Page 4 of Waiting for a Bright New Future

“Exactly. My mum cared for Gran and, in return, I’ve moved back in to care for Mum. What goes around comes around.”

“It can’t always work like that. Neither of us has children.”

“That’s not our parents’ fault.”

Stuart’s own lack of procreation was at least partly due to his father, but Stuart didn’t correct her. Jayne stood up to leave and her posture reminded Stuart of a ballet dancer. He took his cue to show her out. On the doorstep she hesitated and then kissed him on the cheek. The sensation of her lips sent him back in time and when she turned away, his fingers felt the spot her lips had touched.

Chapter Four

Eric had specified there should be a formal will-reading in his solicitor’s office. Stuart couldn’t look at his brothers as they waited to be called into the law firm’s boardroom. Instead, he stared at the varnished wooden floor of the waiting room. The dips between the individual planks were a darker shade of brown where the stain had gathered in larger amounts. He imagined himself disappearing down one of these cracks, unseen and unacknowledged. He had become an orphan in danger of losing his home and his role in society had vanished. If he was no longer his father’s carer, who was he?

Mr Finch opened the boardroom door and gestured for them to come in. A young girl in a cerise trouser suit, followed with a tray of cups and a coffee pot. Mr Finch made pleasantries about the traffic and the weather until they were seated with coffee and the milk and sugar had been passed around.

“And so the will?” Robert prompted.

Stuart had done all the hills twice on his bike that morning, but tension still held his back and shoulders in the pain of an arm wrestle. His neck struggled for the strength to lift his head and look at the solicitor. The large boardroom table was made of a much darker wood than the floor in the reception area and the stain was more uniform. He raised his eyes.

Mr Finch glanced around at them. “Eric told me he’d discussed his new will with you all and the contents would come as no surprise.”

“But he died before he could sign it!” The words shot from George’s mouth.

“That is correct. But because we were all privy to your father’s last wishes, it would be possible for us to enter into a Deed of Variation in order to execute that new will.”

Energy returned to Stuart and he glanced around the table. His brothers would see this was a fair suggestion.

“All the beneficiaries need to be in agreement to allow me to do this,” Mr Finch continued. “Are there any dissenters or do you agree with our moral obligation to uphold your father’s wishes?”

George and Robert raised their hands.

“Are you dissenting or agreeing to the proposal?”

“Dissenting.” The two men spoke in unison.

Stuart put his head in his hands.

And breathe.

When he looked up again, Mr Finch’s sympathetic eyes met his.

“We’re not completely heartless.” George was talking quickly. “Robert and I have discussed this. We can’t grant our younger brother a life interest in the house because that would mean our children won’t get their grandfather’s helping hand up the property ladder until it’s too late. We don’t want the money for ourselves, you understand, but to help the younger generation. It’s hard being young and just starting out now.”

Robert picked up the thread. “We’re happy to allow Stuart to continue living in the house for twelve months from today, April the first. Then the house must be sold and the proceeds shared as per my father’s original will. Stuart should be able to sort himself out with a job and somewhere to live within a year.”

The room was closing in on him. Robert made it sound like Stuart’s twenty-five-year absence from the classroom was no barrier to getting a new job. Even if some desperate inner-city school would take him, the prospect of attempting to control thirty cocky fourteen-year-olds with their own agenda terrified Stuart. He’d been living in virtual isolation for too long. And the whole exam system had changed. And the syllabus. And all that new technology. He couldn’t do it. He wanted to curl up in a ball and roll away from the world.

Mr Finch spoke. “Stuart, what do you think of your brothers’ offer? If you disagree with their suggestion, we could pursue legal action under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act in order to activate the unsigned will. However, success is far from guaranteed and there will be financial costs to take into account. And you must also think about what such wrangling would do to your family unit.”

He didn’t have the money to pay legal bills. A fight would bleed him of the emotional energy he needed to grab something of life before it was too late. It wasn’t fair that his brothers could walk all over him. After all that he’d sacrificed. His fists clenched in his lap.

And breathe.

The others around the table were staring at him, expecting an answer.

“Do you need time to think about it?” the solicitor asked.

Fight for what’s yours (or actually ours) and add more wasted, bitter years to your life? Or break free and soar like a bird?Stuart stared out at the blue sky and imagined flying. Sandra was right; he wanted to live life like that, not mired in legal small print.

“Bugger them! I’m going to soar!”

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