Safe & Sound (15 page)

“Wanna dance?” Stella asked, holding her hand out to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, shifting my stance to look at her.

“I’m asking you to dance since I know you’re a sucker for this romantic stuff. Come on. I don’t bite.” I sighed at the ridiculous nature of the whole thing.

“Really, you’re too serious,” Stella said, taking my hand and dragging me to the floor.

“Stella, really … I don’t need to dance,” I said, all the while thinking, “and not with you.”

“Yes, you do … and don’t worry I won’t try anything. You’re not my type,” she said, winking at me as I laughed and we started to sway to the music.

“Can I join?” We heard Lanie’s voice from behind us.

“The more the merrier apparently,” I said as Lanie joined us and the three of us swayed together, now holding hands until the song ended.

“You guys are too much,” I said as we headed back to our seats.

“Jill, I know I’m a jerk when it comes to this mushy stuff,” Stella said, as we were served our first course, “but I know you. You are a hopeless romantic, but you won’t admit it, not on Lanie’s day. I know this is hard for you.”

“Thanks Stella,” I said, reaching for her hand. After dinner, Lanie and Mary Elizabeth cut the cake and shared a couple more dances before leaving early.

“Thank you so much. It was more magical than I could have ever dreamed up,” Mary Elizabeth whispered in my ear as she embraced me. Her long black hair was pulled back into an elaborately braided updo, but several pieces had already slipped out of place.

“Enjoy your honeymoon,” I said, trying to keep my emotions in check.

“I know you are the two most important people in Lanie’s life and while I never asked your permission, I hope you know how special she is to me. I’m not trying to steal her away from anything you three have. I just hope we can all share her,” Mary Elizabeth said.

“Of course,” I exclaimed.

“Steal away. She’s not that special,” Stella joked as Lanie joined us.

“You’re so sweet,” Lanie said to Stella before she joined in another round of thank-you’s and hugs before leaving with her new bride.

Stella and I stayed to the end of the reception and saw off the last of the lingering guests before heading back to the hotel.

“Maybe you should take up event planning,” Stella said as we were getting ready for bed.

“I don’t know. That was really stressful.”

“Well, what are you going to do?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You say that a lot lately.”

“I know, but it’s true. I was so certain of so many things and now it’s all up in the air,” I said, waving my hands around my head.

“You look ridiculous. Do that again.” Stella laughed.

“I’ll pass,” I said as I got into bed.

“Night, Stella.”

“Night, Jill … Really good job tonight,” she said before drifting off to sleep.

We got up early on Saturday to ride with Lanie and Mary Elizabeth to the airport to see them off on their honeymoon. In reality, I think Stella wanted to ride in the limo they had arranged, as she wasn’t someone who was really good with good-byes.

“I don’t know how long you both think you can keep babysitting me,” I said on the drive out to the airport. I could see them all casting sideways glances at each other.

“What?” I asked defensively.

“Well … we don’t think you should be alone just yet,” Lanie said.

“Why?” I asked defensively.

“Well, you have been having really bad nightmares and it concerns us,” Lanie said.

“It concerns mostly Lanie,” Stella added.

“It concerns us all,” Mary Elizabeth said in support of Lanie.

While I appreciated her concern, it was weird hearing that sentiment come from Mary Elizabeth.

“We have kind of worked out a plan for the next couple of weeks,” Lanie said.

“When was anyone going to tell me?”

“We are telling you, right now,” Stella said.

“Do I get a say?”

“I could lie to you and say yes, but in reality, no, no you don’t,” Stella replied.

“Fine,” I sighed. “What is your grand plan?”

“Well, we thought you could hang out in the city with Stella for a couple more weeks through March. Then Stella has a conference in Greensboro in April. After that, she plans on staying with you for a few weeks longer to work on a case and use the Wake Forest library
again
,” Lanie explained.

“Plus we need to reschedule that meeting with Paul Wellon. He’s really getting annoyed with me,” Stella said, interrupting.

“After that, you can stay with us,” Lanie said, pointing to herself and Mary Elizabeth.

“So the babysitting will end when the nightmares do?” I asked. I wasn’t even aware I was having nightmares.

“Something like that,” Stella said.

“Great. How do I get them to stop?” I asked Lanie.

“It doesn’t work that way, Jill. It’s something you need to work through,” Lanie replied.

“How do I work through something I didn’t know was going on,” I asked again.

“That’s for you to figure out,” Lanie said.

“But you’re the psychologist,” I whined.

“Not your psychologist.”

“Are you sure? I feel like you have been doctoring me for months now,” I said and everyone burst into laughter.

“Doctoring?” Stella said.

“I was being serious.” I pouted.

“Jill, you just need time to heal and process everything. In the meantime we just want to keep an extra eye on you. I mean we really haven’t seen a lot of each other in the past couple years, so just think of it as catching up on lost time.” Lanie shrugged as the limo pulled up to the airport.

“Whatever you say, doc,” I quipped as Lanie smiled back.

We said another round of good-byes as Lanie and Mary Elizabeth headed into the airport.

“I give it six years,” Stella whispered as we climbed back in the limo.

“Seriously, Stella. That is so inappropriate.”

“No. If I’d said it yesterday, which I wanted to, it would have been inappropriate. Today it’s just an observation. They are both way too into their work. It won’t last.”

“Well, I hope you’re wrong,” I said as I settled in for the drive back to the city.

CHAPTER 19

W
eeks turned into months as Stella and Lanie developed an elaborate plan that bounced me around from New York to Raleigh and occasionally my house. Our lives seemed to fall into a pattern. Stella and Lanie were using all their energy trying to keep me busy and preoccupied. I was never alone for long periods of time and never at night. During their time off, every moment of my time was scheduled with museum trips, shopping, hiking, more shopping, movies and eating. In addition to the constant supervision, Harry continued to call, text and e-mail me to get my attention. Several times during my brief stays at the house he stopped by unannounced and stayed awkwardly for coffee or a movie, often under the glare of Lanie, Stella and even Mary Elizabeth, who did not appreciate his company.

By mid-May I confronted Stella and Lanie. The juggling was becoming ridiculous and I needed to try and start piecing my life back together—alone. I argued that they needed to get back to their lives and stop worrying about me. My nightmares were no longer occurring with the same frequency (or so I was told), and I felt I needed some space from my friends. Reluctantly, after a long discussion, they finally agreed under the condition that they would both come down and spend a week with me at the house one final time before leaving me to my own devices. It was during this time that Stella reminded me, yet again, we needed to go see Paul Wellon. I agreed that it was well overdue and I needed to finally deal with whatever estate issues Jay had left. Stella arranged a meeting with Paul Wellon for Monday morning while she and Lanie where both around so we could attend together.

“How long do you think it will take?” I asked Stella.

“I don’t know. It depends on what Jay’s estate consisted off,” she said, trying to navigate the directions to Paul’s office she had scribbled down on a napkin.

“Are you nervous?” Lanie asked.

“A little bit. Legal matters seem so official and sometimes confusing. Also I don’t really think Jay had an ‘estate’ to leave behind.”

“Well, Paul seemed really irritated with me after being rescheduled for almost seven months. But I assured him you were not in any state to deal with it before now,” Stella said.

“Thanks Stella,” I said as we finally pulled into the parking garage beside Paul Wellon’s office.

“Ladies, why don’t you come in and sit down.” Paul Wellon greeted us and pointed toward a round table and several chairs in the corner of his office. Paul Wellon was much younger than I had expected. He was tall and muscular with dark brown hair and brown eyes and I guessed his age to be mid-thirties.

“How did you and Jay know each other?” I asked as we sat down.

“I was in my final year of law school during his first year at Wake. We shared the same advisor and ended up working on a case study together,” he said, picking up some files and joining us at the table.

“I do apologize for our delay in coming to see you. It was completely my fault.”

“No problem. You seem to have two really good friends who care a great deal for you,” he added sincerely, looking at the three of us. “Now I have a lot of information to cover and I think some of it may come as a surprise to you,” he said, clearing his throat.

“Why do you say that?” Stella interjected.

“Well, Jay and I had some pretty lengthy conversations after he set up his investments and started creating his will. He had many plans moving forward and wanted to make sure he was covered legally and he and Jill would be taken care of. He had a couple tricks up his sleeve, if you will. I’m sorry that he didn’t get to unveil these to you as he planned.” He looked at me earnestly. I just nodded and smiled nervously.

“Well, let’s get started,” he continued.

“Let’s,” Stella said. From her tone of voice I could tell she was becoming annoyed with Paul Wellon.

“Jill, Jay left you as the sole beneficiary of everything: the house in Greensboro, both vehicles …” He paused, checking his notes. “I am to understand you already gave away one vehicle to a Mr. Harry Conner?”

“That is correct,” I said, amazed at how accurate his information was.

“It’s my job to know these things,” he said, reading the surprise in my expression.

“Jay made a lot of investments with the money he made and inherited,” Paul continued. I nodded again.

“Now I understand you have an anniversary coming up in June, correct?” he asked.

“That is correct.”

“Well, Jay had a surprise for you that I was helping him set up.” He paused, almost giddy with the information he was holding back.

“And that was?” I asked, getting annoyed at his partial statements.

“Jay purchased a house on the beach in Oak Island, North Carolina. It was meant to be a surprise anniversary gift for you. He said it was your dream to one day live out there and he wanted to make that happen.” He paused, letting this information set in.

“He did what?” I asked, jumping out of my seat.

“What?” Stella and Lanie echoed around me as they pushed me back into my chair.

“Jay purchased a house—”

“I heard what you said. I just don’t believe it,” I stammered.

“The house was bought at the end of last summer and was deemed a fixer-upper, if you will. We had established a specific fund for the house remodel and other necessities, but everything was halted upon his passing,” he said.

“How could he … how could we afford all of it?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“I assure you, Jill, Jay invested very wisely and you can afford it. He left you with a sizeable amount of money in addition to the house on Oak Island,” he added as he continued to talk about the legality of the properties and additional paperwork that would need to be completed.

“Where is it?” I asked.

“Oak Island … I have the address written down somewhere,” Paul stammered after I interrupted him.

“I want to see it,” I said. My mind was reeling over the fact that my husband could purchase a house without my knowledge. Romantic gesture or not this was a huge decision and secret he had kept from me. I wasn’t sure if I was furious or touched.

“Why of course. But we have many other details to cover,” Paul added.

“Can the other details wait?” I asked.

“Jill … Mrs. Greenfield … let me assure you there are matters that need to be attended to. There are stock options, investments and other accounts that need to be maintained and I would recommend hiring a financial specialist.”

Stella jumped in. “Paul, I think that maybe this is a little too much information to take in all at once.”

“I agree. Why don’t we deal with one thing at a time. Is there anything that won’t keep a couple weeks more?” Lanie asked calmly.

“No. I guess there is not,” Paul said, very frustrated by the turn this conversation had taken.

“Great,” Stella said and I nodded.

“Jill,” Paul said, now looking directly at me. “Whenever I spoke with Jay, his biggest concern was you. Your well-being, your likes, your future—every decision, every move he made had you in mind. I would like you to remember that as you learn more about all this in the upcoming weeks. I know it can be a lot to learn, especially from a stranger, but there were no secrets or surprises that were ever meant to hurt you. It was all meant to ‘fulfill your dreams,’ as Jay put it.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, becoming overwhelmed with all the emotion. Paul nodded and took out some paperwork from a folder that he indicated needed completing so that everything could be moved over to my name. I spent the next 30 minutes completing paperwork as Stella scrutinized every word over my shoulder and Lanie talked with Paul Wellon in the hallway. When we were done, Paul handed Stella a packet of information and shook hands with each of us, wishing us a good day.

The ride back to my house was quiet. I could tell a hundred questions lingered in the air, but no one spoke. When we got home, I went into the house and stood in the living room.

“Jill, you okay?” Lanie asked, coming up behind me.