Page 69 of Rainwater
“Yes,” Corey answered, as he opened the door farther.
“You are one hard man to find.” The small man removed his hat and wiped at his forehead. He stretched out his hand and offered Corey a card.
“Yeah, I like it that way. What is it you want?” Corey took the card and glanced at the black print.
“I’m David Wells. I was your mother’s attorney. In her will she left you everything.” The man walked past Corey into the house, setting his briefcase down on the table. He nodded atJennifer and smiled at Ellie before he opened the locks and pulled out a sheaf of papers.
“The house burned down to the ground. There wasn’t anything to leave me.” Corey’s voice got rough, his throat tight. His eyes reached for Jennifer’s and the knot of grief eased at her sympathetic expression.
“On the contrary. There was a trust opened when you were sixteen. There’s quite a sum in it now. I’m here to bestow the legal papers on you.” The man sounded relieved and preoccupied.
“A trust? What kind of a trust?” It must be the money he had sent his mother, he thought in shock. He’d known she wasn’t spending it.
“There was a note,” the man said by way of explanation. “She insisted that I find you and make sure you got both the note and the money. There is also the matter of your father’s work.”
“My father’s work?” Corey asked, perplexed. He knew his father had destroyed all his work when his hands had been ruined.
“Yes, his paintings are now worth a considerable sum of money,” Wells said, still digging in his briefcase as if he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, look Corey in the eyes.
“I don’t follow you.”
“Your mother entrusted me with five of his works. After his unfortunate accident, he destroyed most of the stuff he was working on, but your mother saved five paintings to be sold upon his death.”
Corey took a deep breath, unable to take it all in. He looked down at the note.
I could never have taken your money, son. I’m sorry for the way we parted, but it was better for all of us. Please don’t hate me or your father. I loved him and I just couldn’t leave him. Perhaps it isn’t something you can understand, but I hopemaybe one day you will. Do something good with the money, son. Be happy.
Corey felt something loosen inside of him and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the money.
The man cleared his throat and Corey looked up expectantly. “There is another matter that I really don’t know how to tell you, so I’ll tell you straight out. When the news was given to you at the hospital that your father, mother and sister were dead, well, you see, the search hadn’t been completed yet. It wasn’t discovered until later, after you left that…well…that your sister was not killed. She’s been waiting for you at your Austin house all this time.
Corey couldn’t speak, the air seemed to be trapped in his chest. “Marigold,” he got out hoarsely. “Where is she?”
“In my care. She’s a bit frightened and…”
Corey didn’t’ hear the rest. He rushed past the little man, through the door, and down the steps, joy and awe pounding in his blood.
When he got to the car, a dark-haired child turned her haunted green eyes up to his and he pulled the car door open, dropping to his knees with a soft cry. He touched her face and the tears welling in her eyes slipped down her cheeks.
“Corey.” She said his name as if it were home and wrapped her slim arms around his neck. He felt the hot, wet slide of her tears against his neck.
He felt Jennifer’s hand on his shoulder and he just couldn’t move, his chest full and aching, tears pricking the back of his eyes. “My God, I thought you were dead. What happened?”
“Dad went into one of his rages because I broke a glass. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I just couldn’t. I left, and I guess he crashed on the couch with a lit cigarette and caught the house on fire. I went to your house and got the key you always said you’d leave for me. I let myself in to wait for you, but you never came.Finally I called the police because I didn’t know what else to do.” She stood there forlorn and with shadows in her eyes. “Mom’s dead.” Her voice broke and she dissolved into tears again.
Corey pulled her close and held her, so thankful that she was alive. It was a miracle that they had both survived their father’s brutality.
A low grunt broke them apart and Marigold’s tear-streaked face broke into a grin when she saw the little black-and-white pig butting her ankles.
“He does that when he likes someone and wants to be picked up. He loves to be held,” Ellie said, reaching down and lifting Two Tone into Marigold’s arms.
Shyly she smiled at Ellie, her smile widening with confidence when Ellie grinned back.
Corey introduced Jennifer and Ellie and told Marigold that he was going to get married and that not to worry because he would take care of her. His heart warmed when Jennifer chimed in that they both would take care of her.
And as if Two Tone agreed, he let out a loud grunt and settled his rotund body deeper into Marigold’s arms, proclaiming her one of the family. All of them laughed through their tears. And when Corey’s and Marigold’s eyes met, they knew that finally, out of the darkness of despair, they had found a place of warmth and light. A place they could call home.
Epilogue
