A timid rapping at the door made S look up from his morning coffee. “Now, who can that be?” he muttered. “Better not be Madeline, back so soon. I swear, if it is… I… I… I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll do something!”

He slowly rose and opened the door. Rather than finding Madeline there, he saw a worn-looking woman. The years had not been kind to her, but even as she nervously fiddled with the cross around her neck with nibbled fingers, S was able to recognize her.

“Theodora, what… what are you doing here?” S asked.

Theodora smiled wanly. “I heard about what Maddy’s planning to do,” she replied. “I’m here to tell you not to give in. Don’t give in, you hear?” She frowned and added bitterly, “I’ve suffered enough because of her, believe me. Even when we were kids, if she did something wrong, we were both punished, even if I didn’t do anything. We both got sent to that really strict boarding school, and I caught all kinds of trouble for being Maddy’s sister. You know how many times I could have gotten in trouble over the years for taking up for Maddy or helping her out when things were getting bad? I’m not going to help her anymore. She just doesn’t deserve it. So far as I see it, she’s not a true Verona; she’s an embarrassment to the family.”

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of out of my hands right now. Valo, she’s going to go see her lawyer--”

“Valo?”

“Jessica DeSidiro. She married Grant.”

“Oh, yes, her. I’ve seen her on TV a few times for the stuff she’s done. He picked a good woman. Someone who can stand up to Maddy,” Theodora replied, nodding. “My oldest, Jocelyn, she really looks up to her and to… what’s her name? The woman who writes those books and made that magazine for women and teens… the positive one that catches trouble from the makeup companies and all the other magazines.”

“Emily Desjardin-Rivers?”


“Yeah, her. Honestly, honey, if it were up to me, Madeline wouldn’t get a single red penny of the inheritance. But I guess it out of my hands, then. Does she have a good lawyer?”

“Yeah, great one.”

“Then, there should be no problem, right?”

“Hopefully.”

Theodora smiled and patted S’s shoulder. “I hope everything works out fine. Lissie should be stopping by later. In this family, anything that happens to one person doesn’t stay secret too long. Don’t worry, she doesn’t want Maddy getting the money either.”

“It’s out of my hands,” S replied slowly.

Theodora gave S a warm hug. “Take care, little brother. I’m sure that God will see to it that everything will work out for the best.”

“I hope so.”


“Well,” Sara sighed, “it wasn’t easy, but I got a copy of Julianna Delorice’s will. I’ve been looking it over, and boy, is it a doozy.” She sighed, then cleared her throat. “Here’s the meat and potatoes of it. ‘After my death, my home and land are to be sold. The resulting money is to be divided as such: fifty percent shall be given to Charise Gina Marlow, thirty percent shall be given to Preston James Marlow, and the remaining twenty percent shall be divided evenly between Beverly Victoria Harris, Ophelia Desdemona Foley (to be given upon heir turning 21), and Nathaniel Zachary Foley (to be given upon heir turning 21). In addition, all possessions and clothing are to be given to Charise Gina Marlow. The items that said heir does not desire ownership of are to be sold, and the resulting money are to be given to the heir. Codicil. In the event that the child I put up for adoption is still alive and can be located, she is to inherit $500,000. In addition, in the event that she was adopted, the family is to be given one million dollars, as a way of thanking them for providing for my child.’”

“Okay,” Valo replied. “So, where does that leave us?”

“Well, unfortunately, Ms. Delorice was quite vague when she said ‘the family.’ So, at worst, we can assume that the money is intended to be divided up among all immediate members of the Verona family. If it’s any comfort, a million dollars is pretty much a drop in the bucket, especially given the additional information on here.”

“Such as?”


Sara looked down at the papers in her hand, then back up at Valo. “All money from royalties are to go to Charise and any offspring she has. In fact…”

“Yeah?”

“All money earned from the last album recorded and royalties from it are to go to any children that Charise has, according to this.”

“And her last album was released…”

“…Right after she died. The record sales were through the roof.”

“So, basically, we’ve lost the battle, but won the war.”

“Yep. Let Madeline have her money. The bulk of the money will go to the people who deserve it.”

“I can’t believe she thought to include that, though. I mean, about the album sales.”

“Come on, she was probably smart enough to know that record sales go through the roof after a singer dies. Even I know that.”

“All that money, going to her grandchild.”

“Who can’t touch a penny of it until she turns 21... except for the portion to be set aside for college.”

“She thought of everything, huh?” Valo murmured, impressed.

“Sounds like it. I guess maybe she wanted to do something right. I mean, since she wasn’t around for her daughter, she could at least help out with her granddaughter.”

“Wow… that’s nice. Or do you think maybe she knew something like this would happen?”

“Who knows?”