Tangled Thoughts by Cara Bertrand

Author:Cara Bertrand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Luminis Books, Inc.
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Carter

Without Grandma Evelyn, Thanksgiving was strange and quiet. I couldn’t remember a holiday that didn’t include Uncle Jeff’s mother. She was dining this year with her first born—Uncle Dan—along with her real grandchildren, both born and unborn. I’d been invited to join them, but declined. I was a lot of things now: senator’s analyst, college student, Washington DC resident, but I’d forever be a bookseller. There were two weekends a year I’d never miss at the store, and this was one of them. Black Friday was still black, even at Penrose Books.

Also, I assumed Lainey would be there, and therefore, I would not.

“Do you want more pie?” Aunt Mel asked hopefully. “I have apple-cranberry and pecan.”

I shook my head. “No thanks,” I said while Uncle Jeff said, “Cranberry, please.” Aunt Mel patted his hand and jumped up to get it with a fond smile. It wasn’t that her pies weren’t good—they were—but they weren’t Grandma’s. Aunt Mel knew that as much as anyone and she was trying extra hard.

When pie had been meted out, I poured each of them more wine. The dining room table felt too-large and lonely for just the three of us. After I set down the bottle, I finally said, “Can I ask you both something?”

Aunt Mel looked up, ready to make a joke, but something on my face must have stopped her. “What is it?”

“Harlan Waites said something to me.”

“You met him?” Aunt Mel looked intrigued. Uncle Jeff paused with his fork halfway from his plate to his mouth.

“A few weeks ago.” Though it felt like half of forever. “He asked me to give him a tour, but he really wanted to see if I knew something.”

“And did you?” Uncle Jeff’s quiet, deep voice rumbled in the too-empty room.

“No, but it makes sense. Theoretically.” I told them Harlan’s “guess” and Aunt Mel gripped her wine glass hard enough for me to worry for it. They looked at each other then back at me. Their silence hung heavy for a long moment.

Finally, Aunt Mel admitted, “It does make sense. I don’t know if it’s true, but…it sounds like it could be. Jeff?”

He shook his head. He didn’t know, but he didn’t deny the plausibility. “How far have you looked into it?” he asked.

“As far as I can discreetly.” As far as I knew how, in fact, which was pretty far. I’d been researching Allen Young since the day Lainey showed up at Northbrook. He was truly a mystery, an intentional one. I folded my napkin into a perfect triangle.

Aunt Mel said, “So what do you think?”

“Allen Young was intensely private,” I told them. “No public pictures; no articles, despite his success; courthouse wedding with two witnesses, Tessa and Martin. He established an elaborate trust for Lainey before she was even born, ensuring his fortune would go to her and her guardianship to Tessa if anything were to happen. Aside from Lainey, Tessa, and charities for foster children and victims of domestic violence, Chastine Young was the only other person mentioned in his will.

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