I sit down on my sea green comforter and lean back against my headboard. Grabbing the envelope from out of the top part of my bag, I begin to analyze its contents, now that the kids are in bed.
I give it a shake, there doesn’t seem to be much more than paper in there. However, unless I open it I won’t know for sure what exactly is in store for me, not to mention explaining why I had a random stranger show up to my door and hand me this envelope in the first place.
Being cautious, I slowly begin to open it, ensuring I don’t damage anything inside. Once it’s open I pull out two pieces of paper. They feel thicker than normal paper, like card stock maybe?
I gulp, my throat feels dry, and I’m nervous. What if this is someone saying they know our mom isn’t here and they’re taking the kids away. My palms start to sweat at that thought.
No Emma, no one knows. Don’t put that in the atmosphere.
I place the papers down, wipe my hands down the side of my favorite blue cotton sleep shorts, and grab the glass of water off my nightstand. Reaching in my drawer I pull out my CBD oil, uncap it, and roll it behind both of my ears. This has helped me with my anxiety so much that I only need to use my meds in serious instances of acute panic attacks. Closing my eyes I wait for it to take effect.
* * *
Now that I feel more settled, the tightness that started to form in my chest gone, so I take a moment to take in the typed words on the page. As I progress in my reading, my eyebrows slowly move closer and closer to my hairline and my eyes start to bug out of my head.
What I see on the pages of this document makes me drop the papers in my hand and jump out of my bed with a shriek on the tip of my nearly chapped lips, but I rein myself in at the last minute. I don’t want to wake the house up.
I start pacing my floor, just about wearing a hole in the already worn beige carpet. What does any of this mean? How can I, not my parents but myself, own property here? I’d never heard of this town until we moved here.
According to this we will be moving on Tuesday, like the giant said, and my account has been set up and a deposit of two hundred thousand dollars will be made at the start of every month from now until I am twenty-one or am married.
Who the hell is getting married before twenty-one?
I must attend Lincoln-Wood University, where my tuition is paid in full. Well, at least I know if I accept then I won’t have to worry about school. Not to mention LWU is one of the top schools in the area. It was one of the selling points about moving to Calloway.
I will be provided with a driver who will also be my bodyguard and is supposed to be present everywhere I am, except in the school building. Again, just like the giant, who I think I am going to call T, said.
I’m required to go to some social gatherings, which is hilarious because it says I must dress and behave accordingly. I roll my eyes. Yeah, okay, good luck with enforcing this one!
My brothers and sister will have a nanny, as well as having someone driving them to and from school, but this doesn’t start until I approve of the people selected. Whoever wrote this is smart because there was no chance in hell I was letting my siblings in a car with a random stranger. There’s a lot more but I can’t even begin to process all of this information.
I’m apparently meeting with a lawyer, Monday after school, who will go over the documents. Documents that my mother has oddly already signed. When could she have signed them and why wouldn’t she say anything? I feel like I am missing a large piece of the puzzle here and my mom has disappeared leaving behind no guidance.
“Ughhhh!” I snarl out loud, releasing a frustrating breath. Was moving here not because someone died?
I start thinking back to when Mom said that we were moving. She said it was because someone had passed away on Dad’s side of the family and they left us this house. She told us that the house would need some work, but that it would be better than constantly moving around and, besides, we could no longer afford our rent.
If the words on this document are true then I not only have a house, but I also have some sort of money coming in. Enough money that would set us up for life. I still have so many questions and I plan on asking T a whole lot of them come Monday afternoon.
I can tell you right now, as long as when I sit down with the lawyers there are no glaring red flags, I will be going along with whatever the requirements are for this inheritance, because we need this. I have reservations, but I have to at least be open to what they have to say. With Mom gone and signing us away, the traitorous bitch, I need to make sure we’re good.
I lay down on my pillow and begin to plan next steps until my restless mind is no longer a match for my exhaustion, causing sleep to win over my embattled thoughts.
EMMA
Monday comes quickly. Between the movie night with the kids and work, my mind stayed reasonably busy keeping me from obsessing over my pending meeting with the lawyers later today. I haven’t mentioned anything to anyone about the contents of the envelope, and I won’t until I find out what’s in the fine print.
I pull into a spot at school. This could very well be my last time driving myself here. I’m not sure if I’m happy or dismayed by that prospect. Thomas will be picking me up after school and he seemed nice, but how well can you know the character of a man after one five-minute interaction?
The rapping of knuckles pulls my attention to my car window. Shay is standing, one hand on her hip while the other is pointing to the time. I guess I was deep in thought longer than it felt.
Opening the door I joke, “My bad bish, I was lost in the jumbled part of my mind.”
Concern lines her face, a dip in her brows creating lines on her forehead. “You good? You know you can talk to me.”
I know I can, she’s been one of the best people I’ve met since my dad’s disappearance. She’s becoming like a sister to me, but I can’t tell her anything about what’s happening until I’m more certain myself.
Nodding my head, I try to put her at ease. “Yeah girl, I’m good. You know how it is sometimes, you have lots on your mind and no real way to process it all. Especially with my mom still being MIA, I’m just weighing all of my options.” I might not be able to tell her everything, but I can share about the things she knows weigh me down.
Her face softens, worry lines disappear and are replaced with her giant smile. Darting at me, she catches me off guard, nearly knocking me over when she wraps me in her arms.
“Well, then maybe we need a girls’ night out,” she whispers, squeezing the life out of me.
“Oh look, she sleeps with her too.” Shay and I split apart. Our gazes meet Sam’s sneer at the same time. It’s far too early for this.
Nope, not today Satan.
I’m not nearly awake enough for her bullshit.
Nudging Shay with my shoulder, I motion my head toward the school, and we both just walk around her. If I did like women it wouldn’t be any of her concern. For a supposed queen amongst peasants, she certainly worries about the lives of the people she deems below her far too often.
Once we’re inside the school we head to Shay’s locker and then to mine, because it’s closer to our first period class. Placing my thumb on the sensor to disengage the lock, I pull it open preparing to grab my calculus book, when I see a white package, that’s about the size of a small shipping box, with my name on it. Quirking my head, I’m puzzled how someone got into my locker a-freaking-gain. Damn school.
High tech security my ass.
I grab the box, but upon hearing something jostle inside, I steady my grip, and hold it with more precaution. I reach in with my left hand, retrieving my book and slamming my locker shut. I’ll look in the box once I get to class.
“Hey Riri, miss me?” Wy croons, dropping a chaste kiss on my cheek and I turn red. He does this every chance he gets, burrowing his fine ass into my affections. He’s so damn persistent that even his messages are overtures of his feelings. It’s rare to meet someone who isn’t shy about wanting someone and going for them. At least not in my limited experiences.
I hip-check him out of my personal space. Can’t let him think he’s wearing me down. “Don’t think you’re off the hook. You ignored my messages last week and what did I tell you about touching someone without their expressed consent?”
The fucker chuckles. “Oh but you express your consent every night don’t you, Love?” I’m instantly crimson. My cheeks flare even brighter than when he kissed them.
How the hell would he know that? I would swear the creeper was sneaking into my room at night if it wasn’t for the alarm system.
“How would you know what I do or don’t do at night? And don’t think I didn’t notice that you ignored my earlier point,” I shoot back.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.