Richard McClellan was an older gentleman–easily in his mid-sixties–and was the family attorney for as long as Mallory could remember. His expression at Georgia’s outburst was almost as comical as the outburst itself.
“There has got to be some mistake,” Aunt Georgia demanded as she stood and fanned herself, towering over Richard’s desk. “This has to be either an old will or my grandfather wasn’t in his right mind when he wrote it!” She looked over her shoulder at Mallory’s mother and fumed. “You! You convinced him to do this, didn’t you? That’s why you came back here! To take my inheritance away from me!”
“Georgia,” Susannah began calmly, but Mallory knew her mother was holding on to her patience by a thread. “When has anyone ever convinced Pops to do anything he didn’t want to do? Now stop this nonsense and sit down!”
“I will not…”
Just then, Beau stood up and guided his wife back to her seat and warned her “That’s enough” before sitting beside her.
Clearing his throat, Richard looked nervously at the room full of people. They had originally planned to have him come to the house to read the will, but with all the construction going on, it was decided they’d all come to his office. Luckily it was a room large enough to house the fifteen people Pops had named in his will.
“Okay, if I may continue?” he asked the group as a whole, and everyone nodded. “The house goes to my granddaughter, Susannah Coleman-Westbrook, to turn into the bed and breakfast she has always wanted to own. There is an account already set aside with money for you to do the renovations.” He paused and smiled at her. “I have an envelope with the account information for you, Susannah,” he explained before handing her the envelope.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she accepted it.
Looking back down at the papers in his hands, Richard continued. “To my granddaughter, Georgia Coleman-Bishop, and her husband Beau Bishop, I leave my boat and the Magnolia Marina. As you know, I built that as a young man and I know Beau has always enjoyed sailing and Georgia has enjoyed the benefits of the marina’s club.” He paused and–like everyone else in the room–looked over at Georgia to see her reaction.
She gave a curt nod of approval but still managed a quick glare at Susannah.
This is going to be interesting, Mallory thought. There was no doubt this was going to cause a rift in the family for a long time to come.
After another moment, Richard went on. “I am certain that my grandson Cash did not show for the reading of my will. There is a trust set up for him, but he must be present here in Magnolia Sound in order to receive it. However, to his wife Grace–who is far too forgiving–I leave you the money to pay for college for all three boys, plus the mortgage on your home will be paid in full.”
Grace openly wept and Mallory knew she–just like everyone else in the room–knew how much Pops had done with those two simple gifts. He was giving her aunt the breathing room she so desperately needed. Her uncle had been gone for years–hell, Mallory barely remembered him. He’d left his wife and sons because he wanted something more out of life. Her poor aunt was left to raise three young boys and her uncle only sporadically checked in to make sure they were okay. What kind of person did that?
“Now, in the order of their births, I would like to address my great-grandchildren,” Richard read, and Mallory forced herself to focus.
“Sam and Mallory,” he began, looking at her and Sam. “When the two of you were born, I couldn’t have been prouder. With you living so far away, I never thought I’d get to be involved in your lives. Twins didn’t run in our family and whenever I got to see the two of you, you were both an oddity and a complete joy to me.”
Susannah took Mallory’s hand in hers and smiled before leaning forward to smile at Sam too.
“There are some personal letters I’ve written to the two of you that Richard will give you after we get through everything,” Richard read, “but I want you both to know I always treasured our time together.” He paused. “To my great-grandson Sam, I leave you Coleman Landscaping. You’re the only one in this family with a green thumb and I hope you choose to run the company yourself.”
Richard then looked over at Mallory and her heart began to beat like mad. What would Pops possibly leave her? She’d give anything to have him here with her instead of some inheritance.
“Mallory, I know you pride yourself on being some sort of fancy technology girl and I’m so proud of all you’ve accomplished even though I never understood any of it. But I remember watching the joy on your face when you paint and how happy you always looked when you were decorating or being creative. I never want you to lose that joy. I’m leaving you something I don’t think you were even aware I owned–Barb’s Beach Buys.”
Gasping, Mallory squeezed her mother’s hand. She really had no idea Pops owned the place and it was her favorite store in all of Magnolia Sound. She hadn’t been there since last summer and had heard Barb wanted to retire. Could Pops have known that back then and planned for her to take over all this time?
“On top of that,” Richard continued, “Mallory is in charge of the decorating and renovating of the house, alongside Susannah. I want the two of them to do this together and make the bed and breakfast a place that honors everything Magnolia Sound represents.”
Everything became a blur after that. Mallory couldn’t focus on what Richard was reading and what Pops had left to her cousins. Her mind was reeling, and all she wanted to do was step outside and get some air. She looked over her shoulder and saw Jake sitting behind her smiling. God…she wanted to talk to him too. So many questions and so many things to consider and she had no idea what she was going to do about any of it.
Clearly the business was still up and running and could continue to do so even if she didn’t live here. If Barb retired, there would still be a staff employed who could run the place in Mallory’s absence. It wasn’t necessarily a necessity for her to move here to run the shop. Plus, could she really make a living from owning the shop, doing decorating consultations and nothing else?
That had her thinking about looking for a business advisor–someone who could look over the finances for the business so Mallory could make informed decisions. Did she know anyone who did that? Maybe her mother did? Or maybe her cousins? Maybe she should talk to Richard about it.
Her head was starting to hurt just trying to organize her thoughts. When she turned to look at her brother, she saw he looked equally dazed. No doubt taking over a local landscaping business wasn’t on his agenda either–especially since he went to business school and currently had a job doing…wait, what was Sam doing these days? He did tend to change jobs a lot and seemed to get bored easily. Was it a bank he was at now or a doctor’s office where he was doing data entry? She shook her head because she couldn’t remember and it was too much to think of on top of all her own stuff.
Doing her best to clear her head, Mallory turned her attention back to Richard and whoever he was addressing next.
“And lastly, Jake Summerford.”
She wanted to turn around so badly and watch him and silently cursed herself for not sitting with him. He had arrived a little late and by the time he walked in, Mallory was already situated between her mother and brother.