I Married an Old Widow to Get a Fortune – After Her Funeral, the Lawyer Handed Me an Old Sewing Machine and a Letter
Halsey looked up.
“So you knew there was something inside?” I asked.
“That is a family heirloom, and it should have stayed closed.”
Marlene’s face drained of color. “I didn’t say that.”
But she had.
Joanne touched her sister’s elbow. “Marlene. Please.”
“No.” Marlene turned to Halsey. “I’m contesting the will. Today. I want it on record. He married her for money, and now he’s walking out of here with God knows what stuffed in a piece of furniture.”
Marlene’s face drained of color.
“On what grounds?” Halsey asked.
“Undue influence. She was confused. Anyone in town will say so.”
I looked at her then. Underneath the lipstick and the practiced fury, she was tired.
She’d been tired for a long time.
“Eleanor wasn’t confused a day in her life,” I said.
“You don’t get to say her name like that.”
“Eleanor wasn’t confused a day in her life.”
“Marlene.” Joanne’s voice cracked. “Stop.”
Halsey lifted the envelope from his desk.
He held it out to me across the wood, past Marlene’s shoulder, like a man handing a candle through a doorway.
“Daniel, take this. Read it somewhere quiet. Don’t respond to anyone until you’ve read every line.”
“You can’t just give him that,” Marlene said, reaching to snatch the envelope.
“Don’t respond to anyone until you’ve read every line.”
I took the envelope before she could grab it.
“I can,” Halsey said. “And I have.”
I gathered the photographs, the birth certificate and the bracelet then I tucked the sewing machine under one arm and fled before Marlene could get any more ideas.
“I’ll see you in court,” Marlene said as I passed her.
“Maybe,” I answered.
I took the envelope before she could grab it.
Then I walked out into the parking lot with a dead woman’s sewing machine, a sealed letter against my ribs, and Marlene’s voice chasing me down the hall.
***
I sat in my old car in the lawyer’s parking lot, the letter trembling in my hands.
Eventually, I broke the seal and removed the letter inside.
Daniel, I have one final job for you.
I have spent sixty years looking for someone, and now I ask that you continue the search.
Daniel, I have one final job for you.
All I have to help you with your search is inside the sewing machine.
Find him for me, Daniel. I could not.
Do this, and everything I had is yours.
I put the letter back in the envelope and unfolded the birth certificate.
Eleanor was listed as the mother.
The father was some man named Michael that she’d never mentioned.
Then I saw the name of the child on the birth certificate and my blood ran cold.
Find him for me, Daniel. I could not.
I reached into my glove box, where I still kept all my important papers from the time when I’d lived in my car.
Then I rushed back into Halsey’s office.
Marlene was still leaning over Halsey’s desk, voice sharp.
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