An Inheritance

Chapter 16

When she came out of the room, Wanda was standing with an older woman.  By her badge, Lauren read that this was Rhonda Stacey, the bank manager. 

The manager walked over to Lauren with her hand outstretched and they shook hands.  “Please call me Rhonda.  I’m so glad to meet you.  Your grandmother was one of my favorite customers.  Come into my office and I can answer any questions you might have.”

Lauren thanked her and followed her into a large glass enclosed, but private, office.  The furnishings were simple, but decorated with personal items that would tend to make clients more at ease.

Rhonda motioned Lauren to a cushioned chair in front of her desk as she walked around to sit behind it.  “I was so sorry to hear about your grandmother’s death.  She really was a remarkable woman.  And very good with handling her money and finances, right up until the end.”

“Yes, I saw those passbooks and I have to admit I was surprised at the amounts.  But the last entries were decades ago, I doubt whether that’s the true worth of those savings accounts.”

 “Of course you’re right.  We did away with those passbooks probably thirty years ago when we became fully computerized.  Let me see what we have here.”  Rhonda’s fingers danced over the keyboard of her computer, made a few notations on a pad in front of her, then quickly added those figures on a calculator.

“Well, there would have been more, but within the past several years, your grandmother has taken out quite a chunk.  She was sprucing up her place a bit and put down a down payment on some renovations.”

Lauren nodded her head, it was just as she had thought.

“So it looks like she left somewhere just under 440 combined.”

 Less than what she had expected, but that was okay, Lauren hadn’t assumed much more.

Rhonda looked at her quizzically.  “You do realize I meant 440 thousand?”  Seeing Lauren’s surprised look she continued.  “As I said, your grandmother was very prudent with her money and investments.  She has some good long-term CDs that she took out many years ago along with some bonds that still have high returns, she continually put money into her savings and she used it very wisely.”

“You know, everyone I meet who has known my grandmother tells me something about her that contradicts my own preconceived ideas.  I wish I had known her.”

Rhonda nodded her head understandingly.

“Are there any questions you might have for me?”  Seeing Lauren shake her head ‘no’, Rhonda stood up indicating the meeting was over.  Again she reached over to shake Lauren’s hand.  “Please don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions.  Since you are the co-owner of all of her accounts, you can use it just as Alma did.  I would suggest you change everything to your name and add your own co-owner.  If you have a minute, Wanda would be happy to help you out, or give you the papers to fill out.”

Lauren smiled but shook her head.  “No, I don’t think I have time today, but I’ll be back in a few days.  I’ll call Wanda ahead of time to make sure she’s available.  Thank you, this has been more than an eye-opener.”

Rhonda returned her smile and sat back down as Lauren headed out of the office and out of the bank.

During the ride home, all Lauren could think about was how had her grandmother attained all of that money.  Of course, she didn’t have mortgage payments, taxes on the property were minuscule, her wants must have been few, and her health was remarkably good, so she didn’t have costly medications; but still, that was a lot of money.  How did she make her living?

It wasn’t as though Lauren needed the money, she made a good salary and in fact she was actually fairly wealthy.  The Judge and his first wife had had no children, and were without any close relatives.  Even before the Judge’s first wife’s death, the girls had been part of their lives and were treated as though they were close nieces.  Lauren remembered many good times at their home, especially when they had finally fled their father’s wrath; they were the ones who had taken them in.  The girls considered the Judge closer to being a father than anyone had ever been.  So, when their Mother and the Judge were killed, outside of a few charities, their entire estate went to Lauren and Danielle.  It was a very large estate. 

Millicent and her sisters were also fairly well off.  Lauren doubted whether any of them would want to divide up this money, especially if Lauren would use it to do what their grandmother had wanted; to improve on the cottage and barn.  Maybe even a fund set up for the wildlife shelter she had been involved in.  She would call Danielle and Millicent to see what their feelings were.  

Walking into the cottage, Lauren checked on Abby, who was up on the kitchen window sill, tail twitching and silently meowing.  Lauren walked over to see that she was watching some birds hop across ‘her’ back yard and was none too happy about it.  She petted her friend, then headed back to the back bedroom and placed her purse onto the bed.

Pulling the things she had crammed into her purse from the lockbox, a picture fell out onto the floor.  Even from where she was standing she could see it was a picture of her and her mother …  in the exact same pose as the pictures she had seen that were in the shift robe.