12

Chapter Eleven

The call came through Amanda's phone almost instantly as she started her car to head home for the day.

"Hi Amanda, this is Attorney George Ebbet. I'm handling the probate case you received a certified letter from us about."

She didn't move the car, and sat back in the drivers seat figuring she'd go when the call was over, "Okay," was all she said.

The attorney continued, "Just to answer some preliminary questions you may have, Mark was declared dead almost six months ago. The Probate court usually waits between five to seven years before making a finding in that direction, but because we were representing his parents, the argument was made that people in the modern world leave an electronic footprint or fingerprint by so many different methods it would show his survival in some area financially or even as simple as his checking his e-mail. There is no evidence that any money has left his account or any of his known e-mail addresses have been accessed."

She began to weep again, it was finally too true for her to maintain what hope she still had! She sobbed and asked, "But what do you need me for?"

"We need you to come to our office and sign some paperwork and discuss what he has provided for you in his will, which was also cleared by the Probate court about a week ago," the attorney said.

The beautiful blonde girl behind the wheel of her Ford Mustang finally lost all control and cried. All the pent up emotion, the hope, the questions all came to a crashing conclusion that Mark was finally and eternally gone from her. Something had happened and no one is likely to ever know what, and she has to go through life without him. The attorney listened to this in silence, not knowing what to do or what to say, which he thought was an odd position for someone of his profession.

Finally the sobbing started to subside, and her body was wracked with sudden heaves. She heard the attorney on the phone in her lap speaking. She picked the phone up and even though she was still unable to conduct a reasonable conversation, she heard him ask when she could make an appointment to go over things in his office. She heard herself say, "Right now," and he agreed.

She closed her phone and sat in her drivers seat gripping the steering wheel and staring ahead intently. The thought dawned on her, that maybe this last weekend wasn't that almighty "shot" of her renewed independence but that perhaps, it was the one threw her heart. She decided it didn't feel right. This was the beginning of the end, but that didn't feel quite on target either.

She grabbed a napkin from her folded lunch sack and wiped her face down. That led to the sun visor being lowered and the mirror being utilized so she could look proper again for her soon to be appearance with the man she just spoke to on the phone.

Chapter Twelve

She parked on the street next to the attorney's office and locked her doors to her car. Inside the office a pretty Asian girl with straight black hair sat behind a desk just inside the door, doing the job that Amanda does all day too, directing traffic!

"Hi, may I help you?" she asked.

Amanda smiled and said, "I'm about five minutes late to see George Ebbet. Is he still available?"

"Oh certainly," she pointed to a mahogany finished staircase behind her left shoulder and said, "his office is at the top of the stairs. Just tell one of his secretaries you're there to see him."

"Thank you," she said.

Amanda headed off for the staircase and made her way up to the next level. There she found three ladies behind desks, all looked up at the beautiful blonde, the oldest one asked, "May I help you?"

"I'm a few minutes late to see Mr. Ebbet."

The other ladies returned to what they were doing. The older secretary recorded her name and arrival time and excused herself and went into a large wooden door without any windows in it. An older man, probably in his 50's emerged with the secretary still waiting behind him and extended his hand to Amanda and shook hands with her and invited her inside his office. The secretary remained inside with her and the attorney and asked if she would like anything to drink or if there was anything else she could get for her. Amanda politely refused and the secretary removed herself from the situation and sat in a chair behind Amanda and off to the side, completely out of her peripheral vision.

The gray-haired attorney pulled a file on his desk closer to him and flipped it open, "Generally we like to have all present for the reading of the will. But you have moved recently haven't you?"

"Uh, yes," Amanda answered.

"That caused us a small delay to which I apologize to you for," he offered.

"That's all right," Amanda nodded her head slightly as she spoke, her long red thumbnails absently clicking together in her nervousness.

"Well, let's see here, I'll read to you what he left you. If you want to know what he left his parents, his only other beneficiaries, I can do that too," he paused and looked up at the girl who was trying desperately to control her emotions, and losing. He signaled the secretary who produced a box of tissue to Amanda.

Amanda accepted the box and pulled one from it wiping her new tears away and said with a shaky voice, "That's okay, I don't need to know."

"Okay then, he left you his house, the contents, his boat, his truck and his investments, including his checking and savings accounts. An approximate total value of $16 million."

Amanda's eyes went huge and she had stopped breathing.

"Just so you are aware, his house was paid off by an insurance claim. There is a small issue with paying the back taxes on the property that have gone unpaid since he vanished, but we have that being taken care of. We will need you to sign a "Power of Attorney" for us so we can get that taken care of. Oh yes, one more thing. . . Take a breath for me, please!" he couldn't help but let his eyes glance at her shapely legs as he said it.

She did, but her eyes still hadn't blinked since the announcement.

"Okay, now keep doing that for me, okay?" he smiled at her.

She nodded her head rapidly.

"And blink too, please?" as he made another glance at her magnificent legs.

That knocked her out of shock. She fluttered her eyes, leaned back in her chair and looked around the room, "Is this a joke? I know he didn't have that kind of money. I used to balance his checkbooks for him!"

"Amanda, he had an excellent income. He had some excellent insurance policies. And while he's been gone, he's had some luck with more than a few of his investments. We're not kidding," Ebbet said. "Also, because of your new fortune, we strongly recommend that you quickly put together a will as well. Do you currently have legal council?"

Amanda, still speechless shook her head.

"We would like to offer our services to you, but you're free to find another attorney if that's what you'd desire."

Amanda still shocked by the news said, "You'll do."

"Very well, and thank you. If you'll follow my secretary out, we have a series of things for you to sign." He turned to his secretary and said, "Get Mr. Russ up here to act as Notary for us please."

"Right away," she said and disappeared out the door.

The next hour was a blur of sign this because of that, and sign that because of this, and sign this other because you need to. All she remembered was that she got down to her car, and made a call to his parents and thanked them. They insisted that she keep in touch and to enjoy her life again. She was too young and beautiful to keep living in the past. She could go anywhere now. Do anything and buy anything. But they also asked her if there was anything in the house that she was going to get rid of, to ask them if they wanted it first. She assured them that anything in the house now, they could have. But there wasn't anything in particular that they had in mind. She ended the call with new tears, they joined her and agreed they would meet very soon for dinner.