“Well, she’s not here. We can’t keep it. This place is like a magical doorway to Heaven and Hell and everything else!”
I shook my head. “If you don’t want to keep it, I will. I’ll move here, and I’ll buy out your half if that’s all you’re worried about.”
Lela’s mouth fell open. “Is that what you think? I just want the money from the sale?”
“Isn’t it?”
“No! Damn it, Kass! I knew this would happen once we were both back here without her. Neither of us can see eye to eye on anything.”
“Well, I’m not just willing to dump hundreds of years of family history down the drain.”
“We have some time to decide, so in the meantime, let’s just make sure there isn’t anything in the house that will draw attention to what we are.”
“Fine.” I huffed. “I’ll start upstairs.”
I start with the bathroom. Not that many people would be coming upstairs, but it was farther away from Lela, and I could take a few minutes to figure out what I was going to do. I couldn’t let her sell this house. Mom would be devastated if she knew that she was going to do that.
The bathroom, for the most part was pretty clear.
The spare room on the other hand, not so much.
Everything in this room screamed witch. Her spell books, her books that lined the one wall. Her vials of various potions.
“Maybe we should run to the hardware store and put a lock on the door?” Lela suggested.
“Or maybe, we can use what we know and spell the door shut while we have people in the house,” I replied.
“Oh, yeah. I guess we can do that.”
I strolled over to one of the spell books and flipped through it.
“You could help you know.” I sighed at Lela who stood by the door.
The doorbell rang just as she took two steps into the room.
“I’ll get it!” she said turning and running back down the stairs.
I shook my head and flipped faster.
“Ugh. I could use a little help you know!” I muttered.
A book behind me flipped open causing me to jump.
“Thanks.” I smiled picking up the book and flipping through the pages.
“Gotcha,” I said as I quickly wrote down the spell.
I walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me and sealing it with the spell.
“That should hold it for a bit.” I shoved the spell into my pocket and headed downstairs.
“Ah, Kassandra!” the mayor said, shaking my hand.
“Hello, John. How are you?”
“Okay. Incredibly sad about your mother. She was an important part of our community here.”
I nodded. She was. She spent so much time volunteering here or there for different events.
“She is missed,” I noted.
“I brought the reverend and his wife. They both worked very closely with your mother,” he said motioning to the man and woman standing by the door.
“Nice to meet you both,” I said shaking their hands.
“I assume you two haven’t had a chance to go over her funeral arrangements?”
“Go over? We haven’t even made them yet,” Lela said.
“Oh no need. Your mother did all of that already.”
Lela and I looked at each other. That seemed a little fishy to me. She never once mentioned that she made her own funeral arrangements, and that’s something she would have told us.
“Okay, so what can we do for you then?” I asked.
“We just wanted to see if there was anything that we could do for either of you.” John said.
“What time do we need to be at the funeral home on Saturday?” I questioned.
“Don’t worry about driving, we’ve got that handled. A car will be by at eight in the morning to get you girls,” the reverend explained.
“Thank you.”
“There is one more matter that needs to be discussed,” John said.
“Should we go in the other room and sit down?” I asked.
He nodded.
Lela and I led them into the dining room.
“Let me grab some drinks,” Lela offered.
“Oh no. We are good, thank you dear,” John replied.
“So, what’s going on?” I asked. I wasn’t frustrated, but I most definitely didn’t have the patience right now to deal with the small talk.
“Your mother’s will.”
I shook my head. “She didn’t have one.”
“Yes, she did. She made it about two months ago. Had my office do all the legal work. I’ve got a copy right here.” He pulled out a folder from the bag he carried.
My heart stopped for a second. A will? Why in the hell would she make a will? Lela and I had talked to her about this years ago. Everything was to just be split between the two of us. I mean of course that’s when Lela and I were on better terms, but we really weren’t that off with each other.
“Are we reading this now?” Lela asked.
I could hear the fear in her voice.
“Yes. Under your mother’s instructions this is to be read before her funeral.”
“Okay. We are listening.”
He cleared his throat and went through the will.
It was long, but informative. The house was still to be split between Lela and me, but what made me smile was that there was a line about not selling the house. Lela huffed.
“There is something else.” He pulled two envelopes and handed them to us.
“What’s this?” I questioned.
“Your mother said they are to be read by you two when you feel it’s appropriate.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Lela showed them out while I read through the will again. Not that I didn’t believe what he read, but I just had to see it in print for myself.
“You talked her into this, didn’t you?” Lela yelled storming back into the room.
I rose from the chair. “No! Why would you even assume that?”
“Because we were just talking about it, and now we can’t sell the house. So, you get your wish!”
“This isn’t what I expected! I never thought she had a will, and I never thought she would write it into a will!”
“Yeah right.” She snatched her letter off the table and went upstairs. All I heard was a door slam. Her door.
Great. This was going to be one hell of a few days.
I picked up my letter off the table and ran my fingers across my name on the front. In her handwriting.
“Why did you have to leave?” I whispered trying hard not to let myself cry.
I couldn’t imagine what was inside the letter, and I wasn’t ready to read it. I slipped it into my bag and collected all the paperwork that John left for us.
I LOOKED AROUND AT the crowd of people packed into the community room at the church. To be honest, I was surprised I was even able to come in there without bursting into flames. Lela had barely spoken to me since John read the will. I understood that she was pissed. I walked over and excused us and pulled her away from the people she was talking to.
“What?” She huffed crossing her arms over her chest.
“Have you seen Dad today?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t really expect him to come, did you?”