Mr. Whitlock

1 - An Unlikely Inheritance

"What? Home?" Marie stumbled over the words, her eyes wide.

"Yes. Grandmother will be dying soon, and all the family must be there by tomorrow for her to read her will." Eve sounded unusually calm as she explained the situation.

"Shouldn't this be a dismal thing?" Marie asked incredulously, "Not to be anticipated, and excited over?"

"Well, of course it's sad." Eve frowned thoughtfully, "But mother explained that, in fact, we have no need to be sorrowful. Grandmother has always been a sort of burden on our family, and now we won't have to worry about her. It's a positive thing for everyone, Marie. Grandmother will finally be at peace, and so will we. And mother is rather excited to see her inheritance..."

No matter how hard her sister tried to mask it, Marie could sense a sort of selfish malice hidden inside her tone. Of course the entire family would rejoice when Charlotte died. None of them loved her enough to mourn, in fact nobody loved her at all. Even her own daughters felt a sense of relief imaging her death.

Marie felt sick as she recalled Eve's words, shaking her head in disbelief. Charlotte may have been cold and troubled, but she was a part of their family nevertheless. And with that, Marie knew she had to go home so her grandmother could have at least one person to love her in her dying moments.

Without another word, she packed her bags hastily and asked her neighbor to care for Tamsin while she was gone. And within a few hours, Marie felt a wave of nostalgia as she recognized the town where she had grown up.

***

Marie woke to the sound of her three year old nephew screaming and her one year old niece crying.

Breakfast was burnt, because Eve had just gotten a new stove and the was still learning how to manage the temperature. She struggled to feed Jane while her husband Oscar frantically tried to dress the angry toddler. Meanwhile Marie stared off in the distance as she wondered how her day would be.

She would see her mother for the first time in years, as well as her grandmother and the rest of her family. She would, in a way, learn her worth in Charlotte's eyes according to what she inherited. Or perhaps she wouldn't inherit anything.

By the time they all arrived at the hospital, there was an odd feeling buzzing in the air. Marie didn't like it. Especially when her mother ran over, pulling her into a tight hug while faking a little sniff.

Marie was always closer to her father than her mother, despite hardly ever seeing him. He was kind and honest, always bringing fun to anything. Her mother, on the other hand, had a tendency to lie and always seemed to make a situation about her.

As if on cue, her mother spent the next ten minutes in the waiting room explaining to Marie how devastated she was. Eve nodded along with sympathy, while Marie tried hard not to roll her eyes.

When the rest of the family arrived, they all made their way to Charlotte's room. And there she sat, her skin thinner and her eyes more hollow than the last time Marie saw her. The old woman glanced at each face walking in, and paused for a mere second at the sight of her beloved granddaughter. The light that flickered in her eyes was subtle enough to go unnoticed, but Marie saw it. And she let herself smile, even if it didn't reach her eyes.

Charlotte's croaky voice was hard to hear as she began to read her will. Marie let the words fade into the background as she looked at the clinical tile floor. She would occasionally hear that her mother and aunt received a large amount of money. Or that her sister and cousins would be given a lesser but still substantial sum of money as well. But she continued to wait for her own name, until she worried it would never come.

And then, just as Charlotte was approaching the last few sentences of the page, her name was spoken.

"And lastly, I, Charlotte Marie Hallewell-Marlowe, upon my death, devise to my granddaughter, Marie Westbrook, the property of my father's house and all of the belongings within it."

Everyone in the room let in an audible gasp, fixing their gaze on Marie. Throughout her life, Charlotte had made many remarks of how her father's house was "haunted" and therefore would never be passed on to anyone. So when did she change her mind?

But that wasn't their only concern. This house was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, full of the most expensive and ornate furniture. It was far more valuable and worth far much more than anything else she had given away that day.

Shock morphed into anger as the rest of the family wondered why Marie, of all people, was fit to inherit the house. But she just looked at her grandmother thoughtfully, her arms folded in her lap, gaining a small sense of satisfaction as the family tried to change Charlotte's mind. But they all knew that she would never let her decision waver.

For a moment the old woman stared back at her granddaughter, her eyes almost shining in amusement, before her gaze turned sharply to the selfish complaints of her relatives.