's all in the name of Melanie Vandergriff. "
"Is the house on the market?" Rhett asked.
"Actually, no. It sold in a matter of days, and the buyer bought the furnishings with it.
Apparently, it was a friend of your father's, and he paid full asking price.
That money was added to the estate. I know you're not aware of this, but your father was quite ill for some months before he died.
He suffered a massive heart attack not long before his wife passed away, and it left him with congestive heart failure.
Since he knew it was just a matter of time, he liquidated all of his holdings and converted them to cash.
It's made all of this very simple for the two of you since all you have to do now is just divide it evenly. "
Mel nodded. "At least he had the forethought to do that. So, after your fees and taxes and such, what's left?"
Ford handed each of them a copy of their father's will. "Each of you will end up with just under three million dollars."
Rhett's copy of the will fluttered to the floor from her nerveless fingers. "Each? Are you sure?" Since she'd been expecting to end up with unpaid debt, any bequest of money was a shock. But that much? Her mind refused to take it in.
"Yes, ma'am. Throughout his lifetime, your father invested in several oil and gas drilling excursions, and he also inherited the estates of both his parents.
Mr. Vandergriff was a frugal man and didn't throw his money around.
He was very astute with his investments, too, and they were quite successful. "
"I'd say so." Mel had her head bent over the will in her lap. "This looks all very straightforward."
Cheeks burning with embarrassment, Rhett picked the papers up off the floor. Trust her to lose her cool like that while Mel remained calm and business-like.
Ford steepled his fingers in front of him. "Yes, your father took care of everything, and there are no loose ends to tie up."
Mel cleared her throat and looked up. "I assume you have cashier's checks prepared then?"
"That's correct." Ford removed two envelopes from the folder and handed one to Rhett, the other to Mel.
"We left the minimum in the bank required to keep the account open, and that amount is included in our fee.
Now that you ladies have your bequests, we'll withdraw that money and close the account. And that's it."
Even with the air conditioning vent aimed straight at her face, Rhett thought she might burst into spontaneous combustion at any moment.
Loading the eight boxes from their father's storage unit into the back of Mel's SUV wouldn't have sapped her so much except for the fact that the temperature was hovering right around 100. The humidity was almost as high.
Mel came out of the storage facility's office where she had gone to turn in the key and cancel the rental. She climbed into the driver's seat and handed Rhett a bottle of water already wet with condensation.
Rhett ignored the beads of moisture that dripped onto her skirt and twisted the top off the bottle in record time. The cold water hitting the back of her throat revived her a bit, and she sighed with relief.
"Thanks. I needed that."
"I saw that vending machine in the office and near 'bout tore the strap off my purse digging my wallet out for dollar bills." Mel took a long swallow of her own water and put the bottle in the cup holder. "Look. I don't know about you, but I think we can forego a trip to the cemetery."
"Yeah. It's too damn hot, and I don't really care about going anyway." Rhett turned to look out the window as they pulled out of the parking lot.
An indelicate snort preceded Mel's answer. "Remember who you're talking to. I know you've never been able to let go of Dad, so I find it kind of hard to believe you're so accepting of all this."
"Things might be a little different now." She pressed her lips together for a moment. "The stuff he said in that letter pissed me right the hell off."
"What? The part about Mom?"
"Yeah. Not that I'm ever going to say anything to her about it, because I don't need that kind of aggravation. It's done and over, right?" She glanced at her sister to try to gauge her reaction. "But he didn't have to agree to it."
"That he did not." Mel nodded in agreement.
"So, he signs that paper, dances off into the sunset without being bothered by his kids, and then with his dying breath attempts to shove all the blame onto Mama. Fuck him."
"And the horse he rode in on."
"Screw it. Screw both of them for using us as pawns in their divorce." Rhett twisted to face her sister as much as the seat belt would allow. "Let's go on a mad shopping spree with some of that money, what say?"
"Hell, yeah!" Mel pounded her fist on the steering wheel. "Where to?"
"I don't know. Slutty lingerie?"
Mouth open in shock, Mel glanced over at her. "Am I hearing this right? You? Slutty lingerie? Wow. Rhys is a good influence on you."
"I think so." She grinned. "Hey, I've got a man who appreciates me, and one who knows how to drive me right out of my ever-lovin' mind. So now I want to start driving him out of his mind. It's only fair, right?"
Mel took Rhett's hand and gave her fingers a squeeze.
"Oh, little sister, now that you've grown up there's so much I can't wait to teach you.
" She laughed in delight. "By the time you put everything into action, you'll have Rhys James for life if you want him.
Slutty lingerie is only the beginning, but it's a good one. "
Rhys James for life. Rhett liked the sound of that. She sat back with a satisfied smile. "I put myself into your capable hands. Let's go buy panties."