Will and Testament // Sequel to the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Nine

It all felt like it had been a bad dream. A terrible, horrific dream that I just wanted to wake up from but no amount of pinching would help.

Grandfather had left the entire estate to Grandmother and there was nothing we could do about it. We couldn't prove if Grandfather had signed the will or not and we had no grounds to even assume that to be the case. Uncle Christopher said that an old family rift would just look like sour grapes rather than probable cause. The entire estate would be going to Grandmother and we could do nothing about it.

Even with the shock of the will, life went on as normal. The next day, I had no choice but to go to school and continue with life as if the entire thing hadn't been uprooted and turned on its head. We had been given a week to leave the house, taking with it everything that we owned but leaving Grandfather's things untouched - it would all go to Grandmother. Mother had already started, and I wanted to help but as usual, school came first.

We pulled up outside the school, Marsh in his usual unhappy, overly quiet mood. He drummed his fingers on the steering whilst he waited for me to climb out. I scrambled out of the car and readjusted my satchel on my shoulder.

"Have a good day," Father said.

"I will."

"Mr Ealing!" A woman said from behind me. I turned around to see Evelyn's mother crossing the pathway with Evelyn trailing behind, looking rather embarrassed by her mother's behaviour.

"Can I help you?" Father looked mildly concerned.

"I'm Evelyn Davidson's mother, our daughters are friends."

"Right."

"I don't know what, if anything, Isabel has told you, but we would love to have her for supper and perhaps overnight on Saturday. My eldest is visiting and seeing as the girls are growing up, perhaps they can discuss any future profession prospects with her. That and we have never met one of Evelyn's friends before."

"I'll have to talk to my wife about it, but I don't see why not. Perhaps we could even have young Evelyn to ours once we're sorted."

"Sounds like a plan. Just have Isabel let Evelyn know in school tomorrow."

"We will."

Evelyn's mother smiled and tottered off down the road, bowing her head towards those she passed. I now knew where Evelyn got her sunny attitude from. Father didn't know how to react after being accosted by a strange woman. He shook his head a little and then made the gesture to Marsh that it was time to go. After giving me a slight wave, the car pulled away from the pavement and took off towards Father's office.

I shouldered my bag and walked through the open gate, heading into the school building and the classroom. Evelyn followed me and the two of us removed our hats before hanging them up and pulling our books and slates from our bags. She still looked a little nervous after her mother's actions outside and her cheeks were still red from embarrassment.

Given everything going on at home with the will and the constant feeling of anger running through my veins, I looked forward to a day where I didn't have to think about any of it. I knew Uncle Christopher had spoken to Mother about my slight outburst in his office, even if I hadn't heard the conversation myself. It felt like everyone had decided to talk about me rather than to me, especially since I had been left out of the conversation that happened in Uncle Christopher's office after Father had announced that the estate would go to Grandmother.

They acted like I wasn't even in the room.

"I'm sorry about Mother. She did write a note, I have it in my satchel, but she couldn't help herself when she saw your father. Sometimes she can be so embarrassing," Evelyn said.