All That Lies Broken (Ashmore's Folly Book 2) (8 page)

Laura looked at her gratefully. “Yes. It’s really special to me.”

“Then that’s all that matters,” said Tom. His decisive tone told her again that they were on her side. She wasn’t up against the St. Brides by herself. “Lucy, check the Texas law on LEXIS and then draft a letter to Mark St. Bride. Since he’s out of the country, send it by email as well as FedEx. Copy this charmer Emma on it. The first thing is to prevent the piano from being removed from the home.”

“That’s of paramount importance,” Laura said. “No one seems to understand – this is a musical instrument. I don’t want someone who doesn’t know how trying to move it.”

“Actually,” Tom said, “that brings up another point. From what you said, this woman left the door open for you to take the piano this week. If you don’t, she might – just
might
– argue that you’ve abandoned it so we need to act fast. Now it says here plainly that you get all the personal effects in the house. Is there anything else of a personal nature that you’ve left?”

Laura tried to remember. “Except for the stuff in Meg’s room, nothing else I really care about. I had most of it shipped to me in London last fall when I found out we couldn’t stay there.”

Lucy sounded like an indignant older sister. “This guy kicks you out and then turns around and wants to marry you for your money?
What
a jerk.”

“Lucy,” said Tom. “That’s not the issue. Laura, you need to get anything else you want out now. What about books, paintings, photographs, collectibles? Things you used as a family?”

Laura shook her head. “No. I’ve got all that. I left the big stuff in storage. I didn’t want to ship it all over to London because I wasn’t going to stay there permanently.”

“Any jewelry or family heirlooms in dispute?”

“No. The family jewelry went to Emma when her mother died. I have what Cam gave me. I’m not big into jewelry.”

“Last week, you brought back an antique baby quilt,” said Lucy. “Where did that come from? Do you have other antiques down there?”

“No.” She looked down at her hands. “That was in the nursery, and – to be honest, I don’t really want anything else in there. There’s nothing of sentimental value. I just want my piano.”

“Okay.” Tom was making notes on a legal pad. “Sorry to drill you, Laura, but if we’re going to write a C&D, we might as well include everything you want that’s still in that house. Here’s the plan. We’ll send the letter, asserting your ownership and demanding no one attempt to remove the piano from the house. We’ll threaten a restraining order if necessary.”

“Do we have to?” Restraining orders sounded like war.

“Don’t worry,” Lucy told her. “Mark will know it’s just us lawyers rattling our sabers.”

“What it will do,” Tom said, “is make it clear that the estate is to deal with us on this matter and that we will take the appropriate steps to safeguard your property rights. But, Laura, you need to understand one thing. We are not your attorneys beyond this. If you want formal representation—”

“What?” she started to say, but Lucy jumped in.

“Tom—” It sounded like a protest, but Tom stopped her with a look and a shake of the head.

Something silent passed between husband and wife, something Laura didn’t understand. After a few seconds, Lucy nodded, and Tom looked back at Laura.

“I’m just your brother-in-law doing you a favor. I am not acting as your attorney. But back to the matter at hand – we’ll draft a letter, but in the meantime, Laura, you need to get that piano out of there as fast as you can and under your own control. Do you have anyone you trust down there? Someone who can arrange to have it removed and stored for you before she gives it to the church?”

Laura rubbed her forehead. The fates were conspiring against her; for the second time in a matter of hours, she was going to have to rely on SBFA. “Oh, yes,” she said, and explained SBFA. “I can call Cam’s admin. She hates Emma. She’ll help me.”

“Call her right away,” Tom said. “Tell her to get a moving company out there and take that piano. We’ll fax her a copy of this letter for the movers to show Emma. Tell her to rent a storage facility under your name and – Lucy, what are you doing?”

Lucy was punching in a phone number. “A hot, dusty storage room for a grand of this quality? I think not. Hey,” she said into the phone, “need a favor. No, not yet, I need you to sign it before we file…. Can you store a grand piano for a while?” She listened. “No, it’s for Laurie. She needs to ship a concert grand up here. Just a sec.” She covered the phone. “Can it fit in Julie’s music room?”

No
. She didn’t want to involve Richard in the messy remnants of her marriage. “Lucy, no. I don’t want Julie to move her piano. I can get a controlled environment space in Texas.”

Lucy looked at her. “Are you going back to Texas to live?”

Laura bit her lip and glanced away. “I – don’t know. I don’t think so. I haven’t decided.”

“Yes, you have.” Lucy turned back to the phone. “What about Ashmore Magna? There’s plenty of room in the ballroom. It’ll take a couple of weeks to get it up here – we have time to shove things around.” She listened again. “Okay. She’s right here.”

Lucy handed the receiver over to Laura with a speculative look. Even Tom, still paging through Cam’s will, seemed alert. Time for the acting job of her life, pretending that she and Richard were barely speaking. She couldn’t betray by a flicker of an eyelash, a silly lovesick smile, a melting hint of a bedroom voice, that he had spent the previous afternoon acting out Francie’s fantasy on her.

“Hey,” she chirped into the phone. That seemed safe enough.

“What’s going on?” Richard said into her ear. He must be on his way back from Glen Allen; she could hear traffic noises in the background.

She said brightly, “Oh, some problems with my sister-in-law.”

Would
Lucy stop watching her?

“I have problems with my sister-in-law too.” Richard sounded amused. “I’ll bet she’s giving you the evil eye right now. You can fill me in this evening. You need somewhere to put a grand piano?”

“For the time being.” She made her voice formal.

“How big are we talking?”

“Nine feet.”

He seemed taken aback. “Whoa. It should fit through the front entrance. I might have to take the doors off. You’re having it professionally moved?”

“Yes. You’re very kind to do this, Richard.”

He laughed at her cool tone. “Not a problem. Make whatever arrangements you need to.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Another laugh. “Okay, let’s maintain the charade. Pass me back to Lucy before she gets suspicious.”

Laura complied and waited while Lucy told Richard she had sent over some papers he needed to sign. With a light touch on her shoulder and a kiss for Lucy, Tom told her he had to get back to his deposition, reminded her to call SBFA right away, and then left her alone with Lucy.

She hadn’t been alone with her sister since their argument over Richard.

They sat there, side by side, Lucy making notes on her legal pad, Laura folding the debris of their lunch back into the deli boxes. The silence stretched between them, not uncomfortable, but cooler, stiffer, shorn of the friendliness Tom had imposed by his mere presence. Their sharp words of the previous week still hung in the air.

Laura wondered when Lucy was going to pounce on her.

But, when her sister finally spoke, her words had nothing to do with Richard.

“I saw Di for breakfast this morning,” said Lucy casually, and continued to write, but her pen was digging into the pad, and her fingers were white around the knuckle. “So – when did you plan to tell me she cut herself?”

Laura sat still. She hadn’t expected that. “How do you know about that?”

“I saw her wrist,” Lucy said. “She didn’t attempt to hide it. I understand you were there.”

“Yes.” She heard the anger underlying the flatness of her sister’s voice. “She broke a mirror. I took her to the hospital.”

“Yes, I heard. Not a very original cover story.” Lucy ripped the sheet off the legal pad. “And I heard you took her back to her condo and put her to bed and took care of her.”

Laura remained silent and waited, every cell of her body on alert.

“And I heard you also ransacked her apartment looking for various substances that she isn’t supposed to possess.” Lucy looked at her steadily. “While that’s fine – you deserve a medal,
wish I’d been there to see it
– what is not fine is that she wanted to call me and you threatened to rip the phone out of the wall if she did.”

Laura opened her mouth to defend herself, then changed her mind. “Yes, I did,” she said and looked at her sister straight on. “What of it?”

“
What of it?
” Lucy repeated. “Laurie, you – you should have called me! I can’t believe that you didn’t let me know! How
dare
you try to keep this from me!” She slammed her pen down on the table. “You listen to me. Everyone in this family is treating me like some sort of invalid or mental defective. I’m
pregnant
, damn it, not incapacitated, and I’ve been taking care of Diana since I was a kid! I’ve rescued her, I’ve put her to bed more times than you want to know – when stuff happens with her, I want to know. I’ll take care of her. You don’t have to do it.”

She heard anger, but she saw fear. Lucy was afraid. If Diana had hurt herself before, then Lucy must have been the one to pick up the pieces. She drew a breath, and said, “No.”

“
No?
” Lucy became the third one that day to go ballistic. “What do you mean,
no?
”

“I mean no.” Laura turned in her seat and reached for her sister’s hands. “Lucy,” she said gently, “you don’t have to deal with Di by yourself. Let me help.”

Lucy tried to pull her hands away. “I’ve been doing this for years. I do not need help.”

“Maybe not,” said Laura, “but – look at me.” She caught the sheen of tears in Lucy’s eyes as her sister looked away from her. “You
are
pregnant, and I want this baby for you more than anything. Di’s a grown woman, and other people can help – Richard, me. She has lots of resources. But, Lucy, you’re all that baby has right now. You don’t need to deal with this.”

Lucy bit her lip, and Laura watched her try to bring herself under control. “I – I don’t even know if I’m going to have this baby. But I do have my sister. I can do more for her than I can for—”

How could she have missed Lucy’s fatalism about her pregnancy? Her poor sister must wake up every morning afraid that the worst might happen by nightfall. “I know how scared you must be—”

“You
don’t
know. There’s no way you can know.” Lucy sounded muffled. “You don’t know how it feels – to want to shelter and nourish and love it, just keep it inside, for God’s sake, keep it strong and safe and growing—” Her hand went to her eyes. “I do everything right, Laurie. I eat right, and I exercise, and I sleep, and I take my vitamins, and Tom and I haven’t – well, for weeks – I’m doing everything I can. And it’s—” she swallowed— “it’s probably not going to be enough. I’m probably going to lose this one too. So what does it hurt if I know about Di?” She put her head down on her arms. “At least I still have my sister.”

“Oh, Lucy – sweetie, don’t.” Her heart was breaking for her sister. She laid her hand on Lucy’s back. “I
do
know. It’s just terrifying, isn’t it, you want so much to be happy and excited, you want to tell people, you want to run right out and decorate the nursery, and you’re scared stiff to plan ahead or talk about names because you’re constantly waiting for the shoe to drop. And you feel so helpless, because you’re right, you do everything you’re supposed to and sometimes it’s not enough. I know.” She rubbed Lucy’s back for comfort. “I lost four babies, the last one wasn’t even two years ago. I did everything right, and I still lost them. I had no control at all.”

She felt the shock across Lucy’s shoulders. Her sister’s voice came slowly, choked with tears, “You never told me that.”

“I didn’t want you to think about it. I didn’t realize how you felt – oh, Lucy, I can’t believe you let me rattle on about a damn piano when you’ve been worrying like this. I’ll survive without the piano.”

“You didn’t tell me,” Lucy said again, and Laura felt her disengaging. “Four? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you need to look forward. You can’t give up hope. You have to believe that you’ll have your miracle.” She stopped for a moment. “You’re so strong, you want everybody to come to you for help – you have to share the burden. You’re not alone with Di anymore. I’m here. I’ll do anything to help you. I believe in your baby, Lucy.”

Lucy turned her head on her arms to look at her. “I get so scared,” she said, and her voice sounded more like Lucy now. “I’m not like Di – she breezed through Julie. She could have had a dozen kids if she’d wanted to. I’ve got a different history. This is my sixth pregnancy in three years. I’m like Mom. Do you know how many she lost before Richard?
Seven
.” Her eyes filled with tears again. “I don’t think I could stand it.”