A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3) (29 page)

That had to be it, the ol’ coot! I could imagine her looking down on me in that moment, laughing and shushing everyone around her, waiting until I heard the punch line.

Dean was going through figures and I looked at Lady, who had a white face. She was clutching the chair with claws. I looked at Lump, wondering if she spoke code, then nearly laughed at her dumb ass. She was lazily staring out the window, deep in a daydream, letting the drone of Dean’s face flow in and out of the air around us. He had a boring, monotone voice that no one in their right mind could pay attention to for too long. It was a fact. Lump and I were proof.

Suddenly the step-kids were standing and yelling. Lump jumped and half stood, ready for a fight, but totally confused as to why. William pushed her back down with one of his big paws, and had the other on my leg. It was abnormally sweaty, which was a little gross, but I didn’t care as much as what the step-kids were yelling at.

William jumped up to talk to Dean, who nodded, then motioned for us to leave the room. Lady followed on our heels.

“Dude, what was that about?” Lump asked, a smile on her face.

“Gladis’s step-children expected more,” William answered with a grim face.

“Oh, did he tell us what she gave us? I missed it,” Lump said in confusion.

“I know!” I couldn’t help laughing. “Your dumb ass was looking out the window! Wasn’t that guy the most boring guy in the world?”

William stopped dead, Lump and I going a few more paces before we knew what was going on.

“You didn’t hear him?” William asked, incredulous.

“We heard him,” Lump said defensibly. “We just weren’t listening very closely. Did Gladis leave me that shaker I was always admiring? She said she would will it to me, but I always thought she was kidding. Until now, obviously.”

William was walking again, shaking his head. Lump and I had to jog to keep up, Lady shadowing his movements lost in thought. William wouldn’t answer our questions until we were out of the building and in the coffee shop next door. He apparently didn’t care that it was way too hot for coffee.

“Girls, sit down,” he ordered. Lady already was.

“But, what about an iced coffee?” I asked. Why were we in a coffee shop if not for a little coffee? William had lost the plot.

“I’ll get it.” Lady stood and moved away as if her limbs had weights hanging from them.

We gave our orders, and then Lump and I turned to each other.

“Did you see that one man get a purple face? He was livid!” I laughed.

“And fat! He was jiggling all over the place. He was shaking and jiggling. I thought I was going to fall over from the laughter!” Lump responded.

“And what about—“

“Jess,” William cut me off irately. “You girls should know what Gladis left you in her will.”

“Oh yeah,” I said with glee. It was like a lottery. I bet Gladis would give me summer rights to a month at the pool house or something awesome. Although, the step-kids would definitely sell the house, so I wouldn’t get to cash in, but the thought was good.

William looked at me with hooded eyes then sighed, “Lump—I don’t know the legal jargon, but this is the gist—you received five million dollars to build your company. That should be enough to get you moved in the direction of a national chain. An additional sum was geared towards business advisors because Gladis knew you wouldn’t have a clue what you were doing. My dad and I are two of the eight business advisors. The others are spread out in the U.S.”

The bottom of my stomach fell down to my shoes, then sorta gushed out all over the floor. Lady was back with coffee and sat down quickly.

Lump was staring at William with a white face and open mouth. Then, her face fell into a frown and she said, “That old bitch.”

William’s face clouded in confusion immediately.

Lump went on with, “She wasn’t supposed to take that stupid plan seriously! I always talk big—Jess, you know—I talk big, but I never actually do it! What was she doing wasting her money on such a foolish...” Lump shook her head.

It was quiet for a moment before Lump yelled, “She is insane! Seriously you guys. No way. I can’t—doesn’t she know that means I have to, like,
do
it? Now I actually have to work at it. Like…how the fuck am I supposed to… what the fuck, right? Right Jess? She called me on my bluff! What a bitch! Do you know the amount of work that will be? Five million?! I am going to have to succeed now. I can’t give up like I always do. I always give up when it gets to be too much work—Jess, you know—that’s my M.O. Now, though, if I don’t do it I will have let her down. What a fucking bitch! I wish she were here right now, I would give her a piece of my mind.

“That’s it, isn’t it? She is up there laughing down at me this instant. She put me into slavery. I am a slave to her will, now. Damn her. This was about that comment about dying her hair, right? I knew she would get the last laugh. She always does, that mean bitch.”

Lump got up and walked out of the coffee shop. Two seconds later she was back in, grabbed her coffee, said, “I’m walking home,” and left.

I could tell she was about two seconds away from crying.

“What was that about?” William asked, shaken.

“No one has ever believed in her before,” I muttered. “I mean, her friends have, but no one with clout ever has. No one has ever helped her. I don’t think she has ever really believed in herself because of it. Now… now, she’ll cry, and then she’ll try harder to succeed at this then she has ever tried to do anything in her whole life. She will make an empire, you mark my words. She won’t sleep or die until Gladis is paid back in full for her trust.”

William looked at me like I was a complete stranger. He got out his phone, dialed, and said, “Adam—“

“NO!” I grabbed the phone and disconnected the call. “No, William! Lump needs to think on this for a while. Tell Adam just to be home.”

The phone started ringing.

“She’ll probably head there. Tell him to just, I don’t know, comfort her or box her or however they deal with emotional crap.”

William answered the phone and told Adam what happened, and what I said. Adam, knowing Lump, agreed without asking where she was, and hung up.

“I didn’t expect that reaction, I must say,” William said, leaning back.

“I don’t know why not.”

“Okay, now you,” William's eyes were intent again.

I got nervous. Based on Lump’s deal, I was worried Gladis would give me something I couldn’t live up to. I didn’t know if I was ready to hear the obligation I was about to be handed. I just nodded and steeled myself.

“You were—well, actually,
we
were given this together—I am to help you along since I have some…experience in these matters. She was planning on giving this to you by yourself, but when she found out I was planning to marry you anyway, she decided it would work out better this way. I will sign it all over to you, though, if—“

“Just, get on with it.”

“Well, aside from the three million for each of her step-children, and Lady’s small fortune, you get it all. Or we do. No stipulations, no promises, no nothing. You are now sitting on a large fortune, already in your name. What was already parceled out was about 35% of the total estate. You don’t have to, but Gladis asked that you keep her favorite charities on your charity list. But that is up to you.”

I felt dizzy. My whole world was swirling around me in lights and signs, all of which I didn’t understand. None of this made sense.

“I don’t… I… I’m going to throw up,” I said as bile rose in the back of my throat.

William ushered me outside quickly, Lady following behind, where I heaved in the bushes. I stood up, thought about it, then heaved again.

William got me to a bench when it looked like I was going to stop trying to throw up.

“Why me?” I asked William shakily.

“I don’t know, Jess. She probably couldn’t bear to give it to those money grubbing step-children of hers, didn’t want to leave it to the state, and lost her daughter. She probably thought her legacy was safer with you then anyone she knew. Well, with help.”

“But, William, I don’t want all that. I don’t want any of it. What am I going to do with it all? I have plenty. I already have the dream. I mean, I have a good job, I have a great man, I have great friends… I have it all, William. What do I need with more? I’m afraid any more will tip karma and kick me in the ass. Can I decline?”

“No, baby. But you can give it all away if you want.”

“But Gladis wouldn’t want me to.”

“No, I think she wanted to leave it with someone that would pass it down to her kids. Our kids, if you’re willing.”

“But…you’re still richer than me.” I was grasping at things to complain about.

William laughed and hugged me closer. “Yes, I guess I am. Until we get married that is. Then we’ll be equal. Finally.”

“No way, you have a long way to go to be equal to me,” I said, turning away, thinking about throwing up again.

“Jessica?” It was Lady’s quiet voice.

She looked lost.

“Yeah?”

“Can I have a job?”

“What? Didn’t…I thought Gladis…” I stammered.

“What do I need with all that? I took care of Gladis and her daughter. When her daughter died with fever I took care of Gladis. I would be honored if you will let me be in your employ. I have been working all my life. I have been
useful
all my life. It will be nice to save Gladis’s money for retirement, but until then, I best keep busy.”

William shook his head. “No one would ever believe it. No one would ever believe that a giant fortune landed on all your shoulders and every one of you would give it back if they could. I have never seen anything like it.”

Epilogue

William and I were married in Florence, Italy in the fall. We paid for the wedding ourselves and only invited close friends and family. We flew everyone out and paid for their hotel for a week. After that we took off traveling for a month. I hadn’t seen any of the world, and he hadn’t seen much of it, so without a plan we went here and there and took in the sights and sounds of foreign places.

We renovated Gladis’s house and moved in because it would be what Gladis wanted. The house was too big for just the two of us so we closed off a bunch of the rooms until times of parties, in which case we showed off the house in all its splendor. The old staff were told that their positions would be saved for them if they wanted, and all but a couple returned, Lady included. There wasn’t all that much for anyone to do because William and I were pretty self-sufficient, and we didn’t have kids—something Lady hoped would change sooner rather than later so she had something to do—but the staff was old and moved slowly, so it all worked out.

Adam proposed to Lump one evening when they were working on the ranch bailing hay. Adam curtly told Lump that she wasn’t bailing correctly and got down off the truck in a huff to show her. He grabbed her pitch fork and told her to “here, hold this!” and handed over a small box with Lump’s dream ring inside—we helped him remember what it looked like. Adam got a Texas hay ride for his troubles.

They didn’t mention it, but I knew for sure they had to quickly shower after their forays to get out all the scratchy hay particles from certain crevices that shall remain nameless.

As I predicted, Lump worked harder than ever trying to make her and Gladis’s dream come to. Lump currently had the market share of Texas, and was planning to spread out to other states within the year. Adam helped her every step of the way, and Lump helped Adam with his ranch and other schemes.

William’s pursuits were paying off as well. His breeding campaign was yielding fantastic bulls and an award winning line of Blue Healer. He still worked at the Davies’ business heading up the expansion team.

Speaking of the Davies’ business, I was now a Davies (I was strong armed into changing my name) and told in no uncertain terms by Thomas that I would be getting promoted whether I wanted it or not, and would be his advisor in an office next to his. I was to get my M.B.A. from an ivy league school and shut up about it.

Thomas also informed me that since I didn’t need the money, I was only going to get a symbolic raise. I replied to this by reminding him that he didn’t need the money, either, and I knew for a fact what he was making, and it wasn’t symbolic in the least. After a heated bout of arguing, I got a good sized raise. Thomas was just as good of a negotiator as I was. Well, almost.

Jane was still in L.A., but finishing up her schooling and thinking about joining us in Texas. I had a feeling Brad was helping her decide, because they’d gotten awful chummy in the last few visits. Flem was extremely distraught about that idea, but refused to join us. She was from the South and was not going back. Plus, she had met an awesome guy and they were getting along great.

Claire finally went back to school in Ireland after her stay in New York. She’d been back less then two months before deciding it was a bad mistake. Her parents, however, put her under lock and key until she finished school. It was still anyone’s guess how it would turn out.

Ami married her beau and they were living happily ever after, as far as Ami was concerned. As far as her man was concerned, the mother-in-law was a huge problem and was constantly in their hair. It was drama that I was glad to hear the gossip about because this guy seemed just as strong-willed as the mother. Each new twist was like an episode in a soap opera.

William had been right. Money does change people. For me, I had to become more grown up and responsible to deal with it all. William and I organized all our holdings and hired a top-notch investment broker and a team of accountants to keep track of everything.

Even though Lump and I had relationships were a dream, and we wouldn’t change a thing, we occasionally used the pool house to get away from the irritations that only men can create, just as Gladis used to.

THE END

~*~*~*~

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