Rosalind gaped at her mother, sure she'd just stepped into an alternative reality. She had the will? This whole time, while they were supposed to be looking for it?
Bea was the one who broke the silence. "Mother, I swore I just heard you say you have the will."
"The will you asked Bea and me to find," Rosalind added because it had to be pointed out.
Their mother took a swig of the rye and handed it to Viola when she held her hand out for it. Jacqueline lifted her head and nodded. "I had the will the whole time. Reginald's copy. Barrows still has the original."
They all started talking at once-loudly-except for Rosalind who studied her mother, wondering if they shouldn't have been more worried about her sanity, because the only reason to have them search for something she had in her possession was madness.
Fran walked into the room, frowning. "What's this? A quorum? Can anyone join?"
"You may want to run, Fran," Viola said, slurring a little. She took another sip. "You probably don't want to be here when it gets ugly."
Fran looked at Jacqueline. "You told them?"
Their mother nodded. "It was past time, don't you think?"
Rosalind held her hands up. "Wait a minute. You knew that Mum had the will she wanted us to find, Fran?"
"Don't blame Lady Jacs." Their old nanny came and joined the circle, sitting on the edge of the couch instead of the floor. "I was the one who pushed her to do it."
Suddenly all the whispering and the nightcaps made more sense. Rosalind stared at them, not sure whether she should be horribly upset by their ruse or deeply impressed.
Shaking her head, Portia said, "Why? I don't understand."
"It was time to mend the rift in the family, wasn't it?" Fran shared a look with her employer before facing the rest of them. "I won't speak ill of the dead, so I won't say what a blighter Reginald Summerhill was in life, but with him gone there was a chance for all of us to be a family."
"I wanted to bring you all together," their mother admitted with quiet dignity. "The way I drove you apart."
"But she couldn't do it if Rosalind left to go back to the states." Fran took one of the macarons and popped it into her mouth.
"And I had to do something to get you girls to come together."
"But you only asked me and Bea to look for the will," Rosalind pointed out.
"You and Beatrice have the biggest sense of responsibility."
She glanced at her oldest sister, who shrugged back, unable to deny it.
"But I asked Portia to help you pack away your father's things."
"What about me?" Viola said.
Their mum took her second daughter's hand. "Viola, you're the most loyal of all the girls. You and Bea were inseparable as children. Your lives may have taken different paths, but when Bea needs you, you're there for her, and vice versa."
Bea took Vi's other hand, but her attention zeroed on their mother. "Do you know what the will says?"
"Yes."
There was a pregnant pause, and then Bea waved her hand. "And?"
Jacqueline shook her head. "Summer Welles should be here for that."
Bea sat up, anger flaming her face. "So he did change his will?"
Their mother looked at Fran. "In a manner of speaking."
