The Inheritance

PROLOGUE

The stars shone brilliantly above, sparkling through the moon roof of the Mercedes, the countryside speeding by as the car hugged the road's twists and curves neatly and tightly. The benefit event Victor and Vivian had attended, and hosted, had been a huge success, and they were both reflecting upon the amount of money they had raised for the cause of feeding the poor.  A cause they both cherished and held near to their hearts.  The outpouring of kindness from the hearts of so many strangers wanting to give to something other than their own bank account had astonished them. 

Victor's mind traveled to his beloved wife of 36 years.  The way she gracefully made her way through the crowd of those eager to get their chance to speak with her.  The way she so eloquently spoke at the podium, moving the hearts of everyone in the room as she spoke from her heart, creating a visual for them of her trips to third world countries to work with so many children living in such devastating poverty.

He had never seen her look more beautiful than she had that night in her simple black dress that fit her curves so perfectly, her shining black hair cut to a length just below her chin, shining radiantly in a halo of soft hues beneath the overhead lights that had been dimmed to create the perfect ambiance. 

Vivian had been the love of his life since high school, and when she finally agreed to go to a movie with him in their junior year, it was based on the condition that her best friend and beau could go with them.  He had agreed, happy to have any opportunity to spend time with her.  He recalled how nervous he had been on his way to pick her up, the movie and dinner he had been saving for in anticipation of this event a distant thought. 

His thoughts traveled to how far they had come from that day.  The journey their love had taken.  The private practice that had netted him more money than was even fair for one person to earn, Vivian's love for art and her pieces she was able to sell for a handsome amount, their travels to other countries, visiting those so much less fortunate than they, placing into perspective what life is really about.  An experience that changed the entire way they lived their own lives.  They had managed to put away a considerable amount of money for each of their three children, but it was there that his thoughts became more clouded.  Stormy clouds after the brilliant sunshine. 

Vivian studied the lines of her husband's handsome face as she watched him staring straight ahead into the endless stretch of road that led into the night before them.  She noticed his furrowed brow, the seriousness, almost sadness that seemed to settle there.  She suspected he was thinking of their children and her heart ached for him.  She knew Victor assumed it as his personal failure that their children had become so estranged from them, from each other, and from God, each so lost in life, on a road that would surely carry them through so much heartache. 

She placed a warm hand on his leg, simple, yet solid assurance they were in this thing called life together.  Though it looked more like a deep valley than a mountaintop at times, especially lately, they were still in it together.  Good times and in bad.  Sickness and in health.  They had weathered a lot of storms throughout the years, and this is one they would survive as well.  As long as they had each other. 

It was at that moment that Vivian and Victor looked at each other.  And it was at that moment Victor saw Vivian smile warmly at him and look forward, the headlights from an oncoming car illuminating her face.  He didn't see the car itself that came careening around the corner, taking that corner entirely too fast.  Too fast to be able to stop.  What he did see was the look of surprise on Vivian's face as she looked ahead, saw her reach for the dashboard in front of her, and as if in slow motion, turned his head to see the oncoming car right before it crashed into his.  The sound was deafening, metal on metal, screeching, sliding, Vivian's screams and the feel of her hand grabbing his arm in panic, then a pain beyond anything he had ever known as his life shattered into a million pieces realizing what was happening.  And just like that, there was nothing.  Nothing but silence in the dead of night.  The ink black that covered the night sky was now taking over his mind and body, as he drifted away toward the most penetrating, whitest light he had ever imagined.  Something so beautiful it couldn't possibly be real.  And so strong and magnetic he couldn't possibly resist it.  Especially when he saw his beloved Vivian standing there, holding out her hand, beckoning gently for him to join her. 

CHAPTER ONE

Madison, Max, and Molly were all scheduled to arrive Sunday at their parents home.  A beautiful old farm house they grew up in, spending more time apart than together as the years went by, until they rarely spent any time together at all.  Madison accomplished a brief weekly phone call to her parents, but Max hadn't been home or phoned for quite some time, his firm and his ladies keeping him too busy to be bothered with family.  Molly rarely went home for reasons of which Madison had no idea.  Madison always saw Molly as the one on the outside looking in, like she just didn't quite belong.  Madison wished she could have looked into Molly's mind as the years unfolded to see what was going on in those thoughts she kept so closely guarded.  Thoughts she wouldn't share with any of them.  And Madison couldn't help but wonder where and when they had all taken such turns in opposite directions of life's highway, each speeding at an alarming pace away from one another.  And what had her parents thought?   How it must have pained them to see it. 

Madison pulled her car into the driveway of the old farmhouse she grew up in, tears springing to her eyes as the harsh realization hit her full on about why she was there.  The news of her parents death, up until that moment, seemed almost surreal.  She heard the words the estate attorney had told her over the phone, but her mind fought against fully absorbing them. In fact, as she listened to Stephen's voice telling her of her parents death, it felt as though she levitated above her own being, looking down on someone else having a conversation on the phone.  Watching someone else turn shock white at some grave news that transferred across the phone line. It took a good long time before she felt herself present in her own body again, the phone receiver in the cradle, standing before the window watching the drops of rain trail down the pane of glass, before she realized it had been no one else but her that had been stricken with the unpleasant news from the caller at the other end.   

Madison blinked through her tears, her mind riveting back to where she now sat motionless, looking up at the farmhouse once again.  A house that once held so much life now stood empty, dark, and lifeless, the looming gray October sky painted in the background making the house look even more cold and empty.  She tried to remember when, exactly, she and her siblings had grown so far apart from one another.  She remembered early years of laughter, running through the house as Max chased her with his plastic dinosaur figures, roaring at the top of his lungs as he would chase her through the halls until she reached the safety of her bedroom and would turn, slamming the door just before he could reach her, quickly and expertly locking it so he couldn't cross into her zone.

She remembered being so upset when he broke her favorite Barbie doll, as he made one of his dinosaur's take life and pull the doll apart to pieces, broken limbs and patches of hair scattered around the floor of the family room.  She had cried buckets of tears as her mother tried to console her by promising to buy her ten more Barbies, or anything else she wanted to help her feel better.  And later that same day as her mother led her through the store, Madison's tiny hand, pudgy fingers wrapping around her mother's slightly larger, soft, hand as Madison led her mother to the toys she was sure would make her feel better.   She startled as she vaguely remembered Molly tucked in the crook of her mother's opposite arm, making Madison question if she was remembering correctly at all. 

Suddenly remembering 'The Talk' jogged her memory as to when things began to change in their house. Molly had just turned eleven, Max was thirteen, and she had been fifteen.  It was after that when Max began to tease her more, become more violent and destructive with her things as well as her feelings, and when he began to mercilessly pick on Molly.  Molly would stomp off to her room in fits as Max would taunt her even after Molly's bedroom door slammed shut.  There were times when Madison would see the gleam of satisfaction in her brother's eyes when he was sure he had really hurt Molly good, that she was sure her brother was the devil's spawn. 

That behavior continued until they had grown and left the house. She watched as Max all but disappeared from their lives, and Molly hid within the confines of the impenetrable walls she had solidly erected in her own mind. 

Madison thought of her own family, focusing on the stark contrast between her children now and what had been between her, Max, and Molly in the later days of their childhood. She pondered on the similarities of her children and how her, Max, and Molly were in their early childhood days.  An involuntary shiver rocked her as her fear took hold that Zoey and Oliver would someday become what she, Max and Molly had become—complete strangers, even on the rare occasion they were in the same room. The deafening silence between them if one of their parents wasn't in the room to skillfully dissolve the tension as much as was possible.  And her parents playing mediator when Max chose to needle his little sister or throw piercing barbs at her, his older sister. 

Anxiety took hold of her as she desperately thought of what she could do to nurture the bond between Zoey and Oliver in order to prevent them from growing apart as she had with Max and Molly.  How could she assure they would never grow away from her, leaving her behind as they grew their own lives.  Live so that they would include her instead of leave her in the dust as they pulled out of the driveway as had happened to her own parents. 

Madison cautiously let herself in the house, noticing the familiar creak when the door opened, the same creak that had destroyed Max's hope of sneaking in the house unnoticed when he was in high school.  She wondered if her dad had ever considered fixing it or if it was in some odd way a cherished memory.

She slowly pushed the door open a bit wider, afraid of what she would find and hoping to find who she knew she wouldn't.  She stood just inside the door and slowly looked around, noticing that the kitchen looked as if her mother would be coming through the entryway from the family room at any moment, greeting her with the warm, welcoming hug she always had for Madison on one of her too rare trips to the farm, usually just to drop off Zoey and Oliver for one of their overnight slumber parties they enjoyed having with their grandpa and grandma.  She thought she could smell the faint smell of cherry tobacco from the pipe her father smoked at Christmastime, thinking he must have smoked it more recently than almost a year ago for the smell to still linger in the air.  

She realized that things were left as they likely had been before her parents had left the night they wouldn't return from, including a wilting yellow Asiatic Lily her mother tried to nurture in the warmth of the house each bitterly cold winter.  Tears began to run freely as she stood in the kitchen that her mother had taken such joy in.  Her mother loved to work in her big, sunny yellow kitchen, the big farm style butcher block table with the heavy wooden benches, awaiting the children and grandchildren that seldom came by.  The same table that housed the family meeting they had all coined, 'The Talk', that changed it all.  The one in which her father had sat them all down to let them know that as of that very moment, things would be changing.  There would be no more free rides, no more getting anything for nothing.  There would be chores, expectations, and privileges taken away for noncompliance.  It was such a drastic turn from what had been up to that point, that they all did a one-eighty in trying to figure out what happened.  

Madison wished she could turn the clock back several years.  She knew she couldn't control what her brother and sister did, but she could have made an effort to come by more often, carving time out of her chaotic schedule somewhere, allowing her children to get to know their grandparents better.  And truth be told, her parents probably knew Zoey and Oliver better than they had known her these days.  At least Zoey and Oliver had spent occasional weekends with her parents rather than the brief occasional phone call that Madison made. 

It wasn't until the bright sun glinted off the copper pots hanging from hooks on a carousel from the ceiling, sparkling in the sunlight, that she realized the gray skies had given way to clear.  She looked at the warmth of the cream-colored cabinets, the candle that sat atop the cream-colored stovetop, which her mother enjoyed spending time using.  All of it was in sharp contrast to the heaviness that engulfed her. 

She made her way to the table and sat down gingerly on the end of one of the benches, afraid the weight of her soul would topple it end over end.  She ran her finger lightly over the grooves that had been there since Max had carved them so many years ago.  Rather than trying to cover them up so the table would look perfect, she remembered her mother scolding her little brother behind a hint of a smile she tried to conceal.  And she remembered listening from the family room as her mother told her father that those grooves only added to the character of the table, that she wasn't going to cover them up, because it would always remind her of Max's mischievous spirit.  She smiled at the memory, remembering thinking way back then that it wasn't a mischievous spirit, but a devilish one.  But her mother had always exuded such grace.  She wondered if she would have been as understanding if that had been Oliver carving into their table at home.  She could only hope so. 

More memories of her childhood, pre-change as well as post-change, trickled through her mind until she heard a car drive in and the sound of a car door closing.  She stood and walked to the big bay window over the kitchen sink, which still held water, now turned cold, the soap suds long gone, a residue ring around the stainless steel.  Madison looked out the window and saw Molly standing almost in a trance, looking up at the windows of what used to be her bedroom.  Madison stood silently watching her, wishing she knew what was circling in that pretty little head of hers.  She watched for a moment longer until she saw Molly turn her head to the end of the driveway, drawing her own gaze in the same direction where Max turned the corner, his sleek little sports car rolling in toward Molly. 

Madison didn't move, but continued to watch as Max emerged from his car, phone to ear, hanging up once he closed his car door.  He said something to Molly.  The two of them looked at each other for a moment that seemed just a little too long.  A sadness tugged at Madison's heartstrings, and she made her way to the front door to go join them, wiping the last tear dry. 

As she crossed the front yard, both Max and Molly turned in her direction.  She hugged Max in an awkward unfamiliar embrace, and then folded Molly into a snug embrace, holding her just a little bit longer than she sensed Molly was comfortable with. 

Come on, she said.  Let's go in the kitchen and I can make us some coffee.

CHAPTER TWO

What time are we meeting the attorney? Max asked, all business, as he sat at the kitchen table.  Madison bristled at his detachment.

Not until three o'clock. She turned to see him frowning at something he was pulling up on his cell phone.  We have time to talk among ourselves first and try to re-connect for a bit, she added, continuing to watch her brother out of the corner of her eye.  She glanced at Molly who was leaning against the counter, close to the door, as if she wanted to be close enough to bolt should the need arise.

What time did you get here? Molly asked Madison.

Not long ago.  About long enough to open the door and sit at the kitchen table and consider making a pot of coffee, but not long enough to actually make it. She smiled at her little sister, a smile that was met with a stoic gaze.  Madison began searching through cabinets for the coffee, finally finding it in the pantry.  She felt Max's gaze hot on her back and she turned to see him looking amused with the fact that she didn't readily know where the coffee was kept.  She felt her cheeks flush as she anticipated Max's silent judgment that she obviously didn't stop by very often either, but she brushed the discomfort away.  He had once claimed he was never able to feel at home here and was likely jealous that she was more at ease than he was, she thought, enjoying his insecurity.  And mentally, she could go back and connect his ill-at-ease feelings with the conversation that played over that very table, something he never seemed to overcome.  Instead, he let anger take it's hold until he decided to separate himself completely.

Madison watched as his eyes traveled to Molly, detached from all of them as she appeared to be staring at something out the window.  And she continued to notice as his eyes quickly averted back to his cell phone, his eyebrows knit back together as he frowned.  

Some things never change, she said quietly, just loud enough for him to take notice.

What's that supposed to mean?

Nothing.

Oh, it meant something, he countered.  So have the guts to tell me instead of this passive-aggressive shit.

You have always used your cell phone as a means of escape, Max.  You—

—have no right to judge me, he finished her sentence in his own words.  This may be where I grew up, Madison, but I've outgrown it a long time ago.

That's right, she returned, turning to meet his eyes straight on.  You're the big-city lawyer who's too good for the rest of the world.

I never said that.

You didn't have to.  Your actions speak much louder than anything you say.

Who appointed you God, Judge, and Jury?  He accused her.  My place is in the city. In Denver.  Where there's lights, action, civilization. 

Yes, because you're so civilized, she said, sarcasm filling the room.  When was the last time you took the time to even call dad to see how he was?  To let him know you were okay and not dead somewhere.

I called him last year and invited him to a baseball game.  He would have loved Coors Field.

Oh wow, that recent, huh?  A year ago?  I'm impressed. 

She watched Molly leave the room, and she felt instantly guilty.  At a time when they should be at least trying to get along, she and her brother were at each other's throats with digs and barbs.  And she couldn't even fully blame it on him.  He just had a way of getting under her skin and her nerves were already raw. 

She knew Max's love of sports and the fact that he enjoyed being so close to both Coors Field and Invesco Field, both a short five-minute drive from his loft. But right now she was beyond irritated that he couldn't let it go long enough to be an adult and make things just a little bit easier in a time that was difficult enough without his baggage.

She had been to Denver once before the kids were born for one of Phil's business trips, but hadn't let her brother know they were in town.  Instead, while Phil was in his meetings, she toured the city with its lights, listened as the fans erupted in cheers at an ongoing baseball game, the smells of hotdogs and onions wafting toward her.  She saw the rides in motion at Eliches Six Flags Amusement park, lights aglow and laughter filling the air.  It was a city ablaze with life and diversity, but she was ecstatic to be away from it all and back home at the end of the trip.   

How long are you expecting this to take? he asked Madison.  Have you already spoken with the folks' attorney?

Only for a moment when he called to set up the appointment.

Why did he call you? he asked, his voice tight.

I don't know Max, she sighed.  I don't think that really matters, do you? she asked, turning to glance at him as she poured the water in the coffee maker. 

Just odd is all.  Since I'm an attorney it would have made sense for him to have called me.

Madison took a slow breath before turning to face him.  Max, what does that have to do with anything?   This is about mom and dad, not you and what you do for a living.  In fact, news flash, little brother, this isn't about you at all.  Funny, isn't it?  That not everything is about you and how wonderful and successful you are?

Just sayin...

Molly, how have you been, sweetie? Madison interrupted, changing the direction the conversation was inevitably going, to Molly who she saw slip quietly back into the room a moment ago, beer in hand.  She knew what she was avoiding with her brother would eventually come to the surface, but she just wasn't ready for it right now.  Not yet.

Fine.

Yeah? Madison questioned.  Are you doing okay?

Yup.

Madison noticed she was answering only the questions, offering nothing further.  How has your writing been coming along?

Fine.

Wow, quite the conversationalist, aren't you? Max added his  two cents.

Madison saw Molly glance at him with a cool, bordering on daggered, look. 

Ouch, he