Elise
After my stomach had settled after running into Bryan at the cemetery, of all places, I had to get myself together. Ford watched me with anger and confusion after he yelled at me for not telling him who it was. The last thing I needed was another fight on my hands, and I knew Ford had always wanted to pound his face. Now, standing in a police uniform would only add flame to the fire.
Ford parked the truck in front of Law Office of Liberty County and walked around to let me out of the passenger door. He looked around, observing the surroundings as if he was a security guard or secret service ready to take a bullet without a second’s thought to protect me. That was the thing with Ford; he would have without ever looking back.
“Take a deep breath and relax. We will be in and out of here in no time,” he reassured me.
We really hadn’t discussed what I would do or what I would say, but I already knew. I knew actually as soon as I opened the letter and saw my mother’s name staring at me from the neatly sealed paper.
“I’m here to see Garrett Walker regarding a lawsuit.”
The secretary looked at me as if she possibly recognized me but would not get in that position. Instead, she picked up the phone that looked older than she was and let the lawyer know that I was here waiting to be seen.
“You can have a seat, and he should be with you shortly,” she said sweetly but on the sly.
We sat in the chairs on the left side of the room closest to the exit as if we needed to know that there was an escape if needed. The office smelled of moth balls and had furniture from the seventies.
I looked up, occasionally making eye contact with the secretary who was checking me out for an unknown reason.
“Do you know her?” Ford asked, and I shook my head.
“She keeps eyeballing you.”
“Jealous maybe?” I smiled and took his hand, touching his wedding ring that he hadn’t taken off since the day we said I do.
“Yeah, that’s probably it.” He smiled.
The door opened, and the man who came out looked nothing like I expected. I guess I was counting on an older balding man wearing a polyester suit. Instead, the man looked to be around the age of my mother, maybe a bit younger, and was in a tailored suit. He couldn’t have been from around Liberty because he had a style that was something I had only seen in movies or TV shows.
“Ms. Riley?” He moved toward me followed by greeting me with a handshake.
“Actually, it is Kelly now.”
Ford stood with me as I introduced him. “My husband, Ford Kelly.”
“Nice to meet you both. Let us go to my office and see what we can do to resolve this issue.”
He led us to the office and watched as we took our seats around a conference table that probably cost more than all our furniture in our apartment put together. Here was clearly where they spent the money in the law firm. Although spending this amount of money on a table was a crime in itself.
I took the envelope out of my purse and set it in front of me, ready to go over it and negotiate.
“All right, let’s get started. This, as you know, is being filed by Lisa Riley, your mother. From the facts to the best of my knowledge, you were left money by your brother, Thad Johnson, that was not his to give to you.”
The knot in my throat choked me when he said my brother’s name. He might not have been visible, but he was here with me right this minute. He had to be; otherwise, I wouldn’t have felt as strong as I did.
“Sir, that is not accurate, but to be honest, this doesn’t shock me. My mother, Lisa, has always been this way to me.”
“This is outrageous, and I still don’t know why we didn’t bring a lawyer to solve this for us, sweetheart,” Ford blurted out, defending me.
“Ford, please, let’s just get through this.”
Our eyes met, but he didn’t look pleased. He stopped only because he knew that I was serious.
“I would like to agree to her having the money. In fact, I can get a cashier’s check out to her in the next couple of weeks less the money for Thad’s headstone that I bought and my college tuition. She can have the rest because it isn’t worth it to me to fight.”
“I’m not sure she is going to be happy with that Ms. Riley … Kelly.”
“With all due respect, you have no idea what this woman who was supposed to be my mother has put me through. My brother, Thad, saw it, and that is why he left that money to me. It was for my college and my future—something my own mother has never cared about. How many mothers do you know are like that?”
“That isn’t the issue here, ma’am. The issue is that you were gifted money that didn’t belong to him.”
“Bullshit. Thad wouldn’t have left me that money if it didn’t belong to me.”
“He was mistaken.”
I stood, furiously slapping my hands on the table that had been polished to the point of slipperiness.
“You can say whatever you want to me about me but don’t you dare bring my brother into this. You will not use his name in vain.”
Ford stood beside me, ready to fight whatever battle that needed to be fought.
The lawyer closed his manila folder and then backed his chair up enough to let me know he was getting up.
“I will take the offer to my client and then call you.”
His client, my mother. She devil.
“Okay, but in the meantime, why don’t you ask my dear mother all the things she did to me, and especially why I left Liberty. Let her enlighten you. And then next time we talk, you can tell me what you think I deserve or not.”
I marched out the room without paying any attention to how close Ford was to me. I knew he would follow, and he would be giving a death glare just as I was. He hated my mother, and he knew that if Thad was brought up, a war would ensue.
We walked out of the office, and I stood on the sidewalk, taking a deep breath of the fresh air after inhaling the manure in that office.
“Your mother is a real piece of work, Elise,” Ford muttered as if I didn’t know. I didn’t respond but rather just looked up at the sky.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you had decided to do with the money? That is not what Thad would’ve wanted you to do, baby. He wanted you to have that money.”
“Ford … I know that. But do you think it is worth it? Especially when we have more important things to worry about.”
He looked at me as if I had spoken a secret that wasn’t allowed to be heard out loud.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“No, it doesn’t. I am not going to spend valuable time arguing with a woman over something I don’t need. We have everything we need, and …”
“But you deserve it.”
“Deserve? Who cares what I deserve … I want to live for what I love, and what is important. And that isn’t. You will make a good living teaching, and I will get a job in Humble with a good salary. You have a trust we can use if things get too bad, and Terry and Carol will help with anything we ever need. They are very well off …”
“They are?” He looked at me in shock.
“Yes, but that’s not the point. The point is that I am not going to waste time arguing over something I don’t care about. I want to fight the fights worth fighting.”
“You might be the only person on earth to say that, baby.”
I moved toward him, and he lightly kissed me on the nose and then moved to my lips.
I put my arm around his shoulder and held it there while we finished our kiss.
“Ford … we are what matter. Screw everything else.”
“Let’s get back home.”
“Let’s.”
He took my hand and led me to his truck.
Yes, Ford was the only thing I wanted and needed. And I wouldn’t think of a time without him here with me because, to me, I could no longer exist.