Stipulations

“I know, now help me!” Frustration grew as Ben pulled a seemingly endless number of bags out of the back of the small SUV. “Why did you have to bring so much stuff anyway?”

Jessica took one of the smaller travel cases from him, “A girl has to be prepared for anything, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just wish this stuff was smaller.” He picked up another suitcase, grunted under the weight of it, and set it down not-so-gently on the ground. “And lighter. Definitely lighter.”

“Hey, be careful with that!” She stopped reaching for the duffel she’d been eyeing and gave Ben a look that screamed murder.

Ever since they left the house that morning she’d been anxious and irritable. Unfortunately, he was getting the brunt of it. He knew why. While it wasn’t fair she was taking it out on him, it also wasn’t fair what she was going through.

“Is this everything?”

“Yes. Just let me grab my purse from the front seat. I’ll meet you inside.”

Ben rolled the luggage cart toward the hotel lobby, stopping briefly to let a small family pass in front of him. He was waiting next in line at the front desk when Jessica found him again.

She’d been distant and quiet in the days since the call, but he decided to try reaching for her hand anyway. Surprisingly, she didn’t move it away. Unsurprisingly, it was shaky and damp.

The front desk clerk quickly assigned them a room and gave them directions to find it, also providing the hours for the free continental breakfast and indoor pool. Before long, they and their sizable luggage cart were settling into their room.

It was awkwardly quiet as Jessica hung up her blouses in the small, open closet and Ben fiddled with the A/C unit. They both jumped when her phone rang with her sister’s unique ringtone.

“Hi, sis. We just got to the hotel.” Jess sat down on the corner of the bed.

Ben could only hear one side of the conversation, but he knew it would be another emotional rollercoaster for both women. Losing a parent was never easy… but both at the same time?

When she hung up, Jess hung her head, propped up on her hands, elbows on her knees. He kneeled before her, placed his forehead to hers, “We’ll get you through this, honey. I promise.”

The tears started flowing. He was relieved. She hadn’t cried since the first call and he feared she wasn’t quite coming to terms with what had happened. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, and let her wail into his chest in deep, heavy sobs of grief.

Jessica didn’t feel like eating so they called it an early night and met her sister early the next morning for breakfast as they’d planned.

“Jess, honey, thank you for coming. I know it’s a long trip and you have work. We really appreciate you being here.” Julie rose from the large table in the back corner of the diner to greet them.

The sisters hugged tightly. “Of course I’d be here. I’m just sorry it had to be for this.”

“Yeah.” Julie gave a halfhearted smile. “Come. Sit. Let’s order breakfast. The pancakes here are heaven on a plate.”

“So, Julie. I have to ask.” Jessica swallowed hard. “Did they… suffer?”

“No. The impact killed them instantly. They didn’t suffer.”

No one else said a word until Mavis came to take their order. That seemed to have sparked conversation and the sisters began small talk until the food came. It wasn’t until it was time to leave that things got uncomfortably silent again. There was one last question to ask.

“Julie… where is the will? Even if they didn’t leave me anything, I deserve to know that that’s what the will states. I want to know.”

Her older sister shifted in her seat, chewing on her bottom lip.

“Come on, Julie. Tell me.”

“They changed the will. I’m no longer executor. Jackson is. I don’t know what the will says. He hasn’t told anyone.”

Jessica sat there, stunned. They hadn’t heard from their brother in years and didn’t know their parents had been speaking with him or had updated their will to include him let alone make him executor. Last they knew, he had been cut off from any inheritance after his choosing to marry another man. While Jessica and Julie fully supported him, Jackson didn’t want to speak to them either.

“Well there’s only one estate lawyer in town,” Jessica finally spoke after several minutes. “They might not be able to speak with us about the will but they can forward our information to him so he can reach out.”

The sisters agreed it was the best course of action, paid their tab, and headed their separate ways. As Jessica was riding with Ben back to their hotel, she asked him, “Do you think Jackson will call us?”

“I really don’t know, honey. I’ve only met him the once at your grandpa’s funeral years ago. Things changed since then, obviously. I guess we’ll see.”

It was a tense couple of days and Jessica spent it pacing the hotel room, catching up on work emails, or trying to read the romance novel she picked up in the hotel lobby’s “book swap” shelf. Eventually, though, her phone rang. It was Jackson.

“Hi, Jessica. Long time no talk.”

Ben tried his best to follow along in the conversation from his place propped up on the king-sized bed with his laptop, but it was difficult hearing only one side of it. Once she hung up, he asked, “So…?”

“He wants to meet tomorrow morning at mom and dad’s house. Will you go with me?”

“Yes, of course. Come here.” Ben set his computer off to the side and held his arms open for her. She climbed farther into the bed and laid next to him, against his chest, while he wrapped her in a tight hug. “Things are going to be okay.”

The next morning, Ben and Jessica were parked in front of a small bungalow on a quiet suburban street. They waited a few minutes before another car pulled into the drive.

“Jackson, it’s so nice to see you.” She stepped out of their vehicle and toward her brother who was walking toward her. He hugged her tightly and then held her at arm’s length as if to take in the sight of her.

“To be honest, I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.”

“Yeah. Glad things didn’t work out that way.”

“Come inside. I want to show you something.” He walked toward the front door, Jessica and Ben following closely behind.

The house was just as she remembered it. Wood paneling on the walls made the rooms feel small and dated, but to her, the home was timeless. The china cabinets packed full of expensive dishes and sentimental pieces collected over a lifetime spent together. Furniture designed to be welcoming and comfortable. Photos. Oh, so many photos of family, friends, and places they’d traveled to. The smell of the many bouquets of flowers that had been sent following the accident filled the living room.

Jackson walked to the kitchen island and to a manilla folder sitting next to one such bouquet. Flipping the front open, she saw it was the will.

“Shouldn’t we be doing this at the lawyer’s office?” Jessice looked from the will to her brother.

“We will get there. They know I’m speaking to you privately about this. We’ll go in tomorrow to make things official.”

She took a few steps closer and picked up the papers, slowly reading but not comprehending. As she read, he spoke, “Basically, mom and dad invested. A lot. They didn’t tell anyone but they made a lot of money. It’s still all wrapped up in investments but it’s ours.”

Jessica stared at the lines on the paper, no longer reading. “How much?”

“Millions.”

When Jessica didn’t speak, he continued.

“Here’s the thing though, Jess. We each have a stipulation in order to claim our share of the investment.”

Ben stepped forward and placed his hand on her waist. “Stipulation?”

Jackson looked at him and then back at Jessica. “Yes. Yours is that you must marry and have at least one child.”

“What?!”

“Yes. I had a feeling you wouldn’t be ready for that.”

Jessica had many conversations with her mother over the years about when she would be ready to give her give her grandchildren, but her and Ben were only together a couple of years and just now talking about marriage. While she would love to have children, they weren’t ready to start a family. She wanted to focus on her career, becoming financially stable, buying a home somewhere she could raise a family where it was safe and there were good schools. This was… not fair.

“What’s your stipulation?” She asked.

“I have to get published and make $200,000 on my own.” He had always been a prolific writer but she wasn’t sure if that was still the case after so many years.

“And Julie?”

Jackson paused and then sighed, “She has to get through law school and pass the bar exam.”

“But she didn’t even make it through her second year of college,” she whispered and looked down at the folder, closing it slowly. “So we each have to accomplish that one thing we always wanted to do, that they wanted for us, and we never did while they were alive, before we can claim our inheritance.”

“Yep.” Jackson reached for the folder. “Talk about getting a parental kick in the butt even after death.”

They all chuckled and then got quiet. This wouldn’t be easy.