The Pleasure's All Mine (30 page)

Ms. Sullivan slid the papers toward Drew. “Mr. Ripley, your mother left the responsibility—actual and financial—of making her final arrangements to you.”

Drew looked down, scanned the documents for several minutes, then simply asked, “How much?”

“Five thousand for you, your niece, and your nephew.”

“Nothing for me?” Janetta screamed as she lumbered to her feet.

Dina yanked her back down.

“No, I’m afraid not, at least not any insurance money,” Ms. Sullivan answered coolly.

“What about her?” Janetta asked, with a nod in Raven’s direction.

“She didn’t leave me anything either,” Raven replied, fighting to keep her tone civil. She’d assumed, incorrectly, that three ways meant Drew, Janetta, and herself, but she could handle the revelation.

Wanting to avert another scene, Dina quickly added, “Might be something in the pension.”

Janetta’s face brightened. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

The obvious greed angered Raven even more than the fact that her mother didn’t trust her to lay her to rest. Raven didn’t care about the money, but she did care if things weren’t done right. She looked up at Ms. Sullivan, who grimaced at the turn of the conversation. “Why don’t you show him what you have to offer?”

Ms. Sullivan stood, walked to the door, and said, “Right this way.”

Raven declined to tour the showroom a second time. She couldn’t stand being in her sister’s presence any longer than necessary.

In her haste to be the first one out, Janetta dropped a folded piece of paper on the carpet near the desk. Raven opened her mouth to say something, but clamped it shut instead. She glanced at it, then at the closed door, before she sat back a few moments. Seconds ticked by agonizingly slowly. Finally, curiosity got the best of her, and she picked it up with the tips of her fingernails, snagged a pen from Ms. Sullivan’s desk to flip it open. Since Janetta never carried a purse, Raven could only imagine where the paper had fallen from.

Raven could not believe her eyes. It was a court document. The cow had already gone to court that morning to get guardianship of the children. The paper stated that their mother’s custody had terminated with her death, and the minors should be returned to Janetta, with their funds to be managed by her.

The children would never see a dime. Raven looked around, stepped outside the building, and whipped out her iPhone. “Ava, I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?” she asked, as she crunched on something. “Sorry for chewing in your ear, but cereal gets soggy in milk real fast.”

“Cereal?” Raven’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t had any real food since yesterday. “What kind?”

“Frosted Flakes, baby.”

Raven’s favorite! And also her mother’s. Another thing they had in common. They could set a gallon of milk and a two-pound box of Frosted Flakes between them, and polish those little suckers off in no time. Raven smiled at the memory. “I want some.”

“That’s gonna be a little hard to manage right about now. How are you holding up, Raven?”

“I’m managing. But here’s something
you
can manage. My sister filed to get custody of the children.”

“How old are they?”

“Twelve and sixteen.” Raven pressed a finger to her other ear to stifle the sounds of Stony Island traffic. “I think that my nephew might have some type of learning disability, and I know for a fact that my niece just got out of a halfway house to keep her off the streets and drugs.”

“At sixteen?”

Raven sighed. “She started running away at fourteen. The police would bring her home from time to time, but she’d leave again as soon as she could.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” Ava asked between bites.

“I don’t get you into
all
of the family dramas. You’ve got enough on your plate.”

“But I’m your friend before I’m your lawyer,” Ava reminded her, and Raven could picture her thin lips twisted in disapproval.

“I know, I know.” Raven’s weary sigh came from her soul. “It’s just that my mother wanted total control and wouldn’t let Kayla live with me. After being out there in the street so long, Kayla became a major challenge. Once, the police picked her up with more than a thousand dollars in her pocket. And that was from a single day’s work.”

“Damn, we’re in the wrong line of business.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It wasn’t meant to be,” Ava replied evenly. “But it’s no wonder that teenagers are pulled into that life—fast cash.”

Raven pictured her niece, a young Janetta in training. “But look at what it costs them.”

“I agree. What can I do to help?”

She paced the concrete while formulating a plan. “I want to get guardianship of my niece and nephew and the money my mother left them placed in a trust until they turn twenty-one.”

“You know I’m not a family or probate lawyer.”

“But I thought you said
real
lawyers could do anything.”

Ava groaned. “Can you fax me the document?”

Raven peered into Ms. Sullivan’s window. The office was still empty. “Yes, just not right now.”

“Give me the docket number.”

Raven read the digits off to her.

“I can have Marilyn run over to the clerk and get a copy. I’m on a plane to New York the day after tomorrow. I have a meeting with Pierce and Steve.” This time Ava sighed. “Everybody believes I can practice any old kind of law. First you, now your boyfriend.”

“Pierce is
not
my boyfriend,” Raven protested.

That admission was met with a few moments of awkward silence.

“Raven, come on now. It’s been a month,” she said in a low voice. “Please, tell me what happened!”

Raven’s heart grew heavy. “I can’t talk about that right now.” She wouldn’t mention that she would probably never be able to talk about it. Two of her books were now tied into his success. It’s one of the main reasons that she wanted Ava to stay on the case with Pierce. Ava had her sign the deal, so her ass should be the one to make sure everything came out all right. Plus, she could at least hear some good news about Pierce every now and then.

“You all are too old for this. I’m tired of you two!” Ava huffed. “Every time I talk to him he asks about you—sometimes in a roundabout way and sometimes flat out.”

Raven pressed a hand against her chest to quell the pain. “Ava, it won’t work. Stay out of it, okay?”

“Thanks to you, I’m all up in it!” Ava shouted back. “Sometimes just the mention of your name makes his eyes glaze over. He looks like hell, Raven! And he’s going through it, too. He loves you. It’s in his eyes, in his voice. So suck up all that damn pride and call him!”

She would certainly love to hear the sound of his deep voice, feel his massive arms around her, bury her head in his chest, and lose herself in his arms. She so needed it right now. Instead, Raven answered her friend’s impassioned plea for her to finally open up with, “My mother left the responsibility of her arrangements to Drew, as well as the insurance to be split between him and the grandchildren. Janetta’s not happy.”

Ava remained silent for a moment, then asked, “And nothing for you? How do you feel about that?”

“The money’s not the issue for me—I know why she did that. But saying that only
he
can handle the arrangements? That’s different matter. I’m pissed.”

“Maybe she thought it was time for Drew to grow up.”

Raven hadn’t thought of that. “Sounds like a disaster in the making. They’ll have it so mama will have to paddle her own casket to the funeral.”

“Stop it!” Ava chided, but joined Raven’s laughter at the visual she provided. “I’ll get on the custody thing right away.”

“Okay.”

“You do realize she’s going to fight you on this.”

“My mother wanted those children safe and well cared for,” Raven responded, pacing in front of the entrance. “Janetta doesn’t give a damn about them. She left Manny in the tub for hours, just so she wouldn’t have to change his diaper.
Lazy heifer!
On top of that, she had so many men running through her house that they couldn’t find out which one of them molested Kayla at two, and again at four!” Raven paced, trying to calm down. “Take away the money, and let’s see how fast she drops them. They’ve had enough with her promises to get her life straight and come back for them. They deserve better.”

“Are you going to talk this over with Eric?”

“I don’t think he’ll have a problem.”

“But give him the courtesy of expressing his opinion.”

“We’re talking about Eric,” Raven said dryly, picking up the pace again, making her way to the window to peer in. “Is that
ever
a problem?”

“Regardless of how grown up he seems, he’s a kid at heart and an
only
child. He might resent the intrusion if you don’t ask first.”

“Oops, gotta go. The home team’s coming back.”

“Keep your chin up,” Ava quipped.

“It’s not my chin I’m worried about.”

“And don’t kill anybody, either.”

“Can’t promise that.” Raven sprinted to the door. “Bye.”

As she hung up, then maneuvered into the office, Raven slipped the folded paper into her pocket just before Ms. Sullivan led her sister and brother back into the room.

Janetta leaned over to whisper to Andrew. His handsomely chiseled features turned to stone before he asked Raven, “How much are you putting in? I need that insurance money for bills.”

The walls around her expanded, then shrank. Raven looked at him as though she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard correctly. She opened her mouth and closed it again. The sheer greed shook her to the verge of tears. Her sister’s smirk let her know where the idea had come from. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Drew had never had that kind of greed—just an unwillingness to think for himself if his sister was doing all the talking.

Before Raven could blow up, Ms. Sullivan diplomatically moved between them and pointed to the papers. “Actually, your mother left specific instructions that you
alone
were to handle this.”

“Fine, then use the insurance, and she can give me her half in cash.”

“You do mean one-third, right?” Raven said calmly, crossing one leg over the other as Ms. Sullivan frowned at her brother and sister. “I’ll do it the moment Janetta puts in her portion. Since we’re
splitting
the bill
fairly
and all that.”

Her sister’s lips twisted into a bitter sneer. “You know I’m not rich like you.”

Another sore point for Janetta and Drew. But she wasn’t rich—well off, maybe, but by modest standards. Eric was the one with the money—his books had outsold hers two to one. Raven turned to her brother. “Mom didn’t leave a will, but it’s clear that she wanted you to be in charge. Your bills didn’t factor into it then, and they shouldn’t now.” Raven stood, smoothed out her pants. “Get it done, people! I have to go.”

She scooped up a card from the desk, nodded conspiratorially to the funeral director, whisked out of the office and through the glass doors before anger beat down her common sense. Then again, speaking her mind might not be so bad. Now they, too, would know exactly how it felt not to have Mama to protect them anymore.

Once in the car, Raven whipped out her iPhone and dialed the number on the card. “Ms. Sullivan, please.”

“She’s with a client right now.”

“I know. That client is my family. But please do not tell her who’s on the line.”

Moments later, she heard a curt, “May I help you?”

“This is Ms. Ripley, and please don’t say my name out loud.”

“Okaaay…”

“Please don’t let them penny pinch their way to putting my mother in a pine box. Just give them what you and I spoke about. Take my brother’s five thousand and I’ll put in the rest. But don’t tell
them
that.”

“But you can’t—”

“Yes, I can,” Raven replied. “I’ll even do the programs myself, since I want them in color. You can still charge him for them, then shift those funds to pay for other costs. It’s just paperwork and money. Please make it happen.”

Seconds ticked by.

Raven sighed. “She didn’t say I couldn’t help in other ways.”

Still no answer.

Raven changed tactics. “Do you realize how many people are going to be at my mother’s funeral? She was a social butterfly at church, and the turnout’s going to be huge. They all know I have money. When people see her laid out in less than the best, they’re not going to blame me—they’ll blame the funeral home.”

“Okay, we’ll work it your way,” Ms. Sullivan finally agreed. “Were you always the rebellious one?”

“I think my mother would have definitely said yes.”

“And she’d be right. But it’s obvious you loved her.”

Raven’s heart took a leap in her chest. “Thank you. I’ll call you with my phone numbers after my family leaves.”

She slipped the phone into her pocket and went straight to her mother’s now-empty house before her sister could ravage the place. With Ava’s help, she quickly typed up a document on her mother’s computer then finished sorting through the rest of the papers.

Raven had just made the last of several trips to the car when the caustic words, “What the hell are you doing here?” stopped her cold.

She looked up into Janetta’s beady little eyes. “These are some personal papers I need,” she said, making reference to the documents in her hand. “My original birth certificate, grade school report cards, things like that.”

“You need to ask us before you do anything here. This house belongs to
us. Our
daddy bought this house. You’re only our
half
-sister, if even that.”

“Stop it, Janetta,” Drew growled, throwing his hands up in disgust. “We don’t know that. Mama said we shouldn’t say that to her.”

“Well, Mama ain’t here, is she? So I can say what the fuck I want. She wasn’t in our house as a baby. Mama transplanted her ass from somewhere. Probably from under a rock,” Janetta shot back.

“Stop it!” Drew yelled, bearing down on his older sister. “I’m not having it. Not today! Mama’s gone and all you can do is bitch.”

It seemed strange to hear him speak out on Raven’s behalf. Janetta obviously thought so too, because her eyes blazed with anger.

But Raven’s heart hurt at hearing those same old words spew from Janetta again. It was said that Jaylon had tried to give Raven away at birth, didn’t even want to leave the hospital with her. A neighbor took care of Raven for the first eighteen months and it would have continued that way until Anita came into the picture. Only then had Jaylon felt shamed that she had abandoned her beautiful little daughter. She brought Raven home, but by then the damage had been done. Janetta and Drew would never accept Raven as their true sister, no matter that she actually was.

Raven held back tears as she gathered up the last of her things, looked around the house that she had spent sixteen long years growing up in, realizing that it would probably be the last time she’d set foot inside.