Gray Mountain: A Novel(76)

They listened carefully but did not hear a word.

“Why didn’t you notify us?” Lonnie demanded rudely. Fifteen minutes into the meeting it was apparent that there was no real pecking order in this family. Each of them wanted to be in charge. Each was trying to be the chief hard-ass. Though she was on her heels, Samantha stayed calm and tried to understand. These were not wealthy people; in fact they were struggling to stay in the middle class. Any inheritance would be a windfall, one that was certainly needed. The family plot was eighty acres, far more than any of them would ever own.

Samantha explained that her client was Francine Crump, not the family of Francine Crump. Her client did not want her children to know what she was doing.

“You think she don’t trust us, her own flesh and blood?” demanded Irma.

Based on her conversations with Francine, it was abundantly clear she did not trust her own children, flesh and blood be damned. But Samantha calmly replied, “I only know what my client told me. She was very clear with what she wanted and didn’t want.”

“You’ve split our family, you know that?” Jonah said. “Driven a wedge between a mother and her five children. I don’t know how you could do something so underhanded.”

“It’s our land,” Irma mumbled. “It’s our land.”

Lonnie tapped the side of his head and said, “Momma ain’t right, you know what I mean. She’s been slipping for some time, probably Alzheimer’s or something like that. We were afraid she might do something crazy with the land, you know, but nothing like this.”

Samantha explained that she and two other lawyers in the clinic had spent time with Mrs. Crump on the day she signed her will, and that all three were convinced she knew precisely what she was doing. She was “legally competent,” and that’s what the law requires. The will would stand up in court.

“The hell it will,” Jonah shot back. “It ain’t going to court because it’s gonna be changed.”

“That’s up to your mother,” Samantha said.

Euna Faye looked at her phone and said, “They’re here, DeLoss and Momma. Parked outside.”

“Can they come in?” Lonnie asked.

“Of course,” Samantha said, because there was nothing else to say.

Francine looked even weaker and feebler than she had a month earlier. All five siblings stood and tried to help their beloved mother as she shuffled through the front door, down the hallway, and into the conference room. They placed her in a chair and gathered around her. Then they all looked at Samantha. Francine adored the attention and smiled at her lawyer.

Lonnie said, “Go ahead, Momma, and tell her what you told us about signing the will, about how you don’t remember it, and—”

Euna Faye interrupted, “And about how you never heard of no Mountain Trust and you don’t want them to get our land. Go ahead.”

“It’s our land,” Irma said for the tenth time.

Francine hesitated as if she needed even more prodding, and said, finally, “I really don’t like this will anymore.”

And what have they done, old woman, tied you to a tree and flogged you with a broom handle? Samantha wanted to ask. And how was Thanksgiving dinner, with the entire family passing around the new will and frothing in apoplectic fury? Before she could respond, though, Annette walked into the room and said good morning. Samantha quickly introduced her to the Crump brood, and just as quickly Annette read the situation perfectly and pulled up a chair. She never backed down from a confrontation, and at that moment Samantha could have hugged her.

She said, “The Crumps are unhappy with the will we did last month.”

Jonah said, “And we’re unhappy with you lawyers, too. Just don’t understand how you can go behind our backs and try to cut us out like this. No wonder lawyers got such a bad reputation everywhere. Hell, you earn it every day.”

Coolly, Annette asked, “And who found the new will?”

Euna Faye replied, “Nobody. Momma was talking about it the other day, one thing led to another, and she got out the will. We near ’bout died when we read what you folks had put in it. Going back to when we was kids Momma and Daddy have always said the land would stay in the family. And now you guys try and cut us out, give it to some bunch of tree huggers over in Lexington. You ought to be ashamed.”

Annette asked, “Did your mother explain that she came to us and asked us to prepare, at no charge, a will leaving the land to someone else? Was she clear about this?”

DeLoss said, “She’s not always too sharp these days.”

Francine glared at him and snapped, “I’m sharper than you think I am.”

“Now Momma,” Euna Faye said as Irma touched Francine to calm her.

Samantha looked at Francine and asked, “So, do you want me to prepare a new will?”

All six nodded their heads in unison, though Francine’s nodded at a noticeably slower pace.

“Okay, and I assume that the new will leaves the land to your five children in equal shares, right?”

All six agreed. Annette said, “That’s fine. We’ll be happy to do just that. However, my colleague here spent several hours meeting with Mrs. Crump, consulting and preparing the current will. As you know, we don’t charge for our services, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have limits. We have a lot of clients and we’re always behind with our work. We will prepare one more will, and that’s it. If you change your mind again, Mrs. Crump, then you’ll have to go hire another lawyer. Do you understand?”