Inheriting Her Secrets And Her Daughter

Saturday at noon, the buzzer rang.

A lawyer was standing on my porch, looking crisp and out of place in my neighborhood. Susie Beck has passed away, she said, her voice practiced and neutral. Her will names you as her sole beneficiary. Its an estate valued at five million dollars.

Susie Beck.

My ex-girlfriend. Wed been over for two years.

The lawyer handed me a brass key. "She said there was something you had to collect in person."

When I got to her place, the wake was still in full swing. Her current boyfriend was draped over her casket, wailing for the benefit of the room. The second he saw me, he started screaming that I was there to rob the dead.

I didn't have the energy for him. I went upstairs.

I pushed open the door to the study, and there she wasa girl, maybe five or six, with dark, searching eyes. She stared at me, unblinking. "Are you Ben? My mom said if she died, I was supposed to go with you."

01

Saturday morning, the vents in my cramped apartment were humming with the smell of searing meat. I was standing over the stove, dropping cloves and a cinnamon stick into my beef stewthe secret shed taught me.

Then the doorbell rang.

The woman outside was in her thirties, dressed in a sharp charcoal suit with a briefcase that screamed billable hours. she looked me up and down, then forced a professional smile.

"Mr. Ben Bennett?"

I didn't answer. I just stared at the card she held out. Halloway & Associates. Diana Halloway, Senior Partner.

"What is it?"

"I am the executor of Susie Becks estate." She paused, letting the name hang in the air like a ghost. "Her will names you as the sole heir. This includes the property, her vehicle, and liquid assets totaling approximately five million dollars. If you have a moment, we should discuss the details."

Susie Beck.

I handed the card back and started to close the door.

She wedged her hand against the frame. "Mr. Bennett, I realize this is a shock"

"A shock?" I looked at her, my heart thumping a jagged rhythm against my ribs. "I haven't spoken to that woman in two years. You show up and tell me she left me five million dollars? Either she lost her mind, or youve got the wrong house."

Ms. Halloway didn't flinch. She pulled a notarized document from her bag. "This is the will. You can verify the signature yourself."

I didn't take it. "Why isn't she here telling me this herself?"

The lawyer went quiet for two beats. She looked up, her expression softening just a fraction. "Ms. Beck was killed in a car accident three days ago. The body has already been cremated."

The hallway went silent. Downstairs, a neighbors kid was crying. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed.

I took the papers then. I flipped through them. The seal was real. The stamps were real. And that signatureI knew it better than my own. I used to sign for her packages all the time because she hated her own handwriting. She used to call it "chicken scratch."

"Why me?" I asked, closing the folder. "What about the guy she was with? Justin?"

Ms. Halloway shook her head. "Mr. Justin Shaw was not mentioned in the will."

Justin Shaw. Id heard the name. Two years ago, when Susie called to end things, Id heard a mans voice in the background calling her name. That was him.

I shoved the papers back at her. "I don't want the money. Give it to charity. Give it to him. I don't care."

"Ms. Beck expected you to say that." The lawyer reached into her bag again and produced a small, cream-colored envelope. It looked like it had been crumpled up and smoothed out a dozen times.

Inside was a single slip of paper. One sentence.

You always forget the cinnamon in the stew; whos going to buy it for you when Im gone?

I gripped the paper so hard my nails dug into my palm.

"Is there anything else?"

Ms. Halloway hesitated, then handed me a brass key with a small tag: 1802.

I knew that number. Susie used to say she wanted to live on the eighteenth floor because it felt like being closer to the clouds. I told her it was a long way to fall. She told me she liked the view.

"When did it happen?"

"Last Wednesday night. 10:47 PM. On the I-95. A single-vehicle accident. She hit the guardrail."

Last Wednesday.

Id been working late. My phone had buzzed around nine, but I thought it was a spam alert. I never checked it.

After the lawyer left, I shut the door and went back to the kitchen. The stew had cooled, a thin layer of fat congealing on the surface. I turned the burner back on. I watched the bubbles start to break the surface, the scent of cinnamon rising in the steam.

She remembered how I liked it.

She remembered I hated cilantro.

She remembered everything, except how to stay alive.

02

The moment the key turned in the lock, the door was pulled open from the inside.

A thick cloud of incense and lilies hit me. The living room had been stripped of its furniture to make room for a makeshift shrine. In the center hung a black-and-white photo of Susie, surrounded by white roses.

A man in a tailored black suit stood in the foyer. His eyes were red and puffy, but his hair was perfectly styled. He glared at me like I was a stray dog that had wandered into his yard.

"What are you doing here?"

Justin Shaw. The voice from the phone two years ago.

I didn't answer. I brushed past him. The room was fulldistant relatives in black, business associates in expensive watches, and in the corner, a middle-aged couple. The woman was sobbing into a tissue; the man was staring at nothing, a dead cigarette in his hand.

Susies parents. Id met them once, three years ago, at a Thanksgiving dinner that felt like a lifetime ago.

"I asked you a question!" Justin followed me, his voice rising. "Susies gone. You don't get to show up now and play the grieving ex. Isn't the inheritance enough for you?"

The room went dead silent. Every head turned.

I set the key down on the entry table. "Im here for something she left me."

"Left you?" Justin let out a sharp, jagged laugh. His eyes were wild. "Nothing here is yours. You broke up two years ago! Two years! Do you have any idea what her life was like? Do you know" He choked up, glancing at the photo. "The night she died, she was on her way to see me."

A murmur went through the crowd.

Susies mother stood up and grabbed Justins hand. "Justin, don't waste your breath on him. Susie was too kind for her own good. She left him a little something out of pity. Just think of it as a parting gift to a beggar."

I looked at her. She wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Ma'am," I said quietly. "Your daughter is barely cold, and you're already trying to play the saint with her money?"

Her face flushed a deep, angry red. "How dare you!"

"Im just here for the truth." I walked toward the stairs. "The lawyer gave me the key. Susie left me something. Im taking it and leaving."

"Stop right there!" Justin lunged for my arm. "Youre not welcome here! Get out!"

He was close enough that I could smell his cologne. It was a brand Susie had bought for me once. Id told her it was too heavy, and she promised to get me something lighter next time.

She never did. She just got a different man.

"Justin," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "Your hair is out of place."

He instinctively reached up to touch his head. I used the second of distraction to slip past him and head up the stairs.

The master bedroom door was opena big bed, a walk-in closet, a framed photo of Justin on the nightstand. I kept walking.

The door at the end of the hall was shut. I turned the knob.

The room was small. A twin bed, a desk, a bookshelf. A computer sat on the desk, a thin layer of dust on the monitor. This was Susies sanctuary. When she used to stay at my place, shed talk about having her own "think tank"a room where she could shut the world out.

I went to the desk and pulled the top drawer.

Right on top was a photograph.

It was us. Three years ago, at the coast. Shed dragged a stranger over to take it, saying we needed "official evidence" for our future wedding. In the photo, shes beaming, her eyes crinkled at the corners, and Im leaning into her, looking resigned but happy.

Under the photo was a thick, bulging envelope.

Before I could touch it, a scream erupted from downstairs.

"Junie! Junie, stop!"

Heavy footsteps pounded on the stairs. I turned as a small figure appeared in the doorway.

She was five, maybe six. Thin. Her bangs were too long, obscuring half her brow. She wore a navy blue sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, revealing pale, spindly wrists. She looked at me with an intensity no child should have.

"Are you Ben?" she asked.

I slowly put the envelope down. "Do I know you?"

She didn't answer. She walked into the room and stood right in front of me, forcing me to look up.

"My mom said if she died, I was supposed to go with you."

03

I knelt so I was eye-level with her. "What exactly did your mom tell you?"

She watched me, her pupils dark and vast. "She said you have a sharp tongue but a soft heart." She paused. "She said you make the best beef stew."

The shouting downstairs was getting louder. Justins voice cracked as he hit the landing. "Junie! Get out of there right now!"

The girl didn't move. She glanced at the envelope in my hand, then back at me.

"You should take those," she said. "She wrote them for you."

"How do you know they're for me?"

"She wrote every night." The girl pointed to the drawer. "Shed finish one and put it in there. Shes been doing it for six months."

I pulled the drawer open further. It was packed with envelopes, all stacked neatly, each marked with a date.

Justin burst into the room, Susies mother right behind him.

"Junie!" Justin grabbed her arm, yanking her back. "What are you doing? Come to Daddy."

Daddy?

The girl stumbled, but she didn't make a sound. She just looked at menot for help, but with a strange, analytical gaze. Like she was verifying a fact.

"Justin," I said, standing up. "Is she yours?"

Justin pulled the girl behind him. "Shes my daughter. Whats it to you? You want to try and steal her, too?"

"Im not trying to steal anything," I said. "Im just wondering why Susies will didn't mention her."

Justins face went stiff.

Susies mother stepped in, her voice frantic. "The girl belongs with Justin. They just hadn't finalized the paperwork yet. You don't put things like that in a will."

"Is that right?" I looked at the girl peeking out from behind Justin's leg. "Whats your name, kid?"

She opened her mouth, but Justin clamped a hand over it. "Stop talking to him! This is none of your business!"

"Did you and Susie ever get married?" I asked.

Justin didn't say a word.

"No," I answered for him. "And if you aren't married, how is she on the birth certificate? Whose last name does she have?"

Susies mother looked at Justin, her eyes darting nervously.

Justin gritted his teeth. "This is a family matter. Take your money and get out before I call the police."

Junie twisted out of his grip and stepped back toward me. Justins face turned a sickly shade of gray. "Junie!"

The girl looked up at me. "My name is Daisy. My mom picked it."

"Daisy," I repeated. "Your mom picked it?"

She nodded.

"Was she married to him?"

She shook her head.

"Then whos your father?"

She looked at Justin, then went silent.

Justin lunged for her again, this time with force. His fingers dug into her small arm. Daisy winced, but she didn't cry out.

"Let her go," I said.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're hurting her."

"Shes my daughter. Ill do what I want."

I stared at him. He stared back, his eyes bloodshot, his composure crumbling.

Susies mother started pulling on his sleeve. "Justin, honey, lets go downstairs. Lets just let him leave."

Justin dragged Daisy toward the door, but she suddenly looked back at me.

"My mom said if she died, I was supposed to be with you." Her voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the room like a blade.

Justin froze.

Susies mother froze.

I stood there, paralyzed.

"Shut up!" Justin hissed. "Your mother was drunk when she said that. She didn't mean it."

Daisy ignored him. She just kept her eyes on mine. "Will you take me?"