news too, but the guy had a point. Ninety-three wasn’t exactly a shocking age at which to die. Only, she had seemed pretty spry last week.
“May I continue?” The lawyer looked between us. Suddenly Anders looked like a guy who had thirty clients waiting in the lobby and no time for this type of interruption.
“Sure,” Dan said, clearly eager to hear about the Corvettes coming our way.
“Mrs. Easter visited me just last Monday to set up this trust,” Anders said. “Very strange, really. She’d had no direct descendants, so had previously had plans to disburse her belongings to various charitable organizations—the Institute for Tasteful Taxidermy, the Chocolate Lab Rescue of Southern Maryland, and the like.
“However, last week she popped by and made a significant change to her final wishes, and that’s what I’d like to discuss with you now.” He looked up at us as if waiting for permission.
“Ah, okay?” I tried.
“Yeah, I guess,” Addison said.
Dan was practically bouncing in his chair. “Settle,” I whispered, and he stilled.
I hated myself for it, but the idea of having some unexpected cash to put toward the business wasn’t a completely unwelcome idea. I needed to build some extra space to house the growing custom furniture selection, and I knew if I could merchandise it correctly, I just might be able to shift the focus of the business. Farm supplies weren’t really my passion, but seeing the furniture I’d made by hand heading out the door to sit in people’s homes? That was what I wanted.
“Ahem.” Augustus cleared his throat and began to read. “This document represents the statement of the trust of Filene Josephine Tucker Easter.”
Addison let out an audible gasp beside me. “Mrs. Easter was a Tucker?”
The lawyer looked up, his eyebrows disappearing beneath the brim of the little hat he wore. “Mrs. Easter’s mother was a Tanner, but her father was a Tucker. And when she married, her name changed to Easter.”
I wasn’t sure Augustus understood why this news was so surprising to both of us, but figured maybe his impartiality in the age-old feud was what made him a good choice of attorney. The news was surprising to me too, though, and it gave me a new way to look at the strange things Mrs. Easter had said that day—about Addison and me, about the feud needing to end. Had she decided to end the feud herself? Was that what this was all about?
He continued reading, covering all the legal information, discussed Mrs. Easter’s lack of direct descendants, and then came the interesting part.
“This trust passes down my worldly goods, including the house at 54 Maple Lane and all of its contents, to Addison Agnes Tanner and Michael Joseph Tucker jointly.”
I felt my whole body go still. She’d left us a house? An entire house? Together? I shook my head in disbelief. Why? And what the hell were we supposed to do with it?
“The house, as it stands, requires improvements before it can be sold.”
That was an understatement. I thought of the old house behind the iron gates, the way the front porch sagged and the darkened windows sat cracked and eerie in the shadows of overgrown trees. Still, it was a big house, undoubtedly valuable. I could do a lot of the work myself and then sell the place to fund my store expansion. I didn’t like to capitalize on someone’s death, but this could be exactly what I needed.
The lawyer went on, “. . . and neither party named in this document may begin efforts to sell the property or its contents until such time as both have resided in the home for a minimum of six months.”
My eager thoughts crashed into a solid brick wall. What? She wanted us to live in the house? For six months each? Why?
“Once both parties have lived at 54 Maple Lane for six months or more, either separately or concurrently, and the required improvements have been made (see inclusion one for an itemized list of required and suggested repairs), then the house may be sold through whatever means the parties named herein deem appropriate, if that is their desire.”
I stared at the lawyer as Dan bounced at my side. Addison must have been just as shocked, because she wasn’t moving either.
Augustus put the document down and looked at us expectantly.
Addie’s mouth opened, but she didn’t say anything immediately, and I had no idea what to say. It made no sense at all. Of course we couldn’t jointly own and sell