Valo rolled her eyes and said, “What are you talking about?”

Madeline reached into a hidden pocket of her coat and pulled out a small notepad. She flipped through it for a few seconds, then replied, glancing at the notepad occasionally, “Julianna Delorice left her money to the Verona family. Now, I understand that you’ve married into the family; however, you did not take the name--”

“--If you want to be technical,” Valo interrupted, “Grant changed his last name from Verona to Veneto years ago.”

“When Dad kicked him and Lissie out. Remember?” S added.

“Well, the point is,” Madeline continued, shrugging off the interruptions, “you, Jessica DeSidiro, are in no way a Verona. You retained your maiden name when you married--”

“--For various good reasons,” Valo interrupted again. “My degrees are under my maiden name. All the paperwork saying that I can be a professional counselor in this state, ditto. It would have been more troublesome to take care of all that after changing my last name than to just keep my maiden name. It didn’t change the fact that Grant and I were married, or that he was born a Verona, just like you.”

“But the will designates the Verona family as inheriting. You are, for all legal purposes, not a Verona. And, if I’m not mistaken, Ms. Delorice died after Grant did.”

Valo shook her head. “You don’t know squat about laws concerning inheritance,” she responded sharply. “I’ll be speaking to my lawyer about this.”

“You do that. I’m sure she will agree with me.”


Valo sighed and shut the bathroom door. She carefully wound her hair up into a bun, frowning at her reflection as she did so. When did I get so old and bitter? she thought as she disrobed. It feels like only yesterday I was a college student with my whole life ahead of me.

She walked over to the tub and turned the faucets, letting the tub fill with water. She carefully stepped into the water, flinching a little at the heat, then eased herself into a sitting position. Valo leaned back against the tub’s cold porcelain surface and closed her eyes, thinking about the day’s events.

I just don’t know what to do, she thought. If she’s right, then there’s so much I stand to lose. But does she have an actual copy of the will? Maybe the way it’s written will shed some light on all of this. After all, her daughter married a Verona… oh, but Charise would have inherited money from her anyway. I just don’t know. I don’t want to bother Sara about something like this; she’s got enough to deal with already. God… Grant… someone… just tell me what I need to do. I don’t know where to turn…

Just then, there was a light knock at the bathroom door. “Aunt Jess,” Sean called through the door, “there’s a call for you, from Ms. Lowry.”


It’s a miracle, Valo thought, opening the door just enough to allow her arm through. She took the phone from her nephew and shut the door. “Hey,” she said into the phone.

“Are you okay?” Sara asked. “I called to let you know that some of the paperwork came in for you to sign, and Sean said something happened earlier.”

“Yeah,” Valo replied. “Something happened, that’s for sure.” She told Sara the whole story, barely stopping for a breath.

“Wow,” Sara remarked. “It sounds like things are pretty hectic.”

“Mmhmm. So, is there anything you can do?”

“We’ll have to see. There’s been so many laws changed in the last twenty or so years. I’ll have to get a copy of the will, and any changes made to it.”

“Changes?”

“Well, from what I understand, Julianna Delorice made her will while she was alive, and she lived quite a few years after before it was executed. She could have easily changed it during that time,” Sara explained. Then, as an afterthought, she added, “The case came up in law school. Weird stuff like that often does. Exceptions to the rules and whatnot.”

“Just as an educated guess, what’s the best and worst case scenario?” Valo asked.

“I’m not sure about that right now,” Sara said slowly. “But as for ‘most likely to happen’ scenario, I’d say that she’d get her share, and you’d keep yours. Our state’s laws are a little different from most others. By law, whatever belongs to the wife belongs to the husband, and I do know that recent laws have been passed to ensure that goes both ways.”

“But that’s if he’s living, I imagine.”

“Yeah. Look, I’ll start trying to collect information as soon as I can. If that woman gives you anymore trouble, just give her my number, and I’ll deal with her. You have enough on your plate already, without this coming up.”