“I inherited a rock? Some distant relative I’ve never met willed me a rock? You can’t be serious.” Was that supposed to be an insult? Mina wondered. You’ve been a bad little descendant, Mina, so here, accept this rock as a sign of my eternal contempt. . . .
“Pandemina Dorothy Avery, right? The thirty-one-year-old unmarried daughter of Elizabeth Avery Dixon and Duncan Forbes?” When she shrugged and nodded, the attorney smiled. “Then, yes. A rock. But more than that. It’s actually a cornerstone from a little cottage in Wiltshire, England, last owned by your distant cousin and my firm’s client, Gladys Avebury. It’s been in the English branch of your mother’s family for generations. I assume you’ve heard of cornerstones?”
She thought about it. “Well, sure. So the cornerstone’s a keepsake?” Leave it to her mother’s family to pass a sacred rock down through the generations and call it a legacy.
“That, too, but cornerstones are also an old tradition. People sometimes use them as a personal time capsule, to contain mementos and information about the property and its owners. If a building is significant in any way or large, the cornerstone might also contain information about the structure itself. Since in this case we’re talking about a simple, if very old, cottage, it’s more likely you’ll get your hands on some family history. Which, quite frankly, could be fascinating.”
Fascinating. No doubt. Mina pondered diplomacy. “Look. I have to be honest. This inheritance might be better off in somebody else’s hands. I’m afraid information about distant relatives just doesn’t intrigue me like it might some others. The only people I’ve ever called family are my mother and stepfather—and then, only when they’re behaving, which is about fifty percent of the time.”
And yes, here now was the guilt. She shouldn’t have said that last part. At least her mom and stepfather loved and acknowledged Mina as family. That was more than she could say for the pompous hypocrite who’d fathered Mina and abandoned mother and child before she was even born.
And then there were the loving grandparents, who unanimously denounced Mina’s birth as an abomination. Seriously. All because of a little premarital sex and a reproductive oops.
Mina could only assume that her mother’s life during pregnancy had been a living hell. On the rare sentimental occasion, Mina even tried to set aside their very real differences in an attempt to build a friendlier mother-daughter relationship. But then her mother would invariably shove some rare crystals or yet another ancient talisman under Mina’s nose, thereby driving her daughter to distraction all over again.
“I suppose everyone is entitled to an opinion. You’ll have to do as you see fit.” Still, the attorney’s manner had cooled.
Poor man had been so excited when she walked in the door. He’d wanted to play Santa Claus and deliver his special lump of rock, and her jaded-kid routine wasn’t satisfying in the least.
Well, what did he expect? She’d never even met this Gladys Avebury, and Mina just didn’t have it in her to weep or gush with sentiment over the death of a stranger. Generalized but sincere regret was about all she could manage.
“Look, I’m sorry if I seem less than enthusiastic about all this. It probably just hasn’t sunk in yet.” Well, that was certainly possible. Maybe she hadn’t completely processed the situation yet. She mentally paused a moment. She’d inherited a rock . . . from a distant cousin across the ocean . . . Hmm. No, a rock’s a rock’s a rock. She’d inherited a rock, and not of the faceted variety. That was about as “sunk” as it got, she decided, not without regret.
Sort of like her, unfortunately. A monetary inheritance from some mysterious relative she’d have welcomed with embarrassment and sheer gratitude. So, call her materialistic, but now that Jackson, her live-in boyfriend, had dumped her and moved out—leaving her with a mortgage and repairs she couldn’t afford—she was desperate.
Thanks to Jackson’s vindictive—not to mention married—new girlfriend, Mina had lost her job right along with her boyfriend and potential husband. Then Jackson, in his infinite generosity, had offered to continue the mortgage payments on the house they jointly owned until the house sold. In return, Mina would pay for renovations necessary to make the house sellable.
Right. With what money, exactly? The laughable balance in her checking account? Or maybe she could borrow ahead on a nonexistent salary?
“Ms. Avery?” The attorney had a tight look on his face, as though he’d tried gaining her attention a