“That’s great news.”
I wrinkled my brows. “Yes, it is. For Ace and me, but I thought you would be disappointed.”
“Why would that disappoint me?”
“Well, your job was to carry out my grandmother’s wishes, and she wanted me to divorce Ace.”
Carlton shook his head. He pushed out a breath. “Your grandmother,” he paused and looked at something over my shoulder before his gaze returned to mine. “She told me I have permission to tell you what I’m about to say. So, I’m not violating attorney-client privilege.”
“Okay,” I said with hesitation.
“Your grandmother had a contingency in her inheritance that she asked me to carry out. It was that, even if you didn’t divorce, you would still receive the money in her trust.”
“I don’t understand. You told me the stipulations to receive the money were that I had to divorce Ace.”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s confusing. I know.” He sighed. “I told your grandmother there were better ways to do this, but she was adamant.”
I snorted. “Stubborn is more like it.”
He chuckled. “That, she was. Anyway, she asked me to give you the stipulation if and when you came to me, but said that if you went through with the divorce, the money was yours free and clear.”
“Okay,” I drew out the word, not comprehending what was happening.
“Your grandmother wanted you to have the money either way,” he continued. “In fact, she insisted that, if you didn’t return, to reach out to you again to make sure you get the money.”
I shook my head. “Why would she do that?”
“I thought you might have difficulty understanding her intentions. She thought you might, as well.” He opened a drawer from his desk and pulled out an envelope. “She left this for you to read.”
I reached across and took the envelope. I looked from the paper in my hand to Wolcott as I opened it. It was a handwritten letter.
To Savannah,
I’m sorry if this whole mess with the lawyer and the inheritance has confused you. I’ve tried and failed to talk to you, call, e-mail, or visit you a hundred different times to explain myself. Alas, this letter will have to suffice.
The reason I made the divorce a stipulation of your inheritance was that I hoped it would force you to contact Ace again. You see, it had taken me a long time to realize the mistakes I made when you came to live with me. I was grieving the loss of my daughter, your mother, and I took it out on you.
I looked at Ace as one of “those people” from across the bridge. The same type of people who talked about us like we were dogs while I cleaned their houses and washed their clothes. The kind of person that would impregnate a girl from over the bridge and leave her to fend for herself. Like your father did to your mother.
I didn’t care for you as I should’ve, nor was I there for your mother when she became pregnant with you.
I know you think that I blamed you for her life turning out the way it did. I said those things out of grief. They were not the truth. Your mother was barely seventeen when she became pregnant. She had been out of control, skipping school, partying, and all manner of trouble. Once she found out about you, she turned her life around.
By then, I was too angry with her to be the help she needed. But she proved that she didn’t need me. She picked you up and moved you both to Georgia to create a better life for herself. She worked hard to be the mother to you that I fell short in being to her.
You, my dear, saved her from that destructive path she was headed down.
That I made you feel anything less than perfect is my most profound regret.
If you are reading this letter, that means you have decided to forego the divorce, and you and Ace are still together. I genuinely hope that is the case. I wouldn’t allow myself to understand it back then, but what you two have was real then, and it is real now. My prayer is that you both continue to grow in love.
I am ashamed of how I treated you, not only when you and Ace were dating and got married, but after your son died. It would be too selfish of me to ask for your forgiveness, so I won’t.
But please know that those words came from a place of fear and pain. I wish you and Ace a lifetime of happiness. Please take this inheritance and do whatever it is you would like to do with it.
Love,
Grandma
