Bruce hadn’t let them see any of this stuff.
“Why do you think he did this, kept it all from us?” Faye asked.
“Well, probably what you said. Maybe he thought it was the best way for us to get on with it, as Dad liked to say.”
“Right now, it is seeming rather cruel, don’t you think?” Faye said.
Ali shrugged. Maybe it was cruel. Maybe it was all their dad knew how to do. It might have helped solidify those slippery scenes that faded in their minds. This was Mom’s face, her hairdos, her hands. Ali had struggled to remember those things until she almost couldn’t anymore.
“Let’s give the photos a break—or maybeIneed a break from them.” Ali was feeling overwhelmed, more so than even the day their dad died.
“Yeah, agree. The boring legal stuff will snap us out of this. Nothing like legal documents to sober a party up,” Faye said and reached for the pile of deeds.
Ali wondered about this propensity; they had to pull it together instead of crying. They were used to keeping their emotions under control. Did they know how to feel the grief that came with losing their parents? For sure, their dad did not want them to “cry like babies.”
Ali and Faye laid out the documents from the envelopes. She read them again, and still the words seemed preposterous.
“If I’m reading this stuff right, we, the three of us, at some point, owned land in Florida,” said Ali.
“Yeah, I mean, if Mr. Google is right, we had a nice spot on the beach. That would have been fun to know when I was looking for a place to go on spring break,” joked Faye.
“Ha, yeah. So, it’s probably nothing, but I haven’t found anything that shows Dad or Mom sold it off. So, either they don’t have the documentation in all this stuff or…”
“Ha, or we still own it,” Faye finished her thought.
“I highly doubt that, but we need the lawyers to look at it, I think. We need to be sure everything’s settled before we close out all of Dad’s stuff.” The estate had been straightforward up until this discovery.
“Agree. Did you call the lawyers?” They’d been using their dad’s long-time law firm, Michalak, Perne, and Janco.
“Yes, I did. Louie asked me to scan it and send it over after we looked at it. I’ll do that right after we dive into this. I think those dresses have value, so there may be something in there too that needs to be, uh, tallied.” Ali pointed to the jewelry box.
“Nothing to do but open it,” Faye said.
That was the last thing. The only thing they hadn’t cracked open yet.
“Well, you ready? Maybe the Hope Diamond is in there?”
“Yeah, right, maybe so,” Faye said.
But they understood each other. Finding all this had been like exposing their nerve endings. It was impossible to protect yourself from the past when it was now exploding all around them. And what they remembered didn’t match at all with what they were looking at.
A vibrant life, their mother’s, had ended too soon, and their father had decided to hide it all away from the daughters so desperately in need of some connection to her.
Ali was trying to suppress her anger. But she was mad at the man who’d done so much, so quietly, to keep their family together. Her anger had nowhere to land. Their dad was gone. Their mother, too. She rubbed her face with both her hands. She needed to reset to something less raw. Ali took a deep breath.
“Okay, open it,” Ali said.
Faye did as she asked, slowly.
The midday light from the kitchen window caught the contents of the jewelry box just right.
Sparkle, color, and even a strand of pearls made it seem like they’d opened a pirate’s treasure chest.
“Wow,” Faye said.
“Yeah, Joetta Kelly had a lot of bling.”
Bling was an understatement.
