Daffodils in March by Clare Revell Read Free Book Online Page A

mat he lay on.
    They hadn’t even planned Hanna’s funeral yet, although Pastor Jack was coming over later to do so. Hanna’s body hadn’t yet been released and wouldn’t be until after the inquest which began tomorrow.
    The investigation into the crash would most likely take months. Investigators were certain the plane crashed because of the loss of the hydraulics, but didn’t yet know what caused that to happen. Or if they did, they hadn’t released that information. According to the news, they were studying the black boxes and running simulations of the landing in an effort to discover what had gone wrong.
    The solicitor, Bill Watts, shuffled the papers and stared at Eden and David over the top of his wire-rimmed glasses. His dark hair was gelled into place and didn’t look as if it would have moved in a hurricane. “Thank you both for coming on such short notice.”
    David scowled. “I still don’t know why we both needed to be here. Han and I made the wills together. I know what they both say. She leaves everything to me and vice versa.”
    “Mrs. Jameson redid her will last month.”
    “ What ?” David slouched further in the chair and his eyes narrowed. Then he sucked in a deep breath and lowered his voice. “She didn’t say anything to me about changing it. Do you mean, she added a codicil?”
    “No.” The solicitor shook his head. “She came to see me last month and had a completely new will drawn up.”
    “She can’t have.”
    Eden sighed. “David, just let the man speak, after all that is why we’re here.”
    “Well, it’s why I am,” he muttered.
    Mr. Watts rolled his eyes. “As I said, Mrs. Jameson came to see me last month and had a new will drawn up. It’s all been done correctly and filed with the right people.” He began reading. “I, Hanna Victoria Jameson, being of sound mind, hereby request my assets be divided as follows. My share of the house, twenty-four Bucklers Drive, is to go to my sister-in-law, Eden Jameson, along with the sum of ten thousand pounds.”
    David glowered. “That’s not what we agreed.”
    The solicitor continued. “She has put twenty thousand pounds into a trust fund for her son, Marc, to be held safe until he reaches his twenty-first birthday. The rest of her money and assets she’s left to you, Mr. Painter, as in her original will. She has also left instructions for Marc’s guardianship.”
    “Me,” David said bluntly. “That’s what we agreed after Eric died. She wanted me to raise the baby if anything happened to her.”
    Mr. Watts shook his head. “She has left instructions for you, Miss Jameson to be primary guardian. But I quote, as David and Eden will both be living in the same house, it would make sense for them to raise Marc together. They are aunt and uncle to him, but at this juncture, it is best that Eden will have sole custody. I know they’ll do all in their power to protect and care for him —”
    “ What? ” David stood. “There’s some mistake. Give me that.” He leaned over the desk and the solicitor handed over the will.
    As David read it, his face grew red. In fact, looking at him, Eden would go as far as to say that Mount David had just erupted and a pyroclastic cloud was currently hurtling towards the solicitor at over eight-hundred miles an hour. But then as she’d seen so often, the anger was reined in at the last moment and grief filled his eyes.
    “There is no mistake,” Mr. Watts said. “Your sister was quite clear about her wishes on the subject. Her half of the house goes to Miss Jameson, along with custody and parental rights over the child.”
    “No way.” David put the papers back on the desk and calmly retrieved the car seat and Marc. “This isn’t over, not by a long chalk.” He walked out, the door closing quietly behind him.
    Eden just sat there, numb, trying to process everything she’d heard.
    “Are you all right? Can I get you some water or tea or something?”
    She glanced up. “I’m