Sarah's Legacy Read Online Free Page B

dying. It was weird that we were her family and we didn’t even know her or feel particularly bad that she’d died, but this person who was no relation to her did.
    Before we left the house, David gave Mom a slip of paper with his phone number on it. “You’ll probably need a hand when you move in,” he explained, not realizing that all we had was four suitcases with our clothes.
    â€œI guess we’ll have to find out the pets’ names,” Mom sighed, tucking the paper into her purse. “All eleven of them.”
    â€œWhere are we going now?” I asked as we stepped back out onto the sidewalk.
    â€œThe lawyer’s office is apparently nearby,” Mom said. “She told me when I spoke to her that it was onlya few minutes’ walk from Sarah’s house. We have an appointment with her right after lunch.”
    We found the place, which was in a house that had been converted to lawyers’ offices. Five names appeared on a sign hanging above the door, and our lawyer, Nicole Standing, was listed among them.
    Neither of us was hungry after a late breakfast, so to kill time until our appointment we just walked around for a while. Not too far from Aunt Sarah’s house there was a nice little park and we sat on a bench there for a bit. In one corner of the park was a low, red brick building, which we discovered was the library. I thought it was a bonus that the library was so close. I like to read but we’ve never been able to afford books. Or, at least, we couldn’t before.
    A young woman ushered us right into the lawyer’s office when we returned there for our appointment. Ms. Standing stood to greet us, shook our hands, and told us she was sorry about our loss. That confused me for a second until I realized she was talking about Aunt Sarah’s death. Mom thanked her solemnly.
    â€œIt took a little while to locate you,” Ms. Standing told us, “which gave me time to get everything pretty well in order. We’ll just get this paperwork out of the way and then you can go ahead and take possession of your home.”
    â€œToday?” Mom asked.
    â€œWell, not quite that fast, but I’d say by Monday. Where are you staying in the meantime, in case I need to contact you?”
    Mom gave her the name of the hotel. She sounded worried. Then Ms. Standing looked at her closely and asked if we were all right for money.
    â€œI guess we can manage for a few days,” Mom said, but her voice was unconvincing. I knew that four nights in a hotel, plus meals, would cost more than what we had left but she didn’t want to admit that.
    â€œWell, let’s just make things a bit simpler.” Ms. Standing pressed a button on her desk and a moment later the receptionist appeared.
    â€œAngela, would you call the Gilmores’ hotel and have them bill their room to my office?” Then she assured Mom it was no problem and she’d just add the cost to her bill.
    â€œYour bill,” Mom echoed, looking very uncomfortable. “Will it be very much?”
    â€œDon’t worry about that.” She smiled. “It will just come off the money that’s been left to you, along with the house.”
    â€œYou haven’t clarified that, I mean, how much money is actually involved?”
    â€œOf course, I won’t have an exact figure for you until everything is settled,” Ms. Standing said. She was smiling, which was no wonder since she was about todeliver very good news. “I can tell you, however, that it will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of thirty-seven thousand dollars.”
    Mom started to cry.

C HAPTER S IX
    Thirty-seven thousand dollars! After all the years of watching every penny, it sounded like a million to us. When we left Ms. Standing’s office we were both practically in shock. We walked slowly along Wellington Street, stopped to admire our house again, and then went back toward the park. Every so far we