Forever Girl (14 page)

“Honey we’ll be in Harlan by the weekend.” I say with a giggle.

“I would like to talk to the lawyer worked on the Valentine Estate?” I say to the receptionist as we walk into the Lawyers Office at 9:15 am.

She looks up at us and asks us to please take a seat and she’ll be with us in a minute. We take a seat and she looks something up on her computer and makes a phone call. A few minutes later an older man with gray hair and a pot belly walks out to the receptionist area.

“I’m the lawyer that’s working on the Valentine Estate.” He says as he introduces himself as Donald Turner.

“I’m Lyric Valentine. I need to speak to you about the estate.”

He stands a little straighter and asks to see identification. I get into my purse and hand him my Driver’s License, Social Security Card, Birth Certificate, and my High School Diploma. He looks at everything I give him and shakes his head to himself.

“Please follow me.” He says

“I’ve been sending letters to your last known address.” He informs me.

“What address do you have for me?” I ask, but I already know the answer.

He tells me the address on file is Ali’s house.

“I know nothing about Ali’s parents. She’s never said a word about them to me until Saturday. I left home at seventeen because I found out I was pregnant. I wasn’t going to subject myself or my children to Ali’s hatred, hostility, or physical abuse. I just found out about a trust in my name. I need to know what’s going on because I’m getting ready to move to Harlan.” I tell him.

“You do indeed have a trust fund. It was set up by your Maternal Grandparents. They made a will stating that the majority of their Life Savings, Bank Accounts, Property, and Life Insurance would also go to you. They left about twenty percent to their daughter and your mother Allison Thorne Valentine. There was a stipulation on the money and Ali wouldn’t get it all at once. She would get an allowance every month for the first eighteen years. This was your grandparents way of making sure you were taken care of if they passed away before you turned eighteen. She would then get the remaining amount after you turned of age. She had the right according to the trust to live in one of the houses of her choice until you were twenty-one years of age. The properties would be put into your name at that point.” He says to me.

I’m in shock because she stopped taking care of me when I was fourteen years old. She knew about the money and that just added to why she hated me so much.

“Mr. Turner did she try to get any money from the trust?” I ask

“She’s tried every couple of years. The trust counsel didn’t see that she needed the money. The properties are maintained through the trust. She couldn’t come up with a viable reason for the extra money she was asking for.” He replies to my question.

“How much is in the trust now? What and where are the properties you’re talking about?” I ask because I’m curious as to why she never told me or tried to swindle the money from me.

“The trust is worth 2.1 million dollars. There’s four different properties. Three houses here in Lexington and a building on Richmond Rd.” I about fall out of my seat with his answer.

“You’re kidding right? Where are the houses located?” I ask in awe.

“One house is off of Alexandria Rd. The second is off of Man O’ War and Boston Rd. The third house is the one I grew up in off of Buckhorn Rd.” He tells me as he looks at the address on a piece of paper in front of him.

I ask about the building and he blows me away when he tells me the building I work in is the building I own.

“Well at least you know that we maintained the property for you.” He says with a laugh.

I tell him about kicking Ali out on Saturday.

“I’ll take care of the legal aspect of it for you. Do you plan to continue to use our services? Or will you be looking for a Lawyer in Harlan? He asks.

“I’ll continue using this office. I would like to keep all of the houses. I would also like to purchase the Townhouse that I have lived in for almost six years. I would also like to find single parents that can’t afford nice homes to live in and rent to them the houses at a subsidized price. I do however want the counsel to be selective.” I say

He tells me he understands and that I have some paperwork to sign.

“Would you like me to draw up a will for you?” He asks

I tell him I would appreciate that. We spend the next two hours going over everything before we take our leave and make our way to my building.

     We get to the Dentist Office where I work and I look at the building with new eyes. I’m happy the Law Firm took such good care of the property. Dean comes in with me so he can look around the place. We go in through the back of the Doctor’s Office and make our way to my office. We get in the door when we’re stopped by Quinn.

“Hi Quinn. I would like to introduce you to Dean. Dean this is Quinn Morris. He’s my boss’s son. I will introduce you to Vivian in a minute.” I say

Quinn sneers at Dean and I feel him stiffen beside me. I put my hand into his and give it a squeeze.

“I’m a little busy and I need to speak to your mother. Please excuse Dean and I. I hope the rest of your day is good Quinn.” I say to him.

“You’ll be lucky if you have a job by the end of the day. You should be more responsible than bringing trash into my mother’s office. Not to mention your children’s lives. Where have you been? You should have been here at 8:30 this morning?” He says with a nasty look and sneer.

My hackles go up and I start to step to Quinn when Dean’s in his face.

“She’s not your concern and neither are our children. You got me?” My man says to him.

Quinn steps back like he’s just been hit. Dean steps in closer so that Quinn can’t move.

“You need to back the fuck off. Go run and play somewhere else. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop sniffing around my old lady. Or you just might find yourself in a fucking ditch. You under fucking stand what I’m saying to you fucker?”

I think Quinn just about pisses himself as he tucks his tail and all but runs out of my office. I shake my head at the shit he just tried to pull.

“Quinn’s been trying to get me to go out with him for a couple of years. He’s never acted the way he did today though.” I say to him.

“That douche was trying to bully you baby. He was trying to dominate the situation where you were concerned. I had to show him that I’m the fucking Alpha and the fucking Beta up in this bitch.” He says to me.

I pick up my phone and dial Vivian’s extension. When she answers I ask to speak with her in my office. She tells me she’ll be down in a few minutes.

“I’ll be leaving my position here at the end of the week. I’ll be relocating to Harlan. I can do your billing and coding remotely until you find someone else. I found out this morning that I own this building. You took a chance on me fresh out of college and I want to repay that debt to you. I had the lawyer write up a New Lease for the next five years. You’ll only have to pay half of what you’ve been paying for the past five years. I know times have been hard and you’ve been having trouble making payments. I wanted to help you by doing this. Please except my gratitude and know that I’m doing this because I know you’re a good person and a great doctor. I didn’t want to see you close your practice because you couldn’t make the payments. If after the lease is up and you would like to buy this Office from the rest of the building, we can work something out.” I say to her.

“You didn’t have to do that. Thank you for what you’ve just done for me. I really didn’t think I was going to be able to stay open for much longer. You just saved my lively hood. I could cry right now. I really don’t want to see you leave but I do understand that it’s time for you to move on to bigger and better possibilities. You’ll have to keep in contact with me.” She says as she gets out of her seat and comes to give me a hug.

"I know I just meet you and all but you should consider not letting your son have free rein here. I just meet him and he immediately started bullying Lyric because I was with her. He was threatening her job because he wanted between her legs and wouldn’t take No for an answer. You seem like a nice lady. I would hate to see an employee quit on you. Then serve you with a lawsuit for Sexual Harassment. While my woman finishes out her week I’ll be coming in quite often. If I find he’s still bothering her. I’m going to break both of his legs.” Dean says to her.

“You don’t have to stay the rest of the week especially if you can do the work remotely. I’ll put an add out for your position today. I’ll also take care of Quinn. I didn’t realize he was stepping over the line. I hardly see him so I didn’t know he was here that often. Thank you for bringing the situation to me. I could lose my practice for what was said to you alone and I have a great staff. I don’t want to lose anyone that works for me.” She says to the both of us.

I thank her for letting me work for her and I’m going to miss her and the staff. Dean gets up and hugs her.

“Thanks for letting my woman have the rest of the week off. I want to get her and our kids packed up and moved to Harlan. I can’t wait to get out of the city and back to the fucking mountains.” He says

“Where did you find him? Dean do you have any single older friends?” She says with a laugh.

“Hell yeah I do. If you ever make it to Harlan darlin. I’ll introduce you to all of my single brothers.” He says with a chuckle.

She smiles big and tells him she just might take him up on his offer as she’s walking out the door. I start packing my office up quickly and my man grabs the box and we walk out of the building toward the car.

Chapter 20

Lyric

    I’m almost to the car when I see a pregnant girl cross the road at the intersection of Squires and Richmond Rd. It looks like she’s headed to either St. Joseph Office Park or walking towards Man O’ War. Something about her caught my attention. I remember being pregnant and I couldn’t imagine having to walk everywhere I needed to go. When she gets closer I can tell she’s young. She’s probably around eighteen years old. I wait until she’s closer to me and I walk up to meet her.

“Do you have a minute? I would like to talk to you really quick.”

“Sure I guess.” She says as she looks at me skeptically.”

“Where do live?  I was once in your position. I’m asking because I would like to help you if I can.” I say when she looks unsure of the questions I’m asking.

“I’ve been staying with friends here and there. Basically anywhere I can stay because my mom kicked me out when she found out I was pregnant. The father of my baby told me that I was on my own.” She tells me.

“What’s your name?" I ask

“My name’s Amber Powers.”

“Do you have a Driver’s License? I ask

“I do and I was saving to get a car and house. Now I’m having to use the money just to survive.” She replies.

“If you don’t mind me asking where are you going now?”

“I’m going to get something to eat.” She says to me.

“Will you follow me? I promise I’m not a crazy person. I’ll hand my phone over to you. You can call the cops if you feel that you’re not safe.”

Amber looks at me hard for a minute and shakes her head okay.

Dean’s put the box in the back of the Yukon. He’s looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Sometimes fate falls into your lap and you have to go with it” I tell him.

I can tell she’s nervous about Dean. I tell her she can trust us. Dean moves one of the car seats and she gets in the backseat. Dean and I both jump into the front seats. I ask him to take us to Durango’s and I see her smile a little. He plugs the restaurant into his GPS. I forget that he’s not from around here.

   We take our seats and the server brings us chips and salsa while we wait for our food to arrive.

“Amber are you working right now?” I ask

“I was working until about a week ago. I was fired because I couldn’t physically do the job anymore.” She tells us.

“Where did you work?”

“I worked at a nursing home off of Palumbo Dr. and Man O’ War.” She says with a hint of sadness.

“I know where the place is. How old are you?

“I’m eighteen. I’m in college taking CNA classes as well as Billing and Coding. I should be done shortly after the baby’s born. As long as I don’t have to take any time off. I feel like this is a job interview.”