Page 76 of An Island Summer
“Knock, knock,” Tess’s voice sailed through the room. “Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds…” She eyed Meghan, her eyebrows bouncing up and down, making Meghan’s cheeks burn, wondering how long she’d been lurking by the door. “Whatcha doing?” She pointed to the open drawer in Hester’s desk.
“Looking for the will,” Meghan said.
“It wasn’t in that drawer so you decided to frisk Toby for it?” Tess flashed a bold grin.
Toby laughed, only making the heat in Meghan’s face worse. “My grandfather thought it was in that drawer,” he said.
Tess went over to it and looked inside. “Hm.”
Charlie sauntered into the room and followed Tess over to the desk, sniffing it.
Tess reached her hand into it.
“I did the same thing,” Meghan said. “Nothing.”
“Wait.” Tess leaned in, shoving her arm all the way to her shoulder. “There’s something stuck at the very back between the drawer and the wooden bottom.”
Meghan stood up and ran over to it, dropping down and peering underneath it. “There’s no way to get to it if it is behind the drawer. Can we slide it out?”
Tess tried to pull the drawer from its case, but it was secured with tracks on either side and it couldn’t be removed. Toby fiddled with the metal rails. “It’s permanently attached to these,” he said. “We need a screwdriver to see if we can remove the metal from the wood.”
“Hang on,” Tess said. “I almost had it.” She slid her thin arm into the drawer again. “I’m so close.”
“Let me try,” Meghan said, stepping up beside her.
Tess stepped back and let Meghan attempt to reach whatever it was.
Sliding her arm into the drawer, Meghan leaned as far as she could until her fingertips brushed what felt like papers, and her breath caught. “I feel something.” She wriggled to see if she could get a hold of them, the tips of her fingers brushing them but not able to reach them. She strained, pushing her arm as far as it would go.
Pappy’s voice filled her ears.Almost there.
She pushed herself as hard as she could, and the squeezed her two fingers together around the papers, pressing them to the bottom of the drawer as she pulled them forward. “I got them!” She dragged the pages into view and got hold of them, her pulse in her ears. “It’s ledger paper,” she said, her mouth drying out. There, on the ledger paper, scrawled over the pink vertical lines that usually set off the financials, was the same curling script from the journal. She read the first few lines aloud:
I, Hester Elizabeth Quinn, resident of Brentwood, California, being of sound mind and not acting under duress, hereby declare this document to be my last will and testament. I appoint Rupert Edward Meyers as personal representative of my estate…
Meghan lost her words, her eyes scanning the text, completely disbelieving what she was reading.
“What does it say?” Tess whined.
Toby leaned in, putting his arm around Meghan as she read the next paragraph.
I bequeath my property as follows:
Beneficiary: Jacqueline Ann Gray or her direct descendants to receive the following property: $45,035,350.00. International Bank Account Number: 29-76-MBC7…
Meghan stopped reading, all of it blurring with her tears. She was amillionaire. All her worries about paying her bills and investing in her dream job—all of them were gone in an instant. Then, she thought about Toby. “If this is one of Rupert’s accounts, I’ll help pay for the expansion of the inn,” she told him, still breathless from it all.
“No,” he said. “I wouldn’t let you do that.”
“Will you have a way to pay for it?”
“When I first got it up and running, I wanted to sell it and run away. I’d thought about taking the money and making a brand-new start somewhere like Florida where I had no memories of my former life, because it was all too much emotionally, but I pushed through for Mary. Now, I think she’d be ready for me to sell it.”
“What will you do once you sell it?” she asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe invest in a muffin business or something.” He gave her a wink.
Meghan laughed. “Youknow about my muffin business?”
