Page 5 of Leave It to Us
“What wishes does she need carried out now?” Tami asked. “The cremation is done, and we didn’t even get a chance to contest it.”
Robyn shook her head. “Her request was made clear in the will that was witnessed and filed in the state of South Carolina. And her closest friend on the island knew of it and made sure it was executed expeditiously. Even if you were on the island the day of her death, you most likely would not have had enough time to petition the court and get a hearing date to request a change.” She flipped open the clay-colored folder on her desk. “The rest, however, can be handled in a few ways.”
Yvonne sighed. She had a feeling that whatever fell from Robyn’s lips from this point forward wasn’t going to be much better than finding out their grandmother was gone and not being able to get down to the island in time to pay their respects.
“In South Carolina, an estate can skip probate if it’s less than twenty-five thousand dollars,” Robyn began.
It was Tami’s turn to sigh, and Lana’s head tilted as if she were suddenly extremely interested in what was being said. Yvonne shifted her gaze from her sisters and locked in on Robyn and the glossy black curls that fell over her shoulders. It was one of several styles the woman wore, according to the pictures on the credenza by the door. One, a wedding photo, in which her hair had been pulled into a top bun cradled by a sparkling tiara. Another, with those lustrous curls draping over one shoulder. The final one, where she wore her natural dark coils and was flanked on either side by adorable twin girls. That one had heldYvonne’s gaze both times she’d walked into this office, but she resisted turning her attention to it now. There were more important matters at hand than wondering how this woman had managed to capture it all: successandjoy.
“Anything above that amount, and the estate must go through probate to be settled,” Robyn continued. “There’s informal probate, which is most commonly used when all parties are in agreement regarding the distribution of the estate. No quarreling, no formal disputes.” She gave each of them a quick nod, but Yonne wasn’t fooled—the woman was waiting for one of them to go off about something.
To be honest, Yvonne was too. And, like Robyn, she knew that when and which sister would speak up first depended solely on what else Robyn had to say.
“Then there’s unsupervised formal probate, which must go through the court to have the judge approve some of the actions regarding distribution.” Robyn took a breath and continued. “Finally, there’s supervised formal probate, in which the court oversees all aspects of the probate process.”
“And now that we’ve had our lesson in estates and trusts, can you tell us what any of that has to do with us?” Lana asked, impatience lining her every word.
“Absolutely,” Robyn replied, with a lift of her brow that seemed to acknowledge Lana’s sarcasm. “There’s the matter of Elizabeth’s house.” Robyn pushed her chair back and stood. She grabbed a small stack of folders on the edge of her desk and came around to offer one to each of the sisters. She continued to talk as she returned to her seat behind her desk. “It’s located along the intracoastal waterway on Daufuskie Island.”
Tami opened her folder first and gasped. “It’s the summerhouse.”
Yvonne opened her folder and stared down at a picture of a house she knew just as well as her younger sister.
“This house, the smaller blue one behind it, and the entire 2.94-acre lot, have been left in equal parts to Yvonne Renee, Alana Marie,and Tamela Michelle Butler,” Robyn said, reading from a sheet of paper in the file.
“What?” Lana asked.
“The whole house?” was Tami’s follow-up.
There were words running around in Yvonne’s mind. Of course there were; she always knew what to say and when to say it. But at this very moment, she remained silent, one shaky finger gliding over the picture of the house by the water—the place she’d imagined princesses lived and would one day be swept into a fantastical life of love and happiness. The forty-year-old woman she’d become scoffed at the seven-year-old girl who’d dared to dream.
A slow smile crept along Robyn’s face. It was a pretty smile, a peaceful one that again had Yvonne unfairly disliking her. Because really, it wasn’t Robyn’s fault that she’d found a way to have all the things in life Yvonne had secretly wanted—a great jobanda loving family. That was all her fault because, as Mama had told her far too often for her to ever forget,Your life is whatyoumake it.The fact that Yvonne had made her career a priority—sacrificing romantic relationships that might’ve, at some point, led to her having daughters, whom she’d teach to love and cherish each other the way she wished she and her sisters did—was all on her.
“Yes, both houses and the land now belong to the three of you,” Robyn said.
“Why?” Yvonne’s tone echoed Lana’s previous bewilderment. “Why would she leave all that to us? Outside of spending Thanksgiving with her every year, we haven’t spent any significant time there since we were teenagers.” A fact that had made her extremely sad in the last year, and even more so the moment she’d learned that her grandmother had passed.
“Since I was sixteen,” Tami stated quietly. “We haven’t all spent a summer there together since I was sixteen.”
Her youngest sister’s voice pricked Yvonne’s already annoyed state because she was right. Tami had loved when it was time to pack so they could go and visit Grandma Betty for the summer. It was the happiest Yvonne had ever seen her sister during their childhood—that and the months when they were actually on the island. For all her annoying traits, Tami’s best features were her zest for life, her courageousness, and her ability to make the best of any situation. All things that Yvonne feared she’d never possess.
“Because you went to band camp that next summer and then that Jamaica trip you insisted you needed before going off to ‘adult school,’ as you called it,” Yvonne said in a level tone that could—and where the prickly Tami was concerned, probablywould—be construed as derision.
“College wasn’t everybody’s wet dream like it was yours, big sister,” Tami muttered.
Yvonne loved both her sisters through all their faults and positives, but this one right here ... she never disappointed. Tami could always be counted on for pushback, a confrontation, an argument. Grandma Betty had called herspirited, but Mama saw her youngest as defiant. Yvonne put her firmly in the exasperating category and clasped her fingers together in her lap. She took a steadying breath and continued. “Why would she leave the house to us?”
Robyn shrugged. “It was her last wish that the three of you have this house.”
“To keep?” Lana asked. “I don’t want to live on that island. There’s nobody there, nothing to do.”
“You mean no high-society parties for you to attend. No stores where you can buy those ridiculously expensive—yet admittedly cute—shoes you love so much,” Tami tossed at Lana with a half smile.
Lana’s shoeswerecute ...andexpensive, but Yvonne tried not to care. Her perfect middle sister had it all, and Yvonne was both proud as hell and envious of her.
“Wait, that’s not it, is it?” Yvonne asked. “We don’t have to move to the island to claim this house? And why are you just telling us this now? Why didn’t you just tell us everything a couple of weeks ago?”
“Elizabeth wanted to give you time to deal with her passing first,” Robyn replied. “And Jeremiah and I took that time to make sure we had all the necessary paperwork in order to pass it on to you ladies at one time. Deeds, property maps, contractor and account information ... We thought it would be simpler if all of this was verified and clearly documented for you when the additional terms of Elizabeth’s will were explained.”
