Charlotte smiled to hear wills really did start like they did in the movies.
Mr. Josef went through the technical bits of the will and then reached the distribution of wealth.
“To The Kimber Miller Foundation, I leave the money already in the trust plus an additional one million dollars to aid in the running of the foundation and to put towards additional research so no one ever has to go through what I went through.”
Mina leaned towards Charlotte and whispered. “When he found out he had Alzheimer’s he set up a foundation to help find a cure.”
“Who runs it? Does a million dollars seem like a lot?”
Mina shook her head. “I oversee it. All I do is donate the interest to research every year and take a token salary of five thousand dollars a year to cover my time.”
Charlotte nodded and returned her attention to the lawyer.
“To my nieces, I leave one hundred thousand dollars each, which I hope they will use to continue their education.”
Payne straightened in her chair, her eyes wide. “But I can do whatever I want with it?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” said Mina.
Payne looked at her, scowling. “But it’s mine. He just said so.”
Mina held her index finger over her lips, requesting silence and Payne flopped back against the sofa with her arms crossed against her chest. That cleared the path for Charlotte to spot Gemma sitting on the opposite side of her. Her expression hadn’t changed. Apparently, she’d expected no more or no less.
“That hundred thousand is going to be trouble,” mumbled Mina.
“To Mina...” began William.
Mina’s gaze shifted to Lyndsey.
“Oh no, he’s skipping over Lyndsey. Kimber must not have left her anything.”
“Because she’s not actual blood?”
Mina nodded. “I’m sure. And...” she paused. “He should have left her a token something.”
Charlotte wanted to ask her what she was about to say, but Mina plowed on.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of her.”
The lawyer continued. “...my loving sister, who has cared for me during my illness, I leave five hundred thousand dollars.”
Charlotte heard Mina suck in a breath.
“Five hundred thousand?” Mina asked aloud, her voice rising at the end so sharply Charlotte could see the question mark dangling at the end of it.
Mina looked at Charlotte, her eyes wide. “But that leaves—”
“The rest of my money, holdings, land and properties go to my daughter, Lyndsey Griffin.”
Now it was Lyndsey’s turn to sit up straight from her position at the other side of the sofa. She slapped her hand to her chest. “Me?”
“That’s everything,” said William, folding up the papers.
“Wait, that’s not right,” said Mina to Charlotte. “Did he say daughter? She’s my daughter if she’s anyone’s, not his. He never even officially adopted her.”
“But you did?”
Mina blushed, her right eye twitching. “No. I didn’t see the point of getting into a custody battle with her real mother in prison but—”
From her seat, Lyndsey looked up at Mr. Josef. “Did you say I’m Kimber’s daughter?”
He nodded and held out the will for her to take it. “There’s a paternity test attached.”
“A paternity test?” yelped Mina, crossing the room to snatch the will from Lyndsey’s hand. Lyndsey let it go, seeming more baffled than anyone by Mina’s behavior.
Mina opened the will and flipped through a few pages until she found what she was looking for. She looked up at Lyndsey. “You’re his real daughter? By blood?”
Lyndsey’s jaw worked without sound.
“He never told you?” asked Charlotte, unable to help herself. If Lyndsey didn’t know, then it was less likely she would have coerced the old man into making her the majority benefactor.
Lyndsey shook her head as Mina’s arms dropped to her sides, the will pinched between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. She stared at the twins.
“This isn’t right. It was my idea to take her in. I had to fight him.” Mina looked at Charlotte. “How could he never tell me?”
Charlotte didn’t know what to say.
The twins remained in silence, staring at Lyndsey, their jaws hanging slack.
“I’m going to head out,” said William, retrieving his briefcase from the corner of the room.
“I’ll go with you,” said Charlotte. She put a hand on Mina’s arm and Mina jumped.
“I’m going to go.”
Mina stared at her in stunned silence until finally her head began to nod, ever so slightly.
Charlotte took that as a sign she was good to go and headed for the door. As she went she took one last look at Lyndsey who still sat on the sofa ramrod straight. Her hands rested on her thighs as she blinked at the floor, as if it was taking some time for the information of her paternity to sink in.
The woman was probably tossed upon a sea of churning emotions, but Charlotte wasn’t concerned for her. When faced with a shock like that, it was always nice to get ten million dollars or so to ease you through it.
Suddenly, Lyndsey stood and threw her arms around Mina.
“That means you’re my real aunt!”
Now it was Mina’s expression that seemed to freeze.
Payne stood, her lips pulled into a taut knot. “Why does she get millions and we only get a hundred thousand?”
Charlotte hurried out the door. She didn’t envy the night Mina had ahead of her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
On the way home Charlotte stopped at Lyndsey’s mother’s house a few blocks away from her own in Pineapple Port. She couldn’t help but wonder how Lyndsey’s mother had never mentioned to her daughter that the man under whose roof she’d grown up also happened to be her real dad. Had she made an arrangement with Kimber from jail? She had to know, didn’t she?
She knocked on the door and Tracy Griffin answered wearing a thin floral bathrobe.
