Page 23 of Conflicted
“Nothing for me, Dad. What about you, Ruby? Jewel? The coffee here is pretty good.”
“Um, could I trouble you for a glass of water?” Jewel fiddled with the purse in her lap.
“No trouble at all. What about you, Ruby?” Mr. Duncan cocked his head.
“I’m fine, thanks. I just want to get this over with.”
After speaking with someone on the phone to order the water, he led the three ladies to a comfortable seating area in his spacious office. A few moments later, the office door opened, and a young man came in carrying a small tray with a glass of ice and a bottle of water on it. He put the tray on the small table in front of the couch and asked, “Can I get anything else for anyone.”
“No thanks, we’re fine,” Sandra answered for all of them.
“Relax, ladies. It will take me a few minutes to read through this and find out where you stand.”
They sat in silence while Mr. Duncan read the papers. Jewel sipped her water and admired the art on the walls. She looked over at Ruby in surprise when she recognized a picture of three kittens playing.
“Ruby,” she whispered, “you never told me you gave one of your drawings to Mr. Duncan.”
“I didn’t give it to him. He bought it from the silent auction to support the school's art program a couple of years ago. I would have given it to him if he’d seen it in another context.”
They lapsed back into silence.
After what seemed like forever to Ruby, but could have been no more than fifteen minutes, Mr. Duncan cleared his throat. “I do like your kittens, Ruby. I knew I had to have them as soon as I saw the drawing at that auction. I thought about hanging them in my den at home but decided I’d get more pleasure out of them here.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying them. The kittens were a lot of fun to do. The drawing started out as a design for a tattoo, but then the person who wanted it decided she didn’t like it, so I turned it into this.”
“I’m so glad you did. Those kittens brighten my day on a regular basis.” He returned his focus to the trust paperwork. “About the trust. This has all been professionally drawn up. Someone thought of all the possibilities I would have and a few more. From what I can tell, the trust is fully funded and well invested. It’s likely to earn something like five percent a year, which comes to around $80,000.”
Jewel gasped. “I can’t take that kind of money from Luke. When he told me about wanting to set something up, I thought he meant maybe ten thousand or so a year!”
“You knew about this, Mom?” Ruby’s ears pounded and she wanted to scream but managed a clipped, “I don’t want ten thousand, let alone eighty. The sperm donor can keep his money.”
“You don’t have to,” Mr. Duncan held out his hands in a placating gesture. “You and Ruby each get half of it. Or less if the market is down. And technically, you don’t have to spend it. It can just go into an account you don’t use unless you need it for something. Mr. Peters has already funded the trust. You don’t have to spend the money, but it’s yours. He can’t touch it, and you can’t give it back. I mean, you could send your earnings to him if you wanted, but you can’t turn the trust down. Give the money to charity if you don’t want it for yourselves.”
“What?” Ruby clenched her hands into fists. “You mean we can’t turn it down?”
“You don’t have to spend it, but it’s yours. Your father has gone about it very thoroughly. He’s even had accounts opened here at UMB for your earnings. The only thing you have to do to claim it is signing the signature cards for the accounts.”
“What?” Ruby’s blood still boiled. “How dare he, and how did he know to use this bank?” She turned toward her mother before she schooled her features.
“I ... I guess I told him.” Jewel flinched and Ruby cursed herself for letting her anger at Luke affect her momma.
Jewel plucked at her sleeve. “Please don’t be angry. He knows money doesn’t make up for not being here when you were young, but that’s as much my fault as his. I told him to stay away. I didn’t want you to count on him when I knew he couldn’t commit to being here. But when he called me to tell me about the trust fund he was establishing, well, I listened.” She heaved a sigh. "And I guess I still have a soft spot for him.”
She lifted her gaze and met Ruby’s eyes straight on. “I told him to go ahead and set it up. But I had no idea he was talking about so much money.”
Ruby was silent for a few moments as she processed the information. “Relax, Mom. It’s okay. Anyway, you could use the money right now. You could take this year’s money and get a new car. Then you wouldn’t have to walk to the bank with the deposit at night.”
"A car would be wonderful," Jewel agreed. Her face fell. "But what are you going to do? You've always refused everything from your father."
“I don’t have to do anything with it. Like Mr. Duncan said, it can just sit there in a bank account doing nothing.”
Mr. Duncan cleared his throat. “In that case, let’s get things set up. I think I have the necessary forms in my desk. If not, I’ll send Dennis downstairs for them.” After checking one drawer, he turned to his credenza and found what he wanted on the first try.
“Here we are.” He nodded as he returned to the ladies. “If each of you will fill out these forms and sign where the “X” is, we’ll get you taken care of.”
Ruby and Jewel took the papers and the pens he had at the ready and filled out the signature cards, which took little time. When she finished her paperwork, Ruby turned to Mr. Duncan. “Do you know how much is in the accounts now? I want to know how much car Mom can afford.”
“That’s easy enough to check. Give me a moment.” He typed on his computer. “Ms. McCormick, you have $42,378.76,” he turned his attention to Ruby, “and you have the same. It seems like this has been going for a year at least. You should be able to get a very nice car for that money.” He smiled at both of them.
